As the new year looms.....

As the New Year approaches one begins to think about resolutions……well, some other ‘one’ begins to think about resolutions. Me, for one, always breaks resolutions which leads to a feeling of failure. So, better not to have any and feel good about myself.

Last year I vowed to clean out and organize all drawers, cabinets & closets, one item a week even if it were the smallest drawer. Started out gang-busters, then I’d think about it and not do the weeks drawer, then I just stopped thinking about it at all. Well, isn’t playing with fiber more fun I ask?

But I always have goals to reach for, if I don’t get there, it’s ok because I’ve worked toward those goals…..that’s an accomplishment in itself. I need to keep repeating that to myself, over and over again.

So one of my goals this year is to give myself a break. I tend to be hard on myself if I’m not producing to sell, I feel like I’m frittering my time. So, what does it matter if I sell a few less scarves, or a bit less roving? The world won’t come to an end nor we will starve….we especially won’t starve as I’m not sure how much I really contribute to the household, I’m probably a liability when it comes to spending money. So my friends, if I start obsessing over having to get things done to sell or show rather than taking time to relish in every moment of the day even if it’s just sitting on the deck watching the hummingbirds please take me by the shoulders, shake me and ask me what in the world am I doing.

So, with that goal in mind spring the other goals of the year – to do more artistically that benefits myself, my family or friends. I have a desire to spend more time at the sewing machine, I’ve got quilts planned for the beach cottage, linen sitting waiting to be sewn into jacket & pants, more fabric for tops that’s been sitting patiently for a few years now. I’d like to spend more time spinning and creating from my handspun. Something I’ve talked about for a number of years is creating clothing from my handwoven fabric, I’ve only touched on that goal, would like to spend more time working toward it. I’ve also got a beach cottage with furniture waiting to be painted and seaside décor waiting to be made.

So now we come to the mental health part of my goals – I do cherish and am grateful for everyone and everything around me but I don’t spend enough time thinking about it, life just gets in the way sometimes. A few quiet moments each day spent thinking about all I’m grateful for will be good for my mental health, it will force me to slow down and take in all around me. So my word for the year is ‘Gratitude’. If you follow Bonnie Tarses’ blog you’ll understand where that came from – if not, check it out sometime, she had post on December 28th on picking her word for the year.
Lastly, this year I’ll be trying to work on the art of saying NO – I’ve gotten better at it but still end up saying yes when I should say no and then beat myself up later for it. So, those of you who hear a NO come from my lips don’t take it personally, it’s just me taking care of me.

Finally I just want to say that I’m grateful for all of my friends out there, those I’ve met personally, those I haven’t. I wish you all a peaceful year to come. Thank you for visiting.....and if you’ve made it all the way to the end of the post thank you for sticking with it, if you didn’t that’s ok.

Finally......

......I finished spinning and plying this yarn - I made a career out of it or at least 6 months of my life. It's not that I'm an especially slow spinner, it's just that I haven't been spinning much, been dyeing, weaving, knitting and sewing instead. And I've missed spinning, the hypnotic rhythm of the wheel, the feel of the fiber slipping between my hands...very zen. What is this fiber, you ask? It's a merino/tussah silk blend from Ashland Bay Fibers, colorway is called Lilac. I spun it to go with another merino/tussah (already spun, thank goodness) in the Concord colorway. I plan on weaving these two yarns, maybe in a twill, maybe a shadow weave, undecided right now.....also undecided what the project will be, depends on how far it will go. Oh yeah, there's 808 yards of this, it's a bit smaller than a fingering yarn size.

I have some thoughts on the year to come, those will come in another post.......

Finally done..........

These socks out of Zauberball sock yarn are finally finished - they've been on the needles for months but then I would only work on them here and there while at a meeting or sitting and waiting somewhere. I love the color changes - have a couple more balls in different colorways sitting on the shelf.

As soon as I finish the towel warp (up until yesterday hadn't touched it in over a week) I will start thinking about new projects for the year. I have a guild challenge I want to start planning (more on that later), a holiday table runner project to plan - it's for a multi-guild exchange, and I've got tons of $$$ sitting in a huge bag from Fabric Depot (since September) for making 3 quilt tops for the beach....will probably have them long arm quilted once done. And then there's the usual weaving & dyeing projects for selling.

I did get back to spinning last night, the merino/tussah in the lilac colorway that's been on the wheel for months - even started to ply the two bobbins last night, hoping to finish that up in a couple evenings. Plying is so danged boring, especially when spinning so thin that the bobbins never seem to empty. 

Now off to the loom........

Sisters, sisters..........

No, I have no sisters but if you've ever watched the movie White Christmas you know the song. This movie is a must for me every year. I grew up loving musicals, used to watch them on the old black & white tv in the basement while sewing or crafting. The holidays just aren't the same without White Christmas. Sam got tired of watching me search for it to come on tv every year so a few years back I found it in my Christmas stocking - I can watch it whenever I want and multiple times if I'd like.....although Sam would prefer not to see it again after sitting through it once with me. So, today seemed like the perfect day to get it out to watch it while weaving. And a cup of perfect hot chocolate complete with a gourmet marshmallow was the icing on the cake, or as my friend Yvonne said, it's food porn. I recently discovered these from Marshmallow Heaven, they're made nearby in Rogue River. Today's marshmallow of choice was called Cinnamon Joe - yum! In searching for their website I found that they have many more flavors I didn't find in the local candy shop, Sandi's Candies - I think I need to try them all.........over a long period of time........

I'm trying to finish up some gifts - this is a very simple towel pattern from Handwoven magazine, one of my favorites. I started out with very elegant tan on tan towels since I need neutral colors but just couldn't stand it so out came a variegated pink - love it! I've pulled out a variegated blue jean color to use next. Nothing like working right down to the wire on gifts, not a usual trait of mine and it stresses me........

Holiday Decor

Oh I am so bad......this is the 3rd year in a row I haven't put out holiday decor. I've got one big tall skinny tree and 3 country smaller trees along with boxes and boxes of ornaments and holiday decor. My big tree is normally covered with my own handmade ornaments, handmade ornaments friends have made and other ornaments that were gifted, a wonderful memory tree. Two of the small trees have fiber related ornaments and the final tree all my handmade japanese temari balls and origami cranes. But alas, this year these 3 ornaments are all I have out, I never even got to buying a wreath or swag to put on the gate. Where does my time go - no time for decorating! The little mouse and sheep ornaments were made by my friend Karen of Liongate Farm - she's got a website, blog and etsy shop. If you love sheep as much as I do you must check out what she has for sale - they are soooo cute. The snowman was made by Karen's neighbor Amy, I got it in an ornament exchange on Sunday.

Now that I've shown off my holiday decor, or lack of it, I'm off to thread the heddles & reed with a warp destined to become towels for holiday gifts - yikes am I ever cutting it close!

Almost forgot.....

Almost forgot that Bailey wanted to share his picture on the blog today, this was taken a couple weeks ago on the beach. We were working on our Christmas cards (this is a little part of it) in the pouring horizontal rain.....wasn't raining when we walked down onto the beach....... Anyhow, this is my starfish snatcher pooch, and that is not one of the many thousands of native starfishes found on the rocks, that is one I bought for $4.99 that he was  running around the beach with!

No, I didn't fall into the deep abyss known as the holidays.........

......I'm still here, just too busy to post. Last week I was working busily getting ready for my booth at the Pacifica Winter Arts Festival. This event has always been good to me financially, even last year when the economy was off I did well. But this year someone new was organizing and thought very little of advertising/promoting.........so the usual crowds didn't show, even those that just came for the musical entertainment and never spent any money. I suppose I sold enough to make it worth driving out there for 3 days but just barely, it was a lot of hours lost driving and sitting. Very sad for the event......it takes a lot of time to put something like this together, all for not if no one knows or is reminded it's there.

