Sojourner Design

The Last Batch of Potholders for Now

2009-10-29T06:01:00.006-04:00

Here I used the same overall technique for these two but wanted them to coordinate since I'd be donating them to a local Senior Center for their Christmas fair. I started experimenting with design. This is a fun way to learn about color and proportion because the projects are small and don't involve a great investment of time or fiber.

For instance, I decided that the contrasting yellow is more effective when placed closer together as opposed to alternating.

There's still room for improvement- particularly, the hanging loops- but I was satisfied enough with these to donate them. The others will reside in my kitchen where my poor tired 30-year old potholders will be retired.

More Potholders

2009-10-27T06:12:00.005-04:00

With the fourth and fifth potholders I started getting a little smarter. I decided to make my own "loopers" by wrapping strands of my wool yarn from one peg to the opposite peg four times and then tying off with a square knot. I found it easiest to do this on pegs that were near the corners as there is more space for fingers there.

Then I removed the looper and placed it on the loom where needed. So I created loopers as I wove, designing the color patterns along the way. I kept the knots in the middle of the fabric instead of the edges and used a crochet hook to work them into the weave; this helped keep the edges neater.

The number of passes around the pegs in creating each looper really depends on the thickness and "squishiness" of the yarn and it's a trial-and-error process.

I wanted my loopers, once they had taken a trip through the washer with hot water, detergent and a full wash cycle, then tumble-dried at the hottest setting, to "full" nicely; in other words, I wanted the yarn to fluff out into the spaces between loopers and to also be thick enough to be safe when handling hot items in the kitchen.

At this point it takes me about an hour to make each potholder. I'm slow at everything I do so it could take less time for manly people. It's very enjoyable to do while watching football games, etc.

More later!

Way Too Long...

2009-10-26T05:59:00.006-04:00

Back after an extremely long break. I've been focusing on other areas of my life over the past few months, starting a small part-time business within my nursing career and also re-thinking what direction I want to take my fiber business in. More about that later... for now I want to start sharing some of the work I've been doing.

I recently bought a potholder loom from Jennifer at CraftSanity. I'm a longtime listener to her Podcasts and have learned so much from them. She interviews various artists, many of them textile artists, in depth, asking many probing questions to help the listener understand how the artist evolved to her present level.

Back to the loom! Jennifer has started producing beautiful, meticulously-worked wooden looms in various sizes. The concept is similar to the old potholder looms we used as children; it is so much nicer using equipment like this! Loom dimensions available run from coaster size up to place mat size. Jennifer mentioned a loom large enough for producing small rugs but I haven't seen one yet. I purchased the large potholder size because I wanted to make wool potholders that could go in the washing machine so I needed to plan on shrinkage. That size is working very well for me. I think that the prices of these looms are quite reasonable for the quality of the workmanship; if you'd like a look, head over to her Etsy Shop.

The photo above shows the large potholder loom with my first potholders. On one on the left was made from loopers that I cut from old tee shirts. OK, quite similar to the ones children produce, but too bulky to be functional and I didn't care for the somewhat sloppy edges. On the lower right I tried some three and four ply yarn that I had put together from hand-dyed wool singles spun from local sheep. The colors are nice and it's a pretty cloth, but again not functional because even after a trip through the washer the fabric is too thin with too much open space to use safely. I can't remember exactly how I made the third one (upper right), but it involved using multiple strands of single ply, same yarn. Getting closer to my desired effect but still too thin. I'll be back later with more.

More Photos Than Words ... well, almost.

2009-05-02T17:58:00.010-04:00

View from the bathroom:

View from the kitchen sink:

On assignment in the neighbors' back yard:

Helena would be so embarrassed if she knew I'd caught her with her eyes closed.

A couple of the youngest members:

Love the coloring on these two; notice the knees.

FOR SALE

My latest Mary Alice roving (see a description of this method in my 04-20-09 post): hues of cantaloupe and watermelon with a bit of mink. One bag weighing in at 14.4 ounces; one slightly different in coloring at 8.4 ounces. $3.50 per ounce. These will go to the Fleece sale at WEBS in a couple of weeks; if you like it for yourself, just e-mail me.

