PROGRESS REPORT 32

A L I S A

I've been working on this great shawl called Sea glass. It's been a great carry around project of join-as-you-go crochet motifs. The best is that Kelbourne Woolens declared this summer Crochet Summer 2015 and there have been some amazing projects tagged. I used a very fun multi-coloured yarn and, as I usually do, ran out of yarn just in time for the border. This happens to me a lot and I really like that it does. It gives me a chance to get creative and add a fun new colour or texture element. This time, I'm using some fun hand-dyed yellow yarn that I had in my stash to finish it off! It's the perfect fall colours and I can't wait to give it a bath and wear it!

J E N N E

Merino, spun woolen, feels like spiderwoman spinning chewing gum so fine.  Its really my favorite way to spin wool, the ease of pulling the wool into place, letting it fill the twist as it will.  4 bobbins full to ply and then dye in a rudbeckia bath, then to overdye some of it in indigo as a test.  

PROGRESS REPORT 25

A L I S A

Yesterday I went on a little outing with my little knitting/crochet group. We went to this very nice store called Camilla Valley Farms. It's an amazing little store in an outbuilding on a farm about 45 minutes away from where I live. The two best things about it are that they carry every colour of Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift - looking at that wall inspired me to pick up some yarn for a cardigan that I fell in love with. The pattern is beautiful and kind of different that what I usually make. I don't want to post a picture yet… I'll post my progress. The second amazing thing is that they are a weaving supply place and, holy moly, I'll be returning soon! I wish I could teleport Jenne here to visit the shop with me!

J E N N E

Sometimes it is like a domino run, one craft bumps into another craft, start working on a project and hey, I want to do this to use it in that.  After the halloween costume making hurricane that consumed my studio last week, I did a big clean up and picked up one of my spindles and felt like spinning again.  I found this electric pink roving that I had put in the sell/trade bin now it makes all the sense with the technicolor palette I am weaving now and started to spin it up.  I am rusty.  I dropped my spindle a lot.  But I spun enough to realize that its going to be my morning ritual - waking up early making tea and spinning for a half an hour before everyone is up.  Making the yarn I want.  Maybe to get to a goal of 100% handspun for weaving.  Slowly, with little steps.

PROGRESS REPORT 19

J E N N E

Finish what you start...9 years later.  I handspun the green and pink and white yarn in 2004, and started this little sweater for a little girl who just started 6th grade this year.  Ahem.  I have made Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket many times in the past, but in this one I lost track of where I was and it sat in a box for a very long time.  Lately I have been super busy with the daily tasks of life and not able to do anything in the studio at all, save for pick up on projects that I can work on where I could figure out where I left off and work on around my daughter.  With a little improvising I finished this sweater which is more like a short sleeved vest now for my daughter (yes, the intended recipient is in 6th grade!)  but I feel really good about at least getting this project off the needles.  Finish what you start.  To celebrate I started a few little felt strawberries that M is going to help with "do the stuffin's" and little leaves on top.

A L I S A

I spent a whole week last month at the Haliburton School of the Arts.  This year was all about spinning silk, exotics (camelids, pet, bunny, etc.) AND dyeing with indigo. Learning about indigo blew my mind! It is the dye that has THE most superstitions, secrets, mystery and value (historically) in all the world in all time. I guess I'm including woad in this factoid too… So, my class cooked up 7 different indigo vats. My partner and I had some trouble with our vat at the outset - it wasn't blooming and the PH was really off. We decided to try it anyhow and it worked so well. I've worked with indigo before minimally, but after this class I can totally appreciate the magic and mystery surrounding indigo dyeing because it IS magic! In Japanese culture, a kimono is often dipped first as a symbol of good luck. So, I dipped a paper kimono in my vat - perhaps that's why it worked???

PROJECT REPORT 7 - Circular Weaving

J E N N E

Still working on this one. Wrapping warp as groups is working really well towards the center of the circle.  I used embroidery thread for some of the weft and it so shiny compared to the wool - a nice contrast I want to play with more, maybe more in a monochromatic approach with the same color with a texture from using different fibers.

A L I S A

I haven't had much time to work on this piece, as I've been getting ready for school. I am excited to get back to it though. I'm really enjoying playing with adding warp as I go. I'm contemplating what to do around the edge of the hoop. I've noticed that I've warped in two different ways, one is quite visible and the other isn't. I'm ok with it, but wish I had of been consistent. This just means that I may have to add something around the edges, perhaps wrapping hand-spun to cover the inner wooden hoop, then framing it with the outer hoop. We shall see...

