The Life of the Party

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, WHEREVER YOU ARE!!

The Life of the Party

Oldies but Goodies

In anticipation of Halloween tomorrow, I thought I'd offer up some hits from the past. The distant past. Not sure what exactly footie pajamas has to do with Halloween, but I'm gonna go with it.

This one is circa 1965, and apparently a plastic toy tractor just isn't what I wanted at the moment. Already a drama queen. Take note of the hair, a natural red-head. And no, my feet were not circus freak-huge, my jammies are riding down. Maybe that explains the face?

The handsome devil behind me is the Dadster. His side of the fam-damily is the one the red hair came from, his maternal grandmother in fact. Mom tried to send me back, saying no one in our family had red hair, but hospital staff assured her that I was the only 10lb baby that month, & she'd have to take me home. Who knew that great-grandma was dyeing her hair to match her naturally red locks?

How do you like Mom's specs? That's her, & me, & our dog Suzy. Which one had the cuter do, me with my Ayn Rand-style ponytail, or her with her puppy cut?

Last and least, c. 1975: me and Grandma Pearl, my dad's step-mom. I'm already sporting my (now) trademark pigtails, but geez, those glasses! Then, like now, I need new frames.

Tags: vintage, photos

Oldies but Goodies

Here's Waving at You, Kid

In honor of Jacey Boggs, who is arriving today at SOAR so I finally get to meet her!!, I'm re-posting this photo of myself sporting the hat I created for inclusion in her how-to DVD Sit and Spin!, using her faboo Insubordiknit handspun yarn. Called 'Babies in a Blender' (Rav link), it was worn by the drummer in the video. (I think it looked way better on him, but whatever.)

Answering the perennial question: "Art yarn is nice, but what the hell do I do with it?", I crocheted the hat from wee mini-skeins of Jacey's art yarn, complete with little 'shoulder sockets' for the doll arms. Someday I'll make another, using my own art yarn; I want to knit one this time, & I think it needs more appendages!

I thought I wrote a review of the DVD, but can't find it anywhere, so I have something to add to my to-do list when I get home. 'Til then, enjoy these little in absentia blog posts, & this trailer.

Tags: Sit and Spin, handspinning, Insubordiknit, review

Here's Waving at You, Kid

I Need This

Fer sure, I need this. Have you seen the Knitzi? It's a wee tool (!) made to hold your sock WIP/needle combo. Clever!

Tags: Knitzi, shopping, knitting

I Need This

Complete Tracy Hudson Interview

Are you missing me while I'm gone? Fear not, I give you more Velma than is healthy for anybody. This is my complete interview with Tracy Hudson, quotes from which appear in the current issue of Spin-Off magazine (Fall 2009). Enjoy!

Tracy: "How did you come to spin?"
Velma: "I am a HUGE fan of handspun yarn, particularly of the 'art yarn' variety. I gravitated to handspun immediately when I learned to knit in 1999 because each skein has it's own 'personality'. I began by stalking the websites of the handful of spinners that were hawking their wares online at that time. Used to be, there were so few artists making art yarn that it would sell out the same day or even hour it was listed, so you had to be quick to make a score (art yarn: my drug of choice!). I anxiously awaited the days when Lexi Boeger (Pluckyfluff), Jacey Boggs (Insubordiknit), Elizabeth O'Donnell (Yarnpunk), Reenie Hanlin (MaterialWhirled), and Jenny Neutron Star - the art spinners whose work I most coveted - would post their yarns for sale, and I'd pounce! I amassed quite a stash of art yarn, much of which still awaits me envisioning the "perfect" project for it. Eventually, I decided "hey, I could do that!", took a spinning class at an LYS in January 2006, bought a Lendrum wheel that same March, and got biz-ay! I knew from the start that I wanted to concentrate on art yarns; I mean, I could just buy conventional yarns anywhere, right? So although I have a lot of respect for the work of spinners that put their efforts into traditional styles of spinning, that isn't for me. I want to go "off road" and see what kind of craziness I can create. I picked up a copy of Lexi Boeger's first book, Handspun Revolution, right away and set about trying my hand at some of her techniques. COLORBOMB Creations came out of that process in early 2007."

