Art Yarn Swap

We are participating in an art yarn swap and since all the other participants are German, my blog entries concerning the swap will mostly be in German, as well. I could translate, of course, and maybe I will do so at some point, but sometimes that might result in very long entries, as it would with this first posting.
If you are really interested, just tell me and I will try to translate, anyway :-)

Twisted will post her entries concerning the swap in her private blog, TrashQueen's Vault.

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D-A-Y-S Fragebogen

Welches ist Dein liebstes Kinderbuch?

Gleich zu Anfang so eine schwierige Entscheidung... Ich mag viele Bücher von Astrid Lindgren und Michael Ende, aber wenn ich mich entscheiden müsste *grüüüübel*
Ronja Räubertochter.
Es sollte übrigens mehr (Kinder-) Bücher über starke Mädchen/Frauen geben.

Wie zieht Hechtsuppe?

Vermutlich so wie offene Fenster und Türen zusammen. Das war zumindest immer die einzige Situation, in der ich mit der berüchtigten Hechtsuppe konfrontiert war – und auch da zum Glück nur verbal, ich stelle mir das Zeug eher scheußlich vor ;-)

Mein Beruf hat zu tun mit...

…Dreck.
…Papier.
…Müll (so um die 5000 Jahre alt – mal mehr, mal weniger :-D).
…Erde.
…Nachdenken.
…Recherchieren.
…Scherben.
…Projizierten Klischees, gegen die ich ankämpfe.
…Schaufeln.
…Spaten.
…Schubkarren.
…der oft vertretenen Äußerung, Frauen seien eine Randgruppe – auch etwas, gegen das ich mich vehement wehre, logisch.

In welchen Situationen wendest Du Trick 17 an?

In allen möglichen und unmöglichen… Wie sich’s für Trick 17 eben gehört ;-)

Welche Tugend glaubst Du zu besitzen?

Mut. Manchmal wird er allerdings zu Übermut.

An welchen Swaps hast Du teilgenommen?

bisher gar nicht – wenn man von Forenwichteleien absieht, die nicht so richtig dazugehören.

Welche (DAYS-relevanten) Allergien hast Du?

Keine, die mir bekannt wären.

Welche Deiner Grillen pflegst Du?

Die Frage finde ich unfair – was der einen einer anderen Grille, ist schließlich der anderen ihre Libelle. Oder so ähnlich :-D
Und wenn ich Außenstehenden sage, ich spinne, halten die das sicher für eine Grille – während alle, die am DAYS teilnehmen, da nur stirnrunzelnd die Schultern zucken können.

Was geht (DAYS-relevant) bei ArtYarn garnicht?

Pink und rosa in allen Schattierungen. Pastell.
Versteht mich nicht falsch, das kann auch für meine Augen manchmal hübsch sein – aber nur von weitem und nicht für mich selbst.

Was geht sehr wohl (hier gehören Lieblingsfarben & -materialien hin!)?

Grüüüün. Ich liebe Grün. Grün macht mich glücklich. Allerdings stehen mir keine hellen bzw. gelbstichigen Grüntöne.
Petrol. Sieht toll aus zu meinen roten Haaren.
Schwarz. Passt zu allem und zu meinem äußeren Halbgrufti-Dasein. Na gut, das ist übertrieben, aber ich hab mehr schwarze Klamotten als alles andere.
Rot. Passt auch toll zu schwarz :-D
Alpaka, Merino, Seide, Leinen, Lamm… Ach, eigentlich mag ich alles.
Glitzerkram – aber nur in Maßen.
Glasperlen.
Metallzeug – ob nun Schraubenmuttern, kleine Anhänger oder Perlen, finde ich alles toll.

Gib bitte drei Websiten an, die Dich gewöhnlich lächeln lassen...

http://www.metro.co.uk/nemi/ (Gute-Laune-Lächeln)
http://cornwallcam.co.uk/ (seeliges Lächeln)
http://www.emma.de/ (grimmiges, manchmal triumphierendes Lächeln. Manchmal leider auch kein Lächeln.)

