Homemade tubular yarn

Experiment time from last week: homemade tubular yarn

This last year has been full of t-shirt yarn tutorials. (Go ahead, do a google searh for 't-shirt yarn tutorial.' You'll get a gazillion results.) I purchased a few skeins of tubular yarn for a pattern, and it was pricey. So it's fun to recycle old t-shirts into yarn (I'm all about free!), but what do you do with it?  Since said pattern didn't work out, I now have expensive stash sitting in my trunk. It's been there since LYS Purls closed, over a two years ago.

I found only one use for the yarn so far -- a dishcloth. Cotton t-shirt yarn makes very sturdy fabric with a nice texture. Glampyre Knits, aka Stefanie Japel, created shrug and scarf patterns for this yarn. The photos on her website (haven't bought the classes or patterns) seem to use dyed t-shirts, and I don't know that I want a dye job right now. I understand why you would dye, but I'm not in that situation at the moment.

I decided a dishcloth would benefit from the stretch and texture of the fabric the t-shirt knitted up.

Post Script: Making the yarn and knitting with it leaves a lot of little 'crumbs' around. As this dishcloth sits on my table, it is leaving more little blue crumbs. I am hoping that as it is used, this will stop. I may do a swagbucks search on this to find prevention techniques, see how long this will last, see if I'm just abnormal when I make the yarn, etc.

Open Mesh

Finished another dish cloth. This pattern is a mesh that I found on Lion Brand's website. I used scraps from my stash. All I have left now (in kitchen cotton at least LOL) is white yarn  :-)

Off the sticks!

edited on May 25, 2010:

So idyllic -- fruit, bread, flowers, and a hand knitted dish cloth. I'm submitting this top photo in Sweet Shot Tuesday. Join in!


I worked this one pretty fast! That also means that I've spent a loooooooot of time in front of the tube.
The pattern is Open Star. Yes, I know it's sideways. Just turn your head.

On the Sticks

My 16yo (yikes, that's old!) noticed this phrase at the end of the dishcloth pattern I'm working on. It does make you laugh. The photo shows the 'wrong' side of a pattern called Open Star.

Off the sticks!

Don't look too close or you'll see a couple mistakes. That happens when I knit these over three or four very spread out knitting sessions. King Charles Brocade pattern.

Crafting this week

I'm currently working on a rather boring dishcloth. I find the easy pattern to be a great thing while sitting with hubby. He has to watch his crazy "Lost" show, so to turn his TV time into "couple time," I am knitting next to him on the couch.

I've also sewn a few merit badges and one more crazy quilt patch. It isn't finished in the photo, but you get the idea.

I planted my salad this week. With the +80 degree temps and the upcoming showers, it made sense to put some seed down. I would photograph the dirt, but I don't know that anyone, including me, would find black dirt very interesting. I have placed a bunny fence all around the garden box -- it worked well last year, and I pray that it keeps the critters out this year. The new location I chose will hopefully keep the slugs away, too.

The most exciting news of the week is that I WON A LAYER CAKE from ADVENTURES IN DRESSMAKING!!! I am super-excited (if you follow me on twitter @threesisjulia, you know that I was hyperventilating -- haha) to touch and feel and smell the fabric once it comes from the Fat Quarter Shop. Look here and drool over everything when you get some time.

You can also read Suzannah's posts -- she is quite the crafty one. As in, when you look at her work, you think, "spectacular and wow." If only we had more time and less responsibilities, we all could sew all the time.:-) Ah, but now my youngest calls for me as I type....

Finisher?

A recent message from my college roommate asked how to start a project when you aren't going to finish right away. I think that's what she said. There are four solutions to this question.

First,

I don't finish everything. Some things, like scrapbooks, will never be finished. Inherently won't get done. Ever. I just let it go. So my desk and chair and space around the desk and chair are filled with things that will "some day" get into a scrapbook. I was able to contain everything IN the desk for a long time, but I don't see that happening again for a while.

