VIking Sweater

The boat has sailed! Off to explore new lands and bring back great riches, the Viking Boat sweater is now keeping me warm thru chilly nights and grand adventures.

It began as a simple idea, I was inspired by Betsala's project on Ravelry, a brilliant take on an oversized drop sleeve sweater. I picked up large quantities of Imperial Ranch yarn on sale, one skein goes a long way and I got several! As always, I needed to change every last thing about the design, I never follow patterns! I have grown fond of yoked increases, so I spotted a nice chart for my fingering yarn. (in Norwegian of course, no matter for the chart tho.)



I ended up re-doing the chart, simple because the "x" in a grid is hell on the eyes after a short while! The chart itself was not difficult to follow, but very time consuming, and it needed plenty of table space! Each round on the sweater involved doing four passes of the chart, back and forth for the mirroring. The upside is that a pictorial chart like this makes it very easy to see if you're doing it right!

Beneath the main chart I went back into the red and black. I wanted something suitably scandinavian, but also badass - the Deathflake was the answer! I altered the skull to look like a dragon's head so there weren't too many conflicting motifs.

Below that I did two repeats of Furthak runes, charted myself. They are all straight lines, so it's not that hard!

As for the sleeves (It's soooo sad to get to the bottom of the body and realize, with horror, that the sleeves are yet to come. *sigh*) I decided to go with the traditional "lice pattern". Sounds tasty? I'm guessing that's why many fiber people just call it a Setesdal. It's nice and simple, but still involves the stranded carry, for extra warmth.

The bottom of the sleeves and body had a basic colorwork pattern from the Setesdal Sweater book I picked up in Norway.

In traditional style the sweater was steeked. In non-traditional style I put in a zipper instead of fussing with a button band. It was sewn in by machine and simply tacked down without a covering ribbon.

Then I tested it out by going in to the high mountains and drinking, just like a Norsewoman.

But wait, there's more! (Yarn, that is. I told you, these skeins are huuuge!) I was digging the red and black, and I do enjoy colorwork. It's super warm and sturdy. I pulled up ye olde Deathflake, and found a chart for some mittens. As I cannot stand to simple knit a pattern straight thru (see above), and Mr. Crafty prefers gloves, I gave them a split finger. Perfect for cycling in the cold!

What did you make this summer for the cold season? I, for one, am delighted for Skadi's return!

Celtic Knot Capelet

I've been sitting on this lovely Donegal Tweed Aran since returning home from Ireland last year (no, not literally sitting, it's been in bins...) and I gave myself the challenge to start working thru all my "souvenirs". I had not quite enough for a regular sweater, so a capelet seemed suitable. 

I wanted to keep in the spirit of the yarn's homeland, but cables are not my style. The Celtic Knot Hat seems to be the only colorwork celtic knot pattern on Ravelry! It's a rather nice one, so not really much to complain about...

I did a spaced increase system for the yoke, knitting 2 rows then make one every 2 stitches, knitting 3 rows then make one every 3 stitches etc... up to 10. I still did increases the whole way down to give it a slight flare. When I had used up most of my yarn I did the knot pattern along the bottom, and finished it off with a few rows of seed stitch.

Before steeking the front I did four rows of slip stitch crochet, one on the first column of knit stitches to either side of the steek rows, then it was turned inside out and one row was done into the side of each column of purl stitches. 

After the steek was cut I picked up a few stitches and made two button straps to close the front. Here it is washed and blocking. (The exchange student has moved out, and I'm only a little ashamed to admit I'm happy to have a spare bed for blocking things again...)

Here it is, keeping me warm on a grey autumn day, Pink Knit, Ginger Approved!

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...

Schacht - Can You Dig It?

A few weeks back I took part in a marathon crafting extravaganza known as Spinzilla. We spun for seven days straight, and Team Fancy Tiger created a total of 171,492.6 yards of yarn, that's 97 miles in case you're wondering. That's the distance from Denver to Vail, New York City to Philadelphia, and (so my military historian partner tells me) the range of large artillery.

On the last day of the challenge Schacht, a local spinning and weaving equipment company, sponsored a spin-in and the Denver Art Museum. Between the camaraderie and the shit-talking we struck up conversation with some of the folks from the factory, and they invited us to come have a tour!

Dipping the wood pieces in an oil finish.

Racks of wheels ready to be assembled.

Does this count as a wheelwright? 

Machines neatly cut out flat pieces with very little waste. Some parts are cut from plywood, some from hard-wood planks.

Everything is very carefully sanded to make smooth tools.

The factory is always open for tours, just call ahead first! If you're a fiber artist, and you're in the Boulder CO area,  it's a fascinating experience. Even for the non-spinning-inclined the smell of sawdust and danish oil can't be beat. I personally love seeing how things are made, and many of these skilled workers are a joy to watch at work. Have any of you ever been to a factory?

Wild Cucurbits in the Garden

Wild and out of control! Squirrels, as any gardener will know, love to raid the compost and deposit pilfered seeds about the yard. I am used to having a few volunteer tomatoes, sunflowers, and of course Cucurbits! The trouble with the cucurbita family is that the first few leaves are almost identical. One could play a guessing game - pumpkin or cucumber? Melon or zucchini? Most of them get (sadly) plucked out in order to maintain some semblance of order.

These two lovelies, however, decided to grow around the trunk of our recently deceased tree. I gave them no encouragement, I did instruct Mr. Crafty to mow around them. So, like any good guest, in exchange for a little yard space they have provided me with some mysterious squash yummies.

You see, across the Cucurbita family, cross-pollenation is to be expected. I have heard tale of pump-alopes, cuke-inni, and other hybrids. (Such as my Pattypan Ghost!) These two seem to be different decendants from an acorn squash, each diverging in it's own fashion. We will see if they maintain the tasty flesh of their ancestors...

Do you leave volunteer veggies in your garden? Have you had any delicious surprises?

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?

Making a Book

Greetings gentle readers, I'm back after a scheduled blogging break. (It was not intended to go this long, life seems to take over when you let it!) And so, to make up for lost time, here's a pretty intense project... Book Making.

I've gotten into the habit of using a date book lately. Not only to track events and days, but as a permanent to-do list receptacle. Lot's of research shows that organized people make list - most importantly to keep your brain from entering "Rehearsal Loop" and keeping you up all night. You ever had non stop dreams about what you had to do the next day? And always in a panic? That's your brain trying to prepare, and worried about forgetting. I started writing down all my to-do lists, and the stress dropped immeasurably! I won't say that everything on the list always gets done tho...

I made simple boxes, seen to a page. One of my big complaints about commercial day planners is that weekends get the short shaft! As I'm often busier on the weekends I need to give every day of the week the same space. It's only fair.

I printed only on one side, so that the facing page would have list space. At the center of each bundle the book switches sides, one for dates and one for lists. Notice there's no dates in it yet, much simpler to print it out then fill it in. 

Yes, that is a folder made of polished petrified wood. It's fantastic!

Each bundle is sewn into a booklet, holes punched with an awl. That's quilting cord I'm using. The registers are then all sewn together, I'm not sure I quite got that part right, but it's functional!

The cover was made with cardboard and old wallpaper. Beer boxes had the perfect light-weight corrugated - upcycling! The boards are of course slightly larger than the pages, I did make the center spine piece a little too wide. Taking note for future projects.

I used simple Elmer's glue for the covering, These binder clips are hugely helpful to hold the paper in place until the glue sets! It allowed me to make nice neat corners.

The inner booklets are glued to the cover, and the whole thing was weighted down to set overnight. Ah, look at that, just like the tacky upstairs at my folks house! I used the final page in my last planner and started filling in dates in this one, time for organization...

How do you keep organized? Have you ever made a book?