Strung Highly Enough?

The color on my screen looks a little duller and browner than in real life. I have six colors in the mix, some parts purply, some parts limy, but mostly yellow and orangy, and the overall look is more vibrant. I've never spun a lot, but every time I do, I'm mesmerized by how colors mix into one strand of yarn that I don't pay attention to things beginner spinners are supposed to be looking at. This looked so nice on the bobbin and the niddy noddy, but whoa!

We'll see how the "settling" goes, if I can knit or crochet with it at all, but I think this would make a nice necklace.

What I Wrote to Dorothy

"Yesterday was a little crazy.

"I made three small warps, I carded and spun one skein, I vacuumed the whole house and moved perhaps 1/6 cord of firewood into the garage and swept the driveway, and made a beef stew full of veggies. And I played in my sketchbook; actually I colored in several pages I had doodled previously. And played some computer games.

"This morning, I don’t feel rushed, but I might card and spin some more, or I might weave. I’m glad yesterday was a little crazy – I must have been shedding my post-conference quizziness. While I liked being able to do one thing after another, I knew it wouldn’t last and I’d have crashed and burned hard if it kept on going. I was ready for it, but wasn’t exactly looking forward to the lows. Instead, today I’m relaxed and feeling peaceful."

So, morning cup of tea and oatmeal, checking the skeins I left in the steamy bathroom last night, and then, carding, I think.

I find carding terribly difficult, and I can't do it straight - either the carder is too big/long for my arms, or I have pitiful upper arm strength. And I think I put too much on the card. And I can't get everything off the first card. Anyway, she was my teacher yesterday:

My fluff sure doesn't come off like that!

Wow

Here. Some like them color-coordinated; some with variety. Oh, sigh, sigh, sigh...

"Effective"

I went to the Suter to give my Kaz 4 baby shirt to my favorite Nelson microperson's mum, but she was away. (Kaz 3 was deposited in a charity bin.) I showed the shirt to Andrea, the museum shop manager, and her response was, "So effective!". So I've been making white merino warps to practice shibori some more.

I would really like to try the pole-wrapping method, as I love the leaf-like patterns created there, but this stitching is also good.

Napier Pics

I'm only halfway through my Japan pics, (I came home on Valentine's Day!) and haven't even looked at my Wellington pics, (March??) but here goes Napier; such a picturesque place.

Group design challenge; I didn't participate, but I went to have a look. Clare Plug told me this used to be their weavers' group space, but they've moved elsewhere. Now it's a furniture makers' space.

Design student tool kit. I nearly asked him to remove the wallet, but he was engrossed in his group task.

Chair upholster somewhere. I do love old-looking cloths.

Ujazi, one of my two most favorite cafes in New Zealand outside Nelson. Their food can be a tad salty, but superb service, and nourishing food.

Clare's husband Arie left this on the dashboard on the passenger side. It must be a message!

Sorry...

I'm sorry I keep publishing the Napier post when I'm still writing it. There is heaps to write, but I'd rather work, making drafts, writing down ideas, making warps, and weaving off pieces. Who among you told me to take my butterfly net to Napier? That's exactly what's happening now - trying to capture all the ideas before they fly away.

I've about two weeks for the crazy tea cozy, and three for Pics to Picks. So I need to get my act together and leave the new stuff until June. I have to see Ali, too, to make up for the session I canceled before Napier.

There is, I must tell you, a certain irony sitting in my stash room full of cones and skeins, mixing fleece/sliver/roving colors to create, albeit very slowly, even more yarns.

Saturday Daydreaming: An Island Holiday

I believe this is my brother's shirt from his wind-surfing days. I salvaged it from Mom's "To Cut Up for Rag Weave" box this January. The label says silk, but I'm not sure. I don't know why but I wanted to salvage it. I might even wear it while I'm working.

I'm dreaming of an island holiday, but I don't think it'll happen any time soon.

If you look at a map, you can see that New Zealand is not that far from a lot of dreamy places: Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, The Cook Islands, New Caledonia, even Niue, Kiribatu, Tokelau... kind of... Holidays on these islands are very popular during our colder months of July-September.

Doesn't hurt to close my eyes and listen to the waves or the coconut-shell ukulele, smell the flowers, and dream of big drinks with umbrellas.

