Creative spurt

I don't know if it's the thought of winter coming or just a general creative surge after a rest period, but I'm feeling very energised at the moment. I've finally managed to get back into the routine of taking my 2 dedicated creative days a week and have found that really helpful. I never quite know how the day will pan out but I find it a good discipline to stick with the project and see what happens.

I'm gradually moving the African project forward and as a result of my sketch book experiments, I've moved into stitch earlier than I usually do, which is a good sign, maybe I'm becoming more confident, who knows.

Anyway I wanted to see if my paperwork plan would work in reality, so I took some fabrics as close to the original colours as possible and started to work the appliqué patches. Despite having a couple of hand dyed samples, thanks to a swap with Françoise, I wasn't happy with the colours and knew I'd have to dye some fabrics to the colour scheme I'd worked out.



It was such a lovely day I did it outside so I could make a mess with impunity. I used Procion dyes, using the immersion method as I'd run out of Urea and couldn't paint on the dye as I usually do.





The colours came out paler than I would have liked, so I'm now wondering if I should have left them in the dye bath for longer (more than an hour) or put in more dye. My dyes are about 10 years old so it could have been that too. Still, I like these shades so will experiment with them.

Still on a roll I decided to dye my sock wool that I bought back in the Spring. It was pack with the dyes included to be done in the microwave, I couldn't believe how easy it was, can't wait to knit it up now.



And finally I decided to dig out the tailored jacket that I started before the C&G, and have now decided to finish it.



Oh! and plus I blocked my jumper at last today, so now I can sew it up, phew I feel tired just thinking about all of this.