Celebrating World Wide Knit in Public week

Neuro and I met at New London's Bean and Leaf Café, whose iced coffee I highly recommend, last week.  Neuro brought along a pair of beauteous gray socks she made for her dad for Father's Day, and was working on a shawl variant of the Clapotis (can't remember the exact title, but perhaps she will comment with the proper info) using a yarn she'd dyed herself in an inimitable yellow and gray colorway.  In the foreground please notice the baby blanket I recently completed and washed, only to discover that the red dye ran onto some of the yellow stripes.  This tale of disaster, with perhaps a  happier ending, will be related at length in a future post.

Dyed in the wool, Part One

Neuroknitter graciously invited me to participate in a yarn-dyeing session on Friday, in the historic New England city of New London, Connecticut. She is a fearless knitter, spinner, fibre creator, and such is her sang froid that she actually wore a white tee-shirt while mixing the various dyes in her underground laboratory! I was completely awestruck.

The colors mixed were as follows:  pine green, pear green, emerald green, slate, mahogany. Nervous Nellie that I am, I asked Neuroknitter to forge ahead whilst I, protected behind my trusty Panasonic Lumix, observed from the sidelines. With consummate aplomb she demonstrated the application of the dye to pristine white yarn that had previously soaked in a solution of water and Synthrapol.

After coloring the blank slate, as it were, to her satisfaction, the yarn was then carefully squished to ensure a good saturation of the dyes.

Next, it was enfolded in the plastic wrap on which it had been resting, and cooked for five minutes in the microwave.

At this point, exhausted and depleted, we gulped frosty glasses of iced Earl Grey. Then, as Neuroknitter's yarn cooled in its plastic sheath, I sallied forth on my first attempt. The yarn I'd chosen was a natural wool worsted that had  (my conjecture) somewhat yellowed over the ages. I acquired it as part of an enormous stash someone had donated to the Langworthy Library Knitting Association.

Timid creature that I am, I started with only one color, Slate. Brownie the cat, who skeptically watched our proceedings, approved my cautious approach, I think.

(To be continued in the next post....)

Postcards

I've been bopping around New England, as always with knitting in tow.

This particular pair of socks has been a drag, in more ways than one.

This particular pair of socks has been a drag in more ways than one. Because I'm too lazy to use point protectors, and I've been carrying the sock everywhere in the hope of of finishing it quickly, it's always coming off the needles and I constantly have to frog and re-find my way. Oy. Why am I doing this to myself? Needless (indeed) to say, I can't wait till I'm done with these.

We stopped in Putney, Vermont at the Green Mountain Spinnery. While H listened to his audiobook in the parked car, I was having a great time touring this amazing mill, as director of Marketing Margaret Atkinson led me through the process from raw fleece to finished skeins.

I highly recommend the tour if you happen to be in the area, and if you aren't, it's worth a detour or a destination trip. Besides, at the end you can buy some of the Spinnery's beautiful yarn, or their patterns, including The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book, and 99 Yarns and Counting.

Fast forward a few days, and it's my annual journey into the time-warp of baroque music at the Amherst Early Music workshop. This means my other life goes on hold while I spend my days on the beautiful Connecticut College campus in New London, in Harpsichord Masterclass (works of Italian composers, although bending the rules, I also played a Couperin two-harpsichord piece with another devotée of the French baroque) and Baroque Ensemble (Vivaldi trio sonata for bassoon, recorder, oboe, and harpsichord). But wait...there's more: I was invited by Neuroknitter to a weekly gathering of the Camel Knitters of Conn College. (The camel is the mascot of this college.  Don't ask.) Meeting in the Oasis Snack Bar (where else?) every Wednesday at noon, the group is comprised of creative spirits dedicated to elegant knitting, high quality materials, and droll conversation. Needles flew, discussion flowed, time flew. This was indeed a pleasant interlude.

hand-knitted, felted fair isle bag

lace shawl in progress, lace cardigan completed and modeled