SPRING! Tide's In!

Acer rubrum ~ Red Maple

Having grown weary of the long monochromatic winter, my eyes hunger for color this time of year.  As the new season unfolds, I find myself on a quest to seek out the emerging color moments that harbinger spring.  Not the deep lush colors of summer, not the vibrant last hurrah colors of autumn, but those innocent soft colors of spring.  This year I am particularly enamored with the colors offered up by the buds of trees. Although upstaged by showy spring bulbs, trees offer subtle color en masse and inspiring hues up close. 

Lonicera canadensis ~ Fly Honeysuckle Bush

Salix ~ Willow

Populus tremuloides ~ Quaking Aspen

Inspired by all the new spring color, I am eager to get the dye pots going this week and prepare some TIDE colors to take to the island next week for *lambing season* knitting.

Very fortuitous since there is a new batch of Nash Island TIDE yarn ready and waiting for skeining and dyeing.

Starcroft ~ Nash Island TIDE Yarn

And also fortuitous that I just finished this Sea Urchin Treasure Bag by Mary Jane Mucklestone to take to the island with me next week to collect beach treasures during *lambing season*.

Sea Urchin Treasure Bag by Mary Jane Mucklestone in Starcroft Nash Island TIDE Yarn

And did I mention that next week begins *lambing season* on the island? My absolute favorite time of the year ~ SPRING! LAMBS! Tide's in and I'm headed out to the island....

Winter Expedition

new year. new journey. setting off on an expedition.

expedition (n.) 1. an excursion, journey or voyage made for some specific purpose or exploration. 

This expedition is inspired by Sarah of Fibertrek's Shackleton CAL which invites you to join a community of fellow explorers and challenge yourself to go beyond known boundaries to 

pursue that epic knitting/crafting project that will test your resilience and skills. An expedition requiring perseverance, thinking through obstacles, flexibility to change with circumstances and the courage to follow your passion into the great unknown. 

After much pondering, I have mapped out an itinerary, gathered in supplies and set forth.

Combining my love of islands and the sea, my passion for the art of hand knitting, and my curiosity for learning about ancient craft and ancestral roots my new year's journey is taking me to the islands of my ancestors to study their traditional hand knits.  First stop, Fair Isle for an exploration of pattern and color, then on to the Orkney's for a study in the structure and texture of the Gansey, and finally to Aran to traverse the interlacing intricacies of cables.  At journey's end ~ three hand knit pullovers steeped in tradition and a wealth of new knowledge and confidence.

What is your epic hand crafting challenge?  Where will your journeys take you this year? What new skills will you be exploring?

You can join in the Shackleton CAL adventures HERE and follow Fibertrek's expedition HERE.

Happy New Year and Bon Voyage!

Kanagawa KAL

                 Clockwise : Sea Star. Crustacean. Rockweed. Atlantic. 

Holiday gift knitting all done?  Settling in for a long winter's rest and wondering what to cast on next? How about joining Emily, Sonya, and Beverly (loveaslug , knitsonya , PoMoGolightly on Ravelry) for their KANAGAWA Mitten KAL?  Limited edition Nash Island TIDE POOLs are available at clementine and on our web store! Each colorway contains six mini skeins (60 yds each of 6 colors), the perfect amount to make a pair of KANAGAWA mittens by Through The Loops and have enough left over to make this great TRIG hat by Mary Lou Egan. 

The Kanagawa KAL will begin in January, after the holiday rush, as life quiets down and winter settles in.  You can order your KAL Tide Pool yarn HERE or HERE.  The Kanagawa mitten pattern is available HERE.  And the TRIG hat pattern is available HERE. And don't forget to post pics of your finished KAL projects on the Nash Island and Starcroft Fiber Fans Ravelry group page HERE.  

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Time-out!

     The other day my daughter gave me a 'time-out'.  No, not the you've been bad go sit in the corner kind of 'time-out'.  The other kind.  The you've been good, working hard, and deserve a little 'time-out' of the hustle and bustle of your ordinary everyday life.  The pause-the-game, take-a-break, recharge- the-juices-kind of 'time-out'.  The go-out-and-smell-the-roses kind of 'time-out'.
     So she whisked me off to Chihulyland. (If you're looking, it's just to the east of never never land.)  And this is what I saw......

Oooooooo.......Ahhhhhhh......OMG..........color!, color!, color!.....Breathless.  Thank you Chihuly, and LME dahling.  Spirit refreshed!  Imagination recharged!  Juices flowing! Game on!

Simon & Lang

     I've been listening to the radio lately while I'm milling about (thank you MPBN & WERU).  Paul Simon has a new album out.  So does k.d. lang .  It seems these 'old' artists have come out with 'new' music that is based on their 'old' work.  They've revisited their earliest roots to re-discover that place where their artistic journey was born.
     Must be something in the air.  I've dusted off my spinning wheel and returned to handspinning,  back to where my fiber journey began.  As machines hum all around me I synchronize to their rhythm while I treadle and spin. (Sometimes we race.  They always win.)
     I have spent countless hours playing/knitting with the colors of Nash Island Yarn.  I don't know why I never thought to do the same with Nash Island Roving. Until now!  Look at what I've been spinning!

 I'm playing with color combos,

 

knitting up lots,

and lots of samples,

and having way too much fun!

     Sweater possibilities are flooding the brainwaves.  And yes! there will be new Nash Island Multi-colored Rovings in the offering soon.  Just as soon as I crank up the Simon and Lang and try a few more color combos..... 

Cabin Fever Colors

 

 The third blizzard of the season is howling and swirling outside my window, covering the panes with lace and enveloping me in a cocoon of white. I'm cozy inside by the fire, deep in the dye pots, conjuring memories of clear blue skies, undulating green seaweed, and beach gleanings of deep purple mussel shells, pale green urchins, and turquoise sea glass.  And from the dye pots have come the NEW 2011 Starcroft COLORS!
Some rejuvenated old favorites and some exciting new additions.  Here's a peek... 

Osier - deep cranberry red, Lobster Bake - dark orange/red, Acorn - intense autumn gold, Larch - soft pale yellow, Urchin - pale green, Seaweed - deep yellow/green, Sea Glass - light turquoise, Clear Skies - bright blue, Raven - deep navy black/blue, Cove - soft fog gray, Whelk - deep red/purple, Mussel Shell - dark purple/navy, and Pine Cone - deep brown.

I just couldn't decide which color to knit with first, so of course I decided to use them all.  This is a fair isle vest in progress....

Autumn Inspirations

It's that time of year.

Wonderful little color moments everywhere.

Divine inspirations.

A simple walk in the woods on a crisp day inspires a new project.