February Happenings

Results are in for the Phoenix, and they accepted all my yarns and the scarf! They may not end up putting all of them in the finished publication, for overall balance of composition, but the important part is that some will be shown :)

I did a bit of dyeing a couple of weeks ago. Here are the pictures!

Tropical Fish, 2 oz:



Ruby Tuesday, 2 oz:



Aaaaand! I got a new digital camera that gets colors accurately <3 It's super sweet. Awesome image stabilization, good macro, options equivalent to a film camera in manual mode, 12.2 megapixels...and all for $100!!

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited.

I've been taking a pottery class this quarter and once I get everything home aft er the quarter is over, I'll take pictures and make a post with everything in it. :)

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I did a little dyeing this evening - 2 oz of a new colorway, and 2 oz of a repeat colorway that I put on a new wool. I'll add pictures once it's dry. I got lots of super bright colors and although I don't love the repeat colorway as much as I did on solid white wool, it's got potential as well. It might be prettier after spinning than its predecessor; we'll see.

The other thing I forgot to mention last post! Clark College has an art publication called the Phoenix that has been nationally recognized. I submitted a few yarns as well as my clapotis for jury. I'm not sure when I'll hear back, but the deadline for submissions is this Thursday, Feb. 10, so I imagine I'll know a few weeks after that.

The Good vs. Evil yarn I started almost a year ago I now plan to send to the Handspun Revolution for display in the giant skein of yarn they're making. I have to work on it, first, but it's not due till March. I have it out and I plan to put in a little time this evening but we'll see how it works out.

I am actually in the mood for more dyeing but I have other things to get to, so I'm letting the quarter pound be enough for tonight. Perhaps next weekend.

Happy (Belated) 2010!

I haven't been up to much. I guess that's what happens when life gets busy!

I did make a clapotis which it appears I haven't posted here (pics later). I bought 2 drop spindles recently - unusual for me, since I'm all about wheel-spinning, but more on that in a second. I've been spinning a 70/30 merino/tencel blend to ply with my black bear/qiviut/doghair yarn, since it's too fragile on its own for the needle size I have now, as well as for durability.

I picked up a 1.7-ish oz Ashford drop spindle from The Weaving Works in Seattle, recommended to me by my aunt Gail, and a 3-oz Schacht hi-lo drop spindle from Northwest Wools in Portland. I like them both for different reasons, but the Schacht is really what I was looking for. It spins for a longer time without needing additional momentum due to its weight, and I'll be able to make more heavy-duty yarns with it. I'm not sure why I bought them, except that I haven't been getting enough yarn in my life, and I need to be able to take it with me. I'm learning the beauty of dropspindle yarn, and though it does take longer, I have more control over each section of the yarn. I'll be exploring thick-and-thin yarns once I do a bit more test yarn on the Schacht. I am spinning the merino/tencel for plying on the Ashford, even though the yarn I'll ply it with was wheel-spun. It might not make a difference, and it might add more character. I'll find out soon enough! I will be wheel-plying, since I don't even want to mess with plying on a drop spindle until I have more practice.

I have dyeing and completion of a very fun art yarn on my to-do list for this weekend. I'm hoping to get a couple of new listings in my Artfire.