Where does the time go?

School starts this week for my granddaughter, so it feels like summer is over even though we are in the first half of August. For me, it was supposed to be the summer of rugs, but I completed nary a one. In fact, I haven't completed much of anything fiber-wise. I'm contemplating blocking out the last two weeks of August so I can make a final push.

Dyeing: I finished the sunflower dyeing experiment - separate post to follow. I also experimented with making modifications to the madder samples from the dye workshop, by exposing them to iron, alkaline, and acid after baths. The acid turned the yarn *tangerine*!

Knitting: The heels are turned on the socks and I am almost out of new yarn, so I have to rip out the yarn from the old pair that this pair is replacing, to knit the tops. I'm a little bogged down on the Lempi sweater.
Spinning: While we were in Chesterton yesterday, we stopped at Three Moons Fiberworks. I bought some roving there on our last visit, which I spun in such a way that the two colors mixed. I purchased some more of the same roving, so I can try spinning it such that the colors are separate. We'll see how that goes.

Here's to a fiber-filled week.

A-dyeing we will go

Last Saturday thirteen of us local fiber artists (plus a few from elsewhere) met up at Wabash Woollen Works for a natural dye workshop. I've been organizing this for several months and felt a bit anxious about it even though once everyone who wanted to go had signed up and paid the fee, it was really out of my hands. A good time was had by one and all, with gorgeous, saturated colors from every pot.

Eight of the pots were set up outside under an overhang, while two were inside on the stove (only because Lisa has only eight stand-alone induction burners). The weather cooperated, so while it was warm, it wasn't unbearable in the shade. We helped collect spent hibiscus blossoms and fresh marigold flowers from the garden (which was at its peak). The other outside pots were for Queen Anne's lace, black-eyed Susan, onion skins, walnut, hollyhock, and staghorn sumac. Inside, we worked with madder and with eucalyptus leaves.

(What dye material that isn't used immediately, like these hibiscus blossoms, is laid out on a screen to dry.)

The outside pots simmered their dye materials, then the dye stuff was removed and the yarn (merino) added. Inside, the eucalyptus had been simmering for *days* (burner turned off at night) and the leaves were left in the pot when the yarn was added. The madder required more attention, so as the most anal person in the group, I volunteered along with another who later paled in comparison to my anal-ness. We had to mix up the madder, then add it to the pot, then monitor the pot so that the temperature stayed between 140 and 160; above 160 ruins the dye. And the yarn had to simmer in the madder dye bath for three hours.

Mixing madder

Looks like spaghetti in tomato sauce

The yarn picks up the fragrance from the eucalyptus

Rinsing the eucalyptus dyed yarn meant shaking out all the leaf fragments. Similarly, there were crumbs of madder clinging to the yarn in our pot, most of which rinsed out. I think a change to the protocol I would make is to create more of a paste with the madder, then sieve it to trap the larger bits before adding it to the dye bath. But that is just (anal) me.

One very important lesson I learned is the more dye materials one uses, the more saturated the color. All the natural dyeing I have done to this point has resulted in muted colors. No longer - I am dedicated to the new adage that, when it comes to dye stuff, more is never enough.

As part of our fee, we each got two skeins of yarn. Then we could purchase additional skeins for $5 each. I chose one of each color, then picked up more madder because I don't have any natural dyed reds. I also purchased ten buttons (one of which I see from the photo is flawed) that are made from deer antler, for the Lempi sweater.

I'm glad that this workshop is over, and yet I am already plotting the next field trip we can take to WWW.

A fiber-filled week

Sometimes I think I am not doing much with fiber, but then I write a post for this blog and realize, no, I am involved in a LOT of fiber related activities. I just don't get much of anything finished.

Dyeing: Yesterday a bunch of us visited the Wabash Woollen Works for a natural dye workshop - separate post to follow. After hearing Lisa at WWW comment that sometimes a dye bath looks like there is no dye in it when there is, I decided to give sunflowers another try. Right now 250g of fresh sunflower blossoms are steeping in the sunshine AFTER I poured boiling water over them.
Fiber prep: After reading the section on blending fibers on a drum carder in The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs, I decided to give it a go on my drum carder. However, mine is rather small, and I discovered 15g is about the max I can card at one time on it. And I forgot to take pix. (Some of you may recall that I took a fiber blending class at PlyAway in 2018, so one would think I would know what I am doing, but my brain is a sieve.)
Knitting: I took the socks with me to WWW and am almost ready to turn the heels - yay! I've also been knitting the Lempi sweater and reached a point where I thought the pockets should go, but no. The sweater is MUCH longer than I thought. I compared it to another cardigan I have and debated whether to make the Lempi the same length or go all the way. Since one of my goals is to use up as much of the naturally dyed yarn as I can, I will keep going and make it longer.

