Psyched!

I wish I had pictures of all of them but i just sold 3 of my new Nuno felted scarves.
WOW, I can't believe it. $35 each and already sold them. I am so excited. Back to work on
felting since I have a show in February (the annual Harvey House show). Also have work to do on some "orders" So - work work work. I'll post the ONE picture of the ONE scarf I did get before they all sold.
WooHoo!

Roving - I LOVE this stuff.

I just couldn't help but but another picture up of this roving. I am tickled at how this turned out and I just cannot wait to spin it up!!!! The colors are lovely and I love the way they work together. NOW I just need to come up with a catchy name for the colorway. REALLY don't know what to call it. Nothing has just jumped out at me like Johnny Jump Ups or Mixed Berries. I have other ones in my head all name but this one just HAPPENED!!! That' s what happens when roving just jumps in the dyepot and wants to be a certain color (or three).

Another Fun Dye Day

Today I had a fun dye day. I just wanted to do some Silk Scarves so that I could begin my adventures in Nuno felting which I never got too by the way. While I was at it I threw in some beautiful white roving and this is what happened - Brilliant Blue, Emerald Green and Chestnut Brown.

Here is the circle tie dye scarf in Emerald

And the gorgeous Chestnut Brown one.

Can't wait to see these done!

First Peek at Lockerhocked Rug

Here it is drawn out and about 1/4 of the way hooked. It won't look like what is drawn exactly as I have decided some elements won't work for it but it is a good start. I will take another picture soon since I am about 1/2 way now. It really is starting to take shape and the blue/turquoise I dyed for the goat came out EXACTLY the color I want it!!!! Too exciting. I dyed a dark charcoal grey roving a brilliant blue/Turquoise mix and it is so beautiful. OOOH, AAH.

Can't wait to post the finished piece.....but that will be another week or so - AT LEAST. This is most certainly a lesson in patience if nothing else. I just want to see it done.

More Lockerhooking

So, curiosity got me on the web early one morning and I began looking up the history of Lockerhooking. Originally it appears to have been done in England using 6ply wool yarn but the expense of producing rugs this way was too time consuming and expensive for most folks. A man visiting England took the technique and supplies home to his mother in Australia, who began experimenting to find an easier less expensive way and came up with the style I learned which is to Lockerhook with roving. Indeed - EASIER!!!! I think Lockerhooking is one of the easiest fiberarts there is - Way easier than the British method of course. One would have to process the wool, spin the 6 ply and then lockerhook the rug! This method requires a minimal of supplies - Canvas, yarn (2ply works fine and I am using some of my early UGLY 2ply as it gets covered up anyway and some not so NICE wool) Roving, Tapestry Needle and of course a Lockerhook which looks like a Crochet hook with a needle opening on the back. Oh, and at least some geometric imagination!!!!! REally- you can draw on the canvas and then Fill in with whatever color wool you want. It really is incredibly fun. Are you guys bored with posts with no pictures yet? They are coming - I promise. But I want to do a little more work on the rug FIRST! You'll just have to come back - that's all!

LOCKERHOOKING!

Lockerhooking is a fiber art I've been wanting to learn practically since I began my fiber arts adventure. I have been doing so many other things that I sort of put it on the backburner. This Oct I was able to head up North to the Taos Wool Festival (sooo much fun!!!!) and there was a vendor there teaching folks to Lockerhook. After about 10 minutes watching her, I took the plunge and bought a kit that included all the tools needed, a book and then an extra yard of hooking canvas. Wahoo - on my way to a new adventure!!! So I took some time a completed the project in the kit which was a trivet. This is soooo easy! So I decided a BIGGER project was in order and I drew the background and have been getting the roving ready for hooking. I am seriously thinking a lockerhooking class is in order too! I think come the new year I will set a locker hooking class or two. INDEED! I will post photos of the project soon. I just got soooo excited about finally getting to learn something that I've been wanting to do and what a great way to be able to use up some rovings that I don't really want to use for clothing and some of my rather overspun or loosely spun beginner skeins of yarn - NOTHING needs to go to waste.
Keep posted for more Fiber Adventures - Lockerhooking supplies weren't the only things I bought up in Taos!!!! Besides - i am trying to destash or use my stash and not buy anything unless is will "get rid" of stuff I already have. Yep - lots of fibery adventures to be had.

