A little freak-out

I've been organizing an event for Spinning and Weaving Week, choosing to demonstrate at a local farmers market instead of the library. (More traffic.) But then I read that the market is no longer.

Well, it turns out that wasn't exactly correct. The farmers market is being "rebranded", so all that is changing is its name and who is in charge at the upper levels. The staff is the same, the place is the same, the day and time is the same. With less than a month to go, I'm glad that I won't have to scramble for a venue.

Dyeing: Managed to get all the skeins off the line in the laundry room, so hopefully posts will follow.
Knitting: The daughter-in-law socks are done; separate post to follow. I gave up on the socks I was going to knit my son because 80 stitches per round?!? Too much. I will purchase some DK sock yarn for his. Meanwhile, I started a pair for my SO.

More knitting: As if I don't have enough to do, I started knitting a round fuzzy cotton bathroom rug. It's mindless knitting, and almost done.

Spinning: I went to a spin-in on Saturday, but took some merino-alpaca roving that is shades of blue, to give myself a break from that white Romney. And I bought MORE roving: Polish merino "premiere" in 'Orchid'.

My latest brainstorm for getting the stash under control (other than to just stop buying fiber!) is to take inventory so I know just what I have and how much. Then maybe I can follow through on my idea of finding projects to suit the yarn I have instead of always buying more. That will be a big ask/task.

Wool season approaches

Consiously or unconsciously, I tend to knit with cotton during the warmer months. It's tough on my wrists and finger joints, so I'm glad to leave those projects behind for some wool. And I'm looking forward to wearing wool, too.

Since I follow Purl Soho on Instagram, I get exposed to lots of pattern ideas, including some from new-to-me sources. My latest "find" is Laine Publishing. I'm particularly interested in this sweater:

So I bit the bullet and ordered the issue that includes this pattern.

Dyeing: I wrapped up both the amaranth dyeing and the rudbeckia dyeing this past week; separate posts to follow.
Knitting: The daughter-in-law's socks are done but for the weaving of the ends and blocking. My son's have half a toe started.
Spinning: I'm back to spinning the Romulan Romney, having completed the last batch of plying; I'm getting tired of the white, but am in the final third of the roving.

This past week, my SO and I visited the Orchard Gallery to meet and listen to the featured artist. Dawn Gerardot's work is primarily what I will call "art quilts". (Alas, she has no online presence.) Her works and her talk were very inspiring and informative. Only one of my fiber friends came, but the local quilt guild showed up in force. That is another whole fiber-oriented area that I choose to avoid, but I did come away with some ideas.

Stash woes

I have two spare bedrooms that I use as "studio space" although I don't actually work on anything in them. They both are a hodgepodge of fiber, fiber equipment, books, etc. I'm trying to figure out how to make the yarn more accessible, but am not having much luck because there is simply TOO MUCH. And I keep spinning MORE.

My granddaughter doesn't stay with me much anymore, and it is just as well, as this is "her" room:

Closet is full

Handspun, roving, acrylic, a toteful of material

, 

Needle felting, carpet warp, books, magazines, notebooks, etc.

Even the bed is covered

One problem is that I tend to find a pattern I want to make, then end up buying *more* yarn because the yarn I have won't work with the pattern. Perhaps I should look at the yarn first, then find a pattern it will work with. At least until I run out of yarn?

Dyeing: Running skeins of yarn through the amaranth bath. Created a rudbeckia dye bath to use with iron-mordanted yarn, and iron-mordanted the yarn.
Knitting: Finished the Kit & Caboodle tote, except for the blocking. Decided I'd better get a move on regarding xmas socks - the holidays will be here before you know it

That is another issue: I can knit, weave, crochet things... but not everyone I know is interested in being on the receiving end of these handmade objects. The guilds have opportunities to sell items, but only certain items (like amigurumi animals) sell well, at least around here. What to do, what to do?

Tie-dye extravaganza

Can someone have too much fun tie-dyeing? Apparently, the only limitation is how much dye one has and how much fiber is available. In my case, there was a lot of dye left over from the spinning guild program, so that was not a problem. And I had a few white cotton tees to sacrifice. But that was not enough.

