Embroidery

No Shortcuts, Darn It

by CZeitler

I created a label for my Halloween quilt to hide a mistake I made in the binding. I love how it turned out. The fold over binding did not work for me on the fidget quilt since I accidentally snipped into it when cutting off the extra batting. I spent about an hour this morning hiding and snipping threads, then threw them in the wash since I photographed them on the floor.

I am also considering how to finish off the stitching project, the dark grey background would cause the cream to pop. If I decide to add that in then I’ll use stitching to go across both pieces.

That’s it for current projects. I’m going to see the hand surgeon tomorrow to see what’s up with my broken wrist. I’m hoping that I can do more crafting after that, but only time will tell. Until next time, remember to live life a little more abstract.

One Week In

by CZeitler

Okay, so I am one week into 2023 and my resolution has (mostly) held. This year I am going to be teaching 3-4 classes outside of my normal work. One of those is going to be a needle tatting class. I decided to purchase supplies for 10 people to be able to take the class, I wanted to make the purchase before prices to up. It will be about $10 per person to take the class and this just covers the supplies. Given that I hope to be given a speaker’s fee which I can then put toward some future classes I would like to take. Other than those supplies and a case to put them it I have bought the supplies I need to finish my holiday plans and some fabric I was missing for a couple of cousin quilts, as well as the batting for a donation quilt.

Every day I have managed to do something to make progress on my various crafting plans. The 16 shaft loom has the warp through the front beater bar, it is just waiting for me to thread it through the heddles next. I have spun a couple more puffs from my Unicorns in the Library fiber ( split it into hand length puffs to give me smaller achievable goals). I have half of the fabric I purchased torn into the right size for my embroidery project (for the family), and I stitched up 4 pieces this morning with another 2 designed and ready for me to hit the button when I get home. I have also signed up for three different ‘summits’ that will happen this week. One is Stitch Camp scheduled to begin next week, then the Knitting Summit the week of the 23rd, and finally selling your crafts for a profit the 26th- 28th of January. I am not sure how much I am going to get out of these classes, however since they are free I am going to give them a good shot.

The last thing I have been doing recently is going through my Amazon e-magazines, and taking screenshots of the projects and instructions that I want to keep for now. That way if I decide I want to get rid of Kindle Unlimited I will not lose access to those projects. Okay, that is all for this week (I will try to add photos later if I remember).

Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

…The Saga Continues

by CZeitler

The ongoing washer and dryer saga continues. My handyperson managed to get the entire area prepped for installation on Friday. I received a call that there was trouble with the truck again and he would make sure I was on the delivery for Monday. Okay, not great, but I had Monday off so it was not as bad as it could be. Over the weekend I cancelled my Saturday plans since I needed a weekend to be an introvert and apparently I would have Monday delivery and Tuesday Installation. I did do crafty things over the weekend that I will detail in the next paragraph. When I called on Monday about 9:30 am to find out what time I could expect delivery, only to find out that they had me scheduled for this Friday. I told them this would not work because I was working, however I had Friday the 1st off since I was working Saturday the 2nd. So instead of a delivery followed by installation followed by laundry I’m looking at a trip to the laundromat and another weekend taken up by trying to get these installed! Yay.

The crafty content has been pretty fun. I managed to install the quilt hangers to get the planning panel to hang properly. I put two up for the corners and I’ll put the other two up soon to hold the center of the panel since it is sagging pretty badly. I do like how it is working though, I have a better idea of how parts of the quilts are going to turn out.

I put together my quilting frame and hung up hooks that are intended as bike hooks. I’m using these padded bike hooks to hold my three quilt rollers on the wall and out of my way. Since the hooks came in a pack of 6 I’m using two others to hold my 36” rigid heddle loom on the wall as well. I’m so pleased about these storage options, and now I am contemplating about installing shelves on my wall. I always seem to forget that walls a great option for additional storage without taking up floor space.

I did take the folk embroidery class on Sunday, this was the third of three classes, and now I am relatively confident in creating an embroidered piece that can then be used as an appliqué piece. I”m also fairly confident that I’m going to be taking a dress making class that seemed like a ton of fun for the participants whom were all different sizes.