Tracy: "How does spinning fit in your life?"
Velma: "Haha, spinning is my life! Seriously though, spinning took over my life in late 2007 when I decided to become a full-time fiber adventurer and started to really treat COLORBOMB Creations like a business. When Ravelry.com started selling ad space in Fall 2007, and made them affordable for a small biz like COLORBOMB Creations, I jumped on the chance to become a charter advertiser; that decision was really the catalyst for committing to focusing on spinning art yarns full time. Can't very well justify advertising if you've got nothing to sell, right? And I'd say that even today, with the huge boom in the handspun "industry", thanks in part to Etsy.com providing a simple way to offer your products to a built-in market, only a small segment of handspinners that sell are making art yarns.

So my life is full of art yarn: my "studio" is my very messy house, with yarn, fiber, embellishments, tools, spinning wheels, and various and sundry other equipment spread in every room except the bathroom (thankfully!). My days are filled with spinning art yarns, discussing art yarns, brainstorming art yarns, blogging about art yarns, selling art yarns - really just living and breathing my work. I think my title should really be Art Yarn Pimp; maybe I'll add that to my business cards!

In terms of how creating art yarns has affected my life, I'd say that one of the biggest changes since I started is that I now identify as an artist. As a Gemini who has spent her life until now employed in"left-brain" work, it is a joy to embrace my right-brained self. Now I look at life through art-tinted glasses: I see everything around me as potential fodder for art yarn, either literally - as raw material - or figuratively - as inspiration. I joke that I take it as a personal challenge to incorporate anything given me in a yarn, but it's true! The Flying Karamazov Brothers, a juggling/comedy troupe from Santa Cruz, California, perform a trick called "The Gamble", in which they accept the challenge that they can spin any 3 items provided by audience members, with only 5 caveats. I aspire to being the Flying Karamazovs of the art yarn world!"

Tracy: "How do you feel about selling work (handspun)?"
Velma: "Well, as someone trying to make a living at it, obviously I'm solidly in the 'I favor it' camp. Haha! But more specifically, I'm a real proponent of spinners valuing their work. Unfortunately, I think many people who sell their art, yarn-medium or otherwise, under-value what they do. This seems to be particularly rampant in the handspinning world. I am often flabbergasted by the rock-bottom prices I see people asking in exchange for the fruits of their labors! In my opinion, under-charging for handspun hurts both the artist that creates and sells it and the buying community at large by suggesting that all the time, energy, materials, and creativity that went into it aren't worth the top dollar that the best art yarns garner.*

All handspun yarn requires an inordinate amount of effort to spin, but art yarns are particularly labor- and materials-intensive. In terms of labor, most art yarns require stop-and-go spinning, what I like to call "spasmodic" spinning, increasing the time required to produce a given yardage significantly compared to a traditional yarn. Prep time is often more substantial than that needed for making conventional yarns; the addition of handmade items such as needle-felted beads is not uncommon, and extra effort is required to create these one-of-a-kind embellishments. Materials-wise, in addition to fiber expenses, many art yarns also contain commercial embellishments such as sequins, beads, toys, etc. that all require extra preparation and incur additional cost for the spinner. Expenditures for art yarn ingredients can be quite high, and, like myself, many art yarnies who market their work strive to support other independent artists by purchasing materials from their colleagues, often at higher cost than can be obtained buying from large-scale commercial sources. Another factor affecting production of art yarns is training: the techniques used to create them are myriad and varied, and acquiring these skills takes considerable time and practice on top of mastering all the same skills needed to spin conventional yarns. In addition, tutelage in art yarn spinning is not readily available yet, necessitating practitioners be largely self-taught using the limited resources available today: a very few art yarn manuals (e.g., Diane Varney's Spinning Designer Yarns, and Lexi Boeger's Handspun Revolution and Intertwined), the brand-spankin' new, highly-anticipated, and well-received DVD Sit and Spin! produced by Jacey Boggs/Insubordiknit, and the generosity of spirit that drives members of the online art yarn community to share their wealth of knowledge. So, if you're selling your art yarn or considering doing so, please, price it accordingly! We deserve to make a living wage, too, I think.

