Upcoming Workshops

I've got a full line up of workshops this spring and summer. 

A little something for everyone. 

Feel free to email me with any questions about any of them.

44clovers@gmail.com

You can also check out my new website at 

44clovers.com

I've been running a series of natural dye workshops in conjuction with Portfiber 

all this spring. 

I have 3 classes left;

Natural Dyeing Basics

1 day; Sunday May 18, 2014

11am-3pm

$75

Feel free to bring fiber/ fabric in 4oz lots for dyeing. 

Whatever you like from wool, silk, angora, camel, etc. 

You can also purchase fiber from a wide variety at Portfiber the day of. 

You'll learn mordant basics and shortcuts, over dying, heating requirements, and much more. 

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Natural Dyeing for Sewists

2 Days; Sunday June 1st, 2014 11am-3pm at Portfiber

Thursday June 5th 6:15pm-8pm at Z Fabrics.

$105 for both workshops and all materials included

You'll learn so many skills in these two days;

natural dyeing on fabric

shibori methods

hemming techniques

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Natural Dyeing for Needle Felters

2 Days; Saturday June 14th 1pm-4pm at Portfiber

Saturday June 21st 1pm-4pm

$140 for both workshops and all materials included

We'll be working with raw Irish Texel fleece I brought back from Ireland:)

Bring along picture of your favrorite songbirds if you'd like. 

I'll also have pictures from magazines and books. 

We'll work on those tiny beautiful details that make songbirds so remarkable. 

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AT THIS YEARS MAINE FIBER FROLIC

The fiber frolic is a 2 day wonder of fibery delights ranging from animals, demonstrations, beautiful hand made goods, fiber materials and equipment. 

It's one of my favroite weekend of the whole years. 

This is the first year I'll be teaching at the Frolic and I'm SO EXCITED. 

Under the Rainbow in the Dye Pot

Saturday June 7th, 2014

9:30am-12:30pm

USing just 3 dye pots, I'll show you how to use natural dye pigment powders to dye dye each color of the rainbow. Then using a special technique, we'll make a self striping rainbow yarn. You can then use both dyed batches of yarn to incorporate into any of your fiber projects, rugs, weaving, knitting, crochet, or fulling

workshop fee: $75

materials fee: $15

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Lichen Magic

Saturday June 7th, 2014 

1:30pm-4pm

We'll talk about properly collecting within a context, indentification of lichens, and their fascinating properties. I'll also show you to test and prepare lichens for dyeing in order to extract their exciting colors which range from golds, orange, red, purple, and blues. We will also be dyeing up samples from my lichen fermentation jars. 

Workshop fee- $65

Materials fee- $10

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Foraging for Color

Sunday June 8th

10am-2:30pm with lunch break

Every plant  holds pigment inside. It's through experimenting that we find out what colors our neighboring plant life hold. We will discuss foraging with an ecological context, identify, and test what we collect for color using non-toxic mordants on silk fabrics and wool yarn samples. 

Workshop fee: $75

Materials fee: $10

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PEAKS ISLAND FIBER ARTS CAMP

 Peaks Island Fiber Arts Camp was founded by Laura Glendening and Susan Hanley in 2004 - now in it’s eleventh year of sharing a unique blend of arts, crafts & outdoor fun on Peaks Island. Our camps offer a summer time balance of learning skills, exploring & creating, and time for hanging out with new friends in a kind and cooperative environment. This year Susan will be taking the summer off and fellow Islander and textile artist Rachel Bingham Kessler will be filling in. We are happy to offer individual and group lessons too, please contact us for information.

To reserve a place in a camp, send in the following info; Your child's name
Age
Parents' name
Address
Phone number
Email
Which week you'd like to attend

Each camp enrolls just 8-12 campers, so please, To register and hold your spot, mail in your non-refundable deposit of $100 payment to:
Peaks Island FIber Camp
Laura Glendening
17 Sterling St
Peaks Island, Maine 04108
207-766-5705, lrglendening@gmail.com

Early Summer Days

Whittling, creature making and mud oven granola baking!

Spend the early days of summer relaxing with new friends and a project or two. We’ll whittle a walking stick and knitting needles - visit beaches and share stories. We’ll make a piece of fabric from which little animals & creatures will grow. And we’ll heat up the mud oven and bake delicious homemade granola!

June 23-27, 8:30-2:30. Ages 7-12 $285

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Fabric Collage

Create a beautiful light & colorful collage. Using Matisse’s cut outs as inspiration campers will create their own colors, shapes, and patterns with silk cloth. We’ll experiment with designs and lay-outs. When all the pieces of the collage are ready they will be held together, not by sewing, but by felting.

June 30-July 3, 8:30-2:30 ages 8-14 $235
Four Day Camp

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Still Life and Lunch

Fruit salad, bread, blueberry hand pies, pizza and more. We’ll spend the first part of each day drawing & painting the day’s ingredients. Then we’ll work together to prepare the recipe of the day. Finally we’ll enjoy the good food we’ve made. On Friday we’ll sew together a book using our drawings and paintings, recipes may be included too.

July 21st-July 25th 8:30-2:30 ages 6-14, $285

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Bugs Tracks and Crafts

Follow the paths of snails, bumbles, and hermit crabs while we explore the beach, garden, and forest for these tiny creatures. We’ll inspect their track habitats, and nests. Then using various textile textures, techniques, and our imagination, we’ll create unique keepsakes capturing the nature of these tiny creatures.

August 18-22nd, ages 6-12, $285

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NEW ENGLAND FIBER ARTS RETREAT

an all inclusive fiber arts retreat where you will be fed so well, make wonderful new friends

go on farm and studio field trips and take some amazing classes with some of Maine's most talented fiber artists. 

Another favorite time of year for me! 

This will be my 5th year teaching at Medomak and we've all been working hard to being new classes to the table. 

I am only 1 of 4 other instructors. All of us veterans by now. 

Bill Huntington

Bristol Ivy

Casey Ryder

Dana Fadel

Here's a short list of some of our exciting offerings through out the whole week. taught by me, 

felted soaps * inkle weaving * rigid heddle space weaving * felted landscapes * weaving on a 4-harness loom * tapestry weaving * tunisian crochet * knitting outside the box * finishing techniques * windrow cowl * beginning lace * knitting in the round * intarsia & duplicate stitch * to build a hat * stranded/ fair isle knitting * diagonal knitting/ felted bag * coils and core spinning * drop spindle spinning * carding to spin * botanical embroidery * embroidery 101 * shibori & bundles * rainbows in our dye pots * foraging for color

Holy Moly! That is a lot of classes!!

for more information contact our Director, Casey Ryder: casey@medomakcamp.com

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I am so blessed to have the oppertunity to work with all these wonderful fiber folks who are also dear friends. 

When I'm not knitting, spinning, and dyeing, I'm drawing up new class ideas and refining seasoned ones. 

I will also be adding a few plant dye workshops that will be happening here at my home on Peaks this summer, so keep a look out. 

If you have questions about any of these happenings or would like me to come teach in your area, I'd love to hear from you. 

44clovers@gmail.com

ox, Rachel

Peaks Island Fiber Arts Camp 2014

This New Year, for me has begun with thinking about cultivating innovative ways that reach further into the realm of both independent and collaborative creative endeavors to bring my love of fiber, plant dyes, and teaching into new territories.

Over here on Peaks Island, there is a really talented Textile Artist who also works with plant dyes and creates beautiful felted cloth. I've had the wonderful pleasure of getting to know Laura and we spend a lot of time talking about textiles and drinking tea. I'm really grateful for her friendship. She's also the co-fonder of the Peaks Island Fiber Arts Camp that she has been running with her friend, Susan Hanley, for a decade now, also a fellow islander and textile artist.

