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como hacer lana con una camiseta

El otro día mi marido me sorprendió con una donación de camisetas.  ¡Y ni siquiera tienen agujeros!  Todavía no doy crédito (digamos que es algo apegado a su ropa vieja), así que por si acaso ha sido enajenación mental transitoria las he convertido rápidamente en "lana" para hacer una alfombra de ganchillo.

Si queréis hacerlo necesitareis camisetas de las que no tienen costuras laterales, regla y tijeras.  Si teneis una superficie de corte con cuadrícula y una cuchilla circular mejor que mejor.

Lo primero que hay que hacer es estirarla bien y cortar la parte de arriba y el remate inferior:

A continuación tomamos un extremo (dónde iría una costura lateral si existiese) y lo llevamos a unos 5cm del otro extremo:

Y ahora empezamos a cortar.  Como mi... ¿almohadilla, tabla? de corte viene en pulgadas, yo hago las tiras de una pulgada, que son unos 2.5cm.  Con esta medida sale una "lana" gordita pero manejable (uso un ganchillo de 12mm);  las he hecho también de 1.5 pulgadas, que son 3.81cm y para mi gusto sale demasiado gorda.

Cortamos desde el extremo que hemos doblado, hacia esos 5cm que hemos dejado sin superponer las dos capas.  Al usar el cortador giratorio siempre se pasa uno un poco, pero no tiene importancia.

Una vez que se han cortado todas las tiras, esto es lo que queda:

Para hacer una hebra continua, vamos a cortar en espiral, como si dijéramos.  Lo más fácil es ponerse la camiseta (o lo que queda de ella) en un brazo e ir cortando con las tijeras.  Empezamos en un extremo, haciendo una diagonal hacia el primer corte, hasta cortarlo del todo.

Continuamos cortando en diagonal siempre, curvando un poco el corte para que no queden "picos" hasta llegar al final.

Vamos cortando todas las tiras en diagonal

 Y nos encontraremos con esto en el suelo:

Ahora hay que tomar un extremo con una mano, y con la otra coger la tira a unos 60/70 cm (da un poco igual, lo que sea cómodo) y dar un tirón.  Al hacer esto la tela se curva hacia dentro (por eso no importa que la camiseta tenga dibujo, la "lana" es un tubo con el revés de la tela hacia fuera) y "crece".  Ya no queda más que ir estirando por secciones hasta quedarnos con esto:

Y hacer un ovillo, claro.

Dye some tape!

We have a cat problem in our neighborhood.  Feral cats are rampant and they seem to think my backyard belongs to them.  They are particularly fond of our outdoor couch and armchairs with their comfy cushions.  Needless to say, the cushions need to be washed often.  The problem is that the covers were not removable, so they needed to be hosed and scrubbed each time.  Big pain.

Anyway, I finally cut open the back seams, took off the covers, washed them, and now I need to attach some cotton tape ties to keep them closed.  The problem is that I only have white cotton tape for my navy blue cushions, which would be OK if I weren't so anal.  But I am, and I am also alone in the house, so I decided to dye the tape blue.

If you want to try it, here is what you need:

• A large glass bowl that will fit in your microwave
• A glass measuring cup for liquids
• A postal scale
• Rit Dye
• Rubber gloves
• 2 metal forks
• Plastic wrap
• Paper towels
• Waterproof apron
• A microwave and the tape you want to dye, obviously

First you need to find out how much dye you need for your amount of fabric or tape.  To do this you need to weigh it.  I use grams because I find them more exact than ounces and I don't need to convert fractions to decimals.  My tape weighs 32gr.

1 box of dye weighs 31.9gr (1-1/8oz) and it will dye 453.9gr (1lb) of fabric.  So you need to multiply 31.9 by the specific weight of y0ur fabric and then divide the result by 453.9.

