Anarchistelfliege 2 (back to Utopia)

lace yarn spinning wip

distelfliege — 2009-11-19T12:17:00Z

I'm trying a new way to spin a colour gradient. I've got merino tops of different colours (solid colours) and I'm carding them to blend them a bit with hand cards. The rolag I'm getting from this is split in half and each half is spun on one spindle. I've finished a skein spun this way yesterday, and when I would my plying ball, one single was only about 10 meters shorter than the other.

Now that I finally understood how to card fine fibers, it's such a joy to see those colours blend together and the spots of bright or dark colour, very subtle, I get this way.

The next thing I would want to do is make a blend with silk this way. I only think it would be maybe better to start with a commercially prepared silk blend instead of trying it myself without any experience with silk.

iSpunYarn

distelfliege — 2009-11-16T13:50:00Z

I'm feeling a bit bad, because this is really developping into a knitting and spinning blog instead of the quilting blog it was intendet to be.
But hey, I spun yarn!
This is my second ever attempt at artyarn spinning, and I was trying to spin thick and thin on purpose and make some coils. I thought it was easier, because some of this happened to me when I spun my first yarn ever. Then, it was not artyarn, but beginner yarn with beginner mistakes. If I want to do this on purpose and in a planned manner, it's suddenly hard to get texturered yarn.

But I'm really loving it!

Besides Artyarn, I'm also spinning "normal yarn" for unique projects... like... my handspun sweater!
Yeah, it's finished after all!
I've never dreamed of owning such a colourful and fancy garment.
It's so great to be able to spin and dye just the yarn I want.

This was taken by my beloved guy, when we went to the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall being opened.
I've done some work on the bottom hem because I hated how it kept rolling upwards, now it's 2 inches shorter and looking much better.

autumn

distelfliege — 2009-10-28T11:02:00Z

I spent the weekend at Esmes place in Leipzig, where we went for a walk and took a lot of pictures.
She's also into knitting socks and spinning at the moment, and so the whole visit just became a very relaxed retreat of knitting, talking, sipping tea, cooking pumpkin soup, spinning, walking through falling leaves and jumping over little pools of rain along the path, more spinning, knitting and cuddling the cats. Just perfect, I feel so relaxed!
Some photos from our walk:

October's hurrying past me..

distelfliege — 2009-10-21T21:08:00Z

...and I seem to stand besides the carousel. Maybe that has to do with the dwarves and tree spirits in the park, maybe they've bewitched me?

knitting again: some socks

distelfliege — 2009-09-22T21:50:00Z

It seems to me like I've completely become absorbed by knitting and wool and spinning and stuff. I would love to make more Midget Blocks, but I always end up knitting more socks. Some time ago, I have counted my sockyarn skeins and estimated that I've got yarn to knit at least 24 pairs of socks. Which means I will have to knit 20 pairs of socks until I may buy more sock yarn.
I have been tempted several times, seen really beautiful yarn, or yarn sold cheaply, and I stayed strong and didn't buy anything. Which means I can really be proud of myself. At the moment, I'm trying to knit up my stash, and here's what I'm doing:

September 2009 Mystery Sock designed by Nancy Bush "Fox Faces".
Ravelry link

And here are "Hat heel socks" from the new issue of Knitty:

I'm knitting 2 more pairs at the moment, but haven't photographed them yet, and I finished these "Spring Forward Socks", also from Knitty:

I've knit 14 pairs of socks so far. That means, I started knitting in November 2008, and that's what I did since then. Now I can wear my handknit socks every day. I'm a selfish knitter, I knit mostly for myself. I gave one pair of socks to my mum, who really loved receiving socks from me. She really appreciated them. And I, in turn, liked that very much, of course.

Now, summer is definitely gone. I've seen the wild geese leave for the south two weeks ago:

It really makes me sad each time, the end of summer. But then again, I like fall. If we only could skip winter.

the deadliest crab

distelfliege — 2009-09-10T12:38:00Z

Wow, it's finished!!

it's got a belly made of handspun yarn. I just spun a very small amount for this cute crab, and knit it up without washing it or doing anything but plying.

I think I'll have to make one for myself as well, that is, if my niece doesn't want the crab. If she doesn't like it, I'll keep it for myself, of course.
:-))

The pattern is available for free here at knitty.com

just what is it that makes the poor so patient so quiet?

distelfliege — 2009-08-18T19:40:00Z

just what is it that makes the poor so patient so quiet?

Originally uploaded by bluemacgirl

Just came across this photo on flickr, and it's posted under creative commons license, so I can share this here..
It's a graffto in Kreuzberg, photo taken by bluemacgirl.

making my rattle part 2

distelfliege — 2009-08-10T22:35:00Z

On the annual womyns summer camp I started to make a rattle for myself, out of goats skin, I think.
Today, I picked up the empty, hardened head of the rattle, and filled it with mung beans. I stuck the handle into the head, and wrapped a wet strip of cloth around the skin around the wood, to make it soft and adapt to the form of the wooden stick.
It was a wonderful day and I tried to capture the sun, the water, and the rattle with my camera:

I love it, I love it, I love it!!

And I finished my Revontuli Shawl:

It's made from handspun merino top, and it was quite a hassle to spin the colour gradient. The very fine fibers stuck together, forming lumps and knots, when I started to blend colours. But the result is really rewarding.

bike protection charm

distelfliege — 2009-08-05T11:12:00Z

Yesterday, I made a bike protection charm, containing a dagaz rune, one Thors hammer, dragons-blood (resin), Asafoetida, chili peppers, hair, safety pins, and I can't remember what. I painted a very nice skull on one side, and I'm planning to paint an eye symbol on the other.

