Still gloomy, still busy indoors

Last week I wound five warps for a warp painting workshop next Friday.  We are only supposed to bring four warps but after I finished this one, cone from origins unknown and person not remembered, I had cut out six knots and was having serious misgivings.

I dug through my stash and came up with these three balls of cotton knitting yarn, also "donated."  It's 100% cotton and a little bit stretchy for weaving, but it's a cellulose fiber class.  I wound a back-up warp just to be safe.

This is another rayon/cotton novelty yarn but without the texture.  A additional warp is already in a baggy, three 3" bouts of undyed Tencel to be painted.

I bought this cone of Crystal Palace for a $1 at the Guild "Weft-Over" sale last summer.  Liz Moncrief is the teacher and she suggested that one warp be already dyed, pastels preferred.  The yarn is 44/40/16 viscose, cotton and polyester, imported from France.  I suspect this cone has been around for quite a while - it came from the stash of a retiring weaver..  I'm really interested to see if there's a swan in this ugly duckling.

I'm happy to report that I have finally finished my NCAA sweater.  The pattern is called Quick Sand - click to go to the Ravelry link.  The gauge is 15 st. = 4" but I used Cascade 220 on size nine 9 needles and still got 16 stitches so went up a pattern size.  I like it so much I bought the designer's pattern called Fine Sand, gauge 22 st = 4" and have already started.

And I quickly knit this headband for the March for Science next Saturday on Earth Day.  The pattern is also on Ravelry.  Click here for the free pattern.

Last night was the first class of four on Color Reduction in block printing.   We used these 3" square pieces of Gomuban, (a malleable rubber tile) as an introduction to the technique.  First we carved out the white so that when the plate was next inked with yellow, the white would be preserved.  First it's yellow, then red and then blue, light to dark.  We carve on the block four times to get our final print and each "incarnation" gets inked and run through the press on the same paper, three passes through the press.

The blue over the red produces the appearance of black and is what makes it pop.  I really enjoyed the process.

I seriously didn't know what I was just doing - carving with no plan and on the last carving I got a bit over-zealous and carved away a part of this soft plate - oops.  I'm not as fond of my second try and see that I'd like more structure.  Tomorrow night we begin the first of three sessions to carve and print one print on 8 x 10" tiles.  We can chose Gomuban or Sheena wood and I've opted for the wood.  I've already got my sketch ready.

The Making of a Purse

A guild challenge has been issued for the May Conference of Northern California Handweavers.  We are challenged to make purses with a unifying theme.  When this came up last September, I thought - I'm in!  I've wanted to make a purses from my board stiff scarves that I wove before I understand how to get a good sett.  Today is the 5th month anniversary of my surgery and all of that healing and recovery kinda took precedence.  Now the deadline to submit photos of the finished purses is here.

Friday I set to work.  I can do this, even I don't know how.  Seriously - how hard can this be?!!

Isn't this fun?  My bag is going to be great.  I finished sewing it up and couldn't wait to turn right sides out,  Only there was no way I could and I didn't know how to fix it.  It's like sewing origami, only I don't have the instructions.  Plus the straps were attached weird and the bag wouldn't hang.

And then it was only big enough for a pair of sunglasses.  I want a bag for cash and my phone to wear when I'm working a craft fair.  I cut the straps off, cut another section of the scarf to make a sideways rectangular bag.  I couldn't decide how to close it so installed a zipper.  It looked like a cloth money bag at a bank.  I ditched both in the trash and started cutting on another scarf.

After three hours of thrashing around, I cobbled this together and stopped for the day.  It's the photo I'm required to submit but the straps and pin are just laying there.  I couldn't think how to attach them and was just too tired to think about it.  It's all from rayon including the Kumihimo braid strap.  Our guild theme is winter and all our bags have the deciduous tree pin attached. 

I ended up dreaming about it and I decided, in self defense, I had to finish it yesterday.  The lining is muslin but I had no idea how to machine sew them together so ended up hand stitching it to the bag in teeny tiny little stitches.  I dreamed how to do the straps and it actually worked.  It's a good size and it hangs well.  I'm actually pleased but I won't be making another purse until I get some instruction.

