fiberdance

Whopper size needles

2012-01-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

I was wanting to do I-cord with big bulky yarn-and didn't have a big pair of double pointed needles to use-never saw anything as big as I wanted for sale anywhere-soooo.... I had this old broom handle and figured I tool wood carving classes a long time ago-still have all the tools. I cut two pieces about 12 inches long and proceeded to Whittle the ends to a sharp point. All in all, I do believe they came out pretty good-one is a little longer than the other. I made 1 I-cord so far-it was from a very unbalanced yarn-but the needles worked just great. I'm trying to find something I could put on one of the ends so I could just use them as regular needles to make a scarf. I still have some of the broom handle left-I may just make a separate pair for that. We shall see......

"New" space

2012-01-02T06:05:00.000-08:00

I totally rearranged everything and now have a bit more room for "studio" space. At least now I feel I can call it my studio. All my working stations are in there. I just moved my living area to the dining room, and spread out all my stuff in the living room. I just have to find room for all the small stuff, supplies and general junk I've got in that stash I can't throw out. Here's hoping that when the urge to create strikes I can now just go sit and get started, instead of looking everywhere for that one item I know I have somewhere.

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-01T07:54:00.000-08:00

I spent the last night of 2011 playing with ATC's. I had this idea to use old magazine pages rather than throwing them all away. I cut out the brightest most colorful pictures I could find, cut them down to ATC size (2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches) then sewed them to several more pages to thicken them up. I was at it for quite a while-but doing it while watching movies made it go better. I'm finishing them up today , and hope to start using them to just slather some paint, glob some glue, and generally just have fun with them. I like that they have the colorful background all ready to get started. Now, off to play!

New Loom

2011-12-24T06:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was at it again-drilling lots of little holes and hammering tacks into my home-made 6.5' x 2' rectangle loom. I wanted it wide enough to make a shawl, but I plan to use it mostly for art yarn scarves. Using the art yarn as the warp, it really shows off the coils and bumps and wild stuff that was spun into it. I'm using the Stardust yarn I got from Hearthside Fibers (Johnson Creek, WI) as the weft and will weave it loosely. I've only got about 3 passes of the weft so far. I have to stop to go fight the crowds at the grocery store for a bit, but then plan to come back and see how long it takes to finish. I'm sure I'll be back to post pictures later.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-23T08:14:00.001-08:00

BIG BOBBIN!!

2011-12-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I decided to try to fill the bobbin on "Maxine" and didn't quite get there-but made a huge 1 pound ball of yarn. From there I plied it with some homespun, some silk, and various fun fur and eyelash yarns. I had to go to the hardware store to get PVC pipe to make a bigger niddy-noddy to wind the skein. I ended up with 124 yards of big fluffy crazy art yarn. Now I need to decide what to make with it. Although, I may just leave it hanging around for inspiration.

OOPS!

2011-12-03T04:50:00.000-08:00

Valuable lesson learned...be sure thread holding zillions of seed beads is strong enough to for plying with wool on new spinning wheel...otherwise...you end up with said beads all over the living room floor. Taught myself some new cuss words, too! I did manage to get some pretty yarn made before the break. Now to break out the vacuum cleaner.

Colorful Fluff

2011-12-01T18:29:00.000-08:00

I'm loving my new spinning wheel. I sure wish I had more time to play with it. I have so many yarns I want to make. Here are just a few I've done so far.

Obsessed

2011-11-24T03:57:00.000-08:00

Hello, my name is Kathi. I'm a fiber-aholic. I've become totally obsessed with working with fiber-and have gone off the deep end and got my self yet another new "toy" to add to my fiber addiction. Great tools make for great yarn-right? (enable me here-okay?) I just HAD to have a spinning wheel that I could make big fat Art Yarn on. My Ashford traditional (on the left in pic) spins beautifully. I was so very lucky that my friend Bonnie gave her to me. That was the start. Then last winter I just had to have the Fricke (on the right in the pic) to spin art yarn. She spins beautifully, too, but I was trying some big fat core-spun yarn and it kept tangling up in the end of the delta orifice. Being frustrated with that led me to buying my new Ashford Country Spinner (in the middle of pic.) I bought it through Susan's Fiber Shop in Columbus, WI. She was fun to work with and her hubby assembled it free of charge. (Thank heavens-cuz the instructions showed a million pieces). I got it home and immediately spun up 30 yards of BIG FAT core-spun yarn. It worked better than I had hoped. I don't have pictures yet of the yarn-hopefully at the end of this long holiday weekend I will have a bunch to show off. I'm off to spin now.....

Scarves and a new Picker

2011-11-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

I've been working on weaving some scarves to put in a gallery night at The Glass Haus in Green Bay (Monica and Tom Pecor-owners) on November 17th. So far I have 5-they take longer than I first thought-but I'm pretty happy with them and hope someone else will like them , too.

I also got myself another piece of fiber equipment-a Lil' Dynamo box picker. It definitely will help me pick through, clean, and fluff up all the wool I've been washing and dying lately. Using hand carders and picking by hand not only takes forever, but its been killing my wrists and hands. I did a nice big pile with the picker in less than an hour. It would've taken many hours spread out over many days to have done that by hand. There is still more processing to do-but, it sure made short work of the the picking process. Whew-buying it was a wise choice.

Woven Wind Chime

2011-10-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Here is just a little woven wind chime I did so I could use some of my "fried marbles". I also made the copper bells and the hanger-but now I don't want to hang it outside and ruin it. I found a little space on a wall so I can look at it every day. I kinda like it-it makes me smile.

Keeping Busy

2011-10-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

I've been busy trying to squeeze in bits of play time in between all the working hours lately. I've puttered around with all kinds of dying since my natural dye class at the WI woolfest. We tried all kinds of flowers and weeds-most gave us interesting yellows and golds. Then we mixed up a batch of indigo-OOOOHHH-I fell in love with that stuff. I of course had to try it at home-I learned that next time I'll be doing it outside-STINK-EEEE!!. But love those blues.

I've also been doing some weaving, and generally just playing with wool (when I'm not napping in front of the TV) I dream of retirement every day and hope I can actually manage to do it. I would love to immerse myself in wool and other fibers every day.

Fried Marbles?

