Talent: Texas Twisters' Style

Yesterday's spinning therapy session with the Texas Twisters had inspiration off of every wheel. Above is Teri's first spinning efforts. She's a natural.

Laurie dyes yarn like we cook dinner: all the time. She dyed the yarn on these hefty bobbins as roving and then spun it.

More Laurie handspun: The grey is done with locks plucked from the bins of Kai Ranch's dyed mohair locks. We are addicted to these.

Brenda is working on this pima cotton beaded scarf. I covet this one. It's glorious.

Always generous Laurie surprised Maryann, and gave her this roving " just because". It'a hefty 8 oz. of merino. Maryann was beyond thrilled. It was a good day.

Apologies for the photos. I wasn't at my best with my Canon point-n-shoot today.

CYBER MONDAY: 20% off everything in shop!

I can't miss this frenzy!?!

Shawls, Scarves,
those precious dog sweaters


as well as all the yarns: hand spuns, hand dyeds, and handpainted rovings on sale today until noon Tuesday.

Come shop!

PS: sorry, shipping not included in discount.

Wool weather finally!

Wool is still my favorite fiber. Yes, bamboo is soft and drapy. Yes, Seacell makes merino extra soft as seen in the sapphire , but wool is the base of these blends. I am having fun listing more dyed wool churro, more funky natural handspuns, and then my whole cache of gorgeous millspun medium grey Lincoln yarn. This yarn takes dye beautifully to give a heathery effect. Oh, and the little potpourris, like this Fall sampler here are a way to try churro in projects like needle felting.

I dedicating the next few days to filling my shop with more dyed churros to have on hand for the Team Etsy Texas First Monday sale, October 5th.

Check out Fiber Fridays here to catch up with more Wool Lovers!

And the Michigan Fiber Adventures just keep on coming...

My Dallas buddies, Dia and Vicki and I scurried down to Charlevoix, Michigan last Sat. for the Fiber Festival. Sheep, rabbits, fleeces, yummy rovings, hooked rugs and supplies, yarns, dyed and undyed. It was a glut I hadn't experienced since my last visit to a Taos Wool Festival six years ago. Three high spots for me were first, finding My8Kidsmom from Etsy and Ravelry and her gorgeous rovings. Bought super soft merino and tencel blends. Next was the dynamite booth of Colortura Yarns and their giant skeins. These men have taking color to another level with subtle shades and textures all named after operas.About four big racks of the jumbo skeins had us oogling and touching for a long time. Dia, of Legalpot on Etsy bought the Tosca colorway to make the chevron shawl she is grinning over. Next my fiber maven lady, Martie, has me checking out hooked rugs, as that is her new passion. The fish felt like an oil painting with texture. Sheep Thrills focused more on hooking and less on promotion as they had no business cards or website. Rather refreshingly pure as they focused on their passion for hooked pieces such as the Rooster.

Angora rabbits add another aspect to wool festivals. This grey bunny endured countless kid caresses.

Next late July will find me prowling the 2010 festival for sure.

Shawls: latest of my obsessions

Actually, it's these crazy, colorful shawls full of whatever I pull out of my yarn stash

handspuns, novelties, you name it, that obsess me. I love knitting them. I go down to the studio and start pulling yarns that go with the colorway and throw them in a basket. Then I just start knitting. I have to make myself do other projects in between shawls.

A friend shared the simple pattern with me and I was off! I think I have knit about eight. Sold a few, gave away a couple and have one or so for sale just to keep me thinking I actually have a purpose when I knit them other than I delight in the colors, textures, and choices. And, I'm wild for the ruffles. Friends ask what I will do with them when I finished. I tell them, I have no idea, I just make them.

I feel like Madame La Farge in Dickens Tale of Two Cities. She just kept on knitting through the French Revolution. Ok, that's a stretch, but you get the idea. The bright red and purple one is the latest off the needles.

I wear the pink often right now with summer clothes. The Santa Fe one went to a dear friend I spend summer days with in Harbor Springs, Michigan.

Please check out Knits for Needs at http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com . They are doing good work.

Potpourri samplers

Sometimes it's fun to be able to sample fibers before jumping into quantities, so I have been plating up little potpourris of churro, and churro and little hanks of handspun. I loved the subtle churro colors in my tapestries and rugs when I was weaving full-time and now love to knit them and then felt them up into fab totes and bags. I am a quintessential bag lady for sure. I think I have bags for my bags.

the crazy colored handspuns from my Fiesta collection are both single and double ply and would be a fun science experiment knit into parts of a scarf perhaps.

Check them all out at my Etsy shop.

Also, will be posted upcoming handspuns at my flickr page

I am participating in Fiber Fridays. check out who else is at Alpaca Farmgirl Farm.

Etsy YART sale June 10-14

ETSY YART SALE:  FREE SHIPPING  on orders over $15.  Check out my  YART SALE section for special bargains  June 10-14.

I will be posting additional items each day.  Here are a few that are available NOW.

The “2nd Annual Yart Sale” is being held from Wednesday June 10th-Sunday June 14th, 2009.  A “Yart Sale” is an artistic spin on the traditional Yard Sale: Art + Yard Sale = “Yart Sale”. There are many art museums, artists, and groups that have Yart sales annually 


I am recovering today from having an ancient wisdom tooth extracted yesterday and am a wee bit creatively impaired with pain killers.  More tomorrow when lucidity returns.  Meanwhile, go shopping!

Busy little dye person here

 Well, I got my dye pots set up last week, started grabbing rovings, handspuns, and loose locks from down in the studio and started experimenting. 

(Cleo and Trinket were chillin'.) The rovings will go up on Etsy as the Botanical Collection and the yarns as the Tuscany Group.  No inspirations on names for locks yet. 

The rovings are all Blue-faced Leiscester. 

Handspuns are a range of churro,lincoln, and corriedale wool. Each took dyes in a bit different way.  I would take them and use them all in a shawl 

much like the Toasty Browns Shawl at http://cordovastudios.etsy.com.  The textures would be delicious!