My recent back issue is pretty much resolved and back to its normal “slightly sore and stiff”, but of course my other physical issues want their rotational say in the matter, so I haven’t been very active this month. There’s always a transitional process going in the opposite direction too, first you have to get used to not making, against your will, then after intertia sets in you need to figure out how and where to begin again. (and sometimes why?) Continue reading “No work, no talk”
Category: Yarn and Fiber
Getting there: Carding
Had I known how many years it would take to completion, I might never have accepted those first 5 dorset/suffolk fleeces, but here we are closer to completion than not, at last.
Every time I do a post about these, I also look for the original post, the very beginning of the project, and once again realize that it’s nonexistent. I got the first 3 fleeces before the blog began in 2012, so I never recorded the scouring etc. in here, the next two landed the year after, where I probably thought I’d already recorded it so thought nothing of it. Continue reading “Getting there: Carding”
Untimely
I’d like to begin this week with a warm welcome to all the new subscribers that seem to be adding my blog these past few weeks, whether you’re actually here to read or just hope to make somebody read yours. I’m afraid you’ve chosen to join me for the slow season, as my back has been out of commission again and my head then needs to adjust to sitting tasks only, with not much to show or tell just yet. I hope some of you will stick around for later antics!
This also coincided with planned weaving, carding and spinning work, which means I spend an inordinate amount of time just sitting here thinking about them, making endless weave drafts and colour samples. I need to find a plugin/app/whatnot that makes swatches from photos because just using the sampler in PS does not give me the vibrant shades I see with my eye/mind and it takes too long. Any suggestions? I prefer one that is installed, rather than having to upload single photos to a website each time, as I tend to work in batches. Oh, and it needs to be for Windows – I found a really cool one, Mac and i-things only. Continue reading “Untimely”
Frozen flower dye
Last year weeds happened to my orange cosmos (it always starts growing very late for some reason – then blooms into October where it’s too wet to collect seeds properly), this year slugs have overrun our entire property, so I had one plant. For that reason I had a handful of flowers in the freezer from last year and collected all summer from my one little very brave specimen to get enough for a reasonable amount of wool. Continue reading “Frozen flower dye”
Oak leaf dyeing
I’m about a month later than last time, but the leaves are still green, acorns have mostly fallen off or will in the strong wind which is now dominating our days.
Oak leaves are a bit pesky to harvest, they don’t let go if you rip at them, the tiny side twigs however are easily torn off. So you need to grab individual leaves and pull backwards to leave them undamaged, a test in patience. There are already buds at the base of each leaf, the tree surely doesn’t mind that I grab the old ones just weeks before they fall anyway. Continue reading “Oak leaf dyeing”