Blue

Posted on July 20, 2013 by Jen

Blue beckons. It calls to me, and it says ” Hey you who has avoided me for so long, I know you’re secretly in love with me ! ” So I am. What to do? I bought blue yarn yesterday from town, I mean really blue yarn , and I have it propped up on the top of the loft wall, so as I pass by it, I can’t help but to see it and think ‘ what on earth … that is buh-looo ! ‘ Here it is, a single skein of Malabrigo Yarn (from N.Uruguay, which makes me happy) …lace weight, 100% Merino wool, and in color “marine”. It is variegated from medium to really deep indigo tones. Blue is so Me now. It is my mood and my desire, it is a field of linen flax at dusk, it is eyes of a new lover that I can’t resist, it is a soothing drink of color that quenches my thirst while all around me fields of grass are as dry and white as parchment. This beautiful yarn cake of lace weight is not going to be made into anything remotely lacy or frilly or superfluous. It shall be old-fashioned and practical. Casting on . . .

A (mitt) Fiesta !

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Jen

Corazenia’s Pin-Striped Mitts

Socksformum’s Tartan & Tweed Fair Isle Mitts

Debbiedas’ Tartan & Tweed Fair Isle Mitts

SnohomishCarol’s Tartan & Tweed Fair Isle Mitts

GDoran’s Tartan & Tweed Fair Isle Mitts

SnohomishCarol’s Mitt Fiesta !

Enquery’s Tartan & Tweed Fair Isle Mitts

SnohomishCarol’s Pin-Striped Mitts

SnohomishCarol’s Pin-Stiped TuTu Mitts

SnohomishCarol’s Color-Stranded & Pin-Striped Mitts

Snohomish Carol’s Pin-Striped Mitts

SnohomishCarol’s Pin-Striped Mitts

Enquery’s Pin-Striped Mitts

Brookfarm’s Pin-Striped Mitts

Enquery’s Pin-Striped Mitts

Kaystirs’ Tartan & Tweed Mitts http://www.ravelry.com/projects/kaystir/tartan–tweed-fair-isle-fingerless-mitts

Kaystir’s Pin-Striped Mitts

Jenjay’s Mini Pin-Striped Mitts

Jenjay’s Tartan & Tweed Fair Isle Mitts

Jenjay’s Pin-Striped Mitts

Jenjay’s prototype 1 mitts

Jenjay’s prototype 2 mitts

Jenjay’s Mens Pin-Striped Mitts

Jenjay’s Pin-Striped Mit Mania

Jenjay’s Mitts for Lizzi

Jenjay’s Mitts for Give-away

Jenjay’s Stranded-Color & Pin-Striped Mitts

Bizzi Lizzi knitting in the wild with her mitts from Jen

Thank you everybody for your test-knitting contributions, I couldn’t have done it without you !

Your mitts are just all so lovely!!!

Lupinus Albifrons

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Jen

Lupinus Albifrons. Known as just ‘ lupine ‘, it is one of the more populated native wildflowers of Northern California, and in April fills the mountain meadows, between grape vines in the rows, and trail-sides with deep blue & purple variegation. A small woody shrub when mature, however, where grass is mowed annually (as in the vineyard rows here on the mountain) and where seed is planted from the wind, you’ll see it popping up everywhere as young single stemmed flowers . . .

I luckily had just the perfect yarn handy when I became inspired from my walk of last week. I had a bunch of green which I over-dyed from grey wool which perfectly illustrates the ‘silvery’ grey-green leaves of the plant. The rich deep blue and purple played illusive games however with the camera, which wasn’t able to distinguish the two, and both came out as blue tones in most of the photos. But here it is , un chullo, for my brother’s birthday tomorrow!

I absolutely go wild photographing still-life knitteds ~~ its just one of the things I love doing, in every light possible , which enables me to make an assemblage of photos that catches different tones and characteristics of the yarns and knitted shapes . . .

The detail with which I experimented for the first time on this chullo hat, was to add a running crocheted chain just inside the typically chullo-esque double-crocheted edge, to neaten up the edge.

I love to make my chullo hats a bit of a hybrid with gnome hats by decreasing into a point, then finishing with a braid extending off of the top . . .

They blossom into a hat with a lot of character and playful whimsy . . .

The crocheted edges tame the curling tendency of the stockinette stitch. . .

Braid finishes being made on both ear flaps . . .

(the purple really pops in this photo below !)

Un chullo, inspired from the lupine flowers in the fields of Northern California. To be given to my brother tomorrow, and there could be nobody more appreciative than he, who wears them everyday , and who is also a botanical wizard !

NOTE : I have taken notes as I knit this one, so if anybody is interested, I could assemble a pattern of sorts from it.

Details on Ravelry HERE

Well, I’m off to walk the mountain with Emma, but I will leave you with a little slide show of the early morning walk of last weekend, from which this chullo’s lupine photos were taken . . .

