A silent Sunday

Tags

seasons, snow, winter

White

Tags

frost, horses, pony, seasons, snow, video, winter

I’ve long been waiting to do some overexposed snow photos, but when we finally had two whole days of the stuff, the flesh just wasn’t willing and with that goes my creativity. The costochondritis aspires to yet higher levels of pain whenever I think I can move around like any other person. Or just out of spite even when I don’t.

Nevertheless, I did promise you a wind free video and this is how long it took me to have another go, so my technical skills haven’t exactly improved yet. 😉 It’s not very interesting, but I felt that just photos were lacking that delightful squeak and crunch of frosty new snow.

A tiny frost

Tags

frost, snow, weather, winter

Just visiting for a few days before the gloom and rain descends on us again. Forecast says snow tonight, so if I’m lucky perhaps a little photosession tomorrow before it’s gone.

It’s dawn just now, lovely pinks (and me in my jammies, not going out!) and somebody is shooting heavy fireworks nearby, nothing to see, just boom, crack, bang. Geez people! At least the dog won’t be terrified this time.

More snow dyeing

Tags

colour, colourways, fiber friday, fun, play, snow, winter, wool, zitron

I promised I’d do one more skein, so here goes:

Look, it’s all tied up! Cotton, so no, I hope it won’t bleed. It’s what I had. Because I was too impatient to go searching. And remember, I was supposed to be doing something else, something USEFUL, like?

Didn’t I mention using less powder? A light sprinkle? Well, don’t apply it outside on a windy day, then. Also don’t think you can remember which cup is which when you’ve mixed 2 different shades that look exactly the same in the powder.

But hey, I kept off the greens, pink and yellow. Some progress at least.

The previous two skeins, all untangled and rewound. The first one I’m ok with, the second not so much.

So I dunked it in a ½% solution of blue, and now I’m happy. Also in the nick of time with this experiment it seems, no more snow!

Fiber Friday next week will be spinning – I hope.

Snefarvning 2

Mit sidste snefarvningseksperiment gik også lidt i vasken, jeg huskede at binde feddet men lagde ikke mærke til at det blæste = ikke særlig smart når man skal strø pulver. Så der blev brugt rigeligt.

Af de to første fed var jeg ikke så glad for det ene, så det fik en tur i en blå gryde og det var meget bedre.

Jeg har besluttet at det nemmeste er at dampe garnet, så ikke farverne render sammen, jeg har ved andre lejligheder kunnet fiksere farven lynhurtigt ved at nedsænke i meget varmt vand, men det virkede ikke rigtig her.

My inner hippie

Tags

ashford, colour, colourways, creativity, dyeing, easter, fiber friday, fun, play, silly, snow, sock yarn, winter, zitron

Snow dyeing is a bit like tie-dyeing, only more unpredictable. But groovy. And in this case, very loud. At least to begin with! I hadn’t planned the colours before I got started, which tends to result in too many of them.

I thought I’d used very little powder, being careful to keep the areas separate, but as you can see throughout the process, it was more than ample. I’d love to try to mix the powders beforehand (for special colours) and apply them to the snow with a small sieve, just a light sprinkle to get spotted yarn. I haven’t got one however. I may try – something. Just one more skein, since the white fluff isn’t going to evaporate this month apparently.

So what happened here?

1 – I know this yarn needs to be tied, and Every. Single. Time I think – “nah, it’ll be ok.” I must love detangling. I do know why I don’t tie it – it’s because I hate it when my figure-8s are too tight, leaving little white bands on the yarn. But, really – learn to do your ties properly.

2 – So I also do know my colour wheel and which colours = mud. As long as you keep them separate, fine, and a teeny bit of blending just mutes them, also fine. What I did think but did not listen to, is “let the yarn drip dry before you attempt to set the dye“. It’s been soaked with melted snow, it’s overflowing. A bit of a squeeze isn’t enough. What happens when you lie it inna heap in the sink? The overflow blends. Guess then what. And yes, I do have a strainer. In fact I have 3. This also goes if you want to wrap your yarn in plastic and steam it. Let it drip dry first. OK? Preferably stretched out horisontally, like, leave it on the rack for instance?

3 – Bubbles and steam does not mean your water is near boiling, in fact it’s only about 65 C. Not enough to shock set your dye. = Muddy water. Flush and repeat. Get your bleedin’ thermometer out.

4 – Do this part of the process when you’re NOT supposed to be doing something else and so feeling guilty and in a bit of a hurry. Resist instant gratification. Surely it can’t be that hard.

I suggest you read some tutorials if you haven’t done this before. I never do until I’ve tried and screwed up at least once, usually twice or more. By which time I’ve usually got it figured out. I guess I have more fun that way, even though I get slightly odd results in the process.

