Lots of things have happened in my life lately. So many, in fact, that I haven’t even sat down to begin writing them up until now.
God’s been doing some intensive work in my heart. We’ve been working through behavioral patterns that need to change, heart attitudes that need to be altered, and wrestling with my pride every step of the way. And probably the biggest things is that I’m going to take up dancing. Dancing as a form of worship, though. Not partner. I’m looking into lyrical and contemporary styles, and on the one hand I’m very excited to see where this goes. But on the other hand I’m afraid of being judged and disliked.
The fear that I’ll be seen as amateurish and clown-like pales in comparison to that.
But, I’m hoping, trusting, and praying that God will use these fears to teach me more about Himself, and ultimately to help me set those fears aside. Operating only in my strengths is such a big part of my life right now that even I can see how doing something deemed “creative” at a beginner’s level would be good for me. Painfully good, but good nonetheless.
I made some brand new fibers in honor of Phat Fiber’s July theme “Art Nouveau”, and I thought I’d share some pictures with you.
This first one ( “Violette” ) is named after a Maxfield Parrish painting. The painting is a rather whimsical piece in which the Knave of Hearts watches Lady Violette baking those famous tarts. But, while the subject matter is more humorous, the colors are downright gorgeous.
This scarlet and sapphire one was inspired by another of Maxfield Parrish’s paintings, but was very difficult to name. I finally settled on “Venice.”
And this one is called “Amber Lily,” and it was purely an accident. But definitely a happy accident!
I’m hoping to get up some pictures of the finished samples I sent off for Phat Fiber, but it’ll be a bit before I’m able to import them from the camera.
Well, it’s not so much the time that weigheth heavily as it is the seeming lack thereof. (Daily dose of Old English has now been administered.)
As for me, well, I’m up to my elbows in a pile of spinning projects. Lovely projects, for lovely people, but there seem to be tons of them.
First off, I’ve been working on spinning up some Aussie fur for a good friend. (Yes, dog fur.) It’s really soft and fluffy, and has been washed. Definite bonus. I’m spinning it on a spiffy new gadget I’ll have to tell you all about in a future blog post.
Theoretically this yarn will end up as a two-ply fingering weight, although there will be some DK weight bits in there, given the nature of the fiber. I carded the fur into batts, but it’s so fine that it spins more like a cloud, which results in a lot of difficulty keeping things even. And there seems to be different lengths of fur in there, which also makes things interesting.
All in all, it’s spinning up to be an interesting taupe color. Almost like sand.
Continue Reading »
Whew, it has been crazy around here lately. I’ve done a lot of odds and ends, and the biggest was purging my fiber and yarn stash. I’ll be putting up some grab bags in my Maiden Yarn store later (including some gorgeous alpaca fleece), but for now it’s Anniversary time!
June is LaceweightYarns‘ anniversary month, so I’m running a free shipping sale on U.S. and Canadian orders, starting tomorrow night (Sunday) and lasting one week. Other countries will receive discounted rates.
And blog post wise, well, I have lots to share. Hopefully I can snag an hour or two and get you caught up. Gravel roads, fording creeks, a drum carder that won’t keep its claws to itself, and knitwear idea that morphed into five or six items.
It suddenly occurred to me that I completely forgot to share pictures of the April Phat box I received! Shame on me. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure. These are the fibers.
I hadn’t been expecting to receive a contributor’s box, as I hadn’t sent in quite enough samples, but it came anyway, to my great delight!
I’ve already started spinning up quite a few of the samples on my drop spindle. (Which I recently went after with my stash of calligraphy pens and inks and decorated it to within an inch of its life.) My current idea is to spin them all up and possibly knit a tam from them and the yarn samples. The colors are fairly well matched. Lots of rainbow-y themes and blues and greens. Sounds like the recipe for a lovely tam to me!
Part of the fun of the Phat Fiber box is seeing what everyone comes up with for samples. I’ve been getting sneak previews of what June’s box is going to be (Science Fiction theme!) and I’d really, really like to be in on it. I’ve got ideas for three Jules Verne batts, and Wall-E sock yarns. Due to lack of time and funds, it’s looking like I might barely be able to squeak into the box with the Jules Verne, but as roving, not batts. We shall see.
