A flashback

I grew up watching Jim Henson's television creations, including The Muppet Show, and Fraggle Rock. To this day, I still enjoy watching these classic shows. A couple of years ago, I downloaded Knit One, Purl Two, a song featured on Fraggle Rock. I stumbled upon the source video for this song yesterday, and I wanted to share it. Enjoy!

Stitches West

Today I went to Stitches West for the first time. It was very overwhelming, to say the least! There were tons of people, and just as many booths to take in. My favorite booths at these conferences are always those of the indie producers, and at this show I especially enjoyed the booths of Slipped Stitch Studios, Ranch of the Oaks, Never Not Knitting, and Miss Purl.



I demonstrated amazing restraint, and only came home with the Cosette Wrap pattern by Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting. I can't wait to knit one out of leftover bits of handspun yarn.

First Day of Black Sheep Gathering

Today was a great first day at Black Sheep Gathering. We visited with many friends, and met a lot of enthusiastic and creative spinners, knitters, crocheters, weavers, and dyers. I had such a great time!

I was able to test drive a Schacht Matchless wheel during a break from the booth. I am ultimately hoping to find a double treadle version, though the single treadle that I spun on was wonderful. The yarn was just exactly as I had hoped for.

Lori and I went to dinner with Karen and Margie at one of our favorite eateries called Cafe LN. We had such a nice time visiting and telling stories from the day.

We are so relaxed now after good food and friends. And tomorrow promises to be another fun day between the fleece show, Spinner's Lead, and the results of the fiber arts show.

Setting Up the Booth

Today we walked over to Soft Horizons yarn shop in Eugene. It is such a cute shop located in a Victorian house. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Full City Coffee for some chai and coffee. Yum!

We set up our booth in the afternoon, which was a creative and fun time. The sheep were serendading us from the adjacent barn. After we were set up, we walked around the show to see what other vendors are here.

Tonight we had dinner at Johnny Oceans with Karen and Margie. Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow.

On the road to Black Sheep Gathering

Lori and I had a beautiful drive from southern California to Eugene, Oregon over the past two days. The scenery along the way was just lovely. We stopped last night in Ashland, Oregon, which is one of our favorite towns. I love the Victorian houses...and Emz Blendz soap shop...and Websters yarn shop. While in Ashland we picked up some soap and yarn, and ate at our favorite little restaurant called Pangea. We also discovered a great local coffee shop called The Beanery, where they make a mean Irish Cream latte.

Now we are tucked in for some knitting before bed. We are looking forward to setting up our booth tomorrow.

Fall Projects

I have been working on a few different projects this fall, including a crocheted baby blanket, a handwoven scarf, and a set of handwoven towels.





I used some of my handpainted superwash merino/bamboo/nylon blend fingering weight sock yarn for the baby blanket. This yarn is really soft and squishy, and will be perfect for a newborn baby to cuddle up in. My friend Lori (Capistrano Fiber Arts Studio) designed this pattern.





The pinwheel scarf was made using a pinwheel twill draft on my 8-shaft Ashford table loom. The yarns are both 20/2 spun silk. The pink yarn is one that I handdyed, and the white yarn is the natural color of the bombyx silk. I was inspired to weave this after reading this article on Weavezine.





This was my first time weaving with cotton, and also my first time weaving towels. I really like the idea of waffle-weave, and decided to try it out after reading an article in the September/October 2009 issue of Handwoven Magazine. The yarns are all 8/2 unmercerized cotton purchased from Lunatic Fringe Yarns.

Summer Fiber Fun

I have been away from my blog for most of the summer, but fortunately, now I am back in the blog groove and ready to fill you in on some of my summer fiber adventures.

I am very fortunate to be able to share a brief video interview conducted at Black Sheep Gathering by my spinning friend Jeri and her husband, Eduard. This was the first time that I had ever been interviewed on camera about fiber, and I must say that Jeri and Eduard put me at ease. Thanks so much Jeri and Eduard!



At the end of July I became a weaver. I purchased a gently used 24 inch Ashford 8 shaft table loom. I warped the loom the very first day, and I haven't stopped since. So far, I am pretty obsessed with twill. I just think that twill is such a beautiful fabric!

My first project - a sampler scarf made with handdyed mohair/wool yarn:


Plain weave scarf made with handdyed merino wool yarn:


Huck lace scarf made with superwash bluefaced leicester sock yarn. Warp is undyed, weft is handpainted:


In August, my friend, Lori , gave me some undyed and handpainted 2P bombyx silk cord and handpainted 20/2 bombyx silk so that I could try my hand at weaving with fine threads. It was such a delight to smell and feel the silk while I was weaving. And, of course, I used a block twill pattern.



I have now taken to weaving baby blankets because it seems as if everyone I know is pregnant. I am using a wonderful organic cotton boucle yarn in a variety of lovely natural colors that are appropriate for girls or boys.



For my next projects, I am planning to weave another silk twill scarf as a gift for a friend. I bought some 20/2 silk the other week, and have dyed it up in greens, blues and pinks. Also, I am planning to make a felted scarf with handspun. What fun!

Much of my knitting time has been replaced by weaving time, but I have managed to finish a pair of socks for myself, and I have made substantial progress on a pair of socks for my sweetie. For my socks, I used my new superwash bluefaced leicester sock yarn handpainted in shades of blue and purple.



I have several other knitting projects in the works, and I am hoping to work on them more this fall and winter.