Mossy Cottage Knits

Ansel Adams In an Alternative Universe

We've recently discovered the breath-taking colors and perfumes of giant bearded irises. K has always had some of the traditional purple irises in her yard but last fall she planted some exotic hybrids and this spring we were rewarded with some truly spectacular flowers.

In order to share the irises with you, I attempted to take the best photo my fledgling photographic skills would allow but, as always, things are never as simple as they seem. Here, my first attempt. What is the blurred gray area along the bottom, you ask? Why, that would be my boobs!

Attempt #2, closer up and minus the bodacious ta-tas:

Traditional purple irises smell, well, purple, the way some candies taste "red." These hybrid purple/lavendar/orange irises, however, smell like vanilla ice cream and gingersnap cookies blended together. A very heady and exotic scent.

Here's another of the new irises. Oddly enough, this one also smells purple, although, according to the emerging pattern, it should smell brown. Which, frankly, doesn't sound very nice. In fact, I don't even want to know what brown would smell like.

The Barclay Bugle -- Operation "Diaper Change"
We're happy to report that Baby Barclay is still being fed by the B-52s. He is becoming more active and curious and K reports that she has seen his head and one eagle-eye (or “crow-eye,” in this case?) peeking out of the box.

Last night we gave Barclay the equivalent of a birdy diaper change. I peeked in the box, as we do every couple of days, and discovered that it was rank enough in there to singe my nose hairs so, while the B-52s were busy elsewhere, we took the box down, put Barclay in another box, replaced the old kitchen towels with new, put Barclay back in and bungeed the box back in place. Towards the end we did espy some dark and threatening wing'ed shadows in the tree above us, but ultimately we don't think the parents had a clue that we had temporarily kidnapped their young un', and they are back to feeding him this morning. (Miss K was not very butch about the whole process, I'm afraid. In fact, she broke out in goosebumps (ironic, non?) and danced around on her toes saying things like "Icky, icky, icky!")

This is still a delicate process and there are no guarantees we have done the right thing by Barclay but perhaps with our "stewardship" and your encouraging thoughts, we can drag him flapping and pecking into juvenile-hood.

Knitting Knews
The Oat Couture sweater is close to being done. I've completed the back, the front and one sleeve. Here, the front, with yarnover button holes at the top, and the finished sleeve:

Lest you think I've forgotten about the Lorna's Laces socks, they are getting their share of attention. I've completed the ankle and heel flap for the second sock. Which reminds me: In October, the guild I belong to is going to have a meeting dedicated primarily to socks. The members are invited to bring their sock masterpieces for show-and-tell. Ack! What shall I knit? I'm intrigued by the idea of beaded socks, and the image of beaded baby socks keeps popping into my head, maybe yellow socks with white opalescent beads. I'm also intrigued by the idea of designing a sock based on Polynesian tattoo designs like this or this. Janine, are you knitting anything for the October meeting? Can I steal your idea, wink, wink, nudge, nudge?

Dyer's Dyegest -- Baby Steps
Finally, after weeks of slowly accumulating the paraphernalia I needed for mordanting, losing some of it, finding what I'd lost, losing the rest of it, finding what I'd lost again, I'm starting the process. So far, the steps look something like this:

1. Wind the 8-ounce skein of Henry's Attic into four 2-ounce balls because going from a skein to a skein, which is what you really need, while trying to weigh the yarn on a small kitchen scale, is nigh-on impossible.

2. Rewind the four 2-ounce balls into eight 1-ounce balls because that was what the reference books said to do in the first place, only you didn't read them carefully enough.

3. Wind the eight 1-ounce balls into eight 1-ounce skeins, which is where you were trying to get in step 1.

4. Wash the skeins without making them go all felted and icky.

5. Dry the skeins.

6. Mordant the skeins without making them go all felted and icky.

7. Dry the skeins.

As you can see from this photo I am on -- drum roll! -- Step 1. Oh. (When exactly do I get to dye?)

Posted by Ryan at June 4, 2003 09:08 AM