Makes Me Smile

2009-04-27T07:51:00.001-04:00

A little off subject, but take a quick look at today's post in Helen Suzanne's Hebart Journal.

Lawn Ornaments

2009-04-25T06:02:00.010-04:00

A Weekend of Ragweaving!

2009-04-20T10:54:00.010-04:00

This was one of those stellar weekends. I hear that the weather was superb; I was stuck indoors at WEBS here in Northampton all day both days and didn't mind one bit. I was participating in a workshop with Johanna Erickson (author of Rag Weaving Gimmicks and Tricks) on the subject of Wearable Rags. We spent the whole weekend weaving up samples using several techniques and multiple materials. Rather than yarn for weft we used strips of materials.

This appeals to me as I have stockpiled old items of clothing for several years with the intent of doing some ragweaving. I also think that much of what I learned will apply to weaving with wool roving.

Here's a closer look at my samples:

This one included a quilted floral fabric like one would use to make a bedspread, then some pink knit fabric woven three different ways, then some shiny purple synthetic material interspersed with a weft here and there of multicolor; a large knitting needle was used to create the clusters of loops with the purple fabric.

The sample below was woven with a rather dense chenille warp. I experimented with wefts of batik-like cloth, seam binding, ribbons, rick-rack (the yellow stuff), and some brightly-striped fabric that had been pre-cut and supplied on a spool. I would have chosen a less-dense warp to allow more of the weft to show.

This piece involved weaving with strips of knit fabric such as tee shirts. It was particularly fun to weave with the blue and white-striped material, fiddling with each weft to create a checkerboard effect.

This was probably the most fun: picture weaving. A fabric with a design such as flowers is chosen, cut into strips, and the strips woven in order so that there is a squashed-down version of the images on the original fabric. The larger and simpler the images, the more the more similar the woven results will be. Here you can see I experimented with several different patterns.

I love attending workshops that involve creating samples rather than a finished item. Good food, good people, good weaving.

THOSE COMMENTS...

Thank you Michelle Ward, Sharon Bogon, and Tammy for your recent comments.

FIBER FOR SALE

These were two very successful and rewarding dye jobs in which I tried a new technique. In each bag there are several continuous strands of roving, each dyed a hue that is harmonious with the others. Because the colors are in separate strands the spinner can control exactly how the colors are worked up; either blended all together, spun intermittently, or even spun into separate colored skeins. The batch above includes strands ranging from a pale, polite yellow through several shades of green to aqua.

My friend Mary Alice bought a bag at the recent meeting of the Nutmeg Spinners Guild. When I saw her a few days later she told me how delighted she was when she looked closer at home and discovered that she would have so many spinning possibilities. So I've decided to call this dyeing technique my Mary Alice roving. It was nice to get good feedback from someone who appreciated my efforts to put more control into the spinner's hands.

Since Mary Alice asked me to set aside another bag of this, I only have one bag available now; it's 6.6 ounces of Finn Cross for $23.10.

More Mary Alice roving here, with shades of shrimp from pale to medium as well as a touch of pale mauve. I have four bags of this, each approximately one half pound; if you're interested I'll get you the specifics. Priced as above, at $3.50 per ounce.

I'm getting ready for my next selling event which will be the Fleece Market at the WEBS Tent Sale on Saturday, 16 May at WEBS here in Northampton MA. Although the main sale is a two-day event, the Fleece Market will be limited to Saturday. I have a new (to me) EZ-UP shelter which will hopefully function better than my shelter last year which blew down. My border collie Bud will be with me that day to welcome visitors.

Fiber for Sale

2009-04-06T16:55:00.008-04:00

I've been quite the slacker when it comes to posting fiber for sale and am going to try to be a little better about that. This is a dye project with which I was very pleased. It's the roving that Spike showed you in my entry on 21 March.

