WhorlingTides

Snow in Alabama

2009-03-01T19:29:00.002-06:00

We woke up to snow today. It was beautiful. The cat sat at the window trying to catch snowflakes in her paws. The dog was afraid and would only go outside with one of his people. Elesya slept until at least 4pm. And I did a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Prize Winner is One Sheep

2009-01-31T18:22:00.002-06:00

OneSheep is the prize winner for this contest. But S/he didn't tell me how to make contact. Hopefully I will find the prize winner on Ravelry...Or OneSheep can contact me on Ravelry... or the planets will align themselves correctly and OneSheep will appear among them. Anyway, congratulations to OneSheep. I used 38 receipts but that is not a good indication of the funds that were generated. Next year, I will absolutely return to the Spin-In. If I get a moment, I will add some pics to this post tomorrow. Just didn't want OneSheep to miss out on the WhorlingTides braid.

OneSheep, you can choose something from the store when I open it back up or you can design your own the next time that I dye (in about 3 - 4 weeks). Just let me know!

Contest - Prize is WhorlingTides' Braid of Your Own Colorway

2009-01-19T10:29:00.004-06:00

The prize for this contest will be the WhorlingTides braid of your own colorway.....I will dye a braid for you with up to 4 colors in either BFL, Falkland, or Merino. All you have to do is be the closest guess to the actual number of sales I make this week at the January Spin-In!

The Spin-In is an annual event in Destin, Florida. I've never been. But there will be at least 110 spinners landing in Destin on January 21 staying through January 24, and WhorlingTides will be one of about 10 vendors present. I have heard that some spinners buy most of their supplies for the year at this event. I'm thrilled to be going, meeting all the spinners, getting to spin with all the spinners, and having a booth of yummy WhorlingTides fibers for sale. What could be finer than a business paid trip to the beach in the dead of winter?!?!?

The winner will be the person who is closest to the actual number of receipts that I write. If there is a tie...I will select the number that is lower than the actual number of receipts. Please check the numbers that have already been posted because I will have to use the number from the first person who submitted it.

Please tell me the number AND the type of fiber you want. I will order the fiber when I get back so it will take at least three weeks before you get your braid. The shipping, of course, is part of the prize! SAMPLE - 72, BFL. Make sure I know how to find you by posting an email address, blog, ravelry or etsy name....

Thanks so much for playing along with the contest.

Fleece Washing at WhorlingTides

2008-12-28T16:50:00.005-06:00

Much of the holiday weekend was spent washing Cheviot fleece for the Naked Fiber Club. Here's the evidence....Some of the pictures are of the lincoln locks that I washed, too. I purchased the lincoln from Kokovoko - the same folks who make the lovely spindles.

So, as you can see, sometimes I soak the fleece in the bathtub. Look at all that gunk!! My daughter says it always looks like intestines in the tub when I'm scouring fleece. I use very hot water (even raised the temperature on the water heater thermostat) through out. First I soak the fleece to get rid of most of the dirt, lanolin, urine...whatever. The second bath is when I begin adding soap. I use Dawn because if its grease cutting properties. Plus, I like the lavender scent in the one that I use. I never let the water temperature fall below 115 degrees because I don't want the lanolin to reattach itself to the fiber. The fleece will be rinsed with fresh water baths until the water is finally "clean." Only if necessary will I use a second soap bath. Everyone has her/his preferences about how much lanolin should be left on the fiber. I like very little lanolin as I'm not very fond of greasy feeling fingers.

So, here is the Cheviot for the Naked Fiber Club. See the gorgeous lock structure??!! Well, it is a beautiful creamy white color but has a lot of little bits of VM that are about 1/18 - 1/16th of an inch. And man, does it stick to the scales of the fiber! It combs, flicks, and cards out after washing, which is nice. But all of it won't wash out.

I decided that I didn't want to lose the lock structure of the fiber if I could avoid it. So, I did something new that I had read about in Spin-Off...I dipped each lock into some near boiling soapy water, then near boiling water to remove the soap, and then a good rinse in the sink. Check out that process below.

Here are a couple of raw locks from the fleece before scouring...

Here are some locks after scouring using the "dip" method.

And below are some puffy clouds of fleece that I will use to make batts for people who wanted their fleece carded! So pretty!

Now you see what I have been up to with your first fleece!

Wicked Wool Combs

2008-12-16T20:04:00.000-06:00

Photo by Lisa at NativeFiberArts.

I just purchased these combs from NativeFiberArts, a super nice woman on the WhorlingTides' Ravelry group. They are arriving via priority mail so I should get them by Saturday perhaps or certainly by Monday. Aren't they perfectly wicked looking?! So this must be how princesses at spinning wheels are always pricking their fingers in fairy tales!

Weaving is Here

2008-12-14T21:03:00.002-06:00

Dorothy has arrived. She's my new (used) LeClerc loom that I purchased on Ebay. She arrived in beautiful condition and 100% complete. I've never woven anything before. And frankly was not too keen on all the obsessive compulsive stuff that has to go on in order to make weaving happen. Then, one day, I awakened and I just had to have a loom. I had to learn how to weave. I bid on several looms but was getting frustrated because I would miss them by $5 here or $2.50 there. When this one came available at the "buy-it-now" price that I wanted to spend...I bought her. She's mine now. I love her already. Plus, it's kinda nice that my beloved grandmother's name was Dorothy, too.

Yesterday morning, Carol, President of the West Alabama Fiber Guild, came over to help me warp the loom. It took a couple of hours. But I have no doubt that she showed me the right way to do it, and I will certainly beneft from her vast experience. My first assignment is to weave one inch in each of the first 59 patterns in the Anne Dixon weaving book called The Handweaver's Pattern Directory. It is specifically for 4 harness looms like Dorothy. You can find this book on Amazon.com for $23.07. It has great color pictures, plus it is written clearly enough for me to follow the very first time! See the picture below. (Ignore the teal yarn...it is there to get the warp to line up straight.) I'm weaving the black cotton that you see in bands of different patterns. From spinning to dyeing to weaving...and it is not even my 1 year anniversary until December 27th!!! Have I mentioned how much I love fibers?

Tikkun Olam Tuesday

2008-12-02T20:26:00.001-06:00

Yes, I know. I promised many Tuesdays ago to make a post every Tuesday on one small way to make this world a better place. In Hebrew, that is called Tikkun Olam. And then I became distracted. Let's get back on track.

The other day I purchased a book called Knitting for Good! A Guide to Creating Personal, Social, and Political Change, Stitch by Stitch. The author, Betsy Greer, also has a webpage called Craftivism http://www.craftivism.com/ and blog http://craftivism.com/blog.html/ . I look forward to reading the book as well as getting to know Ms. Greer through her online presence. Maybe she will even have some ideas to help me get a project up and running here. More on that another time.

Today's topic will be Education and More (http://www.educationandmore.org/mission.html). I came upon it totally by accident. I was searching for "weaving blogs" and up came this site. Once you read their mission statement, I think you will understand why this site and others like it are so profound. I quote:

The mission of Education And More is to further the education
of the children in the Lake Atitlan area of Guatemala and to reduce the poverty
of their families and communities through implementation of Fair Trade practices
with artisan groups thereby helping them to lift themselves out of poverty.

The website describes how to host a Fair Trade Bazaar (what a great way to raise money for a local project), buy handmade items such as woven shawls and beaded jewelry from their artisans, and ways to sponsor students. What they are doing is inspirational. And I continue to wonder...why do we create these foundations in South America and Africa when we have equally poor and hungry people right here in Alabama???

So take a look at this site and others like it. And know that WhorlingTides is simmering ideas about ways to make such a project come to life here, and if not now, very soon.

The Birthday Ball 2008

2008-11-16T15:09:00.003-06:00

Sometimes my day job is stressful. I'm a clinical psychologist and I work in a veteran's hospital. The major way that I cope with my stress is to write essays. Sometimes I send these essays to people - especially people who understand military life. Never have I posted one online. However, I am posting part of one here...because it is part of my story today. The original story was sent to a friend of mine who is a Marine, after all it was partly about him (he is the "you" I refer to in the story) and it was also about Marines in general. I have edited the post to delete all personal information about the individual patient so that confidentiality can be protected.

The Birthday Ball

Every year at this time the USMC gives itself a formal birthday party. Typically this party is a grand ball replete with military elite in dress uniforms and women in spectacular ball gowns. This tradition has been in place for two-hundred and thirty-something years. Birthday Balls happen all over the world wherever Marines congregate. Princes and princesses they are in an annual fairytale that includes reading of a proclamation from the Commandant, service of the first piece of cake to the oldest Marine who symbolically hands it off to the youngest Marine, band music, dancing, laughing, drinking, enthusiastic "hoorahs," and all the merriment that has been saved up since last year's party. Young and old. Black and white. Enlisted and Officer. And don't forget the pretty girls.

What could be better? "Nothing" you say with the confidence and the wisdom that comes from spending one's life as a member of the Corps. But you would be wrong, as you will come to see in the story below. I know that I reminded you the other day that you did owe me a Birthday Ball. You don't anymore. Yesterday I attended a Marine Birthday Ball that surpasses any other party I have ever attended.

You see, yesterday we had a Birthday Ball at the hospital About 2pm, several young, strong, good-looking Marines wearing Dress Blues arrived on the unit. Along with them came men from several generations wearing Marine hats and pins who were dressed in street clothes. They brought with them an entire party. Staff and Marine alike enjoyed a decorated sheet cake, balloons, a bouquet of flowers, USMC napkins and placemats, music, speeches, and traditions. No other military service does this for their sick and injured.

Each in his turn, to a man, every single Marine shook hands with patients, they looked each other in the eye, they complimented their medal-covered chests whispering "wow, completed combat tours", they identified as brothers for life. Our Marines didn't dance on their feet, but they did dance with pride and become whole in mind and body, heart and spirit, always wearing smiles from ear to ear. When asked the Marines in the hospital said "This Ball's for Me." And so it was.

However, I was there.
I danced, too.

The essay was written on Thursday. On Friday night about 7:30 I got a phone call from my friend Lee who is a Colonel in the USMC. Anyway, he asked me to attend the real Marine Birthday Ball that would be held in Birmingham on Saturday night at 7p. He said the story moved him so much that he wanted to make sure that I got to attend a real ball. Of course, I said "Yes!" and began to wonder how was I going to get a formal ball gown the next day AND have it altered, and get both a manicure and a pedicure, AND, oh no! He called at 10am to say that I needed to be ready at 5pm rather than 7pm! No ball gown was obtained but a pretty party dress was and off we went to the Ball. And here's another of the pics my daughter took of us on our way into the chariot, his Jaguar. My very own fairytale came true for me last night when I finally got to be a princess dancing with a prince at this 2008 Birthday Ball.

Yarn Contest Winner is NWKnitterMama

2008-11-16T11:31:00.001-06:00

UPDATE - I have not yet heard back from NWKnitterMama to claim her Hope Yarn prize. If I do NOT hear back from her by Sunday, November 23 at 10am Central Time, I will select another winner.

I have selected the following person as the winner of the yarn contest...

NWKnitterMama on Ravelry (Angela)

my hope is that my children will have a peaceful, blessed life, and that their father and i will be able to give them the nurturing they need to grow into compassionate adults who make choices to do what is right, even when it is difficult and unpopular. i'm NWKnitterMama on ravelry.

All of you submitted such beautiful comments that it was very hard for me to choose. Having raised my daughter to 18 which we just celebrated this week, I understand what it means to think about the above hope every single minute of every single day. We need compassionate young people now more than ever. I hope that NWKnitterMama realizes that wanting this for her children is half of getting there...

Thank you to everone who submitted comments. You have given me such new hope....Beth

Economic Slump Sale in My Etsy Shop

2008-11-14T07:26:00.001-06:00

The holiday season is approaching and everyone at work is talking about cutting back on gifts for loved ones. At my daughter's 18th birthday dinner last night I heard about a little girl whose family had their electric power turned off. 85,000 families had their homes foreclosed in the month of October. With these kinds of things going on.....I will be offering lots of Etsy sales so that patrons of WhorlingTides will be able to buy the things they want for the people they love.

Some of the details as posted on http://www.whorlingtides.etsy.com/

ECONOMIC SLUMP SALE

We are all having a hard time with the economy. So, I’d like have SALE items in my shop at all times between now and the end of December. I know that, if you are like me, you will want to be able to still provide high quality gifts for your loved ones. Here’s the first sale….

YARNS ONLY:

25% off any one yarn.
If you buy 2 - 3 yarns, I will give 35% off the total order.
If you buy more than 3 yarns, I will give 35% off the total order AND free PARCEL POST shipping.

Sale prices will be refunded via PayPal.

Hope you enjoy the sale!

Some pics for your viewing pleasure.....

Sunshine and Cranberries (BFL)

Purple Glaze (merino bamboo blend)

Pink Kisses (BFL)

Hope: A Yarn Contest

2008-11-11T18:00:00.003-06:00

Hope Yarn

I love words, I am the girl in the corner reading the dictionary to learn the root meanings of words. Although it would have been hard to figure out in advance that I would come to love words when I was first acquiring language. The story my mother always told is: "Beth wouldn't speak until she could formulate complete sentences. She wanted nothing to do with responses containing a single word." If that story is true then the first thing I ever said was "I want a horse." So my very first thoughts were of hoping to have a horse. It took twelve more years of hoping but I finally got Dixie, a barn sour strawberry roan who taught me how to ride with confidence. Confidence is a good skill to learn as a girl of thirteen riding around in the back hills of Alabama. Today, as the parent of a soon-to-be adult daughter (she will be 18 in two days!), I marvel at how my parents were able to allow a young teen girl to ride all alone on the back of a semi-trained mare into the woods where there were known to be bootleggers and active stills. But they did. And never once did anything remotely bad happen. Well, once I had to walk back to the barn after Dixie dumped me onto the ground. Embarrassed and brushing dirt out of my hair, I made it back to the barn in 30 minutes where ALL the laughing farm hands were waiting along with Dixie, also laughing, who was standing in front of her stall. I ramble...

Let's get back to hope. The dictonary says that hope is having a resonable expectation that something one wishes for will come true. In this country, we need some of that today after years of war and the knowledge that things are going to get worse in the short term for many people we love.

The Hope Contest

I think a fiber contest would make us all feel better; don't you? Here's the deal.

The Prize: Hope Yarn

1. Add a comment to this blog entry telling me what you hope for most right now. Use of creative thinking and positive language will be given highest consideration.

2. Make sure that you give me only one hope - otherwise I will only read about the first one and that might not be your best one.

3. Be sure to leave some method for me to contact you. The winner will be posted on the blog, but I would like to be able to send you your "Hope" prize.

4. The deadline: 10:00 am Central Time, Sunday, November 16, 2008. I will post the name of the winner by Sunday at 10:00 pm.

5. Your price will be the skein of "Hope" yarn that I handspun after the election last week.

Yarn Specs

36.7 yards of Merino Silk blend that was drum carded by me. The silk is a beautiful gold-yellow adding softness and shine through out the yarn. Some white glitz was also added during the carding process. Hope was handspun on my Schacht Matchless with a z twist and then plied with both a stark white linen yarn and gold embroidery thread.

I can't wait to read all your responses! I hope you enjoy reading them, too!

Kentuck Festival 2008

2008-11-10T19:14:00.003-06:00

If you live anywhere in or near Tuscaloosa, Alabama and you have any interest what so ever in the arts and the local color...during the third weekend in October you will be at the Kentuck Festival. It has been that way as long as I can possibly remember. And I have been there so many times that I cannot even count them on two hands. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be showing and selling my work there this year, after all I just learned how to spin on December 27, 2007. Still, October 18th and 19th, as part of the West Alabama Fiber Guild, WhorlingTides exhibited and sold tons handspun yarns, knitting kits, and drop spindle kits. I made new friends and got some amazing invitations to participate in future events and even join an art gallery.

Carol T, President, West Alabama Fiber Guild

Sister Carol Drum Carding Dog Hair

About exhibiting at Kentuck...One can hope. One can wish. One can imagine. But being there so far surpasses all of those cognitions that instead of rambling the reader into obvlion I borrowed the image that you see to the above right...."Heaven is a Kentuck of a place." Truly, I was in fiber heaven. I took off from work on Friday so that I could help with the setup. Then on Saturday, Carol T., the Guild President showed Deirdre and I how to prep the flax for the linen demonstration. Immediately, however, I became very busy with sales so I had to focus on that. A few other Guild members wandered in during the day as you will see in the pics. Some were knitters, some spinners, one lace maker, and Sister Carol who really is a nun was drum carding her dog hair which Carol T. was spinning into yarn.

