Tag Archives: block printing

Hello December!

Posted on December 5, 2022 | 5 comments

It’s been a busy month since I last posted. Lots of teaching, and lots of fun. I’ve been sitting in on Shaina’s and Keith’s brioche sessions in Brioche Buddies

and tonight it was my turn. I taught about fixing mistakes, and increases and decreases. Here’s the aftermath on my desk with three swatch samples plus Deep End cowl and hat (and my little cork buddies)

and the aftermath of samples next to me

as I kept pulling more things out of the dresser where I keep some of my samples. Next week is the last week, and we’re having a cast on party, woot!

I also did a couple more rounds of tea towels.

Okay, this may have been overkill; that’s a lot of work for each towel!

I love these pine cones with gradient shading; they have more depth than the plain brown ones I did before. I’ve learned a lot and am still learning more.

And I’ve been knitting! More on that in the next post…

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Posted in classes, Other craftiness

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Block printing redux

Posted on November 19, 2022 | 3 comments

I’d been promising all year to teach my sister Sharon how to block print tea towels. When she saw my friend Sharyn’s bee block, she was ready to make her own!

So she did. But I also wanted her to have the full experience, from carving her own block, to mixing color, to printing.

She chose to carve a hibiscus blossom, plus a contrasting pistil and stamen.

I chose to carve a more stylized bee, to go with the flower block I made last month.

We ran out of time, so I still need to add my flowers to my bee towels.

But Sharon finished hers!

A fun afternoon, making beautiful and useful objects. Because who couldn’t use more tea towels?

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Block Party!

Posted on November 2, 2022 | 11 comments

I’ve been printmaking with a group of friends for several years, and our library of blocks keeps getting bigger. It’s really fun to get together to make stuff! This weekend’s retreat included tea towels, aprons, pennant banners, and cards.

Prints from four of the new blocks

My new block this year. It was a last day addition, so I haven’t printed it yet, but someone else did!

I was smitten with these bees. I’m going to carve another bee block to play with.

Into the groove! So much fun to play with color, and to be a bit more multi-craftual. What, no yarn?

We were outside Rhododendron, near Mount Hood. The leaves are beginning to turn.

Still pretty green, though. Happy November!

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Kaleidescopically beautiful

Posted on November 24, 2019 | 9 comments

Coming soon, Dotty Cake, a hat that makes me think of Funfetti. Yes, really.

I designed this Dotty Cowl last year for Knit Picks, and I really loved the slip stitch pattern that I created for it. I knew it wanted to be used again. And I finally got around to it. It’s being test knit now, and has already been tech edited. I’m guessing I’ll publish it in early December, plenty of time to make a slew of them for gifts! I knit one in 2 days, and I think test knitter Ann is even quicker than I am.

It’s been a whirlwind of a November, with Vogue Knitting Live, Vogue Knitting Destination: Portland, a raft of full classes at Twisted, and a little time spent on a not-knitting project, too.

I took a block printing class last year with Leslie Nan Moon while I was in Ellensburg, WA. I liked my block, but knew I could do better. So I recarved my block a couple weeks ago, and love it so much more. Here’s a print from the first one.

And here’s a print from the revision:

It’s so much better! I’ll be using this for…something soon!

I’m hosting Thanksgiving this year for DH’s family, so there’s a lot of last minute stuff going on, too. Gotta fly!

What are you doing for Thanksgiving, if you’re here in the USA?

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Posted in Knit, Other craftiness, pattern design

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Crafty Moms Weekend 16.0 (2019)

Posted on March 22, 2019 | 8 comments

One more time! We had a spectacularly beautiful weekend on the Oregon Coast. Great weather, beautiful sunsets, camaraderie and crafts. I’ll put the scenic photos at the end. Yarn and other craftiness first!

Brioche and Bellini breakfast

I brought three knitting projects, but I only worked on one of them. I spent a day trying different ways to reverse the colors on the new section, and I’m finally happy with how it’s working out. It was a technical challenge.

Now it’s just a matter of finishing it! I may have to set it aside for a bit; another project has a deadline and needs to get underway.

Laurie was crocheting unicorns. So cute!

Sharyn brought supplies for block printing on tea towels. I brought some of my previous blocks, and carved a new flower block. I purchased these bags last year in Sisters during the Lantern Moon retreat, but hadn’t gotten around to printing them yet. Done!

This is pretty easy, and lots of fun. I see more of this in my future!

