WIP - Handspun Blanket

 So, I've been spinning and dying fiber for almost ten years now! Which means I've gather a whole lot of small skeins, leftover balls, and other sundry bits of handspun yarn. It's been given it's own special bin, and it was starting to overflow. Handspun is precious, yaknow?

 So I've been making granny squares with the leftovers! It's a perfect way to use it up - I can simply use different sized hooks for different weights of yarn, I make the largest square that I can from a given skein of yarn, and the extras become mixed color squares as granny intended.

 So far I have worked thru about half the bin. I have observed that I have a lot of purple, blue, and green yarns. I like nice chunky yarns, but some have been thin enough that I decided to ply them before crocheting! I've got a variety of sizes, and I'm looking forward to laying them all out to piece together...

Strangely enough, the bin is still over full... Hooray for "scrap" yarn!

WIP Wednesday - Getting Foxy

A WIP, almost 3/4 done! A friend was looking for fingerless mitts, and I couldn't resist. (I do have enough yarn, after all.) He's a fan of Foxes, and researching his ancestry. Thus, a pattern was born - a friendly fox, and some polish embroidery designs!

Now, I am in fact a rather lazy knitter. I did not set out to create a pattern for this! But Ravelry couldn't provide me with a chart of the sort I desired, so I was forced to make my own. After the mitts are complete I expect that I may clean up the pattern and put it out for the universe to use as they see fit, since the world needs more foxy folks...

WIP - Handsome and Handspun

My yarn stash, as always, overfloweth. After another year of spinzilla, my bin of handspun was getting rather tight! I have always sold the majority of my handspun yarns, but over the last few years there have been a number of small experimental skeins, special purchased fibers, and the leftover small skeins from a big batch that's been divvied up.

And so, I have decided to create a blanket using up all my handspun bits! Some are a true mini-skein or a wee ball, some are simply an orphaned skein with no other plans. All of them are being crocheted into the biggest square they will make (Well, no bigger than 12" or so, extras become little squares.) and will become a blanket! I've got two sizes of hook on hand, and anything too small gets doubled up to make a good thick fabric.

I'll update when I've got a big enough pile to lay out and begin piecing, in the meantime the bin of yarn is becoming a bin full of squares, and I'm realizing that I've got some favored colors...

Anu's Farm

 (This is a continuation of a previous post, in which we visited a textile museum with the curator - Textile artist Anu Rand. Her artwork is a permanent gift from Estonia to the UN.)

Not only does Anu live in an idyllic little farm house, it's full of yarn! A traditional wood stove and classic textiles fill the farmhouse with a rustic feel.

And the weaving studio has baskets of yarn stacked in the corner. (I kept reminding Mr. Crafty that my yarn at least fits in a closet!) Anu showed off her looms and a finished piece, this one created during an artist residency in Finland.

Outside she has a herd of sheep. A wide variety of breeds and colors filled the field, munching away in the midsummer sun.

Anu has wool milled occasionally at a local place, but of course the sheep must be sheared no matter what! Fleeces were stored in this overhang of the barn, and we were invited to take home a handful. (I grabbed two!)

The garden was filled with all manner of veggie delights, and the usual greenhouse. Because of the short season and large temperature swings everyone seems to grow tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouses. In the period after Soviet collapse (and at times during Soviet occupation), when food supply chains were not yet reestablished, many people subsisted almost entirely on tomatoes and cucumbers from their own gardens. We found that a plate of sliced fresh tomatoes and cukes were available at almost every meal, a staple garnish as it were.

And this lovely oak! The farmstead has been in the family a few generations. This tree was planted by Anu's father, from an acorn gathered at his father's gravesite. A fantastic heirloom!

Scene's like this gave us a great temptation to more to Estonia and become farmers, but alas! My city loving ways are at odds with my farmhouse desires. It was wonderful to visit Anu's studio and hear her talk about her artistic process, her vision for Estonian handicraft, and the history of the area.

Spinzilla 2015!

It's a monster! Well, it's been long enough for me to fully recover from Spinning all week, now I can actually sit back and think about what to do with the yarn! I spun 8255 yards, beating last year's tally of 6756! But, last year I ate through 7 lbs. and this year only 5.5 lbs. was eaten up. I spun a bit thinner and more efficiently!

