Warps

Result of dye day at my house. Brought home the old turkey roaster from Monterey and it works great for dyeing. I am using up all the old acid dyes I have on hand and colored thirteen skeins of "pony" to practice with on the loom. This is the type of yarn we used with Judith at GGFI and it is cheap and works up well. I just ordered 15 more skeins (880 yards each) that will also have to dyed.

Have to wind all this mess up before the warping can begin and it had better be soon before I forget all that I learned about warping in the class. Judith suggested that I take the rosepath threading and do all the variations so that I get more comfortable with the warping process. She hates the floating selvage but after looking at my sad shibori sample, know that I need it. I also want to try some more shibori now that I understand what I am doing (somewhat anyway).

PICTURES FINALLY

Onebelow Scarf
Originally uploaded by theresart

First FO of the year--tadah!! My scarf knit with left-over hand-dyed, handspun corriedale singles made for the Kathryn Alexander mitts. Still need to press the triangle edging but love this technique and will be doing more. In fact I have a vest going from some yarn bought at the Golden Gate Fiber Institute. I really like the color possibilities and the lack of multiple small balls.

A FO AND A MILESTONE

My finished scarf from the Golden Gate Fiber Institute--handspun warp and weft (Nancy Finn's merino silk) , mohair boucle and a handspun yarn beaded thread.

This Blog was started back in August 2005 to record my progess as a spinner, knitter and ??? Four years and three spinning wheels later I am still at it inspite of many moments of creative crisis. Unfortunately several of the items in those first posts are still UFO's or were frogged and the patterns bought at the FFF are still unsewn! But on a more positive note much of the fiber has been spun and lingers away in the stash.

GOLDEN GATE FIBER INSTITUTE

I just got home from one of those fabu life altering weeks at the Golden Gate Fiber Institute (Carolina Homespun's Morgaine Wilder and Judith the spinning goddess).

Of course I did not remember to take my camera out at all and have lifted these photos. The scenic shot is the one seen each morning on the way to class and of unknown origin. The Institute is held at a YMCA camp on the Marin headlands and lovely. This photo does not show the actuality of the weather though as it was cloudy and wet the
entire week--a lovely respite from the heat of the San Gabriel basin where the temperatures have been in the 100 degree range.

The second picture is me laying out wool for my felted vest project, my afternoon class and the third is the assembled work in progress. These photos I purloined from Lori Lawson's Capistrano Fiber Arts site--thanks Lori for taking pictures of my work. However this one is still a work in progress as it is still too large. I tried it on again when I got home and am not happy with the size but with felt that is not a
problem.

My other class was spinning for weaving and I spun the warp and weft threads for a project which is finished with the exception of the fringe. Hopefully there will be photos by the end of the week. This was a great experience--wonderful classes, wonderful people, lovely location. I'm putting it on my calendar and saving my pennies and vacation days for next year!