BLOGGING AGAIN

It has indeed been a while since I blogged what with my husband having been in the hospital, then recuperating at home and other things taking priority. Even with other things going on, I have been doing fibery things, like lots and lots of spinning and dyeing.  Anyone who spins regularly knows that it really gets you centered and relaxed in stressful times. So, it's not surprising that I found myself drawn to my wheel every time I walked by it.    

I have had a couple of "play dates" with my friend Michelle, who has motivated me to step outside the box. My usual spinning is very controlled and my handspun is more often than not, a very beautiful fingering weight.  Michelle and I have been playing around with odds and ends of fiber and other funky (but really nice) stuff.  She has perfected the art of spinning chunky novelty yarns, which can be seen and purchased in her Etsy shop. Here's the site for her store.  www.lovecraft.Etsy.com

Inspired by Michelle's young, hip, quirky and artsy ways, I tried my hand at spinning some of these novelty yarns and here's what came of it.  My first try was with lots of rainbow colors.

Second try was with lots of greens, teals, dark greens, rusts, oranges and purples.

I actually spun some thick and thin chunkier yarns after spending time with Judith MacKenzie McCuin at Golden Gate Fiber Institute last July.  I have to admit, I am having loads of fun with this.  It's like, okay, we're going to throw in everything but the kitchen sink (almost) and see where this goes.  

And speaking of Golden Gate Fiber Institute, I was so very disappointed to get an email from Morgaine the other day saying that the Winter Intensives were being cancelled -- not enough enrollment to warrant going forward.  I had signed up for a week of Kathryn Alexander.  That would have been so over the top fun. Talk about energetic and inspirational!!  Well, maybe she'll agree to teach in the summer. 

My friend, Margie, has been stopping by each week to warp my big loom with her handspun yarn.  She is making another handwoven blanket.  We finished rolling the warp on the loom the other day and it looks magnificent, so organized.  The next step will be tying onto the front of the loom and then she'll begin weaving.  The wonderful thing about this blanket is that she bought the raw sheep's fleece, washed it, carded it, dyed some of it, and then handspun all the yarn.  This is taking it all the way from sheep to finished blanket.  Here's a picture of progress so far.

And, I have been so happy that my Etsy shop has been keeping me busy, busy.  So many new customers and lots of great repeat customers.  If you have not visited my shop, here's the address:  www.CapistranoFiberArts.Etsy.com

Among other great Etsy shops is Lynne Vogel's.  She's got some great patterns, including two that I just purchased, "Starry Night Scarf" and "Superruffly". Lynne's shop can be found at:   www.LynneVogel.Etsy.com

So, now it's Saturday afternoon and a good time to get my wheel and do some spinning.  

TORRANCE FIBER FEST 

Yesterday -- Margie and I had a fabulous day at the Torrance Fiber Fest.  This is an annual fiber frolic sponsored by the Southern California Handweaver's Guild.  We had many, many fiber fanatics in our booth and so many of our friends stopped by to say hi.  Here are some pictures of our booth.  My tower of handpainted sock yarn.

Handpainted merino/bombyx silk rovings.

Baby camel and silk rovings and silk and alpaca yarns -- all hand-dyed by moi.

Here is my rack of handpainted Blueface Leicester rovings which was very bare at the end of the day.  

More handpainted Blueface Leicester rovings.

Close up.

We also had loads of handspun yarn, spun from fibers we dyed first.  These first two pictures are spun by me.

Very special yarns.

Here are some of Margie's handspun yarns.

And what a pleasant surprise --one of our past customers stopped by to show off a handspun/handknit sweater made from some Cormo wool fiber that she had purchased from Margie at the Torrance fest last year.  She carded and spun the wool and knit this beautiful little sweater.  How cool!

And here are some of my favorite hand-dyed fibers.  I had to go raid the Redfish Dyeworks booth before the show opened to get some of their gorgeous fibers beautifully dyed by Elf. These are merino/bombyx silk (50-50).  (http://www.redfishdyeworks.com)

Are you drooling yet???

This is baby camel and silk (50-50), a most delicious blend and so easy to spin.

For anyone who missed the Torrance Fiber Fest this year -- don't despair.  The Association of Southern California Handweavers will host a weaving and spinning conference this coming March, 2009.  Margie and I will have a booth and Redfish Dyeworks is sure to be there, too, along with many other great vendors.  For information:  www.aschsite.org   There will also be classes available so check the roster of teachers and classes on the ASCH website.

