I took the Handmade Pledge! Have you?

I just went back to visit BuyHandmade.org today.  There are now 23,046 people who have taken the Handmade Pledge.  I think this is absolutely awesome!  For those who may be unfamiliar, taking the Handmade Pledge means promising to buy handmade for your loved ones this holiday season and requesting they do the same for you.  I'm always looking for unique gifts for my family and friends (when I run out of time to make them myself) and craft shows are usually my favorite place to shop.  I love supporting individual artists and there is just something so fun about discovering the perfect, distinctive gift.  I want the recipients of my offerings to ask, "Where did you find this?" (In a good way of course.) So when you start to think about your holiday shopping, consider the Handmade Pledge.  

Fab Fibers! Blue Faced Leicester and Golden Firestar!

The name says it all!  I have been impatiently waiting for this wool to dry so I could tease it up and list it at Wind Rose Fiber Studio.  This is absolutely my favorite kind of fiber to spin.  It started out as soft, combed BFL top and Firestar.  I dyed the Firestar a bright yellow and have included a whole ounce to give this wool a golden sparkle.  I dyed 3 ounces of the Blue Faced Leicester in purple, wild raspberry, sky and lichen.  You can card this fiber which will blend the colors more or, what I like to do, spin directly from the teased fiber introducing colors as your own creativity dictates.  Have fun with this bright and colorful collection of fibers!

Hand Dyed Merino Roving in Ocean Colors

If you love the ocean, than these colors are for you! I spent yesterday afternoon designing colors in aqua and teal and these are the results. I had a customer request for a light aqua, so the new shade Soft Aqua was designed with her in mind, but there is enough at Wind Rose Fiber Studio to share. Tropics is a beautiful Caribbean green. Teal is a little deeper than the Soft Aqua and has just a touch more green. The Mermaid is a wonderfully fun aqua blue with hints of sapphire and emerald. The four colors look gorgeous together, but could also be mixed with a wide range of other shades. At Wind Rose, I like to sell my roving by the ounce so you can pick out a few colors that you love and design your own yarn. If you are wondering what that little circle of fiber next to the roving is, that is a free 8" piece of Firestar that I give away with all of my Merino rovings. Firestar is a lustrous nylon that can add a little sparkle to any skein of yarn. I hope you will love spinning or felting with these colors and I've saved the recipes so I can restock if necessary. Enjoy!

I Love Soy Silk!

It was not love at first sight, but after spending more and more time working with Soy Silk, I've fallen in love with this fiber!  The first time I dyed soy silk, I nervously watched as the fiber sort of piled together in the dye pot.  Then I started to stir to make sure the dye made it's way throughout.  At that point, it started to look more like a tangled mess.  I was even more convinced of the mess theory when the soy silk came out of the dye pot looking like a wet lump.  "What have I done?" I wondered.  Still, not one to give up, I laid it out in the sun to dry.  As it did so, I started to work with it; teasing it back out into a nice length of roving.  When it became fully dry, I worked through the fiber one more time and it seemed to transform in front of my eyes!  It became lofty and unspeakably soft.  Even more impressive was the beautiful shine of the silk.  Over time, I have refined my dyeing methods for soy silk.  It definitely has its own personality and therefore wants to be treated a certain way.  The things we do for love!

Star Man Pendant Necklace

If whimsy is your thing, you're going to love my little Star Man! Actually he's not so little. The pendant measures 2.5"x 3". He started out as a plain starfish pendant, but gained hands and legs and eyes all of which were made using findings and tiny glass beads. He's been carefully wired together and hung on a strand of complimentary glass beads with two little wire stars to keep him company. The necklace is 17" long and closes securely with a lobster clasp.

Today at Wind Rose Fiber Studio #6

I'm ready to get back into work after a week of hosting my sister.  I've got lots of roving waiting to become yarn, so that's a priority this week.  I also plan to get back into a dyeing schedule.  I've promised a client a light aqua blue merino so that will be my first color.  I'm expecting a delivery of alpaca this week, so it will be fun to add some alpaca to my inventory.  If you are ever reading this blog and have color requests for roving, feel free to comment for go to Wind Rose Fiber Studio and you can contact me there.  

The Grand Canyon

My family and I just spent a day at the Grand Canyon. Here are a few pictures to enjoy. The only thing I have to add is that if you are planning a trip to the Canyon, Frommer's Guide gives some good travel advice. Especially if you are driving up from the south or Flagstaff area. If you take US 89 to Arizona 64 and go in by the east entrance, you in for a much nicer less crowded drive. We drove back from the south rim so we tried out both routes. The 89 to 64 may be a little longer, but aside from the lesser amount of traffic, the condition of the roads were also much better. I noticed too, that there are a few more Trading posts along the way for those who enjoy shopping.

