HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Sneak Peak - Nuno Felting

Hi all, one last post for today. Over the next few days I'll be talking about Nuno Felt. You will get to see some amazing designs like this one by Amysfunkyfibers. She's a fellow Etsian and does Nuno felting that is just out of this world! She gave me the generous OK to share some of her pictures with you. This is her "Fire on Water-Beaded Nuno-Felt Scarf".

In our conversation she shared, "The part of nuno felting that I enjoy is the "painting with wool" it is so light and lofty and the variety is endless, another part that I enjoy is the physical exercise! Rolling and throwing are involved along with soap and water, you get wet and soapy and feel energized like a kid again!"

I'll be showing you more of Amysfunkyfibers work as well as other artists from Etsy. I'll also be doing some research and sharing what I find. I'm looking forward to exploring this unique form of felt making with all of you!

Naturally Grey Wools

I'm now offering naturally grey wools at Wind Rose. On the left is Fine Grey Shetland Top and on the right is Light Coopworth. Personally I think "Why dye it if the sheep will provide?" The Shetland is a darker grey while the Coopworth is a light, more heathery shade. They are both soft to the touch and are crazy easy to spin. They will also happily needle or wet felt for you. So if you're looking for dye-free, here are a couple great new choices!

Art and Artists - Finishing up my visit at the SW Fiber Festival with Pump House Studio

Good Morning All! Thanks for waiting on this post. Usually Friday is my day to feel fried, but it's hitting me early this week!

Well my visit to the Southwest Fiber Festival is coming to a close, but not before I share one more artist with you. Her name is Monica Durazo of Pump House Studio. Her tent was filled with gorgeous Nuno Felt designs. Seeing her work is what solidified it for me. I have to Nuno Felt! I don't know if it's where she got her start, but I do know she took a class given by Spirited Hands Studio. She must have been a star student. If I had brought along my checkbook and not just an insufficient amount of cash, I would own one of her pieces right now. That's my lesson learned!

I enjoyed talking with Monica. She had a warm and open way that made me feel comfortable asking my questions. Some artists are sort of guarded and make you feel like you are trying to thieve their trade secrets. There was none of that at this festival and certainly none from Monica. On the contrary, she was quick to celebrate her mentors and freely shared detailed advice. She even gave me the name of the author whose book I now own and will be studying before I try out Nuno felting. (I'll be sharing more about that book soon.)

Here are a couple of my favorite Monica Durazo pieces. On the left is a dress. It's the first time I've seen a dress made in Nuno Felt. On the right is a light and airy top. One of the appealing things about this form of felting is that you can make something so lightweight. It's a way for even us warm climate folks to wear our wool year round. They make perfect layers. Whether it's over a camisole in the summer or a cowl neck in the winter, this is a look you can enjoy in any season!

Well I guess that's the end of my posts on the SW Fiber Festival. I'm excited that they are planning a three day event next year. I think this festival is off to a great start. If you live in the area, it's well worth the drive, but just remember to bring your checkbook!

Until Tomorrow

Hi everyone.  I was planning on talking about one more artist today, but I'm running out of steam.   I had relatives visiting from out of town and I'm feeling tired from a busy day.  I'd rather wait until I'm more perky to talk about Pump House Studio.  I hope you don't mind waiting until tomorrow. 

I am excited to announce that a shipment of Merino wool I've been waiting on has arrived.  That means I'll be getting to work dyeing more colors for you.  I'm always happy to take requests, so if there is a color you're wishing for, just let me know.  

One more tidbit, I'll be adding Superwash Merino to my inventory.  This is machine washable wool and great for your wearables.  Also, I'm adding a couple of natural grey fibers, Fine Gray Shetland which is a darker grey and Light Coopworth which is a lighter, more heathery grey. 

See you tomorrow.  

Art and Artists - Still More Shopping at the Southwest Fiber Festival

I wish I could tell you about all of the vendors at the Southwest Fiber Festival. By making it a family outing, I numbered my minutes. I would like to encourage you to look through the list of vendors many of whom have websites. I'm only scratching the surface of the talent offered.

Today I'm pleased to introduce you to Spirited Hands Studio and the mother/daughter team of Susan A. Thompson and Sally Ann Hall. The two share over 25 years of experience and offer workshops through their studio in Tucson, Arizona. If you go to their website and click on the workshops link, you'll see the charming felted apparel for children that they will be teaching this coming January.



I have to apologize for not having more close-ups of their work. As you can see by the picture I do have, their tent was very busy. There were also photographers from the local paper there and I was trying to stay out of their way. I need a press pass! I do have a nice photo of the Felted pendant necklace that I bought for myself. I love the colors and the whimsical way it snakes around. In addition to these necklaces, they displayed purses, children's clothes, vases, and the most incredible felted flowers you've ever seen. You can see more of their work by using the links I've provided for their studio and their individual websites.

I'll be back later today to share the stunning Nuno Felt designs of Pump House Studio. This will lead into a series of posts I'll be making on the art of Nuno Felting. I have Etsy Artists lined up and so much beautiful work to show you. And then I'll be giving Nuno Felting a try. See you soon!

Art and Artists - More Shopping at the Southwest Fiber Festival

Back again! The chores are ...umm... mostly done, but I'd rather blog about my next artist. Her name is Michelle Johnson from Laughing Cloud Studio in Prescott, Arizona. Her website is still in production, but you can find contact information through the link as well as the galleries that carry her work and her upcoming shows. I had such a nice time talking to Michelle. I hope she doesn't mind if I call her Michelle. First of all, I think it's adorable that she's wearing a skein of her yarn around her neck like a necklace. I had to laugh at myself, because I didn't notice this until I was loading my pictures. In fact, I have to confess that in spite of being surrounded by skeins of what I believe were hand painted yarn, I was focused on the fiber. A terrible lack of observation on my part. I think that because I do more spinning of yarn than buying yarn, I get hopelessly distracted by dyed locks of wool.

So lets talk about those dyed locks. The picture in the middle is from my goodie bag. It's one ounce of Wensleydale locks dyed a glorious shade of "Poppy". The color is awesome, is it not? Michelle had a lovely assortment of fibers and colors. It led to a conversation about how different wools take color in their own unique way; some drawing more warm tones from a dye bath while others the cool. By mixing different fibers in the same dye bath, she creates a study of how wool interacts with color. You may pick up a bag of locks that look blue until you inspect it more closely and find shades of teal, green and gray playing throughout. Maybe it was a bit boring of me to buy just straight Wensleydale, but I loved the color of the "Poppy".

I hope I'll run into Michelle Johnson again one day. A trip to Prescott is definitely on my "to do" list. It seems there is quite a thriving community of artists and crafters up there. For now I'll just enjoy my wool locks. I'm planning on exploring Nuno felting in the near future and I think that this Wensleydale will look amazing! See you soon.

Handspun yarn - Shimmering Sunset

Hi. I know I said I'd be back with another artist, but I have a quick show and tell in the meantime. This just came off my drying rack and into my shop at Wind Rose. I'm calling it "Shimmering Sunset"

This is 110 yards of 2ply yarn comparable to a worsted weight. This yarn is 50% wool in gorgeous autumn colors and 50% nylon Icicle Top in sparkling dark fuchsia and burnt orange. This handspun yarn has the warm glow of a spectacular sunset and is vibrant enough to add life and movement to your fall projects!

Art and Artists - Shopping at the Southwest Fiber Festival

Today and tomorrow I'll be sharing pictures of the pieces I bought at the SW Fiber Festival. I'm sure we all have our own festival shopping strategies. Mine is to do an initial sweep of the event and then to head back to the tents and the items that are still on my mind. So after my first tour, I headed back to Grandma's Spinning Wheel. The first thing I did when I moved out to Arizona was look to see where the interesting fiber stores were located. Grandma's Spinning Wheel kept coming up in my searches, but was a little far away. I was happy to find them at the festival and finally get to see them in person. Their tent was very homey and it looked like they brought a sampling from just about every section of their store. They have a wonderful website with even better pictures than the ones I have here. There is also the touching story of how Grandma's Spinning Wheel came into being.

What caught my eye on this day was a display of woven earrings from Peru. I think I have Peruvian radar or something because I always manage to find weaving from Peru. I'm just drawn to it. These earrings were spectacular and in the morning sun, their sparkling beckoned. First, I have to say to all the weavers from Peru out there, you must demand more money for your work! There is no way that I should now own these earrings for a mere $9.oo. For craftsmanship like this, I would pay more. It is nice, however, for Grandma's Spinning Wheel to not only recognize beautiful work when they see it, but to pass on the low price to their customers.

They were all so striking that it was hard to pick out just one pair. Finally, I settled in on these. It was probably the way the gold thread played off the light that did it for me. They also inspire me. I stare at the pattern and look to see where the threads start and finish and the order used to create the starburst. They really make me want to go weave something! Anything!

So "Thanks" Grandma's Spinning Wheel, for sharing these gems with me and the other enthusiastic shoppers at the festival. I had to wait my turn to get into the tent! Oh yes, and there was another fun item that caught my eye. I totally wanted one of your Techno Drop Spindles. They were so fun. I don't know why, but for some reason I talked myself down from buying one. It may be the fact that I already own four drop spindles, but the Techno Spindles were so groovy. Spinning one would be like watching the inside of a kaleidoscope. Maybe next year!

I have one more artist that I want to share today, but I need to take a break and do a few chores first. I hope you understand. See you soon.

