Autumn Leaves

I finished this necklace a few days ago.  The leaves are from this blog post: Autumn I should have made more, I used almost all of them.

I plan to make more leaves.  I'm thinking earrings, more necklaces and some leafy bracelets.  It seemed like a lot of leaves when I made them, but I guess it wasn't.

But, I've just started some Halloween items that I need to finish first.  In a week I've made maybe 6 beads.  And no, they haven't been cured. At the rate I'm moving they might be ready by next Halloween.  Maybe.

It Must Be Getting Cooler Because...

I've been working on some knitting.  Yesterday, I started a Jane Thornley freerange scarf.  It is based on a scarf "recipe" for it that is free on her website.

Most of the yarns I'm using are wool, plus a few novelty yarns.  The blue in the picture below is actually very purple.  The combination of purple and orange is giving it a bit of a Halloween look.  I wasn't really trying for that, I just like the combination of purple and orange.

I also photographed some things that I had finished earlier this year.  One of the items is this shawl which is mostly acrylic.  I like how it turned out, but I'm seeing that natural fibers sure do drape better than acrylic.

Also, wool breathes better than acrylic and retains it's insulating properties if it gets wet.  I would like to move away from acrylic and work more with wool. But sometimes price gets in the way. 

More Spinning With a Drop Spindle

Here is my latest attempt at spinning yarn.  It turned out much better than my previous two attempts, but far from perfect.  It has a lot of thick and thin but the yarn is not as bulky as my first two attemps.  There are also some spots that are a bit twisty from being over-spun.

I used the roving I had dyed with Kool-aid and I really like how the colors turned out.  It reminded me of the honey spiced peaches I canned last week.

With my first two yarns, I made some bulky hats.  Once the weather turns cold, they should be nice and toasty warm.

I'm going to pick up more fiber and I especially want some of the brown.  I have some more hat projects in mind to try.

Autumn

It is nearly autumn.  Hopefully, this will be the last week of 90+ degree weather and next week I can get some serious work done in the garden.

This last week, I spent most of the week dealing with canning peaches.  Ugh, the peaches beat me up and nearly won!  But, more about that in another blog post.

I have four small apple trees in my garden.  And the best of them are the honeycrisps! Big, beautiful, crispy, juicy, sweet.  Perfect apples.  I thin them a lot and then bag them with plastic baggies in the spring.  The baggies keep the nasty coddling moth out of the apples.  Hubby and I decided we need to plant a larger honeycrisp tree in the spring.

This week, I plan to focus on my ArtFire shop a little more.  No more major canning.  Maybe a project here or there but no more marathon sessions this year.

 I have some autumn colored polymer clay leaves I've been working on.  And I have clay mixed to make a few more.  I'm thinking some sort of necklace, but I haven't really got it completely thought out yet.

I want to get these finished up and move on to some Halloween ideas that I have.  Things I should have been working on a month ago. At the rate I'm moving they should be done for next year.  Maybe. . .

Attempting to Spin With a Drop Spindle

This last week, I went out and bought a drop spindle and some roving.  The one I bought was $22, much less of an investment than a spinning wheel. (Also way smaller and no complicated moving parts)  Here is my first sorry attempt at spinning.  Looks more like dreadlocks than yarn.

This is my drop spindle with some brown fiber I making into dreadlocks yarn.

It's not the most frustrating craft I've attempted, but it's right up there.  Soldering is #1 on my frustration scale, and #2 is throwing on a potters wheel.  Right now this is at #3 on my frustration scale. 

Ive been watching various Youtube videos on spinning with a drop spindle, particularly this one:

http://youtu.be/rPUORvO-GZE

But I think, I can only get so much from watching a video.  I think I need a live human to help me with this.

I've found a local class I'm planning to take to learn how to use the drop spindle.  There is also a beginning spinning wheel class.  The only thing is, I need a wheel for the class.  I would like to find something to rent - I sure have no clue what to buy!  I'll have to see how that goes.

And some more Kool-aid dyeing.  This was white roving that I dyed with yellow food coloring, and lemonade, orange, black cherry and grape Kool-aid. Hopefully it will end up as yummy yarn and not rope or dreadlocks!