Back to School

Well, my two month break is over, but I've been keeping busy with the craftiness. And I've already got an entry for Michelle's latest Crusade! A couple of things for it, actually.

Took a class with Tim Holtz this summer... Oh. My. GAWD. He's a total rockstar. I had so much fun! The class was on bookbinding and creating covers with embossed metal and of course Tim's own findings. In one afternoon, we learned a simple bookbinding stitch, metal embossing, the use of alcohol inks, and what the faun to do with all his little findings and details. This is what I took home, along with a head full of ideas:





Since coming home, I've been doing a lot more stamping and paper art. Don't have much to show yet, but I'll give you a glimpse soon... :)

I've finished Ishbel, too, finally. I had to put it down for a little while sometimes, but I got it done!



Extreme closeup!


And I've had the chance to start the much-awaited Raven Shawl!


That's just the first three colors, accomplished while I watched the Ravens vs. Jets pre-season game. Oooooh I'm so excited for football season!

And, it being Monday, it seems like a good time to show off my most recently spun yarn. Yep, I've been getting back to spinning! This is what I've done with Mountain Colors targhee in Copper Mountain:


Spun on my Traveller, chain-plied for a good stripe effect.



I've decided that targhee goes on my list of favorite fibers to spin. It might actually spin easier than merino. Definitely a good fiber to learn :)

So, more on the learning front, I'm finally taking a rare books librarianship class. It promises to be super hard, but I'm really looking forward to what I'm going to be learning this semester. It's going to cut down on my crafting time, that's for sure, but given certain financial restrictions I'll have to make a lot more Christmas presents this year, so I'll definitely be finding or making time to get some crafting in. Nevertheless, crafting must needs take a backseat to academia sometimes. We'll see how the trip goes...

Buzz Buzz

I've been a busy bee this month. Haven't posted anything, but I've been making stuff. I set the twist and finished my Valkyrie yarn:




Consider that a Handspun Monday post :)

Finished a lovely, squishy scarf in Malabrigo:



I'm officially a Malabrigo fan now. I didn't get what all the fuss was about til I felt the stuff for myself. Wow. Anyway, the scarf itself is just done in Purse Stitch (found it in Vogue Stitchionary Vol. 1) and not blocked.

Had a blast at Stitches East. Made another pair of armwarmers (of which I do not have pics... sorry!). Had a ball spinning with Pam while our boys shot each other with little plastic bb's. And started two Christmas presents. Which I cannot show you, because, well, they're Christmas presents! I'm gonna be knitting and crocheting and spinning myself into a frenzy for the next 25 days. At the same time, I have to register for classes and figure out how I'm paying for grad school in the spring. And attend various performances and football parties. And cook my Christmas specialties. Yes, I have a full time job. Whee!

Black Monday?

Not that it's been a bad day. I just have a couple of goth thingies to post. One is a meme, one is actual fiber content. *gasp* Bear with me.

See, Pam has posted another fun meme, and this one I definitely had to fill out. And by "had to" I mean "really really wanted to." Cos it's fun! Here are the rules:

- Choose a singer/band/group
- Answer using ONLY titles of songs by that singer/band/group
- Tag 7 more people. Or not.

So, my band: HIM (naturally)
1. Are you male or female? Poison Girl
2. Describe yourself. Soul on Fire
3. What do people feel when they’re around you? I'm not answering this one, because I can't presume to know... though if I wanted to be optimistic about it, I'd say Buried Alive by Love :P
4. How would you describe your previous relationship? Wicked Game (Video NSFW!)
5. Describe your current relationship. In Joy and Sorrow
6. Where would you want to be now? Close to the Flame
7. How do you feel about love? Sweet Pandemonium
8. What’s your life like? The Path
9. What would you ask for if you had only one wish? Edit: I changed my mind, my wish would be The Face of God Wings of a Butterfly (This one was tough... I went with the symbolic meaning of the song's title line... regarding love, not necessarily life itself... yeah I had to pick something okay?)
10. Say something wise. Don't Close Your Heart

Now the actual fiber! It is suitably goth, I feel, to go along with HIM. It's what I spun from my Valkyrie colorway Sheep to Shoe kit. I haven't set it yet, so it's still a bit wibbly-wobbly. But it's pretty :)



Look deeeeeper into the black...


So much of my other two favorite colors in there. Red and purple. And various shades thereof. *swoon*

I simply must get back to my wheel. I haven't spun in... I dunno, I think it's been over a month. But hopefully I will have more handspun to post next Monday. In gorgeous Fall colors. Whee!