Maddie surprised me by jumping on top of my loom.  She tried it once before but jumped right back down because it's not quite solid.  It's just the top of the harnesses covered by a quilt, there to protect the loom from the sun when I'm not working on it.  At first I thought she was after the warp chains I have heaped up out of her way.

Her interest was actually the tree that I'm trying to keep up and out of her destructive path until I can plant it this spring.  It's a hospital gift and it should do well here in our yard, if I can keep it alive for a couple more months.

Holiday Eve

These are the bags I've finished and will have at the November craft show. The three I just finished this week are on the right. I have carried one of these for so many years that I've lost track. However, last week I purchased a bag with a zipped top to take on the subway, just as a precaution. Every time I walk by it I wonder who left their bag here.

I have a box of hats already, so I don't think I'll try to make anymore. They're left over from the Brewery Arts Center venue. Oops - somehow my toes became part of the image, which tells you that it's warmed back up again.
My trip knitting is socks. I had completed an entire sock with this yarn but it was just about 5 stitches too snug for me to be comfortable with. Hand-spun socks snug up a little after a few washings, no matter how careful I am. I've frogged my earlier project and am going with a 10-stitch repeat called Fishtail.

Our flight departs tomorrow morning at 8:00. It will take all day with layovers and we've planned the next day, Sunday, to take the ferry to Governors Island. That's the last day it will be open this season and I have never been. We only have a three days with ticketed items, and so the rest of our time is when we feel like it. I want to walk the High Line this time, and of course, browse The Strand, a used bookstore with 8 miles of books! The Guggenheim is a given, and the current exhibition parlays on the Kandinsky we saw last year - the European years between WWI and WWII. There should be a little Bauhaus and maybe some Annie Albers.

I hope that we can go to the Museum of Art and Design on Tuesday and also eat at their restaurant for my birthday. I argued with myself about their exhibition catalog from last year and decided against it, which I have regretted. Ian wanted to surprise me with it as a gift and found that they're going for $1,000. Yikes!!

I wore myself out packing, leaving enough room to bring home fabric from Mood. We see Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown on Wednesday. It's with Patti Lapone, from Evita and the voice of Don't Cry for me Argentina. It's still in previews which means it costs us less. We are seeing the reprise of La Cage aux Falles with Kelsey Grammer on Saturday. Both musicals are matinees - the "real theater" is past our bedtime!

We also have Yankees tickets for Monday, the 18th, definitely past our bedtime. Ian has spent a week, scouting out these tickets. Our first tickets were for a game that wasn't going to be played after they lost to the Socks. Tickets are just about impossible to get. Good thing he's a professional researcher! We got the cheap seats up high in left field and they were more than we've ever paid for theater tickets. I am really looking forward to being there in the spirit of the game. I hope I'll be able to see Mariano Rivera pitch his closing magic. I can't decide between contact lenses and glasses. I want to see it all! I'll see you all back in two weeks~

Catching Up

I finished my second t-shirt this morning. I won't do the v-neck again. It was really hard. After I'd fought with the fabric and marveled at it's drape, I realized that I had purchased polyester double-knit. It's impossible to wrinkle and I will pack it for NYC. I like this one even better than the first. I would have modeled one of them, but I managed to finish both on a bad-hair day.
I've finished knitting three bags while watching baseball. We finally got tickets today for the Yankees game on the October 18th. We don't have a game time or an opposing team yet, but we will see the Yankees play in Yankee Stadium. I am beyond excited. Our last tickets were refunded when the Yankees became the wild card team. We watched them beat the Twins tonight - I hope it's just a warm up.
And while we watched Yankee ball, I felted bags. They're small which worries me since everyone now seems to carry a modified backpack on their shoulder. I'll have these at the November craft fair and hope someone who doesn't need to carry their office about will find them interesting.

And a friendly reminder - if you've never felted in your washing machine but are so inclined, remember to zip up your project in a pillow case because this the felt that would otherwise go into your washing machine pump. I'm passing on a lesson learned by another.
Our butterfly bush (buddleia davidii) has struggled for the past several years and the late summer left it in twig stage until July. We are thrilled to see it "bush" with the last couple weeks of nice weather and all the rain we've been experiencing. I hope this isn't a one-time bush.

Cleaning House

I'm trying to get the rhythm of not having to go to work. I'm also trying to not be over-
whelmed with the monumental partially completed projects that I initiated but didn't have time to complete. They nag me. I've finished up the last of my bags. I do believe that I'll set them aside, as much as I love how they turn out. They were great for knitting in between things when I only had minutes to knit and didn't have time for complicated instructions.

