A View from Sierra County

A Month of Sock Knitting, Skywatching and a Sweater

Happy Valentine's Day!  It snowed this morning, for the first time all winter, when it really is heading into spring.  I wanted to share the results of my New Year's resolution, and that you really can build a new habit or skill by just spending 20 minutes a day, hee, hee.  I managed to get the hang of my antique circular sock knitting machine, crank out seven pair of socks, and learn to kitchener the toes closed, all in January! 

Here they all are... the long, stripey pair (Knit Picks Simply Stripes) is the first one I finished, and is way too long to fit anyone I know, so I will be unsewing the one toe and ripping both back, putting back on the machine and making new toes.  I successfully mastered ripping and reinstalling with the dark blue (Mega Wool) pair, which I had to shorten to fit DH.  It wasn't that easy to get the socks back on the machine, but not that hard either... remember, just 20 minutes a day.  Then, I made the short, lighter striped pair for myself (Regia Sockotta).  I don't like the yarn, too much cotton to avoid a rather crisp hand that was not stretchy enough on the machine, or to keep from having mock ribbed top that seems too wide.  I might wear them this summer.... I made a long, skinny scarf from a very light fingering yarn, then decided to try all the Canadian coned wool I had set aside for the magical day when I could successfully make socks.  There are two pair of light blue (toes all nicely closed) and two pair of red (still need kitchenering).  The heavier yarn makes a larger sock, maybe better for men, though I have tried on the womens' sized ones and like them.  They are thick and warm, and the women's light blue are for Wooly Daisy, as her pay-it-forward gift that is long overdue.  She has been a staunch supporter and encourager about the CSM, so I can't think of a better person to receive them.  DH gets the other light blue pair.  The two red ones are currently unclaimed, hence the low motivation to sew up the toes.  The CSM makes socks with short row heels, which are very clean-looking, once you do them correctly.  Then, after the foot, you make another short row heel, only this time, it folds over and is sewn closed, looking like those commercial socks you used to wear.  Once my kitchener technique improved, I was impressed by how neat the toes were, and how you didn't need to feel that seam!You can see it on the light blue socks, if you look closely.

I couldn't have made such progress without spending 20 minutes a day, but also without terrific directions on the Internet... which is how I finally got the whole kitchener stitch thing.  Now, it has become an easy process:)  I was so delighted with my progress, that I have already cranked out 2 1/2 pair of socks in February, sending this one (Regia World Ball - very nice yarn) off as a birthday gift.

You can really see the mock rib top on this pair... I do think that the fingering weight yarn works well with that method, but also have to get brave enough to try using my ribber.... 20 minutes a day, right?!

I have been pretty enamored of this process, but have been participating in the Sky Scarf Project since my birthday back in October.... at least, I routinely record my observations daily, then spend an evening about once a week catching up on the knitting.

Several other bloggers I know (Margene, in particular) are doing this project.  My version is in Plymouth Dye 4 Me yarn, which is so scrummy-soft.  I dyed two shades of blue with indigo, and a dark grey with elderberry mordanted with iron, and then used some lovely angora handspun that Amy sent me a few years back for the lighter grey.  I decided to stick with simple garter stitch, helping with a tweedy effect, and have noticed that this year's drought winter has resulted in a lot more blocks of blue than usual... it will be interesting to see what the end result is!

I have also been slowly fitting in a sweater for myself, which I started back before Thanksgiving.  It seemed to get set aside many times, for various other projects, with the sleeves made over Thanksgiving holiday, the body over New Years weekend, and, finally, off the needles last week.  I still need to pick up and knit a button band on each side of the front. 

This sweater, the Rebecca Cardigan, was designed by Heidi Iverson for the Fibershed Year Project, and then Rebecca Burgess used Sally Fox's organic cotton (two color-grown shades and some dyed with Japanese indigo - three strands held together) to put together a kit, one of the early offerings of the Fibershed Marketplace. I can tell already that this will probably be my favorite sweater of the year to wear, much the same way Shalom was last fall!  I have some lovely abalone shell buttons waiting for me to get it together and finish up.

