Forward on the learning curve

Dorothy's latest adventure

The knitting/crocheting/weaving world is celebrating the 2010 Winter Olympics in it's own way. By crafting up a storm! I've completed my 1st two projects:

Knit & felted the comfiest slipper EVER.
Fiber Trends clogs.

And cut another woven fabric fresh from the loom.
I made a really fraking big tote bag!
(The Olympic Carrier :)

Came off the loom Saturday morning.

I ran out of Weft color 3 times before I got to the end of the Warp. The color breaks helped decide the design.

(I DIDN’T have a plan!)

As I added the finishing touches to the bag I realized it was pretty “fraking” big. So in honor of the Ravelympics & Battlestar Galactica I’ve named it The Olympic Carrier :)

Cutting this time wasn’t so scary - in fact I wove it with the express intention of cutting immediately. Ran out of yarn I was using for the weft and there wasn’t a skein to be found at any of the stores around here. I wasn’t thrilled with the red/grey color at first, so I just wanted to get it off the loom. Grabbed the Debbie Mumm brand; a little thicker weight, deeper red and it has sparkle shots throughout. Was not crazy about that either. By using it on the sides & handles of the bag as contrast, it didn’t seem so bad when I was done.

After thought bag flap done in Warp color just so I could finish the skein and the warp that was at the end of the loom. (Just found another skein of this stuff I've been using as warp. I thought it was gone. Jeesh!)

Already planning the next project to cut up. Maybe down size the Design-As-I-Go method for a smaller scale bag pattern next time.

Finished THINGS!

Me and Dorothy
...still friends :)

I threaded my loom with some cheap (mostly free) acrylic yarn and wove 6 feet of of "too stiff to be a scarf" fabric. I SEW. So why do I have a pile of woven stuff gathering into an ever higher clump of unused "fabric".
Time to take the scissors to some of it and make something!

Weavolution has a sub group for "Fearless Scissors" and I joined thinking it would motivate me into cutting & sewing something from my growing pile of woven material. Finally dawned on me if I just pile up everything that comes off my loom and is NOT a scarf and ready to wear, the yarn might as well stay rolled up in a ball. Kind of like exchanging one stash for another...what was the point?

Current mood: Quite Satisfied!
I spent a very productive morning once I screwed up enough courage to take the rotary cutter to my latest woven effort.
I made a bag!
The "fabric" is almost upholstery-like. If you thread bulky yarn through every hole of the loom's beater (12 slots per inch) you get very stiff fabric - unfit for a scarf. And the weft all but disappears. I kind of liked as it took on a denim look almost.

I found my sewing machine & SOME of my cutting table.
Need to do some spring cleaning so I can find more of it.
THE PLAN: throw stuff into Sara's old room and SORT, SORT, SORT.

I also made some size 12 socks out of wool and shrunk them down to size 8 Fuzzy Feet slippers. I put them in the washer at about the same time as I made the first whack with a rotary cutter for the bag.

Irony: I took them to work on while waiting for Uncle Joe at the eye doctors on Monday. It was so dark in their waiting room I grabbed a size 7 needle that was in my bag instead of the size 9.
Did most of the heel with one wrong sized needle each row.
Because I could not see what I was doing.