Let’s start with the new, shall we? Everyone likes to see pictures of new things.
I recently participated in a trade with a local dyer. MamaJude does simply beautiful work with plant dyes and can also dye cotton. I cannot dye cotton, so we worked out a swap where she would acquire a couple skeins of cotton boucle from me, and I would receive some indigo batts from her.
The batts arrived a few days ago, and they are gorgeous! There are six of them total. I haven’t weighed them, but I’m guessing the batch is in the six-to-eight ounces category. Here’s the best picture I could nab of one in the fading afternoon light.
I keep thinking that I should mix these with some of the lovely soysilk I have stashed away and make something large. But they’re so light and fluffy, I’m wondering if I could find a light spring/early autumn top or cardigan pattern. That might do them more justice. Whatever I decide on, it’s going to have to wait awhile. I’ve got two or three other spinning jobs lined up, plus the BFL lace I’m finishing up now.
Continue Reading »
It has been a crazy, crazy last week or two in my little fiber world. Sales practically exploded (hooray!) and I must have had at least an average of one per day.
I loved every minute of it. 
In fact, that’s all the confirmation I need to know that I’m doing what I really want to be doing. Selling fiber and yarn definitely holds enough excitement for me to last as long as God wants me here.
Continue Reading »
It’s been a few days since I drove down to pick this little feller up, but I’m still excited. Allow me to introduce my drum carder!
Of course, I can’t properly introduce him until he’s cleaned up and actually presentable. At the moment he’s in need of some tender loving care. But, I’ve ordered a new drive band for him, and my dad says he will help me get the rust off the handle, and after that, it’s just a matter of dusting and getting any last little wisps of wool out of the teeth.
In case you’re wondering, I got him for free. (Thank you, Heavenly Father!) It’s been several months in “coming” (I contacted the owner last summer), but the timing was great. Hooray hurrah!
I realize that Spring begins in March. But personally, I don’t really count it as Spring until it feels Spring-ish. And yesterday I went on a picnic lunch in a lovely park, and now realize that Spring is fully Spring-ish. So, happy Spring!
I guess the biggest news I have to share is that I’m expanding into the wholesale realm. A local yarn store is going to be carrying six special colorways of my merino/silk laceweight. (Including Dawn Treader!) If you’re in the Athens, GA area, stop by and visit Main Street Yarns to take a peek. It’s a lovely store with all sorts of goodies. (I have to be very strict with my wallet when I’m there.) I just sent off a lovely lineup of twelve skeins, but completely forgot to take a picture of them before they left! Gack!
There’s a chance that I’ll be visiting the yarn store next week, so I’ll have to take my camera and attempt to get a shot of the yarns hanging up on the wall.
Along the same line of “business,” I’m looking into giving my laceweight yarn bases some names. So, instead of calling it “70/30 merino silk” I would call it “Hawthorn Lace” or something like that. I’ve seen this done in various stores and supposedly it helps people remember the yarns. I’m all for it, except that I have to come up with the names. No pressure, right? It just reflects on me and my business if I choose poorly. Yeeks. Some top ideas now are naming them after various vines, or floral/botanical type things.
Continue Reading »
As I discovered this last week, the proverbial “start-itis” syndrome is not limited to knitting. On the contrary, it seems to be a hobby-wide problem.
Forget hobbies, it’s a lifestyle-wide issue! I’ve been having so many ideas for new projects that I feel like they’re shooting out of my ears and ricocheting wildly off the walls. Sweaters, socks, blog posts, Twitter, fairs… will someone please make me stop? Or just get a notebook out and write down the ideas. (Although there is a drawback with that. I’m the type of person who sees no gap between having an idea and acting upon it. To think is to do. Sitting on a notebook full of ideas is just plain irritating.) (Really.)
But, that’s what I’m having to do these days. I know it’s a good thing to think things over (and definitely pray about them before starting); I’m just having difficulty discerning what needs to happen because I want to discern it at my own pace. I want snap decisions. Paper handed down from God with “do such and such” written on it. But, obviously, that’s not the way I’m supposed to get instructions, otherwise I’d be getting it like that. So back to the notebook for me.
Continue Reading »