Und zähle hier zehn Dinge/Situationen auf, die Du magst

Kaffee – zuhause mit meinem Liebsten oder im Café mit FreundInnen. Oder zuhause mit FreundInnen. Oder im Park. Moment, zählt das noch als eins? Wie auch immer; Kaffee des Kaffees wegen und natürlich als Event.

Rumhängen. Mit Liebstem, mit FreundInnen, mit Katzen.

Richtig gute Serien, wie Heroes und Battlestar Galactica. Ich spreche natürlich nicht von dem alten Schrott ;-)

Wald- und Wiesenspaziergänge, inklusive Kräutersammeln. Und Pilzesammeln, wenn TrashQueen dabei ist (ohne sie trau ich mich nicht)

Spinnen. Die Tätigkeit, nicht die Viecher. Die mag ich eher nicht, aber ich krieg wenigstens keinen Schreikrampf und deswegen bin ich fürs Retten und Rausbringen zuständig.

Hörbücher – vorzugsweise Harry Potter auf Englisch, gelesen von Jim Dale (auch wenn ich sonst eigentlich britisches Englisch bevorzuge)

Fantasyrollenspiele. Auch wenn mich ungefähr die Hälfte der Rollenspielenden vermutlich naserümpfend beäugt: ich liebe DSA.

Feminismus.

Freiheit.

Computerspielen mit meinem Liebsten.

Rauchst Du so unerbittlich viel, dass man es bei DAYS beachten müsste?

Neeee.

Hast Du so eine starke Rauchallergie, dass man es bei DAYS beachten müsste?

Ja!

Hast Du eine Ahnung, was man mit Artyarn anstellen kann?

Aber sicher! Stricken und Weben hab ich schon ausprobiert, Häkeln hab ich gesehen.
Neckcuffs, Mützen, Schals und Stulpen sind die Dinge, die ich stricken kann und auch schon aus Art Yarn gemacht habe. Ein Beutel ist in Arbeit.

What do I do with my Art Yarn!?

Yeah - a good question, isn't it? Jinx asked in her (german) podcast what we do with our Art Yarns. Do we just hoard them in dark places, take them out on some holidays to admire them but never do anything with them? Do we just sell our Art Yarns and don't work with them ourselves?

I can tell you, the last answer would be my answer of choice. I'm a lousy knitter and a poor crocheter, I can't read any pattern and have problems with knitting terms in general. But then there are these yarns we spin. Some are so soft to the touch I can't believe it and end up stroking the yarn for minutes (no joke). And some have such a unique look and I put so much effort in spinning just this special yarn I can't part with it.

And so, sometimes I can't help it and I have to try to do something with those yarns. So I'll show you what I, a poor knitter and lousy croecheter, did with my handspun yarns, and perhaps there's some inspiration for you. :)

This is the very first Art Yarn I ever spun. I wanted to try all techniques in one single yarn, so this Art Yarn is full of stuff and looks a little bit "stuffed".
I crocheted this thin scarf from one big skein. The drop stitch look comes from my super creative pattern which I invented: Every now and then I made a whole row with gigantic loops, contrasted by normally crocheted rows. There's nothing more to it, and because I'm such a poor crocheter I don't know if there's a term for this technique or if this can called a technique at all - but well, it did what I wanted it to do: It shows the yarn very nicely.
The look of both yarn and scarf is quite unique, and even though the yarn is that stuffed and full of clutter, I very much like this scarf and wear it often in winter. :)

