More devore samples, chenille scarf............

I finished up the devore samples. I like the way the pink one turned out - it's soysilk and bamboo - the bamboo was burned out in the shape of a gingko leaf. This blend of fibers yielded a bit more definition.

The green sample above was merino and tencel. This is my second sample using tencel as the fiber to burn out and I'm as displeased with this sample as the first - the tencel looks too frayed on the burn out edges. I was playing with sett on this sample too - 36 epi, a bit too stiff. Getting the sett just perfect so it's not too sleazy in the burn out areas but not too stiff in the rest of the piece is key, the previous samples from last month with setts ranging from 24 epi to 30 epi had much nicer drape to them. The scarf off this green warp will have big areas burnt out to create the drape that's missing.

The white sample is T-105, a commercial sewing thread, cotton covered polyester. Since this is all one thread when it burns out it just gets thinner. This fiber will yield the more detailed burn out designs. All the other samples I've done I also wove a scarf on the warp (still need to burn out all those) but since I read that T-105 lacked drape I didn't weave a scarf but another length thinking I could make a window hanging with a snowflake design. Well, it turns out it has wonderful drape, wish I had woven a scarf instead, I do have more of the thread so it may happen in the future. The only downside to this thread is that it's only available in white, it can be dyed using disperse dyes though. There are a few yellowed (burnt) areas on this sample - I ironed the Fiber Etch gel a bit too much, hasn't been a problem on other fibers but was on this so I'll be extra careful on the bigger piece.

Finally, here's the chenille scarf warp that went on the loom and came off yesterday......washed last night, waiting to have fringe twisted. Next warp to go on the loom is for fingertip towels for a multi-guild towel exchange - these are due by April 30th so I have to quit procrastinating and get them done and out of the way. And next week I need to finish up on the devore so I have that presentation ready to go for April 10.

Garden Party 2008

Today was our group's (Warped, Twisted & Plyed) spinning day so I had to go look in the stash for something new to spin. I still had two colorways I had run through the drum carder once from the 2008 Garden Party. Only having gone through the carder once the colors stay separate which makes for an interesting yarn but it's also lumpy bumpy and I have so much anxiety over watching those lumps and bumps moving onto the bobbin. I kept telling myself today it's the nature of the yarn I'm creating. I think rather than ply it on itself I'll spin up a solid to ply it with, hopefully there will then be enough for a vest or such. I'll eventually get to spinning the final colorway which is more on the brown side.

We usually meet in spinner's homes but today we did something different - we met at Taprock in Grants Pass, a beautiful lodge type log restaurant that sits right on the Rogue River. We reserved the Evergreen Room complete with fireplace, big easy chairs, couches and tables & chairs, plenty of room for everyone to spread out. Wonderful setting, we're hoping they let us come back with all our wheels & fiber. What a treat to order lunch and have it served rather than having to bring our own.

Still at work on the shawl with the 2009 garden party yarn - have reached the 3/4 mark, will post a picture once finished. Also have pictures to take and post of the last 3 woven devore samples.

Crocheted Shawl

Late yesterday afternoon while watching men's curling (congrats Canada!!!) I started a crocheted shawl using my garden party handspun. This is how it looks folded in half - I'm actually crocheting in a circle at the moment but folded it over for the picture since that's how it will eventually look. Once I reach 12" folded (at around 8" now) I start on the lacy shell bottom section of the shawl. I've crocheted this pattern once before out of my handspun using a beautiful variegated pastel colorway, it was a gift for my mother but I had never gotten around to making one for myself. This yarn will be perfect for wearing with denim. The nice thing about this shawl is that it actually hugs the shoulders so no readjusting to keep it there. If anyone is interested the pattern is in the Spring 2007 issue of Spin-Off Magazine with an article on it's history - it's called the Four Generation Shawl.

Spinning and curling............

Last night I finished up the final of the roving I pulled into colorways originally shown in the February 7th post. There are 430 yards of this blue colorway. Now I'll need to think about what project these 4 colorways should be used for, of course, I have a limited number of yards so will have to ponder on this.

Curling yesterday was very exciting - I was really hoping the Canadian women's team would win the gold but they ended up losing - they played great though. At this very moment the men's game for the bronze is on tv - Sweden vs Switzerland. Right now the cute young Swedes are ahead at the beginning of End 10 - I hope they can keep that lead although it would be very exciting to go into overtime........but I still want them to win in the end. I can't believe I have fallen in love with this sport! 3pm brings on the match for gold/silver medals - I'll have to dvr it since we have to go out mid-way through.

More curling............

As I watch the cute little Swedes losing the curling match (is it called a match?) in End 9 I feel for them but they are young and have gone so much further than expected - and the Canadian team is incredible so I would have been surprised had they not won. But the Swedish team still has a chance for the bronze on Saturday..........yes, I have it written down when the women are playing tomorrow for medals and when the men are playing Saturday. I just read comments from Theresa and Susan on my last post where I talked about curling - had me smiling. And yes, congrats to Canada for how well they're doing in the Olympics!

So, on the weaving front I did get that other warp woven, the white T-105 cotton covered polyester thread. Now I can think about projects I 'want' to weave - first off being a quick chenille scarf a customer mentioned wanting if I ever wove teal and salmon together, then fingertip towels for a multi-guild towel exchange.

