ProjectArt

Apparently I lied when I stated that the tongue would be next, for we have decided instead to flesh out the head with the standard cloth mache. The other side and the top of the head are looking good as well, but are not as far along as this side. While placing the cloth down though, we got an idea and covered up part of the eye so that it would look like the dragon was angry.

Next we plan to work on the neck and finish off the head.

After a long wait, there comes another picture showcasing a draconic trait. Obviously the trait shown here is the dragon’s new glass teeth. They are actually mostly yellow, but when the picture was taken light must of reflected off them, tinting them a bloody hue.

A close up of the teeth, giving them a very Tyrannosaur like look; most impressive. Also note the curved teeth in the back, which are clay and make the dragon look adapted for eating fish and large prey.

The horns here have been finished for quite a while, but for some reason never photographed. The cloth mache method was used to give them texture, using dryer lint and they were given a brownish green ink wash. The finished dragon will have horns with a very bronze hue. We may of gone a little overboard with the number of horns though, with two sets of goat horns near the neck, the little side horns below the eyes, the big rhino horn on the nose, and some horn-like whiskers around the mouth. Also, note the addition of eyes.

A side shot of the eyes being worked on, we hope to be able to add eye-lids by the end of the week.

Next: Tongue of Dragon

My socks are done! These are my best ever socks; they fit perfectly, and the colors are so beautiful! Thanks again to my Dye-O-Rama pal Isabella!

Ember wanted to be in the picture also; was she jealous that she had no socks of her own? No, she likes socks all right, but not on her feet! She just came to see what was going on.

Socks out of the way; I am back to my longest running project; my spindle-spun Fair Isle sweater. I ran out of the darkest shade of Black Welsh carded with purple Merino, and am using some that I spun on the wheel.

I just had to post this very cute clay horse one of my students made. It has personality! She worked very hard on it over several sessions.

Almost summer!

We went for a rainy hike this weekend; 14 miles, so today my loyal hiking buddy, Ember, and I are resting a bit. Here she is posing with the India sock. I am ready to turn the heel.

I didn’t think she would wake up, but she did, curious as to what was going on, but too well mannered to eat the sock.

I dyed a skein of sock wool with Procion and vinegar for my Dye-O-Rama pal. I wanted to use all the colors and I wanted a good test of them so I mixed them up fresh. I found the colors were very true and bright. I wanted to test all the colors so I dyed a complete color wheel, but to make it more interesting I thought of a evening sky, clear after a storm with a rainbow. I wound one very long skein out of Wool2Dye4 Kona superwash fingering with only a few tangles and then tied off one yard sections for the rainbow. The rest I tied off at intervals to make some stars. I put the skein on a piece of plastic wrap after soaking in a 50% vinegar solution. I squeezed the dye on in sections, trying my best to shade it. The long sky portion I shaded from purple through cobalt to turquiose. I microwaved the entire package in my old “dye only” microwave and let it cool. almost all the dye was absorbed and only a little turquiose bled into the wash water (consistant with cotton and silk dyeing). The yarn is a little bright, bordering on lurid, but my pal likes it bright. Or did, as it turns out! She dropped out and I have a new pal who may not be the lurid type. Also my stars look more like dye flaws than stars. I may dye another skein for my pal, or maybe redye this one to tone it down a bit.

My Dye-O-Rama secret pal sent me some very excellent sock yarn that she dyed with Koolaid. Of course, this meant I needed to start a new project; my second set of socks! Because the last pair - my Opal sock yarn purple and orange pair are finally done! I started these way back when in the middle of the winter. It was that beautiful yarn that tempted me into dipping a cautious toe into the world of sock knitting. My first socks have many small imperfections and are a little too big. My pal’s wonderful yarn is what is giving me the courage to try a second pair!

After a couple of false starts here we are:

It seems it would be easy to use the same size 2 needles and cast on fewer stitches and get the perfect sock; but not so fast! Counting the stitches on my Opal socks for a quick double check I see that I cast on a different number for each sock. Since I started them in a K2P2 rib I am 4 stitches off! Somewhere along the way I ended up with the “correct” or at least the same number of stitches, at least temporarily.

Also the India yarn is fingering and therefore thinner than the Opal. I cast on 72 stitches for my mermaid gloves on size 1 needles with Baby Ull and that was perfect for gloves. After much confusion and several false starts (casting on an uneven number of stitches, and then losing many stitches irretrievably off the tiny size 1 needles), and considering a toe up approach, dithering with Magic Loop, I am off on my size 2 DPNs.

At last, a little sunshine. I spent a little while in the yard enjoying it, and working on this:

Pomotomus gloves in my overdyed Baby Ull. My first attempt at a ”fancy” stitch pattern; it was slow going at first, but I am getting the hang of it now. There are quite a few mistakes that I just left, and some rows that I had to rip back when I totally lost track.  

While I knit; the sun took care of these; 75 tie dyed shirts. A little behind schedule as it was so cold this weekend. I will wash them up tomorrow.

These are Kona superwash (red-orange) and overdyed Baby Ull. The Baby Ull was left over from the Baby Max squid hat. Baby Ull comes in pretty enough colors, but a little bland I think. I reskeined the green and overdyed it with green and turquoise Procion. I left two balls of light blue in their original skeins and overdyed them to a very dark color and a very pale color (above with purple also).

I am going to continue experimenting with Procion as I have a tie-dye project with 5th graders this week and will no doubt have some more leftovers.

Here is the sock yarn I dyed with the leftover Easter egg dye knitted up. I started the second sock with the other end of the ball and then knitted them both up together. This worked out very well; I didn’t have to guess at the half way point of the yarn. Obviously I need more yarn to finish this project; I think I will dye it the dark purple and finish in a solid color.