Sundays at the Studio

I have the good fortune of having a lovely and lively group of women that meet on Sunday to knit and spin and 'yarn' about anything and everything - and learning something new every time. I invite you to come and enjoy the fabulous women (so far no men, although the travellers that pass through have many comments!). We usually begin around 10 and stay until we tire. I pick up my Cowichan Knitting Sisters, and then the day begins.....

Now what have I been doing this month? - a month of plenty and some changes also. My studio is expanding!!!! Well, a little room is all, but what a difference it will make - but renos are a big upheaval and so far I have been patient, but I am getting antsy. The reno, the heat and the many tourists that have come by, have made the studio exceptionally busy. However, it will be great to have all the floor looms (except my Cherryville loom, as she needs to be the centre of attraction - she's my best friend in all the world and we have been together since I was 16...) in one room, the student table looms will be in the entrance and near the best light, the warping area will be in the floor loom area as well. And the little sewing room is in the new part - a very small space, but it works.


The teapot garden is growing more teapots! One week, there were seven new ones and even today I noticed a couple of new ones. Thank you to all that may have 'planted' one. Yesterday a family of ladybugs moved in....



August has been a continuation of dyeing. My friend Ann and I have gone just a little crazy since our cotton dyeing escapades, which we continue as we design double corduroy and discuss the 'king's road' in great detail and the whys of pile and shag rugs and how they might translate to other functions and uses. It seems we have gone more crazy with this but we are having a heck of a good time and I have to blame her for sleepless nights - it is just too stimulating.
We dyed a lot of wool, but we started dyeing these wonderful blankets that Ann gets woven in PEI from her mohair.........although we have only technically dyed three blankets, we have already prepared and designed about 50 more! Horse troughs and block and tackle are some of the future ways of assisting us in our elaborate designs. For the most part, we had a wonderful time and our artistic needs were being met.


These goats are the inspiration and their mohair provides many a spinner, weaver and knitter quality fibre to create beautiful projects. I miss having mohair goats - I still have fibre from them, but they have since passed on and I am fortunate to have Ann's goats to fill that emptiness. Aren't they so pretty? Oh yes, the blankets......well, when these blankets are wet and hot, they are heavy and uncomfortable to move around, so we had great fun dealing with this, and Binder Bob the dog, didn't help much either - he moved too close to the burners and singed his hair and continued to 'help' us throughout the day - we kept putting him outside, but forgetting there was another door open and getting back to dyeing these heavy blankets and there he was again. Gave us yet another laugh though.


We likened the blankets to Tony Onley landscapes - please forgive us for this, but there are shadows where we would dip the blanket in a little more, a little more and so forth, that would then give us all these hills and valleys - and you just have to have been there I think - we weren't sure that they were really weird or really beautiful - it is quite wonderful to work big though....

We managed to fit in some time to pick some transparent apples, the whole time planning the next project, the next dyeing binge, and the next weaving exploration. We met again to put a warp on and when we realized the extent of this one small technique - and the endless possibilities, we were like two children just discovering Christmas or something - luckily there were no witnesses to our dancing and screaming outside the studio - or maybe it would have been a great thing to see!


I had brought some apples to a regular Whippletree friend who told me all about the blackberry/apple pies she was making but had no more apples................well, the next day I received a pie which I shared with Ann - have you ever cut a pie in half with a pair of scissors?? It works like a hot damn.

I am also teaching younger textile students and my youngest, Hannah came for a class after holidaying, and made a great bag that was a felted wool sweater and needlefelted it with polky dots....we had a lovely afternoon together creating and also planning the many things one could make with a shrunken sweater. Never, ever, throw out a shrunken sweater!!!

One the most important part of August is the big sale at THE LOOM!!!! 20% off all regularly priced knitting yarns.......lots of beautiful fibres. It is not too late to get more for your stash collection if you can't decide what you need! Karen and I put a display in the window of all the new beautiful cottons, linens and cottolins available too - although not on sale, there are some lovely new colours. There is some new Fleece Artist spinning braids just in too, although I have one student, not to be named of course, that seems to be able to smell the new Fleece Artist fleece!!!!


Well, I think that is about it, there is so much that happens on a daily basis at the Studio, that I can't get it down - the conversations and the connections that happen surely would blow anyone's mind is about how I can only describe my daily life - everyone contributes to the creativity of the universe and I am so very grateful that I can be a part of that. The generosity that abounds is most amazing. Thank you all for being a part of it. I leave you with the latest solar dyeing - tansy and queen Anne's Lace. I put a pinch of iron in the tansy and the jar of liquid turned it squid inky and the queen Anne's lace is light celery green. It has pennies, but I think I will put a pinch of copper in with it to give a better mordant............has anyone heard of the pennies and ammonia method? Hope to see you soon.

I love Lucy!!

It has been some time since I wrote only because I have been so busy - and I am having a wonderful time being busy I must say. I will try to bring my blog up-to-date, so it may be somewhat longwinded.
I have been doing a fair amount of spinning and teaching spinning. The fleece I have been spinning most recently is Shetland and I am in love with Lucy's fleece. My friend Alberta, one of the best shepherds I know, has wonderful sheep with wonderful fleece. I have been spinning in the grease and it is like one long staple - it just doesn't end.

I plied it into a boucle and it looks very pretty - stockpiling for a future project. I have been combing different fibres together and getting some interesting yarns - will have to take some pictures.....

Then of course I have been talking about doing some natural dyeing, so I thought I had better stop talking about it and do it.....so solar dyeing came to mind, much like sun tea. I used to do it many many years ago, so now in the day where everything seems to be eco minded, I thought it would be fun. I picked St. John's Wort, bracken fern, yellow dock and sow thistle and put them in jars with water and let the sun do its work.
Ever the educator, I labeled and put examples of the plants next to the jars. I left them for about 5 days and then yesterday strained and put back into the jars along with some mohair/wool from Eastwin Farm. I used alum for them all and put some pennies into the dock and wort....they are quite beautiful already - lovely shades of green.

St. John's Wort - it looks yellow but it is quite green unless it changes tomorrow!!!

And Yellow Dock - which is my favourite - a lovely celery green. A fellow spinner came by and told me about buddlia being a great dyeing plant - so save your spent blooms for me!
Then there are marigolds, coreopsis, St. Anne's Lace, tansy, goldenrod, and on and on, never mind all the seaweeds and lichens - it is never ending and I want to dye it all. I have to look for my copy of natural dyeing by Jane Patrick - a very old publication that I contributed to, and it was full of different dyeplants that were tested for light and colourfastness.

Every day is rich with activity at the Studio and I meet many extraordinary people. Well I also meet other 'people'. I had a student of mine come by The Loom where I was working today and said she had to show me something...................

Yes, a couple of very pretty sheep came to visit - Clune Forest lambs all groomed and behaved as they had been at a 4H workshop for showing sheep. I did keep an eye on my roses that Karen gave me.....

One of the wonderful parts of my daily life at Whippletree is having coffee and goodies from Black Coffee - the best coffee on the island. And their soups are wonderful. My camera is always at the ready and I couldn't resist taking the following picture - Creamy carrot soup in the courtyard - nothing better under the cedar trees where so much happens on a daily basis - whether it be my Cowichan knitting sisters knitting on a Sunday, cool on a hot day because of the trees, to my spinning classes spinning in the rain but very dry under these dear cedars.