But, sadly, my improvements were not enough to carry the team to victory... We spun less than last year and only came in at 4th place. (Well, top five is nothing to sneeze at, there were more than 60 teams!) 

The top spinner was also an impressive show, over 48,000 yards! No, I did not goof and add too many 0s. We did the math, spinning 14 hours a day, all week long, that would be an average of 5 inches of yarn through the orifice per second! (And people thought I was being weird and crazy with it...)

It's never too early to think about next year. I've been wanting to do a re-build of my wheel for a few years now, and hopefully get it tuned into a maximum speed spinner! I also think I need to plan my fiber. I've been moving through the stash to use up materials, but I might have to actually but roving just for spinzilla next year. The dye pots will come out. The carder will be set up. The fiber must flow!

In the mean-time, I guess I just need to start knitting...

Estonian Craft Camp - Mulgi Embroidery

The second Workshop at Estonian Craft Camp was Mulgi embroidery. Mulgi is a region of southern Estonia, on the border with Latvia. The region has a distinct style of dress, handicrafts, and language. 

People in the area have long worn richly embroidered pieces, and each symbol is full of meaning and history. The base is usually felted wool, and wool threads are used. The traditional colors are red, blue, green, and yellow, on a neutral background.

The main motifs are Circles - the earth, the sun wheel, the cosmos; Crosses - balance and relationships; Tree of Life - fertility; and the Rose - different number of petals have different significance.

Our project is a game of tic-tac-toe, perfect since the common motifs are either round, or crossed!

The color pallette was a bit more expanded, to fit modern taste. But I still wanted to stay somewhat true to the origins! Many of these threads were salvaged from old knitwear, still a bit kinky and some knots in it. There were beads available too, very traditional with metal disc and the like.

During the workshop I was only able to complete eight of ten pieces during the workshop. Hopefully I will get to the board and the final two circles soon...  I used reds and yellows for the circles, and blues and greens for the crosses. The stitches are all simple - outline stitch, blanket stitch, and some french knots.

I purchased, on the trip, some embroidery wool dyed with plants, in the colors used for Mulgi style work. I'm not sure what sort of project I will use them for, felted bags? Shawl? The rich symbolism offers so many possibilities!

More posts on Estonia, Finland, and the experience at craft camp to come in future weeks!

EDIT - REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR 2016 CRAFT CAMP.
You too, gentle reader, could enjoy the culture and craftiness of Estonia!

Wednesday WIPs

 It's that time again! Let's review all the projects I still haven't finished...

First and foremost is another four-seasons embroidery. This one is to be an offering piece for Midsummer, so it's got to be done by then! (I've got a good track record of completing this sort of piece on time, the Gods don't like a WIP IOU.)

I'm liking it so much I think I'll make myself a permanent version.

 I've been working through an alpaca fleece that was gifted to me. Actually, it was two fleeces, each is a mixed brown and white. I've separated the locks into brown, white, and mixed. Hopefully after spinning I'll have three tones of alpaca. I'm also trying out the scotch tension on my wheel, which is making a veeeery thin thread!

 I pulled the Laminaria back out, it's on the final color of yarn, and the border of the pattern. It's also about 700 stitches across, so it's a bit of an investment to get involved in a row. Fortunately my moth control measures seem to have prevented any more damage, but I will need to do some complex lace darning before I can even wear it >.<

I did, however, complete one thing! The lopi dickie for my father is done, just in time for hot weather. I love the way the colors came out, I had to switch the dark green for blue halfway through as my LYS ran out of that color. It's just the top of the sweater, enough to keep the shoulders and neck warm while skiing. AKA, this is the fun part of the sweater and no way in hell I'm knitting straight stockinette for 40 inches. Did I mention that this is, in fact, one size BIGGER than the largest size in the pattern book?

There it is, my lousy fiber output for the last two months, enjoy my shame. Fortunately, I expect to be able to do some stash busting on the long plane flights. I will NEED to do some stash busting, as I'm sure I will buy some more yarn over there...

What are you working on?

Wednesday WIPs

Sometimes I show all your lovely people my great triumphs, this is not one of those times. This is a time to admit that, perhaps I have too many things on the needles. But casting on moves yarn out of the bins, thus making room in the stash... it's legit, ya? So, let's take a tour of the WIPs, (that's Works in Progress, as opposed to Wery Important People.)