2011-09-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, apparently I've lived under a rock my whole life and never heard of fried marbles. This was a crafting rage some time waaaaay back in the day and I somehow missed it. Just recently they became the topic of a discussion in the Saori weaving group on Ravelry (We've been talking about add ins to our autumn WAL projects.) Well, of course, I had to try it. I didn't have any round marbles, but just happened to have gotten a handful of those flat backed glass pebbles used in flower arranging and stained glass. (Thanks Tom and Monica). You're supposed to use an iron skillet-all I have is my non-stick frying pan-so-in went the pebbles-on went the heat. I "fried" them for 3 minutes on high and then dumped them into a bowl of ice water. Snapp, krackle, popp-fried marbles! Woo hoo!! (I'm easily amused). I plan to break out my soldering iron to attach some jump rings so I can use them in jewelry and weavings, and all sorts of things I can find to embellish. Imagine all the fun I have to make up for because this crazy craft slipped passed me during my youth. I recommend this activity to anyone that needs to "heat" up those creative juices. Have a blast!!! (but still, be careful out there)

Another new toy

2011-09-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

On my way to visit family in Green Bay, I stopped at a nice little shop in Fondulac called Woolgatherers just to look around. I walked out with a new Ashford 16" rigid heddle loom. When I got home from my visit I put it together (waxing it with furniture wax first). I let it dry over night. It was actually easy to assemble, and I was warping it right away. With only a few breaks here and there, I had a scarf done by evening. I really love my new loom. I Have her warped up and ready for another scarf. BUT....Today is the first day of the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival and I have a class with Stephania Isaccson usin natural dyes. I'm so excited I couldn't sleep last night-silly, I know-but I wait all year for this and plan my vacation around it. I have a spinning goat fibers class tomorrow with Amy Tyler. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and tell everyone all about it next week. Happy Fibery weekend!!!

Winners!!!!

2011-08-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

First, thanks for all the responses. I recruited my son to chose 3 names from the bowl. If you see your name there, please send an address to me so I can get your prizes sent out to you. Send them to my e-mail at fiberdance@gmail.com. Thanks again

Puttering with Paper

2011-08-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I've been on a paper bead making kick for the last week. I had this idea to make a bead roller and it ended up working pretty good. So..... a whole lotta beads later and I'm still making beads. I also made a bunch of the bead rollers. I'm hoping to do a bead making class in the near future and thought these would work well for the students. But, first I'd like to know if they are something that would work for anyone.

So, here's the deal. Leave a comment and your name could be drawn to receive one of my bead rollers, some cut paper to roll up some beads, instructions for rolling and a few examples made by me. I will leave the drawing open until next Thursday and then post the results on the Fiber Arts Friday site. I will do the drawing the old fashioned way by writing names on slips of paper and putting them in a bowl and drawing a name. That's cuz I have no idea how to do it with the computer-I barely know how to keep up with this blog!

Thanks for joining in and good luck!!

New Loom

2011-08-11T17:41:00.000-07:00

I found another little loom and just had to buy it. It's actually a Darice beading loom that I got at my local Ben Franklin craft store. I added a front and back tie up bar (wooden dowels tied on with cotton string) and it works just fine. I'm using a small heddle for the wind chimes that I'm weaving. I also made a 10 inch long heddle that should fit this loom just right. I made the heddle for a WAL challenge I joined with the backstrap weavers group on Ravelry. I've tried the backstrap loom and it is interesting. Not sure if I like being tied to my work, though!

Fiber Busy-ness

2011-07-27T18:46:00.000-07:00

I've been busy-I got a decent amount of spinning done for the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry.

Then I've been plugging along on weaving on my triangle loom. It's slow going, but looking pretty good. I also did a little backstrap weaving. I did up my own version of a loom, it may not have been exactly the right way, but I enjoyed giving it a try and made a cute little scarf. I'm going to be trying it again soon.

Spinning for the Tour de Fleece

2011-07-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

I've been spinning almost every day for the TdF, but have fallen behind my set goals. I can live with that. I got tired of the plain colors I was spinning so I blended up a couple batts of Jacob wool, glitz and some random color. Then I had to take up the challenge that Dutch Hollow threw out there-- http://www.alpacabytes.com/2011/07/08/faf-how-to-thread-beads-to-spin-into-yarn/ I really enjoy spinning beads. Its my latest addiction. Yay!

My new 6 foot triangle loom.

2011-07-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it! I made myself a 6 foot triangle loom. (That's it hanging there on my free standing warping board for my floor loom.) I bought some oak wood trim, a zillion little nails and a few screws and such, and thus began my adventure into woodworking. Now mind you, what I lacked in technological and carpentry skills, I made up for in perseverance. There was no cussing involved. I only had to recharge my Dremel twice to drill 405 little bitty holes-and I only hit my thumb with the hammer once while hammering 405 little bitty nails. Still no cussing-remarkable-hey? I'm not sure how well it will hold up-the wood did split slightly in some spots-there are a lot of nails really close together-even with the pre-drilled holes. I haven't sanded and stained it yet-I should have done that before I drilled-but I couldn't wait to get at it.

Now I'm not sure I have the correct amount of nails. I don't know if there should be an even or odd number per side. I posted the question on Ravelry with the Tri-loom weavers group. Hopefully someone there will have my answer for me.

Now I'm off to watch as many you-tube videos as I can to be sure I know how to weave on this puppy!

Off to a slow start

2011-07-04T04:50:00.000-07:00

Didn't get at the spinning for the TdF right away. I helped my son with his move to a new apartment. I was feeling so relieved to have him move all his and his daughter's stuff out of here-but I really will miss them. They aren't too far away, though. I'm sure I'll see them often.

I got some spinning in later in the day and enjoyed rearranging my house back to the way it was.

Itchin' to start...

2011-07-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

Can't hardly wait to start spinning for the Tour de Fleece that is being held on Ravelry. I joined 5 different groups.

Peleton-this is one of the main groups-kind of middle of the road.

Team Ashford-for anyone spinning on an Ashford wheel.

Team of Wonder-A group of alpaca fiber lovers and owners. I'll be spinning alpaca on my Ashford Traditional.

Team Frickin' Wicked-for people spinning on a Fricke wheel.

Team Jacob Junkies-A group of Jacob sheep lovers and owners-I'll be spinning Jacob fleece on my Fricke wheel.

I plan to set the wheels side by side to make it easy to reach my goal of spinning at least 15 minutes on each wheel for every day of the race. I hope to take and post pictures along the way. The best part of all this is that I've met and talked to lots of people from all over the world, and hope to make some new and like minded fiber friends.

The basket of white and beige is only a part of my alpaca stash, and the basket of green and brown is a small dent into my Jacob stash. I still have some carding to do.

Get ready.....get set........

Just a little bear

2011-06-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

Just made this little guy for a girl I work with. She is here from Germany on a work exchange program through college. We plan to have a little "going home" lunch for her and will present her with this bear. I still have to make the little copper tag I want to hang from his collar that will say "BRUNO", which is the name of the company we work for. I will miss my new friend when she leaves, but hope she will continue to stay in touch, and will remember us when she hugs her new little bear.

Had to try this...

