Fiberin' Around in Flagstaff

This blog is a bit overdue.  A handful of us headed to Flagstaff a couple of weekends ago to enjoy the cooler weather and check out the fiber festival at the Pioneer Museum.  We made this trip last year; here is the blog from 2010.

While it was nice to be able to see a couple of demos, hang with some alpacas and check out the limited number of vendors - the trip was really about enjoying the company of friends.  Friends that don't think you aren't paying attention whilst knitting/spinning and communicating with them. 

When we arrived, we had dinner at Brix.  The meal was great and the wine was delicious.  I was appreciating the night sky.


Sam, enjoying her tea...


Debi and Jodie enjoying their wine...


Theresa and Janet enjoying their wine... notice Theresa's sweater, she is such a rockstar!


The cabin was just gorgeous.  We stayed at Arizona Mountain Inn; the cabins were great, affordable and close to town.


Friends enjoying the cooler weather.


I was really interested in the fact that there was a metal playground.  It reminded me of my youth. 






We headed over to the fiber festival on Saturday.  We checked out the alpacas, chatted with the vendors, hung out to spin/knit and oh yeah... we shopped.  I walked away with a handful of the most silky alpaca I have ever had the luxury of knowing.  It came from Peaceful Prairie Ranch and I can't wait to spin it up!!!
A handful of vendors at the event.


Hanging out.


My wheel (Ms. Suzie aka Suzanne) in the woods.


As some of you know, I have overcome a weight issue that I've been battling for decades.  Here's a blog for reference.  Because of my size, I am anxious to do things that daunted me in the past.  Horseback riding is one of those things.  Sammy and I went on a wonderful ride while we were up in Flagstaff. 

I love this picture of the woods that I took from my horse.  My horse's name is Maverick.  Maverick is a red-head.  I had never seen a horse with such pretty red hair.  


Maverick's pretty red hair; the picture doesn't do his hair justice.


Here's another of the woods that I am fond of.


Sam had the guide manage to get a photo of me after our ride with her phone.


On Sunday, we tooled around downtown Flagstaff.  The buildings were of particular interest to me and the sky provided such a rich blue backdrop that I couldn't resist snapping a few photos.




I was really digging this mural.


Getting up close and personal with my new buddy.


And, of course, we stopped off at Macy's before heading home.  No Flagstaff trip is complete without a whiff of their roasts.  I'm looking forward to doing it all again next year. 

The Herd Somehow Grows...

I think spindles reproduce in the middle of the night and multiply at an astonishingly fast rate.  Either that or I am lucky enough to have a "hook up" with the spindle elves.

I spent some time organizing them on Flickr this morning.  Spindle details are listed in my picture descriptions on Flickr.  Now, I just need to get them up on Rav...

Here's a quick preview-

Threads and Rainbows

I just finished sewing my first baby blanket.  This marks the third project that I've completed.  I've sewn a tunic and a pair of pajama pants.  The blanket was the first project that I've done without a pattern - who needs a pattern for a rectangle, right?  It's been a real learning experience.  A friend in my sewing class suggested that I back it with a solid fabric and I do some top-stitching.  I'm pleased with how it turned out and I hope my niece Zoey enjoys it.  I can't wait to give it to her on Thanksgiving!

Ben really loved the blanket, too bad it's not for him!

We had a bit of a carding party at Debi's.  She and I had bought an alpaca fleece earlier in the year and attempted to wash it.  I now know that I would much rather send my fleece out for processing.  Debi had some lovely gray alpaca that we enjoyed tremendously.

This past Sunday, Debi and I took a trip to Jerome to meet some other knitters/spinners from Phoenix and Prescott.  On our way, we saw a stunning double rainbow.  Unfortunately, I was only able to get a couple of photos of the single rainbow.  So vivid!

We had such a good time with the Prescott Knitters and Erica, the owner of 

Knit 1, Bead 2.  She was so welcoming and has lovely fibery things!

Life Gets in the Way

By the way, it's appropriate that I started this blog on September 12th and never finished it.  Not much has changed in the last month and a half.

