Wavellite

Posted on May 15, 2013 by CrazyVet

I was thinking of dyeing another green yarn, this time with more yellowish hues in it, and when I saw this wavellite, I knew I wanted to make a yarn in these exact colors.

Wavellite - USGS Mineral Specimens 1183

I’m so happy with the results, I wasn’t sure it would come out exactly as I wanted. Again, the differnt fibers took the dye differently, some are more subtle and others more intense.

SWN yarn

Bambool sock yarn

SWS lace yarn

100% cashmere lace yarn

100% silk fingering weight yarn

100% silk fingering weight yarn

My favorite this time is the cashmere lace yarn. I was so surprised no one wanted to buy it, it’s just gorgeous and oh-so soft. I think I just might keep it all for myself, make room for it on my nightstand and pet it right before I go to sleep…

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Ruby corundum

Posted on May 15, 2013 by CrazyVet

Inspired by this lovely piece of ruby corundum from Tanzania.

Corundum-215245

I wanted to mix redish shades of purple, and highlighted them with a bit of yellow to make them more muddy. As always, each fiber has taken the shades a bit differently.

SWN yarn

wool-silk light worsted yarn

SWS lace yarn

Bambool sock yarn

AS lace yarn

100% silk fingering weight yarn

100% silk fingering weight yarn

my personal favorite is the alpaca-silk lace yarn, but that’s not a big surprise, considering I’m a sucker for lace yarns…

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Rhodonite

Posted on May 15, 2013 by CrazyVet

I wanted to dye another red colorway, but this time more delicate and subtle than my rhodo-red from last year. I mixed a little bit more blue into it, matching my inspiration this time, the mineral rhodonite:

Rhodonite-169801

Again, the different fibers took on the dye differently. I find that the matted texture of the bamboo blend yarn goes just perfectly with these reds.

Bambool sock yarn

Bambool sock yarn

100% silk fingering weight yarn

100% silk fingering weight yarn

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Turquoise

Posted on May 15, 2013 by CrazyVet

When I mixed the colors for these yarns, I wanted to get bright turquoise hues, with a dash of green and blue, inspired by this lovely piece of turquoise mineral:

Turquoise-216415

The different yarn bases took on the colors differntly, the pure silk of course being much more lustrous than the bamboo-wool blend.

100% silk fingering weight yarn

100% silk fingering weight yarn

Bambool sock yarn

Bambool sock yarn

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Getting ready for the anual gathering

Posted on May 9, 2013 by CrazyVet

I’ve been working really hard to make sure I’m all set for the anual gathering tomorrow. Here’s a little preview of the yarns I dyed especially for the ocasion:

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Hope to see some of you there tomorrow, and whatever’s left over, will be updated in my artfire shop soon.

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Rhodo-red

Posted on April 9, 2012 by CrazyVet

I’ve always had a thing for reds, I just can’t help it. I wanted to dye some yarn in very red tones, having something like this rhodochrosite crystal as my inspiration:

Smithsonian 8-10-09 - 046

(credit and thanks to Orbital Joe for allowing to use his photo, and to the Smithsonian Museum, to whom this exhibit belongs)

I mixed my different reds and highlighted them with two greys of varying intensity, and this what I got:

Ruby red

And here’s a photo of the entire batch:

Ruby red

I’m quite happy with the results, though next time I’ll try dyeing an even redder yarn…

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Exchangeable needle case

Posted on March 9, 2012 by CrazyVet

I have two sets of interchangeable knit picks needles and their case was always messy and disorganised. I decided to put an end to that, and make myself a new case, using some of leftover fabrics form one of my sister’s project that I found at my mother’s fabric stash and the cotton lining I used for my kindle case.

I am fairly happy with the design and how it came out; it wasn’t easy to figure out how much space to leave for each of the needle sizes. I also added two zippered pockets for cables and other notions, using a zipper attaching technique I learned from this tutorial.

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My mother already said she wanted one for herself, and so did my sister. Since the fabrics were hers originally, and she likes them better than I do, she said she’d be happy to have this one, once I have one made for myself. Best solution for everybody, isn’t it?

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Home made comb

Posted on February 26, 2012 by CrazyVet

I really like working with blended fibre for spinning, but I don’t have a comb or the budget to buy myself one. So after looking up a little bit over the internet, I decided to make myself one, using long hairdresser’s combs, a couple of wooden planks, and my loving mother’s help. Here’s how it looks with my first batch of combed fiber:

Home-made comb with fiber, ready for dizing

And here how my combed rovings look like…

Combed merino roving made with my home-made comb

I just love this colour combination, and they’re spinning really nicely together, too.

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Kindle case

Posted on February 10, 2012 by CrazyVet

I got my kindle over a week ago, but wouldn’t use it until I had a proper case for it, for fear it would be damaged. I found these two fabrics at my mother’s stash (the colours are a little bit off):

Kindle case - fabrics

And made this case using them…

Kindle case - finished

Isn’t shopping at your family stash the best?

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Some more baby sweaters

Posted on December 6, 2011 by CrazyVet

Two lab colleauges are pregnant and expected to deliver sometime in December, so I made them both tiny sweaters for 3-6 months old babies.

For the one having a boy I made a baby surprise jacket in variegated adelyn microfibre yarn  (project page) and for the one having a girl I made a garter yoke cardigan based on Elizabeth Zimmerman’s baby sweater on two needles subtracting the lace design, with a variegated yoke and light purple body (project page), also in adelyn microfibre yarn, both variegated and solid colours.

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