2011-06-24T03:12:00.000-07:00

I read in the Ashford Spinners Group on Ravelry that someone tried to make their Ashford traditional into a spindle spinning wheel by just jamming a dowel into the orifice and spinning away. Well, that sounded easy, and I was up for a challenge. I found a paintbrush handle that just fit and gave it a go. Lo and behold, it worked! But I found my spindle spinning techniques leave a lot to be desired. It does work really well for winding yarn onto bobbins for weaving, too. Ahh, the wonders of fiber......

Classes

2011-06-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

There's still time to register for my classes at the art weekend in Manitowoc the end of July. Be sure to check them out. http://inspiremyliferetreat.blogspot.com/p/workshops_17.html

On the Bobbin

2011-06-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I did some spinning for a change. I spun up that basket of alpaca that I painted with Easter egg dye on Sarah, my Ashford Traddy. It was a really nice spin-very soft. Now I just need to decide how to ply it.

I also broke out the home-made Navajo style spindle I made several years back. My first attempt at spinning was with a drop spindle. I just couldn't get the hang of it. I read a book about Navajo spindles, and it gave directions for making one. I didn't have any skills at using a saw to cut the whorl so I improvised with a metal spool that holds wire that I dug out of the garbage at work. I also used a shrink wrap plastic from work garbage to place the whorl on the dowel. Painting the whorl before putting it on the dowel would have been easier-but I wrapped the dowel in Saran wrap then spray painted the metal blue. I carved both ends of the dowel to a rounded point and sanded them smooth. It spins like a dream. I forgot how much I loved it.

Catching Up

2011-05-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to catch up on a few projects. Got a few done, found many more to do. I'm not sure I can get to all of them in my lifetime. I know when I "go" my boys will back a dumpster up to the door and start pitching. Oh well, I'll enjoy my stuff while I'm still here.

The basket of alpaca fiber is what happened when I had left over Easter egg dye.

The Peace banner is something I just started last week on my Brio toy loom.

The tote is my attempt to make a more finished looking bag.

And the weavings are just something I got started on.

Thats only 5 of the hundreds of UFO's. It's a start.

Handmade cloth

2011-05-20T03:05:00.000-07:00

Here's just a small piece I wove to make into a summer vest-hopefully. I'm trying to figure out just how to cut it into the pieces I need without it all falling apart. This should be a challenge-but fun.

Rag bags

2011-05-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

I just finished another rug. I really like making rugs. I found I can make smaller versions and turn them into bags. I really like the bags. Weaving is fun!

Really??

2011-04-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Yup, another new toy-this time, really, its a toy! I found this listed on e-bay and I just had to have it.

Weaving Fun

2011-04-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

Who knew? Since I got my loom I've been having a lot of fun making stuff. I really never thought much about having a loom before now, but I can't imagine ever not having one in the future. I joined a Saori weaving group on Ravelry and got in on a Weave-a-long to make a banner. It's about 18 inches wide by 8 feet long. I had a theme in mind as I was weaving-Wisconsin's Springtime (I think that's a fantasy right now.) I tried to incorporate all the feelings of the weather, and the greening of the grass, and there's even a robin in there. I also tried to create an image of a tornado, cuz unfortunately we have those in the spring, too. At the end of May the group will be sending our banners to one person, and she will divide them up and swap them with other members. It will be fun to see what we all get.

One other thing I decided to try is a rag rug. I wasn't sure how to go about doing it at all. I was able to glean bits of information off the internet-but there really isn't much detail on how to weave rugs. Well, I gave it a try and am pretty happy with the result. For my first try its pretty straight, and colorful. It measures 26"x39". I have a LOT more warp on the loom to make a couple more, and loads and loads of fabric to cut into strips. I can see though, that if I want to make a career out of making rugs I have to get a heavier loom. Mine worked okay, but it kept "traveling" while beating the weft in place. Sooooo, if anyone out there hears of a good heavy duty rug loom that needs a good home, let me know (now remember, I'm what you'd call frugal-okay, okay-cheap) It needs to be a good deal-like maybe free! And of course there's that problem of where to put it-I'll work out those details later.

Spin In Weekend

2011-04-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got to go to my classes and do some serious damage to my checking account this weekend. I went to the Wisconsin Spin In in Pewaukee, WI. My class on Friday was all day spinning with Amy Tyler. It was blending color at the wheel. We had such a nice relaxing day. Then I went to visit all the vendors and bought some goodies. Saturday was a morning class with Chiaki O'Brien-Saori Weaving. I was really fun. I got a little more in depth learning about the Saori style of weaving, and it was nice to get to know Chiaki. She was so sweet. I bought the Saori book and when she showed me her picture on the cover I had her autograph it. (I bet she thought I was goofy). I really enjoyed using the special Saori loom. They are very simple and easy to use. I'll be starting a loom "kitty" to get myself one sometime in the future. They're small, I'll find room-really.

Saori Banner

2011-03-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

Here is my first Saori style of weaving. I had intended for it to be a scarf-but it ended up being 10 feet long-I sort of miscalculated-a bit. Oh well-I love it and will use it as a banner. All of the weft yarns are handspun. I have a large stash of practice yarns and that's what I used-with a little roving and locks thrown in here and there. I'm getting ready now to make another banner for a weave-a-long going on at the Saori weaving group on Ravelry. I'll be using mostly the yarns I've had stashed forever and haven't found a use for-and I have a lot of those. I hope I can remember how to put the warp on the loom-and not make it way longer than I need.

Another "toy"

2011-03-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how or when I got bitten by the weaving bug-but I did. I know I started checking groups on Ravelry and ran into the Saori weaving group. I'm so smitten with this style of weaving. Its totally arsty and free form and just for me. Well, I was telling my BFF Carol all about wanting to get a loom but would have to start saving my pennies when she asked if I'd like to buy her loom that she bought a few years back but never put it to use. I didn't hesitate to yell-YES! So, I now am the proud owner of a new-to-me Harrisville 36"/4 shaft floor loom. I spent a day cleaning her up and setting her up-I only cussed a few times. It took another two evenings to figure out how to warp it-and then I got started on a really simple scarf. I'm having a blast with it. The only problem is the size-who needs a living room? Right? Things got sort of squished together-but I'm still happy. And of course I'm into naming my fiberdance toys-so meet---Isabella.

Inspire My Life Art Retreat

2011-03-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce that I'll be teaching two classes in Manitowoc, WI this summer. Check this out- http://inspiremyliferetreat.blogspot.com/

One of my classes will be a little fiber wrapped pin, and the other will be embossed paper beads. Both are fun, fairly easy projects and I'm looking forward to sharing them. If anyone can make it, the whole weekend looks like it will be great fun. Plan a vacation to Wisconsin this summer!!

