Artistic License Fair is approaching

The postcards for the Artistic License Fair have gone out.  That means the fair is fast approaching.  It is Friday and Saturday, October 24th and 25th, at Estancia Park in Costa Mesa, a lovely outdoor setting.  Here's a picture of this year's postcard featuring my dear friend Michelle Hoffee's "Living and Dyeing" booth.   You can visit her web page and see her one-of-a-kind superbly and artistically crafted garments:  www.livinganddyeing.com

Visit the AL website to see the names of all participating artists

www.ArtisticLicenseFair.com

I am busy filling my bins with lots of my beautiful handcrafted wares, including lots and lots of handspun yarns, spun from my hand painted fibers and those of my other indy fiber artist friends.  I aim to have a very colorful booth.  Hope to see lots of friends and  lots of new faces.

More Mountain Spinning

Last night, I plied more of the yarn that I spun while on my vacation up in Lassen Volcanic National Park.  This two-ply skein weighs 4.8 oz. and has 338 yards.  One ply is my hand painted roving called "Fernleaf" and is a blend of Blueface Leicester and Silk (75%/25%).  The other ply is another Inglenook Fibers batt called "Cosmos". 

That's all for now.  I have to get back to dyeing.  I am working very hard to restore my inventory of spinning fibers for my two Fall shows coming up.  In the 90+ heat, this has presented quite a challenge.  I hear it's to be cooler today.  Oh joy! 

Mountain Spinning

Last week, my husband and I ventured up to Lassen Volcanic National Park where we stayed in the camping cabins at Lake Manzanita within the park.  We had a very relaxing time and spent many hours walking and hiking.  Early morning and late afternoons were spent reading or spinning.

One of the perks of driving somewhere on vacation is that you can take things with you that you can't take on a plane.  So . . . my spinning wheel drove up with us in the back seat.  What an idyllic setting, sitting on the porch of the cabin, spinning and looking at the trees and lake.

I managed to spin four bobbins of fiber on the trip and when I came home, I have so far plied two of the bobbins.  One ply was my hand painted roving of Blueface Leicester and Tussah Silk (a 75%/25% blend) called "Indian Paintbrush" and the other ply was one of the luscious Inglenook batts called "Looking forward to Autumn" -- how apropos. This was one of my most favorite Inglenook creations.  

This is a nice big skein of 450 yards, weighing 6.1 oz.

Now, back to more hand painting of fibers and getting ready for Artistic License (Friday and Saturday - Oct. 24th and 25th) and the Torrance fiber festival (Sunday - Nov. 2nd.)

Log Cabin Scarf

I debated on what to do with my handspun log cabin squares and finally chose to knit them together with garter stitch rows into a long scarf.  I am very pleased with the outcome.

After knitting the squares together, I knit several garter rows up the sides and did a picot bind off along the side edge. 

Next, I finished off the edges with knitted I-cord fringes.

 A little closer up view.

I really love the log cabin squares that allow you to use up a lot of the little balls of yarn that are left over from other projects.  I have already assembled some yarns for my next log cabin project and will try to combine some natural colored handspun yarns along with some colored ones.

On another note, I just returned from 5 days in the Lassen Volcanic National Park up in Northern California.  My husband and I stayed in a camping cabin at Manzanita Lake campground within the park.  This is one of my favorite national parks.  

Evening glass off on Lake Manzanita

 A view of Raker Peak from the lake

 A view of Mt. Lassen from the lake

 Me spinning on the porch of our camping cabin -- now that was idyllic!

My next trip is just around the corner.  My friends, Michelle and Janet, will join me for our annual girls' Fall retreat to Santa Fe, Chimayo and Taos, New Mexico.  We will be attending the Taos Wool Festival and will also stay at Casa Escondida in Chimayo for a couple of days before our stay in Taos. I can barely contain my excitement.   

What will these be?

Happy Labor Day!  This means that summer is coming to a close and kids are going back to school, and the beaches and walking trail will not be so crowded.  All of us who live near the beaches, breathe a sigh of relief with the passing of Labor Day -- less people and less traffic.  I have finished six log cabin squares with my left-over balls of handspun yarn and now I have to contemplate what to do with them.  I have an idea that I am going to try today so stay tuned.  

These squares are about 7.5" x 7.5" so they are much bigger than the granny squares I crochet.

And the really nice thing about them is that each edge has live stitches, which means that you can place them on a needle and start knitting and can easily connect them with a technique called the Kitchener stitch.

Now, if only it would cool down.  We are pretty tired of 90+ degree weather.  I am frazzled.