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posted July 9, 2007 @ 5:17pm.cst. Where's
yours?
Comments:
Received: Sun., 7/29/07:
Hi Leigh, Your doilies are pretty and also, I like the way you
added the length to the Floral Fantasy pullover pattern too. Thanks for sharing
your pics. :) Sincerely, Lee Ann, Crochet...Gotta Love It!
http://cgli.us
Received: Wed., 7/11/07:
Leigh- your items are lovely!! LOVE that tatted heart!!! I never
learned to tat. My grandmother used to tat, but we don't have any of the items
as she always gave them away as gifts. Do you ever make anything by request for
sale?? I would really be interested in a tatted heart. Beautiful work!! Don't
worry about saying no if you'd rather not make anything for sale. It's not
something a lot of folks do. I'll understand. Thanks for sharing. Would love to
see more of your items in the future. Hugs, patsy
Received: Wed., 7/11/07:
Dear Leigh, I checked out your blog site and your work is just
amazing. Great job. Linda From Ohio
June 20, 2007
For starters, this is the Lionbrand
"Floral Fantasy Pullover". The pattern is in the free
crochet patterns section at
Lionbrand.com
This was a pain to crochet. It's
made from 50% wool (who knows what kind) and 50% acrylic.
The yarn is super fuzzy, but it washed up very well. I
added a mess of stuff to it because I need things to cover
my bum. I'm too shortwaisted to let something cut me off
at the middle. So, I added some arch stitches around the
bottom until I thought it would be long enough. Then I
tied a mess of fringe around the bottom and beaded it with
turquoise glass beads.
Next, we have blue, and blue with
white crocheted flutterbys on a glass art piece. Creates a
very nice mobile and looks very pretty in the wind. I like
doing these as they're very interesting. The next picture
is of more multicolored flutterbys and stained glass 3D
art I have for sale.
Waiting for the onset of summer! YAY
(I think.) I like all the greenery and the increased
ability to step outside more often, but don't care much
for heat over 85 degrees. Oh, well, can't have everything!
SMILE!
Get some fiber and get spinning!!
Monday, May 14. 2007
Sometimes UFOs have an awful way of filling me with absolute
dread.... For instance, the "Tubey"
sweater from Knitty.com. This little number has become a very serious UFO
that is actually hogging up a basket and resting on one of my spinning
wheels (the one used least, anyway). This was supposed to be a very fast
and easy to knit sweater. That is, until I messed with the pattern to make
it my own. I just had to add a cabled rib to the body of the sweater! Not
only to the front, but to the entire body!!!! So now, I'm almost
going on one year with this 'thing'. Who knows, maybe I've entered some
sort knitting madness or "The Twilight Zone For Knitters"! (LOL)
Then there's the beautiful sock yarn I acquired on a cone.
It's orange, brown and green (2 dif yarns plyed tog so it's a cabled 4
ply) and feels splendiferous (wool & mohair) to work with. The
problem.... I had a brilliant and madly warped desire to knit a pair of
size 8 socks on size 3 knitting needles. People talk about suffering from
"second sock syndrome"?????!!!!! I have "first sock syndrome". This first
sock is taking forever to knit. To heck with the 2nd sock, I want to get
through the first one! I worked on it for 1/2 hour last night, got 1-1/2
inches done and it doesn't look like I even moved the needles.
Thank God for crochet! If it weren't for crochet and the
beautiful lace you can make quickly, I think I would go mad from knitting
(even though I enjoy it). I can whip up crocheted stuff really fast,
painlessly and actually get to feel like I accomplished something. I still
have some UFOs with that too, but I can handle those because some of them
are artistic piece work The FO, in the next 2 pics, is from the August
1988 issue of Magic Crochet. It is titled, "Heart to Heart". It took me 2
months to get it finished, but I enjoyed every stitch (even the frogging I
had to do occasionally)!!!!