*(For those who are having a difficult time determing what a fair market value is for their art yarns, I recommend reading Abby Franquemont's post titled "How Do You Usually Price Handspun Yarn?" and it's follow-up "Updates on Handspun Yarn Pricing Post" on her blog, www.abbysyarns.com. In them, Abby offers an excellent perspective on this subject.)"

Tracy: "What is the most compelling part of spinning for you?"
Velma: "Since we're talking about spinning art yarns here, I've gotta say my favorite bit is creating something new, something unique: a singular piece of art in the form of a skein of yarn. When I occasionally stumble on a technique that I've never seen being done by anyone else (in every instance a case of my mangling another technique so much that it morphs into something completely new), I am so delighted!

Another big part of spinning for me is the tactile extravaganza of the sensation of fiber and other materials passing through my fingers. I put everything into my yarns: lace, ribbon, fabric, trinkets, feathers, beads, locks, yarn scraps - you name it, it's in there - so I get a lot of stimulation coming through my fingertips every day."

Tracy: "What do your yarns mean to you? What do they represent/embody/fulfill?"
Velma: "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: my yarns are like my babies! I make every effort to adopt them out to good homes. There's nothing I like better than knowing that someone is excited about taking my yarn and using it as the raw material for their vision! Art yarns really lend themselves to making art from art in a way that goes beyond the use of conventional yarns. The texture and personality inherent in a good art yarn can really convey something. Take Jacey Boggs' 'Vitreous Humor' yarn: it is a singles with felted eyeballs spun in. How could what you make not be art with yarn like that? My favorite project that I've seen made with that style yarn is a dress made by a woman whose screenname is Jodyar; something about all those eyes peering back at the wearer's observer really conjures up deeper thoughts about the nature of how we're viewed as women. But maybe that's just me, LOL. I love to see my own art yarns incorporated into the creative endeavors of others."

Tracy: "How would you list these, in order of priority, when spinning art yarn: color, fiber content, topic or theme, mood, technique, ______ (other)?"
Velma: "Man, this is the toughest quesiton of all! I really think that each yarn is, for me, a one-off in terms of process. I'm all about color and texture in my yarns, that's really what I'm "about" as a spinner. I often let the fiber guide the technique, as different prep and fiber content lend themselves to different techniques, but really, my mood plays as big a role as anything; it often dictates the color I want to spin, which will limit me to what I have in my fiber stash, which will subsequently limit the technique that is best suited to the particular fiber content/prep in the colorway I've chosen. And of course, these steps don't apply when I'm spinning to a theme or topic; although I don't do a lot of theme challenges, I find them very stimulating creatively, and although I'm not always excited by the end product, I love the process because it requires that I think in an entirely different way. That's something that I see as fundamentally different between most art yarn spinners and their conventional yarn counterparts: I think we arties are much more involved in spinning to theme challenges than spinners of more traditional yarns. I love that there has been such a proliferation of this phenomenon driving spinners to be more abstract in their spinning. For example, The Yarn Museum issues semi-regular challenges (one example: 'Edible Yarn'), and there are several groups on Ravelry that focus on theme spinning, including Novelty & Art Yarn Spinners, Picto Create, and Fiber Friday. Recent examples of themes issued by these groups that I've participated in include: 'Cabbage', 'Human Body', and 'Spun Up the Crazy-Along'; the latter was an opportunity to take all your scraps, bits, and pieces laying around and spin them into a yarn. Challenges and themes really push spinners to think in a new way, to imagine what can be done with a spindle or a wheel and a bit of fluff.