(And in my defense, the side table top on the left there is mostly covered with stuff for an upcoming homeschool mom meeting. The table is usually clean. The pile of old jeans on the floor is addressed in the fourth solution below. Whenever you see valentine or card, substitute the word jeans.)

Second, some things don't get finished quickly, but I can hide some Works In Progress, like yo-yo's. Small enough to stow in a paper bag, then in my purse or drawer until I'm ready to work again. Knitting supplies go into a carved wooden chest.

Third, some projects I choose because they are quick. Dishcloths, cards, small sewing projects.

Fourth, Then other things are left out until they are finished. Seeing the mess serves as a reminder says, "HEY, FINISH THIS PROJECT ASAP!!!" For example, my youngest undertook valentine making for my two siblings and Mr. TellBlast's seven siblings and their families, and grandparents.

That's a lot of card making. And a lot of mess. Every time you walk by, you think, I ought to sit down and make a valentine. And to her credit, she does.

my craft activity this week

it's been a slow week for crafting. on top of being the regular, crazy-schedule class day, running home school kids around town, my birthday was yesterday.

i had my hilarious nephews over for a couple hours. D's marble maze is just a tube. It was the tallest maze. The marble goes straight down. No bends, no curves, no frills. He thought it was "the best one."

Then we have B-man's marble maze. He took the slide and tried to make it more predictable by adding a length of tubing to the end. After many tests and "G" of GAIN's advice, he shortened the tube. They were really funny.

My boys made lemon bars instead of a cake for me. "A" of GAIN decided to top the bars with a "3" candle and nine individual candles -- it made for quite the blaze. So now I am publicly proclaiming my age for the first time ever: I am 39 years old. Still haven't said it out loud, but this is a first step.

As I look back on the crafting I did, I find that there was some productivity. I painted three more eggshells for eggshell dioramas. I accidentally gave away too many for Christmas, and when "I" of GAIN didn't find the one she chose (which I had forgotten), I figured that I could replace it with another one.

I also started to lengthen the prayer shawl started many moons ago. I picked up some yarn from my parish's fun knitting group. There was no ball band, but I'm assuming that this yarn is Lion Brand Homespun. I also read about using T-shirts to make tubular yarn (it's expensive. I bought some before Purl's closed.), and with all the Vacation Bible School T-shirts that leaders have to wear, I've amassed a collection to harvest. I've set aside a shirt (from the theme year of Fiesta!) to test.

I'll end this really long post with shots of this week's watercolors. "I" of GAIN and I like this calendar. I've hyperlinked because I'm getting questions. (Mine came from Barnes and Noble.)

Crafting in a group

(sorry, michelle and pattie. i didn't ask your permission. i think six years time gives me rights, doesn't it? LOL)

Last night, I stopped in at our church's Prayer Shawl Ministry. I hadn't visited in a while and it was wonderful. There is something soothing about the monotonous, mindless knitting pattern, and it is very conducive to quiet praying and chatting. Praying for anything and chatting about anything. It gathers men and women, young and old, from different backgrounds. Even if you are not working on a prayer shawl (yarn supplied!), you are welcome.

I also enjoy scrapbooking as a group. There is something about the social aspect that makes me more productive. It could be the creative energy, inspiration from other people's photos and work, the rush you get when looking at supplies, I don't know. But like knitting, I feel that there is no judging of ability or person if you're with the right group. I've been in a few groups, the most active one at the moment is a meetup group.

If you are a lone ranger crafter, I encourage you to seek out a group that fits your personality.

Work in Progress

I spent some time this afternoon buying supplies to make these earrings. They are my samples before I decide on "real supplies," should I end up liking the patterns. The pattern: Bijouterie, found at knitty.com, Earring 1 (foreground) and Earring 3 (background). I didn't make up a sample for Earring 2 yet. It looked like it would take more concentration that I could give at the time. We were trying to watch "Old Yeller," and I can't concentrate that much AND watch a classic movie at the same time.

