Through the Tunnel

The problem with my hand has been diagnosed.  It’s Carpal Tunnel and tendonitis – caused by overuse and an existing problem with my back and neck.  Probably.  It’s slowed me down a little.  The physio asked what I did with my hands.  I replied that I spun, knitted, embroidered and wrote.  She asked if I thought I could stop doing those things.  Ummm…Sure….but then what would I do?   It would be really hard to give up all of those things.  I know I should exercise more and I could definitely do that….but what about all those extra hours?  What about the fact that these are things I love to do?

So I have severely cut down on the amount of time I spend on these activities in an effort to cure the symptoms.   The physio seemed ok with that plan and has asked me to stop whatever activity I’m doing the moment it causes me pain and to only work in short bursts.   I have been very good about following those directions and my hand has improved steadily. I’ve been wearing my ”wonder woman” splint at night too and in writing this I’ve just rememered that I have exercises to do.  Whoops!   The only problem is  that because  it’s linked to my neck and back the physio thinks that my hand will plateau now until I get those taken care of.   

But the exciting news is that I can still continue to do all the things I like – it’s just going to be a slower process.

Over the last few weeks I’ve found that some things hurt more than others.  Pulling thread through a thick fabric is more strenuous than pulling through a thin fabric, or pulling through air.  So I’ve tried some needle lace which was lots of fun and less strain.

These are some little badges.  The background fabric is made from white cheesecloth and purple …(damn…what’s that stuff called?  Chiffon?…anyway, you know… the see through stuff).  The two pieces of fabric were glued together, with beads and sparkly fibre sandwiched between them.  The glue was a watered down mixture of modpodge.  The fabric dries stiff but flexible.  The backing is just plain callico.  I think the stiffness of the fabric helped support the needle lace quite well.

I also navajo plied my alpaca. The link goes to a pretty good utube video – I am definitely not as smooth as the woman in the video!  Plying itself is not too painful as the thread just runs through your hand.  But I’m still finding that my spinning is too uneven and makes navajo plying a bit unpredictable.  When I bring a thick bit through a thinner bit of the loop it does seem to catch a little….or break…

This looks like I have only 3 fingers!  The effects of carpal tunnel are not quite that dramatic.  Unfortunately I haven’t been able to capture the colours properly – they are less grey.

Vivian from our knitting group, (that’s right, we now have a knitting group – it’s very cool), kindly lent me her Ashford Knitter’s Loom so I could “try my hand” at weaving. (It’s a joke, Joyce).  I’m pleased to say that weaving does not trigger the carpal tunnel symptoms.  Yay!  It’s been fun trying it out.  I am pleased with my first scarf, though it’s really funny to be back to square one with something.  The scarf has flaws in it where I’ve missed a warp thread.  I figure that this is similar to dropping a stitch in that first knitted scarf.  I still like my woven scarf though, and feel a sense of accomplishment -  just as I did when I completed my first knitted scarf. 

 

Here it is on the loom. The two colour warp threads were not planned.  I ran out of red and improvised.  But I like the effect.  The warp threads are Patons Superwash wool and the weft is Vero – “made for naturally” shade 60.   My friend Emily gave me the Vero yarn when she was last in Australia –  along with other beauties which shall no doubt make an appearance on these pages in time.  Thanks Emily!

The finished scarf.  I’m going to have to find some info on different finishes for the woven material.  I don’t mind a fringe now and then but I’d like to know how else to secure the fabric.   I’ve read that you can thread the warp threads back through the fabric…but wouldn’t that make it awfully thick at each end?  I’ll just have to try it!

And here’s a mistake!

And another one!  Look closely…it’s a big vertical thread…oh…and please don’t look at the uneven edges! But I still love it! 

I’m giving some thought to buying my own loom.  I had a fairly big birthday recently and  Husband hasn’t given me a present yet,  but  he says he’d be happy to save up and buy me a loom as a pressie.  More investigation needed.

Don’t let me down…

Over the past few weeks I’ve discovered that I sometimes use stitching and knitting as a diversionary tactic to stop myself thinking.  How did I discover this?  Well it seems that I’ve developed some kind of problem with my hand and arm that has made it very difficult to embroider and knit as much as I normally would.  Before you ask, No, I haven’t been to the doctor yet. I thought I’d let it fix itself.  Not such a good plan as it turns out.  I’m going to try and make an appointment for Friday. 

