Me Made May Heroes

I'm still participating in Me May May, but I have had trouble collecting documentary evidence due to the spectacularly dreary weather and my busy schedule. It has rained every single day in May.  Moreover, I work at 6,100' elevation and the rain clouds come upslope and stack up against the mountains.

Weather gods, where are our 300 days of Colorado sunshine?

May Boulder weather visualization from wunderground.com

In really cold weather, I wear RTW pants and a turtleneck and throw on one of my hand-knit sweaters.  In this in-between weather, I wear lighter RTW cardigans or a button-up shirt layered over a knit shirt.  Then I toss one of my me-made scarves over the outfit.

Most, but not all of these scarves were blogged.  Not all my me-made scarves are here in Boulder with me.  You can see more by clicking on the knitting or the shibori keyword tags.

I move into our newly remodeled condo in 6 days, yipes!

Another Shibori knitting experiment

I cast on for this scarf during the Virgina trip. (You can get an amazing amount done on a transcontinental flight.) I used a different color of the sport-weight wool I used in the first Shibori knitting experiment and size 8 needles. Here it is all sewn up with periwinkle acrylic yarn; I made 16 alternating pleats.

Taking out the stitches took as long as the stitching.


Our mommy and me dress dummies modeling the scarf and the Butt Skirts.

Iris' dummy can be adjusted with knobs as she grows. Right now, it is set at the smallest setting and is still slightly larger than her measurements.

The Uniquely You cloth cover needs to be fitted to my measurements and zipped over the form. There is a lotta foam there.
How will I ever get that cover zipped? How many people does that maneuver require?

Shibori Knitting

I wanted to make the Angel Puff Scarf from Nicky Epstein's Knitting Never Felt Better. The miles of stockinette didn't appeal so I bought a Bond knitting machine. The tip in the book about how this was a good project for a knitting machine also sent me shopping.

I am not a good machine knitter. This thing was so frustrating--not Zen or relaxing at all. I thought this would make a good learning project for the Bond knitting machine. The unevenness, the dropped edge stitches, the skipped stitches... I figured, it won't show once I felt it. Wrong.

I could not get the machine to work once the scarf got long enough to touch the ground. In frustration, I turned it around and put the starting end on the hooks and knit from there. As you can see, I flipped the orientation by accident.

I used small marbles and ran it through the hot wash cycle twice (in a mesh bag). Iris helped with the Bond machine and tied a few marbles before getting bored and going back to her book. (She reread Harry Potter 7 last weekend.)

The way it looks in the book, made with Kidsilk Haze.

I used Sensations Kashmira, a feltable sportweight wool on sale at Joann's. It is a nice springy plied yarn, but has many flaws. I have sensitive skin, but did not find it is not too scratchy.

I will likely try again in pink for Iris. This time, I plan to taper it in the middle at the back of the neck and point the ends.

I love the pin I bought from Merry Wennerberg. She sells antique and reproduction buttons and jewelry made from buttons. The top one is Victorian, the middle button and the bottom belt buckle are from the 1930s. The Button Box, Mission Viejo, CA (949)581-9663

Spring Fashion Preview

Remember this Shibori experiment? I was feeling slothful about not getting around to correct this, until I saw the spring 2008 Marni fashion show pictures from Style.com.



I was just ahead of the fashion curve.

The clothes were interesting, but don't do anything for the female figure. If it looks bad on the sticks walking the runway, what chance do mere mortals have?

All the girls in the show look skeletal.






Take a look at this girl's leg. Her knee is as wide as her thigh.
















This image is grotesque.















Read Guy Trebay's essay, Still Too Thin, and Getting Younger.

There, one might be startled to find, scattered on the makeup table alongside the iPod and the Motorola SLVR (a device that electronics blogs approvingly call the anorexic phone), other currently common tools of the trade like Vicodin, clenbuterol and Marlboro Lights.

