Cal Patch Crochet Genius!

In my opinion, Cal Patch of Hodgepodge Farm is a DIY genius! Her crochet patterns are really what it's all about as far as the direction that crochet is going. Beautiful, contemporary and showcasing gorgeous yarns (like Jill Draper's).
I'm currently working on her new pattern for a shawl called "Borealis" and it's so much fun and so addictive. Although hers is made from the Aurora by Jill, I'm making mine out of some of my own hand-dyed. Fittingly, it's a gorgeous silk/alpaca blend I dyed during my visit to Hodgepodge Farm!
In other news... I'll be teaching a three session spinning class starting this Sunday (February 3) at All Strung Out Yarns. It's going to be a fun one and student's choice on whether to use a wheel or a drop spindle.

Here we go now!

False Start...

Hodgepodge Residency Part 3: The Final!

There's always time for the "swimmin' hole"!

This is the last post about my Hodgepodge Summer Residency! I have other things to blog about that are piling up (like the Sheep and Wool Festival).

Cal with dyed fabric.

The last few days of my residency were spent dyeing with fibre reactive dyes. I was dyeing both cellulose and protein fibres and you can do that with these dyes. I soaked my cellulose fibres in a solution of soda ash and water and my protein dyes in a solution of vinegar and water. This way, I was able to dye both of the same time.

Cal's dots.

We had a lot of fun using the dyes in squirt bottles, droppers and syringes. We were able to create fun designs on fabric and create interesting colour ways on yarn that didn't get "muddy". I used both solar heat by placing the items in a plastic bag and left it in the sun to bake and plastic containers with lids heated in the microwave.

I can't wait to use everything I dyed this summer over the next several months in some weaving.

Cal, Jill and myself!

The best part of the first day was Jill Draper coming by with this amazing piece of linen she had sewn dried beans in shibori style!

Jill's creation!

When it got too hot to be outside, Cal worked on her sewing machine while I started working on my EPS Crochet sweater out of Empire!

The gang at work!

This was an amazing and productive two week residency. I experimented with different types of dyes on different types of materials, hung out with amazing friends (both human and animal) and got started on my first EPS and some rubber stamps for creating my own printed fabric!

 

Next up.... Sheep and Wool Festival!

Notice the Rhinebeck mug...

Late Summer...

Things have been busy and I have been enjoying my late summer. I have sent in my first assignments for my Ontario Handweavers and Spinners Spinning Certification (that's a mouthful)!
I've taken a fabric dyeing class with Alyssa Light which was really amazing. Great to meet her and learn some new techniques. I also got to take a little vacation with some fun gals. One of which was Andrea Lehnen!

First things' first. Spinning homework. There are all sorts of rules of presentation and extra little things that you have to remember from way back in May when I actually took the course. It took a while to actually get all the elements all together, labeled and mounted in the correct format. I'm expecting the rest of the assignments to go a little smoother now that I know what I'm doing!

Here's the first assignment - Colour Wheels on fleece and yarn naturally coloured white and grey. Mounted in a sensible way with all the recipes:


This is my text message to Andie L it says, "OMG! I'm about to stick everything down and I'm scared!":


Here is the final presentation:


Second assignment - Colour Gradation using fleece and yarn in white. Labeled, recipes, a made up special code for dyestock use and how everything was done. I liked my gradient but it was a little subtle. I called it "Pear" and it looked almost like I had used a plant dye.:


Here is the final presentation:


Now I'm working on my September assignments. I've been spinning at home by myself and have felt a little lonely about it. Although it's really not spinning that you can take somewhere. I guess I'll have to arrange another little hang out with Andie L!

This dyeing class I took with Alyssa Light was so great! She's a fun person and great teacher. We learned a bunch of resist dyeing techniques. The class was held at Greenwood Quiltery (where I'll be teaching loads this fall, I'll keep everything posted here). It was great to learn about dyeing cellulose fibres and I made some pretty neat patterns. My fave was the shaving cream technique. You spray shave cream on a surface and add ink. You can swirl the ink around using a stick or brush then you lay your fabric over top and allow the dyes to soak in. When you remove the fabric you have a really neat marbling effect.

Resist:


"Parfait" dyeing:

Shaving Cream:


Finally, the getaway! The great Canadian Cottage Getaway! We had a great time and saw so many inspiring things, got to relax and regroup!

Ducks:


Fun-times:


Nature walk (the Birch was sparkly gold, which doesn't really pick up in the photo):

Dye, Spin, Baaa!

I've been keeping busy with my hand-spinning coursework! Last weekend I went to visit my friend Andrea Leigh so we could play around with dyeing some yarn. We have to produce an 11 step gradient for class... We had a great time spinning and dyeing and eating vegan delights.

Vegan fish and chips!

It was my first time using the Greener Shades acid dyes. They were a little bit spotty and we were not sure if it was because we crammed too much fibre into each jar or if we needed to add more acid to the dye-bath or if we needed a leveling agent. So much more experimenting to do!





We were also lucky enough to be invited to a friend's farm to meet her Shetland Sheep! They are so cute and all different, wonderful colours. We even got to take off with a bag full of fleece each to spin up and experiment with!


My continuing course work is going well. I've been working on my Homo/Ortho spinning this weekend. The exercise is to produce a yarn that both singles are of different colours (orthogeneous) and another yarn where the colours are carded before hand then spun and plied to produce a yarn that is all one colour (homogeneous). I finished the Ortho part and prepped the rolags for the homo part.... I really have to practise more spinning from a rolag though, I'm finding it difficult to get a smooth yarn there are lumps... practise makes perfect though!


I've also been working on my "in the grease" homework. This exercise involves flick carding greasy fleece and spinning it without washing it. So the wool still has all it's waxy goodness in it. My hands are very soft! Half the fleece is spun "in the grease" the other has to be washed and carded then spun. I wanted to try washing the fleece in very hot water only. This is the way one of my classmates from Germany washes her fleeces. The idea is that the hot water melts off the wax, you don't let the water cool too much or all the waxy grease will coat the wool again. So you soak the greasy fleece for about 1/2 an hour then dump the water and repeat. I did it 3 times and the fleece seems pretty clean. I'm going to see how it spins.