This is a hat I did for myself. I have always wanted a totally unique hat, one that no one else has, but the patterns and yarns my granny used (and still uses, I guess) for knitting hats just didn't seem right.
So there was this really scrappy yarn, spun from lots of bordeaux red merino wool and bits of woolen left-overs in green, lilac and white. It looked really boring as a skein. But I knew that there was something to this skein... And as I had just raised my confidence in crocheting as I had completed this strange faux drop-stitch scarf, I thought: "I can do that!" and just started off.
It was a piece of cake. The yarn was very easy to work with, quite plain with some thicker parts, and as I wanted the colored pieces to stick out a bit, I varied the stitch from time to time.
I was done in about an hour - the yarn had been about 6-9 WPI or so. And I have to say: I love the hat! It's a completely unique piece of work, it's individual and a bit nerdy, but it's not the classical handspun eye-catcher, nor does it look as if it's a knitted (or crocheted) remainder from the stone ages.
Sadly I can't wear both scarf and hat, the colors don't match...

This is a neck warmer I knit. Yeah, I do indeed knit from time to time, even though I'm a veeeeery slow (and painful... sigh) knitter. I had to knit something from this yarn: It's Happy Alpaca, Yummy Lime, and I really had to try this super soft yarn! I love the colors, they're are so fresh and light! And so I knit this mini-shawl - again without a pattern (because, as I already said: I can't read patterns other than those written in plain words). I don't know how much yarn I used exactly, but it's not very much. This piece of work really taught me that crocheting just eats up your yarn, while if you knit you can easily get twice as far with the same amount of yarn! It must be about 20-30 g or even less, really not more! This mini-shawl made a great gift. :)

And here is another drop stitch scarf. And this time, it's a real one, a knitted one!
The yarn I used was quite similar to my White as Snow, Red as Blood and Black as Ebony yarn. It's of such a soft wool/silk-blend, it doesn't scratch in the slightest!
Again, as I knitted, I became aware of how much less yarn is used up by knitting than by crocheting. From one big fat skein of about 130 g I knitted not one, but two drop stitch scarves, one to keep for myself and one for my mum's birthday.
I really think drop stitch patterns show the structure of Art Yarns very well. And the best thing: Very few yarn is used in a drop stitch pattern and you knit very fast. Being a slow knitter, it took me two evenings for one scarf, but I guess if you're a bit more advanced than I am (which is quite likely!!), you can complete a thin scarf in just one evening!

So these are some of my knitted and crocheted objects. I think, the advice I can give you if you want to knit or crochet something from an Art Yarn is: Don't be intimidated by this yarn. Try something easy at first, just as I did, and choose perhaps a pattern (if you can read them ;) ) which shows the yarn off a bit, like a drop stitch pattern. And: If you don't have a larger amount of yarn, stick to knitting, as you'll get much farther than with crocheting. And: The more extravagant and stuffed with stuff the yarn is, the plainer the pattern - 'cause you won't see the beautiful pattern anyway if you use a highly complex Art Yarn. ;)

Weird posted some of her projects lately, perhaps she'll add her other projects, too. :)

Featured!

We're featured on Rayela's Fiber Focus - this is great, thank you again, Rayela!

It's amazing...

...how differently various fibres can smell and feel, especially when they are wet. I've just washed my latest 7 yarns and was once again amazed at how e.g. alpaca feels and smells in comparison with silk. Silk does smell a bit fishy and feels somewhat slimy or slippery, while alpaca smells... well, I can't even describe it; I just like it :-) Smells like warm animal - in a positive way.
I don't know if this is even interesting to anyone, but never mind ;-)

Oh - I finished my set of needles mentioned earlier, btw.

Punk goes Metal - once again

Some time ago, I spun (and sold) an art yarn in black and red with metal discs and screw nuts. Spinning it was fun and I also really liked it - so I did it again. This time, I didn't want to sell the yarn, but to knit a set of scarf and hat/beenie to sell.
I did the scarf in two days, but since I would have to craft a set of double pointed needles in order to knit the hat, I somehow got lost on the way ;-) I really don't like working with wood... But sometime soon I will proceed and make a hat as fabulous as the scarf is :-)
It will be quite hard for me to sell this beauty - but at least I know that I can always make more of this wonderful yarn and knit whatever I like.