So in answer to the question, I guess I'd have to say 'other', haha!"

Tracy: "Who is most inspirational to you?"
Velma: "I am most inspired by people who are unafraid, and those who push through their fears. I'm talking about the spinners who try techniques they don't think they're "ready" for, who say "I can do that!", who try new things. The spinners who, when faced with a challenge or a problem aren't afraid to analyze and experiment and invent in order to come up with a way around the obstacle or to make the yarn they see in their mind's eye possible.

Being fearless and looking at things with an analytical eye are two of the traits that I believe serve art yarn spinners really well. When you look at a yarn, any yarn, try to mentally pick it apart and put it back together again, to figure out how and why it looks the way it does, then apply what you see in your own spinning; if you think like an engineer as well as an artist, you'll be well on your way to becoming an art yarn spinner."

For more about Tracy, read her 'Why Spin?' piece on Studioloo's Spin in Public Spinterviews site.

Tags: art yarn, handspinning, COLORBOMB

Complete Tracy Hudson Interview

How I Trapped My Man, LOL

Another gem from the vault. Dontcha just love the 50s?

copyright Laird M. Ehlert, New York
n.d.
sent to me in 1998, postmark San Francisco, CA
caption: "Every 20 minutes, someone in the world is killed or maimed by a land mine. Cambodia alone has an estimated 10 million land mines planted!" (how weird is that?)

Tags: postcard, kitsch

How I Trapped My Man, LOL

Love Your Hat!

In my absence, I thought I'd leave you some gems from the Velma Wall of Shame postcard collection. Check back in the coming days for more!

Love Your Hat, Let's Do Lunch!
copyright 1997
The American Postcard Co., Inc.

Love Your Hat!

The Seat of Power

Has shifted, if only momentarily, from the East Bay to Humboldt Co. Yeppers, that's Maia, Queen of Natural Dyeing, who (whom?) has been appearing a lot of late around VWorld. She's wielding her mighty sword of Google-fu to create some Tactile: A Fiber Arts Studio magic right in my very own kitchen! We leave later today for SOAR - can you say ROAD TRIP?!?

And THIS is my pile of SOAR gear, enough for a 10-day road trip-cum-spinning-EXTRAVAGANZA! Art yarn fibers to sell? Check. Every piece of spinning gear I own plus a borrowed charkha and a borrowed takhli? Check. Enough warm clothes to keep my "I'm-too-cold" bitching at a minimum? Check. That's all I really need, isn't it? As long as I have beer money, I think so. (If you are REALLY bored, I've annotated the photo on Flickr. Just click it, & you'll be whisked there by the magic of teh internets.)

So, we're off later this afternoon, after a trip to the post office. Then it's time to play, Play, PLAY! I may or may not have internet access over the course of my travels, so there may or may not be more bloggy goodness in the coming week. There may even be some historical surprises waiting, you never know...

Tags: SOAR, travel

The Seat of Power

Dood! I'm on Craftzine.com!

And I'm all verklempt! Back in May I met Brookelynn Morris, author of Feltique & Craft: contributor, at Maker Faire 2009. Seems like I made an impression, 'cuz today I was stunned to hear from a fellow Purl 'n Hurler that she touted my new SmorgasBOMBs on the Craftzine.com blog!! Read her write-up here, and feel free to leave her a comment about how you knew me before Craft: made me famous! (Don't forget: SmorgasBOMBs will be available in my Etsy shop when I return Nov. 3).

Other things going on today include NEW YARN finished!! That's always exciting. The picture is of 'Flambe', the navojo ply I did this week that I posted about before. As you might remember, I was hoping for enough yardage to make Harf, a hat/scarf combo pattern by the Spincycle Yarns chicks, Rachel Price & Kate Burge. But (there's always a but, isn't there?). The Harf requires ~360 yards of light worsted weight yarn, & while 'Flambe' fits the worsted bill, I only managed to eke out about 22o yards. :( With four freakin' ounces, I'm not sure how that happened, but 3-ply eats up the yardage. Anyway, I perused my Rav queue & came up with Plan B: the Headigan, a cardigan for your head! This pattern is from Red Lipstick, a site I've been a fan of from way back. I'm planning on casting on for this when I'm away at SOAR.

