The Power of the Perfect Project

I've been knitting for 20 years 

and

for 20 years

I never stopped.

I have constantly had a project (or 5) on the needles. 

But this past year I slowly 

ran

of

steam.

There have always been good reasons happening in my life where it would make since to slow down. 

But knitting has always been a safe haven, a respite, an outlet. 

So I never have.

Until now.

This summer I decided I needed to make myself a sweater, with a fair isle yolk, with my handspun yarn. 

I had been creating yarn for my shop for a number of years but I never saved enough of it to make something really special for myself. 

I carefully hand selected various colors and packed them away and spun a whole shetland white fleece to compliment my plant dyed yarns. 

I searched and searched for just the right pattern. 

I searched and searched for just the right designing tools. 

Because really I couldn't make up my mind if I should design it myself or do something simpler.

Then last week as I finally choose a pattern and cast on, frustration set in as I struggled to work the 200 stitches. 

I let it sit for a few days and then I started day dreaming about socks, hats, and mittens knit in two colors. White and yellow. White and green. White and pink. 

I knew what I needed to do. 

As I sat on the floor of my studio with my toddler by my side rummaging through a box of ribbon, I frogged the few rows of my sweater. Added the yarn back to the basket and set it aside for later in the week. 

It felt so good to change course. 

Next, I went through my yarn chest and quickly but ruthlessly set aside half of my yarn 

to give to a friend who 

knows how to knit, 

really wants to knit more, 

but only owns 1 pair of needles and 3 skeins of yarn. 

Friends don't let friends be yarnless.

She needed my help 

and it felt so good to pass on what felt like almost 

10 pounds of yarn and a handful of needles to her. 

Some of this yarn I had had for 20 years. 

I could still tell you where every single bit came from. 

She was overjoyed to receive such booty 

and I was overjoyed to give it to her. 

While putting all my yarn back into the chest, 

I was reminded by these three little balls of silk kid mohair 

I had dyed with lichens, mushrooms, and then indigo. 

Back in August I had attempted this pattern but I messed it up right away so I frogged it.

Seeing the yarn again, 

I was reminded of what I had wanted to make and decided to give it a try once more. 

That evening I had everything set up so that after I put my son to bed, 

a new episode of my current series was set up along with pie, tea, the lighting, my pj's and slippers.

I cast on as Queen Victoria brooded and pined for her M

and I was in heaven.

Finally a project I knew would work and I knew I would enjoy. 

And one word would float through my mind as I worked on this: 

gossamer. 

  

Late last night when my husband returned home from a weekend away, I showed him my new project. 

As he picked it up, he said,

"Wow, it's so.... gossamer like. 

You can find this pattern, here

Creating an Heirloom with my Destash

A few months ago I made a commitment not to buy/ collect/ bring into the house/ studio any more acid dyed fibers for my work. 

Mainly because I create so much plant dyed fiber using locally grown fibers now and want to continue getting better at my craft with just these materials. 

However, this left me wondering what on earth do I do with the lovely goodness I've collected over the years? 

Materials for Nuno felting is one of three groups of fibers I'm joining all together into a large rainbow project which is two fold: 1- to destash 2- for the baby.

The other two- my yarns, fabric scraps which I'll share about another time. 

This will be a wall hanging in the nursery and/ or quilt. 

Made with merino acid dyed fibers and massaged into layers of vintage silk hankies with hot and cold water and soap. 

I collected a bunch of bamboo placemats that work really well as my roller. I used to use bubble wrap but I found it to be a pain, too messy, and too slippery.

I've tried and taught nuno felting quite a few times before but never with much purpose. Or even passion. The day I pulled my large tote box out of my closet with all I've collected AND after I took a nuno felting workshop from my friend Laura Glandenning at Portfiber, I finally felt like I could focus on a project. 

I made these three rectangles in about four hours. 

I would have kept going but I wanted to get dinner started (I was being very ambitious and cooking my first beef and onion pie which we didn't eat until nine. But it was worth the wait.) and my shoulders where killing me. 

I love how the red turned out. Thick and bumpy. The yellow is lighter but fluffy. In the end, I'm going to cut them into strips a few inches wide and attempt a log cabin style quilt. I intend to use up all my colored merino and silks that are thread bare. You know the kind, scarves that tear if wind blows threw it. Perfect for incorporating into a felt because then the silk is locked in forever. 

Something that gives me so much joy with this project is knowing I'm making fabric and it's how this type of fabric has been made for thousands of years in Asian countries. All it is is an animal fiber and friction. Put the two together somehow and you've got a felted fabric. 

Also, I don't feel the need to make these pieces of fabric perfect. 

