Fine Craft

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It’s time for planting garlic, harvesting root vegetables, and brewing up the dyes from summer harvests.  I harvested my weld in June and again in July when we were home briefly, then left it to dry in Bob’s workshop.  This weekend I made the dye solution at a friend’s house.  She mixed up more colors of ProChem acid dyes than I could count!  Three of us had a great time painting skeins of handspun and commercial wool yarns and sock blanks! 

Between gathering in the herbs from the season and making dye, I feel a bit of bewitching power!  Look out!

 

My skeins drying in the garden

 

 

 

 

 

The acid dyed skeins and one sock blank skeined double. Colors used in these skeins are “bright red,”  “cranberry,”      “maple sugar,”
“mustard,”
“saffron,” “moss green.” These are unknown skeins from KnitPicks, possibly “Palette,” and a Knit Picks sock blank of superwash wool/nylon.

Both skeins dyed with weld, with one skein handpainted with “saffron” and “mustard.”  Sadly, you cannot see what a lovely pear green the weld made.  I love it! Both skeins are “Texas” by Henry’s Attic (50% wool, 50% mohair)

Last (and least in my mind), blues, violets and charcoal. This is another unknown Knit Picks skein with a lovely twist.  Merino? It’s fingering weight, about 400 yds per 100 grams.

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I certainly didn’t mean to take a two-month hiatus from blogging, but that’s what happened.  My ancient desktop computer has given up its spirit, and I’ve been using a couple of hand-me-down laptops with software that was not compatible or conducive to posting here.  I’ve missed posting…

Work on the Archie Brennan Project has continued even though I have not been able to post updates over at that website either.  Things are going well, but I’ve had no way to share info!

It’s glorious autumn here in NJ, and I’ve got a busy schedule of weaving.  It’s been great to reconnect with my community of weaving friends after being away so long this summer… seeing the Wednesday Group again, seeing Susan and Archie’s tremendous body of work on display at GAGA in Garnerville, starting a couple of new classes, and reconnecting with my weaving guild and knitting group!  I am taking a bobbin lace class each week, and once a month I travel up to Carmel to learn the techniques of making a Nantucket lightship basket.  All good!

These are tapestry bobbins I ordered from John Moss last June that were shipped to Archie and Susan in NY, so I couldn’t get them until returning from sailing!  Aren’t they beautiful? John does wonderful work.  The two outside bobbins are figured maple.  Can you see the iridescence in the grain?  The second on the left is Osage Orange and the third is Jatoba, also called Brazilian Cherry. It’s wonderful to use beautiful, well made tools!

Rob and Lauren’s placemats.  This is a monk’s belt design from Jean Scorgie’s magazine “Weaver’s Craft” which was a proejct for a small woven handbag.  I did these in 16/2 black cotton with wetspun 8/1 linen for the pattern weft.  The colors are all beachy blues and greens, and there are two of each colorway for a total of eight.  They celebrated their 2nd anniversary in August, which is the traditional ‘cotton’ anniversary.  The warp and tabby weft are cotton, but I couldn’t resist using the lustrous wetspun linen for the pattern!

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I’ve been in some lovely places lately, not weaving! I missed opportunities to weave in the Mystic River, on Cuttyhunk in the chain of Elisabeth Islands, and in Tashmoo Lake on Martha’s Vineyard. I can’t explain why I haven’t been weaving as the days pass. Hopefully I’ll remedy that tomorrow while we sit in Vineyard Haven.

View from the high point on Cuttyhunk.  The church steeple is a United Methodist church, but the list of multi-demoninational services available only mention RC and Episcopal!.. not even a Methodist service!

                                                                               

The 4th of July parade in which everyone decorates their golf carts (the main vehicle on the island) and drives through the island throwing candy at spectators!

 

In the interim I have been spending some frustrating time fiddling with wifi on our boat with a cell booster a the top of the mast for connection. Nothing is ever as simple as advertised, and as I write I am not connected. I am just making a word document!

And I am attempting to learn to crochet. Actually, I know several crochet stitches and have managed to make trim for my knitted items over the past few decades, but I have never made a crocheted piece. When I visited WEBS in May, I was smitten with the crocheted market bag (made from 8/2 linen), which is finished with a lovely leather handle from Homestead Heirlooms (also now available at WEBS). I chose a dark aubergine leather handle. I am determined to learn this! Thank heaven for the internet because during the brief moments when I had access to it I managed to watch a video on how to do a “Half Double Crochet” as well as how to do a “Back Post Half Double Crochet.” It sure is hard to recognize when I’ve come to the end of a round (would new knitters say this too?), so I’m trying to use a marker to keep me on track. I’m forging ahead….but slowly.  I’m not sure that crochet will ever feel natural…

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The glorious days of summer are here!  I’m spending a quiet week at home enjoying the things I cannot do on a boat!

The gardens are looking great this year, with little input from me.  It’s been perfect weather to sit outside until the past couple of days when the heat drove me indoors and made me turn on the AC.

Our sailing grounds have moved to Eastern Long Island Sound now, but I did not weave on our last trip.  We had guests on board so there was little room for my loom.  Instead I did some crocheting and drop spindling.  We visited the newly built Ocean House in Watch Hill, RI, which is certainly as spectacular as the original structure must have been 100 years ago.

Now I am home alone for a few days, finally using the Toika that I bought from my friend about two years ago! This project will be a set of placemats for my older son and his wife.  The loom needed a lot of tweaking, at least for this old girl who is only familiar with jack looms!  I might be a bit old for learning new tricks, but with Sr. Bianca’s help, I think I’ve got the loom in great working condition now!  I’m a convert to countermarche!

5/2 merc. cotton warp with 8/1 linen tow weft in lots of beachy blue/green colors.  Each set of two will be slightly different, for a total of 8 placemats. The reverse side is quite nice too.  This pattern is from Jean Scorgie’s “Weaver’s Craft” issue 16, Monk’s Belt.

I’m working on the Archie project too and hope to have a new blog post there soon!

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The first dot on the map may be the most interesting!

Bonnie Tarses will be weaving in western Montana, at Flathead Reservation, in a bucolic spot called “The Garden of 1000 Buddhas.”  Through the internet I found this description from a Montana newspaper:

“Visualize a 10-acre garden with a thousand Buddhas to inspire visitors of all faiths to reflect on peace and find compassion and happiness within themselves.”

And now visualize Big Sky country, a peaceful garden for contemplation, and your loom at your side!  Does it get any better than this? The Dalai Lama plans to visit the completed garden in 2011.