Deb on the Web

Need a little inspiration?

Photos from the forest floor.  Yes, I am back to green!  I have always loved the color green.  But living in the city brings out my urges for browns, blues and of course lots of black in the wardrobe.  Being up here (especially in Spring) I just can't get enough green in my life!!  So many different shades:) This is one of my herb beds before clean up.  It looks ever so lovely now (just way too rainy to show) I still love this photo for the varieties of color and texture.  I've planted some bronze fennel at this end to add to the textural variety (and my salad bowl).

If you know me personally then you know I had a blow out! 40th birthday party (thank you again Marc, Gina and Michael!).  A 3 day bbq at the farm with live music, great food and almost all my favorite people (I missed you Cyndi!).  I haven't known anyone to match the fun that we had on their 40th(it actually was a week with the pre-planning party added to it).  But the Harlot is doing it!  And in fabulous stlye:)  That is a party I would love to crash. 
You really need to read these posts today as well--Franklin, Claudia (yes, I will be bugging you all to visit her until she reaches her MS Ride goal) and Ysolda (because, really, who can pass up a post titled Brownies and Lace).
I'm off to town for some moving (yes I did move just me and my fiber room), some knitting (meeting up with Michelle and maybe Tammy and Kim) and then working at Gino's in the evening.  I am hoping by the time I get home tonight the rain clouds will have passed and I can enjoy a sunny day in the garden tomorrow.
Tomorrow's post will include the knitting and spinning progress of yesterday...

And it's a wrap

With that title I have to start with this photo of Fiona Ellis This is my favorite wrap right now!  The pattern is in here Two rectangles knit (and beautifully cabled) separately, then grafted together.  This is definitely on my "to knit" list.  The natural V created in the back makes a no slip garment.  Also in this book is a cabled scarf that is perfect for someone just learning about cables.  As the scarf grows you learn more difficult cables.   You can really begin to understand how the cables work (yes I do love cables).  Once you create that scarf you can really move on to any project in the book!
Fantastic day yesterday!  The morning was about cables and morphing cables.  I had it in my head that we would be learning to create patterns, move into cables and then back out again to a different pattern.  I could have done that, but my piece went it's own way.   Fiona started us off by saying CO 39 stitches.  Purl 4, Knit 3 across the row.  Knit 4, Purl 3 across the next row.  Okay now create your own cable pattern.  I don't know if anyone was as terrified as I was, but we all just stared at her when she asked if anyone felt a little nervous.  Then we all got to work.  I was knitting with Lamb's Pride so I got fixated on the purl stitches being a bulky cord traveling across the piece disappearing off the side.  Some people created very symmetrical patterns, some very traditional patterns.  We all had something different from everyone else.  It was really a creative way to approach designing.  Between this class and the design class I now have some exercises I will continue weekly.

The afternoon was dedicated to color.  Specifically using slip stitches in patterns.  We created this sampler of different slip stitch techniques.  My brain was pretty fried by this point so I didn't get any farther, but some ladies played with variations on the theme and/or added more colors into their work.  I love the slip stitch idea.  It is an easy (read non fussy) way to add color into a border or an interesting striping.  This technique adds texture as well (I am a big fan of texture).  Fiona had sample sweaters from this book

where she often used the techniques along with fair isle or striping.  I love how you can use a bit of a bright color in this way to really make a garment pop.  Oh and that muffler on the front?  To die for!!

As this event was hosted by BMFA you had to guess there would be yarn for sale!  I couldn't resist (although I did create a wish list for future reference so I didn't embarass myself).  WuBu in MidSummer night.  The perfect yarn for a light Spring/Summer shrug (I get cold easily).  STR lightweight-Doctors without Borders colorway.  I really have sworn off purchasing any sock yarn outside of club packages so I can use the stash, but I love that $3 of this purchase goes to DWB.  I wanted to help out, honest!  There is a baby arriving soon (to a friend) and the little guy will be cuddling an adorable (and wild) Funky sock monkey(STR heayweight--Count Cluckula and Jade).  I have an idea for a piece that I can't share yet, but this yarn is perfect for it!  Laci--Mossay colorway. This Silk Thread--Malten colorway was the one purchase without an exact pattern idea.  I can see it draping beautifully over my shoulders, but I need a patten.  Anyone have suggestions?

I am adding photos from Saturday to that post so take a look there again.  It is rainy today which is fine with me.  Simple knitting, spinning and surfing are about the only things my brain and body want to do today.  Did I mention that I was moving my mom during this weekend?  It was good to have some physical labor to balance the brain work, but I am fried all the way today!

My brain is bursting with creative thoughts!

