Fiber Friday

so...a bunch of us on etsy are designating fridays as fiber days. we'll be listing new items on fridays and publicizing this. if you're on etsy you should join us. add a note to your store front that says so. add fiberfriday as a tag to your listing so people can find it.

If you don't sell on Etsy...maybe you should shop on etsy! hehe. at any rate come on over and visit.

new yarn!

i'm in the middle of dyeing new yarn tonight. look for new colorways tomorrow or the next day! I'm excited. I'm trying lots of new color combos.

i'm also working on new batts...naturally dyed silk batts. Haven't quite decided what to call them. they'll be all natural dyes, blended batts. any thoughts?

on the front page

Can't believe it...that orange yarn in the middle...it's mine! Yay!

cool stuff on etsy...

i've been looking around and found nifty stuff on etsy. some that i want...some that i bought. some that other people i know will want.

this Tee shirt is cool...i want one! It refers to 5 people banned without notice or reason from the etsy forums. check out http://etsynews.com/415/etsy-dramatically-changes-forum-muting-policies/ UEN if you want to know more!


http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7164734

this nifty knitter helper is so cool i order two!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6702109

New Stuff!

So...my newest issue of Totally Twisted is OUT! YAYAYYAYAYAYA.

check it out here:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7164173

Also, my Forum (also called Totally Twisted cuz it's such a cool name) is up and ready for posting!

come on over and visit!
http://totallytwisted.freeforums.org/

I feel caught up on sleep...mostly!

finally home...

it is Monday...and i am home. I slept in my own bed last night and have had half a chance to breathe! what a relief. Bits of news today.

I have been an active member of the spindlers list for years but recently have almost quit reading the posts there as i am simply too busy. Last week I finally made the move and quit subscribing. There are just too many emails and i am too busy. So, if you have questions consider dropping me a line privately at fionaoftheharp@yahoo.com . Part of the reason that i am just entirely too busy is that i'm in the process of starting a message board for spinners, knitters and other fiber artists. It just in the process of beginning but it will go with my little Totally Twisted Zine.

Speaking of. Totally Twisted Summer issue is running late but will be out later this week! look for it in your inboxes/mailboxes or you can buy separate issues on Etsy.

I've been getting more and more subscriptions to various clubs, both yarn and fiber. I would never have guessed they'd do so well.

Stephen's shoulder seems almost healed. (thank God!).

Brenden started kindergarten. (inserting those obligatory but

darned cute pictures of the first day of school!)

Amanda's doing all those "homecoming week things" this week. No, homecoming just never changes. It's Jersey day today...she decided that since this is what SHE wears to the football games, she'd wear it today!

not blogging

the reason i have not been blogging like i should (:-( is that i have been running everywhere for weeks. We left for Denver on August 30...so the days before that I was running around getting ready and trying to finish the tapestry. we were gone August 30-Sept.3 . Then I left town again on Sept. 6...those two days between, i had a meeting and i barely had time to breathe...certainly did not check emails or blog! I left early Sept. 6 and was in Wisconsin from Sept. 6-Sept. 10. Unfortunately, my month is not getting less busy. I am leaving for Eastern SD to teach at an event tomorrow. EEEEEEK! Hopefully I'll have time to breathe when i get home on the 17th. Hopefully!

OH, and tonight before i leave i have to put together 5 looms to teach on! and put together a handout. It's good that i love teaching, cuz far from getting paid, i have to pay to get to the event!

Tapestry finally done

My tapestry is all finished. YAY! I am teaching Soumak weaving this weekend. ACK! Scary. I went out and grabbed stuff to put together some inexpensive looms. I guess i'll come out with looms...oh well...more classes are always good. If you're headed for Cecil's Seige...it's a free class stop on over!

Just in case you missed it--I was featured on Lime & Violets Daily Chum.

http://www.limenviolet.com/blog/?p=403

I'm so proud! thanks ladies.

In the meantime i'm working on the zine and the tapestry! deadlines suck!

progress pictures

i'm slowly making progress on the tapestry and on the zine...

tapestry update...

I've been working on this tapestry for years....actually, i've been dyeing and spinning the yarn to weave it for years...so, i'm finally weaving it. you can see the edge of the picture i'm weaving and the tree almost complete. so....i have a couple of weeks to finish this! weave faster.

so....today

My son, (13) broke his collar bone...not good. I have a gorgeous, GORGEOUS flower in my garden...good. Natural dyeing is going well...good! These are four different dye pots all from Coreopsis....This lovely purpley blue silk...i LOVE it!

anyway...hard at work on Totally Twisted Fall...also working on a weaving project for a competition in Sept. BUSY BUSY!

Totally Twisted Summer Issue

Unfortunately, due to technical issues, the summer issue of Totally Twisted will not be out until August 31. I hard at work getting everything done with this issue...thanks for the patient waiting!

more...

daylily!

coreopsis with alum

more dyeing stuff

so...i'm taking fiber out of dye jars and getting lovely and interesting results. I have learned that if you go into natural dyeing with few expectations you'll be happier...sometimes results are not at all what you expect. this particular silk is using a combination mordant (alum and copper) and dyed with daylilies. For people who asked...pic daylilies as the day that they bloom ends...
Here is an example of rather odd results. Marigolds are supposed to yield bright yellow results...this particular marigold look fairly green to green-ish yellow. ODD.





