Shop update

I haven’t updated my shop in a while! Maybe that’s why my sales are so low right now. I was wondering if this is happening to other fiber shops on Etsy. I’ve been playing with my new carder. I got a Louet Classic and I’m very excited about all the fibers I can card with it. I have a Strauch Finest, but I feel really funny about carding stuff like pieces of yarn and sari silk with it.

This is the first batt that I carded with the Louet, and is called Pecan Pie, I used the same fibers for my Phat Fiber Samples for the month of November. I used lots of alpaca, local mohair, angelina, firestar and costwold locks.

This is Mumbai Mirror, which I carded with merino, sari silk, lots of glitzy stuff and mohair locks. I also add some roving to my shop today. I’m so infatuated with my carder that I almost forgot to do some dyeing last week.

Mirror Mask, Superwash Merino. This is one of my favorites color combinations. I love the intensity of the blues and reds. I think if works very well.

Wildflowers. Superwash merino. I forgot to mention that the rovings are dyed with the Greener Shades

100 Bright Stars. Superfine Merino.  Lovely soft colors.

Thanks for looking. I now I going back to my new carder!

Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Autumn comes with the knitting bug

And I always thought that summer was my favorite season!  Maybe because I was in denial about living on the coast where is supposed be hot and sunny all the time. Mark Twain said once “The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco.” I remember a tourist from Texas coming to town and looking desperately for a store were she could buy a cheap sweatshirt because she was freezing. When I sat foot on this part of the world about 15 years ago, all I got was my “summery garments” consisting of linen pants, tops and many dresses. I don’t need to say how many dresses I have today! I always read that California winters were very mild compare to other parts of the world. My fist two winters were spent in bed due to bad cases of pneumonia. Eventually I learned to dress properly and that was when I discovered wool! Growing up in Yucatan, I always thought that wool is a fiber that people wear in places like the arctic. LOL! I have to say that now, Autumn is so beautiful, the colors here are not as intense as in other parts of the country, but I enjoy the bright colors of the environment, the food, the cool breeze… There is a beautiful calm in the air difficult to describe with words, and at the same time very festive. I have to admit that this is my favorite season! All what I want to do is knit, and for my birthday I got a hank of yarn from Imaginit, a yarn store located in San Francisco. It looks like a peruvian tweed from Henry’s Attic. The idea of knitting a sleevles top came later on, because I had no idea what to make with 400 yards. I knew I didn’t want a scarf, so I let the yarn sit for a while.

One morning I woke up with an image in my mind of what I wanted to knit. So I cast on 92 st. after knitting a swatch, starting from the neck down.

We’ll see how it will evolve. Right now my idea is to make a yoke, and then work the body on garter stitch.

It should go fast (she says). I started on double pointed needles, but I began missing my circular needles after knitting a few rows. Eventually i did switch to circular, because having to deal with 8 points was driving me nuts. I will post later on the progress of my project. I wish wordpress can allow me to add on my blog one of those widgets where I can keep track of my knitting projects.

Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.
~Lord Byron

First batch

It’s the end of the day. It feels good to get home, have a glass of wine and get dinner ready. And then… go to the computer. I’ve been playing a lot with the new Greener Shades dyes that I ordered last week.

So far I’ve been working only with the primary colors. It is a little bit intimidating at first. Having only 5 color available  to start with and go from there… I had to hold my breath the first time I mixed them. Is it going to be right? 5 teaspoons of this, 2  1/2 of that… Oh well… Here goes nothing! Luckily, I have some books that helps me to understand better what I’m doing. I still need to learn to mix with the secondary colors.

I’m very happy with how fast the dye exhausts. It does it at a lower temperature than other dyes (at least the dyes that I was using before). You can notice in the picture that the fiber grabs onto the dye instantly. There is little blending there. I’m also using citric acid to set the dye instead white vinegar. I think I need to lower the amount used, because I like when the colors  blend in between. When I rinsed the fiber after steaming it, there was not bleeding at all. The water came out clear. This speeds the amount of time that I have to wait for the dye to set and lessen the use of energy. Next year I would like to try with solar dyeing (not much sun lately).

And here it is my very first batch. I called it Atlantia because the deep colors. Today, I worked more with some pastels hues. I’m liking the blues a lot, even that my favorite colors are reds and chocolate browns. Is good to write the formulas, to be able to repeat them later on. So far I’m very satisfied with the results I’m getting. And I can’t wait to try mixing with the secondary colors.

Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.

