Sock!

I have some elements to work on.  This cutting and unravelling didn't quite work out as it was supposed to, but I muddled thru.  I somehow made my opening a whole row too wide.  Don't know quite how I did that, but I ended up with two cut pieces on either side instead of one.

It's done!  It was scary going there toward the end.  I dropped a lot of stitches trying to figure out the binding off (the book had an improvement that I couldn't grok so I skipped it).  Then the same thing happened closing the heel.  I simply couldn't figure out the 3 needle bind off and dropped a lot of stitches in the process, so I made something up and it seems to have worked.

On the bright side, I can now repair dropped stitches.  ;-]

Now I'd better get to the second sock before I forget what I just did.

Olympics Challenge

There's a Craft Olympics Challenge and I've decided to knit a sock (hopefully two).  Here's the sock so far:

I'm almost to the mid point -- at least the mid point in the leg, where the slit will go.  Never attempted a sock like this before (I've attempted a couple of socks, but they've never gotten much past this point anyway).  So I have high hopes for this technique.


It's from one of Cat Bordhi's books, Personal Footprints.  I like it so far.  Tho I don't have complete confidence in my footprint.  I'll see how it turns out.

~*~

Curling works really great for knitting.

At this point I'm supposed to leave the heel 'til later and begin the leg.  But first I have to cut the yarn!!  I think I'll look at it a little longer before I do that....

Blast from the Past

Here's Will and me demonstrating spinning at the Antelope Valley Fair in 1990. Will is seven here. He's spinning on my turkish spindle -- actually winding up the wool he's spun. He also carded for me. We're dressed in SCA garb. 8-]

Tree & Moon

This is a piece of digital art, a distortion of a photograph of a rock. ;- j I love doing this. And trees and moons are a recurring theme of mine.

I think this one would make a particularly striking tapestry. 8-]

I wonder how difficult it would be to duplicate the metalic fluid effect?

Fiber Retreat 09

Joey hard at work. ;-]




Courney and Cora and a pal.






A couple tent city pics.







I remembered to pull out my camera during my classes this time. ;- j














A happy weaver. ;-] Glad you liked the class, Dawn.





Some more tapestries at the show & tell. I thought I was having deja vu seeing "my" tapestry all over the place. ;-b












Eowyn really took to the mud dyeing. I liked her indigo over-dye. Kewl idea.








Mud dye amongst the show & tell.




Just can't get away from that paleo-theme. ;- j




Baskets and more mud dye. 8-]



Here's my brazilwood and kamala offerings. Meager things, but mine own.




Tent city and the exhausted dye station.




Astra's Bjo tapestry project in the process.







Tie dye! Looks like a fun class Ercil. ;-]










This was just too much fun. I'm pooped. Wish I'd taken more pics. But I was just too busy having fun!

Other photo sites:
Lauri:
www.flickr.com/photos/25463531@N06/sets/72157619331093737/
Carol:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolspinner/sets/72157619389674566/
Jennifer Tan:
http://www.syrendell.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Kemp:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lady.ianuk/2009GriffinDyeWorksFiberAndDyeRetreat?feat=directlink , or http://tinyurl.com/mvocul
Terri:
http://tenderlovingwork.com/Site/Griffin_Dyeworks_Fiber_Retreat.html
Eowyn:
http://eowynsartifacts.livejournal.com/
Melissa:
http://lissamc.livejournal.com/275345.html#cutid1.
Ercil:
http://mixed-upmelange.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html
Catherine:
http://picasaweb.google.com/CatherinedeWinter
Eilidh:
http://gallery.griffindyeworks.com/v/2009-retreat/

Spin, Ply & Dye

Eilidh showed me how to spin and ply from a single drop spindle at the Fiber Retreat this weekend. W00t! That's a kewl trick.

I bought a wool/bamboo blend from Camelion Colorworks to play with. After a spun and plied a small hank, I dropped it in the kamala pot to dye it. I'll send it along to Astra via Bruce at work for her Tapestry project.

I was really pressed for time at the end -- I dunked it in the only pot I could find on Sun. morning. ;- j Otherwise I might have overdyed it with indigo to make a more useful green.

Blue Sky - Mini Tapestry

Blue Sky -- mini-tapestry

~*~

Starting over on the mini-tapestry sample for my class. Shawn the Sheep was just too complicated and large a project for a short class.

So I'm going to do the top portion, the blue sky, complete with moon, stars, cloud and beady rain. Should be sufficiently interesting and pretty for a class project.

I'm warping a new sample shortly. Something like this:




~*~

Another thing to add to the class supply list: fray check or white glue, for any broken or damaged warps that may arise. Murphy's Law, you know.

Also long jewelry pins to hold beads before adding to the warp.

Sewing thread works best for threading on beads -- finer than floss.

And don't forget a disposable tablecloth for catching beads that inevitably get away.

~*~

Here's the board warped up with the new cartoon:



Next I'll add the beads.




The warp isn't that messy -- the pins holding the beads loosened when I had to flip it to scan. Once weaving has begun it won't do that.

~*~

Wow, I have a full class -- eight students -- with four wait listed already. Maybe I should have two classes.

~*~

Here's a good start on the weaving. I've pinned the beads down to keep them from loosening the warp until I can get some of the cloud woven. I'll do that next.

It's compulsive. Time to take a break.






Almost done. Just one more push and it'll be finished.





I need to move the cloud over toward the center a couple of warps. It's a little too close to the edge, which makes color changes problematical. Also make the rain beads a little longer. They eat up too much of the bottom of the cloud. I wanted it to hand down a little below the tapestry.

~*~

I'll need to make up more foam core boards -- enough for a second class. Also see if I have enough tapestry needles and dental floss.

~*~

Almost there. The closer it gets to filling in the harder it gets. Threads have to be pushed out of the way to make room to weave. Pins often help hole areas back. At this point you have to make sure there are no loose areas. Push them tighter with the tapestry needle and fill in the blank spots.

~*~

Finished weaving. I've tucked the last of the thread ends to the back.

And here it is blocked.

I spritzed it with a water bottle and pinned the sides to keep it from pulling in. That's the cheater way, I know, but I didn't feel like taking it off the loom, wetting it thoroughly, and pinning it back down again. But it does wreck the cartoon and graph paper beneath.

~*~

Here's what the back of the tapestry looks like before trimming the tucked ends.

Ta-Daa! Here is is: