Hello Fall!

Well hi there, long time no update.

I’m just not good at this self discipline thing.

Happy Autumn everyone!

I so love fall, it makes me feel so productive and inspired.

As I do every year at this time, I’m once again building inventory for the arts and crafts show held the weekend before Thanksgiving at the Holiday Inn in Sheridan, WY. I will be there again this year, as will my wheel. If you want to attend a truly great show, I suggest attending! There are some truly amazing people who attend with their wares, I look forward to going every year.

This year I’ve changed some of my dye techniques as well as my primary dye preference. When I first started dyeing fiber, I used Kool Aid. I then progressed to Wilton’s paste food coloring and then when my ever increasing need for more colors grew I finally took the plunge with acid dyes. I started with Jacquard acid dyes, I still have over 30 colors in stock. But eventually I started to feel limited by that selection as well and in January of this year I ordered a small bundle of Cushing’s acid dyes. I’ll admit that initially it was not a pleasant experience. I was used to being able to dump a lot of color on fiber using Jacquard and not having it saturate so much or so darkly, I guess. It took a lot of trying but eventually got the hang of the more concentrated (in my opinion) Cushing dyes and things just took off from there.

My last post I showed a bunch of hand painted rovings, over 80% of those were dyed with Cushing dyes, so you can see that my love has become full blown.

I will say that I still haven’t found anything that can beat Jacquard’s Hot Fuschia though, that is a truly great shade of hot pink.

In July I went to visit my best friend Jen, she lives in Maine. One afternoon during my last couple days there, we journeyed to Kennebunkport and visited the Cushing dye studios! That place knocked my freaking socks off, it was just so wonderful. We were there for well over an hour looking at swatches of wool dyed in half a dozen strengths of their acid dyes and I was able to see first hand what colors didn’t appeal to me on a computer screen or a glossy publication. Neither are a bad way to shop, but if you can see or purchase swatches first hand I highly recommend it. And if you go to Cushings, ask for Gillian because she is about the coolest, most helpful person I’ve ever met in the dye world.

I guess for me it depends on mood. If I want a true baby blue, I’ll break out the Cushings. Easy, no mixing. Instant gratification. If I want that hot pink that is so elusive, I chose Jacquard.

I mainly use Jacquard for kettle dyeing and Cushing for hand painting, but that’s just my preference. That said, my collection of Jacquard has stayed at 36 colors (Jacquard produces 40 colors) and 60 out of the 94 shades offered by Cushing. I would guess it’s all part of the evolution of coming into my own as a fiber artist (though quite honestly I don’t consider myself to be one) and someday I might discover something new.

As a side note, those that think that those tiny envelopes of Cushings aren’t worth the approximate price of $3, vs. about $5 for a small jar of Jacquard I will tell you that in my experience a tiny bit goes a long, long way! I’ve had some of my envelopes since January and I’m still not close to being out.

Heat, good for something.

One of the only good things about almost 100 degree weather and virtually no humidity is that roving dries really, really fast. Almost unbearable to part with, but I listed them anyway!

Now I’m off to dye some more!

Fit to be tied yarns!

A while ago I discovered that I have a lot of yarn. A LOT of yarn. All kinds. Commercial, handspun, novelty, etc. Lots of yarn.

And then, when I lamented to this to my boss, who is also of the yarn obsessed sort, we discovered we had the overflow of yarn in common.

From there it just progressed and ended at “Well, I can make that myself.”

And we did.

Hand tied yarn. It’s a time intensive process but the results are worth it if you are into multi strand, sparkly yarns that are constantly changing.

I’ve actually made quite a bit of this in the past couple months, but only started parting with some of it last night. Quite honestly, I like working with crazy/out of the ordinary yarns sometimes so this suits me just fine.

So what can you do with it? Well, I personally have used it as a carry along with two strands of wool in a project that eventually became a felted bag. Lots of pops of color and texture. My boss has made scarves and shawls. One she wove the ends in, the other she left out for a wilder look. Which for some reason reminds me of Helena Bonham Carter. I should totally send her a scarf.