Deidre at Her Amazing Weaving Loom

The next three images were taken at my booth. These yarns were all handspun and handdyed by me at WhorlingTides. I sold so many skeins on Saturday that I had to raid my fiber stash just to have enough to set up the display again on Sunday. SAFF was the very next weekend so I had little time between shows to re-stock. I hope not to do two shows so close together again unless I really have substantial prep time.

WhorlingTides' New BFL Monochromes

More of WhorlingTides' Monochromes

A Variety of Handdyed Handspun Yarns

A new handspinner was born at Kentuck. She learned quickly how to use the spindle and is still making yarns according to her mom. I know that it takes a long time to make enough yarn for a project and certainly she is not quite ready just to enjoy spinning for the sake of spinning. In time K. That will come in time.

Another Etsy Fiber Artist. She's from Florida.

This fiber piece is one of many that the above artist displayed at Kentuck. She also has a shop on Etsy, which I will post here as soon as I locate her business card. I love the way she is influenced by the tattoo world. Her work is highly detailed and spider-web-ish. Layers of thread are sewn to more threads until it becomes an image. I would like to watch one being made.

Kentuck Heaven. It was a wonderful event. I hope to be there again next year. It was a great time to get to know other fiber artists, the members of my own guild, and to experience people looking at my fibers. I like to watch their faces and to hear what they have to say when the whisper to their companion "so soft," "oh...look at the color," "I wish I could knit" and so many more. Even if they just smile, I am happy they stopped by to touch WhorlingTides.

Election Day

2008-11-05T18:29:00.003-06:00

"....while we breathe, we hope. "
Barack Obama

In case you have not yet heard Obama's victory speech...here's the link.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6185658

SAFF 2008 Pictures

2008-10-28T18:05:00.000-05:00

Bunnies!!!!

I will NOT buy a bunny. I will NOT buy a bunny. I will NOT buy a ....

What could be cuter than a bunny holding a bunny?

Art batts were a winner in my booth for sure.

Batts were turned into felted scarves by the wonderful folks at FeltLoom.

The main arena at SAFF. Next year I'll be there and be warm.

My friend Suzanne (left) and Barbara, owner of the amazing Cloth in Asheville.

A spindle bouquet. What a treat!

My new friend, Allen of Numma Numma fame (in the trench coat) and her friends.

WhorlingTides BFL roving on display.

WhorlingTides Merino Bamboo blend on display. These were HOT at SAFF.

WhorlingTides' softest ever Merino braids.

Peak season in Asheville happened for us during SAFF. Thanks!!

I'm too tired after my first day back at work to post a written description of my marvelous SAFF adventure. But I promise to keep adding pics and to write a summary the first moment possible. I will say that I have met some of the finest people imaginable at SAFF. And thanks to all the people who stopped by WhorlingTides. More to follow on all the great folks, too!

SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair)

2008-10-23T06:50:00.000-05:00

7 hours and counting...WhorlingTides will be at SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair) in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina. It is one of the most exciting things to happen this year in my new business venture, and I cannot wait to meet everybody - vendors and consumers.

Addition

2008-10-22T11:04:00.000-05:00

Thanks Suzanne. My friend, Suzanne, has been a friend since 1982. We met when we entered the MFA photography program at Indiana University. And even through ups and downs we have managed to remain friends all these years. Her daughter was 5 years old when I met them. Now Laure is married and a mother to 3 daughter. I will see all of them this week at SAFF. It will certainly be one of the highlights of my trip.

Suzanne is a book editor for fine arts and crafts. I don't have permission to say where but if she permits me, I will change the post to include her employer. Needless to say - it is a major publishing company and I'm honored that she is considering working with me on a book about dyeing for spinners. Once SAFF is over I will be able to focus on that once in a lifetime opportunity.

I trust Suzanne to read my writing critically. She is brilliant and knows words. She recommends that I amend my comments below with the following:

When I’m dyeing fiber, I usually have a specific and emotional goal in mind. “Accidents” can bring new insight but mostly my intention is to convey a deep and true emotion that I associate with a color set. Of course you’ll bring your own memories to the experience. As you look at my work, I invite you to try it yourself: does this one remind you of the lilacs you held at my wedding? That one of the Arizona sunsets of your youth?

I will make these additions because they will really capture the reader much more effectively than mine would have alone. Thanks to all who shared feedback including CC and IslandSweet. You are all special to me. You inspire my work and encourage me to a higher standard in my craft. Yet, we have never even spoken on the phone. Cyber friends. Real friendships.

Statement

2008-10-21T18:13:00.002-05:00

My fibers are intentional. I am open to accidents when they occur, but mostly I have a goal in mind when I am dyeing. With my fiber dyeing I am seeking a feeling memory rather than a rational one. The goal is for each piece to evoke a color memory that is associated with a powerful feeling, a true emotion. The feeling could be a basic emotion without words like happy, sad, lonely, joy, or it could be one that the observer would have visted frequently enough to have a verbal tag or story for it. When someone looks at my work I want her/him to say "That yarn looks like the sunset when we visted the Grand Canyon in 1968, remember??" or "When I see that roving I am suddenly aware of the feeling that I had when I fell in love with Jamie." Each colorway does not have to evoke the same feeling in everyone who looks at it. Memories are not templated; therefore, colors should not be organized the same way for everyone. However, I do know that I have not done my work well if somebody says "You have the color blue that I need for my pattern." I also don't want to stay in the world of happy feelings. Each person has a range of emotions, some happy, some not so happy. A life without either end point is lived less fully than necessary. I cannot afford to live only part of a life on any given day. I hope everyone will enjoy the diversity in my 2008 - 2009 fiber collection. I have chosen to use the phrase... WhorlingTides: Fiber Arts for the Colors of Your Life. Now you know why.

My 300th Etsy Heart is Rawfish

2008-10-17T09:19:00.002-05:00

Sometime ago I decided that I wanted to send a gift to the person who would be my 3ooth "heart" on Etsy. And this week, in the midst of all my new listings, along came Rawfish.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5160042

Rawfish (aka Laila) happens to be another Etsy seller. She is a spinner and a fiber artist with a bold sense of color. For her "heart" prize she selected several of the Why Knot mini batts. They are pretty cute as you can see below.

Take a look at her shop, too. If you need some hip handspun, her shop would be a good place to start. And Laila...Thanks for looking at WhorlingTides on Etsy.

Rawfish blogs at http://www.rawfishcomics.blogspot.com/ - love her pics of roving drying on the porch. Looks like my back yard. You can find her in my list of fav blogs!!

Dyeing Over the Weekend

2008-10-14T19:56:00.002-05:00

It is no secret that I had breast cancer 8 years ago next month, November 9th to be exact. And as far as we know, my body remains cancer free. No, I'm not a cancer "survivor." I don't want the diagnosis to have that much power over my life that I would have to assume a warrior pose. So for me to write a blog title like "Dyeing Over the Weekend" sometimes the words kind of get stuck in my fingertips. But in dyeing this entire 4-day weekend I was really LIVING every moment. Not dying. Totally living. When I work with colors and fibers, I am totally alive and moving from one breath to the next like a dance or wave of peace. Yesterday disappears. Tomorrow is of no consequence. All the colors are beautiful, even the colors that don't "match." I am very attached to that space, and I miss it when I am not there.

So here is a sample of where I have been. Let me know what you see and feel from these colors.

These fibers are handdyed using Pro Chem Wash Fast Acid Dyes. The fiber content is a creamy merino/bamboo blend with a 60/40 ratio. Bamboo does not take acid dye; it requires fiber reactive dyes. Therefore, as you can see, there is a light dusting of frost or even a sugary glaze throughout the top that is caused by the merino uptaking the dye and the bamboo rejecting it. Altogether - a really lovely look, not for everything but it will make some beautiful yarns for some purposes. Here's some more....

I haven't posted in a while so there's a lot to catch up on. Let me briefly introduce my friend Carson Cooper. I call him a "friend" because I felt an immediate connection with him via correspondence. He's a wheel maker. He builds them from scratch - as in by hand. Here's a link to his website called Ztwist..... http://www.ztwist.com/ I'm enjoying getting to know him. He knows things about spinning that I don't know. We have discussed collaborating on some projects together - like making some spindles together - a version for him to sell at sales and a WhorlingTides edition. Doesn't that sound like fun??? Thanks, Carson, for making the most beautiful oriface hooks. Oh, didn't I mention that we met on Ebay when I purchased some of his hand turned oriface hooks in a yummy variety of woods and styles. He's writing a book on building spinning wheels. How cool is that?!?!

