Plum Tuckered

A Slow Return...

2012-02-01T09:37:00.000-04:00

I am still out here and still making things. I may be February 1st, but today seems like as good a day as any other to resolve to update more often and spend more time in the online world of fibers. I fell in love with encaustic almost two years ago. There's something about the translucence of the wax, the smell, the heat, that malleability that is so beautiful and so addictive. I have learned primarily at home, experimenting, but last summer I was fortunate enough to take a small class at the Ottawa School of Art. After all my dabbling, I find it hard to believe I waited this long to simply 'paint' a copper weaving.

Mystic, 2012

Handwoven copper in undulating twill with patina and encaustic.

detail

I love the way the texture of the weaving stands out.

When I am not weaving with copper, I have dug into my stash of 'real' yarns again. As it is February, this update can't be complete without something red, can it?

This scarf was woven with two contrasting reds, one for the warp and one for the weft. It is 100% merino wool and lightly fulled for extra softness and sturdiness.

Knitting Again....

2011-08-01T09:45:00.005-03:00

Here are my latest obsessions....

Even though I love weaving, I often miss the convenience of knitting and the beauty of loosely knitted stitches. Sometimes I think the basic knitted stitch is the most perfect of all tiny creations in that no two are exactly a alike. I think it would be fun to take my copper wire and use it with a knitting machine, but then my stitches would all be completely uniform.

Making things....

2011-04-30T09:15:00.006-03:00

In the Garden
Encaustic, copper with patina, Japanese paper

This week I am starting a class in encaustic. I have been fiddling around with it at home for a little over a year but I'm excited to learn more. I don't feel like I currently have a lot of control over the process, although I am often pleasantly surprised by my results. I think wax is naturally very forgiving that way.

Handwoven Scarf in navy blue

I've also been doing a lot of 'regular' weaving. I'm enjoying it more than I expected. I've discovered that it's sometimes trying to work on complex twills (with finicky copper) with a two-year old assistant. I use Nuno felting techniques on my scarves to lightly full or felt them. I stretch the scarf out, cover it with soapy water, and then we roll it up in plastic and she sings "roll, roll, roll."

As you can see, she puts her heart and soul into it.

Starry Night, Northern Alberta

My other new love is cross-stitch embroidery. Lately I have been feeling nostalgic for the landscape of northern Alberta, for shadowy black spruce trees on the horizon.

Dancing Feet

For years, I have wanted to knit copper socks (or feet). Years! I finally did it and then I hung them and sprayed them with patina.

2011-01-04T16:02:00.004-04:00

Dear blog and world attached to you, I've missed you.

Here are the longies I knit and forgot to show you.

Here is my new weaving partner.

Here is some of my favourite work from this past year.

Pair of Shovels

Sigourney's Dream

Copper Ikat: Red

Waiting

Green and Blue, Art and Knitting

2010-02-03T15:28:00.007-04:00

Fragments 2010

Handwoven, distressed, manipulated copper, patina, wax pencil, shellac.

It has occurred to me now and again that I should make this blog more about my journey as an artist. Call it a New Year's resolution of sorts. There will still be plenty of knitting, but here I can let go of ideas and thoughts too. The whole stay-at-home mom/artist bit is hard but not so hard that I dare complain about it. My time is limited and shared, but I do find time and when I'm thoroughly distracted it's because an awesome little girl wants my undivided attention and she may only think I'm awesome in return for so many years, so I should take it while I can.

I really wanted to call this piece (above) Fragments of Zebra as I've just finished reading the book VALIS by Philip K. Dick but my husband helpfully informed me that would be both trendy, obvious and clichéd. Okay, he's right. But I still like to look at it and imagine that the layers are the universe cut apart into sections and the splashes of pink interrupted transmissions from Zebra. Personally, this piece is also about process and repetition, as well as what happens when one allows something to patina undisturbed for several weeks. I am always surprised by the results. No two patinas are exactly the same.

Under Water No. 2 2009
Handwoven, manipulated copper, patina, wax pencil, shellac.

More leftover summer knitting...

Inga-boo

I was determined to modify the pattern and post it, but by the time I began a second version, it was September, and he it dawned on me that 'hey! It's not going to be warm out much longer and I have no idea what size Bunky is going to be next summer. So it's stashed away in a bag with a few basic instructions.

On this page I discovered the best bind off method ever, posted by a woman named Doris. I love her.

Recommended for triangle shawls, cuffs on toe-up sock or necklines:

1. K2sts.
2. Slip the 2 sts from the right hand needle to the left hand needle.
3. K these 2 sts tog. K1.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all sts have been bound off.

Test the bind off on your swatch to make sure it gives the look and
flexibility you desire.

To Bev, who asked about the pattern for Sigourney's Christmas Stocking. It a modified version of the Holly Leg Warmers from Handknit Holidays.

Where have I been?

2010-01-10T16:06:00.004-04:00

I am really still here and I am really still knitting. I don't know how I let it go this long between updates? There is no excuse. I will simply post knitting photos.

Sigourney's Christmas Stocking

I've had the same handmade one since I was a baby and I wanted her to have one forever too.

Stormtrooper Toque

This was a gift for a little boy. Needless to day, now I want one for myself and I think Sigourney needs one, and maybe even my husband...

More knitted stuff

2009-07-27T19:06:00.006-03:00

Although I wanted to strangle myself with this yarn at one point, the Biased Eyelet Stole by Eunny Jang is finished! It wasn't a hard knit by any means, but the knitting went on forever and ever. Or it felt like it did.

Now I just have to decide what to knit next. Or do I tackle an unfinished object? Decisions, decisions...

Little Majolica

2009-06-28T20:53:00.013-03:00

Little Majolica by Kristin Nichols from Interweave Knits, Fall 2006

This was the first project I've knitted quickly since Sigourney was born. I knitted it up in about a week and a half. It's an easy, pleasing fair isle pattern and I will definitely knit another one. This particular sweater was a gift for my niece. I'm happy with how it turned out, although my seaming skills need more practice.

A close up.

Is it time for five month old pic-spam? Yes...

At five months, my daughter is wonderful and so much fun. If she had her way, she would stand up all day long.

At the moment, I am a single mom and always looking for things Sigourney and I can do together. Montreal has the most beautiful Botanical Gardens. I bought an annual pass so that we could go every week. As this is my first summer in the city in over a decade, I find that I need to be outside as much as possible. The Gardens are terrific because I can pass an entire day there. Even better, there's artistic inspiration to be found in the plants and flowers.

This one reminded me of a fishtail braid.

Strange pods.

Here is the Bonsai greenhouse.

And flowers!

These last plants I photographed because the name cracked me up. Bloody Begonias. They belong in a Harry Potter book or herbology class.

Early May

2009-05-03T12:22:00.003-03:00

Just a little experiment.

It was a gift for a former teacher's retirement party. Students past and present contributed to a box of 'samples'. It's my first official piece since the wee one was born.

Yet another woven scarf.

This one was a gift for my friend T. Note to self: black on black doesn't photograph very well.

I'm intending to redesign around here and make a new banner but I a)suck at banner making, b)forget, and c)remember, but only at inopportune moments. Bah!

Anouk

2009-04-15T18:06:00.003-03:00

Anouk by Kate Gilbert.

I think every new mom or mom-to-be (or auntie-to-be, godmother-to-be, grandmother-to-be) finds Anouk hard to resist. This pattern is fun because it’s so easy to personalize it. I made the six month size Anouk. My Estelle Cloud Cotton yarn required size 5.0 mm needles, so I used the same number of stitches as the 3 month size but used the six month measurements. I decided to go with a single pocket, only two tabs, and I wrapped my buttons in yarn.

I haven’t blocked it yet and I’d like to sew a simple shift to be worn under it. It won't fit Sigourney until the summer so I have plenty of time.

Thank you....

2009-03-13T15:18:00.012-03:00

I can't believe the fluffy blob of knitted yarn in my previous post came out looking like this.

Blocking really fixes everything.

This was a very slow knit for me. Partly because of the wee one - some days I only knit two rows - and partly because I found knitting with lace-weight yarn on large bamboo needles awkward. I kept expecting the awkwardness to ease up as I progressed with the pattern but it never did. In the end, it was all worth it. This pattern is fabulous and I would/will knit another one.

Here is a glimpse of it in the gift box.

My husband made the box out of black cherry wood.

The gift was for someone very special... specifically, our wonderful, wonderful midwife.

I have a few thank yous and oodles of good karma to send out too!

First, thank you to Gannet! This will fit the little one in the fall and it is exactly her colours.

Thank you to Sarah! This will fit her any day now. I can't wait! (And I will post photos for you).

Thank you to Donni! The print is beautiful. The yarn is inviting my creativity.

And thank you to the many people who have sent me e-mails, ravelry messages and comments.

This post makes me look more productive than I am....

2009-02-09T16:20:00.009-04:00

What can I say? She's cute, feisty, always hungry, has some sort of internal radar that goes off if I am more than twenty feet away from her. Every day she is bigger, stronger, more alert, and more interested in the world around her. We're having fun getting to know her.

The week before she was born, I knit her a few hats (pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts). Let me go on record as stating that this pattern is both simple and adorable and if you are ever in need of a last minute baby gift, this can be whipped up in two hours.

In December, I also knit a Ribbed Soaker. It's still in need of buttons. It will probably need buttons until she's five.

My husband hopped on the handmade bandwagon too. We needed a changing table, but I didn't want to buy a freestanding one - it seemed like such a waste of space. So he built one that fit over an old dresser we intend to give to her. I am very happy with it. He even built a custom shelf for the wall above it where we store all her cloth diapers.

New project underway...

A scarf for Ally

Knitting a lace scarf is perhaps not the wisest breastfeeding project. For one, the needles are too long and that means holding them in an awkward position so as to avoid poking your infant. Two, babies don't understand the time old knitter's expression, 'wait until I finish my row.' Which means I'm always counting religiously. And being sleep-deprived means I've done my fair share of tinking. I hate tinking. I hate tinking lace more than anything in the knitted world except for tinking fisherman's rib with lace-weight yarn. However, this scarf is a very important gift and I'm determined to continue. I am holding out hope that once it is blocked it will look like the one in the photo. I also hope those are not famous last words...

My loom arrived at the end of December. I thought I would give it a name (as everyone seems so fond of naming their spinning wheels and looms) but due to the sheer size of it, it has been dubbed 'the Beast'.

The first thing I wove on it was an alpaca scarf.

Valerie's Scarf.

I meant to 'full' it more than I 'felted' it and I am annoyed with myself about that but getting over it.

Finally, I finished the cowl (also from Last Minute Knitted Gifts).

It's wonderfully soft, but (alas, alas), my one complaint with the pattern would be that it's too big. I knew better. Beforehand, I browsed the project photos at Ravelry and noticed that everyone's cowl drooped a little too low around their neck. Did I listen to my gut instinct and reduce the number of stitches??? Noooooo. I may find a way to fix the problem, or give it someone with a head and neck begger than myself.

Finally!

2009-01-24T10:12:00.004-04:00

'Sigourney'.

Born Jan 22nd at 9:37 am, at home, with the help of my wonderful midwife and my anxious husband (who was equally wonderful). Labour started on Sunday night, but slowed and sped up over the next few days so that I had no idea when she would arrive. I tried to stay patient and wait it out (beautifully distracted when I could be by events like Obama's Inauguration). Active labour finally kicked in late Wednesday night and lasted until the next morning. I feel so lucky and blessed that I was able to have her at home with such amazing support. It was an incredibly transformative and sacred experience (now blissfully fuzzy) that I will always treasure.

We now have lots of parenting confidence to build up, as we are complete newbies to all of this.

Waiting, waiting...

2009-01-09T17:19:00.005-04:00

This is a strange period of waiting. The wee one is due to arrive in three days, but both my primary midwife and back-up midwife think she will hang out until week 42. I guess we'll see. I keep cleaning and organising and knitting and going to the gym and walking (when it's not too cold!) in the hopes of convincing her to budge. We moved three weeks ago and we're all settled in, so any times she's ready...

Back in December, Iris from Once Upon a Time sent me a beautiful package of yarn - handspun, cashmere, silk. Thank you Iris! I have been busy knitting my way through it. As it so happens, it's another cold and snowy winter here in Montreal and I decided I needed a thick toque that would cover my ears. How did she know that her handspun yarn would be perfect for me?

I used (loosely) the pattern for the painted forest ribbed hat.

The hat was such a quick and easy knit that I made one for J too.

With the cashmere, I am knitting the cowl from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The skein said 'sock yarn', but I decided cashmere was too beautiful and soft for socks.

I'm going to do some weaving over the next few days. I'm sure that if I put a big warp on my loom and plan to finish it before she arrives, she'll hurry up and get here.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and holidays! Here's one gratuitous photo of a cat sleeping with yarn.

2008-12-02T10:56:00.013-04:00

I don't know where the time goes. Truly! Or why I have so few items knitted. And I have a secret. I hate pink. I hate pastels. I hate little ducks and bunnies and baby prints.

My anti-pastel baby blanket (which is really just a version of the Moderne Baby Blanket). I'd never tried log cabin knitting before, and it was fun to try something new.

Anti-duck and bunny onesies.

I used my old screens from screenprinting. Instead of ducks and bunnies, I have ice crystals, cantaloupe skins, frost and algae.

We're nearing the arrival date of the wee alienette and preparing to move to a larger place mid-December. I'm still feeling good and working out at the gym, although my lungs are beginning to feel squashed when I'm doing nothing more than sitting. And I'm wondering how much art a new mom can realistically accomplish with a newborn? Or knitting? Or anything? So far, my only goal for those first three months is to watch all ten seasons of the X-Files. I figure it just might be realistic. It will be the coldest part of winter and I'll be spending a lot of time on the couch.

As distracted as I've been, I do have some new work.

Hatched
Merino Wool, Red Cedar.

Ummm.... furry little monsters.

A pile of unfinished spiculi.

Repeating Pattern sample

Repeating Pattern sample

We went to Quebec City back in October. It was my birthday present/our last getaway before the wee alienette arrives. It was lovely and the weather was perfect. We ate far too much of everything - Quebec City is definitely the place to do that.

The Old City

Old City

View of the Frontenac from the Citadel

Old City

Old City

Moi.

A tree on the Plains of Abraham. I remember studying the War of 1812 in 7th grade.

Foliage

Outdoor bread oven

Artwork

Montmorency Falls

The view from Ile d'Orleans

Aha!

Sample from the embossing demo.

Very elaborate embossing on silver.

This gallery of photos would not be complete without a picture from the world's awesomest bathroom with heated tiles, brick walls and massive sunken tub.

2008-09-07T16:02:00.005-03:00

Quill Lace Socks

This is the easiest sock pattern in the world - and it's completely purl-less! They are a surprise for a friend of mine who has just started grad school. Shhhh (you can see her work here).... she is so talented, and I absolutely love her paintings.

Thank you for the many congratulations and kind e-mails regarding our surprise! I recently decided it was time to begin something for the wee alien.

Here is my anti-pastel baby blanket (which is actually the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason-Dixon knitting). When people ask me what I'm knitting I call it my 'anti-pastel blanket' and then say, "except for the green." A six-year old challenged me last weekend! "It can't be anti-pastel if you have a pastel!" he declared. Technically, I had to concede that he had a point, and then I tried to explain that my yarn store had had a very limited palette to choose from, but that didn't wash. Obviously, who was I to try and argue?