Spinners at the Nutmeg Spinning Guild were pleased too; more than half of the dye lot sold there this past weekend. The color of this Border Leicester cross roving can best be described as smoky opal; the hue reminds me of the lichen that grows on rocks with shadowy areas within that hue. The shadowing is consistently inconsistent; if your project calls for consistency you'll need to take this into account in your spinning. I have a total of 20 ounces available, and it's listed on Etsy so you can purchase it there.

Kreative Blogger Award

2009-04-06T13:51:00.014-04:00

I've been nominated by Janet Austin, a tapestry weaver in Rhode Island, to receive a Kreative Blogger award. Janet's blog can be found here: Tangled Web. I am honored to be nominated, particularly to be nominated by Janet. Receiving this award includes the following duties:

1. Copy the Kreativ Blogger Award to your blog
2. Put a link to the person from whom you received the award
3. Nominate 8 other blogs and
4. Link to them
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated

Guess this will be the start of a list of my favorite blogs appearing over there on the right. There are plenty to choose from; I read blogs through Google Reader and subscribe to and receive updates from 147 of them! Each week I add far more than I drop. I think this might be a little problem.

Here are the blogs I selected to pass the Kreative Blogger Award on to, and why:

Craftcast: because it's the blog for show notes from Allison Lee's super podcast by the same name. I enjoy the podcast more, but it's nice to have a place to go to pick up links from the podcast. Allison's interview technique and podcast design are so enjoyable. Hers is probably among my two or three favorite podcasts.

Cre8it Art Blog: because Jessica has introduced me to so many materials and techniques, both through the blog and through her great online classes.

daisy yellow. Can't read this one too late in the day as it will keep me awake. This one is a recent discovery and is indispensable to me. I love the way she cross-references her technique-laden blog entries.

Getting Stitched on the Farm: Just about the first blog I read when I see there's a fresh entry. The author of Kristin Knits shares her farm and creative lives.

GPP Street Team: lots of technique and challenges from Michelle Ward.

Magstitch: Maggie Grey, author of several on-the-edge books represents how the UK is so far ahead of us, if there can indeed be an ahead. But how I enjoy eating the dust!

Pin Tangle: Australian embroiderer Sharon Bogon is a talented artist who is so generous with her knowledge. She has inspired me, taught me in several online classes, and regularly reviews other blogs that I might enjoy.

Textile Tales: Carol McFee loads her blog with photos of sumptuous little pieces of textile art.

Something's Different...

2009-03-21T14:14:00.008-04:00

This is Spike, my Silky Terrier, showing you some freshly-dyed roving destined to be barely spun into thick rag-like dreds and then woven into a rug. The colors I'm dyeing for this project are celadon (above), periwinkle, and a touch of yellow here and there. This rug is destined for a recently re-decorated guest bedroom; my goal is t eventually have almost every rug in the house handwoven. I'm so happy with this soft green-gray hue that as I write this blog entry I have two pounds of it in the dyepot to sell this spring.

An anonymous commenter asked me if Angelina can be wet-felted among the layers of wool when felting a table runner. Angelina can be incorporated into wet felting, but I would take care to be sure that it isn't buried so deep that it can't be seen. You could take a small amount of your wool and card some Angelina into that, then use it on the top layer. If you do this, you probably need to be using a wool that really felts easily such as merino wool. If you're reading this and have no idea what I'm talking about, read about Angelina here. I sell Angelina in my Etsy shop; that link is in the column on the right.

Here's another little stitchlet comleted one evening this week. I'd been thinking about incorporating beads into my felt embroidery, but decided to make my own! This bead was constructed of several layers of cardstock glued together and painted with acrylic paints and a touch of gold lumiere paint. I opted to use some card stock that had a little printing on it for a collage effect. A great use for old Christmas cards!

I've added a group of these felt vest blanks to my Etsy shop at a very reduced price because I want to clear out my inventory and make some room. Click on my Etsy link over on the right to get there!