I am pretty excited to tell you all that I am heading into my second season as a natural dye plant farmer.  I just listed the 2012 Natures Cauldron CSA Subscription season there this past weekend and am already getting orders!  You can find out more about my dye work here.

Interlude with a Hat

I have been crazy busy getting all of the plants gathered, dried and packaged for my dye plant CSA, and just finished boxing up Shipment #2!  There are still more plants to be gathered before the snow flies, and cuts off my access to the high country, but I have been on vacation from my 'regular' job this week - fall break in our district at the end of the first quarter.  That has helped me get many small steps accomplished, so DH and I took off Tuesday afternoon and headed to our Forest City cabin.  25 miles can be a world away!

Autumn is definitely present there, with black locust and aspen leaves in various shades of yellows, though the black oaks haven't turned color yet.  The weather has warmed back up during the day, but is chilly at night.  I decided it was time to make a new hat for the coming cold season, and spent much of my time knitting.

I finished my hat by midafternoon yesterday, tried it on and then didn't want to take it off!  It was just the extra warmth I needed while still getting to wear my crop pants and short sleeved shirt.  I am especially pleased with this hat, an adaptation of the Slouchy Hat pattern in Harvesting Color.  The yarn is some of the wonderfully squooshy Rambouillet I have been spinning at many public spin-ins for the past few years.  I used a lot of my yarns to dye with this summer, and ended up with plenty of colors for the striping.  The orange is from madder roots, the blue is indigo-dyed, the purple from logwood, and the gold is from a boiled-up pomegranate someone threw in a dyepot while we were working at Anni Redding's back in May. 

The light olive color is a bit more complicated... I wanted to be able to demonstrate some dye processes while giving a talk at Ridgestock in August, so I set up a jar of zinnias and black-eyed susans in my solar oven.  Meanwhile, I had yarn soaking in my rusty-object mordant jar.  Later, when I got back home, I simmered the sun-mordanted yarn in the flower water.

As you can tell, my pre-dawn photo taken by myself with my phone won't win any photography awards, but you can see a detail I decided to add to the original pattern.  I have been admiring the hats in the knitting mags that are trimmed with cute little buttons, and as I was knitting, I made a reverse stockinette placket for the buttons.  This hat is worn inside-out, so that portion is flat stockinette.  When we got home last night, I had a pot of elderberry dye to simmer and time to paw through my button collection and find five small wood buttons.  Then, I used a nickel as a template and cut five circles from some felted wool that I threw into the last of the pokeberry dye baths a few weeks ago.  The berry red is a bit different from the rest of the hat, but looks good against the light olive and with the wood.  I am so delighted with this local hat, made by me from start to finish!

Now, to head off for a quickie vacation visiting the in-laws in Lake Tahoe for a few days... I've earned the rest and have a cozy, stylin' hat to wear too.  Happy autumn weekend, dear ones!

Still Time to Enter!

I'm posting a photo to entice you to spread the word further about my blog contest, which ends on Tuesday, May 17th at midnight, PDT.  I have gotten 86 'likes' on my Nature's Cauldron Facebook page, lots of hits on the new website, and have signed up a handful of CSA shareholders, but you know you want to get more entries, so go back here and take a look at the rules.

I am offering 8 oz. of blue-faced leicester roving, from A Verb for Keeping Warm, which I picked up while visiting my BIL and SIL in Alameda (it is their closest LYS!) and two-2 oz. sport weight skeins of Juniper Creek Alpacas yarn, one in natural so that you can conduct your own dye experiments, and one in naturally dark (almost black) to go with for a special project.

Juniper Creek Alpacas are amongst the wool producers closest to my home, so I am happy to be able to help promote their farm, which raises Huayaca alpacas, who produce a very fine micron-count wool.  Eva, one of the co-owners, is a fellow Foothill Fibers Guild member, and their yarn is regularly available at my closest LYS, Meadowfarm Yarn Studio.

