Indoors

Tags

cold, purple, relax, seasons, spring, weather

I turned the electrics off in the bathroom floor, the only heating source we use besides the wood stove. Because we had a couple of really nice days and it’s APRIL, so now I refuse to turn it back on.

But frankly it’s still chilly, stormy, grey and even rainy, so winter activities have not changed in here, no matter how everyone elses juices seem to be rising. (just had a trio of hares fencing right outside this window and of course my camera battery is out for charging since I’ve mislaid the other!)

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Some yarny updates

Tags

alpaca, crafts, creativity, grey, intention, purple, silk, wool

Just a little collection of things I’ve been fiddling with since December, while running on half my usual steam. Just simple stuff, not very innovative but still making and learning, to help me keep up my spirits. I find this to be the best tactic for me, if I can’t unmuddle my concentration / imagination I can practise technical stuff or get some of the “administrative” tasks done (making a catalogue of my e-books and weaving videos so that I actually use them, for instance). I just don’t do well with staring at the ceiling for weeks, and I refuse to watch tv!

Back on the loom

Tags

crafts, intention, kitten, loom, pink, purple, yarn

Purple warp turned around in a completely different configuration. Yeah, I know I’m the only one who will notice 😉

While I’m trying to get back in a painting groove, it’s nice to have something else to do waiting for layers to dry, so I don’t just end up here, clicking, losing time and mind.

Otherwise just a pretty lazy Saturday. I should get my rain gear and go water the strawberries! (because the hose is leaking on me) I need to soften and till the ground a bit so I can sow some lettuce.

What with headaches and feeling fed up with house work I’m way behind on the weeding, and they’re threatening to take over my projects. But I’m hoping for a bit of rain to help me, hacking away at concrete will amount to very little besides more headaches and sore hands! And I don’t want to run the sprinkler all over the garden for it. (especially because I tend to forget about it and let it run for 3 hours in the same spot)

Another kind of purple

Tags

colour, crafts, creativity, inner conviction, intention, purple

Just thought I’d un-whine a bit. (but I’m still very close to running out of whites 😮 )

Incidentally, the warp is not lost nor abandoned, although it is no longer on the loom.

Goodbye, purple warp

Tags

crafts, loom, pink, purple, wool

I had high hopes for you, but we can’t stick together like this.

(For the non-weavers, there is supposed to be a triangle open shape between 2 rows of thread, where you run your bobbin or shuttle of yarn through to the other side)

Purple stare

Tags

crafts, haiku, life, pink, purple, relax

My coffee is cold.
Threading heddles, very zen.
Mistakes happen.

So…

Tags

blogging, colour, intention, life, purple, relax

This is another one of those days where I have a number of blog drafts sitting around, but can’t get to the end of them because stuff is missing. (I can’t tell you of a loom I did not get to buy for instance because somebody else beat me to it) But I need to keep in touch or I’ll go missing entirely I think, there’s definitely something to staying in the flow, not just with art, but with blogging too. The more you do, the more ideas happen as well.

Busy week here preparing for an insurance inspection, ditto meeting and generally a very tiring May. My journal has ONE page in it, that’s how little I’ve been “me” instead of janitor/general manager/headache monster. Trying to reset myself now, mentally and physically, by doing very little, my brain is boiling a wee bit. Definitely hoping to get back to work on Monday, and I know I’ve said that about some previous Mondays as well, but this time I mean it or I’ll murder somebody. I don’t even care if they deserve it. 😉

Anyway, we were out of dog food and old ladies get special low calorie senior kibble, so I had to drive to town today and decided to try a marathon run of my long accumulated shopping list. No more room on the whiteboard. Only forgot to look for two things and didn’t get one other which was not available, so all in all I feel very efficient and also accomplished enough to relax about granting myself some me-time. So much for resetting, but I did that most of yesterday at least and haven’t done much else today either. I may not be able to get artsyfartsy on weekends, but I think tomorrow will be for a couple of projects where I just have to point. Rhubarb pie might happen.

Only yesterday I was thinking about how it would be nice to have various shades of bright thread to make scrap blankets/quilts from old clothes. Well, first stop on our tour was getting a new cover for painting on the dining table and what did they have at the checkout counter? A little junk basket of very marked down threads… Thanks a bunch!

Second score was a new hedge trimmer. The one I’ve been using for the last 12 years is a bit weak and I often have to hack my way through if I need to trim close. My arms, shoulders and back just aren’t up to the job anymore, so we agreed last year that I’d get a better one. Tried various types and the really good ones were also too heavy, so I hope I’ve found a good medium variety. Why doesn’t the large person in the household cut hedges? Because he is not a garden freak and I’d go bonkers having to supervise the job. He could theoretically use this one too, but it wouldn’t work the other way round; which means I’d have to be a major nag to get it done. Not my favourite situation at all. And, well, I kinda like doing it. Especially after.

