North Peace Spinners' and Weavers' Fibre Fling at Peace Gallery North, Fort St. John,
April 10-25, 2015. Reception on Friday evening of April 10. Weaving and spinning demonstrations will happen at certain times on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of each week.
This is a sneak preview of the items that I have submitted for Fibre Fling. These blankets are about 32 inches by 45 inches long. This project started with a large bag full of Handicrafter cotton yarn that was indistinct and dull in colour and not colour coordinated in any stretch of the imagination. Some were plain colours, some variegated. They were dyed at the Dyeing in the Rain Summer Retreat which was so named as I was the only one who braved the rainy downpour and continued my dyeing under the canopy of the picnic table. Procion dye allowed me to use hot water from the tap, carried outside to continue the dyeing process.
This is a log cabin pattern using thick and thin yarn. The thin yarn is plyed crochet cotton dyed to match. This yarn is not as soft as the Handicrafter cotton because of the greater twist but it works. Nice to use some of my Mom's stash.
The first warp was enough for 2 blankets and one small bath mat. I then tied on to make another set of blankets and tied on twice more to make 2 individual blankets, making a total of 6 blankets. Having a limited number of balls of each colour made it hard to plan further than how I did it, that is my excuse for such inefficiency.
The last two blankets are quite different than the first two. The last blanket is the best! I had run out of yellow. I had 3 balls of red, green and white which I dyed a golden yellow. The red and green did not significantly change colour with the dyeing, and the red being a primary red, did not match the fuchsia pink but I decided to be brave and bold and try it anyway. This blanket is the most exciting and pleasing to me. Hence it is not for sale, nor is it in the show. This project again showed me that I get bolder in my designing as I go along. Some of this is a result of necessity of using what is available, but it is all good experience. Perhaps one should take it one step further and design another blanket as a result of all of the former experiments and see what results.
The dyeing was a lot of work and considering how much water was used and the time involved, other than from the point of view of recycling a bag of yarn that would not be otherwise used, it is probably just as economical to buy the yarn pre-dyed. Although I am not sure the colours would be quite as exciting. Loved this project. These woven pieces of fabric can be used for lap blankets, baby blankets, picnic blankets, large table runner or whatever. Come and see them at Fibre Fling along with the many other exciting items for sale.
I also wove two blankets of variegated pink and green Handicrafter cotton that I did not need to dye. Again I used thick and thin, using the plied crochet cotton.
The Shadow Weave table runners' pattern is from One Thousand-Plus and Patterns in 4, 6, and 8 Harness Shadow Weaves by Marian Powell.
The warp is forest green and raspberry 4/8 cotton and white mercerized cotton. The weft of the first two was navy blue 4/8 cotton and mint green mercerized cotton. Other variations of weft were forest green, light green and raspberry 4/8 cotton and acrylic yarn of mixed colours. The variations got bolder and bolder as I progressed. The use of acrylic yarn made the runner more springy. Shadow Weave is fun to weave as there are so many variations. Using 4 shades of colours in one project is most satisfying to me as it makes the fabric richer in depth of colour. Four of the six runners will be on display at Fibre Fling.
The first hat was dyed as follows:
Keeping a few yards of yellow yarn aside without cutting, the dry ball of yarn was placed in a dye pot with black dye. Every 30 seconds a strand of yarn was pulled off the ball, pinching it between fingers to remove excess dye and placed in water to rinse. This was repeated without cutting yarn until a third of yarn was dyed. More dye was added, the process repeated and again dye was added at the two/thirds mark. The yarn was rolled into a skein while still wet and steamed for about 20 minutes to set the dye. The skein was hung to dry, then rolled into a ball, ready for knitting. The hat was hand washed and left to dry on a form to retain shape.
The second hat was made with the darkest part of the first dyed skein and the lighter part of a second dyed skein. Hence the distinct colour change.
The second hat was made with the darkest part of the first dyed skein and the lighter part of a second dyed skein. Hence the distinct colour change.
Happy Spinning and Weaving! Happy Spring!