My weekend was not all stitching and hanging things on the wall however, though I did get my crafty pictures hung up in my second room, I also spent some time opening up slightly compacted fiber on my drum carder. I now have about 7 fluffy batts for me to spin from come next week. This week I’m doing a mending class and next week we are mostly working on spinning and weaving demonstrations. I think that everyone is going to have a ton of fun, I’ll be using a couple of my fluffy batts as well as some bast fibers for demonstrations. I have a very small skein of flax spun up, I need to spin another little skein that I then boil for about 2 hours.

Okay, that is it for right now. I’m currently debating if my wifi problems are the modem going out or if I need signal boosters more than I thought. Until next time remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Little Bits of Everything

by CZeitler

This month has been different since I stopped working my side hustle. I haven’t updated since my last day there, as the photos will tell it has been a busy month. The first photo above is an embroidery done on my new Baby Lock Flare (mine was half-off due to a sale). I am really enjoying the machine and believe it will greatly help my quilting.

The photo above is of my new balcony, the door that led out to an empty rooftop had railing put around the roof to create a balcony. I’m going to use this to put 4 flowerpots for my dye garden.

I finally finished the tapestry I started last July on my Saffron pocket loom. I love how it looks!

Finally the lovely people helping out with my home have taken out some cupboards to create a space for my washer and dryer. Fortunately the washer and dryer have not been delivered yet, the truck broke down. This is fortunate since there were some problems with the wiring in my wall.

Okay, thats going to be about it for this update. I’m planning several quilts in the near future and have bought the supplies for these projects.

Remember to Live Life A Little More Abstract.

Scattershot

by CZeitler

This pretty much describes where I am right now, scattershot. Crafting content will commence after this paragraph of catching up, if you want to skip ahead look for the ****. For the life of me I cannot believe that April is next week! The closing of the house is, hopefully, going to be in about 3 weeks. That will be a huge load off of my mind, and begin to give me the resources I need to make some changes to my new home. I did get the carpet taken out and the pink desk moved into the corner. I am still working on making the space as usable as I can. My energetic period took an abrupt downswing over the past couple of days, however that might be due to weird weather patterns and the re-emergence of my allergies. I had a stroke of productivity earlier this week and also joined my local gym. I started off strong and went twice this past week, it should have been 3 times however I wanted to go at 5 am to get back to my house by 7am and get ready for work, but the gym opened on the weekends at 6am and I thought 8am was cutting it too close. I plan on going tomorrow, Monday, at 5am and getting in the shower at home by 7am to be at work by 8:45. While that is also cutting it close I open M-W this week and do not want to have an entire week between gym visits, it will make the entire endeavor an unpredictable failure. My decision to go to the gym is prompted by a trifecta of circumstances; I plan on going back to Nutrisystem when I get the settlement from the house (and therefor don’t have the extra bills associated with the old house to contend with) and hope to do so more reasonably since the initial was essentially a starvation diet with no exercise component added in, I need to get stronger for my personal health/well being/self esteem; My sister and I hope to go on a special trip in the next couple of years and the theme park we hope to visit recommends that you are able to walk for 7-10 miles (which I cannot do right now without serious regret).

***************************

On to the crafting content. There honestly is not a lot for me to report this week. I am still plugging away with gluing down pieces for my first EPP Project. I love how the colors are coming together, though I do plan on doing a little more organization for my second project. I obtained a case to keep all of my pieces in, since without it I was concerned I would drop everything everywhere and lose something.

As I finish pasting down one type of block I then color them in on the chart obtained from the Tula Pink kit, this is a photocopy for my personal use since I hope to make more than one of this quilt. There are some of the tiny triangle that have not been colored in, this is deliberate. As you can see on the far right hand side of the photo there are some triangles out of a white fabric with colored books on it, that will go in the ‘uncolored’ sections.

I had so much fun at the brown paper bag book binding class, the results were amazing. The embroidery class was also a ton of fun, I even managed a french knot. Then just to make sure it was not a fluke I recreated the knot at home on my own! Of course I do not have any photos of my embroidery, but I do have a picture of the finished bound book.

I believe that is all the news worth posting about this week, as things progress I will keep you updated. I hope to finish pasting down the pieces for my EPP quilt this week, there are 471 pieces to this quilt and I have 246 completely glued down with another 30/50 of one shape completed. That will bring me up to 296/471. It will be interesting to see how far I get and whether I get impatient enough to begin stitching some parts together before I have everything glued *spoiler* I’m probably going to get impatient. Until next time remember to live life A Little More Abstract.

So Much Happening

by CZeitler

So, last Sunday my side hustle was on break and I wound up having a quilting day with an amazing new friend/colleague from my full-time job. The afternoon started off worryingly, I shut the top of my metal storage rack on my finger…that was not a good time to discover I did not have any band-aids in my new house! One trip to the pharmacy later, and I went to my friends house. She is a part of the Pointer Rescue Organization and had a foster dog that I was able to meet. That makes it so hard to remember that I do not have time/space for a dog right now. I was able to get some ideas about how I can/should set up a sewing area. Since she is planning on making a long distance move soon she offered me her folding table…until her husband found out how much it would cost to replace that table, lol. I deeply appreciate the offer, and I do realize that this is the sort of table I am going to need. I gained a deeper understanding of cutting and pressing.

I am having so much fun sewing and quilting right now that I cannot believe I have allowed myself to be intimidated by quilting for this long! The aspects that have allowed me to get into this form of quilting is the understanding that there is more out there than half-square triangles. I am working better when I do not have to meet corners perfectly (though there are certainly arguments that there is no perfect in quilting). I finished a 6 column quilt that comprised of 4 colors in different saturation points that were sashed by black jelly roll strips on all sides. Since this was made of 24 blocks with simple sashing I was able to finish in 2 days. I then made the quilt sandwich, switched out needles when the machine started ka-thunk-ing, and sewed 90% around the edge of the quilt sandwich. Changing the needle once more after the tip broke off at a corner ( digging a sharp needle tip out of quilt batting is not fun). After I cut the excess of batting and backing off of the edges I turned the quilt inside out before I sewed about a quarter inch around the edges to close the seam and get a more finished edge.

The last two steps involved the binding around the edge of the quilt. I sewed the binding strips together, then with the right sides together (with the bulk of the binding on top of the quilt, then once you have sewn around the edge you flip the binding around to the back) I sewed the binding onto the top of the quilt. Next I folded the binding over the edge of the quilt, folded under the edge of the binding and faced hand felling this binding….and I decided to take a shortcut. I decided that I was going to use a decorative stitch from the top of the quilt to machine fell the edges of the binding. In retrospect I really should have at least watched a video on how to machine fell a seam…so after I did that I went back to fell the parts of the seam that did not work, embroidered some text in a corner that the stitching did not work in, and now I’m embroidering a flower on the back so that the embroidery stitches from the text do not show as random thread on the back… Oh well. The batting and backing I used were left over from earlier purchases and I plan on using this as a rug once I have shown it to the quilt guild I joined because my new friend is a member. This experience has also taught me that I need to take some in person classes about quilting, and properly finishing a quilt. Hopefully I can find some that are not cost prohibitive.

One of the main take-aways that I have from this experience is that I really enjoy quilting. For me to do this new craft properly I am going to need a space to create within. My Library room is likely going to become my sewing room. Before I can start using my second and third floors I need my second floor bathroom to be usable, so once the old house has sold this has become my second priority (the roof is still first). I also am going to need a better sewing machine at some point in the relatively near future. I am half thinking about getting a machine that also does embroidery so that I can use the hoop to do some pre-programmed quilting designs on the quilt.

Not everything has been about the quilting however, well there is work and how I will be starting a teen crafting class every week in April but that is a different post, as I have been working with UV resin. UV resin is a form of resin that is quickly set using ultraviolet light, it is said that sunlight works however I have found that UV nail lights work well. The kind that nail salons use to set acrylic nails. I know that this sounds really scary, however with the exception of using mica powder for coloring I have found UV resin to be relatively easy to work with. Small bookmarks turned out well, The medium journal cover needs work, I’m not sure if it is because the mold was not on a flat surface or that the mold warped a little due to the heat of the reaction but this cover is not flat. I’m going to try again with the small cover when the new resin arrives. I am experimenting with different brands of resin to obtain the best value/quality ratio. My boss is already planning on how this can be used at the library, which I am all on board with.

I think that is enough for now, sorry I don’t have any WIP photos.

Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract.

Progress Has Been Achieved

by CZeitler

So I am not finished with anything quite yet. The clothing dilemma is ongoing, and probably will be until I get a few more paychecks under my belt and make a decision. I did speak with a cousin and she promised wardrobe help if I can make it to Jersey for the winter holidays. Since it will be the first time in a couple of years I will get to see her, as well as the first time I’ll meet her second daughter, I hope I can make it.