No more updates tonight even though there are so many more to make. Tomorrow will perhaps afford me time to add more updates. Off to spin until sleep arrives. I'm spinning some blue BFL scraps to see just how fine I can spin. It is an empirical question....

The Interview

2008-09-08T20:03:00.000-05:00

Erica writes about the arts for a local paper called The Planet Weekly. Here's the link. http://www.theplanetweekly.com/ . She asked if she could write a piece on my spinning. So I said yes. Today I got a list of 5 questions to respond to. I didn't get much time because it was due shortly after I received them...but here's what I wrote....(It really messes with my perfectionism not to have more time to edit the text)....

1. I use the term "fiber arts" to describe using animal or plant-based fibers as a form of creative self-expression or design. The fiber arts include working with the fibers to make supplies, such as yarn, as well as to create unique pieces of wearable art. Animal fibers include fine wools (merino, romney, targhee), llama, alpaca, angora rabbit, mohair, cashmere, silk, and many others. Plant-based fibers that are very popular include bamboo, cotton, and linen. My love of fiber arts innocently began about 14 years ago when I was in graduate school for clinical psychology. I needed something to do for stress relief so I took a knitting class. Around the same time, my mother was dying from breast cancer. She also adored knitting. Together we would spend days together almost in quiet meditation just knitting, talking, listening to the click of our needles, and appreciating the time that we had together. Only recently have I learned how to spin and dye my own yarns. And when that happened, this little hobby of knitting a few scarves each year blossomed into a passion. Taking the raw fiber freshly shorn from an animal, scouring it, dyeing it into a gorgeous spectrum of colors, spinning it into yarn that can then be used to make a garment for someone to wear is incredibly satisfying. It is also something that women have done for generations. When I am working with fibers, I feel as if I am at peace. Interestingly, my maternal grandfather was a tailor who sewed for the fashion houses in New York, and my paternal grandfather was a miliner who was in the business of making the grand hats of the 1930s and 1940s. However, I could never even sew a button back on a shirt or hem a pair of slacks. It always amazed me that I grew up in this wonderful fiber family but never felt a part of it until now. So I guess I really have come home.

2. What do I do? I'm a spinster. I spin fiber into yarn. I use a fantastic wooden spinning wheel called the Schacht Matchless. First I buy the fiber in ecru or undyed. Sometimes I will spin it first, but usually, I will dye the fiber before I spin it. I started dyeing with Kool-Aid and food safe dyes and have recently moved to using professional grade dyes. The Kool-Aid dyes are fun but the professional dyes give a much wider array of colors and provide the consistency that I require. After the fiber dries, I can spin it into yarn. Then I have a lot of decision to make: How do I want to spin the yarn? What will the yarn be used for? How much yarn is needed for a specific project? Every answer will contribute to the overall appearance of the finished product. And each decision matters. Spinning is certainly relaxing and repetitive but it is certainly not a mindless activity. It requires planning and consistency, the ability to respond to the inherent characteristics of the fiber, knowing when to let go of control, and a whole lot of just plain old playing around!!

3. Social consciousness is important to me. I could not enjoy this work if I felt in anyway that animals were being harmed. I have been a vegetarian since 1978, and am committed to using fibers from healthy and well cared for animals. It helps to buy from local farms, such as Cozy Cove Llamas outside of Huntsville. But there are other ways, too. For example, when I work with silk, I only work with tussah silk. Tussah silk or peace silk is harvested from the cocoons of silk worms that have been allowed to live out their natural life expectacy. In addition, I am boycotting fibers from Australia, as are many of the well-known clothing designers, due to the inhumane treatment of merino sheep. Here's the webpage http://www.savethesheep.com/ . We can make a difference. I use my fiber arts blog for Tikkun Olam. Tikkun Olam is Hebrew meaning "Repair the world." According to this tradition, inhabitants of the earth are expected to fix it, to make it better than we found it.

4. In the October, I am thrilled to say that I will be showing and demonstrating fiber arts, such as spinning, preparing fibers, knitting, at Kentuck with the West Alabama Fiber Guild. Also in October, I am joining with some other fiber artists in town, Heidi Atwood and Sara Whitver, and a shepherdess in north Alabama, Cozette O'Neil. We have formed a group called Why Knot Fiber Collective and we will be exhibiting and selling our fiber arts at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair outside of Asheville, NC. No doubt, we are very excited about tht opportunity. Next, in early November as the holiday season begins, I will be teaching some workshops at One Night Only Artique. These workshops will be in dyeing silk scarves as well as dyeing yarn so that everyone can offer a special, handmade, one of a kind work of art to everyone on their special gift list. We will have fun, get our hands wet, and make some beautiful wearable art!!!

5. I think it is interesting to know that men invented knitting. They began tying a variety of knots as sailors. They made nets and other fabrics all through knot tying. Then, they began knitting fabrics with the lanolin still in the wool in order to stay dry. Finally, during the Industrial Age, when men moved inside to operate machinery, woman began to do the knitting. Also, interesting is the way that the fiber arts have really taken off since the development of social networking sites such as Ravelry.com and online shops, such as Etsy.com.

Wish me luck! I'll post the finished article as soon as it comes out.

The Art of Spinning

2008-09-06T09:21:00.001-05:00

When people discuss spinning, they are usually referring to craft or a technique to create an art supply or yarn that is then used to make something else, such as a sweater or a scarf. However, in the situation that I'm describing, the act of spinning rather than the result of spinning was put on display. The gallery owners of One Night Only Artique invited me to spin during an art opening Thursday night, September 4, 2008. The wheel and I were placed in the front window of the gallery where spinning could be seen from the outside as people were driving by and people could talk to the spinster (me) as part of the living artwork from the inside. I like this picture a lot. Through the window people can be seen standing outside in the rain under the protection of the awning smoking cigarettes and talking as young intellects do. Then on the inside is the wheel as a piece of art in its own right. All the while, the manequins are supervising the whole event.
Spinning is relaxing - it is the first time that I have been able to do something with both hands and both feet at the same time. When learning it takes a lot of concentration...over time some of it gets taken over by procedural memory, and when that happens, the body can manage the techniques of drafting and treadling without conscious thought. Never the less, one is always making conscious decsions about spinning which affect the look of the finished yarn. People at the opening enjoyed seeing the difference in yarns made from the same fiber that looked totally different. I think they also were drawn to the colors of the handdyed fibers. I love to watch people touching the yarns. The yarns want to be touched. Yarns come alive in people's hands. They need to be touched.

Here's Emily wearing my first layer cake cap which was orignially depicted in an earlier blogpost. Erica (co-owner of One Night Only Artique) and Emily are sisters. Erica thought Emily would like one of my caps and we were planning for a pink and black one for her. But when Emily saw this one she immediately put it on her head covered in long, shiny, auburn hair - we all knew that this green, brown, and white cap had found a home. It is a perfect fit. In general, people were very complimentary of all the caps and cap kits. I'm going to knit some up to have in the shop, and I am confident that they will do well there. They are young and hip - guess it does help to have a teenage daughter.

I don't usually like to get too personal here; but last night my daughter got in her first motor vehicle accident. Luckily nobody was hurt - the only damage was to the bumper of the other person's vehicle which we will fix next week. The accident happened because my daughter was someplace that she shouldn't be. She was supposed to be at a movie with one set of friends - instead she went to a fraternity party on the university campus where she was not supposed to be with another set of friends. Had she asked permission to be there - she could have gone - but she didn't. And poor thing, something always happens to alert me to her bad decisions. Like this little fender bender or Cody, her beloved dog coming into my room crying when she decided to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night several years ago. When will she ever learn....? I'm ready for her to learn.

Cozy Cove Farm = Llama Heaven

2008-09-05T20:03:00.002-05:00

What could be cuter than a young suri Llama? He is surely something special. His hair is soft as human baby hair.

