Settling In

Over the weekend I made another nuno pre-felt and completed a bit of knitting, but mostly just slowed down, taking time to reflect. Today I stitched together a variety of fabrics and then dyed them with leaves, afterwards.

And I also sewed this, then dyed it with arbutus bark:

I like how the colour settles into the cracks of the stitching - I used white cotton thread.

A Purl of Wisdom

I was at Knotty By Nature today to get a few supplies and I learned to cast off my knitting

and how to purl. It feels great to finally know what that is and to be able to do it!

And I'm adding layers to this, now.

Silk and Wool Blends

I started yesterday attempting to nuno felt, but the fibres mostly stuck to each other more than to the silk ground. So I needle punched them later when they had dried, which really took away from their dimension, and I think I would hand stitch things down, next time. Then I began knitting a silk/merino blend - my first time using circular needles and nearly my first time knitting - as I've tried it once as a girl and a few years ago when I began this blog. I only know the basic knitting stitch but I intend to learn more and want to experiment with less traditional knitting and try felting some of it.

And I enjoyed seeing fall's changes at Elk lake.

My made over sweatshirt provided just the right amount of warmth.

I've been continuing to experiment with nuno felting and I will do another post to show my results.

Wool gathering

On this last day of 2008 I've spent further time mulling over what's next for me on my fibre journey and revisited some of what I accomplished over the past year. I am especially pleased that I displayed my art quilts in two shows. This year I will enter a juried show, join Fibre Art Network, continue to improve on technique, sink deeper into my style, sell a piece, complete one quilt a month, delve further into surface design, make business cards, read daily about art, work in the studio nearly everyday, go on an artist date once a week with my camera, keep a list of books I complete, write an article, teach something and create storage for my fabric (Is that laughter I hear?) Each of these intentions is much more specific and to help keep myself aware of them, I'm going to make a collaged poster to hang.

So what is that photo above? I decided I wanted to try knitting. When I was a young girl my Grandmother taught me how to knit. I knitted 6 or 8 inches of a 'scarf' and that was it. Well - it turns out that the body does remember. I did have a book with diagrams that I planned to use but these proved undecipherable to me and when I played around I got it. Earlier today I went to Beehive Woolshop for roving and to find some hand felting needles. Part of the morning's planning was deciding how best to spend my Christmas money. I have a library book on hand felted pets - and every one of them is so cute I want to make them all. I never found the hand felting needles but I walked out with some sparkly blue and silver sari ribbon to trim the last gift journal cover I plan to make. Funny how that happens :)

Earlier in the day when I was in the studio clearing supplies from the last journal project to make way for the next, my eye was caught by an embroidered piece I've made and I wondered what if I put it on velvet and made it a journal cover? So then I went to my basket of velvets and began trying a few out and found a good fit. And then I realized how disorganized the basket was and that some of my velvets were elsewhere and suddenly I was reorganizing and that's when I came across a piece I'd forgotten about that I got at 'Mostly Silks'. I knew it would be perfect for the next journal cover. So my point is that I love working in this random 'feminine' fashion - cruising from one thing to the next as I desire and somehow this leads not only to productivity but to a sense of joy as I work. No stern task master saying 'You can't reorganize the velvets now, you have to look for fabric for the next journal cover!' I wasn't looking and I found it anyhow.

Also today I bought a silkscreen, squeegee, fluid for inkjet printing on fabric, a collage book and a lino cutter for stamp making. Okay - and a bit of roving and a purple shiva oil stick that is the only iridescent colour I don't have. Oh -yes - and another wildly exciting thing I did was sign up for an on-line class with Susan Sorrell called 'Fertile Earth'. I was actually looking for a different class when I came across hers and felt that unmistakeable call...

And now in the last hours of the year I'm going to do the I Ching and draw some cards with an eye to the year ahead.