Handspun Heaven

So, last weekend was Sheep & Wool. Two days at the Mecca of fiberness. My bank account is a li'l bit thinner now, after my sacrifices at the altar of wool and fiber tools, but I am very pleased. Allow me to show off a bit (warning: photo heavy!):

My biggest splurge, the Golding spindle lazy kate:


I finally decided that I'd regret not buying it more than I'd regret buying it. As you can see, it also serves as a spindle display stand. Meet the two newest members of my growing Golding family:



I can't resist. It's a good thing I saved up thru the month of April. Too bad I didn't save longer.

I also managed to score a Moosie from Journey Wheel. *drool*


The shaft is bocote wood. Stripey!


Which brings me to the handspun part. What's on the Moosie is merino from Gale's Art, in Cherry Blossom. I couldn't resist, started spinning it Saturday after the festival, and it's been riding around in my purse ever since, just in case.


Nom.

I also have now finished the Earth and Sky colored merino that I'd been working on. Unfortunately Flickr is being a bitch and is giving me trouble with the uploading thing, so pics will have to wait, but I can tell you about it. It's soooo squishy :) Me likey. In fact, me LOVES. Love love love.

...And now there's room on my wheel for Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sheep 2 Shoe. In Valkyrie. Oh. My. GOD.




Is that black enough for you? And yet, not at all black? It's colors! But it's black! But it's colors! I love the Raven Clan. And not only is it beautiful, but if you could feel it thru the screen you'd find that it's the softest thing you've ever felt. It's merino, but it feels like camel. It's the butter of the fiber world.

Yep, I'm a little busy. But happily so. But stay tuned, because tomorrow I will bring you the scarf promised in my previous post...

Handspun FOs!

I have been remiss. I finished a project last week and didn't post it. In fact, I finished it exactly one week ago. Bad Carrie.

But, as it is made from my own handspun and I have nothing new on bobbin or spindle (and I'm sure you don't want more pictures of the same roving in varying amounts on my bobbins), I feel that it is appropriate for Handspun Monday. Ladies and Gentlemen (are there any?), I give you -- the Ocean Waves Boteh scarf!





Actually, I've been on a roll with the handspun this week. Because on Saturday I started -- and Sunday I finished -- another long-planned, never-executed project. This one is from the roving that I bought at Stitches East in 2006 and spun on my first Golding Spindle (I've since started a collection). The roving caught my eye because the colors reminded me of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, and I eventually decided I would make a moebius wrap out of it. Sadly, some of the color washed out in the finishing bath, butit still makes me think of that beautiful sunrise. So about a year after finishing the yarn, I finally sat down and made the moebius. If I don't just decide to make it happen, it's not gonna make itself, right?


The color in the picture is off, unfortunately, but that's what I get for having such yellowy lightbulbs in my room. I'll try and get a more true-to-color pic. Since the color is really what's important about this piece. *sigh*

I've spun half of the Earth & Sky roving, and I need to ply what I've spun and get to spinning the other half of the roving, so that I have more handspun yarn to play with!

Handspun Monday: The Update Editioin

Sorry, haven't been very talkative lately. But I do have an update!

My Earth and Sky spinning looks much the same as it did last week:


But I do have a new project. One that should've been finished by now, but apparently I can't count, so I've had to frog most of it twice. Anyway, I'm finally using my Ocean Mist yarn to make the Boteh Scarf from Interweave Crochet Spring 2007.

Ooooh.


Shineh.

Earthy

That's how I feel with my current handspun vibe. Observe:

Remember that singles I spun from that gorgeous batt I got from Gryphon? Well, I plied it. With beads.




It was a little bit of a pain to ply with the beads in, but that's really cos I did it stupidly. Next time I ply something with beads, I'm going to spin it onto two separate bobbins rather than trying to string beads onto and then ply from a center-pull ball. Cos that was dumb.




Next up, I'm spinning from a gift. My friend Geri won some roving in a drawing after she donated to Lupus research. She doesn't spin, so she gave it to me, because she's incredibly sweet. This stuff is gorgeous. 100% merino, and the colorway is called "Earth & Sky."


I must check out what else Poppy Flower Fibers has to offer.


Because the color is so springy and natural, and because I am longing for spring and wanting to be outside without freezing to the bone, I started spinning this yesterday. Got about this far:

It definitely needs to be split and split and pre-drafted, but once I prep it, it's spinning beautifully. I'm trying to make the yarn more even this time, with varying degrees of success. My excuse is going to be that I was rather sleepy when I sat down to spin last night. Yes, sleepy. I did not, however, fall asleep at the wheel. *rimshot*

Soon, ever so soon, I will post my latest project/obsession. Michelle Ward is such a good bad influence! I rushed to work on this new thing right away on Friday, got two done, and haven't had the chance to play with it since. This week, though. Definitely.

