Busy busy busy…

This week I’ve been teaching “Grossology” at ACTC College Camp.  See the story in the Ashland Daily Independent.

Last week I attempted to sell tie-dye tshirts at a downtown craft fair.  It rained.  I gave away all my free crafts, but sold shirts only to a friend (lol).

I have very little excuse for not blogging more, however.  I ought to do what my friend Jenny does and posts on her blog first and then copy it onto Facebook.  I dump my brain on FB and forget to blog!  Sorry!

If I give you a photo, will that appease you?

I’ve crocheted 4.5 of these half-moon circular shawls in the last few weeks!

This weekend I’m doing a spinning demo at SCA Port Oasis’s Summer Solstice Event –if you are nearby, come over and see!!  🙂

Guild Fiber Olympics

Tomorrow starts our Guild’s Fiber Winter Olympics!  I am trying to get things organized and “train”.  I am not sure if I am entering the Figure Spinning competition because, well, aside from maybe not having enough time (since I am also working on TWO science test item-writing assignments), my “novelty ply” skills seem to be lacking.

I tried to do “Turkish Knots”  (see page 125 of Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning — I own this book, but you can see the page on Amazon ) and it came out pretty but too tightly spun and thus “hard”.  I sought advice on Ravelry Novelty & Art Yarn Forum and got some answers that seemed to help, but I haven’t gotten any good at it yet.  My results are pretty, but still overspun.

So, I’ve picked my yarn/needle/pattern for a knitted hat and a crocheted hat for the Pentathalon, along with the two skeins of 2-ply I will spin, and I’m thinking of weaving on a TriLoom that I’m trying to get my friend John to make me in the next two weeks, lol… I can enter the crocheted hat also in the Curling (crochet) event.  And I’ll probably do some of my semi-famous felted recycled sweater mittens for the felting portion of the Pentathalon.

I’m ALMOST done knitting the lemon-lime handspun rambo/cormo lambswool Anytime Wrap!

I need to update my Etsy shop with some t-shirts that I’ve batiked but not gotten online yet.

Various things to catch up

Note to self:  the canvas bags take FOR-EV-ER to absorb dye.  I think I put the wax on thick enough that it will be okay, but I’ve had the messenger bag in the dyebath twice as long as I normally leave the t-shirts in and it is still not as dark.

Hooded cardigan with super bulky (new Lion Brand Hometown Pride) yarn.  Crocheted.  Liked all the parts.  Didn’t like the final product.  I think I’ll rip it all out.

Crocheted hats.  Sat in the children’s church Christmas musical dress rehearsal and finished one whole hat and started another.  These will go on the mitten tree at church, methinks.

Sock machine.  I knit one sock (mock rib, hung hem, will do an afterthought heel and toe later) plus half of its mate on my Gearhart sock machine, but got tired of sitting there.  Really ought to finish that one.

Bookshelves everywhere.  My FIL brought us a bunch (8?) of bookcases from his house, along with some dressers and a “new” futon/bed for child #2.  Not all of the bookcases are in their correct homes yet.  He also brought (and had previously sent, but they haven’t been put away yet) several other boxes of books and a bunch of MILs yarn.  Some of the yarn needs to find someone else’s home to live in.

Rambo-Cormo lambswool anytime wrap.  I finally finished spinning the rest of the kool aid lemon-lime dyed fleece into 2-ply yarn and I have knit about 2 bobbinsful into this very easy (see other post about the Anytime Wrap I made for Jane from handspun, handdyed wool) lacey shawl.  I have lots of shawls, but I almost didn’t give Jane’s to her because I thought it was so pretty.

What is it?

I mean, it is a saxony-style spinning wheel.  I know THAT.  But what else?

the treadle is missing (I have the footman bar, but the cat was playing with it).  The bobbin does not move freely on the flyer shaft.  The whole maiden setup thing comes loose from the base (it had been glued). So, I have some fooling to do to get it spinning, but I am hopeful.

Wondering if anyone recognizes it (there aren’t any marks that I found to identify it) or has any brilliant ideas for me.