Several weeks ago, I asked Laura if they might need any help this year. As it turned out, Susan had just let her know she'd like to take a sabbatical for 1 year. So, for this year, I have the pleasure of stepping in for Susan. Laura and I got down to it and have worked really hard meeting about every week to create these 4 camp offerings for children ages 6-14.

Enrollment is now open.

 :: Early Summer Days :: 

whittling, creature making and mud oven granola baking

Spend the early days of summer relaxing with 

new friends and a project or two. We’ll whittle

a walking stick and knitting needles - visit

beaches and share stories. We’ll make a 

piece of fabric from which little animals & 

creatures will grow. And we’ll heat up the mud 

oven and bake delicious homemade granola. 

June 23-27, 8:30-2:30 ages 7-12, $285

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:: Fabric Collage ::

Matisse, wool, silk, and collage 

Create a beautiful light and colorful collage. 

Using Matisse’s Cut outs as inspiration 

campers will create their own colors, shapes, 

and patterns with silk cloth. We’ll experiment 

with designs and lay-outs. When all the pieces 

of the collage are ready they will be held 

together, not by sewing, but by felting.

June 30-July 3, 8:30-2:30, ages 8-14, 4 day camp $235

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:: Still Life and Lunch ::

drawing, painting, and baking

Fruit salad, bread, blueberry hand pies, pizza and more. 

We’ll spend the first part of each day drawing and painting 

the day’s ingredients. 

Then we’ll work together to prepare

the recipe of the day. 

Finally we’ll enjoy the good food we’ve made. 

On Friday we’ll sew together a book 

of our drawings and paintings 

and possibly include our recipes.

July 21-25, 8:30-2:30 ages 6-14, $285

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:: Bugs, Tracks, and Crafts ::

explore, inspect, and stitch

Follow the paths of snails, bumbles, and hermit crabs 

while we explore the beach, garden, and forest 

for these tiny creatures. 

We’ll inspect their tracks, habitats, and nests. 

Then using various textile textures, techniques, and our imagination, 

we’ll create unique keepsakes 

capturing the nature of 

these tiny creatures.

August 18-22, 8:30-2:30 ages 6-12, $285

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About Laura

“I’ve been making things my whole life - sculptures, clothes, prints, books, and mud ovens. I’m thinking of building a cob cottage someday, but until then I’m busy felting, dyeing and sewing. Each summer I’m glad to share these arts & skills I find so valuable”. 

About Rachel

“Working from my studio here on Peaks Island, I love using oils and watercolors to study botanicals, and foraging wild plants to dye my hand spun yarn. I keep myself busy knitting, sewing, weaving,

felting, blogging and teaching both on island and around New England for my small business, 

44 Clovers”

We're happy to answer any questions:

Rachel (that's me) at: 44clovers@gmail.com

or Laura at: lrglendening@gmail.com

To enroll your child(ren) contact either Laura or myself and we will email you a copy of the brochure where you can print out the registration form to mail in. 

Looking forward to seeing you this summer!

Thank you 2013

I have always loved calendars. I love picking one out each year. Writing special events and appointments down, I keep it in a spot I will always notice. A few years ago I started a New Year's Eve tradition: I take down my calendar and go over the year just lived. And this year, 2013, was one for the books. I don't think I've had so much excitement, or extended my family, and felt so loved as I have in this year.

January~ As Jubal and I continued to plan our wedding, I also worked on dye samples, new yarns, and figuring out how to build up my Etsy shop from part-time to full-time. And it was during this month that I was given a tremendous opportunity to teach at Squam Artworkshops :: Taproot Gathering that took place this past September. The year certainly started off with a bang.

     

February~ More wedding planning took place, and I became most obsessed with wedding flowers and table settings. I always knew the obsession would kick in, but I tried hard to keep it at bay. Then it was all I could think about. Pretty boring for anyone who had spent time with me, as all I had were flowers on the brain. We did take some time away from the Maine winter too, and I traveled with Jubal to his hometown in California to see his family and so he could attend a work training. Spending time in the Bay Area and with his family is always such a treat, and I know I am so lucky to be able to do this. 