So... why is this blog entry labeled "Something's Different? Take a look, below. Comments? Anyone?

More Color

2009-03-06T11:49:00.005-05:00

Last weekend I attended SPA Knit and Spin VII. This was my fifth year there; the event is described as a "Gathering of fiber art friends from across New England." The weekend involves several hundred fiber enthusiasts who commandeer two hotels in Freeport ME and just have a good old time pursuing their interest, socializing, eating and shopping. I usually go with three friends; we arrived Thursday so that we could extend our little vacation. I worked on more felt embroidery, above.

Upon my return home from SPA, I was thinking red. Monday was a snowy day so the dye pot was fired up.

So Tuesday I decided to even things up with Green. Forty skeins altogether! These will be reappearing soon on this blog.

At Peace

2009-02-12T08:31:00.003-05:00

Thank you to those who have passed along kind thoughts. My mother slipped away peacefully yesterday morning. My father was at the bedside, holding her hand as she left. I'll be taking a few more days off from blogging during this sweet, sad time.

A Parable of Immortality

A Little Silence Here...

2009-02-08T11:02:00.002-05:00

To my Blog Friends,

It will probably be a little while before I post again because my mother, who has been in failing health, has taken quite a downturn. I suspect that the next week or so will be a tough one and that I won't have too much online time. I'll be back soon though!

More Stitching...

2009-01-31T15:44:00.003-05:00

I imagine Sharon B will be moving on to a new embroidery stitch in the Stitch Explorer challenge, but just had to have another go at Chicken Scratch. I really enjoy this concept and see so many possibilities with it! This one involves small squares of multi color gingham lightly fused to a piece of my hand-dyed felt in a checkerboard pattern as a base for stitching, again with my own yarn.

THOSE COMMENTS...

Thank you Kristin Nicholas for stopping by my blog! Hope all is continuing to go well with lambing; I loved that last photo you posted!

Sharon, thank you for admiring my first piece I did for Stitch Explorer. Hope you stop back and see today's!

Now I'm off to feed some sheep.

FarmNewsFlash

2009-01-25T11:01:00.002-05:00

Kristin Nicholas has posted a beautiful short video of one of her sheep giving birth and caring for its new lamb. This would be a great video to watch with children.

THOSE COMMENTS...

Barbara G, thank you for the feedback. I missed seeing your new work at our last meeting!

A Little Thief...

2009-01-25T09:24:00.007-05:00

A couple days ago I checked in on my chickens just after lunchtime. This is what I saw: an opossum had found his way into the house, taken the top off the kitty litter pan I use as an egg box, had himself a tasty egg dinner, and snuggled in among broken eggshells for a nice nap. When I first saw him he was sound asleep in a ball. I was unable to capture that because I had to run back into the house for my camera.

Ever so slowly, he shook off his somnolence. He knew he was in an awkward situation and stayed curled up with his pointed snout open, showing some rather sharp-looking teeth. Most of the chickens were outside in their fenced-in area, but there were one or two walking around inside, unconcerned. There were a few eggs laid in the bedding in another corner of the coop so I'm assuming this fellow had been in possession of the egg box for awhile.

I don't want him to be a regular visitor so using a t-post I tipped him out of the box. He scurried out through the small chicken door, cowered in one corner of the outdoor pen, and eventually found a way out to freedom. He may have been helping himself to eggs all along but got sloppy in his burglary by snoozing on the job. I'll have to keep an eye on the situation and make some changes in the fencing if I see him again.

Time to show one of my projects from last summer. This is a ruglet, a small prototype for a rug. I tend to embark on rather labor-intensive projects so I like to do small samples and then make a decision about whether I want to invest the time on a larger version, or whether my idea would even work.

This ruglet was woven on my big Swedish loom on a cotton warp using several hues of hand-dyed wool roving. I didn't want the warp to show so laying in enough roving weft to cover the warp yarn was quite fiddly. If I were weaving a rug I'd probably use a nice dyed wool warp and not worry about whether the weft covered it completely. I'm also not sure about how this would function as a rug. I wouldn't want to put it in a high traffic area; it might be quite nice though as a scatter rug next to a bed.

