On My Needles || Ruckle

With each passing season, I tend to do some serious reorganization on my Ravelry queue.  The length of it is massive.  While I know I'll never actually knit EVERYTHING on my list, it's nice to have a place to record those "things I'd like to make" whether it's because of unique construction or texture, striking color combos or just because it's the perfect garment for that season.  Ruckle has been on this list for quite a while and though it never really hovered near the top, summertime hit, the desire to knit a garment made with plant fibers that would be breezy yet interesting overcame me, and I wanted to start something new while on vacation.  I decided to cast aside my concerns that the fit of the tunic would hug a little too tightly in certain places and just go for it… it has openings on the lower sides, after all.

Ruckle is a design by Norah Gaughan, one of my favorite knitwear designers.  This pattern is actually free, if you decide to make one for yourself!  It's knit with Berroco Lago yarn, a worsted weight rayon/linen blend.  I decided to go with the Deep End colorway, after the rich, blue shade stood out to me.  Does anyone else find it difficult to choose colors for a new garment?  I try to go with hues that I haven't used very much or at all on other projects, but somehow it's hard to go with something that unique from my usual color choices.  I'm just really drawn to bold, cool tones.  Alas…

This design has a very unique construction.  You start with panels that make up the top of the shoulders, wrapping around the neck.  The stitches for the body are picked up from these panels and knit top-down from there.  That large garter stitch section that spans from sleeve tip to sleeve tip seems to take forever, but the body goes relatively quickly after that.  At the bottom, short row shaping forms the lower part of the tunic.  I'm still working on the garter section of the 2nd side, so it will likely be another week or two before I have finished photos for this one.  Finishing up some designs of my own has been taking away from recreational knitting, but the good news is that I should have a new pattern available very soon, and another to follow shortly after that!  I hope you're having a great Friday, and enjoy your weekend!

Lichen Collaboration for START Norman

Back in April, I made mention of a collaboration that I worked on with Sarah Hearn for the threshold: the promised land exhibition, part of START Norman.  Sarah is a visual artist who also showed work in Rare Earth at Plug Projects in Kansas City last year.  A kindred nature-inspired artist, much of her work involves lichen -- a group of organisms that has strongly grasped my attention as of late.  I've been in awe of Sarah's beautiful macrophotography of these intriguing life forms, intricate paper cutting, and thought provoking installation since I first saw it.  Clearly, I was all about working on a piece together for our site specific installations in Norman.

I'm excited to share the photos of our collaboration with you now, which Sarah so kindly captured for us.  This work is a colony of two lichen interpretations: Parmotrema perforatum (perforated ruffle lichen) and Peltigera canina (dog-lichen).  My contribution included the moss growing among the dog-lichen, and apothecia and ruffles throughout the perforated ruffle lichen.

In addition to the collaboration, Sarah placed several mini-installations of lichen throughout the site, and designed a scavenger hunt for visitors to use in finding them all!  They blended in quite well to their surroundings.  She added my two Succession installations to the hunt as well.  I loved this engaging concept, and hope it was a fun way for visitors to learn about and connect with nature.

After this project, I've found that I can't stop observing lichen whenever I see it.  I'm captivated by it!  This is a subject matter that you will likely see more of in the future.

Fungi

I'm always on the lookout for different types of fungi when I'm out in the yard or on a hike.  Here are a few that I've spotted recently!

Black Swallowtail Larvae

I'm growing dill this year mainly to use in pickling, so I don't mind so much that the little patch of fragrant herbs are being consumed by these beautiful black swallowtail caterpillars.  At least, I won't mind until I go to make pickles, in which case… bummer.  So many of these little guys are hanging out that I'm thinking another round of seed sowing is in order so they won't run out of food-- I would love to see some black swallowtail chrysalises in the garden!  Now to figure out where that seed packet went...

