Gnomes!

This was a fun yarn to create. Assembled fabric gnomes, felted mushrooms, leaves and branch- all spun up with blended wool, angelina and mossy novelty yarn bits. Plied with ladybug beads and pewter gnome charms. I have plans for another gnome yarn ( the idea has grown a little more elaborate) and have started felting up new additions. This one is on its way to Lulubeans.

Piss Off!

This was spun from recycled flannel with vintage thread and assembled fabric skulls.

Mail Art

This has been my latest distraction- I was tempted to stray from spinning by a mail art swap on swap-bot. The top postcard was sent to Lithuania and the bottom to Germany. I still have 4 more to create and send.

Garment District Competition

OK, here's one for you and your friends who use handspun yarn in your creations! It'll be limited to garments and/or anything that can be worn on the body. So it could be hats, scarves, sweaters, jewelry, socks, slippers, leg warmers, etc. It can be knitted, crocheted, woven or other, and it must utilize handspun in some way, whether it's used as trim or the main yarn. The yarn does not need to have been spun by you. Your pictures can show the whole item or a detail, but please do let us see the use of handspun in the article. Perhaps this show will be an incentive for finishing holiday projects early :) Deadline: October 15, 2007.

Here's a selections of the prizes that will be awarded:

http://www.yarnmuseum.com/garmentdistrict_prizes.html

For more details about submission guidelines:

http://www.yarnmuseum.com/submit.html#garment

Spring Eternal

Here is the yarn I started that grew into the felted wall hanging below. This yarn was made for Wooldancer in Austrailia. She and I are engaged in a seasonal yarn swap. Spring for me- Autumn for her. I had alot of fun putting this yarn together. I'm working on another yarn that will also contain branches with leaves, blossoms and buds.

Spreading the News

Pluckfluff's new book is available for pre-sale on amazon.com... Viva la Handspun Revolution!

Better Late than Never

Yeah, these photos are way over due. Here it is though- my tribute to the joys of childhood and the easter morning sugar high. Marshmallow peeps, chocolate foil wrapped eggs and jelly beans!

Show Entries

Our annual Crab Festival Art Show is happening this weekend.
The reason I haven't been blogging much lately can be seen below:


This actually started out as a yarn project I envisioned and grew into something bigger. I still made the yarn, though- 2 different skeins based on the initial concept. I've got one skein nearly finished which is part of a seasonal yarn swap I'm participating in. The other skein is still in the works. I'll post pictures of both yarns when they are completed.

Ok, this one was not so spur of the moment-inspirational where it all comes together nice as pie like the peice above. This was one of those projects that I started almost a year ago and finally got around to actually doing something with it. The background was made ages ago. The crab was a recent decision- hard to start, difficult to stay focused on and major burnout trying to complete. My head hit the pillow at 3:00 am on a school night trying to finish in time. Alarm clock went off at 7:00 and I pounded the snooze button for 40 minutes. Just glad I got it done, as I was sorely tempted to leave it till the show in November at The Fly-By. Title: Dungeness

Yarn Update

I'm pleased to announce that my yarns have been picked up by Artisan Knitworks. They are a retail shop that specializes in handspun and hand-dyed yarns. Check out their website at:
www.artisanknitworks.com

Now if I could just find some time for spinning! I've been prepping fibers, but have been busy with the fiber shop and working outside cleaning up all the winter junk and debris. Now that the snow has melted you can see all the garbage and junk the wind has left lying about- not to mention stuff that never got put away. We are planning to finally get our house built this summer, so we have to clear things out before the ground work can begin. So, major clean up and hauling stuff to storage. Keep your fingers crossed all the paperwork goes through- our roof leaks and we need more space. I really don't think the duct tape on the ceiling is going to hold out another year.