Speaking of SOAR: anything purchased from COLORBOMB Creations in my absence won't ship until I return (duh). So, feel free to stock up on my faboo fibers (when you buy, I can shop for new raw materials!), but don't forget that your order won't ship 'til Nov. 3.

With that, I'll leave you with this YouTube clip from A&E's new "drama-cumentary" Pot City USA", which I just learned this week is about Arcata, where I live. It could not BE any more hyperbolic & fearmongering, but if it keeps even one person from moving here, well, that makes me a fan; I like it just fine the way it is.

Now, I'm off to Purl 'n Hurl! Wanna finish up my Annetrelac socks so's I can enter them into the YARN sock contest. I'd better get om the stick, since the deadline is while I'm gone, & I still have a half a sock to go!!! Ever the optimist...

Tags: craft, colorbomb, yarn, handspun

Dood! I'm on Craftzine.com!

Introducing... SmorgasBOMBS!

What've we got here? SmorgasBOMBs, new from COLORBOMB Creations!

Yep, it's been awhile since I introduced a new product, but these were just 'born' this week - mixed fiber grab-bags for your spinning/felting/crafting pleasure!

This first batch of SmorgasBOMBs is available in two colorways, 'Hot' and 'Cold', and will make their debut at the Tactile Fiber Arts booth next week at SOAR.

Packaged in plastic bags re-claimed from the Sock Summit dumpster, each SmorgasBOMB contains 4 ounces/115 grams of animal fiber. This batch may contain any/all of the following breeds: Babydoll Southdown, Cheviot, Coopworth, Cormo, Corriedale, Cotswold, CVM, Dorset, Lincoln, Merino, Mohair, Rambouillet, Romney, Targhee, Wensleydale.

If you are a spinner, a SmorgasBOMB would be perfect for spinning up an eclectic art yarn, trying new fiber breeds or fiber prep, or carding together to make your own custom blend. Not a spinner (yet)? Felters will find endless delight playing with small bits of different fibers, and the sky is the limit for crafters of all types - let your imagination take over!

Tags: fiber, handspinning, wool, colorbombcreations

Introducing... SmorgasBOMBS!

Fit to Be Plyed

Bobbins of 'Flambe' ready to ply. If my luck holds, I've spun enough to yield about 300 yards of 3ply Ménage à Trois when I'm done, which is (I think) how much I'll need to knit a Harf (hat/scarf).

Although I adore these colors (thanks, Forest Fiber Works for your dyepot art!), what really floats my boat about this spin is my new-found skillz at long-draw. Or anyway what passes for a long-draw in Velma's World. Janet & Maia each gave me their take on the technique in the last few months, & it finally took. Spinning art yarns so long, which are unbelievably labor-intensive, has really habituated me to the inchworm style of spinning & held me back when spinning more traditional yarns. In particular, inchworm is inordinately slow; long-draw is a much speedier spin. Additionally, inchworm fucks with my body; long-draw relaxes me in a way that's new for me when spinning. Here's how the inimitable Alden Amos puts it in The Alden Amos Big Book of Spinning:

" (Inchworm is the) Descriptive name given to extreme short-draw worsted technique, performed close-in to orifice (2 inches away), by grim folks with hunched-over shoulders and wrists resting on their knees."

I don't rest my wrists on my knees, but the rest of the definition is spot-on for me. Another advantage of the long-draw? Easier achievement of a woolen yarn, which is what I'm shooting for here. So, to each her own, but I'm digging this new skill o' mine.

Tags: handspinning, yarn, handspun

Fit to Be Plyed

I'm SOARing!

