Send chocolate, boxes, and interested parties….

I am cleaning my crafting studio.

Holy cow.

I’m at the worse before it gets better part.

I keep trying to list various bits on craigs list. I’ve got some really cool bits of fabric, that while being cool, I will just never get around to using. Unfortunately coordinating stuff on craigslist sometimes is a pain, and taking a box over to the thrift store is much easier. Seriously, there needs to be a thrift/consignment hybrid.Consignment stores rule, but I’ve really only ever seen them for baby things and clothes.

Why the great clean up? I got tired of some of the mess. I want to knock out half a wall to have a kids play area where we can see each other. I have a tri loom coming and need some room for it. 8-)

I’m writing about it because I’m starting to despair. I don’t know if I will EVAR get done!

And I’ve gotten two major Christmas presents done. Must send……

New Loom!

Even though i decided to keep the big loom, every once in a while I question that decision because, well, it’s huge. I posted it on craigs list thinking if there is someone who wants it it would be gone but if not I’ll just keep it. I had listed it almost a month a go when last week someone emails me about it. Turns out she’s commuting a fair distance for her fiber arts degree and wants a loom at home to reduce commuting. And the looms they have at school? Exactly like mine1 So we disassemble it and off it goes. I get back on craigslist and find one close to what I’m looking for. I take the tiny kids for a pretty long drive and get a new loom! It’s an 8 harness, 27 inch Leclerc Nilus. It had to be disassembled to fit in my car. So I spend a few days obsessing over it, cleaning it, and getting some new hardware. It’s all together now. It appears the trick to getting their warp beam tensioner on is a big strong boy. Literally two days of me trying to get it on and my husband walks down stars and hooks it up with one try and no straining. gr. I need to cut some cord for the tie ups, but I would like to look at some different options and ideas. While spinners and weavers are all over the net, it appears that us knitters haven’t caught up yet. It was fun having it all apart. It’s ALL clean and I painted the heddles to see the different shafts.
I’m so excited, I would just start warping. Maybe I will. 8-)

No pict yet, as I just finished it last night.

Yarn. I like yarn. YARN YARN YARN

Every once in a while my husband looks at my crafty blog and counts months between posts.

My husband.

My crafty blog.

I make things. I do. All the time. I just don’t always take photos or blog. ETA: Or I blog badly.

Here, have yarn.

Have more yarn.

Have yarn inspired by books

Have roving soon to be for sale.

Yarn. I like yarn. I make yarn. Yarn yarn yarn yarn noodle.

Clothes are crafts!

I forget I do more than spin! I make clothes!! I made Ren Fest costumes for me and the kids. Well, the kids were all made, I used lots of pieces from other costumes.

Tiny T got a dress and a bodice. Yeah my grommet setter. She’s got some jewlery and some sparkles on.

Mr K got a kilt.

And, uh, I need a better pict.

I bought a new hat while I was there. I LOVE ren fest shopping.

Hush Hush Handspun Hootenanny Questionaire

Uh, no, my husband, I’m not doing any swaps…………

Hush Hush Handspun Hootenanny Questionaire

1. How long have you been spinning? What skill level do you consider yourself?
I have been spinning since I was twelve, which is almost twenty years. I guess I would consider myself intermediate. I don’t know a lot of the ’science’ of things- I just like to do it.
2. What kinds of yarn do you create (singles/2-ply/3-ply/art yarn)?
My bread and butter is two ply. I can do singles or three ply. And I’ve recently been doing a lot of art yarn.
3. What do you spin with (spindle/wheel/both)?
I can do both but I wheel spin right now to save time. And keep the kids out of my yarn. Though, really, they try to play with the spinning wheel a lot too…..

4. What are your favorite fibers to spin with? Anything you don’t like?

I must admit I do like wool a lot. I’ve been on a silk fling lately. I don’t think I’ve ever met a fiber I didn’t like.