  

March~  Became a bit of a flurry of shopping, meeting with wedding vendors, packing for a three-month trip, and checking out. Sweet, sweet bliss mixed with excitement for the coming month, mixed with anxiety about the Big Day and our crazy retreat. It was also a month of parties, get-togethers, last days at my part-time job, birthday dinners, and such an unreal feeling.

   

April~ The first of April started with celebration of welcoming family and friends as they trickled in from all over to help us celebrate our day. On April 6th, Jubal and I married, and the following day we left Maine to spend our honeymoon in a cottage on the west coast of Ireland. 

We found our way to our cottage that first day, lit the first peat fire in our stove, and took a nap while the harrowing west wind came over the bog. We were so struck with how surreal it felt to have arrived. We made it through dating and finding each other, deciding to marry, planning a home, planning the wedding, and now planning this trip. We were exhausted, and I don't remember when I'd slept so well as I did when we had first arrived to the cottage with the red door in Doonagore village, near Doolin. 

        

(wedding photos: Jennifer Searles Dumont

May~ We found our groove and delighted in driving all over Ireland to visit pubs, shops, museums, farms, random castles appearing on the horizon, and much much, so much to our pure delight, we witnessed the Burren come alive with the most sweet and delicate wild orchids. Such a treasure and blessing to witness such natural beauty.

We made new friends and spent time with old ones. Everywhere we went, we were our own version of a sponge -- soaking up every detail, color, historical fact, vernacular, dessert, and sounds that we could. 

June~ It started to sink in we had to leave at the end of the month. I packed even more in including a trip to the middle of the Aran Islands. I cannot pick one amazing moment of those three months. But if I had to, if I really did, it would be that side trip to Inis Meáin.

    

Leaving at the end of the month, I looked back on all that we had done, but mostly on all that I had thought about. I left feeling so grateful, refreshed, and inspired to do so many things on our return. The thing is, as much as we both were ready to go home to our home, our island, our state, our families -- we so badly wanted to stay. It was a very weird place to be. It was my fourth trip to Ireland, and each time I've gone, I didn't want to leave. But this time, this time, I felt such a strange pull that was ten times stronger than the last trip. I think it had something to do with living so near to that ancient bog that had seen and held so much. 

July~ We settled right back in and it felt as if we had never left. Getting back to our familiar things felt very sweet. I saw friends, family, and took a watercolor class at a nearby farm. Jubal got right back to work and even traveled for a bit. I returned to Medomak for my fourth year to teach fiber arts classes with my good friends. It was a wonderful week, as always.

 

August~ Jubal had to travel again for work, and I became more used to taking care of things in his absence. We held a yard sale. I harvested my first indigo crop of the year and held a small indigo dyeing party. My sister, mom, and two good friends came to learn about the process and dye a few pieces -- something I look forward to doing again next year. It was a lot of fun, and I look forward to taking advantage of our garden beds and the Peaks Community Garden to grow more dye plants. Also, my youngest niece came for a sleepover for the first time. We had the best time, and I didn't want her to leave.

September~ My interest in foraging for mushrooms flourished, and a new obsession was born. Jubal and I attended a fun fungi fair in north-central Massachusetts to learn more. Then I packed up my pots, samples, books, aprons, and nerves and drove deep into the New Hampshire woods to teach natural dyeing at the Squam Art Workshops. It was a wonderful time of self-discovery, new friendships, and explorations. I also forged a new connection for a project that I've been working on since, and which I hope to share more about in the future. I attended the Common Ground Fair (again) where I picked out two fleeces for myself and pumpkins for Jubal. He makes a killer pumpkin pie. My oldest nephew came to stay for a sleepover for the first time, I taught him how to skirt a fleece, and he taught us how to pick up a chicken. We adopted two hens from neighbors the week before, and we didn't have much of a clue. I also held my first natural dye workshop at the house, which was a lot of fun.