And finally, if you haven't heard about Golden Gate Fiber Institute, you must go to their website:   www.goldengatefiberinstitute.org   GGFI is putting on their Winter Intensive Workshops from January 5th through 11th at Camp Bonita, just north of San Francisco.  I attended the Summer Intensives and had the best time so I'm going back again.  This time, I am taking knitting with Kathryn Alexander (http://www.kathrynalexander.net) and garment design with Jeane De Coster (http://www. elementalaffects.com).  

LIFE IS TENUOUS

Well, I haven't posted for a while as we've had a very rough few weeks at my house.  My husband and I had just returned from a great vacation to Northern New Mexico and the Taos Wool Festival.  Then, in the blink of an eye, he was being rushed into emergency surgery and almost lost his life.  After spending five days in ICU and another five in the hospital, he is now at home recuperating.  I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say that life is tenuous and should never be taken for granted.  This experience really puts a lot of things into perspective -- like -- don't sweat the small stuff and look around and appreciate your life.   So now I am going to finish the post I began just hours before rushing my husband to the ER.

One of our favorite times of the year is when summer is over, the crowds have dwindled and we can sit on the beach and only see a handful of beachgoers.  This is a picture down at Capistrano Beach on the last day of summer.  Oh, yeah!

Then, the next weekend, we boarded Amtrak's Southwest Super Chief for a 16 hour train ride to Albuquerque, New Mexico, after a short train ride from the San Juan Capistrano train station.  

We left L.A. at 6:45 p.m. and arrived in N.Mexico at noon the next day.  Sleeping on the train was not the greatest experience, but I know what to do next time -- bring a pillow and a small blanket.  Once the sun came up, the scenery from the train was beautiful.  Knitting in my seat and looking out the window of the train was really great fun.

The first stop on our trip was the Aliento B&B just south of Santa Fe.  I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.  Ruth and Chrissy were wonderful.  Ruth is a glass artist and has a glass school on the grounds.  We felt so at home and the setting was beautiful. Here's a couple shots from the chairs outside our room where we were enjoying a glass of wine in the early evening. Earlier in the day, we drove the 9 miles into Santa Fe and walked around.

The next day we headed east to Las Vegas and Mora, N.M., a couple of small towns with weaving stores/galleries.  Also, Mora is home to Victory Ranch Alpacas.  We stopped to see the ranch which is featured in the book Sheared Spirit.  They have about 200 alpacas grazing out in their pastures.

Here are a couple pictures of baby alpacas.  They are so cute.  The buff colored was probably a couple of months old.  The little dark brown baby had just been born that morning.  Here he is with his protective mamma.

We then set off over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to our next destination --  Chimayo and the Espanola Valley, the very heart of weaving in Northern N.M.  We spent two nights at Casa Escondidas, a charming B&B.  Our room was on the second floor (to the left in the picture) and we had this wonderful deck right off our room.  From the deck we could see the surrounding area and it was a magnificent view, especially in the evening.  

Here's a picture of our lovely room.  It was idyllic and filled with antiques.

Here's a view from the deck looking to the mountains.

We spent a couple of days exploring the area and made a visit to the Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center.  This is a nonprofit organization and was well worth the visit.  They have a classroom area with many, many looms as well as a gallery of members' work and a store.  I bought several bags of dried plant materials for natural dyeing:  madder, cosmos, and tansy. 

Around the Chimayo area, we explored Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu -- areas where famous artist, Georgia O'Keefe, hung out.

Our final destination was Taos and the Old Taos Guesthouse B&B for four nights.  I so love to stay here.  Tim and Leslie were the best hosts.  Each morning, they fed us so well - a hot breakfast of homemade muffins and frittata just out of the oven, homemade granola, yogurt, a big bowl of fresh fruit.  Great coffee. We spent many afternoons sitting out in the back on the big swing looking out to the valley or in the dining room with a cup of tea and knitting. We couldn't have felt more welcome and comfortable.  

We walked into town a couple of times (about a mile) and just down the road from the Old Taos Guesthouse, we encountered a small farm.  

What first caught our eye when we drove by were a couple of Churro sheep rams so we decided to take a walk down to the farm one morning.  We were invited onto the property by Patricia and her mother, Anna, who are working hard to bring the farm back to life, the way it was when Patricia's grandparents farmed the land.  She is also working to preserve the endangered Churro sheep breed.  

