Broken Wrist and Pittsburgh

Having the Fancy Pin from Needle Felting Magic be the free class project for the Pittsburgh Knitting and Crochet event this year (check out the link to Positive Yarn at the top) was an awsome experience especially shared with my friend Pat who kindly drove "The Embellisher Queen" hahaha, we had more than a few laughs along the way - the pin became the "badge" for the hundreds of ladies who tried their hand at the Embellishers provided by Gloria Horn for the show. The Host, Barbara Grossman, provided a very delicious buffet with a large assortment of fiber and ribbons to suit everyone's taste! I had plenty of help and met the most wonderful ladies. The show was a great success although I had to leave early to go to SC where our little grandson was having surgery on his leg.



A few days after I returned, I slid down some stairs (my fault for rushing) and ended up with a broken wrist in a cast for 5 (yes FIVE) weeks which is not fun for me - (exhausting to get a shower) but it could have been much worse.

Latest Endeavor

This top took SO much rolling and rubbing but the end result is well worth it - fits my daughter like a glove and she'll wear it to the Friday evening reception in Pittsburgh - still have to do a rolled hem around the scarf to wear with it. The picture doesn't really do justice to the fine silk habotai with the ruffled hem along one side - it's layered although it doesn't show up in the picture. Tiny curls were added to the top portion and I'm planning to add some more fancy touches to the bodice - needed to set it aside for a bit since I've been working with it so much lately.

And then there are the knitting machines . . .

This ruffled "potato chip" scarf was made to practice short rowing techniques on the knitting machine - I'm completely obsessed with these machines now and want to learn all I can - all I need like everyone else is more time to develop the skill needed to accomplish what I have in mind. It turned out a little skinny so I crocheted along the edge with a very fine and soft mohair to add some width and keep it from being so boring!

Indigo Vest

The indigo felt has been cut up and made into a vest - and sent off to the Art League of Pittsburgh for the fashion show on February 11 along with the "leafy" vest and the blue "scrumble" wrap posted about some time ago - (I can post another picture for those who are interested - I thought it would fit in well and give some ideas to those who enjoy free form knitting/crochet) - as you can see, the indigo faded quite a bit during felting so I did add touches of orange and some stitching to give it just a little zap of interest as well as a "sparkly" button made with my handy-dandy button machine!

Christmas Past

Although I haven't blogged for a while, I've been very busy - before Christmas there was this machine embroidered wreath that was begun a couple of years ago and set aside as it was so time consuming. If you machine embroider, you may know the feeling of dread just in case you get a-l-m-o-s-t finished and something goes wrong so I think that is why I'd put it off. I decided to embroider each design separately (12 in all) and then applique them on to the silk organza square to be used as a topper; this way it can be placed over the tablecloth or used alone with a candle in the center. It really is round although the photograph doesn't show it that way - it turned out so well and was a worthwhile project and a much appreciated gift for the recipient to be brought out year after year along with the memories of the events that take place around it.

Exciting News!

My "Fancy Pin" which was published in "Needle Felting Magic" has been selected to be THE free project with admission at the 7th annual Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival www.pghknitandcrochet.com on February 11, 12, 13, 2011 at the Four Points Sheraton, North, Mars, PA Embellishers and supplies will be provided and I'll be there to assist and meet you - it will be a fiber blast (hopefully not a snow blast - keeping my fingers crossed! I'll be keeping good company with Nicky Epstein and a host of others - you really must check out the website for more details.

Indigo Felt

Well, I don't know how this will all turn out, but I decided to use all the small indigo silk pieces and felt them on to the wool. No matter how much I processed the wool prefelt, simmered with vinegar, rinsed and rinsed and rinsed, still a little blue escaped and colored some of the very soft blue pieces (even sad to say, the white in the lovely shibori) so it will pretty much be all the same shade of blue, so that is why I added some wool in a very soft orange for some decoration as it lost some of it's appeal. I always like the challenge of taking something I'm not crazy about and adding

It has all been felted well now but it is calling for stitching and I just haven't had the time or inclination yet -- spent way too much time just processing to get all the excess dye out - not sure what the lesson is here except that I think the vat needs to be really controlled more.