Not much to show.....

Not much to show on the fiber front right so here's a picture of the merino/tencel roving dyed last week. Last night I did spin up some samples of the merino/tussah dyed last week, love the way they turned out. I don't know how my customers feel but right now I'm feeling like I don't want handspun that ends up having stripes so I'm dyeing the roving using up to 10 coordinating colors in small sections which results in a beautiful tonal handspun. Will get a picture later of those samples. I haven't spun samples of these two yet.


Sunday was spent over-hauling the studio. Sam helped with moving one small loom out, it's being stored in the under the steps closet right now, emptying and moving out a big entertainment center which has now found a new home, unloading wire shelving, moving the shelving and loading it back up all in preparation for the new AVL coming sometime next month.

Yesterday I moved the big Macomber to it's new spot with hopes that the empty space will accomodate the new loom, it should since I have the measurements. I also took down critters on high shelves, Boyd's plush animals - all sheep & a few llamas! And out of that entertainment center came tons, and I mean tons, of small sheep & llamas and sheep related 'stuff''. I picked out my favorites, ones that were gifts or handmade by friends, put them back up on those shelves, not crammed like before but nicely arranged. It felt good to keep the ones that really have meaning to me......and some others I just can't part with. It's time for all the sheep related items to find new homes. I have loved them over the years but they're becoming too much, too cluttered, I can't think in there. Hopefully those that gifted them will forgive me for passing them on, it's time......and I hope they stop buying. So, right now my brain is hard at work figuring out ways to find new homes for all these critters - maybe some giveaways on my blog, maybe some of the little ones will become gifts with purchase, maybe $1 grab bags at Fiber Mania...... will be doing some brainstorming. I was feeling so good in my newly transformed digs that late yesterday afternoon I got back to work on those needlefelted pincushions, have 2 left to finish.....and finished up my marathon watching of the 4th season of Dexter.

My shameless plug....yes, I'll be there in my booth......

SECOND ANNUAL FIBER MANIA
A Celebration of Mother Nature’s Fibers
November 12 & 13 - 9am-5pm
Josephine County Fairgrounds in Grants Pass, Oregon

Sale of fiber, Fiber arts, Equipment, Fiber animals, Classes, Informal Fashion Show, Door Prizes and Demonstrations
Registration is now open for classes/workshops, booth space and animal space

To entice you, here are classes available
Intro to Continuous Strand Weaving (weaving)
Wet Felting a Hat (felting)
Knitting with Beads (knitting)
Coquille Shawl (knitting)
Warm up your Neck (knitting)
Nuno Felting (felting)
Adventures in Color (drum carding)
Whorld Exploration (spinning)
Tame Lace (knitting)
Odds & Ends (knitting)
Beginning Needlefelting (felting)
Intermediate Needlefelting (felting)
Learn to Knit a Beaded Bracelet (knitting)

Dyeing......now dead tired.......

You'd think dyeing only 3 pounds of merino/tencel and a pound of silk hankies would be an easier dye day. Not so, it took just as long as if I had dyed 10 pounds of roving. Love all the color today.

Here's what yesterday's dyeing of the merino/tussah silk looks like dried, braided and ready for sale. I love the sheen in this roving and these colorways, approximately 2 pounds of each color that will be showing up over the next several days in my etsy shop.

Was originially thinking I'd dye again tomorrow, think I need to take the day off, it's still supposed to be on the cooler side Monday so will get back to dyeing then. Tomorrow will get the merino/bamboo braided and weighed and all the silk hankies packaged and weighed.......and weigh out the next 10 pounds of fiber to be dyed.

10 pounds of dyed merino/tussah silk roving...all in a day's work

Sunshine Marmalade.....aka Three-Fruit Marmalade

Since this is such an unusual and yummy recipe I thought I'd post it. It's called Three-Fruit Marmalade by Lorraine Wright and I got it out of the August/September 2011 Country Woman Magazine. I thought it needed a more descriptive name so I've renamed it 'Sunshine Marmalade' because it looks (and tastes) like sunshine in a jar. Hmm, I need to make some scones......