I Digress... Often.

2009-01-20T06:42:00.007-05:00

I am, to a fault, a divergent thinker and a curious person. I'm always up for learning about, or at least admiring, a new artistic medium. The problem is that I often allow myself to be lured into trying my hand at these new adventures. I've finally decided that it's a good thing, something that I shouldn't try to reign in for now, but it definitely results in being spread a little thin.

Here's an example. I'm currently enrolled in a fantastic online course, Paper Quilting Explorations, with Terri Stegmiller. I'm not a quilter and clearly wool is my thing. The class is time-intensive (as evidenced by my lack of blogs over the past few days), but so worthwhile. I'm putting materials I'd purchased and stored away and learning about the characteristics of various surface design products.

This piece involved gluing white tissue paper to muslin after crumpling it up then smoothing it back out, spraying three hues of Adirondack Color Wash (I used hues close to the primaries I use for dyeing) and then spreading the dyes around on the surface. After drying I added a little gold Lumiere paint to bring in a little light, cut the sheet into six squares and darkened the edges with a black stamp pad that was almost dried out (oh well).

For the background I chose some sheet music that my mother-in-law had used as a young girl and glued it to muslin. The background was fused to Pellon. The squares were fussed to the background in a pleasing arrangement. Finally, a little machine stitching around the squares and the edges of the background were machine zig-zagged. I like it enough to hang it and will probably be matting it on a canvas, although I'm open for suggestions. I've added a close-up below.

THOSE COMMENTS...

JaneO, thank you the positive feedback on my chicken scratch embroidery. I took a look at the work you’re doing as a City and Guilds student, and it looks intense! I’ve been subscribing to your blog for awhile. City and Guilds, for anyone that’s not familiar with this, is an educational program leading to a diploma in stitched textiles.. At one time the program was supported by the British government! JaneO, if anything I said here was inaccurate or if you’d like to say more, please come back and leave another comment.

Helen, thank you for your compliment on the chicken scratch embroidery. Helen, also located in England, maintains a blog. It’s worth a click to check it out; scroll down a little to 11 August 2008 for a hilarious post on stash busting!

Thank you, Elizabeth, for your comments. I love the texture too- that’s one of the reasons I love working with felt. I realized that I had made a mistake in my description of the work. The lighter brown squares are couched, not appliquéd. Elizabeth has a great blog, Quieter Moments, in which she’s documenting her embroidery work.

Stitch Explorer

2009-01-15T17:03:00.005-05:00

I'm participating in the Stitch Explorer challenge over on Sharon Bogan's blog, Pin Tangle. Each month Sharon will be posting information about an unusual stitch or style of embroidery. She provides guidance and links to other sources of information about the stitch. Sharon challenges participants to try the technique, modifying it with their own ideas.

This month's challenge is "Chicken Scratch," described as a combination of simple cross stitches and a lacing technique. As always I'm partial to wool yarn on felt (from my sheep of course). Chicken Scratch is often worked on gingham; I chose work my own version of gingham by couching contrasting squares onto the background with the embroidery stitches themselves. I'm pleased with my sample (6 x 6); the photo doesn't really capture the texture. Lots of fun, so many possible variations!

Temperatures are predicted to be below zero in the morning, without taking wind chill into consideration. We're ready!

THOSE COMMENTS...

Thanks for stopping by, Elis. Her great blog, Into the Blystic, documents every few days another of her abstract paintings. I really enjoy seeing them, and lately she has started commenting on her technique. I think that enjoying another art medium helps me to be more creative in my own.

Longevity

2009-01-14T09:10:00.003-05:00

My husband gave me these flowers on my birthday. That was 23 December. I want what they're having.

THOSE COMMENTS...

Lynn, thanks much for your kind comments! The twined rug was fun to make, and not at all mentally taxing. I like that.

