All Craft, All the Time.

The market season has begun. Kitsilano was a blast yesterday with great neighbours (Joan), customers and the weather held out until tear down. There were even a few moments of sun poking through the clouds.

It was so great to have friends hanging with me the whole day and it reminded me how much I missed the markets.

I had to do the quickest tear down ever so that we could make it from the market to Birkeland where Cara, Pearl and I entertained a craft cruise group of knitters at the yarn shop. These folks love their fibre. It was a crazy time with Cara running the carder and me doing a spinning demo and talking about my own obsession with fibre.

The whole crew headed down to Monk McQueens for a great dinner with an even better view. I think I dreamt about my dessert last night, which is the first time that I dreamt of food rather than wool.

Banana bread with a chocolate gelato that had ribbons of peanut butter in it, with a fried banana and honey on the side. Yes, heaven will be filled with wool and this dessert.

Gone Baby Gone

Wow, an entire week since my last post. Where has my head been? I hope everyone had a great long weekend. My week was filled with knitterly pursuits and a lot of project finishing. No startitis for me.

First things first. I finished my knit mannequin cover in my own handspun. This top down pattern was a slightly modified version of Year of the Goat's top down sleeveless tunic. It was yummy to use my own handspun for this....Now as for keeping it clean during market season, we'll see. I'm just hoping not to spill coffee on it at some point.

Next project off the needles was just playing with some handspun. I carded silk, silk noil, alpaca, BFL, merino and a bit of angelina and spun a low twist single so I could make this.

No pattern, just a straight feather and fan stitch. It was perfect for the handspun and I will be carding a lot more of these batts. Silk noil bits are the most wonderful spinning surprise.

My friend Kim was working on a great hat pattern that just intrigued me from Wooley WormHead. This slouchy beret also comes in a larger Rasta Version. I stopped here as I already feel there is too much hat going on. The handspun is a 2ply worsted weight merino in pinks and browns that I dyed and spun. I enjoyed the sideways construction and wrap stitches which made knit up in a flash.

And then there was spinning.....

The left is one pound of BFL in 4 skeins, single ply, thick and thin and the right is 200 grams and 384 yards, also BFL. I am in the middle of a pile of batts I carded...no, sorry all mine. I think they'll keep me busy until the weekend. What has everyone else been working on?

Lost In Wool

It's been a rough couple of days and I haven't been to the studio. I'm at home taking care of business and really feeling a bit overwhelmed. Incredibly grateful for the life John and I have together, I know that with him, we can get through just about anything.

I was going through some photos (as I don't have much fibre at home anymore) and was amazed at how calming this was....

Ah, wool, glorious wool. Hopefully in a few days things will be back on track. I miss posting, but I can't justify the luxury of blogging right now.

Prep Work

The most beautiful BFL takes a bath. I spun a lot of fibre yesterday. I love my giant sink at the studio that hold such huge amounts of wool. Euclan Lavender bath, hell I wanted to jump in.

This was almost two pounds of hand spun fibre, spun thick and thin and meant to be left as singles.

It was all I could do to contain myself and thank goodness I had one skein aside to attempt this...

Top down design is the easiest way to knit, no seams, no fuss, just grab some circulars and go for it. Unfortunately with the twist going in one direction and the energized yarn (even though it is a low twist single) is slanting the neckline and eventually the whole garment. I am going to find a way to work this into the design. I have seen a lot of design using energized yarns on purpose so I'm going to see how I can make this work in the overall sweater.

This will be my mannequin cover for the season when all is said and done.

And since this post is looking kind of gray ...here's something else spun up last night...

Before the twist is set, 285 grams of hand dyed BFL. This one might be a keeper. I think I have a plan. The studio is a mass of drying yarn so I'm staying far away today. Off to Whistler. It looks like it's going to be a good drive and I have a knitting project, so today is a perfect day.

There is yarn and gelato in Squamish (best reason for a pit stop on the road).