1 medium orange
2 cups chopped peeled fresh peaches
2 cups chopped peeeled fresh pears
1 pkg powdered fruit pectin
5 cups sugar

Finely grate peel from orange; peel and sectoin the fruit. Place peel and section in a Dutch oven. Add peaches and pears. Stir in pectin. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar; bring to a full rolling boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; skim off foam.

Ladle hot mixture into hot sterilized pint jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Remove air bubbles; wipe rims and adjust lids. Process for 5 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Yield: 4 pints

Ok, here's my change - I don't process jam in a boiling-water canner. The extension service would not approve but it works just fine. I put the hot jam mixture into the jars, put the lids on tight and turn the jars upside down on a towel for around 5 minutes, then I turn the jars upright. Then the popping begins as the lids seal - makes me smile as it does. Over 20+ years I've only had a couple jars that didn't seal, they just went straight in the fridge.

Not doing what I should be......

I'm getting good at not doing what I should be. Today I should have been hard at work at the dyepots. It was a perfect day for it, cloudy and cool. But no, I ran to town for some more Sure Jell so I could make jam this afternoon - 2 batches of strawberry and 2 batches of marmalade. I'm not a huge marmalade fan but this recipe looked intriguing...orange, peaches & pears....it's yummy!

Tomorrow must be a dye day....have so much dyeing ahead of me this summer.........

Yum!

Yum! Blueberry Jam is my all time favorite jam....love huckleberry jam too. Played catch-up this morning after being away for 10 days, this afternoon I decided to pick up some blueberries and make jam - 3 batches in all. It was a toss up....weave off that scarf warp or make jam and today just seemed like a jam making day. Might have to pick up more berries and make a pie or crisp this week.

It's been a great 10 days......

It's been a great 10 days on the coast, Bandon by the Sea, Oregon. We hate to head home but must and will be there a couple hours from now. The beach cottage is coming along, some furniture painted this week but mostly time spent relaxing taking walks on the beach and into Old Town, reading, sitting on the deck enjoying the sounds of the coast....the surf hitting the beach & rocks, fog horns, gulls overhead and the soft sound of the Catholic church bells playing a tune at different times of the day. We've been picking up tiny little cockle shells on our walks, not many to be had but they're starting to fill this glass teacup.

....needlefelting elbow....

...needlefelting elbow, that's what I think I have now but it's been fun. Below are the finished teacup & planter pincushions....

....and here are the antique jello mold and little pail pincushions in progress....3 are done, the others have the layer of background color on them.....will work on the those as the mood strikes....

excuse the photos, taking them with my phone, it does a decent job, but.....

Ah....life is good........

Today's play.....

Today's playing was working on needlefelted pincushions - starting at the left is step one of putting the natural wool in for a base, I put a little white glue in the bottom to hold it in place. Step 2, in the center is where I needlefelt the perfect color for the top. Then Step 3, on the right, is where I've needlefelted a design on it. This is way fun. I've got a total of 8 in the works in these little teacup planters and some square planters, then I've got some antique jello molds for more pincushions. The bread in the background really isn't burnt, the photo doesn't do it justice, it's a very yummy lemon blueberry bread to share with a couple of my fiber friends tomorrow that are coming over to learn how to make felted soaps.

Small town parade....

Small town America 4th of July parade....

...the Coast Guard float - that cute little lady in the hat is the grandma of a Japanese family, she speaks no english but she waved at all the military floats and collected candy thrown for her grandson.....her grandson who was very taken with Bailey.....

...can't remember what this float was but it was colorful.....

....very nice float but no comment on separation of church and state from me....you don't need to hear it....

....lots of fun old cars.....lots of very fun corvettes that I was looking at but never raised the phone to take a picture of.....

....and my favorite....the native americans with dog toting another dog behind him.....it's hard to see the dog being toted but it's a tiny one who was enjoying his ride....  Fun little parade but no band....where was the high school band? probably on vacation elsewhere.....

Crocheted scarf in progress....