The First Annual Southwest Fiber Festival in Amado, Arizona

A few weeks ago I announced my intention to attend the Southwest Fiber Festival. This past Saturday, I did just that! At 8:00 in the morning, my family and I climbed into the car for the two hour drive south to Amado. It's not a bad drive except for the fact that they are widening the highway through Tucson. When that work is completed, it'll be sweet. For me a good trip is when we get where we are going with only one or two, "How much longer?" inquiries from the back of the car.
So here's what it looked like walking into the event on a beautiful Arizona day. It was feeling more like summer than fall. I hoped that the sun would rise just a little faster for the vendors so that their tents would provide more shade. At 10:00 in the morning, when the festival opened, many were already feeling the heat.

The warm day had no effect on the happy mood of the festival. Everyone seemed energized. I didn't realize until I was there that this was the first Southwest Fiber Festival. They are already making plans to extend it to 3 days next year. For a first show, there was quite a large group of vendors and a nice variety. A few of the shops were offering classes. There were raffles and yarn competitions and even some young Alpacas and Cormo sheep. They had it all!





The thing that really struck me was the feeling of community, among the people I mean. (time to stop looking at the Cute Cormo) A lot of the vendors seemed to know each other or had even taken classes from one another. Over and over, while I was chatting with one artist, they would direct my attention to another tent and sing the praises of another artist. For this group, it truly was all about the love of fiber!

I didn't do a lot of shopping, but it wasn't because there weren't tons of fabulous creations. It's more because being at a fiber festival makes me realize how much I already have up in my studio. I did however treat myself to a few new pieces. Over the next couple days I'll be sharing pictures of those and the artists who created them. I also was delighted to experience some amazing Nuno Felt work. I will be sharing pictures of that as well.

Now I know I'm being a bit of a tease, but I also want to let you know that there are some terrific Nuno Felters at Etsy who have graciously agreed to allow me to blog about their work . That's also coming up by the end of this week. I've only just recently become aware of this particular form of felting and I'm very excited about it. I already have a book on order and some silk chiffon so that I too can give Nuno Felting a try. If this is an art form that interests you, please come back and visit, because I'll not only be sharing the work of felt artists, but I'll also share my own exploration into Nuno Felting. See you soon!

Soy Silk dyed in 6 skin tone shades for spinners and needle felters!

They're Here!! I just finished listing these new colors at Wind Rose. A couple days ago I showed you my kitchen counter covered in bowls of soaking roving. I dyed for hours that day and these are my results.

The skin tone line has been so popular in my store and I thought that if people liked the colors in merino wool, they might also enjoy them in soy silk. The colors, starting from the top middle and working clockwise, are South Pacific, Chestnut Brown, Sun Touched, Golden Brown, Mediterranean, and in the middle, Peach Glow.

I think they turned out really pretty in the soy silk. The only one I may tweak a little is the Peach Glow. I may tone it down just a bit. Soy Silk, especially the natural, unbleached soy that I use, takes color very differently than merino. I had to change my recipes a little to accommodate this and it may take one more batch before I'm perfectly happy. I also have one more color to make which is the Deeper Brown.

I hope the spinners, needle felters and maybe even the nuno felters will enjoy these new shades of soy silk. They have such an earthiness about them and because they all have the same base, they look lovely together. Every time I take a group picture of the skin tone line, it makes me want to spin a skein of yarn using nothing but skin tones!

Only for you agoodwitchtoo!!!

I have to tell you something, and there's no pretty way to say this, but I'm the quintessential chain killer. I've never met a chain that I haven't snuffed out... that is until now. Only for you agoodwitchtoo, the beautiful premier follower of my blog. For you, anything!

I also, being a willful child, tend not to follow directions too well, but I'll do my best. It seems I need to share six things I value and six things I don't value. Here goes:

Six things I value
family and friends - my two boys holding the dearest place in my heart
time - just time in general, it's so precious and important to me, every single second
integrity - in every aspect of life. Just living as honestly as possible
Compassion - that stepping outside of oneself, not only to care, but to really feel
Creativity - for me it's lifeblood; balance, happiness, love, everything
Spirituality - awareness that we are part of something greater than ourselves

Six things I don't value
ignorance - closed minds are scary things
arrogance - there is more than one way, not just yours
hate - especially when it's disguised as righteousness
forms - fill in the blank, fill in the circle, check the box; they all terrify me!!!
pigeonholes - never allow yourself to be squished into one of those
alarms and alarmists - life is too short; see time

You see, this is why I stay away from pass it on type stuff, I take it way too seriously! Although, it wasn't an altogether bad mental exercise. So what do you think? Are you up for it? Now I'm supposed to tag 6 other bloggers, but I'm not sure I have it in me. I'll tell you what, it makes for a thoughtful blog post, so if you decide to put your values out there, leave a comment and I'll create a link to your blog. See, I didn't kill the chain, I just maimed it a little.