So, in the midst of trying to finish up gifts and get them shipped I got two new toys. Actually the iPad is a toy for both Sam and I, been playing and learning (circle in left lower side is not part of it, it's the reflection of the chandelier). Also got a new phone this week, all I've done so far with that is record my voicemail message, figure out how to make a call and retrieve messages, more play time to come picking my ringtone.

This morning all gifts (and some orders) to be mailed were dropped at the post office, 3 trips worth, thank goodness I print my postage online so I don't have to wait in that long line - just drop them at the counter and run.

Still have a few small gifts to finish up and a long warp to get on the loom and woven in the next week - yikes! Whatever happened to the days when I started gifts during the summer and had them finished by fall. Need to put it in my calendar to do that next year....or just make donations to worthy causes in everyone's names and not make a thing!

Eventually more pix will come but since I'm working on gifts I can't post them, never know who is reading my blog........

Chenille Scarf

One of the latest chenille scarves to come off the loom and get the fringes twisted

Pacifica Winter Arts Festival

For those of you within driving distance of Southern Oregon be sure to put the 12th Annual Pacifica Winter Arts Festival on your calendar. It's this coming weekend, Dec 4th & 5th from 10-5pm each day.  Pacifica's 500 acres are on what used to be the old Steve Miller Band Ranch (14615 Watergap Rd., Williams, OR). We, artists, will have our booths set up in the old recording studio. There is live music, lots of beautiful items from local artists for sale and food and refreshments available. I will be there with my handwovens, hand-dyed sock yarns and felted goodies. I don't generally bring roving for sale to this event but will if someone requests something in particular. Hope to see a big crowd as usual, it's a very fun festival.

CYBER MONDAY SALE

Whoo-Hoo - I'm having a CYBER MONDAY Sale in my two etsy shops. Check them out and enter 'CyberMonday' is the coupon code when you check out. Everything is 15% off. The sale starts now and in theory would run through midnight Monday but since I won't be awake at midnight to take the shops off sale folks could sneak purchases in at the 15% discount until early Tuesday morning.

eweniquely ewe - hand-dyed rovings, handwovens, felted items, jewelry
eweniquely ewe fibers - Ashland Bay Trading Co roving for spinning and felting

Happy Day

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I have so much to be thankful for this and every year from family to dear friends to being able to do what I love every day of the year - play with fiber!

Today is a another celebration for me - pumpkin pie will stand in for a birthday cake. I can't believe it but I'm 55 today! How did I get that old?! Yeah, I know it's not really old but I'm now heading toward 60. No monumental birthdays have ever bothered me, nothing to turning 30, 40 or 50.......and today nothing to turning 55. Check back with me in 5 years though to see how I handle 60.....might be so grateful just to have made it I'll be thrilled.

Of course, the downside to all this aging is that I'm seeing a few gray hairs now - I'm not happy about that - I love the auburn color of my hair, I don't want any grays mixed in. I've had one gray hair since I was 20 that I pull out as it grows but now there must be at least 10 of them, at least 10 that I can see when the light is just right. And what's with them sticking straight up in the air - they're just begging to be pulled! And to make matters worse I have 2 gray eyebrow hairs - what's with that?!

So how I'm spending my Thanksgiving morning is watching the Macy's Day Parade. Our little town's band is in it, estimated time to show up is around 10:45 PST. They had to raise tons of money, and I mean tons, to get there....and yes, we did our part to help in that endeavor. So far I'm not impressed with the tv coverage - will our band go by during a commercial, or will they have some singing group being shown as they pass by....

Silk Shawls/Scarves.....

Here are a few of the dyed silk/rayon shawls/scarves from the other day.......

