Fiber Mania - Day One

Day One is over for Fiber Mania. It was so much fun, I met so many nice fiber folks, saw others I haven't seen in a while, and then saw many that I see all the time. I sold a good amount of roving among others items. I think for a first time event it was well attended. Day Two starts in 13 hours.....wearing warmer clothes tomorrow, it was freezing in the building.........except the bathrooms where the heat hit you in the face when walking in the door. And for me to say it was cold is a lot since my thermostat is screwy and I'm usually warm/hot. Think I'll wear 2 pair of wool sox instead of the 1 pair I wore today. Next time I would also bring the backdrop for behind my table, it matches the tablecloth and is a nice coverup for the cinderblock. Off to put my feet up and veg out....talking all day really takes it out of me! And as my friend Margie (Raspberry Farm Angoras) said if I kept my mouth shut I would have stopped getting all the fly away bunny fur in it while she was shearing next door to me - love ya Margie!

Two tone chenille scarf

Thought I'd post a picture of the two tone chenille scarf after it had been washed. I love the effect. I only wove 2 of these and I'm wondering if I need to keep one of them for myself! I already have two more cones sitting on the desk waiting to go on the loom for similar scarves, a mauve and a coral - hmm, those might be my colors.........

Goings on in the studio

On Monday I wove a couple red chenille scarves. Yesterday I decided to silkscreen discharge paste on them to remove color. One scarf I used the silkscreen above which I bought from Marcy Tilton. The other scarf I used ginkgo silkscreens that I had burned myself. First step is to apply the gloppy discharge paste (bought from Dharma Trading) with a sponge brush. Then I let it dry.

Next step is to iron it and like magic the color disappears and ginkgos appear! I did do a sample first to see what color the red would discharge to - this golden color was perfect. In the past I had a purple that discharged to a very ugly orange, luckily I sampled that before doing the entire scarf.

 And here's the scarf today after washing and drying. When I wash rayon chenille I let it soak in soapy water, then rinse, then let it soak in water with some fabric softener. I hang it over a shower rod covered with a towel to dry, then when almost dry or completely dry I throw it in the dryer on low heat or fluff and it comes out drapey and soft as butter.....yum, butter.....

Yesterday afternoon I put this chenille warp on the loom. It's a soft lavendar and seafoam in the warp using a fibonacci striping sequence. Partway through the first scarf I wondered what would happen if halfway through I switched from the lavendar weft to the seafoam weft. It's really not as pronounced as it appears in the photo, it's very subtle. These scarves are hanging to dry right now, will really be able to see how successful this experiment was tomorrow morning. I thinking I'm going to like it so I've already pulled out some other colors to do more - very subtle color changes in the same value looks to work.

And here are those recent scarves that came off the loom, the faux ikat bamboo scarves. I'm not a very good photographer so I can't diagnose why sometimes when taking pictures of handwovens a weird moire look shows up - the scarves don't really look like that.

Field Trip to Corvallis

Last Thursday & Friday brought a field trip for friend Patricia and I up to Corvallis, OR to visit our friend Janette who has an exhibit up at the Corvallis Arts Center. What a fun visit all centered around visiting and the fiber arts.

Above are 3 of Janette's woven transparencies in the exhibit. The center sunflower is the latest finished piece complete with sunflower seeds in the center of the flower. The leaf piece to the right of it has always been one of my favorites.

This is a large installation that usually hangs in Janette & Mark's home. The transparency shows up well against the white wall with the lighting.

Here are several other transparencies Janette has woven - all of her works  contain many different fibers and found objects, not just yarn. The one on the right incorporates printing on fabric which is they applied to the transparency.

There was another artist exhibiting in tandem with Janette's works - Bonnie Albright, her works are woven metal - quite striking and quite sparkley -  some of her work is above.