Also, perhaps I should show off some of my recent Etsy finds. I've found so many sellers that deserve the love, and there are only gazillions more! Though I'm a little miffed at my mail service at the moment. Did you see Pam's shirt? I ordered one a day earlier and it hasn't come in. I'm very grumpy that I don't have my shirt. Stupid mail. Oh well, it's worth the wait ;)

Happy Dance... of Shame

Guess what??? MAH COMPUTER'S FIXED!!!

After a valiant effort by Pam's wonderful husband Kris (give that man some pie, Pam!), it still refused to hold onto a connection to the internet. I thought there must be somethin in my tubez blockin my internets. Turns out my tubez were not running with the latest drivers. The Lexi found this. He updated my wireless driver and voila! Like magic! I are dumb. And Lexi is my hero. I knew I love him for a reason.

Now surfing the net is far more pleasant at home! And with this newfound lack of frustration, I bring you Handspun Monday. How's your memory for fibers? Remember the batt I got from Gryphon? The one in, ya know, the last post before this one? It's now this:

NOM. It's been on the bobbin for a week now. I'm going to be plying it with some beads in. Stay tuned for updates :)

Another thing I've been meaning to get to. It's too late for the actual crusade deadline cos I'm lame, but I actually did participate in Michelle Ward's GPP Street Team Crusade #17! The mission was to put together a travelling art journal kit. A grab-and-go toolbox of all the essentials. So I did, a good week and a half before the deadline. Did I post about it? Noooooo. Why? Well, remember the part where I'm lame? Yeah. Combination of not spending enough productive time on the internet and me forgetting. Anyway, I used a makeup organizer. Ta-daa!





There are sketchbook pages, a pencil, extra lead, a sharpie, watercolors and brushes, a good eraser, a deck of cards cos I like to use those, a rub-on transfer book that I loooove, scissors, glue, and tape. Now there are also journal tags that I got from The Paper Pixie, which I just got this weekend. I'm super excited. I really plan on doing more of this journaling thing.

I have more to show off, but that will wait. I can't cram everything into one blog post, now can I? I wouldn't have anything else to post about, would I? Oh, I would? Well nevermind. I'm still saving some for tomorrow.

Not-Yet-Handspun Monday!

Okay so I haven't done any spinning in a couple of weeks. Lame. I know. But I do have pretty new fiber! Lookie!



Oooh...


It's from Gryphon. Wool and shinies :) I don't remember what the colorway is called, though. Sorry. (Gryphon? Help?) It was Forest something. Forest Floor? Woodland Fairy? Something along those lines. All I had to know was that it's gorgeous. And now it's mine :)

I have more to post, later this week. Now that I can post them. That's the problem with making gifts sometimes, you can't post about them till they're given if they're going to someone that reads your blog!

A Very Happy Handspun Monday :)

A very happy indeed. My Ravens broke their losing streak, finally, with the last game of the season. SQUEE!!!! *happy dance* I generally hate to gloat, but I think a little celebration is fair. They looked great today. I'm a happy little Ravens fan.

Two other happy things: a Christmas present and a handspun FO! Present first. FO further down the post.

My brother wanted to know what I wanted for Christmas. I sent him an email full of possibilities, with several Etsy links and a few fiber suggestions. He and my sister-in-law chose well. They chose:


Baby Camel down! A full pound of it. Eeee!

It's washed but not prepared into roving or batts or anything, as you can see. Doesn't matter. I wanted to spin it right away anyway. Gimme...


Before Christmas dinner, I brought Ford down to the family room and started spinning. Just let it flow. Long draw, not much drafting, just taking a handful and drawing it back and letting it spin into an uneven, somewhat slubby singles.




I think I'm going to Navajo ply it, but I'm not sure. I'm just having fun with it. I like to spin random slubby yarns like this; of course I want to do smooth yarns too, but it's fun to just let it spin itself sometimes. Plus, imperfect yarns have character and texture.

Speaking of imperfect yarns, I have finally made something with my own handspun. Ok technically I've done that once already, but that was just a little neckwarmer to pin on for Easter. This is a real project. It's Calorimetry!


The galaxy yarn I spun on Ford (first yarn I spun on him!) is considerably bulkier than the yarn called for in the pattern. So I had to recalculate the size based on the gauge of my yarn. I calculated a bit off, so I had to overlap it more and add two buttons instead of one.

I actually kinda like the two-button look. Kinda like a double-breasted coat. Which I've always loved.

