submitting

here's the yarn stash i'm taking to the georgia national fair. it is a nice assortment of colors i think. there are definitely some which i will be keeping (they're so pretty, it would be hard to part from them), and some i will post to etsy when the fair is over. other entries you may have seen before if you read this blog; mini quilts, lap quilt, various cushions, weavings, smocked pin, beaded pin, etc.

yarn finds

it's fantastic when you find habu yarn on sale. i managed to get three balls of a-5 silk, and one of a-64 linen paper, all in a muted yellow green which is so pretty. happy!

weekend fun addendum

i spun up two of the batts i carded at the workshop. the batt formerly known as clown vomit was plied with a white alpaca. it was a definite learning experience. i spun it on my ancient flax wheel (which is quite the finicky beast when it comes to spinning anything thicker than fingering, and you can just about forget spinning fat and thin singles) and it may have taken me a few hours. i try not to think of it. the plying was done on a drop spindle (again, the ancient ones' fault, as it absolutely refuses to spin counter-clockwise). not that i don't enjoy plying on a drop spindle, but it is a little awkward to try any fancy art plying. but, in the end, i really like the color play and softness of the yarn.

after borrowing my good friend's schacht matchless spinning wheel, i spun up the purple batt, plied it, and was skeining in about an hour. wee! it's quite lovely, and i really like the flashes of purple silk and amethyst corriedale locks. another lesson learnt; it is true that you shouldn't mix differing lengths of fiber when creating a batt, as the longer fibers all but disappear while spinning (much like a corespun, with the longer fibers acting the part of the core).

a snowball?

well, i managed to squeeze all of the alpaca on the drop spindle, and it doesn't look so much like a drop spindle as a softball with an antennae (or a jack in the box head). i wound it off, skeined it, and fulled it, and now have a lovely bundle of white alpaca laceweight.

i've been playing with the idea of dyeing it a soft aubergine with cochineal, but figured perhaps the white plainness may work in my favor. maybe. just guessing really. not going on any data to back this hypothesis up. we'll know in a month though, won't we?

the muslin sacks are all sewn up, corded, and tagged. it's a good thing i thought of labeling, as they're mostly indistinct from one another. i feel almost like a bank robber with sacks of money; hey, it's what they look like to me.

after picking up some color grown cotton roving yesterday, i'm down to two empty sacks. hmm. luckily i have enough cord and material for several more, and they're quick and easy to sew up.

the way of shifu

i think, perhaps, i am finally understanding how to spin paper. so far, my efforts with a drop spindle have gone awry; there's nothing like spending time carefully cutting paper into 2mm strips only to see it break apart every three inches when you start to spin it.

then, after putting it aside for a bit, i came across a comment about using a bobbin winder. so, having armed myself with some medium weight handmade paper, i set about winding it on a bobbin winder and was successful. here are the results of the first success, wound onto a kiwaku.

the things we find

i was undoing a hat which, once completed, was too small for my head. i didn't feel like gifting it, as i'm greatly enamored of the yarn, so i unknit it to be put aside for another project. while pulling the rows out a form took shape and i suddenly saw a jelly fish!

cushions, pincushions, pins and...yarn!

i've added some of the yarn i've been spinning to my etsy page. there's so many gorgeous yarns throughout etsy, i think mine may become quickly lost! it would be great if there were local craft shows in savannah, i could think of a few people who would want to share a booth.

i did some logwood dyeing today, and have a bit of fiber soaking in a jar of lichen dye. when i look at the dyebath after the first batch of fiber is dyed there is still so much dyestuff left in it, but the next batch of premordanted fibers come out in such pale shades, even though i soak them overnight in the cooling water. i completely don't get it. it's like this for all of the dyes i've been using; cochineal, kamala, osage, logwood, madder, teal. i hate having to dump the remaining stuff in my compost if it's still usable, so i wish i could figure it out. i think perhaps a posted question to the natural dyes group is needed.

creativity in the face of the dismals

well, what have you been up to anastasia? hmm, maybe not as much as i thought. you'd think being jobless would free up a lot of time to just focus. but then you want to buy the materials with which you've envisioned a piece, and find that there is a downside to being without a job; a serious lack of funds. then you think, "what about that stock of stuff i've been building up for the last few years?", and you find that your tastes have changed somewhat.

or perhaps, i just like the thrill of ordering something, the suppressed excitement of knowing that something is in the mail, the joy of finding a package waiting for you on the doorstep, the exhilaration of opening a box, and admiration, which lasts ever so slightly in the passage of time, of your new acquisition before the urge to order something else takes hold of your senses. ugh. i think i have a problem. or, rather, an addiction. join the club.

then, there's other things which arrive in the mail which aren't so welcome; bills. with the lovely bit of financial reality i receive in the mail every month, i'm beginning to realize that i can't be as free with my heart's desires, that the old piggy bank ain't giving out one more dime. i could be over come with bleakness and dive into a deep pit of despair and depression, or, i could start looking closer to home for material to work with. you know, *cough* the cats, or something.

which brings me to my latest undertaking, spinning cat fiber yarn! i'm calling it turkish van fiber. sounds fancy, huh? well, they are decadently soft, these two kitties of mine. and they really love getting combed, plus they come in three colorways, auburn, black, and white, which mixes up to a greyish yarn color once carded. so, i've spun the cat hair onto a bobbin, and plied it with wool left over from my felting days (which weren't all that many now that i'm being honest with myself), and created a lovely mottled french grey yarn which is surprisingly soft.

i'll admit it though, i really enjoy spinning, and keep wistfully gazing at the pages of ox, alpaca, linen, peace silk, vicuna, qivuit, and guanaco fiber available these days on the internet. but, thankfully for my sagging wallet, i haven't pressed the purchase button yet. sigh. i want a job. a workroom assistant to a costume designer would be nice, or to work in a couture house sewing by hand for hours, or attaching sequins to a stage outfit, any of those would cause me to hyperventilate with happiness. oh, i don't know, one can dream i guess.

an old one but a good one

my mentor and friend bonnie lent me one of her spinning wheels on friday. it's a lovely old wheel which has a lively history. while visiting england, she stayed with a friend who was in her eighties. this grand lady knew bonnie was a spinner, and decided to pass onto her this spinning wheel. she told her the story of it's provenance; when she was a girl of sixteen her scarborough beau crafted it as a gift of love. sadly though, he soon died, and they did not marry. bonnie brought it back on the plane, and her husband soon had it in tip-top shape. i'm very honored that my friend let me start my spinning on this wheel, and i was able to spin some soft grey alpaca on it today.

this is my first spinning wheel spun yarn, it's a white/color specked merino/silk and grey alpaca. the merino blend i had spun on my drop spindle several weeks ago, and i thought would go lovely with the soft grey of the alpaca. i'm very pleased with the end results!

textural yet delicate

i came across a really neat cone of cotton slubby thread and also a jade green cone of pearl cotton at my local yarn store; i love slubby textiles. looking at these thin yarns i really wanted to weave a scarf from them along with a grey bamboo yarn from my habu stash which i could pack for my trip. when i got home i plotted out some warp stripes with the green and grey against the cream, figured out a good width and length and had at it on the warping board.

needless to say the first warp was a disaster; all of the slubby threads stuck to each other like velcro. so this particular thread would be a weft yarn unless spaced with a slicker material. good to know. i salvaged as much as i could, placed them on bobbins and rethought my plans. when in doubt, fall back on pearl cotton.

the second warp went off without fail, and i was able to thread up, get tension, and start to weave. i kind of plan as i go when it comes to the weft threads, i like the sudden thought flashes that happen when i do this. taking notes along the way helps though. and keeping a record along with samples of yarn used.

i like how it came out, wrinkles will only add to it's textural appeal, and it's really light; so perfect to pack for travel.

my newest hoard

this was the third year that scad had their art materials trade show. initially i wasn't going to stop in at the vendors' tables; but when i took a gander at their list of vendors i quickly changed my mind. habu textiles was going to be there! i've never really bought any of their yarn before, thinking it was all rather odd, but i felt an overwhelming urge to go and see what they had to offer. if i remembered correctly they had a plethora of natural fibers and interesting materials. as i am currently enthralled with oddities and natural fibers i decided that i really needed to check them out.

i arrived a half hour early and snuck in to see where their table was located. i found it, took a quick look around and then was kicked out until the doors opened at eleven. luckily the table was located right in front of the entrance door.

oh wow! i would be in extreme trouble if i lived anywhere near to the new york city store. all the raw silks, linens, hemps, naturally dyed fibres; i was in heaven! it took about 45 minutes to gather two basketfuls of loveliness, but they were all so incredible. one oddity i picked up was a bag of golden silk worm cocoons from the curricula of indonesia, they are so beautiful and i can think of several ways to incorporate them into my work.

