Knitted pants

Maybe I make weird things, but I like them:

Knitted pants, if you like them tell me, I can make you a pair :)

Síndria

For some reason I can't explain I had to take the pictures today, so they turned out a little dark. Hopefully tomorrow I'll take more.

Hehehe, I can't wait for the cold to come!

I made it in the shape of an oval, like a long cowl that you can wrap many times around your neck, the rounded parts stay around your shoulders giving you a warm embrace :).

I used 6 balls of noro cash Iroha that I was given by Lía in a Swap in Madrid some years ago, this is the most luxurious yarn that I have ever used, and probably would have never bought it for myself, but I grant you that is a delight to have it close to your skin.

Now If you'll excuse me I'll be in front of the mirror, playing with my new scarf.

Cicada and ant

Enjoying the pleasures that life can offer, such as knitting, but also getting ready for winter

This is going to be a super warm scarf, and it is going to be mine, I have promissed myself that I am not giving this one away.

Where did all the skeins go?

During the time I have been spinning and visiting blogs of fellow spinners I've become acquainted to many skeins of yarn, some have been born from my hands, some from other's. Have you ever wondered what happended to that gorgous yarn you saw long ago on somebody's blog? I mean to rescue my skeins from oblivion, this is the first one that has found an new purpose to it's life, and there'll be more to follow. If you want to remember the details of it's birth, go here (second picture).

It's a small shawl/short scarf with short rows to shape it's rounded edges.

I was pleased to find that the colours of a skein dyed more than one year ago with natural dyes have not faded the slightest.

So we all agree that machine knitting isn't cheating, right? ;)

Playing with clothes

In how many different ways can you wear a garment? Obviously it depends on the garment, but you can always play

You can wear it as it was meant by the designer

Open

With the neck tied

With the neck part as a double sleeve, my favorite

Folded neck

This is the best fitting garment that I have made on the kntting machine so far, we are getting there. Whenever I get a new toy I obsess with it, now it is the knitting machine, but I haven't forgot my old toys, I still hand knit and spin, I have some finished objects yet to show.

Compost dyeing

To dye with natural dyes you usually need dyestuffs from wich to extract pigments, mordants to bind them to the fiber and heat to set it all in motion. This time I left out the last and used the power of mold instead. The technique is called compost dyeing and it goes like this: First you scatter the vegetal matter on the damp fabric, you can use anything, leaves, lichens...I mostly used lichens, because I read that they work specially well with this technique, I also used onion skins and eucalyptus leaves. Then you must wrap it in plastic film to keep the humidity within and let it rot for a couple of months. I left it fo or two months. At first I thought I wouldn't be able to stand the impatience, but I scarcely gave my stinky wrap a thought in all this time. I forgot to take pictures when I prepared the packet, so all the pictures are from when I opened it, with the emotion of a christams morning.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to photograph smells?

Unfortunately at some points the wools itself rot and broke.

I think next time it needs more dyestuff.

The never ending brown

Spun form several tops dyed with different dyestuffs that gave it different shades of brown and russet. Unfortunatly you can't apreciate the colours very well in the pictures.

I don't know why it took me so long to spin it, it was like if the fiber had no end.

100g, 100% merino superwash, 2 ply, 550 m.