Vicodin, of course, is the prescription painkiller Eminem liked so much he immortalized it on “The Slim Shady LP,” and a drug better appreciated in the fashion business for its appetite-suppressing powers than for the truly unappetizing truth that it is only slightly less addictive than heroin. Clenbuterol is a steroid used by athletes, horse trainers and models to reduce body fat (one study of clenbuterol in horses showed significant weight reduction in a matter of weeks). “A lot of girls are using it now to keep their weight down,” said Kelly Cutrone, the founder of People’s Revolution, a fashion production company.

I am not going to say any more about fashion, because Everyone's a Critic.

Archives:
More about skinny models at What is wrong with this picture?

Weekend Follow-up

My first attempt at batik was a mixed bag. The sun motif on the blue children's apron had the cleanest imprint of all my attempts.

The prerinsed apron is a few shades darker. Notice the smudges of soywax. FYI A dry apron was stamped with soywax on an antique Indonesian copper tjap. 4 cups of soda ash solution and 1/4 cup of turquoise dye stock was mixed into a 1 gallon ziploc bag. The apron was added;the bag was sealed and massaged to dye more evenly.

The shibori shirt looks very dark and has no discernible texture before rinsing. Perhaps it was becase thin kitchen twine was used instead of thick cotton yarn? Or maybe it was wound too loosely?


Post rinsing and washing, the shirt is much lighter. The thread resist does not show up on the front at all, a disappointment.









The back shows the thread resist slightly. I will wear the shirt for a while. If I don't like it, I can always lighten the dye and re-dye the piece. This was dyed with half a cup of midnight blue, aka navy, dye solution.








Miss Iris likes her turquoise blue iris sundress very much.

The iris imprint is very faint.











The orchid space-theme dress came out slightly uneven. She likes it nonetheless and promises to wear it.









Iris' cousin gets a peacock blue space theme t-shirt, too.










The golden yellow dress was put in a 2 gallon bag. The others were put in 1 gallon bags. Notice that this dress is dyed more evenly than the other pieces. Note to self; use 2 gallon bags in the future.







Click on the Dyeing keyword below the post for how-to information.

The asymmetric sweater rests on a "pattern sweater" to determine the length of sleeve I need to knit. I am knitting the sleeves top down a la Barbara Walker.

Tie-Dye Playdate Progress Report

If I was less tired and thinking more clearly, I would have photographed the tie-dye playdate. We tried shibori, batik, dyeing in plastic baggies/bins and the paint or squirt on type of tie-dye. I sent the 4 other participants home with their bags, bins and a small amount of synthropol.

Let's look at a picture of a thrift store shirt, tied to a piece of PVC pipe. I took the picture last month, when I was trying to discharge (remove) color using gel dishwasher detergent. Some fabrics are receptive to this treatment and bleach almost white.





This shirt obviously is not one of them. The color barely changed, even after two hours.

Iris used up all the toothpicks in the house and a great deal of tape. I couldn't get mad at her because this really was very cute and creative.

Today, I tied up the shirt again, poured soda ash solution over it, and then painted dye stock solution on top of that.

Here is the shirt lounging in the sun with some friends. Starting from the left, the bins are golden yellow, orchid, and peacock blue Procion MX fiber reactive dyes from Dharma.



You can find my basic soda ash and dye stock solution recipes in More Dyeing Adventures. The shibori shirt tying technique is illustrated in Dye Workshop.

I wound some plastic wrap around the shirt to keep it moist while it basks in the sun.

Blue and black are the most difficult to get nice and dark. You must use a great deal of dye. Time, heat and salt can also help.

I will wash and dry them tonight. Stay posted for the results.

Why is the grass so green during a drought?
That's not real grass. It is a synthetic outdoor carpet called EasyTurf. I read about it in the newspaper and clipped the article. I filled out an electronic quote request form on the EasyTurf website. A day later, the local franchise operator (YourTurf) called to schedule an appointment to measure my yard. There were a few glitches because of new staff that needed more training. But, in the end, we are happy with the result and the service.

