i made wool

ok maybe i didn't make it but i did spin it!

while in Inuvik i was able to take a spinning class ... well almost the class was full but they let me watch and listen. I learnt alot! and it gave me confidence to try drop spindling. that is the photo above: my drop spindle. it is a lovely little thing cherry wood and very light so i can spin lace weights. can should be in quotes ... so i could spin lace, once i get better - right now it is mainly fingering (sock) weight .. but there are fair chunks of thick and thin

here is my fibre .... Spunky Eclectic Spunky Club Roving: Romney wool, Pansy colourway

our instructor gave lots of tips - ie good begining fibres - romney, corridale are two goods ones as they have long grabby hairs/fibres. also variegated colours help too so you can see the twist.

and here is my first 4oz or 100 grams of hand spun wool!!!

Quilting week three

Quilt week three, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

So this week we sewed the pieces together and attached a border with a mitered edge.. not hard work as it was all sewing in straight lines. This is the first picture of the quilt top all assembled.. the lighting is pretty poor as I took the photo at night but I think it looks pretty good!!!!Last class tomorrow.. backing, binding and starting to quilt it ..
WOW!

all i do is edge

lacy knit-on edging: a fancy way to bind off

so i've had a few questions on how my current sweater is constructed. it is basically a giant circle. i cast on 7 stitches (centre back) and every other round i increased by 7 stitches.

step 1: knit the circle
step 2: knit the edging
step 3: sleeves

so right now i am on step 2 - the edging is basically a fancy bind-off, or in other words to cast off one stitch i have to knit 40 to 48 stitches. around the edge is about 550 stitches to cast off .... i don't want to do the math so lets just say it is a lot of knitting. Unfortunately it is kind of boring knitting which is part of the reason i'm adding beads to make it more interesting !

see what i mean how the colour shifts? here the beads appear copper ....
a post or two below and they look amethyst

just to clarify i haven't pre-strung the beads rather i add them to stitch with a crochet hook - whoever figured this out was brilliant. it works really well! you just need to find a tiny hook!

Quilting... week two

thread, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

OK so a lot got accomplished this week. we took our sewn arcs and appliqued them onto squares we cut out. then we cut out corner pieces and sewed them on..
I opted to make a larger quilt so there is a lot of homework to do. But got it done! ya ya ya! this is just some of the scrap thread from the sewing extravaganza that occurred this week.

The arcs are below.. they'll be assembled into intersecting circles this monday!

Quilt squares, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Finally, this week I also chose my backing and border fabrics. The backing fabric I'm going to keep a little bit of a secret for now, but trust me it's awesome! The fabric below is the border fabric.. it reminds me of Andrea.

Anna Griffin - Flora Collection, originally uploaded by the workroom.

1985

mom and dad brought boxes of everything i've left behind at home ... most of it i haven't seen for years.
this morning i found my school journal from 1985:

My DaD is wroking on church. he allmot finish it. I like helping

this one is kind of hard to read ... but it is me helping my dad as he is working on the church (they were building an upper floor extension) ... how sweet hey .... now check this one out:

85/10/15. When I was walking to class Willa was makeing noses. I spaked willa said OWh!

yes .. that is me hitting my younger sister... ha! how awesome is that ... she was banging cups (?) so i decided to spank her and then wrote about it?! what the hell ... but i do love the expressions

on to the edging

well i've done the body of the cardigan now onto the edging. to help the monotony of it (twenty stitch saw tooth lace edge) i've decided to add beads - i picked out gold seed beads in Inuvik but i haven't been able to find a crochet hook small enough to add them to the yarn. so yesterday i went to our great local dollar store and found these larger beads and a size 14 crochet hook (0.60 mm smallest i've been able to find in whitehorse). The beads are a clear amethyst purple with a copper foil lining - the copper glints in the light and also makes the beads appear brown in some light. i really like how they shift colour - sometimes a pale grey-purple, bright copper, or dark warm purple/brown.

i have to admit i'm a little worried that they will add too much weight to this light floaty cardigan (wool will weigh about 100grams) and/or distract from the lace - however they are really pretty and it is fun to knit with them!

ps want to know how to knit with beads? knitty has a great article about beading it is much easier than it looks - try it out!

