Tagua Beads in my mailbox!

Sending out a HUGE thank you to Pearl over at The Beading Gem's Journal for hosting a wonderful giveaway of Tagua beads from Ecuadorian Hands. I was very excited to find out I was the lucky winner!

I received my beads today and they are so cheerful and lovely!  I am going to have to take some time and think about how I will incorporate them!  I definitely see some drop earrings with the smaller beads. 

Seen here in the packaging:

And here in my favorite pottery dish from a local potter:

 

Tagua beads are made from nuts! I love how soft, smooth, light and warm they feel. 
Thanks again Pearl and Ecuadorian Hands!
♥
JQ

4KCBWDAY4 Colour Review

RAINBOWWWWWS.

Rainbows in my projects, rainbows in my stash...technicolor daydreams.  It is ALL THE COLOURS up in here.  Check out my groovy duds in the upper right corner.

You might be thinking "uh, peacock?" and colour is definitely where I faltered when picking my house.  But then I thought: colours=flowers=FUN FOR BEES.

I'm really not subtle, especially this past year.  But after searching through all my pictures, I've found that in the last few months I'm shifting towards one colour:

And this is interesting.  My rose tapestry from the last 2 years running:

Basically a cornucopia of colour.

Here's a snippet of the next cartoon:

I am just threading up my loom for this one, but the cartoon has been ready for the past 6 months so It's likely the root of my new fixation. But if you look close, you see that I am not completely forsaking the other colours...

What colours are you coveting lately?

4KCBW Day 1 Here!
4KCBW Day 2 Here!
4KCBW Day 3 Here!


Find out more about Eskimimimakes Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2013! 

Adventures in Crochet

 If you know me you know that I am constantly wishing I had more arms.  Like an octopus.  Or like  two octopuses stuck together.  But not in the Discovery channel way.
Annnnd now that I've ooged you out...

Fall is one of my two top productive time periods because I enjoy giving hand made gifts at Christmas.  This past fall was especially productive because we were living in a temporary home without any internet. So I went crochet crazy! 

 These are coasters I made for my sister in law in her two favorite colours.

 

Each one was an experiment so that I could learn a new thing, or try combining things.

And the rainbow wiggle crochet coasters were made for my brother. Those are all wiggled differently too, mainly so that I wouldn't get bored.

 

I thought wiggle crochet would lend itself neatly to a bracelet, so I gave it a try!  This one was a treat for myself and I wear it often.

Hot pads! (are they called trivets?)

These are one of a kind. The backs are crocheted solid, some just one colour and some in a gradient. and the front is made with filet crochet and/or motif that allows the back to be seen.  I really like this idea, and plan to do more.  It's a wonderful way to bust my stash, and keep my distract-y brain from getting bored, because I am changing colours fairly often, and using different motifs every time.  I dye a lot of in between colours myself, which helps me do gradients. Pretty much every time I have a dye bath going I toss in a skein of crochet thread (or six) for fun. 

 I made two sets as well, done with Irish crochet roses at the center. My absolute favorite to do was the rainbow one. For my colour changes I crocheted in all the ends as I went so it wasn't a chore at the end. 

 And lastly, I am currently working on small wiggle crochet table runner/hot pad thingy for myself. I'm using Clea Fiesta for this bad boy.  More rainbow-y goodness!  I confess I am finding it slightly tedious, because it is all double crochet around and around and around... but it's a great take along project, and we do a fair bit of driving.

Thank you very much or stopping by!  

A quick question before I go: Do you have a favorite crafting colour combination or, if it changes like mine, what is your current one?

Happy creating!

♥

JQ

Navajo Plied Hand Spun Rainbow Leftover Yarn.

I had this idea about taking all these small balls of leftover yarn bits and turning them into an art yarn, but I wasn't sure what kind of result I was going to get, since I don't know very much about the technical side of spinning.  Lately I've just been playing around with some core spinning and spinning with beads and scraps of fabric, and hoping for the best.  I thought I should stop thinking about it and just spin already.  And here it is!  It's glorious and squishy and I HEART IT.  I dub it...

Rainbow Blitz!!!

  Hand spun art yarn using tiny balls of leftover yarn in all different colours, fibers and textures: mostly cotton, rayon, and chenille; as well as some linen and some unknown.

Two-ply. One of those plies consists of all the leftover bits of yarn, Navajo plied together, and the second ply is size 30 mercerized cotton crochet thread in pale blue.

I totally couldn't stop taking pictures.  Managed to pare it down to just 8!

 

 

 

♥

JQ

Celtic Braid Inkle

I finally finished this! I often find pick-up and overshot patterns too tedious and still love the act of plain-jane tabby the best...but IT'S SO PRETTY.

I hand dyed the dishcloth cotton that was used for the pattern threads with short colour changes, using those sponge brushes. Then I lined up the colours as best I could on my inkle loom. There is always a little ikat-like push and pull because of the way the string heddles influence the yarn. On a separate note, I've found that if I do horizontal bar pattern using variegated for one stripe and solid for the other I get a comparatively smooth-looking transition. So if you have a pick-up pattern that calls for the horizontal bar structure as a base, variegated can be ultra sharp.

If anyone is curious about my technique for hand painting my cotton for inkles, just buzz me a note and I will set up a little picture tutorial!

I've been busy prepping for a weekend workshop on basic inkle weaving. It's going to be so much fun! I love teaching, and sharing in creativity with other people! I hope one day soon to have a large studio space on an acreage outside the city, where I can host retreats for all kinds of wonderful fiber related adventures. It's been my dream since I graduated from ACAD, and it might be within my reach sooner than I ever imagined!

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend! Are you celebrating St patty's tonight? If so, please have a green beer or an Irish Car Bomb for me! I'm going to have to settle for some green candies or perhaps do some rolled dough clover cookies! At least the morning sickness is passing! :)

Happy creating!

♥
JQ