Amazing Wednesday and Update August 8, 2011

A few days ago I had a most exciting day of work. Every job I have had since college I have worked alone. Behind the register at the store I was the only one there, teaching by myself at the college and the art center, and of course working alone in my studio. Wednesday I was able to work with two amazing women whose talents and excitement for color, yarn, and fiber I quite admire. Joe and I had a huge BBQ at our house last weekend for my birthday and while we were chowing on some excellent foodage and all of our respective kiddos were playing, Dani, Gloria, and I hatched a plan to get together on Wednesday at Dani's and do some serious carding.

Adele and I met up with Gloria and the boys in kzoo and off we went to Dani's. A backseat full of kids and the back back of the roo (subaru that is :D) stuffed with our woolies and my drumcarder (oh and snacks, can't forget snacks!)

Gloria was a machine on that carder! She took to it with such fervor! Look out everyone because she made some of the most gorgeous batts I have ever seen and it was only her second time using a carder! While we're speaking of Gloria, she is the mastermind behind not one but two lovely etsy shops. Purplecitrus is filled with lovely pins from fibery goodness and hopefully some fabulous supplies like these babies she made me for my birthday from some of my accidentally felted locks. Her other shop gets me in trouble with the gorgeous scarves and bags she makes! (check it out here at Gloriakirk!)

Dani and I have been joking for about a year now about sharing a booth and calling ourselves brichaus (if you don't know already, Dani is the amazingly talented fiberista behind pumpkinhaus.) We met by chance while I was vending at a fiber show and have been buds ever since. We had gotten together at her place at the end of June and played a little dueling carders that day (I tried out her vintage coarse louet and she tried out my strauch 205.)  There was definitely a little bit of brichaus born that day. This time around I had my fiber with me too though and we both carded a mess of batts using bits and pieces from both (plus a wee bit of Gloria's stash) as we passed our goods between each other. I carded to the point where I lost track of time and the amount of batts I made! I couldn't even believe it and was terribly excited that we'd finally been able to fully collaborate sharing fibers and our carders. So this coming Monday, August 8, 2011, I will finally be releasing the first of hopefully many in the future in the brichaus line of batts.

So nice to finally have some coworkers. :D

New Spinalong (SAL) Audrey Hepburn on sale July 29th!

"The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it's all that matters."
— Audrey Hepburn

I know I've been absent from blogging... but I'm here to tell you all that I will be offering a new Spin Along starting tomorrow July 29th! So far I have hosted two spin alongs with the most inspiring Jim Henson and then Roald Dahl. I recently was at my local library and the theme for my next SAL became very clear when I ran across a beautiful coffee table book that was filled with intimate portraits of female icons, Audrey Hepburn among them. It was a tough to narrow down who the first one would be but Audrey became the frontrunner for me quickly. Not only was she a fashion icon, Hepburn also did great philanthropy work with UNICEF through the end of her life which is terribly admirable. She was never like the throwaway celebrities of present day and remains a Hollywood icon.

 SAL's will go on sale in the shop tomorrow, July 29, 2011, and will be for sale for 3 weeks. As always the SAL will be hosted on Ravelry in my group here. You may choose from the following five different films for your themed batt.

I do hope you will spin along with us!

dying for midwest and spinning for me :D

I dyed about three pounds of fiber last night after the heat finally subsided outside. I held off hoping it would cool down and at about 11 P.M. it was like somebody flipped the humidity/heat switch outside and it became blissfully breezy and nice. You betcha I threw those dyepots on the stove! I had so much yumminess to dye! I bought two new fleeces at Michigan Fiber Fiesta while my mom watched my booth. A stunning crimpy beautiful CVM fleece and a few pounds of Jacob. I had never worked with either of these wools before so it was really lovely to go through the regular process, pick, wash, wash, wash, pick a little more, (ever notice how so much more comes through once it is clean!?) dye, rinse, and my FAVORITE part, once the water is spun out spreading each bit of fiber out onto the drying rack. The Jacob was so poofy and lovely and the CVM with it's lovely crimp and softness is outta this world! I can't wait for it to be dry so I can card it into some more batts for Midwest Fiber and Folk. 

 What is laid out on my table is really exciting me too: teeswater, teeswater lamb, suri, the last of my super crimpy BFL fleece and the BL lamb, silk noils and hankies, and some wool neps. Those are what is on my agenda today to dye up along with some banana fiber and cotton sliver that will soak while I do some lesson planning.

I was so antsy to card what was still wet last night that I ended up carding myself a batt from what was left in my stock to take the edge off, lol! Can't wait to spin it to start my day of work! Man it feels good to say I'm working and have it be something I enjoy.

Update tomorrow!!! 5/27/11

"Nothing is more the child of art than a garden."  - Sir Walter Scott

 Hey all! I've had one serious long break from a good update. One reason is, I've been very happily working in my flower garden. It is has grown in size immensely since the first Spring we lived here in our darling home in the city. I've always wanted to be more of a country girl anyhow so it was only natural to plant a HUGE flower garden. Well, after approximately 40 mosquito bites (they love me, it doesn't matter what I do...) and two hard days of work, I'm happy with it and quite inspired. Inspired to create some fiber goods based upon all the beautiful blooms that are finally starting to happen after a Midwestern snowy winter, followed by one of the most waterlogged Springs that I can remember (it is raining now... again btw!) So tomorrow in the shop at approximately 5 PM EST you will find all kinds of fibery happiness at my Garden Party Update. Hope to see you there!

Have you checked the schedule?

I've added a few shows to my schedule for 2011!!! I just got back from Fiber Fiesta in Greenville, MI. Met a lot of lovely ladies there and it was a great small show to kick off my show season for the year and play around with my booth setup.

So what is next? Well I'm pleased to say that I'll be traveling out of state for the first time to vend at Midwest Fiber and Folk Fair in Grayslake, IL. I'm sharing a booth with my friend and amazingly talented fiber artist, Faun of Hands + Notions and couldn't be more excited! We'd love to see you there!

Roald Dahl Spinalong!!!

Have you heard? I'm hosting another spinalong!!! The Jim Henson SAL was such a blast and everyone who participated seemed just and wonderfully excited as I was. :D So excited in fact that they even had a fabulous suggestion for my second one. This time we'll be drawing influence from the delightfully imaginative mind of Roald Dahl.

It is unfortunate that this man's name is not often immediately associated with his genius work. He was one of the first authors to make me begin to devour books. You may be familiar with some of them. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The BFG, The Witches, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox just to name a few. There are LOADS of other wonderful works by him and I'm sure I've left out someone's favorite here even. :D The SAL goes on sale tomorrow Monday, May 2, 2011 and will be on sale through Monday, May 23, 2011 and I will be limiting it to 15 SAL participants. Join us on ravelry to share your spins and be included in a chance for a giveaway! So head on over to the shop  and choose your favorite (not limited to those listed!) for me to create you a one of a kind chocked full of texture Dahl inspired fiber batt!