PROGRESS REPORT 17

J E N N E

Sashiko has become the work of the summer. I spent a week working on clothing for my daughter and I decided to make a dress with sashiko stitching on the bodice. With sewing you have transformative powers in your hands, in your needle and thread.  You don't have to follow a pattern to the letter or use the fabric as is.  I have been trying to use up everything in my fabric stash and in this case made a new fabric out of a cut of denim that honestly doesn't match the rest of the pieces of the dress. (Look carefully at the skirt fabric, its more teal and the back has darker pieces.  Maybe only I can see it, I spent years scrutinizing shades of color in my last job and years of printing color in the darkroom)  Add handstitching, or block printing, or any sort of surface design is a way to make something imperfect more imperfectly perfect - a sort of wabi sabi magic that I am completely embracing right now.

A L I S A

I've been taking this six year long course through the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners Guild in hand-spinning. It runs for 10 days a year in a beautiful place called Haliburton at a beautiful school up there. It is much more than hand-spinning though. I've been learning all about the properties of fibre, both natural and synthetic dyeing techniques, construction techniques and, of course, all aspects of spinning on a wheel. I'm going into my fourth year this year and I'm finishing up some homework. Homework for this course is pretty intense and very specific. The planning portion for each project is much more in-depth than anything I would do for work outside of school. This picture represents a fair amount of hours of work in fleece selection, spinning, weaving and crochet. It's going to be an angora goat puppet! I will post more pictures here as I progress….

PROGRESS REPORT 16

A L I S A

Last Progress Report I was about to ply up some yarn that had been on my bobbins for a while. I am using up a bunch of hand-dyed braids that I had in my stash. I really love the outcome. the colours didn't match up as well as I though they would, which makes sense as I'm just working by eye and not being super careful about weighing out roving. I really love this skein and I'm ready to spin up and ply the rest. Firstly, I HAVE to work on my final project for school (which is due mid-August - YIKES). My excuse of not having any empty bobbins no longer holds...

J E N N E

I AM CRAZY FOR SASHIKO!  After making the pillow, I wanted to experiment with drawing the patterns to be able to change the scale and also to experiment with different fabrics.  The polka dot seemed like a natural pattern already to play with some freehand stitches.  I found a book at the library in japanese that has pictures of how to draw out on a grid any traditional pattern at any scale and have been practicing on paper.  The denim piece is a sampler for two garments I am making - testing out the scale and the thread.  I am working on a dress for M to try out sashiko and garment construction, and hopefully it will work well so I can also do stitching on a larger scale.

PROGRESS REPORT 15

A L I S A

I've decided to use up all my stash before I purchase anything new. I also have a (newish) rule to only purchase enough stuff to make a whole project because, when I first started spinning, I would buy a bit here and a bit there… so, I have all these bits laying around and decided to put them together to make enough yarn for a sweater. I have four different colourways of some nice merino and I'm spinning them to create a yarn with very long colour repeats. I have two brights with neutrals between. I'm ready to ply up a skein to see how it looks - I'm sure it will be fine because I like things a little kooky anyways!

J E N N E

Trying out new stitches and techniques is fun, but what to do with the samplers when done?   Make pillows of course!  On the left is a sashiko embroidered pattern (a preprinted pattern from Olympus.)  I loved making this piece - it was a sort of a test for sashiko that I want to incorporate into other sewing  projects.  Its different from the embroidery that I did for the Alabama Chanin inspired dress - though the running stitch is the same in sashiko its approached as an allover pattern vs. embroidering motifs into a pattern as you go.  The right is the completed Nigerian reverse applique piece which has such a rad 3D quality to it.   Quilted stained glass.  I am having a lot of fun learning these techniques - and have figured out a way to possibly a very exciting project combining them.  

PROGRESS REPORT 4

A L I S A

This is the yarn I spun from the rolags I made on my blending board. It was fun to spin because of the different fibres I used. I had so much fun with it, I can't wait to use the board more! I'm not sure what I'm going to make out of them, perhaps I'll use them in my weavings...

J E N N E

Continued experiments on the loom.  I started with using the warp yarns as the weft and then could not help but grab any yarn /thread /string /wool /piece of fabric within arm's reach to try out.  The super winner wefts are DENIM SCRAPS.  Its like unicorn rainbow denim clouds (sixth grade fantasy especially the part where the warp is orange and yellow.)  Did a little research and there is a whole other Japanese technique/style of weaving called Sakiori in which denim scraps are rewoven into fabric thats made into kimonos, obis, anything really.  

PROGRESS REPORT 3

A L I S A

This is a picture from a Blending Party my Weaving and Spinning Guild had. We used blending boards. I have had a Fancy Kitty blending board for a while now and have never used it. The great thing about them is that you can use all your leftover fibre and make really cool colour repeats. It's kind of like a flat drum carder. You lay the fibre out and roll it off using dowel. You're left with some pretty neat rolags!

J E N N E

Whats life without taking risks?  Warping the rigid heddle loom with a couple Noro yarns in magical colorways to start a Saori inspired weaving.   The weft will be the same yarns.  This is going to be awesome and a little like living on the edge.  Warp be strong!