Thursday, June 30, 2011

...a pretty to share.....

I'm sorry I don't know what kind of butterfly this is - I took this picture in the butterfly garden at the history museum at the Seattle park that also houses the Space Needle. I didn't have anything fiber related to share today so thought I would share a pretty.

Today was a meeting of the Fiber Mania committee of which I had been invited to join a few months back. Fiber Mania is a fiber festival that held it's first event last November, I had a booth there selling my rovings and weavings and did very well.....and it's in my own backyard! This year's event is on Nov 12th & 13th at the Josephine County Fairgrounds in Grants Pass, OR. So, if you're anywhere within driving distance, or further, mark your calendar. There will be plenty of fiber vendors (me again), classes, demonstrations, fiber animals, equipment sale, fashion show, door prizes and a silent auction. Registration is now open for vendor booths, animal booths and classes.........there are a number of great classes up on the site already, more to come so be sure and check back. Right now there is mail in registration but hopefully sometime next week the online registration will be up and running, bugs are being worked out now.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Weaving......a bit......

Here is scarf #2 - blue bamboo weft, not my favorite color of blue.....but then I'm not a blue person......but I like it anyhow. I should have finished up the 3rd scarf on the warp today but there was a bit of sewing and then scrubbing and washing down an outdoor table once our pressure tank for the well was replaced. Many thanks go to Murphy Plumbing here in Grants Pass that got our call yesterday, ordered the tank and got it installed this afternoon.....what a delight to do business with them, we'd recommend them to anyone here local.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Finally.......

......finally back to the loom. Bamboo warp in summery sea inspired colors.......well, in real life these colors look much prettier than in this photo

Sunday, June 26, 2011

A weekend on the coast does wonders......

for one's soul and state of mind...........
We walked from the house to the South Jetty, then up the beach for a long ways, then up the stairs to where we took these pictures from up on the bluff. Bailey had a grand time meeting new pooch pals.
To put things in perspective the driftwood down on the beach is the size of trees.....would love a nice big piece, not allowed to take anything longer than 4 ft, don't think we could lug even 4 ft up the hill anyhow!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Snap out of it.......

That's what Bailey said to me this morning - snap out of it!
He's right, I need to snap out of this funk I've been in this week. I've been letting things bother me more than I should be, too many I know are dealing with incredible challenges in their lives and I've been letting it get me down....or maybe I've just been worrying too much. So, not a tremendous amount being accomplished here this week other than some knitting. At least I've given myself permission not to beat up on myself for not getting that sewing and dyeing done this week.....have been able to let that go. Next week will be better, I'm convinced of it!

So, this year for the first time in 15 years when my brother decided to get married on Black Sheep Gathering weekend I'm not attending the event. Just coming off two fiber conferences and not needing to buy a single thing I just didn't feel a need to go.......and I'm quite fine with that. If I had gone I might have been tempted by that Hansen electric spinner, which I don't need to buy right now after putting that deposit down on the AVL loom earlier this month. My friend Kathy has one and she's a speed demon spinning these days, it's a tempting thought......will give it thought in the fall or next spring.......

Monday, June 20, 2011

Spun samples of last weeks merino/bamboo dyeing

Baltic Sea - it's tempting to set some of this aside for myself 
Burning Hot - I love the soft coral colors in this

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Another colorful day....

Another beautiful day here in Southern Oregon, low 70's, sunshine and a lovely breeze. Good day to be dyeing........6 pounds of merino/bamboo and a pound of firestar sparkley blending nylon I dyed in 7 different colors. And it felt so cool out there having had many inches cut off my hair yesterday. I have this love/hate relationship with my hair - basically I love it but then I love it so much I let it grow too long, than I hate it, it's heavy, takes forever to dry and had started giving me headaches when I pulled it up. Oh, but it's so pretty, long wavy auburn hair (with a few grays)......but much easier to care for shorter. Off to the salon yesterday to get many inches cut off.......most of you would still think it was long but it's not, it's really a nice length now, collar bone length as the cute, little, young, very tan, perky, bleached blonde hairdresser called it. Note to myself - don't let it grow really long again (I say this all the time but this time I mean it).

Rag totes need new homes......

Rag tote bags are looking for new homes, a new one listed daily in my etsy shop

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

It's dye season.........finally......

It's finally dye season......thought spring would never arrive. Today's dyeing is merino/tencel all in my harvest colorway - have several folks that requested it quite a while back, rest will be for sale in my etsy shop once dry and weighed, this colorway sells out no matter what the fiber. Weird dye issue today - see on the left the color is lighter (much like it looks on falkland wool), then to the right it's darker like it usually looks on merino/tencel. Same merino/tencel, same vinegar soaking solution, same dye stock, same time in the steamer, all dyed today - so what gives??? Oh well, I love them both.

Decided to only dye 10 pounds today, good decision, I usually fight through 15-20 pounds which is a back breaker. New dyeing rule - never more than 10 pounds. Thursday will be another dye day - merino/bamboo, only 6 pounds of that set aside for dyeing and a pound of firestar blending nylon - that's some fun blingy stuff to dye.

Another lesson learned today - put sunblock on before the sun starts burning my skin (slow learner on that one), also learned that weighing out merino/bamboo with sunblock on is a mistake, flyaway fiber stuck to me. Used a new sunblock today, Trader Joe's spray on, liked it, easy to use, although has a weird smell so would only use it when working outside and then going in to shower.