The UPS truck was here a bit ago with 2 boxes totalling 89 pounds of Ashland Bay rovings - some new colors and a number of replacement colors for those I've sold out of. It's always fun to open those boxes but it also means lots of time spent weighing out fiber and packaging it in 8 ounce bags.

After I cut the warp off the loom I remembered I hadn't sewn on the leather handles I ordered from Homestead Heirlooms for the grazing sheep bag I knit and felted. Below is the finished bag. This pattern was out of the book 'I Heart Felt', I made a few changes to the pattern as I went. The handles were hard on the fingers to sew on but they are oh so nice and had great instructions on how to sew them on with the wooden buttons on the backside. Many thanks to my friend Kathy for telling me about the two gals who do this leatherwork. When I ordered the handles I also ordered some leather oak leaf pins complete with little wooden acorn embellishments.

Why can't I devour devore?

I am having the hardest time with this devore guild program - I love devore, commercial devore, but not so thrilled with this woven devore. I'm sure (I hope) once I'm finished and have burnt out designs in the handwoven scarves I'll look at them and think they're beautiful but for now I'm avoiding it all together...........I've even been cleaning out and organizing drawers, cabinets & closets instead of weaving! That's unbelieveable for those that know me well. My new incentive is that nothing else goes on a loom until the weaving is done for this program. I'll still have the burn out work to do and my program handout but that's ok, it will be fit in here and there before April 10.

But yesterday I did get back to that soy silk/bamboo warp on the loom - it's off, sample is waiting to be burnt out. I wound a warp and have it almost threaded through the reed and ready to start weaving on today. This warp is white T-105 commercial cotton covered polyester sewing thread. It's rather thick, similar to a 10/2 size. I took a picture but it was pretty boring looking so you're seeing one little corner on the entertainment center in the studio instead. Back to this T-105 - what is supposed to happen when I apply the Fiber-etch (burn out gel) is that the cotton will burn out leaving only the polyester and will result in see-through areas in the fabric. This is different from what I've been doing so far weaving with 2 different fibers (threads) - this is one thread that contains two different fibers. I understand it won't be drapey, like for a scarf, so I only put on 2 yards to sample. It will remain white since disperse dyes are needed to dye this fiber combo. I have boatloads of acid dyes and fiber reactive dyes.....I don't need to add disperse dyes to the cupboard for one sample of something I may not weave with again.

On another note - I know curling at the olympics is being made fun of, great humorous article in the sports section of our local paper this week not to mention nationwide comments. Up until this last week I've probably seen less than 60 seconds of curling in my life. I'm loving it! For those that know me, they know I'm not exactly a sports fanatic, far from it, but I'm loving this curling. Right now the women's semi-finals are on, this afternoon the men's semi-finals. Yesterday was an exciting play-off game between the young (cute) Swedish men's team and the Brits - the cute young Swedes won, they play the Canadians tonight who are top notch. Sam couldn't believe it when I told him all about the game in the evening. I'm not sure what it is about curling that I love - maybe it's something that I could see trying, maybe it's the accents of the commentators - kind of Canadian/Minnesotan, who knows but I know I'll miss it when it's gone. If we travel to Canada in the future (likely) I'll have to plan our trip around a curling tournament to attend, like our trip to Seattle planned around the Mariners/Orioles game.

More handspun...........

Here's more of the handspun of the coordinating colorways from a handpainted roving. In the original post of February 7th this was the roving in the lower left hand corner. It's more green than I would have liked but the yellow area in the roving was very small, maybe 3" so the tips of blue and teal overtook the yellow. It's still nice though. Working on the blue now, blue with tips of yellow and purple.

More spinning.........

Here is more of the spinning (404 yards) from the colonial roving in my post from February 7th. This was the roving in the upper left hand corner of the picture - mostly purple with bits of blue and teal. Between the Woolee Winder and watching the olympics I'm getting a bit more spinning done that usual. This evening will start the yellow color with bits of turquoise and blue on the tips.

Another devore warp.........

It's time to get back to the loom. I've been stagnant - am not overly enthused about the guild program I need to give in April on woven devore and since I won't let myself weave anything else until the program is finished I haven't been weaving. Today I decided I needed to get the second to the last warp for the program on the loom - it's soy silk (pink) and bamboo (mauve). At the end of this scarf warp I'll weave a little sample to try out the devore on before doing it on the actual scarf. The bamboo will burn out where I apply the burnout paste, the soy silk will not.

The final warp for this program will be using commercial sewing thread, T105, which is a cotton covered polyester......it's on it's way here from Textura Trading. The cotton will burn out leaving a much thinner thread of only polyester. I understand it's not very drapey so will probably sample first and not assume it will make a nice scarf. It only comes in white but can be dyed. From what I understand disperse dyes are used but I'm not sure why fiber reactive dyes couldn't be used, the cotton would dye, the polyester not.....might be interesting.

Woolee Winder, starting to love it.........

Here is the start of the roving I separated into color sections from the post of February 7th. This is the pile in the upper right hand corner, teal with tips of yellow and purple. I love the way the colors blended. I have 376 yards of this color - it's a bit thinner than fingering weight. Tonight while watching the Olympics I'll start on the mostly purple colorway.