This was our 16th year at Rockaway Beach. The house looks right over the water so it’s perfect for any weather. But this year it was sunny all weekend.

Twin Rocks

This cloud bisects the sun

This one does, too

We stayed Friday afternoon through Monday morning. It would have been hard to go home on such a gorgeous day, so I didn’t! I had a free night expiring soon at Tolovana Inn in Cannon Beach, so Carole and I headed north for an overnight there. It was so warm that I bought a sundress and walked barefoot on the beach.

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach

The afternoon low tide was perfect for tide pooling.

We only saw two sea stars; I hope they’re coming back.

The anemones look pretty healthy!

The moon was nearly full, and the early morning moonset was gorgeous to behold.

It clouded over as the day went on, but that made it easier to head home. It was a perfect weekend!

Bisquee missed me. A lot.

And today (Friday), we brought this guy home. He’s 2 years old. His shelter name was Frumpkin. That’s got to go. But I don’t know what to call him yet. Working on it…

The fun never stops around here!

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Posted in cat, Knit, Other craftiness, travel

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36 hours in Ellensburg

Posted on May 2, 2018 | 2 comments

One catch up post!

I spent 36 hours in Ellensburg, WA to celebrate a friend’s birthday the weekend before Knot Another Fiber Festival. It was quick but we packed in a lot of fun!

Saturday was LYS Day. I wasn’t near my LYS, but Ellensburg has a very nice shop, Yarn Folk. Ann Miner’s shop has lots of high quality yarns and is full of inspiring shop samples. I didn’t need any yarn (do I ever?), but I needed a shawl pin so I picked up this leaf pin by One of a Kind Buttons. (More about the book in a bit.)

There was a sheep to shawl exhibit by Thorp Mill at the rodeo grounds, and I met this sweet lamb, as well as some spinners and weavers.

In the afternoon Vickie and I took a beyond basics block printing class at Gallery One. Every time I play with block printing, it gets a little better. So much fun!

This particular class was about chine collé (like collage, adding contrast papers in the printing) and puzzle blocks (cutting your carved block into pieces so you can put it back together while using different colors for the different parts). In three hours we sketched and carved blocks, and tried these two new techniques.

Pictured above, top row: Carved block (it’s been cut and put back together), original test print. Bottom row: Chine collé bird print, and puzzle block print. I’m looking forward to playing more with this block, or even re-doing it now that I know what I want it to look like.

In the evening we went to the college rodeo. Why yes, this was my first rodeo! It seemed about time my boots went to one.

Waiting

Birds on a wire

Matched set

I came home Sunday to teach a class, and picked up the new Mason Dixon Field Guide, Transparency.

I love the look of this Shakerag Top. (Thanks, Biscuit, for helping with the picture.) It’s knit with one or two strands of yarn to create the striping, but the yarn is all the same. This particular yarn is Jade Sapphire Sylph, a blend of cashmere and linen. I love linen and I love cashmere. It’s a little spendy, so I have to decide if I’m really going to make it. Also, deadlines! We shall see.

Knit on!

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Posted in cat, classes, Knit, Other craftiness, travel

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Linocuts!

Posted on November 27, 2013 | 5 comments

Lino-whats? Linocuts!

I went to a printmaking party at a friend’s house on Sunday. It was a new crafty thing for me. We traced images, transferred them to linoleum blocks, and then carved the blocks so we could print with them. (Cool carving tools, no picture though.) This block is about 3 inches square.

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I used a knit snowflake motif, because, hey, it’s me.

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I love how my prints turned out. The gold on black paper didn’t have as much pop as I expected; the silver was better. I like the gold on the cream paper, though. The blue print is the first one I made. I’d love to try this again. I wasn’t sure I’d like it, but it wasn’t nearly as intimidating or complicated as I thought it would be! I’ll cut these prints out and mount them on cards for stationery.

Knitting continues, and I picked up some new yarn for no reason.

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The one on the left was purchased in Ellensburg when I was there at the beginning of the month, because I wanted to support the LYS there. It’s Ella Rae Lace Merino, but really more of a light fingering weight than lace weight, 460 yards/100g. The one on the right is KnittedWit’s CSY offering for November. It’s Bling, colorway is Solstice, 438 yards/100g. I saw it when I was labeling yarn for Lorajean, and had to have a skein. “It followed me home, can I keep it?”

Hope you’re having a great week! Happy Thanksgiving, to all who celebrate. We’re celebrating Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and the beginning of Advent this week. Bring on the holidays!

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Posted in Other craftiness, yarn

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