Antiqued-450 yards, sold.

Pinky Lee-105 yards, available at fabulosity.etsy.com

Floofy Greens-125 yards, available at fabulosity.etsy.com

Orange Borange-108 yards, available at fabulosity.etsy.com

Anemone-125 yards, available at fabulosity.etsy.com

This was another skein I made and sold a while ago, it was small enough that you could wear it as a fiber necklace if you were so inclined. I’d love to know what the buyer made with this or if she kept it as a necklace!

Back to the day job, more soon!

Long weekend, not long enough!

Right now the downstairs smells like wet wool because there is a whole bunch of handspun twist setting down there. I have spun and spun and spun some more and I’m still one night away from my custom order completion. Wasn’t I just lamenting that I need more time?

I spent a goodly portion of Saturday in the kitchen dyeing commercially spun yarn and puttering around. It was such a gorgeous weekend here though that I honestly chose to spend more time outdoors than in and therefore and once again behind on all things yarn. I’m not too broke up by it, can you tell?

My kitchen is pretty small and sadly lacking for counter space but I don’t mind. I have a folding table I haul out if I have to handpaint anything. The silver boombox (OMG!) on the counter? I’ve had that since I was in the 4th grade. I am now 33 for a point of reference. And I still use the tape deck.

I listed a bunch of sock yarn in my Etsy store on Saturday and since then have been chipping away at my big custom order and the 3 in line behind it. *head, I’d like you to meet desk* I’m flattered, thrilled even, but holy cows (as my son would say) it’s a lot to tackle when it all comes at me at once.

I really like what the dye did on this skein of sock yarn. It was a total happy accident, I can’t even take credit for it really. I owe it all to the dye.

I guess that’s it for now. Some progress is better than none, yeah?

Wait, wait! Don’t pull the plug!

Jeninmaine says I should update my blog.

Hi! How are you? Anybody still reading? I suck. I’m sorry.

There, now that I’ve got that covered we can move on.

Lack of updates doesn’t mean lack of yarn. I just feel the need to say this. If you were to look at a pie chart of my life right now you’d see that out of a 24 hour day I’m trying to cram about 48 more hours in there.

Seriously, it’s getting ridiculous. My job is kicking my ass (and not in a good way but I’m thankful for the fact that I even HAVE a job and will shut up about it), I got this wild idea to go back to school and take Algebra online (not for the faint of heart nor the math challenged —> Me.), and then there’s time for family, friends, home (the laundry bomb, I cannot escape it) and finally, yarn.

I go in manic bursts of energy in the yarn area. I wish it was more because I want to or have time, you know? Right now I’m frantically finishing up a 10 skein custom order, and have 2 more projects behind that to crank out. Maybe I’ll take a break from the custom order biz for a while.

Oh hi, are you still here? I’m just talking out loud I guess.

So today, it is Friday and I get a break from the day job for a couple days. In between housework, dog sitting for a friend, keeping my son entertained and trying to stay awake I will work on some yarn this weekend. I really need to get that custom order completed and then perhaps I’ll spend some time in the kitchen dyeing sock yarn. I have a ridiculous amount of blank yarn right now. Which is exciting and kind of daunting all at the same time. I have to be in just the right creative mood to be happy with the process. Unfortunately this often strikes at midnight on Sunday when I should be fast asleep.

I’ll get there eventually; I’m just lamenting my overloaded life.

One exciting thing, in June I will leave Montana to fly to Maine to see Jen for 10 whole days! I absolutely cannot wait, I am so excited! The last time I was out to Maine was in 2007 and me and Jen, when we get together we can really produce some creative stuff. One day spent dyeing roving and yarn in her barn that year yielded enough yarn and roving to stock her store and keep me in spinning material for weeks. We are a force to be reckoned with, you just wait.

That all said? It took me all day to tap this out.

March? Really?

Well hello there!

I cannot believe it’s already March! Though if winter would truly end I’d be even happier. My spring fever is killing me!

