A Week's Work

I wanted to take a picture of this past week's dyeing - lots of yarn and the usual fibers... 8 colorways of dyed top - Corriedale, Blue Face Leicester, and Merino. I also dyed tencel and bamboo for the first time... different process using fiber reactive dyes so learning along the way. I did achieve some beautiful colors so it was a success! I dyed some baby alpaca top that is dreamy soft; more silk, and mohair locks in new colors (well, they are all new since I don't try to repeat and I always mix my own!) So, here it is, what is going to the shop in Port Gamble tomorrow morning.

My Dyeing Day

Well, I've been busy over here, dyeing up a storm... yarn, yarn, and more yarn, and a little silk top and some mohair locks too. Summer weather disappeared so I've got a fire in the wood stove and the yarn and fiber drying on a nearby rack. Good grief, August and I have a fire going!!!

I also made my first attempt at dyeing silk chiffon fabric and what fun that is! The blue and green piece is my favorite and I named it the Goddess Scarf. Maybe it is just me, but it looks like there is a Goddess in the center with her arms outstretched! Does anybody else see it??? Anyway, I decided I have to do more of this..

Wrist Distaff & Yarn Caddy... Felty Staff?

Okay, here is another one of those "creations"... you know, the 2 a.m. and you're just knitting along and well... whatever. So, I tossed it in the washing machine and out came the "Felty Staff". (No, I didn't name it, a friend did.) The original Felty was smaller and seemed ideal for finer fibers like cashmere and yak and bison, Oh my! Hmmmm, but I knit too... so the next Felty was large enough to hold an average size center-pull ball of yarn. I can free up my hands in an instant without having to put it down, just poke my needles or spindle into the felty and slide the loop handle up my arm - voila, hands free! I knit this one from some of my hand-painted wool yarn and finished it by embellishing with beads.

Pieces Shawl

I've had a lot of comments on this creation so I thought I'd post it. What started out as knitting a "swatch" of one of my hand-painted yarns evolved into a shawl. It is simply stockinette stitch - no sewing involved as the 2nd and 3rd pieces are knit directly onto the previous piece. The border (3rd piece) is yo's and k2tog's over 7 stitches and is knit right onto the edge of the rectangle. The beads are added as you knit by placing the bead on the stitch with a tiny crochet hook. The beads provide just enough weight for the edge to hold it's shape and drape nicely. For those of us that fear lace this is an interesting alternative. I am writing up the pattern.... Once again I should have made notes as I was knitting it. Now, how many times have I said that!

Romney Batts

These are enormous batts, certainly nothing I could produce! When I learned they were batts of Romney fleece raised right here in Kingston, Washington, of course I had to have them. I wanted to dye them in one piece, which obviously would be a challenge as they weigh over 2 lbs. each. I managed to fold and scrunch them enough to squeeze them into the pot. Whew! Now, what to do with them? Maybe a "felting day" on the patio in front of the shop... I think they would make interesting felt rugs!

Finishing Felt

Near the end of day 2 and the work is nearly done. Yes, we are tired and sore from the endless pounding and rolling but we are not fighting over felt... this is actually part of the finishing technique!

Felt as Art

These are just 3 examples of the beautiful artwork created over these 2 days...

Felting Workshop

To all my friends that were around me for the past couple months "I'm sorry". I had literally worked myself into a heap of nerves (worse than usual, that is) in anticipation of teaching this two-day workshop on laminated felt using merino, silk, and cashmere fibers. You can see a picture of one of my pieces in the Summer 2007 issue of Spin-Off in the Handspun Gallery of Felted Items (Page 90-91). I lost track of how many yards of silk I had to mordant, and I have absolutely no idea how many pounds of cashmere, silk, and merino I dyed, oh, and lots and lots of kid mohair locks too!

Well, much to my amazement, the workshop went well and everyone went home with a beautiful finished project. So, "Thanks" to Suzanne for the opportunity to teach this technique in a workshop environment; and "Thanks" to fiber enthusiasts Amy, Kathy, Robin, Linnea, Katie, Liz, Lisa, Roxana, Cathy, Tiffaney, Judy, Susanne and Spring for signing up giving me the opportunity to share this with you. It was simply too much fun!

