I mentioned in an earlier post that my DH (Dear Hubby) made me two beautiful necklaces for Christmas, the silver PMC (Precious Metal Clay) necklace (shown here) and this post’s star – a fused glass and silver clay pendant (click on the picture for a larger view). The glass was a sheet of swirling aqua and teal with the barest hint of glitz, the silver clay (PMC) detail was formed by painting the clay on a tiny wood branch. One interesting effect was, since the glass and the PMC was all fired at the same time, the glass acquired a silver halo where it is next to the silver clay. This was not expected and very much contributed to the appeal of the fused glass. Because we both like this effect so much I hope he can duplicate it. I wonder what caused it, the glass absorbing a gassing off effect from the silver? Humm….. The whole pendant is about two inches high by 1 inch wide. Isn’t he just the cleverest thing?

Speaking of my Honey, here are the hand warmers I knit him for Christmas. Made from SWTC Karaoke in color Tobacco. This is a lovely single ply, heavy worsted weight in a wool and Soy Silk blend. They knit up quick and handsome.

I made a pair just like them in deep navy, almost black(not pictured) for my brother. Never again! The color was so dark, it was very difficult to see except in the middle of the day. You know I love you Mike, but your next pair will be a light color My only concern for these two pair are the fact that since they are not all wool, they don’t have the “memory” to spring back after wearing and tend to stretch out a little. Washing resolves this but 100% wool would have avoided it.

I have the same concern for the hand warmers I knit for my SIL. Lynda’s were made from Noro’s Cotton Iroha that is 70% cotton, , 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon. The same gauge as the Karaoke, and with the same memory problems.

The nice thing about this yarn is that it is so soft. Not something you usually think of in the same sentence as Noro, although I love their Silk Garden and have made a few things from that. Lynda’s hand warmers are knit in a spiraling rib; the better to show off the color changes.

Last of my Holiday hand warmer knitting was the pair I did for my step daughter and her husband. Penny’s are the prettiest yet - I did them almost last so I was in the zone

Made from GGH Samson; 100% washable merino in a lovely dusty purple. This yarn was soooo nice to work with; soft and with such wonderful stitch definition (the cable showed up very well) that I have resolved to use it again for something – yum! I used the same pattern for hers and Todd’s (he’s a policeman so I thought plain grey in Cascade 220 Superwash a good choice) as I did for Jack’s and Mike’s above. It’s a variation of Knitting at Knoon’s Hand Warmer Pattern that is available free on the Internet. I adjusted for gauge and size and replaced the stockinette with a 2×2 rib and added the braided cable from November 19th of my perpetual calendar; 365 Knitting Stitches a Year.

I still have three pair of socks on the needles and my sewing machine is calling me – really loudly! But, my sewing studio is such a mess I have to clean it before I can even find the machine – sigh……

Time to consider doing something about it.

Deb H

Not being a zealot, I do not pound the pulpit expecting people of all persuasions to convert to my fiber-ist point of views. I do not spend passion and time bemoaning about how all of the fiber related arts are becoming lost and how there will be no one to pass on the skills to up coming generations. If you spend any time at all reading Blogs about knitting, weaving, dyeing, or quilting you will know this is all bunk (”oh, waily, waily, waily, ye wee skunners” as the Wee Free Men would say from one of Terry Pratchett’s books - my fav author). Younger generations are showing an interest, they just aren’t as easily exposed to it as the generations of girls who were required to take Home Ec(onomics) in Middle School and learn the (ultimate) basics of cooking and sewing. How much that really helped, I’m not sure. My home Ec class taught us how to heat a can of beans and cook hot dogs in boiling water. Such a valuable lesson in nutrition as well, don’t you think? And as for the sewing section; when asked to hem a skirt with a whip stitch, I used a locking hem stitch. This was what my Mum taught me and I knew it to be the correct choice. I flunked the assignment for my failure to follow directions - go figure! My point is that the required Home Ec classes, so fondly remembered by my generation, may not be the best way to pass on these skills. A more successful method seems to be on the order of the After School Club. Middle School and High School age kids (boys too) are meeting in clubs to learn to knit by the droves. This is fantastic and probably a lot more lasting and educational than all the baked beans and falling out hems in the history of time. If there is an artsy club of any kind at the school near you, donate some extra yarn/fabric/paints or what ever to their growth. Better yet, donate some time! As far as our own kids? Expose them but don’t push them. My own daughter has been exposed to all forms of fiber arts since she was a wee munchkin but has only shown a passing interest. Her talents are in writing and that is fine. Yet, I can’t help but be a little proud that she chose to knit a scarf for her Dad this Christmas She may not be as neurotic about fiber as I am but she has her own special form of neurosis, mostly concerning the written word, and I feel my job is well done

