Meanderings - Kate Robertson
Monday, 11 July 2005
Back to the Real World
I just spent a lovely weekend at one of our guild members home on the Palisades Reservoir. There were lots of classes but I just wanted to spin so that is what I did.
The food was great. I do not generally like pork and I had pretty much given it up but oh this was good stuff. The best pork dish I have ever tasted. Yummm.
People were weaving on Tri-looms, trying out needle felting a picture, making baskets, core spinning, lace knitting and more. Get togethers like these are always great since you get to share and learn so much more than you do on your own.
I managed to spin some spaced dyed mohair roving and navaho ply it. I made a practice skein of mohair boucle, before I tackle the good mohair I have. I spun and plied 2 more bobbins of the beige fleece. Then I brought a long a little basket of combed shetland from my Ewe Gabrielle and spun and plied that. Oh it is so pretty. I think I will knit a lace swatch out of it. Its a small skein. Then I will decide if I want to comb more for this purpose.
I have picked up an UFO and hope to finish and sent out to its receipent. Its a Feather and Fan scarf, Its's half done, so If I just stick with it I can finish. I can manage this lace pattern.
I got the yarn for the Tartan sample I am weaving for the Scottish Group in Caldwell ID. I put a 2.5" sample on to test the sett. I first tried 20 epi and that is too loose, the yarn is packing in too easily. I am going to reset it at 30 and then see where we are. I am using singles wool from Pendelton. I am glad I decided to do a little sample first. That sure is a time saver.
Thursday, 7 July 2005
These bloomed today. lovely huh!
Its nice to see some beauty in the world after all the carnage in London. It is so sad. I was there this time last summer and have been to those tube stations. It brought it all close to home.
Plus today I found out that friend Cat Marler died this morning. I knew it was coming but it is still very hard to take. I hate cancer...
Here are the green skeins I dyed last week.
Here is flynn stalking a toy!
And Eowyn aka hot dog's favorite spot
I should be able to finish the tartan warp tonight. I have about 16" to weave. That will feel good. I haven't finished anything in a long time.
Friday, 1 July 2005
I seem to be suffering from Menopause and menstruation at the same time. This is not fun... I am having a particularly crampy period plus insomnia.
Headed to town and found these:
only .99 what a steal. I bought 2 pairs. You can't have enough little scissors if you ask me.
I took my Baby Wolf Outside yesterday and wove on the patio. Now that was pleasant. It looks nice here.
My other finds at the craft store, embellishment items on sale 40% off ribbons and tags.
Then there is the clock vellum paper. Not sure what I will do with this but it looked neat.
This is where I like to take a little break when I can.
I think the hammock might be calling to me...
Thursday, 30 June 2005
Organizing once more
I decided that perhaps it was time to pick up all the naturally dyed fleece off the floor. So I went through all the totes looking for storage room. I consolidated some things and made room for more. Of course when you do that you always find something you forgot about and more. I found 2 bags of skirtings from a 9 Bar Below fleece that are nice stuff. I started flicking open the locks last night so I will card it today and maybe take it to retreat to spin.
I found all these wonderful Shetland fleeces from my flock and wow they are nice. Yes I knew I had them all packed away but touching and playing with them all again brings it more to the forefront. I think its time to spin one up and make something. Some of the silver would make a lovely shawl. I think after I am done dyeing all these tapestry yarn fleeces I might start dyeing some small amounts of Shetland for a future fair isle sweater. Dum d dum ....... Oh no not another project.
I just took the dog for a walk along the canal here. There were some Canadian geese swimming along as we walked. It was not too hot yet, really quite pleasant. My sciata did not hurt at all. That was great.
The last round of Natural Dyed Fleece. brazilwood(pink) alkanet (brown) madder(orange). This pic is a little dark the colors are much lighter.
Still plugging away on this warp.
Wednesday, 29 June 2005
Summers Back
Now Playing: Andreas Volleinweider - Down to the Moon
It was so flipping cold yesterday. It got up to 60 I think. Its hard to believe since the rest if the country is sweltering in the heat. Today the sun is out we have a few clouds but a beautiful blue sky is peering through. It is supposed to be 75, now that is better.
