Page 124 – Elliebelly Knit & Dye Works

Sock Progress, Dyed Yarn, & Art

Posted on September 13, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

I’m very linear today. I have to stay focused because the soon to be 17 year old (he who got on the school bus with my car keys in his pocket this morning) has given me a birthday dinner menu that starts with oysters for appetizers, moves on to lamb roast and baked potatoes, with a greek salad, and finishes up with a chocolate mousse cake. This will require huge organizational skills from a working mom on a Friday, so I’m focused and linear today.

(1) Sock progress:

I’m going to break down here and confess to being in love with this socks. I’m sorry that they’re running dead on gauge, which means they will fit Miss Ellie, but not me. Just a simple little basic stockinette sock, but oh so pleasing in this yarn!

(2) Dyed Yarn

I think I have neglected to do more than mention in passing that I’m having a special fairytale-inspired yarn week at Elliebelly. Please come by and take a look! There are some gorgeous silk and cashmere colorways, along with blue faced leicester, Merino, and Peace Fleece. I’m particularly fond of the sock yarns in Baba Yaga and Princess and the Pea.

There are lots of yarns to choose from, with more being stocked today and tomorrow. I would love any input you have on which of these colorways you would like to see incorporated into my fall line.

(3) Art. I am so excited! The weekend after this, I’m taking classes from Catherine Moore with my art-sistahs. We’re making a fatbook for the retreat weekend. I decided to do the background for my pages from one large sheet of watercolor paper. I’ve been layering on it all week and it’s just about done. Here is a picture of it in progress, and I hope to have the finished pages to share by the end of the week.

True Confessions

Posted on September 10, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

My children’s favorite joke goes something like this: Q-How many kids with ADD does it take to put in a lightbulb? A-Let’s go ride bikes.

They like it, to some extent, because it is true of their mother. You’re about to find out just how true.

I decided I needed to ‘fess up to all the knitting projects I have started. This will NOT include planned projects, like Teddy’s sweater (waiting on just the right pattern) or my Koigu mittens (waiting on needles). This is only actual, in progress, knitting. I would go oldest to newest, but that would ~~make it clear what a totally deranged woman I am~~ be too depressing, so you’re getting them in random order.

I’ve been dying to make this hat ever since I saw the pattern. It’s perfect for waiting for Ellie at Nutcracker rehearsals. I got no further than casting on, when I realized my circulars were too long and my new Knitpicks Option needles, for some unknown reason, don’t include a 16" cable. Must run by the knit shop and get Addis.

Why don’t pictures of this yarn ever look as pretty as the real thing? This is my Handmaiden Seasilk Scarf, being knit in a basic feather and fan pattern. I love this scarf. It’s for a dear friend who I don’t get to see enough of. I’m really enjoying this one. It’s a simple, relaxing knit. But I do need to remember to put in a lifeline because I’m sure to screw up the pattern at some point.

The Rock and Weave sock. I love this sock. I love the yarn and I love the pattern. Maybe this sock and I need to have a mental health day at the Botanical Gardens?

Hmmm…..I didn’t even want to include this, but it is true confessions day. This is some of my first handspun yarn. I was just fooling around and decided to knit with it. Silk, Merino, Corriedale. It’s all there. What is this?

Memory’s Cabled Purse. I loved this when I saw it. But, the pattern has errors and I haven’t been able to get a corrected pattern from the store that wrote it. I think I’ll try driving out there this week, and if I still can’t get it, I’ll look around for a substitute pattern.

A kitten for my niece. How pathetic is this? All I have to do is stuff it and sew it up. She’ll probably be 12 before I finish it at this rate.

Undulating Rib socks in my own Purple Rain Blue Faced Leicester yarn. I really don’t like the yarn in this pattern. Actually, I do, but this is one of those patterns that requires more concentration than I can give a sock with a four year old on my lap. What I don’t like are the mistakes in the pattern. I’m going to frog this and give it a try in Knitty’s Monkey pattern, which I think will be easier to memorize.

Vintage Velvet in Muench’s Touch Me. Need I say more? I need to go down one needle size and they’re in the mail, although I should have gotten them last March when I realized I needed to go a size down.

Socks for Ellie in superwash merino. I’m hoping to work on these some this week. I’m in love with watching the colors knit up.

