Page 116 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Art for Carla

Posted on February 3, 2008 by Joyce Makes Art

This simple little collage is for my dear friend Carla. Her book in our pock-et-ful round robin is really a treat — a little jewel full of sweet little children in brightly colored collages. I really love it.

My piece for the book is sort of an anomaly, but, it does have a story. A while ago, I stumbled across a fellow in Austria who was selling out cabinet cards. They aren’t the kind usually seen over here that are 4×6" or bigger. These are tiny — more like 2 1/2" x 4" — and a lot of them are communion pictures. They are very sweet and I had been happily buying them up until I stumbled across the girl pictured here. The photo is dated from the early part of the century. She looks like me. She looks like all of my cousins. She looks like my daughter. I wonder if she is a relative? It seems unlikely as my family is from Russia, but I could put this picture next to the one on my mantel of my grandmother and her siblings and it would fit right in.

At some point, I’m going to have to see if I can do some research and figure out who she is. For now, I’m imagining her story. I hope she got out of Austria during World War II. I’m sure she felt like she wanted to fly away when all the ugliness started.

My Art Show

Posted on January 31, 2008 by Joyce Makes Art

It’s taken me a while to get back to the Birmingham Public Library, where I have a small show in the fourth floor atrium gallery, so I could take some pictures to show y’all. Since the show opened, I’ve spent a week in St. Louis, a few days in Atlanta, nursed a pre-schooler with strep throat, and gone to hear Barak Obama speak (Ellie and I got to shake his hand!) But finally, today, I had a few free moments, and went back, camera in hand.

It was a little bit strange to go and see it and look around with other people there looking and talking on their lunch hours. The review in the newspaper was kind: "whimsical collage pieces that speak to memory" and "bits and pieces…combine to create nostalgic moments that evoke a world of charming recall." (Thank you James R. Nelson).

It was hard to get good photos in the funky lighting, but here are a few of my favorite pieces.

Some of the pieces are older, so it turned out to be almost retrospective.

And of course, there was this, which made me feel sort of queasy and happy all at the same time.

It was sort of funny to see someone else’s summary assessment of my art. So right in many way — rejectamenta is my biggest love in collage art, but so strangely absent — no mention of mom, or wife, or any of the other things that seem so integral to what I do .

I hope you all enjoy this little mini-visit to the show. I wish you could have been there with me in person!

I Have Half A Sock

Posted on January 27, 2008 by Joyce Makes Art

I have some very funny online friends. The board we post on, one that attends to attract moms who do things like cloth diaper, breastfeed, attachment parenting, and natural childbirth, is one that permits you to have a title below your name. And some very clever people, on occasion, run around changing your title.

For sometime now, I’ve been Miss Pretty Yarn (thanks, Shanna). But, earlier this week, I got on and discovered I had a new title: I have half a sock. After some exploration, I discovered that the title was the result of my picture of the halfway finished Shibui sock — I was so excited about how pretty the Orchid colorway is in this yarn, that I couldn’t wait to show it off. So, not to get the namechangers off their game or anything, but I now have more-than-half-a-sock.

I’m still in love with the colorway. And, I made it down through the heel and picked up the stitches to start the gusset, despite a very talkative neighbor on my flight home from St. Louis, which made the turning part a bit challenging. I’m hoping to get a good bit more done while waiting to hear Barak Obama speak this afternoon.

It hasn’t been a very crafty week around here. Lots going on at work, so most of my progress is more in my head than anywhere else. I did have a chance to dye a bit of yarn, after the Ella colorway sold out and then oversold this week – those of you who are waiting, it should be there soon. And there is more yarn this week, Valentine flavored here on Monday and some of the new Elliebelly spring colorways here on Thursday.

That gets me to this wonderful find — a beautiful piece of Alice in Wonderland fabric. I am in LOVE. I rarely sew, but am thinking about lining a bag for myself with this. I have a bad feeling that my good-mama instincts will win out, and it will become some kind of a knit bodice/sewn skirt dress for Miss Ellie, who is in love with it too.

I’ve been nominated!

Posted on January 23, 2008 by Joyce Makes Art

For those of you who have long since become bored by the Oscars and the Grammys, the shiny new awards on the block, being awaited with breathless anticipation, are the Bobbys, the first awards being offered on Ravelry (the big old site for knitters, in case you’ve been living under a rock). Ok, maybe no one is breathless, but I was really excited this morning when a friend emailed to tell me I had been nominated in the advertising category.