Evol-HUE-tion

2009-01-13T15:51:00.003-05:00

NEW OFFERING:

Evol-HUE-tion sock yarn dyed in my latest colorway. Two "cakes" available at $25.00 per. For more information about this yarn and how it knits up, please check out this web page.

Kristin Nicholas, author of Kristin Knits, reports that they're in the midst of lambing time at her farm. She lives in Northern Franklin County, not far from here, and her blog, Getting Stitched on the Farm, is one of my favorites. Over the last few days there have been lots of new lamb photos stop by and see!

Here's a photo of a rug that I twined this fall in a class taken with Alice Kane of Northampton. Alice does an exquisite type of embroidery called black work, and in addition she creates excellent twined rugs.

A beginning project, this rug measures 18 inches by 23 inches. It was twined using an inexpensive loom constructed of canvas stretchers. I tore strips from an old blue blanket, an olive Army type blanket, and added some purchased wool in a bright plaid. It is an extremely solid little rug that lays nice and flat on the floor and will wear like iron. This class was offered at the Wool and Dye Works here in town.

It's All About the Wool

2009-01-11T15:43:00.012-05:00

Here's a piece that I just finished yesterday afternoon. It's based on a project in a wonderful online course, Sumptuous Surfaces, that I took with Sharon B, author of the blog Pin Tangle, this past fall. We were charged with using monotones for this piece so that we could focus on texture and design. I chose to use several hes of brown, natural-colored wool, both felt and yarn, as well as some cotton chenille, cotton and rayon weaving yarns and three coconut shell buttons. My goal was to gradually build up the texture the center of the smallest circle.

I'm happy with this piece and will be hanging it in my home so I decided to use a blanket stitch to embroider it to a piece of felt, again from natural-colored wool. There's a pocket, created with blanket stitch, through which a dowel will be slipped. All the wool in this project was shorn from my sheep. I am many weeks late in finishing this project, but that's the speed at which I operate and that's why Sharon's online classes ( and those of a few others) work so well for me.

I had some unanticipated free time Friday afternoon, and had been notified by Jeremiah at Twist of Fate Spinnery in Portland CT that my latest batch of fiber had been carded and was ready to pick up. So I gathered up all the fleeces that I'd skirted and sorted for the next round and packed them into my back seat. When Bud saw that a road trip was in my plans he stationed himself by the door. Here we are, with bags of wonderful-smelling (really!) dirty wool and ready to go.

After washing my fleece in several rounds of very, very hot water in order to remove all traces of grease, the fiber is processed through their carder, below.

Here's Rick with some freshlly-carded fleece. They line tall buckets with long plastic bags and the roving from the carder settles neatly into the bag. I really like this arrangement because when I open the bag to prepare the roving for dyeing I can find the end easily and it feeds out without tangles or breaks. The bags also store well, either vertically or horizontally. They even leave a small piece of the roving hanging out of the bag before tying it shut. This enables me to evaluate the feel of a given bag of roving without actuallyl having to open the bag.

When I open a bag of roving I find the end and then pull roving out into a container until I have the weight that I need for a dye job. Then I usually skein the roving and secure it with ties so that I can manage it easily through the dyeing process. It really helps to have the roving feed out so smoothly without breaking!

I have not yet had any yarn spun at Twist of Fate but I probably will at some point. Here's Rick next to the spinning machine, in use.

Below Rick is skeining some freshly-spun yarn. To his right is the equipment that will wind yarn on cones if that's preferred.

Bud is cozied up to the thirteen or so bags of clean, soft fleece ready for my dyepot. Jeremiah and Rick also use special equipment to produce large sheets of needle-felted wool for me with the wool that's left after I sort out the best quality for roving. It's this felt that I use for my embroidery projects including the one above and my Stitchlets.

I think that's enough for today; I apologize for being so long-winded today!

Preparing for More Snow...

2009-01-10T18:09:00.006-05:00

Aren't chickens cute?

A little help from husband Bill, and a little extra haylage for everyone to get them through the coming snowfall.

