bee creative

3 bags full

As it happens, I have three bags of wool (one black, two white)

I washed one.

And carded it.

And spun some yarn.

Until Widget put a "paws" to it...

I really couldn't help that.

Really.

 

spin

Dried hydrangea colors.

15 minutes of spinning.

Thinking about tension.

3 perspectives

texture:

Color:

Spun:

I still specialize in bumpy and lumpy yarn. 

Hope that never changes.

This will be added to my sweater.

After that it's time to start spinning yarn for my field note blanket again. 

The question is, what color for a 2020 stripe on the blanket?

swatch

Call them a swatch or a what if. 

I have a whole bag of them (plus a few worn out hand knit socks, one felted mitten and a moth eaten hat) and need to decide what I am going to do with them.

spinning involves just the right amount of tension

This morning I saw a comment that bothered me.  It was a comment that closed doors and shut down conversation. And then independent of that, Jude wrote a post that has thoughts tumbling over thoughts for me.

I thought at first that what I wanted to write about was motivation. Why we do what we do? How do we live our lives?  The ethics and politics of our choices. I am very curious about this and it is important.

But what is really bothering me, what I have kept coming back to over the last few months, is the art of conversation. How do we have conversations about important things where we disagree? Respectful conversations, to learn from each other. To be able to hear each other. How do we live with someone, work with someone, when we disagree with them? 

How do we create the tension that is needed to hold something together, but not so tight that it snaps? 

Maybe one answer is to just keep trying.

 

 

 

 

 

#106 spinning the blues

I can't wait to spin this into yarn, but not tonight.

Too hot (high of 85 F today/81 currently)...

Alpaca dyed in indigo.

 

#83 tension

Mixing wool and silk.

Held together.

Under tension.

One of the things I like about spinning yarn is that it is about balance. 

The tension needs to be not too tight and not too loose.

Spent a few hours with family today. 

Watched a Douglas squirrel peeling bark off a tree and packing it in it's mouth.  He/she did this several times.

There was a blue heron, ducks, a pair of geese,

a swallow skimming over the water...

word number seven/part one: local (recap on the fieldnote blanket)

The "Fieldnote Blanket" is about making local visible and documenting environment; the location that I am.

It is even a way I might describe myself.

It started as a scarf.  The guideline set was to make one row each day for a year matching the color of the sky sometime in the first hour after sunrise. (Inspired by a project at Leafcutter Designs)

My definition of make for this project: choose a color, card the wool, spin yarn and knit.

It was a big scarf and I thought it might be better as a blanket. In 2018 I decided to make one row each day matching something in my environment and make more strips.

For 2019 I decided to not set any parameters, just to keep going. There is a row for autumn, a row for June which is all about pink roses for me, and a row for winter. And then, specifically for 2019, a row matching photos that I took last year. The colors that were documented.

A lot of pink, for flowers.

Red, for an assortment of berries.

Blues for the sky and the ocean.

Green for leaves and trees. 

Gray for clouds, white for snow.

The roving is local; either from a local farm or at the very least, spun and dyed locally. A lot of the roving was collected before I learned about natural dyeing.

The yarn is spun with a locally made drop spindle, bumpy and lumpy and full of texture.

Today I realized it is full of emotion and moods, set in the tension and the twist.

Another kind of documentation.

I knit primarily with my favorite locally made needles. The wood is from a lilac tree harvested at the university I attended.

The yarn is "energized."  This means that the twist hasn't been set by washing and it folds back on itself if the yarn isn't under tension.

For 2020 I want to add local color.  I will spin white yarn and then dye it with plants from my garden or community and then knit a strip to add to the blanket.

Once all the strips are finished the plan is to full/felt the blanket.

The reality of my local life is that blankets need to be wash and wear. 

word number three: love

 

A beautiful sunset...

A conk growing in a cherry tree.

The nuthatch hopping from branch to branch looking for insects.

A little yarn for my fieldnote blanket.

Local wool.

I finished Braiding Sweetgrass.

It is beautiful because, to me, it's about noticing and falling in love with the world.

What we love we want to save. 

 

Finished sweater...just in time for 80 F weather

Pattern: Less is More

Adjustments made:  I followed the directions for long sleeves but stopped just past my elbows.

Yarn: Aviary by Abundant Earth Fiber

Not blocked yet (washed and shaped). 

Thoughts:  Very easy pattern to follow and I will definitely make it again.  It was, in fact, a tester to see if I would make this sweater with hand spun yarn. 

It's one size larger than needed because I like roomy sweaters but it really is too big. This sweater will mostly be a "wear at home, to cuddle in sweater." Next sweater will be exactly to the measurement.  

One part of the bottom wants to flip a bit. It's probably because I forgot to switch to smaller needles for the edges, but next time maybe the edge needs to be a bit deeper?  And maybe this will go away when the sweater is blocked. 

As for the yarn, it's so very lovely.  At it's current price, it wouldn't be a good choice for a sweater for me again.  This isn't a complaint about the cost of the yarn but rather what is realistic for my lifestyle. The roving is very tempting though...