SOMETHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY...

This came from one of my lists and is the work of a German design student. What you are looking at is a clock that knits. The time marking concept is explained in the article in much more detail that I could possibly give it but the bottom line is that at the end of a year you end up with a scarf that is two meters long. How is this for passive knitting or knitting while you sleep?

IKAT FROM GGFI

W1
Originally uploaded by theresart

This was to have been the first weaving project in Judith's class this year but the weather conspired against us and with all the damp and mist the warps never dried. We had both white and gray skeins to dye. I tied my each differently but with a repeat in each skein and then separated the ikat sections with some of the solid gray.

The photo could have been a lot clearer, I just am hopeless when it comes to taking pictures, but the pattern shows up. The wool was a bit scratchy and not suitable for next to skin so have decided to make a bag with this. I fulled it in the washer last night and will have to stitch it up and get some leather handles to finish it off.

AUSTRALIAN FELT PUBLICATION

Came across this today at Borders and while it is a bit pricey, $9.99, it has some very nice features. The book reviews, product reviews and photo galleries were quite nice. When compared to Interweave's efforts this one really stands out even though it appears, and to be fair I don't have a copy of their publication here with me, to contain fewer pages. However there are also many fewer ads which is interesting as I am sure that this publication is as expensive to produce and any done by the fore-mentioned company.

Articles cover all facets of felting from wet through needle and includes a translation from a German book, Filz Experiments, that looks interesting.

Warps

Result of dye day at my house. Brought home the old turkey roaster from Monterey and it works great for dyeing. I am using up all the old acid dyes I have on hand and colored thirteen skeins of "pony" to practice with on the loom. This is the type of yarn we used with Judith at GGFI and it is cheap and works up well. I just ordered 15 more skeins (880 yards each) that will also have to dyed.

Have to wind all this mess up before the warping can begin and it had better be soon before I forget all that I learned about warping in the class. Judith suggested that I take the rosepath threading and do all the variations so that I get more comfortable with the warping process. She hates the floating selvage but after looking at my sad shibori sample, know that I need it. I also want to try some more shibori now that I understand what I am doing (somewhat anyway).

GOLDEN GATE FIBER INSTITUTE 2010

Shibouri ggfi
Originally uploaded by theresart

This year's class was dye/weave with Judith and as usual I learned more than I can still process. We did shibori dyeing and weaving (my woven piece is at the top left). The silk scarf was first and done by stitching and tying in garbanzo beans as resists. The shirt was a bonus.

We also tied some ikat warps which took forever to dry so they became the at home project. I just wound off some yarn for spacers last night and hope to get mine at least started in the warp process this week. The wool we used is a bit scratchy and should make a good bag. In the warp change the colors I used look very good. The yarn is large (#10 reed) so should be easy to warp. I have forgotten how much I warped so will have to count and adjust with the extra yarn. Stay tuned...

BOOK REVIEW

I have been meaning to write about this one for some time because it is now available from Amazon and priced reasonably. Before this the only way to get this remarkable book was to order it from a source in Australia and pay a gazillion $$$ for it. I first saw this in a friend's library and could not afford the price. Happy was I to find it on Amazon.

India Flint is an amazing dyer and printer who use dye materials found in nature. She also uses those materials to print directly on fabric which is the technique that interests me most though I have yet had the time to try it out. Lots of very raw material in the backyard waiting for me. Lori of Capistrano Fiber has done some printing and the results are available on Ravelry. I think that she is SpinSpin.

This is something anyone interested in dye techniques needs to at least find someone with a copy to peruse if it isn't in your budget. She has some interesting takes on fugitive properties of the dyes. See what you think.