Boo! YAY!

There are some drawbacks to approaching work from a playful perspective when you're multi-tasking. In dyeing, largely it's the spontaneous, non-repeatable colorways that result from a sprinkle of this and a dash of that. Despite my best attempt at noting application technique, quantity, and time I often cannot duplicate colorways.

Then there are the mistakes. I once left a half pound each of superwash BFL and Merino in the crockpot overnight. Why I didn't remember before I fell asleep, I do not know. When I woke up the next morning, I sat up and immediately remembered that I left the crock pot going. The crock pot was bubbling away and my basement studio smelled like cooking hair. Not quite burned but definitely well done. Which is what I called the fiber. As it was superwash, it had not felted so I decided to salvage it for my own personal use. A whole pound of unsellable fiber? Boo. A whole pound of fiber just for me? YAY! I'm planning on carding them together with a bit of bronze angelina.

Well Done SW BFL and SW Merino Combed Top

Which leads me to my current large spinning project. The first batch of fiber I dyed up for the October Long on Color fiber club bled. It bled and bled and bled. I must have forgotten to add acid to that dye because the subsequent batches from new dye stock were totally fine. This left me with one 4oz test braid and four 4oz braids that were fine to spin but weren't good enough for the club. Boo. But now I have 20oz of Polwarth in this lovely colorway! YAY!

Jack's Lament Polwarth Combed Top ( the mistake-free version)

One bobbin down, 2 more to go!

It's December!

Our tree is up and the kids are already very excited about Christmas day. It's going to be a long month :)

I'm wrapping up the Long on Color fiber club this month. I have something fun and festive planned. Here's a little clue while the fiber steams away.



I'll be moving the blog over to my new website in the next few weeks. I'll be posting at both sites for a while during the transition but feel free bookmark http://playatlifefiberarts.com now.

WIP Wednesday

Two blog posts in one week? NO WAY ;)

It's Work In Progress Wednesday and I am once again working on this pattern I wrote forever ago. I'm double, triple, quadruple checking the maths and making sure the yardage requirements are correct for the last time. I am going to get this pattern released. I AM!





And I got my Little Red Bicycle mini skein club shipment. So sparkly and colorful!!! I need to get some of these other projects done so I can start puffing in earnest.

left-right Arctic Islands, Dollhouse, Saffron, Great Race of the Yith, Granny Smith

Puffing - Holiday Style

I love mini skeins. I love that I can knit swatches for the shop and not feel guilty about cannibalizing yarn inventory. I love that I can do this in one evening! I made 5 things in less than 5 hours while yarn was dyeing in the basement. The sparkly puffs are killing me. They're so soft and squishy and SPARKLY! Yup...I'm still crazy about the puffs.

Holiday Collection 2011

New Obsession

So much for Fiber Friday, huh?

My old cell phone died recently and I was able to upgrade to smarty-pants phone. I had hoped this would help me get some daily progress photos done with the intention of adding them to an at least weekly blog post. Mwahaha...yeah, that didn't happen! But I have been taking lots and lots of photos and using Instagram to get them on my flickr and Twitter.




New school year transitioning is tough in Aspie land but now that things have calmed down considerably at home, I'm recommitting myself to blogging at least weekly. I'm really hoping to do some short and sweet posts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You'll hold me to that, right?

Finished Object Friday - 9/2

It's ok if I string out all the objects I finished a month ago so I can blog weekly, right? GOOD!

Here's the shawl I started on my birthday for the first ever G+ knitalong.

Bashful Butterflies, designed by Julia Temiseva, is a great pattern for a quick, satisfying knit. I used a skein of my Revelous sock yarn and went up a couple needle sizes to use more yarn. Not only did I use almost all the yarn, the larger needle made for a lovely fabric with wonderful drape. This project reaffirms my love for yarn blends with a high content of fibers other than wool. I have some new SW Merino/Tencel yarn in the dye pot as I type. I can't wait to work with it!

Sneak peek of tonight's update - MINIS!!!

Finished Object Friday - 8/26

In an effort to be more bloggy, I'm introducing Finished Object Friday! I'll be posting a recently finished knitting, crocheting or spinning project every Friday.

This plan is genius. I have motivation to blog and finish things. Which means I can cast on more new things and work through my Ravelry queue. It can't fail!*

For this inaugaural post, I give you Obnoxious Leftover Fish Socks!

These were knit with Phat Fiber samples and leftovers from other sock projects. I started them in December of last year and I have made another sock since.

Lessons learned:

I don't like this heel. It's fiddly, easy to mess up, and the pick up stitches on the side leave bigger holes than any other heel I've ever knit. It also fits funny on me. The first sock I did (left) has a heel nipple - not cool.

Even with an art degree, I made some mistakes with my color combo choices. The best contrast uses cool background colors and warm foreground colors. I also got some great ideas for self striping yarn and colorwork sets.

NO MORE ONE SOCK AT A TIME! I finished sock #1 ages ago and it took me forever to pick the project back up. Never again. Two socks at a time from now on.

Have you finished anything lately? Leave me a comment with a link to your Ravelry project page! I'd love to see it.

* Tongue planted firmly in cheek

Gearing up for Tour de Fleece 2011

It's that time again! The Tour de France is set to start at the beginning of July. Which means time for the Tour de Fleece! While cyclists are racing through France, spinner's around the world will be racing themselves and each other to finish their spinning goals.

I haven't joined a team yet! Nor have I set a goal for myself. In years past, I used the time to finish spinning projects that had been languishing on my spindles. Now I have a wheel and even more spindles and too many options! I will likely use the time once again to finish up spinning WIPs. But I also want to try out corespinning and coils.

The shop is stocked with lots of fiber right now! I'll be getting some batts up in the next few weeks too. Keep an eye out for my Tour de Fleece Ravelry ad! There's a special coupon code for 15% off at the shop.

Find out more about the Tour de Fleece and join a team at the Ravelry group!

Bad Blogger! No Cookie for you!

I have been remiss in keeping up with my blog. I recently moved my art blogging to its very own url ( www.cgovernoillustration.com ) where I have an online portfolio. And I haven't been back here to update things since! Bad Blogger!

So what's been going on? I branched out more with my hand dyed fibers and borrowed a friend's drum carder (very long term so it seems!)

I started working with a new mill that gives me access to new fibers and yarns. I have a big order headed my way as I write with new blends of Blitheful (SW BFL Sock yarn), Revelous (SW Merino/Bamboo/Nylon Sock Yarn), and Merry Merino Lace. All three will work really well in the new Gradient Maki.

And I'm doing more craft shows and fiber festivals where semi-solids and subtle hand painted yarns sell very, very well. I'm currently getting ready for the RI Fiber Festival at Coggeshall Farm Museum in Bristol, RI. I'll be dyeing up some new Scrumpet DK in some popular colors for this show. Maybe I'll do some Purposeful Poolers too!

Stay tuned! I'll be trying to blog more often. :pinky swear: