100 Days of Creativity

I know it's highly unusual, but here I am with my second post in as many days -- and it's all because of  a Challenge that I've joined with a gazillion of my SAQA colleagues.  There's a special group for it over on FB and probably on Instagram (I'm not on IG)...and it's lit a fire under my slow-slow creative mojo!

I did tell the others, though, that using a real camera (my phone is not "smart" -- it's a land-line!) means I wouldn't be posting photos every day.  Also, because I rarely complete something -- start to finish -- in a single day, my posts would be mostly process.

I figured, while I'm at it, why not share those posts with you?  I mean, I'm suspecting there are some of you not on FB.  So...

The 100 Days of Creativity (this iteration, anyway) started with this group on Feb. 1, so today is Day 3.  Coincidentally, the "Socks from Stash" group on Ravelry started its February Challenge on Feb. 1, so I've decided to include my sock project as part of my 100 days.

In my last yesterday's post, I mentioned the 100 Days project, showed y'all the socks I finished for the SFS January Challenge, and teased you with yarn selections and pattern choice for February.

In the intervening hours I have cast on and finished the cuff of Sock #1 of the February pair:

Sock #1 - Cuff.

Yes, it has ridges.  The ridge at the bottom is the top of the cuff, which is folded over and knitted down.  The ridge showing just before the patterning begins was created by turning the teal portion of the cuff inside out and knitting from there.  A bit tricky, but very effective in the end! 

Sock #1 - working the leg

The leg pattern is 44 rows...and I've managed to knit 18 of them -- almost half-way!  I'm used to knitting on DPNs but usually use 3+1, and this calls for 4+1 (it's the way the pattern is divided up because it's written originally for 2 circular needles, which I dislike -- too many floppy loops!) so it's a bit tricky, but it's working out.

I know the yarns are similar in value, but they're pretty and I'm enjoying the process.  The part completed is the part you see in the chart on the right of the sock...and I think that, however subtle, it's showing up nicely!  😊  I'm using the smaller size (64 sts versus 72) and 2.25 mm needles (US 1) and I have no idea if they'll fit me but...as the marvellous Elizabeth Zimmerman is reported to have said, "[They'll] fit somebody!" 

And then there's the art work.  In yesterday's post I showed you the results of my dyeing with Dylon -- which was surprisingly easy to do with LWI (Low-Water Immersion).  Today...I took a piece of the "China Blue" fabric (the one on the bottom in the photo) and turned it -- and some other fabrics -- into this:

Working Title: On the Edge of Mirror - (C) 2020
Finished size planned: 12" x 14", wrapped around stretched canvas

Lest you wonder, no -- it's not finished.  There is barbed wire and tiny branches and field grasses to stich -- not to mention stitching down the fused fencing and tree trunks.  What you're seeing is what I did -- from "ground zero" -- over 3 hours of concentrated work, having prepped with a few tracings and a print-out of the photo a day or two ago.  I show it here surrounded by "elbows" that I've had for years -- cut from a very large mat. 

Stats?  Finished size will be 12" W x 9" L, wrapped around 1/2" thick stretched canvas and framed.  The sky is the hand-dyed 'China Blue'.  The tree trunks are courtesy of the natural dyeing process practiced by the wonderful arlee barr -- a dear friend.  The fence and the snow are commercial fabric -- some "wrong side" up.

Techniques?  I layered the fabrics on a thin backing (a piece of recycled bed skirt) to which I've applied fusible web; after fusing the layers I sandwich the piece with thin batting -- my favourite is Quilter's Dream -- and a light-weight backing -- whatever I have around (today -- more bed skirt).  As a water-colourist would do, I worked from the background to the foreground -- quilting the sky, thread-painting the trees/shrubs on the horizon, and moving on from there.

Such concentration is tough on my dominant left brain, so I left it there and took a walk.  This evening calls for knitting (another hat commission, and maybe a bit more on that sock!).  Tomorrow through Thursday I expect to be at The Shop, helping the owner pack up inventory, so...see you on the other side!

I'll be sharing this on FB...but also linking it to Off the Wall Friday (again!)...just because I can!

Thanks to all on FB who have commiserated with me about my children's health troubles.  I appreciate each and every one of you.

The yarn and fabric therapy have helped immensely, too. 

Hugs and have a great week! 

Colour Abounds!

It's February...and out here in central Alberta, that can mean grey, gloomy skies with "mixed precip" (read: freezing rain/wet snow/whatever else Mother Nature has planned).  It can also mean brilliant blue skies with colder temps and ice/snow on the ground.

