weaving again...........finally

Finally I'm back to the loom, spent much time dyeing, spinning, knitting and demonstrating. Yesterday I got a 12 yard warp on the loom for some huck lace towels. I put a natural warp on and these first towels will be crossed with a natural weft. I think for some of the others I'll pick some light colors to use for the weft. Still spinning and knitting, just doing that in the evenings. More dyeing in the near future - this time painted warps in bamboo, tencel, rayon & silk.

spinning at the fair

This is the merino I spun at the fair this week. It was roving I dyed in the primary colors which then blended where they met to form secondary colors. I was curious how it would spin up. I took half the roving and drafted it out to spin long repeats of colors. Then I split the remaining roving into thinner strips so the repeats would be shorter. I then plied them together. I'm anxious to see how this knits up into socks.

We had the best wool judge ever for the fleeces this year. She's from Washington and is a sheep grower, a shearer, a spinner and knitter in addition to judging. She actually took time with each fleece talking about it's pros and cons - we hope she comes back next year.

This week is catch up week here at home but first a day trip to the coast today to get away from the heat and smoke (from CA fires). The Festival of the Arts is going on in Brookings on the harbor boardwalk so we'll take Bailey over to browse the booths, then go play on the beach.

Drop spindle class

I'll be teaching another drop spindle class on Monday, September 22nd, from 1-4pm at Llamas & Llambs Boutique in Jacksonville. If you're local and interested in attending contact the shop at 541-899-9141. No materials necessary - inexpensive CD drop spindles included in the cost of the class ($35 per person), enough wool for the class and more practice at home and a handout. If you own a niddy noddy bring it, but it's not necessary, I'll have some there for people to use.

County Fair

Our county fair opens on Tuesday. Some of us from a local spinning group went to the fairgrounds Saturday morning with woven goods, dyed roving and handspun skeins to set up our exhibit. In front of the exhibit are all the wool fleeces brought in for judging that will happen Wednesday morning. During the fair we'll all sit in a circle in front of the display demonstrating spinning - fun week filled with spinning with friends, talking to the public and eating fair food!!! So needless to say there will be no weaving done here this week..........but lots of spinning.

Sock Block

Here's a picture of socks I'm knitting from a sock block. This one is Henry's Attic yarn knitted two ends at a time on a knitting machine, then I hand dyed it, now I'm unraveling and knitting into sox. I've put a few of these hand dyed sock blocks up in my etsy shop for sale - those are dyed on Knit Picks sock blocks which are superwash merino.

Braided rovings

Last wool dyeing day

Well it's the last wool dyeing day.............for a while. It's all outside drying. The big area of light teal is 2 pounds worth of what I'm calling iceberg - has 3 shades of light teal and a bit of silver gray. Next dyeing will be warp painting in a couple weeks depending on if the really hot weather returns - will work on that when the weather permits. Lots of braiding of rovings ahead of me not to mention weighing, pricing and labeling. Been having great fun with this the past week.

Yet more dyeing

Yet more dyeing today - 9 1/2 pounds of it, think I'll finish up with another 5 pounds tomorrow before a guild board meeting I need to attend in the afternoon, then I'm done with wool dyeing for a bit. Have painted warps I want to do but will get to those in a couple weeks, time to get back to weaving.

More dyeing

Ok, it's probably getting boring for everyone watching my blog to see day after day of dyeing efforts but that's what I'm doing at the moment - weather is not too hot so it's nice to be outside all day. Shorter day dyeing today - 5 pounds and several skeins of sock yarn and then I threw in some mohair that's been around for a while and I never knew what to do with it - we'll see if I'm inspired now that it's got color.

Roving braids from yesterday's dye day

Here are the roving braids from yesterday's dye day - no wonder I was so tired at the end of the day - 10 pounds of fiber dyed!

Dye Day

Decided to do more dyeing today but makes for a long day when I don't start until after I get back from yoga. But I did get 10 pounds of merino dyed, 20 colorways, each approx 8 ounces each. There is definitely at least one colorway I'll be keeping, maybe two. Most will end up in my etsy shop within the week.

