Woven Star Shawl

I love small loom weaving. Weaving on a small frame loom is portable, allows me to use up small amounts of leftover yarn and it gives my wrists and fingers a much needed break from crocheting and knitting. As such, here's my latest small loom FO...the Star Shawl!

I love my Hazel Rose Diamond Looms. You've seen my diamond loom shawls before and I've got a diamond shawl schematic that seems to work for me, but this time I decided to vary it up a bit. I am a big fan of this shawl on the "Knitting in Tuscany" book cover by one of my fave designers, Nicki Epstein. So, I figured why not try a star shape with woven components! Using my 3.5" loom, I wove 8 diamonds and arranged them into an 8 pointed star. Beautiful. Now repeat (and repeat again)! I used lots of my own homespun as well as some commercial yarn scraps on the individual diamonds.

I also wove a few squares and triangles to fill in the open spaces between the stars. All in all, I am pretty happy with the results.

Oh, and even more exciting that this FO is the fact that my loving boyfriend and very talented photographer, Steve, has been elected the Head of Photography at Monster Crochet. And thank god for this! His photos are heads and tails above my own. In addition, the lovely lady in the photos above? Yes, that is Heather. Hi, Heather! She will be modeling a lot of my wearables now. Another thanks be to god for this development. Yay! Thank you both for helping me!!

New Yarn for a New Year!

365:6
Originally uploaded by ladylinoleum

Happy New Year kids!

Good news! I've been busy knitting, crocheting, spinning and weaving since the onset of Autumn. In fact, I now have a "photography pile" again. Oh yes, stacks of FOs waiting for their chance to shine on this little bloggy. I feel like I am finally moving beyond the nightmarish circumstances that have plagued my life during the last several years. It is with much happiness that I declare my creative mojo kicking in again. It's an amazing feeling and as a result you can expect some regular posts here again. Yay!

This week, I've got a few hanks of newly fashioned homespun to share with you. The black/white/gray colorway at the back of the photo is 100% wool and plied with a multi-sparkly thread. The reddish colorway at the front of the photo is a single spun from pulled silk sari fiber. That particular yarn is already project bound as I am finishing up another woven diamond shawl made entire of that stuff. Needless to say, I've got many more spools waiting to be plied or hanked-up for final processing. In fact, I spun approximately 1000 yards of yarn on New Year's Day. So excited to use these fibers in some of the 2011 projects that I have planned!

In addition to the "all things yarn" front, I am launching a new travel blog and I am participating in a photo a day project this year. Look for the first travel blog post later this week (I will link to it here) and well, you can check out my flickr for the 365 photos anytime. Looking forward to sharing a prosperous and productive 2011 with you all! Hugs all around!

Where did December go???

Heya kids!

How's tricks?

I know, I know. I've left my blog unattended again. December has been rough. What can I say? This month has been alternately plagued by myriad divorce proceedings, health issues (which I'm sure can be attributed to the stress surrounding my myriad divorce proceedings) as well as strangely pleasurable (despite all of the divorce and health misadventures) holiday endeavors which have included much eating, drinking and making merry with family and friends.

Can we all say hallelujah for family and friends??? There is NO WAY I would have gotten through this year without my peeps. I love you all to the depths of my soul!

Group hug!

Ahem...

Yes, well, in addition to the peepage lending me their shoulders to cry on, shoving platefuls of holiday goodies in front of my face AND keeping my wine glass filled to the rim, I've also been able to draw comfort from my craft. I mean, you should see the piles of stuff I've made this year that have yet to be photographed! It's nuts. Hell, I may have been a mess in 2009, but a productive mess no less and this week has been no exception. Yes, I been alternately in the kitchen making cookies with my Mom and sisters or sitting in front of one of my spinning wheels making yarn. As such, here is this week's homespun bounty...

I call this yarn, affectionately, The Christmas Catastrophe!



It's purty, no? Okay, it's weird. But it is also sparkly! My favorite color is sparkly...

Ooooooooooh...Ahhhhhhhhhh....

And here is the more sedate spinning experiment of this week...



After looking at the image above, I cannot believe I just characterized this yarn as sedate. I am losing my mind...slowly...but surely.

Anyway, the lovely, shiny yarn above was spun from pulled silk sari fiber. Neato, right? It's shiny! I like shiny almost as much as sparkly...

Can I get another Ooooooooooh?

How about an Ahhhhhhhhhh?

Thank you very much...

Okay, I have tons more stuff to show you guys so I promise to be better about posting. Also, since there seems to be widespread interest in the critter-sized Lumberjack Hat, I will be posting the pattern soon.

Stay tuned!

Hugs and kisses all around!

Spinnin' Away!

I've been on a batt buying kick as I haven't done much dying on my own as of late. This is mostly due to the fact that Jenna (my partner in color crime) and I both dropped some serious duckets on sewing machines. Hence, all the sewn apparel and quilting happening at ChezLinoleum. However, we should get to dying again soon, don't you think Jenna? Our dye pots are gathering dust...Anyway, I digress. So yes, instead of dying my own fluff I've been buying other people's fluff and spinning it up or mixing said fluff with some of my stash fluff on my drum carder before ultimately spinning it up.

Now, I gotta tell you peeps that I LOVE spinning. It is a process that rivals knitting and crocheting for me. In fact, when I'm feeling down I often think that sleeping next to my Lendrum would sooth my bereft soul. Then I actually come to terms with the logistics of this notion and opt for snoozing with my cat instead. Poo Poo Kitty is nice and squishy. Much easier to cuddle up with. So, my Lendrum remains next to my chair, at the ready, whenever I'm feeling the need for some spinning meditation and just look what we've been creating together lately...



Purty eh?

I spun eight ounces of Mountain Colors Handpainted Targhee Roving, in their Moccasin colorway, into singles on my Lendrum. Then I plied it with the leftover gold thread from my first quilt on my Mach I. Since my Mach I's arrival at my condo it's become my primary wheel for plying. Doesn't matter the size, weight or crazy factor of the yarn I'm spinning, I always seem to use it for the plying process.

Next up, look at this wacky color combo...



I used a Donna Batt (Battman Batt from Material Whirled) for the singles that make up this yarn. Then I plied it with some leftover pastel variegated lace weight mohair.

Neato eh?

I gotta tell you all that rarely do I look at a batt and think I MUST HAVE THIS NOW. However, the minute I saw the Donna Batt, I thought just that. I told Reenie that this colorway is so wrong that is just right. She responded by telling me that we should have t-shirts printed with that statement on it. Sounds like a good idea to me!

Needless to say, I have more Donna Batts on the way. Ultimately, I have special plans for this yarn...

*Wink*