Studio Tour Dec 7 & 8, 2013

This year my studio will be one of the stops on the Cast TACA holiday Studio Tour in Sewanee/Monteagle, TN. Jan Quarles and I will be showing together this year with beautiful textiles.

I'll be showing my OOAK handknits this year. This wrap is handknit in my own original design from my handspun art yarns. I will also have some beautiful naturally dyed yarns for knitters.

Jan will have her amazingly beautiful organic leaf print and shibori scarves. Her bold color sense and confident hand make these pieces truly unique.

Come join us on Saturday and Sunday, December 7 & 8, 2013. We're at the intersection of Kentucky and Tennessee Avenue in Sewanee. And we have chocolate!

Black Friday Savings

25% off all my patterns on Ravelry and in my Etsy Store this weekend, Nov 28-Dec 2, 2013. No coupon code required. Savings will show up at checkout. Sale includes all my new patterns.
Happy Knitting!

Also, stay tuned for updates to the Cast TACA Studio Tour page. Lots of news to come.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ooooh That Smell

Can't you smell that smell? You know the one. Vinegar.

I recently purchased a lovely yarn online (won't say which one) and it arrived smelling like a stale bag of vinegar and salt potato chips. The odor was so strong that my husband walked in my studio and asked, "What stinks? Did you spill vinegar in here?"

As a dyer, I am very curious about this. When I dye with acid dyes my yarns never vinegary after they are properly washed and rinsed. But I like to design with popular commercially available yarns so that when knitters purchase my patterns they will often be able to grab something from their stash and start knitting without hunting for yarn. Why, if my yarns don't smell, do others? Here are my thoughts. I would love to hear from the rest of you about this topic.

For one reason or another, perhaps some dyers don't rinse as much as they should. Water is expensive and rinsing takes time and energy. Usually when yarns aren't completely rinsed, there will be some color bleed when these yarns are washed. This residual dye is harmful to the knitter, as it is now in a powdered state and can rub off and be absorbed through the skin. Fine particles of residual dye can be inhaled, especially during the process of winding the skein into a ball. I can't help but wonder if some dyers may use vinegar in the final rinse as a vehicle to set any residual dye that may have not been completely rinsed out. Or they don't use any kind of soap in the rinsing process so that they don't have to rinse, wash, rinse. And perhaps the pungent smell helps to keep moths away? Who knows.

Certain colors are more prone to this bleeding, namely red, dark blue, turquoise. The skein that so offended my husband was a luscious deep blood red. So I decided to wash the skein. I filled a basin with warm water and added about 1/2 tsp of Wrapture by Eucalan (it smells so lovely...jasmine...mmmm). After soaking for about 5 minutes, there was only the slightest tinge of pink in the water...almost non-existent. And guess what? No more vinegar smell. As I hung the skein to dry I detected nothing in the way of pungency and once dry I could bury my face in the wool and only smell fiber and jasmine.

So if you want to wash those vinegary skeins before you knit, make sure that they are properly tied. Undo any ties that constrict the yarn to the point of "sausageness" and retie them. Remove labels, then soak the skeins in cool to lukewarm water with a little Eucalan or Soak. These mild soaps do not have to be rinsed and leave a lovely scent behind. Do not agitate the skeins, just gently squeeze them and allow them to become fully saturated with water. If you see any color in the wash water, then rinse again in clear water of the same temperature of your wash water. Squeeze them out and roll them in a bath towel to remove as much moisture as possible and hang them to dry. To speed drying, blot moisture from the bottom of the skein once it has had time to drain some, then move that part of the skein to the top of the hanger.

Spinning A Color Sequence

With the Sewanee Fall Craft Fair coming up next weekend, I decided to finally write a formal pattern for Kerfuffle: A Simple Fingerless Mitt with a Riotous Little Ruffle. You can purchase the pattern here.