Boucle

2011-03-10T18:39:00.000-08:00

I tried my hand at spinning some boucle yarn. My first attempt was from some instructions I found on the web-not a good choice. I didn't take pictures. Lets just call it "yarn barf". So then I decided to go to my spinning books-which I should have done in the first place. Anyway, I spun up 3 spools of some of the Jacob wool I got from the girl I bought my wheel from. I didn't worry about the lumps and bumps that happened from not carding it well enough cuz I was anxious to get it going. It all went together pretty well, even though I had trouble getting the little loops to look loopy like they're supposed to look. Its far from perfect but I got a good size skein of some very nicely textured yarn that I can't wait to find a project for.

2011-03-03T15:59:00.000-08:00

I decided to finally work with some alpaca I purchased a while back. The color is a pretty shade of rust and I like it a lot. What i don't like is the problem I'm having combing or carding, or just plain handling it. The bag did not say if it was Suri or Huacaya. It's very straight and handles more like fine human hair than fiber. I was hoping to use it as is, but may need to blend it with wool to get it to not be so flyaway, and fluff it a bit.

I would appreciate any ideas, or suggestions, or any expertise from fiber artists that raise, or work with alpaca fibers.

Thanks a bunch,

Kathi

2011-02-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally got the chance to work with Stormy. I spun some odd stuff I had around just to get used to her, then took two art batts I carded when I was impatiently waiting for her to arrive, and spun them up as nice fat singles. I got two bobbins filled and then plied them with gold metallic thread. I'm not sure of the yardage but the weight is 4oz. for the 2 balls. I needed to learn how she'd handle, and for the most part pretty good. I do believe she needs a new drive band, this one is pretty stretched out. I e-mailed the manufacturer and asked if I could order some things from them. Hopefully, I can and I'll be able to spin like crazy!

Meet "Stormy"

2011-02-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

Well, after waiting a reeeeaaaallly long time, my "new-to-me" spinning wheel finally arrived.

Back in January I happened to see a post on Ravelry for a used Fricke spinning wheel for sale. I've been wanting one of these for a long time but hesitated to spend the money for a new one. This seemed like a really good deal so I jumped on it. The gal I bought it from, (thank you Corinne) was really patient about waiting a week for me to get the cash to her. She lives in Maryland and had to fight the snowstorm they had going on there to get the package sent out to me. Then during the trip here I'm sure the mail got hung up somewhere in the snowstorm we got socked with here in the midwest. So I waited and waited and finally today she showed up at my door. Yippee!!! I figured with all that traveling in snowstorm after snowstorm, it was only fitting that my wheel should be christened "Stormy Thundersnow".

I set her up and hopefully got her all together correctly. So far, I haven't given her a "spin" yet-but will get to it real soon. I was so excited I had to let everyone know. Now I hope I can create some really cool art yarns and fun stuff. I'll still keep my other wheel "Sarah Bootlace", a really nice Ashford Traditional. Each wheel has its good points and, well, I got Sarah free-can't give that away.

I'm off to give it a go-see ya later....

I'm still here!

2011-02-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

Wow, It has been a really long time since I last did some blogging. It seems like time just slips by way too fast these days. When I have free time it seems napping in my chair-with knitting in hand-takes priority over all else.

When I am awake I do get a few projects done. I finished the scarf from a class I took before Christmas using Prism yarn. Now,I usually would never, ever spend the amount I spent on that one skein of yarn, but I fell in love with the stuff and figured I deserved a special present to myself. I'm glad I took the class, I learned how to do short rows and use the wrap and turn technique. Reading it just didn't click. I'm a visual learner, and caught on after being shown how to do it. I only could make it for the first half of the class-the second day I had to work-but still managed to finish it. The hardest part was tying on the beads-I didn't have much in the way of beads that yarn would fit through. I managed to find a few things and I really like how it turned out. "Fancy schmancy".

So, me being the kind of person who can't ever stop at making just one of something, decided to make another scarf. This time I dug in my stash and found 20 different kinds of yarns (believe me I have much much more) and from each I cut three 3-4 yard pieces. I lined them up and then took one from each pile and wound them up on my ball winder and tied them end to end. I'm only about half way done, but really loving how its turning out. In the meantime, I've wound up several more of these "eclectic" balls of yarn and hope to do some more knitting with them-probably not the twirly scarf-something a little quicker-maybe even a hat or two.

My next project will be to try the same ball winding technique with some home-spun yarns. I've been a little lax on the spinning due to my purchase of another wheel-which is on its way to me right now in the middle of a huge snowstorm. I'll post more about it when it gets here-hopefully safe and sound.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

2010-12-22T16:24:00.000-08:00

Little Boxes

2010-12-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

I had a lot of fun making these little boxes to hold the little dollies that I made for each of my friends in the doll group I belong to. I've made several more for gifts for co-workers and can't seem to stop making them-of course it helps to have my new workhorse of a sewing machine to help whip up these little guys.

2010-11-30T15:35:00.000-08:00

Now that I have these new "friends", I've put one to good use modeling the Jane Thornley inspired shawl that I made a few weeks ago. I used a different yarn for almost every row, some wool, some handspun by me, some fun fur, etc, etc... It was just knit stitch on large needles-I cast on 110 stitches-and knit a couple rows of each yarn. There are a few rows of the Feather and Fan stitch which turns out really cool. I hope to make another one but in all shades of grey. These are so fun and easy. I'm working out ideas for scarves like this, too. I'm not a very accomplished knitter, so this is a big deal for me, and I guess I'm patting myself on the back a bit.

Gift of Thanks

2010-11-25T12:15:00.000-08:00

So, this morning as I was playing around with my new sewing machine, making tons of little quilted squares to sew into little gift boxes, I took notice of a copy of a picture I had thrown in my garbage a few days earlier. Now, this was a poor quality copy of an old photo of my mother when she was young that I discarded from another project I was working on last week. Something about the picture made me want to take it out and try a little quilted frame around it and jazz it up a bit. I began sewing, add ing lace and bits and pieces of scrap fabric. one little scrap was a little print of music notes, and since my mom loved music I figured it would be perfect for the piece. It was upside down when I stitched it in place, so when I turned it over to admire my work I got a huge jolt when I noticed that the letters on that little scrap are my mom's initials- m p -for Myrtle Pecor--At that very moment I felt her presence (she's been gone for many years now.) I cried a bit because I miss her so. She loved Thanksgiving, with all the wonderful baking and setting of a beautiful tablewhere we all could gather and enjoy our family.

