Ruby Slippers

rainbow shawl

I finished my latest knitting project - a rainbow shawl knitted out of lopi wool dyed with natural dyes.  Every year our Sunshine Coast Spinners and Weavers Guild has a stash day where members bring items from their stash that they no longer want.  Over the years I accumulated a fair bit of lopi yarn which I dyed with lac, logwood, marigold, indigo and horsetail.  Such beautiful colours from Nature!

I knitted one half, then the other half and then joined them together with the kitchener stitch.  I didn't have a needle long enough to hold the entire shawl and also I was making the increases by putting the wool over the needle for the first stitch to make a loop and that wouldn't work on the half I was decreasing on.  I changed colour by sewing the new colour into the cut off end of the old colour and then strengthening the join with a felting needle.  The colour change shows along the edge a bit but not enough to notice when I'm wearing it.

 

When I'm not wearing the shawl I'm going to drape it over the back of a chesterfield.  I live on the edge of the forest and in good weather I have moths that visit me and eat any wool left out. Last year the bad creatures ate the wool around the ankles of my stuffed llama!  So now my shawl is spending several days in a plastic bag with a number of lavender sachets in hopes that when I take it out the lavender scent will hide the smell of wool that attracts moths.

onion skin shawl

In the summer of 2011 I dyed some wool with onion skins using a variety of mordants.

I spun the wool and put it in a basket for our Sunshine Coast Fibreshed display.

This past winter I started knitting it into a shawl which I recently finished.  The green wool was overdyed with indigo.  I call it my Don't Cry for Me shawl.

ruana

My nature is such that I usually make small ‘useless’ things such as treasure holders, little bags, magic wand holders and small books.  So it was an undertaking for me to make something large and useful.  This ruana is knitted with Gaywool-dyed handspun and mohair as well as miscellaneous novelty yarns.  It was simple to knit – two large rectangles, one longer than the other.

The runana is based on a pattern by Cheryl Oberle in Handpaint Country.  After I’d knitted it I laid it out in preparation for sewing it together as was described in the pattern – the shorter rectangular piece sewn to the edge of one of the ends of the longer rectangular piece to make an L shape.  When I looked at it I realized that most of my back would be uncovered and I’d have quantities of stuff at the front.  Hmmm…  This type of surprise is common in my creative life – oh dear, I didn’t expect it would turn out that way!  It’s a good thing I never had my heart set on being an engineer…

I ended up sewing the longer and shorter rectangles together along their long edges, leaving about half unsewn so I could wrap the ends around my shoulders.  Here is the front.

My back is covered nicely and there isn’t too much stuff at the front.  I’m very happy with it.

eco-dyed tunic

When looking through my treasures I realized I’d accumulated a number of bits and pieces of eco-dyed wool fabric.  So I decided to make a tabard-type tunic out of them.  I’m not a sewer but just the same I want to make more of my own clothes with materials that I’ve naturally dyed.  Here’s the front of the tunic.

Here’s the back.

And here’s the lining which is merino jersey dyed with henna.  Such a lovely colour it’s a shame it’s hidden away!