New chenille scarves

I wove three chenille scarves yesterday, washed last night, hung to dry and this morning fluffed them in the dryer. These are the two ends of one scarf, it's really very subtle and lovely seeing the color changes. I'm really loving this idea that popped in my head with the last chenille scarf warp so I continue to weave. Today another warp is going on for a natural/gold colorway, and then the next warp will be a blue/green colorway. Then I really need to get a different warp on the loom for gifts, cutting it close this year.

Silk shawl

Here's a pic of one of the silk shawls I dyed on Sunday. The shawls & scarves I dyed are commercially made, bought from Dharma Trading Co. and then I dye them using fiber reactive dyes. Very fun project but a pain to keep rinsing, soaking and rinsing out the dyes. This is one of the eight I dyed. It's always nice to have shawls & scarves that are priced a bit lower than my handwovens. Last year at the Pacifica Winter Arts Festival (coming up Dec 4th & 5th) I sold many more of these than ever. My thought is folks still wanted something handmade for gifts but with the economy these were a better alternative to the handwovens. I still sell alot of handwovens but last year many more of these than usual.

Need a place to find gifts this holiday season?

Ok, so a shamless plug - shop ETSY this holiday season......and all year round for that fact. Ok, so I'm not just plugging my shops, I want to encourage everyone to browse through etsy shops for their gift giving. There are so many incredible handmade items out there - everyday I see treasuries filled with the most beautiful pieces. I have already done some of my holiday shopping on etsy the past couple of weeks. If you click on the link in the first line of this post you'll get to the Etsy home page where you can search items to your hearts delight......if you want to go directly to one of my shops click on the links in the column to the right.

Treasury Scarf Sold!

Well, the cinnamon scarf in the latest etsy treasury sold yesterday along with a new 'fresh off the loom' lavendar/seafoam chenille scarf. Whoo-Hoo. Another scarf in my etsy shop sold on Saturday. Folks must be thinking gift giving.........me, I'm just struggling to create the gifts for others to buy. Still have no ideas for our Holiday cards, could this be the second time in 25 years that I don't hand make our cards - yikes! Last time I heard about it!

Am already in the process of rinsing dye out of the silk scarves dyed yesterday - lengthy process, that's the downside to the fiber reactive dyes. First two scarves have been rinsed, now they're soaking with hopes that with another rinsing or two all the excess dye will be removed.

Silk Scarf Dyeing.......

This morning was devoted to dyeing some silk scarves. Sure hope they turn out nice - usually they do. I buy the blanks from Dharma Trading Co. and dye them using fiber reactive dyes - I have both Procion brand dyes and Dharma brand. To the left is a silk/rayon velvet scarf - no telling what it will look like when washed out tomorrow - am hoping for a nice chartreuse. Kind of looks like camo in the photo but it's really not. So, dyed several silk/rayon velvet scarves and then some silk/rayon devore shawls - have more to do but already the thought of washing all these out tomorrow is almost more than I can bear.

In another Etsy Treasury

My handwoven cinnamon tencel scarf is in a new etsy treasury - take a look. Don't worry, I won't post each time items of mine are listed in treasuries but the one earlier this week and this one are so beautiful - wonderful choice for the themes picked. Not sure how long it will be up so check it out soon. I see some earrings in it I need to investigate........

More follies......

Me: Hello? I say as I pick up the phone from my deep sleep on the couch from my stressful fireplace adventures this afternoon

Mr: Can you tell me what kind of toilet we have?

Me: Huh???

Mr: Go read the brand on the toilet so I can buy the replacement handle and inner workings from when you flushed it yesterday and broke it

Me: It's Western

Mr: Huh???

Me: The brand of the toilet is Western

Mr: I've never heard of Western, are you sure?

Me: Nose 3" from the stamp on the porcelain, yes, I'm sure, there's a little cowboy hat over the "W"

Mr: Ok, I'll just take a chance and buy a replacement.

Me: Ok, see you soon.

Me: Hello as I run for the phone again

Mr: Is the hole where the handle fits through round, square or a hexagon

Me: It's square, as the handle comes off in my hand

Mr: Ok, see you shortly, I've never heard of Western