And if you do like muted or mudcoloured yarn – do what I did, not what I said. 😉

Hippie-farvning

Jeg skulle liiiige prøve noget snefarvning nu vi fik et ekstra hvidt drys, og ja, det er sjovt fordi det er ret uforudsigeligt. Især når man kvajer sig undervejs. 😉 Jeg har en tendens til at først læse manualer og tutorials når jeg har forsøgt mig mindst én gang, gerne flere. Og så har jeg som regel hittet ud af det undervejs. Det er åbenbart sjovere end at få et perfekt resultat med det samme?

Opsummering af min engelske fristil ovenfor er:

1. Brug meget mindre farvepulver end du tror du skal. 2. Lad garnet dryptørre grundigt inden du smider det i en gryde kogende vand eller plastwrap til dampning, der er RIGTIG meget overskudsvæske i fra sneen, og den blander sig til brun, hvis man bare lægger garnet i en bunke i håndvasken. OGSÅ selvom man trykker noget af vandet ud. 3. Mål vandets temperatur inden du putter garnet i, det er ikke ved at koge når der er damp og bobler, det er kun ca. 65 grader og det trækker endnu mere brunt ud af garnet.

Det smarteste er naturligvis at vælge farver som ikke mudrer, det ved jeg udmærket godt hvordan, men når ikke jeg har lagt planer på forskud tænker jeg altid, at det går nok lige. Jeg binder heller ikke feddet op, selvom jeg også ved at dette garn har brug for det, fordi der stort set ingenting er til at holde på det fra fabrikantens side. Jeg ved bare at jeg bliver sur hvis jeg så binder for stramt og får hvide bånd på garnet. Say no more…

Tålmodighed er en dyd jeg ikke har så meget af…. Nu kan jeg så bruge x antal timer på at vikle skidtet ud!

Activity?

Tags

blogging, colour, creativity, dog, dogwalk, forest, intention, knitting, reading, snow, spinning, winter, wool, yarn

So I promised this would be knit-week and then I haven’t had any more show and tell here. Such is life. I did knit, but not as much as I hoped. To prove that I have indeed been doing something, I’ll share my tada! list with you:

1. Got the plant dyed yarns out and started on the first planned project – using the oldest ones since the new ones really should sit until next year so I can see how much they fade in storage.
2. Finished priming one of my homemade sketchbooks, working away on the others, one 2/3 done, one just started.
3. Started doodling in the sketchbook.
4. Did some painting 2 days in a row even.
5. Read some books, some nonfiction as well as “The Sunne in Splendour” by Sharon Perman
6. Walked the dog in the forest quite a lot, as per request. AND tested the pocket camera I was given.
7. Started spinning some fiber I dyed last summer, just recreational spinning, no project in mind. Another one lined up for a challenge.
8. Made a few stencils out of laser transparencies which I was given a whole package of (100). The circular cutter came in handy among other things!
9. Baked swedish buns “rågsiktskakor”. Yum.
10. Woven almost half of the ends on my sweater dress and wore it.
11. Decluttered my desk.
12. Found a foam block and the fiber that I wanted for some needlefelting.

Aktiviteter

Jeg havde jo lovet at holde strikkeuge, men det er ikke meget jeg har fået rapporteret her. Jeg har strikket en smule, men ikke så meget som planlagt. Så nu vil jeg i stedet kede jer med ugens tada! liste, ikke at jeg holder op i weekenderne, men jeg trænger til at lige huske hvad jeg egentlig har nået.

1. Rodet lidt i mit plantefarvede garn, taget et par nøgler frem til mit første planlagte projekt og strikket nogen prøver.
2. Færdig med at grunde den ene af mine hjemmekogte notesbøger, 2 mere på vej.
3. Skriblet en smule i bogen.
4. Malet en smule, endda 2 dage i træk.
5. Læst et par fagbøger færdig og et par romaner, “The Sunne in Splendour” af Sharon Perman og “Taxo Luma” af Lars Muhl (meh).
6. Taget på hundeture i skoven og testede det brugte lommekamera jeg har fået.
7. Begyndt at spinde noget BFL jeg farvede i sommer, ikke med noget særligt formål, bare afslapning. Og fundet mere uld frem til en udfordring på Ravelry.
8. Kreeret skabeloner af overhead folie som jeg fik forærende, cirkelkniven kom lige til god anvendelse igen.
9. Bagt svenske “rågsiktskakor”.
10. Syet nogen af enderne på min sweater, damn det er kedeligt….
11. Ryddet op på mit skrivebord.
12. Fandt en skumblok og de fibre jeg vil bruge til mit første nålefilteprojekt.

No yarn

Tags

high key, Photoshop, snow, trees, white, winter

The weather is too dark and dreary to be taking photos today, so you’ll have to wait a while for the first dye results I promised.

Instead I stumbled across an old photo, it was scanned from a negative many years ago when internet connections were much slower and hard drives a lot smaller, so I don’t have these images any larger.

I never could decide which version I liked the best, how about you? (maybe you don’t like them – that’s ok too)

I have so many negatives, so even if I can’t afford a new camera house when my current fails (hoping not to jinx it here, it’s definitely a senior), I do have image material enough to last me a lifetime of play in Photoshop. I just know I’d miss the thrill of the click…. 😉