More Kittens and Bunnies, Too

At the end of March, I spent a couple weeks in Issaquah, WA, near Seattle, house and pet sitting for my son and his wife while they soaked in some sun and warmth in Maui.  My friend, Melody, who lives close by came for a visit for a few days and we embarked on a knitting marathon.  Melody has been knitting the most fabulous stuffed animals and cats and so under her tutelage, I learned how to knit my first stuffed animal, a rabbit, and there was born a new obsession.  Here are the fruits of my labors -- all knit since the beginning of April:

I cannot begin to tell you how much fun it is to create these little critters and dress them up.

There is a bit of a story behind the materials I used in these little animals.  Before my trip to the Seattle area, I of course had to search out nearby yarn/fiber stores that I might need to visit.  One of the stores that popped up was Tolt Yarn and Wool, which looked like an interesting shop in the farming community of Carnation about 20 miles from my son's house in Issaquah.  So, Melody and I decided to take a field trip to Carnation in the Snoqualmie Valley. The drive there was so picturesque as the road followed the Snoqualmie River through a beautiful farming valley. 

The town of Carnation is about two blocks long so you can't miss Tolt Yarn and Wool.  What a delightful shop.  I have to say it is one of my most favorite shops. Beautiful yarns, very friendly staff.  It reminded me of an old timey rustic general store, warm and homey.  One of the things I most loved about this shop is that they carry a variety of yarns from locally sourced wool, grown by small farms in Washington and they also carry handspun yarn and some spinning supplies.  (www.toltyarnandwool.com)

As soon as I walked in, I saw a cute hand knit rabbit that looked like a good starter project for me, so I got the pattern, "Bunny Love" by Susan B. Anderson.  Because I was drawn to the local yarn, I decided I wanted to knit my animals with natural locally sourced wool, so I set aside some yarn from Snoqualmie Valley Yarn, a Blueface Leicester and Clun Forest wool yarn.  I bought three of their natural colors and several that had been dyed by Local Color Fiber Studio on Bainbridge Island. Local Color used indigo, madder root, grape skins, and rudbekia for their natural dyeing. I also bought three natural colors of yarn from Small Blessings Farm from Enumclaw, WA, 100% Romney wool.

Naturally dyed by Local Color Fiber Studio

Once I got home and had knit up my first bunny, I decided to embark on the cat pattern, "Meowww Kitty" by Sherry Moore.  And . . . I took off.  Using the wool yarn I bought at Tolt, I combined it with some of the Cormo wool yarn I have purchased at the Taos Wool Festival from Elsa Wool Company of Colorado, another family owned sheep ranch.  And some of the clothing for my little critters was knit with natural dyed yarns from Rainshadow Farms (Kingston, WA) that I bought at the Black Sheep Gathering.  I also used some of my handspun yarn that I have dyed with indigo and eucalyptus. It remains to be seen how big my stable of kitties and others is going to grow.  Many ideas swirling around in my head -- which is not a bad thing.

So that's about it for now.  I am motoring down to San Diego tomorrow to spin with my spinning buddies down there, a great group of women. Love the camaraderie that the fiber world nutures.

Kittens, Kittens, Kittens

My friend in Washington, who I am going to visit later this month when I house/pet sit for my son and his wife, has been making the most adorable knitted stuffed animals.  Her latest are the cutest little kittens with hand knit sweaters, too.

  

These little cuties are for sale on Etsy at MelsNorthwestKnits.etsy.com.   Meow!

My New Toy Arrived

A week ago a lovely new spinning wheel arrived on my doorstep:  my Watson Marie wheel (with beautiful Victoria trim).  The wheel is American black walnut with accents of purple heart and blackwood and was handcrafted flawlessly by Andrew Watson from Burlington, Ontario, Canada. His work is awesome, indeed!  Needless to say, I have been doing a lot of spinning getting to know my new wheel.

In between spinning, I have also been doing a lot of dyeing the past couple weeks, trying to get my inventory of hand painted fibers up to snuff and posted on Etsy. The past few weeks, Blueface Leicester has been my fiber of choice.  Next up is a Polwarth wool/mohair/silk blend. And then more merino/yak/silk and merino/bombyx silk.  When I get in a dyeing mode, I just need to go with it.  But the nice thing about pumping up my inventory is that I have this colorful array of fibers in front of me, and it just makes me want to spin different colorways and ply them, which is what I have been doing every evening.

This skein is 346 yards (4.0 oz.).  I plied one of my new colorways "Tanager" (100% BFL) with a blend of BFL/tussah silk in my "River Dart" colorway.  I spun this on my new Marie.

This next skein was spun on my Rose wheel.  I plied a merino/yak/silk blend ("Palm Canyon" colorway) with a BFL/tussah silk blend in my "Seychelles" colorway. 308 yards, 3.7 oz.

This is the first skein I spun on my new Marie wheel.  I plied one of my BFL rovings in my "Bristol Bay" colorway with a BFL/tussah silk roving from Blarney Yarn (my friend, Miryha) in her colorway "Evergreen".  292 yards, 4.1 oz.

This last skein was spun on my Rose wheel, using to two new colorways in BFL -- "Sand Pebbles Too" plied with "Nosegay".  324 yards, 4.3 oz.

