A few little highlights...

A WIP, a pair of Shorties for Holly.



My Elliebelly yarn that arrived today, a OOAK paintbrush colorway called 'Michelangelo'.





The newest additions to my roving/yarn stash. The yarn is MM 'Turning Leaves', the top roving is 'Woodland in Spring' and the pink toned one is 'Lorelei'. They're from Aimee, the yarn is payment for the roving, which I will spin up for her, and the other will be sold once it's spun up.





A detail of the bolero that I finished for Heather, the flat version just looks wonky, so just look at the post that has me wearing it, and imagine it in this lovely red!

The General Hodge Podge

On to the promised post!

The last month has been crazy busy with tons of family, friends and business. I've tried very hard lately to organize and streamline and come up with a schedule that allows me to do a little of it all every day and still feel slightly sane at the end of the day. Happily, I'm getting into the groove and the day to day business of my life has become just a tad smoother.

First off, family. Sharkbait and The Bean are, as usual, a mix of terror and sunshine. We've been doing actual lessons during the day and it's going well. Ely is working on colors and learning her alphabet. Aidyn knows most of his letters and numbers and we're working on reading small words. Every day we do some kind of craft to reinforce the lesson and so far the approach seems to be working. Ely potty learned overnight it seems, and we have now been a diaper free house for a little over five months. My cloth diapers are still sitting in a basket here though, I haven't had the heart to sell them yet.

One of the things they're getting really interested in is my knitting and spinning, so we've been having mini lessons in knitting. Ely mainly clicks her needles together and pushes the needle in the loops; Aidyn is actually trying to loop the yarn around.

We celebrated Aid's fourth birthday in February. He wanted, and this is verbatim, "a cake in the shape of a four, because I'm four now mommy *holds up four fingers*, and it needs to have pirates on it with treasure and some dinosaur sprinkles. Oh, and candles, four candles." Luckily I found a pirate set and dinosaur sprinkles, and I think it turned out pretty well. He certainly thought so.

My brother Nathan made a surprise visit this last weekend and so my little family here, that's my brother Levi and his wife Dani, plus of course Nathan and ourselves, gathered for a night. We ate some pizza, then Nathan and I took off for a little one on one at a cafe, and when we returned we stayed up until one playing cards and having a grand time.

At one point Levi started telling Nathan about the previous weekend, when Evan squatted so much weight that his barbell was bending in the middle. Just to prove it, Levi and I hopped up on his back where he squatted our combined weight as if we were just Aidyn and Ely up there.

I started watching my darling nephew Turner in the afternoons; he's almost a year old and the cutest little guy ever! Here he is modeling a knit for me.

Last week one of Aidyn's little friends, Alexandria, came over and they had a princess dress up party. It was hysterical.

Alright, so on to business!

Business is good. Great actually. I constantly have a customs list out a month and a half, which keeps me busy and is somewhat intimidating, but I like it. I've been dyeing and spinning and knitting my heart out and have turned out lots of lovely (if I do say so myself) items. I even broke out my sewing machine and finished a knitting bag and accessories holder combo for a mama.

A few spins and some roving I've dyed.

My congo also participated in this really cool promotional gig called The Spotted Box. It's chock full of WAHM samples. We sent in a total of 60...whew!

And then, finally, me!

I finally made something for myself, a lace shrug from a gorgeous cotton silk yarn. Laugh at the serious pictures, I'm purposely trying to get one here.

I scored a very hard to get yarn bowl from Rising Sun Earthworks in a gorgeous purple. A yarn bowl is basically a regular bowl that has a slit in the side for your yarn to come out. The ball of yarn sits in the bowl instead of rolling all over the floor :)

I can't talk about me, of course, without mentioning my other and better half. Evan is busy with work and all the rest as well, but we find little moments together that make the in between a little more bearable. Here's a peek at one of our silly moments, an impromptu photo shoot one night while watching some TV together (Top Gear, what else?).

That's about it, lots of laughter and plenty to keep me busy. Maybe as I grow into my new schedule I'll be able to fit in more blogging time, in the meantime, cheers!

Wheel of Dreams

Here it is, the promised spinning wheel post. I bought my wheel right before Christmas, a present for my business. Um, yes, we'll go with that. It's a Lendrum folding wheel, meaning A.) It's the best and B.) It folds up compactly so I can take it to knit club and places like that. There's a waiting list for Lendrums here at Paradise Fibers in my beautiful Spokane, but I went in so many times to oogle it they told me that they had just taken out their floor model several days prior, and that I was the only one who had used it at this point. And...they offered to sell it to me, with a fiber discount as it was a floor model, albeit an unused one.