Lupine of Northern California

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Jen

The other day I took this photograph while knit-walking , the fields bursting with wildflowers, always the first being the blue-ish purple and green lupine.
So it inspired the colorway of this chullo hat (which I’m knitting for my brother’s birthday, as he is a chullo fiend) I am delighted how rich the tones are with my over-dyed green yarn from last autumn, and the blue & purple work together. . .

Happy Easter holiday everyone !

Woods Knitting

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Jen

I took my knitting outside, one of the sleeves. I walked about, holding it up to the woods, against Madrone trees, against Bays, against the woods, to see if it is indeed a woodsy colorway. I think that it most definitely is! So it is decided, this sweater will be named ‘Woodsy’. The camera’s eye isn’t detecting the third color very well, there are three distinct colors here.

Woodsy on the bench…

Woodsy with Emma…

Woodsy down the road…

Catching up today with things In The Woods. I think I will be doing a knit-and-walk a little later (down that very road). I am thinking it’s highly possible, that if I don’t put my knitting down for any significant time, I could finish the nieces Autumn sweaters easily by the Autumnal Equinox. Easy peasy.

A blurry glimpse of my Emma & me (in the woods)… DSCN7209

Woodsy

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Jen

Over-dye madness. Insanely intriguing varigations.

Here I have heaped the over-dyed green yarns for my Nine Year Old Niece’s sweater on top of the finished and waiting sweater for my Twelve Year Old Niece.

The ‘bug-guts’ yellowy green has over-dyed

ever-so-nicely into a color

which reminds me of golden green tips of bright moss !

All the colors of the foliage in the forest are running through these four yarns in a very earthy woodsy colorway.

I have roughly 200 grams each of four different greens, each with many varigations in their various journeys from dye bath to dye bath.

I’m not exactly sure what I am going to do with all of the crazy varigation. Yesterday was all about dominating the yarn, now that I’ve had my way with the colors, not exactly sure. I think I’ll let them dominate me for a while. At least until I get the sweater cast-on. I actually love the challenge of listening to my instincts , and the yarn. Sometimes this whole business of dying, knitting, and improvising is just downright delicious & fabulously exciting !

Autumn Approaches

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Jen

Beautiful cascades of yarn I’ve over-dyed plum and purple, to Eldest Niece’s specifications, for Autumn sweaters. Jacquard acid dyes : pink dyed over light blue yarn, and then lavendar over heathered grey. The over-dye and the original colors will make a lovely subtle varigation in the stockinette fabric that I just can’t wait to see, and since there are two nieces, there will be Autumn Sweaters (x 2) . Take a look at the other colorway overdyed from the same yarns which I bought a boat load of in a closeout sale. Superwash 100% Merino wool. Drinks in the dye, and exhausts the dyebath so nicely ! But committing to overdyed colors , I have found, is strenuous at times, because there’s no “I’ll just exchange these 5 skeins for another color” sort of thinking. Nooo… I have to make it work, in a sort of determined marriage to the yarn. So far I’ve casted on after switching needle sizes and swatching four times !

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Meanwhile, Classic Socks pair number two continues to grow.

(Yes… more purple.)

Three Shades of Grey

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Jen

I am very delighted to share with you a little project which designed itself as I knitted it up just last night and this morning, using three shades of grey…

A little something for my Old Pioneer Jar Method of brewing tea…

And so, I made a cozy little Tea Cozy for my Jar Brewing method. It’s so adorable , I’m over the moon about it ! It reminds me a little of a Nepali or Tibeten Headress. I call it “Earl Grey”, as it speaks of it’s delicious namesake…

Earl Grey Tea Cozy. Whimsical. Playful. Silly! Do you suppose a standard 6-cup English teapot version is inevitable? Maybe, but for now, I am quite pleased to be presenting my own pioneer tea-brewing method and the cozy”Earl Grey” Tea ‘Jar’ Cozy!

Sneak Preview

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Jen

Unlikely colorway?

Yes, but of course ! I want to think that somehow these colors are destined to match up, perhaps something more like disagreeable neighbors, but I have faith that it will finish harmoniously. A stretch of my imagination, maybe, but to be an Intentional Dyer is beyond my ability, and ‘I’m okay with that’. I often settle with leaving colorways up to the Sisters of Fate, and to just let the sweaters be what they want to be.

I managed to find some one-hundred-percent superwash merino wool yarn in DK (double knitting) weight, on close-out discount, and bought a lot of it. Light blue and a heathered medium grey. Over-dyed dramatically, to create one-of-a-kind colorways in my nieces’ favorite colors, for what will in a couple of months’ time ~ my nieces Autumn Sweaters. There’s actually really nice and subtle varigation from the original colors and the over-dyed colors… exciting !

What you see draped over the chair is for one of the sweaters, the younger of my two nieces. The other will make an appearance later, in a second colorway, in a second sneak preview. So here I go, winding off a gazillion yards into balls…

Blacker Than A Moonless Night

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Jen

Just look at this Yarn Candy !

