moving

I have to put this site on hold while I get ready to move!

Soysilk

*sigh* the soysilk is giving me fits, I think I'll be leaving this fiber alone for a while. Too bad though, I love playing with it... except that it doesn't work right O_o
Looks like all the color wants to rinse out again. I've gotten it to set before, and I thought the second time worked. Sigh. Oh well, I'll just keep playing with this fiber for me until I figure it out! (after a break...)

recent work

I've been playing with my clay a little bit recently, I've made two sheep and a stitchmarker set. I have to varnish the pieces still, hopefully tomorrow will be good for that! This is not an ideal photo, just thrown together to display what I've been working on recently, and all the pieces need some work still (the light switch cover in the back is for scale). Each curl on the sheep is carefully hand shaped and placed onto the body, after forming and hardening the legs, tail, and face :)

BRB

I'm at my dad's right now, so not a lot of fiber stuff right now, I've done a couplea rows on my cardigan, but thats about it.

... KITTENS!
this one is sleeping on my lap right now :3

sorry about the bad quality picture, webcam photo.

soysilk

Did some experimenting with soysilk today, carefully painted on the colors and tried steam setting. So much of the color ran out! went from much bolder coloring to a pastel. Pretty, but not what I was aiming for!
This is what I was aiming for : (this lovely lilac-breasted roller was photographed by hvhe1 here)
And I managed a very nice approximation, but unfortunately the dye didn't set properly. I seem to have this problem with soysilk, it require abnormal amounts of vinegar to set colors! Now I have a pretty pastel top that doesn't have quite the same coloration as the bird. I'm debating touching up the blues; its lovely as a pastel, but I think bolder blues might make it really pop. This is it in the pot, resetting. I really do love how soysilk looks, its just such a pain to dye.

My recent spinning

I've been doing some spinning the last little while, trying to go back to making a thicker single. Working with two materials, East Friesian, a coarser downy type wool, which I'm plying and making into a foot rug, and merino - I don't know what I'm doing with those singles yet.

The first yarn I made for the rug was a bunch of colors, with a predominance of green and browns that was then plied back on itself
after a few more yarns were spun, this is the rug so far
a bit lopsided in this shot, but it tugs out to a more normal shape well, so blocking should help :)
The two green balls here are the next yarns to be plied and crochet into this rug - but I still haven't decided If I should overdye before or after plying. overdying will set the twist, so dying after plying should be better that way, but aesthetically I think I'd like a higher contrast between the plies.
The pink and blue is a merino roving that was originally supposed to be a bluebird colorway, but I just couldn't wait to pour the dye on. sigh. so instead of a bit of red, there is a lot of pink, however I'm quite happy with the spinning, 6oz of a lovely thick and thin using longdraw teqniques, testing out the spindle I sent to my8kidsmom, of course.Prior to this pink and blue, I also spun up some other merino in the same fashion, on a slightly heavier spindle, and I like the colors much more! and its oh so smooshy! <3
lastly, heres some of the merino/cashmere/nylon top (the same material I sent to my swap partners) I grabbed, It was an absolute dream. I also spun this on the spindle I sent to my swap partner. You know, see if it was half decent for a thiner yarn as well as a thicker one :3 Its less than an ounce, but I didn't want to stop spinning this lovely material. I'll have 2oz of this same colorway up in my store soon, along with a coordinating color soon.

I'm also currently crocheting a cardigan that is gorgeous, but I'm finding the pattern could use a lot of work unfortunately, so I have to keep redoing and altering parts. I should take a photo soon!

Store!

I've set up most of my artfire store now (here), and I've posted one 8oz top for sale, a bit of a tester really.

It's "Kingfisher" a bamboo/merino colorway
my next put-up will be the "Purple Martin" colorway in merino/tencil, also 8oz

I plan to have more fiber, yarn, and stitch markers for sale. Possibly also some toggles/pendants as well.