My Wool Palette

Working on a color palette can be difficult for me because I always tend to use every possible color combination on one garment, but I think I finally settled on a few colors and I’m liking it. I also love the drape of the 5mm silk chiffon.

New in the shop

Here is some eye candy. These pictures belong to my latest shop update. And why I’m so excited about this update? Because my list of domestic breeds offered at my shop is growing! I’m already have a wonderful Rambouillet that is a dream to spin and felt, then I added the Targhee that is equally wonderful. Now I’m also have the Superwash version of the Targhee and last but not the least, I have a beautiful Domestic Merino that takes the dyes wonderfully.

Broadway

Florentine

The Superwash Targhee was so much to fun to work with. It literally drinks the dyes:

Dreamsville
Domestic SW Targhee

Bazaar
Domestic SW Targhee

Art Collector
Domestic SW Targhee

Ice Cream Truck
Domestic SW Targhee

Stirred Paint
Domestic SW Targhee

Along with this updated I also included  some Humbug BFL top. I love how the color mixing of the ecru and natural browns gives a nice heathery effect.

Mixed BFL Top

Mixed BFL Top

Mixed BFL Top

Mixed BFL Top

Mixed BFL Top

And the last two products to my addition are two fun fiber blends that I’ve been playing with lately. I’m planning to post a tutorial about how to use it for felting because it has been a lot of fun using it to make felted scarves.

Forest Jewels is a blend of Merino in bright colors of turquoise, magentas, greens with Soy Silk.

Peacock is a blend of Bamboo and Merino in blues, greens and magentas with brown. The colors are deep and beautiful.

 

Spinning

Who said that veggies don’t go with wool?

New February Update!

I’m liking this update a lot. One of the reasons is that, finally, my shop is starting to look decent again. I was feeling very sorry to even post anything on Facebook, since it was looking rather sparse. I’m hoping to do another in about a week with some awesome hand dyed sock yarn. Another reason that I’m excited about this update is that I have recreated some of the old colorways that have been my all time favorites. I tend to work on new stuff and I easily move onto other things that I’m excited about, forgetting wonderful old colorways. I’m reminded when a customer sends me a request and asks me to recreate them again. It was fun to go back to my sold items on Etsy from the beginning and pick and choose what to dye for this update.

Here is a sample of what I have posted today:

Alice Teacup

Before and After

Bougainvillea

Celestial

Dark Chrysalis

Deep Opcea

Dusty Green

Island

Miss Potter

Chocolate Alpaca/Silk

Faded Roses

Full Circle

Headdress

Masquerade

Pan’s Labyrinth

Peter Bunny

Propeller

Raspberry

Rotten Tomatoes

Souvenir

Wild Ride

Woodland Gnome

Feel free to check my shop at Beesybee Fibers on Etsy for more fun things to spin or felt with!

Getting some spinning done

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

Going up North

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.

Phat Fiber – Secret Garden

The theme for April is The Secret Garden and my samples are on its way to the PF headquarters. This month I decided to participate with my Woodland Gnome colorway using BFL as a wool base.

I’m always happy at how this wool pick the color with so much intensity. Here is a picture of Woodland Gnome with the Mixed BFL which consists of white and brown fibers combed together.

I hope to get the full version of my samples listed in my shop on the 15th which is a day after the box goes for sale. If you are interested on knowing more about Phat Fiber, visit their website for more info.

Icelandic

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.

Felting in the raw

I got some more felting done. This time I used mainly raw wool to make this vest.  I’m having problems with getting the armhole to the correct size when my original pattern shrinks, but thank god for my sewing machine that comes pretty handy to correct this…

The finished piece

Nothing that a sewing machine can’t fix.

 

Shoulder details

Back of garment

Shoulder detail

 

 

Felting with Vilte and Irit Dulman.

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

Going Beyond the Surface

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