finished silk batts...

ooooo...amazingly soft and fabulous 

carding and such

last night i carded up my "Black Cherry Cola" Batts...I'm not sure i can give them up!

My silk isn't dry yet...i'm hoping tonight it will be. I can't wait to get it carded up together. I've decided to keep my etsy store open but to concentrate more on spinning supplies then on handspun yarn. course, spinning supplies are harder to give up! I card up some beautiful batts and I just want to spin them up!!!

Next I'm going to work on some llama batts. The only problem is getting the stuff out of it. i think i need combs.

delish!!!!

isn't this just delicious? these are pretty accurate colors...one of the other pics is little brighter than the wool is. they are jar dyed merino wool...some is superwash, some is not...all blended up...I LOVE IT!!! what do you think???? 

more delicious results

yup...more pics of my new merino batts from my brown and red jar dyeing experiment. 

black cherry

or so my daughter says...maybe chocolate cover cherry...something...this is delish! 

DYEING for SILK

I've been just dying to try jar dyeing silk! here it is, my next jar dyeing experiment...since i like the purple, salmon, aztec gold combo so well i'm trying it with silk. I rinsed it this morning...more pics when it dry and i can re-card it.

jar dyeing silk

ok...so here's my next try at jar dyeing: SILK!!!

ok i'm strange

i want to visit people's blogs who visit mine...so leave me a comment with your blog address if you visit today...i know i'm being silly...humor me! i love getting comments and finding cool new blogs that's all. well i'm starting my sock over. it was definitely too small and i screwed up somewhere on the heal-flap and that was it. ripping happened. OH Well. I'm going to cast on more than 40 stitches no matter what that pattern says. I'm confusled tho...the yarn says it's worsted weight but when i do a wraps per inch it should be two size categories smaller. any help here? is commercial worsted weight yarn smaller than handspun? that makes no sense. is my wraps per inch thing wrong? 16 wraps per inch I show being fingering weight. What do i trust? Lion's website or my wraps per inch? anyway, i guess that would explain how small the sock was. OOPS...
ok, well...kids to get to school. me to get to work. NEED MORE COFFEE!

socks or wrist warmers?

maybe it's really going to be wrist warmers! it's pretty cute but rather small for a sock...oh well...i'm going to keep going and see...if it's really small i have a 4 year old :-)
it's made with a lion 100% wool that was on sale on hobby lobby...once i figure this out i'm spinning my own sock yarn!
 

i'm making a sock!

i hope...this looks a little small to me...i'm following a pattern from the internet and i hate wripping so i'm hoping it'll turn out better than it looks right now. 

i like boucle

i love how this works...boucle is soft. even if the unplied yarn is not so soft after plying...it is soft and beautiful! YAY! 

close-up

dont' know what to call it but it came out nice...and i have almost this much roving left to still spin! 

new boucle yarn

 

close-up of the textures in "fall days"

well...what do you think? should i make more novelty yarn or stick with my typical yarn?

more "fall days"

 

more pic of "fall days"

 

funky new fall days

I'm not normally a big novelty yarn spinner. I think it's pretty but mine is never as nice as i'd like. this turned out quite good tho (i think). It's what i call "garbage batt." I took everything left over from various batts and blended it up on my drum carder. Then i spun it very lightly and plied it with navy blue sewing thread. I places i pushed up bunches...in other places i allowed the yarn to loop around the sewing thread in interesting and novel ways. (sorry couldn't resist). anyway...there's not a ton but it is quite pretty! 

demos

demos are weird. i had everything from people who just wanted a free lunch to people who wanted to learn to spin. and everything in between! Strange. I walk this fine and meandering line trying on one hand to give enough detail for those interested and not too much detail so i lose the people who are only tangentially interested. Throw in ccasional silliness. Being silly about your own hobby is great. The smell of hot vinegar and wet wool is always good for a laugh (or something). the fact that my hobby will soon take over my daughter's bedroom...giggles. But then a discussion of how to ply yarn. totally different.

demos are nothing like teaching a class where everyone is there to actually learn. NOTHING. Classes are straight forward. Teach the steps. Do them. Over and Over. Demos have to be amusing. Entertaining. Perhaps i should have sung. But, it went well...i think. It was a wildly wandering and meandering line...but i did walk it. What fun!

stuff

well, i'm doing a spinning demo tomorrow at the library. Get to haul in my wheel and such and show spinning and history of spinning and such. I emailed the community ed. people today to ask about teaching a spinning class. Haven't heard anything back yet.