I don't crochet very often but it's really the first playing with yarn I had ever done, my grandmother taught me when I was very young, she left-handed, started the project, handed it to me and somehow I learned right-handed. This scarf is called the Crocheted Mesh Scarf by Heidi Hirtle. I saw a scarf like this but then couldn't find where that was so I went looking on Ravelry for something similar, this is a free pattern. I'm using her basic instructions but have changed the width of mine and will continue crocheting for a much longer scarf than hers. Unfortunately the picture doesn't do my handspun justice, it's got lots of deep purple and orange in it, spun from a corriedale cross hand-dyed roving. When blocked these will be nice orderly little rectangular windows, not skewed like it looks in progress.

But it ain't no Maryland Blue Crab......

.....but it is one gigantic crab, as in well over 6 feet.....

...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.

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.

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

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!

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.......

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

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

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)

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!

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........

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.

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.

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.

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..........

Nothing much to say, no pictures to share........

Well, I have nothing much to say, haven't done a whole lot fiber wise other than knitting around 6 rows on my current shawl project which has now reached the stay focused, pay attention, don't talk while knitting stage. Played with the embroidery machine this morning stitching on my friend Yvonne's t-shirts and towels, got my supplies together for seminars at the weaving conference that starts on Thursday, and put together more felting bunz kits to list in my etsy shop.

We spent the holiday weekend on the coast, friends from down the coast came to visit bringing their lab mix which Bailey thought was great fun. We drove up to Florence on Saturday to browse all the shops and galleries and they've got some great ones. We also had the Royal Tea luncheon at Lovejoy's Tea Room. We've been there before and always enjoy relaxing with a pot of tea or two and eating yummy food.

Not much happening other than unseasonably cold rainy weather, just like it does all winter long.......

Playing with beads again......or skirting everything else.....

I really have wanted to get some jewelry put together but right now it's become a diversion to what I should be doing......but what I should be doing isn't life or death so I guess I shouldn't care! Have been feeling lately like I'm not getting done what I need to......weaving, more sewing, photography work so I can sell what I've made (no one sees it, it won't sell) cleaning out my closet, dyeing (but it's just been too cold and wet for that), weeding.......on and on. So, continuing on how I've been going I'll sit down and read a book this afternoon, this is unheard of for me, I never take the time to read (other than fiber related mags) but I took this book out at the library and it's got to go back tomorrow so rather than sign it out longer I'll read it.....and I am enjoying it. Think I might just make myself a cup of tea to go with sitting and reading......rainy, cloudy, windy day it seems perfect.

I've been wanting to put together these two necklaces for a long time......sorry for the bad picture, I'm definitely not a photographer. Those are swarovski crystals on the necklaces, very sweet, pretty little necklaces. The dragonfly earrings and pendants were made from cloisonne pieces bought at Shipwreck Beads in March.

Finally finished plying......

So does anyone else find plying extremely boring? I finally finished plying this big skein, 708 yards in all. The fiber was from Crosspatch Creations, their Rainbow Roving in the Victoria into the Woods colorway - Corriedale cross/tussah silk/silk noil. I love the way it turned out with all the bumples from the silk but it was a challenge to spin....my own little personal challenge to spin because I normally like to spin nice smooth soft fibers with no bumplies. Not sure what it will become yet, will think on that later down the line.........

All in a day's work......or play........

Today I spent a little time at the serger - this pattern bought at Sewing Expo by my friend Kathy is for a wrap/shawl that's cut in a kind of spiral and then just serged on the raw edges. It's really hard to show the drape and ruffly effect on the mannequin but I tried. The fabric is a sheer. I was going to start another type of serged edge sheer vest/cape pattern but as I laid out the fabric and the pattern piece didn't fit I found that I needed 58-60" wide fabric and mine was only 45" wide - oh well........wasn't bought for this project so it will be used for the original top and the shawl/cape pattern will have to wait until I find another fabric.

 So, then it was on to playing with jewelry. I put together 2 charm bracelets, pendants and many earrings.....notice the coastal theme? The teal ones in the bottom right corner are actually swarovski crystal starfish. The hearts are silver charms I bought from a bead shop in Port Townsend almost 5 years ago.....time to make the bracelet!

Above are cloisonne pieces that I put together with swarovski crystals for pendants & earrings. The cloisonne pieces are by Gita Maria, beautiful work.....have had these for a few years too.

