Where'd I go?!

With the combination of two jobs, new allergies, and planning a wedding, I have pretty much vanished.

I will be trying to set aside time once or twice a month that will be dedicated to me doing fibery things. I'm hoping to convince the fiancé to give my product descriptions a bit of an overhaul, since he is interested in advertising, and in conjunction with that, I'll have to get some more products made up soon.

For those of you who have been stopping by -- Hi and welcome!


I should get a knitting project on a set of needles and work through it slowly. Then I'd at least have something to blog about, hmm?

Adventures in Rug Making (pt. 2)

Alright, today's the day!  I'm about to get out all the stuff I need for making this felted rug.

I'd like the finished size to be approximately 30" by 21" - I'm allowing for 16-20% shrinkage, so I'm going to lay out the dry fiber in a rectangle 36" by 25".

The fiber will be laid out in alternating directional layers - One layer horizontal, the next vertical, repeat ad nauseum.  I'm planning for somewhere between 12 and 15 layers.  I want a thick, squishy rug when I'm done, so the more the merrier.  I'm not sure how many I'll finish up with at this point.

The very last layer I may add some contrasting colors so the surface is decorative.  I have to look through my stash first to see what I've got that isn't superwash, though.

Okay, here we go!

New fiber books!

Interweave Press was having a sale recently, and as there were a couple of books and a DVD I had been wanting to order, I gave in and bought them.

The DVD I bought is called "Spinning for Lace". As I thoroughly enjoy knitting lace, and I also prefer to spin my own yarns, I thought it would be pretty useful.  It has information about washing raw locks, tension, plying, and more.  I have not opened it and watched it yet, but it's here for when I am ready for my next lace project.

One of the books is called "Get Spun" and it's all about art yarns.  I am familiar with most art yarn techniques and I have the Pluckyfluff books, but this book sounded like it has a section about using a drum carder for different effects. Since I haven't had the chance to play with carders a lot before, and I am not sure what to try next, I thought this would give me a little insight and inspiration.  The information contained in it turns out to be about blending fibers evenly, but that's also useful, and I will be using that later as well.  There's not a whole lot of new stuff for me in this book, but it'd be awesome for someone who has been spinning traditionally and wants to expand, or someone who is completely new to fibers.

The book I am most excited about is "The Complete Guide to Natural Dyeing".  I have been interested in natural dyeing for quite a while, but I have never known where to get started, and the information on the internet can have large holes in it.  This book is a pretty comprehensive guide to using plants for dyeing.  You can choose your page based on the color you want, or you can look up various plants to see what colors you might get.  It talks about various mordants and how to use fresh vs. dried plants.  There is also information about storing plants or bark or berries for future use.  I am super excited about this book, especially because it's getting to be summer - the sun is out and the plants are growing!

We'll see what I start out with, but I'm thinking I'll find shield ferns or ivy and see what kind of greens I can get from them.

Adventures in Rug Making (pt. 1)

I did just a tiny bit of dyeing on Saturday when I had some free time to myself with no other demands on me - dyed a set of 3 silk hankies and a sample of wool in a new colorway that I'm in love with.  It's unnamed as of yet, but if you want to see photos, they are available here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=217504881598491&id=116145195067794&aid=66907.



My wonderful, fantastic, amazing grandparents sent me a Dorothy table loom for my birthday (see photo below!), and I had been planning to weave a soft, squishy kitchen rug for Tim with it, using raw llama fleece.  However, I didn't like how it was turning out, so I scrapped that project.  And then I remembered felting!  I have 2 huge bags of raw llama, and since I have no plans to sort through and separate the guard hairs from the undercoat, it's pretty much only good for rugs.  I'm going to mix several methods I've found online with my previous knowledge of felting, and see how it turns out.

Dorothy, hard at work!

Resources:
http://ladyvirag.wordpress.com/how-to-make-a-felt-rug/
http://fibermill.yurtboutique.com/grouprug.htm


I went to JoAnn's and got some tulle, since I didn't have any.  I'm going to forgo the matchstick blind, since I don't have one and also don't feel like searching for one.  Today is not the day to start this project, as it has started to rain, but he needs a rug and I still have this week off of school.  It's been a long time since I've felted anything; this project should be exciting and educational.

Rickroll'd

There is a very large and sometimes nonsensical internet culture out there.  There is a meme (a widespread internet sensation) called Rickrolling.  Perhaps you've heard of parts of it, or maybe you're an active participant.  If you are unaware of this phenomenon, the point of it is to get a person to go to the YouTube video of "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley without them realizing.  Once a person has opened the link, they must listen to the song in its entirety.

I suppose it takes a certain kind of humor to find this amusing.  I happen to enjoy a good rickroll, whether I am tricked into watching the video, or doing the tricking.  So naturally, when I was alerted to this news article today, I was quite tickled:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110408/ts_yblog_theticket/how-one-oregon-lawmaker-convinced-his-colleagues-to-rick-roll-the-state-legislature


I think I picked the right state to move to!

Moving Day!