No watering, chemicals, pollen, slugs or snails. A few weeds come up at the seams between the pieces of turf and at the edges of the step stones. Weeding is so much easier now; we spend ~3% as much time as before. Plus, it is permeable and so cushy underfoot. The "grass blades" are held upright by a blend of sand and pellets made out of leftover rubber after athletic shoe soles are stamped out.

Weekend Pictures

Just to prove we actually completed something this weekend.

Here is the curtain looking so visually complex for such a simple shibori technique. It only took Mark two days to notice it.

I suspected that Iris was looking for a pink dress much like her beloved "blue Princess Aurora dress" which she wore to tatters; she still wears it today as a nightgown. She was very fond of telling everyone that it had three different colors of blue! Here she is wearing it at her 4th birthday party. That's "the bug lady" and her travelling zoo beside Iris. The original dress was Simplicity 5827 in size 4. Her "heart dress" was also in the same size.

The "pink Princess Aurora dress" is size 6. The dye job on the large skirt yardage was not very even. I told her that an uneven dye job makes the dress look that much more luxurious. She didn't look convinced.

Some people plan their sewing. I pick my next sewing project by the color of thread that is already in the serger. Iris' cousin got two pairs of Kwik Sew's "Sewing for Babies" pants in pink (size L to fit 12 mo).

Recognize the fabric?

Iris loved our new bed so much, she tried to sleep UNDER it. She moved the middle row of bins out of the way, dragged pillows, a blanket and a yoga mat in with her, and fell asleep in "her cave". I told her not to sleep under my bed. She reluctantly went back to her room. Later, I could hear her snoring, but she wasn't in her bed. She was way under her own bed! I managed to pull her out partway without waking her up.

Yesterday, we saw this car on our walk. Who knew that duct tape came in so many colors?

Cable Cardigan Update

I finished the Norah Gaughan cabled cardigan body and decided to start on the long scarf piece. Because the Patons Classic Wool was a bit scratchy and I am wool sensitive, I decided to use Art Fibers Golden Siam (silk tussah) for the scarf. However, working cables in the Golden Siam, which is loosely spun thin and thick single-ply, turned out to be quite tricky. Worse yet, the hard work doesn't show against the variegated yarn.

So now, I am thinking of using Classic Wool for the whole thing. My skin is so sensitive, that the wool scratches my left index finger because I control tension by winding yarn around that finger. Yet, the wool seems to be less scratchy as I work with it. Maybe it is wishful thinking?

I couldn't make up my mind last night, so I decided to sleep on it and cast on for the first sleeve.

In other news, we have the perfect storm of Halloween, Iris' birthday and a satellite launch all in the same week. She had told me that she wanted to be a bathtub/shower combo and I had collected a white box, white fabric, a shower head, silver duct tape and bamboo stakes (for the shower curtain surround) to make the costume. Then she changed her mind (T-3 days!) and wanted to be the pink Princess Aurora.

I decided that strangling her would take up more time to explain to the authorities than making the d**n dress. She also quickly said that, it didn't have to be perfect, I could use whatever I had, even if it had other stuff besides straight pink, as long as it was predominantly pink. Then she gave a well-rehearsed pleading look.

In the spirit of making do with what I have instead of rushing out to buy stuff, I pulled out all my pink knits from the stash. The stuff I had is on the bottom. From left to right, 1 might work; 2 is a french terry and too heavy, though the color is great; 3 is too coral, and 4 is too neon.

I then remembered the white/blue print cotton/lycra that I bought when she was a baby. We had a dye session this morning. The top three fabrics were the cotton/lycra overdyed with varying amounts of Fuchsia Red. Can you see the beach theme print?


Iris asked to dye her art apron in a swirly pattern.

The plain white IKEA curtain in the bedroom was treated with 2 teaspoons of "Plum Blossom" dye. First, I took out the hem and sewed the curtain into a tube. Then, I ruched and twisted it over a bucket. I put the dissolved dye and half a gallon of soda ash and rock salt solution into a Sterilite 66 quart bin and rolled the bucket/drape around a bit. After a couple of hours in a sunny window, I washed it. The drape is in the dryer right now so I can't show it. Stay tuned. It looks great IMHO.