Last of the Sheep to Sweater AMP - Felting !

Our two days with The Bush School students nearly over and only one project left... Felting!! We did a small wet felting project over a resist and all the creative energy was flowing like a river run wild. No two projects were the same! Thanks to all the students for allowing us to share our knowledge with them .... and also teaching us so much in the process.

Wheel Spinning...

After everyone had their try at hand carding and drum carding we had a group lesson on drop spindle spinning. That afternoon everyone was spinning their own yarn on drop spindles... a few even went on to wheel spinning!

More on the AMP... Hand Carding & Drum Carding

Sheep to Sweater AMP at Rainshadow Farm

Marcia assured us that Homer was quite comfortable....

Last month's Sheep to Sweater AMP with The Bush School was a tremendous success. The AMP (experiential education at its acronymic finest) led by Lisa Keller (Head Librarian at The Bush School) was designed to immerse 13 high school students in the process of yarn and feltmaking from sheep to finished product. Marcia, Claudia, and I had two days to show them our stuff and boy did they get an education (and so did we!).

Marcia kicked off the event by demonstrating her famous "sheep flipping" technique, then proceeded to shear her ram, Homer.

Constance and the Basket of Bison

Constance was again with us at the shop on Sunday, her last day before the big move to Morgan Hill. Linda, who has Constance following her around like a little puppy, decided to take Constance outside to do her "business". We decided that day 3 in sheep life is the discovery of running and jumping, as Constance leaped out the door and began trotting across the parking lot as if to say, "Look Mom, No Fences!!". Linda caught up with her and safely returned to the shop where curious Constance seemed to be attracted to the basket of Buffalo Gals Bison fiber.

Constance

This is Constance, just 2 days old on Saturday! She is Linda's "Bottle Baby" who for reasons unknown, was rejected by her mother. Linda, on the other hand, bonded with this sweet lamb immediately and has been bottle feeding her every 4 hours, so she was at the shop with us all weekend... The word was out on the street early Saturday that we had a 2-day old lamb (Jacob Breed) in the shop. She was quite the attraction as people entered the shop asking "Where's the Baby?".

By the end of Saturday afternoon there was an adoption offer on the table from a friend and local B&B owner, Marcia Breece. Marcia's sanctuary, Morgan Hill Retreat in Poulsbo, is already home to a family of fortunate critters, and I personally couldn't think of a better home for Constance. Linda slept on the offer (and checked out Marcia's references) and agreed to the adoption (with visitation privileges I am sure!) . I heard that Marcia spent a sleepless Saturday night waiting for Linda's decision and researching the Jacob Sheep Breed!

Happy news is that Constance will be moving to Morgan Hill Retreat (www.morganhillretreat.com) on Monday afternoon, where she will be most wanted and lovingly cared for by Marcia, her new shepherdess.

Sunday Spinning at the Artful Ewe

Last Sunday we made a new fiber friend, Vickie, who is also a member of NwRSA (Northwest Regional Spinner's Association), and has been spinning for about 20 years. She was so excited to find us and said she would be back. Well, one week later she was back, with her wheel, and spent the afternoon spinning with us!

It's an Open Invitation to Spinners/Knitters/Fiber Enthusiasts! Bring your wheel, needles, or whatever you're working on and spend the afternoon.

We're Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

(Weekdays by Appointment - Please call me at 360-297-3493 or 360-643-0183).

Oh, and we don't have a lot of chairs yet so please bring your spinning stool or something to sit on!!!

Fiber Station

Is it a Fire Station.... or a Fiber Station???
We're Open!! Our first weekend and wow was it busy. The building we are in was part of the Port Gamble Historic Home Tour on Saturday. I can't count how many times we were asked "where are the fire engines?".

Just a couple more pictures...

This building is such a cool space to work in!!!

Setting up at Port Gamble

We're pretty much set up at Port Gamble and ready for the Historic Homes Walkabout tour today (Saturday). Still a few things left to do this morning but we should be ready by 10 a.m. Linda and I are Looking forward to sitting and spinning today!

Weekends at Port Gamble