I finally got gauge on my sweater after a couple of false starts and a regrettable lapse into procrastination. I have completed seven inches of the back and that's all, not counting all the knitting I did with too small and too large needles.
I am on the right track now for a handknit sweater in the correct size. Sadly, I won't finish in time to enter it in the festival competition. I'd like to aim to be done in time to wear the sweater at the festival but given my rate of progress I fear all I would have is the makings of a thick knitted waistcoat, if that.
August 30, 2014
August 23, 2014
Woad Oil Paint
Added woad powder to enamel paint and got a good colour. The original glossiness turned flat from the powder. My brushwork is sloppy. It doesn't matter as it's a piece I'm assembling into a spindle to give away. Next time I tint paint I will add less powder so the paint stays runny. I did this in a hurry outside at dusk.
August 16, 2014
Hampshire Wool gets Dyed Indigo
Someone put on a dye day and I took the event as a spur to finishing up some fibre preparation.
I washed the remaining two pounds of Hampshire wool that had sat greasy in the stash for three years.
I dyed a pound and a half in the indigo vat, then took two ounces of that and over-dyed with walnut. Here are thrice-dipped bags of fibre hanging to dry and oxidize:
The bags in the foreground are cotton and the other bags are polyester mesh. Inside is the wool. The zippers on the mesh bags were convenient for checking the shade of blue on the wool.
Also convenient was having someone else manage the indigo vat but someday I am going to have to learn to do it for myself. Out of a feeling that I should do some re-skilling, I made my first ever madder dye bath on my own and dyed some more Hampshire. It came out a red-orange colour.
I washed the remaining two pounds of Hampshire wool that had sat greasy in the stash for three years.
I dyed a pound and a half in the indigo vat, then took two ounces of that and over-dyed with walnut. Here are thrice-dipped bags of fibre hanging to dry and oxidize:
The bags in the foreground are cotton and the other bags are polyester mesh. Inside is the wool. The zippers on the mesh bags were convenient for checking the shade of blue on the wool.
Also convenient was having someone else manage the indigo vat but someday I am going to have to learn to do it for myself. Out of a feeling that I should do some re-skilling, I made my first ever madder dye bath on my own and dyed some more Hampshire. It came out a red-orange colour.
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| indigo overdyed with walnut |
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