So, what was the point before I got so carried away with this side tangent? We gave a weaving loom to our six year old Grand daughter for Christmas. It’s a simple peg loom but a good sized one - just in case she likes it or her Mom wants to play with it too. I was told that at age six, a pot holder loom would be as complicated as she could manage. The School Loom is pretty much the same thing, but a bit bigger and more versatile. She can even use it as a tapestry loom when she is ready. Meanwhile, she caught on quite fast and has truly grasped the concept. She was even showing her Dad how to do it before the evening was over. It did my heart good to see her enjoying it. And now that we are back in Michigan and they are out in Washington (state), her Mom says she is still weaving on it, a few rows at a time but still weaving. She may not grow into a fiber enthusiast but she has been exposed and might stick with it, even if she just picks it up on rare occasions for something fun she wants to make. I can even live with it if the loom turns out to be a great tent frame for her orange bear as they go on a Sultan’s adventure across the desert of her bed spread. She and fiber have been introduced, and she and I are both the richer for it

So, share the joy!

Deb H

There are many things I am passionate about besides fibers. Assuming of course, they involve color. Yes it’s true; nothing can send my pulse racing like a length of hand dyed silk fabric in a perfectly balance blend of colors. Or a skien of yarn that feels as wonderful as it’s subtly shifting palette of split complimentary hues-looks. Fibers, be they fabric or yarns (the two forms I most commonly work with) are soft and (more often) matte finished. Except for when metallics have been added to give them some glitz, fibers absorb light and look as soft as they usually feel. Just as colors need a touch of their compliment in almost any art project to give it contrast and spark, textures need a bit of their compliment too. What is the perfect compliment for fiber? Metals and glass!

My favorite metal by far is silver. I’m very definitely not a yellow gold person. Brass is too much like gold, it’s yellowness makes me feel a bit jaundice just to look at it. Copper is nice, it’s a warm version of yellow that is really more red and has a healthy glow to it. But silver! Cool, elegant, neutral, and versatile, it’s the color of the moon, a stormy sea, a brooding sky, starlight, and the mirror finish that sunlight gives to a calm lake; it blends with all other colors… except yellow. But yellow is always an accent color for me, never a main color so that’s OK.

Glass is also a favorite for me. You can use colors in glass like a dyer uses color in fiber. Blending bright and shocking or soft and subtle, even neutrals. Glass is shiny, textured, smooth, or etched. Incredibly versatile in itself it is the perfect complement to fiber. More on glass next time.

Jewelry is the easiest way to add that contrast of hard, sharp, or shiny to a soft, drapey (is that a word?), matte fabric. So (I’m finally getting to the point), Here is the first of two necklaces my Dear Hubby made me for Christmas. Formed of silver PMC (Precious Metal Clay) and inset with a lab grown emerald (natural stones can’t take the heat of the kiln), he created a pendant for me that is just, well…. so me! Just for reference, the triangle pendant measures one inch wide by one and a quarter inches tall. It’s pretty cool stuff. Anything you can do with clay, you can do with Silver clay. Firing it in a kiln causes the binders in the finely ground pure silver to burn away and fusses the silver particles together into a solid metal. Fascinating stuff!

