Monday, July 27, 2009

Finally Completed!



I finally finished this cozy!







I looked inside of my sewing machine cabinet. I have an old machine in it and I have not ever used it. I wasn't even sure what was in the cabinet. This is what I found.






I had a good laugh today when I looked at my website and I noticed that I put the word famine in place for feminine. I must have spelled the word wrong and with spell-check, I just pushed change. Well, the words are not quite the same.



Thursday, July 16, 2009

Teapot and Cozy



I completed a medium sized dome tea cozy. I knitted it with recycled yarn. The cozy came out nicely, but I am not real keen on the seam. Some dome cozies I have seen were made with I cord sewn around the seam.
I have a new teapot and it is going to go to someone special, but I am not telling who.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

WIP or Work In Progress

I am finally making this tea cozy and Sunday Undie. This was a BFL wool that I spun this past winter. The fabric has teapots on it and also gold metallic decoration. I wanted a ruffle on the bottom of the cozy from the lining fabric and a decorative trim on the wool cozy at the bottom. I achieved this goal by putting elastic in the lining just above the area I wanted a ruffle. I put extra fabric in the lining to allow the fabric to move with the lining. The elastic is the best choice for the ruffle since I want the fabric and fiber to fit over the teapot. I know you have seen tea cozies that have ribbon strung through it and you have to untie the bow and put the teapot in the cozy and then tie the bow up making a ruffle as you draw the fabric up by pulling on the ribbon. If a tea cozy is a pain to put on the teapot, it will not get used. I want cozies which are functional and attractive. I do have vintage seam binding lace tied on one side, but it is not necessary to untie it. It is just decorative.

These colors go very well together. The cozy could be reversed. I want the inside to look as neatly made as the outside of the cozy.



With this lining, I used a black bias tape band sewn on the fabric as the tube to put elastic in, and it just does not match. I really did not need anything sewn on, since I had doubled lining. I could have just sewn 2 rows about 1/2 inch apart and it would have made a tube. I will be redoing the black bias tape, when I dig out my sewing machine. I put it away in the basement and now I need it again. I always have several projects going at one time, so I may surprise you when it gets done.





Dog Days of Summer



I just happened to comb the larger dog, Gus, this weekend. When I looked at the amount of hair I had piling up, I took a photo. Some people spin dog hair. This hair is soft, but not long enough so it would need to be mixed with wool. I can not spin dog hair. I have thoughts of stinky, wet dog and, well, it just sounds awful!!! Besides, I wear dog hair daily, without intending to. With two dogs, it gets on everything!!! The picture of the dog hair is a little funny looking, can you see rabbit in it? Maybe a cat? It is like looking at the clouds, everyone sees something different.

Friday, July 3, 2009

What You Doin?

What have I been up to lately? Sometimes I get busy and do not post, but that doesn't mean that I have given up all of my creative endeavors. I have posted a collective assortment of a few projects and then posted the individual projects. Project #1 is a large batch of lemon lavender lotion. Say that 10 times fast! Project #2 is a prototype tea cozy for me. It is still in the beginning stages. I found this wonderful yarn at Twist Yarn Shop. Yes, I know that I can make my own, but sometimes you want too just knit and not make the yarn first, and uh well, , it was pink! This is actually pretty unusual yarn. It was made into a garment, ripped out, cleaned, stretched, and sold again. So they call this frogging since they are ripping, or ribbiting the old stitches out. This was from Frogged for Ewe. Good idea! I guess I can say I recycled this year! Project #3 is a dome type tea cozy awaiting a lining. This is made from acrylic yarn. Project #4 is blue wool yarn, single ply and novelty spun. I added extra wool into the twist sideways as I was spinning. This gives it a soft texture with a lot of extra bumps. I have a project in mind, but it will have to wait.

Project #1
Project #2
Project #3
Project #4
Any comments?