Today I am thankful to my mother and this wonderous gift of her memory, and all the memories of Thanksgivings past. Thanks, Mom, I love you and miss you.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

fun colors

2010-11-14T06:07:00.000-08:00

I had some fun with a little color this morning-I had read somewhere that there was a Mexican equivalent of Koolaid out there, and just happened to find some at the local PicknSave. It's called Klass and comes in several flavors-but my store only had Tamarind, Pineapple and Mango. So I just grabbed one pkg of each. I had no clue what Tamarind could be-but really needed to find out-so it was first. I just used a canning jar, and poured in the powder and some water. It smelled very strange-and I had to try a teeny bit---eeeyukkk--but it was a light shade of brown that could be nice. I put in a glug of vinegar, and 1 oz of wool. Then I "cooked" it in the microwave for a few minutes. I did the same with the pineapple and mango, and they all took turns for a few spins. I then let them sit for a bit to cool-but not long, cuz I was too anxious to see what I got. Well, let say for some better color it would be a good idea to put several pkgs of tamarind to get a nice brown-but I'm ok with the pale tan I got. The same goes for the pineapple-its a very very pale yellow-but pretty. The mango turned out the best. It's a pastel-but definitely the prettiest of the lot.

So what did I learn from this adventure? The taste of tamarind is hard to rinse out of your mouth, I need to find the other flavors of Klass, and I need to get many packs of each kind to get a more saturated color.

All in all-I learned a lot today.

2010-11-10T19:47:00.000-08:00

Last week I checked out the Fiber Arts Friday blogs and read about cardboard looms for weaving. I searched the web like crazy for more info and found all kinds of fun stuff. So I proceeded to snag some huge pieces of cardboard from the garbage at work to make all kinds of looms. I started small-first a round loom to make a beret...then I figured out how to make one to make a nice long scarf-I finished the beret-its cute but I don't look good in a beret-so someone will be getting it for Christmas--and the scarf has only just begun-but I'm lovin' it so far. I plan to use up all my practice spinning stash. The next project will be an attempt at the big triangle loom. Cross your fingers for me.

working with fiber

2010-10-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to make a dent in the fiber projects waiting around the house. From the huge bin of wool that I recently washed, to the wild colors I've been carding to use in the Fiberwire I've been spinning and also, the Romney wool I've had in a bag for a few years that I carded and have now started to spin. Nothing is organized and I keep hopping from one project to another-I must have wooley attention deficit disorder. Oh well, I love playing with wool in all its stages, and will be up to my ears in it for quite a while.

2010-09-19T07:19:00.001-07:00

Had some fun trying some core-spinning with wire as the core. I first carded some random wool with lots of angelina and firestar for glitz. I put lots of different colors. I then took the batt that I made and split it into four long strips. Then I predrafted each strip til fairly thin and just barely holding together. I used 24g wire on a spool and attatched one end to my leader on the spinning wheel. I let the spool just roll around on the floor while spinning Z (clockwise) and just feeding the fiber on , from the right, at a 90 degree angle. I let the wire just glide across the top of my left hand. The only problem is the spinning wheel doesn't pull it on to the bobbin. You have to spin a length and the wind it on by hand, but that is really the hardest part of the process. I just love how it turns out and plan to make much more. I'm sure it will make great necklaces and bracelets.

another class

2010-08-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

took another class from Mystele-I enjoy her style and creativity. Had fun painting a couple little items.

2010-07-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

Twirling

2010-07-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

It has been way too long since my last post. I'll blame it all on work. I'm lucky that I have a good job, but we are working way too much overtime for me to enjoy the fun stuff I like to do. I did squeeze in some time to make paper beads--LOTS-- of paper beads! They are very addictive. I cut up several, brightly colored, magazine pages. Now that I have a shopping bag full, I just sit in front of TV and twirl away. After I get a large amount done, I've been stringing them onto a length of twine. I then plan to take them to work where we have a nice ventilated area (that we use for spray glue) and I'll spray them with gloss varnish. After all of that I hope to whip up some simple bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. I'll be back soon to let you know how they turn out.

fun at the flea market

2010-05-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

Today was spent hunting for odd treasures at the Elkhorn Flea Market. I had nothing in mind to buy and ended up with an eclectic array of interesting goodies. I bought a porcelain doll head, not old, but she's pretty. I haven't made a doll in a while, thought it might be fun. I happened to find a nice little slip that I'll make sure her body will fit into.

I found some 2 dollar hammers that will work for texturing copper for jewelry. Then got quite a nice bunch of laces and seam bindings from different booths, and a handfull of stuff from my friend Carol who bought a basket filled with sewing notions. I'll pay her with something handmade.

I also got 3 rosaries that I'll be using in some sort of jewelry. I'm not sure what I'll do with the round block of wood I got for a dollar-but I had to have it. I also was caught up in getting some old books. Why do I need more old books? I have more than I need already, but I always figure I will rip them up for art projects. Then I can't bear to ruin them.

To top it all off, I found the man of my dreams. For a buck--he's well dressed, quiet, and I'll know where he is at all times. Good old Ken-gotta love him!!!

All in all, it was a great day spent with friends, blessed with great weather, and getting more junk to add to the piles of junk I already have!

2010-04-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

Here's todays work from today's prompts in class--and the new additions to the front cover of my journal.

wild painting

2010-04-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

I went a little "wacky and wild" and had some fun painting this. I'm learning to let go and have fun in my art class and I think its working.

day three

2010-04-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

Day three of the Gut Art class was very inspirational-but sent me in a different direction than I thought it would. I've been working at painting my reactions-but this time my gut told me to make a necklace from the prompt we were given-so here it is-I'm really pleased with the results.

day two

2010-04-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

here is my journal entry for day two of art class. It's very different for me.

New art class

2010-04-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a new art class on line and so far I'm enjoying it. Had our first lesson today and I did a few paintings. I tried to let go and free things up. I like my girls with the purple hair. I may do some other stuff with them, but not sure what yet.

2010-03-25T16:41:00.001-07:00

I've been bitten by the painting bug since taking my class. I've been sketching a lot more, too. I forgot how much I liked to paint when I was younger. It's been fun getting back into it. I hope to do more. Here are some of the things I've done

Painted faces

2010-03-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

I decided to try my hand at some face painting-just last week I joined allnorahsart.ning.com to take Sharon Tomlinson's online painting course. The lessons are great, and I love her teaching style. All the gals in the face painting group are really nice, and its great to talk to people all over the country-the world, even.

I'm learning new techniques-and trying hard to put them to good use. It's been a long, long time since I've done any painting, and this is a lot of fun. And frustrating, too. Here are my first two projects--the purple one isn't quite done-I have to finish her wing (she's an angel) and add some flowers. Her shadowing is a bit too dark-but I just can't play with it anymore. I have more lessons to work on so I think I'll move on to them.