Tye Dye Silk Scarf - DONE!

This is the beaded fringe added to the Turquoise Silk Scarf. I couldn't post this until I gave it to my friend so here it is. It is beaded with brown frosted seed beads and Turquoise Silver lined bugles. I LOVE the way it turned out. Thankfully she loved it too. I also made an ankle bracelet to go with it. But also used magenta fire polish with silver and turquoise fire polish and black beads - darn if I didn't get a picture of that one. STORY of my life!

New Felted Wool Hat

I'm sure after reading most of the previous posts most of you are surprised to see something not turquoise or brown or a combination thereof! I just finished this felted wool/Mohair blend hat (again using my favorite Brown Sheep Co. wool blend). In Ink Blue with a rusty red border. This too I feel is BORING so I am planning on some imbellishing and/or cool hat band. Not sure yet. But, nevertheless, here it is! It is available. I have two orders waiting for me now that I need to get hot on so this one will take a backseat until the orders are done. SIGH! Never enough time in the day to do everything.

Tye Dye Scarf

Okay, this isn't done. I want to embellish this little gem a bit. But this is the tye dye scarf that went into the pot after the silk. It is sooooo pretty. I have it in mind for someone whose Birthday is next week - I hope I get it done in time!!!!!

And the Color is.......

This may not come as any surprise to those of you who know me well. But yes, turquoise is the color. Thankfully I was able to get some dyeing advice from the dye expert at Village Wools (Thank you!) My intention was to ply this with chocolate brown alpaca but my friend Terri suggest something else and I'm pretty sure that is what I will do......A lace shawl out of the single! I bet it will be gorgeous! (Thank you Terri!) My dyepot was no where near exhausted (this doesn't take much time in the pot) so I threw in a Chiffon Scarf I purchased from Dharma Trading Co. I tye dyed it and I LOVE IT. See next post!

Anohter Spinning Project....

Quite a while back I purchased 4oz of Tussah silk roving. I had no idea at the time exactly how far that would go but I began spinning a thin single. After about a week I finished the first skein. And I still had a lot left to spin. Sooooo, after nearly another week (not quite) I finished two skeins of the most beautiful, thin, silk skeins. And then I began to dream about COLORS. What to make this luscious stuff? I know some of you know what this turned out to be (colorwise) but the rest of you will have to wait to see......

I bought this beautiful batt of bamboo and angelina in brown and turquoise. This stuff is so beautiful with lost of shine. It is from Butterflygirldesigns.Etsy.com.
I really enjoy spinning bamboo and seeing how the yarn turns out.
Here is is being spun up into a single. My intention is to ply with some of the soft Merino/Ramboulliet wool I have from my friend Wendy's sheep Molly. Love Molly. She has a nice staple length and some very soft fiber.

Here is the spun yarn. It sure made a lot of yarn but I haven't been able to find the time to count and find out the exact yardage yet. My plan is to make a jacket out of it. I do not have enough so I ordered to more batts from Butterflygirldesigns and have lots of Molly since I purchased a pound of her fiber and have been spinning it VERY thin.
Can't wait until I have a lovely jacket to wear!

Horse Quilt top.

I recently finished this quilt top - I started it about 7 years ago or so. I did one for my son that has John Deere tractors and one that is for my daughter that is horses. Unfortunately a lot can change in 7 years - she doesn't like horses anymore! Boohoo.
The top is finished and I will work on finishing it up over the winter. I will put it up for sale to buy material for another quilt more to her liking (and more mature tastes.) If anyone is interested in the quilt please contact me at NMgoatgal@gmail.com. Top only will be $100. Once it is done it will go up for auction on ComeToTheFarm. If you want it finished before I put it up for auction it will be $200.

Netted Scarf

Recently I finished this netted scarf, this was sooo easy a project but for some reason it gave me a heck time - Had to frog this like 4 times. But alas it is done.
It is in turquoise and purple silk and viscose. It has lovely fringe and is very classy looking if you can ignore the few mistakes. I love this scarf and just need an occassion and an outfit to wear it with LOL!