And the Woolee Winder and I have become friends, it's really gotten broken in and is much more pleasant to use. I still need to give Nathan a call to discuss the touchiness of the brake but I'm starting to love it. And no more noise is a great thing - that would have been the deal breaker on whether to keep it or not. I'm spinning so much quicker without having to manually move the position of the yarn on the bobbin - I flew plying. As Martha would say "it's a good thing".

Woolee Winder Update

My Woolee Winder update - it's getting better. The noise is pretty much gone. I started spinning 'real' fiber, not test fiber and it's turning out great. I still haven't gotten it as smooth as I'd like - I've switched up the brake band many times but right now I'm sticking with the same cord I use on my Lendrum. I meant to call Nathan today to talk to him about this but never got around to it - hopefully I won't forget tomorrow.

Very important - I don't want to deter anyone who is thinking of buying one from doing so. I've talked/emailed many folks that have not had any problems at all and love their Woolee Winders. Thank goodness I spoke with one local friend who had the same noise problem when she first got hers - she told me it eventually went away after a bit of spinning. Also so glad I read comments on Ravelry, at least I knew I wasn't the only one.

So, I'm beginning to think I won't be returning it. I'll see how I feel after I spin and ply what I'm working on right now. This is the fiber from the recent post where I pulled it apart at the color changes. This is the primarily teal color with bits of purple and yellow - I like the way it's turning out.

On another note today I was working on a sewing project for the WOW factor for my April weaving guild program on woven devore. Since I'm not enthused about the woven devore I definitely need the WOW factor! I can't tell what it is since some guild members check in with my blog.

Woolee Winder

So the excitement of the arrival of the Woolee Winder quickly wore off Monday evening. As my husband said it sounded like a hunk of junk. With much oiling, tons of oiling, wipe up the drip oiling the clankety-clank and clickety-click have gone away - it's been replaced by a fairly quiet whorling. Sam thinks the teflon piece must have seated in after spinning on it for a while - it was not smooth at all running up and down the chase, would stick in places, now it's fairly smooth. So, that challenge conquered but still the challenge of it not spinning smoothly. A friend of mine brought her wheel with WW on it to guild yesterday for me to try out - oh, so smooth and spun like a dream - hmpf! Others I know had no problems with it. I then wrote to Susan who also has a Majacraft with WW to find out how hers was doing - well, of course, it was spinning beautifully so she suggested I check out the posts on the Majacraft group on Ravelry. Thank you Susan! I learned that the brake cord that comes standard on the Majacraft and works beautifully with the plastic bobbins does not like wood bobbins. One suggestion was 40lb fishing line. I didn't have any last night so I went to look at what was on the wood bobbins of my Lendrum, a different kind of cord which I snagged some of out of the repair kit and put it on the Majacraft. Better but not perfect. Today I bought 50lb fishing line - seemed to be better for a bit but then wasn't so back to the Lendrum line for now. I'm going to give Nathan a call at WW for more hints/tips. I was thinking of returning it but it's starting to break in now so it might just make a life here. I understand he has a great return policy if I'm not happy with it. Tonight I'm actually going to start spinning something other than junky test wool. This whole spinning thing is supposed to be relaxing, not stressful............well, unless you're spinning cotton!

Spinning and Woolee Winder

My new Woolee Winder awaits me at the post office tomorrow morning. I'm so excited. I should be able to fly spinning without having to move the yarn along the bobbin manually every once in a while. The big decision, which took weeks, was do I get it for the Majacraft Little Gem or for the Lendrum upright. I finally decided on the Majacraft - since that's even smaller and more portable than the Lendrum I end up spinning on it more often.

So, last night I decided to visit the roving stash (mine bought elsewhere, not all the hand-dyed and Ashland Bay I have for sale......although many of those were tempting, but I'll spin some up next project). I came up with 2 packages of this Colonial wool in the Purple Haze colorway from Great Balls of Fiber up in WA. I'd put a link but Sara doesn't have a website. She always has a booth at NWRSA and OFFF though.

I decided to try a technique Shelly of Butternut Woolens had examples of at OFFF this past fall. I pulled apart the roving at the color separations and will spin each separately. But since wispy bits of the adjoining colors came while pulling the roving apart there will be bits of those colors spun in with the main color. I should end up with 4 coordinating yarns when I'm done. Not sure what the end project will be - it's the spinning I'm excited about - will decide what it will be used for at a later time.
Would love to be spinning while watching the SuperBowl this afternoon but want to wait for the Woolee Winder so I'll probably knit instead. Family coming over today - potluck yummies. I'm making cheese fondue, chips/peach mango salsa/guacamole and chocolate fondue for dessert.

Silk and Tencel Devore Sample

Here's a devore sample on the silk/tencel warp. I am so glad I'm doing samples on each scarf warp before burning out the cellulose fiber on the real scarf. This is the first sample where the edges have been ragged after the burnout - that's the tencel fraying. So no burnout on the actual scarf off this warp. Of course before I did this sample I put another warp on using tencel - this time with wool. I just finished weaving it, maybe will get to the devore sample of that tomorrow - will see if it's a repeat of fraying edges to confirm that tencel is not a good fiber choice or was the above sample just a fluke.