I didn't quite get all the supplies right. Lots of substitutions -- I used 28 gauge wire (32 gauge suggested), used size 3 needles (size 2 suggested), and didn't buy pearls (there were none, nor were there buttons in 4mm). There were no thimble beads (I bought crimps), and I'm not sold on the pattern quite yet (that's why I didn't spend much on beads). BUT I am very intrigued. Our local bead store, Artistic Bead, has great service. Having a frequent buyer card also helps make the experience great. And the fact that it is housed in a funky old bank building with a vault also contributes. Shopping for beads is usually fun, even if I don't have an end product in mind.

I knit three wire bracelets a few years back with great success. The store that created the bracelet pattern has sadly closed. Like Artistic Bead, it was located in Valley Junction. Bijouterie Earring 3 looks like it may be a good companion to the bracelet pattern. I still have some beads left from one particular bracelet, and I may count them to see if I can get a matched jewelry set.

Crafting last week

We've done a lot of crafting this week. I'll show you this one first. Zamozo really got me aware of getting the kids' permission before posting their photos here, and I have to say that it has been a very positive move. She is so attuned to "kid thinking."

So we have this book about pioneer days and created a sturdier apron than the book from an old bedsheet. I saved it because I always thought it would make a nice trim to something. Anyway, it gets worn daily now. It went to Living History Farms, too. (Thanks, Dad and Anita.)

I also spent some time knitting. Getting weekly knitting notes from Lion Brand Yarn supplied a leaf pattern. My camera phone and dim lighting are not a good mix. Sorry. I thought I'd try to make a long necklace. Long has been fashionable for quite a while now, and I haven't anything really snazzy, so I made this. "I" told me that I could be the Autumn Fairy when I wear it. I wore it to church. We want to see more leaves on it. It will be more scarf-like then, and that's OK. More leaves should be a good move.

We also had Renaissance Day. The kids each made a 'stained glass' pendant. You can see my child wearing hers in the apron photo. It's a cross, which would be very period. Colored on both sides, it's very vibrant with the sunshine.

Sticks and yogurt

On the sticks: a prayer shawl! I'm using my remnants. I feel awful not using the donated yarn from parishioners. I'll get a picture up and list colorways once the shawl is long enough to photograph nicely.

Yogurt: I accidentally forgot about my crockpot full of milk last Wed. Instead of resting for 3 hours, it rested for 5 hours. An impromptu visit to Living History Farms made me forget. Fear of wrecked yogurt fell upon me during the five minute ride home. I proceeded with the recipe as if I hadn't left the milk sitting longer than instructed. The result? Thicker yogurt! Making a note to use the longer time.

For those of you who aren't ready to make your own yogurt, you may want to head over to fellow Iowa home school mom Darcy's blog. She's giving away Stoneyfield Farms Yo Baby yogurt, along with other Stoneyfield Farms stuff (bib, bowl, etc.) The contest ends on Sunday, July 5th at 11:59pm CST.

New Knitter

Needle knitting for the first time! I came home this afternoon to find my child finishing Teddy's scarf. Size 10.5 needles. No idea what this yarn is. Something fat and frizzy and acrylic but not splitty -- perfect for a new knitter. She caught on very quickly after a few attempts over the years. She was just ready for knitting this time. "A" of GAIN bound off for her. I was hoping she would teach her little sister, not do it for her, but with only five stitches across the needle, I can understand her reasoning.

Inspired

I was inspired Sunday by a woman sitting ahead of me at church. She was ahead a couple pews and to the side of me, and she wore a scarf to dress up her plain black turtleneck. But I thought I could do it better.