As I did last year, I have once again created a Bunny Bedlam 2009 edition. Bunny Bedlam was created last year when I was walking through Hobby Lobby and saw bags of polyester bunny batting/fiber fill. I couldn’t get the idea out of my head at the time, wondering if I could spin it into yarn. By itself, I suppose you could but I decided to blend it with white merino blend wool roving and sparkle. Last year I had yellow, pink and green to mix in, this year I could only find purple, green and yellow. Apparently this was a bad year for pink bunny batting.

This year, 100 yards:

This led to another crazed carding session for a second series of Brouhaha. White merino blend wool roving as a base and I mixed in tons of sparkle, commercial and handspun yarn scraps, a random assortment of mixed wools and some pulled sari silk. I crazy plied one skein with a 3 ply wool thread and left the other as is. 100 yards. This yarn takes forever to spin, as does nearly all art yarn as I’ve learned!

Brouhaha Series 2

Finally, a litta bitta fame! A super cool girl who goes by JennyBangBang at Etsy purchased my first Brouhaha series and she featured it in a video she made! It all makes me ridiculously smiley!

Otherwise I’ve been busy as usual dyeing roving and yarns and spinning as often as I can. So until next time may your stitches not drop and your yarn not tangle! (This is advice I really need to follow.)

New Stuff and Historical Stuff

I’ve been busy with my day job, as usual. Somehow in the midst of everything else though I’ve managed to keep up with spinning, dyeing and some other crafty endevors.

One of my most recent spins, I have ridiculous amounts of love for this:

The Hunting Of The Snark. 116 yards. WPI: 10 to 11. 5 ounces. Merino blend wool, acid dyes.

I realized recently that February will mark my third year of spinning. I’m not entirely sure where the time went. When I look at this yarn I think “Wow, I am a spinner of yarn.” I know that sounds arrogant, but that’s not how I mean to come off! It’s just amazing to me to realize that I started out using a drop spindle I bought on Ebay and am now here 3 years later with two wheels and a literal arsenal of tools and supplies that I’ve bought with sales of yarn. In a way I’m really glad it took me so long to get what I’ve got. If I’d ran out and bought everything at once I probably would have lost interest.

Then there’s this, cobbled together in a fit of YES I CAN when I saw a kit for the same exact thing at Hobby Lobby.

It’s a bunch of random jewelry bits and beads that I’ve been hanging on to forever and a day, some safety pins and some elastic. Voila. I wore it yesterday and a lot of people commented on it. I might make a few more, even if they are just for me because this kind of jewelry is right up my alley. Of course, nearly all the bead sellers I bought from at Etsy a couple years ago are now gone. This bothers me greatly.

I guess that’s all for now kids, thanks for reading my sadly neglected little yarny blog!

Branching Out

I’ll admit it’s hard for me to try new spinning techniques, but maybe my unspoken until now resolution for the new year is to try things that I might have been afraid to in the past because I’ve been doing just that the last few days.

I’ve never tried corespinning, so I grabbed a handful of Corriedale locks that I acquired from Homestead Wool & Gift Farm (they so rock over there!) and went to town. I let the core thread, a black and silvery white wool peek through at times, I like the texture it created. The darker orange handspun is super wash merino.

Warm Fuzzies

Then, in a true test of my spinning skills, I tried a wrapped yarn. Basically inside out, the core is on the outside and pretty much goes wherever the heck it wants with little interference from the spinner. I think that’s what got me on this one, the willingness to just let it go and not worry (too) much.

I carded a whole bunch of yarn scraps, Peace Fleece and pink sparkle with some merino blend wool and spun it with a thin mulberry silk thread/yarn to get the wrapped look. I have to admit, it grew on me.

Brouhaha

And with that, I’m off to play some more amongst the fibers.

Late Night Studio Fabulosity

Holy crap it just got hugely windy outside. We’ve had a Chinook wind  blowing for the past 24 hours but this is like SOOPER CHINOOK RAWR! Seriously, the house just shook and I didn’t know this house would do that. I’m a trifle concerned. Also, a Chinook is a warm wind that eats snow. No, really.