Ashland Bay sample spinning

I finally finished up spinning samples of Ashland Bay Trading Co roving. Each time I place an order I spin up a little sample of any new color I've gotten. This way I can put a picture of how the roving looks spun up on my blog and have them here for those who come to buy in person can see and feel them. Now I'm ready to check out my roving stash and figure out what I want to spin next...........so many choices, not sure how I'll choose.

Knitting & Felting

These are the latest knit felted belt bags I've made. Two of them are special orders, one a birthday gift, the rest will hopefully be bought at some point. Above is a close up of the needlefelting I've done on the bags after they're felted. The grazing sheep bag was felted this morning - picture to come after it dries, not sure if I'll wait until I get the leather handles or not for the picture.

Wool Bamboo Devore

Here's the second devore sample - the purple is 2/24 merino wool, the black is Bambu 12. The design isn't really a design, just a shape I cut out to make the stencil, it's a sample afterall.

Grazing Sheep Bag

This is a knitting project I started 2 nights ago. It's the grazing sheep bag that's knit and then felted, pattern from the book 'I Heart Felt'. I've been thinking about making it for quite a while, have had the book and wool sitting in a basket waiting but there was never time - now I'm making time in the evenings. I have made a few changes like making the bag a bit wider and making one of the sheep black instead of white, if I had some gray Cascade 220 I'd throw a few gray ones in there too, but I don't. I was thrown off getting ready to start when I kept looking at the graph and at the photo in the book and they didn't match. I went online looking for a correction to the book, no luck, other companies are great about putting these online. So, then I went on Ravelry to search for other knitters who have made the bag and found 28, all with tips and comments on errors in the book.

On the weaving front today. I did do another devore sample on the wool/bamboo scarf sample, it's drying now. I warped up the loom for a silk/tencel scarf that I will also do devore on, will weave a sample on the end of the warp to test it before working on the scarf. Half the scarf is woven, not sure if there's time for weaving tomorrow as I'll be out much of the day.

Devore Sample

Here's the devore sample from the scarf warp from the previous post. I played with the color in my editing program so the burnout area would show well, there really isn't this much contrast, it's much more subtle but for photography purposes I needed the contrast. The sample turned out perfectly although I still question what happens to the rayon edges of the burn out area with use. One of my questions for Anne Fields from whom I took a seminar from at the ANWG conference last May. Her book was to be out this past fall but now not until April or May - I've got my copy pre-ordered on Amazon for as soon as it comes in.

The process is to burn out any cellulose fibers using Fiber Etch (Dharma Trading Co). There are recipes to make your own burnout solution, it's easier for me to buy it already made. Animal/protein fibers will not burn out. This sample is woven in merino wool and rayon.

Sett is determined by what is needed for a nice hand without being too sleazy after the burnout in the merino area (natural color). I was concerned about drape in the body of the scarf where the merino is joined by the rayon so I sett it just a tiny bit looser and it turned out just fine. So my total is 24 epi, in the burnout areas the wool is 12 epi.

Using plain weave is best, floats from other weave structures such as twill wouldn't work as well in the edge areas of the burnout. I wound the wool & rayon together on the warping board, then when it came to threading the heddles I put wool in harnesses 1 & 2, rayon in harnesses 3 & 4 - it was woven in plain weave, raising 1 & 3 together, then 2 & 4 together. The weft was the wool & rayon wound together on the bobbin (hint later) with ppi at 12.

After weaving I washed and let dry the sample to remove any spinning oils or dirt.

I made a quick stencil from freezer paper which works great because you can iron it onto fabric, shiney side down, and it will temporarily stick to the fabric.

I applied Fiber Etch with a stiff paint/craft brush working from the edges of the stencil in as to not let any seep under the stencil/freezer paper. It must be saturated very well. I turned the fabric over to touch up any areas on the backside that hadn't gotten saturated.

The fabric needs to dry completely, overnight is ok but best not to leave the Fiber Etch on any longer than necessary so I helped it along with a blow dryer.

Once dry, I laid the fabric down on a few pages of newspaper covered with a paper towel. Put a piece of aluminum foil on top of the fabric and iron, moving the iron constantly, using a setting appropriate for the fiber but NO steam. The burnout area will start to turn brown. When it starts to flake off if you rub it with your finger it's done. The Fiber Etch is nasty stuff - I worked in the garage with the door open wearing a mask and gloves, am thinking I need to find a respirator. All those little flakes & fumes are very nasty, you don't want to inhale them.

After all the burnout is done, wash the fabric out and let dry. The burnout areas are transparent.

I'm not sure what design will end up on the scarf, will think about that later. In the meantime I'm putting on another warp of wool with bamboo. I'm a little concerned about this wool, it's very thin and fragile, hopefully I won't have any problems with breakage in the weaving process. I'll try as many fiber combinations as I can for the guild program although I probably won't have nearly the amount of samples/finished pieces as usual just because I want to limit my exposure to the Fiber Etch.

