This week I spent probably too much time designing and ordering new hang tags and cards for the 2025 season. My weaving evolves, my ideas in design evolve so my marketing also needs to evolve. There is a practical side as well, as I had run out of business cards. So everything got revamped and then ordered. That takes a lot more time than you think – figuring out what to put on the hang tags, checking fonts and style lines, deciding on visuals, checking symmetry, etc. And it also draining as seems to take days. It is always wise to sit on any ideas overnight as the next day will bring clarity. Or not. And I know it is not economically sound, but I do not order a massive amount of everything. I basically know how much I need annually, and I also know that next year things will get changed again. Nothing as old as stale marketing material.
In the meantime I finished Module 5 in my Natural Dye course. I have now done all of the initial dyeing and have 18 different tones of stuff. There are heaps of jars of dye bath waiting for next week when we start Exhaust Dyeing. I’m not quite sure what happens there but basically I will start mixing and overdyeing some of my samples to create new shades. The shades in this recent module (working with cotton and hemp/cotton) where similar to all the rest, but not. I played a bit with combining madder and both logwood and cutch. Really lovely fuchsia off the cochineal. And the yellow of the marigold is quite vibrant. I can totally see a muslin shawl dyed in that.
My outdoor dye studio is outdoors. Remarkably not as cold as I thought it would be. I have ordered my double sink – it’s a restaurant type stainless steel bench with tubs. And the plumber has been by to discuss water options. I think my sliding double glazed door arrives this week but that doesn’t help much as the wall still needs to be built.
On the weaving front I completed the cashmere and NZ wool shawl that is new in the Shop. This was done on 8 shafts, creating a cascading scallop design. The structure is quite cool and is a modified idea I found in an old Handwoven magazine. Because of the threading sometimes the picks appear to be doubled. That creates a kind of lace effect in the cloth. The shawl is super soft, very luxurious. I like the more subdued look of it – quite classy. Not that colour can’t be classy. I do weave a lot of colour and it is nice to change the hues for a weave or two. Well, not entirely true as the current project on the loom has lots of colour!
Not much new to report on the Mason front. It still all seems so far away. I have had some eMail conversations, though, with my teachers in India on how to access fine cotton for myself and also purchase their handwoven shawls for me to dye. I have an idea there. Slow going but really no hurry.
I finished the turtleneck on Sweater 11 and am on to sleeve 1. Learning from the past I did a normal Italian bind off on the turtleneck but realised something new. The silk mohair I am combining with the possum Merino has minimal stretch. Binding off using both of those was, again, giving little stretch. But I caught that super early and cut out the silk mohair. The turtleneck has great stretch and the height is great. Instead of a full 24cm I knit about 21cm. If you knit a longer turtleneck who would have the option of turning it under at the base as well. That looks nice, but I guess I got too tired of the twisted rib and stopped where the turtleneck has good height for a simple fold.