52 Forms of Fungi || #31

I've always loved looking at photos of this type of fungi - the brightness of the colors and stacked/fanned out growth habit are very beautiful.  Sulfur shelf, or chicken of the woods mushroom, grows on living or dead trees, often on the main trunk.  Its presence on a living tree indicates extensive decay and increased potential for tree failure.

This is another piece which Berroco so kindly provided yarn for me to create.  Made with Ultra Alpaca, the color ways shown are Masa and Grove Mix.  I still have a few more phases left involving the lovely Berroco yarns!

This structure was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project. Check out more of the forms from this project.

Harvested || Golden Currant Scones

This spring was a joy, uncovering all of the unique flora growing in our new yard.  A horticulture professor previously owned our property, so there are many unusual and exciting things planted on our half acre lot.  I intend to add to that as well!  I've recently become more interested in wildcrafting - harvesting plants for various uses from food to medicinal properties and home use.  Last summer I started doing this for dyeing, but its becoming something that I would like to learn more and more about with our local plant life here in Oklahoma.  I decided to start this column on my blog, to document the plants that I harvest from, the ways that I use them and their outcomes.  For now I would like to stick to things harvested from my own yard, but I imagine that I will expand to general wildcrafting.  The first installment revolves around the golden currant shrubs growing at the back of our property.

I posted about these earlier in the spring, after I first found them.  Unfamiliar with this particular plant, I had to seek out some ID help and have been monitoring them ever since to make sure I got to try some of these mysterious currants.  Last week they started to ripen, so I gradually collected them throughout the week to make some kind of treat with!

I ended up settling on a paleo version of a lemon blueberry scone, replacing the berries with currants.  The recipe uses almond flour, and this is my first try at baking something paleo compatible (the first time I've baked anything in forever, really).  This is the recipe that I used.

They were delicious!  The almond flour gives them a nutty flavor, and honey is a very subtle sugar substitute that toned down the sweetness a bit.  The currants themselves are a little tart to eat raw - my husband actually didn't like them very much when we tried them off the bush, but baking made them much more enjoyable to eat.  I would definitely try these again!  The currants are still ripening, so if I have enough I want to try using them for ice cream soon.  If you have any suggestions for other uses of currants, let me know!  I'd love to give them a try.

Tangled Up

J and I went hiking the other day in an area that was totally overtaken in some parts by wild grape vines.  He spotted this snake skin tangled up in some of the vines - some little dude decided that was a good spot to shed his skin.  The ants seemed to think so too.  I love the texture of it.

If you're in the US I hope you're having a wonderful Fourth of July holiday.  My initiative for the weekend - find an ice cream maker (if everyone else didn't have the same idea and buy them all up) and make use of those blackberries and strawberries ripening in my garden.  Cheers!

52 Forms of Fungi || #30

Cedar-apple rust (or hawthorne, or quince, etc) is one of the most alien looking natural wonders that I have witnessed in my area.  A multiple host disease, it passes back and forth between eastern red cedar and apple.  It affects other trees in that family here as well.  The cedar stage involves the formation of these bright orange, gelatinous tendrils coming forth from a dark brown gall-like sphere in the spring months. Red cedar doesn't seem to come to harm from it, though the other host will develop protrusions of its own on its leaves and continually defoliate.  We've had problems with hawthorne trees in the landscape due to this… they just don't do well.

The fruiting structures are fascinating, though!  I love observing them.  The first year I noticed this disease was a very prolific year for the structures, and I remember just being awestruck!

Rusts don't fall into the same group as the other things knitted for this project, but they're still in Kingdom Fungi so I think that's close enough--don't you?  If anyone has photos they have taken of cedar apple rust in its fullness, please post one on my Facebook wall and I will share it with the page!  We didn't get much rain this spring, so the ones I saw (below, at the bottom of the post) had already dried up by the next time I went out.

An added bonus: Here is what the eastern red cedar stage looks like when the fruiting structure is just starting to form!

