Exciting News!

This has been an exciting week for me. Sometimes I think life just can't get any better and then all of a sudden it's Spring and my fiber dreams start coming true. First, with the onset of warmer weather, my garden started to take off. My lavenders and roses are all abloom, and my tomato plants and herb garden are thriving. The buzzy bees abound.





Then, I got the long-awaited news that I will be sharing space in the "Woolgatherings" booth at Black Sheep Gathering with Sandy Sitzman and Lynne Vogel. We will all be there with our handpainted spinning fibers and hopefully a supply of much sought-after handspun yarn. Lynne and I will also have beautiful handpainted sock yarns. And Lynne plans to have one-of-a-kind drop spindles handcrafted by a local artist. BSG is an annual fiber festival at the fairgrounds in Eugene, Oregon. It's three days long -- June 22nd thru 24th -- and is loads of fun. There are demonstrations, great classes, fiber and animal competitions, and a huge variety of beautiful fleeces for sale. But, the top reason to go is the marketplace which fills three big rooms and has some of the best vendors, including many local fiber artists. This is one of the best fiber shows on the West Coast and shouldn't be missed. To find out more, visit: http://www.blacksheepgathering.org

If that wasn't enough excitement, the other fantastic news is that I was invited to be one of six guest artists/dyers to participate in The Yarn Tree's "A Sock for All Seasons" sock club. The Yarn Tree, a wonderful knitting and fiber shop in the Williamsburg part of Brooklyn, is owned by Linda LaBelle. Linda is also a fiber artist and has written "The Yarn Lover's Guide to Hand Dyeing" which is coming out this Fall 2007. The other guest artists participating in Linda's sock club include Cheryl Schaefer of Schaefer Yarns, Darlene Hayes of Hand Jive/Nature's Palette, Nancy Finn of Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks, and Katey Plymesser of Thirteen Mile Lamb & Wool Co. This is sure to be a great sock club, and I feel privileged to have been included in this group of outstanding women and fiber artists. Registration for "A Sock for All Seasons" sock club will be open until June 1, 2007, so don't waste any time since there is a limit on memberships. For information on joining, visit Linda's website: http://www.theyarntree.com/studio/sockclub/



For quite some time, I have been itching to knit another handspun sweater. So . . . with Black Sheep Gathering approaching, I thought it would be fun to knit a sweater and enter it in the fiber arts show. For the past couple of weeks, I have been spinning the yarns above from some of my colorful handpainted merino to use with a natural oatmeal-colored yarn I spun. The oatmeal yarn is a blend of mohair, merino and angora rabbit from Hillside Cottage in Norco. As many of you may know. one of my favorite ways to knit a sweater is to just start at the bottom with a very sketchy plan and see where the colors take me. It's called flying by the seat of your pants, but what a fun and creative ride. And, the end result has yet to be a bust. I will post the sweater's progress so stayed tuned.

And here's a yarn I just HAD TO HAVE. It's hand-dyed and handspun mohair from my friend Margie Bell -- MaBelle Fiber Arts -- which made its way into my knitting basket the last time I was at La Petite Knitterie. This is so lovely, I WILL find a way to work it into my handspun sweater.



And I saw on Sandy's blog the other day [http://www.twistedmom.blogspot.com] that she is in the process of knitting Lynne Vogel's entrelac hat pattern and is darn proud of having conquered entrelac. I loved the pattern so much, I completed one using my handspun yarn and I now have another in progress. This was such a fun little project! Here's the first one I knit up.




And, you wonder, what else have I been up to? Well, here's a pile of gorgeous sock yarns that I have been dyeing up for Kat at La Petite Knitterie. These will soon be for sale at her shop and online at the LPK website.