This is indeed the blackest of black animal fiber I’ve ever seen. I bought it “raw” (weedy & dusty) from Debbie at Brookfarm last year, just over the mountain in Glen Ellen. She didn’t seem very excited to sell me raw unpicked fleece, but it was a special circumstance, and anyway, I nearly begged her. So here I am a year later, in dire need of black wool, or black anything, for Alejandro’s ski hat. Then I remembered this jet black alpaca I had stashed which I only spun up a sample last spring, washed, and noted it’s depth of total true black.

Sunday and today I filled a large bobbin , spinning from handfulls out of the bag (the technical term is called ‘spinning from locks’), then I washed & rinsed it 3 times, thwacked it, and hung it dry. It is absolutely glistening pitch black, and bloomed into soft gorgeousness. I can’t wait to knit it up.

You see, it’s winter in Patagonia, and Alejandro is training for ski, and I’ve promised him a basic ski hat, just in case the other ski hat I made for Ale doesn’t really work well on the slope. Let it be said by me that no other kind of hat belongs on an Argentinian who skis in the Andes more than one made of alpaca, and still more, one hand-spun and knit by a friend who bought the alpaca from another friend. This will be a hat of great character and integrity. I know Alejandro will like it a lot.

Mountain Wildflowers

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Jen

I am drawing inspiration from nature around me, for a project upcoming. A little jar with a sprig of Lupine from on the ridge …

Lupinus albifrons.

Sweater Success !

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Jen

Sunday I met my nieces in Calistoga , beneath the snow-capped Mt.St Helena. Weather permitted, but just. I photographed them modelling their new sweaters in and about the interesting nooks in Calistoga ~ our favorite being the mural of Old Town Calistoga ~ and among some colorful walls of the buildings.

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Then afterward, as is our tradition,

icecream cones…

because modelling is hard work !

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Detailed in Ravelry here.

Mountains Of Alpaca

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Jen

I am face-to-face with a mountain of natural colors , just off the line, washed & hung-dried skeins of handspun alpaca, spun up from raw loose alpaca locks I have acquired from three different friends of mine who raise alpacas . Three !

This Wind-Off launches the beginning of knitting for the second April Birthday Project , which is the Andean chullo / Himalayan sherpa hat, and for which last week I began spinning my alpaca stash . My brother loves these hats, has a bit of a collection , and for whom I intend to take the design for a twist of a sort, sherpa chullo and which I want to be a pleasant mix borrowing design from Andean, Himalayan, and Fair Isle , this project calls for alpaca, handspun, in order to give it the touch of stylish authenticity.

I thought alpaca would be the perfect fiber.

During the spinning of the alpaca, a couple things developed.

One, I really enjoy spinning alpaca, whether raw and weedy or in fine roving. I have in fact, dyed some and am going to spin up a couple of skeins for the mother of Nora , who has delightedly become a knitter !

Alright, item number two. An amazing thing happened, similarly to when I posted ” What do I have in common with these women? ” a short time ago, marvelling in the acquired skill of double tasking while knitting, well, I have found that I can double task while spinning too ! Even more difficult. The yarn turned out rather more “rustic” than if I were watching with hawk eyes, all the fibers going into the draft, but no, I wanted to read up on my new edition of Textisles and became adept fairly quickly at reading -while – spinning.

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Edit : Here is the almost-finished product, as I’m running out the door, photographed in bad lighting … was in a rush. I didn’t have a chance to edge it and put tassles on . 🙁 I’ll have to add them later….

Soon To Be Spring

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Jen

I was taking photos of yarn to see if I could sell on ebay, in attempt to lessen my random stash. This very old cotton nubby yarn is from the 80’s, which was my mother’s, and which she purchased just before she died. I was proceeding with photographing to sell, and in doing so I just fell in love with it. I just can’t let this little stash of ‘Giselle’ go, I am posting it here instead, in honor of it ~ rather ~ in honor of my mother’s knitting. I love photographing beneath the south-east skylight, in late winter, as the particular seasonal light seems to sometimes make things look so rich with color, texture and a glow, which of course, is rich with memories. I remember fondly my mom knitting a lot. So I’m keeping these little nubby cotton skeins, just to have with me. Just to have a bit of my mom’s yarn.

Now that I have looked differently at these yarns, I am thinking I will hang on to my stash, all of it, and there’ll be a time when they will speak to me. The Vernal Equinox will be here in a blink, and the wild fruit trees are already starting to tentatively blossom here!

Really Red Revisited

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Jen

Well, folks, I’m lost out in a field of redness again. “Really Red Cardigan” has been brought forth from simmering on the back burner as I knit up the Kilt Hose and my two nieces’ Mostly Green & Mostly Blue Pullovers. Again, just swimming in a beautiful sea of garnet red. Soon I’ll make it to a place where I make some decreases, or color changes, but for now, can you hear me calling in the distance ” Don’t expect me for dinner ” … and I can’t even decide which colors to put into the yoke yet ~ grey and black, or the earthy tones. Well, at about a thousand stitches per inch, I still have time to decide.