prairie mouse

bees to the honey

thats what the kids were like in the classroom yesterday when i revealed the woven balls. i took in six and i now have 20 more on the boil - make that 19 - prairie has already nabbed one!   warning - very addictive!

woven ball

we are heading towards the end of a term and i want to keep the little people knitting and working with wool until then. some are finshed their projects and some have laboured along but knitting is just never going to be their thing. years ago i found a woven ball in the back of a cupboard at school and have had it tucked away thinking that it would make a great little project.

i had a cone of thick carpet yarn/wool which i wound into balls then covered them with my lumpy first attempt homespun which smoothed them out and gave them a solid colour. then with regular string i made the warp - 17 threads so the weaving is continuous. i finished the top and bottom with a little weaving which hold the warp threads in place.

they look like something from under the sea!

the weft - i used a large darning needle as a shuttle

all done - i hope they enjoy their project - i did!

 

nuit

a late night shot - a new lantern, michael's cookbooks and the funny reflection off the back of the jamie oliver magazine making it look like a little aquarium!

husqvarna 21E

a few weeks ago i found this beauty on trade me (our  version of craigs list). i got my mother to do my bidding as we were driving and were out of range at the time of the auction. she bid in 50c increments and got it for $56.50! wow! go the joan!

it has been lovingly looked after and this shows. the woman i bought it from bought it new in 1967 on the day new zealand changed to deciaml currency. apparently the bank were not impressed with this young woman wanting to withdraw a large amount of cash on such a day! her three daughters danced and she made all their costumes on it. she has since modernised but she can be rest assured this goes to a loving home. i love that it comes with a story. i haven't put it away yet - its like having a classic car parked on the table.

so now we have three machines and an overlocker/serger in residence with the odd short term visitor when i bring a machine home from school to sort out!

the case is lined in gingham. swoon!

pop over here to see more photos if you so desire

yesterday this little yellow beauty was pinging from the green grass. its the first i've seen so far. its freezing but we are on the move!

humpty dumpty

finshed. check.

prairie's pillow. finished. check.

she made this a while ago when she home with a cough. i bought a vintage husqvarna and was fiddling around with it, getting to know it. oh she said i feel like sewing. she found a piece of blanket i had dyed and asked for any scraps. i happened to have a basket full - funny that! and she sewed and sewed and sewed and gave that old machine the run it needed.

i was going to get her to make the whole thing up but she has gone back to school so i decided to do it rather than have it sitting around.

we splashed out on a feather inner

and some gorgeous linen from my most favourite store - martha's

embroidery sampler.finished. check.

i teach 13 year olds how to use a sewing machine but i mixed up the class this time and started them on embroidery which is really nice because we sit around together and i get to know them before we get onto the more stressful task of the machines. some of the boys moan a bit but they are doing a really good job and sit chatting like old ladies at a tea party. they were teasing me that i was getting behind on my sampler - i'll show them!

they start on the outside and go around with blanket stitch, chain, stem then couching. two rows of feather stitch ending up with a garden of french knots and leaves. oh there will be more groaning at that! we use the yarn that frau m has dyed the most beautiful colours and i added some of my pink homespun for the knots and couching.

 

a study in brown

when i ordered the roving for the sherbet gig i got 100gm of linen fibre to try out. it was defintiely a plant fibre and not as easy to spin as fleece but it was surprisingly soft when spun. all those planty fibres lay down together and formed a smooth, strong bond. i don't know what i will do with it - maybe crochet a basket.

and this project has been on my to do list for such a long time. its a footstool/ottoman/pouffe that my grandad made - growing up we always called it a humpty dumpty. i have no idea why. i am covering the base with some beloved burlap/hessian and then i will make a removable cover for the top. 

it snowed here yesterday - auckland - land of the tropics - first time in 80 years. it was barely a breath but enough for swirling to be seen and little flakes landing on limbs. sadly i missed out, i was in the classroom. my phone went off and the kids growled (in fun) at me for having a phone at school. it was from michael and all it said was 'snowing'. i relayed this to the kids and said i wondered what that meant. one of them quips - louise, its soft cold white stuff that comes out of the sky. smarty pants! and tommy got it too in town on the way home from university. needless to say the fire is cranked up today. now, back to the project.

sherbet

it was dry enough to spin last night so i did and would not give up my seat at the wheel. my right calf is still this morning!

once plyed the colours were very soft, sherbety

kool aid

imagine what it does to ones insides - rainbow inards!

this is a kilo of polwarth which is if my memory serves me right a cross between a lincoln and a merino to give the softness of the merino and the long staple of the lincoln. how the name polwarth came out of that is anyones guess.

i dyed this up in 200g lots so we can keep on with the squares for the blanket project - the kool aid blanket is what we are calling it now. i amped them all up a bit with some food colouring as i only had one packet of koolaid per colour and it just wasn't enough - and i sloshed a little vinegar into each one for good measure. sadly, i didn't wear gloves and my hands now resemble those of an oompa-loompa! i may break into song. 

ps

i just had to add these - couldn't decide on one so you get the triptych! hopefully it will dry today so we can spin tonight - it'll be a fight for the wheel!

 

3 little pigs

from the pink yarn i spun a while ago i decided to knit as many pigs as i could get out of what was there. three. perfect. i used the pig pattern from this book - i use this book when teaching the little people. these little piggies will go to the school fair methinks.

 

darn

a pair of socks i knitted for michael last winter developed a hole. so nice to be able to mend it up rather than toss. i love darning, love the weaving and, doing it with a varigated yarn made it easier to see where i was going. thats my new darning 'shroom sitting there.