On Labor Day a road trip was made by Sara, Heidi, and me - the women from Why Knot Fiber Collective. Someone had given me some gorgeous llama fiber from Cozette at Cozy Cove Farms in north Alabama, outside of Huntsville. I spun up some of the delicate white fibers so I called Cozette and asked if she would mind if I brought the yarn to her. She invited me to tour her farm where I could actually meet some of the llamas. Having never ever met any llamas before, I couldn't resist the opportunity to go up there. It was just so much more fun to have Heidi and Sara to go with up there. We left about 8a and got there just as planned around 11a. Cozette was trying to stable the animals in advance of Hurricane Gustav. It was pretty funny to watch us city slickers try to help in this endeavor but in the end we were successful. I got lots of great pics of the llamas along the way.

Like look at this beautiful girl!! She's got her ears back showing me that she is not at all happy with the human intrusion. But, she is really interested in learning more about me with those huge brown eyes. And surprisingly there were some llamas there with big blue eyes. Cozette said that the blue eyes come from llamas inter-breeding with alpacas. She also told us that the suri llamas come from mixing genetic lines with alpacas. It wasn't long after this picture was made that I got to run my fingers through the thick white coat of this beautiful animal. Pure luxury. They all have names. All 65 of them. Along with their names, they have unique personalities with specific likes and dislikes. We were told charming true stories of the mother-daughter bond being so strong that they recognize one another after years to decades of being separated. Llama mothers don't wean their young daughters. Daughters are allowed to nurse the mother until the daughter becomes a mother herself. Sons, however, become independent much earlier.

The chocolate brown llama in the image to the right is a stallion or stud llama. I have looked and cannot find the correct term for a male llama so I'm using a bit of horse terminology calling him a stallion. Here's a link to the Wikipedia information on llamas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llama and it does contain some interesting information, such as llamas have no eyelashes unlike alpacas who do have eyelashes.

We came home with a trunk full of llama fibers, Cozette was so generous. We came home also with a new business partner. The Tuscaloosa gals are going to develop some sales opportunities for these fabulous fibers. I posted on Ravelry as soon as we got home and have already sold 2 pounds of brown llama fibers for our collective. Just another benefit of the internet!

Meet the women of Why Knot Fiber Collective. That's me in the bright pink. The woman in all the pics is our newest member, Cozette. There's Heidi toting one of her handmade books and wearing the headband knitted from her own pattern. And always smiling as usual, Sara is wearing the black shirt. What do we have in common? We love animal fiber and the animals that create these wonderful fibers. It is a great honor for me to get to do fiber arts with these passionate, committed, socially conscious women. We are going to do some pretty special work together. That I will save for another post. For now, I will conclude with a few more Alabama Llama pics.

It was a great day - our visit to Llama Heaven. The link to Cozette's webpage is posted on my list of blogs and websites. Any blog readers who are interested in ordering some llama fibers, just let me know. You won't regret it - that is for sure!

Kits for Layer Cake Caps

2008-08-10T17:47:00.002-05:00

These are four of the Kits that I have put together for the new Layer Cake Caps that I developed this weekend. They will come with a basic pattern for knitting caps and knitters will be able to vary the pattern depending upon the size needed, such as baby, child, adult woman, adult man. I am now obsessed with knitting these caps and putting together the kits. My goal will be to have 30 knitted plus 30 kits ready for Kentuck in mid October and then another 30 kits ready for SAFF at the end of October. I'm not so concerned about having FOs for SAFF, but I think the kits will be a big hit. One kit and one knitted cap have been listed on Etsy. I like that Etsy serves as a laboratory for what works and what doesn't. Well, it is time to spin.....

Layer Cake Caps at WhorlingTides

2008-08-09T14:40:00.000-05:00

Layer Cake Caps are the newest item to be added to my Etsy shop. I really enjoyed putting together all the fibers last night. And then it only took 2 - 3 hours to knit it together. I guess the hardest part was weaving in so many ends that were created when changing yarns so many times. In addition to offering the knitted caps as FOs, I'm also going to post them as kits for people to knit themselves. I hope they have as much fun as I did!!

SAFF Update

2008-07-31T22:36:00.001-05:00

Accepted! Sara, Heidi, and I took the first steps of forming our fiber and book cooperative. It is called Why Knot Fiber Collective. Today we found out that we have been accepted as a vendor for the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (lovingly called SAFF). Here's the link http://www.saffsite.org/index.php . There is also a group on Ravelry called SAFF (link for members is http://www.ravelry.com/groups/saff). The Collective has not yet been added to the official vendor list; however, I am told that we will be added soon. Last year the fair was attended by approx 7500 - 8000 people. We are going to have to be fiber prep machines between now and late October in order to have everything ready for such an important event. Plus we have Kentuck to get ready for in mid-October. I know that I will have to think through the quantity that I'd like to offer, the colorways, the fibers, and whatever else I might like to include like kits and gifts. I've got to get my "brand" stuff in good order, too, and in larger quantities. My 100 Moo cards just won't be enough for an event such as this. Sara is getting her wheel this week, which will really help her to get a lot of work completed. Heidi and I are talking about making some high quality but low cost letterpress printed materials. We need to look and be professional. SAFF will take me from a little Etsy shop where I sell a few items each week and transform WhorlingTides into a potentially profitable small business. I'm happy and terrified. It is my love of fibers that keeps me going. So, look here often for SAFF updates. And please, post any colorway, fiber, product selections you may want to offer. SAFF...October 24 - 26, 2008. Please join me there!

Amazing Find: Fiber Arts and Mixed Media Social Networking Site

2008-07-28T21:44:00.002-05:00

Discovery. Social networking, blogs, uploading, downloading, html, http......I'm feeling bored tonight. Okay, bored is not exactly the correct word but it will do for now. But, if you don't like that word, then how about unsettled. Not rattled. Just a little off course. So in between spinning skeins of black bamboo for someone who has turned out to be an amazing "patron" of my little Etsy shop (Thanks Grace at abbigail714 on Etsy), I have wandered over to the computer in vain search of companionsip at least a dozen times. Going from Yahoo to Etsy to Blogspot to Ravelry to Ebay to AOL and any other fiber site that I could find I stumbled into the Fiber Arts and Mixed Media Social Networking Site. Here, check it out for yourself at this link. http://fiberartsmixedmedia.ning.com/

While there, I found a link which sported a phrase saying something like "create your own social networking site." "NO WAY" I think to myself. "That cannot be true!" But it was true. It totally IS true. So like Alice in Wonderland, I kept following links until...I just created a social networking site of my own at this place called Ning. Here's the link. http://www.ning.com/
I have called it Why Knot Fiber Collective: For the Yarn Arts. So when Sara comes over tomorrow, we will be able to finish creating the site.

In case you haven't noticed, I am in awe of the internet and all that it has to offer. It is a vast and creative world this internet. I'm loving it. Totally loving it.

Save the Sheep - Tikkun Olam Tuesday

2008-07-22T17:56:00.000-05:00

Okay Fiber Artists,

WE MUST BOYCOTT AUSTRAILIAN MERINO WOOL IN ANY AND ALL FORMS.

http://www.savethesheep.com/default.asp

This Tikkun Olam Tuesday is hugely important to those of us working with wool. When my friend Sara told me about this issue I honestly couldn't believe my ears. Then, I went online and looked into it, and it is all TRUE.

Please look into these horrific and senseless actions that are being perpetrated on Australian Merino Sheep. Honestly, I felt so sickened by the acts of cruelty that I couldn't continue to read about what is happening. So, I posted the link above for you to see for yourself. We must boycott all Australian Merino wool and fiber in order to protect sheep from abuse.

A quote from the Save the Sheep webpage:
In Australia, where more than 50 percent of the world’s merino wool—which is used in products ranging from clothing to carpets—comes from, lambs are forced to endure a gruesome procedure called mulesing, in which huge chunks of skin and flesh are cut from the animals’ backsides, without any painkillers. Millions of these sheep are then shipped to the Middle East on crowded multilevel ships. These journeys, which can last for months, are to countries where animal welfare standards are non-existent. The suffering sheep are dragged off the ships, loaded onto trucks, and dragged by their ears and legs to unregulated slaughterhouses, where their throats are slit while they are still conscious.

As long as Australia is tolerating cruelty toward Merino Sheep, I promise that I will NEVER knowingly purchase Australian Merino Wool of any form and that I will actively seek to avoid purchasing Australian Merino Wool by asking sellers and wholesale venders whether they are selling Australian Merino Wool. I am asking you to do the same - even if it means spending a few more dollars on fibers. Please post your endorsement or commitment on my blog so that we can act in unity.