I have really been feeling like life is getting in the way. This is true for so many of us. I wish there were more hours to take care of my house (it's still in boxes), create, go to work, hang out with friends, go to the gym, etc. I thought that I hadn't gotten a lot of fiber things done in the last month or so and then took some pictures this morning. I guess I'm getting a lot more done than I thought. I didn't even take pictures of some of the things I've completed in the last couple months, including a Traveling Woman shawl out of my handspun. It was a great knit, once I got some help from a friend.

So here's just a few photos of what I've been up to:

This is some yarn that I spun up at an Expressions in Spinning group meet up at Tempe Yarn and Fiber. The inspiration was Scarlett O'Hara.  I spun some ivory colored merino to represent her race and hand blended the fiber with sari silk threads to represent the remnants of our country torn apart by the Civil War.  I knit a scarf that was a quick and easy knit and used a stitch from a stitch pattern book.

This is some yarn that I spun on various spindles.  It's 100% tussah silk from Dicentra Designs.  I kind of have a thing for the way she uses color.  It's a 2-ply, probably lace weight.  I spun a little of 2 oz. and gave it to a friend.  I hope she finds something to do with it.

This is some camel/silk and silk that I'm spinning up on an Autumn Hollow spindle.  I just finished plying it the other day, so I'll have to get some pictures up of that later.

This fiber has been on my to-do list for a while.  I haven't even spun the second part of it.  It's just not me.  Nice fiber; I got it as a gift for participating in Black Sheep Gathering's bingo game.  It's from Sunset Fibers.  It's always nice to try out different vendors.  

These were my first batts carded on my drum carder.  It's some delicious Pagewood Farms fiber and some milk fiber with a little razzle dazzle.  Can't wait to spin a little up.  I think it will go great with these coils that I had spun up previously.  It's some of the left-over fiber from that endeavor.  All of this goodness came from TYF.

This is some pygora that was given to me by a lovely fiber friend.  I've since plied it and it's got a lovely halo.  It came from Rainbow Yarns Northwest at a Black Sheep Gathering.  Pygora has one hell of a long staple.  It was pretty interesting stuff.

I'm doing a little knitting, making some socks and a shawl.  I am knitting some other things too, but they aren't as impressive.  The Minnesota Vikings hat that I made for my Dad is a memory I would rather forget.  

I'm jumping on the fleece bandwagon... we'll see if I manage to not fall off.  I have 2 alpaca fleeces that I need to process with a friend (we're sharing) and I've reserved a CVM fleece for next spring from White Barn Farm.  Here's a link to some past pictures of Tattoo's fleece.  Most exciting was this blog post about what one spinner/knitter created with his lovely fleece.  Just stunning and I hear it's quite soft.  

I spun my way into my 34th birthday with some awesome fiber friends last week!  

Spinning on my 34th!

Lots more going on... hope to get a couple more blogs in before 2010 is done and over.  It's hard to believe that there are only 2 months left of this year!!!

Published! Sort of...

I recently wrote an article that got published in my local spinning/weaving guild's newsletter. I am hyper-critical and caught a few things that I would have re-worked, but I'm still pretty excited. I also think it's cool that Black Sheep Gathering got a little extra exposure here in the Southwest.

Here's a link to the PDF. Check out pages 4 & 5.

Tour De Fleece 2010

Tour De Fleece is an event for spinners that takes place in conjunction with the Tour De France. I bought my spinning wheel just before it started last year and spun up a storm. Here's just a bit of what I'm spinning up this year.

Starting in top left corner (and working clockwise):
1) Dicentra Designs hand-dyed tussah silk spun on my Spindlewood drop spindle
2) Finishing up my Tempe Yarn & Fiber - Expressions in Spinning called "Tucson Wildflowers", which was spun thick and thin
3) 50/50 camel/silk spun on my Avi Wasserman drop spindle
4) 4 ounces of fiber purchased at Black Sheep Gathering - I need to look up the details


Over the past weekend, the TYF retreat occurred. This is a fun time to hang with fiber friends all weekend. I made some yarn that I called "Dangling Carrot". I carded up some batts, made strips of fabric and secured the yarn with sewing thread. Thanks to my fiber friends for helping to make this project possible. This yarn was intended for Sam, but I had said that she only gets it if she knits up all the other handspun she has. I think she will probably be getting it sooner than that.


