Bobbin Lace Sampler

I'm working on a sampler to practice bobbin lace techniques :)

I use 18 pairs of bobbins for the center with the spiders, at the sides I make a whole stitch (with a pair that always stays at the side) and twist the pair twice round the side-pin. This will make a little loop to 'sew' on the other parts while working.

I'm working on spider 15 now, just following the lines on the pattern.

Here are some close-ups of the 'half stitch trail' and the 'Torchon ground', just turning the corner to start another row of spiders.

Bobbin lace is fun to do!

Advent Calendar Scarf 2014, day 17

Update on my cowl: working on day 17 :)

One sketch a day: 25 to 28

Mini mandala's in colored pencils, with zentangels in fine markers and gell pens (white, silver and gold).

Knitting a little mouse... or two

I saw this lovely pattern in the Ravelry library: Bonnie wee mouse, it makes a cute little mouse. And almost no sewing as you knit everything in the round and attach the pieces while knitting :)

It will make a perfect gift for my daughter.

I used handspun yarn, from a batt-dropping (batt made from random fibres) and needles 2,75mm.

Little mouse

 Then I used the same pattern again, but with some modifications to make a Teenage Ninja Turtle :)
Yarn: "Meilenweit Soja" (a soft sock-yarn), needles: 2,75.
(I probably should have used smaller needles but it would make the turtle even smaller..)
I knit according to the pattern, but with a very short tail, no ears and orange stripe where the eyes are placed. The shell is knitted in some handspun. This one is for my son.

Knitted Ninja Turtle

The pattern is easy to follow and quick to knit. I'll probably make more of them soon...

One sketch a day: Day 21 to 24

I need more practice drawing faces :)

One sketch a day: 21 to 24 faces

Blue ballpoint

Advent Calendar Scarf 2014

This pattern adds a piece of lace every day of december, until Christmas :).
I'm using my lace-weight Smorgasbox yarn. (and probably add more yarn spun from samples)
Every pattern and spacer will have it's own color, so I'm using both the outside and inside of my skeins...

Already knitted day 5 today:

This is knitted in the round (and started with a provisional cast on) to make a cowl.

All the handspun colors and the surprise-patterns make this a fun project :)

One sketch a day: 17-20

I still love the daily drawings in my "visual journal" :)

one sketch a day: day 17 to 20

"Wild animals", charchoal pencils, fine black marker & white gell pen. All drawn from photo's.

Secret Smorgling Challenge: Knitting part 3, a little dress

I can't continue with the doll-body until the eyes are delivered, so knitted the dress already.
A dress filled with leaves ;)
I used all the yarn from the mini- Bilberry-Zest batt.

Forest-theme dress.

Back collar detail

The colors are not very acurate in these photo's, I hope I can take better photo's when the doll is finished.

Comfy socks

I've used my Mystery yarn (see this post), to knit some soft comfortable socks :)

Knitted toe-up and two at the same time on one circular needle. Added some half-brioche at the top.

Secret Smorgling Challenge: Knitting part 2

The doll has feet and hair now :).
I made the feet like mini-socks with some white and a bit of the Beryl-green. (filled them already on this photo)

For the hair I've sewn on strands of yarn around the grey edge, then sewn strands on the top. (see photo...)
It's a special hairstyle for a special doll...

One sketch a day: 13 - 16

4 days with sketches from memory, filled with zentangles.
I used pencil, black marker and white gell pen...
Worked two days on the large drawing left :)

Secret Smorgling Challenge: Knitting part 1

I decided to do a fun (first?) project for the challenge: a doll!
I started the head with the dark grey yarn and the tan-colored yarn. The body is knitted with batt-dropping yarn.

Used 'white rabbit' for the panties and continued the legs with a striped yarn from the mixed merino packs. I'm knitting them two at a time on a circular needle, using one strand from outside and one strand from the inside of a center-pull ball... (The colors of the second half of the yarn are spun in reversed order to make that possible.)