Here i have some silk dyed in an unlabeled exhaust pot (oops!). on the right is the silk rinsed right out of the dye pot. middle, a vinegar dip, left amonia dip. i took the silk out of the dye pot and divided it into 3 parts, so this is the same dye pot even! wild...





i don't use distilled water (which is bad i know :-)
this makes me suspect that black hills water is somewhat acid.
Here's the same thing with silk dyed in Poppies. Not as wild a difference, but definitely a response.


Here's Daylily directly out of the dye pot. Here's some of the above daylily separated off...right vinegar, left amonia.


so cool! here they are...left, ammonia; middle, vinegar; right no dip!

Daylilies do the coolest things...

when used in dyeing! YAY. so today my bump of silk arrived and i mordanted some and am now dyeing it in various flower dyes. OMG, I love dyeing, i love silk...eeek.

so, I'm putting alum-premordanted, wet, unrinsed silk and it did the totally coolest thing. Here's pics!
Here you can see the dye without the silk in it...bright red-wine kind of red! PRETTY!!!



Now, I put in the silk and ...







OMG...BLUE! eeek!
More and more and more blue as the pH changes to basic!
It changes gradually until it is all somewhat of a blue-purple!

Here's all the newest silk...on the right we have the jar of red-daylily dye turning blue, then the orange-y yellow coreopsis, then hollyhocks, then rose (don't know if that will do anything!), then petunias, then another daylily jar already turned all the way blue! YAY...Can't wait to see how they turn out. Plus i went and got stuff to try iron and copper mordant as well! HEHHEHEHE!

Dyeing Season

I love summer...i love the flowers, gardening, the sun, etc., etc....but most of all I LOVE natural dyeing. For two years now i've been doing solar dyeing with flowers. so it begins. I am steeping dye on my back porch...poppies, day lilies, marigolds, coreopsis, etc. I can't wait to see the colors of fiber!

This jar is filled with rose petals...i'm not sure it'll dye a darned thing, but my MIL saved them...and boy it smells super.

This jar full of Marigold from my garden is looking rather pink...which is weird. usually marigold give a rich golden yellow...I guess we'll see what happens.

Coreopsis are a new dye plant that I'm trying. I love the pretty yellow and red flowers and the dye is already looking quite promising.

Of course, tons of stuff is looking awesome. My MIL's marroon day lilies which are gorgeous alive are promising a beautiful color of dye...as are poppies, and other day lilies and more!

Can you tell I'm excited? It's Dyeing Season!!!!!!

new bunny pictures

Unfortunately today two more bunnies died :-( It would seem that they are ready to be out of the nest eating and such. these two tried to get down off the porch and hurt themselves enough so they died.

the other three are doing well...we decided (saps that we are) to feed them at least for the moment since apparently they are not ready to leave mom yet. the book said a month or so...

anyway, so we picked dandilions and clover and a little lettuce and put it in a basket, which they readily hopped into...then cover them back up! But not before we took pictures!

no more carpet

at least not in the bathroom. for those of you who have been to my house, this picture will look a little odd, for those who have not, let me explain. We bought an older trailer 2 years ago. For reasons beyond all reason, the owners before us, carpetted the bathrooms. yes, that's right, that place where the floor gets wet everytime you take a shower, and unfortunately, when the toilet overflows occasionally, (YUCK). So on Monday, I made up my mind. I knew there was old linoleum under the carpet. No way of knowing how good/bad it would be. I decided to pull up the carpet. I've been planning on tiling the bathroom for, oh, like 2 years now!

so, after lots of heaving and pulling, up comes the carpet. then there's all those silly tackdown strips, and the staples, and nails and such. Finally the carpet is gone! YAYAYAY. Today i bought paint for the walls...a sort of ivory color, tile for the floor, slate blue and grey. Tomorrow...i'm painting... Tile after.

yard work

so the kids and i spent the afternoon (it finally cooled off enough so we could) working in the yard. I've been working on a dye garden and am making more space for it!

this raised garden was created last summer. it started out as a huge patch of weeds surrounded by some landscape timbers. It got cut in half when we put in the fence for Tuck and then i rebuilt it, pulled out all the grass, planted a variety of flowers, which are starting to do well...marigolds, coreopsis, poppies, and more. there's also 4 tomatoes back there in the back and some radishes and lettuce and spinach (which the Bun family and relatives ate).

Here you can see where we removed tons of gravel (creating the little path you'll see later) in front of the shed behind the big tree. the plan is to plant this area with various flowering dye plants! (mostly wild flowers that are drought resistant and don't need lots of care!

I also plan to add a bench out here to sit...and a trellis over the end of the path with something flowering growing on it.

I'm thinking some kind of decorative fence here from the edge of the trellis that will go over the path past the tree..

Clearly i need to put something different around this little bed...I've been recycling existing materials!