i learned that the next day the owner of habu textiles, takako ueki, would be giving a lecture about her wares. it was delightful! the information she had was interesting, plus she brought with her some amazing samples of cloth. with my newly acquired knowledge, i headed back to the table and picked up some more yarns including a paper yarn dyed with indigo.

i've decided that i am going to pick up weaving. i've done some research and am planning to save up for a schacht baby wolf loom. i really, really, wish that i could find a secondhand one, as they are quite pricey. maybe i'll stumble on one yet! but if anyone out there knows of one for sale please let me know!

while goofing off

i have these two pieces of stitched fabric that i discovered in a scrap bin at school. the color mixture isn't something i would merge, as they aren't my favorites; but, there's something appealing about them.

awhile back i knitted gauntlets with this heavenly alpaca yarn and couldn't bear to toss the ends. looking at the stitched scrap i remembered the bits of yarn, and they went together so well that i had to find a way to merge them into something.

i haven't made a pincushion in awhile so that was the choice. i used some lovely striped tasmanian wool for the back, and sewed on some buttons from my collection. one of my favorite bits of cloth in this pincushion is the metallic linen; the sheen isn't captured well in the photos, but the button reflects similar qualities.

not your average case

so, while viewing some fascinating textural images on flickr, i was inspired to weave something; not having a loom at the moment and never actually doing it before only being a small bump on the road. but, hey, i've read about the main technique somewhere before, and have seen it done.
grabbing my embroidery frame out of cold storage i proceeded to hammer straight pins into the dowel rods. moments later and voila! a frame on which to weave.

i can see why weavers created patterns; it was monotonous at times but actually really relaxing. it put me in mind of a movie from my childhood, the three lives of thomasina.

taking the finished piece off of the frame was tricky and i'm sure there is a clean way to do this, but i forged ahead anyway. the poor little cloth (because that's what it was at this point, and really amazing too; that whole yarn to cloth part.) was kind of worse for wear but had me thinking about a pouch. several stitches later, a trip to the store for a zipper and a button, cutting, ironing, stitching, and sewing by hand and i had a cute little pouch to store my new business cards in. it's a little asymmetric, kind of wedge like, but really charming all in all; and i like it because i made it from scratch on a whim, which is pretty cool in my eyes.

ah, yes, the cards. they turned out very nice. eventually i want letterpress ones, but i really don't know of the design yet.

soft and strange

i try to not visit yarn stores. i seem to collect single skeins of lovely spun cotton, wool, and silk. which means i never seem to knit outside of the occasional scarf, there being only one ball of yarn; great for christmas time, not so much for when you see a scrumptious cardigan or a delectable pillow. i'd love to knit a tea cozy, but have yet to find a teapot with which to grace one. so, with some reticence i entered the doors of a local yarn store, wild fibre, and found myself not five minutes later walking towards the register with a ball of something soft, something colorful, and something i haven't a clue what to do with.

this is the something of which i speak.
if i were to spin it, what would happen to the delicate rivers of color? what would transpire if one were to felt with such insubstantial fluffiness? alas, i feel this one ball of silkworm essence will stay in its current form. to be admired with the eyes and patted from time to time to regal in the magic of touch.

time doing what?!

well december and january have been a little busy. i think so anyway. it feels like they were. i took some time to go to las vegas to visit my 96 year old aunt. while there, i watched a whole lot of price is right, wheel of fortune, and jeopardy; of the three i would fare best at price is right even though i don't purchase 98% of what they price.

with some of the time from the last month i've been knitting my second ever sweater which i hope to actually finish, unlike the first. i came across an awesome sweater from a danish company "lolly's laundry" while visiting blogs, fell in love with it, then found out i couldn't order it. so, i began to think that "hey , i'm pretty sure i know how this thing was put together", bought some malabrigo organic cotton yarn, a size 6 circular needle, and started knitting. the front panels, back panel, and collar are about finished, and then the sleeves and pockets shouldn't take long. another month perhaps, with time taken from here and there. i'll post photos when i'm done.

another time sponge has been this awesome game i got second hand for christmas. it's called "katamari damacy". pure eye-candy, absolute fun, hilarious, and definitely good for multiple replays. the games' main character, "the king of all cosmos", is eclectic, weird, kooky, metrosexual, and every conversation is primed for the loony bin; but i love him, it's hard not to. i've finished 85% of the game, mostly i just have two presents to wrap up, some items to collect, and i want a bigger taurus. luckily for me they made a sequel, "we love katamari".
i'm saving $ for my long-term-won't-have-to-buy-another-before-i-die sewing machine, a pfaff select 3.0. dual feed, multiple hemming feet, pleating, and it handles like a dream.

