Category Archives: color work

A New Polymer Spindle

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I pulled out the original Sculpey polymer clay from 2006 – 2008, for the first time in several years. I hadn’t realized how long it was since I last worked with polymer clay and I was a bit worried it wouldn’t be viable as it hadn’t been used since 2012. It was okay, but required a lot of kneading. It worked out very well.

After blending and kneading for about 20 minutes, I started shaping it into my new spindle whorl in purple and iridescent white swirls.

After the whorls were completed, they were baked in a toaster oven at 275°F for 15 minutes. The oven was turned off and the whorls cooled in the oven with the door open.

I cut and bent a heavy wire into the new, purple and iridescent white spindle whorl and glued it in place with some E6000 cement.

I cut and carved an oak dowel to be used as the spindle for the blue/green/iridescent white whorl, stained it with mahogany stain, dried it, and cemented it to the blue/green/iridescent whorl.

After they both cured, I tested the wood and polymer spindle to make sure the whorl was centered and not wobbly. It spins very nicely.

A well spun single!! This spindle will hold approximately 300 yards of single spun yarn.

What are you waiting for? Get busy and create/build/make something!!

A Happy Soctober SOCK Update!!

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Two pairs of finished socks and a pair of socks on the needles!

I love knitting danged near anything, but socks are at the top of the list because they’re easy and a quick knit (unless they’re a men’s size 13-1/2 EEE). Socks are a very convenient way to use up leftover yarn and create some very colorful socks that go with anything.

A bag of leftover handspun yarn and commercial yarn

I knit most of my socks, as well as the socks I list for sale, from my handspun wool yarn that I’ve dyed. A lot of the multicolored and striped socks are knit from leftovers from both my handspun yarn, and wool yarn I’ve bought, for client projects, from Indie dyers like Atomic Fiber Co.

Mandala® Ombre Yarn

I knit acrylic socks and cotton socks for customers who are sensitive to wool or have wool allergies. The two pairs of color block blue socks below are knit from the same skein of Lion Brand, mandala OMBRE acrylic yarn. These yarn cakes are 344yds of softness that feels like chenille and can produce 2 pair of medium sized socks, or a small/medium hat and a pair of small/medium mittens from one skein, when knit using size 4,5, or 6 knitting needles.

I knit both pairs of socks in the photo on the right, with yarn that I spun. Do you see it in the yarn stash, in the photo on the left?

These two pair of socks will be added to my Etsy shop today!

I hear people telling me they wish they could do a lot of different things, from sewing to woodworking. I believe that if you have the spare time and the impetus to do something, stop talking about it and just do it or try it! It can be ANYTHING!!

*** Notice: I have not received any incentives, perks, or freebies from Atomic Fiber Co. or Lion Brand Yarn Co. This blog post was whipped up on a whim.
I will suggest you find my Etsy shop and buy some SOCKS!!! Happy Soctober!

It’s a warm sock kind of day!

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I enjoy creating my own sock designs and do so quite often. I recently learned how to knit what some people call proper gusseted socks. I’m told they fit a lot better than short-row heeled socks.

Here’s the thing about that: If you have small feet and/or small heels, the short-row heels fit much, much better than gusset heeled socks. Gusset heeled socks were the standard for eons and went the way of the dodo for awhile because of the invention of hand-crank sock knitting machines and automatic sock knitting machines. Gusset heeled socks have come hugely back in vogue because there are many people who want socks that fit the whole foot, including and especially the heel.

After all, no one wants a pair of socks that are so tight over their heel that you can see through the knit fabric!

A fitted sock: size 9-1/2 wide
The sock creation and knitting process along with a pair of doggy paws!

Get busy and make something!!

Here’s the link to my website!

Specialty Custom Orders

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Once in a while, I accept requests for custom created work that requires matching previous work. This isn’t work I normally do because it’s more time consuming than smaller custom requests and a lot of times when more yarn has to be purchased, it can be difficult to match the original colors.

An ordinary custom request is when a customer requests a pair of socks, a hat, mittens, etc. that’s knit to size and color preferences, but gives me the freedom of design options. I knit these colorwork Halloween fingerless mittens and sold them in my Etsy shop.

pumpkin and skull fingerless mittens

The customer that purchased these mittens asked me to create a four foot long scarf to match them. The following photos are the progress of this scarf!

You’ll notice in the next two photos that I opted to knit the pattern I created in reverse, instead of placing the first half of the scarf onto waste yarn to be grafted onto the other half when it’s all finished. I’ve never liked that kind of scarf construction as it’s not as they make it look and quite frankly, I stink at grafting.

halfway point of scarf and reversal of pattern
notice that the scarf pattern is now reversing

The following slideshow is of the seaming process. I knit a thin wool backing for this scarf to keep it wide and showy. I used sewing clips instead of pins because they’re absolutely wonderful for holding knit pieces, squishy cloth, and slippery cloth, etc. for hand sewing.

It’s been steam pressed and is ready to ship! I’ve officially finished my customer’s OOAK scarf!!! Here are the photos of the scarf on the dressmaking form.

Get busy and make something!! Do it just because….

MrsD@thefiberodyssey.com

Custom Socks I Designed & Knit

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A customer contacted me on Etsy and asked me to design a pair of men’s size 13 EEE feather socks. I usually ask for 1/2 payment when I’m commissioned to design and/or custom create items. I do this because sometimes people forget about things like that, especially if it takes awhile to get it completed.

So, the next pictures feature the custom designed, hand knit feather socks. They were knit with hand spun yarn I created using natural black Icelandic fleece from Copia Cove and Cornflower blue Suffolk fleece from the Ahrens’ family farm.

I’ve included the links for Copia Cove because they breed and raise outstanding Icelandic Sheep and their fleece is a dream to spin! Icelandic wool makes very strong and warm socks!

***Note: I’m a customer of Copia Cove’s wool products. I’m merely sharing my source(s) so you can buy your own delicious wool.***

MrsD@thefiberodyssey.com