See the Dharma Trading Procion color card; isn't plum blossom lovely?

Stick a fork in it
The dress is done. Iris loves it so much, she is wearing it to bed tonight. The curtain is rehemmed and hung. It looks like ripples of water in a stream. It is only with great restraint that I do not repeat this shibori technique on every other large piece of fabric in this house.

Attempted Shibori

I bought Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing by Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada et al. The book is well worth the $ for all the instructive history and techniques. I even tried my hand at two of my favorite easy stitch resist patterns, Mokume
and Ori-Nui.Here are my first attempts.


I was just playing around, hosting another mom who wanted to dye a t-shirt. I stitched these two samples up and threw them in a ziploc baggie with the leftover dye.

After we put the ziploc bags on the sunny patio to react, we took our daughters to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to see the animatronic monsters exhibit. (You just gotta love all the oddball stuff to do in LA.) Then we took the girls out for sushi and soba.

When we got back, the stuff was overly done. Next time, I will not let the fabric sit in the dye bath for so long. I didn't get the visual texture I had hoped for, but it still looks interesting.

I had previously ordered Elfriede Moller's Shibori: The Art of Fabric Tying, Folding, Pleating and Dyeing but returned the book. It was just too annoying, the way the author kept bragging about the techniques she had invented. It was also low on information content. Save up your $ and get Wada's book.

Links: Shibori Slideshow, Dye Workshop

Dye Workshop

Mark went on a business trip. Iris went to San Diego Zoo day camp (and her grandparents' house) and I had the house to myself to play. There were onesies for more babies on the way...

...bubble rompers for Iris' cousin,












...dresses for two sisters...

...dresses for two sisters and a matching top for their mommy...

..more tops...


...and another dress.
This last dress came out too dark in the upper left bodice area so Iris and I lightened it with a stencil and some dishwashing gel used as a discharge paste. We are quite happy with the result.

I also tried some Shibori techniques on a shirt for Mark. In the middle of tying,
after painting the dye on the shirt,
the resulting front,
and back.
I just noticed that Dharma has instructions for a similiar Shibori project. I used crochet cotton which is a bit thicker than the dental floss that they used. They demonstrate one particularly effective techique. After you have painted the color on, lightly brush a contrasting color on the surface of some areas. It creates a sheer wash with very distinct patterning. You can see the effect in the bottom section of the shirt where I washed a bit of sapphire blue on top of the turquoise blue.

I feel a digression coming on.
While taking a shibori workshop from Joy-Lily, I made the error of referring to what we were doing as tie-dyeing. She promptly told me that we were practicing Shibori, not tie-dyeing. I asked her what the difference between the two was. She said that tie-dye is something cheap you find at a crafts sale. We were learning an art.

I am reading Yoshiko Wada's definitive book about Shibori which is worth every penny for all that I am learning from it. Wada also make a point that Shibori is a much more than tie-dye. She says that Shibori represents a whole genre of techniques that includes much more than tying. I stand corrected.

Oh, no! Another digression
This whole distinction reminds me of the time an older gentleman where Maribeth and I work referred to me as a girl. He recoiled in mock horror and said, "We are not supposed to call you that anymore. Nowadays, you are called women."

I replied without missing a beat, "I don't care what you call me as long as you pay me like a man."

He grinned and said, "You're all right."

Back to the present.
The organic cotton is white no more. I got very carried away with the dye this week. I followed the directions on Dharma's website except that I poured the dye on instead of painting it on. I then gently massaged the dye mixture into the yarn. (I used leftover dyes from the other project. It took approximately 3 cups of dye stock solution to dye two skeins of the Inca organic cotton. The dye stock solutions were mixed at 1 tsp of dye powder to 1 cup of water.)

Rinsing did not take as long as I feared.

I will post pictures of a knitted swatch when I finish the Basalt Tank (very soon, I hope).

Click here to see undyed yarns and here and here to see the finished yarn.