It just dawned on me – my release to go with the 3R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle) is green! What a happy, unplanned, surprise ?. Let’s go deeper than the unintended color coincidence and examine the Eco Elements seen in Outdoor Studio.
Eco Inspiration
Top: the top of the cliff where we shot Outdoor Studio; the vine we pass on the way to the pond; midway up the cliff – it was a TALL cliff!
Middle – red bud wisteria growing at the base of the cliff; a close up on the multi-colored rock face; Puddles say, “hey human I’m here too when we pass the vine on the way to the pond!”
Bottom – sunshine sparkling through the river birch outside my window; vines running up the cliff face beside the wisteria; my newest neighbour – a robin sitting on her eggs in the tree outside my office… appropriate timing for this nest considering my non-knitwear project!
Nature:
Find your hand grips and power through your legs, rock climbing is more about lower body strength than you’d naturally think! The cliffs at the shoot location was a happy accident after getting lost on a driving day with camera mom. I mentally marked the location and somehow figured out how to get us back there, knitwear in hand ?.
Ethos, Pathos, Logos:
This is where the “which came first, the chicken or the egg story” develops for this design. Last year, I found myself still living in my medical room as we had some mold remediation and kitchen repair going on upstairs.
Upcycle ~ With a lack of my normally available supplies, I did have some leftover Organic Cotton Petite DK from The Unique Sheep sitting beside my HOTN Matcha Summer! I loved the refreshing and happy green so dove in swatching a new design, reducing my stash.
~ Reduce The colour danced around the room and played off the spring green tones outside the window. With a little dad ingenuity I even had one of my favorite vlogs to catch up on! That’s Everyday Yarnworks / Brasch Elegance talking about her designs, hand dyed yarn, and project bags – hi Ruth. As I swatched a no-right-angles design, a new creation formed before my eyes.
~ Reuse Submitted to The Unique Sheep, it was later published as “Artist Studio”! Interestingly enough when I ran my year end poll, you all selected it as one of your favorite releases of 2017. However, more interesting to me is that the sales data on it was 0. Yep, it utterly failed in the market place. I never did frog the original swatch so when it came time to create the how-to video for Artist Studio, I used it for the tutorial. After the tutorial was complete it went back into my draw… Fluorite bind off still attached and sat there.
~ Recycle Earlier this year I mulled over the results from my survey, pulled out my shawl (which I wear ALL the time around the house), pulled out the swatch, and demanded answers. Boy did the yarn ever have a lot to say! While the no-right-angles design of Artist Studio is fun, the size is also rather unusual – completely covering the spine with only enough wingspan to stay in place. It isn’t quiet a huge shawl nor is it quiet a regular sized shawl. Reviewing the design, I tossed the swatch sample around my neck and eureka! It told me it wanted to become a cowl!!! Frogging off the Fluorite bind off and frogging back a few rows of the swatch, I tinkered and knit until voilà, that swatch was now a wearable button up cowl!
Eco Elements Materials
If you guys have been hanging around my designs for any time you’ll have realized I have a handful of yarns I absolutely adore! Organic Cotton Petite DK from The Unique Sheep is one of them. Not only is this yarn fully Made in Amercia – from farm to hand dyed skein, The Unique Sheep rocks some awesome eco principles in their own business! Read my yarn review on Organic Cotton Petite DK here. Then pop over to The Unique Sheep to read their “About Us – Environmental Impact” page and order a skein of your favorite color for Outdoor Studio, a fun one skein project!