Spinning: I really messed up the last attempt at core spinning, so I wrapped it in silk thread and called it a day.
Weaving: I warped the inkle again, this time with a less busy version of the previous strap; I think it will look better with the L-Bag.

And I attached the Freedom Roller to the 24" rigid heddle. Now I will probably have to detach it in order to add the warp, then reattach it to finish the warping. There will be more waste.

The weaving guild is in the home stretch of prepping for its exhibit at the Allen County Public Library. I submitted several pieces, but what gets displayed is up to the gallery director, so it will be a surprise. Actually, I will be surprised if *any* of my pieces make the cut, but I felt like I had to submit *something*. Gotta support the team.

Have a supportive week.

Inspiration

I like to visit art museums and galleries to get ideas I can steal. We went to the Garrett Museum of Art Friday night, to see their current exhibit, "Women Take the Walls". The works by Susan Hensel were made with "digital embroidery".

Chromatic Wave I

When I saw the following piece, I thought to myself, I can do something like that with my imperfect inkle bands. The question is, Will I?

Seed Pods

Seed Pods, detail

Dyeing: I tried sun dyeing - put 400g of sunflower heads (before seeds had formed) into a glass container, covered them with tap water, and left it all in the sun for a couple of days. (I forgot the part about boiling the water before pouring it over the flowers.) The results just look murky. I'll ask about sun dyeing and dyeing with sunflowers at the natural dyeing workshop next weekend.

Before sunbathing

Knitting: I did rip back about 50 rows to fix the buttonhole problem. Then I performed the increase row too soon, so had to back out of that as well. Now I have scrap yarn in both the buttonhole band and where the increases occur, to remind me.
Spinning: It doesn't take long to forget how to do something: I tried my hand at core spinning "art yarn" again, but I seem to have lost my touch.
Weaving: The inkle band is off the loom, but I am not very happy with it, so it may be used to suspend a houseplant. This was also a case of forgetting - after a few days of not weaving, I struggled with my technique for maintaining straight selvages.

My schedule seems to be opening up a bit, so I am finding more time for fiber arts. I'm also trying to physically rearrange a few things to make my work spaces more conducive to, well, actually working. I'm never organized enough.

Argh!!!

I was knitting along on the Lempi sweater, fat, dumb, and happy, listening to an audio book, when I realized I had forgotten about the buttonholes. I missed not one buttonhole, but two. I do not want to rip back 50 rows of knitting, but I will if I have to. But first, I will try to drop the stitches in the middle of the buttonband to see if I can insert them. Meanwhile, the sweater is in a time-out.

(I took the sweater off the needles again and checked the size again. Also, I was curious about how the sweater would look without the lower buttons. Um, no. It needs the buttons.)

Knitting: See above.
Weaving: The rag rug on the Grizzly was pulling in so badly I unwove most of it and started using a temple to keep the selvages straight. Speaking of selvages, I've been working on the inkle band, which is turning out nice, but again, those selvages could use some work.

I've been getting the itch to do some dyeing, maybe because the natural dye workshop is coming up at the end of the month. The instructor sounds much more detailed in her approach to dyeing, while I'm more experimental, but then she dyes larger batches and sells the end product.

I also miss spinning, so don't be surprised if more art yarn pops up here. I'd like to improve my technique.

Too busy to weave

I've been chauffeuring my granddaughter to colorguard camp which inserted interruptions into my days. That ended with a performance in the Three Rivers Festival parade yesterday, so maybe I will be able to get back to my looms this week. Fingers crossed!

Knitting: Instead of spinning at the spin-in last Saturday, I took knitting. Progress was made on the socks, plus I showed off the Lempi sweater. I took it off the needles to check the size and it seems okay.

While knitting at home, I have been listening to a podcast, "Wiser than Me" with Julia Louis-Dreyfus (of Veep and Seinfeld fame). Julia is 62 and interviews a series of women who are older and wiser. This is the first podcast I have listened to, but I am really enjoying it. I'm open to suggestions for more, if you have some favorites.

Judge me

Last Sunday I picked up my entries to the county fair. Monday a fiber friend who had also entered items in the fair called to complain about the judging. For each item entered, we receive a ribbon and comments from the judges. Sometimes the comments make sense, other times they don't. My friend won best-in-show for one of her entries, but the ribbon was attached to the wrong item. I won best-of-show for one of mine, but when I looked through the comments, there was no mention of it, so now I wonder if I received someone else's ribbon. And one of my items received a red ribbon instead of the usual blue, but I have no idea what that means.

