A View from Sierra County

WIP Wednesday

Solar Dyeing with Turmeric

I have been very, very busy!  The good news is that, for once, lots of that has been in a fibery direction.  In the past few days, I have managed to spin what I hope will be the last of the yarns I need for the Circle Vest, as well as let the sun simmer away at my bronze color.... here's the latest report on the solar dye pot:

The picture is not the greatest... there's a lot of glare outside in the mid-afternoon this time of the year (though the heat wave has broken and the temps are almost ten degrees cooler than Sunday, when I started the dye pot), and the yarn looks almost one of Steph's favorite swampy green colors, but I think when the bits of turmeric powder held in suspension are rinsed out, the color will be pretty close to what I had hoped for.  At least it isn't a grey-green any longer.  I am giving it another day or two out in the sun, depending on my schedule. Tomorrow is jam-packed, with working in the LYS all day, popping in on the Thursday Night Market, and making it home in time for our local Knit Night, so it will be Friday at the earliest before I start the final rinsing and soaking to get the dye out.

Circle Vest

I have truly knit up almost every last bit of yarn into the Circle Vest, except for several yards from a one ounce bump of Pink Quartz merino top from The Dizzy Ewe, bought three years ago at Lambtown...ready for me to knit in.  I also finished spinning up my re-located Spinderella thrums and Navajo plying two partially-filled bobbins, for approximately two ounces more of this soft stuff.  One skein is soaking as I type, just off the bobbin, and here's the other, washed yesterday.

I have used this project to try and perfect my Navajo plying technique, and the one I just finished was finally making me happy.  I don't especially want to enter this vest in the fair, simply because some of the vastly more experienced members of my guild will be examining it and seeing just how bad my earlier plying attempts really were.  Stephanie is also in our guild, and says if we didn't do our part and enter items, there would be nothing on display to encourage the public to take up the fiber arts.  Good point there, grrl.  Guess that has been my motivation as I have really burned my way through the stages that were unfinished in this project over the past week.

Washing, beating the yarn with plunger and whacking against the side of the tub, hanging to dry with weight - all have helped to make more presentable yarn, and knitted up, it actually, mostly, looks pretty good.  However, though not a perfectionist, I can still recognize the undeveloped state of my spinning... yes, and the progress made over the course of this project.  For one thing, I have been able to spin a fairly consistent size throughout.  I have also, as I said earlier, gotten smoother at Navajo plying, and am happier with the results.  Now that I have worked so hard on perfecting this method, can anyone tell me why it has both proponents and detractors, and why some of the 'big names' in spinning don't even bother to mention it in their books?

Ulmus

The other project occupying my knitting moment this past week has been Ulmus, which is now about sixteen or twenty rows away from the switchover to lacy border.  I have loved the slip stitch section of this pattern, and know this will be a shawl to really wear a lot and enjoy... now, to decide whether to go with the light or the dark yarn for the lacy border.  I don't know if it will be apparent to viewers, but the brown yarn (Meilenweit Mega Boots) has a very long color repeat in one of the two plies, which goes from a greyish color all the way through a light swampy green (funny how your friends rub off on you!).

I think there would be more color interest in the border if I use it.  I spent some time on Ravelry this afternoon, looking into what others have done with this design choice, and am leaning towards using the brown instead of the solid light green (Isager Alpaca #2)... what do YOU think?  And astute observers will notice that, yes, that IS a design variation up near the top right-hand corner... four rows of green instead of the two the pattern called for... yup, I know.  Design variation.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Happy 4th to all... I hope to be posting photos of the parade in Downieville and other fun events.

Turmeric and the Circle Vest

First, I want to thank all of you who responded with offers to send me sock yarn... I will be well on my way towards enough for my Fiesta Friendship Shawl.  Already, I received in today's mail a great, huge box of colorful choices from Cookie A... who I didn't even realize lived less than 100 miles from me!    Thanks so much, Cookie... I was amazed when I opened the p.o. box!

This will be a great carry-along project, at least in its early stages, as it is made on the same modular premise as the Diamond Patch sweater (Ravelry) I made last summer... whoo, hoo!! I am aiming for completion in the fall, maybe even in time to wear to Lambtown (Carrie's going - who else?).  Once it is completed, watch for a giveaway drawing to pass along the leftover yarns to the next person wanting to make one.

