Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Playing with colour

I went to one of my guilds on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed a mini workshop on Tones, Tints and Shades.  It was given by Pam Austin, who always entertains me.  (She taught me to long draw by smacking my hand when I tried to control everything worsted style - something that horrified me at the time, but amuses me greatly now.)  Pam explained how blending colours with different neutrals changes their appearance and we used hand carders to produce the effects she talked about.  I won't go into too much detail as it's her workshop and living.

So, fired with enthusiasm, I spent some time on Sunday experimenting.  Here are the fibres I used  that were in my bit bag - yellow with a streak of purple that had clung to it, lime milkshake harshness, deep navy blue, natural that somehow looks pink, and grey drier lint (not really, but it was peculiar stuff)

Here's a taste of the shades I carded up.  Look as those airy rolags!



 Want to see some blending shots?
I put a mix of fibres on the card


One pass


The other carder


Action! (very hard to take all of these pictures with one pair of hands and one crappy, very crappy camera phone)  Look how the awful short grey stuff was clumping at this point.


Still struggling to get it blended at this point


But after some more work.....



I am so looking forward to plying this!


And yes, that is a mirror underneath the flyer - this way I can see the nearest end of my bobbin without having to half stand

Monday, May 18, 2015

A Better Beret





So, here's the improved beret, beautifully modelled by my lovely daughter.  I'm not so enamoured of all the pink appearing at the centre where the bobble is as it makes it a bit nippley.  It has led me to save it in my Ravelry projects as the Tit-fer Hat though!


Sunday, May 10, 2015

Batt-y goodness

I've been playing with the drum carder and I'm in love with what comes out of it. I'm calling the one on the left hidden depths and the one on the right deep lagoon.

Friday, May 08, 2015

Colouring for Crafty Adults

Colouring books for adults are all the rage.  I've got one and have enjoyed what I've done so far, but there's been a question mark in my mind about it all.  I don't like that it's become a big business opportunity and I've had the niggling question of what the heck do you do with it once you've finished a page.

I have unwittingly found a crafty alternative and it's all due to my friend Brenda.  We've never met and I'm not at all sure how we ended up as online friends - a combination of common interests and admiration for her photography I think. (Correct me if I'm wrong/ if you have a better memory than me Brenda!)  A month or so ago she invited me to take part in a project called the Embroidered Digital Commons which involved embroidering phrases ready to be combined into a definition of the word liminal, which in turn will combine into a larger lexicon.  The link gives a far more in depth explanation.

Here's what I produced (everything was pressed before it went, but excuse my enthusiasm in these hot off the needle pictures)








The action of embroidering turns out to be absorbing and meditative as well as creative, plus at the end there's the possibility of having art you can do something with - what could be better?!