beebonnet report

yet more fiber

The latest batch for your enjoyment.  Another 20 pounds and I'll call it a day.

fiber for OFFF

I just typed a long post and then lost it... grrrrr!  So now you're getting the condensed version, sorry about that.

Oy!  am I tired!  I've been dyeing for days.  See the fruits of my labor here.  This is only half of the fibers I'm taking, plus all the yarns too!  I really hope I do well at OFFF because I could sure use the money!

And I found out that my paper was finally published.  You can see it here.  I'm excited to have a paper even though my academic career is on hold at the moment.  If all goes well I'll be going back to UCLA in the winter quarter (january).

And here's a beautiful burl and ebony spindle.  This is made by Karen and Tom Berglund.  It's really gorgeous and spins very nicely.  The yarn is a merino/tencel blend and it was spun on a wheel, not on the spindle.  But I tthought it dressed up the photo nicely.

I felted the little hat I made in my first machine knitting class.  It was a little too scratchy for a preemie cap and that's what size it turned out.  It makes a lovely little bowl, just the right size for holding my business cards!

Eye Candy

September 7, 2006

Here's a little eyecandy. This is some CVM/Romeldale roving that I got at Black Sheep Gathering at the Blue Moon Farm booth (have you noticed how many fiber businesses have the name Blue Moon?) this year. Look what a beautiful yarn it makes! I .think this wants to be something autumny

Skeinlet

September 3, 2006

Well, here's my first skeinlet from my supported spindle. I really like this weird blumpy texturey yarn. I'm so used to smoothing out texture, and this is really fun! And so soft

Spindlicity is in bed. Whew!

September 2, 2006

Spindlicity is in bed!

Whew, every Spindlicity issue is like giving birth. But the new one is finally out and up. We had trouble with the server which was a victim of denial of service attacks so it took us way longer to upload. Big props to Kimley and Kathy without whom I would not be able to put out such a professional publication!

This last week has been a great week for learning new stuff! First it was the really fun machine knitting class at A Mano with Tricia Shafer. Stupidly, I didn't think to bring my knitting machine with me, for some reason I thought it would just be a lecture. Luckily Annette (one of the owners of A Mano) loaned me a knitting machine to use, and I learned so much! I came home and dug out my knitting machine that Rustle bought me for $5, and guess what?! It works! I've been knitting swatches like crazy! This is a Studio 360 that came out around 1980 and it's all metal and has punchcard capability - but sadly no punchcards. Now I have a whole new field to learn about. This class was so much fun because almost everyone in the class was from GLASG! We were all giddy with the power of being able to knit yards of fabric in mere minutes. And Annette's shop has a lovely atmosphere. It was my first time there, but definitely not my last!

Today I went to a great workshop by Gwen Powell on supported spindling. Let's just say I am now in love with my navajo spindle. Unfortunately my camera somehow ate the pictures I took so I can't show you the amazing tinsel garland and spun caterpillar that she did, but let me just say she is one talented lady! I came home and wanted to do some spindling, but I didn't have any support spindles other than my navajo spindle which was too big, and my Russian Lace spindles, which were too small, and just like Goldilocks, I wanted one that was "just right". So I decided to make my own. I took a large DPN that I had, and a wooden toy wheel that I had and wrapped the shaft of the DPN with enough scotch tape to be able to jam the toy wheel onto the needle. And it's PERFECT! It spins really well, and it was already pointy on both ends. Plus it's smooth and easy to "snap".

So I started spinning up this gorgeous batt that I got from Nancy at Custom Handweaving. The color is called eggplant and there are all kinds of fibers and bumpy noils and stuff in this batt, plus lots of silk. It's really soft. I can't wait to see what this yarn will look like once I ply it and knit it. I bought two bags and I hope that will be enough for a shawl.

New Chameleon

August 25, 2006

New Colors. A few of my new colors for Chameleon. Blueberry, Black Cherry and Taos. mmmmm!

Hangin' with Spinnies

August 19, 2006

Back to Hangin' with the Spinnies

Now that I'm no longer an owner of Stick & Stone, I'm really looking forward to attending guild meetings again. I can't believe I haven't been to a meeting since April. So many new people have joined and I haven't even met them yet! I'm really sad that our meeting day was changed to the 4th Saturday though as I'm really sorry to have to decide between GLASG and Ventura Guild.

I can't wait to sneak preview the Falling Leaves scarf that will be in the next Spindlicity to the guild members. Sorry, no posting of that here.

And speaking of Spindlicity, the next issue goes live September 1st! and will feature an article by Connie Delaney who I recently met at the Dixon Lambtown fiber festival. I saw this woman doing amazing spindling out by the sheep-to-shawlers, and I started talking to her. She was managing to get twice as much yarn length out of her spindling as the normal arm-to-ground drop. I was mesmerized. Then she told me she could do a trick with her feet. I started sputtering "you know the foot trick?, I've heard of the foot trick, I've never seen the foot trick, can you show me the foot trick?" And she laughed, then graciously showed me the foot trick. GASP! It's much simpler than I had been led to believe! Then I asked to do a piece for Spindlicity and she said yes. Then I asked her name and she said CONNIE DELANEY!

I said "ConnieDelaneySpindleSpinningFromNoviceToExpertConnieDelaney?" and lo and behold it was. And there you have it folks, I learned the foot trick from Connie Delaney! And you can learn the foot trick from Connie too, she wrote it up, just for Spindlicity! I went home and re-read her book and was delighted to find it was even better than I remembered it.

Finally, I am glad the dang heat is over with for a few days. I am not a hot weather person (and don't ask me why I live in Southern California, that is a long, complicated, story). Anyhow, I'm finally able to do more than sit on my supercushy backside and soak up air conditioning. Hence, this blog!

Spin-Off Poncho

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Well, I didn't mention this before because I didn't want to jinx it ya know... but it's now official! I am one of the winners (2nd place original design) in the Spin-Off Poncho contest! Woo Hoo! My poncho will be in the Winter edition of Spin-Off and I can't wait to see how they photographed it because it wasn't easy for me to photograph! The colors are yellows and lavenders which are sort of muted and it's hard to get the beauty of the color to show in a photograph. The poncho is a lace poncho, but sort of robust lace, not laceweight. I designed it myself... and it's really soft because I spun the yarn from a merino/silk/angora blend. I don't know if I'm allowed to post a photo so I'll wait until the magazine actually comes out... but you can color me tickled pink! Update, the magazine hit the stands so I guess it's fair to post a picture now!