Stars Upon Thars

Circular Peyote Hexagon Stars by Jeri Riggs

Lately I’ve been enamored of beadwork again, and decided to design an interlocking star pendant, about the size of a US nickel, inspired by my niece’s upcoming Bat Mitzvah, and coinciding with the 75^th anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz, Holocaust Remembrance Day. May we Never Forget….

Star #1: Double Interwoven Star.

This star is created by the technique of flat circular peyote stitch, and begins in the center with 3 beads. Then beads are added in rounds, and the corners are formed by adding 2, 1, or 0 beads on subsequent rounds. Adding 2 beads in a space I call a “double”. On the following round, you come out between the double beads to add the single bead on top. The next round, you pass through the single bead . Otherwise beads are added one at a time.  I create two stars (one with 11 rounds and one with 10 rounds) and sew them together at the edges to make one pendant. You can attach a jump ring to make it a pendant, or make a bunch of them for a bracelet or necklace.

Materials: fireline beading thread, Delica beads.  size 12 sharps ( beading needles).

First half:

A=purple  beads, DBi35 (3 beads)

B=Aqua Db658  ( 12 beads )

C=Royal Ab, Db 165 (51 beads)

D= Red Db 602 ( 51 beads)

E=Gold Db 31 ( 54 beads)

Round 1: String 3A in a circle, and pass thru a second time. Tie securely.

Working counterclockwise, and going up 2 beads at the end of each round work:

Round 2: Add 6 beads in the round:  (Double B in next space), 3x

Round 3: Add 6 B in the round, one at a time.

Round 4: Add 12 beads in the round, (alternating Double C, Double D) 3x.

Round 5: Add 12 beads, one at a time: ( C,C,D,D,) three times. Note you will come out of the middle of a color C double from the row below, so add same color at tip, and same color in next valley.

Round 6: Add 12: (C,C,D,D) 3x

Round 7: Add 18 beads:[ (C double C ) (D,double D) ] 3 times. The doubles sit above previous doubles on round 4.

Round 8: Add18: ( C,C,C, then D,D,D,) 3 times

Round 9: Add 18: ( C,C, E, D,D,E) 3x

Round 10 Add 24: ( double C,E,E , Double D, E, E ) 3x

Round 11: Add 24 [( C, E, E,E ) ( D,E,E,E) ] 3x.

Make another disc up to round 10, the weave them together so the edges line up and the single color beads from round 11 are shared between both sides. This interlocks nicely as peyote stitch alternates high and low beads on the straight sides of the hexagons.

 You can, of course, use different colors for different effects! Beads are difficult to photograph....

Washing out

Front view, finished!

Back view

So, the washout with cellulosic dyes (on linen, cotton, rayon) is a long process. I generally wait the 24 hours to cure, then rinse in gradually warmer water, then do a hot wash with Dawn dishwashing liquid, then hot rinse. This seemed to take forever, and I finally threw the whole thing ( vest, 2 sckein scarves, 2 yards of fabric) into my washer, with some regular detergent, and ran it on hot. This yarn, after all, is advertised as machine washable, so...

Laceweight skein

When i removed it from the wash, I was disappointed by the amount of lint that was shed by the yarn, and the fibers everywhere. I was really worried I had ruined it! But after drying in the dryer for a bit, and unraveling the extra at the top and finishing the shoulders, I hung everything to dry overnight, and was very pleased in the morning! The green did not take as well as I had hoped, and there were a couple of white spots where somehow the dye did not penetrate ( despite pre-washing), but on the whole, some success! I hope to do more of this this summer, and to write up the pattern for the Jonquil Vest..

Gradation Dyeing

Now that it is spring, (and nearly summer), it is warm enough to dye ! I like to batch my Procion-dyed cellulosic fibers outside, when it is over 75 degrees out, and yesterday was set to hit 86. Which, for the beginning of May, is strange. Everything in the garden grew 6 inches yesterday!

I have been possessed by gradient yarns, and the idea of smooth color progressions on linen yarn. I wanted to try my hand at making my own, so I dug out my old knitting machine and tried to knit a blank on it. That was an exercise in frustration, as my machine was not cooperative, and I despaired of achieving my aim.

Over the winter I had designed and  knitted two lace vests in some white alpaca/wool yarn, and dye-painted them with acid dyes, which was very fun and satisfying, so I wanted to try the same process with my favorite Euroflax linen yarns. I managed to knit one vest, and then did some research and found this lovely gizmo: NKOK Singer knitting machine

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NJ0UIYQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is marketed as a toy, and it is a wild pink plastic, but does work surprisingly well for its cost, which was an amazing $23. As I intended to use it for knitting dye-able lengths only, it was a bargain, and certainly a useful item. It worked pretty well, after I found some clamps to attach it to the table and got the hang of the tension and speed of rotating the little crank. My arms got very tired! And I had to untwist the resulting tube many times, but after 2 hours, I had a useable length of knitted yarn. After knitting up two skeins of linen into 6 ft snakes of yarn, I was ready to mix up the dyes.

I wanted a progression from green to turquoise to blue, with smooth color transitions, and being a more casual and not so scientific dyer, I was not sure which of the 5 blues I should use. I have a lot of Procion MX dye powder which I have used over the years to dye cotton fabric, and loved the color I saw at the Prochem booth at MQX show, which was Intense Blue 406, but I also had Bright Blue 404. I figured I could use all four colors and see how they turned out, so I made up 3 cups water to 6 Tsp urea, and made concentrate as follows:

1 tsp Brightest Green 711 in ½ cup Urea water

3 tsp Turquoise 410 in 1 cup ureawater

2 tsp 406 Intense blue in a cup of ureawater

1 tsp 404 Bright blue in ½ cup ureawater

Then I divided my dye into 13 plastic cups which I numbered.

