Fiber Divas Mixing it Up

Luckily, we fiber divas are easily amused: just give us something long and string-y and we will have absorbing work to do for hours at a time! Ethel came, very patched up and stoked up with a new old project to work on, the Amber hat from her Louisa Harding book.

A restored-in-process and smiling Ethel

Amber hat in-progress, in baby alpaca

Amber pattern from Louisa Harding book

She also brought treasures in her bottomless, funky Trader Joe bag!

Knitting 'zines from Ethel

Ethel's stash runneth over

Yummy treats!

Tina also brought goodies for our review.

Tina's treasures: Loom Knitting books!

I had also gone somewhere and snagged a little round loom on sale:

little round loom

Tina says you can find lots of free projects to do on the looms at the Knifty Knitter (Provocraft) website. She is working on a “manly” wash cloth–that is, one with masculine-type colors like black, to go with someone’s beautiful glossy countertops in a new kitchen.

Tina's cloth in progress

I also got on a dish/facecloth phase last week. Reason one: I found a paper book at JoAnn’s by Leisure Arts, 99 Knit Stitches. Loving it, I started with the first one, Bee Stitch.

Crocheted and Bee Stitch cloths

Reason two: I found, also at JoAnn’s, another Leisure Arts leaflet Wash ‘N Wipe, with about 16 patterns for crocheted wash cloths. Reason three: I found, also at JoAnn’s, the pseudo-magazine for Liondesign 2010-2011 (sorry Ethel, this is what I erroneously told you was the Vogue Sewing pattern mag), which had an article about mixing yarns together for interesting effects; “Mixin’ It Up”. For the bee stitch cloth, I mixed Lily Sugar ‘N Cream Naturals all cotton Sonoma print with a strand of Elsebeth Lavold’s Hempathy, 34% hemp, 41% cotton and 25% modal. This is some of what Wikipedia has to say about modal:

Modal is a cellulose fiber made by spinning reconstituted cellulose from beech trees. It is about 50% more hygroscopic (water-absorbent) per unit volume than cotton. It takes dye like cotton, and is color-fast when washed in warm water. Modal is essentially a variety of rayon.[1]

The stripey crocheted cloth is from Sugar ‘N Cream all cotton, as is this other crocheted one I am working on:

cotton crocheted cloth

Thanks to Ethel’s help casting on the big bobbles, I worked on a scarf? Collar? Wallet? We’ll have to see what the skein produces. The real name of the yarn is Rozetti Cocoon Multi.

Rozetti Cocooning

Lois worked on a another hat, while trying out the bee stitch in the round.

Lois working bee-round

Great to have a friend around for winding!

And, as Ethel realized her baby alpaca ball was all knit up, she and Lois wound another from a soft luscious hank.
I think we will definitely be going to Orlando for the Florida Fiber In next weekend, so check with us if you want to go with us or meet us there! Be forewarned: the theme for this year is England, and some of the participants are going to be wearing Wow! hats.

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Will work [with yarn] for Food!

MMMmmm, we had a delicious meeting, a pleasure to the taste buds as well as to the delicate  sensibilities of the needle art aficionadas! Ethel showed her finished ruffle scarf, and is working on a matching sweater to go with it.

Ethel's knitted ruffle scarf

A more colorful view

In the mean time, she is starting on socks in a very comfortable acrylic and nylon yarn (sorry, I didn’t get a photo of that one) in variegated colors.

And she worked up a cotton dish cloth in the “bee” stitch, which I’ve seen on the internet described as “knitting into the stitch below.” Beautiful, and interesting! Lots of OOOH’s and AHHH’s!

Ethel's Bee stitch dish cloth

Lois' double layer hot pad

Lois brought hot pad a friend had given her. Lois said the double layer pad was very well-used; when she first got it, it was very plushy. I’m not sure what fibers were used in the yarn–cotton? Wool? We talked about it later and decided it is done in a tight single-crochet stitch. The variegated yarn makes it hard to see the little stitches.

Tricia working on purple scarf

Tricia continued on with the purple heather scarf, adding quite a few inches. It matches her outfit.

Newcomer Tina brought her knitting loom to show us, and it was a sensation! She used a thick khaki-colored wool for loom-made mittens. These nifty looms come in different sizes, thanks to the creative people who dreamed them up!

Tina looming a second mitten

Tina had a cool flexible ruler to measure the size of the stitches, and a padded pick tool to weave the yarn in and out of the loom’s posts. She says she’s not really fond of purling on the loom. Does anybody really like to purl?

Beth back at the beginning

Beth started over, having recently become a secret devotee of Dishcloth Makers Anonymous [ “My name is ____ and yes, I love dish cloths.”]

Funny: the beginner project books always start you out on dish cloths. I rejected that as a project because I don’t want my dear dish cloth, over which I had lovingly labored, to touch the residue of egg yolk, refried beans, etc. from the bottom of the sink. Yeccch!

But now, I want to make a dish cloth so badly.

And I’m afraid that the YO’s are going to get me.

Lisa finished her hat. She came over apologizing for not bringing anything to work on. But then she went into the kitchen with Tiffany and made some snacks. We told her, thanks for bringing food, in that case we don’t expect you to work, too.

Lisa and Tiffany whipping up salsa in the kitchen

The cool thing she brought was a mango-corer. You know how that great big pit in the mango is so hard to carve around? Problem solved:

The mango corer thingy

Beth's yummy chocolates

Beth also brought some delectable treats: the chocolates are made with cake mix, water, and canned pumpkin. And they are delish! Melt in your mouth!  She brought some cream cheese frosting to spread on them.

Pepper, onion, lime juice, mango salsa

Beth got a corner done

While Tiffany unraveled hers

Tina's progress on the mitten

The burgeoning blanket

The engineer spouse says I can only milk the time spent on the crocheted blanket just a little while longer, then I’ll have to get on with the knitting. Sigh.  Ethel would agree with him, I think.

I was going to put a little video I made of Ethel and Lois, but yikes, I see that I would have to add the video upgrade at a cost of $59.

Maybe I can make it a YouTube and just insert a link. I’ll work on it—:)

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