Owning Teen Knitting Club by Jennifer Wenger, I was familiar with her "Teen Knitting Club Swap Scarf." My version will be called the remnant scarf. Everyone in the club brings leftover yarns for everyone else to knit one or two rows horizontally on a new scarf. In my case, all the leftover yarns in my ever-full trunk of stash get worked into a scarf. The inspiration scarf had tails that were not woven in. Usualy, I look down on that -- they were very conspicuous -- but Sunday, I thought that leaving the tails out would mean a good excuse to make fringe with the leftover yarn, thus using more stash and allowing more leftovers to be worked into the length of my scarf.

I am quite proud that I figured out how to combine different yarn weights. Above, you'll see Lion Brand Wool-Ease, super chunky weight, and Berocco Plush, chunky weight. I successfully increased the number of stitches to keep my work flat. Yay me!

I also hadn't dealt with shaping for quite a while. So my first attempt, really a test for pleasing color and texture combos, was horribly uneven in its shaping. Envisioning an attractive width of sidesweep to snuggle against and narrow tails to wrap securely if needed, I really needed a flat scarf. I wanted a flat triangle, not a fabric full of mini-baubles. Remembering past patterns really helped -- "Now that is why the increases and decreases are placed where they are!" A eureka moment occurred for me. Because of this more meaningful -- rather than rote, follow-the-directions -- experience, I am likely to keep this lesson in my heart from now on.

Crazy, quilting that is

January means decluttering and organizing for many households. I am joining the bandwagon and decluttering my two drawers of fabric scraps. They are crammed and I get crabby every time I open one of them because I can't get anything out unless I dump the entire drawer (usually). The answer? A crazy quilt.

The solution of a crazy quilt came earlier this week when I was required to say what I would do should I win a quilting give away. The crazy quilt idea was solidified yesterday when I passed a shelf of new books at the public library. It was all about crazy quilts -- history, art, and how-to. I didn't check it out, but I read it for ten minutes. I remembered that my oldest had made a crazy quilt pillow top as an 8th grader. She told me how easy it was, knowing that I attempted and struggled and failed three years ago to make one. I came home from browsing the book at the library, studied her pillow, then tried to make a 8.5" square. It was so easy that I couldn't believe it. I have no idea what held me up in the past.

I ended up making five blocks yesterday and two today. I still have a heap of fabric on the ironing board to get through. Either I overbuy for the small amount of stitching that I do, feel extremely wasteful or guilty when considering the trash can for small pieces of fabric, or have a neurotic fabric attachment issue. Probably all three.

I have also given away G of GAIN's fingerless mitts to his paternal grandfather. Evidently his thick wrists are not accommodated by commercial gloves and mittens, and G's mitts stretch enough for him to wear. Whether he will use them is another question. But it is the thought.

To replace the mitts, I am making wristlets, thinner than the original mitts. These will be able to fit under his gloves to cover that patch of skin where his jacket and gloves fail to meet. I am finished with one wristlet, 2/3 done with the other. Small knitting projects are portable, so I was able to work an inch and a half at a family Christmas party today while watching a bit of _The Snowman_.

For information on the quilting giveaways, you can look at the ones I entered, listed below. There are many many more participants. You can view them all at the Whirl Into Winter website, here.

Zana's Ninis - I liked the look of things here. Her stash reports humored me. A lot.

Mid-Ohio Knitter -- A quilt giveaway on a blog with the word 'knit' in it -- right up my alley! I liked that she crafted across a spectrum of hobbies like me.

ART GIRL -- again, the diversity appealed to me. NaNoWriMo WINNER, artistic, and quilting -- all describe one woman. Wow.

Pat Sloan's Corner -- unsure if my entry was counted, so I'm not leaving an opinion.

new to me

My prayer shawl (all scrunched up) and my non-white quilling.

Shhhhhhh!

The latest project is under wraps. I cannot say more than, "I am experimenting and developing a gift."

