Friday, October 9, 2009

Creativity Abounds!!

Have you ever had one of those days when you have the impulse to create, but don't know what? Then something catches your eye......and it's just enough to get you off and running. Before you know it, the afternoon has passed and you've created something amazing.

Well, I'm having one of those days. Woke up with an amazing amount of creative energy. Thought, "okay, time to work on this month's block" and as I was reaching for the monthly kit something caught my eye. It was a stack of brightly colored blocks. While I was working on the first of two blocks for this month that stack of brightly colors kept calling me. Before I knew it, the block of the month was set aside and those brightly colored blocks were laying all over my sewing table. Wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them....until I started laying them out. Then it all just came together of its own accord. Once the blocks were laid out I started sewing. A couple of hours later I had a wonderful little quilt top. A few minutes later the perfect backing appeared.....the batting joined......and a quilt sandwich was born. :.) I call it "Little Chaos". I even know exactly how it will be quilted.

As I stood back admiring the morning's burst of creativity, it dawned on me how amazing it was to have everything I needed for this little quilt right at hand. The perfect border fabric....perfect colored backing in the right size.......and the perfect thread for machine quilting. Not a single thing was lacking or wanting. It's as if it was meant to be.....and this was the morning for it to be created. Gotta love days like this!! :.)
Of course I did have a very good night last night, too. Actually finished combing a lamb fleece. It was the very first fleece I have ever combed. I was simply amazed at how beautiful and clean the fiber is. And this is from a fleece that I thought for sure would be tossed. There was so much vm in it!! Definitely not a fleece that I would have even thought about picking and carding. It was that dirty. Of course now that it's all clean time to move onto the next step....blending it with some white baby camel top that I have. Just haven't quite decided whether I will be adding blending nylon to it or faux cashmere. It will all depend on how the nylon that I ordered looks. It's supposed to resemble silk. We'll see. I will be spinning sock yarn from it. I thought my hubby would enjoy a pair of shetland lamb/baby camel socks. :.)
On to fair spinning........ pictured below is the bobbin on my Ashford Country Spinner. On the bobbin is a Shetland lamb/kid mohair blend that I spun up at the fair. I used the Country Spinner to ply all the singles thatI had spun. The first skein (pictured below) ended up being about 500 yards (weighing about 13 ounces) of a nice worsted weight yarn (10 wpi). The second skein still needs to have the twist set, but it is also a worsted weight yarn.....with about 490 yards in the skein. Then there is a third smaller skein of about 78 yards. Haven't decided what I will do with all the finished yarn yet. Thought about a vest.....maybe thrummed mittens and a scarf......or maybe a felted teddy bear. The possibilities are endless. :.)
I also spun up some sock yarn at the fair this year. It was all spun on a drop spindle then plyed on a wheel. It's a polypay x/icicle top blend. There is actually a story of sorts behind this yarn. My youngst had died up all these short pieces of polypay x roving and then left it all in a large ziplock. I had asked her what she was going to do with it all. Her response "I think I will spin it up. Well, that was eons ago. She has since then graduated high school and moved out (college dorms). I was cleaning up the fiber room right before the fair and noticed this large ziplock filled with all these short pieces of dyed roving. Was a bit upset when I saw it......then thought "why not spin it up myself". The idea was to spin up the ugliest, gaudiest yarn I possibly could and then make her socks from it......which I would give to her for Christmas. (insert evil mom laugh here) Well, things didn't quite turn out as I thought. She saw the fiber as I was spinning it and absolutely LOVED it!! When I was spinning it, the fiber was in about six different batts and each one was a different color. I decided to "blend" the various singles together when plying in the hopes of creating a very colorful, very cohesive sock yarn. I think I actually accomplished that. :.) And I even found the perfect sock pattern for it. Oh, happy days!!!!



6 comments:

  1. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I drool over your creative genius!

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  2. Thank you. :.) Things did turn out well....and yesterday was such a blessing. Love those creative days!! Wish they came a bit more often.....

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  3. I LOVE that quilt top! The colors are wonderful. And the yarn is incredible -- the colors in it are stunning.

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  4. First time visitor and am glad I was able to see that beautiful quilt. Your hand spun yarn is beautiful as well; sounds like your day of creative energy paid off Big Time!

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  5. Thank you for the very nice comments.....and thank you for visiting my very humble blog. :.) I truly do love creative days!!

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