It's All for the Yarn

I love when the yarn looks so cozy in it's new home and sends me photos!!!

Hey Barb, do I still have visiting rights until it's all knit up?

I'm Only Going to Do This Once ( A Season)

I feel strongly about the work I do, from the smallest pirate or apple hat to the largest free form piece. From one string of yarn I have hand spun to the largest pile of carded fibre, the work is uniquely mine. I do not find copying the sincerest form of flattery, but rather a sad comment on a life lacking in imagination and authenticity.

I have always believed that if your work is organically derived (if you feel it deeply) the work will speak to someone and be appreciated. Everything I do has my own personal stamp on it and it is distasteful to me that there are poorly constructed imitations out there that might be mistaken as mine.

I realize it is hard for a "maker" of things to find the balance between creativity and knocking out inventory, but really, cultivated consumers will look for quality. I would rather make less, and make it perfect than vomit up a booth full of "stuff" for sale.

Now saying this, I realize that what I make is not to everyone's taste. I make things that resonate with me and I hope that I find like minded people who appreciate the work. However there is no one that can say that the execution of my work is not held to an incredibly high standard.

So here I sit, doomed to a life of making things I love, designing and executing them with the full inspiration and passion that evolved them in the first place and hoping that I am not alone in my respect for well constructed, inspired and elegant things.

Oh and I finished my hat and not so matchy scarf yesterday.

Little Bits and the Big Picture

I spend a lot of time spinning small samples of the hand dyed wool, for myself, for students, just so we can all see if it lives up to expectations. Selling rovings without knowing how they will spin up is something I just wouldn't do.

I took one roving and spun it as a single, then plied it, then three plied it and navajho plied it as well and ended up with a beautiful sampler. I carried it around it my purse, played with it, stared at it, wondering why out of all the fibre I had I wanted to work this little bit so badly...

I think this is why.

I'm working on a not too matchy scarf now. There's just enough of all my little bits to make it happen. It doesn't seem like such a bad thing, carrying all that fibre around.

Note to self: Need a bigger purse......oh Jordana Paige, when will you start shipping to Canada?

Pirates on the High Seas

Sailing and knitting pirate hats......yippee and sunny days and warm breezes and what a great kick off to a great year of outdoor activities. I am definitely inclined to revisit my danger knitting of two years ago and make sure to be outdoors with my knitting and spinning as much as possible (weather permitting)

Jan, if you are reading this, when can we fit in the paragliding?

I won't bore you with pics of the knitting as you have all seen the pirate hat before. However this is just the cutest ever....Roger, keeping an eye on the shoreline.

I will not be in the studio much this week. I am working on inventory and intending to enjoy this sunshine as much as I can.

Single, Again.

It's been so long since I've spun singles and I don't know why I don't do it more often. One and done. Other than setting the twist (which is something I don't always do on a plied yarn when it lands the right way). But it felt good and it occurred during much Buffy, StarTrek TNG and Deep Space Nine--at this point and time, the best way to spend an afternoon.

This morning I was keenly aware of the right side of my body and a gentle throbbing radiating from my tailbone up through my fingertips. At this point I concede --you can spend too many hours a day spinning. However, had I been paying attention, more long draw = less pain. Definitely a shift in the spinning today.

It's a long day at the studio today, lots of organizing, fibre to put away and an armload of visitors coming in. Oh, and batts to be carded....I have some new colours that are demanding to be turned into pretty spring batts.

Oh, and not everything stayed single...

In answer to the few that knew my large fibre order was coming in.....No, I did not roll around in the order or in any way try to dive into the boxes...it was tempting, but I restrained myself.

Fake It, 'Til you Make It......

Just found this on youtube and yes, I'm a bit blushy, but I'm still so pumped about the show this weekend. It was a great experience and I'm thrilled to realize that I'm not too old to do a show that has a deejay!

I met some very talented and positive people, had some great interactions with customers and overall enjoyed myself a bit more than I normally would while "working".