A New Adventure

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to post anything about this here, since this is a new endeavor that I am very excited about… but if you follow me on Instagram you've probably seen the many honeybee photos and videos.  I am now keeping bees!  The video above shows the entrance of the hive within a couple of weeks of receiving them, and the photos below depict the installation process.  My apiary consists of a Langstroth hive, with Italian bees that arrived by package.

Beekeeping has interested me for a number of years, since I worked a plot in El Jardin Allegre, a community garden in Austin, TX.  That was really the beginning of my gardening experience, and I cannot recommend enough to get involved with a community garden--- it was probably one of the most valuable things I did while living in Austin.  Over in the corner near the compost station were a few honeybee colonies, and at that time the beekeeping coordinator position was vacant.  I spent a lot of time in my post of managing the compost and was always going past the hives, surprised at how little the cared about my presence and thrilled at sightings of pollinators visiting my plot.

Fast forward a couple of years, when I first learned of Colony Collapse Disorder.  Since the beginning of my gardening days I've felt very strongly about chemical free growing, and found CCD frightful upon first hearing about it.  Aside from the effects of harmful substances making their way into colonies and emergence of difficult to control pests and diseases, the number of managed honeybee colonies in the United States has dropped drastically since the 1950's.  With the size of our lot, our interest in gardening and native plants, and a continued concern for the impacts of human actions on the environment it seemed natural to add an apiary to the family.

I knew it would be a fascinating experience, but I had no idea how much I would love this new endeavor.  Coming home to go watch the bees and inspect the garden are the highlights of my day!  I still feel very intimidated when inspecting the hive, but have learned so much through books, Facebook groups, web sites and gaining experience through attentive beekeeping practices.  I hope to share more of this journey with you over time - this is just the beginning.

A study just came out confirming that plants treated with neonicotinoids to ward off pest problems are a major factor in CCD.  These plants are sold in many of the big box garden centers, including Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart.  Check out more about this study here.

Removing the can of sugar syrup from the opened package

Placing the package inside the hive.  After a few days I opened it back up and removed the emptied package to lean against the outside of the hive.  Any bees left exited and went in the hive entrance.

Mushroom (The Journal of Wild Mushrooming) Feature

A few days ago I was excited to return from vacation to find the latest issue of Mushroom: The Journal of Wild Mushrooming in our stack of mail from the week.  Inside was a nice little feature on my 52 Forms of Fungi project!  (speaking of which, I will have a new post for the series up next week!)

 Thank you very much to Leon and the folks at Mushroom The Journal for sharing my work - it's very exciting to see in print!  I'm glad to have been made aware of this publication with its abundance of great information and interesting articles about fungi.  Interested in subscribing?  You can learn how, here!

If you found my blog through the article, welcome and thank you for following along.  Happy mushrooming!

Mistletoe

A little inspiration for the day - I came across this tree colonized with mistletoe a while back.  Such an intriguing symbiosis.

Off the Needles || Featherweight Cardigan

Phase four in my saga of Hannah Fettig patterns.  This cardigan was knit with lace weight yarn.  Yes, lace weight!  It certainly lives up to its name, however, as it's light as a feather.  Featherweight.  As I've said with all of these Knitbot projects, despite the small gauge the stockinette pattern makes it a breeze to get through.

I added an inch to the body length since I'm not a big cropped top type of person, though it's still not what I would call a "long" garment by any means.  Perfect for a high waisted skirt or perhaps worn over a tunic, however.  I had to block it a little more aggressively than usual to stretch the arms a little, because initially they turned out a little tight.  The cardigan is fitted, but has great drape so it's not the sort of piece that I feel like I'll be tugging on all the time or uncomfortable in by any means.  This will more than likely go into my bank of repeatable patterns and eventually I'd like to have one or two more in solid colors!

The final comment I have about this project is related to my folly in recognizing that my yarn came in different dye lots.  I was halfway through the first sleeve before I noticed that the yarn used for the body was much duller than the rest which had more of a chestnut hue (the living room where I mostly knit is rather dim…)  Since both sleeves were knit with this other dye lot, it turned out rather symmetrical and to be honest I don't really even notice the difference much.  Sigh of relief!