Chocolate on My Blue Silk Dress and Molly

I just don't seem to be able to stop spinning. Quite a while back I had my friend Terry order me this Bamboo/Angelina from an Etsy store (Butterflygirldesigns.Etsy.com) and I just now got around to spinning the luscious stuff. And for once I actually have a project in mind for it. A beautiful netted Tunic sweater (which means now I have to get off my duff and learn to knit sweaters.
Here it is spun by itself. It is soooo shiney it reflects the light in the most amazing way. I wish the sweater was done but first I have to spin a bunch of Molly - the Ramboulliet/Merino wool I bought from my dear friend Wendy. I love this combo. It is so soft and silky it is amazing.
Here is the first skein prewash. It is 2 ply sportweight and is lovely stuff for a scrumptious sweater for the winter. (yeah, knowing me - next winter. BUT I digress. I loved this stuff and still have plenty of Molly left so I ordered two more batts of Chocolate on My Blue Silk Dress from Butterflygirldesigns. IF you are bored and LOVE handmade drop spindles - go check out her store - you won't be dissappointed - besides, if drop spindles aren't your thing - she has some beautiful spinning batts as well. Keep posted to see if ever make it to getting my sweater done - in the meantime I may just have to sleep with the soft stuff.
HMMMMMM.....

MORE Alpaca Silk Yarn.

This is a 3 ply nearly sportweight yarn with 2 ply of Black Alpaca (Phineas from Four Pines Alpaca) and 1 of pink/blue/purple silk from ExclusivelyLindaLee.Etsy.com. Thank you two ladies for contributing to my spinning enjoyment. It came out to about 170 yards of lovely yarn though this picture isn't showing it for what it REALLY is. For those of you who are local - it will be down at the Valencia County Fair from Wed to Sunday. REALLY enjoying spinning Alpaca - some of the nicest fiber I've spun and Silk is right up there with it so this is the stuff spinning dreams are made of . IT is for sale but I have not priced it yet. Feel free to email me if you are interested.

Indigo Blues

Our Fiber Guild put on an Indigo Dying workshop this past Saturday. Soooo, I took a skein of white Alpaca I had and a silk cap I had sitting around. We wore our old clothes and learned the history of Indigo and how to process it. (Yeah, I kind of felt a tad OUT of my league here) Also had a tour of Jaye's beautiful dye garden (darn I left my camara at home -so if you want to see you'll have to visit SpinKitty or TerriKnitsAnd blogspots to see

what other goodies there were to see) Here is the finished product

the silk cap and the beautiful skein of blue Alpaca. Beautiful Stuff.

NEW Fiber - Thank you Linda Lee!!!

Like a kid in a candy store when this fiber came. Linda Lee at ExclusivelyLindaLee.Etsy.com sold me this incredible eye candy aka Silk Handpainted Hankies for spinning. There is 10 grams of Promise (yes - more Black Alpaca/rainbow silk on the way) and about 30 of Hankie Pankie (the purple/pink/blue) plus some tempting tencel and merino....and a little tickler of Tulips (yellow, light blue, light green, coral) Too much fun stuff so little time!!!!!!Thank you again Linda Lee for tempting me into MORE beautiful fiber. I'll be busy spinning up a storm.

Merino/Bamboo - Autumn Browns

I bought 4 oz of custom carded/dyed bamboo in shades of chocolate brown, red and gold. I spun a lot of it up and then plyed it with some yummy Merino/Ramboulliet. This is some of the softest yummiest yarn yet. (WELL - almost - the alpaca/silk is mighty soft) I wish the colors really came through BUT you can

click on the picture and you can see more detail as the picture will enlarge. There is a lot more yarn here than I thought I'd get and it is fairly thin. Still not sure what it will be but I'll let you all know when it decides to be something!!!! The Bamboo came from Loop.Etsy.com and the Merino/Ramb. came from my friend Wendy's ewe Molly. LOVELY stuff ladies!!!!

Mystery Fiber Day - REVEALED

IF you guessed I was caught red handed dying with Koolaid - you were right!!! Here are a sampling of the beautiful colors of wool my 4 year old and I dyed in our day together. I think we both had a ton of fun and want to do this again. wonder if we could get the 14yo and 10 yo's interested???? Who knows - Buy stock in Koolaid - this won't be our last time - My favorites are the purples and blue/greens. YUMMY!!!!!We dyed Brown Sheep Co wool top, BFL/Cheviot and some mystery wool I was given, and a bit of Terri's Mohair (in cherry red!!!) Can't wait to card and spin this stuff. Oh yeah, did I mention it smells yummy - when we were done, we sat back and had a nice cold glass of ........Cherry Koolaid - perfect end to a perfect fiber day with the kiddo.

