07.30.06
Posted in Crochet at 10:09 am by delipics
My mom sent me an article from the Boston Globe about women and blogging.
I am not surpised more women blog than men - women are connectors, we like to develop relationships, we like to be a part of our communities. It’s all about the networking, baby!
Towards the end of the article one individual reflects on life, pre- and post-blog. Upon reflection of my post-blog life, I would have to sum it up in two words:
Empowering & Creative
On the fiber front:
I worked for a little bit on my Sweet Pea Shawl. I decided to frog back to the first row and remove four shells because I think it would have been too wide for me if I had not. So I’ve crocheted back to the third row and that’s where I am now. Can I get this done by August 26th? Things are moving very slowly because of the hot weather. There is always crocheting on the plane ride out towards my event. The good thing about this shawl is that every pattern-stitch row decreases so the next row always seems to go by a little bit faster.
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07.28.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:07 pm by delipics
It’s too darn hot!
And yes, it’s too hot to knit or crochet or spin. I have not done anything but drink copious amounts of water and sit in a/c. I ate all the ice cream from the fridge and I had an ice cream sandwich from the deli across the street. No meals are being cooked but Chinese take-out can last for about three dinners. The NYC area is under a severe thunderstorm warning but the storm won’t clear out the humidity. It’s going to be even hotter tomorrow!
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07.24.06
Posted in Fiber Artwork, Spinning at 5:51 pm by delipics
I’ve been furiously cleaning my house tonight for a visit from a very good friend and her little boy. In the process I discovered my veggie bin needed a serious scrub - yuck. Everything looks very tidy, but no fibery work has been done. At least the weather has been pleasant, which means I can work with the warm fibers. Last night I started spinning my merino / tencel blend. I have been working on improving my over-the-fold technique, and it’s getting better.
The other good thing is after work I finally picked up the slides of my 2-D work from Paul. (We were going to meet last week but it was so damn hot!) You know how you live with something for a while and you kind of get sick of it? After a while, I do not want to look at the artwork. What is really happening is I am letting the work go. Some of the best advice I have received from art professors and other artists is to let the artwork exists separately from myself. I made it and now it has to be on its own.
Sometimes this letting-go can get in the way of my creative process. I will start a piece and I have to let it sit for a while. I have to allow my thoughts about it simmer quietly on a back burner. I have learned if I “watch the pot,” it is a hindrance to my process. Other times, the creative process is boiling over and I can’t keep up.
Since these gouaches have been away and are back, it is like they are completely new. The work is different and I am liking the what I made again. It is like the art and I are becoming reacquainted. There are sections of the work I did not notice before and other parts that are wonderfully familiar. I look at them and I think, “Hey, these are good. I am gooood.” It is very rejuvenating.
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07.23.06
Posted in Crochet, NYC, Photos at 4:24 pm by delipics
It was a busy weekend attending a family celebration, but there is always time to do a little shopping. My group was at Rockefeller Center when we walked by the Kinokuniya Bookstore, a Japanese bookstore. I have been curious about it, and this time I finally went in.
What a great place! I was completely enthralled by it. First I wandered around and randomly picked up magazines, but when I realized the sections also had English labels, I went straight to the Art / Design and the Craft / Hobbies shelves. In Art & Design I again randomly selected books and flipped through them, enjoying the photographs and their layout. I am fascinated by Japanese design and aesthetic, and certainly with their textile / fiber history. At the Craft / Hobbies section I was more focused in my search. I already have a Japanese book on felting where the photos and drawings are so clear that it is unecessary to know the Japanese language to be able to follow the directions. Because of that, I had a feeling I could find a knitting or crochet book. There were so many to choose from and I chose these two crochet books:
I have been examining the photos and drawings, and I think I have figured out the instructions for the patterns. It’s a good thing that crochet charts are an international language! Here is a sample of what the directions look like –
I want to go back there. There were so many books I did not get a chance to look at. There was an oragami section that I did not get to check out and who knows what other treaures exist.
Besides yarn stores, bookstores are another place from which I cannot resist purchasing something. Buying a book is about the experience of finding something new or suprising that will add to your life. There is also the search and discovery aspect of book shopping. There is always another book you want to go back for and buy, and it is so difficult to buy only one book!
