Buttonless mittens no more!

I've got through the pile, and these are the mittens I finished this week.

More purple, this time with cable down the side.

The black moss stitch, with the coloured embroidery.

And another red onion skin fingerless mittens. The yarn had copper coins as a mordant.

This week I'm excited, I get to stock Incube8r on Friday and Saturday is Craft Hatch at the City Library.

More yarn, more mittens!

A beautiful day

After a very slow start yesterday, I finally made my way out to my workshop. My attention was grabbed by the moss growing in my garden. We have had rain for the start of winter. Unfortunately, as my gardening friend tells me, not enough to water the ground very deeply, but as you can see enough for moss to grow.

I love moss, it's beautifully fragile and on a bright sunny day just glows.

So I sat down with the door open to suddenly hear the most beautiful twittering just outside. A small flock of honeyeaters had discovered the correa outside and with their most elegant beaks were gathering nectar. They're tiny with dusky yellow belly and delicate markings and like all small birds easily frightened, so no pictures for you.

I did go out this morning to take a picture of the correa to discover that what must have attracted them was the first blush of flowering as most flowers were not fully formed or open. So hopefully, they will be back!

Wonderful!

Embroidery on knitting

One of my favourite knitwear designers/writers is Montse Stanley. Sadly, she died in 1999, but her work lives on through her books, most famously her 'Knitters' handbook'. She collected books and knitting tools, including the first time I read any mention of knitting belts. This was donated to the University of Southhampton and is in their Library collection. Unfortunately, it is not accessible online (well, I couldn't find anything more than a description, tantalisingly, of the collection).

I did manage to pick up one of her books at a HWSG Textile Bazaar. Note to self: after missing the May bazaar, DON'T miss the October? one, always worth a visit on the chance of finding something.

I have been wanting to use some of her techniques. I always found that while dated, her aesthetic is closest to mine of any of the designers I admire. Strong lines, and texture seem to be her strong points and an encouragement to her readers to design.

I decided I would try this very simple technique of one of my fingerless mittens. These are always useful for trying small techniques and this gives me a way of producing lots and mitigating the boredom factor.

It starts with a moss stitch fabric, over which another yarn is woven. I chose a black fabric with the fibre sandwich yarn.

Please don't ask about the fingerless mittens I'm supposed to be knitting for myself from this yarn. Having always being worried that using my own hands for the mittens I might make them too big, I have largish hands for a women, what do I do when making my own.....make them too big! They will be done by Craft Hatch on Saturday........

After a few attempts, I finally settled on this pattern, which I am very pleased with...... Now to sew on the buttons......

What did I finish this week?

I've decided that I'm going to document the articles that I finish each week.....just in case you're interested in anything. Most will end up in my Etsy shop, but not always. I often don't put things on for a variety of reasons: the main being time, however, photographs are often the reason. If I don't feel that I've managed to give a good indication of colour, texture or form, I'll leave them to my market stall, so people can see them for real. Occasionally, I have articles that I need people to feel or try on because they're a bit odd!


So here they are for this week:




Red Onion with Alum mordant dyed silk scarf with folds



2 skeins of chocolate centres yarn (100gm and 90gm)

Purple fingerless mittens with bobbles down the edge of the buttons. (sold)

Doesn't feel like alot of stuff, but there is a pile of fingerless mittens still to put buttons on and more chocolate fleece to spin!

So, if you're interested in anything, don't hesitate to contact me: tsbtextile@yahoo.com.au

Surprises

Isn't it lovely to be surprised? Surprised by the sudden view out of the kitchen window or the generosity of a friend.

In my letter box a gift from a friend, and lots of fun sorting them all out.

A thankyou gift is required.......

These crows and more of their friends settled in our big tree. Against the sky a perfect black and white study.

Gratitude all round.

Past midnight

Sometimes you just have to finish things. Not for any particular reason, except perhaps, that if it goes on much longer I'm going to start disliking this!


So, last night, I finished spinning the 2nd single in a slightly fluffier, heavier way and plyed it with the buttons, finishing just past midnight.



Note: it takes a long time to add buttons to the yarn, but is surprisingly satisfying.




I'm now washing the yarn and am looking forward to finding out what it weighs. Not usually a big issue, I'm guessing 150gm, but what will the buttons add?



I've now got enough fleece left for a chocolate wrapper yarn, if only I can find where I left the wrapping!

PS. It's call 'Chocolate centres'

Pencils

Thursdays are my full day of my course. In the morning I have 'Artists and Exhibitions'. This involves visiting and talking about all sorts of exhibitions which will culminate in an 800 word essay in a few weeks.

This week we visited the John Brack exhibition at the NGV Ian Potter Centre. It was amazing. I think most of us are familiar with his Collins st painting but over the 50 years of his painting life he created a portrait of his world in all sort of styles and on all sorts of subjects. The exhibition is big and having spent all morning there, I was convinced that I needed at least one more visit.

The exhibition is on till August some time and it's well worth a visit to see this iconic Australian artist.

My own personal response focused on the objects he used to represent the human condition, in particular the pencils and pens. I just love the way these inanimate objects become alive and the way he distorted surfaces and space to give you a particular view of things. This he did with alot of his paintings.

He also included beautiful rugs in many of his portraits, in particular the nudes. Apparently to show a connection to the past and to add colour and texture, I couldn't help trying to make more of them. Just showing my biases.

With the exhibition running through my head, this is what I came up with.

The other half of Thursdays is devoted to painting. I'm currently working on my first oil on canvas and large painting. It's a cityscape and for the moment I'll keep it to myself. More news later as it develops.