photography

Fiber ghosts

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My view as I ran an errand yesterday.

I have bought most of my weaving looms and sewing machines used, often directly from the previous fiber addict. It saddens me that I only met these women as they phase fiber arts out of their lives and sometimes moved away from this area.

I think of them as I use their tools. My wool carders have another woman’s name on them. My floor loom has stains where someone tried warp painting. A friend’s husband made my warping board – he’s passed away, I never met him but think of them both as I wind a warp.

Just yesterday I bought an 8 shaft Leclerc table loom from a weaver extraordinaire. Sadly her truck’s packed and she’s heading south after a few years here and our paths never crossed until now.

I am thinking of placing a personal ad.

Time to camp, reap and dye

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Summer is almost over, the crowds have left and kids (and sorry, teachers) are back in school. So we took advantage of some time off and spent a few glorious days in the woods. We hiked to waterfalls, a gorge, lots of ponds and a mountain, with lots of swimming along the way.

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I packed light with a pair of shorts with zip on legs. However, one zipper was broken and my exposed leg was enjoyed by many mosquitos at dusk. Luckily we had a bandage in our pack and I taped the leg to the shorts but couldn’t make any fancy moves for fear of another mosquito feast.

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We returned to my bountiful garden where there is not much left to do except remember to harvest now and then.

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I’ve used some of my flowers to dye yarn with, so far, mildly disappointing results. I used colorful zinnias, dahlias and day lilies (with an alum mordant) all of which produced a yellow dye.

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I saw so many mushrooms during our hike, I want to learn about mycopigment. In the meantime, I’m soaking various lichen I have collected in ammonia to see what they produce. Early results are promising.

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Wild and weird

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Summer ticks away. The garden is nourishing us. Today we had pizza with home grown tomatoes, purple basil and oregano (thank you Janice).

Sunflowers were planted for dyeing but they are too pretty to behead just now.

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I’ve been experimenting with my top load updraft gasification stove for cooking dyestuff outside. With my newest rendition, I boiled water in 6 minutes and had jets of gas burning across the top but won’t be able to sustain a flame for an hour. The “top loading” is the problem. You load sticks from the top, which means you have to keep lifting the large stock pot to add more fuel. Nope.

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It did satisfy my pyro tendencies for a day however. Now I’m planning a cinder block rocket stove. There are lots of metal varieties but I don’t weld or snip metal very well.

I had to tell this American Carrion beetle, “I’m not dead yet!” It was marching across my front porch while I worked outside.

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They don’t usually have “tails”. Not sure what was coming out the back door but it was icky.

Spiders, coyotes and turkeys are up to shenanigans. The coyotes are becoming too bold; hanging around in broad daylight. Today Tim counted 33 turkeys cross the yard and I encountered this spider web down the road.

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Sew old, sew new

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I used my new(ish) serger and my antique treadle sewing machine to make a portable toddler high chair. I found the pattern at Made by Marzipan. It won’t fit every chair but may fit most. I had something similar when my kids were babies and found it very useful.

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My next one may use a longer wrap to accommodate all chair shapes. I ‘ll see how this one works first.

There was a coyote in the field across the road this afternoon. I’m usually casual about leaving my cat, Loki, out when it’s light but saw this disturbing video today and rustled him inside. They’re howling outside as I write.

Flowers are blooming. I haven’t had the heart to pull off their pretty heads to create dye baths.

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Maybe next year. So far, I have only processed purple basil; there wereno flowers to sacrifice.

Sailing lessons

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More specifically, sailing knitting lessons. Lesson number one. Save colorwork for calm moments. Multiple balls of yarn become a tangled mess when thrown into the cabin when all hell breaks loose.

Lesson number two. Time flies and you’ll never accomplish all you plan.

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Lesson number three. Enjoy these moments.

Best view in the Park

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Perfect place to swim after dinner. I did.

Perfect place to swim after dinner. I did.

 

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Can you guess this mountain's name? Can you guess this mountain’s name?

Shaded mountain

This may be it. These photos don’t really do it justice.  Elk Lake Is a pristine lake surrounded by, dare I say, majestic mountains. We arrived in the afternoon and paddled a canoe for a bit.  Then we retired to cocktails on the porch, dinner and a swim. Nice day.

