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Entries from September 5, 2010 - September 11, 2010

Friday
Sep102010

Creating a Signature Yarn

It's a Fiber Arts Friday and Crafty Friday! Click on the links to check out all the other great blogs that are spreading some fiber-y goodness around the world today! Better yet, join in!

I know that the title of this post sounds a little high and mighty, but I've been trying to work on getting a green yarn that is "me" for my Etsy shop banner and my blog banner. I was going to use Corriedale because I've been saving some back for myself to make a sweater, but I just couldn't get the right "pop" with it; mainly because Corriedale is one of the finer medium wools and has low luster. Wonderful to wear, kinda boring to photograph.

So I decided to play with some of the Romney that I recently dyed, and created a nice green yarn with lots of sheen and I'm pretty happy with it. Amazingly, it includes equal parts emerald, teal, gold, dark brown and dark blue. I love blending colors on a drum carder: it's just wonderful how you can acheive a solid color from afar, but up close it's full of complex colors.

I left the yarn on my niddy noddy and took some preliminary photos for a banner. The ones here won't work for the shape of a banner, but they were so pretty, I had to share!

 

Romney Yarn on Niddy NoddyWith roving in backgroundMy logo is finished, and today I'll be working on incorporating photos with the logo and getting all my sites looking pretty. Not really a very fiber-y Friday to-do list, but worth the work!

Tuesday
Sep072010

My Creations in the World 

I love getting to see what people do with the yarn and fiber I've created. I plan, I make, I admire, then I send it off into the world to be loved by someone else. Sometimes it's hard!

One of my best friends brought over a neck warmer she's knitting for a friend, and, being the good friend that I am, I ooohed and aaaahed over it. It really was beautiful--she'd spun the yarn herself and then knit the warmer in an Entrelac pattern.

She smirked at me and said, "It's your BFL."

Oh. Don't I feel sheepish? It was a Color Blending Kit of BFL that I'd dyed more than a year ago and she bought from me. The woman she's knitting for had bought the finished yarn from her and then gave it back to have it knitted as well.

I was so pleased with myself. Especially after finding out that the woman who owns the yarn, and will soon own the neck warmer, loved the yarn so much that she took it with her to hold during her meditation sessions. That just warms my heart! Of course, the beautiful spinning  and knitting done by my friend is what makes it soft, loveable and squishy, but I'm pretty happy with my role in the finished product, too!

On top of that, I had a past customer send me a link to her Ravelry picture of her finished yarn with another of my Color Blending Kits!! It was called purple pansy and included a roving of brown and a roving of purples to be plied together.

Heiress21's Purple Pansy Hand Spun YarnThis was only her second hand spun yarn! Can you believe it? Just beautiful. AND she spins on a drop spindle. I know that's how most of us learn, but I'm still amazed at the patience you need to finish a whole skein of yarn on it. I really take my wheel for granted!

Really, I love seeing the Color Blending Kits most of all. I plan two colors to be either drafted together or plied together, and even though I base them on color theory, I really don't know what they'll be like once spun up. It's hard for me to turn some of them lose without spinning them myself. They're little mysteries that are just too tempting!

Thank you to all my past and future customers for creating such beautiful and inspiring work with my supplies!

 

Monday
Sep062010

I have a logo!

I've been working with Madeleine from Madeleine R Designs on an official logo. Here it is!!!

 

 

 

I can't wait to use it in a new banner and avatar! That's how I'll be spending my day!