The contrary dyer

Last week I was so excited about the idea of solar dyeing yarn that I did not bother to do any research ahead of time. I did not crush the zinnia blossoms or the oak galls, did not chop up the lobster mushrooms. Consequently, the results were... a bit disappointing. However, I saved and dried the oak galls and lobster mushrooms - they are drying in the garage on screens - and I hope I can get more dye from them using heat. At least the oak galls can be used as a mordant.

Crochet: Finished 7-strand bathroom rug - separate post to follow.
Dyeing: Finished solar dyeing experiment - separate post to follow.
Knitting: Disenchanted with second Lempi sweater, so intend to frog it. Perhaps that yarn would be better for intarsia? Or stranded knitting?
Spinning: Joined the Tour de Fleece group on Ravelry, to help get me through the Romney.
Weaving: Finished the skinny scarf; separate post to follow. Started clasped weft coasters.

I subsccribe to a newsletter from Robbie LeFleur which is mostly about weaving transparencies. The last one (read here) really excited me, as using coarse handspun as a warp is a real possibility. I hope some of her readers respond with their experiences with this idea.

Most transparencies use linen as a warp, but wool transparent tapestries use wool. Besides handspun, I'm wondering if other coarse wools would work well. Specifically, I am thinking of Kauni Effectyarn, which I used to weave this shawl. Another of Robbie's posts included a sample one of her students created on a pocket loom, so now I have some ideas for little samples to get me started on transparencies.

I forgot to mention a couple of purchases I made last week. One is bowl to use with a supported spindle. There is a dimple in the middle to keep the spindle from wandering away as one spins.

The other purchase was of some silk and some bamboo fiber, both lustrous and soft, to spin on the supported spindle.

Now all I need to do is find the spindle!

An aside: I decided to take the summer off from watching TV. I wasn't watching a lot of TV - an hour or two in the evening - but afterwards I always felt... some kind of negative emotion, even though I enjoyed what I watched. Now I feel more... content. Some of my favorites are releasing new seasons soon, though. We'll see how I handle that.

Make dye while the sun shines

Yesterday I attended a spin-in at Little Shop of Spinning in Roanoke (IN). The woman who got me started on natural dyeing was there with some skeins of yarn she had dyed after creating the dye bath using the power of the sun. Inspired, I came home and immediately filled some mason jars with dye materials and set them in the backyard.

The jar of oak galls, one of the jars of lobster mushrooms, and one of the zinnias are soaking in tap water, which is very neutral. The other jars of lobster mushrooms and zinnias were filled with well water, high in iron. We'll see how those work out. (I love to experiement!)

Crochet: I finished the crochet part of the 7-strand rug with a couple of rounds; all that remains is the weaving in of the ends.
Dyeing: See above.
Knitting: One sleeve of the Lempi sweater is started; time to start the other. (One set of my bamboo double pointed needles is covered in something icky, despite being kept in their original package and in the house. WTH?)
Spinning: Making progress on the Romney. I'm currently listening to The Honourable Schoolboy, by John LeCarre.
Weaving: I went ahead and finished weaving the skinny scarf, using up bits and bobs of naturally dyed yarns, then edged the selvages with leftover sock yarn; just needs some finishing.

Finishing - my buggaboo. My goal this year was to eliminate the UFO pile, but I just keep adding to it.

Fiber Arts Fling

Today some members from both the weaving guild and spinning guild demonstrated their fiber arts at the local county fair. We are in the midst of a heat wave, but the building we were in is air conditioned, so many fair-goers stopped in to cool off and drifted over to see what we were up to. I think each guild may have a new member or two from that outing, which is the whole point of raising the guild profiles in the community.

Crochet: The 7-strand rug is nearing its end, but I may lengthen the other dimension, depending on how much cotton yarn remains to be used up.
Knitting: I am ready to split the Lempi sweater at the armpits, but I'd like the stripes on the body to match the stripes on the sleeves; I'm still working that out in my head.
Spinning: Yes, still plowing through the Romney. I had to return Mark Twain even though I was only a third of the way through it, so subsituted The Magician's Nephew, the prequel to the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis and read by Kenneth Branagh.
Weaving: I started a skinny scarf on my SampleIt to have something to work on at the fair, plus warped a little scrap of something on the Mirrix pocket loom for kids to try their hand at.

Another venue where we plan to demonstrate fiber arts is a local farmers market. I stopped by to scope it out a few weeks ago and have been returning ever since, to scoop up strawberries. Today I snagged the last quart of the season. Score!

A heat wave is ice cream weather in my book.

Part-time job

The past year or two, I've become more actively involved in both the fiber guilds I belong to. I'm the "Outreach Coordinator" for the weaving guild and have been serving as such for the spinning guild (without the cachet of a title). I have also been organizing the programs for the spinning guild. Between the two, I feel like I have a job (albeit unpaid).

