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Seems I have not blogged in a long time. Not only have I been AWOL from blogging, I also went AWOL immediately post Bill’s neck surgery. So, now what would induce me to leave my husband the day after he came home from the hospital (but never fear, my stepmother came down to sit with him for a week) and brave the 1 digit temperatures in North Carolina? 
(You can see the cold, can’t you?)
Well, only one thing could have done that. Lest you think I was being mean, let me remind you that I had this event planned for 6 months, and Bill’s surgery only came up for discussion within the last month or so. He definitely did not want me to miss my class at Folk School.
The class was “Spinning Colorful Yarns” and was taught by fiber/spinning/weaving expert extraordinaire, Judith MacKenzie McCuin. If you look closely, you can spot her in the classroom.
I just knew, knew, knew she was the best ever teacher, but I was also delighted to discover just what a wonderful lady she is as well. And, oh, the stories she regaled us with!!
Here are the goodies she brought along for us to play with:
Color wheel of 80s merino for us to experiment with. We learned how to spin the perfect sock yarn.
This is really the first time I have actually enjoyed spinning merino.
Then, she brought all this other wonderful stuff to play with. A lot of it came from our friend Jennifer from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. Yum!!!
She also brought a mixture of Cotswold wool and wolf fur, which I enjoyed experimenting with immensely. Well, who would have thought I would enjoy spinning wolf? Who would have thought you could even spin with wolf? And who was brave enough to gather its fiber?
Another goodie was some of Judith’s hand dyed singles, with which I learned to make boucle yarn.
Those who know me well know I have always been stumped by novelty yarns.
Here are some practice yarns:
Boucles and knot yarns.
Novelty mohair slub yarns.
4 ply cabled yarn. 
As well as 6 ply cabled yarn, which I love, love, love.
We carded crazy batts:
And spun crazy batts:
Dyed wool:
We also learned yarn control. Yay!!!
Judith was extremely generous with her time and quite patient with us. What a lovely time we all had.
I also had the very amazing opportunity to watch Lyle Wheeler make a chair, using only hand tools. No glue, no nails, no power tools. This is the man who made my great wheel and my spinning stool. I now have a greater appreciation for these treasures after seeing him work.
I ate well and met some awesome ladies in class!!
It all made up for the cold weather, as I left with a warm heart.
So, that’s my January in a nutshell. I hope you have had an interesting month as well.
Thanks to Bess, I found Colour Lovers. What an awesome tool for color design! How could I have seen this on her side bar numerous times and never checked it out? Anyhow, it is great fun and great inspiration. Here is a badge I created:
ETA: Also VERY addictive.
First, lest Bess think I forgot she awarded me a lovely prize, I will start with this:
I am truly honored that Bess gave me this award for several reasons: she is a dear friend, a true artist with fibers and someone who truly sets a high standard in blogging, fiber related and otherwise. Her blog was the reason I started blogging in the first place!!
Now, comes the passing of the torch. This time of year is incredibly busy for everyone, so I am passing these awards out without expecting the recipients to pass them along to others, unless, of course, they have a burning desire to do so. These are “freebies”, girls, so just bask in the glory:
A bloggy ribbon goes out to Ruth, a great designer of user friendly, but interesting (and beautiful) sock patterns. She is also a talented dyer, check her Etsy shop, which, hmm… at this time seems to be on hold, but I know why. She is doing a small version of a trunk show today. Way to go, Ruth!! She is also a great friend and spins marvelous novelty yarns (not the fiber type, at least not yet, but the kind made of words! You haven’t really lived until you have read one of Ruth’s tall tales!!)
Next I award the ribbon to Donna, my neighbor just to the north of me in South Carolina, who proves you can have it all… she is a successful professional with a delightful teen aged daughter and adoring husband who actually dyes yarn for her to knit with, a backyard with chickens and now, sheep!!, and she has a loving and giving nature and is kind hearted to boot!!
Then, one to Sally, who is an enthusiastic knitter and upcoming talent who isn’t afraid to take risks!! She wanted to know if she could ply commercial yarns together, so I told her to come on up and we would do it. She ended up with some gorgeous mohair stuff that looked like the luscious filling of a raspberry/blackberry pie, and all I wanted to do was pet the yarn. She is also a great friend, awesome gardener and talented cook!