So I couldn’t do anything at all for about a week .  But I have been slowly reintroducing the crafts.  I have spun a little from the dyed alpaca.  It’s very soft and fluffy and only requires the lightest pressure to draft so I thought it wouldn’t hurt my hand too much. The colours are a little less grey.  Very soft blues and greens.  I think I’m going to make a lace scarf out of it…or a lace kerchief depending on how much yarn it makes. I think I’ll make it a 2 ply, although it’s tempting to navajo ply it so I can keep the colour intervals clear – it’s just not my favourite technique.

 

I found that knitting with larger needles was easier than with smaller ones.  My hand cramped up less.  So it was the perfect time to start the Sienna Cardigan with yarn from Wendy.   The yarn from Wendy was a generous gift, a thank you for my podcast, and it’s very much appreciated.  It’s taken me a litte while to find just the right project for it, and I had to finish my jumper for my Mum first.  I didn’t have quite enough for full sleeves, so I made it into a shorter sleeved jacket.  I like it very much and it’s perfect for the slightly breezy, cool but not cold, weather we’ve been having lately.  I also played around with the collar a little bit so it’s a little smaller than the original pattern.

 

Hubby took the photo’s and we both tried very hard to do the best interweave styling that we could manage.  I particularly like the hand on the collar shot

 

New, new things.

I am in serious danger of becoming a Jack of All Trades, Master of None.  Life seems to short to and I want to try so much.  I desperately want to try lampwork and have found a class nearby, but when I pressed the organiser on the minimum tools needed to continue afterards she did not reply.  I don’t see much point in spending $380 on a weekend course if I don’t have enough money to continue with the work afterwards.  Not that I acutally have $380 anyway, but as the course isn’t until October I was thinking I could put some birthday money towards it…anyway…this isn’t about not being able to do things…this is about being able to do new things!

My lovely new and generous friend, Hope, gave me a whole bunch of fibre to spin with from her, (quite sizeable, I have to say), stash. I’ve spun up quite a lot of it and just skeined up and set this:

I’m not sure what type of wool this was but it was from a bat and had little bits of white fluff in it.  I’ve navajo plied it and I’m pleased with the result. I really enjoyed spinning from a batt – the fibre was really light and fluffy to work with.

Hope also gave me some alpaca.  I’ve never had any alpaca before and didn’t want to ruin it, so it was with some trepidation that I set out to dye it yesterday.  I bought an old pot from the op-shop and took down the “Rhonda Trounce silk and wool dyes” that my Mum had passed on to me.  They didn’t have any instructions so I loosely followed the kettle dyeing instructions posted on the “From the Dyepot” forum on Ravellry.  I’ve done Jelly crystal dying in the microwave before but haven’t done any kettle dying or steam dying.   I soaked the fiber for about 4 hours in a vinegar and water solution, filled the pot up a little way so that the water line was just level with the fibre and proceeded to pour some of the dye into the pot.  The dyes are already liquid so I didn’t have to do any mixing – but I had no idea how strong they were.  I used a deep green and a purple and dotted it around with a chopstick.  The water looked more intense than the actual colours turned out, I think.  So I’ll take note of that for next time.  The dye was exhausted though – only clear water left at the end of the simmering processs.  At the moment the fibre is still drying – but here’s what it looked like in the pot.

And now for a closer look – notice how the purple combined with the green to make a sea blue kind of colour?

So far, though I had hoped that a bit more purple would show through, I do like the results.

Now while the pot was simmering, I had to do something.  So I taught myself how to tatt using this utube video paired with this instuctable.  I went back and forth between both sites so I could work out how it was done.  It done by totusmel, whose blog I found through the one world one heart event. Many thanks to her for the instuctions.

I managed to make a flower!

 

But not before some mishaps:

 

 - It took me a little while to realise that each ring had to be joined back into the same picot created on the first ring.  I can see the potential for freeform tatting in this

The other morning we were having breakfast on the balcony and noticed 3 perfect spiderwebs in the bushes.  They were quite stunning and I wished I had a proper digital camera so I could get a better shot for the blog. 

 

Isn’t that amazing!  Small wonders.

