52 Forms of Fungi || #38

The odds seem to be against me this week in getting photos of the phases I've been working on.  I made it to a favorite photo spot just as the sun was going down yesterday to capture this species and another that will be posted tomorrow, only to realize that I left my SD card at home (At least I had tacos to look forward to afterward).  This morning before work, it was still too dark by the time I had to leave.  This afternoon--- steady rain and dim outside.  This leads me to realize that every phase to date has been shot in clear weather, so why not get a couple when it's damp?  It's a nice contrast.  In any case after a little while of crawling around in the back yard in my raincoat...

Western amethyst laccaria.  Not found in my area, but I would love to run across it one day.  I don't know what it is, but the purple fungi grab my attention the most.  My favorite about this species was the variegation in color of the stalk.  I knitted with two strands of different shades to achieve that effect.

This installation was created for my 52 Forms of Fungi project.  Check out more phases from this project, here.

52 Forms of Fungi || #37

I've knitted a lot of mushrooms (including boletes) over the past couple of years, and this is by far the largest one.  King bolete is an impressive specimen, and I would love to make another that's even closer to the large end of the scale.  How exciting it must be for the mushroom forager to come across one of these out in nature!

This species was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project.  See more forms for the project here.

For the holiday shoppers - I have prints and knitted fungi available in my shop!

52 Forms of Fungi || #35

Dung bell, a charming name, isn't it?  These cute little guys are often associated with cow manure and grow in masses.  I thought about throwing some dog poo in the photos for effect, but when I realized that meant I would be crawling around in the grass with my camera next to dog poo, I decided against it.  These were fun and simple to make.  I might churn out some more for a small piece, which I've been working on a collection of.  Just in time for the holidays!

This structure was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project. Check out more of the forms from this project.

Mushroom (The Journal of Wild Mushrooming) Feature

A few days ago I was excited to return from vacation to find the latest issue of Mushroom: The Journal of Wild Mushrooming in our stack of mail from the week.  Inside was a nice little feature on my 52 Forms of Fungi project!  (speaking of which, I will have a new post for the series up next week!)

 Thank you very much to Leon and the folks at Mushroom The Journal for sharing my work - it's very exciting to see in print!  I'm glad to have been made aware of this publication with its abundance of great information and interesting articles about fungi.  Interested in subscribing?  You can learn how, here!

If you found my blog through the article, welcome and thank you for following along.  Happy mushrooming!

Succession

It was an honor to be involved in threshold: the promised land at START Norman.  While I was taking down my work recently, I wondered how the space would be transformed in the coming years.  There's some fascinating history there.

Here are some full scale images of my installation.  I hope to have some photos of the collaboration to show in the near future as well.

Niche / 52 Forms of Fungi || #24

I really love the shaping the forms of knitted boletes.  Perhaps it's the two-toned coloring that contributes to this, but they are just plump and cute and are fun to look at in a big pile of leaves.  More on that later.  This is violet-gray bolete, which I made for the indoor installation of Niche at Martin Park Nature Center.

Violet-gray bolete is mycorrhizal, which means that it exists in a symbiotic relationship with a nearby tree root system, usually oak or some other hardwood.  The fungus' mycelia assist the tree with absorption of water and minerals, while the tree provides nutrition for the fungus.  These mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of the mycorrhizae which help it to reproduce.

Find out more about Niche, on exhibit at Martin Park Nature Center

View more from the 52 Forms of Fungi series.

52 Forms of Fungi || #21

Words cannot express how excited I am to be back on this project again!  I've definitely missed it.  The next few forms for the 52 Forms of Fungi series also include a bit of exciting news... Berroco offered recently to provide yarn for some of my mycological creations, and I shortly thereafter received a nice little package of Ultra Alpaca (one of my most favorite yarns!) in multiple gauges and a variety of colors, as well as a couple of other yarny surprises.  I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the support, and want to say a big "THANK YOU!" to Norah Gaughan and the Berroco team.

Thanks also to all of you who have followed along with the project and reached out along the way - it means a lot.  Momentum Tulsa sidetracked me a little bit, and with the current first time homebuying milestone it's looking like completing all 52 forms by the end of the year is most likely not going to happen.  However, this just means that the fungi will keep on coming for a while longer, so I'm okay with this!  I hope you'll keep checking back to see more.

Now, what do we have here?  This is Lactarius indigo, which exudes a dark blue milky substance when cut.  Sounds like a fantasy novel, doesn't it?  How incredible that these things exist in real life.  The range apparently passes through my state, but I have yet to see one in person.  Are there any tricks on where to look for these beauties?  **Edit: I had previously reported that this is a good mushroom for dyeing wool, but Alissa Allen from Mycopigments has clarified this for me and I'm sad to find out that the blue milky cap does not really transfer to a dye very well.  I would still love to see one, however!

To create these blue milky cap fungi, I used Berroco's Ultra Alpaca yarn in Pastel Blue and Azure Mix.

This structure was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project, through which I will knit a different type of fungi for every week of 2013. Check out more of the forms from this project.

Saprobia || Celtis Occidentalis

This is a preview of the hackberry phase of my Momentum Tulsa installation, entitled "Saprobia".  You can read more about Saprobia here and here.