I took part in a Knit-a-long with the crafty friends at Fancy Tiger. We were all working on the Blank Canvas by Ysolda Teague. I'm using a couple of skeins from the sale bin - Anzula Squishy. Naturally, since I can't have it remain blank, I added lace panels to it. Things I learned -
1.) Size 4 is really small for making a whole sweater. (I knit rather tight, many folks would use size 2 with this yarn.)
2.) I HATE bobbles.
3.) This thing is taking forever because of 1.) and 2.).

We had two months to work on it, and I am usually one of the first done. But alas, I have only the torso and starts of sleeves. I think it will rest a bit until I've finished something else.

These mitts, perfectly portable, not so good for mindless knitting! I started with a pattern, but quickly realized how stiff and unnatural the trees looked. Since it was too tight I went ahead and frogged (*gasp* What? I never frog!) back to the beginning and have been making a pattern up as I go. Thus, it is not mindless, there's no repeating, each row has to be considered and each stitch judged. The yarns are Tracie, left over from my Viking Boat sweater; and a surprisingly soft mill-end bought in New Zealand.

Having been slaving on those two projects, each inching along and requiring focus, I started a quick and easy instant gratification project. My father had requested a dickie - basically just the yoke of a sweater to wear for extra warmth under a coat. So I am revisiting the Riddari lopi, nice greens and grey, size XXXL. It may seems large but it has several nice features for the knitter -
1.) Worsted weight yarn, size 8 needles, 'nuff said.
2.) A simple pattern, colorwork that can be memorized instantly, then repeated 42 times.
3.) It's only the yoke, once I split the sleeves I will do a few inches of ribbing and call it good!

Let's not talk about the Laminaria, it's hibernating on the back porch to avoid any further moth damage. I will pick it up next time I feel like doing 650 stitches at a time...

What are you working on?

Gnomes Part II - Old Man Eyebrows

 I've been stitching up dozens of little shirts for my gnome project, and after all that small tedious work it's time to stab something!

These are the heads for the gnomes, needle felted for maximum cute. I start out by needle felting a ball of skin colored wool roving (pale if you please, these are men of the far north!) into a roughly spherical shape. I make it a little more boxy and oval as I add details. At this stage it's not super densely packed.

I add the shaping of a face, first the indents for eyes, then the line of the mouth. Connect them with lines around the nose spot. I felted the sides down to make the cheeks round and full, and the brows fairly stuck-out. I then rolled up a very small ball and added that as a nose.

At that point it's time to add details - two little eyes in brown or green. A beard is made from Wensleydale curly locks in white or grey, and the shorter bits make some hair. The fluffy eyebrows are what make these little old men... well... old. (Sorry Dad, but you could shade your eyes with those brows of yours!)

There's no need for hair on top of the head, the tomté's wee red hat will cover it all, and keep them from being accidentally eaten by a friendly critter. Next step will be to put them all together with felted leggings, wee mittens, and leather boots! Stay tuned... same gnome time, same gnome channel.

Spinzilla

Spinzilla... it's a monster! RAWR!

This year's Spinzilla challenge was much tougher than previous years'. No, the objective was still to spin the most yards, but now we had a baseline. Goals were set, records prepared to be shattered. Strategies and preparations were made, we got hyped up. While I was going thru my fiber stash I found this little gem, the first yarn I spun on this wheel! It's random wool that came with the machine, and I still haven't knit with it... (let's not talk about my stash problems.)

Since Team Fancy Tiger won last year, we had the pressure to repeat our victory. There was shit talking, well as much as some nice crafting ladies and gents can do...

 My first bobbin, and about my largest! I discovered that my bulky flyer can hold about 13 oz. of sock weight singles, which is way too much for our counting helpers to handle at once! After this I would give smaller bobbins over to them for winding off...

For the most part I was spinning thru a bunch of alpaca given to me by Mr. Crafty, some Gotland greys from New Zealand, and the mystery wool I bought in Ireland. Thus, that pile of finished objects is pretty plain in color. But I did have a few colorful braids given to me!