Knitting: I'm past the increase rows on the Lempi sweater.
Weaving: I made some progress on the rag rug. The inkle loom is warped.

I was still second-guessing my choice for an inkle pattern, and ended up selecting one from Anne Dixon's book, The Weaver's Inkle Pattern Directory. The pattern I chose is called "single flowers" and has three columns of flowers. What I didn't notice was one of the columns was offset from the others, and not the center one.

I ended up modifying the pattern so all three columns line up.

It's been a while since I have woven on the inkle, so I had to refresh my memory by accessing how-to's. That didn't prevent me from screwing up a time or three. It took two days and a lot of patience, but I finally succeeded.

Now I have four looms warped, and I may warp one more, the 24" rigid heddle, so I can try out the Freedom Roller. And I may warp the SampleIt and weave loopy washcloths; they are my favorite and I have only one.

Have a warped week!

Silk-merino blend with Tencil

Lately, I have been enchanted with shades of gray. Consequently, I fell for this Tencil-silk-merino blend. And I had to have two.

I spun one skein and did my usual 2-ply thing with it. It turned out fine, but not quite what I expected. Or wanted.

Then I spun the second one and chain plied it. This is more pleasing to my untrained eye.

Side-by-side, you can (kind of) see the difference. The 2-ply looks darker, the "colors" denser. The chain-ply appears more balanced, again to my untrained eye.

This yarn is s-o-o-o soft! I plan to make cowls with it, cowls that even the most sensitive skin will find delightful.

Third time's the charm

I was approaching the third buttonhole on the Lempi cardigan when I realized that the first two buttonholes did not line up. An internal debate ensued, but in the end, I ripped back to the first buttonhole, which is almost all the way to the beginning. Contemplating entering the cardigan in the county fair next year helped prod me, as I knew it would be closely inspected by the judges. Also, for some reason I messed up several slip-one-purlwise stitches at the start of each row. Amateur mistakes. Ripping back did give me the opportunity to use a wrap-and-turn stitch instead of the designer's double stitch when shaping the neck, though.

Knitting: I'm up to the second buttonhole on the Lempi sweater, which *does* line up with the first one. The socks are my portable project, but I haven't gone anywhere this past week, although I was wishing I had brought them this morning while I waited in a *very* long line to recycle some electronics. Spinning: The Polish merino skein I entered in the county fair won "best in show". I decided to take a break from spinning for a while, to concentrate on weaving and knitting. And maybe dyeing.
Weaving: I (finally) did the finishing work on two wall hangings and suspended them from branches gleaned from my backyard; separate post to follow. Struggling a bit with the rag rug on the Grizzly.

I want to weave handles for several felted bags on my inkle loom, so played around with color combinations, weaving the possible candidates onto a pick-style comb. The yarn is Omega Sinfonia cotton and the colors are 'Olivo' (olive), 'Olivo Intenso' (light olive), and 'Calabaza' (pumpkin). I was trying to match colors with the colors of the bags, but in real life, they are more saturated than they look on my computer screen.


The first four patterns are from In Celebration of Plain Weave, by Annie McHale, the fifth one of my own design. I was leaning toward candidate number 5, but now that I look at them again, maybe number 3? Does anyone have any opinions?

Finally, I tried to match the colors of a blossom from the black-eyed Susan vine, using watercolors. It's HARD! My goal was to come up with a pallette I could then use to create dyes for yarn, but now I think I need a different technique.

Have a colorful week!

Polish merino

I didn't know what Polish merino was, but I knew I wanted the four colorways that Phia had grouped in her Little Shop of Spinning. After spinning it up, I bought more. And more. And I will probably buy some more. I am simply enamored with this color combination.

Polish merino is a dual-purpose breed of sheep that populates Poland. It all started with some sheep from Spain, and those were later mixed with a bit of this and a bit of that. The result is a wool that is comparable to Blue Faced Leicester, Corriedale, Dorset Down or Llama. Kromski carries a bazillion colors of Polish merino roving.

This blog notwithstanding, I wish I kept better notes with details of just what I am up to on the wheel. From what I can gather, I initially blended the four colors on my drum carder, then spun and chain plied the results. This luscious skein is going to be submitted to the county fair.

Then I spun and paired each color with each other, ending up with six skeins of 2-ply. I like some of the combos better than the others.


Finally, I spun the darkest color for a core yarn, then blended the rest and used them to create an "art yarn" that I later wrapped in gold silk thread. It looks better in this photo than it does in real life. I need to perfect my core spinning skills. (As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the pairings turned out uber kinky. I'm going to call it an art yarn, too.)

I have ideas of what to do with all this yarn, but we'll have to wait and see what I settle on.

