Sunday swatch

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

The coming week I think I feel like spinning, although I still have sleeve syndrome. So be it. I hope I get the time in between all my appointments!

This is just one of project palettes that I’m contemplating. Plant dyed silk in the middle, merino for the rest.

Ugens spindeprojekt

Hvis ellers jeg har tid og ork mellem alle mine aftaler. Så må vi se, om jeg får gjort noget ved mine ærmer eller ej.

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Garden tour through the seasons

PiaChit Chat

Just a few snapshots from around the place through the 10 years we’ve been here.

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UFO begone

PiaBooks & reading

Sat myself down for some prescribed quiet time and attacked my UFO pile in between reading. It’s sooo great to be able to cross out things on a to do list! And good to not run around trying to do ALL the things, just attack one at a time, never mind the others for the time being. I really, really must practise slow living since I probably won’t be able to master slow thinking…..

Didn’t manage to get done yet, even though I have several knitting projects just waiting, tempting…

So what do you do about sleeve syndrome?! As soon as I get there, I just lose all my steam. Knit summer tops you say? But I’m such an icicle, I need my heavy sweaters… I could do the sleeves first, but I tend to have length issues when I do. I need to set up some sort of reward system perhaps? I feel really silly working on one project, while my mind is all buzzing about another one that I’d rather be doing. Not very zen. I wanna be zen! So what do you do when one sleeve turns out too thin, the other too wide (not on the same garment thank goodness) and the body has stretched in width (on the garment that has too thin sleeve – but will the sleeve grow too?). You get REALLY bored!

This is just the very short immediate list. Oh boy, you should see the other one!

  • Sleeves on orange sweater
  • Sleeves on blue featherweight cardigan
  • Blue reverse sweater
  • Felted bag
  • New soft collar for ugly scratchy sweater

I felted the sweater, which I didn’t remember had no sleeves. I’d meant to use those sleeves for the shoulder strap. It also shrank A LOT. Well, that’s what felting does, stupid… So, now I have to knit some kind of strap, then felt THAT, before I have my bag. Which incidentally won’t be big enough for its intended use I think… Anyway, not the quick and dirty project I had in mind! For some reason, second hand stores here don’t have any wool sweaters, it’s all bleeping acrylics. I guess it’s a good thing though, I don’t need any storage space for felted items-to-be-turned-into-cool-stuff. I may just cut off the buttons and save those, you know. I know a cat or 3 who would love a new sweater.

I need a magic wand to finish these UFOs. And not one of those with a knob and a number on the end.

And now to go frog the too wide sleeve. In laceweight on 3 mm needles…. Wax on, wax off….. Yes, I did read that book up top. All looks so simple on paper, yes? Actually, maybe I’ll just keep knitting and accept what I get.

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Projektbunke-projekt

Så blev det lige tid til lidt stilletid, læs og strik, få has på nogen af de halvfærdige ting (så jeg kan starte 10 nye, ikke?). Jeg prøver at øve mig i at gøre få ting og gøre dem færdige frem for at rende mellem 25 forskellige projekter og få stress som jeg plejer. Jeg kan tilsyneladende ikke tænke langsomt, men måske jeg kan lære at opføre mig langsomt.

Det er ikke helt lykkedes mig at blive færdig endnu, selvom jeg har adskillige strikkeopgaver som ligger og frister! Jeg ved ikke helt hvad der sker, men så snart jeg når til ærmerne, længes jeg bare efter nye projekter. Hvilket er skørt, for ærmer tager jo ingen tid i forhold til kroppen, få dem dog overstået! Og hvad sker der så? Jo, selvfølgelig bliver det ene ærme for smalt og det andet for bredt (dog ikke på samme trøje), i min iver for at blive færdig. Og så tager ærmer pludselig meget lang tid, især med mønsterstrik som man er blevet rigtig, rigtig træt af. Nogen som har en tryllestav til låns? (ikke en af dem med numre på) Ja, og selvfølgelig er kroppen på det smalle ærme vokset i bredde helt af sig selv, men kan man forvente at ærmet også gør det?!