Sorry I haven’t posted much…

I have been working on an enrichment project (see my school blog) and dealing with trying to get the right insulin levels for the cat.  Add to that the stomach bug we got and the general business of summertime with children home from school and I have not been getting that much done in the way of fibery things.  I’ve spun with my spindle and I finished a prayer shawl.  Not much else.  I’ll get back to it.  Really!

Various things: Tour de Fleece, Bville Civil War Days, “Secret” sale

Yesterday 3 (Mitzi, Alane & me) of us from Guild went to the Barboursville Civil War Days to demo spinning.  We each spun on a wheel and a spindle.  So I “caught up” on TdF, lol, for several hours.  Finished one skein of bulky Coopworth on a wheel and one skein of maybe DK merino on my spindle.

I am also having a “secret” sale on my Etsy shop.  If you put “BlogJuly” in your message to seller, I will give you $5 off a $25 in-stock fiber-animal-batik t-shirt.  This is good until the end of July, 2009.  I will send you a refund for the $5, it won’t come out automatically on your checkout cart.

 

Etsy Buy Handmade goodnessgraciousWV

More Tour de Fleece days and Harry Potter batik shirts

I’ve been spinning some carbonized bamboo sliver on my Baynes and spindling some samples every day (well, one or the other, or both) for the Tour, but it doesn’t make for exciting photos.  No finished yarn yet.

Yesterday and today I spent several hours making some special order goat, alpaca, sheep & dragon shirts.  And, since the new HP movie opens Tuesday night, I had to make special shirts for me & my friends to wear to the movie.  I’m so geeky.  Oh well.

My bamboo sliver came!

I ordered some carbonized black diamond bamboo fiber from Cotton Clouds and it came yesterday!  I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to spin any yet–but it sure is soft & shiny!

I missed spinning on Day 3 of the Tour de Fleece, but today I already spun a little on my spindle and intend to spin on my Baynes as well.  I’m in the middle of at least three different spinning projects on my Baynes, so I’m not sure if I will get to the bamboo today, or keep on the BFL or spin some of the merino/silk that I have a bobbinful waiting…

“Stole” one of my own shirts from my Etsy shop today because it hadn’t sold in a while and it was the right size and the right color and I didn’t have a goat shirt for myself yet.

Gotta go clean for least a little while–I have the house to myself, so it does seem like a shame to spend the time cleaning, but I have to do SOME as it needs it.  This week the boys had church camp–Evan’s staying over, but every day but tonight Christopher has just been in day camp, so I have been spending nearly 2 hours in my car (half hour each way, drop off & pick up).  I guess I ought to have been listening to audio books or something, but the road is very twisty and people tailgate if you aren’t going fast enough, so I guess I need to keep my mind on the road.  Monday I spent at least part of the day doing “samples” for my sprayed-dye-soywax-batik method that I did with the older kids at camp (see another post?  maybe tomorrow?).  Tuesday I spent the whole day at camp, since I was doing the dyeing with the kids for a bit over an hour and thought it would be silly to drive up and back THREE times.  I think the kids enjoyed making their shirts–maybe too hot to get really effective soywax batiking outside, or maybe they used too much/too little wax.  Some of the shirts turned out pretty well, but some were not distinct designs and some came out WAY pale overall (I believe that is my fault, near the end I watered the dye down some, which would have been okay, but since I had the activator/ash directly in the dye spray, I think there wasn’t enough activator in some of the dye).  The counselors seemed to enjoy it, anyhow.  THEN last night I went to the library and did round two of Battle of the Books tie-dye t-shirts!  whew!

I will try to put up some photos & description of my “new” dyeing method soon…  🙂

Tour de Fleece, day 2

Was busy today with Sunday School and church and lunch (we went out to Five Guys–yum!) and taking Christopher for his first day of church day camp at Asbury Woods, and dropping Evan off for his first day of sleepaway camp at Asbury Woods…But, I managed to spin some while Andrew was playing a board game with Christopher–some BFL roving from Little Barn.  I didn’t spin all of this today–I spun for about an hour during “Merlin”.  Can’t decide if I like the show or not!

Tour de Fleece 2009

I joined the Spinning Bunny Tour de Fleece team and it starts today.  I will count helping children spin at the Festival, but I also plyed up some of the cherry Dorset blended with soy silk.

It is raining out, so I can’t get very good photos.  this will have to do: