Leaf In The Wind

That’s what I feel like these days: one of the gajillions of leaves that are blowing around all over the place. I feel scattered and frustrated that I can’t seem to finish anything. I keep working but nothing feels any closer to completion. Maybe it’s just the weather. Or the fact that I have too many things on the go right now. Unfortunately, because I’m itching to start one more thing: this free beret pattern from Kelbourne Woolens. And I have just the yarn for it:


That would be my birthday present – sock yarn in the “Earth” colourway from Rabbit Ridge Designs of Anchorage, AK, brought home just for me by my mother-in-law from her Alaskan holiday this summer. I think it will make a very cheerful lacey beret and I might even have enough left over for fingerless mitts to match. But I can’t start anything new yet. I still have 2 big commitments that need to be completed first, not to mention 3 knitting projects already on the go. Notice how I’m trying to convince myself to resist starting this? Maybe if I don’t succumb to the temptation to just wind it into a ball. If it’s still in the skein then I can’t just accidentally cast on.

Yesterday was our monthly Spectrum meeting. The group headed over the Lion’s Gate Bridge in the rain to West Van and played with image transfers onto fabric. As I didn’t have a fresh photocopied image to try the acetone transfer or the acrylic medium transfer, I used some of my nearly-vintage t-shirt transfer paper and just a plain inkjet print on fabric that was mounted on butcher paper to go through the printer.


We did a test and found that BubbleJet Set 2000 really does work to keep the image from washing away. But that was with fresh prints after only half an hour. The initial print was brighter without the BJS but it washed nearly all the way out. Better luck was had with no BJS with a much longer (days to weeks) rest plus ironing to set the ink. Since I have a bottle of the BJS, I think I should use it anyway.

The t-shirt transfer paper leaves quite a stiff result but with excellent resolution. You print onto the paper using Best quality and the appropriate paper choice in the printer menu. Then you iron the image on the cloth and peel while it’s still hot. I haven’t tried washing it after but apparently you can even dry it in the dryer. It might make it a bit softer but I’d have to experiment I think. Meanwhile I’m only going to use my images for a wall piece that will never be washed so I don’t care about stiffness or whatever. I have a cunning plan for this design. Can’t start it yet either.

I’m procrastinating on what I’m supposed to be doing today. It’s still raining and my head hurts (again – what is it with Fridays?) and I just don’t feel like working on my guild’s roster booklet right now. However it does need to get to the printer sometime in the next week so I can’t stall for too long. Maybe after lunch.