Hint: when winding 2 or more yarns together on a bobbin sometimes one strand will be a bit looser than the other leading to problems on the edges while weaving. You can use a doubling stand, if you have one, or just use whatever you have, what I did. For an example: place one cone on the floor, put a chair with a slotted seat over it, put the other cone on the chair seat, pull the bottom yarn up through the center of the top cone and then wind them together on to the bobbin - the slight amount of twist keeps the two at the same length. I was hoping my kumihimo stand would work for this but the legs are too close together to get a cone on the bottom under the hole so I just used a little wooden box I have.

Phew........long post.................

Trying something new..........

I'm trying a new technique for me - devore, actually woven devore. I need to give a presentation to my weaving guild on it in April so I thought it best to get going. Yesterday I wove a scarf and sample piece using 2/18 merino mixed with a multi-color rayon flake in the warp and weft. I was concerned about drape since the sett is supposed to be for the wool areas where the burnout will occur - this means there are more total ends per inch than I would usually do since there is also the rayon flake. So, instead of a 12-15epi for this it has a 24 epi. I washed the sample piece last night and it's very drapey, good choice of fibers to mix together. Today I'll use a stencil and apply Fiber Etch in the design area which will burn out the rayon leaving only the wool. Definitely a good idea to try this out on the sample piece before the scarf. I'll post a picture of it after finished and dry. After I tackle this first try at it I'll start on other projects mixing other fibers together, I have several cones of yarn waiting to be wound into warps using silks, bamboos, soysilk, tencel and wool. The Fiber Etch burns out cellulose fibers not affecting protein/animal fibers.

And here's Bailey - he was thinking hard down in the studio yesterday helping me pick out other fibers to try with the devore technique. He has his doubts about this process..........

New things.......

Here's a picture of one of the items I was making before Christmas for gifts and for sale - Coffee Cozy's to keep from burning hands on hot take-out coffee cups. I'll have to try and get a better picture at some point - they're quilted using decorative stitches. These are stacks of different fabricways - I've made many more since then. They'll eventually be up for sale in my etsy shop after I get some time for picture taking.

I knit, felted and then needlefelted details on these santa ornaments. The pattern is in the book I (heart) Felt by Kathleen Taylor.

I have another fun gift item I gave for the holidays but need to open one of the leftovers up to take a picture - will come in the near future.

Been sewing.......

I've been sewing recently. This is the Standalone Bag that I finished up today. What a challenge - the directions were lacking so I ripped out stitches a number of times before I figured out what I was 'really' supposed to do. This is the large size, there's also a mini size. On this large size there is no closure planned but the mini pattern had it so I copied that pattern piece and put a magnetic snap closure on this with a button sewn on top for decoration. I'd love to make the mini but it will take a while before I have the patience to do another one. I bought the pattern only, already had this great gingko fabric in my stash. The gal who sells this pattern also sells kits with all the materials and finished bags (go for the finished bag if you're interested unless you like a challenge). She had a booth at OFFF this past September, also has an etsy shop.

Here's a side angle.

And here it is opened up - very cool that it stands like this. I'm thinking it will make a perfect knitting bag or drop spindle tote. The large pattern also had inside pockets. I made them, had them pinned in and then decided not to sew them on, I probably wouldn't end up using them.

Here's the other pattern I've been playing with sewing. The pattern was a bit too small so I blew it up on the copier in one direction. Now it's the perfect size for sock yarn and the socks in progress on the needles.......or anything else fun one wants to put it in.

I've been very lax with posting to my blog. I guess I just haven't been up to anything much worth posting. There's been all the end of the year bookkeeping and counting inventory which is very slow since I'm looking at every color of Ashland Bay roving and every colorway of my hand-dyed rovings thinking about how much I'd love to spin them all! But I do have to get back to work - I've got a guild program to start working on, it will be on woven devore, I've got 2 guild challenges, fingertip towels to weave for this year's exchange and then the rest of the things on my very long to-do list. But this week I've been doing some sewing - will get to a post on those things once I finish up....which will hopefully be today so I can get back to weaving.

This is my handspun from the garden party fiber from a recent post. This is a huge skein of 782 yards that came off my Majacraft plying bobbin. So, I pushed it, at the end I was having trouble getting the yarn to pull onto the bobbin I had it so loaded, finally I had to give up and leave a yard or two on the bobbins, it just wouldn't fit on. Lesson learned, don't try to get quite this many yards on one plying bobbin. I'm not sure yet what this yarn will become - another item on my to-do list is to either knit or weave with it before we put up the fair display in August.

Theresa knit a pair of socks using Zauberball, once I saw them I knew I needed some of this sock yarn. Never mind that I have two shelves filled with sock yarn, I couldn't resist. And it wasn't just this colorway I couldn't resist - I bought several others!

I'm anxious to start a knitted/felted project - perhaps I can get that going in the evenings and put aside the sample spinning (Ashland Bay fibers) for a bit. But first it's off to the sewing machine for the rest of the day............

On another note: Last night at the community concert we listened to a very fun trio - Casey MacGill's Blue 4 Trio. We love these community concerts that we started getting season tickets for a few years ago, we get to see all sorts of performances that we may not have ordinarily gone to see. These guys were very entertaining. Check out their site if you want to listen to some fun 30's-40's tunes, I just checked it out and listened to 3 tunes while posting on the blog, not sure how many play.

