Tag: weather

Blog block?

PiaChit Chat

Funny old world, just as you think you’re on a roll, you land in a patch of mud. And where I live, we get really serious mud, the soapy slippery, boot sucking kind of mud that turns into concrete in summer. Full stop, the harder you pull at one boot, the deeper the other one sinks…..

So here I am with 33 drafts in my queue and nothing to write about, mind ambling about like birds that forgot the route to Africa. Right, so chill it, don’t write and do something else! “But then all my new friends will forget about me,” a small peevish voice mumbles at the back of my head. Besides, I like writing, and this blog was supposed to be a warm-up for something else entirely. So darnit, I’m going to write something today, I haven’t the faintest idea what it’ll be about, I’ll just let one sentence form after another, or even word by word. Which incidentally is a fun experiment in itself, try it! Decide on NO subject, just sit still, write the first word that forms without trying to control the next. Over and over. No second guessing, just wait in silence.

Can’t have a blog post without pictjers of course, so I get to fool around my very messy image library, or maybe even have a look at those 1000’s of photos that live outside the computer in dusty folders and boxes?

Kitten Arthur has developed new table manners here beside me, picking out one tiny bit, flicking it onto the table, chasing and catching it before eating. Well, I guess it keeps him out of other trouble, amuses me and now he needs a cuddle so I don’t have to think about writing… I keep his food on the windowsill here, so the bit fat guys don’t eat it, they’re on special slimline for neutered cats stuff. I just wish he’d stop trampling the keyboard on his way from here to there.

So anyway, I could write about autumn, and all the colour combinations that keep exploding inside my head. Or take a tour of websites and images that inspire me too. Or I could get dressed and go move some firewood into the shed. 😉 It’s looks like rain though, tea and random fall photos would do me just fine.

And now it seems I get to spend the day watching over a cat who will NOT pee in a special litter box for sampling whether she has an infection. Oh joy. And I saw another kitten online that I wanna wanna wanna get! For Arthur to chew on instead of my fingers…..

Enough rambling for today – nothing interesting seems to be happening in my brain – enjoy the pix while I go boil some cloths!

Coldfinger

PiaKnitting

I just realized that we’re moving into autumn and after that comes winter.

We heat the house only with the woodstove in the living room, and while the house is warm enough, I do tend to get cold hands sitting in my “office”, typing or just mousing away with one hand.

So, for the last 2 years I’ve wanted to make some fingerless mittens, but never got around to it. I even have some really thin baby alpaca yarn to use, just to get an extra layer of skin but not have the bulk get in the way.

What I can’t decide it whether to just make the tube variety with a thumb hole or real gloves with just the fingertips off. Plain rib for a snug fit or some elaborate lace or cable pattern…

Which do y’all prefer? And why? (apart from the fact that I’m not looking forward to knitting fingers, I have an idea it may be warmer)

[polldaddy poll=6515674]
.

≈ Leave a Comment

Fingerløse vanter

Jeg bliver lidt kold om fingrene om vinteren nÃ¥r jeg sidder her ved PC’en, sÃ¥ jeg har længe tænkt pÃ¥ at lave fingerløse vanter i tyndt alpaca garn for at de ikke er i vejen men lige giver et ekstra lag hud. Det er bare ikke blevet til noget, men nu er vinteren jo pÃ¥ vej igen!

Så jeg vil lige høre, bortset fra, hvad der er nemmest at strikke, hvilken slags foretrækker I, med eller uden fingre, altså bare et rør med tommelfingerhul eller rigtige vantefingre uden spidser? Og hvorfor?

Vidste du, at man kan kommentere min blog uden at være wordpress medlem? Bare udfyld navn er nok. Det er så hyggeligt med dialog fremfor monolog!

Solar silk

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

My first venture into solar dyeing, this grey, cold, miserable summer, was a couple of jars with silk and dye from Dyer’s Chamomile.

We did get one week of warm and sunny, but I didn’t actually think of moving my jars into the greenhouse until afternoon on the last day… Pretty typical of me.

After about a month I pulled it out, since nothing much seemed to be happening. (forgot to register, sorry)

I didn’t get any orange from the Tinctoria this time, but not necessarily due to temperature, but rather the fact that I was using 1/1 dyestuff to fiber this time as opposed to 3/1 last time. Bit of a shame since I wanted the orange shade as part of the silk project. So I fixed it by adding a handful of frosen coreopsis to some of the silk and a pot of hot water.

There wasn’t much difference in colour in the copper mordanted silk compared to the alum mordanted, so since I needed olive for my spinning project I dunked it in my horse shoe bucket. Voila presto!

