kusha cushy

while lusting after the habu projects on ravelry, i decided to go ahead and finally use the cone of silk wrapped stainless steel yarn and some of the slubbed cotton yarn i had purchased several years ago and knit a kusha kusha scarf. because the kit had been discontinued, the pattern is available from purlbee for free.

 i made some modifications to the length, as i did not need to felt it, creating a 51" length. well, that was the goal, 51". but, i ran out of the stainless steel; only remembering afterwards that i had used some of it in a previous shawl. oops. but it's still nice at 42". stretched.

i have my eye on the infinite loop kit vers. 2. hopefully, it goes on sale in december.

yarn finds

it's fantastic when you find habu yarn on sale. i managed to get three balls of a-5 silk, and one of a-64 linen paper, all in a muted yellow green which is so pretty. happy!

be creative with your mistakes

as i was winding the yarn onto the warping frame i entertained some doubts as to the viability of one of the yarns i was using. so about halfway in, i went with those doubts and tried the pull test to see if the yarn would hold up to the stress of warping; and it snapped, easily. so, with the conclusion that it wasn't going to work, i went back and replaced those areas with a different yarn. reminder to self, do the pull test first when deciding on yarns for a project, and definitely before ever starting to handle them.

i hate waste, especially of fiber. so as i was looking at the little O's of yarn i thought of chaining them into a bracelet. then i thought of a horseshoe clasp, but not having one of those, i dug through my box of silver from my college days and came across a sterling safety pin i had made. voila! i have a funky new silk bracelet. wow, two jewellery pieces in a row, if i keep walking down this path i'll have to set up a store.

glimpses of the whole

i'm not quite ready to show you the entire piece yet, but here are some glimpses of my naturally dyed kasuri weaving. i am in love with the texture and feel of the viscose silk, and really want to create more pieces from it. it took the dye really well, considering the stiffness and texture. the dye worked itself into the core of the silk, so i think it will last okay. i will be mailing this piece off to japan next month to be in an exhibit of work by students of the kawashima textile school, where i studied a few months ago. i'm very excited, as it will be first piece in an exhibit.

textural yet delicate

i came across a really neat cone of cotton slubby thread and also a jade green cone of pearl cotton at my local yarn store; i love slubby textiles. looking at these thin yarns i really wanted to weave a scarf from them along with a grey bamboo yarn from my habu stash which i could pack for my trip. when i got home i plotted out some warp stripes with the green and grey against the cream, figured out a good width and length and had at it on the warping board.

needless to say the first warp was a disaster; all of the slubby threads stuck to each other like velcro. so this particular thread would be a weft yarn unless spaced with a slicker material. good to know. i salvaged as much as i could, placed them on bobbins and rethought my plans. when in doubt, fall back on pearl cotton.

the second warp went off without fail, and i was able to thread up, get tension, and start to weave. i kind of plan as i go when it comes to the weft threads, i like the sudden thought flashes that happen when i do this. taking notes along the way helps though. and keeping a record along with samples of yarn used.

i like how it came out, wrinkles will only add to it's textural appeal, and it's really light; so perfect to pack for travel.

my newest hoard

this was the third year that scad had their art materials trade show. initially i wasn't going to stop in at the vendors' tables; but when i took a gander at their list of vendors i quickly changed my mind. habu textiles was going to be there! i've never really bought any of their yarn before, thinking it was all rather odd, but i felt an overwhelming urge to go and see what they had to offer. if i remembered correctly they had a plethora of natural fibers and interesting materials. as i am currently enthralled with oddities and natural fibers i decided that i really needed to check them out.

i arrived a half hour early and snuck in to see where their table was located. i found it, took a quick look around and then was kicked out until the doors opened at eleven. luckily the table was located right in front of the entrance door.

oh wow! i would be in extreme trouble if i lived anywhere near to the new york city store. all the raw silks, linens, hemps, naturally dyed fibres; i was in heaven! it took about 45 minutes to gather two basketfuls of loveliness, but they were all so incredible. one oddity i picked up was a bag of golden silk worm cocoons from the curricula of indonesia, they are so beautiful and i can think of several ways to incorporate them into my work.

i learned that the next day the owner of habu textiles, takako ueki, would be giving a lecture about her wares. it was delightful! the information she had was interesting, plus she brought with her some amazing samples of cloth. with my newly acquired knowledge, i headed back to the table and picked up some more yarns including a paper yarn dyed with indigo.

i've decided that i am going to pick up weaving. i've done some research and am planning to save up for a schacht baby wolf loom. i really, really, wish that i could find a secondhand one, as they are quite pricey. maybe i'll stumble on one yet! but if anyone out there knows of one for sale please let me know!