Sometimes making the world a better place is expensive. This effort will be well worth the cost.

Tikkun Olam Tuesdays

2008-07-15T07:30:00.004-05:00

Do you love words ?
Do you like a word challenge to play with from time to time?
Do you want to be able to feed people by playing a word game?
Do you feel the need to participate in making the world a better place?

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes!!!!

I just found this amazing webpage where you get to do word games and give free rice to hungry people through the United Nations food programs. Here's how it works...you are given a word and prompted to choose the definition from 4 multiple choice responses. For each definition you correctly select, you donate 5 grains of rice. In a mere few moments you could have fed an entire family for a day. Please mark their site as a favorite and go there as often as you can. Here's the link to FreeRice http://freerice.com/ so that you can go and play to your heart and mind's content.

And this makes me think...I will offer a special feature every Tuesday on doing something for Tikkun Olam...those are the Hebrew word meaning essentially "repair the world."

Here is the Wikipedia definition of Tikkun Olam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikkun_olam

As I understand tikkun olam...it is the responsibility of people inhabiting the earth to improve things rather than just maintain the world the way it is. I love it and I believe it completely. So play a nice word game today, feed the hungry, and enjoy the first ever Tikkun Olam Tuesday on RitaBooke's blog.

And the WINNERS are...

2008-07-13T15:13:00.002-05:00

Take a Look at What I Did Today!!!

2008-07-12T21:19:00.001-05:00

Hey, I really like that Tabby roving!

WoWeeeeeee - look at the colors I got with my new ProChem Dyes! So easy to use and the colors are beyond delicious. Tomorrow, I will have a hard time making my decisions. I would like to have a committee...any volunteers?

The box is filled with over dyed silver Romney.
The fibers drying on the towel are dyed Alpaca.

Sorry, one or two of these are not in the contest! But check my Etsy page at www.whorlingtides.etsy.com where they will be posted for sale.

The Dye Daze

2008-07-12T09:23:00.000-05:00

Today is the big dye day!!! I'm getting started with my professional dyes. I've selected the last group of contestants to dye. And provided that everything works out okay...they will be finished today...and then I can post the winners! Yay!

Other Fiber News

2008-07-09T18:32:00.000-05:00

Alabama's 4th Annual Goat and Sheep Festival!!! Sarah and I went up on Saturday June 7th. Her sweet husband, Austin, joined us. We were the first "fiber" representatives ever to attend the festival. As soon as we arrived, before we could even unpack our boxes, people literally pounced upon us!!! I'm not kidding...we walked in and immediately people were asking questions: What is this? How do you do that? My Granny used a spinning wheel. I want to know how to knit...People learned how to spin on drop spindles. Kids made their own spindles with CDs. They even made knitting needles using foam beads and bamboo skewers. And several people even got to experiment with dyeing in the microwave using kool-aid. It would be difficult to say who had more fun...we the fiber ambassadors or the students. Maybe it was that handsome guy in the upper right pic. Isn't he the perfect pin-up guy??!!

Cute girls making their first spindles!

The following Saturday, June 15th, was World Wide Knit In Public Day. Our friends at Barnes and Noble where we meet on Tuesday nights were kind enough to sponsor the event. We even had news coverage - both TV and Print media! In the lower left pic you will see Carol seated. She is the "permanent president" of the West Alabama Fiber Guild. She inspires us all to learn more and more about what we are doing. In the pic standing beside her is Resha, the PR person at Barnes and Noble. Hush...the secret is that we are all knitting her a scarf for being so helpful during this event. The pic beside that one is Melissa learning how to crochet from Irisema. Irisema was new to our group that day and she is now a regular member on Tuesday nights. Melissa and I are the ones who founded the Tuesday night fiber event.

Obviously he's the camera guy from the TV station. And the studious woman in grey is the Intern from the station who was sent to cover the story.

And then there is Jerome. Jerome made a drop spindle with us that day. He is an amazing knitter having learned from his Grandmother some years ago. Since we met, Jerome has made more than 50 spindles and even came to my home over the weekend to buy up all of my llama roving so that he could knit something for a friend. He's a sweetie. Sarah and I were canning blueberry jam when Jerome came over with his family - his sister and her kids. What a dear, dear family!

Here's Faizah. I'm mad at her. Just as we were getting to know her, she decided to go back to her homeland which is Indonesia. She said that she married her husband 9 years ago, 8 of those years she has spent in the US completing her degree in linguistics and teaching in the English Department. She popped in one day and wanted to learn how to knit. And she went home with some yarn and some needles. Each week she came back with more and more advanced FOs (finished objects) with each stitch knit more perfectly than the one before it. I will miss her. But in this day and age...I know we can stay in touch. It is such a nice group of friends to have. I enjoy having a sense of belonging with these people.

Back to the Contest

2008-07-07T19:48:00.001-05:00

Okay, Contestants, The Dye Contest is indeed still in progress. We were just on hold while I completed the required training in San Diego and then adjusted to homelife once again. By adjusting to homelife, I mean that I got my daughter used to following rules again. She thinks that she should get $30 per week allowance, a car, car insurance, and a free weekly tank of gas while she goofs off with her boyfriend all summer long. I (and I'm still the Mom) think that she should earn the money. It is not working out so well for her. She is not working, not volunteering, not taking a college course, and so forth; thus, it should come as no surprise to you other Moms out there...she is not getting the above privileges. (Privileges are NOT rights!!) The car has been retired to the garage officially last week. She is none too happy. And it is a little like living with an IED (improvised explosive device). On to more important blog issues.

For this contest, I decided to learn how to use professional grade dyes. And I decided upon the brand Pro Chemical and Dye. They had clear directions and loads of colors to choose from. The also have "fiber reactive" dyes that I will be able to use to dye bamboo. I think that was what interested me the most about going with Pro Chem. You gotta start somewhere and this company has a good reputation.

In the above pic on the left you will see the PRO WashFast Acid Dye Sampler: Cool Palette. The colors are Magenta, Sun Yellow, and Brilliant Blue. I have mixed the max strength in each canning jar because they can be stored for up to 6 months and then diluted as needed for each dye episode.

In the above pic on the right you will see the PRO WashFast Acid Dye Sampler: Warm Palette. The colors in this pic are Bright Red, Golden Yellow, and National Blue . Again they are mixed to max strength and will be diluted as necessary.

Gorgeous, aren't they gorgeous!!!??!

Now to the next pics...They are PRO WashFast Acid Dye Autumn Sampler.

The pic above shows Purple, Turkey Red, and Maple Sugar.

The pic below shows on the left Spiced Pumpkin, center is Evergreen, and right is Mocha Chino.

I am pleased with how they turned out, and I feel myself heading toward the ProChem webpage to order more colors. After all, I only have 7 lbs of merino roving to dye, not to mention all the other fibers that are in line to dye after that.

Y'all, I want you to know how much fun I am having. My head is swirling with your colors every minute of every day. It is a marvelous focus to have when my day turns to stress...I go to the bliss of the color groupings that you have provided. I am still so honored that all of you chose to participate. Thank you.

Would you like to see some more of the already dyed skeins and braids? I'll put up a few but if you want more than that..please leave a post for me. Okay? Thanks.

I hope we all dream in color tonight.

Thank You CinderLisaDesign

2008-07-02T19:24:00.000-05:00

The Lime Tart yarn that you see in the "ad" above was given some great recognition today for being so beautiful. Not only is it in a similar ad for the new knitting mag called KnitCircus, it is now featured in this ad on Ravelry. To top off all that, while I was at work today, I took a quick peek at my AOL email. And there I received a note from an Etsy patron. See below what she wrote:

I just wanted to let you know that I featured your Lime Tart bamboo yarn in the new Wednesday Wants post for my brand-new blog. Thought I'd better at least tell people that I'm flashing their goods around, eh? :)The blog is here, if you want a look: http://cinderlisadesign.blogspot.com/ Lisa

She is showing my Lime Tart bamboo yarn on her first day blogging! That is really amazing to me. I hope she won't mind me posting this link to her blog. Go check it out! She has reviewed a couple of other Etsy items, too. I wish her great good luck and all things beautiful in her life. Maybe she will accept some of the yarn to play with herself....let's see if she will...

Now, I still have to post again about the Dye Contest...that will come in a separate post because I cannot get the pictures to arrange the way that I want them to.

Anyway, thanks CinderLisaDesign for making my day a beautiful shade of lime green!