Seriously, I'm heading to SOAR for a week of submersion in spinning culture with my friend Maia of Tactile: A Fiber Arts Studio. Remember her? I went to the California Wool & Fiber Festival, aka Boonville, with her last month. No? You don't remember? Oh, right! That's 'cuz I'm a giant dorkimous & I never posted pictures. Easily remedied!

That's her in the picture; wave to the nice readers, Maia! Oops, her hands look like they're already biz-AY. You can see by her obviously playful demeanor why I love hanging out with her. She's the one that took those ridiculous pictures of me mack-daddying a chocolate bar from the other day. Here's a real shot of the 2 of us, also taken in her booth at Boonville. Look at all that scrumptious naturally-dyed yarn & fiber we're surrounded by!! That's all Maia's handiwork.

Back to SOAR, the Spin-Off Autumn Retreat. Maia is running Tactile as a solo show now, & she's in need of some extra hands for shows, which is good news for me as I seriously could not afford to attend under my own financial steam. But now I get to help her out AND rub elbows with some mighty kickass spinning folk at these fiber festivals when I travel with her. In the case of SOAR, I'm most looking forward to finally meeting Jacey Boggs/Insubordiknit, but I'm pretty damn excited about spending more time with the Carolina Homespun crew & Abby Franquemont of Abby's Yarns (if you haven't been there recently, be sure to visit Abby's site, as it got a brand-spankin' new facelift this week!).

Not ONLY do I get to help a friend, and hobnob with fun spinny types, but I actually get to LEARN something, too! Brooke, who couldn't find childcare for the adorkable Joaquin, has generously given me her spot in the All About Cotton workshop being taught by Stephanie Gaustad! Yep, that Stephanie Gaustad. How cool is that! Even better, my friend Janet is loaning me her book charkha, made & delivered to her by Alden Amos, on which she was taught to spin cotton by...wait for it...Stephanie Gaustad! Yep, I'll be spinning on a tool made by the instructor's partner and used previously by the instructor; lucky me! My classmates will include Ellen & Denny, making the whole experience EPIC, I am sure.

One more juicy detail about my trip to SOAR: Maia has asked me to put some COLROBOMB Creations art yarn ingredients in her booth alongside Jacey's Sit and Spin! how-to DVD. In addition to my BOMBits kits, I'm bringing -- teaser alert!-- a brand NEW product. Check back here tomorrow for details!!

Tags: SOAR, handspinning

I'm SOARing!

Spinning in the Dark, or: I Need New Glasses

Last night I Tweeted this:

"velmalikevelvet needs new glasses so badly she's wearing her headlamp to spin. The old is everywhere."

For some perverse reason they both share*, VTKnitboy and Hellchick both requested photo-documentation, & I'm nothing if not accomodating. It's darker than it looks, & I'm in desperate need of a new prescription (can you say "bifocals", class?). Chris, aka vtknitboy, pointed out that my shoulder pain might be related to how high I hold my hands/forearms (the better to SEE you with, my dear!) I think he might be onto something!

And what am I spinning? Why, the merino for my Harf mentioned yesterday, of course! I got through the first half of the fiber, about 2oz., last night (the singles, not the plying). Will try to do the rest tonight so I can cast on tomorrow; I'd like to work on the Harf while I'm gone next week (more on that later!).

What's this? THIS is a screenshot of my blog stats this morning, showing the absolute SKYROCKET in readers on VWorld yesterday, that's what! Turns out, if @knittydotcom re-Tweets, say, your blog post re: Imaginary Rhinebeck: it appears on the Knitty Blog and... To the moon, Alice! Haven't had a day that big since Deb Robson linked to my Sock Summit recap post on her blog.

Today? Well, today is getting ready for that trip next week. Check back for details!

*Must've been something in the air about headlamps yesterday on Twitter, 'cuz earlier in the evening Knitch was asking me for this photo of me knitting with mine on at Purl 'n Hurl recently. Weird.

