Trying to put groceries away with Harry in the house is quite an adventure. (You will note he has grown rather significantly since his last appearance here.) Bob is no more succesful with getting Harry to stay out of the fridge than he is with the teenage boys.
This is just a weekend wrap up — I’m working on a special project. It’s very exciting and I’m not quite ready to share it in case I jinx myself, but it involves dyeing and fabric and fiber and collage art all rolled into one, and I’m looking forward to letting you all in on the secret very, very soon! For now, I’ll show you pictures of what went on here this weekend.
Most of the merino I dyed in this wonderful colorway that Ellie named "Dandelion Dreams" because, she said, these are all the colors that beautiful golden dandelions dream of being as they dance in the late fall garden.
This is some roving I dyed, using similar colors. It’s meant to become some book covers that I need to get started working on for the holidays! The roses are La Reine Victoria and they smell fabulous. They’re a treat this late in the year.
I have to tell y’all about a wonderful discovery I’ve made of a product called Moonshadow Inks. You mix a powder with water and it creates wonderful backgrounds with a metallic luster. This sample was painted on butcher paper — I’m not sure if that’s what it’s really called, but it’s what the butcher wraps my meat in and I asked for a bit extra to play with. Shoshanah at Hannahgrey is an exceptionally nice person — the customer service is just wonderful.
Finally, I have a problem that I’m hoping someone will have a suggestion for. I have just two 3.5 oz. skeins of this lovely handpainted yarn from Beemer Knits. I’ve been swatching it to try and decide the best stitch to use to turn it into a scarf for Ellie. I tried seed stitch, stockinette, and garter stitch. I’m undecided about the best way to knit it up (and I should mention that the reverse stockinette actually looks pretty lovely). So, suggestions, patterns, and ideas are all welcome. Miss El has a fabo pink jacket from Mini Boden and this yarn is clearly the perfect scarf yarn for the jacket, so I need to do something wonderful for her this week.
I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Knit, felt, sew, and make art!
Amber! As soon as you send me your address, I’ll pop this lovely skein of yarn in the mail to you.
Since many of you kindly reassured me that the fiber of the space time continuum would result in a rebound effect that would cause the Oh Jan dress to suddenly gain excessive length, I feel the need to share with you that it is simply not the case. If you will scroll down to the original post, you will notice nearly a full skein of yarn attached to the needles. In the course of this trip (we will not discuss the entire repeat that had to be frogged. Nevah, evah knit at two in the morning after drinking gin martinis) that skein, and all but the last few yards of the next one were consumed. The Oh Jan dress, however, appears to be not much, if any, longer than she started out.
The great knitting gods continue to mock me.
Today was, however, a great fiber and fiber acquitistion day in my house.
My merino arrived — I’ve been skeining it up all day, but couldn’t resist dyeing a few skeins before I got all of the work done. This is my favorite colorway so far.
Roving steaming in the pot. I love how the steam gives it an eerie glow.
I needed one last skein of yarn for Teddy’s science fair project (dyeing yarn), so there was a quick detour to the yarnshop. Teddy’s skein is pictured at right, but I had to grab two skeins of the Blue Sky alpaca because I’m a terrible sucker for low-twist single ply yarns, particularly when they are chunky like this. I like how soft they always are. I felt entitled to the nifty hanging needle holder because when I returned from my trip, I discovered that the demon from hell adorable three year old child in my house had pulled all the needles out (who knew they were the arrows that fit his elvish bow?) and I’m going to have quite a task finding them and sorting them out. But when I do, they’ll have this nice new home. The books were because I’m a book whore and I’ve been really good lately and the black sheep tape measure just jumped into my basket.
Finally, can you believe it? For the umpteenth year in a row, my husband got cheesy-crappy candy for Halloween. He does it every year. I’ll have to go out and get some of the good stuff.
Artwalk was a lot of fun. More than I could have ever anticipated. It was really great to put all of my art on the beautiful copper stands my friend Joyce Darby built, and stand back and enjoy the effect. The pictures really don’t do the stands justice.
The whole set up was special because the law firm that hosted me and two other artists was a really incredible renovation of an old, downtown, hardware store, and it was beautiful. I had a small set up and was able to move around and talk to people about my art and just generally have a lovely time.
Overall it was a great experience and although I don’t think I’m going to quit my day job just yet, I’m certainly having delusions of doing this again in the future.
The Sunday after Artwalk was over, I headed over to Atlanta to meet my friend Karen O for a day of felting with Julie Williams, who was visiting from Australia. Julie’s method of laminate felting was completely different from mine and I learned a lot from her. The scarf I made, of 18.5 micron Australian Merino wool is soft and beautiful. For now, a bad picture will have to suffice. (Karen and I are both far prettier than this, but we had been felting since 9:00 and this picture was taken around 6:00 pm — plus, something about getting up to leave for Atlanta at 3:45 am seemed to have wiped me out). Karen’s scarf was my favorite one from the entire class.
On a serious note, I want to share a link to a 9/11 site, that I used to watch with my daughter on my lap, later that fall. It always touched me in a very unique way and I thought it would be nice, in a very somber sort of way, to share it with y’all, here is the link: http://www.cantcryhardenough.com.
Admittedly this may be more suited to Cute Overload than this very serious art & knitting blog, but I have to share today’s picture of Little Miss Amy with you.
Like most Maine Coon Cats, Amy seems to have a very sociable, outgoing, self-assured personality. This morning, I left her upstairs — lots of toys, water, food, etc. — to toss a load of laundry in before I left for work. Much to our horror, she did not like being left behind, and she jumped! Jumped straight off the top of the stairs from the second story down to the first….and landed neatly on a box at the bottom of the stairs. We have had a stern talk and I have told her there will not be a repeat of that heart-stopping moment. She is curled up peacefully, napping next to the computer now. I think she understands.
It’s a banner day — full of excitement — in my house.
First off, our daughter, who we privately and only behind her back refer to as Princess Kickass because of the way she runs her brothers around, has turned 8 today! Among other things, she has received a Maine Coon Cat kitten, who is as yet without a name, but is the cutest thing I have ever seen.
It is also an exciting day because the "transformation" of my website to a paper and fiber art site is complete and I hope all of y’all will visit me at http://www.elliebelly.com. The "bones" of the site are there although I am still working on photography (the bane of my existence is that I’m a bad photographer) and adding items. There is handpainted yarn, collage art, hand-dyed fabric, playsilks, and more. Lots more to come so please come visit and consider adding yourself to the mailing list to receive the announcement when everything is in place.
Finally, I really have to link to this even though most of you are not from Alabama. We have exciting political developments, including a write-in candidacy for Ken, supported by G.I. Joe. Alabama politics are many things, but never dull. http://write-in-ken.livejournal.com
Starting Friday, August 18 (that’s tonight!) at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time, a group of small woman owned and operated businesses are coming together to auction off a selection of items to benefit my friend Patsy who is battling lung cancer that has spread to her liver and brain.
If any of y’all are so inclined, this is a great opportunity to purchase some handcrafted items and get a head start on Christmas shopping. Lots of baby/child friendly items, but I have also noticed stitch markers for knitting, playsilks for children, wool felted items, handmade shoes, and a gorgeous hand-dyed handknit scarf. I’ve got some hand-dyed yarn included, pictured below. The link for the benefit is http://www.middayfaire.com. I would be really grateful to any of you who want to come and bid and purchase items to help out Patsy and her family.
To find my yarn, scroll about midway down the page to the "Elliebelly" store. You will find the yarn there — two skeins of a lovely bulky merino.
