Part Two: Construction

Weaving away.

Blue warp:  Hand dyed indigo from a few years ago

Terracotta warp:  Repurposed sweater

Blue weft:  super super thin weight of a cotton cone yarn

from the guild trash-to-treasure sale.

Using a double bobbin shuttle for the thin weft making it

two strands.  Makes the edges a bit tricky, but I love the 

way it is weaving up!

~

Saori shawl to follow..

Building a coverlet..

Top photo taken by Karen Parsons

The volunteers at The Depreciation Lands Museum hand spun the five

pounds of yarn in the top photo.

This yarn is to be hand woven into a coverlet for the cabin

on the property.

Yesterday Marilyn and I dyed all the yarns

in Indigo.

They turned out beautifully!

There are so many hands building this coverlet.

Can't wait to see it on the loom!

~

Yarn Along..

"...Now in those times, bits of sky could be eaten.  

It was different from other foods.  

Rice fills the belly, but sky fills the heart.  

The woman reached for the sky and broke off a piece, 

But eating the sky could be dangerous business.  

One could become selfish in their desire, intoxicated, and this was a terrible taboo.

The woman's hunger was stronger than her fear of what she knew had been forbidden, 

and she devoured more and more, until she was drink with it.

As punishment, God pulled the sky higher.

With the heavens now so far above, and God even farther, the people of the land and their children, and their children for generations to come, each filled with their own great hunger, were set out on a trail of infinite desire.

Their longing was made material in the bluest of God's 

blues - in garments dyed in indigo.'

-Adapted by the author from West African folklore, various provenances

Partial except by Catherine McKinley's book above:

Indigo: in search of the color that seduced the world.

~

Joining Ginny..

Yarn Along...

Chipping away at the "Terrain" scarf by Janina Kallio.

Loving and craving this brilliant green yarn.

naturally dyed with Queen Anne's Lace and Indigo that I took from the shop : |

Reading a vintage copy of "Beard on Bread" that 

was found at a local antique shop.  Snagged

a vintage book on woven garment construction

 and those cute miniature weaving shuttles as well.

It is an icy, 

sloppy, 

knee deep slushy, 

with more snow on top,

grey,

did I mention grey, 

kinda day.

Guild meeting was cancelled due to the poor weather, so time 

to photograph some yarn for the shop..

and knit.

..  dreaming of green..

Happy Wednesday

~

Joining Ginny

Yarn Along..

Goldenrod over dyed with Indigo..

Had to knit it up for myself.

For some reason I am in LOVE with brilliant green lately.

Probably because it it so gray here.

Scarf pattern:

'Terrain'

by

Kallio Knits

Reading:

Uppercase Magazine

I've been wanting to subscribe to Uppercase for some time now.

When I read that this issue had a feature on feed sacks, 

I knew it was time to jump on board.

Uppercase is absolutely wonderful.

Savoring 

every

single

page.

There are a lot of familiar fabrics in the magazine.

These little quilt squares were sewn by hand, while I was camping, over

20 years ago.  Ironed them with a coffee pot as I went.

So much fun to pull them out of the attic and see them again.

Dad even remembers a shirt made from one of the fabrics as a child.

Any other feed sack fabric fans out there??

~

Joining Ginny

Indigo..

You can't help feeling like a bit of a sorceror

mixing up an indigo vat..

Pinches of this..

Lots of stirring that..

Wondering what colors will surface from green

cauldron once the yarn hits the air..

..because that is when the magic happens.

This was the first time I've mixed a vat alone.

I've got some learning to do, but so far..

L.O.V.E.

the indigo.

~