I do not know Beverly nearly as well as I would like to, having only met her once at SAFF, but she is one talented and prolific knitter. This year, she took the sweepstakes award at the South Carolina state fair this year!!!
Now, on to other things with a warning!!! If you get offended at the abuse of knitted objects, you may want to avert your eyes, block your computer from displaying images or take some such action!!!
So, does The Swifty from the second Mason-Dixon book really work?
Okay, so this is the picture of a pristine one which has not been dirtied yet.
You can see for yourself, they DO work:
Ewww… And, no, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. The first was a Swifty I made for my stepmother.
The dirty one is mine, which does prove that I do work on occasion around the house.
Next, is what I have been doing with my days off:
Crockpot dyeing, my favorite way to dye fiber. This is BFL/Alpaca 50/50, which is about the most amazing fiber to spin that there is. I have a pot of polar red/lilac simmering out in the studio to complement this batch.
So, last weekend, Elayne, my partner in crime, and I escaped the howling winds and drenching rains of Tropical Storm Fay and headed to Mountain City, GA for a fun filled weekend of natural dyeing at the Foxfire Museum – yes, the Foxfire of multi-volume fame.
The weather was sunny and balmy, in the 70’s both days for a delightful workshop that was held mostly outdoors due to the nature of the workshop. We had some lecture and skein preparation time on the first day in the Long House, however.
There were 13 eager learners, some of them repeat students from last year and mostly local to the area.
Our esteemed teacher was Cheri Jackson, R.N., midwife, herbalist and natural dyer extraordinaire. This lady really knows her chemistry. She was knocking about words I haven’t heard since pharmacy school. Here she is tending the pot of cochineal I posted in my teaser post.
Between all of us, we managed to produce 22 samples, some of which are shown here drying:
We used, in addition to the cochineal, osage orange. Here I am peering into that pot.
We also used, day lilies, dog fennel (which I am delighted to discover we have in abundance adjacent to our property), broom sedge, marigolds…
which produce a vivid yellow, as does the osage orange, alkanet, which turned out to be a muddy gray. I was expecting purple… ah well.
We also did an indigo bath and dyed some wool up straight…..
(the skein on the left is mine – dog fennel overdyed with indigo), then overdyed various skeins to get these stunning results…
Gosh, it was fun, but I’m not kidding when I say it was hard work, too. Lucky Elayne took some good pictures, as I was too busy most of the time flitting from pot to pot.
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Tags: handspinning, dyeing, natural dyes
I was reading a post on Ravelry recently and was delighted to discover this great resource on the internet.
It is called Smartflix. It is just what it sounds like. It is an online video store that specializes in “how to” DVDs. And yes, you cant rent spinning, knitting, dyeing and weaving videos from the site. A rental costs $9.99 and you get to keep it a week from the time of receiving it. It has a prepaid return box. Pretty cool if there is something you really want to learn.
Can I bore you with more kitchen pictures:
You can’t tell I am getting anxious to get moved, can you? And yes, we have a moving date. August 20.
(The next day Elayne and I leave for the natural dye workshop at Foxfire. She is getting to share our first night in our new house. Fortunately, she is up for the adventure!!)
Another look at the bee-you-tee-ful finished kitchen:
Look closely and you can see our pretty drawer handles. Our cabinet man could not believe we wanted so many drawers. Drawers do totally rock!! We had lots in our last house and got very spoiled.
Today, Sally comes to pick up some more llama poo for her composting.
Grin… I get to show off the house. It looks a lot different from the last time she came.
I want to thank all my friends for their recent comments. For going with me through the building process (good and bad) and the grieving process. You are all precious to me.
I do memes on rare occasions. Beverly tagged me for this one, and it seems interesting, so here goes:
“The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.”
1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was working full time at St. Joseph Hospital in Savannah, commuting an hour and a half each way. Also, I was seeing Phillip through school.
2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
Take strawberry pie out of the oven (yum), go feed llamas, read a bit, cook dinner and work on my weaving.