Ride half an hour - voilà: the park!

And the willow dome.

old and new bike

distelfliege — 2009-08-03T10:48:00Z

Recently, I parted with my old "witch horse" bicycle, and it was really really a hard thing to do. I even had to cry some when I left it behind for good, to go to the bike shop to choose a new one.
I don't own a driving licence and have no car (of course), so my bike is my daily transportation around the city of Berlin. I had bought a diamond back bicycle, in 1998 or so, used, which carried me everywhere, it just flew, like a dream. As my gears and chain and everything were totally worn down again, and some other major repairs were necessary, I had brought it in for repairs, and when they started to work on it, it became evident that the frame was rusty and it was not worth the repair costs any more.
So I brought it to a DIY queer bike repair station, maybe it is still good enough for someone for another 3-4 years of use. As my knees are not really the strongest, I want a bike that runs easy and where everything works well.

My old one, this spring..

And my new one, which I already love!
It has got a steel frame, and since the geometry of the frame is very similar with the old bike, I can just ride it and it feels like riding my old bike. Only that everything is new.
It was made in the Czech Republic, by "Fort".
I'm really happy with my choice!

african fabrics

distelfliege — 2009-06-13T09:55:00Z

Yesterday a friend came to visit, we wanted to sew some quilt blocks and admire each other's old Bernina sewing machines. The latter is something we didn't quite get to, because we talked so much instead. (which was wonderful)

She gave me this wonderful green printed Soso wax fabric with the yellow and orange abstract wheel designs on it. I shared the fabrics from Senegal with her.
Here are my african fabrics:

I'm also still hand quilting the round robin that we made in our spiritual womyns project:

Lately, my quilting came to a halt because of my knitting obsession, but I'm picking it up again now. What I found when I wanted to put one quilt into my drawer, was a bunch of paintings and drawings I did in 2006. This is a mandala I drawed and copied it in the copy shop and colored the copies:

I reallly would like to do everything at once. Quilting, sewing, knitting, spinning and painting and drawing... *sigh*

Stoffmarkt Holland

distelfliege — 2009-06-08T19:57:00Z

On saturday I visited the "Stoffmarkt Holland". Which is a fabric market. Mostly fabric merchants from the Netherlands, but also German sellers are touring through germany and spreading some dutch market culture. They are near Berlin, in Potsdam, once or twice a year, and every time lots and lots of crafty folk, some quilters, but mostly people who sew clothes, travel far to get there.

Though we do have a fabric market in Berlin, where mostly turkish sellers are present (and with the lowest fabric prices ever!!) I was in search of something specific and here in Berlin, it wasn't available on the weekly market.
My boyfriend and my girlfriend both had no time to accompany me, so I went there alone. And I did spend a lot of money. There were two or three sellers of quilting fabrics, and there was an incredible variety of batiks there, and they were 5-7 Euros cheaper than in online shops/brick and mortar stores.

I got 2 meters of batik fabrics, and a fat-quarter-package, 8 FQ's for 10 Euros, and 1 metre of printed cotton from Senegal. There was a binational couple who had imported the fabric themselves.

And besides the quilting fabric, I got some metres of ramie, to make some trousers for me, since the last ones I made are now a bit worn out. Especially where my behind meets the saddle of my bike, they have worn thin.

On my way back on the train, I spun. I'm spinning for a sweater right now, and I finished the first skein and I spin the second one now. Today, the weather was a lot better than on the weekend, and I went to the park and took some pics of my newest handspun yarn:

Handspun socks finished

distelfliege — 2009-06-04T16:12:00Z

I looooooove them!!
handdyed wool top with easter egg colors, spun into a single yarn and without any setting of twist knit the socks with the "energized single".

knitting or spinning in unusual places

distelfliege — 2009-05-27T23:20:00Z

At the moment, I seem to come across online discussions where in public you can knit or spin quite often. The best pic I have seen is by Starathena, here she is blogging about herself knitting on a "Splash Mountain" ride at Disneyland! (Inclucing photo)
I'm quite moderate compared to her, I only spin while going to the grocery store and in the park, in the waiting room.... my knitting isn't that portable at the moment, because the socks I'm making need a lot of chart following and concentration.

People usually turn their heads when I'm spinning in public, especially children think spinning is cool.

My current vision of a relaxing walk is me, with a good or my best friend, walking through the countryside on a sunny day and I've got a spindle in my hand, and I'm spinning some nice yarn while talking and laughing...

Today I met a farmer who I got to know many years ago. He's got sheep and maybe, when he doesn't forget about it, he'll get me some wool of his sheep! He's got some left from last year. This year they didn't shear them yet because of the bad weather. He said, they won't shear them at all this year, probably.
Anyway, I'm curious. I hope he remembers it :)

Summertime

distelfliege — 2009-05-26T21:17:00Z

I love fields full of poppies. This is summer, the real summer!
This pic was taken on a bicycle tour to the garden. 40 km, following the former Berlin Wall.

My bike has been used nearly every day for the past 12 years, and some parts of it just are so worn out. Many parts have already been replaced, but I guess there's a new wave of repairs needed this year. Like any old vehicle. But I like it!

And of course, my new hobby, spinning.

I found that one of the most important things for a smoothly spinning top whorl spindle is a hook tuning. There's also a great Article on how to fix spindle hooks. Since I adjusted the hooks on my homemade spindles, they spin just great.
A wobbling spindle is not just an aesthetic problem. The wobbling slows the spindle down, and for some spinning techniques, especially long draw on the hand spindle, I need them to spin fast. I can really recommend this hook tuning!