Last fall, when the pokeberries were ripe, I experimented with extracting their color by soaking them in vinegar in hopes of getting a more durable dye than I had previously gotten by fermenting the berries in water. In October I collected bags and bags of this invasive species and stuffed them into 2-quart plastic tomato … More Moldy Oldies
July in Baltimore has my least favorite weather of the year because it’s hot and humid and you can’t wear sweaters. I dread July so much that I especially appreciate those moments when the weather isn’t so awful, when there’s a refreshing breeze, when the frogs at the frog pond are sitting out in view … More A Spoonful of Magic Powder
I have previously described my The Interior of My Brain Ravelry group as my brain trust. No matter what the question is, someone has an answer or a creative solution. We also inspire each other with projects that spark questions in other members’ minds that we want to work out in our own way while … More Johanna’s Jacket: The Knitalong
A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were invited to a meet-and-greet for a Baltimore City Council candidate, hosted at the home of a woman I didn’t know named Phyllis Brent. Miriam, the friend who invited us, told us that walking into Phyllis’ house for the first time would be a very special … More Came For the Politics, Came Back for the Art: Phyllis Brent, Mosaic Artist
Every January for the last four years, I have dedicated the month to making swatches for projects or learning new techniques. Other years, I have been able to spend all my knitting time just swatching, and I have ended up with a good pile of little bits of fabric come February. This year, not quite … More January 2020 Swatchathon
This month’s post is a show-and-tell minus the tell, because I’m up to my ears in not-ready-for-primetime projects. I try to manage my crafted production so that I have something finished and ready to blog about in detail every month, but this month threatens to go by without a post. Not because I have been … More Progress Report
I started August with a very seasonal plant-dyeing agenda: another go at dyeing with dried dahlia blossoms, this time adding calcium carbonate to the water in hopes of approximating the conditions that produced orange for my friends dyeing with dahlia in the UK; dyeing with phragmites, which flower in August; and dyeing with Maryland’s state … More Questions Asked, Questions Answered
Over the last several months, I have accumulated a growing pile of yarn that I dyed my favorite way: using plants that I didn’t pay for. Spring came, spring turned into summer, plants grew, plants died. We had dinner. I went for walks. People gave me their dead plants and trimmings. It was all fodder … More Foraged, Donated, and Saved From the Drain
A couple of weeks ago I posted a selfie of myself wearing my newly completed pullover paired with a scarf I had needle-felted a couple of years ago, and I got some nice comments from a couple of people who have known me for a very long time. The first comment, from Lynda, complimented me … More My Colorful Past
I haven’t got statistics to back up my hunch, but I may be one of the very few people living north of the tropics in the Northern Hemisphere who avidly looks forward to January and is sorry when it ends. That’s because January is the month I dedicate to trying out methods I’m too busy, … More January 2019 Swatchathon
The Interior of My Brain: A Knitting and Fiber Arts Blog 