Monday, June 25, 2012

Yarn bombed



I have happily found myself in the middle of piles of yarn. I am dyeing yarn for classes I am teaching later in the summer and fall and for a very exciting workshop I am taking later this summer and am generally feeling that some yarn management strategies are needed. I suspect that my partner would agree with that assessment.



Yarn Bombing is a term I learned from The Yarn Harlot. Apparently at knitting conferences (and I have never been to a knitting conference, but I would consider it as a recreational endeavor) people actually knit little things that they spread around the facility. Knitted wraps for trees and banisters, little knitted creations hanging from lamp pulls, socks on table legs... yarn bombing. My house wasn't so much bombed by finished items as by piles of dyed and undyed yarn. I will probably never dig my way out. Just warning you. (This would be why my partner is strongly advocating I have my own studio which is separate from the rest of the house. Yarn has a way of creeping out of it's room into all other corners of the place.)

(6/29/12: Here is an even better post about yarn bombing by The Yarn Harlot: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2012/06/29/site_specific_art_installation.html)



The practice of dyeing my own yarn seems to increase the general yarn clutter. I have run through all the undyed student yarn I have here (don't worry, there is more in storage which will be coming back to the dye pots soon) and have moved on to dyeing experiments (more on this in a future post). The dyeing process itself adds to the yarn chaos. It needs to be prepped and then it gets dyed and then it sits around drying and then it has to be balled up and readied for classes. During all of this I get interrupted by work and babies and my general distractedness and thus, yarn bomb.



This yarn is gorgeous. It is Vevgarn from Norway. I bought it from Noel at Norsk Fjord Fiber who was infinitely helpful and had every color I wanted in stock. It comes in hundreds of colors, though I dyed some myself and found that is dyes amazingly well. I haven't woven a tapestry with this yarn yet, but I believe Tommye Scanlin uses it a lot and her tapestries are gorgeous... which seems a good recommendation for the basic materials.


My father has always been an apron advocate. This (dye-spattered clothes) is what happens when you dye without using one (plus it is probably safer to wear long pants and covered shoes and wear an apron as the boiling acid-water is not the greatest thing to spill on yourself).


Personal Protective Equipment. Use it. Do not follow my example (despite it being 95 degrees outside and over 100 in the dye shed). I do wear my respirator and goggles Dad... and I will buy an apron the next time I'm shopping the online chemistry store (do they have brick and mortar chemistry stores? I was in an old dusty one in Albuquerque at least a decade ago, but I don't think it is there anymore. I need a new thermometer because I keep breaking mine and I think those glass pipets are really very cool.) Most of the dye comes out of my clothes as it hasn't been set with an acidic pH, but they are ever quite the same again once exposed to a dye day.

This is what Cassy thinks about yarn:


8 comments:

  1. I use the Vevgarn yarns exclusively in my tapestries as well. Have for years. They are the perfect hand for tapestries! You will love them.

    Cassy looks so much like our last dog, Wooster - even the expression (eyes shut and gently snoring, pink on the nose.)

    By the way, best wishes for your upcoming wedding! Enjoy Vermont and Canada - a good time to escape the smoke and heat Colorado is offering us this summer!

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  2. I may have exaggerated a bit with the number of dyed colors the Vevgarn comes in. Looking at the color card it seems to be around 125 colors... which is still a lot for a tapestry yarn.

    @Kathy:
    I'm so glad to know what yarn you use Kathy. I may use Vevgarn much more in the future. I just loved how well it dyed without any special worrying like I have to give the Harrisville yarn (worrying sometimes helps because it makes me more attentive to the dye process perhaps).

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  3. OMG, the close up of your sleeping dog is just precious.

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  4. Trish at Tangled ThreadsJune 25, 2012 at 5:47 PM

    Yo, Rebecca, thanks for the tip about the yarn! And the support of Tommye and Kathy is reassuring as well. I will buy some to try.

    Best wishes for the upcoming nuptuals.
    Trish

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  5. I love the yarn bombing and the dog, I agree is an integral part of the yarn process...

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  6. Here is an even better post about yarn bombing. :)
    http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2012/06/29/site_specific_art_installation.html

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  7. Love this post and the ending, "Boring....zzz..." is great! My cat adopts a similar attitude as I spend time in the studio; in fact, he's curled in a fetal position right now for just a teeny cat nap.

    Glad you got the Vevgarn! I think you'll really enjoy using it. I love the heartiness of the yarn--I call it a "whole wheat" yarn, in fact!

    Not too many days now until the knot ties! Have a great time with it all!!

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  8. Hi, where do you purchase the Vevgarn? And I know you are off across the country Rebecca. I know about the fields and fields of corn. Helen Hart who took class from you at IWC July 2011.

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