Ew. Yucch. It’s Lion’s cashmere & gauze ribbon scarf. I thought it looked great in the picture. I’m less than overwhelmed with it in person. In fact, it’s off its needles and on a holder. I’m not sure the outlook for this one is good. The picture seemed so romantic and pretty. The reality seems like overstuffed Victoriana, and not in a nice way.

Lizard Ridge (from Knitty). It calls to me. It’s a siren song. The pattern seems designed for surviving endless ballet rehearsals with Miss El. I’m planning on digging into this one with a vengeance, as rehearsals have now started and I have lots of Noro stashed for it.

Finally, and currently missing in action, is Ellie’s Cahaba River Jacket. It’s almost done, but it needs to be lined. Donna, who wrote the pattern, has taken pity on me and has the jacket and fabric to cut out and serge the lining for me, so I can knit up the neck bits and line the jacket. It’s going to be adorable on her and I can’t wait to finish it.

So — that’s true confessions from me. I challenge all of y’all to do the same! Confession is good for the soul. And it doesn’t seem as bad as I was afraid it would be. In fact, I think I’ll go cast on a couple of sweaters I’ve acquired yarn for and have been planning….

If you find yourself bored and in need of a yarn fix this week, please stop by my Hyena Cart store at http://www.hyenacart.com/elliebelly . I have a week long fairytale-themed yarn stocking going on, it starts on Monday at noon. There are lots of new colorways, inspired by my favorite stories. I’ve been working on these yarns for the last six weeks and am excited to be offering them, so please drop by for a look. There is cashmere, blue faced leicester, merino, silk, alpaca — a little bit of everything. Come check it out!

An Artful Saturday

Posted on September 8, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

I’ve stolen away a few minutes to finish up and scan my work in Lesley’s Pock-et-ful book before I run off to a mad dash of errands, Nutcracker ballet rehearsals, and little girl sleepover parties. I’m still having trouble with my new scanner, so these aren’t great, but I hope you enjoy the art.

The concept for this round robin is to contain art in pockets. I made a little pocket out of muslin, using an old telegram and some favorite images. I stitched everything together, and then onto the page, which I had painted and stamped on.

I made three tags for the pocket. Evil scanner will not scan them separately, so here they are together, with the ribbon cut off (very evil scanner), but you get the idea.

I journaled on the back of them, in a quick, sort of impromptu manner, trying to express what each tag represented about where my art-inspiration comes from, which is the theme for Lesley’s book.

Notice the grammatical error in the first tag, which I’m trying to force myself to leave because this was supposed to be spontaneous, but it’s hard for me to leave stuff like that alone. One thing I’ve almost never done in my art is to incorporate my writings, and I have a sort of resolution to try and do that more and make my art more personal in that sense.

Finally, here is the back of the page.

This has been a fantastic round robin so far. I’m looking forward to the next book!

Knit Night

Posted on September 7, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

Last night was knit night at my local yarn shop, In The Making. It’s the first time I’ve made it there — in fact, the first time since last spring that I’ve made it out to knit with the girls.
It was wonderful! Suzanne, the Sock Queen, was there, knitting socks in the most beautiful shade of blue Jitterbug from Colinette. Shirra, a/k/a Purl McKnitty, was there with her Mom. You have to go check out the little Pirate Hats she made for a swap! MJ a Ravelry friend who owns a very cool sounding yarn store in New York was in town for business and we got to meet there! MJ was knitting Monkey socks in a really pretty blue to purple colorway of Jitterbug that I forgot to ask the name of. She has motivated me to pull out my Purple Rain Yarn and cast on for Monkey.

MJ brought me this fabulous Schaffer Yarn. It managed to slip its label so she didn’t know the colorway and had to just give it away. Lucky me! It is even more beautiful in person!

Instead of working on Rock and Weave, like I had planned, I started Ellie’s superwash socks. I dont knit with my own yarn enough! (so much yarn, so little time) It was a real pleasure to watch the colors take shape.

I’m hoping to make a lot of progress on these socks at Nutcracker rehearsals tomorrow.

My project for tonight is to give sheep a bath.

My friend Joyce Darby brought me over this sack of fleece a few weeks ago.

I put it aside, not quite sure what to do with it. But, Stephanie had a great tutorial on how she washes roving on her blog, so I adapted it to some things I had on hand. I put it in a big plastic tub and have been putting it through rinses to get the muck out. Tonight, I’m soaking it in some mild soap. Look at how pretty its little curly pieces are.

I think this is a sheep Joyce is thinking of acquiring for her farm, so I’m hoping to find some time to play with the fleece this weekend and see how it spins up.

