Loop the loop

News to me. But Neatorama says so! (But some of their links are knitted, not crocheted. Picky, picky.) I’ve blogged about some of these before, and even given them places of honor in my Snark and Awe links. Enjoy!

All white cotton thread jewelry is still 25% in my shop on 1000 Markets.

At the First Saturday Arts Market in the Heights, all white cotton thread jewelry will be 25% off! Also a few select Valentiney things. Don’t miss it!

Well, this is working well! Hand-dyed silk thread, hand-dyed silk charmeuse scarf.

I am crocheting a doily, and as soon as I finish, I’m going to rip it out. So I can measure how much thread is in it. It’s kind of heartbreaking.

Here are a few things I have learned:

1. Silk dyes much more easily than cotton. I would have thought it was the other way around. This means I’ll have to change up my technique and dye concentrations to achieve the results I want.
2. I do not like dyeing finished doilies. I like dyeing the thread first, and then working with it. That means I have to think much harder about silk vs cotton thread, and about the option of using colored thread instead of hand-dyed thread.
3. Twisting and twirling something that’s knitted and stretchy does not yield desirable results.
4. I can loosen up my rigid thinking a bit regarding tartan patterns.

It may not sound like it, but it was a successful weekend!

UPDATE:

This look promising.

Found this via a tweet from Design Milk. Emily Barletta crochets/sculpts some mighty interesting pieces. They do seem to suggest pain, physical and emotional.

Well, four shows in five weekends was educational. No more for the rest of 2009 now. I need to take a hard look at what works and what doesn’t, and what might in the future. I’m pretty sure the category will be clothing accessories, and it will involve dyeing, silk thread and silk fabric. And still lots of tiny crochet. Because that’s the point.

Yesterday I sold my best, prettiest and most expensive earrings. That made me feel appreciated and accomplished.

I just made a new blocking board for the jewelry-sized doilies. The previous one was looking a bit pincushiony. I block everything viciously on concentric circles. Makes everything look gooooood!

New pretty pix on my Flickr site!