I already reviewed Harvesting Color in yesterday's post, the book that goes with this prize package.  If you missed the review, just keep on scrolling down... the book was printed in China, but the author and photographer live in my Fibershed... yup, it's all about local around here, at least as much as possible.  That's the motivation and joy of offering to grow dye plants for others!  So, spread the word and get yourself a few extra chances to win before it's too late! 

Have a great spring weekend!

Harvesting Color

I was so excited to get home at lunch yesterday and find that my book order had arrived!  Those who have already visited my Natural Dye CSA (community supported agriculture) website know that full shareholders will each receive a copy of Harvesting Color, by Rebecca Burgess with their first shipment.  Readers following my contest (which ends May 17th, so there's still time to get more entries!) will remember that it is one of the prizes offered to the lucky winner amongst those helping me promote the CSA.

What you probably DON'T know is just how amazing and fabulous this book is... I was so impressed, feeling both hopeful and calmed by the information and beautiful photos.  I always feel grounded and hopeful when I cross paths with someone else working hard to help protect Mother Earth, and Rebecca's advocacy for a return to deep connection with the clothing we wear and how we color it is very inspiring.

Here's the text of the review I wrote today for Amazon; if you don't purchase a share or win a copy from me, I hope you will order the book:

Rebecca Burgess' new book is an outgrowth of over a decade's worth of teaching natural dye plants and advocating for a more environmentally-friendly manner of creating our clothing.  She worked on the book at the same time that she was 'living' the Fibershed Project, with the goal of only wearing clothing made from products within a 150-mile radius of her Marin County, California home. This book contains information about unique California native plants, such as toyon and coffeeberry, and the dye colors that they produce, but it is far more than simply a California guide.

Each featured plant is discussed and accompanied by a photo of the entire plant, often within its native habitat.  Information about time to gather, how to cultivate, and parts of the plant to use for dyeing fibers are included, along with generous photos of yarns dyed in the colors obtained from each plant, and a map of the United States highlighting where the particular plant can be found growing in the wild.

Burgess brings her high standard of environmental consciousness into the book, stressing the importance of the choices we make in what we use as both consumers and artists.  She discusses mordants (substances used to 'fix', or keep the dye in the fiber or fabric for the long term), and only advocates using materials that are non-toxic, both while in use in the dye process and when the wastes are disposed.

All technical material is easy to access by the DIYer, the home craftsperson or the professional artist.  The book is organized around what is available each of the four seasons, and includes an appropriate project to use your hand-dyed yarns as well.

Paige Green's photography lifts this book into the realm of fine art, with massive amounts of beautiful pictures that highlight the plants, capture the colors dyed with them, and also portray the sense of harmony that Burgess advocates will come from being more connected to local production of our clothing.  This book will appeal to many who are already working with fiber arts, and will also attract those who garden, and seek to live in a greener manner.

A New Adventure Begins

I have mentioned and hinted a few times at the grand new adventure I have been embarking upon this spring, and today is the day to announce widely, and with the help of a contest, just what I have been up to!

My love of all things fibery has been one of my partners through several decades, beginning when I was five and learned to knit.  In my early 20s, while taking spinning lessons and learning to weave Navajo-style, my teacher also introduced our class to natural plant dyes.  I already knew I had a passion for plants, and had been studying herbology for a few years, so it was a natural step, and I have made many 'experiments' over the years.  I did not instantly become a dyer or start a dye business... in fact, you will see it has taken a few decades of 'cooking' to come to the point of sharing this knowledge and love with others. 

This winter, while pondering what to do in the current (read: dismal) economy,  I realized I had a large parcel on our property that I could use to cultivate dye plants.  From that tiny seed thought, I have spent the winter planning to launch the first Natural Dye Plant CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) venture that I have been able to find advertised anywhere.  One impetus to act now was the localizing that has been taking place in my life for the past five years or so... I realized that while it has become much easier to obtain locally-grown food to eat in my region, clothes are another matter entirely.  I could take one of my loves, gardening, and pair it with a need, for artists to have local color available to help re-clothe our region in locally produced garments!