What in the World Am I Up to?

YEP - you caught me RED handed (Bwahaha) doing something today....
What does a Fiber Artist do when she is blessed with a day at home with only the 4 year old at home to HELP out? AND and inspirational visit from a fellow Fiber Junkie? Take a lucky guess!!!!
Also - For a hint check out TerriKnitsAnd.blogspot.com ! You can see what one of the local Bosque Farms Fiber Addicts is up to!

I've been BAMBOOzled

Not really - I began spinning one of my two new batts of Bamboo at the Fiber Farm Tour. WOWZA! This is Chocolate Liquer (spelling is wrong sorry!) from Loop at Etsy.com and it is stunning. I wish the spun up pic was better. My plan is to 2ply with some yummy Merino from my wonderful friend Wendy and her sheep Molly. This is gonna be some serious eye candy.

Fiber Farm Tour

Forgot my camara but I had memorable day at the Fiber Farm tour in Edgewood/East Mountain area. Judy Tucker and Lora Kniffin at Prairie Wood Ranch invited me out to be a part of the tour and sell my goat milk soaps and yarn/ finished projects. Sounds like it was a success ALL the way around. It was so fun meeting so many Fiber folks, talking to people about their critters and demonstrating spinning. Also had the chance to help Lora sell one of her goats who I KNOW got a new GREAT home with Laughing Orca Ranch (see link on my Cornerstonenigerians blog). Lisa took home a beautiful blue eyed Mini Mancha who I think will be a real asset to her farm. Can't wait until Lisa is up to her elbows in milk and cheese!
Next year I'll remember my camara and take pics of the fiber and all the kids enjoying the baby goats including Judy's new Angora Caleb. So EXCITING!!!!

Prism Yarn

Okay - not the best picture. This is the newest yarn. I plied 2 strands of Black Alpaca (from Phineas at FourPines Alpacas in Los Lunas) and one ply of rainbow dyed silk from ExclusivelyLindaLee.Etsy.com. I LOVE the rainbow dyed silk. Wish i'd bought more of that one. BTW - for those of you who like to spin from Hankies - I hightly recommend Linda Lee's AWESOME custom dyed hankies. They are BIG and the dying she does is really unique. I am going to throw this in the wash and I will get another picture when the skein is finished. She's super nice to work with too!!!! Thank you Linda and Mary - I really appreciate your "contributions" to my Fiber addiction. Also another plug for Mary at Four Pines - she gave our 4H kids a bunch of fiber for their newest project - they learned to make wet felted pieces so if I have a chance to finish soon I will take pictures and put them up.

Johnny Jump Ups - WASHED!

Amazingly enough this is Johnny Jump Ups POST washing.

Skein one is the largest at 290yds. It is 3 ply and washed out to a pretty shades of purple with some greenish hues. Skein two is only a two ply of lilac and yellow which turned an almost mossy green with some purples total lenght is 256.8 yards.Skein 3 is what was left of the triple ply of the lilac, violet and yellow which for some reason turned a lighter shade of the purples/green - total yardage is 139.75. Odd that all of this came of the same dye lot - Ya never know what is going to happen! I guess that is the fun of this - the unpredictablility! I am going to wash the Purple Haze today and see what happens.

NEW Novelty yarn.

Okay, so my artistic brain has been working overtime. I bought some lovely BFL/Cheviot cross wool from Lisa at Sommerhill Farm. I drum carded it with some dyed BFL lock (also from Lisa) and some Purple Flash Angelina. I spun up the batts (well, not all of them YET!) and then plyed with some beautiful purple silk I spun at our spinning silk workshot not too long ago. I LOVE this stuff. I haven't even taken it off the Niddy Noddy yet but it's beautiful stuff - I WANT MORE!!!!! I will be calling it Purple Haze. No Fiber addiction issues here - really! Johnny Jump Up is being washed right now, YES I finally finished spinning it and plying it. I wound up with 2 triple ply and found myself with quite a bit of yellow and lilac left so I double plied it and it's also in the wash. Pics later when it's all washed and dried.