Just scratching around…

We had a lovely lazy morning, brunching on the balcony and patting our neighbour’s cat who seems to have adopted us as his second humans.  DH has to get his morning coffee and at present his machine is broken, so off we went to a local cafe’ where he got his caffine fix and I ordered a “chill out” herbal tea.  I did exactly that, sipping tea and embroidering some more chicken scratch samples.  Not a bad morning at all!

 

With this one I tried contrasting threads – the base thread “disapearing” into the background.

 

After the first attempt with the orange thread I felt like trying to create a more complex lacing pattern.  I have been so impressed with the balanced complexity that others have achieved – needless to say I’m still working on it.

 

With this I tried working on the diagonal and with some variagated thread.  I’ve been finding it difficult to achieve curves with this stitch – I’ve so admired the graceful lines that others have found in their patterns.

Phew!

Sometimes you just need to scrub the board clean and start again.  Now I’m not saying these samples of chicken scratch are anything stupendous.  But they are an improvement, and, more to the point, I think I’m heading in the right direction now.

The one done in green perle thread is playing with knotting in the middle of some of the base thread, rather than lacing at the edges.  I don’t think it’s entirely successful – probably needs more thought given to the type of “knots” – I just buttonholed them.

The next two sample are done with one strand of linen thread.  They are both the same design but the base stitches are made on different coloured squares.   It’s interesting to me how circling the white square and having the stars on the dark green square (in the second sample) has made the design look more delicate – to my eyes, anyway.

The Humble Chook

As you know I have yet to complete the Take  a Stitch Tuesday challenge that I started two years ago.  Thus I did not take place in the Take it Further challenge run by Sharon B  from Pin Tangle last year.  You can hardly take it further when you haven’t reached the initial milestone.  But this did not stop me wanting to try the “chicken scratch” stitch from this year’s Stitch Explorer.  After all there is only one stitch to explore a month.  Never mind that the Chicken Scratch was offered up in January and it’s already March.

I flicked through all the  remarkable samples on line, and my friend Elizabeth from Quieter Moments , (who blogged many of the remarkable samples I was drawn to)  sent me some lovely gingham on which to try the stitch. 

Now, with a name like “Chicken Scratch”, I was expecting a relatively easy stitch.  When I think of a chicken scratching around in the dirt making marks with it’s feet, I think of a basic and expressive, perhaps even unconsious approach to mark making.   I was fooled!

This stitch required a thought out plan of patterning.  It required discipline and a delicate touch with tension. I was humbled by it.  So, in the intersted of humilty and truth I will display my first attempts at Chicken Scratch!

 

You will see that I only managed the most rudimentaty pattern.  I’m not unhappy with the blue and green samples – they just look naive.  I’m not totally unhappy with the red….I could develop it.  But the Black!  Yuk!  It started out with some interesting looking diamonds and for some reason I thought adding more patterning might help, and because that didn’t work I added some more. 

But I will keep trying to get a handle on this – it’s such a deceptive stich and I’m determined not to let it beat me. Besides which it was wonderfully absorbing to work on sitting down in the sunshine near the sea.  Despite my less than illustrious results I had a lot of fun trying to figure this one out.

 

I’ve also been doing some more drawing with my pastels.  I’ve never thought myself  “good” with colour and I’ve mostly drawn in black and white all my life.  But I’m experimenting.  Life’s too short not to give colour a go.

 

Mixing it up

It’s been a little while since I posted but I have been doing things.

OWOH NEWS

Firstly I’d like you to know that I have sent off the OWOH brooch to Clarissa.

Secondly…I’d like to let you know that Ninnie didn’t get back to me about winning the choker so I’ve had to choose another winner.  And that winner is  Rayna.

(If you happen to find this post Ninnie, and realise that you didn’t get my emails – I’d be happy to send you another brooch.)

I AM EXTRA SPECIALLY LUCKY….

because I was the very lucky winner of this lovely handmade brooch from Raf. 

 

 

 

 She has some very cool felted jewellery

I apologise for the fuzzines of the picture.  The camera just wouldn’t seem to focus – we have a video camera that takes stills – but I don’t think they are as good as a purpose built digital camera. It was very exciting to get a package from Spain!