2010-02-21T06:33:00.000-08:00

Last week I had some fun taking a class ironing plastic bags and bubble wrap together to make "fabric". Its makes for some interesting pieces that can be used for all sorts of things. I'm thinking of ways to use it for jewelry.

art play

2010-02-13T04:12:00.000-08:00

I haven't done much with fiber lately-I've been spending time rekindling my desire to paint. I always been able to sketch and draw with pencils and markers, but can never seem to manipulate paint (of any kind) to do what I want it to do. Well, I found a wonderfully inspiring painter on Youtube. Her name is Mystele, and she started a ning network for artists. Through that I took a mini class she was teaching, and she shares many of her techniques on Youtube. I've been practicing and am enjoying the outcome. I'm looking to find my own style in the process. My mini paintings are for my personal use, but do resemble Mystele's work. I give her full credit for getting me used to painting "her way". Thanks Mystele.

2010-01-16T08:44:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since I posted anything here, got caught up in the holidays and the cleanup afterward. I haven't done anything fiber related since the Christmas tree went up-no room for my "stuff". In the meantime, I got myself addicted to a "new" form of art called Zentangling, or Zendoodling. Yes, doodling! It seem to be all the rage lately. I decided to doodle all 25 of my ATC's for my trading group this month. It's been fun, and I've found related cool stuff on the web all about doodling. There's even a place out east where you can take a seminar to be certified-for mega bucks. Well, even though its tempting, I figure I've been doodling for at least the past 50 years or so (Yeah, I'm old) Then, this morning while searching for a book I can't find, I came across my graduation yearbook. It made me chuckle. So, I'll share pictures of that and some of the doodles I've done.

Happy Doodles!!

Passage of Time

2010-01-01T12:50:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! Hope all is well with everyone and that this year brings peace, joy and love to all.

I am posting pictures of a piece I made to honor my dad. He's been gone now for 27 years. I still miss his smiling face and lighthearted personality.

I learned the techniques to make this piece in a class taught by Richard Salley at Raeven's Nest Art retreat. I love how it turned out. I feel that it belongs with my brother, and will be giving it to him for a Christmas present. I sure hope he likes it.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-22T18:48:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS

from my house to yours.

Peace, Love and Joy

Kathi

wrappin' things up

2009-12-20T16:51:00.000-08:00

I loved how my home-made paper turned out, I just had to use it for something--so--I made little envelopes to hold the Christmas ornaments I made for the gals I work with. Now I need to find some way to make cute boxes or something with the rest of the paper-maybe even a book cover or something. Its too pretty to just stuff in my paper drawer.

2009-12-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

Had a great weekend and got lots of artsy things done-ornaments for co-workers and ATC's for the trade this coming saturday, home made paper, and I even started a knitted scarf in the middle of it all--whew!! I've already patted myself on the back.

my own flock

2009-12-03T16:28:00.000-08:00

I don't think I'll ever have my very own real flock of sheep, so I made some-in ornament form. These little guys are presents for each of the gals in my cloth doll club-"Sew many friends". We get together at Christmas and have a super pot luck dinner and then exchange handmade gifts. I made this with raw(but washed) wool and rose stems for legs. I still need to add a little holly and a bell around their necks to finish them. My 3 year old grandaughter loved them and claimed one for her own-so I will have to make one more--oh, I think I'll probably make many more cuz they are too cute.

I made them by glue-ing 4 sticks to a piece of cardboard and then needle felting the wool around them. A small amount of black was needle felted to the neck to make the face. Super easy and fun.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!

2009-11-04T17:18:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine found this hat at Kohl's and let me borrow it to use as an inspiration to make some of my own--love the bright colors and different yarns--I have to dig in the yarn stash to find some wild stuff to mix together. I want to try one with purchased yarns before using handspun-or I might at least put one stripe of handspun in for fun.

fiber arts friday(a day late)

2009-10-31T17:27:00.000-07:00

I went to the Wisconsin Spin In in West Bend today and took a drum carding class. It was Great!! I learned a bunch of new stuff, and Carol Wagner (the instructor) gave us tons of fiber to play with. So now, in honor of it being Halloween and all, I've gone "batty". I really love to make batts-I intend to spend the rest of the night carding to my little ol heart's content. Maybe tomorrow I'll spin.......

RAEvN's Nest Art Retreat in Cedarburg

2009-10-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

The classes were great fun, I learned a lot and have some cool art jewelry to wear-

2009-10-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I got them done-and they turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. The hide was very thin and fragile, I had to work very carefully. I can't wait for my friends to see them.

I have a question about drum carders--does any one out there have a newer Louet Jr-or know anyone that has one? I'm trying to find out why the teeth on the carder don't mesh-is this something new? I know the older models do. I've e-mailed the company, but they haven't gotten back to me yet. Mine works, somewhat, but I'm curious about those teeth. Any help would be great. Thanks.

Amish inspiration

2009-09-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

After my visit to the Amish community, I was inspired to create a few batts of the wonderful colors if the clothing they wear. They are made with black alpaca, teal, straw, and white wools. I love how they turned out and I spun some yarn from one right away to see how they turn out-Love it! I have some other colors besides teal to mix in and maybe veer off to add some glitz just because I like glitz.

I have one alpaca picture here because of visiting Felvolden alpaca farm on Saturday-It was national alpaca days-I bought some fiber from them(of course) and learned even more about alpacas. What a great weekend I had!!

Cranberry Fest weekend (or just another excuse to go shopping)

2009-09-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

Had a great weekend getaway with Carolyn and Rollie-and of course the rest of the cranfest gang. Carolyn and I didn't actually go to the fest-we went shopping in the Amish community near Pardeeville, WI. It was a very pleasant afternoon and had a chance to talk with the owner of Katie's fabric shop. She showed us her rug loom and all her wonderful woven rugs. I would love to have taken a pic of her-but I know that's a no-no so the mental picture will have to do. Had a great time.

first batch of batts

2009-09-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

This is the first try with the drum carder-its working great-it would take me hours to card all that with hand carders-It took about a half hour with the carder.

Last day of WI Woolfest

2009-09-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

I walked through the sheep barns-saw triplets being born-lots of sheep waiting for judging and that crazy set of horns on the Jacob sheep. Then watched the shearing-got the before and after pictures.Of course I had the spinning class which was great-I learned a lot.

My New Toy

2009-09-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

WOO HOO !!!!!!!!

Check out my new toy! I got it at the woolfest today-it was either that or a new refrigerator--who needs food??

Its a Louet Jr.

scroll down for the rest of the fibery fun-I still haven't figured out how to get all my pictures arranged correctly-but enjoy!

