I’ve been trying to get caught up with my spinning. This is my “Tuscany” SW Merino:
SW Merino
This is from my last SAL “Alice in Wonderland”. I want to knit a pair of socks with this yarn, and my goal has been to spin fingering weight yarn. This is the first skein of two and right now I’m working on the second skein.
SW Merino
YARN SPECS: Sw Merino
2 ply
2 oz
190 yards
Fingering weight
13 wpi
This lamb was born the very same day of the fair!
As always, I had a great time at Mimi’s farm. It got a bit windy, and for a moment, I thought it would rain, so I started frantically looking for a safe place to hide my woollies, but luckily, it wasn’t more than a few big droplets of water.
Great pizzas from Mike the Baker…
Lots of yummy yarn from Mimi’s stash.
Of course, I came back home with a nice Corridale fleece for my felting projects. My plan is to make a furry scarf sometime this weekend. I hope I don’t forget to post pictures here…
Yesterday was shearing day at Wyammy Ranch and just on the spur of the moment I decided to go to Occidental to buy some Wensleydale fleeces. With a beautiful day like yesterday it wasn’t very hard to decide. Driving through Hwy 1 is always fun anyway.
The redwoods also have its own beauty.
I got there right after the shearing was done, so I had plenty of time to choose my fleeces.
This is like going to a candy store for me. It’s always hard to choose since each fleece is different from each other, with its special characteristics and variations that makes them unique, but I was decided to shop this time for white wool.
This is JoAnn felting machine. I wish I had one. This is like a big sander with a couple of plates that rub each other to create friction. I could make huge projects with a machine like this.
What a view!
I came back home with a couple fleeces and one is already washed and under the sun getting dry.
I know… no egg and not bunny, but I still would like to wish you a Happy Easter!
I got this beautiful Icelandic fleece from Marilyn who lives in Half Moon Bay. I took a few pictures yesterday and I couldn’t help sharing them here. This fleece along with another not less beautiful, was delivered at my doorstep by Marilyn itself. It was very nice of her to take the day off and drive all the way to the beach to meet me. I enjoyed meeting her and spending time talking about her farm and her work while having lunch at our local restaurant. Then, we walked to my house and showed her my current project.
I have have big plans for this fleece.
I discovered the world of felting several years ago, through the guidance of Polly Stirling, the pioneer of Nuno Felting and I vividly remember the feelings and excitement I had when I first dove into learning a whole new language that wool and silk speaks when they get together. Polly used to come to SF to teach her workshops at the Sewing Workshop, and I was one of the lucky ones that got to sign up for a couple of them on two consecutive years. Both classes were filled with so much information about how to lay the fabric, fibers, and how to get different effects and textures.
Years have passed ever since, and my felting went into a sort of a halt… until the day that I stumbled upon the work of Vilte and Irit Dulman. When I first saw their work I was taken aback by the beauty and the complexity of their pieces. The textures and layers express an organic rawness that almost look like the pieces are taken from tree barks, waterfalls, sand dunes, etc. They are photographs of nature captured into beautiful garments. I learned that they where offering workshops. Unfortunately for me, the workshops were held in far away places… bummer. But not for too long.
Work by Vilte
I heard that a new workshop was going to be held here in California. In Monterey to be more exact. I signed up almost immediately and I started gathering my materials for the workshop with lots of excitement. I drove to Monterey with my car filled with smelly raw fibers, boxes packed with all kinds of leaves that I started gathering, since who knows when, bolts of silk, fibers of all sorts, and an unending list of accoutrements… and big expectations. I should have taken a picture of my car. It looked like the car of one of those homeless guys that hung out here in town. With all due respect…
I won’t go into details about the workshop, but it was a wonderful experience. It was intense and filled with so much information that I’m still slowly processing it, but I came home with a set of new tools that I will be able to apply to my work and renew that first love that I felt for the first time I encountered felting. Irit and Vilte generously shared their knowledge, but furthermore, what they truly do is plant the seeds for more experimenting and exploration, which enhances the true value of their workshops.
Vilte
Irit Dulman
I retured home tired, but happy and with several pieces, some felted, and some pieces of silk dyed with different kinds of leaves, and an immense amount of inspiration that will last me a lifetime.
Rose leaf details
I had a wonderful time. Seriously. It never got stressful at all, even though I was a little nervous, since it was the first time I organized an event like this. The night before I had a weird dream where I was in the living room, waiting for people to arrive and nobody showed up. I woke up (maybe I was still dreaming) wondering if I should call the whole thing off. But it was a lovely event after all. I got to see friends, neighbors, made new friends and eat good food. We had a good mixture of items for sale. For those that attended our event, hank you very much for visiting and supporting our vendors. We hope to do it again next year.
I wanted to do one more show this year, but I didn’t feel like driving anywhere and get into the frenzy of getting ready for one more craft show (don’t get me wrong, because I like doing craft fairs), but wanted to do something special and what a better way to do it surrounded by my friends who share the same interests when it comes to crafts, food and community. So my last show will be held here at home. If you feel like driving to Bolinas, my doors will be open and I will have a booth set up with my fiber and finished garments. It will be sort of an open studio, except that I will be joined by my friends with their own booths selling their hand made crafts. If you feel hungry, my friend Mirta will be offering her delicious Mexican food, so come and support handmade!
Please feel free to bring your spinning wheel or spindle if you feel like. There is a nice size deck where we can accommodate spinners if the weather permits.
Gina Alexander – Hand spun yarn, baby items
Charmaine Krieger – Hand spun yarn, hand knitted accessories
Erica Hawley – Baby items
Karen Dibblee – Jewelry Artist
Alejandra Bryant – Jewelry
Marlie de Swart - Fiber Arts
Patricia Briceño – Beesybee Fibers and jewelry
Linda Samuels – Beaded Jewelry
Sophie Webb – Prints, books, original paintings
Mirta Guzman- Food and drinks
I hope you can make it, we will be there rain or shine,
This was a fun experiment. I finished this piece a few days ago, but I’ve been collecting the leaves since last summer. Lately, when I go to my friends house I observe their gardens and neighborhoods in a different way. I try to spot plants that can be used for dyeing. I just discovered a nice ginkgo tree in Point Reyes near the Creamery and I think I can get nice prints with the leaves and using iron as a mordant.
I finished my piece on time getting it submitted for an exhibition at the Bolinas Museum for their Annual Miniature Show, but I wish I had more time to let the bundles cure a little longer, and get more defined prints of the leaves onto the felted fabric. The maple leaves left a nice imprint, but surprisingly not with the eucalyptus, although I’ve been thinking that it depends of the porosity of the fabric.
I would like to try next time with cotton and see what kind of prints I can get.
In the next few days I will posting an invitation for a Christmas Holiday Party that my friends and I will be hosting here at my house. Each of them will have a booth, offering their hand-made goods for sale. I’m so excited, because my friend Sophie Webb which wrote and illustrated the book “Far From Shore” with great reviews by the NY Times, will be join us to sell her art work, prints and books, so please, stay tuned.