My favorite version of this pattern is one I knit from my handspun. It's classic Lynne Vogel, this one, from a technique I teach in my color classes of predrafting a color sequence to lengthen the colorband placement in the yarn. This roving is LV ltd for Three Waters Farm BFL in "Sepiatone Rosalie".

the entire 4 oz roving laid out in repeats

 This colorway is laid out in thirds, so there are three distinct repeats in it's entire length, plus a nice bit of orchid on one end. In a 4 ounce hank there is more than enough for these mitts (yardage approx 110 yds per pair) spun in a short draw worsted weight singles. It takes approx 48 yds for each mitt body and 12 for each ruffle depending on your row gauge.

two identical repeats and one orchid end

one repeat predrafted prior to spinning

I divided the roving into thirds following the repeat patterns, then chose two to spin for my mitts. I saved the piece with the orchid end for the ruffle, splitting it in half lengthwise before spinning so as to have two shorter identical bits. I predrafted each piece keeping the colors of the fibers in alignment and spun both on separate bobbins working from the same end of the color repeat, doing the same for the ruffle. This meant that the fibers were going one way for one repeat and another for the next, but with blueface leicester this really doesn't matter much. It's more critical for a finer fiber such as merino, so take that into consideration if you want to try this technique with that fiber. I finished the yarn by washing and setting the twist before I knit.

In Honor of a Soulmate

Monk aka Rasta Monkeyman of Neely Ranch: April 30, 1999 - August 27, 2013

one picture is worth a thousand words

So much happening

So much is happening! It's almost fall (well, it feels like it at least). Knitters and spinners are coming out of the woodworks looking for yarn, fiber, patterns, inspiration. I've added an event calender to the sidebar so you can stay updated on my fall/winter schedule of appearances.

I just released two new knitting patterns. Keats & Shelley Poets' Gloves and Lucia Cottage Garden Wristers. Both patterns feature fingering weight singles yarns like the ones that I'll be offering for sale at the Sewanee Arts and Crafts Fair on Oct 12, 2013. Both patterns also look amazing in madelinetosh merino light, a yarn everyone should have in their stash (and so many already do).

After the Crafts Fair comes Fiber in the Boro. This year will be particularly exciting. Instead of teaching a typical class, I will have a booth next to Daily Fibers where you can schedule a free 20 minute one on one session with me. This is the first time we've offered this, and we've been developing it on short notice so it's not on the Fiber in the Boro website quite yet. But I'm excited about it! I"ll post more about it when the time draws near.

Then in December it's the CAST TACA Studio Tour in Sewanee. I will be opening my studio with my wearable items, yarn, patterns plus Jan Quarles gorgeous eco dyed scarves and fabric. More on this as it nears as well. I'm sorry I don't have a link at this time. 2013 CAST TACA page isn't up yet, but when it is, you'll hear more from me.

Results

The finished fabric

 I am loving the results. I even love the wrinkly squigglies of the unironed fabric. And it's really thrilling to get something besides beige, tan and yellow, which are the predominant local colors at this time of year here in Tennessee. They are beautiful but hard for me to wear and the purples are just better.














I pulled out some other silks that I've dyed lately. All these are on silk Habotai of varying weights. The logwood pot of a few weeks ago yielded many treasures and this particular piece of shibori looks smashing with the new cabbage piece.

cabbage left, logwood shibori right

Here is the cabbage piece with a lovely violet green eco print from the new leaves of dark red maples. These are the big leaf maples, not smaller japanese maples. The piece on the right is a twisted and wrapped shibori piece similar to the logwood one above. It is walnuts and quebracho red, though it looks like logwood seeped in there somehow as well. The q red left an almost metallic surface on the silk. These three pieces are all the same value and look great together. I really love the combination of eco prints with traditional natural dyes. As the summer progresses there will be many plants to explore here, both on the surface and in the immersion bath.

cabbage left, red maple & logwood center, walnut and quebracho right

The Unveiling

the innards sans lettuce

 Well, I started thinking about the red lettuce leaves in this bundle. We all know how quickly red lettuce breaks down. It's always the first to go in bagged salad mixes. So I decided to peek and peeking led to untying and untying to unrolling. So sue me, I'm only human.