Instead, I'm paying more attention to my focus in following through with one piece at a time, letting the design take shape and going with my intuition. 

And as I work, all I can really think about is creating this soft, bumpy fabric for my child to be cradled in from birth to kid to teenager to adulthood. 

And maybe they can pass it on to their child. 

With these thoughts in mind, my work has taken on this new focus that hasn't existed before and I'm really thankful. 

                            

Birthday Daffodils; a plant dye tutorial

I love daffodils.

To me they mean the start of spring,

a new year,

my birthday,

and now my wedding (almost a year ago now!!)

(photo credit: Serendipity Photography)

Last week I grabbed 4 bunches at the store so they would be ready 

later in the week for dyeing.

 

Lately my brain has been exploding more than usual with the endless plant dyes that are all around me. 

Back in.... well many moons ago, 

I tried dyeing with my birthday daffodils. 

for the first time.

I cooked up the stem and all

ending up with kind of a 

silvery color

and I was SO excited because it was the first time I tried such an experiment. 

I've been pouring over India Flint's book that has a section on 

flower ice dyes. 

Curious, I took a look and got very excited about using violas this summer! 

I'm planning on having flower boxes with violas and other things so it's really fun to be thinking of using them after they start to pass, for dyes.

I was encouraged with India's book to tuck the blossoms away in a zip lock bag in the freezer 

until I'm ready to use them.

Works perfectly for my life. 

There they sat next to the top of my wedding cake 

that I've been nibbling for a year:)

Before I put the flowers in the freezer, 

I weighed each blossom

out of curiosity-

2grams each.

I saved these 16 grams for this silk bundle. 

I them spritzed it with vinegar

and added two rusty nails.

I started to roll it up

but then got an idea...

I noticed the fennel ferns I'd been saving 

to just this very thing 

or something similar

so I added those 

before rolling it all up.

I spritzed it with more vinegar 

before finding a place to smoosh it 

for a while

to encourage the dye 

to work its way into the fabric. 

I've since found a better place.

The cast iron kettle behind our wood stove. 

It works beautifully really flattening them out. 

The one on the left is this bundle here. Look how dark just after two days!

The other two are bundles I'm reworking with California bay leaf and eucalyptus.

I can't wait to un wrap all these!! 

Back to the daffodil dyeing... 

in this here pot are 60 grams of daffodils. 

I pre soaked the yarns and two pieces of silk. 

One piece of silk and one skein of

wool were both premordanted 

with alum. 

The other piece of silk and other skein were not mordanted. 

 I let the pot heat up very slowly because I was concerned

about the temperature getting too high and 

affecting the color. 

Because I had tried this before and ended up 

with such a non-exciting color

(at the time it was exciting because it was something)

Here's my final result after letting the fiber sit in the pot

cooling over night.  

The top two small skeins are:

on the left- no mordant

on the right- alum

The larger skein is from the 2nd bath.

I'm so so happy with how YELLOW this came out! 

I'm so pleased.  

There was still dye left over

but this time I removed the soggy blossoms 

that were still in tack

and made a bundle.

I also added these Zinfandel shamrocks that I just discovered.  

bundle made with vintage cotton calico 

then spritzed with vinegar.

I still had lots left over so I put together a second one

this time on silk fabric

and a few browning 

basil leaves

(btw- if your growing a basil plant indoors-always harvest the tops. It helps it grow better- opposed to the larger leaves on the bottom. 

More on the bundling in another post:)

ok- so remember I had a 3rd dye bath

I added this light blue skein on 

a mohair blend

that I picked up in a tiny whole in the wall

knitting shop in Waterford, Ireland. 

Here are a few of the items that I dyed over the last few days. 

Including this lovely minty green skein 

which is the light blue skein 

over dyed with the 3rd bath of daffodils:) 

Last fall we planted many daffodil bulbs in the yard. 

And several weeks ago, I got the ones I 

couldn't get in the ground-

into pots around the house. 

They are now started to poke up through 

and I look forward to putting them in the ground.

Someday.

Until then, I'm enjoying what I find at the market 

and taking full advantage. 

Check out my etsy shop 

I'm running a little sale

now through the weekend. 

Enjoy!

Today I turned 36 (!!@#(&#^@*@!!) 

It's ok really, 

I'm off to spend the day at my favorite fiber shop

get my hair done

& then

I'll have dinner out

with my sweetheart

It's gonna be a great day. 

Shibori Workshop coming in October

I'm so excited to be offering a Shibori dyeing with indigo workshop at Portfiber, here in Portland, Maine. Participants will be bringing whatever garments or materials they have on hand, or something special or dyeing on silk scarves. We'll be experimenting with a few resist techniques. Please contact me with any questions and the shop to sign up! Hope to see you there!