Among her other animals are some cashmere goats.  Of course, being a spinner, I was delighted to see these beautiful little animals, especially how they had to climb right into their feeding trough.

The Taos Wool Festival was so much fun.  I don't really have any decent pictures, but it was held at Kit Carson Park in the heart of town.  I managed to buy three fleeces:  a chocolate brown, a gray and a white from a wool co-op in Casper, WY -- Dawn and Mike DeFreece -- who were also staying at the Taos Guesthouse.  I saw many vendors at this show that I had never seen before.  Elsa Wool Company had amazing Cormo wool yarn from sheep raised in Montana. I bought some handpainted kid mohair roving from Kai Ranch from Texas -- also featured in Sheared Spirit. And bought yarn from Plain and Fancy Yarns, also from Texas.  I visited LaLana Wools as well as Rio Grande Weavers, and had lamb shish-kabob at the festival.  We visited a delightful yarn store nearby called Taos Sunflower, only to learn they were closing and going to the internet two days later, a real loss for the area.  I bought roving from a local artist, Robin Pascal -- handpainted local Corriedale/silk.   I think this is a trip I may want to make again next year.   

And finally, here is a farewell to New Mexico -- a beautiful sunset -- and many memories until our next trip.  We had fabulous weather (high 70's and low 80's) only to wake up to snow on the local mountains the morning we were leaving.  Oh, boy -- we were not prepared for that kind of weather. 

Upon arriving home -- and after the calamitous health issue with my husband -- I had to get my act together in a big hurry for the Artistic License Show.  I have no pictures, but Carrie Sommer, one of the other artists, took pictures which can be seen at her blog:  http://www. sommerdesigns.typepad.com  Check out her blog posts of Oct. 27th and 28th.

And now, I am working on getting my act together again for the Torrance Fiber Fest this weekend on Sunday, Nov. 2nd -- 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.   This festival is sponsored by the S.Calif. Handweavers Guild.  My booth will feature lots of handpainted spinning fibers, handspun and handpainted yarns.  Also, Margie will have lots of her popular handspun mohair yarns.  Hope to see lots of friends there.  For more information, go to:  www.schg.org

That's it for now.  Whew!  

APPLE PICKING TIME (ALMOST)
Well, my Fuji apples are almost ready to be harvested. This is the fourth year and we finally have a decent crop. The real trick is to let them ripen on the tree and pick them before the racoons get to them. We have had the unfortunate experience of having every single apple disappear from the tree overnight -- not a core or seed to be found -- as if they were abducted by aliens!

Russian sage -- one of my most favorite garden plants -- is in full bloom.

I have been hard at work putting together a sock yarn order which will wing its way to The Yarn Tree in Brooklyn, New York, this coming Monday. So all of you sock knitters who frequent The Yarn Tree (and who read my blog) should pop into Linda's store next weekend. Here's a sampling of some of what I've been working on drying on the rack.

And when I need a break from several hours of dyeing in my studio -- referred to affectionately by me as "the sweat shop" -- here's where I cool off. A nice little swim sure clears the head and makes life a little easier. And . . . yes . . . I know . . . I'm lucky.

I continue to knit and weave and spin, getting ready for the Artistic License Fair in Costa Mesa, October 24th and 25th. Here's a scarf knit from my handspun yarn. I spun two rovings I handpainted first and then plied together -- one is baby camel and silk and the other is merino and cashmere. I just love knitting with varigated handspun because the journey of color is different each time.

Here's a lacey scarf I just started, using the Old Shale pattern. This scarf is knit stranding two yarns from Habu Textiles which I handpainted. One is a silk boucle and the other is a silk/kid mohair laceweight yarn.

And here are some handspun yarns I've been working on.

After taking spinning with Judith MacKenzie McCuin at Golden Gate Fiber Institute this summer, I stepped out of my spinning box, so to speak, and tried my hand at some chunkier yarns. And, guess what! I like what I've done and it's fun.

