D'NALI

I know this space has been filled with my former job woes and the like then silence for the last couple of weeks but behind the scenes, crafting has kept me sane and out of jail!  😀  Every project has a story but there’s been so much going on, I’m going to skip the stories and just show you the proof.  Plus there’s the inclination to just post to Instagram immediately then forget about it,  but I’ve missed this space so I’m back posting here.   Since my last crafty post I’ve been:

getting jiggy with natural dyeing.  Tumeric, coffee, red cabbage leaves have all been my mediums.  I wish I lived some place where I could go foraging for plants and nuts that I can use for dyeing.  Or even grow my own plant dyes in a garden, but until I can do that, I’ll make do with the mediums I have access too.   I have my eye on this Earthhues Natural Dye kit.  It’s a little pricey but it’s worth it as a kit.  If I had to pay for dye from each individual plant, nut or root in the kit, I’d spend a lot more.  Maybe this could be a Christmas gift to myself.  💡   In the mean time, the results of what I’ve been doing have been amazing but I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

Dyed with tumeric/chile powder 1:1 mix, this is the perfect yellow!

The dye bath for this project was made from red cabbage.  I over-dyed a skein of Pearlescent Tonal from Knitpicks and got this amazing grey lilac shade.

And this skein is dyed with coffee.  The fiber is pure merino so the sheen on it post dye job is amazing!!!

All the fibers used are natural fibers — mostly merino and merino blends.  They all turned out so splendidly I can’t pick a favourite.  Can you?  The experience has been amazing with quite a lot of learning opportunities.  I think I’m going to have to start making notes while I do what I do so I can replicate the dye jobs if I need to.

In other crafty news, while my friend Sudana and I were in CT at Stitches East, I took a weaving class.  I have to say, SE didn’t have a lot of vendors but the classes I took and experiencing Hartford, CT definitely were worth the trip. As for weaving, I’m totally hooked!!!  At the end of the all day class, I ended up with this scarf:

Not exactly the best woven scarf ever seen by mankind but I am very proud of it.  I found the process of weaving very calming — you get into a kind of rhythm that’s just so meditating.  I can’t wait to do more weaving soon.

I’ve also done my first set of cables; not that I thought they were hard, I just never did a project with them.  This one was a quick, easy one made to cover up a not so pretty mug.  I love the end result.   How luscious are those cables?!!!!  Now I want to make all the cable thingz!!!!!  😀     I’ve already started a cable hat!

I’ve also done washcloths for myself

A hat designed by Bethany Hill called “Drips”.   This is a really lovely pattern, perfect for a person beginning colour-work.  My big head and hair however didn’t fit the hat but Bethany was great on IG and gave me the modifications to make it in a bigger size.

And on top of all that, I’ve been spindle spinning:

There’s a not so nice story about how I actually started spindle spinning but at the end of it all, I’m glad the end result of that day was me learning a new crafty skill.  Especially one that I’ve been butting heads with for so long.  I’m not done the second braid yet … well half a braid.  Both samples were about 2 ozs each.  With the first, I ended up with 40 yards of worsted weight yarn.  The fiber spun was 2 oz of Coopworth I got in the Craftsy spinning kit for the class “From Fluff to Stuff” and the second is some Targhee fiber from “Into the Whirled” I got from a friend .  I’ll have to document my spinning adventures in separate posts but for now, that’s what I’ve been working on spinning wise.

So see … I haven’t been a slacker.    😀    I’ve just bee n delinquent in posting what I’ve been up to craft wise.  Now that it’s Fall aka nesting time, you’ll be seeing much more.

So … now that I’ve shown you all that I’ve been doing, the question is — what have you been working on?  😀

P.S. Paula, this crafty update is dedicated to you!  Just so you know your friend is not a slacker.  ❤    😀