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07.21.06
Posted in Cleo, Dying, Photos, Spinning, Yarn at 5:45 pm by delipics
And you thought I only dyed my handspun yarns with the natural dyes! I found some stray targhee top at the bottom of my sewing basket. I think it’s from my first class I took at The Yarn Tree, which was weaving. I decided to dye them, even though Caroline said they might felt a little. I think they did - no matter - they will be fun for experimentation.
Drumroll please . . . the dyed and finished skeins of Delica’s handspun yarns - tada!
Left to right:
- A merino / kid mohair blend dyed purple (3rd time spinning)
- A corriedale cross wool, unplyed, dyed brown (1st time spinning)
- A silk and alpaca blend, dyed red (2nd time spinning). This yarn is interesting - the silk was white and the alpaca was black - dyed red gives it a variegated effect.
You can see my spinning learning curve. I think I got a little better with each yarn. I’m very very pleased with how the colors came out. Now the next question - what should I make out of them?
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07.20.06
Posted in Dying, Photos, Spinning, Yarn at 7:59 pm by delipics
Last night was the last Spinning I class at The Yarn Tree 
The final class was dying our handspun skeins with Earthues natural dyes.
The bottom right photo shows the dye colors (I’ll try to find out the other dyes sources) - clockwise from the top left white bin is yellow, purple, red (cochineal) and brown (cutch crystals). I know it’s hard to tell - the yellow and the brown look the same as well as the red and the purple. Tonight I finally rinsed the yarn (keep in fridge so they don’t mildew) and hung them to dry on the fire escape. I will post photos of the final colors.
Lesson learned - do not wrap up fibers in Press ‘N Seal Wrap! While the fuzzy cocoon effect is fascinating and the product actually seals very well, it also sticks like the dickens to the fibers! It seemed like a good idea at the time, at the time being very late at night when I made this decision, after a long, hot and humid night of simmering the fibers in mordant.
While the yarns were simmering in their dye pots, we all tried out spinning on the wheel.
Oops, that’s not spinning, that ’s celebrating with beer!
Elizabeth waits patiently for her wheel to be set up.
Spinning on the wheel is such a different experience. It was like having to learn how to spin all over again. My yarn was slubby, it would break, it would spin out of the guides - it was a mess! Then there was the coordination of the working the treadles to get the right speed and drawing out the fibers in relation to that speed. I also did not feel like I was truly “understanding” the fibers because everything was moving so fast. But it was also great because everything was moving so fast!
I think by the end of class I got the hang of it. Of course, now I want to take Spinning II in the fall. For now, I will be happy with my spindle. I still want to get a second smaller spindle to use with my silk hankies. I cannot foresee a spinning wheel in my Brooklyn apartment in the very near future, but it would be fun to dream about it.
Here is my little spinning-wheel-skein. I believe this is black Peruvian wool.
Can you say “overspun?” When I took it off the niddy noddy, it sprang off the wood like a rubber band and the skein instantly spinning itself into a twist! I have not set the twist to it yet.
I wish the class did not have to end. Caroline is a wonderful teacher and I felt like I learned a lot from her. My group of classmates were so much fun - we talked a blue streak and laughed and laughed and laughed. My Wednesday nights will seem strange, no longer making the trip to Williamsburg.
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07.18.06
Posted in Brooklyn, Dying at 3:47 pm by delipics
At 7:12 p.m. the temperature is 94 degrees with a 42% humidity level. I am unable to do anything. I have felt sapped of strength since I woke up this morning. I am supposed to prepare my yarn tonight with mordant for natural dying at tomorrow’s Spinning I class, and I’m dreading it. I only have a/c* in my bedroom so the kitchen is going to become hot, or I should say hotter. I have to slowly bring up the water to 200 degrees for the wool and hold it at that temperature for an hour. The only way this is going to work is by my running back and forth from kitchen to bedroom to keep cool. Ack– Wish me luck!
*For those of you who are wondering why I only have a/c in my bedroom - in NYC, most buildings do not have central air, especially the older ones. You have to put in an a/c unit into the window. It’s a bit of a pain in the ass because I have to take it out for the winter and store it - that’s the way it goes out here.
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