My Circle Vest (Ravelry) has been sorely neglected for many months.  A few will recall that I started this project last summer, as the first garment I would make fully from my own handspun yarns.  I made great progress until early fall, when I had almost used up all the yarns I had spun... oops!

 

I had already determined that if I spun the rest of an 8-ounce gift of greys and forest greens, and then overdyed the yarn with turmeric, I would get a very lovely bronze color for the outer rim of my circle, which is also the portion of the vest that folds down to form the collar.  It helped that this was the softest of the yarns I had used.  I spun here and there, but was getting rather bored with the dull, pre-dyed colors.  So, the project was easily superceded by (many) more pressing knitting choices.  A knitter is easily inspired to start something new!  Many of those projects are now completed, but the real reason that the Circle Vest is getting a turn again is that there is a deadline looming!  I am not usually a deadline knitter, but have always had a streak of pragmatic procrastination that tells me I can put off something that doesn't need to be completed yet in favor of another item that is REALLY pressing... maybe that is why I am a good grantwriter... the urgency of a looming deadline helps me to focus.

So, focusing on Circle Vest led to lots of spinning and some dyeing this past weekend.  First, I finished navajo plying all the grey/green yarn I had already spun and wound it off, washed, pounded, etc.  I added it to the small pile waiting to be dyed and discovered I had close to four ounces, so mordanted with alum on Saturday (too hot for this!) and then early Sunday morning cooked up my turmeric to start the dyepot.

Yarns after mordanting... rinsed and ready.

Small jar for mixing turmeric powder and hot water into a paste... this paste is then added to the dye kettle with lots of water and simmered for an hour.

Then, the heat is turned off (thankfully... the dye bath smelled heavenly, but the kitchen was getting awfully hot!), and steeped for another hour, while I spun up some thrums I had overlooked.  They will make more of the pinky-mauve yarn on the outer edge in the photo above; somehow the package had gotten buried in spinning stash and I thought there wasn't any more!  At least I will have enough yarns to finish.  I think.

 
The cooled and steeped dye mess is then strained through a fine mesh strainer lined with paper towels... I don't want all that pasty part to dry into powder attached to my yarn!  Turmeric will make a lovely color, but will need lots of rinsing to get any spicy bits out.  The fragrance lingers enough to make wool less appetizing to bugs.  As you can see from these photos, I am a bathroom chemist... after I posted this photo, I realized that drying in the background are two hats, one from my handspuns that I knit for DH last Christmas, and the other a beret I 'unvented' about 16 years ago.  I am STILL working on washing handknits and putting into summer storage.  Also to the right is a really cool rug I bought recently, woven from recycled silk saris, to use as a bath mat.  Really... silk underfoot... I knew it would be quick-drying.

This is what the final dyebath looked like... I dipped my yarns in and covered the bucket, then took the whole process outside for the sun to finish up for me.

I plan to steep the yarn in the sun for at least two days.  It is plenty hot enough here, though my bucket will probably barely get over 100 degrees... perfect for dyeing yarn and keeping the kitchen cool at the same time.... results to come!

Can You Help Another Knitter?

You see... I have been admiring a certain shawl that our LYS, Fibers, has on display. It is a pattern designed by Ms. Cultured Pearl that calls for lots of colorful leftover sock yarn.

I have decided to make my own, since we will have to send Betsy's work back to her soon... now, I picture this project much as making a quilt (which I have had some experience with), and will work on it here and there, sometimes more than others, and in between projects that clamor, and someday will have my own, special version which I think will look particularly stylish with jeans.

So why do I need help?  Because, in the tradition of memory quilters everywhere, I would like this memory shawl to contain bits of lots of my fellow knitters, and am asking for you to send me leftover sock yarns in amounts from as little as 12 yards to as much as 100 yards, providing me with a wide palette of yarns representing knitters I know and love.  In return, I will send each of my special, sock yarn-providing angels their very own pocket angel.

Leave me a comment or email me at burrobird AT gmail DOT com.

Thanks from the bottom of my heart!

A Wealth of Potholders

That's how I felt when I opened a special package that arrived in yesterday's mail... rich in potholders and grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in the Potholder Swap.

In a clockwise direction from the purple one in the bottom left corner, these terrific cotton potholders were made by Donna, Meg, Laura (Ravelry), Stephanie (no Internet links provided), and Aimee.  I love all the colors, and am thinking I need to hang a row of cup hooks over the stove to display them.  I especially like it that all the crocheters are new acquaintances to me... I love meeting new people through these exchanges!