5. Who are your favorite crack dealers fiber sources (etsy or otherwise)?
I’ve been doing a lot of crack creation myself lately. Buy bits and peices where ever I can get my hands on them and make crack. I also get my crack from crackster itself. (craftster.org)

6. What kind of fiber do you want to try?
Want to try in general? *blinks* I’ve tried most of it…

7. Is there any techniques you would like to learn?
pondering this one.

8. Do you dye fiber? If not, would you like to learn?
Oh I love to dye.

9. Do you have fiber prep tools (and like to use them) or would you prefer ready to spin fiber?
I has a drum carder(which I LOVE and use a TON) and combs (though they don’t get much use with the tiny people) and hand cards. Though prepared is fine too. I just like fiber.

10. What do you do with your handspun? What projects have you completed?
For a while most of my handspun was going to my mom who knit. I’ve done some weaving and would LOVE to do more (But I need a smaller loom….). I’ve recently done some mobius scarves which were great fun. I’m doing a scarf for the husband. I just found a knit corset and dragon pattern I want to try with handspun.

11. Are you in need of any spinning gadgets (WPI Gauge, threading hook, etc)?
If there is a child proof threading hook out there I’d love to get my hands on it. ha ha ha.

12. What colors “fall into your shopping basket”? Any colors you just can’t stand?
A silk brick fell into my hands recently. It was blue and purple and, hey, look below and you can see it. I don’t like red or orange. I love purple and black. Blues and greens (and browns) make me happy.

13. What is on your wheel/spindle right now?

I am working on the other half of a 2 ply for said dragon pattern on one wheel and some twilight inspired yarn on the other wheel.
14. What other crafts/hobbies do you have?
Mostly fibery things. I sew. And knit. I would like to weave more.

15. Other than crafts, what are you passionate about?
Natural child raising- everything from home birth to breastfeeding to cloth diapers to gentle disipline to home schooling.

16. Do you have an online wishlist?
hmm, not any more….

17. Is there anything that you collect?
Oh no. I mean books maybe. Kitchen appliances. I don’t like to collect things that collect dust. I like useful things.

18. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What magazine subscriptions do you have?
I would love to get some nice circs in 4 and below. I’m slowly working on that. I know there was a book I had an eye on… come back and check, I may update this…

19. When is your birthday?
Feb 25

20. What book or movie character do you most resemble in personality?
I asked my husband about this and he said ‘we need to research this.’

21. What is the climate like where you live around this time (need to know for careful shipments of anything meltable)?
It’s summer. It gets hot. Don’t let that stop you from sending me chocolate. I am at home so I usually catch packages.

22. Tell us one weird fact about yourself!
I have some purple hair.
Favorites
favorite painting/picture(link):
The one my husband did that’s hanging in the living room.

Candy:
chocolate. with stuff in it. Though I haven’t found any organic fair trade chocolate with a lot of stuff in it.

Food:
I’m a big fan of Indian/middle eastern/ nepalese food. My husband will tell me the differences with all of those but I just think it’s all good.

Drink:
Root beer.

Movie(s):
The princess Bride for ever and always.

TV Show(s):

The new Doctor Who. Though the new American Gladiator has been my guilty pleasure.

Book(s):
I’ve been enjoying the Twilight series lately. I’ve been trying to find a good fantasy series for a while but can’t find anything….

Guilty Pleasure(s):

Ahem. From above. American Gladiator. Twilight.  Josh Groban.

I’m sure I will add more as I think of it…..

Estes Park Wol market 2008

Yup Yup, I went to the wool market again. It was QUITE the adventure this year with TWO little people. Thanks to Nicole who helped me with the kiddos. And did some fiber enabling. I wish I got the picture of our set up. My hefty 9 mo old was in a hiking backpack (which makes me take up a lot of room) and T in the Stroller or walking (depending on her mood.)And yes, the stroller takes up room too. SO I did get some scowls in the vendors area. But the kids are so cute, a couple of smiles and they usually win over folks. 8-)

What did I get?

TWO bags of shiny. Because I have discovered the JOY of shiny. And it was supa cheap.

A 10 needle needle felting tool. Bacause it’s time to get back into needle felting. And it’s COMFY.

A silk brick from Bonkers. Oh so lovley. I fell in love with the colorway the second I saw it but it was a little expensive so I wasn’t sure. A walk through the animals, some encouragement, and I got it. I figured if it was still there I would get it, and it was, so I did. I think it’s going to be a shawl. Perhaps this one. Because it’s called Lamina.

