Saturday, July 31, 2010

Small Flower Loom

I watched a tutorial using a small flower loom, the same flower loom that I found in my mystery bag from the second hand shop. It gave me an idea to make grand daughter Bella (5 yrs) a bag for her DS game boy. 
Below is the finished bag, it is the same on both sides.
I made a lining and put a zipper in for security.
As you can see, the game boy fits perfectly in the little bag, along side of the bag is the flower loom that I used.
Below is a tutorial, which eventually gets to the flower making. There were more tutorials, but I found this one the best of them.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

What I learned From Recycling Sweaters

My initial research paid off. I knew what to look for, what could be taken apart.
But what I was not prepared for was a thin sweater (too much work), I was also unaware of how long to soak the recycled yarn. After more research, I learned it is best to leave the yarn soaking over night. This will help to get rid of the wrinkles (not totally so far), clean the yarn and leave it smelling like new.


I unraveled the sweater with the help of my yarn winder.

Then I wound the yarn into large skeins by wrapping it around 2 chairs and used about 6 ties to secure it.

I then let the yarn soak over night in a eucalyptus wool wash.
The batch in here are yarn balls I bought second hand and they were smelly so I washed them too.

This is my first lot of  unraveled and soaked yarn, that is now drying in the shower.
You can put something heavy on the bottoms of the skeins to assist with the wrinkles coming out even more.

This is another sweater to unravel.
 After the yarn had dried, I was looking forward to winding it into balls to use with my yarn winder, not that simple. I had placed the skein on the floor and begun to wind the yarn, but it all ended up into a mess!
Put your thinking cap on Cat! There must be a right way to do this, even with out a swift. So I went back to the chairs where I had made the skeins, placed the skeins back over the chairs and began to wind the balls of yarn that way. Yippee, no tangles, but I will still have to go back to the yarn winder and use that if I want nicely wound balls of yarn.

I have now gone just that one step further and attached the yarn winder to the chair to save time.
Some may say why bother with all that trouble?
For me, I found it relaxing (apart from winding the yarn around the chairs). 
The washing means you are almost there.
The money saved is more than worth the effort.
And finally, I finally have the same ply and color to make larger projects, this is very exciting for me.
Some very useful links.

How to Unravel a Sweater to Recycle Yarn 

Reclaiming yarn from a thrift store sweater

Saturday, July 24, 2010

I tried some more weaving

In my last post I had made a tiny weaved pouch. I used the same method to make a bag for myself. I used quite thick yarn and tried some different weaving techniques too. I have been watching quite a few youtube video tutorials to learn more about the weaving. I really like the texture the weaving gives you.


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

A Little Bit of This and That

This week I have been unwell with a nasty cough, and chest infection. Hubby caught it last week and the grand kids the week before. So it's traveling around the whole family.
I've been taking it easy and doing lots of internet surfing. When I come across something different that I fancy, I give it a bit of a go.


First I found this scrap buster youtube tutorial. I liked the stair pattern it created. At the beginning and the end of this pattern you do use scraps, but in the gut's of the pattern, it takes up more than just scraps.
I used a bag full of blue and white baby yarn that I had sitting in the corner of my cupboard just waiting to be put to use and made this small baby blanket.


Another youtube tutorial was on crochenit. I was given some double ended crochet hooks some time back and I thought it was about time to try them out. So here I am making up another bathroom mat with this method.


And yet another youtube tutorial on weaving a small case, see's me beginning one of my own. I've been wanting to try a small weaving project for weeks.


After seeing my doctor on Tuesday, I took the opportunity to check out a couple of second hand shops. I picked up a couple of sweaters that are suitable for recycling (it will be my very first time to unravel a sweater), a bag of brown yarn and a bag of mystery items.
The mystery bag was priced at $2, but what caught my eye was the little orange loom. I have not opened it up as yet, I'm saving it for an incentive for myself. Because I've been feeling so poorly with this cold, I have not over done it with the house work. So I made a deal with myself, I can open the mystery bag when I have achieved a certain amount of house work, sick or not. Well it has worked and my incentive is awaiting it's  opening.


Contents revealed.
The loom is a flower maker, there are several balls of cotton, twine and yarn, lots of elastic, shoe laces, frames, ribbon, some sort of shuttle that you would wrap cotton onto (the red plastic item in the frame on the left), bias binding, doily, zip and some press studs.
not bad for $2.

Last but not least, I made a heart illusion square, just to see how they are made.
Pattern here. 
I hope you have enjoyed my little bit of this and that.