Hooping, Henna and Red hats

Fire Hooping, Barrington. Photo by Amanda Giles

My girlfriend Rachel, who is my Henna sister, got a fire hula hoop for Christmas! While I’m still practicing on a standard hula-hoop, she has progressed to a LED hoop and now a fire hoop. I love the directions, it actually says, “at some point you will catch yourself on fire”, so someone stands by with a fire extinguisher while she hoops. Now that person should be sober! And you can’t really knit if you are the extinguisher person either.

Red Hat pattern by Bernat, this is the second hat I have made with this pattern.

Every month we get together to henna our hair, if you are interested in moving away from chemical coloring to henna, like many people are, (especially if you are being treated with chemotherapy or pregnant) the best website is Henna for Hair.

Rachel before hair…light brown

and after….beautiful auburn

We were both interested in switching to henna and started the journey together. She is a light brown, I had colored my hair so long I wasn’t sure what it was (how much grey I had), and it was breaking off at the scalp and in the front. The same mix brought her a lovely auburn color, while it made my hair in the orange family. But henna takes 3-5 days to “oxidize” and the brassiness fades into a rich color. I couldn’t believe how soft and shiny my hair felt, she has long hair and said her husband loved it, and couldn’t keep his hands out of it.

This time I added some other herbs to darken my color, and try and head it towards the brown/auburn family.

Original color:

Using 1/2 Henna and 1/2 cassia, before oxidation:

This is when I learned, that cassia lightens henna. OK

after oxidation, still a little bright for me. I now know I could have done a buxus gloss and it would have pushed it into the brown family.

This is the current color made with 1/2 henna, 1/4 buxus, 1/4 indigo

I love this color, I don’t want to go any darker, but love the auburn, this is one day after. The color should change a little with oxidation.

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Fibonacci and Knitting

Some time ago I learned that Fibonacci can be applied to knitting. If you are not familiar with Fibonacci, he was a mathematician from the middle ages. He figured out the relationship of proportions, now known as the golden ratio (or number), Fibonacci sequence or 1.618 or Phi. This sequence is seen in practically everything. I’ll link to several articles if you wish to learn more. From reproducing animals, to sea shells and galaxies, the human form and sunflowers. (Mona Lisa, Parthenon, and the pyramids of Egypt, just to name a few). This ratio is present in many, many more surprising things. The first time I used this was in my felted bag. I loved the random look of it. This pattern is The Big Bag Pattern (free on Ravelry) by Maia Discoe (link ) Below are a couple of links if you wish to learn more.. Fibonacci Numbers and Nature The Wiki and Fibonacci Mona Lisa -- Da Vinci's Use of Sacred Geometry (you tube link) In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers or Fibonacci...

Hills and Valleys Cowl/Hood (free pattern)

I was searching for the perfect cowl that I had in my mind to knit. Trawling on Ravelry, I wanted one, just the right size around, only once around my neck and not too tight, loose enough to pull up around my face and tall enough to get it around my ears during a windy dog walk, but able to squish it down into my collar of my coat and not be too thick and bulky. About a third of the way into the pattern I decided to make it long enough to pull up as a hood also. I finally just un-vented this one, as Elizabeth Zimmerman would say. Add caption This is a simple stitch textured cowl/hood (you decide the length). Suitable for beginning knitters. Purl ridges make the cowl easy to scrunchy down or pull up. You can wear the ribbed end on top if you are wearing it as a cowl to make it snuggie around your neck or, wear the purl ridges on top if you are pulling it up as a hood. If you have any questions or find an error please let me know so I can correct it! I’ve added some tuto...

Review of a Kick Spindles Or Mother Marion to spin

When I made the decision to buy a Kick spindle I could find very little info on it, anywhere. Below is what I gathered, bought and my experience with mine. I could only find two being marketed, since I purchased mine I have found a third. Below is my views on the Kick spindle I purchased (Little Meggie from Heavenly Handspinning), and some info on all of the other Kick Spindles that I could locate. Links and costs are included. Review: Things I like about my Kick Spindle. 1. Long spin time, I like the addition of the ball bearing. 2. Leaves both hands free to draft 3. It's my "wheel" 4. I like using my foot, I am moving around and don't get stiff from one position. It's a very "active" type, rhythmic motion. 5. You can actually stand and use it also. 6. Great price point. 7. I have never spun on a wheel and when I sat down at one the first time, I could actually spin (some) I think this action of foot/hand coordination helped. 8. ...

Knitting Dragonflies

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