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Kumihimo is the braiding of threads into beautiful cords.  It appears to be very intricate and complicated, but really it is a simple, rhythmic, repetitive process.

Miss 6 absolutely loves the kumihimo wheel. She has it down pat. Even took it school to show her class for news. I am looking into some different patterns for round, flat and square braids. 

It is a great pickup/put down type of craft. I have been taking mine in the car and braiding while waiting for the kids at their various activities.  The braids work up quite quickly.  I have found that the embroidery thread cards are handy if you intend on making quite a long braid as it saves alot of time untangling the long threads.  More pics and patterns to come.

Oh here is the link to the seller on eBay where I purchased the Kumihimo disc. 

From the fleece to finished yarn.  This yarn is 80% Merino & 20% Alpaca blended together. When spun and plied it is an 8 - 10ply (12 wpi). This is so lovely and soft and there is a total lof 180g. 

I used the microwave to dye this with food colouring. First was a blue dye session followed by hand painting the gaps with violet.  I call it Bubble Gum  Paddle Pop.

I have dreamt for a long time of one day owning a drum carder.

Well as luck would have it, I was talking to Christine from Glenora Weaving in Gerringong about popping up to see her when I asked if she got 2nd hand drum carders in.  She replied yes I have one now. 

So I put my skates on and headed down to grab a bargain. 

This little gadget makes life so much easier.  I can card about 100g of mohair in 40 minutes compared to 20g in an hour using my hand carders.  The kids often like to help card and miss 6 has an obsession with cleaning it. She sits with the awl and the flicker brush for ages making sure every little fibre is removed.

These were great fun to make. The best part was the look on  miss 4 and miss 6's faces when they layed their eyes on them.

Made by measuring the circumference of their head and making a basic beanie pattern using a 5.5mm crochet hook and one strand each of DK and Moda Vera Jazz.

Once finished I used the eyes of a toy pattern and stitched them on and the nose was a guess.

These are so funky.  Crochet with DK (8ply) and a 4.00mm crochet hook.

I made a few of these. In camo colours and plain colours. You can find the pattern on Ravelry (you need to be a member to access)

It's been months since I have done anything with my blog. No particular reason other than, life pulled priority. 

So Over the next few days I am going to get photos and projects up and edited.

A game of catch up on many fronts.

Today I asked the kids (Mr 11, Miss 6 & Miss 4) if they would like to dye some fibre (mohair).

So we took some dirty nasty mohair and washed and washed and rinsed and rinsed.

Then we divided it into 3 pyrex bowls after we had squeezed all the water out.

Then the kids chose their colours.

Mr 11 - blue and purple

Miss 6 - red and pink

Miss 4 - pink, pink and pink

Mummy then mixed up the colours using a mixture of 1/4 cup water, 2 tablespoons white vinegar and 5 - 10 drops of the relevant food colourings (just the standard cake making one's in my pantry)

The kids added their colours.

Then we covered the bowl with cling wrap

Then into the microwave for 5 minutes

out it comes all steamy and very very hot "be careful"

We checked to make sure the water was clear (clear water means all the dye has gone zoom into the fibre) We had to pop Mr 11's back in for another 3 minutes. It seems the blue is a little more stubborn than the rest.

Then we left the bowls and fibre to cool then mummy will rinse it all ready to put out in the sun to dry in the morning.

 Mummy rinsed all the fibre before going to bed and wow don't these colours look fantastic.

Mummy will post the photos of the fibre out in the sun tomorrow and more when it's all dry.

I finally finished the mile a minute baby blanket. Mental note to self, purchase ALL yarn needed before starting a project. I made the mistake of getting half the yarn with the intention of going back to get the rest. Well it took that long to return that they had sold all of the dyelot I bought. Lesson learned.

Finished this blanket measures 148cm x 100cm

I have not yet blocked this as the weather is rainy today and the house is sooo cold. I will wait for a lovely warm day.

Last time I dried some spun wool I tied it to the clothes line and tied a weight to the bottom. This worked well at keeping the yarn straight, but it unfortunately put a fold in the skein, this I didn't like. Soooo. I had a brain wave about how to solve the problem. I mentioned to DH what my plans were and he said "Hey we have some of that pipe down the back". Yeehaa. So I cut two wedges out of the plastic plumming pipe as you can see in picture #1 so that it could be attached to the clothes line by twine, but be secure and not move (pic #2).

So then I attached the second rope to the pipe then I added my skeins of home spun wool.  Which is a simple process, just unhook the ready made loop from the slot and you can add your yarn.

Mmmm a slight problem with the skeins being different lengths, so I cut some more plastic pipe into lengths about 30cm long, cut a little wedge out of each end

I could then weight each skein individually.  In this case I used an old plastic shopping bag and some freshly picked mandarine's.  But I can use what ever is on hand at the time be it kids toys, lemons or even garden rocks (as long as it is not too heavy for the skein it doesn't really matter).

I am so excited to finally have my hand carders.  I took a drive down to Gerringong which is about 30 minutes south for me to a lovely little shop called Glenora Weaving and Wool.  They are situated high up in the hills about 3km off the main road. Oh what an inspiring place. There, the owner Christine has her own sheep, the most wonderful view of the South Coast and her shop. She stocks yarns and fibres of all types, roving in so many colours, knitting and weaving supplies as well as Ashford products.  My carders are so lovely and much easier to use. In the photo below is some Mohair that I carded last night. Soooo nice. I can finally get to spinning.