I have been weaving on the tartan towels and it is hard to believe that I only have 17 inches to show for my efforts. I guess it is the fine thread. I feels like that black hole that Birch( the shawl) seems to be sucking everyone else into has appeared on my loom.
My sciata is still killing me, it sure would be nice to walk pain free. I fell like an 80 year old woman sometime..its sucks..
I have taken the red shawl apart again. This time it was a dropped stitch. I sometimes wish I thought lace was ugly and then I would not want to make it so badly.
I still want to do Birch thanks to the Harlot and Judy you too are to blame. I checked out our only yarn shop and discovered that they had a kid silk haze equivalent but I did not like any of the colors. I keep perusing all my handspun yarns but everything I thank would be great turns out not to have enough yardage. bummmer.... I don't want to spin something new, I want yarn and needles right now and I want to make this thing now and I want to have no problems making it either. Now is that too much to ask the universe... come on really... its a simple thing.
Monday, 27 June 2005
Relay for LIfe
Well our team the Twisted Sister managed to raise 2200. which wasn't too bad with only a couple weeks at it. A good time was had by all even though we are all pretty sore and tired.
I only have one picture since my camera screwed up. Here is a pick of Bethe Marler, Cat's daughter along with CJ. Bethe joined our team and stayed the whole night. It was great to get to know her. The neatest thing to see at relay is when the luminaries are lit. The entire track was lit with a circle of light. Quite a beautiful site.
I spent yesterday working on the Landscape Shawl. I think I TINK'd more than I knit. Carded more of the honey colored fleece and spun 2 bobbins of it. I plied one so far.
I am weaving on the Tartan warp today. I have agreed to do the Tartan sample for a Scottish Group so I need to get my looms emptied.
Oh here is a pic of that cute little coffee grinder I talked about before. You'll have to agree how cute it is.
I ended up using it to grind up cochineal and cutch. It worked great. I have to get some weaving done before I go back to dyeing. I had better get working.
Wednesday, 22 June 2005
Summer Solstice
Mood:
cool
Wow it was just a simple thing but I have had the most fun last night. I decided that I wanted to celebrate the Summer Solstice this year with a bonfire. I invited a couple friends and everyone said oh its a work night or had other plans but at the end my girl fiend Gari came and it was so much fun. I am going to try and get a group together to do this in a bigger way next year.
I lit a fire in our big barbecue pit and it was quite windy at first and then settled down nicely. We sat at fire, drinking a beer just enjoying the ambiance. It was so nice being outdoors after dark. I don't do that nearly enough. After the wind died down it was warm and pleasant to just enjoy being alive. We also sat on the hammock and talked about our lives and where we want them to be the next year and so forth. The moon was beautiful so we did our little dance in the yard and added a howl or two for good measure. Its amazing how fun that is.
My summer goal has been to spend time outside, to enjoy more of what nature has to offer and now on need to add some evening time as last night was so pleasing.
The dyeing continues I did some Madder and Indigo. I over dyed some cochineal and osage orange with Indigo to get a lovely purple and green. That was fun so I will be doing more. At the rate I am going I may run out of fleece. right.........
I picked up the red shawl from the FiberTrends pattern and could not figure what row I was on so I started it over again. Its progressing nicely.
Monday, 20 June 2005
Dyeing and the Summer Solstice
Mood:
chatty
Here are my results from dyeing this weekend
All dyed with black walnut on white fleece, grey and black fleece. I love the results.
The dark pink came out of a cochineal bath, when i put it in an afterbath of ammonia it stripped all the color, I guess I had the wrong kind of ammonia
Yellow from Osage orange. I am going to overdye this in an Indigo pot. It is actually more bright yellow than this shows.
Here are the Rug wool skeins I dyed. The green is darker but I wanted forest so I think I need to overdye and come up with some other shades of green. The blues to the right are a deep teal. This old camera has problems with color. Tomorrow I will tackle some Indigo.
