Slater Mill Marketplace

I'm doing my first craft show! I'm teaming up with a couple friends from Knitaholics RI to form Island Fiber Co-operative for the Slater Mill Marketplace being held Saturday for the Knitting Weekend. There's tons of classes and other knit-centric events going on. I'm excited and nervous and exhausted from getting everything ready to go.

I did a dry run with my new wire storage rack and found that it wasn't so easy to set up with my 8-year old sized hands. I figured out how to display my spinning fibers and realized how little reclaimed yarn and Maki I have. I really need to get the husband to help me cut up all the PVC we have to build my Maki winder that I designed. I'll be able to really crank them out then and custom orders will be easier too.

LSG-athon helps Haiti!

A bunch of us LSGers over at Ravelry are donating and raising money for the relief efforts in Haiti. So far we're at over $12,000 and we're hoping to reach $15,000 at least. There's many of us with shops and patterns donating a portion or in some cases all of our profits to the cause.

Play at Life Fiber Arts is donating 50% of all sales from this weekend to the Red Cross! So far I've had 2 sales but we need more. Stop by Play at Life Fiber Arts; everything is still 10% off for our first birthday. And then check out the list below - buy cool stuff - help people! WIN!

• AbbiePrime started the ball rolling by pledging 50% of sales of her October Leaves Fingerless Mitts
• LadyBright joined in to contribute 15% of the sales from her etsy store, Delshire Woods.
• LanieRedis contributing 50% of the Paradoxicality profits for the rest of the month.
• DurableDora is donating profits from her Zazzle store
• Niseema is donating 25% of club fees for the next 24 hours.
• CableFreak is donating all January profits from sales of LittleFreak Yarns.
• Retroknit is pledging 50% of all the sales from Harlow and Bob the Dog for the rest of the month
• eudy is donating half the pattern sales from the calm waters cowl for january
• CyberFiber is donating 100% of January sales from her etsy shop uglyshmugly
• Yarnpants is donating 50% of January sales from her etsy shop
• ButterflyKyss is donating $2 for every sale of pinwheel ruffle hat in January
• twistedredhead is offering 25% of proceeds at Works of Artemis to the Red Cross or MSF
• minou is donating $5 per item sold from her shop Ambrosia and Bliss until the end of January.
• Overbrewed is donating 50% of sales of her designs Melusine and Lucy in the Sky until the end of the month
• Antimony is donating all proceeds from the sale of her design Water Rescue Socks for the rest of the month to Doctors without Borders
• Lotus Yarns is donating 25% of all orders for the rest of January to Doctors without Borders

Base Preview

I received my new sport yarn base yesterday. I am so excited about dyeing and having this in the shop! This 8 ply 100% sw merino yarn is cable plied. Instead of taking 8 singles and plying them together, the mill has taken four 2 ply yarns and plied those together making a bouncy, round yarn with good stitch definition. And 8 plies means a strong yarn that will wear well (like that uber popular European sock yarn!) Sport weight yarns are extremely versatile; still thin enough for socks and lace, but less bulky than worsted for hats, mittens or cowls. I haven't decided how to dye it up yet! Its structure makes it perfect for cables and texture, so I'm thinking kettle dyed semi-solids and super short color repeat hand paints.

I also scored some gorgeous sweaters for my reclaimed bases. I love love love love overdyeing and the blues I picked up will be perfect for the Grey series. I also found some Peruvian bulky and a wool/cotton/silk blend with yummy texture. I can't wait to dig in and see what happens in the dye pot!

January Shop Preview

The dye pots have been cooking for the past few days. I started dyeing up some Falkland and Merino fibers in long color repeats and playing around with grey. The grey that I tried for last month didn't come out as expected at all. Poking around at the palettes I created at colourlovers revealed many interesting color combos that paired grey with various colors both bright and deep. So I challenged myself to recreate some of these palettes for January in the Grey series.

The Maki below was spun and navajo plied on my Kundert drop spindle using 1 oz of Falkland top dyed in the Acid Trail palette. It's only about 30 yd of bulky weight but it's very squooshy and I love the color transitions.

I love fiber dyed this way! You can split it for shorter repeats or spin directly from the end for super long repeats (that's what I did with this yarn.) You could also separate the colors for even longer repeats or ply the different colors together for a different effect. The Falkland is crimpy but easy to draft and perfect for beginning spinners.

And don't forget we're having an After Christmas Sale! Come by Play at Life Fiber Arts and check out some gorgeous reclaimed and first quality yarns at a great price!

December Shop Preview

Happy Fiber Friday!!!

December is here and yarn has been dyed! I had been feeling kind

of ho-hum about Christmas but dyeing yarn in such fun colors from my childhood really has gotten me more in the mood. Tomorrow we'll be putting up our tree and I'm hoping all the lights will work!

Jest Sock - Twinkle Lights

Jumping Joy skeins will now have more yardage with no price increase! Older skeins will have their prices reduced and all new skeins will have a full 500yd. That's plenty for knee socks or an infant sweater and two skeins is enough for a Featherweight Cardigan!

Jumping Joy Sock - Blue Spruce

The first December update will be Saturday the 5th. Gift Certificates will be available for purchase in $15, $25, and $50 denominations. Exciting new things to come in January - custom Maki, hand dyed Fibers, new yarn lines!!!

More great Fiber Friday goodness at http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com/

Nostalgic December

I have been agonizing over what theme to do for the December yarns! Part of me wants to just ignore the December holidays all together. But the kid in me really does love all the colors and memories that surface at this time of year. The husband and I have been working at establishing our own traditions for some time now and I still don't feel like we've got it just right yet! And now that we live so far away from our family and H is 4 and fully aware of what Christmas is about, it's really necessary for us to make our own version of Christmas.

Nostalgia is a series of colorways that represents the colors I remember from my childhood Decembers - lots of deep, rich color punctuated by the drab, grey skies of New England. References to candy and twinkly lights will show up too of course!

IF - Flying

Learn to Fly, 6"x6.25", Mixed Media on paper

I'm doing my first Random Act of Kindness for one of my online groups. This will be going out to a fellow member in the next few days. I had a great time making it and I hope she likes it!