Meanwhile, I have even *more* of this fiber to spin, probably as (better) art yarn, but for now, I'm taking a break from the wheel. Other projects are demanding some attention.

Art yarn

The program at the spinning guild featured a demonstration of "art yarn" and core spinning. I did a little research first, so arrived with some core already spun and some fiber to add to it. I also deconstructed the art yarn from the last cowl project. The light blue is the core, the dark blue the main fiber, the metalic thread the wrap.

My results from the core spinning were a bit loose and wonky, so the next day, I wrapped my sample with gold silk thread. I'm not sure what I will do with it.

Knitting: Marching along on the socks, with no problems (so far). The Lempi sweater is approaching the third button hole; my stitch count was off due to an increase that did not belong, but I was able to correct the problem without ripping back.
Spinning: I'm wrapping up my adventures in Polish merino (separate post to follow). The yarn I spun at the last spin-in was SO tight, I'm not sure the result is usable unless I do something - but what? It's really kinky.

Weaving: The county fair is next week, so I have been working on a few almost-finished wall hangings to submit to the adult craft event. The Great Grizzly is warped and the hem of a rag rug started on it.

I decided that if a project sits on a loom too long, it is never going to be finished, so I might as well remove it. I cleared the Peruvian diamond project from the 24" rigid heddle loom and the krokbragg project from the inkle loom. The latter has been in limbo since before my first shoulder surgery, and the former just wasn't working out and I couldn't bring myself to work on it. It was time to cut bait or fish!

Simple Rules Cowl

I thought I had knit this pattern before, but it was one called Bamboo Bloom Infinity Scarf and Cowl. Not much difference between the patterns as they both use thick 'n thin "art" yarn, the thick purled to bring it forward in the fabric. Both are free through Ravelry.

Pattern: Simple Rules Cowl, by Stash Lounge
Yarn: Art yarn, created by Terry Guenther
Needles: US10 (except cast on and bind off using US10.5)
Modifications: Besides purling the thick, I also purl into the thick

My granddaughter actually thinks this is pretty (she's very discerning, hard to please), so it may become hers.

Go big or go home

I just finished assembling the new Great Grizzly loom from BEKA. The hard maple was unfinished, so I decided to put a light coat of Minwax on it before assembly. Then my electric screwdriver needed to be recharged. Then other things interfered. But yesterday I got it done.

This baby is BIG: 60" x 64" weaving area. I have plans for it, so many plans I can't decide what to do first.

Knitting: The Simple Rules cowl is finished; separate post to follow. I started a pair of socks; the toes are done. Restarted the Lempi sweater, changing to a larger size to make up for the wonky gauge; into the yoke and approaching button hole number two.
Spinning: On the last color combination of the Polish merino; still deciding how to spin up the most recently purchased four ounces.
Weaving: The diamond tapestry weaving came off the loom in time for the weaving guild meeting, but I'm not happy with it.

Thursday, my SO and I met up with my son and his SO in South Bend. After lunch at Nom Nom Pho, we hit the South Bend Museum of Art, which has some fiber exhibits on display. And I think it is illegal to leave the city without stopping at the South Bend Chocolate Company.

The list of new officers for the weaving guild came out recently. (Our year runs from September to June.) I'm in charge of what I like to call "outreach" but is listed as "PR and finance". Something new was my membership on the program committee. Did I volunteer for that? I may have, in a moment of generosity when one of the co-presidents mentioned that the theme would be "art" as in "fiber arts". I really need to pay more attention.

I bought a loom

While those around me are losing their heads and purchasing harness looms, I decided to take a step back. Despite my frustrations (see below), I really like weaving on a simple vertical tapestry loom. My only complaint is the one I have is too small. So I purchased the Great Grizzly from BEKA. It just arrived an hour ago, so it is still in the box. Tonight may be spent assembling it.

Knitting: I am almost done with the Simple Rules cowl, so of course I started something new: a sweater called "Lempi". After a couple of inches, I decided my gauge is so far off, I'd better do a swatch before continuing.
Spinning: Concentrating on the Polish merino... and purchased more roving today. I want enough to make this one cowl I like.

Weaving: STILL working on my diamond tapestry weaving. I keep weaving and unweaving, not quite satisfied with how it turns out. It needs to be off the loom by Wednesday if I'm to show 'n tell it at the weaving guild meeting.

As I've related in past posts, this past year I've been more active in the weaving and spinning guilds I belong to. I'm feeling a bit burned out, though. (It doesn't take much for me to reach that point.) The weaving guild does not meet during July or August, so that will be a bit of a reprieve. I would skip a meeting or two of the spinning guild, but the programs have been too interesting this past year to miss. (The next one is on spinning "art yarn".) One would think retirement might be a bit of a bore, but the days are just packed.