3) Snacks I enjoy:
Hummus, fruit salad, iced tea flavored Ice Breakers sugar free mints (sounds weird, but they are addictive), almonds
4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Retire!!! Give to church. Build a mountain getaway with a huge fiber studio and plenty of room for llamas and alpacas. Travel extensively. Go back to school just for the fun of learning. Let my pharmacist license lapse. Build an aviary and adopt neglected parrots.
5) Places I have lived:
Memphis, TN, McMinnville, TN, Nashville, TN, St. Simons Island, GA, Brunswick, GA
6) Jobs I have had:
Pharmacist intern, Retail Pharmacist, Hospital Pharmacist, Consultant Pharmacist. (Boring, aren’t I? But I have volunteered as a hamburger dresser at the fair).
7) Bloggers I am tagging who you will enjoy getting to know better:
5 people I think are good sports!!
From various comments about my bag weaving, I see that a pictures of the bags and a tutorial on how to make them are sorely needed. Please bear with me as this is the first time I have ever tried to write a tutorial.
First, I must show off the bags I have already made. I am still pondering the best way to make a handle. I am currently doing a lucet braid for the red bag. I am surprised that I was even able to find my lucet and that I had kept the instructions.
Next, the green bag is the one Jackie gave me unfinished. I finished it up in no time, but am still having a hard time thinking how to do the jute fringe to make it look good. Jackie told me to do a twist fringe, but I am not all that good at that technique. The other bag was woven with some novelty yarn I spun.
Okay, down to the bare bones of how to do this. A few notes to begin.
1. You don’t necessarily have to use a bottle. Or that particular size bottle. It is a good size to learn on, though. You could use a rigid book and weave a bigger bag.
2. Jackie started me off using jute for the warp. I found I much prefer working with yarn for the warp. Just make sure that what ever you use will match the yarn you are weaving with to some degree, as the warp threads will eventually be your fringe.
3. You are warned at the outset that this is a very habit forming activity.
Don’t put on any eggs to boil while you are doing this!!
Okay, here we go at long last!
Take an empty soda/tea/water bottle, 16 oz. or 20 oz. You know, the regular size ones. Cut a generous length of yarn and tie just at the top of the label area. Leave the tails hanging. These tails will become part of your warp.
Now, you want to cut 23 pieces of yarn 24 inches long. (To make a total of 24, including the tails from the above step. ) Of course, if you are using a larger item to weave on, you would want to increase the number of warp yarns to cut. I like mine to be divisible by 4. You will see why further on.
Take each 24 inch piece; fold in half.
Take the “loop” end of the yarn and pass it underneath the yarn you have tied around the bottle.
Then, take the loose ends and bring up and into the loop.
Pull up on the loose ends and snug the loop around the yarn on the bottle. Repeat this all the way around the bottle.
Now comes the fun part. Cut a really, really long piece of the yarn you want to use for your weft. Fold it in half. You will be weaving with the yarn doubled the whole time.
Take your 1 first “group” of two warp yarns and pass them into the loop end of the weft yarn. The warp yarns should now be passing underneath the top weft yarn and laying across the bottom weft yarn.
Take your next two warp yarns and flip them up and over the bottom weft yarn and under the top weft yarn. Flip the warp yarn back down.
Continue this step until you run out of weft yarn. To start another piece, simply add more yarn the same way you started the weaving.
I usually weave with the old and new sets of weft yarns for a couple of warp threads before dropping the old yarn.
When you have reached the desired size (I only weave until the bottom of the label), tie off your weft yarn and slip the bag up and off of the bottle.
Mash the bag flat and match 2 warp yarns from the front with the corresponding warp yarns in the back and tie in an overhand knot for your fringe. (This is why I like my warp yarns to be divisible by 4). Continue all the way across, and voila!! you have a neat little bag with the bottom all closed in by the fringe being tied.
Finish with a handle and closures as desired.
Enjoy!! Any questions, I will be glad to help.
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Feast or famine seems to be what my blog consists of these days. Either I have a whole lot to say or nothing. I put off blogging about my wonderful South Georgia Fiber Enthusiast Meeting at Agrirama on Saturday. Sure, I drove over 2 hours and sure, I burned up almost a whole tank of gas getting there and back, but when a gal needs her fiber fix, well, she will take extraordinary measures.