I have made significant progress on my sock, right now the heel flap is almost done. I do have to pick up the gusset stitches, however I will need to dig up a circular needle of the right size to do so. If I try to fit the gusset stitches on my flexi flips I’ll wind up dropping stitches all over the place. I’m loving the pattern and I cannot wait to see how it turns out in the end!

I finished spinning up the green yarn, so now I’m going to wait and see what my prize box as well as what colors my Paradise Fibers box will bring me (they promised color this month). While I’m waiting I did make some progress organizing my crafting supplies, so I went downstairs to retrieve a few things. I found some sewing supplies, I’ll get back to that in a minute, and brought up some colorful fiber. I’m spinning up bits of various colors of fiber that I can use for a colorwork project or as crewel embroidery thread. Presently I am just spinning up the various colors on one bobbin, then I will wind them off onto individual weaving bobbins so I can later make plying bracelets for each color. This is such a great way to make little bits of fiber useful, especially if I am not sure what breed they are. It is a little involved however I am enjoying the process.

Finally, I did receive my Sprang Loom ordered from Dewberry Ridge Looms. I had to wait until I had a day off to pick it up from the post office, we have an agreement I’ll stop complaining and just pick my packages up from the office if they’ll stop leaving my packages in stupid places like hanging off of the mailbox or on top of the newspaper box. Since picking up my loom I have managed to get it set up, not a problem, and warped up with 20 strands. This is not a very wide warp, however it is certainly enough for me to start to get the hang of Sprang. I’m only going to be a little bit arrogant and say I think Sprang is about as difficult as I believed it to be. This could be due to my watching various videos on the technique for a couple of years until I thought I had the motions down and understood what is going on with the cloth. I’ve woven about six rows (its actually twelve since each row is doubled on the bottom, and had to loosen up the tension on the loom a little bit so the wires were not bent so badly.

The loom is quite tall, which I appreciate. This is before I began weaving, you cannot see it very well but I am using a very pretty rainbow colored yarn. It is likely that in order to figure out how to make the belt I really would like to create sometime in the next month I am going to have to wide the threads/yarns around the two ends of the loom and have them meet on a rod in the middle of the back of the loom. I will see how long this piece is once I have it off of the loom and make a decision from there. I am very happy that I decided to sign up for the Sprang class, I should learn some fun patterning techniques there.

Okay, that is enough for this week. I guess I really did get some things accomplished, hopefully next week will be as productive. Until next time, remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Getting Down To It

by CZeitler

I have been able to do a little bit of weaving, after a short amount of time my wrist begins to hurt.  Not too bad, but enough that I do not want to risk my surgery going well.  Even with that I have managed to accomplish about a quarter inch of weaving, as well as drawing part of the outline onto my warps (the ink is on the threads not the paper separator).

This has been a very busy 10 days since my last post, I started writing this post last week, however the panic/closures/uncertainty started so I had to put a pause on this post.  My needle felting class for the public library that kick started my career went well, we wound up with some very lovely critters and a class of 15 students.  I also had a needle felting class for the public library I currently work at, there were 3 students however they created lovely little landscapes, hearts, and flowers.  I have also had another critter class with 12 students that went extremely well at the first library.  One student’s creature went from a turtle, to an owl, and somehow ended up a snail.  It was a very cute snail, so I think the entire class was a success over all.

As some of you might know if you follow my book reading blog, AYearofBooksInReview.wordpress.com I have been reading a lot of materials about organization, decluttering, and making my home my own again.  Even some empowering books on feminism.  I’ve been on a read non-fiction rampage this winter.  All of these books advocate decluttering through a method of “Have I used this in X number of years?”  Usually around 5.  For most things this is working amazingly well.  Except for craft books I have not read a print fiction book in over 5 years (I’m still keeping some absolute favorites) since kindle is my favored reading method.  I have not opened the dressers in the bedrooms I am not using in over 5 years, so I can downsize to just one dresser, etc.  However I find that there is one significant exception to this rule that non-crafty organizers (or even monogamous crafty organizers) cannot comprehend.  This exception is crafty tools and complete kits.  I am NOT in any way advocating that you save every scrap of cloth/yarn/etc.  I am talking about those tools that you bought for a craft, then another craft overtook your attention, so the tools got stored away.