Oh and here is Flynn looking cute now that he doesn't smell like a skunk.
The summer solstice officially start at 12:36 MDT. I had planned to have a bonfire and dance around the yard, howl at the moon and all that jazz but that is for tomorrow night. I have also heard a nice way to celebrate is to watch the sunrise. That would be more fun with a group...maybe I'll set my alarm. till tomorrow...
Saturday, 18 June 2005
Natural dyes, Joy of fleece
Natural Dyeing.It seemed like a good idea. I was out looking for a mortar and pestal to grind the cochineal. I could not find one anywhere. I was in a dollar store and I saw a pepper mill and thought, Why wouldn't that work. So I tried it and it worked a bit at first and then just died. Too cheap I guess. Then I asked Dave where he got this little cute coffee grinder he has. You may think how can a coffee grinder be cute but it is small and petite and cute in a strange sort of way. Anyways I digress for my story.. It turns out he bought 2 so I have the other one and it works fantastic.
Now I have done natural dyeing at guild events and retreats but never on my own. Well I mordanted some wool last night but neglected to soak the osage orange and cochineal so now I wait another day. I did decide to try the walnut and it is coming out a nice tan shade. I was thinking man chemical dyeing is sure quicker. Or maybe if I were more organized it would go smoother. I ran out of buckets. I decided to call my good buddy Amy to borrow her dyepots. So now I have 2 more set up. She also has some natural dyes given to her by a mutual friend that she has never used so I now have logwood, brazilwood, cutch, mullein, Indian paintbrush, and something called Kota which I have no clue what it is. So I guess I will play some more in the next few weeks.
Fleeces are so much funI went in the backroom only to smell a strong cat urine smell and thought, Oh I have to wash this floor and clean up, which led to looking in crates and finding fleeces and more. So now I have about a lb of indigo dyed fleece and 2 other that I am flicking and carding. Working with fleece is so great I feel sorry for those spinners who just do roving, they miss so much
The blue fleece
A pile of it ready for the carder
A Romney cross in an interesting shade
Ready for carding, it is so light and fluffy
Last but not least of lock from a Romney fleece waiting its turn to be flicked and carded.
I also dyed some of the rug wool but pics will have to wait. The family took the easy to use digital camera with them. So I am using the old one which involves taking the floppy disk out, loading onto another computer and then coping to a jump drive and downloading here. That needs to wait until I have more than 1 picture. Maybe after dyeing tommorow. I have this Pendelton wool selvedge for a rug that I thought I might dye, its white and I tried a sample in the pot. Ineresting to find that the whole thing is not wool. It looks like a cotton warp since it did not dye in the pot at all. Looks like I will have to use a fiber reactive dye in order to dye the whole thing.
Friday, 17 June 2005
They're Gone
Well the troops left right on schedule at 8 am with Sarah driving. That makes me nervous in itself. I am working on just letting go and trust that everything will be fine.
The teenage daughter and husband are off on a trip to Michigan, to take her to Michigan Technological Universities Women in Engineering Program, and to visit relatives. I decided to stay home, take care of the animals and just enjoy the solitude. I am looking forward to a very productive time.
It was still hard to see them go though...
It seems I have spent the last few days helping the kid get ready for things. It seems for the past week there has been something wrong somewhere. We had both car and truck in shop. Then Dave took my car in to get the tires rotated and found he needed new tires so we had to get them. Then it was get the irrigation setup to water garden and pasture. Then the shower thingy on tub broke again. Well last night after Dave was already asleep I found that the dishwasher has been leaking in the basement. There was no time to fix before they left. So I will have to wash my own dished. Hopefully that is the end of all this.
I have almost all the red Romney plied. Then I may over dye it since its a strange shade of red that I really don't like.
Then its back to the dyepot for me. I am going to dye some small amounts of fleece for tapestry so I need to do some figuring out for that and also start dyeing rug yarn. I want to make a rug with lots of color, so I need to start planning that.
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