Many (many!) years ago, I purchased several yards of muslin to experiment with, using natural dyes. Only two samples ended up in a dye pot. I took the extra undyed samples to the guild meeting, but no one took me up on dyeing them. Oh, well! More for me to use.

The booklet that came with the kit offered a variety of designs to try, and I tried almost all of them.

These two shirts represent "crumple dyeing". The garment is crumpled up, then the dye applied as squiggles or speckles. I don't usually wear yellow, but the lemon one actually looks good on me.

Sunbursts are a classic tie-dye design. I made several.

Rainbow sunburst

Large sunburst

Small sunburst

Swirls are also a tie-dye classic. This is my attempt at a swirl.

Pleats are relatively simple to do. This one is an example of "random pleats". Could be better.

The booklet showed a tee with pleats across the chest. I took it one step further by pleating in (sorta) stripes.

The folded designs are the most dramatic. This is my attempt at a "flag fold" folded design. (Don't tell the others, but this one is my favorite.)

The following two shirts are supposed to be examples of Shibori designs. I wrapped the tees around pool noodles, neglected to secure them with rubber bands, and dribbled dye on them, aiming for a diagonal pattern. I think they could be better.

At the guild meeting, white cotton towels laid on top of the plastic table cover sopped up the extra dye, plus hand towels and washcloths were available for wiping (gloved) hands. At home, I soaked all the terry in the leftover yellow dye, then dumped the items plus the dye into a bucket of soda ash. I would hesitate to offer these to a house guest, but I'm happy to use them.

I purchased a couple of skeins of Peaches & Creme Original cotton yarn (from Walmart, since our local Joann store is no more *sob*) to dye with. I skeined them around two dining room chairs, then after dyeing them, reskeined them on a niddy noddy, just to mix things up.

One skein was 'White' and one was 'Natural'. I labeled them at some point, then mixed up the labels, but it doesn't seem to matter to the dye as long as there were no blank areas.

Just because a label says the garment is 100% cotton, that doesn't mean that the stitching is cotton. I'm guessing in this case the thread was polyester, but I have to admit that I like the contrast.

I relied primarily on the booklet that came with the kit, but the local library has a plethora of books on dyeing fabric. That topic is a whole new rabbit hole to fall down. The books I referenced:

After dyeing, the not-so-much-fun starts: rinsing (and rinsing and rinsing) to get rid of the soda ash and extra dye, then washing in Synthrapol or a similar detergent, then drying them. The recommendation is to continue to launder the tie-dyed fabric separately for a time or two, just to be safe.

I'm obviously going to wear the shirts, but what to do with all those 36" x 45" muslin pieces? By themselves, they are a bit small for lap robes, but maybe crib quilts? I am open to suggestions.

Fit to be tie-dyed

The spinning guild meeting where I led a hands-on activity of tie-dyeing went well. In fact, several people thanked me afterwards for providing them the opportunity to make something new. Not everyone present participated, so I had a lot of dye left over, which I put to good use the next day. More on that later.

Dyeing: Not only did I do a lot of tie-dyeing this past week, I gathered rudbeckia from the backyard for more dyeing.

Before

After

Knitting: Still working on the Kit and Caboodle tote and the socks.
Spinning: Still plying the last batch of Romney.

One of the weaving guild members passed away this summer; Sue was over 100 and led a life full of fiber art. Some of her fiber tools have been donated to the guild, but a LOT of stuff was made available to us for a donation to the guild. It is easy to go overboard when presented with so much, but I limited myself to one braid of roving, a couple of pairs of scissors, three books, and all the undyed wool and linen yarn I could lay my hands on.

Exercising the old brain

Per my MO, when frustrated with one project, I start another, in this case the Kit + Caboodle tote from Purl Soho. Alas, as with the Essential Tee, there are new techniques to learn: the one-step provisiounal cast-on using scrap yarn and stitch patterns for twisting right and left. I am getting a bit smarter and created a swatch, not for gauge but to practice. Now the tote is underway.

Knitting: See above. Also, the heels are turned on the current pair of socks.
Spinning: I made good progress on the Romney this past week and am ready to ply, ply, ply.

