August 11, 2016 · 3:14 pm

Warm hands, warm heart

2016-07-12 12.33.54

So, I fell off the knitting handspun wagon a bit in Aotearoa and I have been itching to cast on.

2016-07-12 12.54.32

I couldn’t wait and chose these aluminium dpns because I enjoy them in their shiny blueness so much.  Then I, umm, free associated a pattern for some hand warmers. I realised when I reached the thumb gusset that I had given away the book I consulted last time I created a thumb gusset.

IMAG2049

Pretty quickly, here I am at the train station knitting a thumb gusset anyway. Then, onto the second!

2016-07-21 16.16.47

Some small crimes were committed in knitting the second and I had to rip it back and go again… so here is the second on a train..

2016-08-01 09.28.45

And here they are ready for a short walk round to their new home.

IMAG2253

Plain but stretchy and delightfully warm.

IMAG2251

 

7 Comments

Filed under Knitting

Tagged as , ,

August 5, 2016 · 5:46 pm

Spinning day lily leaves into string

2016-07-23 21.07.22

I was looking for something else in my room the other day when I saw this home made seed envelope and wondered what was in it.  Imagine my surprise when I found shells and pieces of shell all with holes in them.  Just the kind of thing I wanted to spin onto string.  It quite revived my interest in spinning string on my spinning wheel.

2016-07-28 08.28.16

I put day lily leaves on to soak this time, the whole of the crop of spent leaves from my day lily for the year. Then  the spinning began.

2016-07-28 08.28.26

This time, I decided I wouldn’t ply. I liked my iris leaf string better before it was plied.  I also decided not to clip all the ends.  They are softer and less numerous and I decided I quite like them this time!

2016-07-28 08.28.46

Well. That’s one of my show entries sorted.  And a wild, strange looking thing it is. Now for the others!  I have some effort to put in and a bit of focus is going to be required if I am to submit them all…

2016-07-28 08.29.10

1 Comment

Filed under Basketry, Spinning

Tagged as

August 1, 2016 · 7:30 pm

Madder: the growing and the dyeing

IMAG2100

I have been growing madder for some years now without having enough to use for dye. It had to be transplanted when we moved house.  Then, I heard so much about how invasive it can be, I planted it in a half wine barrel and it really hasn’t enjoyed this spot.  I think people who find it invasive must have more rainfall or better watering practices, or perhaps all of the above and better soil. Then, it is amazing how many critters want to eat it despite the leaves being the texture of rough sandpaper!  I decided to divide and transplant finally.

IMAG2101

Here is the crop. Not too bad, but really, not a huge mass of roots.

IMAG2102

My beloved put three new garden beds in that will get dependable summer watering and generously agreed to one of them being a dye bed. When I had divided one of the rhubarb plants, re planted the resulting crowns and set out the new madder bed, I had a few roots left. I consulted my various manuals and washed the roots.

IMAG2104

Then, out with the dye blender (my parents scored this for me in their travels through second hand shops)!

IMAG2106

It went into the dye bath looking orange, but as I heated it, it became a deeper and deeper shade.

IMAG2110

At this stage, I put some silk embroidery thread in, in a zippered mesh pouch that has seen a lot of dye baths since it left the Body Shop and ended up empty in an op shop (and thence came home with me). This turned out not to be enough to keep out all the particles of madder!

IMAG2112

My goodness! I think this is the red I have been promised from madder!

2016-07-21 11.54.36

One skein dyed quite evenly and one streakily and both will be gorgeous in their own ways.

2016-07-21 11.59.04

After this point, I strained the dye bath through two layers of nylon next curtain, added mordanted grey fleece and got the kind of orange that madder often gives in an exhaust (to me, at any rate).  And now, I can’t wait to see if I can really get this madder thriving!  For other bloggers whose madder growing and dyeing is inspirational I suggest An Impartation of Colour and Jenny Dean and Deb McClintock (so many posts to read from Deb!).

2016-07-23 14.45.44

 

 

 

 

7 Comments

Filed under Dye Plants, Natural dyeing

Tagged as ,

July 24, 2016 · 8:02 pm

Hand spun, naturally dyed, hand knit and finished

I have finally finished the colourwork jumper.