We also went to an exhibit on the Oregon State campus at the Guistina Gallery at the LaSells Stewart Center. I'm sorry all I have to show for it is a scan of the postcard. I should have taken my camera in but was hesitant as many galleries don't allow photos.....but there was no one else in there, I could have taken pictures to my hearts content. The best I can explain the exhibit is that a group of 8 artists, of all different mediums, had a color for each of 8 months to create from. We could never figure out the exact rules, it said that they were not to discuss/show their work to the other artists during this time except it was obvious when looking at each wall of color that the theme carried through many items couldn't have just happened. It was a fascinating exhibit, I wish I lived closer by so I could go by and look at it again.

And this wasn't all - Janette thought we needed to visit The Rain Shed, a fabric store specializing in outdoor/waterproof fabrics. At least 20 years ago I had ordered fabrics, patterns, zippers from them when I made windbreakers for gifts and a gortex rain jacket for Sam. The big surprise there was that in a separate area in the same building was the studio of Nancy Bryant and Liz Hoffman. What fun that they were there so we could browse and meet them. I think Janette was really hoping they were there and that was the real reason for our visit to The Rain Shed. Nancy sells scarves here locally at The Websters - her beautiful silk kimono scarves and silk collage scarves. I've always admired those scarves, now I know who is creating them and where the work is being done.

All in all we had a wonderful visit, ending with me teaching Janette and Patricia how to make felted soaps the next morning before we headed home.

More later on my getting ready for Fiber Mania.

Fiber Mania

If you're within driving distance of SW Oregon stop by and say hi next Saturday & Sunday (Nov 13/14) while I'm sitting in my booth at the first, hopefully, annual Fiber Mania. The goal of the group organizing it is to grow each year and become as big as Black Sheep Gathering. There will be many vendors of the fiber arts, classes, demonstrations and fiber critters to fondle.

I'll be there with as much roving as I can cram in my booth along with many of my handwoven & felted gift items. And the best part of this festival is that it's 15 minutes from the house, if I forget something I can call Sam and plead with him to bring it over.

November 13th & 14th - 9am-5pm
Josephine County Fairgrounds, Grants Pass, Oregon
Flower Building and Patio Building adjacent to the Flower Building

Colors of Autumn in SW Oregon

After growing up in the east coast when autumn comes here I'm yearning for all those beautiful falls colors from the bright yellows to the golden oranges to the bright reds. But alas, here in Southern Oregon we have so many pines & firs there is little autumn color and then what there is just doesn't live up to the northeast. The best colors I've seen are in city yards and parks where liquid amber trees have been planted. Driving home from the weekend trip to the coast I savored what little color I saw in the mountains - yellows of the scrub oaks against all the green of the pine and fir. So, this morning I looked out on our own property to see what could be found. Above is our japanese maple.

 Here is a high bush cranberry which is set off by the rhodies, pine and blue vinca ground cover

 Here is one of the many scrub oaks, this one in Bailey's yard

And here is a smoke tree on the side yard - usually the leaves are a dark burgundy red, now they're turning a light coral/orange color before they fall for winter.

So, is there anything else I miss about the east coast.....YES! Maryland Blue Crab! But that's it!

Weaving away........

I've been itching to get back to the loom, way too much time away from it for someone who loves to sit in front of the loom for hours every day......putting the dyepots away has freed up my time again. Above is a faux ikat bamboo scarf warp. This first scarf I'm using purple bamboo for the weft, next one might be black, third one I'll audition different colors before deciding.

Yesterday I put on a warp of green/blue/purple handspun wool for 2 scarves, wove them off and washed them last night. Oh my gosh, they are horrible, I've never had such a failure, even in my beginning weaving. Looking at them again just a bit ago I realize that others may like them but they don't represent my weaving so off to the washer they'll go for a bit of felting. This will be an experiment - maybe they'll be slightly felted scarves which would improve them, or maybe they'll just become felted fabric to be used later in a project.

It started raining here over the weekend, finally fire season is officially over - hurray!

Odds and ends........

Been working on odds & ends today. Cleaned up floor in walk-in closet for fiber stuff....only because I could barely open the door, put away fabric, packed up things for the beach, finished up the little needlefelted pincushions in anticipation of holiday sales and put together more felting bunz kits for sale.

Hand-dyed roving ready for sale...........

These will be showing up in my etsy shop over the next few weeks - if any catches someone's fancy before it's listed contact me directly.

Above is 75% Blue Face Leicester/25%Tussah Silk - it has incredible sheen and is a dream to spin. The top left colorway and center colorway are both ones I've developed recipes for and are repeatable....Cranberry Blue I have around 3 pounds of, Forest 2 pounds. Everything else was just playing that day and I have approximately one pound of each.

Below is what's called Panda - it's 60% superwash merino/30% bamboo/10% nylon. Oh my gosh does it ever sparkle, and also a dream to spin. The one colorway sold out the day after I got them braided, weighed and labeled. There's approximately a pound of each colorway - these are all my playing on dye day, colors cannot be duplicated.

Busy as a bee........

Today I was as busy as a bee......I guess that saying means they're pretty busy. I started out with blocking the back and fronts of the knitted vest I'm working on. The next steps will be to sew the shoulder seams, pick up stitches along the sides for a patterned insert, then pick up the stitches on the centers fronts and neck and knit a pattern of slip stitches.

After the long boring job of pushing all those pins in to block the knitting I moved on to braiding, weighing, labeling, taking and editing pictures of hand-dyed roving - over 22 pounds of it. Good job to do while catching up on dvr'd tv programs. I used my new photo cube from Harbor Freight Co, it's a fold up white cube with a circular hole in one side. I laid a braid of each colorway in the cube and took the pictures - they turned out nice, I'm happy with my purchase. Then on to tying decorative yarn on 64 felted soaps and tagging them.

Tomorrow I've got to put all the acid dye supplies away.....dyes, tables, steamers, roaster, squirt bottles, buckets, etc. Rain and cooler weather on coming in so it's time to put it away. Am hoping to work on another cute idea I have, will post a picture if they turn out.

Coming down the home stretch........

I'm coming down the homestretch on dyeing for the season. Today was 8 pounds of Panda which is a merino/bamboo/nylon blend. The sheen on it as it's starting to dry is incredible. I spun a little sample before dyeing and it's a dream to spin, makes a beautiful yarn.

Autumn adventure..........

Tuesday my friend Yvonne and I went on an autumn adventure. We started out the day heading to the Butte Creek Mill to explore and shop a bit for staples like flours, oatmeal, etc. Colors of autumn found there.

Next it was on to Union Creek for lunch and hiking along the Rogue River at the Rogue River Gorge and Natural Bridge. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of our luncheon spot, Beckie's Cafe who is known for the great pies. We both had burgers, fries and pie, me oh my! Bad year for huckleberries so I had blueberry - yum!

Yvonne taught me the names of many plants I didn't know. Below is hemlock, I was especially taken with it because of the tiny little pinecones, probably 1/2" to 3/4" in length.

What a fun day!

Back to the dyepots........

I finally got back to the dyepots - today I dyed 11 1/2 pounds of Blue Face Leicester/Tussah Silk. I still have more to dye, maybe next week, if not the dye supplies will be put away for a number of months

Prune fingers.........

This afternoon I made 64 felted soaps - fun wet-felting project - pruney fingers, but very soft fingers now....

New finds for the beach

We found some new furniture finds for the beach place on Monday, all great bargains. Above is the cute little bench Sam spotted for our entry way. I found the 2 quilts, one for $20, the other for $17 - I was very excited over those! And then there's a white dresser & mirror, little wall shelf and coffee table. All we need to find now is a bookcase or such to fit under a dining room window to hold a teacup collection and a couple of lamps for our bedroom. The beach place foundation work is on-going, new piers put in and the house is now level, just all the follow-up work to be done now.

Still here, just not weaving........

I'm still here, I just haven't had anything  picture worthy to show. Mostly because I've been doing other things to avoid the last of my roving dyeing that needs to be done......on the calendar once again for next week. I have been doing some sewing though - whipped up some more little box bags, pictured above, for gifts. And have kept that sewing machine busy working on some other little gifts for Christmas that I won't post until after everyone has been gifted. Still at work on the knit vest - back is finished, halfway up the two fronts.....knitting them at the same time on a circular needle so they're exactly the same length. Christmas card design is mulling around in my little pea brain........will give it more thought later.......