The UFO doily I'm working on is called, "Buttercup" and it's
from the same issue of Magic Crochet. In the pic, I'm on round 15 and have
6 more to go. I'm not really one for round doilys because most of the
objects I've got about our home require something a bit larger for proper
display. I'm also a bit intolerant of single colored lace. I love to put
different colored edgings on when applicable. IMHO, it adds some pizzazz
to the finished item!
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Here's what I've got going on spindle & wheels yet: the
last of the blue coopworth,
camel hair:
and last, but not least, pink cotton!
Get some fiber and get
spinning!!
Thursday, April 19. 2007
I
acquired a 'new' spinning wheel around the 3rd week of March. It's very
pretty and is still in need of a lot of TLC, but it's slowly getting
there. I started spinning camel hair on it after I oiled and adjusted it.
It spins well, but it's taking awhile for me to tweak it.
 
The camel hair is a bit fuzzy and coarse, but is spinning up
quite well.
On
another note, I finished Wally, the crocheted sea turtle. I got the
pattern free from Spritely
Goods. It's very well designed and easy to crochet!!! I made mine from
leftovers of my hand spun wool yarns.
All for now............................
Get some fiber and get
spinning!!
Monday, March 19. 2007
I
will tell all my readers this: Never underestimate the values of missing
the bus (or other preferred means of public transportation). We wanted to
go to Sears (Not funny! They have the best pillows & clearance sales!!
YAY!!!) so we walked down to catch the bus only to find we'd already
missed it by 4 minutes. We started to walk back home, but on a hunch that
we could possibly catch the next one, we decided to stop in at this
little, tiny decor shop. They've tons of old stuff at this place that's
fairly interesting.
I love glass. Pretty much anything that's made of glass, I'll
love at first sight (like my DLH the 1st time he ever talked to me). I
spotted this adorable vase with a stopper and thinking it was glass
decided it was worthy of inspection. Upon closer inspection, I discovered
it was ceramic, but decided to acquire it anyway (she was having a 50% off
sale, too). My DLH thought it was a genie's lamp and was going to rub it
for his three wishes! LOL
Anyway, we missed the next bus also, but scored on a
beautiful vase!!!!
Pics of Camille Wearing Her New Moebius Scarf
Camille (our lucky Moebius scarf contest winner) posted her
blog addy so we can see a pic of her sporting her new Moebius scarf! Ya
wanna see it?? Click here: Camille's
blog.
Get some fiber and get
spinning!!
Monday, March 19. 2007
If
anyone had ever told me that I could crochet filet lace with worsted
weight acrylic, I would have been saying WOOHOO a long time ago!! After
all, who would've thought it could even be done. I never gave it any
thought because lace is usually worked in #10 Crochet Cotton yielding
something roughly 8 - 14" in circumference. You are basically making
something out of very, super thin string (#20 & #30 crochet cotton is
even thinner)!
Anyway, I found a pattern for a tiny, little, 6" x 6" sachet
pillow. I wanted to make my DLH a larger pillow for St. Valentine's Day.
So, I found some super soft white acrylic yarn hiding in my wee stash, and
set to work on it. The end result yielded a very stunning 14" x 14" pocket
pillow, allowing me to hide a little something special in it.
It's quite soft!
(Please do not ask for the pattern. It is copyrighted material and I do not
own the rights for it.)
(P.S. This was supposed to have been entered on Feb. 20, but
I got majorly sidetracked by life!)
Get some fiber and get
spinning!!
Monday, February 12. 2007
AND
WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!
Camille Suttor is our Moebius Scarf winner! Congratulations
Camille!
Thank you to
all who participated! This was so much fun that I'm going to post another
one in about a week. I'm open to suggestions for the next drawing!
Wednesday, January 24. 2007
How About
A Little Contest???
