what I'm reading this week

Free Range Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

I've been wanting to take a look at one of Stephanie's books for a while now... and I've finally managed to sit down and have a bit of a read.

It took me a while to get into it, but I think that might be more of a reflection on my reading skills than her writing skills. Over the years I've become quite a lazy reader. I favour books with lots of illustrations, and simple point format. So sitting down to a novel was a bit of a challenge.

There's so much to relate to in this book. For example, one of the early chapters is a letter of apology, addressed to a designer. Any designer, really. Just a generic apology for the author's compulsion to modify patterns. No matter how well written the pattern is, she feels a need to personalise it, and not necessarily for the better!!! Stephanie explains this compulsion as being like a disease for which she cannot be held accountable, and begs forgiveness from the designer... I can totally relate to that! As you would know, I very rarely manage to follow a pattern precisely. I am compelled to give everything the Goldfish Touch!

Anyway, loving the book... but I still have a fair way to go with it.

You might be interested in checking out the popular blog which Stephanie Pearl-McPhee writes... she is the Yarn Harlot

what I'm reading this week

Look what arrived in the mail for me this week...

Two new booklets from my friend, designer Lisa Gentry!

Both are titled Celebrity Slouchy Beanies, and feature a variety of popular beanie patterns for the whole family.

One booklet contains knit beanies, and the other one is crochet.

I've been flipping through both of them, and trying to decide where to start...

I think I might crochet the Granny Square one, or maybe knit the Cabled Classic instead. Decisions, decisions...



Either way, I know that Lisa is a fabulous designer, and I'm sure to wind up making more than one of each anyway!

There's more information about the boklets here, they're incredibly cheap and if you live in the US there is free shipping until 30/6/2010

Now to choose my yarns...

what I'm reading this week

Of course I'm still here.

You didn't think that a pesky permanent job was going to keep me from blogging, did you? Or crafting for that matter?

There's no way I could stay sane without my craft... so NO plans on giving that away... EVER!

This week I've been reading through a fascinating book on altered shoes. Now, I'm not sure that it is really my 'thing' but the recycling aspect of taking an old pair of shoes and turning them into a new and inspired piece of art really appealed to me.

But I don't know if I would ever wear them.

Mind you, it looks like a fun experiment anyway.

Basically, it just seems to be 'cut and paste' for shoes. Using fabric, paper, paint, ribbon... whatever.

Altered Shoes by Marty Stevens-Heebner
click here for the website



Some shoes in the book have been decorated with photos. The idea was to commemorate a trip to Africa, so photos and other memoribilia were used in the process.



Unusual, but quirky - and very personal...

There's loads of clear step-by-step photographs to guide you along the way... and I love the 'tips, tricks and crazy things to try' sections which the author has scattered throughout the book.



An interesting book to flick through - but I don't know if I'll be altering shoes any time soon. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if the quote on the front of the book was what really drew me to it. See on the toe of the main shoe pictured?

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life - Picaso

What do you think? Does it?

what I'm reading this week...

I've only dabbled a little bit with dyeing yarn.

Basically, I've worked using vinegar as a pre-mordant... food dye for the colouring... and the microwave method. It's fast, simple and effective - but it made me more curious about other methods of dyeing.

If you haven't experimented at home with your own microwave, then you might like to read about my experiences here. It really is very simple.

Unfortunately the microwave in the Goldfish Household died several months ago. For some reason or another (in fact - I haven't really worked out the details yet myself) I didn't want it replaced. Mr Goldfish has offered over and over again to replace it, but I've been quite determined to live without it.

There's only been two occasions on which I have REALLY missed it...

First was when the cold nights started to roll in recently, and I realised that I had no way of heating my MICROWAVE HEAT BAGS... you know, those nice ones filled with wheat and lavender oil... oh so toasty on a cold winter's night??? Bit tricky to use if you don't have a microwave!

(oh... and if YOU know of another way to heat one... you simply MUST leave a comment for me... pleeeease)

The second occasion was when it dawned on me that you CAN'T dye in the microwave if you DON'T HAVE a microwave. AArghhhhh!

Anyway

I'm sure that the point of this post was to talk about the book I've been reading this week:

Natural Dyeing by Jackie Crook
published by Gaia Traditional Crafts

Jackie has been experimenting with dyeing all sorts of materials over the last twenty years... and she shares her knowledge very clearly in this book. There are loads of photos on every page, showing clear step-by-step instuctions of preparation, mordanting, and the actual dyeing process.



The book also discusses about 30 different natural dyes in great detail, including photos of the resuting colours when different mordants are used.





Despite the clear instructions, and all that useful information... I've become aware of two huge problems for me with this type of dyeing.

Number One - I don't want to stuff around with hazardous chemicals. The dyes themselves may be 'natural'... but you need to use a mordant to help the colour to set. There are five discussed in the book... three of which are hazardous. As far as I'm concerned, if I can't safely pour it down my kitchen sink - then I don't want to be experimenting with it.

(mind you... I have no hesitation in melting vinyl records in my oven, or crocheting with video cassette tape - go figure)

Number Two - Jackie grows her own ingredients, and after reading through the pages in the book, I can understand why. Most of them I have never even heard of. Nor are they readily available here. There are some everyday dyes, like onion and cabbage and turmeric... but most of the were rather obscure.

So

Interesting as it was to read about, I won't be experimenting any time soon.

Though I do have some plans to play around with eucalyptus leaves and solar dyeing... if only I could find a book on that!