Blue on my mind

Today is a gorgeous sunny day and I have the day off from work!!! Woo hoo!!! Of course, the reason I am off is because I have to work this weekend, but I don't mind. For some reason, having a day off during the week feels different than just a regular weekend day; a day off during the week feels like a free day or a bonus day, or something. I am much more likely just to do completely fun things on my days off during the week. AND today is no exception. Deb and Shelley are coming over and we are going to dye yarn. I have the yarn soaking in the citric acid mordant water right this very minute. I might also try to redeem myself with another solar dyeing experiment...we'll see.

I discovered Project Spectrum, which is a project created to challenge us to find the color in our lives. There is a new theme color each month and June's color is blue. I just happen to be working on a couple of blue projects so I decided to make them today's topic. Maybe I won't run on as long as usual? (nah, I doubt it)

First, I have been spinning some silk on my spindle, primarily to use as thread to fix weak spots in some of my hand-spun hand-knit (hshk) socks. I always wear clogs or birks so my socks wear out under the heel and sometimes I don't notice until it's a hole. So I've been trying to keep on top of it and when it starts looking like some spots are getting thin I try to darn them, although I am horrible at it. Amber makes it look so easy, but I must not be coordinated enough to darn, or something. Silk is very strong thread and since the weak spots are always underneath the sock and most of the time nobody sees that spot anyway, I decided to spin some silk thread to use for darning. Linda Diak of Grafton Fibers (www.graftonfibers.com) showed me how to spin silk from the fold and I've never had much success doing that at my wheel, but I discovered I can do it with the spindle, and it actually gives me more control.

The second blue project I'm working on is the stupid darning...I am trying to darn my blue hshk socks These socks won a ribbon in the skein and garment contest at Rhinebeck a couple of years ago... I used to always see the skein and garment contests at the county fair and the state fair, but I never in my life would have imagined that at almost-50 I would have started entering hand-made objects in contests. To that, I guess I'd say, never say never. It's fun to win, but mostly, it's just fun to get caught up in the spirit of the festival and enter your items. I had a pair of hand-knit socks that I knit from commercial yarn and at one show they got a blue ribbon, at another show they didn't even get a mention. So it depends a lot on the judge and what they are looking for in each particular show. It adds to the fun of the show just to enter something.

Ok, I said I'd try to keep it short, so I'm going to end for today. In closing, here is a picture of a little crop of flax from my friend Carol's garden. I am going to take periodic pictures of it to document its growth cycle for a special project the guild is doing. More on that later! Keep spinning....