ArtFiberFest 2007

My registration packet for ArtFiberFest 2007 arrived in the mail yesterday. I'm so excited to be attending this year and can't wait to get off island in October for a creative retreat- no demands from kids, house or husband for four glorious days. Just art, art and more art!
For anyone unfamiliar with ArtFest or ArtFiberFest, these are yearly events hosted by Teesha Moore www.teeshamoore.com Each event is packed full of fabulous workshops to choose from. This year it is being held in Port Townsend, Washington- one of my favorite towns in the lower 48. There is still space available- just visit Teesha's website for more details on workshops and how to register. Lampe's Lumps is teaching a spinning workshop there this year!
The blank doll included in the registration packet is for me to alter and enter in an unjuried show during AFF. I've never made/embellished dolls before, so this should be an intresting project. Look forward to meeting new fiber fanatics!

Journal Pages

Hard to believe its been more than a month since I've blogged anything! I've been so busy with my kids being out of school & taking advantage of the nice weather that I've had little time for creative endeavors. My sister and her 4 kids are staying here for 3 weeks. It's been a riot hanging out with my sister- she's the one person who gets me, who truly knows me and I can entirely be my eccentic self around. I wish we didn't live so far apart. It's been wonderful digging up the past and getting to relive forgotten days through stories and memories of growing up. I'm amazed that I've got 6 kids under my roof at the moment, which is rather small to begin with, and I'm not even losing my mind despite all the girly arguments and screaming toddlers! I've been creepng into my closet off and on, which I've converted into a makeshift studio, and working on bits and peices to satisfy my creative impulses. These are the fruits my efforts. The first 2 are pasted in my journal, while the other two (which are much smaller) are waiting for backgrounds to be worked into. I've managed to spin a little yarn, but haven't set the twist on any of them yet or taken any photos. More projects are in the works...

More Mail Art

The themes for these were gleaned from my swap partners' profiles. The top one was sent to Panda in Hawaii- she liked Brian Frou's artwork, fairies, stars, metallic and the color blue...

The other was sent to Tiaragoth in the UK. She fancied goth, tiaras, sparkles- I went full on girly goth with real feather boa sewn to the edges. Hope she likes!

Mermaid's Garden

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.