Friday is moving day - I'm super super super super super excited.  We've got a layout drawn up for our furniture and we've got the U-Haul reserved and everything's all lined up.  All's quiet on the fibery front, but that's because everything is in boxes!  Juggling work and school and moving is eating up just about all of my time.  After a week or so, we should have all the major stuff unpacked, and I'll get back to batts and yarns and cleaning fleeces. 


On another note, Spring is pretty much here.  I've woken up to sunlight for the last 4 days, and it always makes me cheerful.  I love springtime!

Batts

Okay, so I didn't end up getting around to the alpaca yesterday, but I *did* get some time in with the Strauch!  If you'd like to see photos of the batts, I've posted them online at this link:

http://on.fb.me/gzfQOn

I'm hoping to have more fiber/yarn time this weekend, but we're apartment-hunting and I'll also probably start packing my things for the move.  I'm hoping this is the last time I'm going to change locations for the next couple of years.  I guess we'll see how it goes!  I'm very excited for this move, though.

--

Tomorrow's schedule is full, but Wednesday, I'm thinking I'll work on cleaning more alpaca fleece so I can card it up for spinning.  I've wanted to make yarn or batts all day, but I relaxed today instead, after a long and busy day yesterday.  I finally finished painting my room, rearranged the furniture, and went food shopping.

The days are getting longer, and I'm way excited!  I woke up in time to see the sun on Saturday, and I sat outside to read the mail.  It was a wonderful change of pace.  Before long, I'll be able to take my wheel outdoors and spin in the sunshine.  It's my favorite part of summertime.

Crafty Hands are Here Again!

I've got all these crafting ideas whirling around in my head, and I don't have the time or resources to do any of them right now.  I'm super excited, because I found a studio around the Portland area where I can go to throw pottery for $5/hour, and they will fire the work if I leave it there.  Georgie's is a fantastic place to get clay, so I'll call the studio and see what sort of clay I need for their kilns.

I also really want to make all sorts of candles and list them on Etsy.  But I also want to decorate with them and put them all over my apartment!

Speaking of which, I'm getting ready to move again.  I'm headed a little south of Portland, and I'm very excited to finally be moving to Oregon.

I'm looking forward to heading down to Woodland Woolworks to pick up some carbonized bamboo in the next few weeks.  Tim's asking for a hat out of it, and I'm super excited to get started on it.  I also want to pick up some more locks and fun stuff for making batts with my gorgeous, amazing drumcarder.  I'm also working on processing the alpaca fleece for a lady from the knitting group.


Losing the knitting group is definitely one thing I'm going to dislike about moving.  It is about an hour from where I'm moving to the knitting group; I might go up once a month or so, but I won't attend meetings weekly like I want to.  I'll end up finding a new group and going to those meetings instead, and it will be good.  I'm definitely going to miss everyone from the Washington group though!

Oh, and before I forget, here's the photo I left out on the last blog post:

Photos!

Okay, these pictures are long overdue.  This last month or so has been super crazy, with the holidays, finals, friends from out of state, and snow in a city where no one knows how to drive in it.

My drum carder:

I did make a couple of batts; the first one was the run-through they suggest to get all the dust off the drum cloth, and looks like this:

The other one I haven't photographed yet.  I need to head out to a wool store and pick up more locks to play with, but I also need to experiment with layering rovings and tops together to make smooth batts, too.  

I'm hoping to find time during each week to make a batt or two.  Once I get five or six made, I'll list them on Etsy and see how they go over.  I'm very excited about having this carder.  Now I can finish processing that alpaca fleece in a timely manner!

Strauch Petite (pt. 2)

It arrived yesterday!  I took pictures as I opened it, and I sent a batch of scrap wool through to get the feel of this carder, as well as clean the carding cloth from dust.  Photos aren't uploaded yet, but I should have time tomorrow to do that, and I'm planning to whip up a batt or two this upcoming weekend!  Keep your eyes peeled :)


Here's another lovely photo that I found:

Branching Out?

I'd like to post here about more than just yarn stuff, because sometimes I get too busy to do as much yarn and fiber as I want to, but I like updating here.  My drum carder had an estimated delivery date between Dec. 3 and Dec. 9...any day now!

Strauch Petite (pt. 1)

I ordered the Strauch Petite today!  It comes with a bag of free fibers, so I will play and take photos.  Should be here next week... and I have lots and lots of fleece that needs to be processed!

Labor Day Weekend

All in all, the weekend was pretty enjoyable.  I didn't get *nearly* enough knitting done, but I did have some time to relax and breathe (also very important!).  Now, back to deadlines and time crunches.  I now have 6 days to complete 2 lace projects so I can have photos ready to send into a gallery who may or may not end up showing the pieces.  I have *got* to find my blackbear/qiviut yarn, as I'm almost to the last repeat, and that's the (irreplaceable) yarn I need for it.  Any other just won't do.  And if completing this project has to wait until I do find it, then that's what's going to have to happen.  No compromises for this one, that's for sure.

On another note, it is long past time for me to be sleeping.  Work kept me a long time tonight, and I have class at a fairly early hour tomorrow.  And so it goes. 