Dylon, Again

I beared Kaz 3; Kaz 4 has been a practice in fine-tuning my stitching technique in creating shapes. Because the heart was so side, I split the shape into two and stitched two ... 'blisters', for want of a better term. Top left, the outline of the heart is distorted; this is where I stitched last and couldn't see the line nor the wrinkles. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the shape.

This was dyed in the brown solution I kept from Tuesday night, but diluted with hot water to raise the temperature. If the Kaz 3 looks like chocolate icing, Kaz 4 looks positively the color of diluted cocoa.

As for my poor poor shirt, it's been through the same weak hot chocolate bath, this time immersed without stitching or knotting, and it looks tired and dirty. But at least I can live with this duller blue. After it dries, I'll see if I want to wear it as is, or dedye it.

Dinner tonight is my second ever attempt at lasagna; because I revere the dish so much, I usually leave the cooking to restaurants and friends.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Napier for the design symposium. I think I'm over my cold; at least enough to be in denial. I did something to my back this afternoon while packing. I tell you, sometimes life just tries to get in your way left, right and center, but I'm going to enjoy the symposium if it kills me. But I'm also packing a pillow, and some pain killers.

I'm off-line until Sunday night. Please make sure you have a lovely weekend.

Shapes

Having understood the basics of Summer & Winter structure and what Ali would like me to do next, I've been daunted by shapes.

Usually the way I make my draft is by deciding on the threading, (twill of some sort, basic and often symmetrical), make a few different tie ups, and then I draw curvy or jagged lines down the treadle plan. I observe the drawdown, but my shapes are created by the line in the treadle plan, almost as accidents. Whichever hand holding the mouse is often on autodrive and I am not giving it much thought.

What got me is when Ali said a while ago, "Now go and make nice curvy shapes," or something to that effect. I tried to make similarly light-hearted curvy shapes on PCW, on paper, or in my mind, but my hands don't move that way. And I've been a bit stuck.

For the last week, I've been filling in squares in grids, and trying to locate places of interest but that's not working yet, and I only see lines.

No, I take it back, I did come up with one usable base. But he's not exactly curvy to me...

Last night I couldn't go to sleep, and I noticed how lines curved to accentuate shapes on my down blanket, and I started taking pictures. We've done something like this in our drawing class, drawing lines to express curves. I love the curvy lines, I think I can draw them, but thus far they are not making any shapes I can see.

Next stop, cutting and tearing paper into curvy shapes.

Indulge Me

My sister started pottery lessons in March. It was a long time coming because she's always loved ceramics, and her mother-in-law has a collection easily exceeding those of most galleries or a small specialized museum. Not to mention our Mom is a bit of a connoisseur herself.

I'm so happy for her because I think she was a martyr to her two sons for the last 15 years, (OK, five,) and was becoming a little all-too-omnipresent mother, and our Mom has been trying to get her to find a hobby since Boy 2 started school. Sister did yoga for a wee while but it didn't last. Our biggest worry was she was never a boring or conventional girl before she became a mother, and we knew very well she needed a creative outlet.

This is one of the first two pieces she ever made. In her life. And it looks pretty good to me.

She's always been like that. Soon after she joined the high school band, she could and did sit in and play almost any instrument if they were short of players; one day she picked up a racket and started to play a proper game of tennis; in two years she spoke better French than me in my five; the first time she ever sat in a flower arrangement class she was asked how many years she'd been teaching.

I can almost see her direction. Her aesthetics is simpler than mine, less adorned, so I can see her going more natural, more accidental/serendipitous, (you can do that with pottery, I know,) and less shiny for sure.

For me, it was hard growing up with a sister 7 years younger who didn't seemed to need to learn or try hard at anything. Plus, she was calm, collected and mature; skinny, cute and nice. And a good cook!!

For her, it was hard growing up with a sister who constantly clashed with the parents, and our Mom telling her, "Thank goodness, you are such a good girl," almost every day. And feeling inadequate because she didn't pick up English as easily as I did; well, duh, she never lived in the US.

I love my sister, and I love that she finally started pottery. And this is a creative outlet our parents and her in-laws enjoy watching, discussing, and appreciating. And it was a long time coming.

The thing is, though, in spite of my having encouraged her alongside Mom, I kind of wish she'll never take up weaving. Because that's been the only thing Mom and I shared, and if Sister dabbles, she might be better than me, instantly. At least in my Mom's eyes. She was an incredible knitter, when she was in high school.

Oh, when do we grow up and be freed of our childhood fears and worries?