A bit of glare on the left side; sorry!
This afternoon Frank and I went to an abandoned feed and farm supply place near here so that he could take some photos of one of his favourite subjects, rusty old junk. There’s plenty of rusty old junk at this place, and I’m sure a photo or two will turn up on his blog in the near future.
While I like looking at rusty old junk as much as the next person (i.e., it’s not as endlessly fascinating to me as it seems to be to some husbands I know), I thought I should take along my easel and some paints so that I wouldn’t get tooooooo bored while Frank did his work. I knew beforehand that I wasn’t going to be especially inspired by anything there (we’d scouted out this location previously), but I thought I could find something interesting enough to keep me occupied for a while. I ended up doing a quick knife-painting of a rusty metal drum and a couple of tires. Junk at its finest, for sure. I don’t know that I’ll take this painting any further, but it was a fun way to spend an hour on a Wednesday afternoon.
The inspiration
On a blog somewhere (sorry, I don’t remember where exactly), I saw an “inspiration spot” and I liked the concept so much I stole thought I’d try it.
My inspiration was the top photo of an approaching storm. I love those greys against that blue. What developed from that inspiration was a skein of lace weight yarn (lower photo). Not surprisingly, I’ve named the colourway “Storm Clouds”.
What inspired you to create something this week?
The creation
The beaded version
A few weeks ago I posted a request for test knitters for a sock pattern I am designing. I was amazed at the response — so many people generously offered their time and effort. Well, the other knitters and I have been working away at our socks, and I hope to offer the finished pattern next week. There are a few final layout issues and photographs to take care of.
I’ve named the pattern “Aquitaine”, after Eleanor of Aquitaine. She’s often portrayed in a gown with a diamond patterning, and I used that as inspiration for this sock pattern. There will be two versions of the sock in the pattern, one plain with ribbing on the foot, and one beaded with the diamond pattern continuing down to the toe.
I’ll be posting some photos from the test knitters in the coming days, too. It’s really interesting to me to see how the sock looks in different yarns. And, speaking of different yarns….
Sock yarn
After taking a little time off from dyeing, I’m back into it. These are all sock-weight yarn, and they’re all available to buy on eBay (along with a bunch of other things — I’m spring cleaning, lol).
Yesterday the weather was lovely enough that my painting class went outdoors to do some sketching at Britannia Beach. This was my first outdoor sketching of the year, and I’m looking forward to lots more of it. Cheryl has promised that we’ll be painting outside, too, and I’m happy about that. I haven’t actually done any plein air painting before. I hope we can get to it while the weather’s not too hot, and the bugs aren’t out in full force yet (mosquitoes and blackflies — I always wonder what made the pioneers decide to settle here!). My friend Karen gave me an early birthday present (really early; my birthday’s in August!) of a little water-colour set suitable for packing along in my sketching kit. I’ll be adding colour to some of my sketches, which should be fun. I’ve never felt the urge to do full-blown water colour painting, but some of the things I sketch could definitely get some added interest from colour washes.
Today the temperature is supposed to hit 27C — time for ice cream!
A Pint of Pickled Peppers
Another small painting (5″ x 7″), and still on a peppers theme. This time I was intrigued by the subdued colours of the peppers, and the reflections in the glass….
(It’s for sale — click here.)
Habaneros
A little (5″ x 7″) painting I did this afternoon. I love the bright colours of peppers!
(It’s for sale — click here.)
This is the first bit...
Pictured at left is the start of my next sock pattern, which is worked out in my head, but not quite on paper yet. I knit a bit, and try to write it down a bit, and in theory that should produce a flawless pattern, but it just doesn’t work that way. Gremlins lurk around the keyboard, waiting for an opportunity to slip in a wrong number here, omit a bit there….
This particular pattern is one I am planning to offer for sale (my first!), so I would like it to be mistake-free when I publish it. To that end, I’m looking for eight test-knitters to put the pattern through its paces — four who will follow the charts, and four who will follow the written directions. There is no monetary compensation, but I will credit the knitters in the final pattern (and of course, you’ll get a final copy of the pattern for free). I plan to have the draft pattern ready some time this weekend. If you are interested and can commit to finishing one sock within ten days of receipt of the pattern, have some sock-weight yarn you can devote to this project, are able to suggest corrections for any errors you might find, and will promise not to circulate the pattern, please leave a comment and I’ll contact you by email. Let me know in the comment whether you’re a chart or written directions knitter. Thanks so much!
