Sand Da Floor (or chair as the case may be)

Well I managed to get some half-decent pictures of the pieces of the chair a couple weeks ago. I've been doing all of the work in the garage, and for some reason mostly on cloudy days. When I finally got the pieces out of the garage, into the sunlight I realized that some of them could use a bit more time with the stripper (who couldn't use a bit more time with a stripper), before I go at them with the sandpaper.

Sanding hasn't been going all that well. First, at the beginning of the year I got sick which put me down for the count for a while. Second, I went back to my day job on 1/5, which means I have a lot less free time to work on the chair. As well, I have less energy to work on it in the evening. Not to mention that the garage doesn't really have a proper light. Once I'm in full-on sanding mode, I may move the operation inside, but we have enough trouble keeping the house semi-clean without me moving my chair crap into the living room, I kind of doubt that will happen.

One thing I did discover in the sanding that I have done, sandpaper, apparently expires. Or if it doesn't expire, it doesn't do so well in non-temperature controlled environments. I had so old(er) sandpaper that I purchases back in 2007 and began sanding with that. A given sheet of sandpaper would wear in a couple minutes of sanding, which is kind of frustrating. After I going through a good portion of my supply of snadpaper was trash. Now when purchasing a tool (yes snadpaper qualifies as a tool), I have a philosphy. If I don't know exactly which tool is best, I buy a few, and try them all, as long as it is economical. Sandpaper and it's variants are cheap, so it is economical to buy a few different kinds. The sanding will be a 2 step process, one phase with rougher grain to remove the remaining stain, and a second phase with finer grain to prep the wood to recieve the new stain. As such I needed to two different grains of snadpaper, and thus $30 worth of sanding implements.

Eureka!

I have just learned a new knitting technique that will turn my knitting world upside down...in a good way.

I have discovered Magic Loop Knitting. The technique has been around for a long time, but being one of those people who learned from a book, my skills are limited to what I taught myself. Thank goodness for the wonders of the Internet and Ravelry.com. Oh, social networking sites are the global watering coolers.



Knitting in the round is thought to be a scary technique, but I am super partial to it (as many people are). What I don't like about knitting in the round is that when you have to decrease, circular needles do not have a cable that's not short enough to work off some of the decreases, like a top of a hat, for example. In order to work with smaller circumferences, double pointed needles are used.


Doesn't that look scary?

Making things with smaller circumferences, such as socks, are typically made using double pointed needles, because needles with a cable that short cannot be made. Using the magic loop technique, all you need is a pretty long circular needle, which I love, and you don't have to worry about dropping needles and after a quick go with the technique, I knit a lot more consistently without "ladders" between areas from double pointed needle changes (see dpn article link above).

Even awesomer is that there are ways one doesn't have to have a crazy long circular needle and work with some crazy loops coming out of your little work with this technique:



Excuse me while I geek out.

There are Many Ways to Skin a Cat

I've been working on making yarn out of old t-shirts. It's an idea I've had for some time now, but it wasn't until a trip to Starbucks on a coffee run that really catalyzed my decision to get to working on it...but that's another story in itself.

Almost $50 and 23 pounds of a mix of t-shirts, mostly large, white T's later, I've been slowly working on cutting up my super stash of shirts to make into little balls of yarn. The biggest challenge for me has been finding the most efficient and comfortable way to work on ALL these shirts.

Upon researching the process of making this curly, bulky yarn, I thought the what I call the fold-and-strip method would be the most efficient way to do it. Sure, it gets the job done quick, but my impatient nature creates a high-risk of cutting the wrong way and leaving myself with little t-shirt string rings and very thick and inconsistent strips. I'm striving to make the least bulky yarn at this time as well as make sure to get the greatest possible yield from each shirt, so this method proved to be the least ideal way to go.

So I opt for the only other way I could think of: Cut strips in a spiral while working around the shirt. Of course, certain tools help in this process, such as an ironing board to create a nice and flat surface while being able to rotate the garment around and around until you have a super crop top t-shirt.

When I first planned on using this method, I traveled to my parents' house that had a full-sized ironing board, but it was thanks to the suggestion of my sister for me to take her mini-board and set it up in the living room where I could sit in front of the television so I can snip while watching a movie or whatever.

After a few hours squatting in front of the huge TV, I realized that my butt got too too sore working that way, and being distracted by TV and computer doesn't make yarn making too quickly, but at least it's perhaps the most sane way for me to work on making yarn (while being able to catch up on watching movies).

Then I came up with the idea to sit on a couch, prop up my knees, place the shirt over my legs, and then cut strips that way. From that angle, I found that I could cut the thinnest strips that way (though sometimes too thin, causing breakage), but my wrist was a bit tweaked that way, which starts hurting after extended use, particularly at the point where I have my hairline fracture (My only bone break and again, another story in itself). I was still able to watch something to keep me distracted, but perhaps it's not the quickest way (add the movie watching to that), and my wrist get fatigued much too quickly that way.

But now I think I've found the best way for me to work: either on a bad or on the floor, with the shirt cut from the sleeves on a mini ironing board. I can still cut relatively thin, but not dangerously thin like my second to latest cut (made on the couch).

With a movie I haven't seen before on, I can cut one shirt through the movie. I should try cutting with an old favorite on or just music to see how far I can go.

The 6 year project...background.

