Happy Almost Earth Day!

I hope you have had a wonderful day that included lots of lovely green living

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

and eco projects, and that you are going to do something special for Earth Day tomorrow.

We are going to plant some baby trees.  That’s them in the pic to the right.

The Spool knitter is one that I made from a chunk of old wood that we found in Jim’s Dad’s workshop 10 or so years ago. Jim’s Dad was a champion recycler.

He would upcycle stuff in the neatest ways…. nothing much got thrown away around Mum and Dad’s house. If it could be re-used, repaired, re-purposed, reclaimed, or restored or renewed, you know it would be!

In amongst the things we found in the workshop after Dad passed away was a very old handle from some kind of gardening or maybe woodworking tool.  The wood is super hard and wonderfully worn.  You can feel the years of use that have gone into wearing the grain into the wood.

So, I have been really enjoying being able to upcycle that old handle into spool knitters for jewelry makers to create wonderful treasures with.

Today, as an ‘almost Earth Day’ project, I finished up  a bracelet that uses a fun bit of upcycling and reclaiming: (as well as the upcycled wood in the spool knitter itself, that is!)  I spool knitted a bracelet with copper wire, and pushed a vintage marble into the center of the spool knitted wire cord:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I bought the marble at our favorite second hand store, because it looks so much like the earth.

How perfect for an Earth Day bracelet.

Spool knitting with wire is somewhat tricky, as wire has no give. It’s worth it, though, as you can do fab things with wire!

There are a few things that I have found over the years that make spool knitting with wire much easier, and so I have made a video to help show these special hints and tips:

I just posted about the friendship bracelets that I tatted while I was in the design process for

this tatted cord:

I am really pleased with the cord. I wanted it to be simple and not too frou frou.

It’s light and really pleasant to wear.

I am going to make it up in other threads to see how it looks in other colors and textures.

I loved the process of coming up with this design, and now, I am super inspired about designing all kinds of other tatted jewelry!

Fun!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

Yesterday, I posted about

making a tatting shuttle that broke.

And, so I recycled it and made it into a necklace:

And, now, I am debating about the cord for the necklace.

I know I am going to use Lion Brand Lamé in the oilslick version, but I am waffling about how I am going to make it.

I know that the Cordelia cordmaker on the left, works soooooooooooo beautifully for making square cords.

But…. since the necklace began it’s life as a tatting shuttle, it would make sense to tat the cord….

So, that’s what I have done!

Here’s the link to the finished cord: Tatted necklace

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

Yesterday, I posted about carving a Lady Hoare tatting shuttle from recycled wood.

I broke one of the tatting shuttles

sigh.

I tossed it into the sawdust bucket for burning next winter.

Tammy suggested that I reclaim it and use it as an inkle shuttle.

I like my inkle shuttles to have straight sides, so it wouldn’t work for that…. But…

I had been thinking that the Lady Hoare shuttles look like little dancing people….. so…..

I raced out to the workshop, grabbed the broken shuttle, and drilled a tiny hole.

I put a wire through it and a bead onto it (for the head) and

Voila!

I decided to burn embellishments on it:

and dip it into the varnish:

And, now, I am just delighted with it!

So, there you have it - a bit of an old desk drawer is recycled into a tatting shuttle, which is recycled into a necklace.

Recycling squared!

What have you reclaimed or recycled lately?

And…. do you have a favorite shuttle, tatting or otherwise?

Also, thank you so much for posting comments.

You inspire me! Yay for creativity!

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

In my previous posting, I showed how I got started making the Lady Hoare tatting shuttle.

I took the bits of recycled wood back out to the workshop, and cut the 2 shuttles out on the bandsaw:

Then finished up the openings with a smaller saw:

Next, time to make some sawdust:

You can see how it’s looking more ’shuttle -y’:

Time to switch to files:

OH RATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I snapped one prong off! THIS is why I always cut out TWO!

(I didn’t waste the broken one- see what I did with it)

So, start all over and be a WHOLE lot more careful!

HURRAH! I actually finished it without breaking it!

Finishing touch time:

I burned a little interlacing heart on it.

Voila! my new tatting shuttle from an old desk drawer!

They are a monster load of work to make, so I wouldn’t be making them for sale.