The design class yesterday was great!  We looked at photos.  Made some notes, sketches or charts (depending on how your brain works) and then knit swatches of these ideas.  Everyone had different photo inspirations, different yarns, different technique ideas.  I thought I would end up with several swatches.  However, I knit one that kept evolving throughout the day. I took pics at each point I decided to take it a different direction so that I could document what I might have done differently at that point.  What started as a border idea became a cardigan plan.   I didn't take a ton of pics (my needles were clicking), but I did take progress photos of my ideas. 
I was thrilled to see a few friends there as well.  Tammy of course.  And Heather and Stevanie from Abundant yarn and dyeworks. Here is Heather showing she can enjoy knitting outside her comfort zone There were some new faces as well.  Dawn is a member of the PDX Knitbloggers.  I have seen her posts to our Yahoo group, but it was Sunday before I put a face to a name.  New creative ideas too!  Lots of color work and some cool rib and cable ideas.  It was a small class-9 ladies.  Tina brought some BMFA yarn--yummmm.  I got me a Sock Monkey (Count Cluckula with Jade for appendages) pattern and yarn.  There is a baby coming that needs a cuddly guy!
Today will be Cables in the morning and Slip Stitch color work in the afternoon.  Posting on that with photos of both tomorrow.

The weekend has begun

I had a personal goal of blogging everyday this month.  Yesterday was such a full and busy day it just didn't happen.  I am loving Twitter for days like that. 
I received herb plants (including a couple of woad for the dye garden) in the mail from Crimson Sage nursery a couple days ago.  I was really amazed by the size of these plants.  They also arrived in perfect shape.  I highly recommend them.  So yesterday morning I was out organizing some herb areas (culinary, dye and medicinal beds).  Then after a serious kitchen cleaning and laundry room experience I headed into Portland for my Fiona Ellis weekend.  Well first I kept the cleaning energy going and moved several loads of boxes for my mom (she has been moving to a new place--hi mom).

Anyway-Fiona Ellis--the weekend started with a talk "What Inspires Me" at Twisted last night.  Did I mention that this weekend was sponsored by BMFA?  Tina introduced Fiona and we spent 2 hours looking at slides and talking about inspirational photos, places, books, movies.  And guess what--it was inspirational!  All kinds of ideas kept popping into my head.  I'm glad I had a notebook in my lap to write down ideas.  One of which will be popping up here very soon.  I'm going to start posting one photo each week that I find inspirational to design or color.  I am going to list what part of the photo inspires me and invite you to do the same.  I think we will all benefit from the exercise.
One fun thing I noticed last night--The lady in front of me was knitting a long scarf with a beautiful yarn.  I saw Tina glance over  and then back again as the colors caught her eye.  Definitely a dyer:)

I retrieved my camera last night so there will be photos of the weekend classes.  Today is a 6 hour class all about design.  I'm heading to the Farmer's Market on the way so I had better sign off.

Color

I was stirring a pot of tomato rice soup on Fat Tuesday (a Venetian soup for Carnivale) and thinking about color.  I really tend to choose my recipes or create desserts based on the appeal of the color.  I find this strange since I will eat anything based on taste and aroma.  But when I cook for others I always look for vibrant, healthy or warming colors.  To me the juicy glissening of meat is a very appetizing color.
When I my thoughts moved over to color in knitting I realized my thoughts work somewhat the same.  The most important part of the yarn to me is what it feels like to work with.  The color is somewhat secondary and is often chosen based on what it will go with in my wardrobe, how others will perceive it or because of the person I'm making a project for.

It has been interested to look at my finished products from the dye class.  Here are my samples from the first week of dye class .  I really didn't like most of them.  They really weren't me and I couldn't see using these colors in combination.  Since this was a new experience I hadn't thought ahead about actual colors I wanted to create.  I was busy thinking about the whole process of it.  It was like cooking for me.
Week two I started to think about what I would use this yarn for Socks (specifically knee socks) and scarves (multi directional scarf) mainly.  I decided I didn't want to think of creating one big project as I wanted to use several different dye vats and techniques.  I loved the effect I got from dipping a whole hank in logwood gray before redipping different parts of the hank into logwood purple, cochineal, fustic and a blend of the latter two.  I brought a tin of saffron from the restaurant and we all got some brilliant colors of golds and yellow from that.  I did very little dyeing with the indigo pot during this class.  My biggest experiment was to immerse a hank of yarn in Barbera wine. I left the yarn in for two hours and when I took it out it had soaked up all the pigment but was splotchy with a little purple it places.  Mostly it was gray.  I should say that all this yarn was premordanted with alum and cream of tartar.  I decided not to rinse the yarn but just let it dry for a week.
The last class I brought some hand spun I purchased from Sudan farm a couple years ago.  I realized after the purchase I hadn't bought enough to knit the vest I had planned so it has just sat waiting for a project.  This went into the indigo pot.  I got the idea of having a worn denim look.  So I dipped it all and then went back and soaked only a portion of each hank for a while longer.  I really like the variegation.  I am going to get another skein of natural to add in for a little color work vest.
Back to the wine project.  I took another couple of bottles (thank goodness for wholesale!) and put the wine back in the tub.  I ended up taking the tub home and letting it sit for 3 days.  I decided to put it in an iron bath after for a short time to really set a rich color (wine is a stain not a dye).  After rinsing and drying I do have a rich colored yarn...slate gray...I love it, but it isn't what I expected.  I have talked to a couple of Oregon wine makers and they think the color definition has to do with the PH of the metal salts I'm using.  This will be an on going process.
The final products on other yarns dyed-- I did try spot dying some fiber and found that it didn't take as well after steaming.  I think I would prefer chemical dyes for this method.  This is all dyed with vegetable matter folks!!  I was amazed at the richness in color.  I don't know why since I just visited the Medievil museum in Paris and saw the beautiful unicorn tapestries that were hand dyed hundreds of years ago.
I am also becoming interested in the therapeutic uses of herb dyed yarns and fabric.  But that is an entirely different post.
I end this post in saying that I love color!  I am just starting to realize that what I enjoy for myself is not always what I think the general public might enjoy.  My favorite of these colors?  #1  and a dessert that I made last weekend but really didn't sell--a red potato and almond creme caramel.  Oh well, good thing I love to make people happy as well;)