I also got (but did not photo) the patterns from Ellens Wooly Wonders. Yes I got them (remember them from last year?) I got the dragon and the egg pattern. And already have great yarn plans. SHINY HANDSPUN!!!!

More YARN!

My husband informed me that it’s been a month since my last blog post. Well, when you are chasing little people (and one is learning to crawl) you loose tack of time and only have one hand to type- not always condusive to blog posting.

It started simply as Star Trek inspired yarn. It’s getting out of hand.

Star Trek: Enterprise. 280 yards(?) aprox 4 oz. Mostly wool and some firestar plied with sewing thread (which is my favorite way to rock the art yarns now.)

Twilight: Edward and Bella. Wool, ecospun, sari silk, blue jean shreds 178 yards 4 oz

Twilight: Jacob and Bella. Alpaca, Wool, Blue Jean shreds, Sari silk. 171 yrds, 4 oz.

With probably 4 more Twilight inspired batts to go. And a few Dr. Who ones. It’s silly, but BIG FUN.

Estes park wool market this weekend! WHOO!

Learn to Spin Kit

This post is to help you assemble your own Learn to Spin Kit. All kits include a top/bottom spindle (so useful!) weighing about 1.6 oz, a cd of instructions (including how to dye) and 2 oz of a begining fiber that you can make a mess of before starting on to your ‘good fiber’

When choosing your fiber, please put the name of the colorway you want in your Etsy conversation. The name is ABOVE the photo. Please also double check your listing to make sure you are picking the right number of rovings!

EDTI: Ok so this was a huge pain and a mess. Head over to the Flikr collection and see what is there!

Children+(teething or 2)= crafting? sometimes

Ok so I’m sure that’s not really a valid math equation, but I make pretty yarn, not math. So there. 8-)

I’ve got lots to show, because I HAVE been working on things.

I dyed some rovings for some learn-to-spin kits. Need to take more picts before I can sell them. Oh and look at my little helper.

I started work on a mobus scarf- with some help.

And just so you think this blog isn’t about my cute chubster of a son, here is a hand knit soaker for the sister.

It’s the Wooly Wonder Perfection Pants. I LOVE that pattern. I’m awful proud of the fact that I knit both the legs at the same time on two circular needles. I also dyed that yarn… with EASTER EGG DYES!!! Ha ha. They were made to help catch the occasional night time wetness, but they seem to PREVENT night time wetness.

The husband got in on the action. Dave wanted a scarf for bike riding. It had to be warm and loud. I can do that.

The fibre was acquired through craftster’s Fiber of the Month Club Swap from a fellow craftster who lives close by! The scarf is almost done, though I think I’m either going to have to frog it and knit on bigger needles or spin more.

And here is that mobus scarf, with Knitty’s Calorimetry. (With added i-cord instead of a button.)

My next project comes from the Make yarn out of this swap. I really want to card all the different fibers into a stripy batt. That would require a bigger drum carder. Think my husband will let me spring a new carder? Dave-o it’s only about 400 dollars!

see my loom?

Ok, want to see my loom?

From the front. The cone at the bottom Is what I’m thinking of for my next project.

from the side. She’s a bit of a brute. I’m thinking I may turn her around so the front is to the back wall so I
can weave, watch kiddos, and still have some room.

Her name is Judith. While I am still figuring out a name for my spinning wheel, the loom told me her name lout and clear. When I first got it I called Gillmore to see if I could get more heddles. I talked to them a bit and found out that the loom is REALLY old. Like over 50 years. Ok so that’s not REALLY old but it’s old. Turns out that ‘back then’ Gillmore made all their looms custom. SO this loom was made for someone to be just the way it is!I had a dream that as I was moving it I found that on the leg was the name Judith (Pierce, I think) and a date. I don’t even remember the date. I looked all over the loom hoping that my eye caught the name somewhere and kept it in my subconscious but no luck, I just made it up. But she’s Judith.

She had been in storage for a number of years when I got her and then I had her in storage for about 2 years so she had some grime. I spend most of the morning an a bottle of Murphy’s oil soap and she looks MUCH better. She could STILL use some work though