Walking along a deer path in the woods or looking at an herb garden gives me a feeling of peace that can't be found in manicured lawns or well weeded kitchen gardens. I had noticed that for sometime before realizing what I was appreciating and interpreting as 'beauty' can also be an art form. Each tree in a forest has a genetic map controlling its growth and the way it reacts to the conditions around it. Each plant in a helterskelter herb garden follows its own genetic laws of leaf and flower production. Even the outside forces that constrain these plants have their own rules ... the speed of the winds, the rain that falls, the sun that radiates, the soil that feeds.
One would think that my options for experiencing this quiet inspiration would be nil in an urban environment. And I thought so too, before I discovered the Lincoln Park North Pond and the Lincoln Park Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool. These are public places that the exercise obsessed park users skate, bike, and power-walk past blindly. There are small poorly hidden (and so invisible) benches and steps scattered throughout the area ... apparently placed there for people just like me. People who want to stop, sit and see.
I can't find the name of the landscape architect of the Lincoln Park North Pond, which is a migratory bird sanctuary -- though there is a volunteer conservation group which is working to restore the the area to it's prairie ecology. According to the Park District website, "Throughout Lincoln Park's history, renowned artists, landscape designers, and architects contributed to its development. These included sculptor Augustus-Saint Gaudens, landscape designers Ossian Cole Simonds and Alfred Caldwell, and architects Joseph Lyman Silsbee and Dwight H. Perkins. "
It's very nearly Prodigal. Frankly, the North Pond and Caldwell's lily pond are. They were neglected for years and have just recently been the objects of restoration efforts.
Whims
On a whim, I ordered a 1 foot by 3 foot rectangular modular loom from Hazel Rose. My first project involved 4 oz. of alpaca spun 2-ply and dyed spruce. It resulted in two rectangular panels which when joined together made one 6 foot x 1 foot scarf. Unfortunately, it shrunk considerably during dry-cleaning, but it was woven on the bias. It will stretch.
My second experiment
To the right is a spindle filled with various colors. It is constrained by:
1. The colors I chose to dye wool for other projects
2. The amount of roving left over and available for this use
3. The personal whim of which color to select next
4. The english long-draw method of spinning interspersed with slub spinning -- also controlled by whim.
5. Plied with a white, non-slub, english-draw single.
Two Whims Combined
Two finished panels, the one still on the loom and the one hanging left of the easel are made from the same skein described above. As I spun, the amount of 
available roving changed from predominantly yellow and orange (hanging panel) to blue and green (on the loom).
IF More Constraint Were Added
About the loom and the mathematics of variegation
The loom is equal to 3 one foot squares. Dividing one square diagonally gives two right-angle triangles. When weaving with the 'continuous method' on a tri-loom, one learns that each and every pass of yard will be equal to the hypotenuse of the triangle.
The hypotenuse, the diagonal line from one corner of a 1 foot square to the other can be calculated:
- A2+ B2= C2 OR 12 + 12 = 22
- C (the hypotenuse) = 1.4142135623730950488016887242097 feet
With 3 feet to one yard, this means that it takes approximately, 1.4 yards for each pass on this rectangular loom. This means that in order to create more than one panel of cloth that will 'match' the other panels, any variegated repeat should take place within every 1.4, 2.8, 4.2, 5.6, or 7 yards.
Right now I'm spinning yarn for a 2 - 3 panel scarf of variegated yarn in these proportions:
- 80% Chestnut Brown (warmed with a little red) hand dyed variegated by the dying process from beige to brown
- 10% Commercially dyed Black roving w/white and gray strips
- 5% Periwinkle hand dyed mohair - again variegated by the hand dying process
- 5% Wine hand dyed wool -again variegated by the hand dying process
It's of interest to note here that when I spin 'english-draw,' each draw is about 1 yard. Some times more, sometimes a little less -- more often than not, more. Then with the variegate single I'll spin :
- 5 long english-draws of darker brown
- 1.5 Draws of variegated black and gray (one long and one short english-draw)
- .5 Draw of color alternating between periwinkle and wine.
- 5 long english-draws of darker brown
- 1 Draw of variegated black and gray
- Small corespin slub - alternating periwinkle and wine.
- 1 Draw of variegated black and gray
If I discover that the spots of color clump at one side on two of the panels, then they'll go at the ends. If I discover that the color clumps are more randomly spread on two panels, then they'll go at the ends.
I'll keep you advised.
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