I've been spinning for the last couple of months a variety of wools with the plan to dye them with natural dyes, then make hats for the Artisans store with the softer wools and more bags with the luster longwools. Ever since Linda showed me her workbook from CNCH (Conference of Northern California Handweavers) on double weave, I've been rethinking everything.
The bags are great, they sell quite well and I love the compli-
ments I get, but I think I'm done. Those were my therapy knitting. I've been looking at my weaving books and think a dougle weave wall hanging from natural dyed wools is just what our entry is waiting for.


First I need to learn how to double weave, and I'll get started on that just as soon as I finish weaving off the ancient project on the loom in the guest room.

I read an interview in the December issue of American Style this morning. I am just as backed up in my magazines and I am in my projects. The subtitle was "Nancy Jurs and Wendell Castle are married, but not melded." They met in art school and have carried out parallel but independent art careers for 35 years. He headed the furniture department at the School of American Crafts and has "10 Adopted rules of Thumb." Here are two: If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it and If you hit the bulls-eye every time the target is too near.

She is an installation ceramicist and raku potter. I loved a quip from her most expecially, "My life has gotten so busy that it now takes up all of my time." Right on!

Loose Ends

We're leaving on vacation early Friday morning and I'm desper-
ately trying to tie up loose ends. Here are the last six hats that I've finished for this season and I need to get them in the mail to the Brewery Arts Center. I liked Amy's suggestion about using some artistic license when naming my projects, so I've decided to start with this batch.

Beginning with the pink hat on the right and going clockwise, I named my hats: Raspberry Pie with Cherries, Wild Iris in Spring, Clouds at Dusk, Red Sky at Night, Spongy Earth and New Grass, and House Finch Songbird. I'll get better with practice. Suggestions are welcome.

I had finished one more more bag, but the other day when I went to put the ties on, realized that it wasn't felted enough and so gave it another run through the washer. I finished it today. Twice I've been asked if I have anything in browns. I don't know what is meant by "browns," but this is very brown. I spun the yarn from Icelandic roving that I've had hanging around for years. Brown Bag - brown .

One of the wonderful things about these bags is that I get to dig into my oh-so-deep, deep stash. Did I mention that my fiber stash is deep?


This is why the bottom of my bags are square. I stuff them with books while they are drying, in case you missed an earlier blog on my maniac method of shaping my bags. These books are deaccessioned library books so I don't have to feel guilty about producing damage. I realize that it apears that I have had a flurry of finished projects - not so. I've been working on them for quite a while and am now tieing up the loose ends.

I'm facing the crisis at hand - what to take for trip knitting. I have enough for two bags but given the driving we'll be doing, that won't be enough. Oh what to do. What to do?

Marketing Bags

At the end of many projects, I have ended up with various partial balls that are similar wools and enough yardage that I decided to see I couldn't use them up in a bag. After all, the colors seem to be reasonably close.

But I have to tell you it was nerve-wracking to knit and not know if I'd be rewarded for my efforts. I stopped when I ran out of yarn.

This is my partial balls bag. Some of the yarns in the middle drew up more than the other yarns, but they all stretched out when I stuffed the bag with old books.

I have tried both eBay and Etsy as a point of sale and been unsatisfied with both for a variety of reasons. Last week I finally took the time to order business cards from Vista Print. My hair dresser recommend them to me and I figure he knows what he's talking about, since he owns his own salon. I ended up ordering three different styles, but when the information included my blog address, I started thinking about how I could link my inventory to my blog. The bags very often sell as gifts and I've been aware for quite a while that I need a way to promote what I have available. People ask. I decided to upload pictures of the bags that I have into a set on Flickr. I added it as a link to my blog, called Hand Delivered Bags. I anticipate this to work well, and I tell you this in the event that you too are trying to promote inventory. I anticipate that I this will work well, but it's too soon to tell.

Some Weather

Finally! We have had no moisture for weeks and it's winter - this is when we get our water. It's rained over the past two days and is supposed to continue for several more. Desert plants draw from humid air and even though nothing is growing yet, the rain has made the plants appear brighter. I counted at least a dozen different shades.

