Daily Fiber

Consider the Plastic Bag

Posted on April 19, 2019 by Laura Kate

It is my stated goal to explore the possibilities of everything fiber, or even fiber-ish. Plastic bags seem to accumulate at an alarming rate in my home. This photo shows the orange plastic bag that my daily paper comes in, if the weather is even the least bit damp. Recycling these wrappers is not an option in my community. Of course the re-use option is the most likely destination for this item. I don’t have a dog, so that re-use is not going to happen. I re-use them occasionally to cover my paint rollers temporarily, if I am unable to finish the paint job in one day. But considering that the wrappers are long and narrow, I wondered if they could be woven, crocheted or knit?

The answer is yes to all three. I started out by knitting and, indeed, came up with a respectable looking little orange swatch. But I couldn’t think of any use for it. I moved on to crochet, using my no. 15 hook.

I connected the wrappers with clear tape. I tried sewing them end to end, but the plastic clung to my needle every time I pushed it through wrapper.
Here is my chain, slip-stitched together.
Here is the finished object, viewed from the bottom. My husband says it looks like a bunch of Cheetos.

The object ended up as a sort of Koozie, or in this case, a cover for a plant pot. I inserted a glass jar, added a cotton bow and filled with herbs. One could just as easily insert a cold beer which would likely stay cold until consumed.

My conclusion is that one can crochet a bunch of plastic together, but it isn’t fun and it isn’t pretty. The result is a bit of a “sow’s ear” trying to be a “silk purse.”

sewing

Bandana Day

Posted on April 17, 2019 by Laura Kate

The handy dandy bandana has been a useful item for over a century. I am talking about the 100% cotton variety made in India. While its more humble uses include wiping sweat and blowing the nose, it occurred to me these brightly printed squares have an unlimited potential for converting into fashion accessories. Here is one idea for crafting a bandana into a necklace. In addition to a black and white bandana, I have gathered thread, fusible adhesive, beads, metal rings, a jewelry clasp and fabric markers. For tools you will need only scissors, a needle, a hot iron and some glue.

First I looked carefully at the design and picked out a large-ish motif. To me, it resembles a phoenix. I cut it out and fused it to a piece of felt. I also cut two 7 inch long strips from the bandana border, which included the row of paisley shapes. I started experimenting with colors, filling in the white areas of the cloth.

**Cut away the rest of the fabric, leaving only the colored portion.**

Next I folded up the strips so that only the paisleys showed. I secured them by fusing the raw edge to the inside fold. I colored the paisleys on the strips in a random pattern. Here are my pieces after this step.

**I sewed a ring at each end of the strips so that I can connect the necklace parts.**

After experimenting with the beads, both placement and sequence, I came up with this arrangement. I then joined the central motif to the strips with more rings.

Finally, I sewed a ring at the back end of each strip and added a jewelry clasp. To secure the beads and keep the fabric from unraveling I added dabs of white glue to the thread knots and the strip ends.

Here is the finished object. Yes, that’s me in the photo. I’m smiling so I must like it.

This was a really fun project. As soon as I finished it, my mind began to race with lots of ideas for other accessories I could make with a simple square of printed cloth.

colorwork, knitting

Project Unearthed

Posted on April 16, 2019April 16, 2019 by Laura Kate

Yesterday, as I was tidying up my studio, I came across a project bag. In it were four small balls of sock yarn and this inspiration photograph:

Technically, this project is half finished. I knit my first pair of gloves last winter, using an eight stitch square stranded knitting pattern that I had designed. They turned out great and I wore them frequently during the cold months that followed.

**Grey is merino wool and nylon, white is alpaca**

But I had intended to make patterned mitts to wear over the gloves, as a fashion statement and to give some extra warmth when needed. Today I will start this project. I don’t want to copy the inspiration photo slavishly, rather, I’d like to make something unique. It will be a bit tricky, because 1: The design must be about 8 inches around because that is the diameter of my hand, 2. The mitts are knit in the round, and 3. I don’t know the gauge yet. I will need to determine the gauge before I finalize the design. Here is the chart that I drew:

This design suggests palm trees to me. Notice that the pattern stitch repeat and the pattern row repeat are both multiples of eight. My plan is to cast on 64 stitches, assuming that I will get a gauge of 8 stitches per inch. At least that is what I usually get with sock yarn and stranded knitting. So here is my 64 stitch swatch fresh off the needles:

It knit up pretty well. I kinda like the design. Here is the swatch blocked:

If you have sharp eyes, you will notice that the blocked piece is 4 and 1/2 inches across, making it 9 inches around. Too big! While I could try to get gauge with smaller needles, I’m not sold on this design for the mitts. The scale is too large.
I’ll go back to the drawing board and try again. Thankfully, the cold weather is over for the next eight months.

crochet

Crochet Bouquet – finally

Posted on April 15, 2019April 17, 2019 by Laura Kate

I have been fiddling around crocheting three dimensional flowers for about five days now. The instructions came in a book by Suzann Thompson, Crochet Bouquet. This particular style is called Aster-oids. They are very simple to make, in terms of stitches, using only chain, single crochet and slip stitch.

I found the idea of making the flowers to be a lot more fun than the actual making turned out to be. Working them was a rather fiddly undertaking. The one great virtue of flowers made out of yarn is that they won’t ever wilt.

sewing

Taking requests

Posted on April 13, 2019 by Laura Kate

Recently, one of my blog readers sent me a request. She asked me to make “baby napkins. My baby is so messy!” I said yes immediately. Then I started to wonder. What exactly did she mean by baby napkins? For you folks in the U.K, it isn’t what you might think. Baby nappies, or what we in the U.S. called diapers, go on the baby’s bum. She wants something more akin to smallish dinner napkins, for wiping the baby’s face during meals. I thought to myself, why doesn’t she just use a burp rag for this purpose? Then I realized that there was more than one objective here. This little fiber object will help to civilize and educate this child. So here is what I came up with:

I selected three cotton prints and cut them into 7 x 10 inch rectangles. Finished size will be 6 x 9. The tan color flannel will be sewn to the print fabric, making the napkins twice as absorbent. That will take care of the practical need to wipe messy hands and faces. The front and back will be sewn on all edges, right sides together, leaving a small opening for turning.

**I’m using about a 3/8th inch seam allowance, which will be trimmed before turning.**

After turning out to the right sides, I stitched all around the edges. So far, these are just like any ordinary napkins, only thicker and smaller. They can be laid on the table at meal times, along with the regular napkins for the other family members. Baby will eventually become aware of the patterns, rituals and customs of family dining.

The second little adjustment I made to the design is to machine-embroider two vertical lines, dividing the napkin into thirds. When baby is ready to help with chores, she will easily fold the napkins after they have been laundered.