Today is the Launch Day, meaning that if you go over and visit my new website, Nature's Cauldron, you can become one of my CSA subscriber/supporters by signing up for a share.  My "community" of fiber fanatics is much bigger than just the boundaries of my county or state, so I am going to be drying and mailing out dye plants, as well as a few other goodies, over the course of the harvest season.  You might decide that you and your knitting group want to purchase a share together, so that you can begin to explore natural color options for your future projects.  As my gardens become more productive over the next few years, I will also begin dyeing and offering yarns in the prettiest of natural shades, as well as offering occasional natural dye workshops.  Those of you who have followed my blogging for the past six and a half years will be watching my small farm grow from infancy.  Though most of the farm posts will now move over to the new website, Sustainable Sunday will continue on this blog, sharing my general knowledge about living sustainably with all of you.

I will be growing a wide variety of plants, including Japanese indigo, madder, comfrey (olive green), yarrow (clear yellow), rhubarb (a mordant and pale orange dye), dahlias and hollyhocks, and gathering others from the hills and woods around me, including oak galls, lichens, and toyon.  I live in a rich environment and plan to grow, pick and dry plants all summer in order to prepare four shipments to send to subscribers in the coming fall and winter.  I also plan to include ideas and inspiration on what to make with these plant-dyed yarns.

Not all of my dear fiber friends will want to participate, or to take up natural plant dyeing.  However, all of you have fiber friends as well, and just by tapping into that network of fiber artists, I know that I will be able to gather enough support for this first season of growing and harvesting.  In order to spread the word quickly, I am also launching a contest today to build subscribers to my Natures Cauldron Facebook page, and to get the word out about my adventure.  Each new "like" will be entered into the contest, as well as each individual who comments either here or at the new website.  Of course, if you can get more entries in the contest, you have a better chance at winning the great prize package described below!  So, if you refer someone else, have them tell me you sent them to visit me, and you will get additional entries.

The prize package includes a copy of Harvesting Color, the new book on natural dyeing by Rebecca Burgess of the Fibershed Project (this book will be included in the first of the four CSA shipments!), two ounces of undyed Blue-faced Leicester roving from A Verb for Keeping Warm (local Northern California sheep!), and some naturally-dyed yarns (watch for photos to come).

The contest will run for two weeks, until May 17th, at midnight PDT, so help me spread the word!

Flying at The Speed of Light!

I am so excited to share with my few remaining loyal readers that we just got much faster Internet service!  Our 'high-speed' company had apparently oversold their bandwidth, or at least was adding users who wanted complex service faster than they were updating their equipment.  Calling didn't help, and we just wailed in the evenings, when everyone in our area was probably also trying to stream a movie or surf the web, or take an online class, or simply catch up on their blogging and Facebooking. Well, in the middle of February, DD came to stay with us for a while (long story, not for the blog), and she had been using ATT's UVerse with much better success.  She convinced me to switch, and last night was our 'hook-up' time... and it really IS much, much faster.... bye bye to the non-responsive company.  I am crossing my fingers, but this certainly should lead to more frequent blogging, as creating this post has been soo much easier!

That means I can at least quickly catch you up to how we are doing following the Northern California Snowpocalypse.  A week ago, we left school early because it was snowing heavy, and roads were quickly filling up... we awoke Friday morning to no power and over two feet of snow!  It kept right on snowing, through the day and into Saturday, leaving us with over three feet of fine powder!  This is not the usual kind or amount of snow we get at our elevation... snowshoes were required, trails needed to be dug, and our cars were even snowed in!

Here's a photo of our house late Saturday afternoon, with the sun breaking through the beautiful clouds, and much of our roof having its snow slid off.  Fabulously beautiful, isn't it?  What you don't see is that the temps dropped to about 16 degrees the following morning!  We still didn't have power, but are pretty adaptable.

