Monday, August 2, 2010

What needles?

This week's Spoonflower design contest is for camouflage fabrics. I had a fun idea:
It's called "What knitting needles?"

I'm getting better with Adobe Illustrator- this is my first seamless fabric repeat (without obvious divisions between the motifs). I started out with a solid background, and then I added earth-tone rectangles on the edges, lined up (for the seamless repeat), and ellipses in the middle. After that, I used a couple of the AI tools to push and pull the shapes all camo-like, and then I added assorted knitting needles (also arranged off the edges for a seamless repeat). I love how it came out, so I ordered a full yard (58" x 36") of the canvas twill fabric for bags, and maybe an apron.

Speaking of knitting needles, I played a bit with the yard of green Knit 2 Together quilting weight cotton this weekend, and made
A sock needle holder,
which came out just fine
except that the ties are a bit long, and I might make the next one just a tinch wider (the two outside pockets are not quite 1" wide- I forgot to take the side seam into consideration when I cut them out). It's an original pattern, so I'll probably post the instructions here soonish. I'm going to make a straight needle holder as well, and probably one for longer dpns (the above case is specifically designed for the 6" sock needles). I might be able to get all three projects from the single yard of fabric, but if not, I have a yard of the peach colorway too.

And here's something for all those soon-to-be carefully stored needles.
422 yards, 10.12 ozs, 2 ply, definitely worsted weight yarn from the hand-dyed Decadent Fibers Jelly Roll. I have probably 1/3-1/4 of the batt left to spin. This yarn is crying out to be heavy, winter socks (maybe even long boot socks, since there will be plenty of yarn), and I am just the person to oblige.

4 comments:

Mary Keenan said...

Love the fabric designs, especially made up into needle holders, and LOVE the squishiness of the handspun!! Can't wait to see those socks ;^)

Kathleen Taylor said...

I hardly ever spin squooshy yarn- I wish I knew how I did it, because I like it a lot too (I think it has something to do with the fiber itself- my usual yarn is hard and tight, with a lot of twist, this is definitely softer)

Nancy said...

I like the "What knitting needles?" design, but would prefer it in bright, mostly primary colors. Can Spoonflower customize the colors for me or would I have to beg the designer to oblige? Pretty, please?

Kathleen Taylor said...

Nancy- check out 8-2-10's blog post. If those colors work for you, I'll order a sample to make sure the colors run true (they don't always).