June 2023 – Daily Fiber

Friday Finish from the Stash

Posted on June 23, 2023June 22, 2023 by Laura Kate

A few weeks ago, I cast on a cowl using two skeins of soft yarn found in my stash.

The pattern is called Spinal Twist.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spinal-twist

It has interesting construction. After a provisional cast-on, the first half of the lining is knit in stockinette stitch. Then the second color is joined and the spinal twist stitch is worked for six inches. At that point, color two is cut and the second half of the lining is completed. Leaving the needle in, the provisional cast-on is removed, the stitches placed on a needle and the two edges are turned to face each other. The two sets of loops are sewn together with Kitchener stitch – All 95 pairs of loops.

It’s not the most good-looking Kitchener I’ve ever worked, but it’s finished. And since the facing is turned to the inside, the join will not be visible.

Today this cowl would look very out of place draped over my T-shirt in the hot afternoon sun. I have photographed it on a hanger, hooked up on a tomato cage.

This garment will get tucked away to wait until gift-giving season. It’s nice that the style is gender neutral, easily worn by any adult.

painting

100-Day Project: Days 36,37,38

Posted on June 21, 2023June 21, 2023 by Laura Kate

I could have called this post Wednesday WIP. But since I worked from three of Bill’s photographs to create this panel of the dragonfly art quilt, I prefer to focus on the inspiration.

As noted above, I am still working with dragonfly photographs. In this installment, I selected two images of the same dragonfly……….

…….plus one photo of some bougainvillea blooms.

The three images will be combined in a horizontal panel measuring 12 x 24 inches.

On the first day I painted the background. I dipped the scrunched white cotton into two different pigment baths, wringing it out in between soaks. After smoothing the fabric onto my dry erase board, I placed two dragonfly shaped masks, several sprigs of dried leaves, and a sprinkling of dried peas. Next, I dropped on a little bit of purple and magenta paint, then set the board outside in the sun to dried.

It didn’t take long.

I took my time painting the dragonflies. Today I finished up by drawing the delicate wing veins. Next the background got more attention. I enhanced the leaf shapes with color, then painted a long line across the panel – my interpretation of the wire plant support seen in the photos.

A closer look…………

another…….

Again I used Micron pens, watercolor pencils and a little white Gelli pen for the finishing touches.

knitting

Cast-on Monday, She Shrugged

Posted on June 19, 2023 by Laura Kate

I pulled one of my stash project bags out of the yarn closet for today’s cast-on.

This group of yarns is mostly sport-weight cotton. The marled white is left over from my husband’s sixteen-thousand-stitch pull-over (aka jumper to the Brits) made more than ten years ago. The Berocco Remix yarn was purchased two years ago to make a summer vest for Lu. I ended up using only the red and blue. The yellow seemed such a dreary color. I couldn’t think of who would want to wear it. Then I came across this charming pattern by VersaciKnits.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sequences-shrug

It is knit with the broken garter stitch in two colors. I began to see how the yellow yarn could be a background to more interesting hues. With cuff-to-cuff construction, the stripes would be vertical while the textural changes ran horizontally. My enthusiasm for the project rose quickly after I worked up a swatch.

Other elements of this design include I-cord edgings and button closures on the sleeves. To make it even more interesting, the garment can be worn three ways: shrug, shawl or scarf. I couldn’t wait to cast on.

I like what I see so far. This could be a good travel project, assuming I can manage the constant switching between purl and knit stitches while riding in the car.

knitting

Orphan Skeins: A Plan

Posted on June 16, 2023 by Laura Kate

This year I am determined to shrink down my stash of yarn. While my stash isn’t as large as those of many of my peers (you know who you are!) there are far too many orphan skeins to suit me. So, I came up with a system.

I start with one orphan skein. Next, I pull any partial skeins with the same label. These yarns generally were used together in a previous project. The next step is to grab partial skeins that are the same fiber and weight (fingering, dk, worsted, etc.) and compatible colors. Once I am happy that the yarns can be combined, they get tossed into a project bag. As of today, I have four bags.

To find a suitable pattern, I start by adding up the total yardage in each bag (a digital scale helps with this step.) This number will tell me what kind of garment or accessory is possible. For example, a pair of socks requires about 400 yards, a shawl around 800 and a sweater 1200 or more.

Now the tricky part: finding a pattern. I am a big fan of Ravelry’s advanced search tool. Using the tool, I can build a search using the parameters of the yarns in the project bag. One additional parameter I choose is number of colors. I search for a project with two or more colors. No matter how many different colors of yarn I have, I can always alter the pattern to accommodate more colors.

As of today, I have four stash-busting projects, bagged up and in the queue.

**A scarf knit in garter ridge striped** **triangles.**

**A light-weight shrug in cotton yarn. (I’m always cold during the summer**
**in air-conditioned rooms.)**

What’s in your yarn stash, and what can you make of it? I challenge you to come up with something unexpected.

painting

WIP Wednesday: Dragonfly Art Quilt

Posted on June 14, 2023June 13, 2023 by Laura Kate

I have been busy painting dragonflies on my hand-painted backgrounds. The process is really fun! I have also been researching dragonflies. They are amazing animals.

Did you know that some dragonflies can live for six years? That is pretty good for an insect. Granted, up to four years are spent as naiads, in water. They look kind of like shrimp. Adult dragonflies have six legs, yet they cannot walk. They use their legs to snatch prey in flight, which they then tear apart and eat while still flying. If you were the size of a fly, you would find dragonflies terrifying.

So far, five of my panels have dragonflies on them.

**I cut a stencil to make these two panels**

In addition to Jacquard textile paint, I am using watercolor pencils and Micron pens. The paint is thinned with FolkArt floating medium, which permits better blending and lengthens the drying time.

Here is a mock-up of the quilt layout I’m considering.