2016-07-21 12.48.34

The design includes beets from Kate Davies‘ Beet Heid tam. It’s a variation on her Neep Heid pattern.  I love her designs, though to be honest I can’t picture myself personally wearing many of them (which is just not the same question).  And, I tend to knit simple. I am a long time reader of her blog: she is a lovely writer too.  But this application of her design is all my own strange idea, with the jumper knit–or at least I tried to knit–to measurements from one of the recipient’s hoodies. I see on Ravelry that one person has been moved to knit a neep cardigan, and there are a massive number of tams too, neep-, beet-, acorn- and radish-heids among them.

2016-07-21 12.49.27

I’ve knit this jumper for my fairy goddess son, who is a true admirer of gardening, vegetables in general and beetroots very much included. Those who are curious about the dyeing can find a bit of a summary here.

2016-07-21 12.47.00

He is a lover of colours too, and when asked his favourite colour in my hearing at any time, has responded ‘the rainbow!’ with a huge grin.  I knit this jumper from the fleece of a sheep called Viola and all these colours are from plants with the exception of the deep beet colour and the pink, from cochineal. I admit this rainbow is not exactly classic in colour and the woad colours are very pale in the zone of blue and indigo!

2016-07-21 12.48.25

I loved having so many colours to play with but took advice from one of my knitting companions in Wellington and kept the neck and shoulders simple.

2016-07-21 12.47.23

I dealt with the maths of the pattern repeat with some simple patterning under the sleeves.

2016-07-21 12.46.33

And now that it’s finished, I can give in to the urge to cast on all the small projects!

21 Comments

Filed under Knitting, Natural dyeing

Tagged as , , ,

July 21, 2016 · 4:56 pm

Train station plantings

I finally decided to plant out the Eucalyptus Scoparia I manged to grow from seed.  I have been planting out an area near the railway line for some time now and it has gone from bare and weedy to bushy and well covered. There is plenty of protection for a tiny tree now!

IMAG2032

I planted some more ground covers and was surprised to find that the seafoam statice that had been doing so well there had vanished, with some holes left behind.  I hope it has been dug out and replanted somewhere where it was wanted.

IMAG2034

The E Scoparia went in behind a bench where I’m hoping it will be safe to grow.

IMAG2033

Later in the day I headed over to a new place I have been thinking over.  It is a barren space adjoining the railway station in my neighbourhood, with an open drainage route running through it.  I have been wondering whether the rushes might grow in the drainage channel, which is quite mossy in places at this time of year. I thought I’d start with the sides of the space though.

IMAG2066

I took over some native pigface (Carprobutus glaucescens) which has grown readily from cuttings, some saltbush, a hop bush and a eucalypt (unknown species).

IMAG2065

In they went.  There was some soil here and a lot of sandy unpromising material as well.

IMAG2067

And, there was so much broken glass.  It looks to me as though someone/s must have had fun smashing bottles against the bridge walls here at some point.  So I collected all I could.

IMAG2068

I took my haul of rubbish home and tucked the rusty wire into my iron water jar for later use in dyeing.

IMG_20160716_193639

 

 

 

 

4 Comments

Filed under Neighbourhood pleasures

Tagged as , , , ,

July 19, 2016 · 4:30 pm

Winter wardrobe: from white to wow!

Before I went to Mansfield (… a year ago!) I cut out a long sleeved knit top.  The last one I made, a few years back, was nibbled by moths before I even sewed it together, so this one has been safely in a ziplock bag for its quiet year in pieces.IMAG2026

In the end, it took me only an evening to sew it together.  Why did I wait so long? Last time, I had a lot of trouble with this top and hand finished a lot of it, hand inserting the zipper and hand sewing the hems. I think I was a bit intimidated by the job, sorry to admit.  This time it all came together on the machine although the zipper is not lying terribly flat.

IMAG2029

Next morning, I was out in search of dye plants and visited one of my favourites (E Scoparia). The whole time I was collecting leaves I could hear clicking and popping sounds.  Eventually I realised there was a rosella (maybe more than one) very high up–more than 10 metres up) in the sugar gums on the other side of the street, nibbling on the gumnuts and then letting them fall onto the surface of the road (so that was beak clicking and the popping sound of gumnuts dropping on the hard surface)!

IMAG2038

There has been so much wind and rain I hardly needed to cut anything from this tree.  I have learned enough to be able to pick the leaves of this tree out from all the others in the gutter (which I could not always do dependably in the past–I have learned some things!)IMAG2039

Deciding how to fold and wrap is always intriguing…

IMAG2045

In the end I decided to dye a woven wool scarf at the same time. I spent time with a friend I don’t see very often recently and thought I might send her a gift. This will be part of it if it turns out well enough! I tucked some more leaves from my stash of dried leaves into the dye bath.

