Crochet Rainbow Woolly Hat

I finally got around to crocheting up my first spinning attempt (the rainbow 'lumpy' yarn) into a funkytastic hat!

The weather here in NZ seems to actually have got colder, despite there being hints of summer being on the way - so I can actually wear it out!

Friends think it looks rather like one of those vintage rubber swimming hats.....

Crinoid Cube Brooch/Pendant

This one has been sitting on my desk for a while and is finally finished! Its another piece using a funky fossil crinoid cabochon which I purchased from Heart Of Stone Studio in the US.

Crinoids are lovely and graceful-looking sea creatures that resemble fern-like plants but are really animals. Commonly called sea lilies, they're Echinoderms, relatives of sea urchins and starfish, and they are one of Nature's success stories, having been around for 530 million years. Ancient Crinoids sported feathery arms sprouting from a stalk anchored on the ocean floor, while their modern descendants mostly don't have stalks. Their soft , filter-feeding bodies are supported by a framework calcium carbonate segments called ossicles, and it's the ossicles that you see in these fossils.

I set the fossil crinoid into Faux bone using glittery purple UV resin. The outer frame is needle felted merino wool in greeny/blue shades with a crochet surround of thin argentium sterling silver wire, amethyst cubes and tiny fine silver beads handcrafted by the Thai Karen Hills Tribes (purchased Fair Trade).

I found crocheting the wire quite tough on my fingers this time around so I must have been doing something wrong.

This piece can be worn as a brooch or pendant.

Size: about 5cm square (approx 2 inches)

My Spinning Wheel Has Arrived!

Yay! My spinning wheel has arrived (a Majacraft Pioneer) - and after a couple of hours trying to assemble it (bearing in mind I have an Engineering degree....) it is working, I think.

I had my first spinning lesson a couple of weeks ago and so was raring to go!

This is my first yarn. Rainbow wool roving spun thick & thin (i.e. I couldn't get the tension/drafting consistent!) and then coiled/plyed around a pink laceweight yarn. Not sure I'm using the correct terms, but never mind I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!

Maybe I will knit this into a nice woolly hat ready for the NZ summer?

LOVE NEST Pendant

Just finished this piece - which is an achievement since I am mainly felting soap full time at the moment!

I've called it LOVE NEST - as the lower part has 'love' etched onto it and the top crochet wire makes it look like a bird's nest, especially with all the fiber inside.

Its made from merino wool, pink silk fibers, Fair Trade resin orange ring from Indonesia, base metal, sterling silver, fuschia chalk turquoise, Faux bone, chocolate brown pearls, spinel, amethyst, seed beads, copper (etched) and mica powders.

Length - about 13.5cm (approx 5 inches).

My first attempt at crochet with wire and my fingers are ok after!