Something Strange

Work completed shortly before I left for the summer. It didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped (does anything?) but I like the close-up.

I recently met these just-shorn alpaca wandering around Wakefield, Québec, on leashes.

Our brief relationship was not particularly mutual - they weren't all that impressed to meet me.

My last few weeks on vacation on Ottawa have been very relaxing, but I am beginning to feel ready to return to Montréal and all my studio work. Unfortunately, the second bedroom functions as my studio and weaving room, and my living room has a tendency to look like this when I am home....

We're going to have to move.

To cheer myself away from that thought, here's a little John Stewart on current hypocrisy.

2008-08-12T13:44:00.007-03:00

After a long summer away, I am back in the cradle of civilisation.

This is a photo of Dense Cotton Grass from the far north. A friend of mine has been working up in Nunavut. This is her photo - I love it and have appropriated it for future art usage. Apparently, the Inuit use the "cotton" from the flowers to make the wicks for the Kulik ( seal oil lamps). I would love to try and spin it or play with it.

Merino Lace Socks

I finally finished something! These were knitted to order by a very talented artistic friend up north, who gave me one of her handmade necklaces in exchange.

Her necklaces are absolutely beautiful!

Kaeli Necklace

And well.... there was one thing I forgot to include in my last post of summer highlights.

Due in early January. We think we're having an alien. Needless to say, this was a surprise, as I would never have intentionally planned to be living up north in a tent for the first four months of pregnancy! But all is well and I found the physical work made it much easier to cope with morning sickness. It was ironic honestly - I could work all day as long as I snacked every two hours, but on days off, I lay around all day feeling nauseous and accomplished absolutely nothing.
This means that this year was my last season up north. There are other couples who trek up there every season with their wee ones, but I don't think I want that to be me...

My life in pictures, briefly

2008-07-15T19:40:00.005-03:00

My life during the past few months has been about ....

Beautiful sunsets. Here is the Solstice sunset at 1am.

Road trips with new friends.

This is Highway 97 north in British Columbia.

Bears. Sometimes outside my tent. I prefer them not outside my tent.

Peace of mind, knowing my cats are completely spoiled.

And have been trained by my mother-in-law to do things from which they can never be un-trained.

And finally, a little knitting.

2008-04-04T13:47:00.007-03:00

The Dessert Salad

I say dessert because the strawberries, goat cheese and pecans all together are decadent. I have even served this as a last course when I've had friends for dinner.

Fresh Strawberries
Goat cheese
Pecans (pan roasted in in honey for about three minutes)
Greens (Spinach, mixed, arugula, whatever you like)
A simple dressing, like olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Quill Lace Socks

These socks are the most relaxing knit ever. What could be better than a two row repeat that doesn't contain the world purl?

My friend Dahlia Milon finished my scarf (which was in exchange for the socks in my previous post).

It's beautiful and I love it. She makes all her scarves using a knitting machine and then felts them and is something of a genius in her techniques. They are very sculptural and organic.

I see trees in my near future.

Lots and lots of little trees.

2008-03-27T12:21:00.008-03:00

Evening Stockings for a Young Lady
from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush

Finally done! I thought I would never finish them. I knit them with double stranded lace-weight alpaca and a strand of cotton for added reinforcement. They are (as I think I mentioned before) for my friend Dahlia. I hope to get a picture of them on her, as there is a neat decreasing seam running up the back of the leg. The only problem with this pattern is that even though I added an extra 4 repeats, they do not quite reach below the knee. And they should per the pattern- I've seen many people make the same comment on Ravelry. My advice would be, to anyone who wants knee highs, add 10 extra pattern repeats.

Now the big question is what to knit next. I think my brightly coloured red, green and yellow yarn (colourway sphagnum moss), wants to be straight knit socks. Come to think of it, I can't think of the last time I knit anything in straight knit. I'm feeling like a need a break from lace work.

New work

A vessel for a past grievance
Woven copper, hand-forged red brass, stainless steel needles,
stitching, paint on canvas.

Interior view

Bottom view

Something silly

Courtship (aka, John's Right Foot)*
Charcoal drawing, metal leaf, copper warp ends, oil on canvas.

This is a close-up of a drying painting which is both a work of endearment and an joke. Once upon a time (il y avais une fois), many, many years ago, I was working as a foreperson in Northern Ontario. It was the first week of the contract. We were setting up camp and I didn't know most of the new planters. Another foreman came over to me (I can't remember who to this day), and pointed to a group of people digging a leeching pit and said, "Have you seen that guy's big toes! You've got to go see them!" Out of curiosity, I wandered over to see the toes, which were rapidly becoming famous. But staring down at the ground and staring was slightly awkward, so I had no choice to start talking to the person attached to the feet. Little did I know then that he was my husband-to-be. In the ensuing weeks, we became best friends, and when I finally caved to his persistent demands that we be something more, I threated to break up with him unless he married me. The nerve of being 22...

Now it's 12 years later, and we have spent the last two years in a long-distance marriage. First I was finishing up at NSCAD in Halifax, NS while he studied in Perth, Ontario, and then I decided to move to Montreal all by myself during his last year of school. But, John** has decided to come join me in Montreal at the end of the summer and see if he likes it (and how his French will fare). So we shall be here for at least one more year and I am very happy about that.

But, alas, I am leaving for the bush in just under three weeks. I have beaucoup, beaucoup, beaucoup work to complete, and no dining room table.

Nor a butcher's block.

I work at two studios here in Montreal, and have stuff stored at both places too. The couch is covered in knitting, naturally.

*For the record, he's a size 13/14 shoe, mainly because of his giant toes. And I think the proportions are honestly off in this painting, because they are longer in real life. I love drawing his feet and hands because they are all tendony and veiny.

**It's his birthday this weekend! And I'm going to miss it. So Happy Birthday John!

A video for cat lovers.

2008-03-06T12:29:00.004-04:00

I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard...

Finished work (for a change).

Woven metal, patina, paint on canvas.

My work has taken an abrupt turn, which I'm enjoying very much.

February

2008-02-22T20:14:00.026-04:00

Waiting to be finished.

Every year February rolls around and I realise I have umpteen billion projects underway, and very little completed. It's honestly not for lack of hours in the studio... it's that I spend so much time experimenting that no one thing is ever completely resolved, or, as is often the case, I feel torn about how a piece would best be shown and my indecision stalls me. Fortunately, for me, this is a case of history repeating itself. Last year I discovered that the best way to find a sense of direction was to take time out of the the studios and play with the pieces in question at home, using different mediums.

So today, I stayed home from both studios and worked on collages and gold-leafing.

Here is what I learned about gold-leafing;

The glue sticks to your fingers if you come within a hair's breadth of it and it never washes off.
Gold leaf is the most fragile type of paper in the world (like tissue-thin tinfoil, only well... gold).
The little crumbled bits will find every bit of glue on your fingers and stick there.
If you try to blow at a piece of gold-leaf (which is, from all appearances, using the Force to reach a gluey spot on your finger), it will keep coming, but all the other pieces of gold leaf on your workspace will fly into the air.
You will still blow at the next piece drifting toward you.
Gold leaf was created for neat, tidy, finicky people who can fold towels perfectly and have good penmanship, in other words, not people like me, but that just means my work will be extra special. ;)

On the studio front:

More spiculums

I'm still obsessed with texture and have been pressing my metal with old weaving samples before I shape it. The samples in the foreground were made with yellow brass, the sample in the background, red brass. Yellow brass (which is most common) is an alloy of copper and zinc, and while it is a very malleable non-ferrous metal, it is nowhere near as soft as copper. Recently, I discovered and ordered red brass. Red brass is distinguished from yellow brass because it has a higher copper content - this makes is slightly more malleable after it's annealed. It has a beautiful rosy golden colour when finished. I adore it so far, and I now have a stash of it to play with.

See the little knitted stitches?

The knitters dream hand...

Even more spiculums, one polished, one pressed and with green patina.

On the knitting front:

This Marsan Watchcap was cast on in the sad hours after the Superbowl. Orange is my favourite colour, and the hat was meant to cheer me up, but I think I got over that loss very quickly as it's been sitting in my basket for the past week untouched. (Yes, it's small. I have a small head and a lot of hair and my husband loves to tease me about it.)

Evening Stockings for a Young Lady

I knew second-sock syndrome would strike me with these and it did. But now that I'm underway it should be smooth sailing. This pattern was chosen from Nancy Bush's Vintage Socks by a friend of mine for herself. In exchange, she is making me one of her signature scarves. They are beautiful, elegant, feminine scarves, and she was a even finalist (with them) at the Niche Awards in Philadelphia last week. I can't wait to post about her scarves, even though again, this may be one of those moments where my cat is a better scarf model than I, but we'll see - maybe I can pull it off.

On the weaving front:

Here is the blanket I posted about in January. Although I received many good suggestions for how to finish it and make it more 'girly' I ended up using the fringe-winder after all. I think it worked for it though.

Undulating Twill baby blanket.

The blanket and booties all packed up.

On the random front (or, dare I say, crochet front, but if I add yet another hobby to my life it might explode):

Recently, I was at my local yarn store, Effiloche, and even though I was being good and not shopping for yarn (I don't need any in practice, only in theory!), on my way out I saw a hairpin lace crochet loom that begged me to try it.

Hairpin Lace Crocheting, on the mini-loom.

I've fallen in love with these strange, spine-like structures created on the loom.

Below was my first try. With some technique refinement, I believe I may have a career as a Christmas tree ornament maker.

Les peaux de lièvres

2008-02-07T23:14:00.001-04:00

This song, Les Peaux de lièvres (literally translated, it means hare skins or hare pelts, but it's also an expression for giant fluffy snowflakes. Every frame in is this video was knitted on a knitting machine, and not un-coincidentally, the name of the group is Tricot Machine (knitting machine). The 'knitter' for the video is a graduate of the textiles program at CTCM. That is where I spend much of my time weaving and studied Jacquard in fall. Tonight I attended an opening there and one of the knitted panels for this video was on display. I hope to post a few photos of the other amazing work on exhibit right now, but first I wanted to share this video all by itself as it's such a beautiful fusion of craft and music.

For me, this video is extremely sentimental. I've fallen in love with Montréal and made so many friends here that I'm not sure I'm ever going to leave, and this song strikes a chord with all of those feelings.

Gentleman's Fancy Socks

2008-01-31T14:14:00.002-04:00

Gentleman's Fancy Socks by Nancy Bush

For Rob C.

Have you ever had yarn and pattern and recipient go together in an unexpected and completely perfect serendipitous fashion? These socks are for our friend Rob. He won them in a sock-draw on Christmas Day. (Which, for the record, is a fun way of giving a knitting gift so that no one feels left out. We put everyone's name in a bag, I selected one, and knit socks for the winner). It wasn't until I began knitting these socks up that I realised the pattern is similar to 'bricks' (improperly laid, of course!) and the colour, kind of brick red. This is serendipitous, I say, because the recipient is actually a stonemason.

So I'm going to secretly rename this pattern, Stonemason's Socks, and call the colourway is stonemason red.

The pattern is a simple and easy knit. I made a few adjustments to the pattern since I jumped up 2 needle sizes to accommodate the slightly thicker yarn.

Isn't this cute?

Since everyone we know is having babies, little socks are my new leftover yarn project.

I've always thought Sinopa's twitchy little tail had a life of it's own.

Apparently, so does she.

Knitting, weaving and metal things... but no completed objects!

2008-01-27T15:40:00.002-04:00

Undulating Twill baby blanket

Woven with superwash merino, hand-dyed.

I need advice on how to finish this blanket. It's for a girl, and inspired by water. Initially, I was going to weave it with a greenish blue, but unfortunately I didn't have enough dyed, so I mixed the greenish blue with a navy blue. Now I'm thinking of embroidering in the lower right corner, perhaps a water lily. After that, I'll decide how to finish the ends. I'm embroidering a test on a twill blanket sample to see how the embroidery looks. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please share. Perhaps it would be too much... perhaps embroidering on twill is never a good idea, but I wanted to give it a 'girlish' touch.

Here is a larger view of the blanket, if it's easier to imagine some embroidery in the lower right corner.

Gentleman's Fancy Sock by Nancy Bush

Evening Stockings for a Young Lady by Nancy Bush

These photos don't really do these socks justice. I'm hoping the recipient won't mind modeling them for me when they're finished. She has skinny calves that would be perfect for showing these off.

Spiculums

I'm currently obsessed with the form of these pieces. In metalsmithing, a spiculum is any hollow tube, closed or open, with a changing circumference (this distinguishes it from a hollow tube). These were samples from my hollowware class last year. I wound up using all of them for colouring experiments.

Currently, I'm in pursuit of the flawless spiculum. This piece (poked through a weaving), is almost there. It needs some more fine sanding.

More old spiculum samples...

Another experiment. It reminds me of a kidney. I wasn't happy with the 'bottom' view, so I'm keeping that hidden.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-04T13:56:00.003-04:00

I hope everyone had a good one! We had a wonderful New Years at a little restaurant by the name of Chez Eric in Wakefield, Quebec. A friend of ours bought the restaurant last summer, and the evening was reserved entirely for friends. The dinner menu was a complete surprise to everyone and absolutely fabulous. Highlights of the meal were a sashimi type salad with caviar, foie gras, seared scallops, bison tenderloin with king eryngii mushrooms (which I love, love, love), and three types of desserts. It was a beautiful, snowy night and locals stopped by at midnight on their cross-country skis. Mostly it was wonderful to spend the night with friends.

After two weeks in Ottawa eating too much good food and being lazy, the girls and I are home in Montreal. We feel like this today.

It may have something to do with discovering snowdrifts had settled against the back door while we were away. It may be that we are successfully proving Newton's First Law; an object at rest stays at rest. Obviously (whatever the source of our laziness), I need more socks, and so it was with fortuitous timing that these Child's French Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks tumbled from my needles this morning.

This is yarn I dyed last spring, merino superwash from Henry's Attic. I call the colourway pumpkin pie spice. Orange is my favourite colour - and I notice it is never listed as an option anywhere.

For Christmas, I wove and lightly felted a fun, artsy type scarf for my mother-in-law. Here she is working as a scarf model. It's alpaca and very soft. She loves it and has worn it almost every day.

She also loved her Eyelet Rib Socks. What more could a sock-knitter ask for than a happy sock recipient who wants to model her birthday socks for more blog photos?

Last but not least, here is a recent Jacquard Weaving project.

I'm paying homage to my summer job. The finished weaving (as a piece) leaves me with a lot of 'should have, could have, would haves,' and lessons for the future, but I'm cutting myself some slack as this project also meant fully tackling the Pointcarré software. In that respect I was successful, although I still have much, much, much more to learn.

It's back to the studio for me this coming week, and I can't wait.

New Work

2007-12-07T23:02:00.001-04:00

Vessel 1
For Each Moment that I Thought of You

Forged and soldered copper, woven copper, patina, pennies bound in raffia.

Now back to rampant sock knitting because this was my street on Tuesday morning. And it kept snowing and snowing for another 24 hours after this.

2007-12-01T15:16:00.001-04:00

It's going to be cold this winter! Sadly, that's what they say, and perhaps my latent primordial instincts have been telling me this all along - that would explain my manic sock knitting.

Child's French Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.

Here is the best early Christmas present ever (from my mom), a mushroom stake planishing set. I have been playing with it all week at the jewellery school. Today I realised that all I want for Christmas are metalsmithing books, metalsmithing tools, yarn, and Season III of Battlestar Galactica on DVD. Eclectic much, am I?

