Archive for the ‘dyeing’ Category

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It’s Very “Fall”

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

Joan’s Gloves - Blue! The hand warmers I knit and showed you last post went so well that I had to do it again. These are done with one strand of sport weight hand dyed (by me) and one strand of lace weight mohair/silk blend. Very cushy and soft and should be very warm for typing on a keyboard! The variegated yarn obscures the bobbles a bit but I’m very pleased with them.

I’ve also been playing with dyeing some knitted blanks. These are those big squares of plain knitting that you dye just like dying fabric. they are then unraveled and re-knit into something else. My pal, Ruthanne, knit me two blanks on her knitting machine and I played with them.

Two blanks after dyeing.

Blank 1Blank 2

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water bottle coziesAfter unraveling, removing the crimp caused by being knitted already, and re-knitting – water bottle cozies!

I needed something quick and easy to knit so I could see how the dye would translate into knitting. I also wanted two items from each blank so I could share with Ruthanne for her efforts.  This is the set I kept and they all turned out well. BTW – the yarn was a light worsted superwash which took the color quite well; darker than I had planned, actually. But they look great in real life (photos never do anything justice) and I think the experiment was so successful that by the time Ruthanne had knitted me a blank of sock yarn, I ended buying one of her machines. More on that next time!

Does this mean I’m too easily influenced?

Greenhouse

The leaves are nearly gone and the color is fading to dull. At least its not yet bleak. November has been very busy already. On top of getting our new Internet provider, we have finally put together my new greenhouse, a cute little 6′ x 8′ clear hut with an automatic vent – very cool! You can see the done-for condition of my herb garden in the photo’s foreground. I wanted my greenhouse ready to store some of the pots from the front porch and protect them from the snow and ice. Now, to get it organized. And with luck, I’ll get some early things going in it come spring. One can hope for the best  ;o)

Harvest.

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The vegetable garden is almost done too but I’m suddenly getting my best broccoli of the year – Yum! There is still a bit of work to get the gardens put to bed for the winter, but wet and cold permitting, it is getting done.

Have a wonderful season of the Hunt, what ever you search for.

Deb H

Posted in dyeing, knitting | 1 Comment »

Life After Retreat

Saturday, October 25th, 2008

Joan’s Button Cuff GlovesReturning to the regular routine after a wonderful artistic retreat or adventure is a minor letdown. But it has been mitigated by the fact that my work is with fiber.

Working part time in a yarn shop is not without its dangers though. One has to resist, literally, thousands of temptations in an 8 hour shift. The lure of color and texture can be quite overwhelming and resisting can cause serious physical discomfort; sweats, tension headaches, shakes, even dizziness. Let’s face it, the yarn store (or fabric store) clerk is a pusher, an enabler of the most sinister of addictions. Life is tough.

I digress.

My Hand Dyed Tofutsie SocksI still have a broken Internet at home. My satellite has simply died and the big bucks to fix it are (to put it mildly) highway robbery. Since I’m not under contract to the offending satellite company anymore, my new system is being installed next week. This is much cheaper than repairing the existing one. There is more than one way to afford modern technology. I have to admit, if it had gone on much longer, I may have learned to like not having it. I’ve gotten much more knitting done the last couple of weeks without Internet at home and besides, Starbucks will miss us. This is exactly what happened with our satellite TV, we turned it off for lack of use and never missed it. Two years later, it’s still off.

They fit this timeI digress again.

So, what have I done since returning home? I’ve helped my boss at Heritage proof a pattern she is about to publish – aren’t they cute? (see top picture, click to big-ma-fy) These are Joan’s button cuff gloves. I think they are so nice I’m proofing the pattern again. She should have it ready for sale soon. You can e-mail her for more info if you are interested.

And those Tofutsie socks I was knitting that I had dyed the yarn for? I had them all done except the toes. Well…  they were a bit too tight. So here they are now, a totally new pattern and toe up (my favorite sock technique) this time. They also fit, I tired them on!
I died some yarns that I cannot show you as they are a project for later release and did some silk noil at the same time. I can’t resist throwing silk noil in the batch every time I dye something.

silk noil - dyed

My Hanne Falkenberg sweater is progressing well too, its much farther along than the last photo but I haven’t stop knitting on it long enough to shoot it again, more photos on that later.

It’s time to finish my second extra-dry cappuccino and head home.

