Almost Spring...

The weather's softened up around here, the days are getting just a teensy bit longer, and I'm getting into my new groove, working at home and only at home.  That first week after my last post was indeed a BLUE one, but I am on the other side of that now...at least, where my little corner of the world is concerned.

I've made new work, and have more in process!  I've shared a bit of this with my colleagues on the FB page for SAQA - 100 Days -- but truth be told, I'm not very good at make-one-thing-a-day-every-day-for-X-days.  As I wrote in this post, I warned the group from the get-go that I was better at process and wouldn't post every day; blessedly, the moderators don't have a problem with that.

So...if you're one of the members of that group and have seen what I'm about to share here, it's okay if you wander off and find something else to do!  😉

Lemme see now...

Well, I finished that single sock.  And single it is likely to remain for some time.  The process -- the complexity, the density of the pattern and the results (small and a bit stiff) brought me to the brink of Serious Second Sock Syndrome!  I had to pull back, and bow out of the "Socks from Stash" February Challenge to prevent SSSS.  I apologized to the group, explained my rationale, and posted this photo of said lone lovely little sock:

It sports a 7 1/2" foot (heel to toe), a 7 1/2" leg (cuff to bottom of heel) and is only about 6" around.  It certainly won't fit me -- and I know of no one else it would fit either!  If the yarn weren't so intricately interwoven due to the nature of the colour work, I'd rip it out and do something else with it.  Sigh.  I made the smaller of the two sizes (64 sts) and the shortest toe motif, using 2.25 mm needles as required by the pattern.  My preference would have been 72 sts on 2.5 mm but...making this from stash yarn, and only partial amounts at that, I didn't want to risk running out.  So...there it sits.  One of these days I'll get back to it but...not now.  If I do the March Challenge, I'll be sure to select a simpler pattern!

Colour 4367 - "Gazebo" 

My "recovery" knitting is a simple pullover -- no photos to show you yet, but I can tell you the pattern is "Millie" from Nice and Knit, and I am loving every blessed simple stitch!  It's knit top-down, and is designed to create a loose-fitting, flowy body with 3/4 sleeves.  I'm using Berroco Boboli Lace in a colour-way I adore even though it's not my usual palate, and I'm hoping to finish it to wear at the SAQA Conference in Toronto next month. 

I've a very good chance of that, because I've finished the increases for the body and, having separated out the stitches for the sleeves, am merrily making my way down the rest of the body to the waist.

When you see the Sweet Young Thing modelling the sweater on its pattern page, you might roll your eyes and wonder why on earth a gal in her mid-sixties (like me) would select it -- but it's because I was introduced to it by the mid-life women of The Knot House Podcast, and it looks terrific on an older woman.  And...there's a gaggle of older gals who've made it and look well in it, so I am trusting I'll feel the same about mine!

Getting back into the sewdio, I finished "On the Edge of Mirror", which as turned out to be the first in a series of three pieces based on photos taken on one of my winter walks.  It's now been framed, but here's what it looked like before framing:

On the Edge of Mirror (C) 2020
12" W x 9" L
Self-dyed and commercial cotton; fused applique,
thread painting, machine quilting.
Wrapped around stretched canvas.

I started a second in this little series, too...but on Monday I woke with a compulsion to paint a canvas.  Say what?  Yep.  "Paint a canvas!" said my "Muse" emphatically.  Not simply a sky below which I could apply a quilted-and-stitched foreground.  Not a canvas on which I could mount a smaller piece, keying in with the canvas itself.  No.  Paint a canvas.  And not a particularly small one, either: one of the largest ones I have in inventory: 16" x 20"!

So I did.

The pile of stuff you see in the lower right corner is silk ribbon, which I considered using as lines of grass showing through the snow, as in the inspirational photo below -- but in the end I opted for something else.

I knew I wanted to stitch those trees along the horizon -- and that I didn't want to remove the painted canvas from the stretcher bars -- so I began by drawing the trees in on the back side of the canvas (look carefully; I used pencil!):

Manipulating it under my sewing machine foot was a challenge -- I had to remove the foot and the needle -- so I've determined I won't try that again!  I'll detach the canvas first.

And of course I couldn't stitch where the stretcher bars were, so those bits of trees I drew in with Pitt Pen, and accented later with paint.  Below, you'll see that stitching and the painted accents...plus the barn, made of fabric fused to the surface, as are the two fence posts.  The field lines along the horizon and dropping down into the foreground are all pencil roving from the wheel of it (a "Rainbow Roll" from NORO Yarns), which I needle-felted onto the canvas, adding a touch of mat gel medium for extra security at the tips.

I added the barbed wire and some tiny grasses poking throught the snow, using Pitt pen and paint:

Finished?  Not quite...

It was at this pont that I began to fuss about it...it wasn't quite finished.  There wasn't enough weight in the foreground (above) so I added more grasses:

That's better!
Title: On the Edge of Mirror III
Fused fabric and wool roving on
thread- and acrylic-painted stretched canvas

There was one more tweak I added before taking it to be framed -- but it's not shown above.  Can you figure out what it is?  Leave a comment...and I'll let you know!  😊

The compulsion to paint fulfilled, I went back to the second in the series, and finished it; on Wednesday, both went to the framer. 

I based it on this photo:

I set it up like this, with a hand-dye for the sky and commercial cotton for the foreground.