My friend Tina recently got me into the Great Lake Swimmers. I would describe their sound as mellow, nostalgic and folk-like, and the lead singer sometimes sounds like a young Neil Young. They frequently play in the Outaouais region, so I am hoping to see them live over the holidays. If you want to check them out, go to http://radio3.cbc.ca/ , type Great Lake Swimmers in the right hand search bar, then play all tracks. Various Stages or Your Rocky Spine are two beautiful songs. I have been listening to this album all afternoon and cleaning, and now must head off to the studio now.

Blocking fixes everything.

2007-11-19T11:54:00.001-04:00

Tiit's Socks (slightly modified), from Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush.

I was so worried about my fair isle tension, and because the yarn I used was slightly thicker than the yarn the called for, I knitted these on size 3.0 mm needles and they turned out a little large for me (and believe me, that is the first time this has ever happened!). However, they are incredibly comfy and will make good house socks, which I tend to prefer large and roomy. I can't remember the last time I blocked a pair of socks, but I blocked these and 99% of my tensiony issues magically vanished.

Just in case I'm giving anyone the impression I've been neglecting the other love of my life, copper, nope!

A peek at unfinished work.

Twill, waiting to be formed

Say, married to textiles and metalsmithing.

The ring still needs to be polished and the fine silver raised, but see the little knitted stitches!

Say, married to a man who wants his sweater!

Confession time: The partially frogged sweater in this photo has a long and sordid history attached to it. This yarn (alafoss lopi), was originally purchased to make John a J. Crew style sweater many, many, many moons ago (and when I say many, I mean the sweater was supposed to be his 30th birthday present, and I began it two years in advance, but that birthday has long since passed and many more). Unfortunately for him, it was my first sweater, and when I reached the underarms, we realised that it was far too big for him. And so it was frogged and sat in my yarn basket for a year. Then I happened upon a few Istex patterns (I'm so easily seduced), and I decided that this yarn wanted to be a lopi-style sweater for me. That is what it became. Unfortunately, the fair isle always felt heavy on my shoulders so I never wore it and it's sat at the back of my closet for five years.

It's very expensive yarn, and every time I've glimpsed this sweater tucked away, I've felt a twinge of guilt. Recently, I decided it still had a future. The Men's Zipped Raglan from Last Minute Knitted Gifts caught my eye over the summer, and the yarn would be perfect for it (and the sweater perfect for me). However, while John was here over the weekend, he declared he 'loved' that pattern, so *guilt, guilt*, now the yarn has come full circle and is going to be for him, again.

But at the moment, it's a cat bed.

Edit: Apparently, even old weaving projects are cat beds today. Sinopa certainly has a knack for making everything look comfortable. She should be a bed model.

I'm in the middle of redesigning my blog layout, so this place may look messy for a few days.

Red

2007-11-13T17:03:00.002-04:00

Eyelet Rib Socks (by Virginia van Santen).
Knitted with Lanett Sandnes yarn.

These are for my mother-in-law. I wish I could say that I'm ahead of my Christmas knitting, but these are for her birthday, also in December. Red is her favourite colour. I've tried them on and they are incredibly comfortable. This was my first time knitting with Lanett and I would absolutely recommend it. The yarn knits up beautifully and feels good on the foot.

Peppers!

It is the end of the season and a peck goes for $5 at the Jean Talon Market. I keep buying them, roasting them and freezing them. They also have pineapples for $2, but I couldn't manage to carry home my peck of peppers and a dozen pineapples all together.

I promise I'll explain this at a later date. But it's red.

Edit: I'm also now at Ravelry!

2007-11-09T12:10:00.001-04:00

Apparently, I'm suffering from Sock-ADD.

Tiit's Socks from Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush.

Does anyone know what it's like when you think you know how to do something well and then discover you're not that good at it after all? This month I've concluded that I am not the greatest Fair Isle knitter. Up until now, most of my Fair Isle knitting has been restricted to sock bands or sweater bands, and it's much easier to manage the tension when knitting only a few inches. On an all over piece, my tension is all over the place.

See Eunny Knit has this helpful tutorial. Now I'm being consistent with my dominant yarn and stretching my stitches. Were these anything other than socks, I would probably frog them and begin all over again but the nice advantage of socks is that they stretch on the foot and so when I am wearing them they look much more even. Blocking will make a world of difference too. But seriously, I've been thinking about all of the beautiful Fair Isle items I see in other blogs and feeling jealous of everyone else's ease with tension.

On the Jacquard loom I have been weaving away. I am addicted to the Pointcarré software. After two years of working on repeating patterns by hand at NSCAD for screen-printing, I love that with a click of the mouse I can do the same thing. Here are recent samples.

Architecture Project

Brochée

Doublecloth

My mom came to visit Montreal this past week. Here are some photos from the Notre Dame Basilica, which is absolutely beautiful and awesome.

Notre Dame

Sacré-Cœur
chapel

Pam and Say, out to lunch.

Finally, a recipe rec. This is the only risotto recipe I have ever tried and I love it.

Asparagus and Shiitake Mushroom Risotto

Somebody loves their new Under Water Scarf

2007-10-24T14:29:00.002-03:00

Under Water Scarf

Knitted with Henry's Attic Licorice Twist yarn, on 6.5mm needles, hand-dyed.

If I saw this scarf in a store, I would have to have it. I would pay far too much money, even knowing that I could make one for myself. That is how much I love it!

Dorothy was kind enough to put the pattern up here.

Thanks again Dorothy!

2007-10-12T17:30:00.000-03:00

It's hard when your ten-pound model looks better in a work-in-progress than you ever will! It must be the white fur and green eyes. My Under Water Scarf is moving along quickly. I have plenty of yarn and I'm determined to wind up with one of those scarves that can be wrapped over and over again with lots of scarf left over. Willa (the model) is quite fond of it too. She says it's perfect for wearing when gazing outside from the top of the refrigerator, and also for kneading when no one is watching. And in case anyone has ever wondered about all of those little white hairs that so often show up in my knitting photographs, she is the culprit.

For my birthday, I made myself an experimental scarf. A friends' wife sent me several balls of beautiful Debbie Bliss yarn this summer, but I hadn't had time to use it until now. It was almost too beautiful to knit with (I don't know how that is or how I can say that here!), so I decided to weave it and make the type of fulled scarf I see everywhere these days.

It's still damp from fulling here. I discovered that fulling is very simple, but the warp and weft were more easily disturbed than I expected. I know whenever I see these types of scarves they are full of separated fibres, and those imperfections usually add to the beauty of the piece, but secretly, I want to snip every stray weft thread out! I foresee more experimenting with this technique in the future, especially with Christmas right around the corner.*

*I say right around the corner, because this is Canada, and the Christmas decorations go up right after Halloween and not Thanksgiving. I never get used to that. After Halloween, my family used to put up Thanksgiving decorations!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving/ Action de Grâce

2007-10-06T13:15:00.000-03:00

It's funny to see yourself as a weaving.

I'm really enjoying my Jacquard weaving class. I think this is especially the case because all of the designing and repeating pattern work I did at NSCAD was by hand. It's also different (designing for weaving) from screenprinting as there's no need to worry about lines not meeting up. When weaving, you can get anything to work, as long as you spend enough time tinkering with the design software. The possibilities are so exciting! My French is coming along. I've got my weaving and computer lingo down pat, but I have to focus diligently for the entire class, and often I leave feeling like someone injected my brain with ten Red Bulls.

One sock for me.

One sock not for me. They are for someone's birthday (in December), someone who loves red. I actually will have them done on time. This is done using yarn a wonderfully simple and elegant pattern sent to me by Delly, my SP9 Angel. Shh... don't worry Delly, the rest of the yarn is all for me.

A close-up.

Dorothy was kind of enough to send me a reversible scarf pattern she had designed. It's called Under Water and I'm feeling completely gratified with the textural effect of the pattern. Thanks Dorothy!

In other news, I love Montreal. As John says, she is an adept seductress and I have fallen prey. At the moment, I never want to leave. I keep questioning myself, wondering if perhaps I'm in the 'infatuation' part of my relationship with this city, but it feels real. For the first time in years, I feel like I am home somewhere, not in a temporary place, and I feel like just being where I am, just breathing and enjoying life and not planning.

This is the view from my back porch.

I keep checking Ravelry. I signed up very late, not hearing about it until September. This is what it said today.

You signed up on September 12, 2007
You are #32555 on the list.
8279 people are ahead of you in line.
7726 people are behind you in line.
59% of the list has been invited so far

*le sigh*

2007-09-05T22:24:00.000-03:00

In August, John and I emerged from another season up north none the worse for wear and now it is a season of changes in more ways than one.

There's a back-story to this, of course. Last winter John and I discussed what I might do after I graduated from NSCAD. He has one more year of school left, and I've been entertaining the notion of applying to grad school. At first, I assumed I would follow him to the small town where he attends school (not far from Ottawa), but for many, many reasons it didn't make sense. For a time too, we thought that I would live in Ottawa, but unfortunately, Ottawa doesn't have the type of facilities I sought to continue my studio work.

So, after a little more research, I settled on Montreal.

At the moment, I am lounging in my very empty apartment and eagerly awaiting the arrival of my furniture. So far I am loving my time Montreal and can almost find my way around. I have already begun my class at the Centre for Contemporary Textiles. It is Jacquard weaving, which I did not have the time to take last year at NSCAD. I am finally learning how to maneuver my way through Photoshop (I also highly recommend Photoshop for Dummies). I am planning to take a jewellery class at L'École de Joaillerie later on this fall.

Did I mention that my French is only so-so?

In other words, my Jacquard class is a wee bit challenging right now, but I can't think of a better way to immerse oneself in a language than to study something that you love.

Now, onto the universal language of socks.

Yes, these may seem familiar to you! Sadly, they have only grown about seven inches since May but now that fall is coming I've picked them up again. Note the white-speckled heel; I've reached the point where I accept that I need to reinforce my heels, but I only had white cotton with me during our long fly-in up north, and so I decided that I could dip-dye the cotton to match the wool after I knit them up. We'll see whether I actually do it or not.

This is a request for help! I need a good reversible scarf pattern for wool below. I am feeling very finicky about what pattern to use. I knit about a twelve inches of purse stitch trying to satisfy my craving for something different, but while I like the stitch, I don't know that it works for the yarn.

It looks neat up against my window though.

2007-07-16T17:44:00.001-03:00

Here I am! It feels as though it's been forever. I apologize for missing everyone's knitting and fibre-related adventures. I don't have much time online, so I'm posting an assortment of photos from the summer.

Early this season I knitted yet another clapotis. I couldn't help it. Not when I woke up,
peeked outside my tent and saw this!

May 17th. Snow!

John and I celebrated our tenth anniversary on the Solstice (WHERE did the years go? I blinked
and here we are.)We were lucky enough to visit the Northwest Territories that week.

At the Alberta/NWT border.

The Falls

Alexandra Falls, NWT.

The chopper taking off from staging.

Me in the chopper.

This was supposed to be our camp. Thankfully, we moved it to a drier spot (still a mudhole)
about half a kilometre away.

The kitchen and our handmade floors, built to save the cooks from the mud.
I don't know how they do it!

2007-05-10T19:02:00.000-03:00

It's been a busy month. I've moved cross country (back to Ottawa from Halifax), reunited with J, and straightaway been preparing to spend my summer up north planting trees. Of course, despite the mayhem (or perhaps, in an effort to cope with the mayhem), I've started yet another pair of socks with the yarn I recently dyed. The colourway has now officially been dubbed, 'spring grass' (which seems appropriate, but probably wouldn't be the most popular dye lot in a yarn shop, eh?)

Look! It almost vanishes.

A third Clapotis is also underway. I've decided that a 'clapotis a year' may be absolutely necessary. I'm addicted to the unravelling part and I wanted to see how some of the hand-dyed skeins knitted up.

I finally uploaded some of my more recent work. I had a few knitting-related experiments this semester. This was one of them.

Knitted Collage

And as usual, lots of work combining metal and weaving.

Nest 4

You can see more of what I was up to this past semester here if you like.

On Friday, I'm flying to Edmonton, Alberta, and then travelling onward to northern Alberta for the summer. It's time to work and earn enough money so that I'll only be a semi-starving artist this coming winter. I'll try to check in when I can, and hope to do as much knitting as possible.

2007-04-19T19:54:00.000-03:00

I've been so busy lately that I haven't knitted an inch.

In other news I have now officially graduated from NSCAD with my BFA Interdisciplinary. My flat looks like a cross between a war zone, a yarn shop and an art gallery as I have moved out of my studio and shuffled everything home. I somehow need to organize and pack this disaster up over the next week, as I will be leaving Nova Scotia for good and moving back to... well, I'm honestly not sure yet, save that I'll be spending my summer in northern Alberta again.

I have some yarn porn to show off. Before the semester ended, I completely took advantage of the dyeing studio.

In December, I ordered several pounds of yarn from Henry's Attic. I didn't have time to dye it until this week, but it actually only makes up about half of the skeins pictured. A local company donated several hundred partial spools that looked like the one in the photo below. On the inside it says, 100% Wool Herco, Mohair Spinners South Africa. It's very soft (I think it's a mohair/wool blend) and perfect sock weight yarn. I wound spools together into full skeins, and save for having a few extra ends to weave in when I'm knitting, free sock yarn!

All of the purple yarn was also donated by a local company that accidentally lightly felted it. Lightly felted or not, it's still perfectly usable and very, very soft. It was bright pink but no longer.

Sadly, now I have no reason whatsoever to go yarn shopping any time in the new future. My husband has given me a decree - that I must knit my way through ALL of this before I venture into a yarn shop. Which is all good. I definitely have more yarn than I can knit when I'm up in the bush this summer.

I said goodbye to this piece today.

I'm not sure if I would call it another of my explorations or a finished work. A painter friend of mine and I made a deal at the beginning of the semester that we would each choose our favourite work from the other and trade. The painting I received in the deal is beautiful. I will cherish it forever.

Thank you Swap Fiend!

2007-03-12T17:37:00.000-03:00

Thank you Swap Fiend!

I can't decide which colour to use first! I know that some of these will travel to northern Alberta with me this summer to be part of my knitting stash during the planting season. At least one of these balls of yarn has a Nancy Bush sock pattern written all over it. And in honour of the many wonderful sock patterns given to me, I've been inspired to become a better 'pattern' organizer. The sock-addict in me has so many projects in sight that it's actually overwhelmed. I'm so very, very delighted (and plan to knit the globe bowl out of wire.)

While digging through the old archives of American Craft and Craft Horizons, I came across this quote by Mary Crovatt Hambridge and thought I would share it.

Crafts are of no consequence unless they have a significance in the life of the people. To me, the crafts are not another means of adding to one's income, but a way of changing one's inner life.

This is how I feel when I sit down to knit or weave. Many years ago, (or so it seems, now that I am on the verge of being married for double-digits), my cousin gave me a set of mugs and a bowl that she'd made herself. They're lovely, fired with Japanese glazes, all earthen colours. For nearly a decade, I've sat down and used the one I designated mine every single day. It's significant to me. It's part of a ritual. I think that genuine appreciation for the handmade is within all of us, and may start with something as ordinary as a coffee mug. We may not realise how significant it is to us at the time, until the moment the coffee breaks, or our favourite hand-knitted hat is lost.

