February Catch Up!

The day after my last post, I got a text from my Daughter in Law saying that my Christmas Parcel arrived!  Hallelujah!   I was so relieved.  Better late than never!

This is my son modeling the hat I knitted with some of my handspun.  He said it was very warm and great for taking a nap in.

And this is my Daughter in Law wearing her Alpaca Beanie I knitted with a rolled brim on her recent trip to New York City.  She said it was so warm she didn’t want to take it off.  She is also wearing the cashmere hand warmers I got her from Turtle Doves.  She wears them when she is working from home.

As you can see, the hat looks better on than off.

I went to my Guild Meeting last weekend and joined the class for making Dorset Buttons.  It was a last minute thing, but I’m glad I did it.

The actual Dorset Button Brooch I made is more the purple color on the right.  We have such wet weather at the moment that the camera on the phone wants to brighten everything.  All the materials were supplied and all we needed to bring were scissors, tapestry needle and some money! 🙂

I went for colors I was wearing just to keep things simple.  It is basically using a blanket stitch, wrapping, weaving and French knots.  I found the whole process very relaxing.  The photo at the top right is where I left it when the class was finished.  I added some more French knots and decided to re-wrap the base of the tree as I hadn’t been too happy with it and now it is a bouquet.

We had a little talk about Dorset Buttons as they were a thing for a long time.  I will leave you to google them.  I did and there is so much inspiration!  Here is some more inspiration below.

I love the trees above and will try and have a go at making some of them.  I found some larger rings at Dunelm, which I would think would be better for making brooches of these trees as you would need to sew a pin on the back.  You can also buy larger rings like curtain rings to make ornaments to hang.  I have plenty of embroidery thread, so the only cost to me is for the rings, which were not expensive.

While I was at my Guild, I asked if anyone had a spare 16″ or 24″ loom I could borrow and lucky me was offered one! Yay!  I have been slowly working on my panels below.

I need to make two panels on the 16″, but I only have one 16″ loom.  I have been making notes on each of the color changes and how many rows, etc.  I got to a certain point and I was thinking I might not have enough yarn or get something wrong, so I stopped, hoping I could borrow, or buy one if need be.  One of my mates offered hers and I have to give it back by the next meeting on the 9th of March, so I need to get cracking!  I have borrowed a 16″ SampleIt and it even has a stand that my friend’s hubs made for it.

So, I asked my hubs if he would make me one, and this is what he came up with.  This thing is not falling over and was made with what he had, except for the nuts.  The loom will not stay upright as is, but that is ok as it sits at the correct angle on my lap.  The hubs is thinking about what he could do for an arm, but it really is a non issue right now as I can just clamp the loom to a chair for warping, which I do in the kitchen.  I then just push the chair forward with the loom clamped to it when winding on the warp. 🙂  This loom stand is similar to the one my friend has, but she has fancy knobs!  I have a few things to paint when the weather gets better so I may paint the stand.  The natural wood of the loom is growing on me.  Though I still might paint my wheel.

So, that’s pretty much it for me right now.  I will show more weaving once I have my borrowed loom all warped up.  It will be interesting weaving on three looms together.