I have once again been reminded that dyeing is a ridiculously emotional art-form for some of us. Maybe it’s the chemicals. Maybe its the wet wool fumes or knowing we eventually have to stop and make supper. Or maybe (like today) it’s because almost everything you touch goes wrong.
Notice I say “wrong”, not “hideous.” I have to admit that some of the colorways I came up with are not at all horrible. (Like the one pictured above. It’s beautiful!) They’re just not what I expected.
I’m sure overloading the schedule had a lot to do with the inevitable break down. Now that I’m using a shiny new method for measuring the dyes, (which lets me make things more than once!) developing a new set of colors is a very time consuming process. As much of a bother as it is to haul all the dye equipment out and put it away, I really need to start breaking a typical dye session into two days or more. One day for developing the colorways on a few select skeins, and then the next in actually dyeing the bulk of products.
Hey, anything that will keep me from trying to get through three or four pounds worth of dyeing in one afternoon. All new combinations, or trying to recreate non-documented colors. Yep. Stick a fork in me, I’m done. I didn’t make it past the first pound or so.
Ah well. Tomorrow is another day. And I rather like how this one turned out, even thought it was supposed to be blue with green hints. (Too much yellow, you think?)
After a lot of consideration and prayer, I’ve decided to make 2012 the year of finishing and finding new homes for the massive accumulation of un-finished projects I have laying around. And that is going to be a huge undertaking. Please pray for me.
I sort of “got started” the other day by pulling my fiber and yarn stash out of its closet and taking a general inventory. To put it bluntly, I sat on the floor next to the giant pile with a quivering lip and sincere doubts as to my ever using it all – not to mention all the other kinds of crafts that I haven’t even reviewed yet.
Suffice it to say, things are going to be either crazy, or very very accomplished. Anyone have suggestions for places to donate or giveaway finished knitted or crochet items? Preferably ones that will take wool based yarns, because that’s what I have most of.
Merry Christmas, everyone. =D (Yes, a text smily face just snuck into my blog post.)
I hope your celebrations were festive and highly enjoyable.
And I totally just stayed up until the day after Christmas, scrounging around on Amazon for used price books (and a DVD) to snag with a gift card.
Did you know some used products (with the snazzy used product pricing) are eligible for Prime? I didn’t know that! My world got very much more exciting, and there’s a box on its way to my doorstep.
This Christmas has been a very special one in many ways. God has let me see Him in new ways all over it – from a little over three weeks ago when I totaled my parents’ car on a slick exit ramp, to knowing that I am very much alive and happy with what He has given me.
Again, a Merry Christmas to you all.
While I was getting ready to make the previous scarf, I had an idea for a fun spring/summer design to create on a chiffon. The idea was vaguely inspired by cherry blossoms and tiny spring flowers, and involved having tiny white circles dotting one end of the scarf. As you can see, it worked.
I’m thinking I might offer these for sale for this coming spring. Any idea on what colors? I’m liking the green, although I might go a bit softer with it. A nice, distinctive pink would be pretty. Something between peach and petal. And a soft, French blue-grey would be gorgeous. Maybe a golden-yellow, like a mango? Does anyone even wear mango?
I read about a really interesting technique of shibori that involved pleating, so here’s my take on that. I couldn’t just follow the basics, so I tossed in some tying and came up with what I will call “Rebekah’s attempt at making as complicated and amazing a scarf as possible.”
For this project I used a different kind of silk scarf. One that is called “Habotai” and has a slicker, shinier surface than the chiffon. (Now there’s a tongue twister for you.) I figured it would hold the pleating better than the filmy chiffon kind.
I decided to start off with ironing the fabric into some fan shaped pleats, in the hope that I’d get some fracture-looking lines from the dye running along them.
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The ridiculous thing about being such a crafts oriented person is that you don’t know when enough is enough. When are too many crafts too many? Why can’t I have time and resources to do it all? These (and other deep questions of the universe) have been on my mind lately. Between starting the silk scarf dyeing, and getting sidetracked into metal stamping if you can believe that, things are close to being out of hand.
(No, I didn’t order the metal stamping stuff. But I’m looking for a good excuse to get my hands on some.)
Suffice it to say, I love making things. Period. I already sew, quilt, make costumes, spin, dye, bead, bookbind, crochet, knit, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few. Basket weaving and pottery are on the “someday maybe” list. While stuff like glassblowing and blacksmithing are sort of hovering on the fringe. (I love the way the finished projects look, I’m just not a “hand me a glowing hot glob of metal or glass” kind of gal.) And I’m really starting to wonder if that’s a good idea. The plethora of crafts – not the glowing hot glass.
I can say, however, that I rarely have more than one of my hobbies going on at the same time. It goes in spurts, and all I have to do to get back into something is walk to the appropriate part of the house, open up a magic stash pile, and bing bang boom! Back in business.
All that’s well and good, but someday I might move out. Can you imagine stuffing all those crafting supplies into an apartment or tiny house? Yipes.
So what are your thoughts? When is it too much?
Here’s a quick tutorial I put together on my recently learned method of dyeing silk chiffon scarves. –
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Bonus points if you’re suddenly seeing the Peanuts cartoon.
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My Father brought home some new tea yesterday. Tazo’s “Sweet Cinnamon Spice”, and believe me, it’s wonderful. The perfect thing for a crisp morning when biscuits are in the oven. The tea smells every bit as good as those cinnamon scented pinecones (the ones you walk by in stores and have to remind yourself over and over that they’re not edible) but it doesn’t taste as garishly cinnamon as some other cinnamon drinks. With a touch of honey, it’s beautiful.
This week has been a little more laid back than usual, but I don’t mind that at all. Friday will be a dye day, with some “hired to dye” yarns in various colorways.
But last week I was able to dye a whole bunch of my Fall yarns, and I am thrilled to report that the new yarn bases behaved themselves better than expected. Here are three of the new single-ply fingerings –
And here is one of the two-ply superwash skeins. This one took the colors just like I thought it would – lots of brilliance and depth, and it held color changes quite nicely. I still really want to make something for myself from a skein of this yarn, and I finally found the perfect pattern. Now I just need to decide what color I want!