Top - Loft; Skirt - Forever 21

On My Needles || Villeneuve

We've got a big family vacation to Florida coming up, and I found this free pattern hiding in my Ravelry library last week and probably got a little over-zealous.  It's a perfect swimsuit coverup, am I right?!  Anyway, I realized I had some sport weight cotton that might work so I came home to swatch on Friday.  After discovering that my gauge with the sport weight was right on (with anticipation of a little stretching out when I block it) I went into emergency vacation knitting mode.  Well, here and there.  Knitting is a little sparser these days what with a garden to weed and bees to stare at (wouldn't have it any other way).

One detail I really like about this top is the rounded hem on the front and back, which reminds me of a raglan baseball tee.  I'm making it a size larger so it will be nice and breezy rather than fitted, to wear around the pool or walking over to the beach. The pattern is Villeneuve, which is free on Ravelry, and my yarn is Knit Picks Shine Sport in Crocus.  Are you working on any summer projects?

Ample Moisture

Oklahoma saw a late spring this year, and just in the last couple of weeks have we started receiving some of those "April showers" that supposedly bring on the "May flowers" and henceforth.  I planted my garden weeks ago and have relied on my trusty garden hose to keep it watered, but for several days we saw some continuous rain amounting to a few inches in the end.

I've seen some inky cap mushrooms pop up here and there since my entire garden is covered in a nice thick layer of wood chip mulch, but as the rains kept going they really seemed to find their happy place.  One morning I came outside to witness this - an entire area of the garden covered in these little shrooms.  It's odd how quickly they change.  I took these photos about 30 minutes to an hour after I first spotted them.  Initially, they still looked fresh and the caps were not curling upward yet.  By photo time they had started to deteriorate some and A noticeable change in color was apparent.  I came out an hour later and they had disintegrated into a mere memory.  Had I not seen them earlier I would not have known of their presence, save for a close observation of tiny black fibers across the mulch.

I love the textures in this top photo - this is one of my favorite attributes of fungi: the textures.  So intricate, despite how small they are.

And now it's raining again...

Succession

It was an honor to be involved in threshold: the promised land at START Norman.  While I was taking down my work recently, I wondered how the space would be transformed in the coming years.  There's some fascinating history there.

Here are some full scale images of my installation.  I hope to have some photos of the collaboration to show in the near future as well.

Feeds I Love || #1

As you may know, Instagram is probably my favorite social media tool.  Sharing your life in a visual way and gaining a peek into others' perspectives is inspiring, fascinating, and beautiful a lot of the time. It has a much more positive vibe than others where people just go to air their complaints or push political agendas, as well.  I've met some very interesting people and discovered a number of favorite artists and makers through this network, and I thought I would share a few of my favorite feeds here and there.  Here is the first  group! From top left:  michelle_morin  ||  lilystockman  ||  ffrench  ||  heatherbuchanan

I've become enamored with Michelle and Heather's paintings and love following their progress.  Lily's aesthetic really stands out, and we share a common love of desert landscapes.  Cait French is a fiber artist who forages for her own dye material in Vancouver.  She has a book coming out later this year!

Knitting Pattern || Urbanite Garland

It's amazing how fast a year can slip through your fingers.  Granted, this past year has been a whirlwind of accomplishments… sometimes other things just have to wait so you can make sure they're done exactly the way you want them done.  I designed this pattern a couple of summers ago, and my lovely friend modeled the garment for me last summer as I was preparing to release it… and then Momentum Tulsa happened.  It's been chaos ever since, until recently.  I'm very excited to show you this headband, the Urbanite Garland, which is now available both in my Ravelry store and on Etsy as a PDF download.

The original prototype for the design makes a regular appearance in my wardrobe, in particular on windy days or those when my hair is a little unruly but I don't want to wear it up.  A versatile piece, it fits into a lot of different styles and only takes a few hours to knit.  So if you're looking for a new summertime accessory, something to throw on after a day at the lake or on the way to dinner with friends after a long day at work, this is the perfect piece.