So about 6 1/2 years ago I was laid-off from my first real job as a software engineer.  Honestly, I was glad.  They gave me a heap of money to go away and I hated that job anyway.  Which plenty of time to rock climb and... huh, not much else.  Problem was, I was locked into a lease and none of my friends were unemployed so I didn't have anyone to climb with.  Were I more ambitous I would have dug around and rectified both of these situations, but I guess I was too lazy.  Sometime in the first month I got it into my head to refinish this old chair that I'd inherited from my parents sometime during college.  You know, one those pieces of furniture that your parents are happy to get rid of when it populates your first apartment, and usually doesn't survive the college years.  This chair was built in the 50s (my guess).  It's contemporary Danish piece that is very special, and was likely bought at some place like Sears.  Still, I liked the chair thought it would look nice with a new dark finish and some new cushions.

So, I went out bought some stripper and some sand paper and a scraper.  Wanting to do it "right" I took the whole chair apart and put the screw into a zip-lock to be later lost.  Over the next few I spent probably a total of 10 hours working on the chair.  I essentially finished stripping on piece and did an initial sanding of that piece.  At this point, a friend, who had done something similar suggested I use this product that she had used.  I can't recall the name, but it was one of those as-seen-on-tv type products.  She claimed to get good results.  I did not and as my life drifted towards me going back to school to study geology, the chair got left by the way side.  It followed me, though.  It followed me to Carrboro, NC.  Two seperate apartments and a house.  And eventually, it followed me to Pasadena.  Thanks to my very generous girlfriend.  In Pasadena, the pieces of the chair have mostly sat in the garage, and again mostly been neglected. Until now.

Last summer, I became very sick.  That is another story.  I'm recovering, which has afforded me MUCH more time around the house.  I've finally

 become well enough to make it back out to the garage.  And inspired, to do SOMETHING. I've started on the chair again.  Luckily I have the second chair, for reference.  Since starting I've just about finished stripping the wood.  Unfortunately, the old chair had been stained at least twice, more likely 3 times.  Which has required me using the stripper multiple times on each piece to break down the layers.  Even  then, I have to sand the final stain down - which also unfortunately mean I have to do 2 stage sanding.  Once, to remove the last of the stain, and once to prep the wood for the new stain.  It's going to be a darker (likely reddish) stain so question is, why go to all that effort.  Well, it's my belief, based on not much knowledge, that ultimately the wood will look better with the new stain, if all of the old stain has been removed.  Well, I'm sanding now.  I don't yet have in-progress pictures of the chair because the garage is dark and I'm waiting for a nice sunny day to take some pics  Here some more pics of the othe chair, sans pillows.

Fiber Art as Art

Last week, my friend sent me a link to a really great idea on how to make a quick, last-minute gift by making a scarflet with of super bulky yarn made of multiple strands of yarn.

I love bulky yarn, as it makes making things so much quicker, and it's pretty fun to work with as well. I have thought about doing this before, but the actual demo scarflet that is pictured has the most adorable color combinations.

Today, I was browsing around and found that there is a woman named Rachel John who has taken that concept to an amazing extreme: Extreme Knitting.

This technique uses 3-200 strands of yarn at the same time to create interesting color combinations and textures. In 2006 for the Southhill Park Unravel Textiles exhibition, she got 1,000 strands of yarn together to knit one large piece with a very thick strand of combined yarn!



It doesn't help that I love seeing a rainbow of colors and I'm a sucker for texture; so watching this video was just great.

Her main use of "extreme knitting" is for practical purposes, but making this huge sample as a piece of art is a wonderful way to emphasize the art into fiber art. Perhaps it's not as bad in other countries, but "crafting" is such a low-brow and hokey thing, and knitting and crocheting are terms associated with making things with googly eyes and rubber stamps. I think that there's a lot of art in making things with these organized, fancy knotting techniques, particularly since the majority of our apparel is made using such techniques.

Either way, this event wasn't the first time that knitting and crocheting was used in the name of "fine" art. There have been several exhibitions in many galleries and museums featuring fiber art, knitting and crocheting, and there are many artists out there, like a former co-worker of mine, Nicloa Vruwink, who has made several beautiful pieces of art from crochet, sometimes using cassette tape.

Knitting and crocheting isn't just for old ladies and afghans (not that there's anything wrong with old ladies, afghans, as well as googly eyes, painted balsa wood and rubber stamping, for that matter), and it would be interesting to explore what can be stitched up and with what.

Pondering...

What Next?
Originally uploaded by chromie

I'm happy that the crochet/knit bug has hit me again. As fate would have it, just as I started this roll, I received a few books I won in a drawing I entered at Felt Club in November!

One of them was a book on cable knitting, which is a knitting weakness of mine. Aside from the basics, there are some amazing new patterns I've never seen, including a pattern for a ribbed cable pattern, which allows the usual one-sided cable design double-sided. I AM STOKED! Add to the mix a pattern that included a ribbon that was threaded through cables gave me the idea to make a hat with ear flaps that would have a ribbon running through the ear sides so it can be tied up top and under the chin.

Test Swatch (Front)
Originally uploaded by chromie

After testing out the cable for myself and seeing how it would look when a double-sided cable stitch would look with a ribbon through it (turns out, it only shows on one side).

After some monkeying around, I got the gauge sorted out and have the pattern for the ear flap panel, but now I'm a bit stuck on how the back and front panels should look. More cables? Moss stitch the whole part? One rib going up?

I'm at the row I'd like to start that, and still nothing. Cable knitting is a very strategic technique...