Thursday, July 19, 2012

Fiber "U"

Last weekend I traveled to Lebanon Missouri for Fiber "U". Had a fantastic time!! Took several classed and learned so much. Saw a couple of fiber friends I haven't seen since March. And there was so much beautiful fiber!!

I made this reed spinner's basket in my first class. I really did not know what to expect when I signed up for the class, but am VERY happy with how it turned out!! I can see me making LOTS more of these! It was fairly easy to make and fun at the same time!!



This picture just doesn't show what this is at all. It is a felted cloth I made in the "Felting with an Electric Felting Machine" class. It is about 20 x 30 that I created. The backing is just polar fleece and then I added alpaca fleece, dyed wool and mohair and some 'bling'. Then sent the whole thing through the felting machine. Amazing!! It took about 6 passes to come out a usable fabric, but can you imagine how long it would have taken with a felting needle!! I plan on making a purse out of it as soon as I find the right pattern (something simple).

This is a felted business card holder I made in one of my other classes. Basically felting in a ziplock bag! Should go good in my new purse. :)



Then I HAD to buy this skein of sock yarn. Alpaca, merino, silk and nylon. Oh my, is it soft. I just might make this pair of socks for me!!

I did take two other classes, Knit like the Irish and Knitting with Beads. I learned alot from the bead class, but did not like the yarn or beads we used so I ripped it out before I took a picture. The Knit like the Irish class was kind of frustrating. The instructor had several problems and finally said she would email us the pattern. I am working on it now, a lot of cables, so look for pictures of that soon.

Hope everyone is staying cool!! We are currently in our second heat wave of the summer. Temperatures are predicted to reach 106 and higher for several days in a row. It is just miserable.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

A fiber day!

Went to a spinning class in Lawrence at The Yarn Barn. It was a class on creating your own designer yarns. Learned, or tried to learn, the difference in spinning worsted, semi-worsted, and woolen yarns. Had a fantastic class! The teacher was wonderful and the other students were so good! And everyone created a different kind of yarn. Mine wasn't really anything that special, except I did some blending on the drum carder with different colors and am thrilled with the results!

Here is my finished yarn still on the bobbin.


I have some fun fibers to play with from the class also! Look at this variety!

This is a card of some little samples of spinning we did. The first one is just what we 'usually' spin at home. The second had to be something that we normally don't spin. The third was using the modified long draw. And the fourth was doing the long draw. The long draw was the worst for me. That is going to take some practice!!


And, since I was already at the yarn store......... I thought I would pick up a couple of skeins of yarn to start my pillow for the KAL (knit along) with Knit Purl Hunter.


Now to get some more fleeces skirted and to start on the this awesome pillow!!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Pictures!!











These pictures were taken about 3 weeks ago. Sure wish we still had all that green grass!!