Blogger issues.....resolved, maybe......

Ok, I just tried out posting a comment to one of the blog's I couldn't post to and it worked. I had posted my question to google help forum for blogger and got an answer from nitecruzr. I tried the first option and it worked....time will tell if it continues to work but it just worked for one comment. See below for the answer I got from nitecruzr. Not sure what prompted this to all of a sudden become an issue.

You have a problem with authentication, and with cookie filtering. First, try a different login procedure.
(I had to sign out first and then go to blogger.com - eweniquelyewe)
1. Login to Blogger using http://www.blogger.com/.
2. Do not check "Remember me".

If that does not help, try a second time..
1. Clear cache, cookies, and sessions (not just cache or cookies) - then restart the browser.
2. Login to Blogger using http://www.blogger.com/.
3. Do not check "Remember me".

Alternatively, enable "third party cookies". That's the best solution, overall.
References:
[1] Login To Blogger, Differently (Web)
[2] Why Is "Third Party Cookies" An Issue? (Web)
[3] Test For Cookie Filtering On Your Browser / Computer (Web)

Monday, June 13, 2011

ARGH - Blogger

ARGH!  I have tried to comment on three different blogs I follow only to go around and around in circles - I've never had this happen before. I try to comment using my google acct, it sends me to a page to sign in (even though I'm signed in), then back to the comment page, then back to sign in, over and over again. Is anyone else having this problem? Guess I won't be commenting.......and I had something to say!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

New beach bling......

Life is short, we never know what will happen day to day.....so off the coast we went! Got to enjoy it while we can, can't waste a day of our lives! Nice weekend on the coast, didn't start raining, and then not very long, until mid-afternoon today. I made some beach bling to hang in the windows - I bought these ornaments at an after Christmas sale, had the small crystal in my stash - strung some beads on wire and they were ready to hang in windows.

Am hoping to start dyeing wool this week......we'll see what happens with the weather - back to rainy cool weather again - guess those few days of spring were just teasing us........

Friday, June 10, 2011

Green at the beach.....

Finally going green at the beach by making 32 cloth napkins, that should do us for quite a while, they take years and years to wear out. We've been using cloth napkins I've made for well over 20 years. I just wash the fabric, cut it into 17" or 18" squares using my rotary cutter and then serge the raw edges. It took no time this morning to get these made. I thought of all the fun beach fabrics when I bought dishes for over there - neutral sand colored with a design on the rim that looks like drifting sand.

Finally blocked......

The hydrangea scarf is finally blocked. It's so much easier to lay out my blocking squares on the patio table and block out there and items dry so quickly......in nice weather......and finally we have some nice spring weather. I'm very happy with it, it's my beach scarf - we have hydrangea's in the yard there and it's in  a beachy/seaglass color.

So does anyone else not enjoy the blocking process? Even with blocking wires which make it faster and easier I just don't enjoy it. I love to knit but I don't like the finishing, don't like sewing knitting together or weaving in ends either. But in weaving I love every single step in the process, no matter now mundane or tedious others think those steps are.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Very fun class......

These fiber beads were made in a very fun class at the ANWG conference last weekend, Rebecca Smith the teacher. We used a wire coiler to first coil the craft wire, then added yarn, then some more wire around the outside. the earrings and necklace bead on the right I wore that evening since it matched my outfit. I didn't have a gold chain that would fit through the fiber bead for the necklace so I made a twisted cord out of the same yarn.....of course that meant cutting it off at the end of the night. Now I need to decide how to finish the necklace pieces - will either put a gold chain through them, attach a rattail cord or maybe beads.....will think on it for a bit. I need to give a guild program next year on one of the seminars I took - this one is at the top of my list but will depend on how inexpensively I can pick up the wire coilers - have already found them at a really good price online. I can see all sorts of possibilities with this technique.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Fun video

Check out the fun video, Little Red Plane, in Shelly's post of June 3rd on her blog, Butternut Woolens.......check out her beautifully dyed yarn for sale while you're there. Just as a side note, the shawl I started knitting recently is from of Shelley's hand-dyed roving that I had spun up a while back.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Yikes, I pulled the trigger.......

I sit here writing from my dorm room on beautiful Willamette University just up the road a few hours in Salem, OR. This is the most beautiful campus I've ever seen with Mill Creek running through it and incredible landscaping. It's located across the tracks from Mission Mill Museum and directly behind is the State Capitol Building.

I arrived on Thursday, have had a wonderful time visiting with fiber friends, old and new. I took 3 great seminars; Solving the Mystery of Fit with Daryl Lancaster, Fiber Beads with Rebecca Smith and Weaving with Space Dyed Yarns with  Bobbie Irwin. Pictures to come later of my fiber beads.....I brought no camera with me.

So today I pulled the trigger - I plunked down a sizeable deposit on an AVL 40 Harness V-Series Compu-dobby Loom - Yikes!!! Double Yikes!!!  This decision was not made lightly though. I've been thinking about buying a compudobby for a few years. So this new addition to the studio will be ready around August - plenty of time to move things around and out of the studio to make room for it.  The software will be arriving soon so I can be learning that while waiting for the loom.

So tomorrow morning I head home after breakfast..........and the required stop at Trader Joe's in Eugene. Sam and Bailey have been holding down the fort at home..........