My dear friend Elizabeth, who is such a skilled and beautiful embroider and has the beautiful blog Quieter Moments, sent me this very generous package of material for me to work with. I had been complaining that I couldn’t find any gingham with which to try the chicken scratch stitch on.  So now I have that and a whole lot of other beautiful fabric.

 

 

I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THINGS

I’ve  just about finished my Mum’s jumper and am waiting to get down to her so I can do a “fitting” – I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to knit some gussets for the sides, but other than that it should fit well – here’s hoping because I am longing to knit myself a jumper before winter comes.

I’ve been spinning up the Kareoke fibre I got from Eco Yarns.  The other day the owner asked me if it had turned muddy when I plied it.  It certainly seemed very dark but I don’t think it’s muddy.  When spinning I kept the colour changes as they appeared in one singles and did another lot where I made longer colour reapeats but pulling apart the tops into smaller sections so that I could spin colours as I wanted.   Then I plied both the singles together and this is what I got:

The green hasn’t showed up quite as well in the photos – it is a little more vibrant that this.  But I don’t think it’s muddy. She’s got me wondering about my spinning now

I’ve also finally discovered a way to back some brooches efficiently and have them stay pretty stiff.  I was couching wire around them but it was taking forever.  Now I used some of that thick and stiff fabric stiffener to make a backing and then sew the embroidered part to that.  It’s still fiddly but is working much better.

 

I AM SOMETIMES A DRAGON

I got some pastels for Christmas and have had lots of fun playing with them.  I am really quite fond of this dragon and the glowing fire orb he has almost expired on top of in his efforts to protect it.

 I have also been doing some knitting.  This is a little teacosy of my own design…I think of it like a campaign tent out a battlefield filed with knights…to go along with the dragon.

ONE WORLD ONE HEART DRAWING

I used a random number generator to pick the winners.

The first chosen was:

Clarissa from Clarissa’s Glassgrrl Studio : Clarissa will received the embroidered heart.

The second chosen was

Ninnie from Ninnie’s world  : Ninnie will recieve the beaded choker.

 

I will contact both the winners and give them a week to get in touch.  After that I will draw another name if need be.

Thanks to everyone for playing and leaving links to your lovely blogs.  I will continue to visit them in the coming weeks.

OWOH – DRAWING INFO

So by my calculations, I should be doing my drawing at about 2am on Thursday 12th…which is US time for when I get home here in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

 

 

BUSHFIRE  APPEAL  NOTICE

On another more serious note:   No doubt most people have heard about the tragic Victorian Bushfires.  The last count I heard was 181 dead and thousands left homeless.  There are lots of people wanting to help and most people know you can donate to the red cross.  I thought this site Handmade Help was interesting too – as it’s looking at ongoing help for these people.  And if you want to donate a blanket or toy  or give in some way but don’t have anything ready to go – this might be the answer.

Also Passionfruit is organising a collection along with  truly amazing  yarn prizes  acting as an incentive for those who donate money to the red cross.

ONE WORLD ONE HEART

I’m going to participate in the One World One Heart Blog Event.  It is being coordinated by Whimsical Bohemian.  Basically a whole lot of crafty bloggers are joining the gypsy caravan by giving away some item.  I’m going to give away this hand embroidered brooch…made by yours truly.  

And..

I’ve just completed this beaded choker which I’ll also do a drawing for.  It’s made from Japanese glass sead beads.  The black are matte beads, the blue – irridescent and the green – opaque. 

Just thought I’d put in a picture of it on so you can see what it actually looks like.  But it is not for me, it’s  for one of you…I only put it on quickly for the photo.  Though now I think I might make one for myself too

To win either the brooch or the necklace all you have to do is leave a comment on this post by 11th Feb.  I will do a random drawing and announce the winner on 12th Feb.  Please make sure that I have some way of contacting you though, i.e. that your comment links back to your blog or  that you include an email address in your comment.    WordPress links to blogs but not automatically to emails.  There are a few people who have already left comments without a link back to a blog or an email address.  I ‘d really like to be able to contact you if you are one of the winners.

This is all in an effort to link up with other crafty people around the world.  There are so many wonderful drawings on others blogs so do make sure you check them out.  I think I’ve managed to make this  a sticky post so it should stick around up the top here.