Get your pots and jars ready

PiaPÃ¥ dansk
Corn Marigold / Glebionis segetum / gul okseøje

Soon the plant dyeing season will be upon us, so it’s time to find yarns and get them mordanted (I always do this ahead of time and then just keep the labelled skeins on hand). This year I’ll be working with more natural mordants such as sea water, tannins, soy and rhubarb leaves.

I’m looking for cheap silk yarns and/or fabrics that I can cut into swatches to add to my sample library. As well as cotton.

I’m also going to help myself to some structure by creating a section for it here on the blog with an easy access plant list of which I’ve done and how, update my tags and some other stuff I’ve been thinking about, hoping that it might prove useful for other people as well. I have a few science experiments in mind that might interest you…

I take requests for topics! Who knows, maybe my library contains items I haven’t even thought about mentioning yet. But please be patient, I won’t be finishing this off in a day or two. In fact I’m feeling a bout of blog fatigue coming on, so we’ll see how it goes!

Corn Marigold / Glebionis segetum / gul okseøje
Tussah silk dyed with the flower above (and a few of its friends)

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danishDet er ved at være tid til plantefarvning lige om snart – mon der kommer nye vaidplanter? SÃ¥ det er nu man skal i gang med at samle garn, fÃ¥ det bejset osv. sÃ¥ det er klar hvis man lige skulle fÃ¥ lyst til at smide noget i gryden! I Ã¥r har jeg tænkt mig at lege med naturlige bejser som havvand, rabarberblade, garvesyre og soyamælk i stedet for eller sammen med metalbejserne.

SÃ¥ jeg er pÃ¥ jagt efter bomuld og silke, som garn eller stofrester jeg kan bruge til at lave prøver med. Gerne billigt…

For at hjælpe mig selv til at holde struktur på tingene, og måske være en hjælp til andre, går jeg i gang med at udvide plantefarvningssektionen her på bloggen med lister, opskrifter, links, tips og andet. Jeg tager også imod forslag til emner, måske ved jeg noget, som jeg bare ikke har tænkt på at skrive om endnu?

Og jeg vil gøre mit bedste for at også opdatere det hele på dansk. Det kommer nok lidt i bidder hen ad vejen, så kig forbi i ny og næ.

Targhee

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

For the monthly challenge of the Danish spinners on Ravelry, I’ve chosen a braid from Spunky Eclectic named “Nova Scotia”. The theme is “North”. I’ve chosen to spin it as a single, not because I’m in a hurry, but because I’ve already tried spinning bits of it as chain-ply and 2-ply, so I wanted to get a feel for the yarn this way, as well as the colour distribution. I had a feeling it would seem “cleaner”, and, well, I just wanted to.

targhee1

It’s a very soft fiber and very easy to spin. It ended up rather thinner than I had planned, simply because I wasn’t paying attention, but too thick to chain ply because I had a feeling it would bloom when I washed it, and I didn’t want a bulky yarn either.

It drifted apart very easily with too little twist, so I went and gave it some more, then let it drip dry after hand-stretching the skein to see if that would get the kinks out. I never weight my yarn as I think it doesn’t give you a correct image of how the yarn is spun. I also very rarely beat it. So my yarns will have to be balanced straight out of the bath! As you can see the skein is balanced but the yarn is still a bit kinky. Will be interesting to see how it knits up, it feels soft and not curly at all. But I’m guessing this fiber looks best plied if you want “perfect” yarn.

targhee2
before wash

targhee4 targhee3

Targhee is an American breed related to both Merino and longwools. It’s about 22-25 microns according to the Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook.

To make this fiber Friday a bit more interesting, here’s a shot of a pin cushion I’m making from woad dyed yarn.

pins01

danishDenne uge har jeg spundet Targhee, som er en fiber der kun kan købes i USA mig bekendt. Super blødt og nemt at spinde! Men falder ret nemt fra hinanden hvis ikke man giver det en ordentlig gang sno. Heldigvis gik de fleste af krøllerne af i vask, også uden at hænge vægt i feddet, hvilket jeg er meget modstander af. Det føles blødt og de resterende krøller er ikke hårde, garnet er ret elastisk. Hvis man vil have perfekt garn, er det nok en fiber der egner sig bedst til at blive tvundet, men det bliver interessant at se, hvordan det er at strikke med. Ingen planer lige nu.

Racen er amerikansk og jeg er kun stødt på fibrene derovre. Det er en krydsning mellem merino-typer og languldstyper som Corriedale og har arvet det bløde, elastiske fra Rambouillet og puffer op på tilsvarende måde. Jeg har endnu ikke prøvet at strikke med det.

Og så lige til sidst en nålepude jeg er ved at lave af vaid-farvet garn.

Oven blanket

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

blanket07

I promised an update of my felted blanket with colour changes yarn vs. washed squares as well as in a different light. We finally saw a bit of sun again, giving me a more natural light, well, a light that makes the camera see the same as I do anyway. Just a light cloud cover is even better actually, but sun still beats the flash.

As you can see below, it’s mostly some of the yellows that have darkened considerably after the warm wash.

Edges are done with 2 yarns, as I did not have enough in one. 2 different yellows overdyed with Japanese indigo and Woad resp.

blanket08

Got a light?

PiaChit Chat

eclipse

What do you use for studio/work light, when daylight isn’t enough?

It’s not that it matters greatly, if I put my mind in “flexible” I can knit, spin, read, doodle, play work play on the computer and one day, when perhaps the outside gets more comfortable, work in the garden or ride horses. But still, I find myself some days wishing I could paint when I had planned to do so.

I’m really finicky with lighting temperatures. Not too cold and blue and definitely not your typical cosy yellow everyday lamps. It’s especially bad now with the new energy saving bulbs, which are of course a good thing, just not for colourwork.

Over the window of my office I have a “biolux” fluorescent tube which emulates daylight, I use it in winter to make days longer and brighter, and it’s not directly made for artwork, but it’s not bad. 36W/6500 K (I think it’s this one). The thing is, my office is not big enough for painting, especially since my cats are determined to share the table. Also when it rains, best place to shake your muddy paws, drop by for a bit of love and perhaps a dry lap for transferring moisture before they head back out. And any obstacles are to be climbed on, basically.  Right behind me on the floor 1 large dog for tripping over (used to be 2). I have no door…. See where that’s going?

So, obviously a 120 cm tube like that with a standard, open fixture isn’t very pretty in the middle of a living room ceiling, although it might help a bit. So, do I care? Does anyone have better suggestions? Or do you just work in the dark/good weather?