Online indigo resources

Indigo dye, a natural dye that requires either natural fermentation or a chemical based environment to become active. There are several online resources that will do better justice than I can:

• Link to online scanned copy of Shibori: the inventive art of Japanese shaped resist dyeing, starting at page 275
• Link to Maiwa indigo data sheet
• Link to a blog from a gentleman living in Japan who maintains natural indigo pots and often provides some insight to his technique
• Link to my weaving instructor's blog who also does indigo and other natural dyeing

 Enter the beautiful world of indigo, it is a fascinating place.

New beginnings

This baby blanket was knit the group of ladies from the knitting group that meets at Koffi Koffi. It is for one of the knitters who recently had a beautiful little girl. Everyone knit a square so it was done in a relatively short period of time. The colors don't come across too well here, but trust me, it looks gorgeous. 

Some of you may have heard that Koffi Koffi has changed to winter hours closing at 7 on Wednesdays. While this worked for some but not all, we have decided to change our location to a sweet new cafe on Oak Bay Ave, called the Savory Cafe. Alan will graciously stay open late for us, so we can go from 6-8pm on Wednesdays. Savory has a great cook, and of course Victoria being so small, her mom is a fibre artist that has taught at the shop!

Here is the blanket again being held up by Alan in his new cafe. We had a sneak peak the eve of his opening day and he let us taste his chili, cookies, teas and coffees, meanwhile celebrating the birth of Evelyn all on the same night.

Kirimeki and King woven together, a 2nd generation Noro creation

Warp: 2balls of  Noro 'Kirimeki' 40 ends per inch on 10 dent reed (4 ends per dent)

Weft: 1 ball of Noro 'King' woven with interlocking weft.

A new pattern for the new year

I designed these fingerless mitts after keeping some of Ryan's hand dyed silk. The silk was so pretty and regal looking, it inspired me to design these fingerless mitts. They are ribbed so they will fit many people. The first fingerless mitt was designed in a day and the second one was knit the second day using the pattern to check for any mistakes in writing.

 The pattern is named after a piece by pianist Ludovico Einaudi, whose music we have been playing at the shop for the last while. You can knit these up while listening to Primavera.

This pattern is available for purchase through Ravelry.

Seattle trip

 I thought I would share a few pics from our trip to Seattle, four days of fun, we went to a few wool shops (surprise!) and other fun things like the space needle, Pike St. market and Picasso! No pictures from Picasso though as no pictures were allowed. Beautiful work, he did an average about 1 painting a day throughout his carreer.

Nick Cave is coming to Seattle after Picasso

Not to be confused with the musician

Beautiful aboriginee art work as well

Incredible hair!

Ryan knitting his handspun on one of our ferry rides!

Have a happy New Year!