Wow, what a busy week we've had....Sunday we had friends and family over for a BBQ and one of our alpacas decided to go into labor. That turned into quite an ordeal which I posted earlier under "A New Life Begins".
On Monday I was able to get away for a while to attend an annual Memorial Day spin-in at
Mar-Rita Farms. It's a chance to meet new people and to see old friends. This year Rita asked us to bring in something for show and tell.
Rita is a fabulous needle felter. In these pictures, she is explaining how she creates her wonderful works of art.
She starts with a picture which she uses as a reference....
then she hand draws the picture to enlarge it for the size picture she will be making.
She lays her enlarged pattern on top of her felted base and uses felting needles to mark the placement of the figure she wants to work on.
Then she lifts up her drawing, with the needles still holding her placement, so she is able to start the needle felting process underneath her pattern.
I believe this picture is entitled "The Shepard". Look at all the detail she is able to create using many different colors of fiber.
Her shading skills are phenomenal!!! I can't wait to see the finished picture.
Sue from
Pufpaff's Fiber Processing showed us what is actually a huge "blank" that she is creating for dying purposes. Right now this is about the size of a small afghan which she knit using her hand spun yarn.
Once she has it the size she wants she will dye it, sort of like tie dye, then unravel it to make her knitted/crochet piece.
The blue bag is a sample of what the finished technique looks like when finished into an actual product.
Dawn brought this adorable knit sheep.
Here are some pics of the spinners....
and Rita, in her farm store, learning how to use the triangle loom....
I purchased a bag of goodies from
twirlycurlybird at the Michigan Fiber Fiesta. I know I took pictures of it before I started making my batts but I can't find my pictures of it anywhere. I must have deleted them thinking I had saved them. Bummer!!!
This type of spinning is way out of my comfort zone but lately I've felt like I needed to stretch my creativeness... so purchase it I did... then blended it with some stuff from my stash to make these beautiful art batts....
I started spinning it at Mar-Rita's. Luckily Twirlycurlybird was also at Rita's, so she gave me pointers on how to use some of the items from her "bag of goodness". This is what I like to call it but she calls it Spinners Candy Fiber Palette. It's in shade of Hot pink.
In the bag was Finn/Merino top, alpaca locks, mohair roving, Sari silk, Chiffon ribbons and Angelina. I added soy silk that was hand dyed by my friend Melanie and some white merino. Twirlycurlybird also included strands of cream colored pearls but I didn't try to use them. I felt I had enough to tackle just using the chiffon and Sari Silk.
I finished spinning it on Tuesday and this is how my yarn turned out...
I plan on leaving it as singles and using it in my first Saori weaving project. Right now I'm planning on just using this yarn for the weaving to make a small wall hanging. I figure I can hand sew on the pearls once it is finished.
It will be a remembrance of meeting twirlycurlybird, using my friends hand dyed silk, spinning it with friends, old and new, and my first Saori weaving.
Hope you all have a Happy Fiber Arts Friday and don't forget to check out the other Fiber Art blogs at
Wisdom Begins in Wonder.
Here's all the uke players who attended in front of the stage. This was our first time attending and we were shocked when we found that people came from France, Australia, Thailand, Nova Scotia, Canada and Berumda just for this event. It was a pretty crazy weekend!
