serendipity

Sifu Design Studio

"Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket."

 --  Charles Simic

My recent visit to Sifu Design Studio and Fine Yarns Store proves my theory that yarn stores reflect the personality of their owners.  Opened by Lisa Whiting just 4 months ago, Sifu is making its presence felt in the Chicago area.  

The shop is filled with both new and vintage yarns, contemporary and vintage patterns, buttons, threads, books and more.

Lisa is an established designer with several of her patterns having recently been published in Vogue Knitting.  

She brings her aesthetic to every aspect of her shop.  Mixed media these days tends to imply work on paper, but with Lisa it's the blending of knitting with embroidery, beading with crocheting, wire with buttons.  Anything and everything can go into the mix.  Don't you just love her rings!

 

She's recently received certification as an eco-friendly shop with her various green measures, including a small outdoor basket of thrums for the birds to use in their nest building.  No bit goes left unused!  

As a designer and artist, she supports others by featuring their work in her shop.  I LOVE these embroidered "patches."  I'm thinking that a small collection of them would look fab in my kitchen.

Sifu Design Studio is located at 5044 N. Clark in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago.  Hours are T-Th 11 to 7, Fr 11-9 and Sa & Su 10-6.  Call (773) 598-5797 to obtain a listing of her classes.

where did the sunshine go?

"If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine."  --  Morris West

I'm not waiting for the storm.  I'm waiting for more sunshine.  Where did it go?  I should be thankful for the rain as in other regions of the country, there are droughts.  But really, enough is enough!  Send some to places that aren't drowning in the stuff.  I have tomatoes to grow and zinnias to plant.  My cherry tree is covered in powdery mildew.  Doesn't Mother Nature know that I have plans?! 

You will soon see pics of my dyeing experiments.  A whole new line at Enjolive will include accessories made from yarns dyed by me.  There are also my studio experiments with felting, two and three dimensional artworks exploring the inner body landscape.  Felting is easier to do outside as is dyeing.  Clean up is a breeze as the drippy mess gets absorbed by the grass. 

I'll be using acid dyes, but natural dyes too.  There is the usual marigolds, tansy and cosmos, but I'm also experimenting with "exotics" such as brazilwood which imparts a gorgeous peach.  So many plans and all I want are a few consistent days of sunshine.

In the meantime, I'm heading down to Chicago's Cultural Center to participate in Knit in Public Day.  Get out your needles and join the fun!  To find an event in your neck of the world, check here.

the photograph solution

"You don't take a photograph, you make it." -- Ansel Adams

My first Enjolive photographs without a model.  I've spent hours looking at Etsy.  How do others market their work?  Are the hats on models or mannequins?  If a mannequin, what kind?  Vintage or styrofoam wig form?   

Knit hats are tricky. You can't just drape one on a hook, over a dress model or fold it neatly in a bundle.  Stuff them with paper and they can look all lumpy bumpy.  I love the vintage mannequins heads, but they cost a fortune and Ebay proved no cheaper a source.   The styrofoam wig forms are too plain and too done.    Finally, I decided on a clean and simple presentation - propped on a tall glass vase that nearly disappears in the image.

I have to say, I'm pleased.  I'm still learning the full use of my camera, but these images at least bring the focus on the hats and accurately capture what I see.  

Now if only I can figure out how to light earrings properly......

consumer product safety rules?!

"‘Tis the gift to be simple ‘tis the gift to be free
‘Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just right
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight."

Where have I been?  This is what I get for being on a news diet.  Yesterday my lovely group of fellow EtsyKnitters apprised me of a law that recently passed Congress.  The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act has all the usual hallmarks of good intention while once again slipping over the edge into insanity.  Taking effect on February 10th, all products intended for children under the age of 12 must be submitted to an independent third party for stringent testing.  Naturally, this testing is not free.  It costs $4000 per item.  

What does this mean to you and me?   I can forget the sketches I recently made for a new line of baby sweaters.  I don't have the cash for the testing and I have no intention of raising the price of my goods to such an exorbitant level that only a few will be able to afford them.  Gorgeous hand knit baby blankets, hand-carved trains, and other fun items for children found on Etsy and at local craft fairs will soon disappear.  

I'm not a corporation.  I run my business as a sole proprietor.  As a result, every product I sell has to live up to very high standards.  If a product failed and I were sued, my home would be on the line.  My case isn't unique, it is true for most of us selling our products on Etsty and other similar sites.  

