Twisted Fibers

On my knees in my mother’s sewing closet (no sewing actually goes on in there, it just houses most of the craft supplies), I was looking for fabric that I could use.  Clothes, purses, whatever.  Most of the pieces of fabric were small, from her being a quilter, and would come to no use for me.  I found myself wishing that I could find some fabric that was more then a scrap.

I got my wish.  I looked up to find a big bunch of fabric squished above me onto a shelf.  Not believing my eyes, pulling the fabric out–and out–and out– I gathered it in my arms.  I took it out of the dim light of the closet onto the kitchen table.

This fabric graced my eyes:

I can do something with this, I thought.  I liked the design, because while it wasn’t exactly my taste, the spirals looked neat.  I wondered to myself just how much of this there was.

So I measured.  Over 10 yards of it.  Who would ever buy ten whole yards of this?  It doesn’t look like something someone would make a dress out of.  Then it hit me: maybe I could make a dress out of it, or something else.  A line of funky clothing with this fabric as the basis.

My goal formed: to use all of this fabric on something or other.  I hope to make a dress from a civil war dress pattern (which I made one from for a project).  I know this is aiming high, but I think it would just look so cool to have a big poofy dress with this print.

So far I have added some to the bottom of a skirt I made out of a jean recon.  I can’t wait to do more with it!

So I was visiting my father’s side of the family when I mentioned wanting to learn how to spin.  My aunt, who is very crafty, got a spindle and some wool for me to use and taught how right there.  I was so excited, and have been spinning for hours on end.  I hope to order some more wool to spin soon.

This is the spindle, a drop spindle (you let it hang while you spin it), that I have to spin with.  On the downside, I get a little dizzy after spinning for too long.

These are six skeins of yarn that I have spun so far (actually I spun more today, but I haven’t taken pictures yet)  They are placed by when I made them, starting on the left (the first one that I did) and going to the right (the most recent)

My favorite is the rainbow yarn that is the fourth from the left.  The colors are so bright, and they don’t all clash like I thought that they would.

All of these have some dog and cat hair woven in, though I had no choice in the matter.  I spin while I sit on the couch, where the dogs sit a lot.  Just today I looked up to find my cat sitting on the pile of what I was going to spin.  I lifted her off, but she had already shed a bunch on it.  So I will just pretend that these hairs were woven in on purpose.

So, I’ve been thinking. I feel that it is unfair for people with Ipods to be able to buy all these cool covers for them. I have a Zen (and love it to pieces) and want to be able to have cool covers. I mean, have you ever seen cases for Zens (I’ve got a micro) that aren’t just the cheap plastic ones? So I will make cases–loads of them–that are funky and cool. Any of my friends who have something other than an ipod will also get one. So there. *sticks tongue out* I’ll end my little rant now.
I’ve never crocheted with stripes before, so I thought I would start with something small (almost all my projects start as big purses and end up as thin bracelets or the like).

The whole case is done in single crochet, except for the top. The black at the very top of the case is scalloped (single, double, treble, double, single, etc.) which is also a first for me. I just crocheted a rectangle to fit my Zen and sewed it up after.

The case! I just love the bright purple (simply soft)

With my Zen showing. Mostly for scale, I guess.

I’m going to make more with green, pink, and other bright colors substituted in.

I have been doing a lot of crafting, since it’s finally summer.  But I’ve been too lazy to take pictures of it all!  I’ll try to do that as soon as possible.  The only problem is that for some of them I need someone else to photograph me (i.e. clothes)

So I have some tops, crochet projects, yarn (that I spun) and more to photograph.