You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July 2009.
My dyed silk, which I wasn’t going to bother posting, except that sweet C. gave me a 50mm lens for my birthday. So of course I had to try it out. This, I like a lot.
playing with weft colours
Just trying to make a bit more progress before I go on vacation. This morning I experimented with sewing thread to figure out what colour to dye the 12/2 silk I bought for the weft of my new weaving project. I think I’ve settled on the light green (on the left side) – I think it will look nice and shimmery and maybe even have a bit of an embroidery effect, depending on the pattern I choose.
Despite my best efforts, I didn’t get the featherweight cardi done in time for my travels. But that’s ok, because what else is there to do on a roadtrip? I stubbornly refuse to believe C.’s claim that my retinas will fall out from knitting in a moving car.
half featherweight
And finally-
Is that?…Yes. It’s my engagement ring.
Handmade silver and gold by the talented Elizabeth Scott.
See you soon!
I am proud to unveil…
…my very first piece of weaving! I can’t tell you how excited I am to be learning to weave. This little sampler, in all its multicoloured glory, taught me about a dozen simple patterns and started me on the long path of learning how colours work in weaving. Despite advice to the contrary, I put it through the delicate cycle in my front-loading washer to full it. It’s much softer now but could use a pressing.
It makes me a little dizzy to think of all the possibilities for colours, patterns, fibres – but not so dizzy that I couldn’t run down to the Silk Weaving Studio today to buy a few skeins of 20/2 and 12/2 undyed silk for my next project, already warped. It’s like knitting on fast forward. Now, I know knitting and weaving are two completely different arts and that it’s not really fair to compare them, but it’s so great to see your project unfolding before your eyes instead of labouring away on a knit project at an inch an hour (if you have a few too many projects on #1 needles like I do). Plus, I’m so happy to be spending time in Felicia’s studio – it’s a great space.
freshly steamed
I did some dyeing this past weekend. These are mostly merino – both the skeins and the roving. Yes, I’ve learned my lesson about throwing different fibres into the same dye pot. Actually, these went not into a dye pot but into my lovely new steamer that I picked up from Value Village for a steal this past weekend. It’s a vast improvement on the weird rack I tried to rig up for my roaster. That one was basically a tin baking pan with holes punched in it and could only hold the weight of about half a skein of yarn before collapsing.
All were handpainted with only magenta, brown, and cobalt washfast acid dyes (although I used some yellow for one skein), wrapped in plastic, and steamed. I’ve been trying to get a nice plum colour for awhile and I think I came fairly close with the skein peeking out of the top of the photo. The goal is to be able to use some of this for a new weaving project – but, not really knowing much about weaving yet, I get a bit stuck with all the variables. What colours look good together? What pattern to weave? What fibre to use? I’m trying not to overthink it but I hope I don’t get laughed out of weaving class when I bring these on Wednesday.
A new start: a Featherweight Cardigan, and this one I really want to finish fast so I can wear it. I love sweetgeorgia’s lace that I ordered specifically for this cardigan – it’s a delicious colour and just slides off the needles as I go. I think I’ll wishfully call this one the Travel Cardi. Yes, lately I’ve been longingly flipping through Ysolda’s older posts and thinking about Edinburgh, sighing over the sites on Mary Joy’s blog, and dreaming about other great places in the world. I live in one of those great places, supposedly, but recently it feels a bit pedestrian. I’m tired of commuting downtown. I’m tired of downtown Vancouver itself, the noise and the uninspiring architecture. I want old buildings, to be able to walk to my local yarn shop, to have a farmer’s market nearby, and a good dose of small town friendliness.
featherweight
So, to celebrate my 30th birthday, in a few weeks I am driving down the Oregon and California coasts to San Francisco with C., K., and M. Yep, I’m going to revel in every redwood, every strip of farmland, every teeny tiny town, every little yarn shop. I’m going to stuff myself full of delicious locally-grown food, breathe the fresh sea air, and go surfing. And I’m going to do it in my Travel Cardi…I’m knitting as fast as I can.
The silk kerchief is done, just in time to make way for some new projects. I’m excited to report that I’ve started taking a weaving class at sweetgeorgia’s studio. It’s so close to where I work, and on the way home…so how could I say no?
finished silk kerchief
As for the kerchief, I’m happy with the results and will be wearing it when it’s a bit cooler out. For those who want more details, have a look at the ravelry posting here. I added a little ruffle around the outside in the darkest colours.
stripey...and silky