The Dye Contest: Day Three

2008-06-22T23:26:00.002-05:00

Pics were made today of all the yarns and rovings that I have dyed thus far. Some will need to be overdyed to get the colors the way the designer submitted them. Before I do that, though, I will send the designer a pic for her/him to consider. Happy accidents happen with dyeing every day. I don't want to take that experience away from people who have been so eager to join this adventure with me.

The Dye Contest has put me way behind where I need to be for the conference that I will be attending in California this week. But, the fact is that I am having so much fun that it is difficult to worry. The colors combinations are truly spectacular. Working with colors that were selected by other people has done what I hoped it would do; I have broken away from the idea that blues are best. Not everyone wants blue, or purple, or green. Some people will want orange. Other people are moved by yellow. The point is that my rigid, inflexible attraction for certain colors has been rattled by a rather large earthquake of my own design. Here are of some of the submissions.

My bathtub sure does come in handy when I want to pre-soak the roving and the skeins. A lot of dirt comes out of these fibers when they get washed. I'm surprized by the sand and grit that comes out of them, but I kind of like the reminder that animals are an important part of this process. I try to make sure that no animals are harmed in the process and I also focus on not letting even the smallest scrap of the fleece goes to waste. I nearly cried the first day that I scoured a fleece and the agitation of the washing machine partially felted some of the wool rendering it useless for my purposes. It is a reminder that being conscious has benefits!

The Dye Contest: Day One

2008-06-20T22:36:00.000-05:00

Today began for me like any other day. Awaken, take meds, pet the spinning wheel as I walk past it to start the bathtub water running steaming hot water, head to my daughter's room to see whether any new Etsy orders have been placed, check email, post a contest on Ravelry. What!?!!? Wait, I said "post a contest on Ravelry." Did I actually do that? Yes, and I was 15 minutes late for work because I kept posting it to different forums (people were kind enough to tell me afterwards that I wasn't supposed to post it to so many groups...live and learn. I'm a pretty quick learner especially when I'm knocked in the side of the head with a couple of "don't do that again emails.")

So, below I have included the contest that was innocently posted around 7:50a Central Time. Seems clear to me. I'm thinking that I will get about 5 - 10 good ideas for colorways to dye in advance of tomorrow's trip to the Mt. Laurel Craft and Farmer's Market. Yep, I did. I got 5 - 10 great ideas PLUS 60 - 65 other equally wonderful ideas. OMG - I'm overwhelmed with the response. People are hungry for color! In fact, people are starving for color. And they want control over color!!! I'm having an absolute blast learning about their passion for color, color, color. Each colorway comes with a story - with some I laughed and some I cried. I am going to have to make it into a book. Someone suggested that I blog about the Dye Contest. So here we go. The Dye Contest. Day One

One Day Only Contest!!!! www.whorlingtides.etsy.com
WIN A SKEIN OF YARN OR FIBER (ROVING/BATT/LOCKS)
Just for today!!!
Tonight I will be dyeing again using acid dyes! Yay!!! I’m taking requests for HANDPAINTED colorways for the following items:
Sock or lace weight yarn Superwash sock yarn Worsted weight yarn
and
Merino roving Alpaca batts Overdyed silver Romney fleece
Rules:
1) Submit your colorway to me including the approximate percentage you would like to see for each color (for example: Sock yarn: 20% salmon, 40% lilac, 30% rose red, 10% white). Be as specific as possible with the color description.
2) Please provide a name for your colorway. Any appropriate name provided will be used. What a great FREE way to advertise yourself and your work! So if you are Jen at Hanks In The Hood - you might call your yarn “Hanks In the Hood Summer Sock Yarn” (Just an example)
3) I will dye all of the most beautiful sounding colorways tonight.
4) When everything dries, I will select one YARN WINNER and one FIBER winner.
5) Each winner will WIN the item that s/he designed!!!
Doesn’t this sound like fun??!!!? NOTE —I cannot check Ravelry from work so if you have questions, PLEASE email me at whorlingtides@aol.com.
If you PM or post a question, I will answer it as soon as I get home from work - so 5p Central Time.

The firewall at work doesn't allow me to check Ravelry so all the responses I knew about were the ones people sent to the WhorlingTides AOL account. I didn't know about the full force of the contest until I got home and could log on to Ravelry. It took me almost 3 hours to transcribe all of the colorways to cards so that I would have something to guide me at the dyepot! Some of the colorways are simple - two or three colors. Some have 6 - 8 colors. I don't yet have the kind of control over painting fibers that I wish I had for the more complex colorways. But I will be learning more with each dyebath. It is a good thing that I'm reading Deb Menz's book on color and spinning.

Life with My DD

2008-06-01T20:26:00.000-05:00

Look at her. She is 17 and getting ready to take on the world. I love watching her grow into an amazing young woman. Most of the time she just shines her beautiful light upon life. But this is the face that I have known the most over recent years. This is the face that says "Mom, I'm still learning how to be me, and it isn't easy." I hope she learns well how to be herself. I love her, my dearest daughter.

Ravelry Ad or Trying Something New

2008-05-31T18:12:00.001-05:00

Every day is a new day for a middle aged woman in the spectrum of the WWW. I'm amazed at all there is to offer - free flickr, free etsy, free ravelry, free aol...it sure makes it easy to start a business and to stay in touch with people from all over the world.

Like take my amazing friend Shawn http://islandsweet.blogspot.com/. She lives in Newfoundland. We met on Etsy when she we decided to trade fibers with each other. Now, it turns out that we read the same books and have similar life experiences. Her grandchild is due on the date of my Mother's birthday. Shawn nurtures me as a new fiber artist and I am grateful. I wish I had as much to give back to her. Then there is the wonderful Jen from Hanks in the Hood. She has really given me so much of her time, energy, and expertise. I don't know what I would have done without it!http://www.hanksinthehood.blogspot.com/ Then, I try to pass on everything that I am learning to the newbies whom I encounter. The circular nature of fiber is astounding. Fiber artists are a peaceful bunch with generous hearts. I hope that I will continue to learn from these amazing folks.

When I began this post it was to add the image of the ad that I am trying to place on Ravelry, which is located at the top of this post. Because I am the kind of person who just wants the computer to work..I don't need or want to know how to make it work..it takes me a long time to accomplish these tasks. I'm very happy, though, with the ad that I created, and I hope it gets approved. It was fun to make.

Next Saturday is Alabama's 4th Annual Goat and Sheep festival. I've got to get to work for that event. More on that next time.

I Tried

2008-05-30T22:55:00.000-05:00

Well, I tried everything I could possibly think of to get my images to show up on Ravelry in a group for sale like everyone else does and nothing worked. I'm frustrated. But, I did have lots of fun before that today doing fiber fiber fiber. I scoured the Romney wool again. It is the fiber that I received from "the redhead" at http://www.redstoneyarns.com/ just for the price of the shipping charges. It is turning out to be a gorgeous silver color. I'm learning that it is difficult to get the lanolin off the fleece without very very very hot water. Today, I even boiled two large pots of water to help. We shall see....

Today, Melissa and Sara came over to play. Melissa used the drum carder and started her Etsy shop. I hope it goes well for her. She needs something to capture her imagination. Perhaps this will be the trick. Sara carded some roving, too. She is developing a real passion for natural dyeing. It will be fun to watch her skills develop. I thoroughly enjoyed having the day off...only when I checked the blackberry a couple of hours ago...it looks as if I missed an important meeting. My memory is failing me these days. Am I too busy? Is it the pain and medications? Is it peri-menopausal? Is it early onset dementia? I guess it doesn't really matter...I just need to learn how to compensate.

Sales on Etsy this week have been fantastic. Yes, I have made 5 sales in 6 days. On the day that I did not make a sale, I did have someone interested in my Liquid Gold, but she couldn't buy it at that moment. Perhaps she will in the future. It is a good fiber-filled life that I am enjoying. And I am happy.

