Jewellery – Mocha n Silver Bracelet

GREEN SILVER BRACELET


History
These photos surfaced during my recent photo excavation. The bracelet was made for my “Green Swap” partner. When packing all my stuff i felt i need to include some kind of jewellery. Since its already late in the afternoon and i am not sure if i can find a green one which i like if i shop around; i sat down with my craft box.
Size: Fits my Hand
Notes:
My swap spoilee likes it; what else is needed. The beads used are “Moss Agate(Mocha Stone)” chips.
Here are some photos of me modelling and the bracelet itself.

(Photographing one hand with the other is no fun)

Since it was a very hurry hurry project, no “in progress” snaps; which i badly wished i had taken.
Time:
A few hours during avro.

Sydney: Missing Photos

There is a quilting discussion going on in my group and i remembered that attended the Quilt show in Sydney last month. I don’t know much about quilts to talk but here are some pictures… ( I took about 100+ pictures and i like most of them so selecting few was quite tough…by the way there are 5 more on my flickr if you want to see more)

And as i was looking for these; i unearthed some more pictures that didn’t make to the blog.

Some of the Rainbows i saw recently…

Some of my cooking experiments…
Peanut butter cookies

Oven cooked garlic chicken and potatoes with jeera yogurt.

My first pizza from scratch … I made two more after this but with left over chicken as topping (i didnt have the right cheese or any other sauce for topping… but couldn’t stop once the pizza thing got on my mind).

I have some(actually a lot:-)) bad cooking stories also.. scones that turned into rocks; jam filled cookies which resembled like mini pizzas and the Chikki that never hardened; no pictures even though i wished i took a picture of my cookie sheet with the mini pizzas

Some of my WIPs
I actually stopped the pink one as i have to find more yarn.

The blue one (which has progressed a lot beyond the photo) is a victim of bad yarn calculation and i need to order more. The pattern is “Diamonds for Him” from Knitty but i did plain stockinette on the backside. ‘A’ is saying that by the time i finish it, he will not get a chance to wear it.

I think i am a bit homesick now…though i deny everytime ‘A’ asks me…
I get cranky for small things and moody all the time (though i blame it on the weather). Don’t feel like doing anything, even the grocery shopping; but ‘A’ says i am more creative with my dinner this way.

By the way we went to Mamak, a malaysian restaurant recently and boy they have the best “chicken curry”(Kari Ayam) and “~kerala/malabar parotta”(Roti Canai). I must say its the best food i had here in Sydney. Most of the Indian restaurants have an impressive menu but the recipes are tweaked for the australian palate which i find a bit different from what i expect….
My sole aim now is to recreate that chicken curry

3 Years

Wedding Anniversary 3

Its been 3 years since i got married and boy how the time flies…
‘A’ and I could believe that we have been together for 3 years

Nothing special….. We had a small home-made dinner yesterday night as ‘A’ had to leave early in the morning to the airport on a biz trip. He will be back tommorow evening and promised to make up for the lost time.

Me meanwhile rushed to my class, spent some time at the library and tasted some korean food at a local market.

WEAVE – Celery Scarf

CELERY SCARF

This is the secret project i was working in May for my swap partner. For the record i was into Green Swap on Australian Swappers Group on Rav. Now that it reached my spoilee i want to brag about it .
It is my almost “Sheep to Cloth” project except that i didn’t shear the sheep and didn’t card/comb the fibre ; I spun the yarn, dyed it and finally wove it into a scarf. Having said that this is also my first weaving project.
By the way i named it Celery coz of its varying shades of light green.

Size: 5″ X ~38″(without fringe)

Notes:

The fibre is optim also known as silky merino that i got from celia. Spinning was a nightmare for DH as the fibres that got off while drafting got stuck everywhere including his office wear Since the fibres are so fine its a bit difficult to keep them in one place.

I spun the yarn in two batches; the first one was around 12-14 wpi and the second batch was a bit thicker 8-10 wpi. Both the skiens combined are around 260-280 mts. The snap above was taken when the skiens are drying after a quick wash.

I dyed them using vinegar, food color and steam combination. The resultant color is lighter than you expect. I mean if it has been wool/merino yarn the resultant color with the same dye would be more dark.

I was initially thinking of knitting a scarf but since the skien weights are so different, i know i will be way out of gauge when taking yarn from the other skien while knitting…. So weaving it is .

Its fun researching for various weaving methods; learning a completely new terminology; visiting some nice blogs and all..
I finally settled on “Backstrap weaving” as it involves some very basic tools and i can improvise a lot with the things i can find around the house to make a loom. Finally after understanding the weaving mathematics and playing with numbers i started weaving… and its done in 5 days; ofcourse the washing and making the ends took a day more.

The thinner yarn (top photo) is used as wrap (lengthwise ) and the thicker (the above one) for weft (the widthwise).

Time taken:
So if you don’t consider my research time and the time i spent on constructing the loom; it took…
4 days for spinning the yarn
1 day for dyeing and drying
5 days for weaving
1 day for fining it off.
Not bad for first weave project…(i think… )

I didn’t calculate for the take-up sufficiently and my scarf ended 5″ less than i expected. Its ok, its sufficiently long to use as a scarf; it will be as a neck-warmer if you double wrap it; the fabric has got a very nice hand (almost like silk); and it is so light that you don’t even feel it

Learnt: Learnt a lot and with the habit i have.. i also have extensive notes; if i want to do weaving again later

All i can say at the end of it is.. “I am so proud of the scarf…” As my first weaving project i would have loved to keep it and even DH was liked the scarf… (though for the life of me i couldn’t persuade him to wear a knitted scarf…) But it is made for my spoilee and there is so much fun in giving something and to know that they liked it a lot…

Jewellery – Aqua Dainty

AQUA DAINTY

History
During my brief stint with jewellery almost an year back, i wanted to try crochet/knitting jewellery. A trip to the bead shop gave me the push i needed. I picked some bead and wire to experiment.

Materials: Thread, Hook, Beads.
Pattern: Dainty Earrings by by Julie A. Bolduc.
Notes:
I wasn’t thinking of making these when i made a trip to the bead store. They didnt have what i was looking for and i left the shop with wire and czech pressed glass beads.

Couple of beads and some thrift store crochet thread are transformed into “Aqua Dainty”. I like the way they have turned out, the czech pressed glass beads really make the pair very special.

I made a couple of changes to the original pattern to include the beads and the number of beads i have. I didnt have the pattern in mind when i picked the beads; i liked them and they followed me home.
I am now looking forward to experiment with various variations to the basic pattern.