Twisted

It was all about the twist. Hand spun, core spun, redone, plied, felted.....I'm doing my best to catch up, but the yarn orders keep coming and I'm starting to be buried under the pile of fibre. Today was a success insofar as I was able to complete a few orders and get a leg up on the weekend.

Some process photos first.

And the resulting yarns in all their fluffy loveliness.

SOLD

The flowers are cashmere. I did not mind spending my day knee deep in cashmere.

SOLD

I decided to offset the black, grey and white with red fruit loops. The mix of kid mohair, alpaca and silk is decadent.

SOLD and SOLD

The yarn on the left is loaded with hand dyed mohair locks in beautiful coppers and greens. The yarn on the right is the tomatoes on the vine. I never get tired of this yarn and it is so loaded.

SOLD

I was plurking this as I was spinning this. It was hot, sexy love, love for this yarn...I haven't reskeined this yet. (Bad sign - it means I'm probably knitting it). I'm calling it Angel Blush. Please email me if you would like the stats on this yarn. I'm just going to molest, I mean weigh it now.

Hope all your dreams are fluffy and yarnie tonight.

A Model Child

I have been waiting all season for Neige to return to the market. Everything was spot on about today's market in Whistler, particularly seeing my favourite hat model again.


So many things clicked today.

1. The energy was amazing. A true hustle and bustle.

2. I sold several pieces that were "favourites"

3. I found a knitter who had not heard of ravelry. She may not forgive me for this introduction.

4. I had my first "trunk" show. Two fantastic women turned up as the booth was fully packed into the car and we were just getting ready to drive away. Needing a few gifts, (and personal hats) it wasn't hard to convince us to pop the trunk. Thanks to the B gals for the fun conversation and most unique shopping experience.

5. Dinner with JP at the end of it all. What a smashing day.

Thanks Suzanne. I can hardly wait to see the rest of the pics.

Where Did the Week Go?

How could it be a week already? I feel like I just got back from Whistler and it's almost time to load up the car again.

Trout Lake on Saturday was a warm and breezy day with a lot of activity. I actually had some time to get some custom knitting finished and before I knew it the day was over.

From Trout Lake it was straight on to Whistler Market, but not before a little pit stop in Squamish for what is now our favourite Indian Restaurant. (Essence of India)

The Whistler Market on Sunday had an amazing energy. Perfect weather and the last day of Crankwerx----definitely my people. I had a great time with the kids in the market this weekend.

Was really tempted to spend one more day in town and drive back on the Monday, but we had a date with destiny and a trip to Chiliwack for some fibre investigation and thrift store shopping.

On the Lion's Gate Bridge, Sunday night.

Moday's Chiliwack trip had me scoring many, many pairs of knitting needles and some fabulous vintage patterns for my collection.

Official ambassadors of town from the Corn Hut.

Another show today and I am pooped. The Electronic Arts Centre is an incredible collection of buildings in Burnaby. And I'm not just saying that because John worked with the architects on one of them! I can't tell you how great it was to set up on a 6 ft by 3ft table only. No tent set up, no grid wall......heavenly.

Lots of yarn to finish for the weekend. Mostly custom orders, but if I forgo sleep between now and Saturday, I should be able to get it done.

Fibre, Naturally - Paper Like You've Never Seen it Before

As a member of the Vancouver Weavers and Spinner's Guild, I had the pleasure of a volunteer shift keeping watch over the most wonderful collection of Hanji in a cooperative exhibition between our Guild and the Jeonju Hanji Artists Association of Korea.

The Colour of Mine

Emily Carr was a perfect backdrop for this impressive exhibit.

This will be a photo heavy post, my apologies, but I wanted to capture as many different translations of the fibre as I could.

Dream and Hope

528 Circles

Papyririne (Tree Hugger)



Hand knit and Dyed Hanji Paper by Louisa Chadwick

Neither myself or Pearl had tickets to the fashion show and settled for a nice sushi dinner instead. This transformative mulberry tree has been used for centuries in Korean clothing, making an incredibly durable and luminous fibre. And in printing has been maintained in books more than 1,000 years old. Sigh.

My bag of knitting seemed very uninspiring tonight.

Update on Show Schedule

Thank you for reminding me that I haven't posted my updated schedule for a while! I might have more success selling things if I let people know where I was!