Tangentially, I also don't think anyone up and decides one day that she or he wants to be a professional craftsperson or fibre artist or artisan or whatever we choose to call it. It's a gradual thing that happens over time, as we are changed, by engaging in habits that are more tactile than theoretical, by engaging of our senses, by working at tasks that slowly but surely, just as knit stitches connect to one another, connect and shift our inner beliefs. I think this online blog world is similar in that respect too - oh yes, the irony, that our tactile habits are united by technology, I know

I keep playing around with these pieces, collage-like, but keep getting distracted by other things. I really like them though.

Vessel deconstruction/reconstruction. I learned how to enamel two weeks ago. The enamelled pieces inside were once a pressed copper cup, like the one showing on the left side of the photograph. This is version three. Version four must be done by Friday. Last week, in an effort to explore this venture, I learned that quadruple weave on a 16 harness Macomber loom (two layers of pockets using copper wire) is virtually impossible. I believe there are ways to make it work, but I don't have it in me to fight with the loom and all of its technical glitches. It wins this time.

Call for Input!

2007-03-05T12:16:00.000-04:00

Before I say anything else or show photos, I need your help. I am writing a paper on the relationship between textile artists and the word craft. I am seeking both experienced and new artists (students too), who are interested in discussing how they identify themselves, or the struggles they face in identifying themselves within the craft/art arena. Historically, the definition of "craft" has been static and changed over the ages, particularly with the dawn of the industrial revolution. Definitions of craft also vary from culture to culture. In western society, at least during the last fifty years of so, the schism between fine art and fine craft has never been so profound. At many schools, the craft versus art debate is a contentious issue and hotly debated.

Personally, I feel hopeful that this is all changing. I feel as though textile artists have a unique perspective through their frequent connections to both process and concept. I have contacted a few artists already, but I absolutely want to hear from anyone involved with textile arts who has thoughts on this.

I would be happy to forward my abstract to anyone who is interested. This is for a seminar on craft discourse and not for publication. I can be reached at say_ivison@yahoo.ca

Onto to photo-goodness.

I am the slackest Auntie in the world.

Baby blanket; woven with baby cotton and rayon

Finishing the ends too me far too long. I was pleased that the weave did actually tighten up when I washed it, as I had been worried about that. Why is it that a perfect sett on a six inch sample becomes too loose on a forty-eight inch piece?

And of course, the Stitch n'Bitch. Ours are unique in that no two people are working on the same thing.

My friend Kat's crocheted 3D objects.

My friend Amy's embroidery mark-making.

2007-02-23T19:18:00.000-04:00

Waving Lace Socks from Interweave Knits knit with (either Fleece Artist or Handmaiden? I can't remember!)

Happy feet.

We've started a stitch n' bitch through my school, and while I completely forgot to take any photos of the stitching, knitting and felting going on at my place last Sunday, I did take a picture of my fresh olive basil bread. I don't think I had made bread in about five years, and I was just so happy that it actually rose!

And of course, I have more ongoing experiments...

Which now include wire and knitting.

And ocassionally, merely an obsession with studying knitted stitches.

2007-01-25T21:38:00.000-04:00

You did not stop by to see any knitting... You did not stop by to see any knitting...

You came to see a macabre bobbin massacre...

Still seeking knitting? Okay, I admit it. My Jedi Mind Trick skills are rusty on account of not practicing. And my knitting is coming along so slowly it would be inhumane to inflict an image of exactly '23 more rows' of Waving Lace on anyone.

But I've been so busy doing things like this.

And this.

A fellow hollowware student made the carving and we pressed my copper weaving onto it. We're trading materials/experience for more experiments with the hydraulic equipment. I'm going to weave more copper to press and he's going to give me woodshop lessons so I can bravely tackle the machines that terrify me. Ironically, we were both excited over the results of this experiment, but read it so differently. He sees a landscape and islands while I'm agog over the texture, and see archaeological stuff like dinosaur skeletons and spines.

I'm looking forward to more experiments and vow to finish those Waving Lace socks before the end of this month.

2007-01-16T22:52:00.000-04:00

I swear that I blinked twice and suddenly it was the middle of January. Did that happen to anyone else?

These very yellow Waving Lace socks are getting there, slowly but surely.

Speaking of yellow, can anyone guess which bananas are organic and which are Dole? I had to buy both; those were the smallest and ripest organic ones at the grocery store. What are they putting in the soil down in Ecuador?

Happy New Years!

2006-12-31T18:30:00.000-04:00

Beautiful yarn deserves a beautiful pattern.

Waving Lace Socks from Interweave Knits using Fleece Artist yarn.
Rogue Chocolate Stout.

Admittedly, this colourway is outside my usual zone, but I'm trying something different. I am also not a stout fan (although I love porter), but the DH thought I would like this because it is a 'chocolate stout'. Mmmm... chocolate.

Jana over at Exile In Knitville tagged me for the '6 Weird Things About Me' meme. Time to celebrate my inner geekiness.

Here goes....

1) I met my husband when someone sent me to gawk at his big toes. He was digging a leaching pit during a camp set-up in Northern Ontario. A mutual friend came over to me and started freaking out about them. Under the pretense of 'supervising' (I was a forewoman), I went over to stare and had no choice but to start talking to him. We were best friends before we started dating. I proposed to him two weeks later. (For the record, he's a size 13/14 shoe, mainly because of his giant toes.)

2) I automatically know how do everything with my left hand that I learn with my right, only backwards. Like write. And knit. And throw my shovel. I don't know if other people can do this or just me (and I'm curious) and only know that a certain section of my brain absorbs things in a mirror image fashion. I can also write the same thing with both hands at the same time, forward and backward. I spent my high school chemistry class perfecting this talent. Now all I remember about chemistry my instructors voice saying, "When in doubt, convert to moles."

3) I don't like pototo chips and lima beans are one of my favourite vegetables.

4) Despite my summers in the bush, I am terrified of bears. Those Discovery channel shows, like When Animals Attack, give me nightmares. During the summer, I lay in my tent listening for them (we've only had one around our tent once. It sounded like a giant pig). We went to the Museum of Nature yesterday here in Halifax and they had a large stuffed black bear with an audio recording of it growling. My heart started racing. I think that's because of what happened this summer. I hope I never come face to face with one again.

5) I am from the original Salem Village, aka, Danvers, Massachusetts, the area where the Salem Witch Trials occurred in 1692. I grew up having picnics with my friend Tuan Anh in the graveyard where Anne Putnam is buried. My aunt and uncle had a cat named Tituba. My home was on land that had once belonged to Rebecca Nurse (who was hanged as a witch), and my neighbours owned a painting of Dorcas Good. I grew up well-educated in the hysteria that occurred there, and, due to the large number of practicing witches in the area, grew up with a decidedly positive impression of Wicca and modern day witchcraft.

6) I hate movie theaters and rarely go. I dread movie trailers. They’re too loud, the visuals and imagery are overwhelming for me, and I am easily emotionally sucked in and instantly teary. I've seen two movies at the theatre in the last three years; The Return of the King and Casino Royale.

I'm supposed to tag six people, but since half the people I know have done this, if you read this and are even remotely amused (and secretly wish I had tagged you), consider me a mind-reader, and consider yourself tagged!

And Happy New Years!

Thank you Secret Pal

2006-12-28T10:14:00.000-04:00

Happy holidays and happy New Years' everyone!

Secret Pal, your package arrived yesterday. Thank you! I know you've been worried. We'll just describe the postal service between Australia and Canada as well.... relaxed.

There is heaps of fibre-related reading, including Textile magazine (which has a wicked article on basketry), bath goodies, calenders, pamphlets on current fibre arts incorporating wool, and loads of other reading material. There's quite a bit of information on Australia's National Wool Museum. I like being up to date on fibre arts worldwide; this was a great way to learn more about current work in Australia. Thank you so much!!!

I've been very lazy over the holidays. I've been knitting little hats.

Attempting to coerce Willa into playing Santa's helper...

And weaving functional items. This blanket needs to be washed and shrunk to tighten up the sett. It worked on my sample but I'm nervous about the larger piece.

Bloglines is not updating for me, which bites. I have 'pinged' everyone already and it's just not working, period. Is it just me or everyone?

2006-12-10T11:13:00.000-04:00

I think that every one needs one of these for their Charlie Brown Christmas tree...

Wookiee Angel

AKA: What happens when three fibre arts students have three spare minutes and stress to relieve.

School wraps up this Wednesday. From previous experience, I know the end of the semester will feel anticlimactic, but J (my husband, who went back to school half-way across the country) is flying in this Friday and I'm thrilled about that. We've only had one weekend together since the end of August. I'm looking forward to doing all the sorts of activities that are so mundane when you live together (like renting movies, making dinner, grocery shopping, getting back rubs!) - which are all the things I've missed the most. Fortunately, I've been so busy I haven't felt lonely, and I've had our cats to lavish affection on. They're spoiled. I know. And I love them.

But...

I suffered a somewhat traumatic fibre experience this week. Apparently, when you have very furry cats that shed like anxious Wookiees all over the place, especially ones who routinely treat your desktop like a chaise lounge, it's possible to felt your keyboard. It's true. As of Wednesday, my keyboard was suffering from brown-lung, with long cat hairs layered between the keys. I've cured it, but the horror and the mental images remain. I may never felt anything again.

There. Now everyone knows I clean my desk only at each solstice and my life is starting to resemble a kooky urban legend...

Since I don't have knitting I can show you, here's a partial summary of my fall weaving studio. I'm still working out how to photograph metal properly. I've gathered a lot of ideas and research for next semester, so as much as I'm relieved this semester is nearly at a close, I'm looking forward to next semester already.

Woven Pensieve (Copper, double-weave, hand-made paper, text on paper)

Close-up

Burnt words (Experimenting with patonization)

Twisted form; copper, double weave (16'' by 36")

Close-up

Woven Brass, acrylic yarn casting.

Double woven brass, hand-made paper, gold leaf, acrylic yarn casting.

Feeling Silly; Woven sea urchin full of marbles; copper, green patina.

Woven copper, double-weave, hand-made paper, green patina.

Edit: I tried switching over to the new user-friendly version of blogger, but I can't insert a header photo into the new format. If anyone knows how to do it with the new format, I would be eternally grateful if you would e-mail me with instructions.

Recent Work

2006-12-01T19:41:00.000-04:00

Woven copper, doubleweave, heat patinated

Remazol, Procion, chemical resist; screenprinted, squeegeed, discharged.
Inspired by the Dead Sea Scrolls.

These are my most recently completed work, but honestly, all I want to do is knit cozy, comfy, winter-friendly items like socks and mittens. I want to spend an entire evening sprawled on the living room floor in the middle of my knitting books and magazines, on the quest for The Perfect Next Project. Just imagining that kind of evening gives me goosebumps. It's like sitting down to make a Christmas list when you were a little kid, starting off with a blank page that's thirty rows long. My fingers are also itching to knit themselves silly. I had my Secret Pal's socks at school with me today, and it was a major effort in self restraint to keep myself from yanking them out and knitting, knitting, knitting through our lecture on printing with mordants for natural dyeing. It must be end of semester burnout, a yearning for more functional crafty activities, a little less art.

Can't afford the real thing for Christmas?

2006-11-26T13:19:00.000-04:00

Knit it.

The artist is Lauren Porter. It took ten months to make. The most aspirational of all consumer products is presented in the medium most quintessentially ‘home-spun’. The masculine is brought together with the feminine, soft with hard, young with old and the fast with the slow... You can read more about it here at Craft Research.

I can't decide exactly what I think of it, but that's probably because I'm prejudiced against bright red sports cars, of any make or model.

At least it didn't take me nearly as long to do this -

- but it feels as though it has. It's still a work in progress, loosely based on the Dead Sea Scrolls. In my previous life, I studied comparative religious studies (with an emphasis on early Christian literature), and I was inspired to resurrect my interests for some textile work. I'm printing more text with discharge on all three meters tomorrow night, and will have my fingers crossed the entire time.

I can't show you my latest pair of socks on the needles as they are probably going to be an SP gift but I can show you this er... experiment.

You can probably guess what I'm knitting with. Willa, Miss I-shed-everywhere, is acting like this creation has been dipped in catnip oil. It's now officially in hiding.

Baudelaire Socks

2006-11-19T19:38:00.000-04:00

I swore I would not post again until I finished these.

Now I'm never going to take them off.

Never mind that Sinopa (my new kitty) chewed through my yarn so many times that I wound up weaving in ends for over an hour and was four rows short on one cuff. I'm sure she was only being helpful, dragging partially knitted socks into the bedroom at night, down the stairs during the day. I'm sure she only chewed through the yarn when it became stuck around doorways. It was all perfectly innocent, of course. That all being said, I have decided that toe-up socks are not going win me over against the top down. Oh, the sewn-edge bind off worked beautifully. And casting on isn't that impossible, if tricky the first few tries. But I can't size them as well as I can top-down. Despite following the instructions to a tee, I have socks that are slightly too large (I think a good wash in warmish water will help), not that I mind as they feel so wonderful on.

Last week I was lucky enough to visit Gaspereau Valley Fibres. I'd never seen the Bay of Fundy before and that made the day a mini-holiday to begin with, and then the shop turned out to be an earthly heaven for knitters and weavers. I would honestly live there if they'd let me. The building is an old turn of the century style barn, with walls and walls full like this-

And this-

And their sheep are all milling about outside.

They were super friendly people and stock yarn from all over the world (Fleece Artist, Handmaiden, Henry's Attic, Noro, their own yarns, plus quite a selection of hemp which I'm interested in weaving with but couldn't afford to add to my loot.) Yes, I blew the yarn budget for the month. It wasn't all me. Of course my Secret Pal needed a gift.

On the weaving front, I'm still battling my way through technical issues with wire and too many ideas. For the most part, I think having an excess of ideas is a good thing, but it means they generally are never fully resolved - which doesn't bother me as most good ideas do take time to resolve. But in the meantime, I suffer from a chronic sense of wishing I could do more, and there just aren't enough hours in the week right now.

This first piece is actually about 40'' by 40'', but photos with my flash are too bright. This is much closer to how I would show this, slightly off the wall so that the shadows are part of it.

Handwoven copper, double-weave, hand-made paper, text on paper (hidden).

This is an experiment for a larger project.

Painted linen warp, copper, double-weave.

It's been very warm here lately. Along with foggy and misty. On my walk to the studio yesterday, the fog was so thick along the harbour that even the container ships had vanished completely. I love listening to the foghorns, especially at night when I'm at home working.

Now I'm off to find that beautiful snowflake sock pattern from Mog's Blog...

A big 'hello' to my mysterious Secret Pal. I'll try harder to keep updated in here.

Knitting, E-Bay, dyeing and more about rust.

2006-10-29T12:31:00.000-04:00

I've been dreadfully remiss in regards to knitting content lately, but the cold weather is moving in and spurring me on to finish these. The first completed Baudelaire sock is so comfortable and warm I can't wait to have another. Mother nature is a powerful motivator.

Recently I also won my first item on E-bay. It's a 3.3 pound spool of single ply merino. I forgot to ask if it was superwash or not, but either way, it cost $20 plus shipping and I can't complain. I keep meaning to try overshot, and this might be perfect for it, although I don't dare use it for the warp. If anyone is interested, the seller has more available. It's been sitting on my coffee table all week so that I can admire it...

Just for size comparison...

Here is my latest surface design project.