This might seem like a kooky idea, but, occasionally, I like
to see how many people I can draw to my site by using interesting
ads, postings, etc. (I had previously stated I wanted to see how many
readers I have, but it has been pointed out to me that the way I was going
about achieving this goal is quite incorrect. So, I stand
corrected.)
I
don't like polls because most of the collection sites collect too much
private data about users. I hate spam (the email type, of course, but I've
been known to turn up my nose at the canned stuff too). Surveys are okay,
as long as they're not too lengthy. So, here's the trip: I'm offering the
green & blue moebius scarf as a gift (or prize, if you prefer)!!
All you have to do is send an email to: contest@artisticexpressionsinwoolandglass.com and
tell me why you want, need, or deserve to have this scarf!!!
Since I am not a very good judge, we will hold a drawing of
all responders on February 10, 2007! Good luck to
everyone!
Get some fiber and get spinning!!
Friday, January 19. 2007
I
have major issues with 'designer' yarns! There are some out there that DO
have merit and truly can be called designer yarn, but there are also a
whole mess of them that just plain SUCK!! Sometimes, I buy these yarns
because the price isn't too bad and only, after I've checked out the fiber
structure of the 'so-called yarn'.
One of these 'designer' yarns made by Caron and is called
"Felt It". It typically sells for around $3.50 a skein and you can
occasionally get very lucky and get it at 50% off (YAY me!!!). When I
initially looked at it, I loved the colors, but had serious doubts about
the yarn structure. Upon further study, this yarn revealed that it was
merely an under spun, super fat, 1.76 ounce, 93 yard single. I drafted out
a small area of it and decided that at the reduced price, it was worthy of
experimentation. The following pictures are the results of respinning the
yarn (from 8 wpi to appr. 31 wpi) and plying with a single of luscious
brown Coopworth!! The finished yarn is 290 yards of 15 - 17 wpi and I've 3
more skeins to re-spin & ply! Do I know what it's going to become?
Absolutely not! I'm awaiting inspiration.
Get some fiber and get
spinning!!
Wednesday, January 17. 2007
I love Dulce de Leche and moebius scarves. The NY
Times had a recipe for home made Dulce del Leche (either late December or
early January Sunday edition of the magazine insert) or milk jam, caramel
pudding in a can, etc. Their instructions were to place the can in a large
pot of water, covering the can by at least 1 inch of water, simmering the
can while remembering to add water to the pot, when the water level was
nearing the top of the can, so the can does not explode! They even had a
story about a man who routinely exploded cans often. I've heard tales of
people actually eating out of the can with a spoon (a bit too rich for
me)! I like it on top of ice-cream, spread on graham crackers, or whole
wheat toast.
My
recipe is to basically poke 2 holes in the top of the Sweetened Condensed
Milk can, place in a pan and add water just up to within 1/4" from the rim
of the can. Simmer for 2 - 6 hours (6 hours for really, super thick).
Remove from the pan. Cool until you can safely use the can opener to
remove the top. Cover with a plastic lid and refrigerate. I don't know how
long it lasts in the fridge, but it never lasts long enough for you to
worry about that!!
 
Onward to the Moebius scarf: I don't like to futz
around with casting on over 200 stitches (kinda like preparing to explode
a can of really sticky sweet stuff all over your kitchen) and do funky
things to it while I'm knitting it unless I'm making something I'm going
to wear all the time and will use for the next 20 years. Here is a very nice, free version that only takes 80
stitches, if you are pre-disposed to knitting!!
On
that note, I like to crochet my moebius scarves. I chain as many stitches
as I want it wide (the actual height of the scarf). Its usually about 30
chains because I like to pull them down over my shoulders a bit to keep my
neck and shoulders warm. I crochet them in simple a 1/2 double crochet
stitch and in a myriad of colors, fibers, and textures. When I think it
will wrap around my shoulders the way I want it to, I merely single
crochet the 2 ends together with a single twist in it. Wah lah! Ready to
wear!!