My husband is leaving soon for a month long fishing trip to the Bering Sea. Once he's gone, I'll be spinning up all those fibers I've been preparing. So far I have 9-10 yarns that are ready to go. This week I will be working up even more- I hope. I have some felted art peices to try and finish for our annual art show at the end of the month. I try to submit new work every year- it gets me motivated to felt- something I enjoy but never seem to do very often.

I finally finished the marshmallow easter peep yarn. I'll sneek some photos at work tomarrow when Liz is busy- as it's a surprise for her. We work in the same building are are constantly sharing creative ideas, venting our rage and generally wasting time together. Thankfully we both work for ourselves, or else we'd be fired for sure!

Battman Batt from Material Whirled

I spun this from a Battman Batt that Reenie of Material Whirled sent to me. It was a serious distraction from my other spinning projects that I have lined up. I spun in little vintage plastic flowers edged in metal. Super cute! There are 154 yds. on this skein.

Vintage Floral

I finally got photos of the yarn I made using a deconstructed asian floral pattern shirt. It took me 30 minutes worth of attempts to finally get the fabric to spin up. It was very slippery. I've also spun in sections and slubs of blended wool & silk. Vintage bobbles and bakelite beads were plied in with sulky holoshimmer thread.

Spinning in Technicolor

I spun up my fiber sandwich- but challenged myself to spin it into a fine thread. I really wanted to ply in color, so spun it fingering weight and wildly plied it over a black single. I would love to see this felted!

Yarn Magazine

Received a copy of Yarn Magazine in the mail yesterday that featured a photo of the yarn I entered in the Bothwell SpinIn. Was delighted to see an article about spinning on the wild side! Lexi of Pluckyfluff was quoted throughout and photos of one of her yarns was used to demonstrate non-traditional techniques. There are some juicy little tid-bits about her next book too! If you can get your hands on a copy, check it out! Also- the folks from the Bothwell SpinIn were kind enough to send me confirmation that the proceeds from the auction of my yarn "Crikey" were sent/received by Steve Irwin's wildlife foundation. Thank you Bothwell!

All Peeped Out

I'm seriously annoyed that I'm unable to finish this yarn for my swap partner (and friend!) Liz. The whole project was hinged on some beads I bought on ebay over 2 weeks ago that never came. Checking back on my purchase, which I paid for, I now see that the seller is no longer valid. Sent an email, but its likely they simply took my money and ditched. My next option is to beg someone I know who makes lampwork beads to do some custom work for me. Envision some yummy colored glass jellybean beads nestled in that fuzzy grass along with felted marshmallow peeps, foil wrapped chocolate eggs and a chocolate bunny. I still need to fuse the angelina in the eggs and peeps and finish felting the chocolate bunny. Thankfully Liz doesn't mind the wait, as she's still trying to get her swap projects done as well.

Had planned on getting more photos today of other completed projects, but was having no luck with batteries- both in my camera and in my car. Dead, dead, dead. Thank you everyone who was so nice for helping me out- C&F Auto for peeking under the hood, giving me a jump and topping off my oil- Carmel for picking up my daughter at school when I couldn't get the damned car running- and the guy at the hydraulic shop who stopped to help and scraped my battery leads. I've got my fingers crossed that corrosion was the culprit. I'll know in the moring when I try to start it.

Fiber Sandwich

This is my share of the Fiber Sandwich swap organized by Julie http://tisjewel.blogspot.com/on yahoogroups http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Spinning_on_the_Edge/

Everyone who participated sent Julie x amount of fiber & return postage. She built up all the layers and sent everyone a portion based on how many ounces they sent in. I sent in a potluck of 4 ounces- silk waste, mohair, alpaca, wool, yarn scraps...

It has been intresting hearing feedback from participants. Many are finding the mosh posh of colors and textures liberating, as it forces them to let go of the urge to spin a fine even single. Letting go is the first step to creating novelty yarns, and when you rapidly change from a super fine angora to an unruly mohair lock, you have no choice but to let go. Also, I've found some really great color combinations that I never would have thought of by grabbing random color scraps and spinning them together. It gets even more intresting when you ply two singles together. I've just started spinning my fiber and hope to have it finished sometime tomarrow. Check back for photos!