Update: I now have all the test knitters I need for this project, and many thanks to all who asked about it. For those who want to know when the pattern will be available, my best guess right now is around the end of this month — I’ll make a posting on a few appropriate mailing lists, and of course I’ll mention it here. I’m feeling quite encouraged by the response to the photo of the first few inches of it. 
Four skeins of llama/merino/nylon sock-weight, natural colour
Remember these? They’re the skeins of sock yarn my friend Elisabeth gave me as a thank-you for helping her paint her living room last week. I was thrilled to receive them (Elisabeth has very nice yarn), and was looking forward to dyeing them, as I had already made myself a pair of socks in the natural colour and wanted something a little different.
Usually I do hand-painted sock yarns with a variety of colours in one skein, but I decided to go with kettle-dyeing for these. That gives you single colours, slightly irregularly dyed, which results in a more dynamic end product than evenly-dyed yarn, I think. I love the slight tonal variations kettle-dyeing can offer.
Because the yarn is a fawn colour, light colours wouldn’t show very well, so I went with some mid-value jewel tones — sapphire, emerald, amethyst and ruby.
After the transformation
The colours are slightly muted because of the fawn undercolour, and very lightly heathered. I’m quite pleased with how they turned out. Each skein will make one pair of socks, and I’m keeping them all for me. They are so wonderfully warm, and I get cold feet in the winter! I think I’ll use the blue yarn first for my next sock pattern. I have an idea about some all-over cables that I’m going to try. Or, since I like how the colours work together, maybe some colourwork socks. Hmmmm…..
These yarns are actually not “dyed in the wool” — that refers to wool being dyed before it is spun. Fibre that is dyed in the wool tends to have a more consistent colouring than that which is dyed in the yarn. Once the weather warms up enough, though, I’ll take my little electric one-burner stove outside with my big stainless pot and dye some fleece for spinning. That will be dyed in the wool!
Hard at work: Elisabeth on the left, me on the right
My friend Elisabeth has a llama and alpaca farm in Winchester Springs, which she also runs as a B&B. Her house is an old farmhouse which has been added to and renovated over the years. One of the “improvements” was to cover most of the walls in that pressed wood paneling that was all the rage about thirty-five years ago. I’m sure that at the time it was just fabulous, but now it’s dated and makes rooms look pretty dreary. Elisabeth had bought some paint for the livingroom a while ago, but the weather only recently warmed up to the point where windows could be opened and the woodstove left unlit. I invited myself over for a two-day painting spree (I didn’t figure Elisabeth would say no, lol).
Before and After
Elisabeth chose two greyed greens from the pattern on her sofa for the paint, and it looks so terrific in there now, even with naked windows, no pictures on the walls, and furniture in unlikely places. Painting over the paneling was more of a task than either of us imagined — the surface was rough and absorbent and took a lot of primer. Elisabeth did most of the priming with an “improved” paint roller that has its own reservoir for paint — meh. Regular rollers are less work! (And less painful on the arm muscles.) I did the detail work around the windows and edges of the walls.
My reward!
Elisabeth didn’t let me leave without a most marvellous gift — four skeins of her llama/merino/nylon sock yarn. As I already have a pair of socks in this yarn in the natural colour, I think I’m going to have some fun dyeing these. I’ll post pics. I also received the cutest little sock-blocker key chain, along with a pattern for a sock to put on it. I have so many little odds and ends of sock yarn that I can use for this, I think I’ll make more than one so the sock blocker isn’t naked on days when its sock is in the wash.
Thank you, Elisabeth, for a fun couple of days at the B&B!
There are holes in my socks, and it's ok
I was wondering about putting holes in socks on purpose, and this is what developed. It’s an easy pattern; there are double yarn-overs, which you work with one knit and one purl stitch in the next row, and the rest is pretty much just plain knitting.
I used Jojoland Melody Superwash Fingering yarn in colour MS12 (a really lovely dark blue and burgundy shading), two balls of 220 yards (200 m) each to make socks with 10″/25 cm long feet and 10″/25 cm legs from top of the cuff to the bottom of the heel, and had a fair bit left over.
If you find a mistake or something that isn’t clear, please leave me a comment so I can correct it. Even if you don’t find a mistake, please leave me a comment (we bloggers thrive on comments, doncha know)!
Here you go: Holes in my Socks!