Get some fiber and get
spinning!! Posted by Shasta
Daisy 3000 at 09:35
| Comments
(0)
Last modified on
2007-01-19 09:57
Friday, December 29. 2006
It's that time of year when I think each and everyone of us
goes completely off our bean! This occurs with the completion of
Thanksgiving dinner (when the sales & baking extravaganzas begin) and
continues until January 2nd, when we come to realize that, OMG, we've
eaten way too much (not me), spent way too much (not me), worried and
fretted over every little, minute detail (very much me!), race around like
mad-hatters trying to get every little thing finished and perfect (me -
especially the cleaning), did our best to get out of gift wrapping (me) by
asking others to do it (mostly Ze Duster), refuse to take down the outside
lights because it's too darned cold (I leave mine up all year so I can
plug them in, in July.), and decide that the week of Christmas is not
really the best time of year to take a vacation (should definitely wait
til spring)!!!
 Anyway, I crocheted (while listening to Lime n
Violet!!!) my DLH a very large, angel afghan because he's
always so cold. I don't think it helps much that I like to snuggle and I'm
usually an ice cube fresh from the freezer. It doesn't seem to matter,
either, how many clothes I've on.
I'm just a person who absorbs the cold more readily than
heat. I truly wait for cold weather with baited breath because the heat
tends to make me quite ill & difficult to live
with.
About the afghan: it's 20 squares measuring 18" by
12"; made of acrylic due to it's size (it's on a King size waterbed)
and ease of washing. It is quite heavy and took 3 weeks of steady
crocheting.
My
DLH got me several things for Christmas which actually surprised the pants right off me (not to mention, tickled me pink
. One of these wonderful items was a book called, "Sexy Little Knits" by Ashley Paige. This is
simply the most awesome gift as it has many patterns I've been hunting for
for ages and could not find anywhere. It's as though the decency committee
of the greater area of our 'fine city' raided the public libraries and
sold them all off!
At
right, is the very first thing I crocheted after flipping through
and enjoying every page. It's a very well designed, fitted halter top that
is very reminiscent of the 1970's. I've almost got the matching string
bikini bottom finished! YAY!!!
If
you're looking for a book to jazz up your wardrobe, get this
book!!!!
 Here is a pic of my Christmas socks!
Have a Happy New Year and get some fiber and get
spinning!!
Friday, December 8. 2006
I
got some wonderful, super shiny, soft, 100% Tussah carded silk sliver from
Little Barn,
Inc. It is from their 'Rainbow Dye' collection and at $2.95 per
ounce, I think it's an absolute steal!!
It
drafts and spins very easily, but, alas, has fallen into a state of just
being (sort of like a lull). I'm diligently working on #12 of the angel
rectangles for the afghan while listening to Lime and
Violet podcasts (Hell in a Handbasket)
 .
I've been reading their blog for awhile. It just never occurred to me to
listen in!! These two ladies are so freaking hilarious that the crochet
goes a lot faster. I may even get 3 squares finished today (which would be
a record!)
I'm not sure if it's going to be 4 x 5 or 5 x 5. I'll figure it out while
I'm assembling it.
Get some fiber and get
spinning!!
Wednesday, December 6. 2006
 I love whatever type of crochet this is called!!! I
was perusing an older book I have, called "The Complete Treasury of
Needlework", and after seeing some very fine examples, I thought I'd give
it a shot. I got out my dreaded graph paper and after 4 tries, graphed out
a reasonable looking angel. It took 5 swatches to get the pattern to come
out the way I wanted it to.
I
chain 40 +1. SC 1 row. ½DC 5 rows.
Then I just follow my graph. When the graph is finished, ½DC 5 rows, SC 1
row and tie off. I'm very happy I did the test swatches because that
helped me get acclimated to following the graph. The way I'm doing it
allows for the angel to be seen from both sides, so when the afghan is
finished, it will be completely reversible.