Ah...but indoors...at least, chez moi, there is colour.

In last week's post I showed you a wee bit of that sky in the pieces I made -- one of which has been sent off to Ontario for the SAQA Spotlight Auction at the MoSAiQA conference in "Trawna" in March.  I also taunted you with colour when I wrote about my yarn dyeing.

Well, then...here are the results of my test dyes with that 2-ply wool -- the original colour is on the left-hand side of the group, and the larger skein of crimson is the ugly gold over-dyed "Morning Haze" (no original photo). The underlying gold means that the crimson is -- in real life -- closer to a deep, rich wine colour than is shown in the photo:

Can you say, "WOW!"?!   Old dye.  Old yarn.  Spectacular results!  I couldn't believe it!

I am thinking it'll make the most beautiful Fair Isle yoke on the sweater I've started...

That said, my artistic mojo remains a bit "so-so".  I've tried a couple of ways to re-ignite my creative fire.  First, I tackled a project that I'd begun a while ago, but which had been languishing.

I took a piece of painted wholecloth (done before Xmas), sandwiched it and quilted it...and wrapped it around an 11" x 14" x 1/2" deep stretched canvas...

Working title: "Smokey Hills"
14" W x 11" L
Painted and quilted whole cloth
wrapped around stretched canvas

It has an interesting texture -- in part because I painted the top layer when it was laid out on an old plastic remnant of a house blind..which left an imprint on the finished piece.  It is now waiting to be framed and put on display in the Lacombe Encore! Art Show & Sale in April.

It was a tough piece. It took me ages to figure out whether I'd quilt it by hand or machine. And the sunset?!  I'd painted it but the paint didn't fully cover its space...so I painted over that -- and it became gaudy and ugly. What to do?!  

First, I added some of the gold/bronze metallic fabric paint (Lumiere from Jacquard) to the sky and the landscape.  Then I took a light emory board (truth be told, an AVON nail file!) to the sun shape itself...burnishing it, if you will.  I think the framing (in a black floater) will set it off best.  Stay tuned for a new photo.  😊

Next, I signed up for the "100-day Creative Challenge" on the FB page that SAQA has set up specifically for it.  Next...well...I made no promises about actually finishing anything during the 100 days -- though I'm pretty certain I will.  I just decided to make my posts about process and if I get something finished, I'll add that to the page's "Album" for this go 'round.

I began by casting on a sock -- the February Challenge for "Socks from Stash" on Ravelry.  The January Challenge was to make a pair using some of the oldest yarn in your stash, so I came up with these, in a yarn I know I bought over 10 years ago at a shop in Calgary: 

Yarn: Schoeller & Stahl "Fortissima Socka"
Socka Colori
Pattern: my Plain Vanilla Sock,
adapted from the Yarn Harlot - in her book, Knitting Rules

February's Challenge is to make a pair using yarn given as a gift or bought because you couldn't resist.  I'm using remnants of a skein given me by my daughter, and one I bought a few years ago at a local festival, simply because I couldn't resist:

The pattern is complex, but addictive.  I've finished the cuff and am 10 rows into the 44-row leg pattern.  Stay tuned!

For the 100-day challenge -- in addition to the new socks -- I am working on a trio of small-ish art pieces.  To prepare for them, I dyed some Kona cotton.  But not with my usual Procion MX dye -- given that all I have left in the way of blue is turquoise.

No.  I bought a few packets of Dylon before The Shop closed its doors on Saturday -- and experimented with LWI (Low Water Immersion) using it -- and the help from a tutorial I found online.

China Blue sample 'percolating'

Ocean Blue sample -- but it looks purple!!

Top: Ocean Blue - 1st concentrstion
Middle- Ocean Blue - dlluted
Bottom - China Blue

Though the top piece turned out darker than expected, I'm pretty sure I can use it as well as the other two -- and I have the better part of each packet of dye powder left, so there's more experimenting in my future.

This will be on my agenda for work tomorrow.  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I'll be in what used to be The Shop, taking inventory and packing yarn.  It's store-front closed last evening at 6 p.m. (Mountain Time)... the end of an era.  There will be an online presence soon and in the spring, a shop-on-wheels...but it won't be the same.

Change happens...

"...weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.."

-- Psalm 30: 5 (KJV)

Joy Cometh in the Morning
(C) 2008
Hand-dyed wool, commercial fabric, assorted novelty ribbon yarn
Machine quilted, hand embroidered.

Wishing you all a good week...till next time...I'm linking this to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  While I've been snug here at home, she's been exploring Erie, PA...inspiration for new work!