Last month, I went to a Dyeing workshop and had a go at Space Dyeing where we painted dye on to hanks of yarn, wrapped them in plastic and steamed them in a domestic steamer. This resulted in some dyed Ryeland yarn that came from our sheep and also some fleece, which I have now spun.
These are the hanks of Ryeland yarn. This was commercially spun and the blue is a slightly heavier weight than the pink and white. They have been washed a couple of times but the dye was still coming out on the last wash, so they need another one, at least. I don't know what I'll make out of them but I keep thinking the blue would make a good hat.
This is the dyed fleece (which I forgot to photograph) plied with some cream fleece, both Merino, commercial roving. I am quite pleased with the result since the original, dyed roving was rather uninspiring. I am not sure whether to use this for a scarf or cowl, or something, or whether to make a wall-hanging.
I have returned to reading Mary Walker Phillips' book Creative Knitting. A New Art Form. This book was a revelation which I came across via Tom of Holland's feature of it on Facebook. Until I saw this, I hadn't appreciated that anyone knitted wall hangings. I have begun working my way through her Stitches and Patterns chapter, trying out unfamiliar stitches....
These three samplers from the top sampler show:
- Uncrossed Western Western Stitch (green) and Crossed Western Stitch
- Uncrossed Eastern Stitch (green) and Crossed Eastern stitch
- Uncrossed Stitch (combined method) [green] and Crossed Stitch (combined method).
I achieved this by casting on using the Uncrossed Western stitch: needle into the back of the stitch (instead of the front as is more 'normal'), yarn under and followed this with a purl row constructed by putting the right hand needle into the front of the next stitch but taking the yarn under the needle instead of over it. This feels a bit odd for a start but not for long and it is a whole lot easier than some of the other methods.
My next sampler was constructed using this Uncrossed Western stitch method moving on to two more stitches.
The elongated stitches are the Fancy Crossed Throw, which is a fiddly stitch until you get used to it but I like the twisted shape it forms. The rows of what look like knots are a derivation of the Throw and combined with it produce rather neater knots and much longer Throw stitches in Mary Walker Phillips' hands with linen thread than mine, here. The knots are also rather fiddly as they are worked with a group of three stitches into which it is necessary to purl, plain, purl before dropping them; this way the number of stitches is preserved.
It has been an interesting exercise and I plan to begin new knitted projects using the Uncrossed Western stitch method, if possible. I have many more stitches to work through in the book, some of which I recognise but suspect they will feel different when constructed using a new knitting method.
Last month, I also attended a workshop about pleated felt, lead by Liz Clay. (www.lizclay.co.uk) This proved to be very interesting but we were trying to fit a 2-day workshop into one day, so some things didn't get finished.
In my first attempt, I wanted to incorporate dyed Wensledale locks but I didn't make the felt nearly long enough for the cuff I had hope to come out of the exercise: this was a problem some of us found - trying to calculate the right size piece of felt to begin with to allow not only for felting but also for the pleating.
The second sampler was rather more successful from the pleating point of view.....
and the final sample did not get completed and remains so, for the time being but does show how the pleating is accomplished...
I hope to turn this into a corsage. The cotton stitching will be drawn up and then the fabric will be felted some more after which, it is rinsed, dried and the stitching taken out: hopefully, this will leave it permanently pleated....
Well, that makes quite a substantial beginning.....but now it is time for tea......
Anthea
