One of two pieces I created for the 12×12 show at Orange: coffee, art, music. This piece incorporates a swatch from Nancy Marchant’s Woven Warmth pattern, as well as some stitching techniques I learned in a recent bojagi stitching class taught by Youngmin Lee.
With this piece, I worked once again with a woven background, and created an overlay inspired by the PET scan that confirmed my diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer. The title is “a $13,700 portrait of my liver” and it is a remark upon the difficult news of the diagnosis, combined with the luminous quality of the scan.
Two of three bobbins of plied yarn from a Shepherd’s Hey fleece: Lenore. I will have three bobbins in total and have my eye on the Hatsuki pattern. After allowing the final bobbin to rest for a few days, I will count up my yardage to see what type of project is possible. This yarn is quite consistent, but it IS handspun. It varies from a light fingering to a sport weight.
I didn’t talk about this in the episode, but February 13 was a snow day for me, and I took advantage of the weather to freshen up several of the knits I’ve been wearing lately. My process is no-fuss. I wait for some snow to accumulate, then I spread my garments over a small area. It’s important to remember how many pieces I took out. This snow was falling FAST and I could not see any of the garments by the time I went out to retrieve them. I pulled all items out of the snow and put them into a giant IKEA bag. Then, I gave each one a vigorous shake and a bang against the porch railing to remove the snow. Inside, I hung the items over an expanding wooden drying rack. The advantage of this method is that the items to not start to stretch out because they are soaking wet. They are freshened up (I would not say cleaned) because the snow sticks to the fabric and is then shaken off, carrying away odors and allowing the stitches to shrink back into shape. An alpine-type snow is best for this method, but we had a heavy wet “Jersey” snow and it worked just fine. For more details on the subject, visit The Wool Channel.
The most delightful socks for me are on the needles. This combination of Gale’s Art Graffiti and Asphalt colorway, along with my Blackthorn needles, is incredibly pleasing. I plan to do my traditional ribbed sock, with the addition of an eye of partridge heel, which will show up nicely when I wear these socks with my Bryr clogs.
Here is my start on the Eun sweater by November Knits. I am using a combination of a workhorse Cascade 220 Sport yarn and Shibui Silk Cloud. Loving the results. Even more, I love the ribbed detail in the raglan shaping and intent to carry it down the sides of the sweater.
Hi, Nancy. Thank you for the kind words! I did not know about Eun on the Woolly Mammoth — will have to give that a listen. I dearly hope that the Lenore will work up into a dream of a Hatsuki. It’s a bit of a risk considering the difference in fiber content, but I’m going to be optimistic!
Love everything about this episode. Your needle felted pieces are wonderful, that Lenore spin is going to make a gorgeous garment, and your current knits are so pleasing (I’ve been watching the Woolly Mammoth podcast, in which Eun has featured prominently lately – such a flattering design). Most of all, thank you for the poem by Andrea Gibson!
Hi, Nancy. Thank you for the kind words! I did not know about Eun on the Woolly Mammoth — will have to give that a listen. I dearly hope that the Lenore will work up into a dream of a Hatsuki. It’s a bit of a risk considering the difference in fiber content, but I’m going to be optimistic!
Love everything about this episode. Your needle felted pieces are wonderful, that Lenore spin is going to make a gorgeous garment, and your current knits are so pleasing (I’ve been watching the Woolly Mammoth podcast, in which Eun has featured prominently lately – such a flattering design). Most of all, thank you for the poem by Andrea Gibson!