chain gang

TAST week 22 resulted in a not very inspiring exercise.good to have it in my stitching vocab, but i honestly doubt that i'll be using it much. evidently it's not the stitch's fault, but the stitcher.
wasn't even inspired to add zing to the photo :(
tonight husband-san and i are meeting friends for dinner. hoping to be more inspired tomorrow.

neki desu

風呂敷 furoshiki ne!

 what to do with all the screen printed fabric? make furoshikis!!

then go to the supermarket and when offered the plastic carrier bag, very smugly say no thanks i have my own. :) :)

neki desu

yarn burning weekend

it was somewhat cooler during the weekend and i could work a bit in the studio. sampling lace knitting with the machine. amazing, had to change the sponge bar after less than  three weeks as it was melting into gunk again. who said it has been hot?

and a sort of deja vu revelation. one has to burn yarn, not cheap waste yarn, but the good ones you'll be using, in order to get to know the machine, the stitches and all the miscellany and what nots. just like i did with weaving.

kind of uncomfortable if you're into frugality.

neki desu

slipped detached chain

 this stitch  with a rock band name was TAST week 21.a simple yet effective one. i can envision whole fields of buds done in this stitch, or a very elaborate band with beads and couching.
i'm using some of the tie threads  for the ai dyed shibories. they are the fatter #5 perle cotton , the teal ones are from a knitted sample that was also dunk in the vat.

it's cooled off today.FINALLY. better run to the studio and do some work today. machine knitting  while i can. ♪♫

neki desu

 

ouvrages de dames-chart1

here we go, the first chart is a pretty design of art nouveau roses.

i'm including the gravure of the project as it is a  very charming  rendition of a purse with its accessories namely a glass case and coin purse. coincidentally when i visited hvitträsk i took photos of cushions embroidered with a similar motif. you can tell it was the way roses were rendered then. click on the embroidery chart and you can see it full  size. 

btw, do you like my signature? :)have to tweak it a bit and make the background transparent.

neki desu

a link rich post

or too hot to work.

it's cooler up north and Leena is trying a fermentation vat. vicarious dyeing over here :)- perhaps i should say dying-note the spelling

i have been spending time inside ie at the computer which has resulted in a few interesting finds.

for starters here's an attractive blog full of all kinds of crafty tips, podcasts and insights on whats going on and around.

then,

ever thought about pleating fabric,without spending big time on a pleater? burda™ has a tutorial on making a pleating board fast and easy.

on the fun and games department this has been around for a while, but it is a good resource for generating doodles which can in turn  be used as a springboard and taken further. you can use any ol'  fine tip pen and paper, i can assure you.

and last color and interactions-almost literal- here .fun and color ideas galore.

on closing,  a delightful article on cakes. don't be put off by the title, your baking will never be the same.

stay cool.

neki desu

the thrifty dyer

 wasn't going to leave all those drips full of indigotin go to waste. no sir. grabbed some ancient  esparto  handmade paper and let the drips fall on them. the tie threads are given in the dyeing project and so is the test strip.

tried papermaking in the late 80's as everyone else. but albeit some interesting results and a paper press i bought at the flea market it wasn't my thing . fun, but not my thing.

 i'm accumulating tie threads. there's a lot of winter stitching coming up.

 neki desu

ふゆ fuyu

冬 itajime

 there's something  quintessentially japanese about blue and white as summer colors. it is understandable as the weather is conductive to aizome.

i've worked my share this weekend and along the way have learned a couple of things, no rocket science, no major breakthrough. perhaps you  all already knew those things, so bear with me.

• air pockets in itajime can create nice textures, a tradeoff for tiring the vat.
• most of the problems i've had building up color are due to very weak pigment-indigotin - in my powdered indigo.
• if the cotton fabric is not woven square there's absolutely no way you can square it afterwards.
• the above makes itajime a PTA to say the least.
• i'm not japanese

one then has to go with the flow and accept the limitations. make grungy, free-flowing unorthodox itajime.the beautifully squared ones will have to wait until i use up all that cotton.

although not technically what we in the west understand by itajime, fascinating video  nevertheless.

neki desu

to cheat or not to cheat

i'm not getting the color i want with aizome, except for the tie thread which is gorgeous. considering dyeing the little urchin with good ol' procion mx. will that be cheating?

and speaking of which   here's a great ps tutorial for  eliminating facial marks.did you know about the patch tool utility? i think my photo life will be easier from now on.

have a wonderful weekend!

 neki desu

saudade

 

having a good time albeit the heat with the knitting machine.love the way the silk doupioni knits and the way it slinkily unwinds from the cone and into the tension eyelets, almost like a  modern ballet.

this will go into the vat and will end up as a draw string pouch, hopefully.
hashing some thoughts about using macine knits in other than  the predictable wearables.

yesterday was absolute virtual heaven. while looking for the  aforementioned piazza colonna link , you know how it is one link leads to another and then google maps and sidewalk view...and i found myself  taking a walk and i was suddenly in front of my  building in my erstwhile neighborhood in rome. i've always felt  saudade for this  city, every day of my life. it is curious as i've never felt saudade for neither my hometown nor my country. apparently one does not have a choice on saudade, it just happens.

things that i thought would never change had indeed changed; the standa  dept. store is long gone, but my favorite pizzeria is still there a block from my building. could not locate visconti's vila on via salaria, but piero, the flower vendor whose stall is next to the building's gate is still there , reclining against his car as ever.