Success!

Posted on September 5, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

Third time was the charm. I remembered the button holes. I remembered the extra rows. And, armed with experience, I did a picot edge castoff. Here is the cuff for the first of my Rock and Weave socks, and just a wee start on the second one.

The yarn, in case you haven’t seem me rave about it, is Colinette’s Jitterbug sock yarn in Popsicle. I adore this yarn. I want it in EVERY colorway. It’s genius. Mine came from one of my favorite local yarn stores, In the Making. Donna, the owner, is really nice and has started mail ordering yarn, if you want some and have any trouble finding it. With cooler weather hopefully coming soon, I’m hoping to make these socks a priority so I can wear them when I’m in Connecticut in early October to visit my #2 son, who starts school up there today!

I’ve also been on a dyeing spree. Starting on September 10 (next Monday), I’ll be having a week long stocking of fairytale-inspired yarns at my HC shop. Different yarns every day, including cashmere, silk and several luxury sock yarns, in addition to some great Blue Faced Leicester and Merino yarns. I have several colorways that will be available this Thursday, as well, including some of the Eire cashmere I showed you earlier this week, the new Mordechai colorway,

Painter’s Pallet,

and more yarn in the Retro Kitchen, Orchard, and Girl Power colorways, to keep all the nice peeps who asked for more of them happy. Please come and shop with me on noon Thursday when all the new yarn stocks.

Moo

Posted on September 3, 2007January 4, 2016 by Joyce Makes Art

Have you seen the Moo Cards on Flickr? I love them. They’re like miniature business cards. For $19.99 you get a hundred little cards, approximately 1" x 3.5". Lots of artists have been getting them to trade. I never seem to be able to commit to a design, though.

Now Susie LaFond is hosting an "extreme inchies" swap for Moo sized cards that are created as original collages. It’s a great format. I made several this morning. This is my favorite.

If you haven’t tried this format, you really should consider it! It’s lots of fun to search through your studio for tiny images and doodahs. This image is from Paper Whimsy.

Hodgepodge

Posted on September 2, 2007 by Joyce Makes Art

I’m having one of those ADD kind of days, flitting from one thing to the next. I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea about the next things I wanted to do with my collage for Lesley’s Pock-et-ful book. So at 0’dark thirty, I found myself cutting and sewing. I did some more work on my background, then I put together a little pocket, layering a Paper Whimsy transparency image over an old telegram, and sewed it to the page.

Then I prepared some tags — aging them and giving them some paint. The larger ones on the left are new, the two smaller ones on the right that are more difficult to see are actually vintage tags that I used some Moonshadow Inks on. I’m going to journal about inspiration on the tags, and include them inside the pocket. Look at how cool it is that the words "next time" from the telegraph are highlighted underneath the transparency at the bottom of the girl’s skirt. So much of collage art is serendipity and drawing inspiration from what develops if you just let go.

While my tags were drying, I examined my find from yesterday’s thrifting trip after the farmer’s market. Ellie found some adorable miniature nutcrackers, which I neglected to photograph, but really beautiful ones, that she got for .50 each. And I scored this strange little light fixture for .50.

The metal box closes with a little latch and seemed to be begging me to alter it. I’m torn between that and turning it into a vase for the little posies the children like to bring me from the garden. I’ll detach the cord and the light attachment and see what it seems to be wanting to turn into.

After that, I got a little help from my oldest son winding yarn. He is a wonderful skein winder (if you buy yarn from me, he is probably the one who rewinds your skeins for you) and seems to like it because it keeps him in Starbucks money and he gets first shot at naming the colorways (hence blocking his younger sister’s increasing requests to dye "I live in New York, my brother’s a dork"). I’ve been dyeing cashmere this week and we decided to reskein it.

This first one is Wicked.

And this is Eire.

I love cashmere. I’m dreaming about a Mobius wrap. And maybe a pair of gloves. It feels so good. If I ever leave the judge, it will be for some cashmere.

I liked Eire so much I repeated it on Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn. It will go first to Elliebelly Club Sock members, and if there is any left, I’ll offer it at my Hyena Cart store. This colorway is definitely a keeper.

The last thing I did this morning was getting birthday presents ready. We’re having a nine-year old birthday tomorrow, but are celebrating today as one of her brothers is leaving for school in the morning. I hope she’s going to have as much fun with them as we had getting them!