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Colourway: Meiji Jingu & the SuperNova Sock

14 Jun

Hey Friend,

Though I was in Tokyo more than a decade ago, what I remember most about the city was my visit to Meiji Jingu; a Shinto shrine and veritable oasis of nature in the middle of the metropolis of Japan. The day I visited, there was a wedding and the bride held an umbrella of the most vibrant fuchsia red. She was surrounded by the green trees and she stood for photos with the groom and wedding party on the bright paving path.

This colourway is inspired by that day; the green and the grey and the magenta of that umbrella. It’s shown here on a skein of Sheepish Feet BFL and knitted up in a sock for me and a sock for my baby niece. Because that baby girl is so amazing and so brave, here’s the pattern for this itty bitty sock. Make a pair for the bravest baby you know, or donate a pair to the NICU at your children’s hospital to keep the toesies of those babies warm when they can’t be snuggling with their mommies and daddies.

SuperNova Sock

A tiny sock for the bravest baby I know!
scrap amount of Sheepish Feet BFL
set of 4 2.5mm dpns
to fit 3-6 months
 
co 30 sts
work 1 inch in k2 p1 ribbing
work 1 inch in St st
divide for heel:
15 sts onto each of 2 needles
work 14 rows in St st, creating a selvedge by slipping the 1st st of every row
turn heel:
k9, SKP, turn
sl1, p3, p2tog, turn
k3, SKP, turn
p3, p2tog, turn
cont. decreases until 5 sts remain (WS)
(RS) k5, pu 7 sts along selvedge edge
k15 across next needle
pu 7 sts along selvedge edge, k3 from heel needle to divide heel sts between 2 needles
k 1 rnd, tbl of picked up sts (34 sts)
centre of heel is beg of rnd
decrease gusset:
1st needle: k to last 3 sts, k2tog
2nd needle: k
3rd needle: k1, SSK, k to end
work 2 rows even
work 1 more decrease rnd (30 sts)
k for 1 inch
decrease for toe:
1st needle: k to last 3 sts, k2tog
2nd needle: k1, SSK, k to last 3 sts, k2tog
3rd needle: k 1, SSK, k to end
work 2 rows even
work 1 decrease row
alt even and decrease rows until 12 sts rem
divide between 2 needles & graft toe sts closed
weave in ends
make two

With love from the Maker’s House,

Sylvia

 

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Colourway: Havana Street Art

5 Jun Havana graffiti

Hey friend,

Today’s post is another colourway story. This time, about Havana.

Cuba stole my heart.  In particular, I had falled hard for Havana. The city is one so exquisitely gorgeous that even today, almost 10 years on from my first tryst with her, I still catch myself dreaming of her lights and colours. The people are beautiful and friendly, the buildings are decrepit and shadowy, the cars are big and bright. Havana has inspired me in so many ways and a few of my yarns are named for her: Malecón, Paseo de Martí, Tropicana and Havana Street Art.

The first three are nods to the lively colours of the city in general, but Havana Street Art is a bit more specific. Unsurprisingly, Havana has vibrant arts community. There are several art markets and galleries, but some of the most interesting art I saw was that painted in the streets; sanctioned murals and graffiti alike. I’ve posted photos of some of my favourites found during my wanders.

This colourway isn’t inspired by any specific piece, but by all of them. It’s made by dyeing about four fifths in a solid pink, then over-dyeing to get into the deepest purple ranges. The final fifth is an ashy chartreuse and where it meets the pink, there are some luscious peachy tones created. The yarn pictured is Luxe Lace and I’ve shown it both as it comes out of the dye pot and after re-skeining it.

With love from the Maker’s House,

Sylvia

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Colourway: Hokitika Storm

22 May yummy yarn goodies

Hey friend,

I’ve finished my first two days at market and have done much better than I was expecting, but I had pretty low expectations. On Thursday, I set up and enjoyed the good (if not cool) weather and had some nice chats with market goers and vendors. I was set up beside a nice farmer from Lumby (via Quebec). Her friend was visiting from Montreal and we all had some laughs and I bought some of their yummy chives. Unfortunately, I didn’t get their names and I didn’t see them today, so I hope this doesn’t turn into one of those weird things where we just don’t ever get to know names… I’ll have to make sure that doesn’t happen. Hopefully I’ll see them next time again.

