Silk Rainbow

Like many of you, I've been busy with making Christmas gifts.  Each year I face the dilema: what to make for my co-workers?  By now, they must be pretty tired of getting scarves from me, and this year is no exception. But I did put away my knitting needles and got out the paint brushes. 

For my striped silk scarves, I mixed up fiber reactive dyes and mixed two colors in varing percentages (20/80, 40/60, 60/40 and 80/20) to give a color gradient. I then painted repeating stripes on wet silk, letting the colors blend at the edges.  I wrapped each scarf in plastic wrap and let them sit for 24 hours to set the dye.  Any wrinkles in the plastic wrap add addition interesting texture to the scarf.

Fortunately, each of my co-workers have different color preferences, so I have a veritable rainbow of silk:

  

Tutti Frutti Scarf

A few years ago I dyed some yarn with Kool-Aid to create a bright rainbow yarn for a project.  Recently I mixed the leftovers with some other yarns to create this scarf:

As I was going over the finished scarf with a warm iron, there was still a distinctly fruity scent coming from the scarf.  Never underestimate the power of Kool-Aid!

And now for something completely different...

I finished the needle felted rug last night. 

This has been a very different type of project for me.  When I first envisioned a rug for my sewing/sitting room, I planned on something more traditional - floral, reminiscent of traditional hooked rugs, or perhaps a Jacobean design.  But the bright colors and an abstract design called out to me.  My room has pale gray walls, a charcoal grey floor and an in-between gray sofa - it called for color.

And Bijou the Siamese likes it just fine...