Tag: fiber art

Sunday Year of Projects Update

Posted on Posted in art, knitting, scarves and cowls, Works in Progress (WIPs), Year of ProjectsTagged , , 28 Comments

Hello!

Fiber Art

I had an interesting experiment with the dye pot today. I tried Lanaset dye with citric acid and added some unprocessed wool to the dye pot as well. The merino did fine, but the Shetland (top left) and the Romeldale CVM (top right, unprocessed) did not take the dye well. That’s fine, because I dye the wool for art and I can always use odd colors. And I still got the brown I need for the next piece. Next dye pot will be Jacquard Aztec Gold and back to white vinegar for the acid bath. I also stitched on piece number three today.

Knitting

Knit knit knitting on my Litmus Cowl, which I’m now calling my Lucky Number Cowl, because the number of rows in a stripe is 14, my lucky number. This is great TV knitting. Round and round. And I’m making up for lost time on Turtledove. I hope to be back to my pre-kerfuffle progress soon.

This is my Black Welsh Mountain yarn. I love it, and was planning to make a cardigan with it. But I don’t think this is the right kind of yarn for Emma (Ravelry link). It’s pretty coarse. It would be a great coat, but I’m thinking I might knit an i-cord hearth rug out of it. We need a hearth rug. Did you know wool is fire retardant? It’s true. Wool is a miracle fiber.

This is the gansey I knit for Bob that I am now wearing, because it shrunk and felted and is too small for him now. I found a hole in it so I thought it was a good opportunity to practice my darning. I wanted to try to use duplicate stitch and the results aren’t too bad. I’m calling it “crazy darning” or “darn crazy.” Take your pick. Just remember, you heard it here first.

Don’t worry. I’m planning to knit Bob a new sweater (Ravelry link).

This has been a Year of Projects Update. You can read my updated list here. You can find out more about the group here.

Today is our Blogville Knitters Virtual Knit at 1PM Eastern. If you are new and would like to join us by Skype, please DM your Skype ID to me on Instagram or Ravelry. You might also leave a comment for me to remind me to go check my messages.

Last Day of Staycation: A List and some Pics

Posted on Posted in art, holidays, life, what makes me tickTagged , , 14 Comments
  1. I framed my felt piece and I love it. Thanks to everyone who left kind comments and bolstered my confidence. My friend Sharon said (in our Mother Artists at Work private group to everyone) “Be proud of your work!” She’s right. We should all be proud of our work.

2. I’m going to try to make 2-3 more pieces before the end of the year. This will help me gauge if a solo show next September is something I can manage.

3. I mended my favorite thrift store cardigan with the help of a Katrinkles’ Darning Loom. It accidentally? came out in the shape of Ohio. When Hannah told me she liked visible mending, I didn’t think I would like it. I was wrong. I like it! The gold is my turmeric dyed Cotswold. Also, elbow patch.

4. Bob and I hiked a total of 20 miles while we were on vacation. I will be applying these to my Move 4 Fair Trade mileage.

5. I voted by mail. I followed all of the instructions and took it in person to the post office. That was on October 7. I have been tracking my ballot, and it still hasn’t been marked as received. If my vote hasn’t been registered as counted by November 2, I guess I will be voting in person on November 3.

These are my anniversary gifts from Bob: a silly shirt that reflects my philosophy of life and the new Bill Callahan album.

Here is our Halloween watched list so far:

I will continue to add to this list and post it again at the end of the month.

Are you watching any spooky or spoopy stuff for Halloween?

Midweek Mentions

Posted on Posted in knitting, socks, sweaters, what makes me tickTagged , , , 7 Comments
Finished PSL sock with DOUBLE EYELET RIB cuff

First of all, I need to apologize for sending you down the wrong pattern path on my Pumpkin Spice Latte socks. The cuff pattern is Double Eyelet Rib from Interweave’s Harmony Guides. It didn’t register that I had been giving the wrong stitch pattern name until I went to cast on the second sock and nothing made sense! You can find that pattern easily online. It was also easy to convert to a pattern in the round.

Rustbelt Fibershed and Praxis Fiber Workshop are hosting the One Year, One Outfit Project to make three wearables sourced from our local fibershed in one year. I want to do this SO BAD but I am also aware of how much time (and money) it would require. I can’t even keep up with my Year of Projects updates!

I bound off the bottom ribbing on my Arachne sweater, and I will start on the neck ribbing soon. Then I’ll knit the sleeves with whatever yarn I have left. I’m going to sew a Halloweeny shirt to wear under it. It’s almost fall!

Down with Bad Stuff

Posted on Posted in art, fiber love, hats, knitting, life, Works in Progress (WIPs), yarnTagged , , , , , 17 Comments

I do not like summer. I have never liked summer. I don’t like the heat. I don’t like the break in routine. Summer makes me grumpy. Summertime is when I like to stay indoors in the AC and read and knit. Down with Summer.

Bob and I walked to the library yesterday and I browsed the knitting books, while also picking up more Tudor books. I can’t seem to get enough of the Tudors — fiction, nonfiction, audiobook, proper book, well written, badly written… it really does not matter. And what’s fascinating is every author has a different take on the subject!

Anyway, I enjoyed browsing the knitting books and bringing a few home, noncommittally. In the past, I would only check out the knitting books if I thought I could learn something from them or if there was a pattern inside that I wanted to knit. I was in my same old rut — looking through knitting books that I thought were pretty but would never knit anything out of — when I realized it was okay. It is totally fine to check out a knitting book, flip through it and enjoy the eye candy, and then return it. It’s even okay to do it intentionally! Down with self-limiting arbitrary rules!