This did not turn out quite as I intended (but when does anything?). I have been printing on silk habotai with Remazol and Procion with chemical resist added to it. When I design, I'm primarily interested in patterns in nature or textures. This piece was created using three layers. The first layer, the 'ground', is all Remazol dyes. The second layer is a sand texture printed haphazardly using Procion. Last was my design based on a close-up of cantaloupe skin, also done in Procion. When I printed this, the final layer was dark brown - but that's not what I got! Where you'd expect to see the chemical resist halo, instead there are dark outlines. In all honesty, I find this subtle colouring more pleasing, but the final layer of Procion had a very strange reaction, not bonding with the surface of the silk, and it took me hours to scrub it all off. I need to do some tests to figure out why that happened. Possible culprits are A) not using Manutex F (I always use the cheaper SH but this has never happened.) B) the studio temperature was FREEZING! The more I read about Procion, the more I think this might have had something to do with it. C)Re-stretching the silk between layers. I'm wondering if I may have stretched it so tightly that the dye couldn't permeate the fabric. D) The black dye I used to turn my golden yellow to dark brown was mixed up two weeks ago. It may have lots its ability to react with the fabric.

If anyone out there has any expertise in this area, I'd love your input. Actually, more like eternally grateful!

Of course, I'm used to the fact that often things just don't work out quite as planned. (Note fuzzy blurry lines, and faded colouring in this piece below...)

Lately I've been reflecting a lot on what textile arts means to me and how I define them. Personally, I feel as though textiles are the broadest medium of all. Fabric is like a canvas, but because I can play with it at a structural level, I am more connected to it than I would be a canvas. I feel like the warp and weft are my lump of clay, the beginnings of a sculpture or the perfectly thrown pot. I feel as though nontraditional materials are meant to be explored and integrated.

A friend of mine is a mixed media abstract painter. We are always fascinated by one another's work and that makes perfect sense. At this point, I would describe myself as a student of mixed media textiles, interested primarily in nonrepresentational work.

Of course these things all change when I least expect them too....

Summary of the Rust Dyeing Workshop

I love this photo of the Nuno installation. Our work (students and faculty taking part in the exhibition) is up on the walls, but really it all paled in comparison to the centrepiece.

In terms of process, we used both old and new metal. We used the steel plates pictured in my previous post, as well as found materials. We scrubbed the oil from the surface of the new steel thoroughly with neutral soap and steel wool. Then we rinsed them and layered them in a tub, covered in salt with marbles between them so that air could circulate. After a week we took them out and scrubbed the forming rust off...

For old rusted pieces, we simply scrubbed them vigorously to remove old scales, sprayed them with salt water and let them rust anew.

Because the workshop instructor was flying in from Japan the night before the workshop began, and instructions in Japanese apparently tend to assume you know more than you might, we were in a panic that our plates weren't rusty enough. Someone contacted someone who contacted someone else, and the next thing I knew we had a retired chemist in our studio. He suggested we soak everything (including our old metal) in a bath of salt water with vinegar added to it. Then we air dried it, periodically spraying it down with salt water. (Acetic acid can be used too, but I think it's unnecessary if you just take more time. It also smells awful and isn't all that safe.) By the next morning everything was covered in new rust.

When it came to the actual dyeing, we made sandwiches with our fabric and rust in the centre. First we lay down masonite boards. Next, a blanket or foamie - something with give to it. For 3D pieces, foamies are good because they allow the fabric to fold around the rusted object. Then we used, in this order, a sheet of plastic, pre-wetted fabric, our metal, another layer of fabric. At this point, we spritzed our fabric with plain water or salt water to dampen it further and 'arrange' the way the fabric was clinging to the metal underneath. Next, we added another layer of plastic, and here we sealed the edges of two layers of plastic together in order to make the 'package' air tight. Then came another blanket or foamie. Finally, to top it off, we added an electric blanket and another masonite board, which we weighed down with everything not attacked to the floor in the studio. We jacked the electric blankets up to high for a few hours, then turned them down to low. The room we used for rust dyeing was kept relatively warm.

Twenty-four hours later, we peeked, and presto! Rust-dyed fabric.

Most importantly, I learned that the new rust is what bonds with the fabric. When we opened our fabric up on the second day, you could see the thousands of tiny rust crystals forming. The pieces that were least successful were the oldest, rustiest, scaliest pieces - those which were also the hardest to scrub down. As I understand it, it's important to scrub off the old rust as much as possible, as new rust will begin reforming immediately in the same place, and that is what bonds with the fabric. (Note: we used rayon, which is supposedly the most successful of all cellulosics, although good results can be had with silk too.) The heat speeds up the process.

Rust dyeing also doesn't change the hand of the fabric. I thought it would. Up close, you expect to be able to feel the texture of metal or rust, but you can't.

To the questions...

What is the projected longevity of these pieces?

I haven't done my own tests, but according to our workshop leader the rust dying is one of the most permanent techniques and completely lightfast. I'm going to try discharging a sample at some point in the next few weeks. I'm also interested to see what happens when the fabric is treated with chemical reactive dyes.

Did you treat them afterward to get back to a normal pH?

We rinsed them and ran them through the washing machine with a smidgen of Synthrapol (a neutral pH soap). So we weren't necessarily treating them, but we did need to make sure the remnants of vinegar and salt water were completed removed from the fabric.

Will that wash out or blur if it gets wet? When initially opened, bits of rust are clinging to the fabric and can potentially stain it if the piece is run under hot water. We used cold water and nothing bled or washed out. It was a very permanent, clear effect.

If anyone has any more questions, feel free to ask and I'll add them to this post.

All about rust...

2006-10-21T09:55:00.000-03:00

Rust dyed fabric by Nuno

Steel plates

This weekend I was very fortunate in that I had the opportunity to take part in a Nuno led workshop at my school (Nuno is a Japanese textile company that produces cutting edge fabrics. If you're into surface design, you've probably heard of them. If you haven't - check out their website. Their work is pretty darned amazing.) We've been preparing metal for weeks now, and trying to plan our schedules (we are now in the midst of midterm critiques) so that we wouldn't miss a moment.

Can anyone guess what's going on here? Our fabric is layered between plastic, masonite boards, blankets, and weighted down.

The fabric, ready to be opened.

Me, peeking to see if it worked.

It did!

Samples on different types of fabric. The spattered rust piece was made using gun powder.

The workshop grande finale is a joint show between Nuno and the participants. The top photo is the gallery centerpiece. This has been an absolutely amazing experience. I'm in love with rust dyeing after one go. We were very lucky in that our Nuno represenative is an expert in rust dyeing. She rust dyed several kimonos for her final university show, two with all over rust patterns, one done more plainly, using rusted swords. They were absolutely breathtaking.

Does anyone want more details? I'm swamped with studio stuff until later this week, but I'd be happy to post more about the process then.

And I really have finished one of those Baudelaire socks.

The Silk's Journey, continued.

2006-10-11T08:50:00.000-03:00

The finished work (slightly brighter than it actually is due to the flash).

When we left off last time, I had just finished painting it.

Next I used free motion embroidery to sew the silk onto a one metre piece of plain m-cotton. I've been learning to do this on an industrial sewing machine, which has been marginally overwhelming. The thread broke over one hundred times my first afternoon sewing it. I switched from cotton to polyester and back. I changed the needles on the machine. I switched machines. I switched embroidery feet. Finally, a million years and a day later, I discovered that 'tension' was the source my problems. It was simply set too tightly for such fine fabric. (Apparently adjusting the tension on the studio machines is very naughty, but it worked!) This is the back - you can see the knots. Most I was able to snip out later on.

Afterward, I soaked the entire piece in a lye bath for just over a minute. Natural cellulosic fibers shrink when they come into contact with lye (caustic soda and water). Loosely woven cotton and linen have worked best for me. Silk can be safely dipped for short periods of time and will not shrink. Other protein-based fibres, such as wool, dissolve and start breaking. I stitched the silk onto the m-cotton, anticipating that the m-cotton would shrink and cause the silk to pucker and buckle. Because I'm a protein based being, I'm all suited up.

Then I neutralised the fabric and washed it very well.

You can see the puckering effect up close here.

That's the end of the journey for the silk. For me, the journey was about combining different processes and practicing my free motion embroidery. It's given me lots of ideas for future projects.

I'm still knitting my Baudelaires, and in the meantime, I have a book terrific recommendation!

I recently ordered this from Amazon and it's the best book on weaving structure I've ever seen. If you've ever wanted to learn more about weave structures, wondered why satin weave needs five harnesses, been baffled by a cloth diagram, or simply wanted everything to make sense 'in your head' while you are weaving it, buy this. Alderman covers every iota of the warp and weft in great detail. I haven't finished it yet but I'm reading it from cover to cover - I never thought I'd say that about a book on structure.

Edit: My Secret Pal Questionnaire can be found HERE!

Why my Baudelaires still aren't finished.

2006-10-05T00:27:00.000-03:00

Once upon a time, there was a one meter piece of white silk which wanted to be something more than an ordinary piece of silk. Perhaps it was the restless souls of the of silkworms that created it; they had feasted on mulberry leaves and spun cocoons for their pupa stage, expecting to emerge as moths and fly on to greater, more exciting things. Instead, they never awoke from their dreams... they left them all in the silk.

Graciously, the silk decided to lend itself to this new venture of mine.

First, the silk was dyed in a nearly exhausted pot of kammala (a natural dye) for one hour, and then left overnight in the pot so that resist lines developed. After it was washed and ironed, it was taped down to a screeprinting table.

I screenprinted on it with a design based on microscopic images of sea algae.

After a few hours later, I'd covered every centimetre.

The next day, after making sure the pigment was dry, I carefully heatpressed the silk so that the pigment would be set, and then stretched it out on an old frame so that I could paint it with thickened remazol dyes.

I painted until my back ached and my hands were tingling, and when I couldn't stand it another second, My friend Melissa showed up to lend a hand (and a paintbrush!) and save me.

Finally, shortly before midnight, the painting was completed.

It took another hour to dry enough that it could be moved safely from the printing table.

Tomorrow, it will be steamed and washed again. Many more adventures await this once ordinary piece of silk before it completes it's journey.

Here's a hint...

2006-09-27T20:17:00.000-03:00

The second First Baudelaire Sock, halfway completed.

This is the second time I've gotten this far. Everyone says toe-up socks are easy and they are! Except that it's much easier to gauge size by sticking your foot in a sock and seeing how far you need to knit in order to reach the toe then the other way around. I often switch needle sizes when following sock patterns and I rarely give a second's thought to jumping from a 2 to a 3. When working toe-up, however, you have to. The first Baudelaire (smallest size) was too big on 3s. I frogged back and started over. Somehow, despite following the pattern to the letter, they are again too big. But I'm just going to rip the toe off after I finish and shorten them.

In other news (and addressing my absence of late) I'm back at school and in the studio full-time.

So far I've been struggling with technical problems galore. 30 gauge copper wire is a 2D material in the midst of crisis. It is not fibre. It is not yarn. It is also not entirely sure that it wants to be metal. It resists all attempts to find an even tension, breaks when the warp is yanked too tightly, loves being wound on the bobbin and prefers being the weft over the warp. I've been working with double weave, and I think part of my problem may be that I jumped from an 8 harness to a 16 harness loom (with dreamy, sculptural visions of splitting each layer again and again). But after a week and a half, I've accumulated nothing but samples with uneven setts and snapping threads. I'll throw on another copper warp this weekend, but in the meantime I'm being cautious and have switched to a low-stretch monofilament warp (aka as high quality fishing line).

In the bottom of half of this photograph, the warp is set at 12 epi (not quite enough for a weft-faced fabric). Once the warp was split for double weave, however, the weft packed down much more tightly.

You can see below where I've thrown the shuttle with brass several times.

What I'm really interested in here is the flashing from the layer beneath (I don't know if it shows up all that well here. It does in my studio). The top layer is copper, the bottom is brass. I'm going to try patinating and heat-setting some of my copper tomorrow, as well as playing with dyed natural fibres, just to see what kind of contrast it creates. I think it would also be interesting to reduce the epi sett a tad, to perhaps 8 epi, just to increase the flashing. I'm curious as to whether or not it would be possible to play with ikat or shadow images on the layer underneath, and how much I could control their flashing through.

Kitty Update

We have a new member of the family. Her name is Sinopa. She's approximately one year old and from the local SPCA here in Halifax. She and Willa are getting along fairly well after one month, although there is still a fair amount of territorial 'playing' going on.

Unfortunately, new kitty brought a minor cold home with her, and I wound up bringing Willa to the vet with a teary eye. Remembering that Willa had not been fond of the vet as a kitten, I brought my welding gloves. It was a good thing I did. She was so horrible that even wrapped in two towels and with myself and a vet tech holding her down, her very brave vet could not manage any sort of eye exam. According to the clinic, Willa is one of the worst patients in the city and they even inquired as to whether or not she had she suffered any major trauma at the vet's as a kitten? Nope.

The shame... or the pride... of being on the vet's 'special' list, so that they can have protective gear prepared, calming pheromones sprayed in her examining room, and sedatives on hand.

Does this look like a hissing, snarling, attacking monster?

I think not.

2006-08-25T13:14:00.000-03:00

Completed Raindrop Lace Socks by Fiber Trends, made with Claudia's Hand-painted Yarn, chocolate cherry.

Happy feet!

Unfortunately, these do not and will never match my bright orange Crocs.

John and I spent yesterday afternoon running errands downtown, then we wandered around the Parliament buildings seeking the 'stray cats of the hill'. Although I am a native of Northeastern Massachusetts and currently live in Halifax, I consider Ottawa my real home. The tourist in me never gets tired of wandering around Canada's capital. It's one of four capital cities in the world where one can find neo-Gothic architecture (the other three being Budapest, London and Johannesburg). Next week, John is beginning school at the nearby Algonquin Heritage College, which offers, among other things, a world-famous program in restorative masonry. As you can see, the parliament blocks provide a great deal of work for its graduates.

More neo-Gothic architecture.

Here are the locks, which connect the Rideau Canal to the Ottawa River. Across the Ottawa river you can see the downtown core of Hull, Québec (technically the region across the river was amalgamated into 'Gatineau' but I refuse to call it that). In winter time, the Rideau Canal is the world's longest skating rink. Unfortunately, I am a skating klutz. I actually know how to skate backwards, but not forwards.

We eventually found the stray cat colony, but there were no cats! Just squirrels, gobbling up cat food and eyeing the tourists warily.

Ah well. I'm feeling nostalgic. I'm off for the east coast tomorrow (so long Ottawa!). First I'm going to Ipswich, Massachusetts, where I will meet up with my best friend and her 2 year old son. She lives in Hawaii now and constantly tells me I need not KNIT her anything, EVER, as it is always warm there. Isn't that frustrating? However, I'm versatile, and I do have a woven gift for her, of the wall hanging variety.

At the end of next week, it is onwards north to Halifax.

Obviously, with all of this traveling and vacation time looming, I needed a new sock project. Recently, I spied the Baudelaire socks in the latest Knitty. Promptly I joined the Baudelaire KAL. Apparently, I am a glutton for Cookie's punishment - or just helplessly addicted to her sock patterns? My only dilemma is what colour to make them. (Solved: Dark purple)

Oh yes, the wrap with sleeves has gotten about six inches longer, but that hardly seems worth reporting.

2006-08-21T18:20:00.000-03:00

Raindrop Lace Socks, in progress, using Claudia's Handpainted Yarn.

