Hummingbird ~ Hand Painted Merino

This National Geographic photograph was the inspiration for my Hummingbird hand painted merino roving. I just think these colors are so striking! I went with more of an orange than a ruby. I like how the orange stands out among the other colors.

Good Earth ~ Hand Painted Merino

Good Earth is the result of my latest efforts. I couldn't resist painting a roving using every one of the most popular earth and skin tone colors that I have developed for my shop. There are 8 shades in all. In one four ounce piece of roving, you'll find ecru, yellow and red based browns and olive tones.

I think it's really interesting how it all turned out and I would love to see how it looks spun up. It may be the felting community who really likes this one though. Anyone who felts nature items, animals or even dolls should be able to find colors that will work for them.

If this colorway finds fans, I'll keep it in the inventory. Otherwise, I'm thinking about splitting things up. I'm going to design a naturally light colorway and then a naturally darker one. So often I have crafters looking for doggie colors or skin tones and what they really want is a little bit of each color. It would be too difficult as a one woman show to break my inventory into bits and pieces, but perhaps I can give them what they need in one painted piece. That's my plan and what I'm currently working on.

Creekwood Ranch ~ That's More Like It!

Say hey! Here we go! This is just what I wanted. This, my friends, is my neighborhood in painted Merino roving. This is Creekwood Ranch!

I have to say it. I am THRILLED with how this turned out. I changed the colorway so that the orange works into the yellow and then back into the orange again. This is representational of our sunny Mexican Bird of Paradise. The pink is a little darker which I like because not only do we have bushes with little pale pink flowers, but we also have these amazing and vibrant Bougainvilleas.

It's really fun for me to see all of these colors come together. I'm sharing something I love, in essence, my home. This will be my third Christmas here in Arizona. The thing that surprised and pleased me the most upon moving here was all of the amazing colors of this landscape. It's simply radiant!

Creekwood Ranch ~ Almost, but Not Quite

Here is another roving I painted yesterday. This is almost, but not quite what I was going for. My idea was to paint a roving to look like my neighborhood. I live in Arizona outside of Phoenix in a subdivision called Creekwood Ranch.

This roving is really close to what I wanted, but I need to tweak it a little before I post it in my shop. You might picture all earth tones when you think about Arizona, and they definitely are part of the color palette, but we have a lot of flowers too. Arizona is also obsessed with water. The parks and landscaped areas are almost ridiculously green.

So this is my neighborhood, Creekwood Ranch. It's reddish brown with shocks of bright green. We enjoy the brilliant orange of the Mexican Bird of Paradise, bushes covered in soft pink and periwinkle flowers and the yellow bloom of the Palo Verde in the Spring.

When you put all of the colors of my 'hood together, they're quite pretty. Color is one of the things I love about this place. There's so much of it; unexpected, unusual and uninhibited. I want to change my Creekwood Ranch Roving just a little. It needs more yellow and the purple isn't quite right. In the meantime, I'll have fun spinning these four ounces into a vibrant yarn.

Sweetheart - Hand Painted Merino Roving

Dyeing, dyeing and more dyeing. Today I have this pretty new hand painted roving. I wanted to make something totally girly. I happen to be the lone female in a house of males, so I had to concentrate. I channeled baby girl blankets, dollies, valentines day and posies.

The image that finally appeared to me, no doubt thanks to my love of sugar, was that of the little pink sweetheart candies. You know, the ones that say things like "kiss me" and "cutie pie". They come in different colors, but the pink ones stood out in my mind and became my inspiration.

So here is my new hand painted roving design. What am I calling it? Well, Sweetheart, of course! As a matter of fact, 4oz of Sweetheart are already available at Wind Rose. Let the girly spinning commence!

Mystic Meadow - Hand Painted Merino Roving

Here's my latest hand painted roving. I'm calling this one Mystic Meadow.

I'm having fun playing around with color ideas in my head. I think I like this painting roving thing. Not only do I love seeing how the fiber turns out, it rocks that there is less mess than when I kettle dye. No pots to scrub. Yeah! Also, if I plan ahead, it doesn't take too much time. I'm trying to slip one batch in a day while I find the color combinations I like the best.