August

15th Trout Lake Farmer's Market
16th Whistler Market
20th Electronic Arts Centre
22nd West End Market
23rd Whistler Market
30th Whistler Market

September

6th Whistler Farmer's Market
12th Trout Lake Farmer's Market
13th Whistler Farmer's Market
20th Whistler Farmer's Market
27th Whistler Farmer's Market

October

4th Whistler Farmer's Market
10th Whistler Farmer's Market
11th Whistler Farmer's Market - End of Season
17th UBC Apple Festival
18th UBC Apple Festival

November

11th - 16th Circle Craft

I may actually consider a vacation after this schedule. Only 90 days to Circle Craft. Production is now in full swing. I must have been slacking before.

Fitting it All In....

Thursday.....outstanding day of coffee shop knitting with Marigold (who finished her fabulous sweater tank). She designed the most incredible sweater on the fly ---with earth, compost, grass and tomatoe wool from yours truly. I just need to get her to model it. But here's a pic of part of it and the crochet hook she carved out of a hazelnut branch....How do I find all these talented people?

Friday was a perfect day and I ended up with a great picnic at Queen Elizabeth Park. The food was outstanding, but then again, Claire has never put together a bad meal. She came by to visit the studio. I'm almost embarrassed showing it to people and have officially dubbed it the "shit hole" just because it is in a basement, but really....it's where all the yarnie good times happen, so to me it is a gift.

Saturday was full of fibre goodness with the Surrey Museum PicKnit and a knit in the park day. I was helping out Pearl with Birkeland Bros display and unveiled the kits. I was thrilled at how well received they were. While the rest of the knitting world was at Sock Summit, we had a lazy fabulous wooly day.

No, the llama did not fit in Pearl's van. Don't think I didn't try to plan out a quick getaway. I loved this little guy from a far.

Our booth was beautiful. A full mix of alpaca and hand dyed and hand spun. Pearl did some needle felting demos while I snuck away to see Mandy's chat on her new book Yarn Bombing. It was a great presentation and I mananged to snag one of the first handful of copies. Please check out the site and support these very avant garde artists by buying a copy of the book or encouraging your local yarn store to carry copies.

Our display...Yes, yarn lady made her usual appearance.

On Sunday, the world returned to the familiar with the Whistler Farmer's Market. The day was perfect MelonHead weather. A taunting of rain, overcast and cool. I had several visits from the local S&B and convinced two crocheters to return to knitting as well as two knitters to walk on the wild side for crochet (you know who you are!).

We took our time coming home on Monday, a nice lazy day, but the list of undone from the previous week as well as orders are starting to pile up. Will not be able to post for a few days.

Knit like crazy.

Things I Learned from Filberg This Year

1. You can't make up for lost sleep the day after you get home. Twelve hours of sleep is definitely a waste of time.
2. If you avoid the fudge booth, you will definitely lose weight at a 4 day show.
   
3. Follow your instincts. One wrong turn in the car and you can lose friends for the rest of the night.
4. Less nature can be a good thing during the show. An intense allergic reaction could have called an early end to the show this year.
5. Don't believe everything you hear. While so thrilled with all the compliments, I have to take it all down a notch, stay humble and grateful that I get to do what I do.
6. You will not get any work done at a show so stop putting half finished items in the car, taking them to the booth and dragging them back to the B&B (over and over agan)
7. Limit trading. There are so many beautiful things to choose from so many talented people. Pick one thing only. I failed miserably at this.
   
8. Bring twice as much inventory next year. I always run out of things, but this year there were more holes in the booth than usual.
9. Customers become friends. I was fortunate to receive photographs and thank you cards from long time customers. Better than the biggest bouquet, I will treasure these items.
10. Be thankful for people who volunteer. Filberg is produced by an ARMY of volunteers and I made sure to acknowledge everyone who wore that badge.

Art Yarn makes a great felted bowl,don't you think?

A pretty princess stops for a rest in the booth.

The Island Life

Coordinating all the folks involved in this year's Filberg Festival was an undertaking of monumental proportion. Two vehicles, ferry reservations and a float plane home for one of us. Incredible.

We were able to all go this year. John, Pearl, Joan and myself. With this small army behind me, everything was ready to go with minimal fuss. Making life so much more pleasant was an unexpected gem; Forbidden Plateau.

Aside from the organic eggs (from their chickens) and the fresh cut veggies (freshly picked from Kim's garden) and the ice cold water in mason jars that went to the show with us, the accomodation could not have been any more picturesque or Kim and Lorne any more hospitable or helpful.

Downtown Comox at night.

I'm too tired to post more and so many wonderful things happened. I'll update over the next couple of days with more pics. Thanks to the show crew and the pre show crew (Toni, Marigold)