31.9x32=1020.8

1020.8/453.9=2.2489≈2.25gr    This turned out to be roughly 1-1/4 tsp

You don't need to go crazy with the weighing, just use about 1 tsp dye for every ounce of tape.  If you want to make sure that it comes out dark add another 1/4 tsp and you should be alright (my tape looks darker than it does in the picture).

Once you have measured your powder, you need to dissolve it in hot water. Put on your apron and gloves and grab your measuring cup.  I used about 2/3 cup as hot as it comes out of the tap.  Add the powder and stir it well with a metal fork.

Now take your glass bowl and just cover your tape with very hot tap water.  Set the tape aside for a minute and add your dissolved dye to the water.  Stir with a fork and put the tape back in.  Move it around with the fork to ensure good coverage.

 

Barely cover your tape with liquid

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.   Place a few paper towels on your microwave tray and one on top of the plastic wrap in case there are any spills (I haven't had any, but it's good to be safe).  Turn on the microwave on high for two minutes.

 

After the two minutes, open the microwave and let the bowl sit for a bit until the plastic wrap cools off.  Then move it to a metal surface (or one that you don't mind getting permanently stained, I use my deep metal kitchen sink) and uncover it carefully.  There will be fumes!

Now take both your forks and move your tape around in the dye to help even out the color.  Lift it and unfold it as best you can, as if you were mixing sauce into your spaghetti.  Cover it again and microwave on high for 45 seconds.   Mix it again, cover it, and let it sit for five minutes.

Now go ahead and rinse it in cool water until it runs clear (or as close as you can).  Place your rinsed tape in a small laundry bag and throw it in the washer with a load of darks.  Wash with warm water and dry it with your load (hanging or in the dryer).  You will need to iron it before use.

Things to remember:

• This thing stains!  Even the plain powder can leave indellible marks on certain surfaces.  So protect them or take it outside.
• After rinsing and washing, your fabric will be several shades lighter than the way it looks when it's still in the dye.
• The hot dyes will set out toxic fumes.  Open the windows and stand back when you uncover the bowl.
• With this process, the tape will tend to look marbled (it's sitting still in little liquid), so you really need to work at stirring and undoing the folds to get even coverage.
• Cotton tape will shrink considerably.  An 8" strip will shrink 3/4" by the end of the process.

Rainy Afternoon

It's raining outside.  The little one is sick, all feverish and sleepy; and the big one wanted to "sew".  So of course I had to oblige.  He wanted "stripes" and black floss.

Meanwhile...

Three

The "baby" turned three yesterday!  It was a gorgeus day and we celebrated in the backyard; just the four of us with a little carrot cake and some juice.

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Mi pequeñín cumplió tres años ayer.  Hizo un día precioso, así que lo celebramos en el jardín, sólo nosotros cuatro.

How to make a right twist from the wrong side

I've been into twisted stitches lately and I realized that there are quite a few different ways to make them.  Here is how I like to make a right twist from the wrong side (the stitch will be twisted to the right on the right side but you will make it on a wrong side row).

A little sewing

A clever design for a simple and easy to make tissue holder;  the overlapping curves keep it closed and are nice to look at.  Free pattern and tutorial here.  I think it took about 15 minutes from start to finish.

Now I have a cute and efficient bag of tissues in my purse;  big improvement from the plastic package with the sticky closure that somehow doesn't stay closed past the first 24 hours and gives me gross, torn tissues.

Found on Pinterest, of course.

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Un tutorial sencillito (está en inglés pero las fotos son lo suficientemente claras) para un paquetito de pañuelos que se mantiene cerrado, no como la bolsita en la que vienen los kleenex, que no hay manera de que se quede cerrada después de las primeras 24 horas en el bolso.  Además éste es mucho más mono.  Encontrado en Pinterest, por supuesto.

Quiet Morning

Snowing outside, sitting by the kitchen window, working on a mitten pattern.  Nice and cozy.

  The stitch is giving me a headache, though; I don't know why I'm having such a hard time adapting a simple pattern to knit in the round.