Cool Licks for Hot Days.

Not of the frozen treat variety, but the musical variety, while the temperatures are triple-digiting:

Too Darn Hot  (Cole Porter)

Summer in the City  (Lovin' Spoonful)

Summertime from "Porgy and Bess", and Joplin's version.

I planned to post more songs, but it's hot and I didn't.  😁   Also, I went to Dallas for some plays, and back again.  It's also really hot there - but surprisingly, not as hot as the east coast is suffering.

"Slave Letters" at MBS Productions

"Cry Havoc" at Lakeside Community Theater

"Curtains", a musical, at Allen Contemporary Theater

And of course, masks with quotes and facts:

  

  

They're still at it.

Happy 45th Anniversary to our parents.

Done and Done.

I finished the scarf I mentioned last week, and a hat from an oddball of Big Twist Lollipop Twistie in a colour called "Clownfish Coral".  I didn't like the Lollipop Twistie (so I am not sad that it is discontinued) and decided to use it all up, hence the little topknot on the hat:

I started another scarf of chunky, and very soft, chenille yarn that a neighbor gave me when she decided her hands were too arthritic for knitting.

I also finished a book, which was fine, and turns out to be part of a series, but I don't know if I need to read any of the others.  I do need to read the book for the library's Science Fiction Book Club.  I picked up a form for their summer reading program - fill in a space for every ten minutes you read, turn in the filled sheet, and get a token item (last year it was a choice of some cool bookmarks) plus entry into a prize draw.  I decided that given how much I read, I would just record every session where I read for at least ten minutes.  That way I don't have to keep adding together reading sessions.

From June 14th to morning of June 23rd.

More art: I decided to try different media to complete each chart.  This one is watercolours.  I have not used those in a very long time, many years, except a token bit as part of a book art piece.  I wanted to practice a bit and this is a very low-pressure way to do it.

I went to the gallery for another round of putting things together to fuse, adding to one of the pieces I did two weeks ago and creating another for this four-panel light box I'm creating:

I've done some more practice pieces for the DFW Fiber Fest class.  I may be doing a variation of it at the gallery.  One of the owners is really interested; she's the one who encouraged me to try fabric also, because she thinks it will be more useful to people.  Since cellulose fibers need a more toxic mordant (soda ash) to prepare, which means people may not be able to do it at home, I searched and found a lightweight 100% wool in a light enough colour to dye, but it turns out to be a deeper beige than I thought it would be from the online photos.  Well, that happens.

First, I did some testing of single-serving beverage powders:

Light blue ReVive and the three options I chose.

Not too much water because I wanted the dye to stay put
and not float all through the pot.

I sprinkled half of each tube, then flipped the yarn and 
sprinkled the other half of the tube.

Simmering.  I wasn't sure how much the dye would spread.

Final result, after drying. You can still see some of the
original colour.  The grape is unimpressive.

Then I did a quick test of the fabric, one piece tied and one loose, with two different dyes in the pot:

I need to remember to photograph the final results.  I showed it to the owner and she liked the effect, so that may be what I offer to the students at the gallery.  Now, what to do with the pieces?

Four more.

 When I packed for last week's conference, I included three balls of Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, and appropriate needles.  I ended up, as planned/hoped, knitting one hat per day:

All three are the same basic pattern, with the pink one turned inside out just for difference.  I think the stitch pattern is reversible.  Basic pattern is CO 48 on US#10 or US#10.5 needles and K3P3 ribbing for about eight rows.  Then switch to US#11 needle, in a two-row pattern:  K 1 row, then K1P1 the next row.  Eventually decrease every other row by six stitches until you have six left.

After returning home, I made the fourth, using bits of leftover yarn given to me by a friend for such purposes.  Given the colourful yarns I did a plain knit hat, with the solid ribbing at the bottom.

My current charity item is a garter-stitch scarf of some very thick and bright yarn that is without label.

The conference was in New Orleans, and despite the weather I was able to lead walks both mornings that we were there.  I wanted time to visit museums but weather and schedule conspired against it.  We (the walkers and our mascot) did see a couple from the outside:

Also Harmony Circle, featuring sculpture celebrating Carnival and the first all-female krewe:

 

And some other bits of history in Lafayette Square:

Fun fact:  There are two statues in Lafayette Square, one of Henry Clay and one of Benjamin Franklin, but none of the Marquis de Lafayette, the American Revolutionary War hero for whom it is named.

We also saw the Piazza d'Italia:

And a few other things:

I attended many sessions, made contacts, caught up with some people, led a roundtable and presented a program, ate some good food, and have plans to return on a weekend when I can visit the museums.

Yesterday being Father's Day, we gathered at my parents' house for barbeque and to help them clean out their attic.  It was hot and dusty, and many things are awaiting shredding or were picked up in this morning's recycling pickup.

Love you, Dad!

Following up.

I don't know where my yarn winder is; I have one, but don't use it because I like hand-winding.  However, I thought the gradient blank from last week would show better when wound in a cake.  So I used some Michaels vouchers and a coupon to buy a new one, and after a few minutes of work, wound from the blank into a cake:

Also shown, the notebook I am using to record the processes.
I think of it as my lab notebook for dyeing.

I haven't started anything with it yet; I am debating between a dragon egg bag and a Bohus-inspired hat.  In the meantime, I took some leftovers with me on a quick overnight conference trip, and made mitts:

I finished a mindless scarf (no photo) and started another, and I've packed some balls of yarn and needles for this week's trip.  Three days, three hats?