Great Bead Store Discovery in Scottsdale, AZ

I'm wiped out tonight, but I just have to share my great discovery of the day.  I was taking my sister around the historical/shopping district of Scottsdale when we stumbled onto the best bead shop I've ever been in.  It was huge!  It was so awesome to see some really unique selections.  A whole wall was dedicated just to African beads.  If you live here or are coming for a visit and you're tired of always seeing the same beads, this is the place for you!  It's called Razzle-Dazzle and can be found on 7219 E. Main Street in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Long Day

It's been a long day today.  My sister arrives late tonight from VA.  I've spent most of the afternoon getting my house presentable as well as trying to add a few fresh touches here and there.  The early afternoon was spent at the pediatrician......    zzzzzzzzzzzz  

Well it's a day later then when I started this post and I'm a lot less tired.  I am sad though because I ruined my goal of blogging at least a little every day.  I MISSED  A DAY! : (

I'll be taking it kind of easy this week enjoying my sister's company and savoring the last week of summer before the kids go back to school.  Saturday we are taking a day trip to the Grand Canyon.  I'll have to post a few pics for you next week. 

I haven't forgotten about my experiment, results are still forth coming.

Wool Dyeing Experiment

It's the great wool dyeing experiment of ....  hmmm.....  of my kitchen!  Alright, it might not be that great, but I just have to do it.  What's "it"?   It's presoaking versus not presoaking.  I know the  wisdom is overwhelmingly presoak, but I have to just have it test it.  

Now it has to be said that I dye a lot,  I mean A LOT of fiber.  I also maintain a stock of certain colors that I reproduce, so I have a very controlled dye method which does include presoaking for at least 30 min.  The reason I'm compelled to do this little experiment is because no matter how careful I am, everyone once in a while a batch will come out a little uneven which makes me crazy.  At the same time, there have been a few occasions when I have been in a rush to get an order done for someone and have skipped the presoaking and had the fiber come out just great.  Is it a fluke?  Can presoaking be a waste of time?

Now I know some of this depends of the fiber, it's quality and type.  I've worked with roving where I was presoaking as much to get is really clean to accept the dye as anything else.  But today I am working with top quality Merino.  

I'm compelled to do this test as today is one of those days that my fiber came out a little uneven even though it was babied through my usual controlled process.  Like I said it makes me crazy, so I ran upstairs, grabbed another half a pound and here I go again.  This time, no presoaking, just the same two dye baths that I made earlier today.  

The experiment is still happening, so I will have to report on the results tomorrow.  I'll post a couple pictures so you can judge along with me.  

Today at Wind Rose Fiber Studio #5

It's 4:30 in the afternoon, so I guess I''m not getting an early start to my day.  I have made it to the post office which I always try to do before lunch.  I take pride in being a fast shipper.  (you have to take pride in something you know)  I spent a very important hour lounging under cotton ball clouds and a bright blue sky.  Feeling recharged, I now have half a pound of Merino roving dyeing away on the stove.  I'm doing 4oz each of two colors today; Sun Touched and Golden Brown.  These are custom colors that I designed and are part of a skin tone line that I sell at Wind Rose.  The skin tone line has been really popular.  I keep wanting to make enough extra to combine them into sampler packs, but they sell too fast.  I'm not complaining, but once the kids go back to school, I'm going to dye at a greater pace so I can do just that. 

I do still have a poll going to get gift ideas for the holidays.  If you happen to be reading this, please take it.  Please?  I want to know what you think.

I have also spent a little more time today at flickr.  I've joined a few groups and added a few more pics.  Someone has already added me as a contact, so I'm feeling a little more welcomed.  There seem to be so many people who love the site, so I just have to find out for myself.

One last extremely important fact.  I have just discovered nacho cheese flavored Sun Chips.  If you have not tried them, you must!  Go to the store now!  I've never been a huge chip person, but they are soooo soooo yummy!

Today at Wind Rose Fiber Studio #4

Most important things first... Did you know that today is National Ice Cream Day?? That's right! The third Sunday in July. Have you had your ice cream today?

Back to business. I've started writing these little segments in part to keep myself focused and also to document a day in the life of this Etsy store owner. So today, even though it's Sunday, I've spent some time on my business. I'm in the process of opening a Flickr account. It's trying to load my avatar as we speak. I've also added two colors of merino roving to my inventory. I wrote about them in my post earlier today. They're the Crimson and Emerald hand dyed roving. The third thing I did today was list a Wind Rose Fiber Studio Gift Bag for sale at my store. I really like the idea of offering people the option of buying a gift bag with their item. The one-stop-shop; that's me. The gift bags have been customized with Wind Rose Fiber Studio labels and tags and come with 2 sheets of glittery green tissue. The gift bag costs $3.50, but it ships for free with any purchase to anywhere in the world. I also plan to use these gift bags to make holiday gift collections so ultimately they will serve two purposes. Well that's my day. I'll probably be playing with my new Flickr page until late tonight. I'm a junky.