New Spinning Blog

Check out the new blog of my spinning group, Warped, Twisted & Plyed; Ply Me To The Moon. We had a fun time on Tuesday talking about keeping track of our yardage this year to see how many yards we could spin. It's not a contest, just our usual spinning but keeping track of it. Having a goal of reaching the moon seemed like a grand idea until one spinner checked online for how many miles it was - yikes! It's even overwhelming just to think about how much we'd have to spin to make it across the country. So, we decided to reach high and keep the name and go for our goal of the moon..........so it takes a few years, decades, centuries..........we'll have fun!

Garden Party Spinning........

Here's what I'm up to spinning wise right now. Above is a picture of fiber that's been run through a picker. A bunch of spinners all brought some fiber to a 'garden party' and threw it in a pile which was then put through the picker. We all got back the same amount of fiber we brought. Summer 2009's theme was pink/cranberry with some bit of other colors for some pop. Fiber content is who knows what - I do know from sheep there is corriedale and merino, there is angora bunny fiber, there is bamboo, there is mohair (from goats) but since we didn't ask what everyone was bringing it's really a big surprise.

This past Saturday I put it through my drum carder three times. Some of the spinners will spin it without carding and end up with lumpy bumpy fun yarn, some will put it through a carder just once. I wanted just a bit of texture but not much so I put it through the carder twice, then a third time adding some angelina sparkle in hot pink to give it some flash!

Here's what one of the batts looks like. As I spin I tear the batt into strips. I ended up with 12 1/2 ounces of fiber.

Here is the first bobbin almost filled - the color turned out beautiful, I love the little bits of yellow, white and black in it for interest and texture. I completely filled this bobbin and started on the second bobbin today. I'm able to fit half of the fiber (6 1/4 oz) on one of these big Majacraft bobbins. I'll ply the two bobbins together for a 2 ply yarn. I'm not sure how I'll use this yarn yet - will depend on how many yards I end up with. I'm spinning it a bit thicker than fingering weight. I wanted to start off the year working on this project since our display at the county fair this year will be a photo display of all the steps of the garden party and finished pieces of skeins of yarn made not only from the 2009 garden party but also from 2007 & 2008.

Beautiful Fabrics

Theresa made a comment in my last post about lack of 'true' fabric stores in our area. Here is one that used to be open here in Grants Pass, OR but has since closed. BUT Textile Connection is online and owns the building the fabric store was/is in so fabric is still there and she will open up by appointment so fabric can be fondled before buying. She's got an incredible selection of fabric from all over the world and the prices are very reasonable. http://textileconnection.net

Bailey and New Year's

Ok, so Bailey is just about as much of a New Year's party guy as we are -the look on his face at the thought of wearing the ridiculous tiara grandma brought over for him today says it all. And believe me it was tough getting this picture - he was ready to rip it to shreds. He was in a much better mood once he lost it and settled in to watch the Oregon Ducks play in the Rose Bowl.........they lost which was too bad but they were there so that was great.

On the fiber front - I really haven't been doing anything - I've been frittering and totally enjoying it (well other than lots of pesky bookkeeping I was behind on). I have done a bit of knitting and felting, but not much. And just today I broke out the wheel to spin more Ashland Bay roving samples. While spinning I'm dreaming of getting a Woolee Winder for one of my wheels. As soon as I'm positive it will be for the Majacraft Little Gem I'll get it ordered. May take a while to get it since Woolee Winder had a fire 3 days before Christmas but that's ok, I'm not in a rush. Am thinking about a sewing project, maybe hit the fabric store tomorrow for some cording.

Thoughts for the new year........

May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home.

May good and faithful friends be yours, wherever you may roam.

May peace and plenty bless your world with joy that long endures.

May all life's passing seasons bring the best to you and yours!

-Irish Blessing-

The kaleidoscope is one I made using Kaleidoscope Creator computer program - the snow photo is what I used in it's creation. I bought the program a couple years ago with great plans of printing on fabric and sewing incredible creations......clothing, quilts, etc. Well, that to-do list of mine is so long that I've only played with it a handful of times..........maybe this year.........

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to All

may you always have

love to share,

health to spare,

and friends that care.

Slouch Sox finished

The slouch sox started a couple months ago are done, just did a bit of knitting here and there on them, decided this last week to finish them up. These were knit from one of my hand-dyed sock blocks - the picture of it after dyeing is in the Sept. 21st post - it's the sock block on the right. It's a rectangle knit using 2 strands of sock yarn at once, it's dyed flat, steamed and hung to dry. Then for knitting I knit both socks at the same time unraveling as I go.....although in this case I unraveled into 2 balls before knitting. The Slouch Socks pattern is from the book Socks Socks Socks by XRX Books. I've knit this pattern several times now - love it. I've also knit several other patterns out of this book, great sock book.

New Toy

Here's my new toy - picked it up at the post office today. It's a Golding Drop Spindle - isn't it beautiful?! Now those that know me are probably wondering why I needed yet another spindle of any kind, let alone my third Golding Spindle.......well, it's not about need, well, maybe it is, I needed it for my mental health. Put some of my birthday money from last month toward it. Can't wait to try it out but still working hard at the sewing machine, hoping to finish up this afternoon or sometime tomorrow.....in the meantime I'll just admire it............

