TOTALLY TWISTED zine

First Issue now available! I am totally excited.

Well, I've been hard at work putting together this nifty little Zine.

It includes:
Step by Step Directions for the "Spaghetti Dyeing" Technique.
A Beautiful new Scarflet Pattern"Making a Silk Purse from a Sow's Ear"--a handspun silk embroidery idea
"Portrait of a Spinner"...and more

.Totally Twisted is a new Zine...this is the Premier Issue. It will be coming out 4 times a year. Interested in receiving this first issue or subscribing? email me at fionaoftheharp@yahoo.com

Cost: Single Issue: $7.00 ($3.00 S/H)
Year Subscription: $20.00 ($10.00 S/H)

If you are willing to recieve the Zine electronically you can omit the shipping charge.

two new skeins

I'm calling this "northern lights"...a wild mix of colors in midnight black. It is laceweight.
















I'm not sure what to call this one...tiny bits of light blue mixed with midnight/black. I love it but i'm running out of names. I need help.

Also...I'm looking for spinners or other fiber artists who might be interested in having stuff published in a small zine. There won't be much pay :-( But I'll comp you a copy of the issue. I'm looking for bios and reasonable projects with handspun.

what i did today

a couple weeks ago i was blending batts and came up with something that i thought looked just like storm clouds rolling in...today i spun it up. it turned out so well. I love it. I think i'll call it *stormy skies*.

this is pre-plied. I liked it but i decided to ply it.

So...what do you think? *Stormy Skies*





100 grams--300+ yards...supersoft wool/silk blend!

Sara's great yarn

So...I'm pretty siked to get lots of pictures of yan that people have created using some of my dyeing methods. It is exciting to know that ideas that i have come up with are helping other people create fabulous yarn too. Or simply that my directions helped someone else be creative!

so...sara's fabulous yarn from my "jar dyeing instructions"

Jessie's awesome yarn

Jessie dyed this awesome yarn using food coloring. She got my dye sheets a couple of weeks ago and this is her beautiful yarn!

If you've used any of my tutorials to dye stuff send me pictures. I'd love to post them here.

And here I was thinkin no one read this thang!
THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.”


1. My eyes are two different colors. SERIOUSLY. Actually ONE of my eyes is two different colors. It is half green and half brown. The other one is green.

2. I've moved 30+ times in my adult life.

3. I play about 15 musical instruments...and none of them all that well (except maybe harp).

4. I write my own music.

5. My husband is 8 younger than i am. I know this isn't precisely weird but i ran out of weird after #1.

6. oOOO I lived in Alaska. Unalakleet Alaska to be exactly...

So I guess we'll see if anyone actually reads my blog now! 6 blogger that I'm tagging!

http://www.doom.blog-city.com/, http://biscuit.blog-city.com/, http://www.froggyfibers.com/, http://healmyhands.typepad.com/heal_my_life/, http://roberta.typepad.com/robknits/, and http://catsrmecrafter.blogspot.com/


Unfortunately mostly this made me look through my bookmarks of blogs. I found a lot of the bloggers quitting :-( I'll miss reading them.

well...now what?

Gads...I've done it again and I just don't know what to do? I dyed a new skein of yarn and I love it. LOVE it. That actually puts me at my limit of 5 skeins of my own to keep. ACK. I've never had this many skeins that I was keeping before. I'm not sure i can. But i'm not sure i can get rid of the new skein either. :-(

So--what should i do? Keep it? Give it to someone special? Other options?

If I were to make something out of this I've no idea what I should make. HMMMMM...

my favorite handspun

These are my four current *favorite* skeins. I have given myself permission to save 1 more. My personal policy is that i can save up to 5 skeins of yarn (full-size skeins) just because. I don't have any real plans about what to make with these but i love them too much to sell them. that's all.








This is my newest favorite. It is a wool/silk blend that i spun, plied and then dyed.







This is an older skein that I also love. It is one of my first few spun from a *blended batt*.








This is a skein made from an accidental *blended batt*. I had a variety of purples, reds and blues and I blended them up to use up tiny bits of roving. I LOVE how saturated the color is.


This skein is my current oldest favorite. I love the color blend. I don't generally love these colors so much but in this skein i just can't resist.


These tiny skeins are also ones I can't seem to get rid of. I'm not sure what I'll do with them. But they are such fun I just can't sell them, and I'm not really sure what anyone else would do with them anyway. Most of them are *sample* skeins. When I create *blended batts* I usually find an even number (like 5.0 ounces or 150 grams or something) and keep the rest for myself to spin. That's where most of these little skeins come from. I still have a few more batts to spin that will give me similar size skeins. I'd like to find a shawl or similar pattern to make out these.

WOW!

I can't believe how gorgeous this skein of yarn turned out! I have been playing with a new dyeing method...look for a tutorial soon. This is what you can produce.