~Mary Lou Cook

More fiber. Superwash Merino. And going Greener

Here is a little shop update:

Reflection. Superwash Merino

Dry Grass. Superwash Merino

Reminiscence. Superwash Merino

And here is a little peek of something that I’ve been working on for a while:

I just got some new dyes from Greener Shades and I’m like a kid with a new toy! I’ve been having a great time playing with them and mixing a bunch of new colors. It feels great that I can use these colors with confidence and that they won’t be harmful to the environment. I will be gradually switching my dyes to these colors as I learn more about color mixing. I ordered a few books to learn a little bit more about it. Here is one of them.

Complex color by Susan Rex. Also, the Twisted Sister sock workbook by Lynne Vogel has a chapter on color mixing.

The array of colors that I will get by mixing will be greater and unlimited… And the fun… Priceless…

Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.

~Rumi

Shop update

My new fibers haven’t had a chance to get posted here. Since… 3 weeks ago? The list is going to be long!Remember if you are interested on any the fibers, click at the picture to get redirected to my shop.

Too Darn Hot ☀ 100% Corridale

Urban Myth - Blue Face Leicester

This is a color that I like to repeat once in a while.

Sweet Dreams ~ 100% Blue Face Leicester

Blue Face Leicester is my new favorite fiber to spin with. It is very soft and very easy to spin with.

Labyrinth - 50% Merino, 25% Bamboo, 25 % Tussah Silk

This is a new blend for my shop. This is really nice stuff!

Gold Rush ~ 50% Merino, 25% Bamboo, 25% Tussah silk

Great fiber to felt with.

Sea Song ~ Blue Face Leicester

Autunno ~ 50% Superwash Merino, 50% Tencel

This fiber is very soft and drafts so easy.

Infinity ~ Blue Face Leicester

Summer Rain ~ 50% Superwash Merino, 50% Tencel

Secret Garden ~ Blue Face Leicester

Flaming Heart ~ 100% Corridale

Eclipse ~ 100% Corridale

Green Tea ~ 100% Wensleydale

Green Tea Sold

Robin's Nest ~ 50% Merino, 25% Bamboo, 25% Tussah Silk

Wild Carrots ~ 100% Merino

Wild Carrots. Sold

Mushroom Hunting

Tropical Storm ~ 50% Merino, 25% Bamboo, 25% Tussah Silk

Birth of Venus - 100% Wensleydale

Birth of Venus. Sold

I said it was going to be long!

“The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.”

~Rumi quote

More spinning

Taxes! I can’t think of a better way of waste my time! Due to some travel and sickness at the beginning of the year we were unable to get it all together on time. But finally it is done! And the first thing I wanted to do is to get back to my spinning wheel. I’m almost done spinning all the camel/silk/merino blend.

It seems that I have more control over the twist with my Mach 1, and I’m still trying to figure out the Suzie Pro. I’m thinking about switching the whorl of the Suzie with the Alpaca whorl. Maybe that would solve the problem that I have of over twisting my yarn.

Overall I’m very happy with the thickness, about 7-8 WPI and  very please with the choice my colors. I’m very eager to start the project that I have in mind. It would be my first big project with my own hand spun yarn!

Pre drafting the roving was a bit helpful on putting those untamed loose fibers in place. The slightest breeze would make them fly!  It made a big difference with the quality of the spinning since I  could concentrate better on the spinning without having to draft while I was spinning which makes me have an uneven yarn.

And talking about slippery fibers, bamboo wins on this category. After I spun it I was a bit worry by the stiffness of the finished yarn, but after giving it a warm soak and set the twist, that stiffness  went away and instead, it magically got transformed into a silky, soft, and yummy yarn. I love that sort of magic that happens between the time when I have the roving ready to be spun and the final soak.

The Blue Face Leicester was such a treat! No frills. It is such a wonderful soft fiber and fun to spin with. I’m looking forward to spinning more with it!

Walk tall as the trees; live strong as the mountains; be gentle as the spring winds; keep the warmth of summer in your heart, and the Great Spirit will always be with you.
Anonymous Native American

Perfect day

Last Wednesday was what I would call the perfect day. The weather was warm, and beautiful. The perfect Indian summer. A good amount of roving was dyed and hopefully it will dry in no time. It seems that after the Fiber Fest at Mimi’s farm, things are getting into place again, but sloooooow. I even have the time to meet with my friends for a couple hours and celebrate the birthday of one of them. I finished spinning some mohair that I got from WC Mercantile which I dyed with blues and terracottas. 8 ounces of mohair delight to be more exact. It reminds me of the color of the bluebirds on summer time.