Sewing.......what I did today.

So, this is what I'm working on now - secret stuff but I can show the machine in action without giving away what I'm up to. I bought this Bernina almost 3 years ago and love it - maybe one of these years I'll replace my inexpensive Brother serger with a new Bernina.......need to sew more often to justify it though. And below is the mess of a fabric cabinet - mess on the floor had been cleaned up some earlier in the day. I just kept pulling leftover fabrics from previous projects out to see what I had to play with. Cabinet desperately needs reorganizing again - each section used to house a color family - now colors are all over the place. In addition to sewing today, this evening I actually got the bulk of the gifts wrapped - hurray! Am dying to get back to weaving but still have some other things to finish up first.

Feast of the Seven Fishes

Theresa asked about Feast of the Seven Fishes........here's a link to a brief explanation of what it is. The tradition comes from the Italian side of my family (mother's side). The religious aspect is totally lost on my family these days - my immediate family, as in aunts/uncles, etc. have converted from the Catholic Church to whatever/nothing or are non-practicing Catholics. But the tradition carries on. These days it's a challenge to come up with 7 fish/seafood dishes for those of us in Oregon, only 5 these days, so 7 dishes is way too much food. Many times small appetizers help fill the bill.

Back east this was a huge evening for my big extended family with plates of fried shrimp in the frito misto batter (we forgo that now for a lighter panko crumb coating), fried oysters, scallops, incredible fish soup, calamari in a tomato sauce, teaila (fish casserole), cocktail shrimp and whatever else we could come up with. I will never forget my father going down to the wharves in DC for the oysters and then working down in the basement at the laundry tub shucking them - he and one of my aunts would also eat a few raw (gross). Dad always saved some for oyster stew a day or two later.

These days the menu consists of the fried shrimp, we don't like west coast oysters so none of those, calamari, shrimp cheese ball appetizer, crab dip, smoked salmon and sometimes fish soup, scallops, crab cakes. We always have roasted peppers - my grandmother and mother were roasting peppers when I was very small, decades before you ever heard of it being done mainstream. Me - I'd be happy with a big bowl of cioppino and a loaf of crusty bread. I am so out of it this year I haven't even given any thought to the menu - with Christmas two weeks away it's time for a family discussion on the menu and who will make what.

On Christmas Day dinner - we never used to have much of one - it was always leftovers from the night before with a pasta dish on the side. Oh, and Christmas cookies with coffee for breakfast while waiting for everyone to wake up for present opening. My grandparents lived next door so between the houses and family visiting there were a lot of people to wait on in the morning.

Oh, and the Christmas cookies - dozens of kinds - trays and trays of all different kinds of cookies, traditional family recipes. That's another thing we don't need tons of out here with only 5 of us and two of them diabetics- I'd be finding Christmas cookies still in the freezer 10 months later! If I make one cookie this year it will be an accomplishment.

Current knitting

Here's what I start knitting during the power outage - it's a feather and fan pattern in a Naturally "Dawn" which is a 50/50 wool silk blend. Had to start it several times, was having problems with needles not being pointy enough to be able to do the k2tog. I finally resorted to some old metal double points which are very pointy although slippery. Will be slow knitting but I love the pattern and the feel of this yarn.

The knitting is sitting in my new (old) yarn bowl that a dear friend gifted me with recently. I love it and will treasure it, need to do some research to find out the history behind yarn bowls. Sam remembers one in the family, possibly at his grandmother's farm in southern Virginia. My friend suggested I may want to someday refinish it or paint it - was giving it thought but now am thinking I may leave it as is so when I look at it I can imagine the knitters before me with their current work in progress sitting in the bowl.

Here we go again...........

So, here we go again - hours of no power - this is not condusive to me finishing up Christmas gifts that require the sewing machine. I'm beginning to think I need a lesson on how to use the portable generator so I can at least plug in the sewing machine and table lamp next to it - I've got heavy duty extension cords that will go from the studio, through the garage out to the generator.

Thank goodness today I had already showered before it went out at 7:24 this morning. But being 9 degrees out the house got cold very quickly. I knit for a while, did some other things that required no electricity, then finally my hands started to hurt, I was just too cold (not my feet though with 2 pair of handknit wool sox on them). So, down to the garage to figure out how to take the door off the track for the electric opener - hurray, mission accomplished and off in the race car to town to do errands in heated stores! Power back on around 2:30, thank goodness not as late as Tuesday. So, now how to get that garage door back on the track.........

Right before I lost power this morning I was reading Theresa's blog about Christmas traditions - I have to admit it made me cry - what wonderful memories. I've been having a hard time with Christmas the past few years, having dealt with my Dad's terminal cancer and alzheimer's with holiday hospital stays and hospice over the next holiday. I'm just having a hard time getting in the mood. But when I have electricity I am loving the process of making gifts so maybe by next year the entire house will be decorated again with my 4 trees. This year so far all there that's up is a fresh greenery swag on the gate that Sam somehow hung upsidedown - kind of funny. Guess I will have to get or make a table centerpiece since I am having the traditional Italian Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes at my house this year.