untied

Actually, I'm really delighted with the results. I am more of an abstract expressionist than a literalist at heart anyway, so I am really happy with amorphous shapes of color. And that is what I got. When I looked at the bundle I could already see the color on the silk, and since it was reasonably brilliant, I untied and unrolled a little. You can see the lettuce under the top layer of silk where it is sandwiched in. What's a sandwich without lettuce anyway? Next you can see what it looked like with the top layer of silk peeled back and the sandwich innards still in place. The large photo at the top of the page shows the same spot without the lettuce. It left a ghost image of peach perhaps? Hard to tell. Further and further down, you see the silk with most the innards removed. Carrots didn't do diddly, really, but may have added to the peachy glow that comes mostly from the coffee grounds, I think. I wonder if the tannins in the java helped to extract or intensify some of the other colors.
I rinsed it just enough to remove the residual veggies and hung it to dry. Will get a photo when it's good and dry, then will hang this scarf for a good while before I actually wash it with soap. In fact, I probably won't really wash it until I want to use the fabric or store it. For now it will hang proudly in my studio as this week's inspiration.

unrolled

peel back the top layer...

most of the innards removed

Baptism by Mandoline

Sarah, meet India; India, Sarah.

my flavor base

One of my morning rituals is watching Sarah Carey's Everyday Food video that comes via email. I love her fresh, shoot from the hip style of cooking easy elegant meals and it inspires me to cook delicious food even when I've used most of my creative juices elsewhere. Today I started a pot of green lentils and as I peeled my red onion and carrots I realized they were both candidates for eco dye (that's where you come in, India). oooh! Food and color, color and food. Sarah talks about building a flavor base, so I grabbed a silk scarf and started building...first the red onion and carrot (skins and peels), a salad (deep red lettuce leaves from Carlene and Byron Mayes' garden...they call me "Lady Dye", and  purple slaw shavings from a hapless cabbage) and finally a beverage (freshly ground coffee beans). It was after I shaved the lovely purply cabbagy thingies onto the silk that I saw the nubbin from the carrot. Mandoline in hand I sliced one too many slices off the nubbin. I mean, everybody eventually does it, right? The skin graft of the thumb I mean. So as I'm arranging and rolling another organic colorant found its way into the piece. Blud. Everyone is always trying to get blood out of fabric, so why not put it in? That's what makes it art, right? A little of one's lifeblood.

close up of cabbage, beans and lifeblood

As I bundled, I mulled over how to apply heat. Realizing that everything in the bundle was on our daily menu, I decided to put it in the microwave...not my dye nuker out in the shed

but the actual kitchen wave. I hit the 30 second button and let it sit for a minute as I was watching my lentils come to a boil (ABP, right Sarah), felt for temp and repeated four more times with resting periods in between. Now my lentils were happily boiling, so I wrapped the bundle of silk and veggies in plastic wrap, gave it one more zap and carried it out to my studio thinking it might smell kind of funny in the house. But no. In fact, it smelled so good that I thought Sarah had followed me to the studio. As the fragrance wafted towards Monk, he started to get up for his morning meal, checking me out to see if I was now serving in the studio instead of his usual place in kitchen.

I'm posting this on Tuesday. How long do you think I can wait till I unwrap? Hopefully I'll forget about it for the rest of the week. Yeah, right. Stay tuned.

gud enuf 2 eet

Are You Going to Maryland Sheep and Wool this Weekend?

Are you lucky enough to be going to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend? If so, you absolutely must check out Three Waters Farm, booth B23 in the Main Exhibition Hall, right where it's been for 10 consecutive years now. Mary Ann has outdone herself this year. Such beautiful rovings and Superfluity Kits...so many amazing new colorways, too many to count. I especially love this one called "Frost".

If you are a Raveler and don't already belong to Three Waters Farm group, go there. It's happening.

Fun!