Bothwell SpinIn Prize from Majacraft

This came in the mail last week. I've been trying to figure out what the board with the two holes and stretchy cord is for. There is also a wooden handle with an eye hook next to it that I'm not sure of. If anyone knows what these are used for please let me in on the secret! I'm thinking I scored something really cool, I just don't know what it is and can't find it listed on Majacraft's website. The other items that I can identify are some fabulous hand-dyed roving, wicked sharp carding combs, super sweet measuring tape and some lavender bees wax pollish for my wheel & tools.

KnitKnit 7 Issues Available

I have issues of KnitKnit 7 available for purchase. They are $4 each plus $2 shipping. Discount on shipping if ordering multiple issues. Please email me yarnpunk@hotmail.com and I'll either send you a paypal invoice or my mailing address for checks/money orders. Please specify your payment choice.

Coming Up for Air

Haven't really been slacking off- I swear! I'm just buried in paperwork at the moment. Attended a fabulous performance by the band Lunasa www.lunasa.ie here in Kodiak on March 21st. I'm amazed folks will travel so far off the beaten path to share with us their artistry and talents. Thank you Kodiak Arts Council for making it possible! Enjoyed a few pints at the local brewery after the show with fiddler Sean Smyth (founding memeber). What a great guy! Hope we cross paths again.

As far as creative works go, I've been spinning off and on- more scrap yarns with glow-in-the-dark thread to list on etsy and an art yarn I really love. It was inspired by a silky, asian floral print shirt I found at a tag sale. The fabric made it into the yarn as did some vintage bobbles and bakelite beads. The colors are mostly red & turquoise with black slubs and hints of white. I'll post photos as soon as I can.

My next project is a vintage sci-fi yarn with tons of add-ins. I'm hoping to get it spun up this weekend. I'm also working on a yarn for a fiber/magic yarn ball swap I'm partcipating in. Liz Mitchell is my swap partner (you can see two of her yarns on my blog: Sweet! & Tossed Salad) Having her for a partner means I can go totally over the edge. Since she loves marshmallow peeps- I'm spinning up an easter grass inspired yarn with felted peeps, and other candy effects for the magic yarn ball. I've got all kinds of treasures set aside ( and more on the way) to wind up in the yarn ball. I'm still trying to decide on colors to card up for the fiber portion of the swap...

Slante!

Happy St. Paddy's Day from Alaska'a Emerald Isle!

Sweet!

This delectable yarn was drop spindle spun by artist Liz Mitchell.

KnitKnit 7

KnitKnit 7 was launched yesterday at The Museum of Arts & Design in New York City. Got my copies in the mail the same day. Wow! Great Issue!! I'm thrilled to be a part of it and seriously wish I could have hopped a plane to N.Y. to attend the launch party. www.knitknit.net

Crikey, I won!!!!

I just got an email today from the editor of Yarn Magazine www.yarnmagazine.com.au trying to track down the winner of the Amazing Yarn competiton held at The Bothwell SpinIn in Tasmainia earlier this month. I had no idea that I had won until I went to their website to see if the competition results had been posted http://www.bothwellspinin.com Would you believe I've been so busy with stuff that I had forgotten all about the competition?!! I would like to know what the yarn auctioned for, as the proceeds were to benefit Steve Irwin's wildlife foundation. Wow...I'm thrilled! Amazing Yarn- how cool is that!?

String Theory- Very Curious!

Experimetnal spinning with yarn end-cuts from Curious Creek Fibers.

Mosh it Up!

This yarn has been hangin' around awhile waiting to be photographed. Its made up of plaid flannel spun around a core thread of vintage grey wool. Black eyelash and assembeld fabric skulls backed with woolfelt have been spun into the yarn.