I fused both to a light backing. Before I began to stitch, I drew in the trees on the horizon,

using a fine-tipped Pitt pen in the 'sepia' colour-way.

After stitching the trees and some grasses on the horizon, I added thread painting

to show the grasses in the field, before superimposing the tree trunks and fence posts.

And here it is, finished, with all the stitching details added, and 

wrapped around stretched canvas:

On the Edge of Mirror II  (C) 2020
8" W x 10" L
Self-dyed and commercial cotton; fused applique,
thread painting, machine quilting.
Wrapped around stretched canvas.

Next up: another 9" x 12", wrapped around stretched canvas...using self-dyed silk (a scarf I dyed with a light dip in a friend's indigo vat a few years ago, knowing I'd never wear it) and a recycled cotton pillowcase, given me by my daughter because it had a bleach stain on it.  My solution? Over-dye it, of course!

Stay tuned for what transpires!

Yes, I'm going to leave you hanging there...till next time.

Meanwhile, I'm linking to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday,

and I wish you a wonderful rest of the weekend!

Floating

Today I find myself hovering -- floating -- between what was and what will be.

The Crafty Lady (Lacombe, Alberta) store front closed a week ago, and Tuesday through yesterday I helped the owner, Lori, her mom, and my colleague-of-several-years, (Helen) Anne, sort through, count and pack the inventory for removing it from the bricks-and-mortar and placing it in storage for two new ventures: an online shop -- and a shop-on-wheels that will be popping up all over central Alberta come spring.  (The former isn't very user-friendly just yet; the latter is under construction...but if I know anything about Lori, both will be up and running as soon as she can "git 'er done"!)

The focus of the shop will be yarncrafts (knitting and crocheting) but there is still some stock of stitching and embroidery etc. to be cleared...so do not despair!  It will be available for purchase online...until it's not.

Want to fondle yarn?  Sign up to get an e-mail to follow the store's blog...and/or "like and follow" the shop on Facebook.  That way you'll know when and where the mobile store will be available.

"So...are you retired?"

That's the question I got from some of our customers...and some of my friends, brows furrowed.  "Will you be okay?" (financially)  "What will you do?"

😂

Do?!

I've worked part-time one or two days a week at TCL for going on seven (!) years.  I will, indeed, miss it.  I've had to reconfigure my finances to replace the lost income.  I'm still processing the change in routine.

But...let's be clear, Gentle Readers.  I was a customer for several years before I worked there; this means I have a decades-long relationship with dear Lori and her shop.  Working there, I got to have my brain stretched as I helped people pick yarn weights and colours suited to their chosen projects.  I taught customers about yarn weights, yarn composition (wool, other natural fibres, synthetics).  I taught some about embroidery options: fabric types, thread counts, etc.  I taught others how to knit (I don't crochet), how to turn a heel, how to make a heel flap on a sock; how to read their knitting so they'd be able to fix errors.  There was lots and lots and lots of instruction on yarn weights and yardage (meterage) and colour theory.

I used every tool in my tool-belt.

I will miss that.

BUT...I am first and foremost a textile artist.  And one of Lori's last gifts to me was this cutting table -- used in The Shop mainly as a surface on which to put patterns etc.  I have added it to the very worn table I've had for 15 years, currently in my studio, a table that has lost its function on one side (stripped bolts).  The photo -- taken from the door-way looking into my studio, the largest bedroom in my wee home -- shows the new table up front-and-centre.  It's a tight fit, but it works, and I have room to move around it.  I may just have to bite the bullet and invest in a larger cutting mat (mine is 18" x 24")...(and yes, that is a wool pressing mat on the left side, just beyond the iron.)

Thank you Lori!

I will admit...today I laid low.  After four days on my feet for 6 to 7 hours each day, bending, stretching, counting, packing...well!  I slept well last night...and had two (2!!) naps today.  And I have been very quiet on line.

Why so quiet?  After this week's events in the U.S., the involved-with-the-world part of me had to lie low and lick its wounds.  I have many friends and family there...and my heart is breaking for the systematic, calculated, seemingly-irreversible damage being done to a country that is MY country's closest neighbour and once-upon-a-time ally.  I don't often allow politics to infiltrate my "art space" in this forum...but there is at least one more "statement" piece in the works, Gentle Readers...so be fore-warned.

By the end of each of those very full four days at The Shop this week, I've been able to accomplish nothing.  Zip. Zero. Nada.

In the early mornings, I might get a few rows of sock knitting done, and at Lori's home on Thursday's Knit Night (where that will continue on an RSVP basis -- phone or e-mail or send a FB message) -- I managed to get to the decrease rounds on a hat.  I've no photo (yet) of the hat...but the sock...well...let's just say I'm now only 8 rows from finishing the leg chart on the first sock of the pair.  If I can get the entire sock finished by Feb. 14 1/2...I might just meet the Socks From Stash February 2020 challenge!

Pray for me, if you think it will help!  😉

And so...off I go for now...linking up to dear Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and thinking ahead to a week wherein I won't be driving 43 km (about 25 miles) down the road to Lacombe for work at The Shop.

Tuesdays and Thursdays won't be quite the same...but there will be the work of my hands that I am called to do...and I will do it.

Have a great week, dear friends!

"May the favour of the Lord be upon us and our lands,

and establish for us all the work of our hands..."

-- Adapted from Psalm 90: 17

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!