Local Color

It was Day One of the dyeing workshop and we got right into intense primaries, followed swiftly by secondary colors. Then we quickly jumped to Special Editions, and pleated platter dyeing. Our only problem was waiting to see the results today. (Patience!)
There was an awful lot of talking done by yours truly, enough to wear anyone out, including me. I will try and hold back today. Geesh.
This conference is really great, and as we know, the FOOD makes up a big part of the enjoyment of the event. To start the day, custom made omelets, fresh fruit for breakfast with oodles of cookies, just in case.  Then for lunch we had salads and salt encrusted baked potatoes with all the toppings. O my. As if that wasn't enough an afternoon snack was provided: hot wings and nachos. I couldn't even consider eating another thing the rest of the day.
At four pm. I tottered off to my room for a nap.
Evening programs are offered and last night we had a rep from Golden Paints in for a two hour demo and lecture on their gorgeous new acrylic paint products. Freebies included.
Linda-From-Lansing, one of my students, changed from dye clothes to this colorful outfit with the most fun bracelet made from foam shapes. I must make one!


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This is totally dopey, but I find myself taking pictures of the hotel art. Here's a big triptich of waterlily pads.

The smaller images are part of a larger piece, but the compositions are kinda quilt-like, so I wanted to preserve them for future reference.

Big City Fun

I am staying at the Radisson in Kalamazoo, and it is lovely. La-dee-dah-luxury. Sleep number bed, wi-fi, no cat snoring at my bedside, and a catered breakfast.
With the new Google/Gmail phone anyone free from your computer, I had a nice 30 minute chat with my sister and later with Dave, so I could be apprised of the move to her new home. Perfect timing of Google to provide this neato service. I brought the cell phone, but this is much better.
Before I got here I was the guest of Cindra in Carmel IN, a town right out of the movies, if you ask me. The town of 70,000 is just north of Indianapolis and has a very arty downtown. Cindra took me to a fabu restaurant, ZING, where we ate Tapas. See this menu.
You know I am having a blast!


The ride up was uneventful and I managed a couple of cat naps at rest stops along the way. I like to play it safe.
Today I begin a two day Lazy Dyer workshop and one of my students is unable to attend, but her fabric arrived (c/o her daughter, in another class) and so I will be dyeing her fabric for her, as I demo the techniques.

Last night we had a meet and greet which included an exhibit with wonderful cutting edge art quilts, two of which were done by fellow blogger Gerrie Congdon. I am way impressed.

On another note, very interesting things are going on over at The Empress of Dirt's blog. I suggest a visit.

OK I gotta get dressed!

Heading North

 I am all packed and repacked. As is so often the case, I changed my mind and took out things and replaced them with better things. I got out of bed last night and remembered a bunch of new quilts which just have to come with me. I'll label them when I get there.


The really important decision is the Knitting Project For The Trip. White? Yes, I need a white scarf and this one is called Pimpelliese and it requires paying attention, and a row counter. But so worth it. The yarn is 50/50 Silk/Wool fingering from wool2dye4.com and is luscious to knit. It is my favorite scarf, the Baktus, but with a nice lace edge knit at the same time as the scarf.

While I am not looking forward to the long drive, I am excited that I will be visiting fellow blogger Cindra, and staying with her tonight. WE are going to a wonderful restaurant, a rare treat for me these days, living so far from town. I am bringing produce from the garden...tomatoes, green peppers and one wonderful yellow squash which is secretly growing in my flower bed. Don't tell the bugs.

Yarn Dyeing Tutorial Number Two

 

I have had several requests for more info on the yarn (acid) dyeing process. There is already a tutorial on the sidebar, under Free Knitting Patterns, but one must scroll down all the way to the bottom and look for it as Tutorial: Dyeing Yarn in 30 Minutes or Less, so I am providing a quick and easy link to it HERE 

Please read through that first. I'll wait right here til you come back.

 Thanks for returning.
I did just dye this green yarn a much faster and easier (and lazier) way, but it is all in nearly the same colorway and that makes some bit of difference. To begin, I used wool and nylon blend, 80/20 and 100% wool for another skein.
Presoak the skeins in water and some vinegar to cover. How much? I don't have a clue. Some vinegar is like 4 oz. and the water is just enough to cover and saturate the yarn. Let is sit while you mix the dyes.

