Category Archives: autumn colors

autumn colors

Autumn Colors

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Maple Ablaze

Autumn officially began at 10:09 PM (CST) last night.  The calendar finally caught up with the Northwoods autumn weather,… cool days, cold nights, and after eight years of drought, we have gotten 1-3″ of rain in the area, and expecting another 1-2″ tonight.   





Exterior logs being washed, preparation for staining.

Yesterday, a beautiful sunny day, I was scrubbing and rinsing the exterior logs of my home.  When I needed a break, I’d grab my camera, take a short walk and once drove down the road in search of brilliant fall color.  


View of Torch Lake from my porch.

Fall color in the WI Northwoods.


Oak, at the edge of the yard, just starting to change color.


After living up here for 18 years, I still haven’t gotten used to autumn coming a month earlier here than in southern Wisconsin.  We’ve already had frost, though some hardy mosquitos continue to survive.  Spring is the same, only in reverse, with frost possible through the first two weeks of June.
 
On rainy days, like today, I can spend some time in the weaving studio.  I had taken a good share of this year off from weaving and cranking items to sell.  I needed time to think about what direction I want to go.  I’m thankful for that time, have some good ideas, but am also now going “back into business,” weaving and making socks for a new online shop on ArtFire.com (coming soon), as well as preparing for next summer.  The challenge now will be finding time for both “want to weave” and “need to weave,” and starting to merge the two. 
autumn colors, CSM socks

Seasonal Socks

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A few days ago I took my camera with on a walk to try to capture some fall color. I only need to look around me for inspiration in combining colors for autumn socks.

I ‘ve been thoroughly enjoying sitting in the afternoon sun cranking autumn socks. Five pairs were washed two nights ago and have been drying on a wood rack in my laundry room. Today they were lightly steamed, given time to dry again, then taken outdoors for photos.

Between my master list of Sock Names & Color Combinations and the photos, I can make any pair up again if someone likes a particular color combination but I don’t have their size.

“Copper Leaves,” (above) remind me of the various rusy shades of oak leaves in fall and winter. This year there are some that are more red than usual, and I noticed a lot of acorns on the ground today.

Twenty plus years ago, on our way north for a long autumn weekend of fishing and hiking (before we moved up here), we would stop at a particular farm stand on Highway 22. They had so many varieties of squash. These socks, “Harvest Time” (above) remind me of all those colors of squash, and stopping to take a few home, along with a pumpkin or two, honey, and apples.
Memories.

“Autumn Warmth” is a great pair of socks for autumn days when there is a chilly nip in the air (above).

The area cranberry harvest is about to get underway, and soon there will be huge bins of fresh cranberries in the local grocery stores. This is the perfect time of year to crank “Cranberry Harvest” socks!

A few days ago I took my camera with on a walk to try to capture some fall color. Walking back to the house I noticed the last nice Phlox still standing in the garden. My mother had phlox growing in a garden when I was young, and the fragrance from them the other day took me back about 50 years. Amazing!

Living in the northwoods of WI, winter never seems to be far from your thoughts. We enjoy spring, summer, and fall, but at the same time we’re preparing for the coming winter. At our home, we are working on winter wood, and now about to begin washing the exterior logs before applying stain/preservative. There is only so much time left before the snow flies.

Very soon, I’ll start working on winter seasonal socks, “Christmas at the Cabin,” “Holly & Ivy,” “Ice Storm,” and many others. Artistree gallery needs wool socks for the winter months. At the same time, though, I’m craving time at my looms. Just a couple more days of feverish sock-cranking and I’ll be able to weave again!

autumn colors, CSM socks

Autumn Socks

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Autumn in the Northwoods of WI can be glorious, and the change from summer to autumn has begun. Maples are turning yellow, orange, and red, and those colors next to a stand of evergreens is stunning. In a few days I’ll be out trying to capture it with a camera.

Meanwhile, I’m having a wonderful time cranking socks in autumn colors. There is a palette of fine sock yarn colors on my shelves to fit any time of year, but right now my focus is on colors I see around me in nature, hunter green, balsam, chocolate, ginger, evergreen, mimosa, papaya, redland, eggshell, combinations of these and other colors that will blend well together in autumn tones.

In the Sept. 5th post, there were pics of a sock in progress on the sock machine, and a mid-closeup of the socks just off the machine, in a new color combination. The same pair is shown above, toes closed, scrap yarn off the hem and toes, handwashed, air-dried, and lightly steamed, now known as “Signs of Autumn.”

This pair, “Weekend at the Cabin,” has rich, dark colors, and is a favorite.

If you saw or look back at the Sept. 5th post there is a photo of fall mums with cones of yarns. This third pair is another new color combination, “Autumn Peak,” made from the yarns shown in that photo. Bright colors that not only match the colors of those mums, but in two weeks or less will match the maple leaves that are turning colors now.

As a long-time lover of shades of blue, I could not resist ordering cones of the variegated blues shown above, along with a couple large cones of solid indigo blue. 8/2 cotton mill ends that were on sale at WEBS, they will become practical, functional towels for kitchens. These arrived in the mail today, and I’m looking forward to weaving with them.
autumn colors, CSM socks, sleying drawloom reed

Autumn Is In the Air

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After splitting more wood today, until arms, elbows, and hands were sore from setting rather large diameter sections of cut wood onto the splitter, and it was getting a bit hot under the early afternoon sun, it was time to go inside where it was cooler. Time to crank more socks.

I tried what I think is a new color combination and think it’s rather nice. Two pairs were made with these colors, Medium and Large. Another pair in darker fall colors were also made and are in my “closing bag,” where I keep socks needing toes closed, needles, and scissors.

The sun is setting in the west, and there is still some nice light, a good time to choose a couple more sock color combinations to crank this evening. The colors of these mums are perfection, and I have yarns to match. Autumn is in the air!

And while there is still some natural light by the front of the drawloom, I’m going to thread more of the 15 dent drawloom reed. The warp is 64 epi so the reed is being sleyed 4 threads per dent, and every fourth dent has five threads. After more of the reed is sleyed, it’s back to the sock machine, and later on I’ll be closing toes. Pics of the finished socks should be up in two or three days.