What can you do?  Write your congressman and senator.  Let them know that you love the handmade items you buy.  Let them know you can't afford to pay much more for them and that you don't want to see thousands of small businesses be jeopardized.  Ask them to rewrite the law so it gives it strength to protect without being draconian.  

For more info

BoingBoing

FDA Law Blog

Handmade Toy Alliance 

one more peek

"True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing." -- Jean Cocteau

I went to the Garfield Park Conservatory for one more peek of the Niki in the Garden exhibit before it closed.  It was dark, around 7pm.  The Master Gardeners annual award meeting was being held in one of the banquet rooms.  By day the sculptures sparkled, but at night they became mythical, mystical figures holding guard.  Huge ferns, palms and other lush plants towered overhead as robust Nulas danced in the water.

Sweet Pea was relieved. In years past I would drag her to these meetings.  When you aren't married, your family lives in another city, friends are busy, and a babysitter costs $10 an hour, one has little choice but to occasionally bore the heck out their kid.  But last night, well last night I think she missed something special.

She missed the magic of the exhibition as it twinkled in the twilight and she missed live opera.  Yes, we gardeners are a creative lot.  One of the newest members is an opera singer with the Lyric Opera.  He had a friend from the Met in New York join him in a series of songs based on plants, gardening and Nature herself.  If you happen to remember a posting from a few months back, then you know I love opera.  My first taste of it is what set me on the path I have chosen.  So imagine- live opera AND Niki de Sainte Phalle's work in one place.  Now add a gardening friend who brings you rare heirloom apples and bags full of different flowers for the dye pot.....I was on happy overload.

harvest fest

"She was what we used to call a suicide blonde - dyed by her own hand." -- Saul Bellow

The weekend was beautiful with rain in the evening and bright sunshine during the day.  I had expected my dye plot at the local community garden to be a wreck after a month of neglect, but instead it was lush and ripe for harvesting.  Cosmos, marigolds, tansy, yarrow, and black eyed susans, everything was in bloom. 

Kirsten Ackre (pictured below) is the resident green goddess of Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse and Community Gardens.  Did you know that a solution of one tablespoon of unsulphered molasses to one quart of water makes an instant organic fertilizer for plants?  Mix a bottle and spritz directly on the leaves in the cool of the morning.  The leaves will immediately begin to absorb the micro-nutrients.  I guess everyone including plants love a little dessert.

My mad weeding binge was in preparation of our harvest festival held this past Saturday.  There were a dozen or so activities for adults and children.  I gave a natural dye demonstration.  I hadn't tried dyeing with orange cosmos, so I was curious to see the results.  With a cream of tartar mordant I had a lovely light peach.   Sorry, no picture. I was too busy being excited that I forgot. 

When I dye with marigolds, I usually use the flower heads, but as I needed to chop back several plants, I added the stems and leaves to the pot.  With a cream of tartar mordant I received an mellow yellow.  My goal this fall is to dye enough yarn to make a few gifts for friends and a sweater for myself - tendinitis of the elbows bending.   

summer's eve

"Art is science made clear."  -- Jean Cocteau

Yesterday evening was beautiful.  The temperature so cool that I had small goose bumps along my arms.   Perfect weather for dyeing yarn outdoors. 

I had cosmos, marigold, tansy and amaranthus fresh from the garden.   

The dye pots were set on portable burners.  What a lovely site!  My dye garden is part of a community garden next to Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse.  Many of the flowers came courtesy of my friend Vera, but the tansy was ready to be cultivated.  This is a flower best cooked outside as the aroma of tansy is very strong and can quickly overwhelm a kitchen.   Peppermint is the same.  While teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I boiled down 5 large plastic bags of fresh peppermint.  The smell of the menthol was too strong and complaints came in from other classrooms.  Ooops!  Lesson learned.

While we waited for the dye to simmer, other garden volunteers helped me wind the yarn into skeins.  We ended up waiting a long time.  My burners were broken!  It was disappointing as I couldn't get the water to a boil which I need to begin breaking down the flowers, especially the tansy as its flower heads are quite tough. 

But all is not a loss.  I left the pots to cool and will reheat them tomorrow over new burners.  I want the dye ready for next Wednesday's event at the greenhouse.  The children will love seeing the transformation of flowers into dye.  I guess this means I'm a kid at heart.   I still find the transformation to be magic, not science.