This sure beats the putzy knitting of intarsia! You can't
knit a reversible fabric unless you double knit and I consider that a
waste of yarn unless you're doing socks or mittens. I can do this with my
eyes closed!!
Get some fiber and get
spinning!!
Wednesday, December 6. 2006
 I originally harvested the wool for this
sweater when I was between 15 and 16 years old. It was the ewe's 2nd
shearing and I was rather proud of myself to actually be doing the
shearing. I wish I had a picture of the ewe that shared her fleece, as she
was very beautiful. Unfortunately she turned out to be a rather rueful
mother and unfortunately went the way of ewes that don't work out in the
breeding arena.
I
spindle spun it Lopi style and knit a sweater that was so long and
monstrously huge, it came to mid thigh on me. Of course I was only 5' 2"
(I'm 5'6-1/2" now. I've managed to shrink a whole inch!) then. The sweater has also felted considerably over the years. I
refuse to bring anything we wear to be dry-cleaned as I believe the harsh
chemicals are not good for human consumption.
Anyway, it was finally chilly enough to require wearing it!
Brrrr!!
One More Finished Object! YAY!
This is the yet another afghan I was working on for my
darling husband. It is a double crochet ripple pattern. Fairly easy to
whip up and can be done while watching television.
I
believe that brings the number of afghans I've made for DH to four? I'm
not really sure because he doesn't use them. They're used to adorn
furniture and become laundry for me about once a month.
Brrrrrrrr! I'm starting to believe that I'm going to freeze in
my office!!
 There's nothing like a good cold snap to show you how
well certain rooms in your home are insulated! As you can see, we got a
wee bit of snow along with that brisk, cold air and wind.
I'm quickly learning that my office has little or no
insulation. I can feel the wind blow right through it on a windy day. My
feet start out nice and toasty, but after sitting for 10 - 15 minutes,
they feel as though I've had them in a bucket of ice. Sometimes, it
actually feels as though I've got myself perched up my maple tree with
nothing but a mere sweater on.
When our home was built (around 80 years ago??), that small,
corner room was intended as a nursery or bedroom - HAH! The poor baby,
child, or person would have frozen to death at night! My elder sources
around the neighborhood have informed me that the winters back then were
much, much colder than they are now.
Well, off to grab a felted afghan to wrap around my legs!
Get
some fiber and get spinning!!
The
Mysterious Hedgehog Pattern
Wednesday, November 15. 2006
Thursday, November 2. 2006
-
-
Leigh
Dudenhoeffer
I
Passionately love my husband, son & pets!
I
don't believe in doing anything half-assed and I'm always trying to
re-invent everything! I figure if it doesn't work the way I want it to,
then fix it so it does!! I'm a fiber & glass artist who spins just about
any fiber, dyes everything that will take it, weaves, knits, crochets,
tats, wet felts, needle felts, paints & stains glass, makes glass jewelry,
stained glass ornaments, etc., etc. Anything to do with fiber, fiber art,
or glass, I do it!!
Get some fiber and get
spinning!!
The
new home of my blog!!!!
Wednesday, November 1. 2006
 I would rather be knitting in bed!! or even spinning,
but here is the dubious task before me...
I will be very, painfully, and slowly moving all of my previous blog
entries (the ones I can) over to this site. I decided that I have way too
many places and passwords to remember. So, the estore and the Shasta Daisy
3000 blog will be here, followed by 'Ze Duster's' Blog sometime in the
future.
Get some fiber and get
spinning!!
|
I got very tired of all the different kates out there
for plying and decided that I would put my drill press to work on a heavy
hunk of wood my DLH salvaged from a dumpster and brought home for
firewood. The thing weighed at least 5 lbs and was very difficult to
drill into, but it's finished. The dowels are removable so I can put most
of my spindles in the holes. I used 1" long, copper thingies that are used
to secure electrical wire as tensioning devices for plying. The whole
thing works like a charm!