 

Water girl

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Since traveling downstate, I’ve been ON the water, while we sailed the east end, IN the water, when I swam in the ocean off Fire Island, and, yesterday, BY the water of Manhattan.

I was in THE city and walked along the Highline Park, which is a reclaimed, elevated railroad track that spans about 20 blocks, just off the Hudson River. The gardens are spectacular and surrounding graffiti, whimsical.

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I continued south along the Hudson River Park, which is at the water’s edge

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and paused for a while to begin knitting a(nother) pair of Hedera Socks by Cookie A, one of my favorites. I think I’ve given two pairs away so never have any left for myself. It’s still available free from Knitty and has an easy lace pattern.

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Finally, I wandered through Soho and the Village.

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What’s a water girl doing in the mountains?

Creative geniuses

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I am so lucky to have my daughter and three friends visit me at Camp Adirondack.  They are experiencing it at its best, despite the fact it’s still black fly season and the pine pollen is falling in clouds.  They’ve hiked locally and afar.  We went for a sail on a blustery day, played board games and of course have explored arts and crafts. Now they’ve crossed the border and have headed to Montreal.

In anticipation of their visit, I invested in a //ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=islandnorcoul-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B002EDNZD0&asins=B002EDNZD0&linkId=&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true” target=”_blank”>Harrisville Designs Pro Loom and a couple of bags of 10″ loops.  The larger version is an improvement (in my humble opinion) over the original 7″ design.  I never could have imagined the fun they would have with it or how competitive they would be – hoarding loops and judging the finished products.  In a couple of days, on their own,  they have explored color work, texture, twill and sett.  It’s amazing. It may have allowed them to appreciate the thought that goes into even the simplest project.  Plus they have a useful reminder of their time in the North Country.

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I also played with some yarn necklaces before they got here because there were a few – and why not celebrate them all – birthday celebrations.  We saw a version of this in a craft store in West Virginia and it looked easy to replicate.  I bought a little jewelry making kit and practiced bending and twisting wire.  I think the wrappings are smooth enough and hopefully won’t gouge anyone.

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One morning, during breakfast, my neighbor pulled up in his tractor to tell me there was a fawn next door.  We must have walked by it the previous afternoon and had no idea it was there.  We returned with cameras and found this beautiful little fawn lying in the grass.   We gave it a wide berth and I  used my zoom lens to capture its image.

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Their weaving enthusiasm inspired me to complete a scarf, which had been languishing on my rigid heddle loom since December.  Now the loom vacuum is begging for another project.

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Over the past couple of days I have scored a Louet Drum Carder and Brother Serger.  So much experimenting to do.

Ship shape

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Thirteen boat cushions are complete and mostly a success. There were a only few minor glitches.  But they brighten the boat and aren’t ripped.  Hopefully only my eyes will focus on the errors.  Next time I’ll do even better.

IMG_9543Tim got to use my favorite gift for the boat.  I bought it when we were living aboard a boat with a ginormous mast.  As the lighter of the crew, ahem, I was the chosen candidate to be hoisted to the top to do various repairs.  Then I found the ATN topclimber.  Now Tim can climb himself up the mast and I just have to stand by and watch in case he comes tumbling down.  Best purchase ever.

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The boat is afloat and my mind turns to the garden and my loom.  I’m planning a dyeing garden, that’s dyeing in the color sense not the end of life.  Who needs food when there is fiber to be dyed?  Actually, I may have bitten off more than I can chew because I’m planning three gardens.  A raised bed mostly for veggies, a flower garden for cutting and dye and a perennial garden to keep the butterflies and hummingbirds happy.

IMG_9567We may be beyond frost but one never knows in the Adirondacks.  The hummingbirds are back at the feeders and I witnessed a near hummicide the other day.  Two birds met at the feeder, flew into one another, held on and spiraled to the ground.  Then one pounded the other for about three minutes.  They both were males so I guess they were staking out the territory.  One pinned the other to the ground, pecked at it, sat on it and covered it with its wings. Very dramatic. Not so sweet after all.

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