Playing with Indigo

 My friend Janet is messing with indigo in a big way, and I am going along. Here is some stuff that um...happened. I think that "indigo" is a catchall term for any plant that contains the indican molecule.  Janet has both persicaria tinctoria and indigo suffruticosa in her garden.

So, Janet put some "Japanese indigo," persicaria tinctoria,  (out of her garden) in the blender with some ice, and dunked some wool in.  Now, I should add that while I like dark "indigo" blue, I am a bigger fan of green.  

I took this (unreduced) minivat of green slush home and put some combed merino top in it. What did I get? Chlorophyll coloring I suspect, although it has a blue tinge. It is a pale minty color. I am waiting for it to fade. I love it.

Then yesterday, I went over to Janet's place which is dubbed "Camp Janet."  (Camp Janet involves a major wonderful fiber-and-dye studio). 

I decided to try some  hammering.  I've always thought that this was a great activity for children and not for me, so of course here I go... In the photo below, in the oval, is the hammered tinctoria...it did not transfer much. However, the suffruticosa hammered beautifully.  In the bottom part of the photo, you can my experiment to  dip the linen in a rust and water bath but the print came out less defined because it was wet; however the iron did not change the color (bottom of the photo).   (The dark brown red colors are flower petals.)

Here is a close up of the suffruticosa hammered print (with some fainter persicaria on the left). I'm pretty sure that this is all cholorophyll. We will see how lightfast it is and for how long...I love the green.

And then,  Janet  put up with me asking her to simmer some of the indigo suffruticosa without reduction. This allowed me to put in a roll of paper, leaves, and linen to simmer. (Yeah botanical printing of a sort which basically means MY sort). 

As you can see below there is green around the border that survived the simmer. The photo shows  linen above and watercolor paper below.  The green turned out gray-green on the paper. This print included my favorite sumac leaves, rhus copilinum. With a nasty smudge of coreopsis that turned rather bloody looking (but of course looks better on the paper...)

I used some of the hammered linen in this roll and it survived the heat and pressure (see below in the circle). 

And...in the mean time...I have learned that  cholrophyllin extract  exists as a dye...

How-to-Hood for Baby Surprise Jacket

 OK so this is BSJ number 9.  I tend to just pick up some yarn, do a sample to try the fabric and drape, and get knitting. This garment is going to Lifting Hands International,  so size is unimportant. 

I decided that I would try a hood. There are several online BSJ's with hoods but I decided to try my own. 

After finishing the sweater body, I sewed it together. Then: 

1) Pick up stitches around the collar, I would say at a 1:1 ratio. 

2) Increase 2 stitches every other row on either side of two middle stitches at the back of the hood.  I did this for about 5 inches.  This will vary with the "size" of your BSJ.  My chest size is 24 inches, so possibly age 6. 

3) Keep knitting straight until the hood looked "long" enough (i.e. the face opening was large enough for the size of the sweater. 

4) Divide the hood stitches in half and kitchener stitch them together.  Add a pom pom to the back of the hood if you like. (I'm not a pom pom person so I didn't). 

On my next BSJ, I'm going to do the cuff sleeves in ribbing. 

According to my Ravelry group, "Hats and More for War-Torn Syria" (not just Syria anymore but the name sticks) LHI sent containers to Ukraine, Jordan, and Afghanistan in July 2022, and another is headed to Poland in August 2022.  I know that this sweater will help to warm a small child. 

Yet Still Another...Baby Surprise Jacket Numbers 8 and 4

 Even though Elizabeth Zimmerman's original article (which I clipped from Knitter's magazine, dated 1989) hints that she did not know what she was doing when she "unvented" it.  I suspect that she fully knew, as she knit, what she would wind up with...a "T" shape in knitted form.

I've knit many of these but according to my Ravelry projects, this is only number 7. (I think that there have been more...I know for certain that this is number 8 at least).

I keep knitting it over and over because it is so much fun. One thing I like about this sweater is that just increasing yarn weight increases the size. Elizabeth's Grandson reinterpreted it in circular form, which I did once. It lent itself to colorwork. 

Here is my recent effort, for a local Ukrainian refugee baby, and the "Circular Stranded Baby Surprise Jacket" done in 2016, Number 4.  This pattern concept is now available in baby through adult sizes.

Turkish Socks

 I purchased a bunch of Frangipani 5 ply Guernsey yarn when I was in Cornwall. It was all on a cone...I chose mustard color, for some weird reason.  When I got home, I overdyed a bunch of it in some different colors, including green and orange.

This yarn is used to make "traditional" Guernsey sweaters, so it's pretty rugged.

