Saturday 21 February 2015

FNSI results

Well last night was FNSI and I thoroughly enjoyed pulling out this old sewing project.  Yes I did actually sew lol.  It was a bit of an interrupted night because I started at about 3pm and then took one look at Tess and it was suddenly Lance cooking tea while I took said silly doogie back to the vet again!  I was looking at her and thought I recon I could see signs of the ulcer again well another appointment is made for next Tuesday and even more ointments, antibiotics, antihistamines and a doogie version of panadol were handed over.  My usual vet was away at a conference but will be back on Tuesday but they had contacted him prior to my arrival.  Good thing I forgot to take the insurance forms with me to post yesterday morning!  So poor Tess is back to having the cone on 24/7 again.  All that happened was she enjoyed about 3 hrs outside yesterday with a bone and the allergy flared up and away it went from there.  So quick!

Ok enough about the doogie lol but here's the pics to prove I did get that sewing out and I sat with Tess, very close on the bed and half drugged, and sewed lots of white hexies around it to get it all squared up ready for the next row to be added.  Might even do some more tonight if it isn't too hot here.





This morning I am finally trying something new called solar dyeing.  I say finally because I have actually been trying to get it organised for the last few weeks but was busy with other things.  I will be back to share a post on that later but it involves fibre, dyes, jars and the horrid hot weather!

Thanks for dropping by,

Thursday 19 February 2015

Another skein finished! and FNSI coming up

Over the weekend I finished off and finally skeined and washed my gorgeous 'rose bunny' November Ixchel Club's fibre.  So we went from this .....






to this gorgeous fluffy hank which is perfectly balanced and is so soft!  Yes this one is going to be all mine lol and it is about a 4ply thickness and just over 200gms.

FNSI is also on over at Cheryl's on Friday night and I am going to be revisiting an old hexie project!  Yes sewing will be involved lol.


Friday 13 February 2015

Carding

Today I carded up some more batts for Mum to have a go at spinning.  The main idea was to do some small ones with which she can use to test spin some fibres other than wool to see how she goes.  Mum can not spin or even knit a commercial alpaca yarn which is a real shame when we have spinning days and she sees Charly's gorgeous batts and braids which came in the clubs last quarter.

This first one includes some llama which Mum was given a few locks of that is now washed and blended with BWM tops/bamboo and merino fleece I dyed and carded up some time ago.  There is a soft mushroom/pink, blue, green, yellow and browns in this and I did it in layers of colour for her.



This one is from the leftovers of what I pulled out of the November Ixchel batt.  ie I removed all of the silk thready bits plus a lot of the sparkle and some of the suri alpaca and bunny angora.  I added this to 18 micron merino that I dyed up and had left over bits of mauve and blue.  So it is another gorgeous layered batt to play with.

These and the mohair ones I did a few weeks ago will be plyed with a neutral colour and she can make a small contrast lot as well and there will be enough of each to do stripes in some fingerless mitts to see how it wears next to the skin.

Tuesday 10 February 2015

Update on Tess

Thank you to everyone who has enquired after Tess this weekend.  I thought I would post a quick update to let you know how we got on at the vets this afternoon.  Tess was sedated again so that the button and suture could be removed and although the ulcer was not visible the vet decided to pop the button and suture back on till Friday lunchtime when I can remove it myself at home and just continue with the eye ointment for a further week.  Those extra few days are just to make absolutely sure it has healed.

So still no model for her cute socks lol but thankfully we are getting there with excellent home care according to the vet although I think a lot of it is to do with his care too.

Sunday 8 February 2015

FNWF results

Better late than never is my photos from Friday night with friends.  I chose to finish off a sock I was knitting for our dog Tess.  Long story short is she has allergies and has ended up with a huge ulcer in her eye as it was scratched etc.  So there is a reason for the cute cotton socks that will be attached by elastic over her shoulders with a smaller elastic loop which will slip on her collar to hold it all up lol. 

At the moment there are no pics of her modelling them as she is not looking too photogenic with a cone on her head and a button for an eye while the real one is stitched closed to aid in healing.  This time antibiotics and ointment were not enough so we are spending BIG at the vets with 3 visits in 10 days and a checkup again on Tuesday to see how it is all progressing.  Thank goodness we took out pet insurance as I know that when it is all cleared up and finished with I will get 80% back in about 10 days.

The other pic is of another crocheted cloth which was almost finished and a little bit of spinning got done too to finish off a bobbin.  




Well not too bad for a Friday night!  Might go and visit a few of the other ladies blogs now as it is too hot to do much else.  Oh well looks like summer has come back after the last 5-10 days being quite reasonable really.

Sunday 1 February 2015

Singles and fluff!

Merino with yellow, blue, mauve and pink dyed mohair curls carded up for Mum to have a go at spinning.  She can't handle alpaca or knit it due to allergies so will see how it goes.

This is the gorgeous November Ixchel fibre batt of merino, cashmere, tencel, suri, rose and angora.  Spinning up beautifully and still a bit more to add and then I can do the matching braid to add to it.  This batt was to have a lot of that waste thread stuff in it but I have removed it all and will use it to make other batts with later so it wont go to waste.  Just didn't want to spoil the delicate colours of this or the lovely soft smooth texture.

 Merino hand dyed by me now spun as a single ready to be plyed with another single one day soon.

Have a wonderful week everyone!