This is a wool/silk blend that i spun up and plied and then dyed it. I LOVE how it turned out. At first, as i was dyeing it, I wondered, but now seeing it dry--I am amazed. The sheen is amazing. The colors are gorgeous. MMMMM...Don't know what i'm making, but i'm keeping this yarn.

I also dyed some beautiful sock yarn using the same dyeing method. I LOVE it.

I think I've figured out what to call my spinning zine. I'm thinking I'll call it "Totally Twisted" It will include spinning, dyeing and crafting with handspun. I'm pretty excited. What do you think?

wool/mohair sample skein

I got some new fiber. I'm pretty excited. It's a gorgeous mohair/wool blend. I spun up a little sample of it. Since I'm not working I've been having trouble sleeping. So I stayed up late spinning this. It's a very small skein...really just a sample to see what i can make. It's about 32 yards/two ply.












I have a friend who wants me to spin up something for her to do lace knitting with. I need to show her this and see what she thinks. I think it's a little big still. I should go finer in the initial spinning so that plying leaves it a little finer. But otherwise I love this skein. The fiber takes dye extremely well (although i had to rinse A LOT after i spun it because it rubbed off on my fingers while i was spinning it up. Blue tends to be the worst for this I think. When Amanda did her science fair project about we found that blue takes the longest to adhere. It is the biggest molecule. Of course, this was just blue food coloring but it is an interesting point.

This little ornament is (of course) Brenden's for 2006. I'm really pretty proud of it. I designed the little mitten myself. I don't think I've ever seen a pattern that places the design on the diagonal and utilizes that as part of the design. I'm sure someone's done it but I've never seen it. As usual I'm late--I haven't done Amanda and Stephen's yet. That's next. Along with my second sock which is moving right along. Rather slowly. I have the first 6 rows of the ribbing done.









But I did take a break and create this little mini-stocking. I didn't have a pattern so i guessed at how to do it having made 3 whole socks before. OK. I'm a fairly optomistic. Or something. I tend to jump into things thinking--I can handle that. I often succeed. Everythings fine until i do something like decide to learn to play harp in 6 months. I think it turned out pretty well. All except the cables which i had no clue how to do and just guessed. NOT perfect. I did something different with the toe and actually like it. I just joined the two live stitches into one (knitting through the first two stitches on each needle together). then i knitted an additional row and cast off. It probably wouldn't be comfortable in an actual sock but it worked well here.

one down

ONE TO GO>>>

I love LOVE this sock. It is the first sock that I've made that felt nice. The pattern that I started with was rather radically altered cuz well...I can't help myself. The yarn is from knitpicks--100% Peruvian wool. It feels a tiny bit scratchy in the ball, but is wonderfully soft when it is knitted up. I dyed it using an interesting if time intensive dyeing method that I altered from one I read about. I love the variegation and the gradiation this method gives. I have a similar ball to make the other sock out of!

I should say that the post below is basically about someone telling me that asking someone to look at my blog is the same thing as an AD. I occassionally make references to my businesses...cuz it's about my life. Apparently in order for me to not consider it an AD I can't make any references (no matter how small--this includes saying--this is in my store or something) are ads. I disagree but want to be able to post about my blog without it being considered an ad so i'm changing it a little. altho, honestly given that i give away information constantly without trying to personally gain from my experiments I'm a little resentful that I any reference to anything that could possibly make me money is considered an ad. Anyway. I won't be posting links to my blog on the Spindler's list because of it. :-( I'm very sad.

ack

I'm feeling pretty lousy today. It is my last day at work...

New purple yarn

Purple is a funny color...it feels happy and sad. Melancholy maybe... what a great name!

anyway: purple yarn

You will see some changes in my blog. It is not intended to be an ad for anything so the content will be changing to reflect that. As a matter of fact I have already made changes to reflect that. I'm truly sorry if it looked like an ad.

Grey

Well, it's grey here. the weather is grey. My mood is grey too. Tomorrow is my last day to work at the library. It is cold and a little damp feeling...i'm guessing it will snow. I don't have another job lined up yet :-( I'm not quite sure what i'm going to do yet. I've NEVER lost a job...and losing a job, even if it was only supposed to be a temporary job, is devastating. However...this yarn makes me feel a little better. It is the epitome of luxury. (i remember always reading that as ep-i -tome with a short e and i and a long o and silent e as a kid) It is a wool silk blend that is slightly more olivey than it looks here...with a bit of khaki blended in. Spinning it was truly fabulous. It is beautiful...soft, fuzzy, GORGEOUS. (Can you tell i love it?) If I don't find a job soon, I will be drowning my sorrow in yarn. Knitting myself out of this funk I'm in.

so, this picture was taken on my "dyeing porch" this morning. where i do all my natural dyeing.

