Yabane

YABANE SCARF 矢羽 ya (arrow) hane->bane (feather) (jap.) - “fletchings, feathers of the arrow”

'Shaping of this scarf is inspired by the feathers of Hamaya - a “demon-breaking arrow”, a decorative arrow sold at shrines at New Year’s to ward off misfortune and to attract good luck. Pleated look of the scarf is actually based on Miura-ori style of origami that folds into a neat compact shape and opens into multi-dimensional textured accessory.'
quoted from Olga Buraya-Kefelian.

I met Olga on Skype through Sooz one day and she showed us her design of the Yabane scarf. I loved it and offered to test knit it for her. My most sincere apology as it is embarrassing to say that it had taken months for me to finish this project, despite the fact that it is a really simple pattern to knit. I have to admit that I am really SLOW knitter and always get stuck at the weaving in ends stage........However, the knitting part is completed, ends woven in and the piece blocked. Now I just have to wait till the weather turns cold to wear it.
I love the three-dimensional aspect of the structure and the simplicity of the design.

There was also the folded shibori/origami pattern that I came across at the workshop with Yoshiko Wada.

This book is also quite interesting. I have not tried anything from it yet, if only there are more hours in the day..........

What's more, it also reminded me of the 2-dimensional woven pattern that we  saw at the Nishijin Textile center. 

There was a display showing samples of the finished cloths.

woven samples

warp threads being prepared for dyeing

dyed warps

the 'warp shifting box'
warp threads being 'shifted' to create the arrow pattern

before

after

The pattern in the warp ready for putting onto the loom.
You can see some sort of bamboo reed to keep all the threads in place.

It is interesting to see how the pattern is formed to such precision.

New........

My Japanese friend says that March is the season of parting and April is encounter and starting new life season.

Since the last post, I have had a lot of new encounters..........

New life: 

I have had this miniature water lily for about 2 years now and this is the first time it has bloomed! In the last few days of summer, I watched it come to life over a couple of days and disappeared just as fast.

New weave experiment: 
I bought this beautiful yarn from Avril when I was last in Japan. I originally bought it for my mother but she was not keen on the colour. So I kept it for myself and had been waiting for the right project /idea to come along.
The skeins have a very defined band of colour and I wanted to see if I could weave or knit it with the colour band expressed. I experimented on the knitting machine but the tension was hard to control. I did not want to start with the original yarn on the loom straight off as it is a lot harder to un-weave than to frog knitting!

Frisbiee Tegasuri (32B gray)

I dyed some cotton with the same concept, calculated the width of the warp required, and started weaving. It seemed to go according to plan and I was quite happy with the results.

That is until here:

and I understand why! As I wind the weft on the skein winder, the circumference of the skein increases as it then becomes wider than the warp. The ikat effect then changes as the colour sections shifts slightly off course for each pick, forming the criss-cross effect. I know all of these theories in my head but sometimes, I just have to do it to believe it.
So maybe when I finally use the yarn from Avril, it does not matter how the pattern emerges. I think I will still like it.

New weave project:
This is a glimpse of some weaving for an exhibition submission. I have not really done a lot of 'arty' weaving before, usually they are scarves or wraps. So it is a totally new experience....... 

New technique:
I started my first top down, seamless cardigan last week and have learnt a new knitting technique, the magic loop. Thanks to Sooz and Woollenflower for starting me off on the right track, helping me with working out the right size and how to keep track of the instructions. It made me feel more confident with knitting a garment. Again, I have normally stuck to knitting accessories with minimal shaping......

New knit:

and here is another one of those accessories in the most gorgeous red colour just in time for Autumn.

Natural dyes......

A couple of weeks ago, Woollenflower organised a get together to try out some natural dyeing with eucalyptus leaves.
It was a fun day and we had some good results. The smell of the dye pots were amazing with the eucalyptus fragrance. Very different with using synthetic dyes!
One thing that is even more exciting is that I will have to opportunity to learn more, much more about natural dyeing before the end of the year.
I have registered to attend the 8th International Shibori Symposium 2011 in Hong Kong at the end of December and have also signed up for a couple of workshops. One of the workshops is on natural dyeing by Michel Garcia. The other one is on Shibori by Suzusan. I am really excited with the opportunity to participate in something that looks to be amazing!
I am really keen to keep experimenting with more woven shibori in January, and finish off the warp that had been sitting on KaTe for the whole 12 months.
Another friend has mentioned that he has a persimmon tree and that I am welcome to harvest any quantity so hopefully, there will be some experimenting with that as well.
Note: usually I love having lots of images in my post. However, this time please click on the links and there will be lots of lovely surprises!

Slow.....but getting there

This warp was put on the loom (KaTe) for last new year's eve. It has taken me that long to get to this point. Four dyed samples:

Sample 1 to 4 (from right to left)

Sample 1 - cotton warp & weft

Sample 2 on loom - straight pleating with twill base weave

Sample 2 - cotton warp & weft

Sample 3 on loom - patterned pleats, twill base weave

Sample 3 - cotton warp, silk/linen weft

Sample 4 - cotton warp, linen weft

I used Procion dye in Black MX2R but had forgotten that I would not get a true black. It came out more like a dull indigo on the cotton. However, on the tie weft, which was pale yellow in colour, it has dyed as a deep ink black. I managed to untie the pieces without breaking the yarn. I am saving them to use as weft on another piece of weave as it has quite a nice space dyed effect.
All the different fibres absorbed the dye well and had good coverage.
I spoke to a friend of mine and she mentioned that I may have to add yellow and blue to the black to make it more black, but if I wanted a grey, then I should get the grey dye!

Weft yarn - mercerised cotton

I think this calls for more sampling and dye tests to find the 'right' colour. This has so far been a good exercise to decide on what combination of patterning/pleating I would like for the next lot of samples. There is at least 5 more meters of warp on the loom so I don't have to worry about running out of warp!