This Fiber Trends pattern is absolutely terrific. It's easy to memorize and such a no-brainer that this first sock (literally), sprang completed off my needles and I don't remember knitting it. I can foresee it now; for the rest of my life, when I'm holding a ball of sock yarn and patternless, I'll think, 'Oh, I'll use that Fiber Trends pattern again!' This yarn is also super comfortable once knitted up and on the foot. I'm looking forward to enjoying these socks this fall.

My 'Wrap Sweater with Sleeves' on the other hand (now on less slippery bamboo needles), is not going to be so painless. I love the fisherman's rib, but so far I have come up with NO EASY WAY to correct a dropped stitch using fisherman's rib with such fluffy yarn, and any mistakes mean that I must tink back carefully and remain as patient and calm as I possibly can. I've only done this once so far. I'd say lesson learned but I'm being so careful to begin with. Fisherman's Rib does not naturally produce beautiful selvages (the weaver in me is aghast), but as this garment will be stretched about the body and tied, I don't think it will matter.

2006-08-13T21:41:00.000-03:00

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and offered their sympathies regarding Runa.

It always seems to me (though this is likely not without exception) that every knitter or weaver I meet is also a cat-lover or animal person. Personally, I am extremely fond of kitty spam of all sorts although I try not to spam my own blog excessively (er, I'm lying). I know there are many cat owners (or knitters and weavers owned by cats) in blogland, and a lot of people who know what it's like to lose a pet.

So thank you. I know you all understand.

On to knitting.

This week I learned that knitting a 70% merino 30% silk blend on slippery metal needles is a bad idea. Especially in a car. Especially on a badly paved highway between Ottawa and Perth. Both yarn stores I've checked with are out of bamboo needles in the size I need for the wrap with sleeves, so the project is on hold for today.

On the other hand, the sock pattern my Secret Pal sent me this spring with the accompanying skeins of 'Claudia's Hand Painted Yarns' is singing a soft but very audible siren song from its stash bag down in my in-laws basement.

Honestly. What kind of sock addict am I if I don't have a pair on any needles?

Oh, and SueB over at Threads is offering online classes in silk fusion. I've been admiring her technique and work for several months now and I urge you all to check it out!

2006-08-11T13:48:00.000-03:00

We are back in Ottawa after a long season of work.

Here are my completed pomatomus socks. I really enjoyed this pattern, although I feel like I've been knitting them forever. I began them in May during our fly-in, then had to set them aside because my printer had printed off the pattern minus the last two rows of Chart B. They were worth it. I even knitted an extra section of Chart A, as I wanted the leg to be longer than in the original pattern. I used the Trekking yarn my secret pal sent me this winter.

Here is a close up...

I have started working on the Rebecca Wrap With Sleeves. At first, the way Fisherman's Rib was described in this pattern confounded me. I found variations on line which were no easier - one in particular calling for you to 'knit into the stitch below,' which is tricky when using black fuzzy mohair. I found this wonderfully helpful link which explains how Fisherman's rib is done in Germany. Lo and behold, it's actually quite simple. I also found an English help section in the Rebecca forums for the other questions I anticipate having.

I really just love the look of this... It's elegant and casual. I know this is not going to fit me the way it fits the model in this photo, but I'm imagining that it could... er, magically!

In other news, this project is serving as a much needed distraction for me.

On August 2nd, our beloved cat Runa died while John and I were still up north. We didn't find out until a few days ago. We are absolutely broken-hearted. She was our first 'baby' together, a big-footed curmudgeon who loved all forms of attention (good and bad!), had a taste for olives and hot wings, liked to hide balls of yarn under my bed, and was fond of monopolizing my computer desktop, especially when my space heater was aimed at it. While I was at school or in my studio, her world revolved around John. She liked to box and play 'shark attack' with him. She had an amazing memory for a cat - she would recognize the sound of my mother-in-law's voice even if she hadn't seen her for a year - and knew to search my mother-in-law's bags the moment she arrived for toy mice.

Runa

August 22nd, 2002-August 2nd, 2006.

This summer she and her sister Willa were in the care of a friend who sadly, failed to recognize the signs of a very sick cat. Runa had suffered from feline irritable bowel syndrome in the past, probably brought on by separation anxiety. We provided our sitter with ample veterinary contact information, her health records and contact information for John's parents (who would have covered any veterinary treatment and made any decisions while we were away). We did everything we thought we should to make sure she would be well taken care of. Without ascribing blame (it's simply too painful and so utterly futile), I'll admit there are a lot of whys right now. Runa died the night this friend finally brought her to emergency veterinary clinic. She was severely jaundiced and dehydrated; she had likely developed fatty liver disease from not eating.

We know that her condition was easily treatable and that she would still be here if medical attention been sought sooner. Deep down, we feel that she died because we left her and that is going to be difficult to come to terms with.

Runa and Willa

Knitting in the Bush

2006-06-28T13:16:00.000-03:00

I didn't think I'd actually have time to post (or even access) while I was up north this summer, but it seems I do, if just a little..

This is a photo of a weather system moving across the sky. I think the most beautiful skies in the world can be found in northern Alberta, Canada. There are certainly places in the world where the clouds are just as impressive, but I haven't discovered them yet. I'm frequently awe-struck up here.

Naturally, no bush camp would be complete without broken shitters held partially closed by ZAP STRAPS!

Onto the knitting...

My friend Dre and I held our own Stitch and Bitch next to the wood-stove in the dry tent on a day off. She was working on 'hiking socks' from the Paton's sock book, and I worked on the Pomatomus socks from Knitty with the hiking sock wool my secret pal sent me. Unfortunately, my printer printed off the pattern sideways and I lost part of chart B! I had to move on to other projects during the fly-in.

That turned out well, as I finally finished my Estonian Socks by Nancy Bush.(Warning: I have scary, white, bug-bitten, wild rose scratched legs. Only look at the socks!)

Up close.

The Estonian socks have a unique heel. I'll have to check the book to see which type it was... I'm honestly not sure if I'm fond of it as it's quite narrow, but here's a good look at it.

For our wedding anniversary, I made John a pair of socks too. He wears a size 14 shoe, so knitting socks for him is always a major undertaking. The pattern is fairly basic. I used size 5 needles, 56 stitches and ribbing to make them stretchy. I didn't have enough balls of one colour to make 'boring' socks for him, so I alternated different browns of Mission Falls washable merino.

Here he is, Mr. Bigfoot, being an agreeable sock model in back of our hotel.

As for non-sock/knitting news, I had my first up-close bear encounter a few weeks ago.

I always tried to imagine what I would do it if ever happened. Would I panic? Would I scream my head off. Would I remember step by step what I was supposed to do.

We were planting in a block heavy with bear activity. When we flew in to plant it several days later, a mama bear and two cubs were at the snow cache, rooting through all the garbage. Our helicopter chased them off. (It's fun actually, staring down below your feet and watching bears run through the woods while you fly after them.) After chasing off the mama bear and cubs, we divided up across the cut block to plant. We carry whistles and bear mace, but generally we're several hectares away from help, too far from the emergency radios and too far away for people to hear our whistles. These facts are not all that comforting, but when bear encounters are likely, people buddy up plant and the foreman keep their guns handy. This was day one in this block. Nothing major happened.

Our cut block was shaped roughly like two fat 'Y's strung together, with uncut bush as the negative space. On day 2, I was off in the tip of one of the slanted parts of the Y, very far away from everyone else. Within an hour of beginning work, I heard gun-shots. My foreman showed up shortly afterward to tell me that eight (yes, that right, EIGHT!) bears had been spotted across the block and they'd shot off a few rounds of rubber bullets. That's eight bears in an area roughly thirty hectares in size, which might sound big but really isn't when they're wandering around and cutting through the patches of bush where nothing has been cut, jumping from one side of the Y to the other. And if you shoot rubber bullets at a bear, there's no telling which part of the block they're running to. You can try to control it, but once they get into the bush and you can't see them, they can hop from one clear cut to another.

At this point, I shouldn't have been planting alone without so much as a dog or a radio. About an hour later, I was working toward my tree cache when out of the corner of my eye, I saw my backpack move! I froze and looked up slowly, only too see a bear twenty feet away from me, nosing through my gear.

It was bigger than me. Not more than waist high, but round and stocky and well over three hundred pounds. Definitely faster than me, were I to turn and run. At the same moment I saw it, it saw me. Shaking, I slowly reached into my pocket for my whistle with one hand, and with my other hand I reached into my back planting bag for my bear mace. (We'd just bought our mace before the fly in. I'd only taken the plastic wrap off it two days earlier. Imagine being charged by a bear and stuck trying to get the plastic off the mace?) I managed to yank the safety clip off the mace and get the whistle in my mouth. At the sound of the whistle, the bear darted back a few feet. Then it stopped, looked at me, and took a step off the road into my land, watching me. For five of the most terrifying minutes of my life, I backed away very slowly blowing the whistle, trying to figure out what direction the wind was coming from in case I had to use the mace. The bear kept watching, unafraid, as if it hadn't decided what to do about me. Backing away over cut land covered in slash and brush isn't easy. Scared and klutzy, I dropped my whistle once and fell once. When I was about fifty yards away, the bear finally decided to go through my gear in search of my lunch rather than come after me.

Phew!!!!

It took me another five minutes to reach the pinch in the treeline to where the cut block opened up and find my way to other people.

About an hour after this happened, we heard whistles in another section of the block, then, several gun-shots. A foreman had to shoot and kill another bear which was venturing too close to people. The helicopter slung it up on a long line, and then we watched as the body was flown out of the block so that it could be dumped far away from us.

That sort of stuff should never happen. We're people wandering into the bears' territory, not the other way around. There were several human mistakes made which led to the encounter, which is usually the case up here.

That's all for now. I hope everyone is having a good summer and I wish I had more time to browse all of your blogs!

Have good summer everyone!

2006-05-11T15:11:00.000-03:00

I am headed on a journey of sorts.

I guess I should begin by saying that the past two weeks have been hectic. We moved to a smaller flat the last week of April. This is because J is not going to be with me during my last year of school. He is going back to school too, but unfortunately his program of study isn't offered in Halifax, so I'll be on my own with our kitties.

On the second of May, we flew to Canada's capital, Ottawa. Ottawa is actually home to both us. John was born here. It's my adopted home. Most of our friends and family are here. We've been taking advantage of the beautiful weather to go mountain biking and hiking in Gatineau Park. This is Pink Lake, which is a meromictic lake, which is a fancy way of saying the water layers never mix. The algae turns the water pink in the fall, hence the name. I've only ever seen it like that once.

The trails are beautiful but my leg muscles responded to the fun by turning to jelly at the end of the day.

We have more travelling to do as of tomorrow. We are headed for the northwest corner of the province of Alberta. For us, the summer marks the beginning of our work season. During the summer, we plant trees and ocassionally perform other types of forestry-related work. We spend most of our time in bush camps and fly-ins, and the outside world ceases to exist for the time being. I have a carefully assembled bag of sock projects packed away, but unfortunately, most of my knitting stash and my beloved weaving all have to stay behind.

I meant to have these Estonian socks finished before I left. Somehow that has not happened.

This is my almost completed "Hawaii" weaving. I've since finished the trim, but it didn't care for flying and now it needs to be re-blocked.

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!!! I will miss browing all of your blogs and seeing what you've been up to.

2006-04-15T14:52:00.000-03:00

The past few weeks have been kind of crazy, with final projects and school work keeping me away from my computer. I feel like I'm behind on all of my favourite blogs, but I'm looking forward to getting caught up this week.

I've been knitting again. Not vigorously, but a bit here and there. I finished my Purl's Snake-a-long a few days ago.

I used the two balls of Noro that my secret pal sent me. I debated buying another of the same colourway to make it a bit longer, but I think with some blocking it will be fine. Fun pattern, and Noro is a great yarn for entrelac. And actually, I think this warping mill is my new favourite model!

Thank you, thank you Donni for these handles and handmade stitch markers!!

I've never used anything other than the cheap plastic stitch markers before, so I'm going to feel decadent when I try these. I'm thinking about using the handles for the Counterpane Bag bag in the Handknit Holidays book. I was very touched and even a little thrilled to recieve something from the land down under. Thank you!

She also included a little brochure for the Ashford Knitters Loom, which caused my husband to have a small heart attack. "Are you ordering a loom from Australia?" (He didn't realize it was for a tabletop style loom). It's neat. It's portable, perfect for scarves and mini-projects, and well... now I want one! I could bring it up to the bush with me over the summer, and weave night after night during the solstice...

Yes, my daydreams go on and on.

Here are a few recently completed weaving pieces.

Petal

This reminds me of a dried up petal, or a parched leaf curling up on the ground in autumn.

A close-up.

Doubleweave (copper wire, oven baked for colour). I was so excited that it actually worked, now I just need to work out all of the kinks.

2006-04-01T18:33:00.000-04:00

My Purl's Snake-along is coming along, slowly but surely.

We've been working supplementary weft techniques at school. We sampled about a dozen techniques, and then we were free to experiment with what we liked best. My favourite techniques were one called closed shed pick-up (where one threads a stick through the areas he or she wants to cover with supplementary threads) and Leno, which is a type of open weave or gauze weave.

The pick-up is fun as it's a way to 'draw' on the warp. I played around with it and wove all sorts of wavy lines. I used invisible thread as for the main weft, and thicker, darker thread for the pick-up.

After I finished that I dyed and discharged another warp. Somehow, because the colours reminded so much of Hawaii and my best friend who lives there, it became a gift to her while I was working on it.

I still have many, many ends to weave in and it needs to blocked, but I've been lazy about finishing this week.

On a sad note, My Secret Pal, Lori, lost her mother this week. I'm trying to send her lots of positive thoughts from Nova Scotia.

2006-03-19T19:34:00.000-04:00

It's been a very busy few weeks and I may just have been avoiding updating...

I'll begin by mentioning that I joined Purl's Snake-a-long recently. I couldn't resist trying entrelac with the Noro my Secret Pal sent me. It's actually just the type of pattern I need right now - easy to memorize with fast, gratifying results. Thanks to Donni for the invite!

Here is my final package from my Secret Pal, which arrived yesterday. In the box are a sachet, bath goodies, pedicure goodies, note cards, and two skeins of beautiful Merino called 'Claudia's Hand Painted Yarns', and a pattern from Fiber Trends to go with them. I'm pretty thrilled to have a stash of wonderful sock yarns for my summer season in the bush, and this pattern (Raindrop Lace Socks) is definitely next on my list. Thanks for being so thoughtful and indulging my sock obsession so thoroughly Secret Pal! I'm dying to find out who you really are...

Thanks to the hostesses over at Secret Pal 7 for hosting the event. I'll definitely be looking forward to it next fall.

The Olympics Fiasco.

I'll just spill it out. It truly is possible to interpret the following sentence three different ways;

Maintaining welt pattern as established on first 5 and last 5 sts, and cont in St st on center 148 st, inc 1 st each end of needle inside markers on next row, then alternating every 2 and 4 rows (2 sts inc'd each side every 6 rows) for a total of 20 inc rows from CO.

Unfortunately, only one way is right. I think it's that little segment in parentheses which did me in (the 2 stitches inc'd every SIX rows.) Not every four rows. Not every six. I made it all the way to the armholes before I realised my latest error. Now this yarn and this knitter have both come the conclusion that this pattern was not meant to be, at least not this spring. There simply isn't enough time and I'm heading into final projects where I'll have even less time, so a basket weave blanket it shall become instead.

