Yarn Along..

Slowly chipping away at the unfinished object pile 

of knitting projects (UFOs)

Adore this scarf pattern by Janina Kallio

~ Terrain~

Knit with some of my naturally dyed yarn:

Golden rod over-dyed with Indigo.

I find myself impatient for the Queen Anne's Lace

and Golden Rod to come this year...

Reading some lovely natural dye books from the library.

Trying hard to finish the UFOs before casting on something new.  

Knitting on a 3 year old wrap from hand spun now, but 

couldn't resist casting on the Moto Vest by Shelli Westcott.

So simple and chunky yarn..

Looking wonderful from all the 

Woolful podcast chatter...

I said trying right?

~

Joining Ginny

(PS - Ellen .. If you are out there.. can you please send me an email? I can't seem to email you with the address I have  xoxo)

Color study

"I love to study the many things that grow below the corn stalks and bring them back to the studio to study the color. 

If one could only catch that true color of nature - the very thought of it drives me mad."

~Andrew Wyeth~

I've been wanting to try natural dyeing with daffodils since last spring.

So this year, I gathered...dyed some super soft

merino/silk (non-SW) and..

well..

off white.

Re-gathered, gave the yarn a second trip through

the dye bath and ended up with the above.

A creamy yellow beige.

Not what I was expecting, but then that's 

what I love about natural dyeing.  You never

really know what will come from the dye pot.

~

Yarn Along..

"...Now in those times, bits of sky could be eaten.  

It was different from other foods.  

Rice fills the belly, but sky fills the heart.  

The woman reached for the sky and broke off a piece, 

But eating the sky could be dangerous business.  

One could become selfish in their desire, intoxicated, and this was a terrible taboo.

The woman's hunger was stronger than her fear of what she knew had been forbidden, 

and she devoured more and more, until she was drink with it.

As punishment, God pulled the sky higher.

With the heavens now so far above, and God even farther, the people of the land and their children, and their children for generations to come, each filled with their own great hunger, were set out on a trail of infinite desire.

Their longing was made material in the bluest of God's 

blues - in garments dyed in indigo.'

-Adapted by the author from West African folklore, various provenances

Partial except by Catherine McKinley's book above:

Indigo: in search of the color that seduced the world.

~

Joining Ginny..

For creatives..

A beautiful letter from

the wonderful Keri Smith that I stumbled on today..

Excerpt from her post..

Creating work out of that pressure, doing all of the things that you have been taught by others, and listening to that voice in your head that tells you you need to be better is not what will create that success you are craving. The true work, (meaning the work you are here to do), comes from a completely different place than this. This energy of pressure actually does very little to move you ahead and into the place where you desire to go, and in some cases can even lead you in the complete opposite direction. I know your head is telling you you need to do it but really that is just dogma you have been taught by other people who are scared of going to their own true place (doing the work that they are really meant to do), so they go on repeating what they were told by other fearful people, and so on and so on.

Let Keri sit down beside you and hold your hand..

Ecstatic Flailing

~

The thing about never..

nev·er

ˈnevər/

adverb

1. 1. 

   at no time in the past or future; on no occasion; not ever.

   
   

   ~

   
   

   Never.

   Have you really thought about that word?

   
   

   How often we use it?

   Causally..

   
   

   Never. 

   
   

   A few years back I remember quite vividly

   that I said I would never weave.

   
   

   Why?

   I am not so sure..

   At the time it felt, well.. limiting?

   
   

   I dug my heels in.

   The more I tried to back away, the more it called to me.

   
   

   Change is a funny thing.

   
   

   

   
   

   There is so much beauty in the structure of weaving.

   
   

   The process.

   The learning.

   The community..

   
   

   My mind is reeling with all the possibilities.

   Saori,

   Reclaimed fiber,

   tapestry!

   
   

   Suddenly I am craving (!) miniature overshot patterns

   and

   ROSEPATH.

   
   

   I need Rosepath.

   
   

   

   
   

   While I may have said never,

   I can't see my past or future not being at a loom.

   
   

   That being said..

   I can't help thinking of 'The Raven'.

   
   

   Instead of nevermore..I'll take evermore.

   
   

   Evermore.

   
   

   ~