Beet Motif

Here is my attempt at charting a beet motif. I made a swatch and think it will work. It is a little large so I think for the wristwarmers I will use a smaller needle.

I also want these to just be wristwarmers with no thumb or finger holes because when you are digging beets, you need your whole hand free.

Beetdiggers

In honor of the beets that used to be grown here, a local high school has the Beetdigger as its mascot. I always wanted to have a mascot that was the beetdigger. Instead I was a red devil along with a million other high schools in America.

I want to channel my inner beetdigger and make something that can be worn when digging beets – wristwarmers! I am going to play around with lace to make a beet motif that can go on the wristwarmers. I have always wanted to create a new motif and now is my chance. 

My Failed Experiment

Well, I guess it is only fitting that while being inspired by a failed experiment, I have my own failed experiment. I was sure that beets would yield a beautiful red on some wool yarn I had. I scoured all my dyeing books to find a recipe of how to dye with beets and not one book mentioned beets.

I should have taken that as at least an odd thing, let alone a big red flag. But no, I went ahead and boiled the beets to get a wonderful red dye bath. I put my mordanted yarn in and let it soak. The yarn turned a great vivid pink. Then when I began rinsing the yarn, every bit of red rinsed away. Apparently, beets are not colorfast no matter what.

See my beet dyed yarn? Just a dingy off-white (slightly more dingy than the off-white that the yarn started as).

So, I think I will have to give up on my idea of dyeing with beets and just use some great red yarn I have in my stash.

And in closing here is a drive by picture of another beet sculpture in front of our local library:

Sugarhouse

I live in an area of Salt Lake City called Sugarhouse. Sugarhouse is named because of the sugar beets that used to be grown here to make sugar. In 1853 a sugar beet test factory was created in an old blacksmith shop, hence the name Sugarhouse. In the early days of Salt Lake, Brigham Young and the Mormon settlers were trying to be self-sufficient and began manufacturing many things from silk to sugar. Alas, the operation was a failure and there are no longer any beets grown in the area.

Now, the heart of Sugarhouse is a shopping district with stores, restaurants, hotels, businesses and parks. Sugarhouse park is a large park on the site of a former prison. We go there all the time to play, sled, walk, and bike. I also knew about another small park in the area called Hidden Hollow but I had never been to it.

The other day, while eating at a restaurant in Sugarhouse (because I was lazy and did not want to cook), we realized that the Hidden Hollow Park was right behind where we were eating on the outdoor patio—right In the middle of the Sugarhouse shopping district. My two sons, husband and I decided to explore. It truly is a hidden gem in the middle of the city.

There was a stream and lots of trees, winding pathways, bridges and interpretive signs. I am sure that it will look better when the leaves all come out. There was also several giant bronze beet sculptures right in the pathway.

The sign by one of the sculptures told the story of Sugarhouse and the beet farming that took place. But it also told me something I didn’t know, that no sugar was every processed in the factory. The experiment was a failure from the beginning!

In honor of this failed experiment in Salt Lake and in my backyard, I want to create something inspired by the lowly sugar beet. I want to even try dyeing with beets – they are so red, it must make a beautiful color. 

Cricket Cardi

I finished the Baby Cricket Cardi and I love it. The crickets are as large as the seagull but I am ok with that. It makes them more menacing. I am excited to begin the second one in blue to see what it looks like. I tried the buttons that I made earlier but they just didn’t look right so I used a vintage button instead. Oh well, I might have a use for the buttons on another project.

So next up the seagull cardi in blue to test the pattern before I publish it. 

Topsy-Turvey

I have not forgotten that I said I wanted to try and make a toy. I definitely want to create something to go with the Miracle of the Gulls cardis. A topsy–turvey doll would be adorable – with a seagull on one side and a cricket on the other. A similar design to this wonderful Bird and Egg by Susan B. Anderson would work great:

I will need to elongate the egg shape and figure out how to do the cricket legs but I think I can do it.