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You thought I was all talk with the knitting. I know. So I thought I'd better show you something.
I also figure that if I post this here, I'll actually finish this project rather than give up on it (this tactic worked before when I was doing that colored pencil knitting piece from a while back.)


I pulled some fall colors from my yarn stash. (The yarn is not blurry in real life.) I have some yummy stuff. Wool, wool blends, cotton, and even some acrylic. Some are bought new with no real project in mind, and some are leftovers from sweaters and scarves or unfinished projects from the past.

The basic leaf:
I have a simple leaf pattern that I'm using for these. I'm using the same pattern and needles for all of them, but because all the yarns are so different, they come out different sizes.

This is how they look fresh off the needles. The one on the left is the acrylic, the other two are chenille. The two on the right have had their yarn ends at the tip woven into the back. I've left the 'tails' on all of them though for now because I might need them. They kind of curl up at this stage. They would be fine though if I were going to applique them to something, as they would flatten out when stitched down.


But here is what I'm doing with them instead:


I've sewed two of each leaf together, back to back. This miraculously stiffens them up. They will also now look good from front or back, in case they end up as fringe or just get flipped over.
They kind of look like little spears, but hopefully the colors will keep them leafie looking. I might put wire in some of them to make them curl a bit.

I have an idea for a couple of finished pieces I'd like to make with these, so all I need to do now is knit up about a hundred more and do the assemblage... Read the rest of this post

Chemistry: Guess what's Coming, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. Leaves are Chemistry! (Well, everything is chemistry, actually!) But what I meant was, the fall colors that are starting to show where I live, just a little, are caused by chemical changes. The greens of summer are a pigment called chlorophyll which photosynthesize and make oxygen and all the sugars and starches we eat. There are also carotins and anthocyanins and zanthophylls in the leaves. When it begins to cool off and the sun drops low in the sky (I know, I know, it's NOT cooling off yet!), the leaves begin to seal themselves off from the tree (or vice versa) and the chlorophyll begins to die, exposing the other pigments of red, yellow and purple. YAY fall colors! YAY Chemistry. Who knew? (Who cared?)(I did!)

(For this week's challenge.)