Cozy Cosy

Even though our little Singer sewing machines are portable and come with cases, I like to leave mine on top of my work table. Sad to say, I do not use it everyday so it gathers some dust. My friend Michelle wrapped a present to me in some wonderful fabric and let me keep it. I have been contemplating what to use it for and here it is: a cosy for my sewing machine! I first made one for Cerise out of dinosaur material (from the now closed NHM) then made mine out of this wonderful sewing machine material. Thanks Michelle!
Theresa, OmMama

Painting Ceramics

My mum's little sister (a.k.a. my aunt!) and her two kids and boyfriend came out for a visit last week and we decided to do some ceramics painting at the Pottery Place here in Corvallis. We all found something fun to paint and had a great time! It's fun to see how different the ceramics look after being fired. It's almost a surprise since you don't quite know what colors are going to come out!

Happy Crafting!
Cerise : )

Thank YouTube

I need to sew a zipper. I hate to confess that it has been years. Thank you fernfiddlehead for the nice concise video. I sure wish we had this so many years ago when I was learning to sew in 4-H! Zipper in, hopefully the project will get done soon so that I can post it.
Theresa, OmMama

My first Knit Project

Could it really be a scarf? Yes, I am on my way! I was tooling along adding rows, knit one row, purl another when a funny row showed up. Know I have a random purled row about 15 rows in, so I will have to add more and it may look like I did it on purpose. Aw, the mother of invention. Mistakes made while knitting over a glass of wine!
Theresa, OmMmama

Knit and Some Holes

Here are my very first rows of knitting and then later some purling and later yet some knit 2, purl 2, though you really can't see it. I have a great deal of difficulty with "practice" and want to jump right in and make a complete project. I can see that won't happen with knitting. Note all the little holes, missed stitches, etc. I did actually start a "REAL" scarf over the weekend, though. This white piece here will be my practice skein that I can keep messing with. The Knitting for Dummies book says that you have to keep doing practice swatches. Dumb, but okay, I will try.
Theresa, OmMama

Knitting

So Cerise has gone to a knitting group since moving to the Pacific northwest. She just finished a gorgeous sweater which I hope she posts a photo of soon. She invited me to go and since they meet at a wine bar i was game. Of course someone had some extra yarn and someone else some extra needles and there I was learning how to knit. Three weeks later I learned to purl and now I am dreaming of a nice sweater. It may be awhile. I just cracked open "Knitting for Dummies." yes, it may be awhile. I think it is a good motion to continue helping healing my arm break a few months back.
Theresa, OmMama

More on Silk

Apparently domesticating silkworms, er, silkcaterpillars, is a lot like domesticating chicken and turkeys. The selection for big and the many generations of being raised in captivity has made the silkworm dependent on humans for all movements. The caterpillars never get out to feed. The little guys at the caterpillar stage no longer see and the wings of the adult moths are stunted and practically useless. Color is gone in the domesticated n attendants, who carry the worms to the feeding places and supply them with food. The Bombyx mori, the domestic silkworm, is white or cream-colored, whereas the wild varieties vary widely in color. Very exotic. You gotta wonder if we are a slave to the moth or it to us.
Theresa, OmMama

There is no such thing as a silk worm (it's a caterpillar, silly)

Another wonderful natural fiber, silk is a protein obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori. I always thought the cute little worms, err, caterpillars, were raised and somehow "milked" for their silk. It is a lot more ugly. Commercially reared silkworm pupae are killed by steaming, dipping in boiling water or freezing them before the adult moths emerge, allowing the whole cocoon to be unraveled as one continuous thread. I expect some of them are allowed to mature to make more eggs that turn into more pupae. If the pupae break through the cocoon then the continuous thread made for the cocoon is broken. So a lot of little guys get boiled before they get to be moths. More on the process later. But appreciate that soft nighty or warm scarf.

Viscose, or wearing a tree

I have been seeing a lot more fabrics and clothing with viscose so I did a little research. I had no idea that viscose and rayon are synonymous and that viscose is touted as a "green" fabric. I actually thought that rayon was a synthetic (i.e. plastic) fabric. Viscose is a natural polymer made from wood pulp, patented 1892.

Because the cellulose has a very high viscosity, it was named “viscose”.
The cellulose is formed into sheets that are saturated with a solution of caustic soda. Sort of like making paper!

Getting Rid of the Goo

I cleaned my iron with CitraSolv. This stiff is made from natural oils and it smells pretty good. Just make sure to iron some scrap material first to get all the goo or whatever picture shows up on your iron gone. After all, cleanliness is next to godliness and we need our irons to work for us.