This will become a lovely big-headed big eyed doll. I've ordered some big safety eyes for her and have to wait with knitting the arms until they arrive.
I'm not using a pattern so the final result will be a surprise for me too :).

Secret Smorgling Challenge: Spinning part 3

The final yarns from this box:

I  had an idea for a project, but after spinning I'll have to change it a bit. Some yarns came out very different than planned :).

These are the fibres/yarn photo's:

N-ply 27m/15g

3 ply 46m/18g

N-ply 64m/28g

Dyeing wool

I had some time to dye wool for sock-yarn yesterday:

Some super-soft super-wash Merino, blues to make socks for a man:

100g Superwash merino

 And happy colors for the girls:

100g superwash merino

100g Devon

I'm searching for the perfect wool to spin and knit long-lasting socks. That's why I buy some less-known wool sometimes. The Devon-wool feels a bit coarse but OK for socks, I can't wait to see how this spins up...

One Sketch a day: 9 to 12

Day 9:
Timmy in ballpoint.

Day 10:
A cat with glasses :), color pencils

Day 11:
More Shaun the sheep in ballpoint

Day 12:
A cute dog in color pencils

Photographed outside and still dark, it's cloudy in Belgium...

Secret Smorgling Challenge: Spinning part 2

The first batt: "Bilberry Zest" is 90% Merino and 10% Silk. The colors are green, orange and purple.
This is very nice fibre and easy to spin a fine single.

Ready to ply

I made this gradient 2 ply yarn:

103m/25g

This was my lovely batt-dropping: greens, blue, pink...

Made this n-plied yarn:

70m/29g

I'm now starting the mixed merino packs, to make self-striping yarn.

One sketch a day 5-8

Day 5: Another kitten

Experimenting with color pencils and  my sepia pen, it works on the paper but the pen bleeds trough the thin paper :(

Day 6: Baby meerkat

Those animals are so cool! This is a quick sketch in blue pencil and micron pen.

Day 7: a butterfly

Experimenting with color pencils.

Day 8: another labrador puppy

Just pencils, charchoal pencil and the white Signo pen again :)

New design: We have cookies!

I published this new sock design on Ravelry today:
There's a promotion of 30% until november 20th !

These socks are knit from the cuff down, you can find the pattern here.
They are for my daughter, she loves cookies and hand-knitted socks ;).

Handdyed and handspun socks

Sometimes I buy white fibre to dye and spin. It takes more work than just buying a beautiful braid or batt, but it's fun to do.

This is 100g sw BFL, the colors used are: blue, emerald, brown and black.

I wanted to make sock yarn (because of that the super wash...), and 2 skeins to start two sock at the same time. The yarn is a regular 3-ply, but I really mixed the color-repeats.

The socks are a knitted toe up and two at a time, I made them with a wide rib pattern for a good fit. They are for my son, he's wearing them on this photo:

Secret Smorgling Challenge: Spinning part 1

I'll need different small skeins for my project. To start I made combinations of a blended top sample and 2 colors from a mixed roving pack:

Skein 1: 3 ply with 2 singles "March Hare" and 1 single from the two mixed rovings.
I hold the rovings side by side and draft them together, this blends the colors over all the yarn.

48m/17g

Skein 2:3 ply with 2 singles "Antique Rose" and 1 single from the two mixed rovings.

40m/16g

Skein 3: 3 ply with 2 singles "Cobweb" and 1 single from the two mixed rovings.

45m/17g

One sketch a day: day 2, 3, 4

The first 4 sketches are done. I've chosen my favorite animals and have drawn them from a photo on the web.

Day 2: turtle

Day 3: labrador 

day 4: kitten

These drawings took each almost one hour to complete. For the last two I didn't use a charchoal pencil, this makes those drawings 'softer'. It's very hard to take good photo's of pencil drawings, and the weather is very dark in Belgium... I still have to make my drawing for today, I'll do that this evening :)