OK, off to paint some more of the trim in my hall way. This domestic stuff just sooooo gets in the way

Deb H

Here are some photos of the hand warmers (and one pair of slippers) I knit for Christmas presents and some of their recipients. My family on Christmas morning; they seemed to be pretty appreciative of the extra warmth. Could it be because it actually snowed on Christmas day in Portland, Oregon this year? The slippers, lower left, were for my Mom who got hand warmers last January for her birthday. And if you look at the lower right corner you will see… yes, a pair still on the needles. My poor hubby, it seems he always gets his projects in-work. I’m happy to report, I had them finished before the day was over

Here are some details. The fuzzy bunch… Its amazing to me how fast it is to knit with one strand of worsted weight wool and one strand of novelty yarn on a pair of size 9 needles! Since I usually knit with sock weight yarn on size 1’s or size 0’s, that’s quite a difference. These were all done in 2×2 rib with thumb shaping like a glove but I did not pick up and knit farther up the thumb. Make sense? Sorry, I didn’t have a pattern.

Left: Black fuzzy yarn (brand?) with some blue iridescent beads spun into it, combined with one strand of Heirloom’s Easycare 8 (DK weight) in denim blue. I made two pair of these, one for my daughter and one for my older niece.

Notice I discovered a new trick - One of my options when I post a photo is “FILE”, if I check this, you can click on the photo and it will take you to a larger version of that picture (assuming I have one). If the photo has a border it means you can see a larger picture. Cool beans, huh? Yes, I’m much better at color than computers, sigh….

Right: The same as above but in a cool Merlot, isn’t that just a great color name? Again, I made two pair, one for my younger niece and one for the gift exchange at work.

Left: These were a bit fuzzier, one strand of gray Cascade 220 SW and one strand of SWTC’s Fur Real in Silver Fox. They are sooooooo soft and machine washable, I made four pair of these and I kept one for me!

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Right: There are more (pictured right about mid December), but I’ll have to show you them on another day. It’s snowing here again, I’m off to put on something warm!

Stuff I’m doing besides art (but still creative - I keep telling myself);

Painting the hall way; mint green with olive trim.

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Deb H

Is it sinus? Is is hormones? No, its too many ideas! The best kind of dilemma but it can also be paralyzing. Not only do I have a bazillion fiber projects I want to accomplish in 2008 but I also have 906 home improvement projects (including gardening), 618 organizing projects, and 356 (as of today) things I want to Blog about. Where to start!?!?

I also seem to be suffering from start-itis. Just because I finished a pair of socks, I felt compelled to start another, and then another. So I finished one but have 3 started. This does not take into account the sweater I started last winter that is stalled because I’m not wild about the yarn, now that it’s being worked with - too scratchy. Hmmm, at least I have plenty of “travel” knitting. and a good excuse to buy more yarn (to replace the scratchy yarn that will be a good “felted” project someday).

And I haven’t done anything with my Ravelry account yet.

I did do some yarn dyeing and got my Etsy Shop updated. That was a biggy as it needed attention. The yarns; an alpaca and pima cotton blend, turned out delicious (see sidebar) and as always, I have mixed feeling about them selling. I have to keep telling myself, these are not my children.

The socks I finished? My silk/wool mock cable in gray. They turned out lovely and I think I feel a pair of hand warmers to match coming on.

I do believe I will wash these by hand though. As soon as they were done, I threw them in the washer (gentle) and dryer (low) and they did “fuzz” a bit, leaving the cabled pattern a little less defined. But, I’m still happy and they are wonderfully soft!

And since today is a real “rambling on” day. I have to share a new toy that is just too cool. One of the things I love to do besides play with fiber is play in my herb garden. Since Michigan winters are so long, I have a short part of the year I can do that. My wonderful hubby found me a terrific solution. An AeroGarden that grows my herbs indoors with minimum fuss. It’s only been planted for a few days and I already have sprouts, I’m very tickled with this new winter solution! He found mine at Sam’s Club, I’ll keep you posted.

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Well, to find some focus in this New Year; one of my favorite mentors, Laura Cater-Woods has told me, write it down in your journal, make a list, use the SMART method to plan goals.

So, I’m off to plan and reduce the overload trauma a New year always gives me

Deb