home again

i'm finally home and decompressing following something really exciting: i filmed a spindling class for craftsy.com!!! it was incredible going to their studios in denver, working with professional producers and video folks, and meeting the genuinely nice people who work there. i can't believe how well they took care of me, from fixing my hair to making me drink water.  the class should be launched in just a couple of weeks!!  i'll keep you posted.

one of the best parts was meeting knitwear designer carol feller who came all the way from ireland to film knitting classes for craftsy! i so enjoyed hanging out in the evenings with carol over local beers, milk and cookies (free at our hotel!) and comparing notes on our days of filming... we even stole a visit to the adorable LYS, fancy tiger craft, and i treated myself to some yarn to make her killybegs cardi. i cast on the last night i was there and knitted all the way home.

and speaking of home... some quickie instagrams ...

my piece "i left my home in georgia" is in the upcoming show curated by the infamous ellen "left eye" schinderman!!!  it's somewhat of a map of my old homeplace which looms large in my memory, the place we left more than three years ago. home is where the needle marks and it is opening june 9th in LA.  yes it is.

and another thing

So while I was at the Carolina FiberFest, I spent some time with Carol Leigh Brack-Kaiser.  I first met her last year at SAFF and saw her demo the continuous strand weaving method.  I've been noodling on it ever since, trying hard to resist weaving, as yet another thing to be obsessed with ... but on seeing her again and having the same extreme MUST sort of response, I splurged on a travel-size triangle loom.  Carol Leigh and her husband Denny were so generous with their time and knowledge.  Here is the result of my first weaving, all with handspun I had lying around...  I was so surprised how little yarn it took and how quickly it worked up.  

**Narcissa among the hydrangeas.

In some ways it seems random to get into weaving right now, but also inevitable.  And it is fitting in so well with some of the issues raised in Jude's Boro 2 class on clothing construction.  To actually make cloth and with my own handspun in this new way, it feels like it's filling some huge gap in my fibery repertoire and understanding...

poor lil blue

so, some things do not belong in the dyepot.
critters, i mean.
i'm not sure how he (she?) got in since there was a lid on it, but i did have it open for a while the other evening while i was experimenting.
he must have been curious.
too bad he couldn't have crawled back out and continued on about life, a little bluer.
for me, lots of fresh dyepots today. bronze fennel and dahlia soaking and steaming.
rip, beautiful.

what's really going on...

intakes and outtakes of my usual late-afternoon etsy photo shoot..




Castro, our oldest great-great grandpa rooster, has taken to hanging out on the front porch, sometimes roosting on the futon which is outdoors at the moment, sometimes crouched right in front of the door, sometimes snacking on doggie leftovers. I think his wife was swiped by one of his kin, and he figures he's in his retirement. It's nice having him close.

At the very bottom you might spy Victor, our last remaining goose. He misses his brother and gazes longingly into the barbecue grill where I think he sees his reflection.

Our Moon

Here's a sneak peek of the moon in Cindy's Core which I have my greedy paws on... more soon!


And the pink moon last night, which coincided with my first real, official shop update. I even got all fancy and made a newsletter announcing it (subscribe here!) It went so well, I'm swamped with orders, which makes me happy, happy.

It was cool how many instagrammers were shooting the moon last night, that same moon.
Like Grace said, it's really Something.

And despite a setback in my plan for blue immersion, I'm still dipping..

I've not usually dyed angora. I only want to work with natural dyes, and the natural colours of the rabbits seem plenty interesting to me. I read that the luxuriousness of the angora fiber can be sort of at odds aesthetically with the earthiness of natural dyes - whereas on wool it is rustic and lovely. And on the whole, I have tended to agree...
But with indigo, it's a wholly different matter.
Indigo-dyed angora = magic.
The fiber is from Alvin.

and just before i left..

i had one of the best thrift scores i've ever had, and that includes some miracles. at the pta thrift store behind the bojangles, where i almost did not even stop, but it was as if there was a tiny voice in my ear urging me on, despite my complete lack of need for stuff of any kind... and i indulged, fully expecting to find no-thing, especially because this particular thrift is junky and racist, or at least it used to be...

but in i walk, and look who was waiting for me..


a fricke! a wheel i don't have! and for a mere $30. it had been waiting for me since 3/8. some of you know i have quite the herd of wheels, and i'm not sure why other than my hoarder collector urges. although they are all different and unique tools ... yarns are not the same produced on different wheels. and i so enjoy tinkering with them and learning their histories. and i do use them all. this fricke is, weirdly, the only double-treadle i have at the moment, and fits well into my collection as a smaller castle-style wheel than my louet s-10, and i'm really impressed with its action.. it is *so* nice and smooth. also - and i didn't realize this at first - it came with a woolee winder, a very nifty (and expensive) upgrade. perhaps all this crazy luck is a sign that i should consider starting a spinning school, or a cottage industry.

i'm waiting for this wheel to tell me his name. i feel that he's my first boy wheel, but he's being shy. i keep thinking freddie or fergus, but i must wait for him to clarify. i brought him to my parents' place with me because i couldn't bear to leave him so soon.

i've been corresponding with katherine about the i-ching and luck and synchronicity... and not only has she been good enough to gift me a copy of the richard wilhelm translation of the i-ching, because the i-phone app is really not ok... but i think she's also sent some of her good fortune my way!

i love spinning thin

i really, really do.
this is bfl beautifully dyed by laila.
spun cobweb thin on my vintage french spindle.
these pics are before the yarn was set.
isn't it amazing when singles retain the wool's crimp?

it's on my list of goals for the year to spin and knit an orenberg shawl.
i've been getting ready for this for a while..

i have the russian goat-down (still unwashed)..
the silk to ply it with (it's thread-plied, ultra-thin)..
a variety of spindles, although not the russian one i'm coveting...
and the pattern.

better start soon..

a new heirloom

a yard sale find.






at first i thought it was knitted, but now i think it's crochet. anyone recognize the stitch? and then at first i thought the colourwork was intarsia, but all the designs are actually cross-stitched on top! so much work, P.S.D. i'll mend the holes, and be a good caretaker in this lifetime.

new moon update

just a few yarns to be listed today at 5:03pm EST, when the strawberry moon is new.

Aglaé et Sidonie

I finally listed some handspun yarns in my new shoppe... some of them inspired by (or at least named after) these adorable characters, Aglaé et Sidonie, from a French tv series that ran from 1968-1975. If anything can excite me, it would be this combo of vintage cute + Frenchy (thank you dear M!) I have a feeling this is just the beginning of my yarnie love affair with this series..