There. Confession made.

2006-03-02T14:22:00.000-04:00

I was feeling guilty about not finishing my Olympic Knitting, even dreading coming on line to check out fellow Olympians gold medal performances. But Yarn Harlot posted this over at her blog; Even if you didn't finish, even if you never had your name entered on the list - everyone's a winner in Harlotville. And interestingly enough, all of my guilt has magically melted away.

On the other hand, while my baby-sweater-in-progress lies neglected beneath the coffee table, this piece IS finally finished (eight days and sixty-something hours later).

A close-up...

Another close-up. Drat that flash!

It's very difficult to screen-print evenly on such fragile fabric. That was definitely a learning experience. This piece - colourwise - was inspired by Gregory Thorp's beautiful photographs of corn (but darn, the ones I used as inspiration are not there, and since they're in a very nice magazine I'm fairly sure scanning them in would be a no-no.) The two photographs were side by side, and I loved the juxtaposition of the cools beside the warms, the sense of autumn beside fall. And since this piece was an abstract self-portrait, it seemed fitting when I took the fabric off the warp that it remain connected, whole, as one long vertical piece rather than two pieces side by side.

I have the feeling that I merely tapped the surface of something rich and gratifying here and want to do more. This piece itself is complete, but the work is not resolved, I guess I'd say.

But back to Gregory Thorp. I find his work, with all the subtle yet vivid colours and textures so inspiring that I may just keep staring and drawing from them. Textiles are so natural that way. Perhaps I should write him an e-mail. It will start something this... "Dear Greg, a quirky Canadian textile student has become obsessed with your photographs of corn..."

Edit: I just spent the last five minutes laughing at Jana's most recent post. What happens when your dear friends decide to mischievously join in on your Secret Pal experience????

2006-02-22T11:20:00.000-04:00

If I get disqualifed from the Olympics, this is my excuse.

The warp is made of cotton-wrapped polyester and the weft is polyester wrapped with metallic fibers. There's an unplanned shift from silver to gold (hey, I'm keeping true to the spirit of the Olympics at least!), as my local fabric store ran out of the silver thread. Which should be all right, project wise. The magic of cotton-wrapped polyester is that when burn-out paste is applied to it, only the cotton burns away. So I can burn out sections of the fabric by a half-tone. First I'm going to be screen-printing over the fabric, although I need to run a few more tests on my sample piece to make sure the burn out paste works when applied over the screen-printing pigment.

Edit: Actually, it turns out pigment acts as a resist for the burnout paste, so oops!, that's not going to work.

Throwing the shuttle.

Beating back.

I figured it would take me three days to wind my warp, thread my heddles, sley the reed and weave it. (Six or seven hour days. I've been sleeping in late this week as it's technically my week off). But today is day five and I should finally finish weaving. Honestly, I think I bit off a little more than I could chew with this project - or more than would afford me a day off during my break. I hope it turns out well. I'm actually feeling kind of nervous about printing over it after all this work.

2006-02-20T11:31:00.000-04:00

A big thank you to my Secret Pal!!!

There's yarn, bamboo needles, soap and notecards. I'm going to use the yarn for socks from my latest Nancy Bush book. I can't wait to start them, but I need to survive the Knitting Olympics first...

As you can see, this is not exactly the effort of a Knitting Olympian. The fact that I misread the increase increments (every 2nd and then every 4th row, not every 2nd and 4th) and had to frog three days knitting didn't help. I'm like the Canadian cross-country skier who broke a pole. We'll see if I can catch up.

I have a giant weaving project on my loom this week which is distracting me. It's not all that exciting, but it has around 900 threads and I spent all day yesterday threading my heddles.

This is my completed twill blanket.

I actually think it's simply going to be a closet curtain. We live in one of those old fashioned north eastern houses with closets that were built almost as afterthoughts and have no doors. I tried to get a good photo of it stretched out, but my flash kept washing out the colours, so close-up and folded it is.

I hope those of you out there competing in the Knitting Olympics are having more luck than me! And uh-oh... the Finns and the Swiss have really put the Canadian men's hockey team in their place.

2006-02-09T18:56:00.000-04:00

In lieu of knitting, I have been weaving a lot this week past week. We're doing twill studies. I think I'm becoming addicted to them. I'm using a sticky smelly tweedy wool and all sorts of bright colours.

Going a little crazier...

Hopefully I'll exhaust my compulsion to weave by the opening ceremonies. At least I managed to cast on and start my second Estonian Sock.

I don't think I'll get much farther than that - not with the Knitting Olympics looming. Which reminds me, I'd better get my Team Canada button up soon. I hail originally from New England, but I live up here now and well, it's more fun to root for the Canadian hockey team, and Becky Scott and Cindy Klassen. Fortunately, CBC carries the Olympics live full time (and recaps when it's not on) and I'm looking forward to knitting and watching things like cross country skiing.

John expressed concerns the other night that I wouldn't have our friend's baby gift ready in time. And I said, "No don't worry. I'm doing it for the Knitting Olympics."

And he simply said, "Okay."

Heh. After a great deal of initial mockery, words like 'Secret Pal' and 'Knitting Olympics' and 'Knitalongs' now fit into his everyday vocabulary. Yesterday he actually asked me when I was going to 'block' the ends of the recently finished Clapotis so that he can send it off to out sister-in-law.

2006-02-03T16:26:00.000-04:00

Fini!

Merino Lace Socks, from Interweave Knits, Summer 2003, knit with Fleece Artist yarn.

I really love them and have been wearing them since yesterday. Believe it or not, shortly after I finished my first sock, I was wandering through blog-land when lo and behold, I hit an entire post about pooling. Specifically, about 'pooling' and socks. With these, I know there's pooling going on but I really like the effect. Now I do know what it means though.

In terms of sock-knitting, I've also stumbled across several posts regarding the mysterious 'left-side hole' that always appears when picking up stitches along the gusset. I have a trick that I use and it works very well. It goes like this: After picking up all my stitches I begin my first round of decreases. I knit to the last three stitches of needle 1, K2 together, then knit 1. I knit across needle 2. When I get to needle 3, BEFORE doing anything, I take my crochet hook and pick up 1 extra stitch from between needles 2 and 3, and place it at the beginning of needle 3*. Then, rather than, K1, SSK, I SSK, SSK. From there I carry on as usual. It always works and you can't tell. I haven't had a dreaded gusset hole in three years.

*You may have noticed that the yarn is always loose in that one spot.

Now, look at what my secret pal sent me!

Thank you!!! Thank you!!!

The note cards have a pair of knitting needles attached to the hat. Naturally, I think they'll be the perfect gift cards to go with knitted gifts.

The skeins of beautiful Noro fell in line with something I'd meant to post with these socks. You see, I was feeling guilty about being a yarn snob. I'm really not a snobby person (er, well, unless it comes to cheese). I live in the bush three to four months a year where I spend my days covered in mud. I sleep in a tent and eat things that fall in the dirt. But, when glancing at my blog the other day, I noticed I have an awful lot of projects that use Fleece Artist yarns. It's as though I'm not willing to give any other yarn a try, don't even bother to give them a once over or rub them against my cheek to see how soft they are. But it's not true and the reason is this; my LYS carries lots of yummy and beautiful yarns, many other types such as Noro and Manos and Opal, but somehow, Fleece Artist always winds up being the most cost efficient. (Okay wait. I'm not sure I just helped my case. I just wrote about snubbing other equally snobby yarns...) The point of my long-winded paragraph is this - I am a Noro virgin. I'm very excited (in the same manner that I see so many other knitters when they buy their first Noro... they should have a Noro-Along for us) and plotting what to do with it. I know Noro is supposed to be wonderful when felted, and I'm almost tempted to weave with it and felt. Or knit with it. Or weave with it.

Or let my cats keep smelling it... Either my secret pal also has cats, or it's the Noro, I don't know!

2006-02-01T17:48:00.001-04:00

My Secret Pal e-mailed me today to let me know something should be arriving soon. Hurrah!!!! Since school was cancelled, I thought I would do happy dances to help summon the mailman, but alas, the mailman got to stay home today too.

Maybe tomorrow!!!!

Now, normally I would post whatever WIP is on my needles, but since my second Merino lace sock is so near completion, I feel it should remain un-revealed until it can be photographed as part of a completed pair. So, instead I offer you the horror that is my knitting basket.

This image sheds far too much light on what my bedroom looked like when I was growing up, and, to a lesser extent, what my office looks like now. Due to the amazing amount of 'two balls of this,' and 'two balls of that' contained within, it also should have STASHBUSTERS written all over it. I shouldn't be allowed to buy new yarn (but I do!) until I make a better dent in it. Maybe I have some form of hoarding syndrome, a secret fear that one day I will run out of yarn. Which could happen... I mean, the yarn store was closed today because of the snowstorm!!!

2006-01-27T15:08:00.000-04:00

Someone posted a beautiful photo of a rainbow in their blog recently and it reminded me that I had a few shots sitting on my hard drive. I took this last summer up north. I love this photo and kind of wish I was up there right now. Life is sometimes easier away from it all.

Look closely at this second photo and you might notice that there are actually two rainbows, not just one. It was easy to see standing there, but difficult to capture with my camera. I'd never seen anything like it. Actually, I'd never seen anything like a rainbow diving through a cloud either.

On to knitting...

I swear I'll be getting to those second socks soon!

This is my solemn vow, in my blog for all to read. Before the Knitting Olympics begin I must finish both my second Merino lace sock from IK and my second Estonian sock. See, I've even cast on for one of them.

For the Knitting Olympics I'm planning to make the Gansey Layette from IK Winter 02/03 (minus the blanket and the tam). I'm also hoping to knit some booties and try to weave a receiving blanket. We'll see how much time I have. Mind of Winter has a beautiful picture of it here. Our friend's son is due just before St. Paddy's day, so a green version will be the perfect colour.

In the meantime, I finished Clapotis #2.

I used 375 metres of Fleece Artist and adapted the pattern to fit the yarn by upping the needle size and cutting the increase section in half. I came to within a few decrease rows of the finishing the final corner perfectly (Murphy's Knitting Laws!) and simply bound off. I know a few others out there in blogland have done that as well, and they're right; unless you are absolutely familiar with the Clapotis pattern, you'd never know that the corner wasn't completely finished. It's for my sister-in-law's birthday next month (actually, my brother-in-law's common-law wife/long-time-girlfriend, but that's too many words for me!). They live in Thunder Bay (which is much colder than where I am), and I'm hoping this will be nice and warm for her.

I've also been having a lot of fun in my screenprinting class. The queen of perfect registration and tight work I shall never be, but I really love working with the open screen and experimenting with found materials and colours. These are my two favourite experiments so far.

This one was made with string and pieces of torn newsprint paper.

For this one (a pillowcase), I played with wire and pieces of newsprint paper.

Now I really need to learn more about Photoshop for when we use photo-emulsion.

On the weaving front, there's not that much exciting going on except for samples, samples and more samples of the Warp, Weft, Sett variety.

Have a good weekend everyone, especially my Secret Pal!

2006-01-19T19:06:00.000-04:00

I came across this link today in another knitting community and thought I should pass it on.

It's GarnStudio and Drops Design.

They have LOADS of free patterns, many very beautiful patterns! There's an entire section of Norwegian designs too. Apparently, this is the first time these patterns have been available in English.

I've cast on for another Clapotis and another sock. Unfortunately, the 8mm stopper at the end of my knitting needle vanished last night (literally, into thin air). While searching for it I discovered that what lies beneath the couch is quite scary. Eleven catnip-stuffed mice had decided to form a nest in the dust and crumbs. Despite the house-cleaning that ensued, the stopper is nowhere to be found. I wrapped the end of the needle in masking tape but that has resulted in the kitten permanently attaching herself to it. (Because apparently, masking tape wrapped around the end of a knitting needle is more exciting than even a laser pointer!)

I've decided that this year is going to be all about red. (Colour phases. I'm not the only person who has them right?) Last year was all about orange and I think I've finally had enough. So let this be the year of red!

Edit: My fellow knitter's list isn't showing up at all!

Recently finished objects, Christmas gifts and a loom.

2006-01-15T16:59:00.000-04:00

This is what has become of Meida's Mittens.

They're now Estonian Socks, from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks. Somehow, it seemed more important that I finish this today than tackle my mountain of school work. Over coffee, I reached the toe section. There are rules implicit in sock knitting, the first one being that once the toe section has been reached, a sock must be completed and everything else can wait. This leads to another rule, where all of the ends must also be woven in so that the finished sock can be tried on. Unfortunately, it's dark and grey here today and hard to catch the details with a flash. I'll try for better photos when I finish the other sock. I know there are very keen eyes out here in blogland, so I'll make sure not to take any close ups where I accidentally crossed the cables backwards on a purl row.

Here's where I hope no one notices I forget to shave my legs during the winter.

Here's the recently completed My So-Called Scarf.

I saw so many beautiful Christmas gifts on everyone else's blog that I wanted to post at least one. It's simply taken me forever to do it. This one was special because J picked this out all by himself. He picked out Vogue Knitting a few years back, so this wasn't his first time knitting book shopping, but I was still very impressed. He also gave me a wonderful book on resist dyeing that I'm hoping to be able to test out soon.

And here is the BIG news of this past week.

The woman who sold it to me also included all of her books, all of her wool, a handloom, and numerous accessories like this warping mill.

We bought it in September but it took forever to have it shipped out east. The cats are infatuated with it and want to chew everything. The littlest one loves sitting on top of it and meowing at me. Needless to say we have no dining room space left. I just need to finish cleaning the reeds, re-tie the foot pedals and give it a go this week.

Secret Pal 7 Questionnaire

2006-01-08T22:17:00.000-04:00

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand?

Yes and kind of. I’m really sensitive to synthetics. I can’t wear them so I don’t make anything with them that would be worn. Many of the novelty and fun acrylics would definitely be fine for other types of projects.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?

I’m a novice spinner. Despite the fact that I taught myself to knit, crocheting utterly baffles me whenever I sit down and try it. I keep meaning to give it another go.

3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

Some are contained in an old sewing bag and the rest are flying loose in my knitting basket.

4. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

Four years. I’d call myself an intermediate.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

No.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

I like anything that’s not overly floral or perfume-like.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Yes. Chocolate!

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?

Weaving, screen-printing, dyeing and metal-work.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I’m all over the board. I was a child of the New Wave era so I have a fondness for 80s bands like Dépêche Mode, the Cure, the Sugarcubes and the Pixies. Since then, I’ve segued into folk, indy, and have a growing collection of international music. In general, I love being introduced to new stuff.

I don't have an MP3 player, just a CD player.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer?

Orange. I love autumn colours, or autumn colours mixed up with anything.

Any colors you just can't stand?

In terms of what I wear or carry around? I’m not a pink or pastel type person.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

Two cats. One husband.

12. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

All of the above.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

Hm. I’m not sure I have a favourite. It just depends on the project. Lately I’ve been using a lot of Fleece Artist yarns.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

Synthetics.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

Socks. Clapotis.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Socks.

17. What are you knitting right now?

Socks.

18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Yes.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

For small projects, straight. For large ones, circulars.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

All of the above. I have to be careful with bamboo, as my cats love to gnaw them to rough bits.

21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

No, but I have access to both.

22. How did you learn to knit?

I taught myself.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

Four months.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Cats.

25. What is your favorite holiday?

American Thanksgiving. This is probably due to the fact that I don’t get to celebrate it much any more.