Odds and ends........

I was supposed to be dyeing merino/tencel roving today but I woke up and just didn't feel like standing out there on the concrete in the heat as the day went on......so inside I've stayed catching up on things in the studio. I put away piles of 'stuff', finally finished twisting the fringes on 3 chenille scarves, did some photography work for the etsy shop, planned a towel warp, planned 2 scarf warps using handspun wool and much more. It's been a nice day since I made the executive decision this morning not to dye......when I know I really need to......so what's the worst that could happen, weather turns and I can't dye that remaining 30 pounds of fiber before winter? Hey, life will go on. Maybe next week..........

Lots a shopping!

I had a weekend full of shopping but first here's Bailey - he's a turncoat - he's now a Beaver's Fan! His pooch pal Sophie and Mom Janette who is an Oregon State alumni saw the picture posted last week of Bailey with his green and yellow duck - that was just not acceptable in their eyes so a new dog toy was gifted in Beaver's colors. Bailey is saying to heck with those Ducks - I'm a Beaver's fan now!

Early Friday AM I headed north for the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival. That was really my side trip this year as I had lots of other shopping to do. A number of us from down here were heading up and all met at Bronx Bagels 1 1/2 hours north for breakfast, then a caravan of vehicles pulled into Trader Joe's for snacklets for the weekend. At that point we split up with Margie and I heading up to the hotel in Wilsonville to drop one van and go on up to Fabric Depot. I went with my list for making a few beach house quilts. I never looked at any other fabric because the place is too overwhelming - they have maps at the information counter to find your way around! I did leave there with a lot of fabric and a whole lot less money even at 30% off everything in the store. On the left are the fabrics plus a white on white fabric I forgot to take a picture of which will make two 9 patch and snowballs twin bed quilts. On the right is what will become a log cabin quilt for a full size bed. It was too overwhelming to pick out fabric for our queen size too so that will wait.........besides it will take a long time for me to even get to sewing these quilt tops. The ginkgo fabric in the center is for who knows what - I just love ginkgos.

Friday night was the annual dinner for all at Sushi Track in Wilsonville - sure wish I could get there more often but a 4 hour drive is a bit much for sushi. Much of Saturday was spent at OFFF which is held at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds - great fun, saw lots of friends I hadn't seen in a while and did a little shopping. Really very little shopping since I don't need a thing. I bought some mystery batts (above) from Fantasy Fibers just because I loved the coral colors in them. Picked up some short double point needles, a small gift and that was pretty much it. Left there in the afternoon to head up to Crate & Barrel and The Container Store in Tualatin, on the south side of Portland - dropped a bundle there. And then dinner with 15 of us at a Mexican restaurant.

Sunday I didn't go back to OFFF with everyone else but instead drove through a driving rain down to the Corvallis Fall Festival to see all the craft/art booths and visit with friends Janette & Mark (Beaver & Duck alumni). Had a nice visit and then back in the car down to Trader Joe's in Eugene before heading home. And yes Lynne, I am a wus, I hate those passes with the big single/double/triple big-rigs that slow to a crawl going up hill and speed coming down - tough drive home being as tired as I was and on the road all day. All in all a great weekend, very tired now, trying to play catch up.

Currently on the Needles

Here's the knitting project I started yesterday, I know....I know.....I have many other fiber related projects I 'need/must' do but here I am starting a knitting project. My original plan was to use handspun but since I run out of hours in my day I decided to purchase yarn.....I'd really like to wear it this winter! This is some of the sale yarn from The Wool Company, I had planned on just looking for a worsted weight I liked but they had the exact yarn called for and it was on sale! The main color looks pretty navy in the picture but it's navy on the teal side. This pattern is from Plymouth Yarn Company - Vest Kimono. This won't be finished in a week, will work on it here and there......the majority of it is totally mindless knitting which is good for toting to appointments and meetings.

One tired pup........

Bailey has been one tired pup today, three days on the coast with lots of new smells to deal with can tire one out.....not to mention never getting his regular naps. That's Ducky resting with him, fiber friend Mary gave that to him well over a year ago, amazing that Ducky is still living.......guess Bailey is an Oregon Ducks fan being the Oregon native he is.