Fiber Arts Friday

2009-09-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

It was definitely Fiber arts Friday today! I went to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in Jefferson. I took a class from Vanessa Kessler on dyeing yarn and fiber. It was a great class-we learned a lot and had five really nice class samples to take home with us. There was a lot to shop for after the class and I did some serious damage to the checking account-oh well---I go back tomorrow for a spinning class-and again on Sunday for a plying class-I'll be "spun-out" for sure. (That gal in the pic is Vanessa-she wouldn't hold still to get her picture taken)

2009-09-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

2009-09-07T05:45:00.000-07:00

I was able to squeeze in some fiber-time-and had fun. I had to do the tedious picking of the VM out of my "Gracie" wool-but got 5 ounces done to play with. I took the idea of the "canning" method from the video on Alpaca farm Girl's Fiber Arts Friday group. I used two packages of Kool Aid for each jar-black cherry, orange, lemonaid, lemon-lime and berry blue. The berry blue seemed a bit "wimpy" for color, so I added a few spoonfuls (after adding water) of the black cherry to it. I added a cup of very hot water to each jar-a glug of vinegar and shoved an ounce of wool into each. I poked them down til saturated and then added more water-about an inch from the jar's top. I put them in the pot with water and brought it to a rolling boil then turned down to simmer for 45 minutes(or so). I let them cool overnight and took them all out and rinsed them this morning. All but the blue came out great-the blue is varigated blue/purple--but its ok. I have them sitting outside on the lawn chair to dry. I'm not sure what I will make with these, yet, but I can just enjoy looking at them for now.

forgotten fur

2009-08-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

I have found that procrastination and my "swiss cheese" memory gets me in more trouble...last year I got a lovely old mink stole from a friend to cut up and make into teddy bears. I put it off for a while-hung it in the back of my closet and proceeded to forget all about it. Last week my friend e-mailed me to say she'll be in town (she's from North Carolina, I'm near Milwaukee, WI) in October. She wanted to know if she could pick up the bears then. HA! HA!!!--I had to fess up to her about my "sometimer's" disorder and needed to know how many bears to make. I've got 4 to do and PROMISED to have them done by October. So now, all other projects are on hold til the fur stops flying. It wouldn't be so bad if I sewed them on a machine-but these delicate little beauties have to be totally sewn by hand, and turned and stuffed very carefully. I am looking forward to seeing how well I can live up to my promise-and just how these little guys will look. I'll keep you posted. And really, I think I might get a little spinning done in between....we'll see!!!!

Fiber Arts Friday's Teddy Bears

2009-08-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

It never fails. When I decide to start a project It seems I have to finish off something else first. This time it was because of the wayward stick pins. I can't, for the life of me, find my two altoid tins full of pins. So... in order to use the pins holding the red and blue pieces together, I figured I might as well sew them up first. I was then able to sew up the little guy I just cut out. I started to stuff a few of the pieces-but as usual, life got in the way and they are at a standstill. For now.

I hope to get them finished as soon as I rearrange my sewing corner, move all my 3 year old grandaughters toys, and the bins of wool to opposite sides of the living room, clean the house, run errands, yada, yada, yada......My kingdom for more fiber-time!!

2009-08-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

In a moment of weakness-I reached into the mohair bin and just grabbed-and whatever came out would be the next bear I would make. I was inspired to make one because of the teddy bear club I belong to-Good Bears of the World-(we give bears where they are in need) Anyway, I brought the supplies to club last night and got started, drawing and cutting. I forgot my pins, so

I couldn't pin the pieces there. I'll get to that later this weekend. Now-I have to drag out the sewing machine and dust it off. I needed this project like I need another hole in my head. Oh well,

idle hands...blah blah blah....

Oh, by the way, a big thank you to Katy for the bunny, alpaca smackdown--I was the winner of the skein of alpaca yarn--I"m on pins and needles til it gets to my door. Woo-hoo!!!!!

Fiber Arts Friday

2009-08-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

Finally!!! The two baby hats are done. Here they are being modeled by two of my handmade teddy bears. Aren't they adorable? I had fun making these hats-but my knitting needs a lot more practice-several oopses-but at least they are done. I may have to make another pink one because it ended up being pretty small-good thing I have lots of wool left!!

yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full.......

2009-07-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I went to a local farmer's market and talked at length to the "alpaca lady". She was really sweet and gave me tons of information. AND...I walked away with three bags of unwashed alpaca-black, carmel, and white. When I got home I immediately washed a handful of each and have already spun up some of the white. I really love working with it so far--it's different than working with wool-but not too much. It just adds more fuel to the fire of my dream to have a hobby farm of my own. Or to find a single farmer. . . . . .

2009-07-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

Well, here are the two colors I've been working on to make a couple of baby hats for the owner of Gracie, the sheep the free wool came from. I also spun up some of the natural color of the wool to knit it into stripes. Both colors were achieved with Kool-Aid--Berry Blue, and Fruit Punch with Lemonaid. Now I've started knitting-but its a struggle cuz I'm not to great at it. If I get enough knitted up I'll post that next week. I definitely prefer preparing the wool and then spinning it over actually knitting it.

Fiber Arts Friday

2009-07-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well....., It all started with a craving for pickled beets. That bright ruby colored juice looked like the perfect dye for some freshly spun wool. So, after my snack, I drained the juice into my dyeing jar, and added a small skein of white wool. I figured there was enough vinegar in the juice and didn't add any more. I sent the jar and its contents through several "trips" in the microwave and waited for it to cool down. I anxiously pulled out my wool, rinsed it, and was greatly dissappointed. Zip, zero, zilch-not one teeny weenie bit of color. So, the three anonymous tablets of egg color dye that had been sitting atop the microwave got tossed into the jar with a couple of glugs of vinegar. It was an interesting shade of rusty brown til I added the half packet of fruit punch koolaid. Back into the jar for the wool and a few zaps later I rinsed my wool and got a pretty good chuckle--it came out the most beautiful color of beets!!

home made hackle

2009-07-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

http://yarnzombie.net/Travis/?page_id=87 this link is for the site of the home made hackle. I made a much smaller version of it and didn't bother cutting off the handles-I really like it-and I've found it works great for getting the VM out of the wool. I hope to try using it to blend some fibers and use aa diz to make the pencil roving. Gotta finish the pink rolags first.

"lucky" roses

2009-07-03T03:55:00.000-07:00

I call these roses lucky cuz it's pure luck that they even grow in my "garden". I have an area in front of my deck that has a few rose bushes, daisies, and black eyed susan's planted there by the previouse owner. I do absolutely nothing to this area-so it must thrive on neglect. Every year a couple long stem roses sprout up. I cut them and enjoy them for a few days then hang them up to dry. I have a thing for dried roses, love to hang bunches of them around the house. So these will be added to the bunch.

Another Fiber Arts Friday

2009-07-03T03:28:00.000-07:00

This week flew by so fast-I didn't get nearly as much work done on my wool project as I would have liked. I managed to figure out how to make a home made "hackle" from something I saw on-line. Then found that my old horse hair comb works great with it. I just fluff the wool out by hand, push it down over the hackle and comb-several times--it still doesn't get everything out-but I don't have near as much hand picking, and with this pink and blue for the baby hats I want to be especially "picky". Then I just card it into rolags. I started to spin the blue-trying to make it thin for a "baby weight". yarn after plying. That's hard for me cuz I love to do lumpy bumpy art yarns. So, after this long holiday weekend I hope to have some finished yarn and maybe actually start to knit the hats. Have a safe and happy 4th!

