Tuesday, February 25, 2014

This week I was fortunate enough to find a new supplier, recommended to me by a good friend.  She is located in Ohio and I don't get to preview the feel of the fiber before purchasing.  But ... this is so remarkable of a fiber that I wasn't afraid to order some.  Here it is, this is rose fiber.  This batch is hand dyed by Carol, and is a combination of rose bast fibers, silk and merino wool.  It is so soft and luxurious feeling.  I've tried spinning up a small bit on a spindle and its possible to make lace weight yarn with no trouble.

Since I only have four ounces of this fiber I'm trying to decide whether or not to blend it with something else.  I'm really loving the brilliant colors of this particular batch.  It will take me a while to decide what I want to blend it with so I can get it just right.  Also, so I can make the 4 ounces stretch a little further.

I will let you know when I do.  Oops, almost forgot the link:  RiversEdgeFiberArts.com 



I've finally finished the
rayon scarf I was weaving for my daughter.  It certainly has turned out a lot lighter in color than the yarn was.   But It is very pretty, very soft and also very long.

I'm not sure why I decided to make such a long scarf but since it is I've tried it on several different ways and doubled in half before wrapping it around my neck seems a good way to wear it in very cold weather.

That's what we have going on here, very cold weather.  My daughter said it was 1° this morning when she got home from taking her cousin to school.  Feeding the goats and chickens early in the morning is 'refreshing'.  Walking out to the chicken coop and goat shed is somewhat of a shock after spending time in our nice warm house.

The dogs and cats love going out, however.  Today is very sunny, pretty with all the snow we got yesterday and not yet too slippery on the old ice we still had.  As the week goes on though, we will be getting some rain which of course will change everything.

Thursday, February 20, 2014



Believe it or not, this is the very same fleece in both pictures.  I took Jasper's brown and white fleece to Fibers First mill in Post Falls at the end of January.  Karen is such a sweetie and has done a super job.  I had her do this fleece in pin drafted top.  A little more expensive to do it this way (one or two extra steps for the mill) but it is just beautiful and ready for the handspinner.

Trying to get my taxes at least started today but as soon as I get tired of doing that I'm going to spin up some of this gorgeous alpaca fiber.  I can't wait.

I had the mill actually mix the white part of the blanket in with the brown.  The yarn will be a tweedy looking extremely soft yarn.  The difference in these two photos is the one on the right was taken under a bright light.  The photo on the left was after I turned all the lights off and used natural daylight.  The fiber is a dark red-brown, not as dark as the left one but not as light as the right one either.

Here's a picture of Jasper and you can really see the reddish color in his blanket.  He was so beautiful and this was the only fleece I ever got from him before he was rehomed a couple years ago.  Sigh


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

 I had a very fun week when I took a class at Blue Flag Handweaving in Sandpoint.  We learned to make wool braided rugs.  It is so much fun, very strenuous as far as my capabilities go but I did manage to finish mine along with the other ladies in our class. 

There were four of us as you can see by the photo on the left.  The others were a tiny bit larger than mine but maybe because I braid rather tightly.  I guess I was trying to be sure it wouldn't come undone unlike my knitting which can practically fall off the knitting needles.  Not a good thing.

I'm not sure I will make another one.  I really wanted one bigger.  In fact, at one time I wanted my entire house carpeted in braided carpet.  But I can see why it would be so expensive as these rugs took a lot more fabric than you would imagine.

Here is an interesting picture I took last week.  This picnic table was sitting under a tree.  We've had so much snow lately and the temperatures were so cold that it the snow piled up to about eight inches.

Then the sun came out.  The snow on the tree started melting but the temps were still extremely cold and the little icicles formed upside down from the dripping water in the tree.  Very strange.  I've never seen this before.  Too funny.

A trip to Costco today freed me of a lot of money.  We bought mostly canned goods and pet food.  Yikes.  Prices have certainly gone up.  We usually head there about once a month so other than fresh fruits and veggies, we don't have anything to buy at our local stores.  Maybe a fresh loaf of bread now and then.  And of course a freshly made donut at our favorite grocery store.

Nearly Spring!  Take heart.  Get your seeds ordered, get the house cleaned and it won't be long until we can all be outside.   Yeaaaaaaa!