Some of my newest fibers

2008-05-30T22:44:00.000-05:00

Caps, Fibers, Faith, and Friends

2008-03-16T15:32:00.002-05:00

Look how cute this cap is that was knitted by Susan. She was one of the first people to buy anything from me on Etsy. Then, she was the first person to make a special request that I spin more for her of the same yarn so that she could make a matching set of items. I think this cap is perfectly adorable. And thank you, Susan, for being so easy to work with. It is a real treat to see what you have done with something that started out to be wool from a sheep. The connections that this one sheep made have been incredible. These fibers came from my first order from Jen at HanksInTheHood. Now Jen and I are fast friends - so much so that we are developing a couple of lines of yarn that will be unique to us. The first line will be for Serendipity which is our really cool LYS. It is more that just a fiber store. It is a place where people congregate. We learn from each other and we support each other. We created a nest for each other. And we laugh together. Ellen has commissioned a line of bamboo yarns to sell in her shop this summer. More on that later with links included. But for now...I just wanted to post this lovely cap made by Susan who early on had faith in a new spinner in Alabama.

First Treasury

2008-03-12T19:16:00.004-05:00

I wanted to post this link to the first Etsy treasury that has contained my roving. At least it is the first one that I know about. The neon colors fit right in with the theme and all the other items chosen.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=33482

I've included the link as well as the image because I'm not sure that the image will actually appear.

This whole fiber thing has taken over my world. There's fibers in the studio, fibers in the bedroom, fibers in the bathroom, and spinning wheels all over the house. My daughter came home the other day and said "Mom, the spinning wheels are taking over the house. I don't think you need to get anymore!" It is true. Now that I have my Schacht I don't think I will get anymore.

All the people I am meeting through fibers are so wonderful. They want to share their knowledge and their experiences in a totaly unselfish way. I feel like I have found my place. After 50 years, it is about time.

It has been a while.

2008-02-27T20:57:00.002-06:00

I got so involved in learning how to spin yarn and then dyeing yarn that I haven't gotten back to my blog. So tonight, when I saw something on Etsy about creating an Etsy Mini, I felt compelled to figure it out. It took me an hour...but I think I have done it. We shall see.

In the last few weeks, a lot has happened. We got another dog and then, last night, we had to give Keller back to the people who gave him to us. Keller began to be very hostile toward Cody. Last night he attacked him so viciously that I was in fear for Cody's life. Cody is a beta dog so he wants to keep everybody happy. He's the one who likes to compromise. Keller had intimidated Pippi the cat so much that she stopped going to the bathroom. I had to take her to the vet for a full week before she went to the bathroom again. I wasn't happy with that but I thought it was just part of bringing a new dog into the home. We have done that many times in the past and the animals just worked things out amongst themselves. But Keller began to get more and more dominant - alpha dog-like. Last night I thought it reached the point of being dangerous. So Keller had to go. I cried when they came to get him. I cried a lot.

And then I started a knitting project. The wools and other fibers have taken over my house. It looks like that old Star Trek episode called "The Trouble with Tribbles" where these cute little puff balls take over the ship. My room is filled with puff balls of wool in such gorgeous colors that you'd have to see it to believe it. And I am happier than I have been in years. This weekend, I will get the studio cleaned out so that the puff balls can vacate the bedroom and have a room of their own. Nice.

Well, that is enough for one night. I don't want to feel that writing is another demand. Then I will get stressed out. I have a lot of exciting things to sort out - like getting ready for some art/craft fairs that I have recently learned about...that will wait until tomorrow.

My First Handspun Yarn

2008-01-06T21:38:00.000-06:00

Addicted. This is my first handspun yarn. I bought the fiber from Copperpot on Etsy. This colorway is called "Cry Baby" which is composed of hot pink, charcoal, and pale blue. Most of her colorways are blends of wools such as merino and colonial so I cannot really say what this one is. But I do know that it is simply beautiful - especially given that this is my first handspun yarn. The singles was spun counter clockwise and then plied clockwise. Since starting that singles I have learned that most people put a clockwise twist on the singles and counter clockwise for plying. I will adhere to tradition in future yarns just to simplify everything. Seeing the picture of this yarn makes me feel so content...it is beautiful to see. Very, very beautiful. And the yarn itself feels so soft. I am totally hooked on spinning yarn.

Day Two

2008-01-02T19:12:00.001-06:00

Ok. I've decided. I'm going to try to learn something new about "blogging" each day that I post. If at all possible, today I'm going to learn how to post an image. After all, what fun is it if I cannot put up lovely photos like the other people do?? Plus, I have a master's degree in photography from way before there was such a thing as digital photography. I think the same rules of composition and lighting should apply. It is an empirical question - one that I am ready to attempt to answer here.

So here I am trying to post a pic. I knew I was going to try so this morning, I took a photo of Cody curled up in my temporary bed on the floor. He is such a sweetie. Just now, I took a photo of our cat-in-a-box, Pippi. You know, she is the kind of cat who precisely fits her body into any box that she can find. Her new favorite container is a basket on my daughter's bedside table. Also, I took a photo of the grey, wool yarn that I am learning how to spin with the cute book that I am reading on spinning yarn - Spinning in the Old Way by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts. It is perfect for me since I'm such a spinning novice. She tells the story of spinning without getting too heavily into doing it a specific way. The author includes some sweet quotes about craft that appear to have come from Soetsu Yanagi, The Unknown Craftsman. Now, I am ready to post the photos. And I even see a little button up there to click in order to post the photos. It looks like it will be easy enough to post them. Only now, I cannot figure out how to get the pics from the camera on to the computer. Where is my teenager when I need her?

To answer your question: "Yes, I have plugged in the cord to the USB port so that photos can be transferred from the camera to the computer." She just got home and, in a flash, she showed me how to load the pics to the computer. Now, let's see if I can do the rest. Well, as you can see above, the photos all got posted. But why did they post way up there instead of down here where I am working? Let's see if I can get one to post here where I want it. Nope. Can't do that yet.

Names for use in my yarn plan....whorling tides, spinning tides, u-knit-versity, peacework, whirling piece, ewe-knit-versity. Didn't get any extra exercise today, but did steam veggies for supper in order to break the bad food cycle. That's all for now.

And So It Begins

2008-01-01T17:24:00.000-06:00

I'm glad that 2007 is over. And so is much of the stress from a year of transitions. Here, I don't want to describe the many sorrows we faced last year. I do want to focus on all the good that I anticipate in the year 2008. In the big picture, this year we will elect a new goverment whose first job will be to repair the damage done to our country by the current regime. As Americans, we have to do better that this. We can, and surely, we will.

On a much smaller scale, my current job is shaping up to be a very good situation. I'm a health psychologist with the VA healthcare system. It is a good job, and I appreciate the mission of helping those folks cope with chronic illnesses who have served our country. I truly enjoy serving the very men and women who put their lives on the line so that I can sit smuggly at home saying that I don't believe in war. It works for me - it is part of the cyclic mystery of life.

Lastly, but certainly not less importantly, my daughter is happy here in our new situation. As all mothers know, we can only be as happy as our children are. My daughter is happy here. My happiness follows hers. She turned 17 a few weeks ago, and I clearly see that we are on the other side of most of her adolescent rebellion. I feel it drawing to a close. Now we can both relax. I can breathe again. That's good because I was getting fairly exhausted from holding my breath so long.

That is a brief history of me. Wait, can that be all there is to almost 50 years of life? Yes, I will be turning 50 in a few short weeks. As a gift to myself, I am taking my daughter, her boyfriend, and me to New York City for a long weekend. NYC is wonderful this time of year. We will eat in great restaurants, shop in wonderful stores, walk among busy crowds, hail taxi cabs, see a show or two, go to musuems, and celebrate each other's company.

"When I turn 50" I used to tell people "I will learn how to play the violin." Turns out, that is not going to be true. As I turn 50, I am instead learning how to spin yarn with a top spindle. Last week, I drove to north Alabama and learned to spin from the wonderful people at Little Barn. My knitting began 11 years ago when I was in graduate school in Kansas. I bought some yarn at the fantastic Yarn Barn and took a knitting class there. Then, my mother and I spent hours together knitting as she was dying of breast cancer. I miss hearing the sound of her needles clicking beside me as I knit. But I know she is there anyway. Plus, I have a business plan in mind so that I can spin and knit and play with yarn to my heart's content as a tax deduction. But more on all that later.

I wanted to make sure that I wrote something today. I didn't want to procrastinate any longer. Here are my goals for the year 2008:
1) Continue to help E become the amazing young woman she is meant to be. I love her.
2) Develop colorful yarn business.
3) Return to fitness, working out, and healtful eating habits.
4) Keep the house clean and organized.
5) My Secret Goal

Journaling is something that I have not done in many years. Certainly, I have never engaged in such a potentially public form of self exploration. I look forward to seeing what happens.