Theresa, the organizer of the group, posted a wonderful write up about the meeting. Please look for a wonderful, picture filled report!!
Theresa is a very nice lady who I met, coincidentally, once at Wild Fibre. At the time, she was living in South Carolina. Now she has moved to Georgia. Their loss, definitely our gain.
She has the gift of making you feel at ease and she is one of those people you instantly like when you meet her. She brought her Louet spinning wheel and was spinning some yummy green Blue Faced Leicester.
Her friend, Kathy, brought a knitting project… a rag rug. If you read Theresa’s blog, you will know what the “rags” were. I must confess, I missed that tidbit of information when I was at the actual meeting. Kathy and Theresa both said they would be up to a road trip to this side of Georgia. Woo Hoo!!
Then, there was Charlotte, who was just learning to spin on a drop spindle. It is so much fun to see someone brand new to spinning and to see their enthusiasm!! Charlotte drove over all the way from Alabama! And I thought I had come a long way!!
Speaking of newbies, there was Sherlyn, from Valdosta who was a new knitter, but was speeding knitting on DPNs nonetheless. She was knitting a teddy bear.
Helen, was another spinner, who volunteers at Agrirama, along with Theresa. She demonstrates on the Great Wheel. Lucky lady! She had brought her Lendrum and, by accident, left all her bobbins at home except for one, that just happened to be broken. Fortunately, she was able to borrow a bobbin from my Hitch Hiker. I am glad it worked for her.
Then, there was Jackie who gave me my new favorite toy:
What!??!!? A plastic tea bottle???? Well, not the bottle itself, but what she taught me I could do with it.
That’s a small bag being woven on the bottle!! That was my second bag so far. Now I am on my third. Jackie gave me the bottle with an unfinished piece on it, which I also finished except for doing the fringe. She had warped it with jute. I had a little challenge getting the fringe right with the jute, so when I started, I just warped up with yarn. I admit to being obsessed! This is so much fun and very easy!
Shifting gears now… Today I was off and needed to go grocery shopping, so what did I really do? I played hooky from the shopping and rode up to Tybee Island with Bill. He had a nursing home to consult. It was one I used to go to. Today, I just got to go and play around on the island instead. Here are a few sights.
The nursing home. Not interesting of itself, except that it used to be a part of Fort Screven. It was their hospital.
Now the area is on the National Register of Historic Places. Not the NH, that I know of, though. This house 
is though, which used to be officer’s quarters.
Well, I also happened into something else interesting.
First, I saw this:
Then this:
Then this:
Holey moley!! Army rangers parachuting out of a chopper! It was quite a show. In all my 39 years (haha), I have never seen anyone do this.
Afterwards, I spent some time in a nice little park and met a nice couple on vacation all the way from Paris, France. Cool!!
After Bill finished work, we had a nice little meal at Sticky Fingers.
Today was such a treat!! Afterwards, I DID go grocery shopping.
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Well, I guess frustration can sometimes have its advantages. This past month, I have finished up about 4 UFOS!! This is a Little Arrowhead Scarf knit with random sample skeins I either spun or hand dyed and spun over the course of the two workshops I took with Lynne Vogel. Of course, the timing’s not great. Who would need to wear this in 80 – 90 degree weather? Which leads me to the next project, which was a Tomato, made from Lion Brand’s Cotton Ease. This is a very comfortable top!
Then, I finished my Leafy Green Socks. Believe it or not, I have some clothes this matches to a tee. Well, it is shirt that is mostly white, with some orange and pink detailing. I love the pattern. It is beautiful, and not too complicated for the lace impaired, like me!
Speaking of being lace impaired, I also finished this rascal except for weaving in the ends and blocking it. It was
truly a challenge for me to get this one completed! Actually, quite a story here. I did not understand the directions and ended up knitting 88 rows (yes, you read right) more than I was supposed to. I decided, therefore, to forgo the optional edging on this shawl.
What’s on my plate now? I have started a Rectangle Vest from my handspun.
It is quite a relaxing project after all the lacy – ness in m life lately.
Now, if I could only finish my house!!
By the way, I loaded a new browser on my computer that makes blogging a snap.
It is called Flock and is powered by Mozilla. I think I am going to like it very well.
It is quite media and blogging friendly!!
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