Tags: Twitter, handspinning

Spinning in the Dark, or: I Need New Glasses

This is What Happens When You Blow Off Work

Today, like yesterday, was supposed to be silk-dyeing day. It wasn't. Instead, today was a day of complete & utter goof-off-i-ness. Check it.

My good friend Maia took these frakkin' HI-larious shots of me going down on an absolutely enormous Scharfen Berger chocolate bar. "Can I share 'em on my blog?" she says. "Of course, you know I love attention!" says I. But oh, no: that ain't enough for spotlight-hog Velma, no not enough at all. I had to put them up here, too. Check out this blog post over at Maia's for the full story of "The Chocolate Incident" and her shameless plug of luv of yours truly.

Need more proof that Rule 34 is alive and well? How about this video of gratuitous fondling:



Yeah, I know, I got carried away. Those of us who didn't get to attend the real New York State Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY decided that wasn't gonna keep us from pretending. Nope, we just invented ImaginaryRhinebeck, complete with a virtual beer stand, free cashmere for all attendees, a teddy bear shearing demo, & the aforementioned unicorn fiber fondling in the petting zoo. While having a beer with WonderMike, I even saw Elizabeth Zimmerman there!

One more thing: I'm making new yarn for a new project! That's one of my Menage a Trois handspun yarns, 'Flambe', made from retina-burning reds, oranges, purple, & yellow merino from Forest Fiber Works. I've got 4oz., & I'm spinning to make a Harf (Rav link) by Kate Burge & Rachel Price of Spincycle Yarns; the pattern is in the Best. Book. EVER. for handspinners: Intertwined by Lexi Boeger.

I started by spinning it up on my Jenkins Turkish Delight drop spindle, & finished up the 1st cop last night, plying it on the wheel (chain-ply, aka navajo ply). But I need to finish this in my lifetime, & I've already got a crazy-big drop-spindle project going, so I switched to the wheel last night. So far I've got about 25 yards completely finished, & about 1/3 bobbin of singles. Now that I've got a rudimentary long-draw under my belt, it should go much faster than my usual glacial pace.

Guess that's enough for today. Heading to the wheel with a beer. Happy Sunday!

Tags: silliness, yarn, handspun, knitting

This is What Happens When You Blow Off Work

Three Kinds of Stashing

This post was meant to go up yesterday, but fuck it, I had a rough day. Up early on a Saturday morning to do some dyeing, so I may as well write a blog post while the silk soaks, eh?

Thursday night was the monthly spin-in night hosted by my fiber guild. I've only been once before, & was expecting a better turnout (there were 3 of us, plus the hostess). The upside was that it was hosted at the new Eureka Fabrics location, where I got my fill of fabric fondling for the week. And I splurged (only $7.99 a yard!) on 2 3/8 yards of this gorgeous African wax print cotton from Côte d'Ivoire to make a skirt (read about the history of these fabrics here and about the wax-resist dyeing process here.) Rima also has stunning hand-stitched fabrics from India, gorgeous silks, organic hemp, sewing & quilting classes, and garments hand-made by Sister Crow.

And this is the haul from my day spent toiling at my LYS, hands on CRAFT, yesterday: 10 skeins of Pure Silk by Debbie Bliss. If I were the go-to marketing genius there, I'd be calling it 'Pure Bliss', but then I'm a hyperbolic kind of chick. 100% silk singles, in a red reminiscent of a pomegranate. I'm thinking of knitting a t-shirt with it; maybe the Cap Sleeved Top written specifically for this yarn? (Rav link)

Finally, I dyed 'Goth Plunge', a poofy, soft Rambo-Merino-Targhee blend roving this past week, & am just now getting it into the shop. It delights me! There are 4 braids available, but I'll tell ya a secret: I just might hoard one for myself!

Oh, and there are still 2 of the 6 pounds of CVM-Merino raw wool available if you are interested. The listing is here; get it quick before it's all gone!!

Tags: COLORBOMB Creations, fabric, yarn, fiber

Three Kinds of Stashing