I'm also spinning up some of this BFL/Silk hand-dyed by Dicentra Designs. I'm doing a 2-ply of 8+ ounces. I haven't taken recent photos, but here is a photo of the before.

Goodies

I can never quite get used to the fact that a lot of fiber people post pictures and talk about their "goodies". I believe the reason is three-fold: 1) Fiber people are mostly warm, generous, out-going folks that like to see other fiber people happy 2) They like to showcase the artists that pour themselves into their work and make very little monetarily 3) Fiber people are the worst kind of enablers there are, "Don't you want 10 of everything?". I'd love to hear what other people think. Like I said, I can't quite get used to it because there is that part of me that feels like it's a little of "look what I have" and that is just strange territory to me. However, I'm going to try to forget the latter feeling and share with you some amazing work. All of the goodies posted here are by some amazing artists. They love their work and it shows. Now, I get to love it and create.

One of my most favorite designers is Lisa/Dicentra Designs. I first learned of her when I was trying to find Sammy a Hanukkah present and I stumbled on a lovely color that she called "ballerina" - perfect for Sam. The colors were amazing and I was thrilled to spin up the luscious stuff. Here's one of my blogs about it. Lisa does have an Etsy shop, but she is so busy going to fiber shows that she doesn't update her shop often. If you were interested in grabbing some goodies from her, the best thing to do is email her and let her know what you're looking for. Here are some more of her lovelies that I have in my stash. I'm hoping to spin them up soon. Coincidentally, it was Lisa that first suggest I try to go to Black Sheep Gathering and I'm so glad I got to meet her, see her work first-hand and (thanks to a friend's suggestion!) we helped her pack up her booth.
Below: Victorian colorway, BFL - I have approx. 12 oz.


Below: Bitter Green colorway, BFL - I have 12oz., this was a birthday gift for Sam that I need to spin up. By the time I get to it, she may be spinning it up herself. Just kidding!


Below: Barataria Bay (a bay of the Gulf of Mexico) colorway, 75% BFL and 25% Tussah Silk - approx. 8oz.


Below: Chandaleur Sound (located just north of the Mississippi River) colorway, 100% Tussah Silk - under 6 oz.


Below: Breeze colorway, 100% Tussah Silk - 2.4oz


I just love the colors and I can't wait to spin them all up! You may have noticed in the last picture a spindle... I have acquired three more spindles. They somehow multiply...

My first love is a Ken Ledbetter spindle. Ken lives in Tucson, Arizona (although, I bought the spindle at Black Sheep Gathering) and TYF will soon be carrying his spindles locally. I'm a sucker for supporting a fellow Arizonan and turquoise (see previous blog post), so this baby shouted my name. The finial is bloodwood as is the shaft. The whorl is made of walnut and includes and inlaid carved shell with turquoise. It weighs 1.3oz.


Next, a couple of Spindlewood Spindles. Connie & Steve (the owners) are good friends with one of my fiber friends, Barbara. Barbara definitely did a good job in enabling a couple of us to go home with not one, but two Spindlewood spindles. Spindlewood was recently featured in Spin-Off Magazine (Summer 2010) so the booth was hopping at Black Sheep Gathering. Their spindles really are special. I was thrilled that two new loves got to go home with me!

Below: A round mini, this is uncommon since they typically do square spindles. The whorl is made out of Amboyna Burl and is 2 3/8" in diameter. The shaft is Ebony (it is so stunning) and is 8" long. It weighs .7 oz.


Below: A square mini, which is more common for a Spindlewood spindle. The whorl is made out of Honduran Rosewood and is 2 1/8". The shaft is made of flamewood and is 8 1/8" It weighs .8oz. I really didn't think I was going to like square spindles, but now I am convinced otherwise. They don't roll around on flat surfaces and they spin just as well as circular spindles.


I really feel honored to be able to utilize such lovely tools in my work. The above items were created lovingly and I hope to do them justice.