On beauty….and not

We have been dry, dry, DRY this summer. Add a winter with less-than-average snowfall, and you have a not pretty picture. So when we do get a bit of rain, the beauty is doubly appreciated. My melons are growing, and I’m hoping their taste is as thrilling to me as just watching them grow is.

I planted a bunch of kale in the spring, and am pleased that it’s still going strong, despite our hot and dry conditions. When I pick it and bring it in the house to soak in a sink full of cold water, it is totally stunning. A photograph can’t capture it.

The kale leaves don’t allow the water to grab on to them at all. As they repel it, the surface tension turns the area a bright silver, like liquid mercury. (Not only do I remember mercury thermometers, and recall playing with mercury in science class, something that would never happen today.)

And look….my first pepper is starting to turn red.

So is my first full-sized tomato.

The local fauna has miraculously ignored my garden patch. No idea why, but I’m thankful.

The less-than-beautiful is a new batch of handwoven scarves. First up is a scarf I wove on my rigid heddle to demo at a show. It’s a rayon warp with rayon chenille weft. Thought I’d give the combo a try.

Once is definitely enough. The chenille is so understated it’s hardly worth it. Plus I didn’t have enough warp left on the loom so the scarf is short. I may be willing to use it as a donation, but I won’t sell it.

Next on the rigid heddle I wove a scarf from that thick and soft Pima cotton, this time sett at only 12 ends per inch, and with hand manipulated leno lace blocks for accent.

My plan was to do some more ombre dyeing with this scarf, this time with the chemical dyes and hand painting as opposed to Rit dye and dipping. But I like this scarf so well as it is that I’m not going to dye it at all. Since I have few neutrals in my stock, I think that’s the best course to take. I may put some beads on the fringe, which I’m not going to twist, to add some interest. Or I may not.

Now for some more learning by doing. In my first dye class I dyed some 8/2 rayon that’s been sitting and waiting for me. While I was waiting for my first home-dyed yarn to dry, I thought I’d weave off this rayon. The good news is that I learned a ton in those two classes and made some mistakes I’m not likely to repeat.

So here’s the first scarf on that warp. The best of the three, for sure. Since my hand painted warp didn’t have many threads in it, I fleshed out the warp with some pink and navy rayon. At least this scarf has three color transitions and no huge, glaring goofs.

I threaded and treadled for rosepath, which was fine, but I didn’t want to keep going with it. So I re-threaded the loom for an all-over huck lace pattern. That was fine, but the next scarf only had two colors, not three because I’d painted in sections that were too long. That would have been not good but okay, except that I’d clearly put dyed pink fingers on the yellow section. Sigh.

Then came the third scarf. Really only one color that just gets glaringly bright. Might appeal to someone, I thought. But can you see the beginnings of transition to yellow on the fringe on the right ends? I could theoretically make the fringe shorter to eliminate that, but I don’t really like shorter fringe, don’t think it looks good. Sigh again.

Finally, although I haven’t taken a photo, I’ll share that I have gotten back to the pants failure. I spent 3 hours taking out machine stitching, and didn’t even get all the way around the waistband for the last “stitch in the ditch” sewing. Sigh. I don’t think the side seams or center seam will be as tedious, but taking out those pockets carefully might be. Double sigh.

But now I’m going to reward myself by weaving those undulating twill scarves with the watery-colored silk I recently painted. I have several weft colors to audition.