For those who follow my Sustainable Sunday posts, I am happy to point out that redundant systems really do work!  We have three ways to generate heat, and the same number of ways to cook.  We use propane mainly for both, but there are back-up systems to cover failure in an area, such as extended outages.  We even were gifted with a generator, which is useful to circulate the heat from the other sources when the electric is gone.

We are also fortunate to have spring-fed water, which doesn't require power to get to us; I would like to work on a back-up water system for 'just in case'.

This is more snow at once than most of my neighbors could remember, and certainly the most we had experienced since buying Slate Range Camp back in 1998.  We ended up needing to shovel off the roof of the rental mobile unit on Sunday, which took about 10 human hours and four people. We were very sore, tired and even a little sunburnt!  Storms in the Sierras are so beautiful, especially when they are followed by skies like the one in the photo.

This photo also gives you some idea of how big our project was, and why there wasn't much in the way of knitting to show for being snowbound.

Sunday was also the day DH finally got the tractor running and started moving some of the snow out of the way.  He had done all his prep ahead of time, but the low temperatures had taken their toll, and it was harder to turn the enging over.  He ended up needing to use generator power and re-charge the battery, then a small camp stove under the diesel oilpan, in order to get the beast started.

Such a heartwarming sight... a man and his tractor!

We did suffer a lot of tree damage, the sheltering porch roof over the donkeys' barn collapsed Friday night, and one of the old rafters in the house porch also cracked and will need repair, but overall we weathered our region's severe weather event well!

The weather shifted away from cold, and right on into wet by yesterday, with lots of blowing rain.  We were happy for those few bright and sunny days, in order to restock the larder and prepare for the next round!

There has been knitting (though no FOs) and jewelry-making over the past month, and lots of reading.  Below is an example of the Four Seasons Tree of Life pendant that I am making, though I haven't gotten good enough photos for Etsy yet.  I have also made several special order Family Tree pendants, using family birthstones.

There is a special project that got a lot of my attention on last Friday's snow day where we were all huddled inside next to the woodstove.... planning for the summer gardening!

I have let some of my dear friends in on my secret, and decided to include all my loyal readers before making an 'official' announcement; I have been steadily planning to plant a quarter acre of natural dye plants and start a small CSA!  I am really excited and also a little scared about this venture.  It will be a challenge to grow to a commercial scale, but will also allow me to generate some income while following two of my passions.  I am planning for four shipments from harvest season beginning in August 2011 into March 2010, and will be including foraged dyestuffs as well.  I am so very lucky to live in a rich natural environment which also provides support for artists and farmers!  I have gotten support and encouragement and spent the day mapping out my planting and gathering calendar.  There will be much more news on the blog over the spring, as well as construction of a separate website, so stay tuned!

Saturday Sky

The sky isn't looking so good for today... low ceiling, and lots of rain dumped overnight... so I decided to post this sunset shot from earlier in the week!  I do love the sunset low in the sky this time of the year, and am grateful for all the rain and snow we have gotten this season, even though I miss the blue skies.  California is close to not being in a drought state, finally!

I have already been out and about early today, and picked up rhubarb roots for the garden; it's not too early here to start thinking about the spring planting even though Puxatawny Phil saw his shadow, and six more weeks of winter will likely mean a long mud season.  We have a spot in mind for those roots, that will be getting both donkey manure and sandy loam out of a bag to get them started right... they will outlive us, most likely.  Up at the Forest City house, we have rhubarb plants that are close to a century old, but often miss their timing for 'best harvest' because spring gets so busy.

I haven't posted in a long while, so have a few family photos and a finished object to share, from a birthday celebration for dear eldest son two weeks ago... 

We met at Northstar, where Cody works in hospitality in the re-designed pedestrian village, and also rides (snowboards) almost daily... he is up to over 40 days this season already.  I envy him that, both for the exercise value and the sheer joy of being outdoors, any time of the year, that I am happy to say I instilled in him.