The next spinning guild meeting is about dyeing non-protein fibers. I am not an expert in this topic, but decided one way to teach it would be to have a hands-on activity, like tie dyeing. United Arts and Education did not have the tie dye kit that I used before, so I purchased one from Dharma Trading. WOW! They put this kit together themselves, and it is very complete, which is helping my confidence.

There are six application bottles for mixing color, three colors of dye, a mask (don't want to breathe the dye powder), gloves (more protection), soda ash, urea, Dharma Crafts' version of Synthrapol, rubber bands, binder clips, and instructions. What more could I ask for? Now, instead of dreading the meeting, I am looking forward to it.

Shades of yellow

I was going to create separate posts for each of the dye materials I used for my solar dyeing experiment, but they all turned out to be yellow, more or less. Not much difference there, so why make separate posts?

For posterity's sake, here is what I did:

Zinnia blossoms (dried):

• Oops - didn't crush dried blossoms before using
• Oops - didn't weigh blossoms before using
• Half in one mason jar with tap water (neutral pH), half in another jar with well water (oops - didn't check pH of well water, assume it is neutral)
• Set jars in sun for three days
• Drained blossoms and discarded
• Using cold alum mordanted Cascade 220 - one mini skein (50 yds) in one jar, one in the other jar
• Set in sun for two days

Lobster mushrooms:

• Oops - didn't chop mushrooms before using
• Oops - didn't weigh mushrooms before using
• Half in one mason jar with tap water (neutral pH), half in another jar with well water (oops - didn't check pH of well water, assume it is neutral)
• Set jars in sun for three days - got kind of foamy
• Drained mushrooms and saved them for future use
• Using rhubarb leaf mordanted Cascade 220 - one mini skein (50 yds) in one jar, one in the other jar
• Set in sun for two days
• Mold in well water jar stained the yarn a bit

Oak galls:

• Oops - didn't crush galls before using
• Oops - didn't weigh galls before using
• All galls in a mason jar with tap water (neutral pH)
• Set jar in sun for a three days
• Drained galls and saed them for future use
• Using unmordanted Cascade 220 - one mini skein (50 yds) in jar
• Set in sun for two days

From left to right: zinnia in tap water, zinnia in well water, mushroom in tap water, mushroom in well water, oak gall

I am letting the used mushrooms dry out, to be chopped or crushed, to see if I get more dye from them using heat. Similarly, I'm letting the used galls dry, to be crushed, to see if I get more dye from them using heat; they can still be used to mordant fibers even when no dye left.

I thought solar dyeing would be easier than heating up pots of dye baths, etc., and it is, but the results were not all that impressive. Of course, I just jumped in without doing any research. I may try solar dyeing again, but with more care.

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.

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.

Disappointment

One of the spinning guild members brought samples of yarn dyed with amaranth to a meeting. It was pink! So I had to give amaranth a try.

I grew the plants myself (seeds ordered from Pinetree Garden Seeds). But instructions for the dyeing process itself was skimpy. None of my dye books mention it, and only a few online sources have anything to say about it.

I went with a cold water dye bath, which produced a promising color. I tried some alum-mordanted yarn (alum added to the dye bath instead of pre-mordanting the yarn), some rhubarb leaf-mordanted yarn, and some unmordanted yarn. The yarn soaked for over 24 hours.

The alum mordant produced a lilac color, no mordant resulted in pink, but the rhubarb leaf mordant seem to mask any color change.

Alas, the color is already fading, especially the pink. I may give it another try, as from what I read, amaranth is a rampant self-seeding plant. I doubt I will get anything less fugitive, though.

Crochet: My granddaughter and I are continuing her lessons. I think next time, we will be able to start the project that is her end goal (photo below). I started one from a similar jellyfish pattern to get the idea, plus a fiber friend helped me with how to do some of the details.

Dyeing: See above.
Knitting: The heels are turned on the Bigfoot socks.
Spinning: Thanks to a spin-in on Saturday, I finished spinning the maroon merino top.
Weaving: I dragged out the Ashford SampleIt loom and am playing with color combinations for a scarf for my SO. I am also adding to the circular weaving project that has been "resting".

