Fiber Fest - BYOB

My road trip started yesterday with a pit stop in Dillon, Montana. I had a late breakfast at Sparky's Garage which was delicious.














Then I headed down to Idaho Falls. My first class at the Fiber Fest was "How to Warp a Loom". Judy was a wonderful instructor and I came away feeling like I could actually do it. I took a bunch of digital photos to help myself remember what she taught.

In the afternoon I took a "Perfect Plying" class. I learned a few techniques but I still can't Navajo ply. The vendors are awesome and I purchased some Jacquard dye, a new orifice hook, and some recycled denim "fiber". I'll be doing more shopping tomorrow---got my eye on a whole fleece.

During plying class I said "wow, I need a cup of coffee...where can I get some?" Well! Would you believe there are no coffee shops here??? No Starbucks in the shopping district. It's a LDS town. Someone tipped me off that I could get coffee at the Barnes & Noble bookstore. So that's where I headed right after class. After being tipped off, I took a good look around town and noticed there are no bars. This town is basically dry! Not that I need to start drinking...it's just an observation. It's quite the contract to Helena or Great Falls. There you will see 2-3 casinos on every city block. At this point, I do need more coffee and feel a little embarrassed to hit the bookstore coffee shop a second time in one afternoon.

The Story of Stuff

         A few weeks ago I saw the 20 minute video call the Story of Stuff.  What a great reminder about over-consumption.  Since seeing the video I have attempted to buy less, waste less, and be more thoughtful about the consequences of my stuff.  This goes for crafting materials also. Of course I prefer the greatest renewable material of all --- WOOL. However, I also like to make other things besides yarn. Here's a photo of a lunch bag and utensil holder I made with vintage fabric.  I've been packing this fabric around for over 10 years and I finally found a good use for it.  I copied the idea for the utensil holder from a magazine that had "earth-friendly" products.  I'll leave that in the car so I can skip the plastic utensils when I'm eating on the go.  Speaking of on the go, I'll be heading to the Snake River Fiber Fest in Idaho this weekend.  I'm super excited to take some classes and be around fiber people.  Check back here and I'll post some photos.

!@!ACK*^%#@& this mitten

Why the anger? Because I had a heck of time ripping it back to the mistake I made early on. I'm OK now. It's OK now. I'm happy to be using the worsted yarns I make last month. It's been snowing for 3 days so I'm not crazy for making mittens this time of year.

OK, that was fun.

Would you believe that this was made from all natural dyes?  The yellow was dyed with Black-eyed Susans last summer.  The pink is Cochineal and the red is also, but dipped twice.  This scarf is so bright that I probably wont wear it.  It totally looks like a thrift store item.  I'm done crocheting for now.

Trying to Crochet

This is what my 2-plied combed Shetland turned out like.

This is what my 3-ply carded Shetland dyed "dusky seafoam" turned out like.

This is what my first attempts at granny squares turned out like.

Once I thought I got the hang of it, I started a stack of granny squares. I'm not sure what I'll do with them. After doing a little crocheting, I checked ravelry to see what people have been crocheting these days. Holy cow. I've ignored the whole crochet element to ravelry, but now I can see there's so many talented people out there!

It was hard to capture the true color of these singles because it's such an odd shade of green. I'm not even sure I like it, so I'm going to use it for practicing spinning a 3-ply. I'm letting these singles sit on the bobbins for a while before I ply them.

What's up with knitting puns? I am just as guilty as anyone for using the "fleece" in place of "peace" It's weird that I'm drawn to making puns about spinning and knitting. I have to control myself when I blog.

Last Week in Review

My new lock by lock washing system left this wool stinky. So the combing process was not enjoyable. I had 5 oz. of these Shetland balls. I weighed out 2.5 oz and spun a single (see bobbin) and plan to spin the other half to make a 2-ply.

I did a little improv dyeing. I just used what ever acid dyes I had on hand. The blue is OK.

...but what do you call this mess? My aluminum pot had residue and the "avocado" had purple in it. And after I carded this wool, it seemed to be a mossy-sea foam. Sigh... well, it was just an experiment. No biggy.