Monthly Archives: June 2013

Blogathon Word Cloud Day and a little on next weeks fun!

wordcloud_8_fullWords, words, words. Today is all about words in a pretty picture.

It’s been a really interesting month. At the start I didn’t know if I would be able to finish this. Here I am though!  Finish line!

I’m looking forward to the next month with the Tour de Fleece and working on other projects.
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Next week Van and I are going up to Haliburton School of the Arts to take courses and have a little vacation. I’m taking one on business for artists and Van is taking one on travel and landscape photography.

The school is a great place and has many great classes and teachers. This is where my spinning certificate program is held at the end of August. It’s going to be a different experience going to this class. Normally there are only two classes going on when I’m in my spinning class. It’s us and a group of kids. The place is pretty quiet! It will be interesting being there when there are so many other classes happening.

Catching up with the past

chs_sideI’m finally working through my backlog of old pattern designs that haven’t been published.

Most of these were started in 2008 – 2010, but they never got to the stage where I could put in enough time to get them finished.

I’m getting them test knitted and tech edited over the next couple months. The plan is to try and release one or two a month starting in August and get them all out by the end of the year.

In the mean time I’m working on a couple new designs and I hope to finally get some of the sweaters I’ve made written up. The sweaters are going to be interesting, as I haven’t written a pattern for one before and getting all the different sizes will be a challenge. I figure after the first one is done things will be easier.
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I also have a couple articles and patterns that I’m trying to get published in magazines. We’ll see how those turn out as I hear back from the editors. Crossing my fingers!

Here is a sneak peak of some of the new patterns coming up.

cabled_hat2_full  daniel_s_hat  patterns_new

Just keep spinning, just keep spinning…..

tour_de_fleece_2013

I’m participating in the 2013 Tour de Fleece! This is my first year for the event, so I’m going in on the white coloured Rookie team.

The Tour de Fleece was started by Star Athena back in 2006. Since then it has been hosted by several people and eventually found a home on Ravelry.

This year, the Tour de Fleece starts Saturday June 29th and runs until Sunday July 21st, 2013.

Guidelines (NOT RULES):

* Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. Saturday June 29th through Sunday July 21st. Days of rest: Monday July 8th and Monday July 15th. (Just like the actual tour.)

* Spin something challenging on the challenge day (usually the toughest high mountain stage: this year, it’s Stage 18, on Thursday, July 18th, when they climb Alpe d’Huez twice).

* Wear yellow on Sunday July 21st to announce victory. Why not wear yellow on any day you feel particularly successful? (Yellow is the color of the race leader in the Tour – but here we are all ‘race leaders’)

* Other colors if desired: Green (sprinter – think FAST), Polka-dot (climber – as in uphill), and white (rookie)

I know I have a lot going on next month, so I’m trying to set some reasonable goals. I’m going to be traveling, so some of the spinning may be done on drop spindles.

My main goal is to spin between 30 and 60 minutes each day.
Sub-goals:

  • finish spinning 2-ply lace yarn for lace study group, completed 1.6 of 6 ounces of BFL/Silk blend
  • finish spinning corespun yarn for guild spinning challenge, completed 60g of 300g of various fibres
  • spin up art batt from spinning seminar, approx 2oz
  • wash small merino fleece from Ted Myatt

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Optional sub-goals:

  • start spinning Bombyx silk from Sericin Silkworks for shawl project, 2 oz.
  • start spinning Tussah silk from Chasing Rainbow Dyeworks for shawl project, 2oz or 4oz.
  • spin up exotic blend batts from Sericin Silkworks
  • card white Shetland fleece
  • card merino fleece

I’ll post about my progress in the tour once each week or more if I finish something really nice.

Wish me luck!

You have mail…..

Today’s social media is still a strange thing for me.

Learning to use it effectively for my business is going to be an interesting challenge.

Part of this will be learning to balance out the personal and business sides of things. Right now I’m using single accounts that serve both functions. In time I may have to separate these so that I can still do both but not have either interfere with the other.

There are so many different social media sites that are useful for both personal and business needs. I’m finding keeping up with them all and using them effectively a bit overwhelming at times.

Some of the strategies that have helped me so far have been:

  • Limiting my time on any one site to about 30 minutes at a time, 1 hour max a day
  • Rotating days for some sites so that I only need to visit them every other day
  • Having email notices sent from the various sites and having those filed to separate email folders so I can quickly check on things after dealing with my main emails
  • Spacing out site checks a few times a day rather then being on them all the time.

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Another thing I’m trying to do is schedule my site checks for the same time each day. I’m trying to build more structure around my working day to help make sure I can get more things done rather than just relying on the mostly unstructured setup I’m dealing with now.

So, fellow readers….
Any suggestions / comments about effective use of social media? Any tips you can give that you have found work well for you?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Fibre related videos that I like

These are some instructional and documentary videos that I like.

Instructional
A Knitting Glossary – with Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swansen
A really great compendium of knitting techniques by two of my favourite knitters.

Spin Art Video – with Jacey Boggs
I really like this video. Jacey gives very clear instructions on how to create these fun textured yarns.

Color and Yarn Design for Spinners – with Deb Menz
A good introduction to colour theory and using colour in spinning.

Respect the Spindle – with Abby Franquemont
A good introduction to spinning with spindles.

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This gives a really good overview of the major types of looms available and covers setup and maintenance of looms.

Documentaries
In Search of Lost Colour
A good overview of major natural dyes, including some history of the dyes, how synthetic dyes have displaced them and the resurgence dyers using natural dyes. It shows dyeing with natural dyes, but doesn’t go into much detail on the dyeing processes. Trailer.

Indigo: A World of Blue
A very good overview of indigo, its history and modern uses. It shows dyeing with indigo but doesn’t give instructions on creating or caring for indigo vats. Trailer.

BLUE ALCHEMY: Stories of Indigo
Another good overview of Indigo. This one shows more methods of how indigo is created and shows traditions from Africa, South America, India and Japan. Trailer.

Real Men Knit
This is a documentary I took part in that came out in 2006. A good overview of the then emerging knitting scene for men. One small confession – the shawl you can see me knitting on in the trailer is a long standing WIP that will likely be ripped out.

Rounding third and heading for home

This is the last week for the blogathon. It’s been a very interesting experience so far.

It has taught me a few things that will be valuable coming up and for continuing working on this blog.

A good tip my partner gave me was to plan an outline for the month and assign topics to each day. That way I wouldn’t be struggling to find something to talk about all the time.

Another useful tool was a calendar add-in for WordPress which allows me to enter in those topics and work on posts when I have time. It’s great being able to bank posts for days that I know I won’t be able to write something and for when I’m away.
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I was surprised by how long some of the posts took me to get done. I was thinking all the posts would be about an hour to do. Some took 3 and 4 hours to do in total. Part of that is getting research done, taking pictures, things like that.

Going forward I’m going to try shortening the time it takes to write a post, but I’ll leave it take as long as I think a post warrants. Some topics will need more work on them.

Right now I’m planning on blogging twice a week once the blogathon is over. I’m aiming for Tuesdays and Fridays. I’ll try that for a while and see if it needs changing.

Haiku Day

Flame red cabled socks
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brings joy to my soul.

And now for something completely different

It’s Sunday. I’m taking the day off. Here are some links to amuse and titilate.

The Knitted Elvis Wig Pattern!

Biology 101 – Knitted dissected frog!

Sheldon – the knitted turtle!

Knitted Fractals!

Mathematical Knitting!

Shaun the Sheep!

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Debbie New art cards!

The 12 days of weaving!

Yarn Harlot!

More Harlot!

and just because it makes me giggle – Tickling a baby penguin!

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Hands on creativity

falls_02c

Niagara Falls, Canadian side. 2003. Pinhole photograph.

A lot of my life has been doing things creatively with my hands that are visual in nature.

I love being able to create things that people can see and enjoy. I like being able to get right to the heart of a craft and learn it so I can use it to express myself.

During the late 90’s, early 00’s I did photography as a hobby and a small business. I was a member of a cooperative gallery in Toronto called Gallery 44 – Centre for Contemporary Photography. I took part in several group shows and had two solo exhibitions with them.

During that period I gained a love of old photographic and alternative processes.

One thing I really liked were pinhole cameras. I built myself one out of black foamcore. It was designed with a simple shutter mechanizm that I could control and it could be strapped onto a brace that had a screwmount on it to attach to a tripod. The back of the camera held a 4×5 film holder. I marked the sides of the box with guidemarks so I could compose the picture fairly well before making the exposure.

My last solo show was in 2002 and it was a mixed media show. I had six or seven pinhole photographs on the wall and a series of knitted articles that were featured in or related to to the photographs.

hp_bkgrnd

Gallery show, Blue sweater in foreground with photographs behind.


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One piece in the show was a large skein of yarn, looped over a rod, that was being knitted into a scarf. I tried to come in each day at lunch or after work and do a few rows on the scarf. I also made the needles from wood dowels topped off with glass beads. I finished half of the scarf during the time of the show.

The two main knitted pieces were a sweater I had made for my ex partner and one I had made for myself. His sweater is the one you see as my banner image. You can see a picture of him wearing that sweater here.

The sweaters were hung from the ceiling, facing each other, like they were having a conversation. People could walk between them to get a closer look and to also maybe get a sense of what the conversation might have been.

All the photographs were taken around Toronto. Most of them were showing me knitting on an item that was displayed. An example was me knitting on the sleeve of my sweater sitting on the ledge of the stairs at Union Station. The picture of the other sweater was the one exception. The sweater was already finished and the picture was me wrapped up in it at my old house.

Most of the pictures took between 3 and 20 minutes to expose. I usually tried to time my knitting so I could finish at least one row during the exposure.

fountain1   whales1

In the first photograph I believe I was knitting on a shawl, sitting on the fountain in St. James Gardens, King Street East between Church and Jarvis Street. In the second photograph I was knitting on a scarf sitting on the whale statues at 121 King Street West.

Natural dyes and dyeing

elderberries_dip3_crop

Dyed with fresh Elderberry berries in alkaline and acidic dyebaths.
The fibre is Fleece Artist 50/50 merino and silk blend. The yarn is Cascade 220.The fibre on the right was done in an alkaline dye bath that had about 7 tablespoons of baking soda added to the dyebath. The mordant was 2% iron and %2 alum. The fibre on the left and skein were done in an acidic dyebath, with 5% copper, 5% alum and 2.5% cream of tartar.

I’ve had an interest in natural dyes for about 10 years. I became interested in them from my spinning guild and from a couple friends who had worked with natural dyes.

I’ve taken several classes on dyeing with natural dyes and have played around with many dyestuffs, both local and exotic.

I love the subtle colour differences that you get in the dyeing. The colours are more complex then from man made chemical dyes. There are many different shades of colour making up the colour. I also love the unpredictable nature of the colours from year to year. You can get similar shades, but you will likely not be able to exactly duplicate a colour from one year to the next. I also love the scents that the dyestuff impart to the fibre.

Some of the materials I have dyed with are:
Goldenrod flowers
Elderberry flowers, leaves and berries
Black Locust seed pods
Mountain Ash leaves
Beach leaves
Indigo – man made and natural
Saxon blue
Cochineal
Ossage Orange
Black Walnut
Butternut or White Walnut
Padauk
Brazilwood
Madder

Natural Dye and Mordant Suppliers
Maiwa – Canadian supplier of many natural dyes

Earthues – American company with lots of dye concentrates
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Bleu de Lectour – French company supplying Woad extract products

The Fibre Garden – Canadian supplier of various natural dyes

Good books on natural dyes and dyeing
Indigo, Madder and Marigold: A Portfolio of Colors from Natural Dyes, by Trudy Van Stralen

Wild Color, Revised and Updated Edition: The Complete Guide to Making and Using Natural Dyes, by Jenny Dean and Karen Diadick Casselman

A Dyer’s Garden, by Rita Buchanan

Dye Plants And Dyeing, by John and Margaret Cannon

Lichen Dyes: The New Source Book, by Karen Diadick Casselman

Mushrooms for Dyes, Paper, Pigments and Myco-Stix, by Miriam C. Rice

A Handbook of Indigo Dyeing, by Vivien Prideaux

Spectrum Dye Plants of Ontario, edited by Nancy J. McGuffin, Compiled by Burr House Spinners and Weavers Guild

Indigo: From Mummies to Blue Jeans, by Jenny Balfour-Paul

The Root of Wild Madder: Chasing the History, Mystery, and Lore of the Persian Carpet, by Brian Murphy

A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire, by Amy Butler Greenfield