More NWRSA...........

These were my entries in the NWRSA gallery. I got a 1st place on my knit scarf (center) and on two of my handspuns, then two 2nd places and two 3rd places all on handspun yarn. I was just a bit miffed over them, not the actual judging on the quality of my work, they were right on, I don't strive for handspun yarn that looks like it was machine spun so I have no complaints about comments on little slubs here and there or inconsistencies in twists per inch in some of my skeins. But those top four skeins were either to be judged together or just put on display and not judged - I wanted them shown together to share with others how I created 4 coordinating skeins from one length of hand-dyed roving. They took them apart to judge them, spread them out over 4 different tables and did not include the pictures I gave them of the roving and how I separated it. Another comment was that my items would be scored higher if I only included 35 yards in a skein, well, yeah, if I cherry picked 35 yards they would be higher......but in that skein that flows from yellow at one end to black at the other sure wouldn't have worked in only 35 yards, they would have only seen one color. Oh well......I really shouldn't complain because I'm very grateful that there were volunteers who took on the gallery and everything else connected with this conference. I truly had a great time, once again.
 
Thought I'd share a picture of  the basket the 5 of us attending from our little area donated as a fund raiser for the organization. It's hard to tell but this was a gigantic tub - those sheep are huge!

Great fun at NWRSA conference......

Early last Thursday morning my friend Pat and I set off for the NWRSA spinning conference up in Salem, OR - we met up with others from our area and many other fiber friends from elsewhere. We had a great time and came home totally exhausted last night. I took one great class with my bud Janis Thompson from Dyelots in Eugene, OR on spinning art yarn - what fun! Looking forward to spinning more yarn adding bit and pieces of ribbon, beads, or whatever to add in as accents in my woven scarves. Took a knitting class that was a bust, the teacher had a handout with typos in the pattern instructions, she left out pertinent parts of the pattern and couldn't/wouldn't answer questions - I had heard from someone who took another class from her in the morning that she wasn't a good teacher, she was right. And there were only 5 of us in the class, perfect for getting more one on one help......with any other teacher, what a disappointment and waste of my time and money.......oh well........that happens once in a while, thank goodness not very often.

Each year I try to find or make a goodie for my spinning friends to hang from their wheel. This year I made little felt balls, added beads and charms and made wheel jewelry. I think everyone liked hanging a special bauble on their wheel.....they can also hang it from a chain or cord later and wear it as jewelry. I made my self a necklace with matching earrings I wore one day in one of my favorite colors - lime green. I'm trying to decide if I should make some of these to sell.....I tend to get scattered selling too many different items but I'll give it thought, they were fun to make.

I don't have alot of treasures to share as far as shopping - I didn't need a thing - all I bought was one knitted beaded scarf pattern. I felt bad for the vendors, not enough shoppers since attendance was down and not many came in on public day. I would have liked to have supported them but when I've got hundreds of pounds of fiber here at home already that I sell I just couldn't justify buying more.

Busy, busy..........

I'm still here and busy, did some more sewing the end of last week, had a weaving guild meeting Saturday and Sewing Sunday get together on Sunday......duh, of course it would be on Sunday being called Sewing Sunday. Yesterday I spent working on 'favors' (you'll see those next week) for my spinning circle peeps at an upcoming event, also finished up a birthday gift. Today is spinning get together, tomorrow hopefully some time at the sewing machine.

I do have some new spinning happening - this is a mix of fibers from Crosspatch Creations, very fun to spin some not perfectly smooth yarn full of bits and pieces.

I finished knitting the Hydrangea Scarf from a Fiber Trends pattern the other night - it's wool/bamboo/silk, so lovely and soft. It's still in need of blocking but am hoping someday soon spring will arrive and I can put the blocking foam out on the deck table to block it out in the warm weather to dry quickly.

And this is the new knitting happening. I found this free pattern on Ravelry, the Holden Shawlette. I'm knitting it out of some of my handspun that was spun from Butternut Woolens merino/silk. The first part of the shawl is mostly stockinette, soon I'll start knitting the lace. I'm going to knit it into a full size shawl rather than the shawlette that the instructions are for. I can just keep repeating the pattern and to make it easier to figure that out I'm going to train myself to read from the chart rather than from the written word which I've always found easier......so this will also be a learning tool.