wigs are fun

awhile ago i had purchased a bag of dyed wool wefts at my local knitting store. at the time i had a half-formed idea of using them for a doll wig, but eh, i never got around to it.
while going through the plethora of stuff in my newly cleaned closet i came across the baggie and put it to the side. well, the time came to use some of those brilliantly dyed pieces, and scrounging around till i found a nylon stocking, use them i did. pulling, stitching, and forming as i went this weft of wool became hair. it's reminiscent of a finger wave styled 'do from the twenties; and i especially like the random green section.

pretty!

because she is, ya know.

this is not just a post showing you my anea, it is also a happy post about my new digital camera! i am so happy to finally have one after so many months. it's weird how you become so reliant on something. it's a canon powershot a590is. i loves it.

creation

in order to maintain creative goodness to last through the upcoming holidays i have been making a list of stuff to create, adding to it as i go. in the last two weeks i've done:

knitted gauntlets
painted new miniature chair
boil felted wool
embellished purse
created a new shirt out of an old one
made a new skirt from nani iro fabric
sewn a cover for euro sham
made a small sketchbook portfolio containing loose paper

here's a sampling of photos of some of the above things. and a photo of my desk during the creative process. it becomes a wreak of strewn things from books, to sketches of ideas, and receipts.



absolutely love this yarn, it was a dream to work with. it didn't unravel even though i had to pull out my stitches at least three times, the softness is similar to organic cotton and the dye lot is amazing. i want three more skeins of it.

there's this thing about shoes...

i perhaps purchase one pair a year. at first it was because they were pretty and were kitten heels, which made them feminine and mostly comfy. then there were the pairs that looked really good (or, rather, made my legs look really good), which were not as comfy but still tolerable for an hour or four. there is even one pair that is more like 3 dimensional art that belongs on a column rather than on my feet (my ode-to-david-bowie ysl shoes). but now, i've come to a point in my life where i expect more out of shoes; i want them to be very comfortable and pretty. i want them to make my feet feel like i'm wearing birkenstocks, but look like i've grown up and am not afraid to be a woman.
when i went on my trip, i was on a mission. i would not buy anything unless it jumped out and screamed my name. also, there was a list drawn up, narrowed, and ultimately limited to four things that i had to find:

1. elbow length knitted gloves
2. various shades of purple knee or thigh highs
3. a larger tote-like bag
4. shoes

i found many a fingerless knitted gauntlet, but somehow none satisfied. i came across a skein of softest baby alpaca hand painted chunky yarn and knew that this would become my gauntlets. they are currently undergoing that process and are quite soft and warm. after trying on so many gloves and mittens and gauntlets, i figured that it was indeed a soft, cozy, warm thing to cover my wrist and forearm that i was really after (i don't think i own more than one or two long-sleeved anythings; 3/4 sleeve, yes, long-sleeve, no). so, scratch off no. 1.

there were plenty of purple stockings to be had, but alas only one pair of purple thigh highs; and they were too precious and delicate to put up with the amount of abuse hosiery usually gets. the hunt for no. 2 goes on.
the larger tote was found at a booth, revolution of the heart, under the burnside bridge in portland at a local crafts fair they have there every saturday. it is tres cute. the buttons i added when i got home. finally a use for at least some of my collecting. no. 3, found.


now, about the shoes. my travelling companion says i visited around 16 shoe stores between portland and seattle, but i rather think it was closer to eight (and that's counting the ones that had other stuff, like clothes). the pair i eventually found, were at a mano, in seattle. i thought that perhaps i wanted boots, as i had oxford heels in mind when i was looking and trying on. i was also willing to try on shoes that at first appearance were not something i would usually go for. i knew that the ones i would love would have to be a pair that were unexpected and outside of my comfort zone.
well, on the second day in seattle i popped into a mano, as it was on my list, and tried on three pairs before i came to the pair that were instantly comfortable on my travel sore feet. there was plenty of toe room, no rubbing, no tight "ouchie, that'll be a blister in 2o mins." feelings. i was in love. they're a dark olive green (something new for me, i usually never go for the darker shades of shoes), and had a 2 inch heel which definitely does not feel like it, and are made by tn_29. as my mother said when i showed them to her, "they look like the shoes of the 1940's-comfy." they are also impeccably put together; with a little metal toe tap on the sole, nails to attach the upper to the sole and actual room in the upturned toe-box.

well, three out of four is not bad at all.