Finishing Gaia and Starting Ulmus

It has been a busy week, with two local graduations. a special 5th birthday, several workdays at three different jobs, and even a FO!

I attended the 8th grade graduation at the elementary where my preschool program is located, and  with only eight students, it was a very intimate and sweet affair.

There are two other young girls hidden behind the principal, who is introducing each in this photo.

The next evening (last Wednesday), a scaled-down version of the family celebrated Mason's 5th birthday with dinner together at a local restaurant.... here he is working up the nerve to blow out the candles on his cake.

DD Nikki and her sweetie Tony (Mason's daddy), on either side of Mason, encourage him while his grandpa Mike looks on.  Mason and Grandma Teresa (who had to work that night)

made the cake and Mason helped her put on the letters spelling out his full name (an important distinction when you are almost entering kindergarten) and decorations.

He was more confident at licking the frosting off his zoo-themed candles....

Mason had a full-blown kids' celebration yesterday at one of the parks, with Nikki and Tony renting a bounce house, lots of small children running around, and many more family; I had already committed to keeping my friend Susie's shop, Two Rivers in Downieville, open while she attended a wedding.

I was able to knit steadily on my Gaia Shoulder Hug, and get it off the needles Saturday.... but not without some challenges.  First, I had to dig through examples on the 'net to get a good idea of what a 'picot bind off', then I had to 'practice' it multiple times before getting it right.  Turns out a picot bind off does make a very pretty and stretchy edging, but each stitch takes about six times as long, and uses six times as much yarn!  Here's the rub... I was trying to cut it close, and twice had to rip back so gain enough yarn to complete the entire length of the bind off (Steph, I'm cautioning you here - start binding off while you still have a fair-sized ball of yarn to learn from my mistakes!)

Here's a photo of the unblocked version, to tide you over til it is blocked and a 'photoshoot' can take place.  I am very pleased with how well the pattern 'hugs' me and how scrummy the yarn feels.

The Schaefer Nichole sock yarn has just the right blend of merino and nylon to maintain a very soft hand, yet give a spring that would be nice and stretchy in socks, but serves a different purpose in this small piece, encouraging it to curl around the shoulders and STAY in place.  I can tell I will be getting a lot of use out of my Gaia.

I was so inspired by the simple shawl knitting process that I started right away on Ulmus.  I love the process of switching between two pretty and soft yarns, and slipping stitches to add to the color and texture.  While I didn't get the chance to knit in public on Saturday, the Fourth Annual Worldwide Knit in Public Day, I did get to sit beside the Yuba River in Downieville for an hour yesterday, knitting happily on my new project to the music of the water rushing by, while others bustled about, enjoying the early summer in the mountains.

So far, Ulmus is growing quickly, but then the rows just keep getting longer, don't they?  There is a nice musical rhythm to the pattern, as the river told me yesterday, so I do think this wrap will progress rapidly (sorry, couldn't resist).

The Finish Line is a Sweet but Fleeting Spot

Kathy B. asked that I post a photo of the newly-finished baby blanket, so I am complying, even though it is really just a very, very large Grandma's washcloth.

As I said in my earlier post, its best qualities are that it will be a) highly washable, b) versatile (I posed the blankie on an unmade double bed in our upstairs guest room so you could see that it is quite large), and c) that it was made by grandmama.

I was so very gratified to be done with this blanket that I pulled out two other UFOs to work on last week.

Sweet Pea (Rav link), the crocheted shawl made using mostly double treble stitch is still hard on my hands, and will grow very slowly, though I am really looking forward to wearing the finishing product. 

The shawl starts at the long top edge and loses a large shell on each side every second row, so will grow pretty quickly once these long rows in the early stage are behind me.

I like the TLC Cotton Plus yarn, even though it is cheap, craft store stuff!

The other shawl, Gaia Shoulder Hug, is very close to the finish line, and should be off the needles soon.  Stephanie and I are both doing these, and discussed on the phone yesterday afternoon how we had both gotten to the boring stage of this project.... the pattern stitch, alternating rows of stockinette, reverse stockinette, and eyelet, no longer is keeping either of us excited.  Since I chose to make my version out of Schaefer Nichole sock yarn instead of the Noro Kureyon, I will probably run out of yarn before she does, and finally get to do that nice picot stitch bind off!

As you can see, that tiny ball posed on a kitchen chairseat, is all that stands between me and the finish line.  I don't know about the rest of you, but sometimes my motivation starts to wane a bit too early in the process... I love the colors and will be happy with the shawlette when done, but these last, now-long rows aren't too thrilling.

