*intense dabbling*

My special interests have a propensity towards crafts. Mostly with fiber or textile. I follow from @spiffypony

[spiffyknits]

Welcome to my craft blog! I do a lot of crafts not just knitting. A full list of my crafts are:

Knitting

Crochet

Weaving

Spinning

Sewing

Cross stitch

Embroidery (dabbling only)

Felting (did it once would like to do more)

Watercolor

Bullet Journaling

I’m a college student with variable amounts of free time, so pretty much all of my original content comes through the queue. I reblog things I like as I see them though.

Last but not least: DO NOT INTERACT IF you are or sympathize with TERFs, SWERFs, nazis, the alt right, or any other hate group <3

[doodleoo]

what you learn from hobbies:

consistent practice opens up whole worlds of skill that you couldn't imagine

making mistakes in the process of learning is not only natural, it is also essential

activities that you enjoy can give you more energy back than you spent on them

wow everything is so expensive

[doodleoo]

my hands hurt

[paintedstitches]

my back hurts

[knittingontheroad]

I thought I could count but apparently I can't.

[peonypurls]

Just need to block 🎴

[handspinning]

about five years ago i attempted this double knit baby blanket for one of my cousins before giving up and going with something more simple.. i’ve carried it around with me for a while but i think it’s finally time to frog her lol

[apolladay]

Have you ever tie dyed something?

yes

no

have I what?

Voting ended onMay 10

[noctumsolis]

I still have the first thing I ever tie-dyed. It was a shirt, of good quality, and although the dye is no longer so vivid it's still in good condition.

I wear it at this time of year to celebrate the turning of the seasons.

ETA: I meant to mention, it's over 20 years old now.

[noforkingclue]

Panel number two is done 😀

[thr3adb3ar]

fingerless gloves made by Pearl Morgan

Pearl Morgan | Facebook

[xenomorphique]

Ouugghh yeah.... Kitten Catch Mittens!!

[farm-paws]

HE’S GAY AND FRIENDLY!

From: ‘Home-made Toys’ The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1960s approx.

[eldritchalpaca]

he's gay and friendly!

(yarn info, pattern thoughts, and extra pics under the cut)

I had so much fun knitting this little guy! I didn't go into it with the intention of making a patchwork elephant but I'm really pleased with the results!

The pattern was very interesting to follow, it was generally intelligible but just not how modern knitting patterns are written. My first attempt at the body piece had to be unraveled because I missed a row and his butt got mixed up with his back leg. Otherwise, not too hard, but if anyone has specific questions about how I interpreted the pattern feel free to ask!

(or any knitting questions really. playing knitting tech support is among my favorite activities)

I decided against making the saddle partially because I ran out of yarn and was dedicated to only using this set of yarn, and partially because I'm proud of my seams at the 4-way color changes and don't want to cover them up.

The yarn is a worsted mini set from my family's yarn dying business, Shelby Strings, in the colorway Geode Cache.

I like the patchwork effect so much that I'm working on writing out an adapted pattern to give out for free at yarn shows! A lot of people like our mini sets but don't know what to do with them, and I think this little guy is a perfect use.

I'm currently working on multiple pattern versions; one that's true to the original but written for a modern audience, and one with multiple colors (along with some tweaks for a nicer time sewing it up and a knit version of the tusks).

I'll be sure to post them here when I'm done, but I couldn't resist posting my perfect baby boy the moment I finished him :)

thanks for reading my ramblings, here's some more pics for the road:

[eldritchalpaca]

AS PROMISED!

here is my gay and friendly elephant pattern document! I've included a transcription of the original pattern, a translation of the pattern into modern knitting pattern verbiage, and notes on how I made my patchwork elephant because he's just so cute and I think everyone needs one.

if you find any problems with the pattern or have any questions, my ask box is open! and feel free to tag me in your elephantine creations! i want to see the world full of friendly gay elephants :)

(also, patches says hi)

[purplepygmyhippos]

Side one of mine is done! Now on to the rest 🐘

[noforkingclue]

Just finished the first panel of a scarf I’m currently making

[lailedcat]

Ok that was a lot of work

What do folks think? Anything missing?

[starlit-meadow]

[upsidedownsmore]

so i made a porcelain spine

and here it is hanging in the hallway for critique last week

wip pics and project notes below!