The program for the most recent spinning guild meeting was about raising silkworms. The two members who did the presentation did a great job, and the audience was riveted. One of the presenters had given me some cocoons a while back, and there would be a photo of them here, except I can't find them. They are probably with my supported spindle, which I also cannot find. One of these days, the fiber studio will get a thorough cleaning.

I have been pushing members of both guilds to enter items in the county fair open class exhibit, and this year some newbies took the plunge. Since the items need to be dropped off tomorrow (Monday) at 8am and many of our members work then, I offered to collect and deliver the items. So more work for me. But I am happy there is growing interest.

Crochet: Still killing my wrists with the 7-strand rug.
Dyeing: I am playing around with easy ice dyeing that kids could do, so I froze some ice cubes of KoolAid. More on this later.

Knitting: Still slaving away on the Lempi sweater.
Spinning: Still working my way through all that Romney; almost done with another 100g.

Except for the dyeing, all my fiber projects are big. That means no reporting on finished objects, unless I get back in gear on the long-standing ones. The weaving guild does not meet again until September, but both guilds are participating in an event next Saturday. Once that is over, maybe I will have some downtime?

New (to me) natural dye sources

Recently the New York Times published an article by Margaret Roach on natural dyeing that actually wasn't too bad. I doubt you will be able to access it without a subscription, so I will list the information from it that was new-to-me.

• Grand Prismatic Seed is a source for seeds and plants if you want to grow yer own 
• The Dogwood Dyer is where you can find how-to information, including workshops 
• Botanical Colors is a for mordants and workshops

I have not done much dyeing lately, but articles like this one make me itchy to get back into it, maybe even grow more dye plants.

Crochet: Still working on the 7-strand monster of a rug; it's not that big, but is becoming rather heavy.
Knitting: It took me four tries to get the Lempi sweater underway, as there were "issues"; I also switched to smaller needles, as the original Lempi I knit is a bit generous. I am enjoying the bright colors.

Spinning: I have three-plied over 400 yards of the Romney so far. I listen to audio books while I spin and ply, currently Ron Chernow's Mark Twain.
Weaving: After a recent guild program, I was inspired to order a Schacht slim closed bottom boat shuttle (and bobbins and some 8/2 cotton), to use with my 24" Ashford rigid heddle loom.

Regarding the Lempi sweater, I learned something about slipping the first stitch purlwise, specifically when to slip with the yarn in back or the yarn in front. Inspecting the original Lempi, I find I managed to get it right intuitively. This time I have to make a conscious effort to do so.

One of my fiber friends turned 98(!) this past week, and she still knits. Something for us all to aspire to.

A new fiber interest

Several months ago, the weaving guild program was about weaving transparencies. This led me to Robbie LaFleur's blog which is about more than just weaving transparencies. I'm more than a little intrigued with the genre of Scandinavian weaving, in part because of my Danish heritage. Not intrigued enough to actually start something, but definitely intrigued. A local heritage group called Settlers is offering a class called "Scandinavians in America" which will include history, cuisine, hand-arts, and wheat-weaving. I will have to put that on my calendar.

Crochet: Still plugging away on the 7-strand rug.

Knitting: I decided to start a sweater, another Lempi, with the acid-dyed yarn, figuring if it did not work out, I could rip it back.

Spinning: I finished the third 100g of Romney and have been three-plying the results; it's going to be a LOT of yarn!

Last week I mentioned that outliving my pets is on my bucket list. So is using up all my yarn. The 7-strand crocheted rug is going to finish off quite a bit of cotton yarn, and the Lempi sweater will use up 6-7 skeins of worsted weight wool. What to do with all the hand-spun, though? Suggestions welcome!

Stuck

I decided to take a break from sock knitting. What to knit instead? At one point, knitting a sweater from cuff to cuff appealed to me, but someone mentioned they had done this and the sweater stretched a lot. Elizabeth Zimmerman's Adult Surprise Sweater has been on my list for a while and I have some acid dyed yarn I could use for that, but for some reason I am hesitant to start.

Crocheting: Still working on the 7-strand cotton rug.
Knitting: Finished the pinkish socks - see previous post.
Spinning: Almost finished with another 100g of Romney; I spin while listening to Ron Chernow's biography of Mark Twain.

A local art gallery Artlink collects art supplies every year, to use in their classes and to sell to starving artists. They include yarn and fabric in their wish list, so I dropped off some acrylic weaving yarn that I know I will never use - three HUGE spools of it. I'm on a decluttering binge (again) and yarn is hard to part with, but I'm happy to let someone else enjoy it.

These two bozos have been costing me a fortune at the vet's lately. Finn had his teeth cleaned and a growth removed from his mouth (not cancerous) while Clio had an eye problem and a skin problem, necessitating some eye drops and some spray. Finn is 14 years old, but doing well for the most part. Clio is 8 and still rambunctious. The only item on my bucket list is to outlive my pets.