Using my "normal" top down sock recipe, I  adapted a pattern from Anna Zilboorg's 5-13 mitten, description here.  This is from her books "Magnificent Socks and Mittens" and "Magnificent Mittens"...I own the latter.  Ironically, this was originally a Turkish sock that Anna adapted to a mitten, and I readapted it into a sock. 

Happily, the stitch count at my preferred gauge (7 per inch) accommodated the pattern with a few extra lines of color at the sides. I kind of "wung it" with the heel flap and gusset patterns.

Happy!

More Triloom Shawls and a Triloom Color Gamp

 I have been working on this cotton shawl one for a while and so was happy to have it finished. It is cut strand, two strands of cotton, one a bit slubby. Done on my lace sett with a 5 foot hypotenuse.

Yeah, barefoot in January  in the new house backyard. It was chilly, but I got Mom to walk into the backyard to do the photos (good for her balance)...

My wonderful Fiber Guild, Fiber Guild of the Savannahs, is doing a gamp study. I was wondering how a "gamp" might look on the triloom. Again, on the lace sett 5 foot triloom, cut strand technique. This one went quickly. I chose some rainbow sort-of colors at the LYS, Unwind. (In Savannah where I've moved, I actually have two LYS. How great is that?)  This is a Jody Long yarn called "Andeamo" created from wool and alpaca.

I think that people really enjoy looking at color and at rainbows. I will do another of these.  

Here's a definition of a gamp from Lunatic Fringe: 

I like the result...she's quite warm

Felted Slippers

 It's January and my feet are cold. I reached for the felted slippers that I made last year.  

I really did not believe that I could felt these slippers to fit, but it worked.  What's even dumber is that (of course) I was so impulsive that I couldn't wait to felt the first one before making the 2nd one, so they were felted at different times (I don't recommend that, though; I will try to restrain myself if I do another pair).   I did short cycles in the washer with warm water to get them right. 

I knit them from this book:

It is out of print but Amazon has used copies PLUS Arne and Carlos have a pattern at their website 

https://shop.arnecarlos.com/product/basic-pattern-for-slippers-copy/

PLUS there are youtube videos.

I'm sure that if I lived in Norway I would wear these most of the year. Be sure to watch some video of theirs to see Arne knitting. So fast!

Free Pattern: Wooly Christmas Heart

 

Wooly Christmas Heart “Julehjerter” 

Christmas hearts were originally done in paper, and supposedly conceived by Hans Christian Anderson, thus they have been around since 1860 ish. They are a traditional Danish holiday ornament. A woolen julehjerter will last much longer than a paper heart!  This heart is knitted in two colors and then felted.

 Materials: *One skein each Paton’s Wool in red and white will make lots of hearts 

                   *knitting needles to get a gauge of 4 ½ stitches per inch 

With white yarn, cast on 16 stitches. 

Row 1: Adding red color in this row: knit 4 white, 4 red, 4 white, 4 white. You can strand the colors in the back, but don't go crazy as they will felt in

Row 2: Purl back, keeping colors as set. 

Row 3: Knit, keeping colors as set. 

Row 4: Purl, keeping colors as set. 

Rows 5-8: reverse the colors 

Rows 9-12: return to original color pattern 

Rows 13-16: repeat rows 5-8. You have a sort of square grid of red and white squares. Next, form one side of top of heart in white

Rows: 17-20: Cut off Red yarn then knit 4 rows of white in stockinette stitch, knitting in red yarn end on the first row. 

Row 21: k1, sl1, k1, psso, knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1 (14 sts) 

Row 22: Purl 

Rows 23 and 25: Repeat row 21 

Rows 24 and 26: Repeat row 22. (10 sts) 

Row 28: k1, (sl1, K1, psso) x2, knit to last 5 stitches, k2tog x 2, k1 (6 sts) 

Row 29: purl back

Row 30: k1, sl1, k1, psso, k2tog, k1 (4 sts) 

Cut yarn and slip end through remaining stitches, pull tight 

With red yarn, pickup and knit 16 stitches on the opposite side of the top Purl one row, knit one row, purl one row. 

Follow directions for rows 21 through 30, to make right side of top of heart in red. 

Next, make another heart as above, but REVERSE the colors. 

When you have both sides made, pickup 3 stitches in red at the middle part of one heart. Knit in “idiot cord” for 6 inches: Knit 3, slip stitches back onto left needle, knit 3, slip back onto left needle, continue.

When you have 6 inches, cut yarn and pull the end through the 3 stitches, but use the end to sew in place at top center of the other heart.

Place hearts wrong side together and sew together at the bottom. Secure all ends by sewing in. 

FELTING I felted my heart in the washer. I did 3 washes on a warm cycle, checking size each time. You can try washing on hot but be careful if you are unsure whether your red yarn will bleed in hot. Once it is a size that you like, dry flat.

My heart is 4 " by 6 ".