October~ For 20 years I have dreamed about learning to play the fiddle. I finally decided it was about time I try. We took a small road trip up north to visit friends, and did more mushroom foraging, and it was particularly fun for Jubal as he had never been that far north in Maine. I spent more time with family and friends too.

    

November~ We took another road trip, but this time to Prince Edward Island. A wonderful scenic trip and more time with family and friends. Also this month, I hit an all time record high for sales in my etsy shop.

December~ Early on in this month I decided to spend more time trying to take things slow. The holiday season can make me feel crazy, stressed and like I'm not doing enough. I made a conscious decision to do less in the way of my shop and blogging so that I could do more in the way of creating more holiday cheer around our home and make time for friends and family. I wanted to soak up every moment of December by watching Christmas movies, listening to music, baking, trying new holiday crafting projects, and taking more time to really enjoy a season that could whirl right by.

     

Looking back on my year, I feel I am so blessed, and am inspired to unfold even more possibilities for 2014. 

And speaking of 2014, I'm so happy to share with you some fun plans I have in store for my shop, 44 Clovers, my blog which will soon be a website that Jubal's been building, and workshops that will be on offer here on Peaks, local shops in Portland, and beyond.    

Thank you, 2013, and all that you've blessed me with. 

ox, r

Knitting, Technology, & Me...

Sure, I guess I should say "& I". That would be correct but it doesn't sound like me:)

Anyway, I thought maybe it be time I share the fact that it's not unusual for me to have on average 5 knitting projects on the needles at one time. I've thought about this as my need, curiosity, excitement, etc takes over the logical/ reasonable part of my brain. With the onset of Pinterest, Facebook, Etsy, and blogs, the way I research (aka peruse) has sparked my creative confidence and therefor enhancing my process in such a way that I've now gone from having maybe 20 new ideas in a day (way back in my awkward tween years of only thinking about painting, sewing, boys, sheep and cream) to the now Me, 35 years old, having 100 new ideas a day and all the while thinking about still; sheep, cream, and now a twinkle in my eye (a someday baby). And also enjoying very much being a newlywed with the most adorable man in the entire Universe. I am more than super lucky.

I love seeing what others make as it sparks a lot of confidence as I mentioned above to help me think outside of "my" box. Though I'm inspired often by others, it's usually for the texture, color, or whimsy. But not the whole package. Having trained in the visual arts, I learned early the importance of originality. I do enjoy using patterns in knitting for my own personal use because I want to wear them or gift someone with an item. And sometimes I want to push myself to learn new techniques that I don't often use. Patterns and books and guides and websites and pictures are all great and they have a nice place in my work, but what I love more and thrive on is thinking things up from my insides. Normally it's how I get to sleep. Tonight however, with a little *too* much caffeine, a little *too* late in the day and a little *too* much sugar, and a husband snoring just a little *too* soon.... I'm here pecking this out. It was what I was thinking about anyway as I tried my foods a-z trick to get me to sleep. The thing is I got to M and when I get that far I know I'm not going to go to sleep anytime soon. It's usually J when I don't remember in the morning.

So back to all these 100's of ideas.

This is what I think about on a daily basis;

embroidery- maps, flora a-z, favorite lyrics.

watercolor- flora, still life, nature, my two hens, nature studies- particularly the mushrooms I've been OBSESSED with collecting.

oils- landscapes of Maine and Ireland, still lifes, studies, color studies, my almost finished painting studio.

nuno felting- all the silk scarves I've foraged in thrift shops, landscapes, pillow, cowls, head bands, classes, stitchings, curtains...

dyeing- I have a grocery bag full and stuffed with smaller bags of dehydrated mushrooms waiting to get dyed up. I have sachets of kool-aid waiting to bond with the beautiful naked rovings I just purchased at Portfiber, the several leftover dye baths on my porch waiting for a 4th go around. And then there's the deep orange and rich brown that my heart is begging me to figure out. It's like my soul is craving this rich burnt orange. My eyes are thirsty for it. Or maybe I was once a maple tree in a past life. And more classes.

spinning- the plant dyed green cashmere, the plant dyed soy silk rovings, the creamy cinnamon icelandic fleece, the white finn fleece, the irish texel fleece, the sheltland fleece, the...OMG do I have eneough WOOL!?!?!