On the weaving front I'm busy winding scarf warps to paint (dye) - there are warps in bamboo, tencel and rayon. I have more to wind before setting up for those dyes which are fiber reactive dyes rather than the acid dyes used for the wool roving.

Wow - color

Wow, this skein I just finished spinning has some kind of color. I spun it from most of the samples from a carding and color workshop I took at the Black Sheep Gathering. I just went from one color to the next in the spectrum and then navajo plied the singles to keep the colors separate. Not sure what it will be used for yet - will sit on the shelf and age for a bit.

Roving & sock yarn on etsy now

I spent time this afternoon taking pictures of some of my hand dyed roving and sock yarn skeins so I could get them up on the etsy shop for sale.........phew, what a job, done and they're up - already lots of hits on them while still posting. Here's a picture of 4 of the skeins of superwash merino sock yarn and 2 pictures of the sock blocks I dyed. Sock blocks are 2 strands of sock yarn knitted together on a sock machine and then hand dyed. Then you unravel the knitting and knit 2 socks at once...........I've got a pair in progress that I'll post a picture of once I get a little further along.

Etsy shop now open

Finally I've gotten my Etsy shop opened.........phew, another learning curve to get over but now I've got it down and will continue to take pictures and post new items as time allows. I have hand dyed roving and hand dyed sock yarn still left to list along with felted items, jewelry, bookmarks, notecards........etc, etc. etc. I have more weaving here but won't list more of that right now. Check it out by clicking on the link on the top of this page or typing in http://eweniquelyewe.etsy.com Bookmark my shop site and visit often to see what's new.

What I'm spinning now..........

This is what I'm spinning now - all the batts from the ABC's of Color class I took with Jill Laski at the Black Sheep Gathering last month. I'm going from one color to another - will either navajo ply it or spin up some black and ply it with that.

Etsy picture taking

Today is a day of snapping photos for my soon to be etsy storefront - what a job and I'm only taking them of a fraction of what I have in stock to sell at this time. Thought I would post a couple so everyone could see some more examples of my work. Here's a chenille shawl woven in rayon chenille in purple/teal/royal blue. And then one of my arachnid scarves out of novelty yarns - it is held together with a grid of sewing thread - very delicate and beautiful fashion scarf. I'm aiming for getting the etsy storefront (website sales) up and running this weekend but how knows, much left to do in documenting and picture taking. I'll post a link to it as soon as it's up and running.

Yet another dye day

It was another dye day........final one until there's a bit of a cooling trend........too hot out there in the shade even with the breeze today. I dyed some wool which will later be used in felting, many silk scarves that will get further embellishment with silkscreening or beading and 4 skeins of sock yarn - heat got to me, didn't dye the other 4. I think these will be packaged in a fun container and called Sox in a Box, basic knitting pattern included.

Another dye day

well it was another dye day.......started off dyeing superwash wool, 5 lbs of it in 10 colorways then I moved on to 10 sock blanks. The sock blanks were knitted, 2 strands at a time, on a knitting machine (not by me), then I dyed them, now they're ready to be knit up into matching sox. I'm very curious to see how the ones with concentric circles will knit up, might have to start a pair of those soon. Once again I see way too many that I want to keep for myself rather than sell...............

Handspun

Newly spun yarn (earlier post on the wheel) was washed and blocked today. It was from roving I bought from Great Balls of Fiber - colorway is Bonnie's Garden. Not sure what it will be used for yet - will sit on the shelf and look pretty for a while.

Painted Tencel warp

Yesterday I met up with other guild members to see the WeGO (Weaving Guilds of Oregon) traveling exhibit at the RCC Firehouse Gallery in Grants Pass. This exhibit is traveling the state for a year. There were some very nice pieces in the exhibit - nice to see weaving exhibited locally, many times if there's a fiber arts show it concentrates on quilting.

Today I put another painted warp on the loom (last one so I need to get dyeing). It's a tencel warp and weft, weave structure an advancing twill.

Tomorrow will most probably be an other dye day - more wool roving.