These tools often represent a bit of an investment, maybe not much however it might be relatively significant.  The organization/decluttering experts will tell you “Thank the item for the joy it brought, and let it go.”  I will give you two examples of why I do not often let larger tools go, one is immediately relevant the other will be in the future.  As you might know if you have been following this blog, I have a snapped ligament in my wrist, I am waiting for surgery (less than 2 weeks now) and there will be a 3 month period where my wrist is in a cast. This has severely limited my crafting options.  While doing my organization thing I came across my crewel embroidery that I started at Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Fest last year.  Then I remembered, I have an embroidery hoop thing that I can put under my leg that holds the hoop up for me, this makes stitching a one-handed craft!  I have not used that since my days of interest in embroidery, probably 2009 or so, but I knew where it was (approximately since I had been pushing it around) so now when I do not have a ton of expendable income I did not have to go hunting for it.

I have made quite a bit of progress on this little piece, I am quite proud.  In a very similar circumstance, when I was making a latch hook rug for my cousin I purchased a latch hook frame.  My cousin’s daughter, for whom the rug was intended, is now about 6.  I have not touched the frame since I finished off the rug, however I also have 3-5 other kits that I fully intend to hook someday.  The thing is, I really will hook those rugs some day.  Just like I pulled out my embroidery frame because I needed it (I do have a piece of linen that will fill the frame that I intend to use as soon as this piece is done).

What I am trying to say is, only you know yourself.  If you are a single craft type person, amazing!  You do you, stick with the craft you are best at.  Don’t be afraid to try new things if you want, but do not feel pressured either.  If you just knit there is so much to explore, lace, socks, sweaters, cables, double knit, steeking, colorwork, intarsia, etc.  If you just crochet, granny squares, those complicated granny squares, tunisian, colorwork, lace crochet, doilies, etc.  If you like needlework, I love the Fiber Talk podcast, there are so many types of needlework, cross stitch, blackwork, whitework, samplers, hand painted canvas, etc.  There is nothing wrong with that type of crafter, if you then picked up a needle tatting set and know that you will not pick it up again, then get rid of it.

If you are like me and you fully intend to try every craft that catches your interest and at least get decent at it, then do not worry about your supplies. (Unless we are talking hoarder where you do not have room to move in your house).  I’ve picked up a couple of crafts I did not have time for previously, I’m also working on more paper based projects.  This works for me, I go in bursts, do whatever works for you.  Do NOT Allow Anyone to Stash Shame You! Especially if they do not craft themselves.  Admittedly if you have two huge rooms of sock yarn and you only knit using worsted, then you might have to rethink a few things.

Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

November Already

by CZeitler

I cannot believe that November is here already, two more full weeks and it will be Thanksgiving week!  This year has both dragged and flown by.  This past week I received my November Paradise Fibers Box, the fibers look neat but the patterns for knitted ornaments are what has really caught my eye.

I received the more subdued colors of fiber, the white was what everyone received, my second color was a light pink rather than bright pinks and purples.  I enjoy the colors, especially since I have enough brighter fibers to use as pops of color for the ornaments.  I almost repurposed the spinning I was doing to be used as embroidery thread, however I decided to stick to my original plan.  I do still believe that I will use any left-over yarns as crewel embroidery rather than scrap projects (if they are not big enough to knit into hexipuffs).

Speaking of things that I learned from EGLFC I have decided to use the highly textured yarns that I created that weekend as a sort of commemorative scarf.  I managed to get my Ashford Sample It Loom threaded and tensioned using a 7.5dent heddle.

IMG_3094

I love how it is turning out, however this is going to be the very definition of ‘Slow Cloth’ Weaving.  Each time I open a new shed the yarns stick, since the textured yarns are in the slots they do not like to move up and down or separate from their neighbors.  Keeping the actual locks to the top, without interfering with the addition of new horizontal picks, and so many more problems.  The fascinating part of this is, I do not mind the problems at all.  Yes, I am not really happy that one of my warp threads had to be tied back together when it snapped, I’m a bit worried about advancing the warp and how much trouble beating is going to be (I think I’m going to use a fork or tapestry beater at times), however I believe that I am going to enjoy taking my time and letting this scarf become what it wants to be.  IMG_3095

There are several other projects going on in my life right now.  I am working on upping my bullet journaling game, not only because of the class at the end of the month, but because I am trying to be more organized.  As I hinted earlier I finished a small braid that I am going to use for embroidery thread, it was a sample from my Holi Spinning box earlier this year.  At present I am pulling off lengths, allowing them to ply back on themselves and tying them into bundles to be steamed when I have time.