I’m going to try fishing line for helping with my selvedges in weaving. Do you think this will be strong enough? I obviously didn’t have a chance to pull it before buying…

I also bought a piece of wood. Maybe another day I’ll show you what I want to make from it. It amuses me no end to prance around the hardware store, try things out and pick what I want, with a guy in tow just carrying the stuff!

My saori jacket is not making a lot of progress, oodles of design errors and remakes. I was picking out buttons the other day, haven’t found the perfect set, but decided on “good enough”. This pile I received from Melanie in Toulouse along with chocolate and two lovely scarves, how’s that for a score!? Maybe some day surprise packages will go out in the opposite direction, but for now that’s a secret.

And that’s about it from the cottage this week. The lilacs are looking spectacular at the moment, but so far I’ve forgotten fresh photos of them. Lucky for me, they look just the same as last year. I’m going to try my very best to be a little bit interesting in the near future.

Busy

Tags

colour, colourways, country life, crafts, dyeing, flowers, plants, purple, weather

As I mentioned we’ve tried to do a few house things during the winter holidays this last week. What with an early, temporary spring – open jackets and all! Awesome.

We never quite finish my the list and I can feel that I’m getting to the end of my “go” where those things are concerned, I know I need a break. But a good chunk has been completed, including improvements on my tapestry loom, last bit tomorrow I hope. Bushes moved, that kinda thing, the house will be pretty orderly come Monday = room to play again. And there’s a reasonable view of what still needs to be done. Focus!

Today, just a few colour bombs for you all. Pretending this is indeed the first day of spring, not just on the calendar.

I thought I’d do little snippets and teasers here until I have time to talk to you again, but then I realized most of my wips have already been presented. So there will be limited entertainment until I can finish my drafts! Here’s a purple spacedyed warp that I was asked to show. More on the project later. I think I expected a bit more indigo, but that’s how it goes when you just wing it.

Going batty

Tags

colour, fiber friday, funyarn, purple, wool

I made G put the driveband on my drumcarder before he left for the day, so I could blend some fibers for my current funyarn project, just a batch of purples that I got out a while ago and never blended. Meant to do it on the hackle – but that requires 2 thumbs as well; I’m beginning to see why dolphins never had an industrial revolution. Apart from being too clever of course. And yes, I’m still p***ed about my thumb progress which has been going backwards this past week – are you all bored to pieces hearing about it? <G> Perhaps I should challenge myself not to speak of it again until it’s completely healed….

Stephen Pressfield has an interesting take on why we get these clumsy injuries – I have to say, it certainly fits well with some of my posts! “Things” always seem to happen “to” me just when I think I’m on a roll, cruising along with the wind in my back, thinking I’ve finally found the sweet spot. Interesting.

Anyway, After carding the two batts for the project, I wanted more. Before I knew it, a couple of hours had passed and I’d been adding all sorts of silly things. When I ran out of obvious leftover bits of top, I got my fluff box (combing waste) out and ran a few chunks through the carder willynilly. I know it’s going to be neppy and tricky to spin, but hey, learning experience, right? Yarn that doesn’t hold up well because of short fibers can be felted…

I’ve wanted to make tweed yarn forever, I even have a bag of undyed silk noil sitting somewhere just for that. So that’s another future project for the carder. I thought perhaps I could use the fluff for tweed nepps first, with some long fiber like Shetland for instance? Right now, however, I need to spin some as part of my attempt at a structured work and study routine. And paint if I can find uninterrupted time, which I need for that. I still don’t know what’s happening with my desire to blog differently, so in the meantime I’ll just blather as usual.

Purple or blue?

Tags

natural dyeing, purple, wool

I needed a bit of blue to conclude my goldenrod chapter as well as testing if Dylon Color Run Remover works the same as our local brand which was more expensive.

My Japanese indigo is still growing new leaves and left me with a harvest of 90 g leaves to 40 g of yarn including half the rose coloured cochineal hank from Friday and samples from the other two, so I thought I was good to go. Only I must have heated it too long or something, because I could not change the colour of the dyebath after adding soda, so I didn’t bother trying to reduce it.

So I went and looked at my overgrown ex vegetable garden and luckily the woad is still growing abundantly too. I think I’ll stick with it, much lower maintenance as it takes care of itself in our climate, and much easier to extract.

And this is what I got from one 30 min. dip.

Rosafarvet cochenille overfarvet med vaid.

Meningen var egentlig at bruge japansk indigo, men jeg kunne ikke få badet til at skifte farve. Da den samtidig er sværere at dyrke, og vaid bare passer sig selv på en brakmark i vores klima, så tror jeg bare jeg holder mig til sidstnævnte i fremtiden, den har været nem at følge proceduren med hver gang.