Soon I'll get back to weaving, I've been away from it for a long time for me and am feeling disconnected from it, not a good thing. Also have a few hundred pounds of fiber to dye but that needs to wait until it's decent enough to work outside.

Bernina time........

Not much to blog about lately - took off Friday evening for the coast, back Sunday night......been doing a little sewing and weighing out wool since. I did end up getting a pair of crop pants out of the rest of the rayon batik from the flouncy top pictured in my last post. Yesterday I started this outfit after spending 90 minutes trying to figure out how to make buttonholes on my Bernina. The only time I made a buttonhole was in the new owner's class I took over 4 years ago, book was lacking a bit in details. I eventually figured it and boy amd I ever impressed with how easy it is and how wonderful the option of it saving the size to do multiple buttonholes all the same, even the next day. Of course, after all that I decided just to sew closed the front of this top and put the buttons on as embellishment......decided after putting the button tabs on that it's never the kind of top I'd wear unbuttoned and it slips easily over my head. Now I need to find a pattern with lots of buttonholes so I can use that feature on the machine. The fabric is more of the rayon batik I bought up at Sewing Expo in March....pattern - Indigo Junction, Asian Nights PJ's (although these aren't pj's).

Below is a close-up of the bottom of the pant leg. I would have put the pants on the mannequin except it would have been a pain to turn the mannequin on it's side to slip them on just for a picture.....I'm lazy.

Have picked out more fabric from the stash to start another outfit, may get to work on that tomorrow.....need to put the machine to sleep soon and get back to weaving though.....after a few more pieces of clothing.........

The rest of the afternoon will be spent weighing out Ashland Bay roving in 8oz bags, labeling and storing in tubs for future sales. I started this job Monday afternoon, need to finish it up as the room I'm working in has little floor space left....it's covered with at least 60 bags of wool roving now, more to come.

Rayon batik.....yummy

Yesterday afternoon found me taking the pattern for the Keshy Jacket (see Feb 26 & 27th) and reworking it for a new top - then today I cut the fabric and got it made. I took the sleeves off which leaves a nice little cap sleeve. And the bottom section of the front was totally reworked but slicing a copy of the pattern in two spots, spreading it out, taping more pattern paper behind and creating a piece that would be a bit ruffly and drapey. I also lengthened it 2" from the original. I love the results! I do have more of this fabric left, was thinking a pair of slacks or crop pants but I'm not so sure I have enough fabric for either. I could always make a cute little tank to wear under this, I do have a couple different solid color tanks that will already look nice under it though, it would be nice to be able to get pants out of it.....will look at my patterns tomorrow but I'm having my doubts about having enough.

Tea & cupcakes anyone.......

So got home from spinning get-together,a birthday tea & crepes with a couple friends after spinning and a quick run through the local art museum to see a tapestry exhibit (no comment on that, you don't want to hear it) I found a little time to learn a bit more about my new toy. I chose to use the tea motif again just because it's a line drawing and doesn't use up much thread or time to use for learning. My first attempt at putting letters under the design is to the left - not exactly what I expected. I couldn't figure out why the machine kept saying I couldn't put anymore letters in.....well, I guess if it's set on 'large' that will happen. So, next try I set the font size to small - much better. These are just one of the canned fonts in the machine - I haven't downloaded other fun ones yet. Gee, looking at this my lettering doesn't line up perfectly under the mat in the design, that's not my fault though, I never took it out of the hoop - the mat isn't perfectly horizontal.

Tomorrow I'll have to move the new toy out of the way so I can get to sewing.........that's after I go buy and plant some flowers. I need to get back to the loom, that's my first love and I've been getting scattered lately. Oh and then there's around 150 pounds of roving that will need dyeing......will get to that sometime..... Deep End of the Loom asked if I'd use my embroidery on my handwovens, not sure but it is a thought, it will definitely work, I'll probably have to put a water soluable interfacing on the top as it embroiders like I would have to for towels.