So here is my shameless plug. If you’re a Ravelry member, please drop by and vote for me! I would really appreciate it. And, if you belong to Ravelry groups, other forums, or just know some knitters, please put in a good word for me! My competition includes some of the big dogs in the yarn world, so I would love to show them that an indie dyer can be a success story too!

Click Here to vote for Elliebelly. And thank you!

Hijacked!

Posted on January 21, 2008 by Joyce Makes Art

Ze new name of zhis blog, you silly humans, will be "Harry Makes Art." No more Joyce. We need no humans. Cats now have their own crate of art supplies and will be making their own cat-art.

Really. I found him, just like that, in my travel crate of art supplies. I’m getting ready to leave for a week long business trip to visit my knitting peeps in St. Louis (ok, actually for my day job, but I do hope to spend a little time with some knitters). Harry decided to hang with it. He’s been chewing on some strips of molding and rolling the little jars of gel medium around. He’s so cute when he’s not busy being a teenager!

So, I’m off in the morning. Ellie has dressed up Samanatha, our newest Blythe doll to come along with me. Lots of yarn is going out in the mail (you know who you are). Here is a picture of a bit of it all dyed up.

The Rowan Anise sweater is done–I have just one side seam to finish. I’m afraid my worst fears have materialized and it’s too small. I should have done the small, not the extra small. However Ellie is triumphant because it looks great on her, and she seems pretty certain it is going to be hers. I’m torn between repeating it for myself in the bigger size or doing a Kim Hargreaves pattern, Tess, in Big Wool for me.

Since there’s not much going on around here, I’m going to leave you with my youngest cousin, Gail’s, blog for the week. She’s a brand new blogger and an amazingly creative soul. Go see her Oh Jan dress in progress, her incredible garden, and my favorite post, the pictures of her Dad working on his knitted quilt. Oh my! I’m taking a bit of extra yarn, left over from some favorite projects, along on my trip to knit a few more squares for him!

Have a fun week!

Alabama Snow Day

Posted on January 19, 2008 by Joyce Makes Art

This is an Alabama snow day.

It’s not much by most people’s standards, but it’s the most we’ve seen in close to a decade. The snow is coming down, actually pretty hard, now. It wasn’t sticking until a few moments ago, but apparently the thermometer has dropped a bit, and at least for now, there is a little powder dusting in our yard, not just on the deck.

Cross your fingers for us. We’re hoping for a real snow storm.

New Colors For Spring

Posted on January 18, 2008 by Joyce Makes Art

It’s a cold January day, with a forecast of *S*N*O*W* for Alabama — an almost unheard of event. I thought I would give you a sneak peak of the new colorways in my dyepots, to help warm up your day. Does that sound like fun?

There are a few that I have been dyeing up batches of and haven’t offered anywhere yet.

They include Jonquil, pictured here on cashmere.

I’m in love with cashmere right now and have kilos coming in.

Then there is Blue Eggs & Ham (as most of you know, the children generally get naming rights on new colorways)

I’m afraid this late evening photo doesn’t capture the sheen and depth of this colorway, but Ellie pronounced it her all time favorite, which is saying quite a lot. Pictured here on a bamboo blend sock yarn.

This is Pellucidly. I had to look that word up when I came across it in a recent Supreme Court opinion. It describes this yarn pefectly.

I love pink. Girly-girl pink. So I decided to do an almost solid pink for spring. This has some very gentle, subtle color transitions, and knits up into a really nice, makes the light around you look beautiful, not quite solid color. Its called Pink Love.

And, because every family in the South has one, this is renegade, on a wonderful Alpaca/Merino blend.

There are also a couple of colorways that I have already previewed. Katie is the most popular new colorway since Treasure premiered. I find that the feminine but not-too-girly Katie looks fabulous on every single fiber I have tried it out on!

Finally, there is Satellite, a Mardi-gras riot of welcome to spring colors.

*Sigh* I love them all. Dyeing is an awful lot of fun.

And now, here is a surprise. I no longer am able to do custom orders because of the whole volume thing. But I’m in love with these new colorways and thought it would be fun to offer a few customs, say five of them (maybe a few more or less depending on the number of skeins in each order). So, if you want a custom order, be one of the first five people to email me at Joyce at Elliebelly dot com. You can pick any of these colorways on any of my instock fibers, which currently include, well, a whole lot. Cashmere, Silk, Blue Faced Leicester, Merino, Organic Merino, Alpaca, Bamboo, and more. I will also be happy to do solid trim skeins for you along with a custom. The only catch is that it will likely be February before customs go out — certainly no later than mid-February. If you’re interested, just let me know.