My final total was 6756 yards, 7 lbs. of fiber. 7 breeds, 2 species, 3 countries of origin, 5 natural colors. Half of the fiber was hand processed by me. One spinner who is looking forward to knitting for a while...

Team Fancy spun over 171,000 yards, which is almost 100 miles of yarn. We have our work cut out for us next year!

Plant Dyes - Bindweed

Another round of plant dying experiments. This time I'm targeting perhaps the most plentiful plant material on our property - Bindweed. That's right, I wasn't neglecting my weeding, I was collecting important dyestuffs! 

In to a pot it went, covered with water and boiled for several hours, then left overnight.

My resource is an old book,  perfect for my project! Rocky Mountain Dye Plants by Anne Bliss (What a great name!) It has a broad swath of plants, identification information, and descriptions of the colors achieved with different mordents.

The fibers are Lincoln roving, Norwegian top spun chunky, and 2-ply Irish wool, plus some crewel wool.

First, the wool must be soaked, then simmered in alum as a mordent. While that was happening I removed the plant material from the dye pot, as bindweed is a tangly mess it was pretty easy! As always, a few leafy bits remained.

I simmered the wool on low for several hours, then left it overnight again to cool. The color hadn't deepened much since the day before.

It took several rinses to remove the excess dye, but the color didn't fade in the least!

After drying in the sun it was looking a pleasant creamy gold. The color is a bit light for me, in the future I'll need to pack in some more bindweed! Or, it may be because the plants were gathered at the end of the season, a comparative dye might need to happen next spring. I can bet that there will be lots of bindweed again...

Plant Dyes - Elderberry

I dedicated myself in the summer to building my repertoire  of plant dyes in the next year. Since one must gather as the year turns, it was time for Elderberries. It's the last of the season for berries, most had begun to wither and dry on the trees. Since I did some very large batches of syrup earlier in the year all the berries I gathered wen into the dye pot.

For the dye materials, I got into my Spinzilla stash. Irish wool, sock-weight Lincoln, and a loop of Lincoln roving. It was all pre-mordanted by soaking in alum and hot water for several hours while the dye bath simmered. Mordanting outside of the dye bath works better, as the mordant can bind up dye particles thus making them unavailable for binding to the fiber.

I left the fiber to soak in the residual heat from the simmering overnight. Plant dyes seem to need loooong soaking! Elderberry is usual considered a fugitive dye, that means that it is not terribly colorfast. (Despite how one's kitchen looks after cooking with it!) I have read some research which suggest that one can add vinegar to create a very acid bath and make a better, more long-lasting color. I thought that after one night the color was a little pale, so I placed it over low heat for another day, and let it set overnight.  I also added more white vinegar.

 The next morning the color was more purple, and had set in a little bit more. It still had a few elderberries floating around and adding in color!

 I washed the fiber, and it became disappointingly pale pink, not a bad color really, just a bit less intense than the dye water made it seem! After hanging outside to dry the color had matured to a more gray-purple. Nice and heathered. I'm planning to let the fiber sit for a while in a light room before knitting in case it fades completely!

For a first shot at this color it's not bad. Next up I'll be moving away from the food-based dyes (Which tend to be less colorfast) and into wild plants and trees. Bindweed seems like a perfect choice as there is no lack of it right outside my back door! How do you push your craft skills?

Summer Solstice Mitts

 This year my journey of learning herbal wisdom, and my love of fiber crafts are set to collide! I've decided to really dig into the art of plant dying, hopefully getting some wonderful colors in the meantime.

One of my inspirations was this layout of plant colors from Ireland, bought on my trip last fall. From left to right - Mature gorse, young gorse, heather, sorrel root, tormentil root. All with alum and soda.

Of course I wanted to keep this gorgeous rainbow effect, so I created a chart of Scandinavian style diamonds that slowly shifts colors. I must say, after working with sock and lace yarn for many months, worsted on size 8s knits up SO FAST!

So here we have, a gentle range of yellows and greys, just like the solstice sun poking out of clouds. It was fast, simple, and just interesting enough to keep you going. I'll be making a matching hat with the rest of the yarn, tho maybe not for much summer use. And if you think I won't use these in the summer, you've obviously never been to Colorado!

Here's the pattern I created, it could have extra rows of single color inserted to stretch it out a bit. What are you knitting for the summer? Blessed Solstice everyone!