Saturday, April 25, 2009

Seattle Weavers' Guild


My teacher asked me to attend a SWG meeting with her this week and it was so much fun! The presenter for the program was John Marshall who apprenticed under a mater dyer in Japan. Learning about his work has really inspired me. Next year will be all about fiber arts (gasp! I know it seems contrary to my previous plans, but I've got to follow what I'm passionate about, right?)

I've got so many pictures of the event I don't want to post them all, so I will list a few. All of them can be found on my other blog if you're interested...
































Monday, April 20, 2009

More Awesome Fibery Goodness!

Yeah! I went to the Shepherd's Extravaganza over the weekend and found some delectable fibers. They were all alpaca and alpaca blends.... I found this lucious suri alpaca:


...as well as this nice silver/gray alpaca:


...and tussah silk/faun alpaca blend that I'm going to spin up and weave into a delectable scarf for John:


Speaking of weaving, my loom is finally here and I hope to set it up sometime this week!

I have to say that I really love what I'm doing and Brenna (my bestest friend) and I have been scheming about what we will do when we move to California. I have to say I'm wishing more and more for that day to come. 'Soon!' I cry, 'Soon!'

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

It Has Been a While....

...but not to worry! I've been busy. The past two days have been dedicated to cleaning up the yard. This week and last I was busy ordering dyes, fiber, and other odds and ends. I'm so excited! My father bought me a drum carder as a gift (seeing as he is so excited as well).... Here is a picture if you're curious:


Tuesday is when my loom will be arriving as well.... A 42" loom for only $250!!! Holy cow! I'll be taking pictures of that as well when I see it this weekend. I've been spinning lace weight yarn lately and to be honest, I never realized how easy it was! I have also come to understand why merino is the way to go for such fine threads.... the crimp and softness is just wonderful!



The blue hued bit is some of a silk hanky and the white is my lace weight single - and boy is that some lightweight stuff... I was able to get it as thin as thread once I got into the swing of things (sorry for the crappy picture though).



This is my 'specialty' fiber, which includes two types of bamboo fiber, cotton, ramie, soy silk, tussah and cultivated silk, camel down and nylon. This does not include my 3 pounds of wool and pound of mohair.... I'm gonna be a busy girl, no doubt!
Next weekend is when all the fun really begins. I need to order some more things for dyeing, but as soon as I get them, I'll be ready to test them out... The first part of this quarter has been a bit slow, but I can see it picking up a lot of steam by the end. Next week, I'll talk more about my garden and the out of doors.... The past few days have been marvelous with their sunshine and warmth and cooling breezes - I can't wait for more!