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I found another sunny day in the garden and used it to gather branches that had blown out of the neighbor's trees during the wind storms.
I have enough branches to deck the halls too. I didn't plan a wreath with a heart in the middle. It just was there when I hung it up. The white is lunaria (more commonly known as honesty or moon plant or money plant). The rose hips are from a briar rose.
Welcome December...
Peek-a-boo! It can be a bit challenging to take a self portrait...at least when the goal is to show the hat.
This gives a better idea of what the hat looks like. It turned out nothing like the pattern I followed.
I think it was the mohair in the handspun yarn used. It made it slinky and gave it a lot of drape. So I picked up ten stitches on either side and knit ties. And then I crocheted a bit of a brim around the top to make one of the seams stronger. Made me think about how patterns and recipes are a lot a like. Some can stand a little (or a lot) of tweaking. Others need to be followed more exactly.... It just depends on what results you want.
P.S. This is a "pick-a-project" for me, something that has been sitting around and needed to be finished. Made the hat over a year ago. The ties this weekend.
When I sat down with my pile of fabric that I had dyed with the cabbage and tried to begin making something I was paralyzed for awhile. I didn't want to cut it up into pieces that would create odd shapes that would be hard to use which meant squares and rectangles. And Jude had just posted that she had decided to explore squares....
Finally I picked up a piece of my fabric and started to stitch it to the base I'd chosen. And then I picked up another and another. I loved how the velvet wrinkled and shifted and I decided to go with that:
It is perhaps the most raw, to some I'm sure poorly executed, things I've ever made. I love it. I love the wrinkles and puckers and gaps. I want it to fray and unravel and fade here and there.
It reminds me of ridges and valleys
of waves rolling across the sea. Even the folds of the cabbage leaves. So many things.
I thought of many things as I made this. It was good.
P.S. The greenish color in the piece of wool is over-dye. I had used this fabric originally to try flower pounding with dandelions.
At the beach yesterday my mom and I found some fantastic seaweed. I brought a few pieces home to see what they would be like for dye. I wrapped the seaweed around some silk and poured some hot water over the top. The bundles are soaking on the porch right now. I'll leave them for a week or so and see what I get.
This is a piece of silk that I did the same process with using eucalyptus leaves. Reminds me of a spine.
Finishing up a pillow made with the fabric I dyed with the cabbage. I'll share that tomorrow.
Among the San Juan Islands of Washington State.
if I ever wanted him to come for dinner again:
A baked sweet potato, my homemade refrigerator pickles, and a grated beet with olive oil and salt. It's what I ate for dinner the other night. I'm not quite sure how I ended up at this combination (it did involve something else getting burned though), but it was tasty.
I might be able to get him to eat this, but it has kale and I know he doesn't really like it. It also has pumpkin (from my parent's garden), potatoes, tomatoes, garlic (from my garden), and onions (from the farmer's market) plus herbs and salt that were purchased at my grandmother's local farmer's market.
I know he'd eat more of my yogurt cake. It had blackberries, pears, and quince (all local). My best combo of fruit for yogurt cake yet.
I am thankful for my family, for my friends, both old and new; for the abundance of food that is available to me, the shelter over my head, for the ability to ask questions and make choices, to do work that I love, for puppy kisses and the cat's purr, and for the eggs that I'm still getting-I need them for the next time I make dinner for my parents. I know my dad likes eggs.... I'll make a frittata.
Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate and a happy day to all of those who don't.
I had to appreciate the irony when I realized that in wool quilt #1 I've been cutting holes and mending holes and in wool quilt #3 I'm attaching holes. Silly...but I like it.
I've decided I'm probably not going to do anymore needle felting on wool quilt #3. I don't think they are going to wear very well.
But I still like the idea of the whole blanket being covered in dots so I'm going to stitch wool dots on. Lots of wool dots. Good thing this one can be on and off the bed as I work on it.... I'm finding that two wool blankets stitched together is marvelous.
Playing with all my cabbage-dyed fabric today. Mostly shuffling it around, petting it, and thinking. The darker blue on the back right hand side is some wool that I tossed into dye bath and let soak for 2 days. I think I'm going to make a pillow that will just be with pieces of this fabric.
Made my usual trip to the farmer's market. As I was unpacking my bag I was struck by how pretty the color combination was.
Been feeling a little frustrated that I don't have many opportunities to take pictures with natural light right now. And then I remembered the magic of taking pictures in the dark. Into the long nights we go...