I have missed all holiday-associated deadlines associated with the recycled cashmere rug due to it being wrist torture to cut the sweaters into strips. I am now looking for some sort of improved mechanical method for spiral cutting the sweaters. I hope to now finish it in time for giving sometime in the 2009 cycle of holidays.
Moving on.
There are now twin projects taking up most of my think-about-knitting time.
A) a hammock knitted out of rope
B) a sweater for my mother
More on both these topics later and, ideally, finally, some pictures.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
a Shot in the Foot
Well, that whole momentum thing didn't really work out as planned. For that matter, neither did getting this project properly underway. So much for my fuzzy valentine! Knitting christmas presents and a busy holiday gave me a bad case of cheese-monger's elbow. Which is a real affliction related to tennis elbow that can strike those of us that spend our work days dragging what amounts to a guitar string on a handle through hunks of cheese. So I took a few weeks off and just read about knitting instead.
But now I'm ready to get back in action! What's really digging the spurs into my donkey is getting the sweaters cut into strips. After wearing the sharpness off 2 pairs of scissors on the hard to cut sweaters, I rigged up a temporary solution by clamping a razor blade to the back of a low chair (sounds dangerous, eh? It sort of looks like a torture device too). I'm not positive its really a solution because it's much harder to get an even width on the strips. The sweaters are still pretty springy even though they've passed through washer and dryer. Wavy wavy edges on the cut strips. It still seems to take a really long time to convert pretty small sweaters into balls of crochetable ribbon.
Less typing, more cutting.
But now I'm ready to get back in action! What's really digging the spurs into my donkey is getting the sweaters cut into strips. After wearing the sharpness off 2 pairs of scissors on the hard to cut sweaters, I rigged up a temporary solution by clamping a razor blade to the back of a low chair (sounds dangerous, eh? It sort of looks like a torture device too). I'm not positive its really a solution because it's much harder to get an even width on the strips. The sweaters are still pretty springy even though they've passed through washer and dryer. Wavy wavy edges on the cut strips. It still seems to take a really long time to convert pretty small sweaters into balls of crochetable ribbon.
Less typing, more cutting.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Momentum
Alright. Today I am posting, even though I have not figured out how to upload photographs yet. pictures of the raw materials for my current project have been taken, just not included. However, blogging momentum must be maintained. Perhaps a description of the current big project which I am hoping to finish by February 8, to allow time for it to travel to Seattle. What is this mysterious project? A crocheted rug! Meant to live beside a bed, or somewhere else it will often encounter bare feet, because it is (or truly will be) a recycled cashmere rug. Hopefully an oval about six feet long and three feet wide, striped, in single crochet stitch for a thick and cushy feel. Here is how I was inspired to start out on this gift.
About a year ago I left both our bathmats at the laundromat. When I went back to fetch them next day they had callously gone home with someone else. I had a bag of T-shirts with me, and one look at all that soft jersey and I thought "rag mat". It seemed like the wave of the future (Working in the food service industry garauntees an endless supply of oil stained shirts). I love recycled things! Also, I love kniting and to a lesser extent crocheting, but am often too cheap to buy the yarns I love, and so do them less than I would like to.
I made a T-shirt bathmat for us and was mightily pleased by it. Then I made another as a hostess gift for my in-laws when we went to Alaska last summer. They loved it (or at least pretended to). On the way up, we spent one day in Seattle, where dear, incredibly thoughtful and generous friends hosted us for the night, fed us a great dinner and took us to the fourth of July fireworks, some of the best I have ever seen. Such remarkable hostessing deserves reward. Naturally, I thought of my newest trick, the crocheted rag mat. But for them it must be better! Such glamorous women deserve a glamorous rug! Enter the cashmere bedroom rug. Could any thing be more luxurious, yet cozy?
So, for the last 8 months or so I have been combing the Goodwill by-the-pound stores for cashmere sweaters. In the interests of finding enough garments I have had to broaden the rules of inclusion: Must contain cashmere, silk, angora or alpaca fiber. Must be fluffy and super-soft. Must be pink, brown, purple or some combination there of. At last I judge there are enough. In fact, there may be too many. But, I will use mostly pinks and purples and divert excess browns into a rug for myself, which I am collecting green and brown sweaters for even now.
The next step is cutting all the sweaters into strips. Since it is cold and cramped out here in the stairwell, I think I'll go to work on it.
About a year ago I left both our bathmats at the laundromat. When I went back to fetch them next day they had callously gone home with someone else. I had a bag of T-shirts with me, and one look at all that soft jersey and I thought "rag mat". It seemed like the wave of the future (Working in the food service industry garauntees an endless supply of oil stained shirts). I love recycled things! Also, I love kniting and to a lesser extent crocheting, but am often too cheap to buy the yarns I love, and so do them less than I would like to.
I made a T-shirt bathmat for us and was mightily pleased by it. Then I made another as a hostess gift for my in-laws when we went to Alaska last summer. They loved it (or at least pretended to). On the way up, we spent one day in Seattle, where dear, incredibly thoughtful and generous friends hosted us for the night, fed us a great dinner and took us to the fourth of July fireworks, some of the best I have ever seen. Such remarkable hostessing deserves reward. Naturally, I thought of my newest trick, the crocheted rag mat. But for them it must be better! Such glamorous women deserve a glamorous rug! Enter the cashmere bedroom rug. Could any thing be more luxurious, yet cozy?
So, for the last 8 months or so I have been combing the Goodwill by-the-pound stores for cashmere sweaters. In the interests of finding enough garments I have had to broaden the rules of inclusion: Must contain cashmere, silk, angora or alpaca fiber. Must be fluffy and super-soft. Must be pink, brown, purple or some combination there of. At last I judge there are enough. In fact, there may be too many. But, I will use mostly pinks and purples and divert excess browns into a rug for myself, which I am collecting green and brown sweaters for even now.
The next step is cutting all the sweaters into strips. Since it is cold and cramped out here in the stairwell, I think I'll go to work on it.
Friday, January 18, 2008
The very beginning
Everything I like to do involves an element of transformation, hence the name. For instance, once this bathroom rug was a pile of worn out and stained t-shirts. OR, a pile of muddy leaves and some raw beef can become an attractive supper, given the transformative effects of fire water and skill.
I'm struggling to learn to document the many handwork and cooking projects I undertake. I've always wanted to take more photographs of my surroundings and projects. The only thing standing in my way is my inability to get photos from the digital camera to the computer. This is all a bit mission statement-y. So, I'm off to really get to grips with the instruction manual for the camera (once located) and cut some sweaters into strips. Wish me luck!
I'm struggling to learn to document the many handwork and cooking projects I undertake. I've always wanted to take more photographs of my surroundings and projects. The only thing standing in my way is my inability to get photos from the digital camera to the computer. This is all a bit mission statement-y. So, I'm off to really get to grips with the instruction manual for the camera (once located) and cut some sweaters into strips. Wish me luck!
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