These dyes are super intense. SUPER INTENSE. A tiny speck gives lots of color. Using disposable cups or dedicated glasses, fill with warm water and add a tiny speck of dye. Mix with a spoon or other utensil. Make sure the dye is thoroughly dissolved. Some colors are harder to dissolve than others.
I mixed yellow, turq, bright blue and some black, each in a separate container. To make the green I wanted, I had to experiment, adding teeny drops of the turq dye liquid to the yellow dye liquid and seeing what it looked like on the paper towel. Go for a lighter color. More dye can be added later if necessary.
Ready to dye?
OK, squeeze out the water/vinegar from the skein and put it in a microwaveable container.
Spoon on or pour on the dyes in several different spots. Then with gloved hands lift the yarn and flip it over to reveal the undyed parts. Add more dye. To get the whole skein dyed, squeeze the dye through the yarn and if there are still white parts, add more dye.
Then pop it in the microwave for one minute on high. You may or may not want to put a lid on the container. There really are no fumes because the water will not boil or even simmer in one minute.
After a minute check to see if the residual water is clear. It will become clear if it just sits on the counter a few minutes. I was surprised at this when I saw it the first time.
With this green, I didn't think it was intense enough so I added more dye to the already hot yarn and it was taken up by the yarn without returning to the microwave. Amazing. It all happened so fast that I was encouraged to dye more yarn...three skeins in 30 minutes. When all was dyed, I filled my sink with warm water and creme rinse for my hair since wool is hair. Coconut Suave. Cheap and yummy smelling. Then squeeze out the excess water and hang to dry. Ta-da!

Because I don't have enough gray hair. . .

 

Dave brought this home yesterday. O my. I am trying to be optimistic, but I am afraid all the optimism has been cornered by Dave. We have both had a long history of motorcycles,, but I have 'outgrown' my involvement, so this is strictly his. I'll be the one at home wringing my hands each time he takes a spin.
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There is a great deal of good news about the rest of the family. My darling sister Brooke and DH Terry and DD Glory are moving closer to me this weekend. Soddy Daisy TN to be exact. Their church has come through in a big way. First, Terry who has been unemployed for over a year is now working, and Brooke is too, and Glory was accepted into the magnet high school for Performing Arts (it runs in the family, doncha know)as a musical theater major. Second their church has provided a house for them on Possum Creek. Three bedrooms and two baths, and a deck under a canopy of trees. So that ends my worrying stint on their behalf. God's perfect timing.

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 The check list for my trip is getting crossed off and I feel ahead, a bit, until I began thinking about what knitting to bring. Hmm. I have a good project started (from leftover yarns) and the new yarn I ordered to complete the piece turned out to be too dull for my needs. Perhaps I could quickly dye up some exciting colors to fill in the gaps. My 'yarn closet' has a big Rubbermaid bin full of yarns ready to dye, so I fished out two skeins of Sheila's Sock yarn and one Jeannie Superwash which has a looser twist but is still fingering weight.

Dull greens..not enough zing.

I mixed up some screaming yellow-greens and turquoise, and some lovely aqua and dyed them in the large  Gladware containers.

Acid dyeing never ceases to amaze me. After two minutes in the microwave all the dye was infused into the yarn and the remaining water/vinegar was clear.

Editing Myself

For the last two days I have been dinkin' around in Power Point putting together a slide presentation for the Fabrications Retreat next week. The trick is deciding which pictures to keep and which to discard. I gathered just the blog photos to illustrate all that has happened since I retired, and as you know there is a whopping amount of stuff to wade through. I collected about 400 pictures and even if I talk as fast as I can, that puts the time at well over two hours.
In a dark warm room no one can stay awake that long.
So I removed all the painting pictures, and all the knitting pictures, since this is a quilting group. Included none of the food (all those bread pictures!!) and very little garden, no construction of studio, or cute animal stuff, and then reviewed again what was left.

I was surprised at how many sky or weather related images remain. These are so telling of what it is like here. I know these have to go, but just seeing them again makes me realize that it won't be summer forever.

For the first time in months we had the windows and doors open all night as we slept. It was only 60 degrees when I awoke, and that signals Autumn's approach. It has been a long hot summer, compared to last year, which was so mild. I kept myself indoors most of the time and the garden really shows my neglect. No pictures of that mess. I am too ashamed.

Having this blog is so helpful in keeping memories, and to see what and how things have changed, improved or have been destroyed, in a good way. And it was thrilling to see how my artwork has evolved and how much of it has been created just in the three years we have been here.
Readers sometimes comment that it must take so much effort to keep up the blog, but truly, if I didn't have it, I would be lost. My habit is to be here, take notice and report. And I am glad to have you witness it all.

Lemon-Lime Kerchief

Just what I needed. An instant gratification project. We mustn't count how many shawls, scarves or kerchiefs I have stuffed in my drawer. Not one of them had these colors. I can't imagine trying to find a yellow/green scarf ANYWHERE, which is what works with this shirt.

I used leftover sock yarns, some of them doubled for texture and one or two dk weight to balance out the color and to keep it from being too matchy-matchy, like that is a bad thing. For this version of the Mitered Kerchief I crochet-cast-on 99 stitches for the mitered square (the back part) which made this scarf wider and longer than the original which IMHO is much better. (size 4 circular needles, and blocked BIG). Then this morning as I was shooting the results, I was not pleased with the clunky half knot tie and decided to make this donut ring.

Cast on 26 stitches, join and knit for about an inch and a half. Bind off.
Isn't it cute?  A scarf scrunchy!

PS.
I just had to share. This is a huge slice of Brandywine tomato on toast spread with whipped cream cheese. I added a couple of dashes of garlic powder and some Kosher salt. The basil leaf (huge, no?) is Genovese.  Heavenly Tomato Sandwich.