They did mention that it had actually come to them with a cracked piece, which their man there, something of a spinning wheel expert, had repaired by completely replacing it with different parts. So my wheel is just a little different than your average Lendrum...a fact I love. Because she started out a defunct, I named her Lemon.

So Lemon and I have been spending long hours getting to know each other. We have conversations of yarn we'll be spinning together, what colors we love best, and what tension we work best at.

Me: "Lemon, I really think this blue looks fabulous on you."

Lemon: " I actually preferred the purple from yesterday."

Me: "We'll be plying the two together actually, I bet that will be the best blend we've done so far."

Lemon: "I quite agree...Loosen the tension a bit, I'm starting to get a cramp."

So how does a spinning wheel work exactly? First of all, let me introduce you to Lemon. Charmed, I'm sure.

To start, a piece of "leader" yarn is tied onto an empty bobbin, ready to grab up the roving and start.
It's threaded through two pieces of metal on the flyer, which is the part that spin round the bobbin and winds the yarn around it, and then a little tube called the "orifice" (snicker, snicker).

At this point you take up your roving or top. Roving is a batt of wool that has been cleaned but not combed, top is a roving that is combed so all the fibers run the same way and is normally cajoled into long slender roped that put me forcibly in the mood of intestines.

You give the wheel a little spin to start it and being to treadle the foot pedals. Mine is a double treadle, meaning there are two pedals as opposed to the more traditional single treadle. As you treadle the wheel spins round in a merry little way, and for every time around it gives your yarn a spin. In the space between your hands and the orifice the yarn is spun repeatedly until the tension is just right before entering through the orifice, where spinning stops and it wraps around the bobbin.

A finished bobbin at this point is a single ply of yarn, and looks something like this.

After spinning several of these single ply bobbins, you move them to an ingenious little device called a Lazy Kate, which has three rods, cleverly tensioned so they don't spin out of control, to hold your bobbins as you do either a two or three ply yarn.

And the finished prooduct looks like this, in this case a two ply yarn.

Once finished you give it a little bath to set the twist in, let it dry, and twist her up into a compact skein to keep it nice and ready to go.

Here are some examples of different types of handspuns, from bumpy novelty type yarns on the left to more even worsted weights on the right.

So now you know how my days are being spent - repeating this motion over and over, talking with Lemon, and creating one of a kind pieces ready to be turned into beautiful knits that will be loved.

Shakin' it Up

You're going to be seeing a few changes on here. I've come to the conclusion that the reason I spend less time blogging these days is because I'm spending more time with my knitting and spinning and business in general. So I'm combining the two!

I could, of course, open an entirely seperate blog for the business aspect, but I imagine that would make my absences even more obscene. Therefore, I plan to make this my record of craft business-y things as well, so that even if it's not my usual witty banter on my kids, dog, house, husband, and life in general...at least I will be here! And who doesn't like seeing an awesome knit or rocking handspun from time to time?

The truth is, fiber is my life at this point. It seems to be always in my hands, whether I'm knitting away at a custom or relaxing to the steady whir of my wheel. My front room has become my getaway, my dojo. While the kids quietly (and sometimes not) build their puzzles at my feet, I'm content to fold into my big leather chair and meditate on how the stitches come together, how the colors blend, and how art grows from humble beginnings.

And I see things differently from that chair. The light seems softer, turning my yarn different shades, and life seems better, slower, more refined. I love those moments. Is it any wonder I spend more and more time seeing things from that view?

Um, right, back on point. I didn't mean to wax poetic on you.

Anyway, don't be surprised if you start finding my love of fiber creeping into this blog more and more often. I'm sure when summer hits I'll be back to posts of family fun and my garden and friends, but for now, I am content to share the simple joys of my life with you.

Yarn Whispering

I read a post on one of my absolute favorite blogs, Three Irish Girls, about how, if you let it and are so inclined, yarn can speak to you. That it may have wants and wishes of its own completely unrelated to your agenda. After wrestling with a certain skein through the entire holiday season this made a modicum of sense to me, so I decided to give it a try. When I was explaining to Evan that I intended to get in touch with my yarn he adopted the same look he wore when I told him that I was pimping out my van with zebra pillows - slightly incredulous barely veiled behind a hint of laughter. Undeterred, I sat down with said skein, part still knitted into the intended cabled wrist warmer I last saw when I threw it down in frustration and stormed off. It's a beautiful yarn, a cotton and silk blend in a dark, dewy purple that shines when the light hits it. With only slight hesitation, I started my experiment.