Fiber Arts Friday

2009-06-26T01:58:00.000-07:00

Wow-I spent an awful lot of time washing, rinsing, and drying wool this past weekend-but boy was it worth it. Luckily it cleaned up really well, and drying was pretty quick on the lawn chair. I got that idea from someone else that contributes to the Fiber Art Fridays group-(I'm sorry I don't remember who it was). But, it worked great-especially when the rain came half way through the project. I was able to drag the whole works into the house through the patio door in one fell swoop, and then back out on the deck again the next morning. So now I have two big bins full of wonderful wool. I dyed some pink with tropical punch Kool Aid. I tried blue with easter egg dye-it didn't take so I added green and got a pale shade of green. I then used some berry blue Kool Aid and that worked for a pastel shade of blue.

I found a you tube video of someone using a home made hackle for combing the wool. They used plastic hair picks drilled to a piece of wood. Well, I didn't attatch them to anything, but I used that idea to comb some of the VM out of my wool--it works pretty good. Just using two and combing back and forth between them really pulled out a lot of dirt--I still have to pick out some-but it moved things along much better. The first project I hope to get done are the baby hats I need to make for "payment" for the wool. My knitting isn't the greatest-but I'll give it my best.

Fiber Arts Friday

2009-06-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

I didn't get as much done with the free wool as I wanted to-but managed to wash a big handfull, card it, and spin one bobbin full. Its very white after being washed. I was pleasantly surprised. I have a vacation day on Monday so I'm planning a full, all out, wool washing weekend. Can't wait to get it done.

The pics are another of Gracie the sheep, and the bobbin of singles I spun. I checked the web to see if I could find out what breed of sheep she is, the closest I can find is that she looks like a Corriedale. I'll keep you posted on what I get done with all my precious wool!

2009-06-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, June 11, I went to a sister-in-law of a friend's hobby farm and picked up a whole fleece from their pet sheep, Gracie. She was much bigger than I was expecting, and so was the fleece. There were actually 3 of them from the last 3 years just hanging in their barn. I didn't think I could handle all of it, so I just took one. I can have the rest in the future if I want. Of course I'll want it--the price was right--FREE! We shoved the fleece into the bag-with the help of their goats-one kept trying to climb into the bag. I got it home and had to let it sit for a day. All I could think about at work all day was washing that pile of wool. I got home and decided to just try a few handfuls and see how well it cleans up. Its soaking right now, will have to wait to give you an update.

2009-06-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/2009/05/crusade-no-31-make-it-your-own.html

This is a great challenge-I always try to take ideas and twist them around a bit to make them my own. Don't want to copy other people's work-unless its a class to learn a certain technique-but even then I try to change it up a bit.
there are a lot of wonderful artists involved in this challenge. Thanks to Michelle Ward for putting it all together.

2009-06-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

I had a vision of this necklace while sitting at work the other day. I sketched it on the back of a grocery list I'd started. I got home that evening and started it right away. I actually finished it the next night. That's pretty quick for me.

The pendant is a picture of my mother from her wedding day. I did a small collage and soldered it between pieces of glass. All the links are handmade-inspired by an old chain in my stash.

The long beads are wrapped, felted wool that I hand-dyed with easter egg coloring. I then sewed on some seed beads with metallic thread. I made a swirly closure and added some hand-spun fiber, ribbon, and lace to finish. All in all, I'm very pleased with the result- except--I wouldn't put wool around the back of my neck again--kinda itchy!

Fiber Arts Fridays

2009-06-05T13:54:00.000-07:00

I started carding up some rolags of some old forgotten fiber I had gotten for felting. Not the best stuff to use-lots of neps and noils. So I added a lot of cut up commercial fun fur yarns-made a big mess-but ended up looking pretty good. I actually got them plied, washed, dried and they're still hanging over my kitchen sink. I might actually try to knit something with them-not sure what-maybe a crazy scarf-we'll see when the mood strikes.

2009-05-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

These pictures are a little fuzzy-but I think they show up ok. Had fun designing these--used some great aluminum wire I got from a friend. The bangle is riveted and wrapped with copper wire. The two cuffs are wrapped with wool roving and beads are sewn on. I'm looking forward to making many more (although all that hammering is tough on the arm).

2009-05-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

2009-05-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

This Saturday was the opening day at Old World Wisconsin and they hold their sheep shearing and a whole fiber-filled day. I couldn't go. I sulked around the house a bit till I decided to sit and spin my own stuff. Well I got 5 skeins spun and plied and washed and dried! Whew! the picture is the result of my frustrations. Although, after spinning a while it worked as therapy and I was smiling again. I love what I made. Each skein is between 35-55 yards. All are lumpy, bumpy and spun to the right. The darker blue is spun with cut up pieces of commercial yarns, and then plied with more of the blue wool that I spun just plain. For the other 4, I spun various rolags I had carded with mixes of wools and angelina, and a shimmery synthetic. Then I tried something new that I taught myself after watching it done on youtube by other spinners. I did a Navajo 3 ply. I absolutely love how it turns out. I don't have a really smooth technique yet, but I enjoy doing it and the look of the yarn is great. The only drawback is the yardage is shorter than regular plying-so the next ones I do I'll plan to make longer singles. Problem solved.

2009-04-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

Okay-I'm finally done with my project for the Relay for Life fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

"Keep Hope in Your Heart"

this is a pendant or suncatcher or something that can dangle from a rearview mirror. The size is approxomately 2 1/2" wide by 4" long. It is made of hammered tin-coated copper wire. The beads are a faceted clear crystal and copper seed beads. Each one of these hearts was hand-made by me, and being handmade, each one is slightly "unique".

Anyone who donates $10.00 will recieve one of these hearts. I made them in memory of my dear friend, Arthur E. Young Jr. His family and I will be participating again in this year's Relay for Life, being held at the Mauston High School in Juneau County on July 25th, 2009.

You can contact me via my e-mail--fiberdance@gmail.com--I will work out the arrangements for payment and delivery at that time.

Thank you, Kathi

2009-04-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

no new pictures, nothing great to share-have been spending time trying to get my ideas and stuff organised. I find there's never enough time to get in all I'd like to do. I sit at work all day designing stuff in my head and thinking of all I'll work on when I get home. Then I get home and am too pooped out to do anything. Weekends fly by so fast. Well, right now I'll stop procrastinating and go make something. That is if I can find anything under the layers of mess on my work table. No one to blame but myself. Hopefully I can post a picture of a finished item soon.