Finished with the stitching!

The stitching took a few days but it was Superbowl weekend so lots of tv time made it go quickly. Notice the lavender and purple seed beads in the center?

 The next step was to wet the waste canvas to soften the glue, then pull out the threads with a pair of needle nose pliars. Best done with a towel on your lap and a wet paper towel covering the canvas where you're not working--because it dries out QUICKLY.

Finished stitching. Then on to the stitching on the tea cosy.

Tea cosy with waste canvas basted in place

Tea cosy stitching finished

As you can see in the second photo, I dyed the final skein. It was evenly and tightly spun and would make the perfect stitching yarn. It went into a crockery pot I use for microwave dyeing with some water, vinegar and purple and raspberry food coloring. Cover with plastic wrap, punch some holes for steam to escape, microwave for five minutes and allow to cool for several hours. The water in the pot was clear which meant that all the dye was absorbed. The skein has a nice kettle-dyed effect because there is some variation in the twist AND because I allowed some bits to stick up above the water.

Hat #17! DONE, I'm finally DONE!

Same pattern, same white yarn with Bernat Softee Baby Color  30410 Soft Peach for the body.

Last radiation treatment is done forever! This means I'm considered cured of the non-Hodgkins lymphoma tumor that snuck into my cheek. And they gave me a certificate of completion signed by all 4 of my techs--the ones who put up with my weird sense of humor and taste for very loud Classic Rock tunes during treatment. I ordered a cancer survivor pin and t-shirt for myself and wristbands for the family since they had my back the whole time, and those arrived today.

And this is the Victory Bouquet my husband gave me. He's just The Best! Thank you all for sticking with me through this, both the treatments and the blog.

"You can be a victim of cancer, or a survivor of cancer. It's a mindset."
Dave Pelzer

Hat #15, my favorite!

I love these colors! Not that I would wear it as a hat because it really doesn't go with anything I own, but this is a great yarn in great colors! Lion Brand Baby Soft in Color 219 Circus Print. If I had a baby to crochet a Granny Stitch blanket for, this would be my yarn choice.

I'll be posting again this weekend because I'm one hat behind my treatment schedule--there are two hats and only one treatment left. See yinz in a day or so....

Lucky Hat #13??

Same pattern, new colors! Bernat Softee Baby again, in Color 31425 Princess Pebbles and Color 30424 Soft Red. (Prince Pebbles and Princess Pebbles? Was the yarn company channeling the Flintstones when they chose those names?)

Stitch close-up

No new issues with the mouth ulcers today, knock on wood. Doc says all is well, reminds me to take/use meds they prescribe (like I'd not use the anesthetic for my mouth ulcers? are you nuts, doc? that's the only way I can eat food!). Nurse is upset with me because I'm intentionally trying to lose weight and being successful, until I explain that all I did was cut out a lot of carbs and am eating a healthy diet. She's concerned when her cancer patients lose weight.....cause that's her job!

Six Hands: End of the story

So, Dottie has finished and listed both the scarf and cowl on her Etsy page. They are both lovely and ON SALE! Go take a look at the Garden of Colors scarf http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18681691 and the Garden of Colors cowl http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19310653 Truly lovely work! This was a collaborative project between Whirligig Yarns who dyed the alpaca roving in such colors that I couldn't pull myself away from her site for 3 days, myself who spun the alpaca roving and plied it with Merino wool, and Dottie at CCDZS who pulled it all together with her crochet hook and imagination.

Six Hands: The yarn is finished and heading to the next artisan

I finished spinning and plying late on Saturday, washed the yarn on Sunday and let it dry while watching the Steelers football game. I will not comment on the game except to say that I'm happy we won and that perhaps the NFL should insist on more extensive training for the officiating department--which is MUCH nicer language than I used during the actual game!

The yarn is firm due to the nice tight spin and ply, yet soft and supple due to the Merino/alpaca fibers. Just the right yarn for a long-wearing yet soft garment. The yarn is being forwarded to Dottie at http://www.ccdzs.blogspot.com/ Let's see what her creative mind and talented hands can do with this yarn.

Six hands: It may LOOK easy to make yarn, but….

…getting it right is sometimes it’s a royal PITA. Here's the first bobbin of luscious alpaca spun up on my Reeves double-treadle chair wheel.










I’d planned to use some of my own combed top with the Whirligig Yarns dyed alpaca, and I chose the wrong colors for it! Well, not the ‘wrong’ colors as there really ARE no wrong colors, but the wrong colors for the end product I was trying to achieve. Here’s the waaay too bright yarn—









And here’s the waaay too bright yarn being stripped off the spinning wheel bobbin so it can be un-plied and respun onto the bobbin. It's a good thing that the cats had gone outside to climb the apple tree--they think I do these things just for their amusement.









And then I had to spin another color that would be closer to what I wanted and ply the alpaca with it. It took me the better part of an entire day to unply, respin, spin and re-ply the yarn. The first successful skein is finished, so it’s onward to spinning the second skein the next few days, washing both of them to remove spinning and hand oils and give the alpaca a little ‘bloom’, and then they go onward to the next craftsperson. Check back to see what happens….