On the semi-public front, our church re-started its prayer shawl ministry. I started a prayer shawl last night after having my hands blessed (and yarn and needles, too) with the group. I decided to use a foofy yarn. After hearing people's stories about wearing the shawls to chemo and back and forth to the doctor, I thought that comfort is nice, but style is nice, too. I'll get a photo up when I have more length on my project.

photo

why is the picture turned? I do not know.

this is the fingerless glove mentioned earlier -- I've since finished the thumb and am on to the second fingerless glove. This is for my older son. It is definitely big on me, so it will fit him now and when he grows (again).

I changed the pattern of "dashing" a little for this project. For one, I have one skein of yarn, and am unsure how much yarn I'll end up using since it is not the same as used in the pattern. Two, I cannot get more yarn as the shop is out of state and the yarn came from the clearance area (of course). Also, two cable rounds is plenty! How long do you need your gloves to be? I thought "A" made really long gloves, and this pattern suggests about 3" longer than hers! I gotta draw the line somewhere. The shorter length will sacrifice the cool closing of the cable, but like I said, I gotta a draw a line.

"dashing" is certainly easier than his sister "fetching" -- no picot edging (you can't see it anyway), less cabling (not to mention that I have much smaller hands than the pattern and had to make two test runs before getting it right), but that is okay. they like things that are different from everyone else, but not overworked to craziness. guys don't want to be made fun of.

Our crafty week

The results of our crafty week:

Home school gathering. Decorating pencil bags. "G" turns his green bag into camo -- the miracle of fabric markers. "I" turns her pink bag into girliness thanks to sticky felt flowers and puff paint.



"I" had her birthday. Two crafts of note. Since the kids all get their (homemade) food of choice on their special day, we had to make "enchanted unicorn horns" for breakfast. An enchanted unicorn horn is a sugar cone (for ice cream) dipped in almond bark, dipped in sugar. Obnoxious (and probably noxious to some). So this is breakfast. The recipe came from The Princess Cookbook that she received for Christmas.
For his gift to his sister, "N" of GAIN took a stick (she LOVES sticks and has special relationships/memories with them), took the bark off of it (quite difficult and time consuming), then used the scroll saw to remove the twig stubs, and sanded it. She loved it. Maybe we should give up shopping for her in the future.

Next crafty thing was finishing the chenille scarf. I had the yarn left from a failed project and decided that it should be a scarf. It is not smooth, so it doesn't show cables even though I put a few in; it worked up stiffer than I imagined, but acted as I thought it should with the purl ridges I designed. It is soft and warm. "N" took this photo of me this morning (no makeup, Vickie!). You can't really tell that my hair is shorter, but I had it cut last week -- chin length with layers.

The last crafty item is a gift for my godson. I failed in my first attempt for his sister -- I just need to spend some mental time to create a better fitting pattern. It works out to be very cute in my head. LOL But the godson gift is a fairly mindless pattern in a divine combo of yarn. It is SO SOFT -- cashmere, baby llama, merino, microfiber. I followed the pattern, but hope that I have enough yarn. You never can tell with handknits. I usually knit larger than the recommended gauge. So if needed, I'll rip it out and work it up with smaller needles in order to budget the yarn. I cannot get more of it -- the one store closed and the other is in WI. And there are dye lots to consider. It is very fast (the "mindless" factor), so I'm not worried. I have the first half very close to done after half a day of off and on working. It will be completely done tomorrow. (I know when to say when!) Here it is earlier today:

You might notice the playing card to the side. It came from LEGO Creator, a board game that involves building things with bricks.

On the sticks

Currently on the sticks -- wristlets for my youngest. Her current ones are tight.

I gifted three dishcloths recently for Mother's Day -- the traditional dishcloth from leftover Lion Cotton (remember the shoulder bag I made?), one with the Open Star 2 pattern, and a cloth with a four leaf clover against a lacy background. The photo from the pattern I found is what you see here. One of my children chose the yarn for my four leaf clover dishcloth -- it is very bold.

When I gave my sister (she's a big fan) her dishcloth, the Open Star 2 pattern, her SIL said that she would have to sit down with me to learn how to make her own dishcloths.