Deb H

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I’ve got the Blues

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Not the Blues blues, I’m one of those generally, and annoyingly “up” people most of the time, but I have some lovely blue yarns  :)

Ocean Blues Yarns

This is six skeins of worsted weight merino superwash and one skein of (almost) matching sock yarn I dyed in July. All re-skeined and looking quite pretty. With about 1300 yards of the worsted, I’m thinking vest. But I wear a Small so I could get a sweater with some careful planning and the addition of a small amount of contrasting yarn. Hummmm…  what to do, what to do. I think the planning and dreaming about what a yarn will be when it grows up it the most fun part for me!

Ocean Blues Yarns, detail

And I just love the subtle colors, sort of like staring into the ocean until you see all of the individual surprising colors that make up the overall color of bluish green. Who would have thought there are so many non-blue or green colors in it!

Since color is the fuel that fires me and keeps me going, I treated myself to an on-going color feast this year at QSDS. One of the regular vendors; Judy R of Just Imagination, has a Yard of the Month Club.For a paltry charge to my cc every month, a lovely surprise just shows up in the mail, like a present! :)   Judy’s fabrics are intensely colored and vibrant. I’m addicted to her cotton sateens as the colors just seem to glow on them. This month’s fabric just arrived and I love it so much, I had to share it with you.Judy Fabric - September

Purple and red have been a favorite combination of mine for a really long time. Long before a certain, unnamed group of ladies made it tooooo popular. This one is beautiful. I will have as much fun dreaming about what it will go into as I will planning for the blue yarns. Thanks Judy! When I signed up for the YOM club, a classmate asked me; if I’m a dyer, why would I want fabrics dyed by someone else and not even ones I picked out myself? The answer was simple, inspiration! Most dyers have a signature style and their fabrics are simply not like mine, so they belong in my stash to keep my work from becoming too consistent. Why join a club that adds fabric to my stash that I did not pick out? Because otherwise, all the fabrics in my stash (I know this from experience) will be all the same value and color ranges. Letting another pick out something for me every month helps round out my palette. It’s a brilliant and easy way to expand my selection! A well rounded stash is essential when the design muse strikes at 11 PM – trust me!

Italy Quilt Show Flyer

Come join us for the launching/opening of the “Ciao, Italy” 2008 Michigan Quilt Artists Invitational this Friday, I finally get to see my quilt again; “Italy; A Rough Sketch”. This will be this year’s debut for the 2 year traveling (in Michigan) exhibit. And since it will finally be made public, I can show you my quilt in my next post. Last year’s theme was Music and I have a quilt traveling in that exhibit now. For more information about exhibit dates and locations you can go here.

More fun… Last month, at my Eye for Fiber meeting, we made fabric beads. Linda K shared her technique and we tried a few more from Sherrill Kahn’s Book, Creative Embellishments. A truly cool book with some really fun techniques and some amazingly bizarre  materials.

Fabric beads

I rather think this has potential, pretty neat, huh? My DD Ashland even was inspired to join us and made three of the above beads. Of course, my favorite bead is the chartreuse one  :)

green fabric bead

These are all about 1/2″ to 3/4″ long.

This was a long one, I guess I really should post more often. The summer has gotten too busy with stuff and gardening. I dread the cold and snow of winter but, maybe it will be less hectic.

Deb H

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Spinning

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

ply 1 - bright colors!I’ve been spinning. It started with a brightly colored roving I dyed of Merino superwash (photo, left – click to biggie-ize) with the intent of knitting socks. To avoid muddying the colors and making the whole look too “busy” I dyed an equal amount (8 oz.) of the same fiber in a solid teal color to ply it with. I firmly believe that (almost) all projects should have an element of challenge or something new to learn built into them. My challenge for this yarn was to get some variety in the the thickness and in the twist.

Ply 2 - solid tealI did much better at this in the colored than in the solid. I must have been more attentive in the first roving… the bright colors held my attention better? I don’t find a lot of time for spinning, it seems to be one of those guilty pleasures; I always feel guilty for spending time doing it. I go to a spinning group once a month for the sole excuse of spending time with my wheel. At the last meeting I managed to finish filling one bobbin with the teal (the multi colored is done; two full bobbins) and got so excited, I went home and plied.

Pearls of Color - Handspun yarnRuthanne M. talked me into this and was as eager as I was to see it. So Ruthanne, here is the plied yarn!

A pearl yarn; one ply is thicker (thick & thin) than the other and they have varying degrees of twist for a “row of pearls” look to the yarn. This skein weighs 6 & 3/4 ounces with approximately 283 yards. I expect the next one will be close to that.

Pearls of Color - detailHummm…. a vest? Knitted or woven? This is the first time I have ever spun something with an actual project in mind. Does it take points away if I end up using for a totally different project?