On another note. I had an email from my friend, Debra Sposa, who teaches art at Whitney High School in Cerritos. She is one of the most amazing teachers I know and has been so fortunate to teach at a school that values art.  Inspired by a number of her artist friends, and after a class with India Flint three summers ago, Debra assigned her students a project using quilting, eco dyeing, stitching, appliqué. The work of her students is extraordinary and can be viewed at her blog here:  http://www.artisun.blogspot.com     What lucky students they are to have an inspirational teacher like Debra.  

So back to dyeing and spinning, and spinning and dyeing . . . .

Anticipation

Just a quick check in. I am so excited that my Watson spinning wheel has been completed and that Andrew Watson will be shipping it right after the first of the year.  I have been patiently waiting for four years and after looking at the pictures he sent me this week, it has been worth every single minute of the wait.  Andrew is an amazing spinning wheel maker and craftsman.  There's only one word for his work:  awesome.  So now I have this itch of anticipation and can hardly wait for the time when a big crate is delivered to my door.  Here are a few pictures.  Can I possibly contain myself for the next couple of weeks???

The wheel is American black walnut and the accent woods are Purple Heart and Blackwood.  I am sure the pictures don't do it justice and it will be even more beautiful in person.  Thank you, Andrew.  

Torrance Weaving and Fiber Fest This Weekend

The Torrance Weaving and Fiber Fest is this weekend and I have been dyeing like mad to get ready.  This event is put on by the Southern California Handweavers' Guild. My friend Margie and I will be in the Capistrano Fiber Arts booth. We will have an array of hand painted rovings, other fibery goodness, handspun yarn and some hand felted and hand knit garments. And, yes, I will have bags of my luscious "Pastiche" fiber mixture.

The festival is this Sunday, November 2nd, from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the Torrance Cultural Center. This is the best local fiber show and well worth the drive. For information: www.schg.org/festival.  Hope to see lots of fiber enthusiasts there.  

Artistic License Fair This Weekend

Looking forward to the Artistic License Fair this weekend -- Friday and Saturday, October 24th and 25th, at Estancia Park in Costa Mesa.  Just working on some last minute items for my booth.   Here's a little peek at some of my felted pieces which have hand stitching on them.  

I'll also have lots of my handspun yarn and pieces knit and crocheted from my handspun yarns.  The Fair is from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day.  Hope to see a lot of new, as well as old, friends there.  Stop by and see me in Booth #1.  (Check out the Artistic License Fair Facebook page.)

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.

Log Cabin

After successfully making a dent in the pile of granny squares that I have crocheted (by sewing them together to make a baby blanket), I decided that I wanted to try my knitting hand at some bigger squares by using the pattern called Log Cabin.  I have been wanting to try this particular pattern for a long time because it's a great way to use up all those small balls of left over handspun yarn and it's all done in garter stitch and is a kind of "no brainer" knitting that can be done without a tremendous amount of concentration.  I have completed two squares so far and have started a third.  I really love these.  They are much bigger than my granny squares at 7.5" x 7.5" and will be less of a hassle to sew together.

Now I am off to the Sunday farmer's market.  Last week, I discovered a vendor there that has fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, tastes just like the freshly picked fruit.  I must have more!

Summer Workshop at Shakerag

I have had the pleasure of attending the Shakerag summer workshops in Sewanee, Tennessee, many times.  I have taken spinning and dyeing with local fiber artist Lynne Vogel, two workshops with wearable clothing artist Jean Cacicedo, a felting workshop with Scottish artist, Jeanette Sendler, and natural dyeing with Rebecca Burgess from Northern California.  This summer my friend, Margie, and I had a wonderful experience learning about Japanese boro cloth, shibori, stitching, clamp resist dyeing, Japanese tsunobukuro carrying pouch, and indigo dyeing. Our amazing teacher was Yoshiko Wada, author and shibori artist, from Berkeley, CA.  

There were 17 in our workshop and each person brought their unique artistry and creativity to the class and their work.  It was remarkable how the work of each student was so different. 

Some samples of boro cloth from Yoshiko's collection.

One of our indigo dye pots. 

Here are pictures of the work some of the students in our class.  Where I can remember whose work it is, I will give their name.  (I apologize to my classmates when I can't remember who did some of the work in the pictures.)

A couple of my indigo dyed pieces - clamp resist

Tsunobukuro carrying bags

Patricia's meticulously stitched quilt which she bravely plunged

 into the indigo pot with miraculous results

Lovely indigo dyed pieces

My hand stitched vest - work in progress

Appliques of eco printed handmade felt

Pamela's indigo dyed silk pieces and her work stitching pieces from
 a quilt made by her grandmother 

Margie's handstitched boro cloth, indigo dyed yarn and clamp resist pieces

 Jody's fabric book - hand stitched on linen embellished with pieces of 

cloth from old book covers

More lovely indigo dyed pieces

 Chris' eco printed pieces, one over dyed with indigo

Judilee's display of yarns and embellishments on a leaf

Dakota's work -- including a handwoven ethnic bag deconstructed

Claire's quilt -- a work in progress -- started in our natural dye class

with Rebecca Burgess in 2013

I believe this is Judilee's work

Melanie's indigo dyed shibori piece

I think this is Ilse's work

More pictures, but I'm not sure whose it is. Very nice.

What a wonderfully creative time we had at Shakerag this summer. How can you not love it when -- for a week --  you are tucked away in a creative environment, fed the most delicious meals, free to work into the night, take walks, swim in the "Res", have an opportunity to make new friends and see and commune with old friends.  I'm hooked and already looking forward to my summer camp at Shakerag in June 2015.