Business.

I’ve been almost overwhelmed with how busy I’ve been lately. I love having places to go and people to hang out with again. I took an Intro to Herbs class, and I learned about how to make medicines from common herbs. It’s really exciting to me, to be able to take control of our health this way. I eventually want to line the walls of my house with huge jars of herbs and make my own teas, oil infusions, salves and tinctures. The next class they’re offering is going to be a hands-on type of workshop where we actually get to try the whole process ourselves. I wasn’t sure I wanted to participate, but I’m so glad I did.

The only downside to all of this is that I fell behind on my project 365.. I’ve been doing more interesting things, than trying to find interesting things to take photos of. Fair trade.

On Tuesday I’m dropping off my latest painting to the Art Society to get put on display in the cafe as the gallery is undergoing some renos and getting some new lights put in and will be closed during April. It’ll be so nice to see my very own painting in such a public place.

I started going to the SCA here in town here and it’s been so much fun. I’m learning to fight with a rapier like a musketeer on Wednesday nights now and meeting lots of people. I love getting dressed up and getting together with people and learning about history.

I bought the prettiest mortar and pestle instead of a coffee grinder to crush up the cochineal for one of the last of my dyepots for the nature dyeing portion of my course. I’d much rather have something I can wash thoroughly and reuse for herbs than a coffee grinder I’m never going to use again. Alex and I went to Lori and Oliver’s and we had a few drinks while I taught Lori the basic premise behind nature dyeing and fibre prep. I got some amazing colors from the cochineal, but the indigo I used turned out to be pathetic because I didn’t use a reducing agent and the indigo is insoluble in water.

Yesterday we went and saw Barb (owner of Wild Geese Fibres) and we gawked at her wares and hung out for a few hours. She and her husband are some of the nicest people I know. At the end of April Barb and I are going to Kamloops to the Twist of Fate retreat for a Fair Isle class Barb is teaching and I’m so excited to see Erin again, and anyone else from Olds last year who is going to be there.

I love being a part of this whole fibre community we have, and I think that I will always have it as a part of my life. I love knowing what I love to do.

I’m pretty content

I called a cab to pick me  up tonight and he didn’t come. I didn’t have a phone on me, so I walked home. It was a pleasant enough walk, punctuated by a guy yelling at me from a moving vehicle – something I couldn’t quite make out, but it seemed innocuous enough that I wasn’t bothered for very long. It’s amazing, the minute chance of me encountering someone outgoing enough to yell at me on a ten minute walk, but it happens all the time. You’d think people would realise that a girl walking alone in the middle of the night would probably be a little shaken by someone approaching and yelling..

I got a letter from Elyse today and she sent me a beautiful ring that’ll I’ll probably wear every day. Forever.

I’m trying really hard to wind down so I can sleep soundly. Night.

Space Man

Space Man, originally uploaded by Gaminelle.

Painting in progress

NEEDS MORE SCAPULAE!

Ambitions revisited.

I’ve been catching up, trying to finish my dyeing and spinning and such. I’ve had the last three days off work, wishing they could last forever. These past few days have made me realize that this is what I want to do for a living.

I want to learn all the mechanics and techniques of making garments and I want to design knitwear. I want to spend every day drinking too much coffee sketching sweater panel diagrams and testing my creations. I want to see other people wearing my ideas and enjoying the creation process as much as I do.

Tom is lucky I didn’t kill him for guitar strings the other day, he got into my breeds book and shredded the Tunis page. He didn’t manage to ruin the samples, though, so he was spared. I’ve never met another cat more destructive than he. Drives me crazy.

Here’s the yarn I’ve been fiddling over lately. I’m going to spend the rest of the day making up new dye-pots and spinning up my silk samples.

Nature dyed yarn. Four out of ten plants :
Brazilwood – pinks, Logwood – dark purples/blues, Osage – yellow, Madder – red/orange.
First four samples – no mordant, next four – alum, then alum&iron and iron.

Six plants to go.

All that’s required of me is that I have a small sample of each version of each dye, but instead of wasting a whole dyepot on just a tiny bit, I’ve been splitting 100g skeins into four 25g skeins. At the end, I’ll have forty different colors, and I think I’m going to make an afghan out of completely nature-dyed yarn. It’s going to be so beautiful. Colors from nature seem to mesh together so nicely.

365.019

365.019, originally uploaded by Gaminelle.

Yarn dyed with Madder root

365.018

365.018, originally uploaded by Gaminelle.

My new dyes from Maiwa.com

365.017

365.017, originally uploaded by Gaminelle.

I’m kind of short on space so when I need to skein yarn I remove the bobbin from my spinning wheel and screw the vice of the umbrella swift onto the "mother of all". Epic.

365.016

365.016, originally uploaded by Gaminelle.

My guitar, Litha. We had a recent reunion. Sketchbook/journal thing on the right.

365.015

365.015, originally uploaded by Gaminelle.

My ugly mug.

365.014

365.014, originally uploaded by Gaminelle.

My fibre week pamphlet which I am BLOODY STOKED about.