I have also done some more dyeing. I put a second layer of color on some yarns and silk noil fabric I mentioned at the end of my last post. The yarn is done, but still needs to be photographed.

pastel silk noil - hand dyed.

The silk is still very pastel but it has some nice color subtleties. I will definitely put another layer on at least some of these (4 pieces) as pastel is not my usual color range.

And the Planet Earth sock yarn I showed you last post looks so different after being re-skeined.
I love it!

 

Planet Earth - hand dyed sock yarn
And lastly, I have to share a photo from my back deck, there are benefits to living in the tooley-dingles. :) A full rainbow. I do not have a wide-angle lens so this is best I could get. It was quite wonderful!

Rainbow

Deb H

 

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An Artistic Journey

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

My Art Journal - CoverI haven’t done much artwork since I finished the Italy quilt. I have done more organizing, re-organizing, thinning, weeding in the garden, and knitting. I even did some (shudder) mending (I loath mending). While it is all a productive use of time, it is not art related (except, maybe the knitting. :) Unless you consider that while all these mundane chores are being handled, the brain is engaged in an entirely different arena.

My father was a bit of a philosopher. It’s probably a common side effect of being a Sea Captain; all that ocean to look at for months on end. At any rate, I can tend to wax philosophic on occasions myself. Some call it waffling on… I often ponder the meaning of life – but mostly the meaning of art. Striving to be an artist (or at least artistic) is a journey through many dimensions. One must consider the tools (toys?) of your craft, one usually spends a lot of time learning about techniques and art in general. One must consider and study the world; the world that is and the world as we would like it to be — this requires actually leaving the studio, the world is an interactive entity — and one must learn to speak with their muse(s), inner self(selves?) and daemon(s). An artist’s head studio can get pretty crowded even if there is only one person there! Striving to be an artist is a journey in every sense of the word.

Riot of Tulips Socks - 2So, while the body toils in the mundane, the mind is off on it’s own artistic journey. An Art Journal (top photo, click to big-ma-fy) is a good way to document your journey. I wish I could say mine is neat, orderly , and a work of art in itself. It did start out that way but the odd bits are definitely sticking out at odd angles and in no particular order now. It is still doing the job for which it was intended however. It is collecting my thoughts on art in general and on specific projects. It is the storehouse for all of my expelled creativity; the flotsam and jetsam of my brain.

Riot of Tulips Socks - detailBit scary at times.

I have finished the socks I showed you in April when I thought to help knit Spring into Existence. I have several pictures of them here, mostly because they were a rudy bit of work! The pattern is “Bartholomew’s Tantalizing Socks” from Cat Bordhi’s book “New Pathways for Sock Knitters; Book One“. I adore Cat’s designs and how her mind works.

Riot of Tulips Socks - 1Her patterns are a bit of challenge to follow as you have to do some book flipping to find the instructions for various sections of the sock. But, I did them and they turned out pretty well, even if the yarn is such a bright and busy variegation that you can hardly see the linen stitch I carefully put on the instep or the fabulous way the shaping is different from a standard sock. I’m not blaming the Tofutsie yarn, I love it; so soft and wearable and perfect for summer socks. It’s just my choice of this particular colorway for this pattern. Obscure linen stitch aside, these are making me happy. :) I will do more patterns from this book. The designs are so cool, they are worth the effort!

Pointy toes too!

Mermaid Jacket, first sectionI also knit on my Hanne Falkenberg “Mermaid” jacket. I am getting my money’s worth out of the Silky Wool yarn as I have ripped it back to ground zero 812 times (just a guess) to”improve” the stripe pattern, the final result is very close to the original pattern with only a slight alteration.

Some of us are just tinkerers.

For those with questionable color representation, the colors are navy, purple, and bright brass. I’m loving the contrast. It is knit side-to-side and this photo (click to biggie it) is the left front with an i-cord for the front edge. The top edge is stepped; the highest bit is the shawl collar which drops down to the front and the shoulder line. The first of several gussets is at the bottom edge. Now that I’m done ripping it out every 6 inches, progress is steady. I just hope my gauge is still on.

Oh, my…

Oh, and I taught a dyeing class at Heritage Spinning and Weaving. My students had a blast as they discovered just how addictive color can be. . I managed to throw several skeins of yarn and some silk noil yardage in some dye while my students painted yarns and rovings of their choice. I just laid down the first layer of color for the silk, some wool superwash for a vest, and 4 skeins of sock yarn.

“Planet Earth” sock yarnWith at least one more layer (maybe two) planned, only one sock yarn is done so far; I call this “Planet Earth” as the colors remind of the Earth as viewed from space.

Deb H

 

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