More Lucets

I made these lucets after reading up on home made ones. The green one is made from polymer clay. It was old and somewhat dried out and I'm not good with clay either. I don't even have an oven, but I read that you could put it in a plastic container and cover it with water and harden it in the microwave! It worked! The yarn is a little thick and stiff and it doesn't slide very well. I have to fiddle with each knot to get the right tension. I think it's the yarn though. When I'm done with this one, I'll try a different yarn.
The fork one is slippery enough, but it's small and fiddly. I'm not a tiny and fiddly kind of person. I think it would work better if I hadn't bent the tines out.
I don't know if I'll be able to do any cord thick enough to be a dog leash (although my old dog only needs a thin cord just to keep him from wandering out into the road when we walk.)
I managed to get a scrap of wood from a woodworker friend. When I get the ambition, I'll see if I can made a wooden one.

The Lucet

I've always been intrigued with lucet cording. It's an ancient craft and looked to me like it would go fast. I've done inkle weaving but it's a production to warp up a loom to do something simple like a dog leash. (Besides, my inkle loom is in storage)

I've tried kumihimo cording which does beautiful cords, but it's a bit tedious. Great for meditating.

I read that you could make simple lucets out of a plastic spoon by breaking off the two middle tines. I realized I had just the thing to practice on - a wooden shuttle.

Lucet YouTube Video

 This was my first practice piece with thick yarn. It was even easier than I thought and went fast. Now I really have to get a proper lucet.

How to Make a Lucet

 

Bass Cosy Part C

OK it's not pretty. But it has handles and padding. That's what counts. I DID say sewing wasn't my thing. I did add some buttons to keep it more or less closed. Turns out that with the padding and tufting, it came out smaller than I expected. I didn't want it too big so the bass would slide around, but too small isn't great either.

I can still add some tufting to keep the batts in place. I've done some but I'm easily bored.

Bass Cosy (Pt 2)

I took my stuff over to a friend's house to use her sewing machine. I got more done than I expected. I now have a fluffy case for my bass - almost. I still have to attach handles and do some tufting and attach velcro for closure. The thing is so fluffy, I decided it was a cosy instead of a gig bag. Well, it will keep my ubass nice and warm.

I was kind of winging it on this one. I'm not much for the sewing arts. I cut out the basic shape I wanted and sewed around the edges with the right sides together. I reached in and pulled right side out.  I had left an opening at one end to put the batts through. I had thought at first I would lay the batts down before sewing, but realized that would be a major mistake on this project. I had to sew up the top and bottom a bit. I didn't have a long zipper or even the money for a zipper so the two handles, one on each side will hold the bass in until I can get some Velcro to hold the sides shut.

Gig Bag (Bass Cosy Pt. 1)

I know I have been lax in the craft department. I just don't have the space right now to do much and I've been obsessed with playing music. See my music blog here.
I just finished making a music stand out of an old suitcase and my next project is to make a gig bag for my ubass. It is built on the body of a 3/4 size guitar so the bag will be guitar sized.
I didn't have any padding so I carded eight batts of fleece. I imagine that they will felt down over time, but if I put enough in there, it should be fine - if fluffy for a while. I'll be working on this at a friend's house tomorrow so I'll take some pictures as I go. For now, here's a picture of the instrument in need.

Slouch Hat

I just finished a new hat made from yarn scraps. I found the pattern on Ravelry and I absolutely love it. My other little cap made me look like a bag lady. This one does not slide down over my eyes like many of my other hats.
There are some other great patterns on there I'm going to try.

Toasty Toes

I know it has been a while, but I was suddenly motivated to start knitting some slippers. We had a cold snap and the floor gets very chilly on my bare feet.
I have several patterns for slippers and chose the quickest one. The author made these up in one day, but it took me two days. I found the pattern on one of my favorite DIY web sites -  Here.
I always am disappointed when I knit socks or slippers and within weeks the soles start to wear out. I wanted to make some that would last. I found one pattern that called for polar fleece yarn. I had no idea what that was, but finally it dawned on me that the yarn was actually made from Polar Fleece!!! I looked up the yarn and it wasn't terribly expensive, but a pair of slippers would have cost me $30 to $50. Now the whole purpose of knitting them myself is to use my own yarn or whatever so that it's CHEAP - as in FREE.

Well, duh. I had an old fleece jacket with a broken zipper that was in the give/throw away bag. I rushed to take it out and started cutting strips to make my own yarn. (I used to have a nice rotary cutter and mat but they vanished during the move. I had to use scissors and wear gloves to prevent blisters.)

I cut the strips the same way I do when I weave rag rugs. I folded it in half with the stretchy side on the fold and cut from the fold but not all the way through the open side. Then I open it up and cut every other slit on one side. I do the same on the other side but alternating with the first side. This leaves me with one long strip that I can roll into a ball. I round off the square edges as I roll.
Then I started knitting.

I did omit the pom-poms. I'm just not a pom-pom type of girl, and I added a small loop on the back of the heel so I could hand them up.

This is not the most flattering of footwear, but it is thick, soft and warm and it's machine washable. As usual, one of my slippers was considerably bigger than the other. I had to do some tucking in the heel section, but now that I know how homemade fleece yarn knits up, I can start with another pair from a nicer pattern. I'd like to try one with a hand spun wool top and a fleece sole. Later for that.