Craftiness!

Look! I designed and knitted this blue top! It's done in bamboo, which feels wonderfully soft and is fun to knit with. Unfortunately, it also seems to stretch due to gravity over the course of the day. I needed to make some modifications to compensate for this stretching! I also crocheted the white flowers. And I sewed the skirt! Wheee!

In other knitting news: I'm nearly done my first (two!) sweaters. The one for me is done in gaudy crayon colours in cheap acrylic. The other is superwash wool for my brother, Ed. I have been developing an allergy to wool, but it seems that this superwash stuff is not really itchy at all. Hurray! Just to be sure I'll be able to wear it, I'll take some leftovers from Ed's sweater and make myself a hat. If it doesn't bother my forehead, I should be fine wearing it as a sweater, mittens, scarf. It is also wonderfully soft, this superwash wool I've been using! Also on needles: silly fun scarf for a friend, and a baby sweater for another friend. I can't believe I only have two projects on needles! Of course, I have nearly a dozen almost-completed projects off needles, but let's not count those!

I was also quite intrigued to learn of a technique called card (or tablet) weaving. One of the knitters in my knitting group was weaving one day. This was appealing in its simple construction (no need for a loom) and its protability. I got some books out on the subject from the library and tried it out!

The idea is that you use cards to hold the threads for weaving, rotating them to get a pattern and texture. I made my cards from leftover paper pad backings:




The thread ends are tied to some sort of posts; I used C-clamps (whee for equipment used in furniture construction!).




Once set up, you just go with the weaving, passing some thread back and forth to "lock" in a sequence of threads.




Here is my finished product. I just used some yarns and embroidery threads I happen to have around. This is my second attempt, coming up with the pattern myself. Not too bad a final product, if I may immodestly say so myself!




This type of weaving has 4 layers of yarns so it is quite thick and durable. I envision making my own straps for hand-knitting bags in the future. It's an exciting prospect!

Alas, craftiness will be pushed on the back burner over the next little while as my semester gets busier, my students start demanding more time, and I am applying for jobs, as well as working on a research project myself! Eep! In some ways, I am thankful for my long commute as some days that is the only time I have for knitting!

More crafty photos to come in the future. (I just have to remember to take photos of finished pieces before sending them away!)