It probably doesn't help that I already have a new shawl pattern picked out and waiting, along with two colors from my stash... Ulmus will be next on the needles.

 

Same chair seat... featuring Meilenweit MegaBoots in browns and Isager Alpaca 2 in pale sage green.  The Isager yarn was from a ripped lace project earlier this spring, so it is only fitting that I re-purpose it into a nice and cuddly shawl.

On a separate note, Fibers, the LYS where I work, has been hard at work making and dyeing sock blanks for our store's booth at Sock Summit.  I don't think I will be there, unless some unexpected windfall of funds allows me to purchase air tickets and a room, but look for Allison, the owner, who will!  More details to follow.

How'd It Get To Be June?

I am a wee bit tired, having only partly slept through the longest thunderstorm I have ever experienced last night.  Thunder and lightening are a regular part of the early summer weather pattern here in the Sierras each year, but last night's was the most awesome and overwhelming one to date.  The storm started just before 9 PM, and was probably at its fiercest around 11 PM, but lots of lightening and rolling thunder passed overhead, accompanied by periodic cloudbursts, until about 6:45 AM!  At least I can skip watering the garden for a few days.

My raised beds are almost full once again, with the focus this year on having a little bit of many wonderful things.  I have coreopsis, calendula, bronze fennel and opal basil all growing for future dyepot experiments, Jerusalem artichokes and Yacon to add interest in the root crop division (along with Chiogga beets, my personal heirloom favorites), and of course a bed dedicated to the Three Sisters.  It contains Blue Lake beans, Buttercup squash (we grew enough of these last year to eat once a week until early this month!), and a few token corn plants for scaffolding for the beans.  You see, corn doesn't really do very well in the foothill country here.... better to buy loads of it fresh at the farmer's markets.  However, corn is an important component of the three sisters, and is joined by a fourth, sunflowers, along with edible nasturtium flowers and decorative morning glory ones, all still in their early stages of development.

Of course, there is a tomato bed, with one each of Green Zebra (one of my favorites), Red Zebra, Red Pear, Brandywine (a scrumptious heirloom) and Sweet 100 (the easiest of the cherry varieties).  I got inspired to try out the Topsy Turvey planter, which holds a Yellow Pear.  We are particularly fond of eating cherry tomatoes right off the vine, though I do plan to solar dry slices of brandywines and pack them in olive oil.  I DO NOT plan to can loads and loads... after all, tomatoes are one of the top crops only 40 miles from here, and I can get canned organic ones without melting all summer in my kitchen (at least for now).  The tomato bed also is home to two kinds of basil, which gets cut regularly and either dried or put in ice cube trays, covered with water and frozen to be added to soups in winter.

Another bed contains a few heirloom eggplants that were promised to be a deep rose in color, a red pepper, a hill of lemon cucumbers, and several culinary herbs, while "beer friends" (Japanese slang for edamame, or green soybeans) and Asian pumpkin grow in with the Jerusalem artichokes.  I really am all about interplanting, and find that plant communities do better than mono-crop beds or rows.  Therefore, bush beans are growing in another bed together with beets and borage, while out on the driveway side of the kitchen, there is a large bed for perennial herbs, including a low hedge of creeping rosemary, oregano, mullien, feverfew, hyssop, yarrow, coreopsis, lupine and clary sage (which looks magnificent in bloom).

As you can tell, getting the gardens in order has been taking a lot of my spare time!  I did finish the baby blankie midweek, and am working on my Gaia Shoulder Hug, as well as looking for places on my busy calendar to plug in spinning in public.  Our guild will be celebrating worldwide Knit In Public Day next Saturday at the Nevada County Growers Market (actually KIP Day is June 14th), while I teach an intermediate crochet class at Fibers.  And I am still wondering, "How'd it get to be June?"  Have a great weekend, everyone!

WIP Wednesday on Thursday

It's late in the evening but still Thursday, and yesterday I was away from the 'net all day long, so couldn't post an update on my knitting... however, I DID get to sit in on a terrific thunder cell passing over my friend Suzi's house in Sattley, just over the crest of the Sierras from me. 

I spent the afternoon on her back deck, watching the clouds build up, listening to thunder passing overhead and reading or knitting, stopping periodically to check out the view.

