Hat maker?

As I was finishing the hat I was musing on being a hat maker. As row upon row of the cording was attached stitch by stitch with a sc of cashmere I thought about my great great aunt who was one, my grand father who was one and my grand mother who desperately wanted to be one but was not allowed...She had to run her parents business. Is it in the genes? I enjoyed the process very much and am pleased with the results.

And of course my new toy is in full swing, cant resist a new technique. Made some beaded ropes...

and a few more pearl necklaces. Looks easy because of the machine, nut in fact is quite time consuming as must pay very close attention. Am pleased with the results though.

I was just thinking....

I was just thinking this afternoon as I was playing with my new toy. Actually the thought was implemented yesterday as I was playing with my crippled girlfriend, her wrist being enveloped in a cast. She was saying that it would be easier to have some kind of attachment to the machine so she wouldn't have to hold it with her hand. It hurts. As for me I'd like to have a free hand as I find that hours of holding the thing gives me cramps. So as I thought some more, I decided that I needed some kind of "Clamp" where I could insert the machine, then clamp it to a table or better yet my very comfortable knitting chair.

About 3 hours later I have it!!!

2 pieces of plywood, 1 indent to slide the machine in, and a hole below for the cording coming out. My hands are still shaking from using another of my favorite tools, my Dremel contour sander. A marvelous piece of equipment that smooth es all surfaces. I got it last year to finish the bamboo DPNs I was making. Makes the job go fast, but the shaking leaves my hands quite numb for knitting. Never mind. I am so exited about this right now I don't care!!!!

There it is lying on my table, and marvel of marvels my pasta machine clamp is perfect for the job.....

Now for the view with the machine inserted,

and clamped to my working table which is quite close to my chair.

And YES it does clamp to the arm of my chair!!!!!

Am so excited, this is going to be fun!!!

New toy, New inspirations...

I love getting new toys. I treated myself to new automatic corking machines.

Came with wire too!!!


I had 3 old ones that were very tired. My Father had bought them at a Paris Fair in 1976!!! I still remember the pure joy of playing with it. We pumped out mileage of cording, but I don't remember doing anything with it.


Now am totally into it. Making bags I had used it to make flowers and embellishments, fast and furious, I wore out my old ones. The new ones even knit wire, yum.

So I played with it and made this necklace with my favorite color lime green, and pearls. Amazingly enough, the fabric is very soft but sturdy, sits well on the skin. I used 32 gauge wire and fresh water pearls.

And of course I had to play with wool. Took me less than 1 hour to make 1 ball of cording from 1 ball of wool. I thought maybe a baby hat bound in cashmere would be fun. There is the start.

I can see endless possibilities and inspirations. All other project are on hold while I play...

For the love of SWS

I love SWS. Just got my shipment to day from Yarn by the bag, they shipped on Wednesday, and it was here Thursday morning, you gotta love that. This yarn addresses all my favorite knitting things. It's smooth, silky, tactile heaven when knitting. It felts like a damn, and the colorways are dynamite. Too bad it's a bit on the expensive side, but this time I lucked out, there was a sale....

So I keep making these slippers/Crocs inserts, fun and fast, basically a sock without a leg on 6mm needles using the yoyo heel. They shrink to 1/2!!! But in the process I found a new trick to me, when drying I thread some cotton around the rim and pull tight. Makes a very neat edge and tidy. I blow a balloon inside the slippers to keep them nice and round. Here are the 2 latest.

Weathervane......

I have changed my mind...Again...

Last march I got very frustrated, and decided to delete my blog. Then now I miss it.

I guess the beauty about being a human being is that you can change your mind....

I have been knitting quite a bit and just finished the Swallowtail shawl squared. It is such a fun pattern to make. And squared looks gorgeous. Blocking was scaring me a bit, last weekend I finally took the plunge. I purchased 4 10 feet lengh of pvc pipe and 4 corners. Cut them to 70 inches and got my frame. The job took forever, but was well worth it. After looking at it stretched, all the fine details came out vibrantly. I especially love the corners, you can really see the swallowtails....

Nupps, nupps, nummy nupps...

The center

Oh those corners!!!

There is my baby, happily drying in the only warm day we had!!!