  • Ærmer til orange sweater
  • Ærmer til blÃ¥ cardigan
  • BlÃ¥ omvendt sweater
  • Filtet taske af sweater
  • Strikke ny blød halskant til kradsende, grim, men varm trøje

Dette er den meget korte liste – I skulle bare se den lange… Mht. at filte en taske, ja, jeg havde overset at der ingen ærmer var pÃ¥ trøjen, de skulle have været brugt til skulderstroppen. SÃ¥ nu skal jeg pludselig til at lave en skulderstrop af noget andet, det tager lige mere tid end beregnet. Eller ogsÃ¥ klipper jeg bare knapperne af og gemmer til noget andet og giver trøjen til kattene.

NÃ¥, det blev sÃ¥ til en rapport om, hvordan man IKKE bliver færdig med sine UFOer… I gang med at trevle ærme – i lacegarn pÃ¥ pind 3. Zen, tænk zen…. wax on, wax off.

Hm. Måske få projekter slet ikke giver mindre stress end mange?

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Birch – birk

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

Birch leaves are abundant in the Scandinavian countries and were considered poor man’s dye because while it’s relatively lightfast, it does fade – and boy did poor people use and abuse their few sets of clothes in those days! But – no worries. They just re-dyed it every summer, voila, good for another season. (What I don’t understand is how they could wear them for more than a season, my hardworking clothes get worn out in a heartbeat – says something for quality of modern fabrics, doesn’t it). I’m thinking perhaps they also didn’t mordant and that’s why it faded sooner?

Anyway, I found the yellows of the birch a bit dull on my first try, lovely and blending in with nature, but in my initial plant dyeing craze I’ve been going for as much vibrancy as possible. That may change – I do see some natural fleece dying projects in my future, from sheep to sweater kinda thing. Or wall hangings actually.

Soooo, I haven’t explored it extensively yet. What I thought I’d do apart from showing my measly results from last year is write up a summary of the older recipes I’ve found in out of print books, my thoughts on future experimenting and perhaps a few links for the hungry.

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Pia’s Playground

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

-or “Where’s my Igor?”

I’m no good at it so far, I haven’t done my research yet, but I just had to try, didn’t I…..

Various cottons and one mystery cloth washed in soda, some soaked in red wine for tannin (YES, it had gone bad, ok?), some cooked with sumak, some with horse shoes, some a bit of both. I also had one treated with milk but forgot to label them, so I dunno which one that is.

Everything will be sitting in the greenhouse in various buckets now for weeks or months depending on my patience. Some with plant matter on the outside, others just in Alum/CoT water, or iron or everything. I did take notes….

Basically I’m just going to keep adding layers until they look interesting. The worst that can happen is nothing. Plant material: what caught my eye in the garden that day.

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Plantetryk på stof

Jeg har ikke helt fået studeret emnet nok, det er svært at få plantefarve til at fæste på bomuld, især direkte som tryk fra blade mm.

Men jeg mÃ¥tte alligevel iværksætte et par vanvittige eksperimenter…

Stoffet er vasket i soda, noget af det har fÃ¥et garvesyre fra rødvin eller hjortetakblade/bark, noget har været dyppet i jernvand eller stænket med det, ligget i blød med hestesko, sÃ¥dan lidt efter tilfældighedernes princip. Jeg er helt sikker pÃ¥ jeg ogsÃ¥ har haft et stykke i mælk (skulle binde protein i stoffet, sÃ¥ det tager mere farve), men glemte at sætte labels pÃ¥ sidste Ã¥r. SÃ¥ nu ved jeg ikke hvilket stykke det er….

Nu får det hele lov at ligge i spande i drivhuset nogen uger eller måneder, alt efter hvor god jeg er til at styre min nysgerrighed. Det værste der kan ske er jo ingenting!

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