She lives in that portion of the Sierra Valley known as "Turner Valley, looking westward and up into the mountains.  There was no rain left by the time these clouds made it past the western Sierra slopes; in fact, DH was working on the other side and heard a special storm alert on his truck radio... predicting heavy rain and winds up to 60 mph, right at the tiny town of Sierra City he was about to pass through!

I got to have an afternoon to myself as I waited on the east side of the county between two meetings.

Besides cloud-watching, I was able to snap a picture of each of the two main WIPs I have been neglecting (we had a large family reunion here over Memorial Day weekend, with not much time for the hostess to knit!).

The first is the plain pink-white-blue baby blankie, nearing completion.

As you can tell, I really AM closing in on the finish, that fourth corner, and can confidently expect to be done before the end of the month.  There is more yarn than shown in the ball, just in case I need it.  This type of project will make a grandly functional and highly washable baby blankie, which might even pass through childhood as a favorite, but has made for rather boring knitting.  I won't mind saying good-bye.

The other project is more exciting, which is a good thing, as there's probably further to go to the finish line.

Here's my Gaia shoulder shawl, at least three-fourths completed, judging by the size of yarn ball remaining... and difficult to get a good photo of.  I am still enjoying the fun knitting, and the way the colors appear.  It looks likely to be a versatile piece to wear, not too big or too small, but just right.  And, the colors are smashing!

I am also happy to report that my third meeting, this afternoon, brought the successful outcome of three more years' funding for my early childhood program, meaning I still have a job!  Plenty of reasons to be happy tonight.

Happy summer weekend to you all....

Muddling Through May

I almost typed "March" and if I hadn't been so busy lately planting my food garden, I would honestly think I was still back in March.  Putting a major grant proposal together is one of the big time-gobblers this month.  I submitted it last week and have to wait until the end of next to see if I was successful.  Since our program budget hinges on getting the funding, I wouldn't mind if y'all thought really good thoughts for me and the 123 Grow program.  Then, I got a bit wrapped up in creating a Facebook presence for our non-profit; you can view it through this link if you are a Facebook member, and become one of our fans. If you haven't bought into FB, that's ok too --- the other person of our two-member committee to create this web presence lovingly calls it "Facecrack" for the addicting, time-sucking qualities.

Then, as I intimated, gardening has really risen to the top of the priority list this month, including helping the parents in my program as we contributed a big presence at last weekend's community plant sale, where the temps got really close to 100!  We made $275 in sales, and the temps are back to normal for this time of year in the Sierras, so life is very, very good!  I have soybeans, bush beans, snow peas, eggplant, five kinds of heirloom tomatoes, yacon, strawberries, dill, bronze fennel (for dyeing wool), calendula (also for dyeing), two kinds of basil (the Opal variety may end up in the dyepot as well), red peppers, lemon cucumber, Jerusalem artichokes, mixed greens, rhubarb chard, sorrel, and corn all in the ground, along with several flowering plants, including a bush lupine about to burst into bloom.  This year's spring weather has blest me with the prettiest blooming of roses in ten years, and my raspberries are flowering as well.  There are blueberries, cherries, pears, and apples all setting fruit, but it all adds up to a lot of time outside instead of in front of the computer.  I know... excuses, excuses.

It is the height of spring where I live, and I promise to take lots of photos over the weekend.  We have the old Slate Range Camp in sparkling shape for the annual family reunion we will be hosting.

I have been knitting and crocheting, though all of my projects seem to have made slow progress through this month.  It looks like a handful will reach completion in rapid succession, with my five potholders for the Potholder Swap arriving at the finish line first.  They are pentagonal, a variation of the Granny Square stitch, and double thickness, using basic washcloth cotton.  I will be sending them off in the mail tomorrow, but am basking in the sense of accomplishment.  Crocheting is much harder on my hands than knitting, I had to make ten to get five, and they won't lay flat, but I do know from past experience that they will wear well and do a great job for their intended purpose -curving around the handle of a hot pot and protecting your hands.  I suspect that the baby blankie will be the next FO.  Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

When Good Blog Services Go Bad

Here I am, apologizing for Typepad, once again!  I checked and your comments from yesterday were all there, just wouldn't publish, even though the post had "open" checked in the comment box... go figure.

Thanks for all the kind words, and here's a little clip to help brighten you back up after dealing with technology problems.  Some of you may have seen this before, though only a few people had commented at YouTube... too funny for words, especially for those of you who have become maybe just a bit obsessive about Ravelry.