On the fiber front - I got nothing done today, feeling kind of punk, actually feeling kind of overwhelmed because I have so much to do, so I do nothing. Well, didn't actually do nothing all day, errands, grocery shopping (argh) and then re-strung a shell necklace and beaded bracelet for my friend Yvonne's daughter.

While on the coast I took advantage of a sale at The Wool Company in Bandon, OR and bought some yarn for a few projects. I need to expand my knitting horizons. Am thinking tonight of knitting a swatch to check my gauge so I can start a vest. Of course, this vest is no on the long 'to-do' list of things that are overwhelming me....guess it's a good way of avoiding those things.....

More hand-dyed roving - Polwarth

I don't usually post all the pictures of the roving I've dyed other than on the drying racks but for lack of any other pictures here they are. This is all Polwarth, a merino/lincoln cross. I've spun a sample and it's lovely, soft, and springy like merino with the bit of sheen and added strength from the lincoln. Two braids are curerntly sitting in my spinning basket - two of the far right, second row from the top - I just love those purples, especially that red purple. And then below the chartreuse to black gradation which I dyed specifically for myself - there's only 6 ounces of that. I know this colorway probably repulses some but I love it! I'll divide the roving in half lengthwise, spin each and ply them together. Maybe it will end up in a scarf, who knows, that's a long way off. These will all start showing up in my etsy shop over the next couple of weeks.

On the home front - had quite a scare last night when Bailey, our golden, looked to have a seizure or some sort of episode. Of course, Sam was out of town on business last night so I was here alone. I called a friend for advice, then our vet who will answer calls until 10pm. Today Bailey is just fine like nothing happened. Am keeping fingers crossed that it's a one time event and doesn't become a regular occurance. Kids!

Merino Tussah Hand-dyed Roving

Thought I would show a picture of some finished roving ready to sell. This is some of the merino/tussah silk. It's a dream to spin. I keep looking at the top left colorway, Stormy Sea, wondering if I should put aside a bit for myself.....of course I think that of more rovings I dye than I could ever spin in my lifetime!

Today I'm planning on braiding, weighing and tagging all the Polwarth I recently dyed, some superwash merino, blue face leicester and merino/bamboo. And then weigh out more roving that needs to be dyed in the next couple of weeks. Hmm, what am I doing sitting here at the computer instead of getting to work??? But first a trip to town.......then to work in ernest.

On the fire front - not the old fire that's just smoldering away but new fires popping up here and there, human caused, and thankfully quickly jumped on and put out before they get huge and out of control. What are people thinking? Do they think that because summer is basically over they can do what they want? It's still fire season - it's been in the upper 80's and we've had no rain - stupid, stupid people. The forecast is for rain starting Friday - I truly hope so before any more fires happen.

Yet more dyeing.......

I'm coming down the homestretch on dyeing......at least I hope so. I've still got 3 different fibers to dye but it doesn't look overwhelming.......well, it doesn't look overwhelming in those nice bags in the huge box. Today was the remainder of the Polwarth.

Paybacks can be very very good...........

Ah, Theresa of the Camp Runamuck blog, thought she was paying me back by finding me this dining set to buy at a  shop going out of business in Ashland....but she forgets I was looking for a set for the beach, she wasn't looking for that cute little Camp Runamuck bench I found her and enabled her to buy! Check out the bench on her blog here! I'm so lucky that she felt the need to enable me to spend money because this was just what we were looking for - that neat beachy, cottage look....and I made an offer on it much lower than the going out of business sale price and got it....that really made me happy.

On the weaving front - nothing happening! I'm having withdrawals but I really need to concentrate on getting all this dyeing done. Tomorrow will be another dye day....if I get more sleep than I've had the past two nights. Yesterday was the first guild meeting of the year, the other guild's first meeting is this coming Tuesday.

More dyeing........

Today's dyeing - 10 pounds of Polwarth, a merino/lincoln cross.....

10 more of this fiber to do next week, then on to another pile of fiber........