My Year of Making and Healing: POST 7: AN AFRICAN ADVENTURE AFGHAN

(In case you missed it, I introduce this series here.)

Every once in a while, I find that I have a lot of small bits of yarn in my fiber stash. This pattern was a great way to use up a bunch of those bits. I still had to purchase a few skeins of white wool yarn which I dyed with food coloring to make sure I had lots of contrasting colors. Since it is almost 100% wool, it is heavy—over four pounds.

Because I used yarns of many different sizes, the afghan does not lie flat but is a bit wavy throughout.

The afghan is made up of these hourglass shaped motifs. Once you have knitted a few of them, you have the pattern memorized. (The pattern is free on Ravelry.com—search for “An African Adventure.” However, the instructions on how to piece it together are a bit vague.)

My Year of Making and Healing: POST 6: KNITTED WALL HANGINGS

 (In case you missed it, I introduce this series here.)

Sometimes I want just a little project that I can complete in a week or so. But it is nice if it also presents some challenge or a learning experience. Many years ago, I found a book called “Knitted Tams” by Mary Rowe and I learned quite a few techniques for putting colors together and how to construct a round garment. She suggested that you don’t just have to knit a hat, that the design can just be a beautiful piece of artwork.

I use an Excel spreadsheet to design colorwork and lace patterns.

I kind of “riffed” this design from a picture I found online, but I cannot remember where I found it. I wanted to use up some small bits of handspun yarn. I spun up the pink yarn from some unspun silk that was given to me by the lovely proprietor of Stick n Cups yarn shop in Utrecht, Netherlands back in 2018. She also gave me a little hand spindle.

I used this Excel spreadsheet to create the pattern.

This wall hanging was designed to use up a bunch of laceweight yarns I had left over from other projects. 

Because the yarns were so different, and because I wanted to be sure the colors would work, I made a little sample before embarking on the final version design. Also pictured is the Excel spreadsheet I used to create the pattern.

My Year of Making and Healing: POST 5: “PLAYING WITH STRING” SAMPLER BOARD

(In case you missed it, I introduce this series here.)

It is very common to experience depression when you are ill. Many cancer patients experience profound depression—and it is understandable. One way to counteract this is to keep your mind occupied with things that make you happy. Dance, fishing, painting, gardening, hiking, teaching, singing, socializing, acting…anything that makes you happy. For some people, it is their work.  It is important to make time for these things in everyday life, but it is essential when experiencing challenging times.

Because I have always found time to do the things that I enjoy, the transition was easy for me. And as a result, I experienced only a handful of times when I felt a little down during my year of therapy and healing from breast cancer.

I am always playing with ways to transform various forms of fiber into something else. Last fall I put together this Sample Board to pin up some of my experiments. By the way, it is made from a couple layers from cardboard—another fiber I enjoy transforming! Then I just covered it with some spare black cloth with a glue gun (a favorite tool!) No need for a corkboard at all.

My most enjoyable activities with fiber are spinning, knitting, and dyeing. The items on the board are mostly tiny experiments. But sometimes they are tests for planning a specific project. You will see the results of some of these tests in future posts.

For example, these two experiments will show up in future posts. In one I was trying out colors for a small  wall hanging. In the TWEED tests, I was figuring out how to create a tweed yarn for a sweater.

Check out the close-up photo of this 10 Lari note I acquired while in the country of Georgia. Look what that woman is doing!! 

My Year of Making and Healing POST 4: THE PRICE IS RIGHT FOR THIS DISPLAY BOX!

(In case you missed it, I introduce this series here.) 

Sometimes making the simplest thing from scrap materials can be very therapeutic.

I am a sucker for cool looking boxes. There is an awful lot of cardboard in my house that never makes it to the recycle bin.

My daughter likes this brand of soap that she buys at Costco. That was one box that did not get away!

I covered the box with scrap material to make a kind of framed shelf and it was perfect to display my little knitted dolls that I bought in Peru several years ago. 

The woman who made one of the dolls let me photograph her smiling face!