I also stitched around the buttonholes with some leftover Manos cotton that my mom had lying about, which just happens to match the pink silk noils in the yarn. It just kinda bugged me to leave the buttonholes unfinished. Besides, now I'll be able to find them more easily behind my head.


The buttons I found are really cool, too. Found them in Mom's stash, of course.


I'm pleased. I will definitely make another of these. I just need to see now whether I need to line it. I don't like the wind cutting through my headgear.

And btw, one more happy: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Yay?

Last night was a night fraught with emotions. Most of them negative. I will explain.

First off, Mom and I went to the fabric mecca yesterday. I got some of the stuff I was looking for (rayon velvet so I can try embossing it), but the main thing I wanted just wasn't there. I'm more than a little frustrated.

Then there was the evening. My computer was just not responding to anything I tried to do to fix it. Even advice from Roxy's hubby was in vain. But finally, last night as I reached the breaking point and gave up in a fit of rage, my dad stepped in again. Seems he had turned on a security feature that was blocking my laptop. So he turned that off, and now I'm connected! Woohoo!!!

That, however, could not help my Ravens. As a Ravens fan, I am depressed and more than a little embarrassed over last night's sorry excuse for a game. I don't even know what that was. I had to turn it off after the Colts' third touchdown. Did turn it back on in time to see the last two minutes of the game, though, and saw Troy Smith play with some guts. Granted, it was against the Colts' second-string defense, but still. He didn't dither. He didn't cower in the pocket. He played. OMG! I hope we get to see more of what he can do. In the meantime, I am not making any Ravens gear. I had plans. Those plans will be on hold until the Ravens come back and play in Baltimore. I'm a loyal fan, and I still love them, but if they're not gonna put in the effort to play the game, I'm not gonna spend my crafting time making Ravens gear.

And now, since it is still Handspun Monday for another few hours, a spinning update! I don't have pics (bad Carrie! no cookie!) but fear not! I have spun in the past two weeks! Last Sunday, I tried spinning some of the silk/merino I got from Lisa Souza. It was such a frustrating exercise that I had to walk away from it. I'm not one to give up on things, but at some point I do have to acknowledge that I'm not having fun and shouldn't waste my time. On the other hand, yesterday I pulled out some of the alpaca I got at MDS&W and started spinning it on my square spindle. Yum. I'm in love with that alpaca fleece. Being alpaca, it's a little tricky to spin. A little bit slippery. But if I'm paying attention it works just fine. Woohoo!!! Pics will come soon, I promise!

I've also started a Christmas present. Remember Charmed? I'm developing a crocheted version, this time using the cashmere I got from Habu Textiles. Having never worked with cashmere before, let me say: YUM.

This present may or may not be aided by a class I took on Saturday with mom. The class we took was on soldering small glass pieces together to make jewelry, ornaments, multimedia art, etc. My pieces ended up a little wonky, but for a first attempt they aren't bad. I'll have to post pics of those too. Mom and I now have a little soldering kit and plenty of little glass bits to encase pictures or fabric or whatever we want. Whee! I really wanna play with it right now. But I can't. Have to make an hors d'ouvre for the office Holiday Party tomorrow. Ah well. Soon. I will be making charms, and pendants, and such things. After all, the only way my soldering is going to get better is by practicing!

OMG! Spinxx0rz!

Wait, what? I spin? No way! Cool!

It's been far too long since I've had a post for Handspun Monday. But lookie! It's

Now, I know I mentioned the FABULOUS roving I got from Kid Hollow Farm at Stitches. It's called "Fall Harvest." Looks something like this (and thanks to Pam you can now click on the pictures to get them full size):



Closer look? Okay, here ya go:


Yum. It's like pumpkins and grapes and vines and Autumn all in one pack of fluffy goodness.

Well, it was such fluffy goodness that on Sunday, yes last Sunday, the Sunday of Stitches weekend, less than 24 hours after I bought said roving, I sat down at Merriweather and didn't leave her until I had this:

(Shown here in my lap, with my Halloween pyjama pants on :))

I didn't worry about which direction the twist was going, or how much fiber I was letting through, or how thick or thin it was, or consistency, or any of that stuffy stuff. I just let the roving spin as it wanted to, and let Merriweather start in whichever direction she wanted to spin in. It was a very organic process, and so refreshing. It actually made doing the work I had to do last weekend much easier. And I can't wait until I have time to do the same thing over again. I refuse to spin this stuff when I only have a few minutes. It's a whole bobbin spun, plied, and skeined or nothing. Cos I mean, really, just look at it.



It's a meditation.