Nerd Wars! The Battle Plans are Being Drawn!

As mentioned before, Stone and String and I (Inspiration Fibers) are collaborating for Ravelry's Nerd Wars. We're on Team Browncoat; dedicated to keeping Firefly alive and the skies free. (For Bridget ;) and others: Firefly is a TV show by Joss Whedon that only was alive for 14 wonderful episodes and a terrific movie. Fans have kept up ferver for it for 8 years now. It's brilliant. It's a Western set in space. I know--but you should check it out on Netflix if you can!) Signups are taking place now, with the first battle starting on Feb. 1. Shelley and I are even official sponsors!

In preparation, Shelley and I are busy over our dye pots. Here's a sneak peak at "Kaylee" (very sneak peak--it's still dripping!). The yarn is my line called "Faith"; it's Bluefaced Leicester Superwash, worsted. Shelley will have similar colorways for Kaylee in her different yarn bases.

This is based on Kaylee at the market in the first episode of Firefly.

Stay tuned for Inara, River and Mal. They'll be batts in my shop, and will be ready to launch by Saturday!!

Celebrating New Fiber Friends

I have been so blessed in my life. And very richly by the friends I have made within the fiber community. My two best friends came from the local yarn shop where I use to work and teach, and this week I'd like to celebrate two new friendships that have recently blossomed through my Etsy shop and Ravelry.

Myra is a gifted fiber artist herself, and began purchasing my batts for her felted scarves.

From this batt:

Her favorite: "Harvest"

From my Harvest batt:

And the specially commissioned "Tutu" for her friend:

We've struck up a great friendship and have so much in common. Her fiber shop is Lucy Ate the Yarn--isn't that an adorable name for a fiber shop? Her dog, Lucy use to eat her yarn!

This week, we're so excited because Myra got her first spinning wheel and is wrestling yarn out of it as I type. I really wish we lived closer so I could encourage her in person!

Luckily, for me, Myra is also a very gifted jewelry maker. Her shop Calvin Says Merci is full of beautiful bracelets, and a portion of the proceeds go to her local animal shelter (Calvin is her other pup!).

I say "luckily for me" because look what arrived, unexpectedly, in the mail yesterday:

It's a faceted moonstone bracelet that I had been admiring in her shop!! I'm so spoiled! Can you see the flashes of blue from the stone? I keep twirling my wrist to see it flash! Thank you so much Myra!!! And good luck with the wheel!

Now, my second new friendship started as a collaboration between Stone and String Studio 's owner, Shelley and I for a very fun and silly event on Ravelry called Nerd Wars. We are both Phat Fiber contributors and joined Team Browncoat (dedicated to keeping the now-cancelled "Firefly" series alive and well, and the skies free). We wanted to do some studio work for the kick-off of the war, but didn't want to step on eachother's toes. So we're working together! We had the best phone conversation yesterday, and managed to get a little work in as well.

Be looking for "Firefly" inspired fiber and yarn in my shop and hers in a week or two. We've developed colorways based on the characters of the show and are each representing them in our shops. For instance: I'll have a Mal batt and she'll have a Mal yarn, but the colors will be the same (or similar--we are two different artists living hundreds of miles away from each other after all!).

I can't wait to get busy on it!

As a side note, I finally got my January Phat Fiber samples finished and they are in the mail today! Whew. The theme is Chinese New Year, and my inspiration were the fireworks. Here are Lincoln Longwool Locks and Firestar held together with Clun Forest roving and a cotton binder. It's called "Firecracker" and is a little core spinning kit. I'll have a tutorial on this technique up soon!

It's Fiber Arts Friday and you all need to head over to Wonder Why Alpaca Farm to continue reading fiber-rich blogs!

Quick Spin

I recently was able to grab some time to play with core spinning. Here are my results . . .

I used a GORGEOUS cloud of super soft baby kid mohair with Angelina from The Critter Ranch. Yup, Sue strikes again! She's such an enabler! This was her sample for the November, Seasons of Light Phat Fiber Box. It came in a sweet Christmas ornament

I had to wait until after Christmas to open it up and use it!

Here are the locks (photo swiped from Sue)

And here's the core yarn I used

Weren't they just made for each other?!

I need to make more of this yarn. It was so much fun!

Happy New Year!

So, I think, like all other bloggers out there, my New Year's resolution is to be better about consistant blogging! OK, so I can't be too hard on myself. I really fell off the wagon during Christmas, and it is a really busy time of year: between activities, shopping and it being peak sales time, I just couldn't get to it. Maybe next year I should have some stock stories saved up to publish!

But it's a new year! And I'm kicking it off strong! I have an FO (finished object) to share:

Kat's Hat!!I was tying on pom poms on the way to our Christmas dinner party. She got to show it off to the whole family. To recap: I participated in The Critter Ranch's birthstone spin-a-long, and got a tourmaline batt; I spun up the yarn, knit the hat, and got a great picture of Kat!

Be looking for a Kat's Hat worksheet in the shop to make your own in any gauge for any size!

I have quite a few busy customers that have been kind enough to send along pictures of their FOs, so throughout this week, I'll be highlighting them and their work!

And here's a gratuitous shot of my kids on Christmas Eve at church. Kat NEVER sits still long enough for a good shot, so this is a rare and elusive photo.

Love to hear how adorable you think Kat is in her hat, or how cute the kiddos are! ;) (yup, shamelessly looking for comments!)

My First Spin-A-Long

Goodness, it's been awhile since I've posted anything! It's good to have some time to be here!

I've been busy with Christmas, the shop, my oldest turning 16 this past Wed (and a big 'ol party coming up tomorrow!) and playing with my friends in a spin-a-long. My good friend and fellow Phat Fiber contributor, Sue, owner of The Critter Ranch, hosted a Spin-A-Long featuring batts from her animals in colors inspired by Birthstones! The group of us are on Ravelry talking about all the colors, posting photos of the batts we received, and keeping each other updated on our spinning progress.

I chose tourmaline in honor of Kitty turning 1 in October. Here are the photos of the batt, the yarn in progress, the finished yarn and my first swatchings (with Kitty approving along the way). I haven't decided if it'll be a hat for her or a sweater. If it's a sweater, it'll have to be a top-down, seemless yoke with the rest of the body finishing up in a complimentary color. I'd love to hear some opinions about how to use this!!

Enjoy the slide show!

 It's Fiber Arts Friday, so head over to Wonder Why Alpaca Farm and enjoy some other fiber-friendly blogs!! I'm off to make fudge and clean for a party!!