I'll spare you the rather lengthy conversation in its entirety, however. I began by apologizing to yarn for having not asked it's opinion in the first place, to which it remained quiet. The Yarnista told me to expect this, that yarn is quite as rebellious as a teenage boy at times, so I plowed on undeterred, asking yarn why it had so rejected the beautiful bag done in lace that I had originally intended it for. After a little cajoling yarn explained that she didn't fancy being a bag, especially a dainty lace one, and wanted no part in carrying around my collection of lipglosses.

I pondered a moment here as I realized perhaps yarn was right. After all, my current bag is roughly the size of volvo; how I could have expected the variety of mish mash I carry around with me to fit into such a small and delicate bag makes me wonder if that was the same day I left my phone in the rice cooker. Obviously, my judgement could have been a little off.

I admitted yarn was right, to which she looked a little too smug and fired off some choice comments that I chose to ignore.

My next line of questioning was what objection she had to the beautiful cabled wristwarmers, whose pattern I found after an extensive search of Ravelry, and why she hindered me every step of the way. Apparently the cables weren't the problem, rather that she believed herself too good to be a seasonal object that would end up in the back of the hall closet for half the year, likely losing her mate in the process. Again, perfect sense. And very true, she really is a beautiful yarn.

And so, finally, I asked yarn for her preference of projects. She requested something that would show off her gorgeous sheen, perhaps something that would keep the lovely cables. I let her think for awhile before she decided she needed time to decide, and also requested that she not be put back in the yarn basket, but on the bowl on my desk with my beloved handspuns, as she believed herself better than the common yarn in the wicker basket below.

*******************************************

I did move it to the bowl. This particular yarn, though a little more demanding than I'd prefer, has certain qualities that remind me of myself, and far be it from me to stifle a kindred spirit. Perhaps in the sunlight, surrounded by bright handspuns, yarn will find it's way and help me create something we'll both be pleased with.

A little while later I picked up the skein of humble Purewool slated to become a pair of shorties for a customer. After the rather lengthy debate with the first yarn, I was a little hesitant to even ask, but....

I explained to yarn that he would become a pair of shorties for a little girl who would love him, but that the job wouldn't always be easy as he was stretched and played in and enjoyed. It assured me in an easy manner that it wouldn't mind that, and if that made me happy that he would be happy as well. He then suggested that I use a size 8, which of course, was an excellent idea.

This skein, quiet but kind, begins to remind me a bit of Evan.

Yarn and I begin our journey; the waistband shapes up nicely and before I know it I'm starting on the body. At this point, however, Bean wakes up and begins to cry. I start to lay my project down on the table beside me, reconsider, and move it to my bed. I have a sense this yarn would prefer the quiet comfort of my room, ready to be picked up at the end of a long day and enjoyed.

*******************************************

I think I made headway today with some of my yarn, only time will tell how much fight the rest have in them. I'm going to have to watch that blue handspun still on my wheel though; I swear I hear it snickering already.....

The Usual Mish Mash

I'm in the middle of several projects right now I thought I'd share.

First up, organizing 60 samples of of wipes, essential oils, mama pads, and diapers into cute little packages for our upcoming appearance in The Spotted Box. Ribbons and business cards and the samples are over running my kitchen table right now as I wrap and tie and package then all together. The last of my samples will be here by this afternoon and I'm hoping to ship tomorrow!

Second, a custom for a sweet mama in a beautiful felted wool of blues and cream. The only drawback is somehow my yardage was off and I must journey to my mecca, known to most as JoAnns, for some more. I should be able to find the same dye lot as I picked this up not too long ago. Fingers crossed.

Third, and another excuse to hit up Jo's, is Ely's birthday crown. I found the idea in what has become one of my favorite all time books, authored by SouleMama. It's a concoction of felt, ribbon and embroidery that I hope will be a lasting tradition and treasured childhood memento for my children.

Last, well, probably not last but the last one I can think of at the moment, is updating my Christmas list for this year in my Home Companion. I'm planning on crafting most of my gifts or buying handmade from Hyena Cart and Etsy for those I can't this year. I think Christmas is too commercial nowadays and has lost a lot of love and true meaning, something I hope to rectify in a small way. Bringing handmade to Christmas just seems right. Receivers will know that their gift was special, thought out, and labored over with love and intention.

And although I can't really call these "projects" per say, I've been spending time at my favorite places online. Places that fill me with thought, creative energy, and much needed rest from the many other daily occurances that wear me out. For those that may be interested: Ravelry, a blog or two that I love, my own store, and DS.

Cheers!