And then there is the knitting... Oh dear lord the knitting that has yet to be knitted!!!! When I get to this place I have to take a deep breath and rock myself to slow it all down.

I've gone through many guilty feelings, starting when I was younger feeling like if I started a second project when the first is still unfinished, I'd be neglecting the first. When I learned to spin then dye & then forage local flora, discovering beautiful local yarn shops, meeting local people who also made beautiful threads.... well, I gave up the guilt game, cast on a new project at the slightest whim. And like there was no tomorrow.  What a relief it's been to see some one knitting a delightful pattern & being so moved & inspired by the colors, shaping, texture, I'd go right out, get what I needed or dig through my stash to get 'er started. I realized with more of a liberating delight & less of a debilitating guilt that it felt exhilarating to have 5-6 projects going. Little thoughts of ADD did pop into my mind but I've since pushed them away with a reminder, usually saying out loud, I'll finish it! You'll see! It is a good way to live. 

So, with that said, what I've been working on of late. 

The rainbow mitts. So far have not found a proper name for them. And this, none of these are the best pictures. But here, the rainbow started from curly locks that I dyed while still working at Portfiber using acid dyes. After dyeing them up for the shop, I then couldn't help myself and bought about 9 ounces worth. I used the carder there and created a rainbow batt. I then spun the batt into a continuous rainbow repeat yarn. As I had just finished Bristol Ivy's Picot! Picot! Cowl I still had picots and eyelets on the brain and thought I'd incorporate a little of it into these mittens. Soon to be in my etsy shop, these are large, toasty playful mittens. Seeing two men try them on this weekend right as I finished them, not only did they fit them well, but they had a certain delightful look in their eye as the rainbow-ness filled their soul. It was quite enduring actually. Especially because the mittens have a sort of frill on the cuff. Will be in the shop by the end of the week:)

                                  

My Bill mittens, I call them because both this Climbing Vine pattern and yarn came from Hope Spinnery. For the past 4 years I've had the lovely and peaceful pleasure of teaching with Bill Huntington at the New England Fiber Arts Retreat in Washington, Maine. You can read more about that in another post here. Knitting this pattern was such a joy and crunched my brain in just the right spots as I haven't followed a pattern like this before. I'm in love the two color rib, the color change of the yarn and elegant design of the vine, thumb and how the top comes together. They are mine for keeps.  

                                              

Last week I cracked open my sock book to knit the Uptown Boat Socks. Using nature spun Lemon that I purchased for sale over a year ago in NYC at Knit City. It was on sale and I bought a ton of it. I love using this yarn too as its soft, sturdy and bouncy! And I've made a commitment to myself to start knitting all my own socks as socks from Target do not last one day. Very boring story of a tow making a premature appearance. This pattern is a simple twisted cable leaving an elegant honeycomb effect. I'm enjoying the slow procress and the "i need to concentrate just enough but not so much where I will bite your arm off it you make a noise while I'm knitting (like the fist pattern I knit from this book that included trelisis and traveling stitches and I was so damned determined to do something really hard because it was actually really satisfying. You can see those here.

                                     

I will insert a better and finished picture of the Picot! Picot! Cowl shortly. For now, Elsa is enjoying it. 

Here are the Maple and Birch fingerless mitts. Finished now and in my shop waiting to warm someone's hand up! Hand spun camel and silk. Dyed with madder and fustic dyes. Spun on my masurka wheel. 

As I've said before, these are my favorite favorites! You can find them here. The Squam Lake fingerless hand spun maine raised pygora and garden grown indigo will be an ultra elegant gift for yourself or a sweet someone. They are pure luxury and class. Also with an extra long cuff.  

If you feel moved, please share in the comments below what you've been working on. Feel free to include links to your raverly page, website, whatever. 

Damn.... I forgot sewing and weaving.