After I dyed the fiber I wasn’t sure about the color, but as I start spinning it I really liked how the different colors intermingled in between. I’m a slow spinner, slow knitter, slow at getting jokes.  Is OK. I can’t rush it. Spinning has help me to get to know myself a little bit better. Now, I know that I need to get into the groove.  I remember my grandmother “chichi Lola” used to tell me quite often that in order to get things faster I had to slow down. Rushing things out would led me to make silly mistakes just to get the feeling that things where happening faster. Now, I know that my clumsiness won’t let me do things as faster as I would like to. Isn’t a quote that says whoever laughs last laughs best?

This was a fun yarn to spun. I put bits and pieces of mohair, Angelina, and sequins. It is actually more glittery than appears in the picture, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to make make my camera to  capture the sparkles. This is the best picture I was able to get of this skein. And I’m determined to do it!

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring. ~

Oscar Wilde

It was a hot day!

I’m back from Chileno Valley. Even though I was a bit anxious about the whole thing, everything went really well. For some reason, I never felt that I finished all the things that needed to get done before I left home. Oh well, I had this commitment and I had to leave with what I had already. My booth could have won the award for the most boring display in the event.

When the visitors start arriving and start walking around our booths, I began to chilled out. The farm look so beautiful with all the fiber displayed all around.

It was nice to see several spinners bring their wheels and spin the whole time the event took place.

As soon as Mike the Baker arrived, the whole place started to smell of fresh baked bread and pizza.

His gourmet brick oven pizzas where such a succes!  While I was waiting for my pizza, he told me that all of his ingredients are local and a lot of the vegetables are grown in his own garden.

It was nice to meet some people from Ravelry and Etsy. Rebeca Burgess spent the day with us and we got to talk to her about her work with natural dyes.

In spite of the hot weather fiber enthusiasts were buying wool and yarn! We even had knitters bringing their projects and work there.

When it was time to do my felting demonstration,  all my fears went away. It was nice to be around friends that came to see me, so I felt pretty confident. During all this time that I’ve been working with fibers, I have learned that fiber people are wonderful and very supportive. At the end of the day, when everybody was gone, Mimi invited us to jump into her swimming pool to cool of a little bit and chat about the event. At the end we all had a blast. I would like to thank everybody who took part on making the event a success. All of you who visited and bought our fibers in a hot day like it was. Thank you, thank you!

Just living is not enough.  One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

~Hans Christian Anderson

//

More on circular weaving

I wanted to post pictures showing more detail about the construction of the circular hats from previous posts. Here they are!

The color theme for this hat was blue. My challenging color. I used some of y own hand spun and some commercial novelties. In this picture I want to show with more detail how the warp wraps around the grooves.

Sorry for the shaky hand!

This is how it should look at the back of the cardboard. Then, proceed with the weaving process as normal.

When you are ready to release your piece from the cardboard, just pull each section from the grooves.

It should come out easy. These ends hold your circle together.

This picture show it with more detail from back to front.

You will use this ends to cast on the stitches needed to make the head band for the hat.

Now, I haven’t try this, but I will definitely do it next time. I will trow the woven circle in the washing machine for a few minutes to full the piece and see what happens. I’m thinking that it will give the cloth more strength.

The last step is to pick up the stitches to crochet (or cast on stitches to knit) the head band for the hat. I hope this make sense. If you try this, please send pictures. I would love to post them here! Happy weaving!

It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.

Fall Fiber Fest

Mimi Luebberman has WindrushFarm where she grows alpacas, sheep and  goats. She is part of our knitting circle. I have posted about our visits to her farm previously and how much fun we have at the farm when we visit. She works really hard trying to promote her fiber throughout  farmers markets, and now she is organizing a day in the farm where I will be participating on selling my wool. Besides her farm, Mimi writes beautiful books about different topics. From heirloom tomatoes  to “How to grow orchids” with fabulous photography. The event will be held on the 26th of September and I really can’t wait. My friend Marlie who owns Black Mountain Artisans will be there. I will be demonstrating how to do felt. I’m a bit anxious about it, since I’m kind of a shy person.

I’m planning to spend the night before at the farm with my friend Gina and have a good time sipping wine and talking about what else? Fibers and wool! This will be my first event selling my fibers.

For more information about this event and directions go to Fiber Arts of West Marin.