I think his best gift was getting to see niece Odessa, just past four months old in this photo, and getting very charming!

Here, she is just realizing that she might be able to reach the menu on the table... she is like many first-child babies of middle class parents, well familiar with going to restaurants and is starting to clamor a bit watching others eat... still has to rely on getting it second-hand from mama for a few more months before a range of foods will be available to her.

She has grown so much, but looks pretty tiny sitting in a big high chair!

Here's daddy Jesse, modeling the finished object I promised to show you... a warm winter hat that I had been making for Christmas, before I got too sick to finish it.

He works outside, and really liked it... his bro is also getting a late gift, this time birthday, of a scarf I have been crocheting, that is finally almost done.  I like many of the effects of crochet, but my hands protest about it far more than knitting, so not to worry, no chance of this becoming a crocheting blog!

Below is a close-up of the hat, though the one with him wearing it is a truer representation of color.... it has a turned hem, giving it a thicker ear-head band, for warmth and for keeping it on better... a feature he got to try out right

away as it was going back and forth between rain and snow on that day!

You might have heard rumors of a dye workshop... a group of my knit grrls (Luci, Stephanie, Rhodi, Rowen and I) got together with Sara Lamb for a workshop to begin compiling our own dye notebooks last Sunday.  It was a hard-and-fast job, trying to get through as many of the color combos in percentage as possible, and we will continue on our own, meeting monthly until we get 'done', at least through the range of mixing possible.  We kept talking about taking photos, but nobody stopped long enough!  In fact, the only slow moments in the whole day were while we shared a lovely potluck lunch.  Here are a few shots of the sample cards we got done on Sunday....

 

This is the total number of samples... the cards are labeled with both letters and numbers... the ones with only letters are laid out in a range of colors between two primaries, such as "magenta" and "yellow", and the ones with numbers reflect a blending of three primaries from specific recipes.

A close-up view of just two sample cards gives you a better chance to see the ranges of color that can be produced by mixing... we had a great time and were very thankful to Sara for fitting us into her busy schedule.

My dear friends over on the east coast, please be warm, dry and safe!  Our weather is nothing compared to what you are getting, and I realize many in that storm simply aren't used to such severe conditions.... you are all in my thoughts and prayers.  The rest of you I hope are having a great weekend... and all of you, pull out some knitting!

Now, I've got to go and spend some time with the new edition of Piecework, which just arrived in my mailbox... both historical knitting AND a new Barbara Walker pattern! Life is good:)

Midsummer

Isn't that such a wonderful word?!  Having lived in the northern hemisphere all of my life, it brings to mind so many lovely memories... and this past holiday weekend just added more.  Yes, I have been feeling a bit nostalgic - I think I am now at an age where holidays will frequently do that to me!  Life is good.

The 4th was celebrated in the usual style; I headed up to Downieville for the 'backwards' parade, as Kathy B. calls it.  That is because a few years back, she read one of my posts where I explained that the parade goes down the main street of town, then turns around and comes back....

Of course, the volunteer fire department starts things out... some of our favorite children were riding on the fire engine.

It wouldn't be a parade without Smokey the Bear!

Another perennial favorite is the old country doctor's buggy representing the Western Sierra Medical Clinic (longtime readers will recall that I used to work there).

Usually, one of the last entries in the parade is the fire district's water tender... it has two spray nozzles on the front bumpers which can be turned different directions... they shoot a spray straight up about ten feet in the air, and are a hit with the younger members of the crowd, especially when angled towards the sidewalks.  The crowd across the street from my family included

Stephanie's son, Liam, and  Rhodi and Lynne's (blogless members of our local knitting circle) children ... all of which were delighted!

You can see that the girls had their hands up in the air to catch the spray.  If you look REALLY close, at a larger view, you will also be able to tell that the sidewalk on that side is still wood!!