Oh yes, and back to the weather - good news/bad news. The forecast is for the temp to warm up a bit tomorrow, bad news is that they're calling for snow and/or ice.......sheesh.........

Knit Christmas Hat

Here is the picture of the Christmas hat I knit yesterday while without power. It was a free pattern with purchase of yarn - unfortunately not very accurate but it turned out ok. Instructions said to add bells to the end, I thought better of that and made a pom-pom..........haven't made one of those is probably 40 years, kind of fun.

Everything else I'm working on right now is for gifts so no pictures.

All good on the home front - in spite of being 10 degrees when I got up there were no frozen pipes after Sam's fix and power stayed on today.......well, kind of, lots of power blips that were just enough to screw with the computer, satellite and my sewing machine which is computerized and would go back to the default straight stitch each time there was a blip - right in the middle of me sewing!

I enjoyed reading everyone's comments, water/power horror stories, we were definitely lucky.

The morning got worse..........

Just as I hit the 'publish post' button for my post early this morning the power went out - yikes! Sam left 10 minutes earlier for work after finally showering once he thawed out the pipe down at the pump house. So, I called asking what to do as far as pipes go - took his advice and called our wonderful neighbor, Merle, to come over and help with getting the pump house roof off and he wrapped up the pipes for me - more permanent fix to come when Sam gets home this evening. So, back to no power - was without power for 8 hours - just came back on. We don't have a wood stove for heat but a wood stove fireplace insert with blowers that, of course, don't work without power. A few years ago I did buy a screen to use it as a regular fireplace. I did manage to get the glass door off but then decided to wait on lighting a fire. Glass door is back on now and a fire is going to get the house warmed up (heat pump running too) I fared well in the freezing cold but everything I wanted to do required power! So, I sat near a window for light and knit - picture of the Christmas hat to come.

Now off to shower.........finally now that I've got water and it's hot again...........

Frozen pipe.....

It certainly is chilly out this morning, chilly enough that when Sam was in the shower he ran out of water - yikes, pipe frozen somewhere. Found it down at the pump house. We still haven't figured out when they built this house why they put in a submerisble pump but have pipe coming above ground for a few inches. In our last house (which we built) everything was totally underground below the freeze line - didn't even have a pump house, only evidence of where the well was located was the pump liner and cap sitting at ground level. So, Sam ran down the hill with a flashlight and my heat gun to thaw the pipe out, luckily it wasn't split, a clamp on light is now down there for heat, heat tape to come later today. What a rude way to start the morning.

So, on the fiber front - no pictures to share at the moment. I'm working on Christmas gifts which can't be shown on the blog right now. Switched from the loom to the sewing machine and was having great fun yesterday stitching away. Three years ago I bought a Bernina to replace my old faithful Sears model that I had since 1973. It's the most incredible machine, I would highly recommend Bernina to anyone looking for a new machine. As for my old Sears machine, which was the top of the line when I got it, it's in the storage room, I can't bear to get rid of it, it's still a great machine needing service only once in 36 years.

I spent Saturday at the arts fair, bad economy evident........not anywhere near the numbers of folks milling through as usual, and not as much spending. I didn't sell as many handwoven scarves but sold numerous hand-dyed silk scarves which are 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of handwoven. I sold many other items in the moderate price range, sure glad I have varied prices in the booth or I may not have sold anything. So, taking into account my hours spent at the fair it was still worthwhile.

Finished mug rugs

Here are the finished mug rugs, there are 4 in a pile. There's actually another pile of red ones but they didn't fit in the picture. These were awaiting tags when I took the picture. I can't believe that warp was on the small loom for so long, glad it's off. Hopefully these will sell quickly.

Spent the better part of the day getting things ready for the Pacifica Fine Arts & Crafts Winter Festival this coming up Saturday........checked my bag supply, change in the cashbox, etc. Tomorrow I'll get everything packed up in plastic bins for transporting and make monster-size almond macaroon cookies that I donate to be sold at the festival. Friday afternoon is decorating and booth set-up - miles of garland, lights & red bows and more evergreen swags with red bows than one can imagine.

Weather has been foggy and cold for almost 2 weeks now. It's a chill-to-the-bone cold that doesn't subside. There have been areas less than 15 miles away with sun but the fog hangs low near us. Just up the road on the Sexton Pass it's been 20 degrees warmer and sunny because it's above the fog. So, we just keep the fire going to stay warm & cozy indoors. The only bright spot is that there is no snow in the forecast for the festival this weekend - it's threatened many years and there have been horribly icy roads for my drive in the morning in the past.

Latest projects

Here are the towels that just came off the loom that I finished hemming yesterday, a total of 13 towels off that warp using a 6/2 cotton.

These are the mug rugs (coasters) that have been on the other loom forever - finally decided they've got to be woven off so got that started the other day, will hopefully get back to it within the next few days.

And here's an example of the felted soaps I've been working on. The soap lathers up through the wool felt and acts as a washcloth. They continue to felt for a bit, after the soap is used up a slit can be cut in the felt and it can be stuffed with lavendar or such to make a sachet.

So, this is just a bit of what I've been up to. Need to put the fiber on hold for a couple days so I can get gifts wrapped that need to be shipped back east.