Quilting... aka I might be insane

Quilt doubles, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

So I signed up for a double wedding ring quilting class at the excellent Workroom just down the street from my house.
I got super excited about picking fabric for the rings and am all excited for class... but I'm just going to say it..
It's a ton of work.
I want to make it big enough to fit on my bed but ummm... I was hoping to have a life this summer. the teacher would like us to make a 4x4 quilt... I have enough patches to make a 6x7 quilt.. almost triple the size...
I don't know what I've gotten myself into but here goes nothing.

sewn arcs!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Iceland and Denmark - that's all folks!

Denmark - Lego at Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

man! it took me forever to get all these posts up! but here they are. YA! man looking at all this stuff makes me wish I was back there right now.

Blue Lagoon, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Tivoli

April 10 - In and Outside of Copenhagen: Castle, Museum and Tivoli

Denmark - Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Just outside of Copenhagen stands one of the best known castles in Europe. Kronborg Slot in Helsingor otherwise known as Hamlet's Castle. We spent the morning exploring the castles many rooms and, while I can't speak for Mary, I was reciting bits of Hamlet the whole time (Ah! Yorik! I knew him well Horatio...). After a traditional lunch of Smørrebrød(open faced sandwiches) we headed back towards Copenhagen with a stop at Louisiana. Louisiana is the Danish MoMA - but bigger. It is set on a lovely sea side property donated to the modern art museum and named after the donors three wives all named Louise ... yes he married three different women with the same name.

Our last stop was Tivoli, the amusement park near the centre of Copenhagen. It is amazing. It is no wonder that Walt Disney based Disneyland on it and the Michael Jackson offered to buy it. We went back twice, once for dinner and the second time to see all the lights on. Tivoli is the perfect mix of rides and carnival games and food. There really was things for all ages.. fine dining next to candyfloss stands, carni games and rollercoasters.. and lots and lots of flowers in bloom! Mary and I got wonderful fresh brewed Chai tea and if we go again I will insist on gelato..mmmmn.

Denmark - Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Denmark - Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Denmark - Pulpit Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

April 9 - Museums, Castles and Waterfront

Copenhagen - Botanisk Have, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We started the day a little late so that we could fully use the 72 hour Copenhagen Card. The card gets us entry into almost every museum in the city as well as free rides on all the city transportation. We wandered up from the hotel and into Botanisk Have, the botanical gardens. We came across the Palm house and took a look inside. I wasn't brave enough to make it up the circular viewing platform but Mary was. The plants in the gardens were really lovely and it was cool to see things like cinnamon and orange trees.

After that we made our way to the Satens Museum for Kunst. We saw some excellent Titians, Magrittes and Picassos as well as quite a number of Danish contemporaries. Right across the street was Rosenborg Slot, a summer castle for the monarchy that now is a museum and the housing for the crown jewels.

Copenhagen - Rosenborg Slot, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Copenhagen - Rosenborg Slot, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The castle was beautiful - almost all of it containing thee original furnishing from Christian IV including his bloody clothes from when he lost an eye in a batttle. It was very impressive, I especially enjoyed the tapestries depicting the Dano-Swede naval battles.

Copenhagen - Anglican Church, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We wandered up town but were unfortunately too late for the medical museum and too early for church service. we wandered around the battlements near the Anglican church for a while and then decided to walk along the water to go get dinner.

Copenhagen - Lagkagehuset Bakery, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We ended up stopping at Lagkagehuset one of the oldest and premiere bakeries in Copenhagen. It all looked so delicious so we picked up desert.

April 8 - Copenhagen Shopping and Boat Tour

Copenhagen - fisherwoman, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Being Easter it is opening weekend for Tivoli! We were greeted in the morning by the boys auxiliary (?) band playing outside the entrance to the amusement park.We carried on .. there was a lot of shopping to do and the shops would be closed thursday and friday for easter holidays. We did manage to sneak in a canal tour in between hunting for wool and the latest Danish trend.. crazy scarves. We ran into the band again while shopping, this time in a little parade down the main pedestrian street.

Copenhagen - Tivoli parade, originally uploaded by girl from finito.