Yesterday was a rainy market day, and while the crowds were a bit, erm, thin for a long weekend, I had pretty good sales, and actually did better than my first day. I had some really nice chats again with new knitters, experienced knitters, other vendors and especially with Arnold from Cape de Hoop Tea. What a cool guy. He told me this crazy story about being a 13-year-old photographer with a secret darkroom under the stairs in his boarding school. They had no running water (as under-the-stairs-darkrooms generally aren’t plumbed), so they drilled a hole in the wall and ran a garden hose from the nearest faucet. Naturally, the hose had to be disconnected each time so as not to be discovered. He and his partner took  pictures of the school’s team athletes and while they had intended to sell the prints to the athletes themselves, it turned into a teenage fan thing. “The girls bought the photos of the boy athletes and the boys bought pictures of the girls.” Though I’m not a Harry Potter fan, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons. I’m pretty sure that story made my year. And so I bought some of his Honeybush tea which is just divine. I’ve been a huge fan of his rooibos for a while (you can get it an Nature’s Fare).

And now, as promised, the first story behind a colourway: Hokitika Storm.

In Hokitika NZ, on the south island’s west coast, we caught the brunt of an Antarctic front and watched the storm surge from the relative safety of our rented Tercel. Huge, frothy waves were crashing on the beach under the dark sky. The force of the wind and rain were pretty formidable and it was something to have the whole car shake in the wind. The storm stayed with us for almost 3 weeks, I think. We travelled almost 1500 km to Kaikoura before we had a day warm enough to shed 8 of the 9 layers of clothing in which we had been living.

Finally, enjoy the cute baby pictures. I sure did!

With love from the Maker’s House,

Sylvia

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Kettle Dyeing, Quickly

15 May

Hey Friend,

I’ve spent the last bit inventing colourways for the 14 lbs of yarn that arrived on my doorstep a couple weeks ago. I’m having tonnes of fun and getting some really nice results. I’ve been taking inspiration for the colourways from my travels. The colour palettes that arrange themselves in nature always astound me, and I’ve pulled memories of the environments through which I’ve travelled, traipsed and tip-toed in order to make some really unique colourways. The next few posts will show off some of the colourways that come directly from places I’ve been. Here are some images of the fun I had with chemistry… because what is fun art without chemicals, I ask you?

Now that I have all this scrumptious yarn, I’ll be taking it to the Vernon Farmer’s Market starting on Thursday. I bought a canopy and got it all set up so I know how it works, and I’ve borrowed a table from my friend Chantal.

One last thing. Did you ever wonder what would happen if you dyed a whole bunch of lace weight merino and hung it out to dry and then squirrels came along and thought it might make nice bedding? Well, truthfully, I’d never wondered that before. But I know a squirrel who did and it turns out to be a big, colourful mess. The blessing came in that I discovered his plans before he could done and R-U-N-N-O-F-T with it all. Actually, it sounds a lot worse than it was… I only had a very small meltdown before I worked through the pile of 6 skeins. I am able to ascertain that no yarn has been nibbled – he just chewed through the string that I used to hang it all and let it drop to the ground where he was going to come back for it. I think I’ve got it all sorted out  thanks to my method of meticulously tying my skeins in four places to prevent tangling. The most work came in picking vegetation out of the strands. I won’t know for sure until I can reskein them. I’ll keep you posted.

Well, that’s a short post, but the next one will be filled with pictures of mother’s day (my first!!!!) and the farmer’s market and COLOURS!!!

With love from the Maker’s House,

Sylvia

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Random Notes: Memories of the Ol’ Enzed

3 Mar

Hi Friend!

I was cleaning up and doing some bits of baby-proofing while I came across this. I love it. I had to share. While travelling in NZ in September & October 2010, the only book I brought with me was Doug Coupland’s microserfs. There were so many things we wanted to remember about our travels, but we were perpetually low on notepaper, not to mention that we thought we’d just end up losing bits and scraps of paper. Then I had the idea to use microserfs as our dumping ground for all the things we wanted to remember. Not opposed to writing in books (I recognise that it`s a cardinal sin among a certain crowd), and because I knew I wouldn’t be getting rid of the book (I love Coupland’s writing and we’re both notorious collectors of books), it became a sort of pen and ink shrine to Enzed. And the cover design actually lent itself to the purpose. So here are a few pictures. The whole book looks like this, but I only took a few photos. Almost every page has notes in the margins, but I tried to spare the text of the novel so I can read it again and again… for different reasons every time.

Each scribble brings me back and I get laughing. I should add one right now to the list of ONES: One firealarm to rule them all. Oh but wait. That happened twice.

With love from the Maker’s House,

Sylvia

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