I guess I'll take my wheel, some spindles, some wool, some silk, some yarn, stuff...in general...stuff...anyway. I'm a little nervous. A little. here's hoping it all goes well.

Sunset over Galway Bay

as always...I can't resist anything Irish....the next runner up was definitely "December Sunset" thanks for all the great suggestions...I love them all! 

...to here

final results... Makes me want to spin!

going from here....

here i have picked through the dry pieces of roving and sorted by color. notice in this case i have 5 piles...purple, purple mixed with red, red, red mixed with gold, and gold.

winter warmth

these batts (4 ounces worth) are for sale in my etsy store...check them out!

winter warmth

don't they look just like a bunch of cinnamon buns???

new batts coming

well--i have two new jar dyeing experiments to card up ...but they aren't dry yet. One is more purple, salmon, and aztec gold. It, of course, came out different than the contest batt. I also have another jar of wool to card that is aztec gold, salmon, and yellow. I know, I know, I put salmon and aztec gold in everything...what can i say? I love them. my kitchen table is covered with wool that needs carding before i run off to vermillion this weekend! A whole weekend off. No kids, no husband, no work! YAY!

Sept. 11th passed quietly. another year...more tears...but also more of a sense of peace at least for me (inside peace...not world peace.)

I wish i could make the whole world sit down for several days and learn to spin on a spindle. when i was in high school i wrote a poem for a contest...i don't remember it now but it basically pointed out that you have to find peace inside yourself for the world to be peaceful. I have found such peace in spinning. I wish i could offer that to all the politicians, and all the angry mobs, and all the sad people. the world would surely be more peaceful.

I'm going to talk to the people that teach community classes here and ask about teaching spinning. Two people i work with already want to learn to spin. I'm hoping...

what do other people charge to teach a couple hour spindle spinning class including supplies? I was thinking $25.00 maybe and they walk away with a spindle and some wool to play with. does that seem reasonable? anyway...got to get ready for work!

one last pic

just cuz i love it so much...the color is slightly more muted in real person but i LOVE it! 

carding this was super fun

i love watching the colors blend and meld... 

One grogeous Batt

mmmmm...looks good enought to eat! 

not sure what this colorway is...

But WOW! I love it 

Sept. 11

It's September 11th. I can't stop remembering...
I was teaching that day. when the towers came down i watched it with my principal. We were all in tears. No one knew what to do, or say. I still don't.


Sacred Ground

tune and lyrics by Rita Nauman

There is no tune; there is no song
I sit in silence all day long
The two towers burned, then they came down
Thousands died, now it’s sacred ground

Chorus:
What can we build on such a property?
So much blood spilled; how do we treat it properly?

Heroic men and women too
Fought to do what they should do
They took that plane and brought it round
40 died, now it’s sacred ground

Chorus

Soldiers too, they died that day
Firefighters and police that way
Others died and can't be found
Now all that's left is sacred ground

Chorus

I think back to that day and time
I hug my children so glad they’re mine
So many others can’t do that now
Their only place is sacred ground

Chorus

There is no tune; there is no song
I sit in silence all day long
So many died are we not bound
To now declare this Sacred Ground?

Chorus

There is no tune; there is no song
I sit in silence all day long
So many died are we not bound
To now declare this Sacred Ground?

There is no tune; there is no song
I sit in silence all day long......

(c) 2002 Rita Nauman

what were you doing? what are your memories?

red and purple