This is the start of my very own lace pattern, being knitted in a lovely mohair boucle!

Adventures in Lace

I wrote a lace design a  few weeks ago that I have (slowly) been knitting up, and I'm super excited about it!  The chart is a bit annoying to read, but the rest row helps a lot with that.  I'm also almost finished with the last yarn I need for my blackbear/qiviut/etc. scarf that I've been hibernating for a few months.  Now I just have to remember where I put it (moving kills me sometimes), and the knitting itself will be pretty quick. 

Once I'm done with the scarf I'm knitting from my pattern, I think it'll be time to go back to Diagonale, which I am knitting from super-thin lace silk handspun.  I plan to decrease the pattern repeats to three across, instead of four, and see how it goes from there.  The twist should have settled in the silk by now, which will help a lot.  Now I need to find a set of super-points (I forget what they're actually called) so that the blunt metal needles actually pick up the silk stitches with ease.

I actually really like working from my own lace pattern.  When you design it, you know when things have gone wrong and it's easier to tell how to fix it without just tinking backward.  Perhaps there are more designs to come!

I have some photos to add here at some point; I need to resize and upload before I can post them though.

Well!  Life's been quite the adventure lately.  I finished my move, which was promptly followed by a heavy study load.  I've been curled up at home for the last 4 days with a *terrible* ear infection (hopefully the latest drugs will clear it up for me).  My super-sneaky boyfriend came and stayed with me for the weekend, which was very nice of him.  I'm glad I didn't have to be sick AND alone this whole weekend.  I have no idea how I'm going to pay for all these doctor visits, but I have to get better before that even becomes a problem.  In the meantime, since I'm missing school and work, I'll be putting together a few more items for my Etsy store. 

-3+ Grab-and-Spin Fiber Porn Kits

-2-4 Art Yarns

-Finish a repeat of "Criss-Cross Applesauce"

-Paint a few watercolor flowers (if I can find my art supplies!)

Post-Move Stress Relief

Whew! I'm finally 90% unpacked and getting settled in.  Yesterday I cooked pretty much non-stop all day, and today I dyed a whole pound of wool (pictures tomorrow; the wools are wet still, of course).  I listed two yarns this evening.  I'm waiting for my next order from Carol over at the Sheep Shed to arrive.  I should be good to go on locks for a month or two after this...now I need to stock up on extra goodies - glitz, ribbon, accessories, and whatever else I want to put into my Fiber Porn spinning kits.  I'm working on getting my stash organized (still) but I have a few stacked trays that I'm going to put the little stuff in for now.  I seriously need a place for all this big stuff, though!!  I have over 30 lbs of raw llama that needs some sort of storage space already!




In other news, I'm still saving up for my drum carder.  I just opened a new bank account that has a cash reward after completion of a few minor requirements, and that will put me in reach of the carder I want!  I'm saving up for the Strauch Mad Batter.  I've heard a lot of places that saving up for a Strauch is way worth it, so I'm doing it.  I can't wait!

All dyed and waiting to dry.

 Robot Unicorn Attack

Superwash from The Sheep Shed Studio

New Order + Photos

Got my order from SSS yesterday!  It was actually probably here on Saturday, but I wasn't around to check the mail.  Although I really want to get dyeing, I probably won't be able to get any done until next week, since the move is happening this weekend.  But I'm working on reorganizing my entire stash and getting things in logical places, as soon as I think of a good (cheap!) way to do it.

Etsy Update!

I just added a few new yarns to my store!  I think I will add the rest of the items one-by-one over several weeks so that I don't get frustrated with resizing pictures and all that. 

The order from Carol Lee over at the Sheep Shed Studio should arrive tomorrow.  However, I'll be gone for the weekend, so I won't get to play with it or dye any fibers until Tuesday at the earliest.

Lots of new stuff planned for the next couple of months!  Things will get underway once I'm done moving next weekend.

Placed an order to SSS (http://www.thesheepshedstudio.com/) this afternoon for more fantastic supplies.  I have a few yarns and dyejobs planned!  I'm excited for the fibers, as always.  I also recently ordered a new phone from Sprint - after a year in WA, I'm finally switching my service provider and phone number to local ones. 

Week two of school has begun.  I only got a little bit of yarn stuff done this weekend, and next weekend won't be much better as I will be out of town.  I'm going to work hard to get schoolwork *and* yarnwork done in the next 4 days.  Things are going to be busy at work, too, and I'm sure I'll have plenty of sore muscles to go along with it.  I'm actually really excited about this job.  I like actually using my body to do things besides sit all day long.  Loading packages for UPS is completely opposite, and so far I am really enjoying it! 

I will be moving a few items over from Artfire to Etsy in the next week or two.  I love that listing items on Artfire is free, but I am not seeing the same traffic that I am to my Etsy.  I also can't figure out how to renew items with Artfire.

Pictures of the new goodies to come!  I am also halfway done with the first sock from my Fiber Porn Sock Blend Batt, so that will be on here soon as well.