and the pine  tree in the middle of via capodistria is still forcing   a detour from the straight path, what joy! my favorite walk to via tagliamento and its shoe shops, passing through piazza mincio with its  fountain and beautiful buildings has not changed at all, my building still sports the same color, but some buildings on the corso have been torn down to make space for newer ones, although the character of the corso is still the same. and the suculent al glicine restaurant is still there :) ♥

however i think the saddest loss is that decadent hotel with a garden like the finzi contini's next to la rinascente on piazza fiume. my friend julia and i used to go there for tea because she adored the old waiter and the turn of the century decadent atmosphere. it will now become part of those mythical places where once i was happy.

neki desu

needle arts and vinatge mags

it pays to put order into chaos.other than self satisfaction ( as if my cheap thrills came from good housekeeping) the finds can be astounding. take this one. a whole year, yes 12 issues, of a 1912 french mag  journal des ouvrages de dames.

i bought them  many, many moons ago when i lived in rome, italy, at a street market off piazza colonna. i remember the when and where- i can almost remember what i was wearing that day -, but ironically i did not remember i had them, buried in the chaos as they were.

the magazines are full of priceless  vintage illustrations and charming ads: hair tonic, train trips and louis vuitton travel chests,  foundation garments.  the list coud go on and on. 

there are sections of conseilles with photos,  pour la toilette et la parure( dress and hair) house decor and what's really interesting: charts for embroidering , lace making and broderie anglaise work.

there's a veritable wealth of charts, sewing  and  craft ideas here.   

if there's interest i could publish a once a week section with charts and or vintage illustrations.

let me know by leaving a comment.

now if i keep organising   i could maybe find some hidden gold  :)  :)

neki desu

TAST up and down fly stitch

although this TAST stitch is fun i didn't manage to get many variations and ended up adding a bit of cloud filling at the bottom as the only experiment .

probably my lack of inspiration was due to a) the heat and b) an emotional exhausting weekend. saturday was very emotional as i went with husband-san to the demo. he had been to the first one  in 77 demanding the estatut and thought there would not be a need for another demo ever, after cataluya was granted the estatut.

then on sunday the world cup's final. what can i say about that ?
longing for cooler weather in all senses.


neki desu

some useful advice

for those of us who do not have central air-con:

better be wrinkled and cool in linen than pressed and dripping sweat in polyester.

summer red , it's this year's  color  :)

  1. slice, 2. seeds-jpg, 3. neon fruit, 4. straws, 5. watermelon, 6. cherries, 7. tomatoes, 8. silver and red, 9. awning3

have a nice weekend!

neki desu
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keeping your cool ; )

can be difficult in this weather and everyone complaining about the heat. here's the latest invention chez nous.

•  slice some watermelon and cube it
•  soft freeze the cubes
• put them through a blender
• put the blend in a tall glass and fill it with seltz water.

you'll enjoy the best watermelon soda ever.no sweeteners, no extra calories, no additives .and for the price of a soda you can get 2 whole watermelons fully recyclable!

ps. everybody was walking around this morning with a silly grin on the face.

even the chinese shopkeepers from  dollar stores  were flag waving.

neki desu
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vulnerability

 seems we're no longer immortal and invincible. how can one transcribe the feeling when one cannot transcribe it in the usual way? how does one find comfort in that piece of knowledge?

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tamaya!!!

summer fireworks.this  shibori textile became that animation above.

so many ways to have fun with textiles!

btw. tamaya is what the japanese shout at firework displays.

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wave stitch

my TAST for week 18.it was a nice fun stitch, but i wasn't terribly inspired and these were the best variations i could come up with.i guess i could have added something to the spaces in the honeycomb, but that occurred to me a posteriori when i was cropping the photo.

the lower middle one is cotton perle which was used for some indigo dyed shibori. nice bonus!

neki desu
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it's here

that time of the year when my hormones crave for chocolate and my palate for a cool gazpacho.

if nothing  about spain's contribution to culinary art excites your palate, this is because you're not familiar with gazpacho. 

brilliantly simple and unfussy, cold, nutritious and refreshing during the heat  months. a glorious vegetarian treat in a country  where everything is spiced up with ham. because as it is said here"ham is not meat, ham is ham". as ham was the proof that you were not a converso, but an old christian after the purity of blood edict went into effect.

anyway back to food after such sad, sad  incident here's my household take on gazpacho:

our contribution to the original recipe: balsamic vinegar  instead of regular vinegar and coriander.we also avoid the garlic and add no salt as we think it's an overkill. and as a burping prevention factor we do not peel the cucumber.

1 kg ripe plum tomatoes

1 whole large cucumber

1 large red pepper seeded

3-4 coriander sprigs

about a cup of extra virgin olive oil

about half a cup balsamic vinegar.

• drop the tomatoes in boiling water for 5 minutes.

• discard the water cool, peel and seed the tomatoes.

• chop them  coarsely and put in a blender.

• chop the pepper and cucumber and blend all together adding the oil.

• if too dense you can add water. blend again adding the coriander and balsamic vinegar.

• chill thoroughly. keeps for 3-4 days in the fridge, but be sure to stir thoroughly before serving.

you can correct the amounts to suit your taste. some people like less oil and more vinegar, or more cucumber. some people blend one or two garlic cloves for an extra kick.

pass a platter of chopped onion, coriander, boiled eggs, pepper and croutons. people pick and choose garnishing gazpacho to taste. enjoy  ♪♪♫

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