Speaking of the Golden Gate Fiber Institute, I just sent in my registration form this week for the Winter Intensives (Jan. 5th through 11th). I had so much fun at the Summer Intensives, I couldn't wait to sign up again. This time I'm taking knitting with Kathryn Alexander, who is so full of energy and color, color, color is her forte. And I am also taking garment design with Jeane deCoster, who is a delight and full of creativity and ideas. Six days of classes, mornings and afternoons. Food prepared by a Culinary Institute chef. Gourmet coffee in the morning. Spinning in the evenings. It just can't be passed up. For information on GGFI, go to: http://www.goldengatefiberinstitute.org/

TAOS WOOL FESTIVAL This year, I am foregoing my annual trip to Rhinebeck -- the New York Sheep and Wool Festival -- in favor of a trip to the Taos Wool Festival in Northern New Mexico. My husband and I wanted an adventure, so this sounded great. We're taking a train to Albuquerque and we can get on board right here in San Juan Capistrano and change trains at Union Station in L.A. We'll have a night in a B&B near Santa Fe at a glass art school, two nights in Chimayo at a B&B called Casa Escondidas, and four nights at the Taos Guest House B&B. We've never been to the wool festival at Taos so it should be a new and fun excursion. And we'll have days to explore all of the fiber and weaving and historical spots in the area. I might even come back with another fleece or some Texas mohair.

All for now -- down to the beach -- watch the sunset while wolfing down a fish taco!!

LATE SUMMER IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Okay, okay -- so blogging seems to have taken a back seat to enjoying late summer in Southern California where I live. It's been a while since I blogged, but oh, well! High on my list is enjoying the beach as often as possible by taking a picnic dinner down to the sand to watch the sunset. And since it was Labor Day yesterday -- the official last day of summer -- the crowds have thinned, I say with my fingers crossed.

My garden abounds with gold finches, little twitter birds (?), Monarch butterflies as well as Swallowtails. My tomato bushes are in their last stages of producing lovely fruit. We have tomatoes in just about anything and everything we can put them in. Eating homegrown tomatoes spoils you.

And with the Artistic License arts and crafts show fast approaching, I dusted off my loom, warped it up and wove a couple of scarves this past week. This is one of my favorite patterns, Star Twill, woven with laceweight yarns from Toots LeBlanc. The white is a merino wool/angora blend and the brown is a pygora/blueface leicester blend.

And I so loved the Morning Surf scarf that I knit a couple months ago, I decided to knit another one. Like the last time, I used my hand-dyed handspun yarn which seems to knit up so beautifully in this pattern. The fiber blend here is a superfine merino wool with tussah silk.

The other fun thing that has been occupying a good deal of my time lately is natural dyeing. Shortly after I returned from Golden Gate Fiber Institute, a wonderful book arrived from Australia: "Eco Colour" by fiber artist, India Flint. Unfortunately, this book is not available in the US (yet). If you want to read more about India, visit her blog and her website: http://prophet-of-bloom.blogspot.com/ and http://www.indiaflint.com/

This is an absolutely great book. India got me motivated to go out and forage around the area where I live and collect some eucalyptus leaves for dyeing. I tried both windfallen dried leaves and leaves right off the tree. I also had been collecting the coreopsis flower tops from my garden all summer, so they went into a dyepot. Here is the outcome of a day's worth of dyeing. Most of these were done in the coreopsis pot. The two skeins on the top and middle right were from eucalyptus brewed up by my friend, Karen.

These little exemplar skeins are from fiber I dyed with coreopsis. The two middle skeins were put in the coreopsis dyepot, one full strength, and one diluted a bit. The butter yellow was from the same dyepot after vinegar was added -- it turned the dyebath yellow. The bottom skein is from Karen's eucalyptus dyebath.


Here are some pretty skeins of the natural dyed yarn, half with coreopsis and half with the eucalyptus I foraged. These are for my own consumption since I am not sure how light fast these colors will be. They are gorgeous and I can't wait to knit or weave with them.

HEADS UP ON COMING EVENTS:

Friday, September 19th: Spinning at Common Threads in Encinitas.

Friday/Saturday, October 24th and 25th: Artistic License Fair at Estancia Park in Costa Mesa. I will have a booth with my handwovens, handknits, beautiful hand-dyed yarns and handspun yarns.

Sunday, November 2nd: The Torrance Fiber Fest put on by the Southern California Handweavers Guild. I will have a booth with my hand-dyed yarns and handpainted spinning fibers. www.schg.org

March, 2009: Assn. of Southern California Handweavers conference in Riverside, CA. For more information and registration, visit: http://www.aschsite.org/