IMAG2048

I love the transformation… and wish I could be more patient…

IMAG2077

And I love the outcome!  Here is the front…

IMAG2082

Here is the back… (the zipper looks pallid now but it was what I had, recycled and saved).

IMAG2081

This has motivated me to make another, as my stock of winter warm work clothes is becoming pilled and threadbare, and I’ve had some lovely encouragement from friends lately.  Sometimes I think it is a shame I can’t get away with just wearing the same thing every day, as my tendency is clearly to make the same thing over and over again…

18 Comments

Filed under Eucalypts, Natural dyeing, Neighbourhood pleasures, Sewing

Tagged as ,

July 15, 2016 · 3:21 pm

Winter planting

Once I got started on the rushes, I wanted to keep planting and there have been some breaks in the rain.  Today I noticed a leak from one of our rainwater tanks.  It was near the top, from the overflow pipe, suggesting there is water up above the overflow outlet in that tank which is struggling to escape.  That has never happened before, and is evidence of HOW MUCH RAIN we have had.  You know what I’m saying: planting time is upon us.

IMAG2018

Here is my bike trailer load of plants bound for a bed alongside the tram stop on the nearby main road.  When I got there, there was another woman already at work cleaning up, who said she picks rubbish up there twice a week (she also cleared the paving and all manner of improvements).  She was impressed that I was doing my own planting and propagating and suggested I might want to join the adopt a station programme, which apparently provides plants.  Clearly she works up and down the pubic transport corridor, because she knew the best planted stations, where work for the dole are active and where the lavender is growing so well anyone could pick it. It was fun speaking with another close observer of these often unloved spaces.  She had noticed the reduction in rubbish and weeds from my efforts!

IMAG2019

This time I had rhagodias from my generous friend (this is a sandy site where I hope they will do well), creeping boobialla that has come on strong since the cuttings went in months back; some little wattles and yet more ruby saltbush.

IMAG2020

I put them up into the bed and climbed up after them.

IMAG2021

In they went!

IMAG2022

There are previous plantings that look dead in these beds, but perhaps they will come back… and in among them, there were some struggling knobby club rushes and…

IMAG2023

Can you tell?  In the foreground, a small patch of the Ngarrindjeri weaving rushes!

2016-07-11 15.56.39

In the meantime, I finished all my grey handspun in an airport a few days back and I am now creating more so I can finish! More soon… it would be so good if this jumper could be complete before the cold weather passes!

IMAG2012

 

4 Comments

Filed under Knitting, Neighbourhood pleasures, Spinning

Tagged as , , , , ,

July 13, 2016 · 6:32 pm

Green grow the rushes…

IMAG2013

Remember my tiny sedge plants? They have more than doubled in size now.  So at last, out they go into the wintry weather.

IMAG2016

My first attempt to propagate correas from cuttings seems to have mostly succeeded (that is a correa with the almost round leaves).

IMAG2014

Here are some more in with saltbush, hop bush and boobialla plants.

IMAG2015

I have even had some success with dianellas this time!  I think it must be time to get some of these plants out into the ground…

 

 

2 Comments

Filed under Neighbourhood pleasures

Tagged as , ,

July 10, 2016 · 3:42 pm

Work still in progress

Since I last wrote there has been sleeve knitting in an airport.

IMAG1881

Followed by sleeve knitting on a plane.

IMAG1882

Followed by good times with fellow knitters and crocheters who also happen to share my kind of day job and therefore shared a conference I’ve been at… and this meant I brought hand spun wool plain and strange to share.

IMAG1894

Some of it has already had a crochet hook applied to it and been turned into a substantial amount of shawl/cowl…

IMAG1893

Meanwhile, sleeves united with body far from home (and on the twelfth floor)!

IMAG1895

That moment when you decide to graft the seam between sleeve and body together…

IMAG1898

And a certain amount of visiting yarn shops.  My commitment to knitting handspun may have weakened a little… but as you can see, I’ve made quite a bit of handspun knitting progress.  So much that I may need to spin more grey yarn when I get home to finish this little treasure…

IMAG1907

 

1 Comment

Filed under Knitting

Tagged as ,

July 6, 2016 · 10:32 pm

Work in progress

IMAG1855

I realise that teasing is mean… but I can’t resist sharing this work in progress instead of waiting until it’s done.  Who knows when that will be?

6 Comments

Filed under Natural dyeing