For other projects, my handyman has finally gotten around to putting up the paneling in my ‘studio’, of course since it has snowed already I had to purchase a small heater that claims it will heat up a room twice as big as the one I am using.  Finger’s crossed, I hope so because I had to lay out a few home truths to him about the nature of working on a part time basis for a community college and private university, specifically that from my last paycheck in the middle of December I will not get another from those two until February.  Fortunately I have enough crafting supplies stocked up, and just enough pay coming to me in the next six weeks, that I should be able to handle all of the major bills for January relying on my public library pay for food and gas.

I am not certain about the holidays at present, there are some good sales on Turkeys and Hams, so I believe I will stock up a bit on major protein sources.  Life goes on and I am luckier than most.

For crafting, I also picked up the Charollais I received as a part of Holi, I was fascinated by the lock structure and hoped to use it as some texture in a new yarn.  When I picked it up, it felt a touch tacky.  Thinking that a bit of lanolin was left in the locks, I immersed it in some very hot tap water, that immediately turned brown.  I had been harboring unwashed wool!  There is nothing inherently wrong with unwashed wool, if you know it is there so you can keep an eye on it or make sure it is away from the rest of your stash.  Unwashed wool is what attracts Wool Moths and Mice, neither of which I want in my stash.  I gave this wool three really good rinses and hopefully this will be enough, it is almost half way dry as of this morning.

Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Halloween Aftermath

by CZeitler

Between the asterisks * and before the photo is non-crafting related content.  Some may be disturbing, if you’re not interested don’t read.  Crafting content starts at the photo.

*The Trunk or Treat event for Halloween that my public library had, was interesting.  This is the event that I dressed up for.  I believe that my makeup was relatively successful, I certainly got enough complements, however I do not like how the photos turned out so will not be showing those.  To give some background, the Monday before I had one student at my craft class.  We talked about quite a bit and they confided some things to me.  Two most relevant to this conversation, other than their medical issues, were that they tended to become very attached to people and that they were, essentially, interested in me…to date…it was pretty direct.  I, as gently as I could , told them that they were not the gender I was attracted to but I liked them as a person (and that I was a decade older than them).   So during Trunk or Treat when they sought me out, I engaged evasive maneuvers.   Since I am actively seeking employment it is not likely I will remain in the area, so even if I were interested it would not be fair to start anything with them.  A little later, after a tent had blown into a tree, this individual sought me out again.  They were having some medical issues, and in the end they were taken off in an ambulance.  It was a complication of their earlier problems, and part of an ongoing issue.  The last was a lost and then found iPhone, which makes a total of 3 problems that night.  I may see this patron again tomorrow for my silk scarf dyeing class, and I intend to push them toward organizations that may be able to help with their problems.  Not a great Thursday, I must admit.*

IMG_3086

As you can see, I am still making progress on my crewel embroidery.  This, along with my spinning, are quick easy crafts that I can pick up and work on within a couple of minutes of sitting down.  There is no figuring out where I was in the pattern, what row I finished, what my stitch count should be.  Just thread the needle with whatever color wool appeals to me in the moment, or pick up whatever fiber I am spinning on at the time.  As winter approaches and I start to fill out my civil service tests these easy projects are going to be great for me.  If the weather clears up next weekend, and there is significant progress on my studio, I hope to warp the loom Saturday and start weaving so that I have another easy to pick up project.  Speaking of weaving, I have made some progress on my bamboo scarf, however it does not look any different so there is no point in putting a photo of that up.

A couple of weeks ago we had dyeing as the craft du-jour at my public library, dyeing wool specifically.  Since we had left over dye I threw a few pieces of wool in to soak things up.  I forgot them in the car for a week and in my bathroom for another week.  Last night I started to rinse the green out, it was hemorrhaging blue.  I am not certain why I took the time to let it all rinse out and never thought of using the leftover dye to dye something else, silly.  The yellow was sheer perfection, no dye leaking out.

IMG_3088

I love how they look and cannot wait to see what they are like dry.  When the pink started to bleed, I finally realized that I could capture the leftover dye on another fiber.  I happened to have some beautiful grey merino top and I wanted to see what the vibrant hot pink would look like on the grey fiber.  The result was spectacular, and surprising.

IMG_3087

The remarkable hot pink showed up as a completely different, almost raspberry.  This was an amazing end to a decent week.  I believe that this will also be a good start to November.  Life goes on, and so will I.  Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!