Meaningful posts and actual ramblings

I really wish I could just walk around with a tape recorder around my neck.   I had all sorts of meaningful ramblings going on in my head just before falling asleep last night.  Today, I don't even remember the subject....

We had a cooking celeb in Nostrana last night- Deborah Madison.  She is writing an article about one of our farmers and wanted to eat at a restaurant that  served several of his  products.  She loved the place.  Said it was the best meal she has had outside of Italy!  She will be including us in the article and is pitching it to Gourmet magazine.  Pretty neat!  She also told the pard that she is writing a new cook book that she would like to include us in.  As she left she gave me a big hug and said  I'd be hearing from her.   

Last night was especially appreciated as I have been a bit down this week.  I have had a knit book idea in my head for many years, but haven't jumped on it.  Well I waited too long and it is now the new idea of Debbie Stoeller.  I was pretty depressed and mad at myself for not having just plain done it!  At first I decided I really just needed to reevaluate my knit as a hobby only.  But the next day I was feeling that I should jump in to my design ideas.  Today I am just tired and don't want to think that hard.  Tomorrow I might write a treatise on the cable--who knows!  I think that is why I haven't jumped in to the book wagon--My thoughts tend to get all over the place.  When it comes to cooking I work in a very organized manner.  With knitting I want to knit it all and I have ideas about several genres that would suit many different age groups.  They just don't go together in the same book.

Well, those are my ramblings of the moment--and it actually made it on to the paper;)
Saturday sky will be post on Sunday morn...

Swatching around

I've decided to go ahead with one of my book ideas.  This is a crossover book of several interests of mine.  I may find that it isn't interesting to anyone but me.  It will be an interesting design exercise at any rate.  Here is some yarn I bought today to swatch for some of the patterns.  The skiens are Louet.  The balls Nashua.  That is all I can say about that.

Hmmm, I wonder just how long this has been on DH's bum today?  Came home from the yarn store to find him napping...him and his XXlg...

And now on the model...

Here are a couple of variations.     I am going to work on some detachable ties for the back to increase ways she can wear it.

Knitting content

Between lots of meetings I did meet the deadline to finish my sister's "bathing" suit before she leaves for Spain tomorrow.  This a one piece that started with the bottoms pattern from Stitch and Bitch.  Just adding a bit of crochet to the waist made it stay up much better.  But sis saw a suit in a couture magazine of a scarf wrapped body and we cam up with this.  You have to understand that she is 5'10" and is a size 2!  She will look great in this and hopefully will let me post a photo later today.

The next deadline is a baby blanket for a shower in 7 days.  Can I get this finished?  I knit sweaters for the last batch of babes since blankets tend to bore me.  But this blanket will be so soft and pink-y I just had to dive in.

I do have one other finished item.  The first sock for Sockapal-2-za!  This has been fun yarn to work with and I love the pattern, but am hoping that it won't be too loose.  I can't bring myself to pull it out, but maybe should have used size 2 dpn instead of 3s.

After the blanket finish and sock finish I have a fun new sock project ahead (more later) and back to the PNW shawl.  I'm starting to think Fall already!  I want to look through the stash for sweater yarn.  It might be time to start that Rogue that has been waiting patiently in its bag!

One last thing!  Portland knitters-- (how is that for an attention grabber)  how about a yarn swap on the third Saturday of August?  I'll post more details as we get closer, but start cleaning out the shelves:)  And there is a great class being offered at Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks on Thursday.  It is the gorgeous felted tote in Summer IK.  All details are on her site.  I'll be there:)  and she has room for 5 more.  This is a pre-opening class.  The place is really coming along too!

Link of the day

I had a lot of inspiration while over in Chanda's purse den--or a creatively messy studio.  I really let all my designing ideas and inspiration go when I started blogging.  I just fell in love with everything out on the web you all are doing!
Last night and today the thoughts are flowing again.  I have been working on a bathing suit for my sis and seeing this site gave me some ideas along that line for other suits.

There will be another post later of 2 FOs.  I am playing around while I download the second part of a book to listen to while I finish up.