nemo ignorat

emergence

Jude's White project in the What If group CHALLENGEs me. White is so far away from my comfort zone as it only can be.

The challenge is to STEP OUT of my comfort zone, which is a bit painful and a bit exciting. A bit like a birth of a new idea. I'm HATCHing an idea egg. GERMINATing a little white idea plant. EMERGING.

I'm not sure how it will go on with it. I think that's the general idea. And I am still a little bit uncomfortable. For the time being, it will be called EMERGENCE.

breaking out

red emphazises the white

Meanwhile, the Gentle Giant has returned. His Humans are on a business trip to the States and we offered him refuge. One of them already has a new job there and now they are looking for a suitable house to move in when my friend will follow later this year. I will miss them dearly.

Due to bad planing on my side, the next month will be seeing me with my teaching hat on. In the Online Guild, I am teaching supported spindle spinning and on my own site, I'm teaching an online workshop in natural dyeing (German only). The first of three this year.

I am also thinking of offering some naturally dyed fabrics in my etsy shop.

Outside there still is winter. Even if we get a whiff of spring from time to time, the crocus are peaking out and the birds are marking territories like mad, it still is in the minus centigrades with a freezing wind from the Siberian east. It definitely does not feel like the last day of March, Eastern or April. Still more like February.

I've seen 12 great white egrets yesterday. They were perching on top of some precariously high trees in front of a snow white (it snowed again) sky. No use getting out the camera. White on White.

an old friend

Some 30+ years ago, there was an aran sweater. Knit from local (my back then local) yarn, bought for a small fortune at the farmer's market from a local shepherd who sold his wool and sheep products. Comparing to nowadays, the yarn was incredibly expensive and cost me half a months salary. (Well, yes, my salary was minimal and I was still in school but supported me by cleaning and doing the odd job since I didn't live with my parents anymore.)

It gave me warmth in every winter since then. A while later, it partnered up with a second aran, knit from a frogged sweater of my back then partner. But now, it begins to fray quite a lot. (The second aran isn't in much better shape.)

Seams are not only undoing themselves, they are getting thin as well. Holes are beginning to pile up and it is difficult to keep up the mending.

So I went through my stash and looked for some yarn.

In the background, you can see the original. A 3 ply yarn. The grey gauge is Kauni. Not my prefered choice. And the white one on top is some 2 ply worsted yarn. I think, I will give the 2ply a chance in another project but for the durable substitute of my favourite aran, I will need something different. 3ply preferably and from some longwool race or maybe some older race like gotland.

So I went through my fibre stash again and found 1 kg Masham (a Yorkshire breed, a mix between Teeswater and Dalesbred). Good choice but I doubt the kilo will suffice. Cables take a lot of yarn. So I will have to delve a bit deeper and look for something different. Or maybe, I will use another fibre for one thread and the Masham for the other 2 threads.

But before that I had to empty the bobbins of my spinning wheel. I'm nearly finished spinning some BFL (Blue Faced Leicester) that was waiting to be spun up, I plied some 2 bobbins of some green yarn I spun about a year ago and now I have only 2 bobbins half full of above BFL for plying. I think, the BFL and the green yarn combined will make a nice waistcoat.

BTW, even though I am all for naturally coloured fibres, I love a white aran. ;o)

sampling white

Over at Jude's we're talking white right now. Although I am always amazed and in awe by Karen Ruane's white on white embroidery, white usually is just a base for me. For dyeing, stitching some other colours on it etc. Right now, I'm sampling in white and see where it will carry me.

I found a beautiful pillow case in my stash with wonderful embroidery. Just the thing to cut up and rearrange ;o)

sorting

Yesterday, I somehow ended up with sorting through my stash of naturally dyed fabrics.

some of my stash

I'm thinking a lot about concentrating lately. I was always fascinated by textiles and textile crafts. But when I came back to crafting it all began with spinning so many years ago now. Spindle spinning that is. And I still love it and all its possibilities but over the last decade dyeing moved more and more in the foreground. Dyeing as a pasttime, dyeing as science and lately dyeing as an art form.

I feel as a dyer. I am a dyer. And a dyer of fabrics not so much as a dyer of fibres. Especially not wool fibres.

violets

And sewing. My crafter's sense moves more and more to fabrics and sewing.

Which means, I have kilos of wool fibres, yarn and all that too much. Way too much. I should let go. I don't think, I will ever stop spinning. But my aim is to have only so many fibres at home as I will need for a handful of projects. No, I'm not kidding myself by aiming too high and a goal of having only the fibres for one project at home. A little bit of fibre stash is good for me ;o)

For now, I'm sorting my fabrics. Wellness for a crafter's soul.

fabric from a dry land

I received a letter today. Full of wonderful, wondrous and beautiful fabric. In dry land colours. From New Mexico.

A world full of wonders we live in. We can have friends all over the globe and just send them stuff. Fabric.

She called them drab, I call them beautiful. Thank you so much. I love them.

new socks

When snow hits again, I need new socks. Something warm in bright, warm, sunny colours ;o)

In German we call this sock type 'Stinos' which derives from 'stinknormale Socken' ('totally normal socks') - no fuzz no nothing just socks. The yarn is 100% wool in a slightly thicker quality than usual and it was dyed with madder and persian berries (Rhamnus).

snow in march

After a short bout of spring last week

curious chives

it began snowing again. Well, it is not unexpected, it is still March after all and Elizabeth Zimmermann's Almanach entry for March will always remind me that the spring weather in this month is a delicate thing and can loose to another snow front at any moment. Still, you get a bit unenthusiastic about it. Not so the dogs. Even Old Grumpy is having fun in the snow. And Ramses is completely hyperactive.

 

this was taken at 8am, now later in the afternoon you can't see the pots for snow

I'm feeling restless. Even though the situation with my mother is beginning to settle in. Maybe I still need some more time to get used to everything. No real quiet to stitch.

But I did at least one little thing.

One thing I wanted to do for a long time. I'm beginning to sew curtains from my dyed strips. I wonder how they will stand up to the sun. I'll see. As soon as the sun decides to come out again ;O)