Thursday, October 29, 2009

My new yarn swift






These are pictures of my new hand-crafted yarn swift. It was so much easier to ball that yarn off the swift than off a chair back (or my poor husband's hands!!)

The swift was crafted of figured Australian cypress. I love this wood! Found 2 planks of it purely by accident several years ago & have saved them ever since for that 'something really special' project.

::sigh:: Well, I used the longer plank for the swift ... and what a poor choice it was! Not that the wood wasn't lovely! It was!!! And so is the swift ...... but ....... this project really needs a wood with a very tight, straight grain. Even pine would be a better choice than the highly figured wood I used. And I could have used a piece of walnut - my husband offered me the choice. Wish now that I had taken him up on it - that would have been a far better choice of wood.

Anyhow, it does work. Just fine, thankyouverymuch. LOL

The base is an inexpensive lazy susan we picked up at a yard sale - I think we paid like maybe a quarter? a dime? Not much, that's for sure. I cut a piece of wood to fit inside the lip, then painted & stenciled it. The stenciling doesn't show up real well, but it is a maple leaf, an oak leaf & acorns, all accented with antique copper paint. The outer design is freehand - I just wanted to be able to see the edge of the base as the swift turns.

6 comments:

knitstiks said...

That is beautiful! You shouldn't sell yourself short.

Chief Executive Babe said...

This is beautiful! You are so talented :-)

Socalknitgirl on Ravelry

Anonymous said...

Oh, no, I think the wood is lovely. I much prefer highly grained wood to pine.

Kate said...

This really is very nice!

Anonymous said...

i think it is beautiful, what great talent you have.
Meagheen on Ravelry

aparna said...

lovely swift... and such a great finish... master craftsmanship