Treasure Chest (3oz/56 handspun yards)

Last night I found myself in the mood to spin so into my studio went I. My studio becomes a completely unique space when I enter as a spinner. More often I'm a dyer going in to secure some ecru fiber. After a sale, I simply enter to gather the purchased ounces from the bins and bins of prepared fiber. But, when I enter as a spinner, it's the most fun.

My studio is a veritable wonderland of roving and locks. There are at least half a dozen breeds of sheep not to mention angora, camel and yak. There's soy silk, cultivated silk, tussah silk, bamboo and hemp. It's impossible not to feel like a kid in a candy store. What flavor am I in the mood for today?

I wanted to spin a bulky weight 2ply, so I was looking for some fiber that would make it interesting. I decided it was finally time to break into one of my goodie bags from my last trip to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. There is a vendor there who always has a couple bags full of crazy fiber. To be honest, I think it's her destash. She sorts her bits and pieces of leftover fiber into a couple color families that work and then just teases them out and mixes them up. The result is a grab bag full of mixed wool and Firestar and even some sari silk. Perhaps some spinners walk straight past these bags and go for the nice combed top, but not me. I love those wacky sacks of fiber. When I reach my hand in and draw out a fist full of color and sparkle, I feel like a pirate who just found treasure!

So that is the story behind my latest skein of handspun yarn, Treasure Chest. I'm sad that I only had three ounces to spin, but I love how it turned out. It's 56 yards of bulky weight treasure! I wish it could be more, but I know someone will find a great use for this yarn, maybe by combining it with another bulky weight skein. Maybe it will trim a scarf or become a quick and easy baby beanie. Who knows? That's for you to decide!

Spirited Chalice - Hand Painted Merino

Spirited Chalice, 4oz of hand painted Merino wool, is now listed for sale at Wind Rose. I was seriously tempted to take a couple ounces of this first batch and spin it up. I think it would be nice to have an example for people to see, but the truth is, I'm just not sure I have the time right now, so why break up the batch?

Also, I'm kind of torn about whether to spin samples or not. This roving and others like it could take on more than one look depending on how it's spun. Perhaps it's better to leave it up to the buyer's imagination. What do you think? Do you like to see spun samples when you buy roving?

Westen Learns to Crochet ~ Step 3: The Single Crochet

Westen, boy genius, has mastered the single crochet! I mean seriously folks. Check it out. That's his first row ever of single crochet stitches! Look at how nice and loose and even they are. I can hardly believe how great he's doing. I'm such a proud teacher!

By the way, as my son is left handed, I've been teaching myself to crochet left handed so that I can teach him properly. It felt pretty awkward at first, but I figured if he was doing something new and hard, I could too. I may just come out of this class an ambidextrous crochet lady!

2000!

I just need to let out a quick, happy WOOT! Today Wind Rose Fiber Studio has had it's 2,000th sale! Hooray! Yay! Yippee!

Spirited Chalice ~ It's almost dry!

I'm a little over eager today. I couldn't even give my painted roving a chance to dry all the way before I was making it pose for a picture.

I think this will spin up very pretty. I'm pleased with how nice and soft the roving came out and the color saturation is very good too.

For some reason when I'm painting roving, I often picture a scarf. I'm not sure why. I guess it's because a scarf is one of the most popular and basic things people tend to make. I think to myself, "This would look great with a jean jacket or a black coat." Stuff like that.

Other times I think about people; different hair colors and skin tones. "This would look nice on a woman with silver hair," I'll muse. Of course it doesn't really matter what I think. What I hope for is that someone will see some roving I've dyed and say to themselves, "This will look so nice on me!"

Westen Learns to Crochet ~ Step 2: The Chain

Westen is continuing on his crochet journey. Now he has learned to chain. The first day I showed him, he was having a hard time with it and was consequently not too happy. The next day I was kind of dreading our lesson, but when you are trying to teach your hands how to do something like crochet, it helps if you practice at least a little every day. It really helps with the muscle memory.

So on the second day, I started off slowly, having him watch me. "OK, OK, I get it!" he snapped impatiently. He took the hook and yarn from my hands and just started chaining. Then, we just sat and chained for a while.

Today we started working on single crochets. Now he's a little frustrated again, but I'm sure tomorrow he'll just grab it out of my hands and go!