This past weekend was a fiber-filled one. Besides the spin-in on Saturday, both the spinning guild and weaving guild demonstrated various fiber arts at the downtown branch of our local library system, in honor of Spinning and Weaving Week. We always enjoy these events, but have some ideas to make them more fulfilling in the future. The spinning guld members wore their tee shirts; we are working on getting some for the weaving guild as well.

Felted up

This past week I felted the L-Bag and its pocket patch. Initially, I didn't use lingerie bags - MISTAKE. After deciding the fabric couldn't be too felted, I ran it through two hot water agitation cycles with a pair of jeans. The bag has a nice shape to it, but the rectangle is a bit skewed.

Crochet: I finished the artisan market bag - it's a bit floppy; separate post to follow. I met a woman yesterday who makes similar fiber boxes, but she uses wool and crochets around a core of rope, like clothesline. Hers are much stiffer.
Dyeing: As I write, some skeins of yarn are soaking, destined for the amaranth dye pot.
Knitting: Still working on Bigfoot's socks.
Spinning: Still spinning the merino top.
Weaving: Fourth Third wash cloth off the SampleIt loom. I'll explain that later.

The local parks and rec department put an end to our spring fiber festival, instead inviting us to join their new fall harvest festival. I didn't attend last year, but this year demo'd spinning. It's a lot of fun chatting up the visitors, both kids and adults. I spun on my wheel, but the kids could also spin a little yarn of their own on a spindle. Some improvements for next year: have microscopes or some kind of magnifiers so the kids could look at wool fiber and see the barbs. Also, have samples of wool they can feel and SMELL.

Clapotis contest, and some crochet

Have you ever knit a clapotis? The pattern appeared on Knitty.com twenty years ago. To celebrate this popular project, Knitty is offering a clapotis fest contest.
Knitters are encouraged to use yarn from an indie dyer.

I knit one in 2010, from Cascade Pima Tencel, a yarn that has been (rightly) discontinued, as it sheds. I may knit another, maybe from handspun. The deadline is December 1, 2024, so I have some time to decide, as the first one took less than two weeks to knit.

My granddaughter has expressed an interest in learning to crochet(!) I'm so excited, as I have tried to interest her in crafts over the years but to no avail. She wants to be able to make amigurumi animals. We've had one lesson so far: chain stitch and single crochet. Next up will be honing her technique: how to hold the yarn and needle to maintain tension and produce even stitches. I hope she has been practicing.

I stocked up on cheap yarn for her to use.

My granddaughter's interest in crochet has revived my interest in it as well. A fiber friend fed that fire by sharing a photo of two baskets she crocheted from yarn scraps. So, of course, I had to try my hand at a basket myself.

The pattern is from Crochet Southwest, by Susan Kennedy, and is called "Artisan Market Baskets". It calls for seven yarns held together (although any combination that results in a bulky yarn would work). I am pulling both ends from a cake of sock yarn (one of those Why did I buy this?!? purchases), two colors of 8/4 cotton, one color of Lion Brand cotton, Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton leftover from a weaving project, and some varigated Sinfonia mercerized cotton I think I purchased at Tuesday Morning. So mostly cotton, but I think it is impossible to select a bad choice of yarns and colors for this project.

The hardest part is the yarn wrangling. If you look closely at the photo below, near the center you will see a bit of brown sock yarn that I didn't maintain tension on, so there is a loose loop. By the time I noticed it (and several others), I was far enough along I didn't want to go back, but I'm trying to be more careful going forward.

The only other problem with crochet is it makes my hands hurt.

Crocheting: See basket info above. I also started a Woobles penquin.

Dyeing: I cut down some of the amaranth, which is now soaking in tap water in the garage. I plan is to use half with an alum-mordanted yarn, half with rhubarb leaf-mordanted yarn. I hope to soak the rest of the amaranth in well water, which contains a lot of iron. which should produce a different result. Amaranth is not very colorfast, so I am going to dye some test samples as well.

Knitting: Socks progressing. I still haven't felted the L-Bag pieces.
Spinning: I keep looking at the fiber on the spinning wheel, keep meaning to get back to it, but so far no success.

I don't mean to keep harping on swatching, but I started one this past week, to see how two yarns looked together. I didn't have to go far to decide I don't like them knit this way.

I keep looking for a pattern for this rather coarse yarn, but so far no luck.