Momentum Tulsa opens on October 12th at Living Arts in Downtown Tulsa.  These forms will be incorporated into a larger installation for the exhibit.

Materials: plant fiber yarn, nipple galls harvested from hackberry leaves

Saprobia || Pinus taeda

This is a preview of another phase of my Momentum Tulsa installation, entitled "Saprobia".  You can read more about Saprobia here and here.

Momentum Tulsa opens on October 12th at Living Arts in Downtown Tulsa.  These forms will be incorporated into a larger installation for the exhibit.

Materials: loblolly pine needles

52 Forms of Fungi || #20

This mushroom holds a special place in my heart.  While I have no idea what species it is, this is a replica of one of my favorite mushrooms that I encountered on my visit to the Pacific Northwest last summer.  We were on a coastal trail surrounded by ferns and, well, mosquitos, and there was an eerie darkness under the trees near the creek bank where it was found.  I won't forget that moment for a long time.  Blackish red russula?  What do you mycologists think?  The actual mushroom was a little more reddish than my interpretation.

This structure was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project, through which I will knit a different type of fungi for every week of 2013. Check out more of the forms from this project.

Stitches for Pixels

The Art of Bits: Bits of Art show opened yesterday, and I must say I am thoroughly impressed with Istvan Gallery.  It's a beautiful, interesting space that connects to the Blue Sage glass studio with a lovely courtyard in the back.  From a Mortal Kombat tournament to character themed drinks and a DJ sampling from classic games, the event was a blast through and through.

My piece for this classic video game themed show is an homage to the iconic toadstool of the early Nintendo Mario Brothers games.  I knitted this piece with US 19 knitting needles and five strands of yarn held together, so the stitch pattern in the colorwork is very apparent.  It reminded me of the highly pixelated images of the early Mario games, which is how I arrived at the title.

I must admit that I've lost most of my interest in gaming, but put me in front of a Sega Genesis with Toejam and Earl and I won't complain.  Those early games hold just enough nostalgia that I won't let go.  I can't quit you, nerd herd and 80's/early 90's exclamations in the elevator.  Crazy dentist and level 0, you'll always hold a special place in my heart.  Finally, toadstool of Mario, do I even need to express the extent of my love?

If you are local to Oklahoma and have interest in purchasing Stitches for Pixels, you may contact the gallery directly or feel free to inquire with me at bromeleighad(at)gmail(dot)com.

Here is an earlier post with a couple of additional photos of the piece.

52 Forms of Fungi || #17

I remember that as a kid I was always enchanted by fairy ring mushrooms.  Aside from the folklore, how did they manage to grow near one another in a perfect circle like that?  Something mysterious was at work.  Turns out, that something mysterious is just a common "root system", or mycelium, that the entire group sprouts from.  I still find them enchanting, despite my soon approaching cross-over into my 30's.  We need magic at every age...  Fairy rings are your mycological whimsy.

This structure was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project, through which I will knit a different type of fungi for every week of 2013.

52 Forms of Fungi || #12

How amazing would it be to see one of these in the wild?  Lion's mane or bearded tooth mushroom (Hericium erinaceus) is quite rare, and will grow on dead/dying wood as well as parasitically on living trees.  It is also apparently edible with a slightly fishy taste and has medicinal properties such as the potential to heal nerve damage.

As you can see, this took a LOT of i-cord.  I've been working on it for weeks!  I would love to make a huge one at some point, but don't I say that about every form that I make?  Once this project is finished I will probably pick out a few to focus on in more detail and at a larger scale.  Thank you for your patience while I cranked this one out... more fungi is to come for this week!

This structure was knitted as part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project, through which I will knit a different type of fungi for every week of 2013. Check out more of the forms from this project.

52 Forms of Fungi || #8

Parrot fungi!  These two are a couple of variations on this species which really stuck out to me when I was flipping through my Audubon mushrooms field guide.  Apparently they are edible and grow near conifers across North America.  The actual mushrooms are very glossy and slimy looking.  I experimented a little with using a gloss spray, but it didn't work out on the knitted material at all, unfortunately.  I'll keep brainstorming on this aspect, since I'm sure it will come around again with a different species.

It's funny, I'm noticing that after I complete a phase of this project the pieces end up on display somewhere in my house.  The enoki mushrooms are sitting on our mantel, and I just put the little parrots in my Norfolk pine in the living room.  The jack o lantern fungi are still hanging out on my knitting shelf, because I'm working on a larger installation for them -- more details on that very, very soon!

These fungi were knitted as a part of my 52 Forms of Fungi project, where I knit one different type of fungi for every week of 2013.  Check out some of the other forms I've knitted so far.

52 Forms of Fungi || #7

Enoki mushroom!  We're getting a little culinary this week.  This is the cultivated appearance of the enokitaki mushroom, which is orangey brown in the wild.  I always love looking at them in the grocery store, because just one little clump seems to have hundreds of tiny stalks and caps. For the sake of trying to stay on track with this project, I decided against going full scale... maybe another day.

They're just so neat looking.  I've never eaten them before though, have you?  Can anyone recommend a recipe?

Check out some other posts from the 52 Forms of Fungi project, where I knit a different type of fungi for every week of 2013.   In April, I vow to catch up!