Most of the haylage gets tossed into this feeder.

More experimentation from my summer fiber seclusion: twining. This is based on one of the exercises in Bobbie Irwin's book, Twined Rag Rugs. Except I used roving, for both warp and weft. This piece is about 12" square.

Tomorrow I'll upload photos from yesterday afternoon's project. And perhaps something else for sale.

THOSE COMMENTS...

Katie, Glad to read that a hooker is reading this! I hope to post more about rug hooking soon.

Robin, Yes! I think that's what appeals to me too about the embroidery on locker-hooking: somewhat disorganized stitches superimposed on a regular background.

Another Beautiful Winter Morning

2009-01-08T10:02:00.006-05:00

After the snow and freezing rain of yesterday, the scenery I encountered when I fed the critters this morning was delightful. A thin coat of ice and snow on the trees and bushes, but not enough to do damage. I could hear the ice cracking delicately with each breeze.

Here is another experiment in lockerhooking, this time with natural-colored roving and created on the sort of canvas grid that is used for rug-hooking. I then did a few embroidery stitches and decided it doesn't work. Now I'm not so sure, I kind of like it. Opinions?

THOSE COMMENTS...

Thank you Rayna, glad you're enjoying the photos. Anyone interested in surface design should take a look at Rayna's blog. She has also authored a book about creating your own hand-printed fabric; information about the book can be accessed through her blog.

A New Spinning Enthusiast

2009-01-07T07:39:00.007-05:00

There was a mixture of rain and snow overnight; there's now a thin crust over everything. Not thick enough to support Bud, but my Silky Terrier Spike was able to slip and slide over the top of the "wintery mix." As I stepped out to the woodshed there was a drizzly sort of mist. The dogs were wet enough to need a quick tour with the towel, something they always happily volunteer for (the trick is to get to them with the towel before they shake a spray of droplets over everything.) A good day to not be out on the roads. A good fiber day.

Last night the Parallel Plyers, our local spinning group got together. For some reason my fob wasn't working and I was unable to get us into our regular meeting place at WEBS. We decided to reconvene at my home where Bud and Spike had a most splendid time "working the room."

Bud settled in for awhile cozied up against Deanna Moore. Apologies for the dark photos; the lighting in my living room is terrible. I need to work on that issue. Deanna didn't get much spinning done because both dogs succeeded in enticing her into playing their various games with them. She didn't seem to mind!

Which way should I turn the wheel? Can this thing go any faster? I plan to have a sweater knit by the end of the evening, just as any respectable Border Collie would.

ABOUT THOSE COMMENTS

Thank you Hippopip for your good wishes for 2009! Hope your year has started off on the right foot :)

2009-01-06T15:19:00.006-05:00

A very eager goat at the feeder. I have a couple of these little guys to neaten things up around the yard all summer. They're quite charming, and compared to other goats (these guys are high percentage Boers, or meat goats) they are rather mannerly.

Probably one of the most invaluable technical projects I did this summer was to create a dye sample chart.

With rare exception, I rely on three dye colors to obtain the colors that I produce. Every hue on this chart- and I did eighty some-odd dye lots- was produced using one, two, or three of those basic three colors in varying proportions.

This is a priceless tool for me because it's far easier now to "nail" a color on the first try.

OK, here's something new for me. I'd seen lots of lockerhooking projects look just awful, even some in books about lockerhooking!

The concept still appeals so I tried using some of my roving "seconds" to hook a sample. This measure about ten by ten. I lockerhooked on a weaving warp (actually did it on my loom) which is a little unusual; most lockerhooking is done on a canvas grid.

A new offering:
Purebred Coopworth batts, originally gray and over-dyed in several hues of magenta. The variation is very subtle including an ever-so -slightly coppery magenta to slightly silvery magenta. When I look at it overall, I think "chocolate cherries".

Here's a close-up. This fiber was from Dooby, my ram. It is on the soft side for Coopworth.

$3.50 per ounce; just under 23 ounces are available but I'm happy to sell small amounts.