On My Needles || Featherweight Cardigan

Featherweight is my fourth Knitbot project, and the gauge just seems to keep getting smaller!  I started out with the bulky Effortless Cardigan, moved on to fingering weight Walpole and Brise, and now I've arrived at lace weight.  For a sweater.  It's true to the name though, light as a feather, and I'm sure it will be a welcome addition to my wardrobe come the cooler mornings and evenings in the garden this fall.

Another simple stockinette stitch cardigan that boasts a lack of seaming, the project has gone relatively quickly when I actually have a chance to work on it.  I added a couple of inches to the length of the body because my torso is long and there's nothing I hate more than tugging on a top all day because i can feel a breeze on my back.  I'm currently in the middle of the second sleeve and hope to finish that and move on to the collar this weekend.

For this project I went with the recommended yarn, Malabrigo Lace.  It's my first garment in a colorway of various hues, so it's been interesting to see how it knits up.  Unfortunately, I did not realize until I was into the first sleeve that I ended up with two different dye lots.  The yarn I joined for the sleeve has a much richer brown hue than the body - I must have been winding the skeins in a dim room not to have noticed it.  There was enough for the other sleeve, however, and I think I'll have enough to do at least part of the color in this same cake of yarn so it will at least look symmetrical.  It's not all that noticeable unless you're just staring at the garment as you would be if you're, well, knitting it.

If this turns out well, I may add it to my list of pieces that I may someday in the future want a second one of… after I work on some bulky weight projects, that is.  Just got yarn in for one yesterday.  :)  What are you working on?

Off the Needles || Toulouse

I'm trying to get caught up on knitwear, so hopefully I'll have a few more posts in the next few weeks.  On a side note, purchases in my Society 6 shop currently have free shipping, through Sunday the 11th!  If you've been coveting one of those tote bags, now is a good time to go for it!  And now to the project...

For me and this Leah Thibault pattern… well, it was love at first sight.  Knit Scene debuted their Winter 2012 collection and as soon as I spotted this design I knew I had to make it.  I had to add it to my closet.  The bow adds a romantic, vintage inspired detail that does not adorn anything that I own as of yet… but it definitely appealed to me.  I mentioned all of this in my progress post about the garment.  Just like I mentioned the yarn that my mom passed over from her magnificent stash.  Cascade Alpaca Lana D'Oro.  It's so soft and cozy, I may have to purchase more for a future project.

To be honest, I cast off on this project over a month ago, but blocking and photo shoots fell to the bottom of my to do list, what with Succession and Niche both in progress this spring.  Now that they're done, perhaps that Lanesplitter will make an appearance next…

Back to the pattern - it really was a simple knit.  Stockinette, no seaming, simple details.  I didn't need to make any alterations, so I don't really have all too much to say about it - the fit turned out to be perfect!  I like the layered style with the other blouse, but it would look great on its own with a pair of jeans too.  How would you wear it?

layered top - Loft; wool skirt - thrifted; tights - Target; shoes - Kohl's

Succession / 52 Forms of Fungi || #29

I love polypores.  Mushrooms are cute, but there's just something fascinating to me about finding a tree with a ladder of conks growing up the trunk.  They pose a challenge to knit, mostly due to the shape and attachment element, but the colors are especially pleasing to the eye when I get to work on them.  Knit Picks Palette really has become a favorite yarn of mine, simply because of the fact that with 150 shades to choose from it's pretty easy to create that fade from light to dark when necessary.  I have a giant basket full of probably about 1/3 of the colors they offer - HA!

Anyway, what we have here is resinous polypore, created as part of my Succession installation for START Norman (on display for another week!).  The fruiting structures of this species are rather fleshy - I've seen them on trees before and remember the sponginess when poked.  They typically grow on very rotted wood - fallen logs, dead wood, old stumps, etc.