“Protest Knits” has a very enjoyable Trump Pincushion crochet pattern, but I will never make it. Maybe I will make the Down with Bad Stuff water bottle holder!

I have a HUUUGE water bottle (see what I did there?) and I never take it hiking because it’s too darn big! But this would solve that problem and be fun, albeit rather vague.

I started my Blue Ribbon Beanie. It is a beautiful shade of deep cerulean Malabrigo DK. It’s 2X2 rib. I’m not sure how I will decrease at the top yet. Ribbing can be tricky to decrease.

Honestly, I started the beanie because I’ve lost the verve for my FIVE sweaters I have on the needles, and even Celtic Myths feels a little fussy right now. So I’ve fallen back on hat knitting just to try to stick with it.

I had to give up a few things this Summer. I gave up the herb business. It needed more than I could give. I gave up some of my blog subscriptions. I couldn’t keep up. But I only gave up on the ones where I felt there wasn’t a connection. I have had to give up pleasure eating and drinking wine and margaritas. I gained a lot of weight last year and even exercise couldn’t help me keep it off, so I signed up for Noom and am counting every calorie and even steps! I had to give up sewing for a while, until I no longer needed to use my studio as an office.

But I got my office back, which means I also got my studio back. I got to participate in an art show. I got my teeth cleaned today, which included a new toothbrush, floss, and props for excellent hygiene. I’ve lost 2 pounds in 5 days. My garden is producing scrumptious tomatoes. Up with good stuff, amiright?!

Lavender

Posted on Posted in art, finished objects, knitting, life, Works in Progress (WIPs)Tagged , , , , , 5 Comments

Bob and I are on our way to a lavender festival, and I hope to blog tomorrow about all things lavender. Technically my cumulus blouse is lilac heather, but close enough.

I finished my felt piece for the Mother Artists at Work show next month. It’s all natural wool except for the blues. It’s mostly Romeldale-CVM and Shetland, and is called “Sunbleach”. It’s about 16X20. I hope it counts toward my Shave’Em to Save’em finished objects.

The caterpillars are eating my dill, but I don’t mind. Are these Monarchs?

Work has been very busy and I haven’t had time to blog or read blogs. I am trying to catch up.

Hi

Posted on Posted in art, finished objects, sewing, Works in Progress (WIPs)Tagged , , , , , 13 Comments

I finished my Farrow Dress.

It’s very frockish. Super comfy and cool in the linen. Maybe it will dress up a bit with some sandal clogs. (Yes I used “dress up” and “clogs” in the same sentence.)

It was a new method of making pockets for me. I’m calling it the “apron method.” There is another complete layer of fabric across the inside front from the seam down. Since this is a medium weight linen, it makes it a little heavy. It’s not a good pattern for French seams but I made it work.

Not bad. Do you like it?

I got a little work done on my art piece. Do you like it? I’m liking it. I guess the real question is how long will I do this before I go home and have a glass of wine?

Or should I bring the wine here and keep working?

This is my choice for selfie of the week.

(Edited: I replaced the gym selfie because I thought this one was more appropriate.)

Follow Up

Posted on Posted in art, knitting, sewing, Uncategorized, Works in Progress (WIPs)Tagged , , , , , , 6 Comments

Isn’t this blue linen pretty?

I originally bought it to make another pair of Emerson Pants. But I thought it was too pretty for pants. So today I cut out a Farrow Dress instead.

(Photo courtesy of Grainline Studios)

I hope to start sewing it together tomorrow. Shout out to my Mom who sent me some birthday cash which I promptly blew on linen fabric from Lithuania. (I’m so glad I did!)

I also worked on my felt painting today.

This is mostly Romeldale-CVM and local (Ohio) Shetland wool. I’m hoping to get to the felting part tomorrow. This is for a group show with Mother Artists at Work in July.

I even knit on my Celtic Myths today.

Today was a good day.

Mod Monday

Posted on Posted in art, fiber love, finished objects, sewingTagged , , , 9 Comments

I did a little research and you can wet felt raw wool if you want to, but Highland Heffalump made a great point about not wanting dirt etc up in there. So I washed about a third of the fleece in a bucket with Eucalan and rinsed it.

Isn’t it pretty? I’ve realized I’m going to need to card it, although I don’t want to overprocess it because I want to keep the colors as separate as possible. Maybe I should flick card it.

I brought my box of combs and cards up from the basement, and look what was in the box! Fiber from my old angora bunnies, Ziggy and Tiger! And a hank of merino and silk top! Surprise!

I’ve never been much for blending and spinning my own fibers. I did enough back in the day to make sure I knew what I was doing should I ever need or want to do it again. But I might play around with this fiber since I have it. I wonder if rabbit fur will felt with wool? It might be a fun experiment.

I finished my mod tie dye dress. I went all out with gathers in the front and a popped up collar. I struggled some with this as I didn’t have enough fabric for the casings. I cut bits along the bias and pieced them together. I wanted to finish it all off perfectly (inside and out) but ended up using the serger around the neckline and armholes. I did find a beautiful green button that was my Grandmother’s to use for the back closure. I think it’s pretty cute overall, and I don’t think anyone else will notice the flubs. Then I tried it on.

I love the colors. I was going for the Twiggy look because, hey, I have the haircut.

Then I put on a sweater.

It’s ok. It’s a bit tenty. I don’t look like Twiggy, that’s for sure! 😂