Erica has knitted about 12 shawl minis. She had a great time knitting the minis shown above (photo taken during the blocking process :), while travelling to Scotland to visit her in-laws! The whole family enjoyed the train ride and Erica made loads of progress on her mini shawl samples! She has been knitting these minis from the remainder of the handspun yarn she used for TJ's hat last winter! She knit the following minis from Laura Nelkin's Shawls 14 Ways class:
- square top to bottom
- square center out
- triangle bottom up
- tip to tip square
- Top-down crescent,
- Heart-shaped crescent
- Tip to tip center panel crescent
- Hal Pi circular 12 rows
- Top-down semi-circle shawl
Erica has also woven samples of handspun single yarn for the Collaborative Cloth project hse is working on with members of the SCA (medieval re-enactment group). Many of her spinning friends have spun singles of merino and shetland. Erica is weaving samples so the member of the project can compare the cloth each makes and we can decide as a group which wool we want to use. She is also sampling several setts and recording shrinkage, so she can do the calculations to let the spinners know how much yarn they need to spin. Each member of the project will receive 4 yards of handspun, handwoven cloth! There are also several dyers involved, so the cloth can be dyed as well! This is a lifelong goal for Erica. She has wanted to have this truly medieval experience where experts in each area work together to make beautiful cloth!
Erica is a lifelong learner and loves a good study! Listeners will remember her knitting handspun samples/ She has been working on getting the below warp on her Ashford table loom. You can see more notes on this project on Weavolution.
Michelle has been needle felting:
She discovered that a bobbin case found at JoAnn Fabrics is good for carrying small bits of lots of colors when trying to felt away from home. It's double sided, so it has lots of compartments, but she now has two.
Michelle started 2D needle felting. It's so much fun!! Coloring with wool! How can you go wrong?
Here are a few pieces she made for a sale:
But the piece she's most proud of is her puffin. With thanks to Selina for the original picture that she took while in Canada. She just needs to frame it.
In the last episode, Michelle mentioned a small electric spinning wheel that she was looking forward to receiving. It has arrived, but she hasn't really had the chance to play with it yet.
Here's what it looks like, the Electric Eel Wheel Nano:
Erica found her missing combed top! She has now spun it up into her first 3 ply yarn!!!
Great episode! Really liked hearing about the other things going on in your lives (children's activities, travel, etc.), in addition to the various crafts.
ReplyDeleteJust a couple of questions:
1. Looking at the pictures here of Michelle's needle felting pieces, I see several price tags. Made me wonder, how do you ladies decide on prices for handmade items you sell? What factors in to the equation to arrive at the price?
2. When discussing Erica's shawl minis, you briefly touched on being organized with regard to the patterns and samples on card stock being placed in a binder. Later, when discussing the previously-missing-but-now-found combed top, you spoke of putting things away in the location where you would later think to look for them. I can see how that would work with larger components, such as project bags, skeins of yarn, pattern books/printouts, or travel versions of equipment like looms or spinning wheels. However, with most crafts, there are many associated small tools, which can be easily lost or mislaid. Do either of you have a particular way of organizing the myriad smaller tools involved with your various crafts?
Obviously, things in use for a current WIP would be either right with the WIP or near to where you are working on it. But for tools not currently in use (or seldom in use), do you find it easier or more preferable to just have things put away most anywhere in the craft room/general crafting area of your homes? Or do you like to have the bits and bobs filed away in cases or containers specifically designed for holding said bits and bobs, or to have everything tucked away into its own designated cubby or bin?
I realize that is probably something each crafter just does in whatever manner works best for themselves; I'm just wondering what each of your personal styles/preferences are.
Looking forward to the next episode!