The goal of this piece was to invoke Russian Gzhel-like patterns on porcelain vertebrae (porcelain was the best option in lieu of white earthenware) with electric blue underglaze. To fulfill the 'process' requirement of this process sculpture assignment, I used sodium silicate to induce surface cracking while they were still leather-hard.

First three vertebrae constructed:

The shapes are of course not exactly anatomically correct, mostly due to time constraints but also due to lower initial expectations for the project. If I were able to change anything about this project, it would be the accuracy of these forms. But then again, abstracted roughness seems to be a running theme with all of my school work.

Crack-inducing sodium silicate added alongside electric blue underglaze Gzhel-like patterns:

The underglaze patterns were similarly roughly applied, forming a kind of abstracted impression of Gzhel without being nearly as detailed or meticulous. It's this abstraction of heritage that I've focused on for my capstone, which you'll see more of in the coming week or so.

Glaze fired and set up in preparation for weaving in the yarn:

Funny enough this was my first time doing pretty much anything with yarn, first time braiding anything since maybe when I was a kid lol. Very pleasantly surprised that it worked out as well as it did!

Though the assignment was to make a sculpture with a process as the central focus, I instead wanted to mainly focus on this spine and Gzhel imagery. At the time, there was about a week or two before I had to accompany my dad for his fairly intense back surgery across the country. To say it was on my mind would be a understatement, and really the whole month of March was filled with intense anxiety around this surgery. Luckily, the operation went well and there were no trip complications, and he seems to be recovering as well as expected so far. That anxiety has since mostly died down, but this random ceramics assignment still holds a lot of significance for me. Between my dad and me I feel like I've had to have back-related issues in my mind for my entire life, and getting to express some of that anxiety in a fragile set of porcelain suspended against gravity has been good.

[systlin]

"Sys how is your decent into fiber arts hell going"

Glad you asked. I have arrived at 'modern flax is Bullshit compared to what we had in historical textiles, the flax widely available for handspinning is basically the tow that would be discarded from textile creation and used with tar to caulk ships back in the day'

This naturally led me down a hole of 'why is the staple length of this stuff a bullshit 6 inches' and the answer is 'we have bred modern flax more for the oil than the fiber because cotton usurped the place of everyday textile thanks to slavery and the cotton gin'

Anyway, THIS led me to a rabbit hole that culminated in me finding flax seed bred for proper 30 inch tall plants for fiber, sold by some fellow minded nerds on a website that has not been updated since 1998 and you have to email them to buy anything.

Anyway how are all of you doing.

[systlin]

I FAILED YOU ALL here is the site. You can also buy flax fiber from them. The PROPER shit, not the hot garbage ass tow fiber sold as flax top for handspinners.

[systlin]

'machine combing shortens the flax fibers by several inches'

This right here is part of why modern linen is a pale shadow of historical linen. Legitimately it cannot be properly replicated by machines. It HAS to be made by human hands if you want the best quality.

[landofla]

If you are interested in traditional flax and linen and spinning and weaving it - you might want to check out Berta's Flax - https://www.bertas-flachs.at/en/ The organization started here:

"Bertas Story

Berta was a farmers girl from Austria who married in the 1940ies. As it was common, she got a huge trunk full of unspun flax and one full of linnen fabric as a dowry. Both trunks were treasured by her till her death but she never used any of it.

Her son wanted the unspun flax to go to a good home and gave it to me. It being way to much to spin myself I found women all over the world to spin it as well. So we are spinning and weaving a net to each other." (from the original Facebook group) Since then they have been saving flax and linen dowries and growing a guild of flax spinners and weavers.

[maudeboggins]

I knit this kerchief! Pattern by tincanknits. It was very fiddly and took me forever but I like how it turned out.

[possiblythembo]

I haven’t talked about The Sweater on here, which is a travesty. It’s gonna take me FOREVER but I adore it already. I found an all-over colorwork pattern I was already kind of obsessed with, and then I realized I could swap out the existing charts for anything I wanted~

The tension is a little rough on these starting rounds and I wish I had done a couple extra rows of ribbing, but I’m still in the ‘wait and see if it resolves’ phase before I frog and try again.

Pattern is Nordic Mix, yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash in Winter White and Berry Pink!

[nestingtendencies]

Silver by Bernadette Ambergen on Ravelry