Unfortunately I ran into another problem with the silk. I’d used two different batches, and the bit that I’d been gifted in a swap was really, really odd even as I soaked it before dyeing. Didn’t get wet properly, didn’t “float” and smelled odd. Did I pay attention? Nooooo… So what happend to that portion was, after it’s all dry and ready, the silk was completely brittle and rough to the touch. I can tear the fibres into short, short bits and it just feels unpleasant even after a wash. Not going to spin it. At first I thought it was the iron, but when half the coreopsis dyed silk ended up the same and the other half didn’t I guess it has to be the silk itself.

So I had to take some more of the yellow, that was supposed to stay yellow, and dunk that in iron to get the greenish tint, and then I gave up and acid dyed a new piece for orange. Easy to spot in the crowd I think, but probably won’t be noticed once they’re blended.

≈ Leave a Comment

Koldfarvet silke

Ikke helt SOLfarvet, eftersom vi ikke har haft så meget af den, i hvert fald ikke sommertemperatur, men dog farvet uden opvarmning af fibrene. De stod i glas ca. en måned, men der skete ikke rigtig den store udvikling de sidste par uger. Farvebadet er gåseurt, det ene glas med kobberbejset silke.

Jeg fik ikke orange denne gang, formentlig pga mindre plantemasse pr. fiber, ca. 1/1. Kobberglasset var en ret mørk gul, men ikke den grønlige farve jeg skulle bruge, sÃ¥ den kom lige et dyp i min hesteskospand og sÃ¥ blev det ellers oliven pÃ¥ nul komma fem. Orange fik jeg ved at lige opvarme en hÃ¥ndfuld nedfrosset skønhedsøje – coreopsis tinctoria og putte noget af det gule silke i.

Desværre viste den ene portion silke sig at være mere end underlig, så både den grønne og det meste af den orange er fuldstændig sprø og ru. Jeg kan trække fibrene over i korte, korte stykker helt uden at anstrenge mig. Silken var også anderledes allerede da jeg havde det i blød før farvningen, men jeg havde ikke regnet med det ville gå så galt.

Så jeg var nødt til at tage lidt af det gule og dyppe i jern igen, og for at have nok til mit projekt syrefarvede jeg så lige en portion orange. Jeg håber den ikke skiller sig ligeså meget ud når de bliver blandet.

Garden tour through the seasons

PiaChit Chat

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

Vidste du, at man kan kommentere min blog uden at være wordpress medlem? Bare udfyld navn er nok. Det er så hyggeligt med dialog fremfor monolog!

No acorns?

PiaChit Chat

I was planning on dyeing with acorns this fall, we have a big old oak tree on one side of the property. I know it’s way too early to harvest, but as I was walking by the other day I was expecting to be able to see them at least.

  • That’s not too early, is it?
  • Is this a Danish, European, worldwide 2012 phenomenon or just my neck of the woods? Seems that none of the rowan trees in the area are showing much in the berry department either, now that I come to think of it, regardless of variety.
  • So those of you with oak trees around – take a walk and send me a report! Pls and thanku.

I did however on the same walk discover that one of our wild patches suddenly sports quite a few St. John’s Wort. Nearly all finished by now of course, but maybe they’ll come back now that they seem to have established themselves? Just have to keep hubby from mowing at the wrong time of year…

≈ Leave a Comment

Hvor er mine agern?

Jeg havde planer om at farve med agern i Ã¥r – eller hvis det ikke rigtig gav farve, bruge det som bund for noget andet med garvesyren i garnet/stoffet. Men jeg kan slet ikke SE nogen agern i Ã¥r pÃ¥ vores gamle egetræ?! Jeg ved godt det er for tidligt at høste dem, men de burde da sidde pÃ¥ og være grønne?

Så jeg kunne rigtig godt tænke mig at lave en rundspørge, sende jer alle på vandretur til jeres lokale egetræ og melde tilbage her, om der er agern på jeres? Ikke fordi jeg vil have dem, bare for at opklare, om det er et udbredt fænomen i år.

Til gengæld har jeg i dag opdaget at der er kommet Perikum pÃ¥ engen – de fleste er afblomstret, men til gengæld hvis de sÃ¥ smider en masse frø, sÃ¥ burde jeg kunne farve til næste juli???! 😀 Min mor vil have snaps, men sÃ¥ mÃ¥ vi vel slÃ¥s om dem.

Vidste du, at man kan kommentere min blog uden at være wordpress medlem? Bare udfyld navn er nok. Det er så hyggeligt med dialog fremfor monolog!