So #1 was all green,

2: 7 Tbsp green and 2 tbsp turquoise

3: 5 Tbsp green, 5 Tbsp turquoise

4: 2 Tbsp green , 7 Tbsp turquoise

5: Turquoise

6:  7 Tbsp Turquoise, 2 Tbsp 406

7: 5 Tbsp turquoise, 5 Tbsp 406

8: 2 Tbsp Turquoise, 7 Tbsp 406

9: all 406 Intense blue

10: 7 Tbsp 406 and 2 Tbsp 404

11: 5 Tbsp 406, 5 Tbsp 404

12: 2 Tbsp 406 and 7 Tbsp 404

13: all 404

Meanwhile, the yarn and vest ( and some PFD cotton I had in my stash) were soaking in Soda ash and water  ( ½ cup soda ash to ½ gallon water).

Once I was ready, I squeezed out the soda ash solution, and laid out the vest on top of the fabric, and , using a sponge to apply the dye, with gloved hands, began applying the dye in numerical order, onto the vest. One of the “scarves”( 500 yards of Fibra natura laceweight linen)  I divided into 12 equal sections with locking markers, and dyed that one  last, skipping the green so I went directly to jar #2. The other “scarf” was one skein of Euroflax, and I did a more spontaneous progression. Leftover dye was poured on some remaining white cotton I had in my stash.

Using a sponge was great, as I had more control over the placement of the color, and could dab it on, blending the colors as I went.
I dyed everything in plastic bins so I could let it “batch” for 24 hours and remain wet and undisturbed. No one wants cats with blue paws!

Tomorrow: washout and dry!! It is so hard to wait!!

Lily of the Valley Vest

Sometimes a project can make me insanely happy. Knitting this vest, playing around with the stitch pattern and tracking it down became an obsession for me during June. As our world is so interconnected, we can find amazing inspiration from all over the world. I fell in love with the German version of the Lily of the Valley lace stitch pattern, after seeing the gorgeous garments ( http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ifdefelseif/25-top- and http://www.ravelry.com/projects/tatty152/25-top- ), and shawls using this lace pattern ( Lily of the Valley Rosea shawl by Alla Borisova, Raspberry Dream Stole by Dagmara). I found the original pattern motif in a book from 1983 I bought on Ebay ,( pattern here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/maiglockchen-603-115 ) which is in the book:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/burda-strick-lehr... . As I don't usually knit shawls or dresses, I set about adapting the lace fabric into a vest. Swatching clued me in to the irregularities of the lace pattern as originally designed ( stitch count in one rep goes from 19 to 47), so I tweaked and modified and swatched and re-charted the design to get it to lie flatter in the linen yarn and be easier to knit. Calculating the cast on number was tricky, so I went with my numbers for the Floral vest in the same yarn, and was pleased to find this lace to be roughly the same gauge. Width of each repeat turned out to be a wonderful 5 inches, so aiming for 40 inch sweater gave me 8 repeats to work with, a nicely manageable number. I made the first one a bit longer than my other floral vests ( 96 rows to the underarm instead of 80), and while I liked it, I think I prefer it shorter. I like where the leaves fall on my body., and it was really fun to knit. So, I had to make 3 of them in order to write up the pattern.

I finally published it today, deciding to make it a free pattern because it is only in one size. Hopefully others will enjoy knitting it as much as I did...and I think I might need to make one in black...If you want to knit it, the pattern is available here:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lily-of-the-valley-vest.

Apple Crisp ( gluten-free, vegan and sugar free!)

After a bit of tinkering and many experimental trials in the kitchen, I have come up with a delicious and not too dietarily indelicate recipe for Apple Crisp.

                  Gluten Free Vegan Apple Crisp,   May 27, 2016

This version is not very sweet and has a delightful texture. Serves 6, or heat individual servings in microwave for 30 sec. and top with vanilla ice cream. Heaven in a bowl!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

For filling:

5 Medium Granny Smith apples, cored and diced. Can leave peel on for extra texture

1 tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp ginger, pinch of cloves

Mix together in an 8X10 or 9X9 baking dish

For topping:

Mix together:

1/4 cup almond flour

1  cup gluten-free  old fashioned rolled oats

¼ cup chopped pecans

2 Tbsp chia seeds

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp Cinnamon

Melt 3 Tablespoons coconut oil in measuring cup (30 sec in microwave). Pour into topping mix and mix together. Spread this mixture over apples in baking dish.

Bake for 45 minutes until top is lightly browned and apples are bubbling. Cool and serve hot, or refrigerate, covered, for up to 4 days. Serves 6:    approx.     260 calories per serving.

I think I will make some right now...

Seasons will pass you by...

Spring is coming around again, here in unpredictable Massachusetts. The urge to see greenery and growing things leads me to dream of gardens, and inevitably, to my mother, who was a passionate gardener for a lifetime. I revisited my photo archives recently to find photos of her gardens and the dramatic rock ledge beside the house, and found a few from last June. My mother loved her garden and enjoyed seeing what came up every spring. I  miss being able to drop in and see her and the garden. And I will always love blue flowers!

Campanula and ferns cascade in the rock wall

Dianthus in one of the raised beds

View of raised bed filled with alpines

Campanula flowering in the chinks of the rock

Lush flowers in the chinks of the rock