You can see the potential green at the base of the sage plants. I think it's because the desert palette is restricted that the spring wild flowers are so spectacular. I just wish I were able to mix dyes predictably enough to emulate these shades. This would be a great "squadgie" color pathway - swamp colors Suefleen calls them. I'm spinning this pathway right now, but it's from Mim. She said when she was dyeing this roving, that she thought of me.
The dogs and I had a dampish walk this morning and it was absolutely wonderful. They only needed a quick towel-down and were house ready. How lucky for me that this beautiful day is also my day off.

Eddie elected to take Ian's path. Alexia always takes it because it's "cute" - besides, she says, it's "shortew." I take the long way because, doggone it, if I'm out for a walk, I want it to count for exercise. Cute paths don't count as exercise.

The bags are done. The two on the left are natural dyes and the two on the right are acid dyes, except the light top of the right bag. That's white border leicester that I blended with snippets of sari silk. Click for big to see how well it felted. I'm very disappointed that the cochineal and rabbitbrush bag looks like something from the Marine Corps. I think it would have worked had I not added the cochineal band on top. Very disappointing.

Bags

This is the bag that I assembled for the Learning Tree post-guild meeting demon-
stration last Saturday. For this, I was running out of yarn so held two strands together for a 3-stitch i-cord on the handle. They were two different yarns and I like the result - click for big. I think about 30 people stayed and I was surprised at the animated interest.

My interest in felted bags started with one that appeared in Sara Lamb's blog a couple of years ago, but she started from the top and went down. I phished for ideas because I wanted to start from the bottom and go up, like a sock where you're not sure how much yarn you have.
This is the bag I'm trying to finish and felt since I still have to present a program to the library's knitting club this Sunday. I was able to use up a total of six partial balls in this bag. I love the palette that I get with different colors and different wools.

Stephanie asked me about my pattern, and it's nothing more than knitting a box, starting with a rectangle base. For that base, whatever stitch you chose, slip the first stitch of each row so you can pick it up stitches later. I do the base in garter, but slip stitch would be good too. I cast on between 30-36 stitches and knit between 17 to 20 rows. How many stitches you cast on determines how wide your bag will be and how may rows you knit determines how broad it will be. Pick up stitches all the way round. I don't like to go too big because bags sag. How many rounds you knit after picking up stitches will determine how tall your bag will be. I tend to think I'm done at around 13" measuring all the bag, from the folded base up. Handles are i-cord. You can do 4-5 stitch i-cord, or hold two strands together for 3 stitches i-cord which is my favorite. Knit at least 6' and even more if you want long shoulder straps.

IMPORTANT: Put into a zippered pillow case cover before submitting to the rigors of your washing machine. This was Sara's lesson learned. Felt lint is hard on washing machine pumps.

It's your bag - you decide. You have to have scrap wool around, just begging you to make it beautiful. Go forth and do beautiful~

Bag Project

Months ago I signed up for our guild's bag project. The idea was that we would make a bag in a way that pushed our creativity and the deadline was the fair - this week! Big ouch. We were to put our inventive juices to the test in a way that was new to what we had done in the past. Several bags were ready at the last guild meeting - I was feeling inadequate in a major way. As of yesterday, this is my entry and while it's not exciting, I am very happy for what I learned. It's a weaving sample lined with cotton and I weighted the flap with a washer and a nut.

Couple a' Bags

The bag on the left is from the natural dye day at Marilyn's last summer and the yarn is spun of luster long-wool, I think maybe Border Leicester. I'm not sure that it matters any more as knitted luster long-wools seems to felt up pretty much the same. The color sources are marigold for the gold, rose madder for the handles and (unseen) base and indigo overdyed on cottonwood for the teal. I'm going to knit another set of handles from the overdyed madder gray wool on the top. These are a bit too anemic for my taste. The bags change so drastically after being felted that it's hard for me to think how they'll look while I'm knitting.

Both of these bags have the same number of stitches, but the purple bag is from Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride and I think the crimpier wool felts different. It's narrower and taller. I'm trying to decide if this is important, and if so, how I can use it as a design element. I carry a squatty bag and it's easy to access the contents. I'm not so sure I'd like to carry the taller bag, though I like it's looks better. But then I have already admitted that I'm shallow and easily swayed by pretty appearances.