New Website: Coloursparks.ca

Well, I've been working on this website for quite a while and now its getting to a point where its read to publish. Not everything is perfect, but it is time to get it up and work from there

Never to old to play with Snowmen

Snowman Workshop on November 15,2014

I've made a lot of snowmen this fall. I was having so much fun making them and then lining them up in my studio so they could smile upon me. Though they all were a bit different, they were definitely my style
The snowmen from my students had a different look and it was lots of fun to see them create.
Now, I am sure, their snowmen are smiling upon their faces now.

 My snowmen will be on sale at Bottega on November 29/30, 2014

Dye Workshop: Playing with Colour

 Dye Workshop: June 21, 2014

Changing the colour of fiber is a magical experience. It is so much fun to to watch the fiber absorb the colour and transform
This workshop is about the basics of immersion  dyeing using commercial acid dyes. We will be experimenting with vat dyeing and overdyeing.

The workshop runs from 10:00 a.m. -3:00 p.m. and includes materials. Each participant will take home a sample of the colours dyed.
Cost: $90, includes materials
Registration at coloursparks@gmail.com

Colour makes Felting Fun

Felting has become part of my daily routine...along with my knitting. I spend  at least a few minutes in my studio every day playing with fiber. Sometimes I just make pieces of flat felt...because I can...and don't always know what I'll do with them. Sometimes I make vessels as I love the 3 dimensional aspect of forming the wool into shapes. I approach my felting practice very much like I do my painting practice and I laugh at the results as they are very often similar.                      

I am teaching a felting workshop on June 7 & 8 which is for both the beginner and the advanced felter

Vesseles: A Felting Workshop....see the facebook page for details

Pillows made from my felted work

Plant Dyed Yarn....

 I've been dyeing wool fleece and yarn for years. I began my ...shall I call it an obsession...when I was studying to become a Waldorf School Handwork teacher. I was fascinated by the variety of colour you could get by just dyeing plant material. I read all the books and for a whole year I dyed only things I could find....leaves, bark, flowers, lichens.. By this time, I had over 60 shades of yellow.and then I branched out into madder and cochineal and added the reds and the pinks.
My first indigo recipe was complicated but once I mastered it I finally had a whole range of colours including the greens blues and the purples.

 It's not that  easy, you have to dye enough of the yellows and pinks to get the greens and the purples.....It just seemed I never had enough.

So now, quite a few years later...I begin again. This time I am using superwash merino from Louet and 10 skeins later all I have are 1 of a kinds. Nothing to add to the madder or the indigo....Oh well...the next time will be different again.

Summer Weather is Upon Us...Yeah

 The summer burst through clouds and the weather hit 30 degrees...how can it get any better than that?
My dyepots called to me and I cleaned up the garden and my dye space, washed the dusty pots and filled with dye.
I am using up the last of my dyes. I have dyed all these colours 2 times with different fleeces and really don't need any more in those colours. So I bought some white wool and thought I'd experiment with yarn and try and create some nice variations. I used three colours and dipped them quickly in different colours.

The yellow is just pure sunshine it was so magestic, a pity to dilude.
Can't wait for tomorrow...that's going to be a red day.

Ok..Truth...will I really finish this?

 There are some projects you start because you have an idea and want to try it out....but...part way through you realize you don't like it.Are we obligated to finish it?...Absolutely Not. I started this baby sweater...loved the colours...hated the yarn. Then one day my coffee spilled on my mittens that bled onto my knitting and left a red stain on both the yarn and the knitting. This was, to me a sure sign to stop.
I am a yarn snob and I realized that I have to love the yarn to finish the project. I can buy a cute acrylic sweater, but I can't buy a hand dyed superwash merino one,  made in a yarnlike Madeline Tosh. Now that there are so many        beautiful superwash wool yarns,

I don't want to knit in a synthetic fibre.
Sure people say they don't want the wool to irritate the baby, but very few people actually have a wool allergy. A wool allergy consists of being allergic to the lanolin in the wool. Most people have an ïtch factor" problem and that can be resolved, for a baby, by using a yarn like Madleine Tosh or Mulberry Yarns which are superwash merinos. Merino is the softest yarn available.
Needless to say, the orange and yellow baby sweater will never be finished...
On the other hand, I have been working on this crochet blanket for years....still love it, the yarn is cotton and I know |I will finish it when the right       reason comes along.