Next on the agenda was the Fireman's Muster, with the VFD from our little town of Camptonville and the U.S. Forest Service engine crew competing against members of the Downieville Fire Protection District in various fun games... hose lay relay, catch the water, balance the ball.

Not the kinds of things you can do around here in winter!  There were also foot races for all ages, a tug-of-war (Flatlanders v. Mountain Gals - or Men), Tri-Tip BBQ to benefit the fire department, and later in the day a massive street dance.  However, I headed home for a brief while, then south to Lake Wildwood, where DD, her BF and little son, Mason, live, to watch fireworks late in the evening... very late, in fact, as there was a wiring malfunction that delayed the show by 45 minutes.  Good thing they caught that early!  It was late enough that I spent the night on their couch rather than make the long drive home.

Yesterday was a day for chores, rest, knitting, rest, blogging, rest... you get the idea.  Here are a few photos of the garden at midsummer.... lovely and fresh, but low on the production level at this point.
I might have mentioned before that I am fond of mixed-bed plantings... here you will find our winter squash (delayed by the cooler-than-normal weather last month), peas which have probably stopped flowering after last week's heat wave, morning glories climbing the old bedstead, nasturtiums, marigolds, and even two corn plants.  They were supposed to be scaffolding for pole beans, which I have put in twice with no success.  I think robins might be nipping off the newly-emerged seedlings before I can see them, as well as shredding up the corn leaves a bit.  I am going to get a fresh packet of seeds and try one last time this week, as well as apply rice straw mulch.

I didn't get any tomatoes by the 4th, and that is pretty uncommon where we live, since most years we wouldn't want to chance planting them before Mother's Day... but these Green Zebras are getting close and will probably be the first of the six varieties I planted that are ready.  I love tomatoes, but hate being a slave to the kitchen in August and September, so only planted one Roma, to make sun-dried tomatoes.  The others are for eating on the spot, and six plants (one of each kind) will probaby end up being too many.

However, since I always like to try something new, this year it's the crazy Topsy Turvy thing you have been seeing everywhere... we decided that we better use a cherry type, so that the vines don't break from the weight of the fruits, so mine has a Sweet 100 in it.

It is behaving pretty much as I would think a hanging vine would, and lives under a drip emitter from the misting system that keeps many of our porch plants happy... if this system works, I may well switch several plants over to it, freeing up more raised beds for other items!

The award for lushest plant goes to the yacon... this is a root vegetable I am growing in a pot to protect from varmints.

The tallest plant award goes to the Jerusalem artichokes... they haven't flowered yet, but the garden gnome is making sure they are guarded from the pesky birds who have consumed many more of my cherries than me, and are hoping to beat me to the black raspberries.  There is also a hill of Asian pumpkin in this bed (also very delayed because the weather turned cool), and some edamame and gladioli at the back.

It is pretty apparent that green is the color of the moment, with little color from flower or fruit yet.

No tour of the garden would be complete without a view of the fish pond... the fish are very happy, though they wouldn't mind if DH increased the size of the pond.  Not likely to happen this summer, though.  He is too busy working as High Country Ranger in the Lakes Basin.

And, in case you were beginning to think I had given up fibery pursuits while having summer fun, think again!  Here's my turmeric-dyed yarn, drying yesterday afternoon following its final rinse in Retayne, hopefully to keep any color from leaking later.

Pretty bright, eh!  I am looking forward to seeing it knitted into the Circle Vest, and will get to that right away, since I did my fair entries during a quiet moment over the weekend and am now committed to displaying it!

My favorite project right now has been the Friendship Shawl...

Here, you can see my progress, starting with the large diamond at the bottom, from my Feather and Fan mitts made earlier this year, to a black/teal from Sallee, a light blue, turquoise, and pastels from Cookie, and a purple from Cookie combined with brights from Norma.  I am having so much fun with this, and am drawing out a diagram as I go of what yarn came from which knitter... anyone know of software I could use to diagram that?  In the end, I will probably take a large picture and attempt captioning!

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!