fiber
To your battle stations! (or how to identify a bug)
I had such plans for today. I was going to be productive…get things done.
It started off pretty well. Got a call from a friend and chatted for awhile. Pinned and repinned the latest sewing project. I even showered. Hooray!
Then, at some point after lunch, I heard a noise. A flippy kind of buzzy noise. Like something had gotten in. I looked over to the corner of the dining room and there he was.
WHAT IS THAT THING?!?
It was pretty big, about an inch and a half long, with a missing back leg. Of course, I don’t know bugs, so I immediately thought the worst. I mean, bugs in general don’t scare me unless THEY CAN EAT MY YARN.
So I proceeded to do what any concerned fiber artist that can’t identify bugs would do…I went to the Internet.
I posted pictures to Instagram, Facebook, and twitter…tagging all of my trusty fiber artists to get feedback. I grabbed all yarn in the vicinity and threw it in a trash bag and shoved it in the freezer immediately. I pulled out an extra bag of cedar balls from the stash closet and started leaving them everywhere.
Of course, I’m getting mixed answers of the identification of this thing, from grasshopper to locust. I’m still planning on getting my hands on some lavender so I can start sprinkling it everywhere.
Hopefully the stash is safe.
(And for any of those concerned, I didn’t kill him. I took him down the hallway and let him go outside.)
If you look closely…
…You might actually see my brain melt.
One of the hardest things for me as a fiber artist has been figuring out what I am worth. Here is where I find out.
Quick and dirty craft pricing…
The night before the League of Extraordinary Ladies Craftacularganza, my friends and I got together to talk about how to price our work.
More Goodies for Me!
While I was away at Stitches, my friend Wendy was at a retreat being held at Sheep Shed Studio.
Awhile back I had blogged about this beautiful spinning bell she brought home. I asked her to pick one up for me and she did!
Anthony wanted to hide in there...
The Annual Super Bowl Yarnstravaganza!
As you could see from the last blog post, we ventured out in the cold morning to wait in line with a bunch of crazy knitters, with the hopes that we could score some beautiful yarn at a serious discount.
Sitting in line is always fun for me. It’s even better when I have friends around. This year we had a very solid team of 5 knitters with a serious plan, DIVIDE AND CONQUER.
Each one of us had a section of the store to dash to. We had an idea of what each of us wanted and in what quantities. We dashed, grabbed, and then met at the table in the middle of the store to exchange yarn with each other, each one of us getting exactly what we wanted without having to throw any elbows.
We received many compliments on our strategy. A few ladies even said they would love to join our group next year.
Meeting in the middle after our dash and grab.
These ladies were first in line. They had BAGS full of yarn.
My haul.
Now, I would like to say that I went into this whole thing with just the intention of getting that bright yellow yarn on top there. I had no other purpose for it other than to use it in both of my “Legacy projects”. Yes, I know I had said that I would only use SCRAP yarn, but I love this yellow so much…and I am of the tragic ilk that is unable to wear the color yellow. It is sad…I know…
I do have some happy news though (for me at least). I went in there and acquired a couple skeins of cash-silk lace yarn, enough fingering weight in a beautiful sky blue to knit a sweater, and some lovely grey yarn that is just begging to be a cowl. All in all, that bag of yarn…retail price…would cost me over $200. Between the sale price, the additional discount, and my store credit….it came to a whopping…..wait for it…..
$40.66
Happy Birthday to me!
Blanketeers Thursday! 11/17/11
Wendy and I met with our folks for another Blanketeers Thursday. Work on our blanket has slowed a little because we are all in full swing trying to work on Christmas gifts. I am super late in starting my holiday knitting this year…and I am sure I will pay for it later.
I had intended to spend half my time working on my own stuff and half working on the blanket, but I ended up just working solely on the blanket and just showing off my new weaving stuff to people passing by.
My weaving stuff...
We have some of the most fascinating conversations just chatting up the folks that stop by our area. This time we had a guy from upstairs talk to us all about raising chickens!
After chatting and watching Wendy do some spinning on her new “work” wheel, she pulled some fiber out to show everyone.
Wendy!
How beautiful is this? It’s something called a “spinning bell” and she ordered it from Sheep Shed Studio. I can only imagine what yarn spun from this might look like. It’ll probably be gorgeously mottled! I can’t wait to see how it turns out. Wendy said she is planning on visiting Sheep Shed in February…and I asked her to pick one up for me. I guess I had better start spinning down that stash!!
I did other things too.
Mother’s Day was a busy day for me! After spending the afternoon with my friends, I went home and did some planting with my kiddos…
The kids planted seeds.
Their beans.
They helped plant rosemary, basil and mint.
Also, since my husband was out of commission, I made them take me to dinner.
Paying for dinner.
Then we went home and started some craft projects. I decided to do some more needle felting.
The start of some needle felted critters.
Dog and cat.
Later on I will turn these into little fobs that they can hang on their backpacks.
My Mother’s Day…
I can’t say I did much Mother’s Day type stuff on Sunday, but I did try something new.
My girlfriends had asked me if I wanted to go to yarn shop I hadn’t been to before in South Pasadena called Abuelita’s. Imagine our surprise when once we got there we found it closed for Mother’s Day! Eek!
Abuelita's
Cute critters at Zinnia's
Books
Plan B ended up saving the day, with a trip to a place called Zinnia’s and some antiquing and used book shop browsing. I ended up picking up a few things for projects. We also stopped at a cereal bar and grilled cheese place for lunch where for the first time ever I decided to try my hand at needle felting.
Needle felting
And thus, a new addiction had begun.
Shaping
Mallory's fiber stash.
Main part done.
The start of a felted matryoshka.
Another fibery field trip…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAQTNHSY8B8
It's a little place...
Out front...
Browsing the fiber...if you look at my feet, you'll see why I'm so clumsy.
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