26. Is there anything that you collect?

Anything related to textile arts, cookbooks, and Star Wars paraphernalia.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

None.

28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on?

I can’t think of any that spring to mind right now!

29. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

I keep meaning to give crocheting a serious try.

30. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I’m a compulsive sock knitter. I’m about a size 9.

31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)

October 11th.

Clapotis, c'est fini!

2005-12-28T21:16:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine told me that if I'd never seen the TV show Lost before, I should rent Season 1 over the holidays, watch it straight through and prepare to be blown away. Whew! She was right. Most of Clapotis was knitted during our holiday viewing of Lost: Season 1. J is now obsessed and I am now obsessed; him with the series, me with both the series and Clapotis.

Waiting to be worn...

I used Fleece Artist kidsilk. It was 500 metres to 250 grams, so roughly, 200m/100g rather than the 184m/100g called for in the pattern. I actually had enough yarn for an 11th repeat left over (edit: I only knitted 10 repeats, just to make sure I didn't run out of yarn). What's really strange is that when I poked around online, it seemed as though every other person who's knit this came up short. Either I somehow wound up with more Fleece Artist yarn, the small length/weight ratio difference made more of a difference than I expected or... I don't know. I knit it pretty loosely too.

I'll definitely make it again - probably for my brother-in-law's significant other's birthday next month as I didn't manage to make her anything for Christmas. I did wind up with slightly curled edges, which I blocked half-heartedly, but since I haven't exactly unwound it from my neck since I finished may as well perish any hopes of perfectly flat edges here and now.

Did you know that if you type in "clapotis" and run an image search at Google you'll pull up dozens of beautifully knit examples?

A friend of mine showed me this pattern from Rebecca and I think I've fallen in love with it. Not the pink, mind you, but the pattern. However, I have a very large stash basket that I need to make a dent in before daring to buy more yarn. I really, really, want to run out and start this tomorrow, but I fear that J, the dear husband currently obsessed with Lost, needs more of a buffer period between my yarn store visits.

2005-12-21T15:02:00.000-04:00

I should be finishing my Merino Lace socks, but I keep starting other projects...

I have been seduced by all the photos of Clapotis and finally begun one for myself. It's one of those patterns where I can't picture exactly what I'm doing. I'm just following it line by line and hoping it all works out. I'm using Fleece Artist kid silk, which, believe it or not, was more of a bargain than any of the other options at my LYS. I only have 550 metres of yarn, which is slightly less than the pattern calls for, so I may leave out a repeat in the centre just to make sure that I don't run out.

My husband was very good and let me use him as a human swift last night to wind the yarn, in exchange for opening one of his Christmas presents early.

I'm also midway through My So-Called Scarf.

If I make it again, I think I'll use larger needles and cast on a few more stitches than it calls for.

Yesterday, I picked up a canvas and frame to make a Christmas gift for my mom. I used a section of last month's resist dyeing project. When I first completed it, this was how I wanted to show it - in sections, framed like paintings so I thought I'd give it a try. John, who is often ambivalent about my artwork, really loves it and I'm very happy with the way it turned out too. We'll see what my mom thinks.

Pardon the sheen in the photos! I can't manage to get a good photo that accurately gets the colour. Either the flash bounces off the silk or the sun does.

This week I also signed up with Secret Pal 7. I'm absolutely thrilled about it! I'm also spinning again with a drop spindle, but it's been so long that I feel like a complete klutz!

Finally on break...

2005-12-18T17:45:00.000-04:00

Here is the much belated photo of my Branching Out Scarf. It didn't turn out quite as long as I wanted, but it was a stash buster project and actually, the length is fine for a dressy scarf (just not the multi-wrap sort). It's a great pattern. I may make another one some time in the New Year.

Close-up:

For my final hollowware project, I managed to mix knitting and metalsmithing. I really love working with wire and textile techniques. It's kind of an addiction of mine. I don't know if anyone has ever read the short story, The Collector of Hearts, by Joyce Carol Oates, but this assembled piece is dedicated to it. The heart-vessel gets tidily wrapped up in fabric, and is meant to be kept inside the knitted copper sac. (It doesn't look like copper, as I dipped it in a mixture of liver of sulfur and ammonia to give it an incadescent sort of colouring).

Today, a friend came over for a knitting session. I'm teaching her how to knit socks, but she is left-handed, which means everything she does looks vaguely alien to me, while everything I do probably looks alien to her as well. I'm not sure I'm going to be all that helpful! While she was here I completely frogged the mittens (Meida's Mittens) I was working on. After finishing one, I still didn't love them. The cuff length was awkward - long but not pinched in at any point - and I couldn't figure out who would want such a thin pair of mittens in this cold climate. Instead, now I'm using the yarn for a pair of socks from Folk Socks.

No matter what, I'm looking foward to doing a lot more knitting over the holidays, and having a slightly lighter course load next semester so that I can knit madly through the winter months.

2005-11-26T09:56:00.000-04:00

I'll be scarce for the next two weeks while I tackle my end of semester projects. After that I'm looking forward to a month straight of knitting related fun, including ogling and being inspired by everyone's beautiful work.

On my knitting front, the Branching Out Scarf is finally finished, but not blocked yet so no pics.

2005-11-13T16:22:00.000-04:00

Finally, one IK merino lace sock down.

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep them for myself, but they are definitely fun to try on and admire.

This week I also, rather spur of the moment in the midst of a cold, decided to make mittens. I was feeling inspired by recently finished Scandinavian mittens on blogs like Saartje Knits so I chose this pattern from Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia. Unfortunately, for some rather oblique reason, it just isn't hitting the spot for me. It's as though I decided to eat a pretzel when I was craving chocolate. I'll finish them (no more mate-less items allowed in my stash basket!) and stick them in my Christmas gift pile, then try and decipher what sort of pattern I was really craving.

I should point out one major annoyance of mine, and that is that most of the pages of Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia have fallen out! They began to fall out as soon as I brought it home from the bookstore. I would have returned it but it was the only copy in stock anywhere in all of Ottawa at the time.

Adventures in resist dyeing

2005-11-06T16:43:00.000-04:00

This is what I worked on for most of yesterday.

First I dyed it gold using immersion dyeing.

Then I clamped it and discharged most of the gold colour.

Finally, with the clamps still in place, I vat dyed it violet. Overall I'm dissappointed with it, although there are things I do like about it. My greatest problem was that once this silk, laden with all of its clamps, blocks and wires, was gathered up, it barely fit into the largest industrial pots in the studios. I didn't predict that happening at all. I wound up removing the narrower blocks between discharging and dyeing to make the final step easier. Although I'd made several smaller samples, I still had much to learn when moving to the large scale piece.

I really hate spending hours planning something and having it not turn out quite right.

Ah well... back to working on those merino lace socks. I'm fighting the urge to start another, completely different pair of socks, but that Mission Falls wool in my stash basket keeps staring at me. I'm also firmly resolving to make something other than socks this month. Must...fight...the... addiction.

Socktoberfest!

2005-10-29T21:12:00.000-03:00

As it's nearly the end of the month and Socktoberfest is almost over...

Tada!

I have no idea who will wind up receiving these so I'll stick them in my stash basket until Christmas time.

This next pair is for me.

My LYS did attempted to match up the Fleece Artist yarn and alas, could not. Instead they did me a wonderful favour and gave me (for free!) a small ball from a similar dye lot so that I could frog back my finished sock a bit and match up their toes. The wool is a two strand mix of Leicester and merino roving and I have very happy feet tonight.

And in case anyone is interested, I thought I'd share a picture of this week's natural dyeing experiment with onion skin.

The material is silk and the dye took to it beautifully. My wool sample actually dyed a bit darker while my cotton sample was the lightest. I love the colour and can't wait to try more natural dyeing.

Finally, because sometimes kittens are just too darned cute. She fell asleep sitting up in my daypack.

You'd think in the spirit of Socktoberfest I might have made some headway with my Merino Lace Socks, but no! At this rate, they'll forever be 10% completed.

2005-10-28T10:08:00.000-03:00

We've had visitors from out of province all week and I've been swamped with school work. Computer time has been extremely hard to come by. Still, I joined Socktoberfest last week! Hopefully, I'll have a few completed socks posted by the end of this weekend.

2005-10-10T11:15:00.000-03:00

Le Poncho est fini!

I decided to forgo the fringe. It just didn't seem to need it, or would have seemed to fussy. The yarn is already so extravagent to begin with.

As expected, the poncho has already been appropriated by another member of this household for a far more important purpose than keeping me warm.

Okay. I admit it. This item was never actually for me. The yarn screamed 'kittens will love me,' and that was that. Birthday poncho? Nahhhh. Who was I kidding?

2005-10-08T11:34:00.000-03:00

Aren't my in-laws sweet?

They gave it to me as a birthday present and refused to let me pay them back. Now I have enough wool to make a few pairs of socks, a Firefly Jane hat, and whatever else I can come up with.

In the meantime, my Branching Out Scarf is progressing slowly but surely. I'm merely aiming for one repeat a day. I'm completely strapped for time and that's usually all I can manage before the kitten clobbers me and begins gnawing on the end of my needles.

The Fleece Artist birthday poncho/shawl is nearly finished and currently masquerading as a lumpy kneadable kitty bed on the couch, so alas, no pics. This is information worth noting; the kitten loves slubby wool should you ever make her a kitty bed.

On Thursday night I went to see a presentation given by Toshiko Horiuchi (she's currently a teacher at my school) and was absolutely blown away. Most of her work is or has been on display in Japan. There are photos at the Knit Japan site, but they don't do the playground-like installations justice and I don't think I can adequately describe how child-like and joyous it made me feel just imagining what it would be like to crawl inside those 'Rainbow Nets'. The photos are also too small to display the incredible symmetry of colours and movement. Just... wow.

I'm also in awe of her earlier work. I've seen large scale woven installations before, but not knitted or crocheted. It's fun to imagine dreaming big, really BIG with knitted stitches and see how it's been done. If I'm really lucky I may get to take a class with her next year.

2005-10-02T10:53:00.000-03:00

It's true.

Mission Falls is closing and won't be making their wonderful superwash merino anymore. I checked at my LYS for other brands last week and NONE are as soft and perfect for winter socks.

Since no stores in Halifax carry it, I'm going to order a whole bunch (bunch meaning, as much as John will let me order without having a fit) from Yarn Forward in Ottawa. My in-laws can pick it up and bring it with them next weekend when they come to visit.

Random question. Is there a list of all the KAL's out there? I've been working on the Branching Out scarf and discovered yesterday that there was a KAL for it at the Knitty Coffeeshop. I'd checked there before but I must have missed it.

I was bad yesterday... I splurged

2005-09-28T18:38:00.000-03:00

I can almost justify it all. It's my birthday in just over a week and the green slubby wool is for a poncho for me. The rovings I can't justify as I have neither a drop spindle nor a spinning wheel at the moment. I just couldn't help it. They were screaming "Buy me! We may never be here in these colours EVER again!"

I also finished my shrigas style bag. I didn't work the stripes in neatly on purpose and now I'm wondering why I didn't. Also, I would/might double the suggested strap sizes. It needs some type of simple closure at the top. Not a drawstring but a wooden button maybe? Just enough of a pinch to 'discourage' items from tumbling out.

I really like the bottom of it.

At the moment, it wants to hold my ever-spreading yarn stash.

You know, I'm not sure if cats can be born with a 'crafty' gene, but the complexities of this arrangement impressed me. Maybe Willa was attempting to wind a warp with the chair feet. Or making a knot sampler.

2005-09-27T00:32:00.000-03:00

My shigras-style bag is almost finished. All that's left is the felting, which I haven't done before and about which I am a tiny bit nervous. Everyone swears it's easy but I'll keep my fingers crossed. Hopefully I'll have pics by the end of the week.

I think Crumpets at Creazativity is adorable. My cousin and my classmate Stacey both had daughters last spring and I owe them both gifts. This pattern is just too perfect - not too babyish, not too fussy, easy to size.

Progress on the Branching Out Scarf continues, but only when Willa the kitten is sleeping or otherwise occupied.

2005-09-18T01:34:00.000-03:00

I vow, to never, never, never again frog two rows of lace with a hyperactive kitten attached to one end of my needles.

Two became four.

Four became eight.

Eight multiplied into the entire piece.

2005-09-16T21:40:00.000-03:00

I do, I do, I do have UFO's on the go.

(Pardon. For some reason the cowardly lion from The Wizard of Oz is communicating through me tonight).

This summer I knitted up exactly 1 1/2 socks. They are knitted with a two strand blend of... if memory serves me correctly, finely spun Leicester and merino roving. I LOVE my one sock. The completed sock is the softest, fuzziest, coziest sock I've ever knitted. Unfortunately, I altered the original pattern because I wanted my cuffs higher, and naturally, I ran out of yarn. Now that I'm back in Halifax, I should be able to find the same yarn and finish my toe.

The two strand blend is put out by Fleece Artist. Their stuff is AMAZING! If you click on "about us" at their site you'll see what my LYS has hanging all over the place (not quite so many perhaps). It's like a yarn "wonderland" where one discovers it is possible to ache for yarn.

Since I never make socks with sock-weight yarn, I thought I'd go all out with the Merino Lace Socks from Interweave Knits Summer 2003. I've just gotten started.

Here, I'm 'loosely' following a pattern from Folk Bags ('loosely' in that I decided to knit stripes in the round rather than follow the intarsia pattern.) I'm going to felt it afterwards and hopefully it will be my new fall hand-bag.

I also have a skein of soft brown merino rovings which is begging me to knit it into a shawl. I just need to find the right pattern.

Kitty spam

2005-09-12T22:26:00.000-03:00

Ever notice that virtually all knitters are also cat lovers? And naturally, we also have the best "UFO meets the CAT" tales.

The wee one is our newest family member, Willa.

And this is our uber-territorial calico, Runa, who used to hide balls of yarn under our bed. She'd get her own 'stash' going periodically.

After two weeks, the two are not the best of friends yet, but they do play 'chase' several times a day. Runa is having good days and bad days adjusting to the new kitten. Willa often seems to dominate their relationship, which perplexes us as Runa is about 16 times her size (that, or Runa lets Willa have her way because she becomes instantly fed up). We're optimistic that Runa's casual hisses outside of their playtime won't always sound so much like "I hate you!"

On the knitting front... Since I created this blog, I have spent an embarassing amount of time browsing other knitting blogs, drooling over knitting photos and following links to page upon page of yarns and patterns. Then I promptly feel guilty about my UFO's and rush off to work on them.

Socks (my first REAL post)

2005-09-09T22:55:00.000-03:00

Since I haven't kept a knitting blog until now, and I don't have an awful lot of recent work to post, I thought I'd start off by posting some of my older work.

My first knitting project was socks. I quickly became a sock addict. I live in Canada and I prefer thick socks that fit well in winter boots. As a result I've experimented with different types of sport weight and worsted yarns, and avoided thinner 'sock yarns.' I love fair isle and lace patterns the most. I started off using Paton's Merino, but after my husband shrank a pair of his size 14 socks, I discovered Mission Falls 1824 washable merino. They're a Canadian company and theirs is my favourite sock yarn.

http://www.missionfalls.com/

This pair is made with Mission Falls washable merino.

This pair was a gift for a friend.

As was this one.

This pair, with the matching toque (yes, odd combo, I know!) was for me. The sock pattern was from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks.

This last pattern is an original design.

And that's it for today.