Now...the important question...I'm starting a zine. This will be a small magazine type thing that comes out regularly (I'm not sure if it'll be once or month or every other month). It will be about spinning and dyeing. I'm thinking I'll title it: "Dye and Spin up" but i'm not sure. So...the question is: I'm looking for suggestions about what kind of articles you'd be interested in reading. I think I'll do some interveiws of fiber artists. and clearly how-to's and inspirational pictures are good but...WHAT ELSE? so...I'm looking for a few good suggestions!

and after the wealth comes

a mess....

We opened presents, a better year than we have had in many, many years. The kids had plenty...we had plenty. And what was left was a big bag of wrapping paper and ribbon. Toys and clothes and movies got put away.

We ate breakfast. Homemade cinnamon rolls. We have some left for tomorrow.

I made pork roast and stuffing and mashed potatoes and yams and olives and pickles, etc. etc. and then we did the dishes.

As usual I realize how truly rich my family is. Rich in friends, rich in family, rich in everyway.
Rich in LOVE.

I hope that your holiday is as RICH and full of LOVE and fun as ours. And in the end I feel fabulous that we donated to Doctors without Borders. If you realize today because you know where your next meal is coming from, where you will sleep tonight, where your next money will come from that you too are truly RICH...consider a donation. We were inspired by the Yarn Harlot here: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2006/12/15/the_return_of_the_light.html
donations go here:
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/index.cfm

I hope that your day is filled with love and that you spread the light...

Summer Skies

I LOVE this skein. It is warm and puffy. Like clouds on a summer day. Laying on your back in the field, looking up at the clouds and deciding what they look like. It is 4 fabulous ounces of Wool/Silk blend. It came out puffy--thick and thin. The fiber was *Jar Dyed* in layers--mostly blue with a center layer of pale purple. I think created several of my *Blended Batts* and spun this up. It will make a beautiful soft scarf or hat or the like.

Well...my blog is acting funny. Funny weird, not funny HAHA. I typed this little blog entry at the top twice. Pasted it into the post below and it turned it all into a wierd link. Anyway. Our house is starting to look truly Christmas-y. Our tree is up and lit. We have candles on the bar. There are a few presents wrapped and put in the cradle. And my wheel. What more does one need to be Christmas-y?

I hope that whatever holiday you are celebrating--Christmas, Solstice, Hannakuh, Kwanzaa, Ramadan--it fills your days with light and joy. That you find your family close and hug them often. That as the days begin to grow longer, your love grows stronger.

My plan is to start recording a CD (maybe 2) after the new year hits. I will be doing a Christmas CD for release in October or so and a new Medieval/Traditional/Original CD for release hopefully in about March, just in time for St. Patrick's Day.

Summer Sky..

have fun

i realized lately what i've been missing in my life. I'm not having enough fun. SCA is supposed to be fun. One of the people i admire most in SCA told me once "if you're not having fun you're doing it wrong." It hasn't been fun in several several months. I can't remember when it stopped being fun but it was quite a while ago. I'm pulling back, quitting my office, finding something fun. My job isn't very fun right now either because it's ending. I like working, don't get me wrong. I actually enjoy being busy. But knowing that it's ending...I feel stupid and a little used. Christmas...that hasn't been a whole lot of fun lately either. My life in general just isn't much fun. I'm changing that today.

I'm pulling back from all the things that haven't been much fun. Distancing myself, whether emotionally or actually and I'm finding somethings that i like to do. Like spinning and knitting. Like dyeing stuff and blending. Like writing. Like hugging my children. and my husband. sewing. cooking. playing with my dog. gardening. (harder in dec. in SD :-) anyway, i'm sure you understand. Of course, I'll be going to work. But I'll try to take it all a little less seriously and have a little fun with it all. Look at some fun picture books, read something interesting, etc.

It's funny how commotion makes me reevaluate. Anger makes me rethink. When people you think are your friends belittle you publicly...you gotta reconsider everthing you've been doing.

It is advent. A time of preparation. A time to make your heart ready for the coming Savior. He's coming as a little, tiny baby. Nursing at Mary's breast. cooing and cuddly. FUN. I'm making my heart a little more ready. I'm making my life a little more ready.

How 'bout you?

awesome idea for knitting/spinning kind of people

If you don't read the Yarn Harlot, you are totally missing out on side-splitting, funny stuff. But this time she is not being funny. This post made me cry. http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2006/12/15/the_return_of_the_light.html

We chatted with our children. We decided to donate some money that we had planned on spending on them plus more for ourselves to this. You should look at it. I hope that it fills you with the same feeling that it did me...but mostly I hope it makes you take a look at your life...and spread a little light around!

close-up

 

more pretty pics

I'm loving this yarn. It is awesome.