Just a Short Break

Well, in the grand scheme of things what is 6 years between blog posts?
Right!

It's time to dip my toes in again & the fact that I have started spinning is reason enough.

I did think about starting to blog about my knitting adventures on this side of the ditch - but there are enough new experts on the subject to sink a ship.

It often feels as if these days all you need is  the ability to watch you-tube, a little bit of knowledge coupled with a sense of self-importance & you can sell yourself as the Yoda of all things knitting & yarn-related.

No one needs an old fashioned "45 years+ of trial, error & figuring things out for myself" type of experience chiming in. Believe me, when one does - no one listens. Even if they have specifically asked for your help or opinion.

But back to spinning.

I've discovered that spinners are awesome, helpful souls that are happy to offer gentle guidance & encouragement. The ones I have encountered are down-to-earth, pragmatic women with none of the clicky elitism that seems to surround the fibres, tools & branding of knitting these days.

This brings me to my point - kinda...sorta.

Not long after I started on this spinning journey a long-time knitter, who used to spin said to me

"all knitters should learn to spin -  it teaches so much about fibre characteristics & yarn construction".

Even as a newbie spinner I couldn't agree more.

Now I understand why woollen yarns containing silk seem to always be a looser spin & feel slightly thinner than the equivalent weight in wool alone - something that irritated me if I wanted to mix yarns in a project. I also understand why merino is probably the worst type of wool to use in a lace shawl that you would like to keep its blocked shape in order to show off the lace.

I'm looking forward to many more "aha" moments on this spinning journey - to reinforcing what 45 years+ of working with the various fibres has taught me &, most of all, to learning new things.

April 1st - A month of Colour...or Color ;o)

The wonderful Leah over at the Creative Every Day Blog has announced that the optional theme for April is Colour.
Ever since she announced it I've been thinking "Oh yeah - I can do that!".

Actually ever since Leah announced it, my mind has thought of little else other than colours ....appearing to have gone off on wild tangents of it's own accord, revisiting distant memories & dreams.
The brain cells briefly revisited facts learned years ago when I was researching historical costuming in order to acquire the right fabrics & textiles to complete some projects at the time, before taking of in the direction of favourite exotic locations & all that nature has to offer.

The colours that we take for granted these days haven't always been so easily obtainable. Naturally occurring pigments such as the ochres and the iron oxides have been used as colourants since very early times, but the one whose history always fascinated me was Purple – the colour of royalty & wealth.

Have you ever wondered why Purple was the colour of Royalty, associated with power, pomp & ceremony, & often associated with words such as "Imperial"?

Purple was purportedly first produced by the Canaanites (or Phoenicians according to the Greek) in the Land of Canaan, from the mucus of various marine molluscs, but most notably the Murex. Then again later discoveries showed the same shells unearthed on Crete – so it could be perhaps that the Minoans were producing the dye centuries beforehand.
No matter who discovered it first, it took around 12,000 shellfish & an extremely drawn out (& smelly) process to produce a meagre 1.5 grams of the dye they called ‘purpura’…. which would have been enough to dye a single toga. This became known as Tyrian Purple.

Emperors were known to refuse their wives robes dyed with purpura – simply because the dyed silk would cost more than it’s weight in gold.
With the fall of Constantinople in 1453 large scale production of Tyrian Purple ceased.

It was found that a similar colour could be produced from the same species of plant that produces Indigo. Indigo is one of the oldest dyes to be used textile dying & made it’s way from India to Europe & North Africa via the various trade routes. This alone meant it was a luxury item in many civilisations.

Over the years ‘purple’, as a colour, changed. Right through to Elizabethan times there were restrictions as to who could wear purple, essentially it was limited to immediate family of royalty.

Computers are unable to display the true purples – but the closest we can come is this.



In the mid 1800’s William Perkin, an 18 year old chemistry student managed to isolate the first aniline dye – bringing purple to the masses.


Fortunately, Manganese and Manganese Dioxide, the ions used in colouring glass purple are much easier to find. The Egyptians were using this very early on in their history. Then again they were also using ground, powdered Lapis Lazuli as an eye shadow (believing it to improve eyesight). Later, lapis was used as a pigment in paint, but best that I don’t even start on the history of ‘blues’….

Next time you see purple in nature, or in the stores, admire that piece of fabric & think of how fortunate we are to have it so easily available....for wearing, at least, it wasn't always thus ;o)








Disclaimer: I have no personal affiliation with purple what so ever. I've never worn it & never will ....well, apart from purple nail polish.
And, I'll bet you all thought I'd start with orange ;o)

Creative Every Day

Some of you may have noticed the "Creative Every Day" logo to the right of my Blog.



I should have shared & explained far earlier!! The wonderful Leah, a talented artist & a generous, encouraging person has a fabulous website & blog "Creative Every Day" . Here she shares what she has been doing & what has inspired her. She talks about the creative process & encourages others to take part in her "Creative Every Day" & "Art Every Month" challenges. Please click on the links & take a look around.


This is a fabulous concept & Leah's emphasis on 'low pressure' (you don't have to post every day, or even every week - it's open & it's up to you) makes it easy to take part. One of the most significant things is what Leah sees as creativity & the fact that it doesn't have to be art related. She means it in the broadest sense, including anything art related but also activities such as gardening, cooking, playing with your kids, decorating & so on.

Each month there is an optional theme to work to - February's was 'Words'. To begin with I wondered how on earth I was going to work that into my glass beads. January's theme of 'Play!' hadn't been too difficult at all - that's what I seem to do best at the torch!
I realised that I was instantly restricting myself with that thought & that typing here or writing in my journal was in fact still being creative.... so I let the thought of 'words' go for a wee while.

Later I realised that something else I had been encouraged to work on could be put to good use... to gain enough stringer control in this month to actually be able to write legibly on a bead, when I finally had that 'aha' moment. I did it!!