BTW, I was given a niddy noddy and a Lazy Kate for Mother's day and I am buying some brown alpaca so look for a lot more fun novelty yarn coming your way. We will be at Prairie Wood Ranch for the East Mountain Fiber Farm tour the first weekend in June. We will have Fiber, finished products, goat milk soaps and will be spinning and maybe some needle felting while we are there.

Johnny Jump Ups Done!

I finally got my first skein of Johnny Jump Ups done. I am going to be doing another run of it. YIPPEE.
These pics are terrible. I tried to get a good picture. Anyway. I believe it made around 290 yards. I will likely put this one up for sale - as my friend said - it is a process project. I just wanted to dye, spin, and triple ply - Success. I will be washing it this week.

Johnny Jump Up Continued - Spinning

1, 2, 3. Here we go - I am spinning my rovings. The next pic will hopefully be of the finished 3-ply yarn. I think the yellow is a bit brighter than I had originally wanted but it's what i have and I've been doing it all myself for a learning experience. I have learned so much.

Johnny Jump Ups!

So, I got an incredible idea from spring flowers (yeah - I know this is not original but I still want to see it through) I had the two purples dyed so I dyed a bit of roving yellow - and I am spinning up three bobbins and will triple ply it. I love spring and it will be fun to take something from start to finish. White roving, dying it myself, and now spinning and then plying.

This is SOOOOOO much fun.

Spinning Silk

I am finally getting some spinning done. Our super friend Sue taught another Saturday spinning class for our Bosque Farms Fiber Addicts (BFFA)or is it Best Fiber Friends Always. Anyway! We learned to spin silk from hankies and roving (and caps though I haven't done that yet because I want to dye my cap/bell BEFORE I spin it). I am soooo hooked. I really like spinning silk. It really is fun. I thought it was HARD but it doesn't seem too hard to me and it is stunningly beautiful once spun.

HAHA attempt at Navajo Plying.

I like new challenges - I tried my hand a Navajo plying with some hand - dyed Brown Sheep Co. Roving. I think it looks better in this picture than in person. I really enjoyed learning but wow did I make a lot of booboos. I am think this will be knit and then made into a pillow cover (felted) so you can't see the boo boos! By the end I think I did get the hang of it. Right now I'm working on spinning a yarn of my own creation (yeah - not really) that is two shades of purple and yellow - Johnny Jump ups were the spring inspiration. Can't wait. Also learned to spin silk - oh am I hooked. Next it's Bamboo - wait to you all see this stuff - it's incredible.

Some New Hats.

Here are two hats I made on the Nifty Knitter round loom. I made one for my 4yo daughter and one for my 13 yo. daughter. I couldn't believe it when the 13 yo asked for one. They are both made out of leftover Lion Brand Homespun Yarn given to me by a friend. I am making more hats. I'd like to donate some of these to orphanages in the Ukraine or China.

PS - VERY easy to make and very quick as well - talk about instant gratification.

I DYED!!!!

I took the plunge and dyed my roving. I bought a bunch of Brown Sheep Co. natural wool roving and dyed it with Jaquard's Lilac and Violet - totally love the colors but I'm a purple fanatic. I am beginning to spin it now and am sure I will have a lot of fun doing it.

Yep, dying is nearly as much fun as spinning - fun to see what colors you get. I want to do more but again, I have too much OTHER stuff to do and really need to finish up some projects.

The Silver Stuff

I was given some lovely silver grey, soft fiber. Wish I knew what it was but I don't. I went to some fellow fiber fanatics - they all say think it is synthetic. I'm not a huge fan of synthetic but this is great stuff. I spun it thin and plied it with black tencel. Wow! I love it. It wound up being around 420 yds. I think it wants to be a lovely lacy openwork scarf. Will let ya know when I start - meanwhile I have other stuff to work on - like some purple and white to spin, some BFL/Cheviot to drum card, and several projects that need some finishing...- Too much to do too little time!!!!

MIXED BERRIES

Here is what I've been spinning. I bought 8 oz of Louet Roving called mixed berries which is hand dyed 100% wool top.
I love this combo and wish I had more!! It is planning on being a part of a sweater for my daughter. I had to share this with my blogger buddies!