I haven't posted in so long, so it's only fitting that I return with a shot of color. I've spent a lot of time on Pinterest lately...love love love...and one of my many boards is Carousels and Ferris Wheels. Imagine my delight to find this little carnival setting up in Chattanooga yesterday! I hopped out of the car and snapped away with my phone (my new fave camera...nothing captures images quite the same), so here are two of the best.

Cyber Sale!

Happy Thanksgiving! 25% off all patterns this holiday weekend.
On Etsy:  Sale starts today!!! Use coupon code BFCMYAY to receive discount on all patterns. Sale runs through Tuesday, November 27, 2012.
On Ravelry: Sale starts tomorrow! No coupon code necessary. 25% discount will show up at checkout.
Have a fantastic holiday!

Every Now and Then

Every now and then I get homesick for Los Angeles. The nostalgia usually comes unbidden. This morning it came in a wave when I was writing down my thoughts, a daily practice that is my mental version of sweeping the floor. I thought about how my mind felt like a change machine from a city bus, the kind they used to have in the 60s. This took me to youtube looking for footage of the machine because I wanted to hear the music of it again, how it sounded like a combination of a washing machine full of change and the crank of an old fashioned gumball machine. The only time I ever got to hear it was when I would ride the bus with my grandmother. She didn't drive and so we would catch the bus on St George to Franklin then on to the shopping center at Vermont and Hollywood Blvd near Barnsdall Park. We had to transfer twice, so we'd pass the change machine every time we got on the bus. I found the sounds and smells of the bus intoxicating.

Before I could find a youtube of the change machine, I found this little snippet from Hollywood in the 40s. The camera is moving west on Sunset Blvd to turn south on Highland Ave. You can see Hollywood High on the right as they come to a stop in the left turn lane. It's the big white building behind that thick row of palms. In 1960, we lived on Citrus Ave, one block off Highland between Melrose and Beverly. That's about a mile south of this intersection. My father's animation studio was less than a mile behind the camera on Homewood off Sunset and Vine. We traveled this particular strip of Sunset regularly. But what I'd forgotten was the sign you see on your left in the first half of the clip, the upright for "auto service".

My brother and I had a game we played on Saturday mornings while our parents slept though I can't imagine how they could have slept through this game. We called the game "Auto Service". That sign must have been quite an impression on my brother, cuz he named the game. Our house had a curving staircase that arrived on the second floor just outside our parent's bedroom. It had a two inch-thick rope railing with brass end fittings that looped from brass hook to hook up the perfectly curved wall. We would take turns at the top of the stairs. The one at the bottom (usually me) would call out "auto service", then the one at the top would send a ball bouncing down the stairs. We had a myriad collection, from teensy rubber balls all the way up to the voit rubber foursquare ball. Just the different sounds of each individual ball was enough to have us laughing. But the kid at the bottom would have to get that ball back up the stairs without leaving the lower entrance hall where the stairs began and the best way to do this was to roll it up the curve of the wall. Second best was to throw a perfectly placed bank shot at just the right point of the curve. A miss would send the ball bouncing off the walls and back down the stairs. The sounds coupled with the frustration level would have us nearly peeing in our pants. This would keep up until our parents got up or we heard dad yelling "goddammit" from the bedroom. In retrospect I believe they were unbelievably tolerant, because we played this game quite a bit.

I learned to knit in that house and remember knitting inside, outside, in the play house, on the front steps. It was a beautiful house, of old brick, kind of an English style, set sideways on the lot with a brick courtyard complete with a small goldfish pond (a rectangular pool where you could sit and look at the fish). It was shaded by a huge Chinese Elm under which were planted camelias, azaleas, impatients and freesias in season. My most vivid 60s knitting memory was sitting on those bricks cross legged with a needle wedged straight up and down between my crossed legs, my first attempts at stabilizing my left hand needle. I'd enter the stitch with the right hand needle, throw the yarn in an enormous arc to make the stitch, then lift the RH needle up and over the tip of the LH needle with the aid of my thumbs, then pull the just made stitch up and off. Once I was proficient enough to do this rather quickly, my mom taught me Continental style. This is the scene that always comes to me when I remember her saying, "Now dear, let me show you an easier way."

Lotus Legwarmers

 I told you all it was pattern season! Yep, this is number 4 in so many weeks. But this is the last of it for a while. Except for...well...just keep an eye to the soon to be live Knitty Deep Fall 2012. Whew! So here's my adaptation of Heart of the Lotus for the Legs. I call them Lotus Legwarmers (such a stretch). The pattern is written for S, M, L with sizing tips for long, short, and multiple tiers (see the rust colored one below). It's a fitted, shaped legwarmer that stays put if you want it to, or scrunches without getting sloppy. It would be a cinch to make it longer to come up over the knee, to knit it on larger needles for a slouchy style, you know...endless variations. The merlot colored ones here are knit in Madelinetosh Pashmina in Venetian. Scrunched rust colored variation is in Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Sequoia. Just like Heart of the Lotus, this pattern is written for fingering and sport weight yarns. You can purchase this pattern here.

Straight from the Muse:

Sandy's Original Calertne mitts

Calertne is NEW in Knitty: Deep Fall 2012 

We're at it again! Sandy Sitzman and I have shared the creative process since 1989. We have dyed, carded, spun and knit together (our most famous example is in America Knits as the handspun, handdyed version of the Tree of Life Jacket), sometimes in a frenzy of excitement, sometimes at a belly crawl. We’ve shared our skills with each other until these skills have become organic, indelible. If you have ever used the cold pour dyeing technique from Twisted Sisters' Sock Workbook, then you are connected to Sandy Sitzman, because she is the person that taught me that technique.

We both begin working on an intuitive level but Sandy stays intuitive throughout. That’s where she is happiest. I’m happier melding kinesthetic with analytical, figuring out puzzles of construction and translating them into patterns. Sandy feels her way along, admiring, smooshing, cajoling. When I ask her how she constructed a piece she says, “I don’t know.” It’s this kind of wandering that gives her work a style all its own.

seamed entrelacs

So when I asked her how she knit Calertne, all she could tell me is, “Well, I worked the entrelacs flat and seamed ‘em, kinda messy, then picked up on the edges and finished the glove.” How’d you make the mate? “Just made another one before I forgot what I did”. I especially love Sandy’s whimsical “teapot spout” thumbs. Her answer to that? “I always make my thumbs that way.” Though not sleek, they are roomy and tres practical and most importantly easy peasy. Kind of an “afterthought thumb”.

It’s no wonder I couldn’t replicate their bodacious uniqueness in my own pattern writing style. My inner perfectionist fought me all the way and there’s defnitely something lost in the translation. So I thought it would be fun to write her original pattern in “Sandy Speak” for those of you adventurous enough to try it. And, if you are that adventurous, you won’t balk at sizing it for your own particular needs. Sandy used my entrelac class handout and accompanying chart as her guide but you can find all kinds of entrelac tutorials online. 

Calertne, Sandy style: 

teapot spout thumbs

Her size: small. 

Her finished measurements: length 9”, width of entrelac cuff 4 3/4”, width of hand 3 1/2”.

Her gauge: 21 sts over 4 inches.

Her yarn: cushy aran weight 2 ply handspun from pretty roving in her stash

Her needles: US #5/ 3.75mm

Her number of beginning triangles: 6

Cast on 36 sts and work a rectangle of 6-stitch entrelacs that looks like it is long enough for a 3 inch cuff following your favorite recipe for back and forth entrelacs. Seam the narrow ends of the rectangle so it looks like a bracelet. 

Using your favorite needles for working in the round, pick up and knit around one edge of the bracelet stitch for stitch. Join round and work 3 rounds in 1x1 rib. Bind off. 

Pick up and knit around the other edge, stitch for stitch. Knit 6 rounds plain, knit 6 rnds in 2x2 rib (to fit snugly at the wrist), knit plain to where you want your thumb (1 1/2 inches). Bind off 9 sts. Continue around to where you bound off and cast on 9 sts. Join round. This makes a hole for the thumb. Knit plain for as long as you want your hand above the thumb (2 1/2 inches). Bind off. 

Pick up 20 sts around the thumb hole. Knit plain till your thumb is long enough (1 1/2 inches). Bind off. 

Make another. Maybe add a little 2x2 fair isle just above the thumb on the second one, just for fun. Not enuf yarn? Spin more.

Want more Sandy? Follow her blog here.

Flip Side

 Another new pattern in two days. Can you believe it? This is Flip Side. These fingerless gloves are totally reversible. Knit it on the dot side (top left, bottom right) and flip to the nubbin side (bottom left). These are quick to knit...or at least I should say that they go fast. And they feel so good on. Of course that could be because I knit them from Madelinetosh Pashmina sportweight merino/cashmere/silk yarn. This color is called Curiosity...such a soft lavender. The pattern is available here.

Cloudland Socks

I have been a pattern writing fool this season. I started with Cloudland fingerless gloves, and loved them so much I had to knit socks in the same pattern. So here they are, released today. Just like the gloves, the cloud pattern, a nifty lacy faux cable, spirals in opposite directions on each foot. I've written it with an afterthought heel, though it should be called and "afterthefact" heel instead, cuz it is definitely well thought out ahead of time, tee hee. This is an easy to work, easy to understand, easy to size heel. You can find tips for heel sizing on Cloudland's ravelry pattern page. This pair is knit in Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in "Denim".

This pattern is available for sale online in my Ravelry store. You can buy it here.

Labor Day Pattern Sale

All patterns in my Ravelry Store are 20% off this weekend only. Today through Monday, Sept 3. 2012.

Buy Now

Sunrise Moonset detail

Yesterday I received a lovely letter from Interweave with a printout of their new ebook (check it out) "Spinning for Crochet". I was delighted to find that my Sunrise Moonset Vest was included in this collection of articles from Spin Off. So I went back into my photo archives and selected examples of works by friends, participants at my workshops, and a few things of my own. You can find this gallery here. Thank you Interweave for keeping this beautiful technique alive in the minds of your readers.

click to enlarge

 Also! Gotta brag on Becky Cook, who sent me this photo of her Best in Show skein at Michigan Fiber Festival 2012. Inspired by Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, Becky dyed her fiber with the hot pour technique and spindle spun this gorgeous skein of sock yarn. Way to go, Becky!!!

Cloudland

Cloudland

Last spring I stood on the bluff at Cloudland Canyon and watched the thunderheads billowing in the updrafts. It was tornado season and after the crazy twisters of spring 2011 I had my eye to the sky. I could feel the cool mist from the updrafts cutting through the warm, humid air and they were blowing the lightest strands of hair from my face as effortlessly as they threw cabling strands of cumulus heavenwards.

Then I discovered Malabrigo Finito on a trip to Haus of Yarn in Nashville. I fell in love with the cloudlike softness and the delectable colors. Paloma was the first one in my basket.
It wasn't surprising then when I had the urge to knit spiraling cables.

my newest offering

I tried various forms, but I wasn't happy with the feel of the fabric. Cables tend to bind, draw in. I wanted this glove to feel espansive, like a second skin, totally pliable, like clouds for the hands. So I came up with a lace pattern that looks like cables. Now this pattern is available for purchase and download on Ravelry as Cloudland.

Although the Cloudland Canyon State Park website doesn't talk about it, this was once Cherokee land before the Removal and Trail of Tears. It was more than likely sacred land and unpopulated. I wish I knew more about its history, more about the woodland era in Southeastern Tennessee and  Northwest Georgia. I'm glad Cloudland is still wild land, with the few trails that were once built in the '30s falling to rack and ruin. It's such a contrast, this place, to it's commercial sister Rock City on the eastern face of Lookout Mountain and I hope it stays this way for a very long time to come. In an era where it seems more and more difficult to preserve land from development, this is still sacred land in that regard. These gloves in a very small way are my blessing to this land.