Just a mo’.

Yep, windy as hell. And now it’s raining. Hard. It sounds like handfuls of pea gravel are being thrown at the windows. This does not bode well should it get cold again. Blargh.

Hm.

Anyway.

Whilst at my mom and dad’s for the holiday I was working on a bit of knitting that was supposed to eventually turn into a felted bowl. Only I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque and before I knew it It was no longer a bowl. One thing you should know about me is this: If I mess up knitting I either tear it all out, right down to the very first stitch. Or I cry and stuff it in a drawer and forget about it. Until now, I’ve never just soldiered on and worked with what I have.

So the bowl became this weird gathered at the bottom…thing. I threw it into the washing machine and felted the crap out of it. When it came out I kind of laughed and then walked away, utterly disgusted.

About an hour later I came back and poked at it. When it didn’t bite me I thought maybe I could work with it. I formed a plan in my head that I fully expected to forget all about on the way home but I didn’t. When I came home I made some more things to go with my plan and those things became straps for a bag. Then I found some sturdy clear nylon thread and doinked (it’s a word I said so) in the edges and sewed some straps on and suddenly voila, where there had been a miserable failure of a felted bowl there was a bag. And maybe I’ve been playing with too much novelty yarn but I’m oddly proud of this cobbled together creation.

Behold:

Oh yes I did so mix all sorts of wool with novelty yarn. Be afraid all ye who loathe of the Fur that is Fun. I may make a button closure with some of the remaining gray I used for the bottom and the straps, I’m not sure yet.

Paired with a dead sexy sweatshirt, mmhmm, oh yeah.

And, AND, I had the brains to write down what I did in case I ever decide to make another one. And I just might because I have a lot of yarn that I really wasn’t aware of and, yikes.

This weekend we rearranged the living room and in the process I was able to get my desk where I wanted it all along, which was in my studio/workspace at the end of the room. It looks cramped but I assure you it suits my needs perfectly. Anyway, in the massive cleaning and organizing project that ensued, I found a lot of yarn that isn’t for sale and somehow, somewhere, found it’s way into my house. *cough* That big bag on the left? All yarn that needs to be made into something. O.k. and so does the bag on the right. The bag underneath that is roving that I’ve hoarded like a filthy little yarn junkie for the past couple years and the bag of white stuff on the left is my latest fix, er, shipment.

O.k. fine. And if you turn around all those Rubbermaid totes are full of yarn too.

Oh come on, you totally want to come over and play at my house. At the very least if fiber doesn’t do it for you, you can play Guitar Hero if we can coax my husband into sharing.

Poof! I return!

Did it really take me a month to recover from the show?

Pretty much.

I totally ghosted on this place, I do apologize!

The show in Sheridan was wonderful. I did well, I can’t complain. I also met a lot of wonderful new people including a brand new wool mill that just opened in that area. I will post a full review about them soon as I gave them the two huge bags of Jacob fleece I got in July to process. Yay! Jacob fleece roving that I don’t have to clean! I suspect they will do amazing work and look forward to telling you all about them.

I’ve only started spinning and dyeing yarns and roving again in the last week or so, I’ve just been so slammed with the upcoming holidays, my day job and trying to keep up with my kid that there hasn’t been room for much else.

One good thing about nearly burning myself out in early November during the stocking for the show process was that I went way, way above what I took the year before and therefore had lots of extra stuff to post in my Etsy store when I came out of my coma a few days after I came back home. So my store has been well stocked and for that I can be truly thankful.

I’m taking a few days off around Christmas, I hope to reorganize my workspace, it’s truly bad.

What, you don’t believe me?

Workspace, meet yarn bomb:

Told you.

In my defense I have already remedied the situation. I have company coming this weekend for my birthday so I had to tidy up. That and I was starting to worry my husband was going to stage an intervention.

Anyway, still here, still doing my thing. If I don’t write again before the end of the year, everyone have a lovely and happy holiday and a festive new year!