Besides, people can order beautiful Lady Hoare tatting shuttles from Lacis in Oakland, CA.

(no profit in saying so, but I dearly love their shop and the people who created and run it)

I LOVE making my own tools, and especially love it when I am reclaiming the stuff I am using in making the new treasure !

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

My husband’s dad built a desk when my husband was a wee little guy. Sadly, the desk fell apart last winter. BUT!

The desk lives on in all manner of ways!

I have made bag handles and a heap of bracelets from the bottoms of the drawers.

And, today, I made myself another ‘Lady Hoare’ (I pronounce it Lady Harr, as the other possible pronounciations are slightly ‘ahem’-ish) tatting shuttle:

The Lady Hoare style of tatting shuttle is a very old version of shuttle and I absolutely love it. It’s my favorite style of tatting shuttle.

Why? Because it allows me to load it up with a ton of thread, so I don’t have a bunch of little joining knots.

AND… I can tat with thicker yarns, including handspun when tatting with the Lady Hoare shuttle.

At first, it felt a little clumsy, but I have gotten so used to them, that it is quite speedy now.

Here’s how I make them:

First of all, I like to have a template, .so I drew out the pattern on a sticky label. I stuck it to some thin brass that my son pulled out of an old amp before it went to the eco station for recycling:

Here’s the template cut out:

I have a big old pair of scissors that I paid a dollar for at a garage sale. I use it to do things like cut templates out of brass sheet!

Then, I traced the template onto the bits of old drawer. It’s hardwood, but I don’t know what kind of wood:

I traced out 2 of them, because the fiddly bits can be notoriously unstable.

Next posting: Out to the workshop!

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

We have a wasp problem, and don’t want to use pesticides to kill them. Well, actually, we don’t really even want to kill the rotten little beasties…. they are part of the grand plan of nature, after all. We just don’t want the little stinkers to set up shop around our house, barn, hayshed, tool shed, garage or the farm machines. Is that too much to ask? LOL!

So, I designed a pattern for a fake wasp nest to trick them into to bugging off somewhere else.

So far, the crocheted wasp nests seem to be working! The deck has been wonderfully wasp free, and Jim hasn’t seen any more of them in the tool shed or hay shed.

Our daughter, Chloë , got inspired and has designed a sewn fake wasp nest. I haven’t heard from her about how it’s working at her house, yet.  Will need an update from her on that.

Jim decided that he’s interested in the family ‘anti-wasp campaign’, so he turned a fake wasp nest on the lathe:

It’s hanging in the barn, and when I was out there, taking pics, didn’t get buzzed by a single one.  Good for the horses!

We shall see how this goes…. hopefully, the wasps will avoid us. There are some kinds of beasties that are just not a treat to hang out with.

Now, if I could just make the mosquitoes hang out somewhere else!

And, oh yes, about those spiders! eegads! there was one the size of a moose in my undie drawer yesterday!

Ah, life down on the farm…..

:o)

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

OH!!!!! I am just delighted! After reading my posting about Hinka Osinga’s spectacular crocheted model based on the mathematics of the Butterfly Effect,  Kristi found the actual pattern for it!

I’ll never have time to do it, but I love it that now I COULD!

Here’s the pattern URL: Crocheted Mathematics of Chaos Butterfly Model   by Hinka Osinga and Bernd Krauskopf

thanks so much, Kristi! Wheeeeeeeeeee!

The Crochet Liberation Front on Ravelry awarded me their hookalicious award for kewl crochet for my earth friendly design for a crocheted market bag:

I love it that they GOT my pun: It’s a♥ GREEN ♥bag that’s all about ♥ loving the earth! ♥

I am tickled pink. When I was nominated for a Fabbie award, I made myself a trophy.

I figured that I always celebrate with a really great cuppa tea (green chai perhaps?) so why not carve myself a crochet hook with a teacup on it? Makes sense to me.

So here’s my award to me… and excuse me while I take a spin around the grungie old carpet (not red, alas) and bow to my adoring cats and dogs. After all, it isn’t every day that you get an award! (grinning from ear to ear)

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay(c) 

Here are the links for my mixed media woven dolls:

Woven Earth Listener Angel  Doll

Dame Julian and Neni 

Three young spritely spirited mixed media dolls 

Mixed media dolls with found objects