I had to frog and restart my next shawl, of the handspun I bought in Paris and an unrelated pattern (it was created for a commercial yarn) from the same shop.  I put it down just after starting a pattern section, and couldn't get started again, and it was easier to frog back into the first section and restart.

I made the stitch marker from a couple bits I picked up near the Louvre in the early morning where hawkers would set up later in the day.  These must have fallen off some of the tchotchkes they sold.

I've been back to the fused glass studio, making jewelry and picking up the items I did a couple weeks ago.  The jewelry uses a small kiln you can set in a microwave oven, which is much too tempting.

  

Above are the before and after of my original pieces.  The long one, which will be a pendant, started from a leftover piece in the bin to which I added more bits.  The other two are a pair of earrings.  One of the instructors noted that my compulsion to design pieces that are mirrored, so they will look the same on each ear, is a sign that I am a jewelry designer.

Here are the other pieces I made, two pendants or pins, and another pair of earrings:

    

I'm a bit sad that the coloured stringers disappeared in the pendant, so it doesn't match the earrings as well as intended.  But they all look rather pretty.

This week I was back to more traditional fused glass:

In two weeks I'll pick up those pieces, and maybe make some more jewelry.  And possibly add some to the piece at the top, depending upon how it ends up looking.  I am in the "open studio" phase where I pay for time and we weigh my pieces and I pay for glass.  Upside is that if there is a cool piece I didn't use, I can add it to the weighing and take it home for later use.  😊

Plunging in Again.

I haven't dyed yarn since moving, but offered to teach a class at DFW Fiber Fest this year, which they accepted.  Last year at DFW Fiber Fest I took a course in natural dyeing (eco-printing, the teacher calls it) and a friend was in the class; she told me that she had fun but is sensitive to compounds so couldn't do more at home unless she could order pre-treated items from the teacher.  That class used cotton fabric as the base, which needs to be treated with washing soda and other harsh mordants for the dye to bind.  I mentioned that I've done dyeing using kitchen-safe (and mostly edible) products, and she talked me into applying.

Shortly after DFW Fiber Fest opened registrations I was told that nine people had registered for the class, which was more than I expected!  In this weekend's update, we found out that the class has SOLD OUT.  I am in shock.  Complete shock.  Yes, it is a small class (fifteen students) but I didn't think that many people would be interested.

The first year of DFW Fiber Fest (2006) I taught this class, and had three students registered.  I might have had a fourth as walk-in.  I've kept in touch with two of the three.  One of the students went on to run a dyeing business for a while (I have some of her yarn in my stash) and the other does spinning and other things; I don't know if she still dyes.

So I figured I need to work on the agenda for the class, and make sure the schedule will allow for what I want to show people.  This means doing some test dyeing.

One item I want to show them is dyeing on blanks, which are preknitted (could be pre-crocheted; I am going to test that also) pieces of fabric that are dyed, then unknit (or un-crocheted) and made into something else.  Mostly these are called "sock blanks" made from two strands of fine yarn knit together, that are then dyed or painted and unraveled, allowing for two matched socks without having to figure out where a stripe begins, as you do with a single long skein.

I found some yarn of a good weight (since the premade blanks are more than I wanted to charge students for class supplies) and with a small swift and knitting machine, gave it a try:

  

The skein is just shy of 200 yards and made a blank about 31" long:

I also prepared some leftover bits of yarn from other projects.  I wound three hanks, and had a bit of some moth-nibbled yarn from a donated stash that I simply tied in a couple of places with yarn.  The two on the bottom are the same yarn, but it was in two pieces (I think because of socks? or moths) so I wound different lengths to show how that can affect the end result.

Then it was into a dyebath.  I took some notes about quantities, and started with some green dye, then pink, and finally blue from a set I'd purchased a couple Easters ago to dye eggs:

I had no real plan, just water and white vinegar and dye, and part of each piece, except that the small tied one I threw in whole.  I forgot to take a picture of the pink in progress, but remembered for the blue:

It was such an incredible colour I went to my charity yarn stash for some other yarns to add to the pot.  I had a bit of beige and a quantity of white with blue specks, which you see at the bottom and top of the above photo respectively.  I'd planned to leave the white yarn with just green, until I saw the blue, so I dyed part of the white in blue and left some alone.

End results looked great when I put them on my drying rack:

I couldn't wait for the small bit to cool before I unwound the yarn tying it:

And this is the final result arranged similarly to the first photo, but with the additional yarns at the right:

Yes, not much of the pink, no surprise to anybody who knows me.  For the two at the bottom, I decided to leave one partly in the original and dyed the other; originally I was going to leave both of them with half undyed, but I liked the blue too much.  In retrospect, I could have done the smaller one in half-pink, so it's something to remember for a future dyepot.

Speaking of which, I wish I'd done two of the blanks, so I could wind one into a ready-to-work cake and the students could see the before and after for a gradient.  So next up will be to create two blanks (and maybe a third for crochet - or should I do two for crochet so I can leave one and wind one to show the differences?) and dye them together, then wind one into a cake.

While the yarns simmered (it takes about an hour for the dyebaths to exhaust, important to know for a class) I finished the Giverny Shawl, except for running in the ends:

Not much of the yarn left, so I didn't do the ruffle edging.  But I think it's fine as it is.