by carmen | Jan 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
I have been diligently working on my homework all week. Spin, draw, wind, ply, repeat, adding up piles and piles of project yarn. I’ve even won Toni (already a much better spinner than I) over to the dark side so I have someone at school with me, moral support, I guess.
I have been finishing orders and ignoring jury pieces, but getting lots of paperwork done. Although scattered, at the end of the day, the accomplishment column is much more loaded than the “how come I couldn’t finish….?” column.
My reward…..
14 hours of Battlestar Gallactica. All of the 4th season including the finale and the first episode of the new and final season. A definite reward for an accomplished week, but even better, I am getting more work done during the self imposed couch time. And the fun is only just beginning….
I have a photo shoot at Grouse Mountain this weekend (where I will manage a little ice skating time). I also have two orders to pick up at the post office. I have such a hate on for Canada Post right now I can’t begin to describe it. They are the only affordable option for shipping so I am stuck with them, but they lie, lie, lie, like a cheap rug. My orders are at the post office because I was “not home” —-was so, was so. A delivery notice advising attempted delivery was left with me…..——so, was not…..oh, I really don’t like Canada Post.
Now, this is five pounds of custom dyed silk and wool blend that I have been waiting for to finish a jury piece. Wish me luck that this time crunch does not affect the quality of the finished piece.
Oh BSG is sooo good. The knitting is furious to keep pace with the episodes. I won’t be able to put down the needles or pull myself away.
by carmen | Jan 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
I’ve been spinning and selling my handspun for more than a year now and I’ve never formally learned how to spin. With Art Yarn, imperfections add a bit of excitement to the skeins, and it certainly makes them fun and surprising to knit and crochet.
The flawed fibre makes every skein of yarn unique. I’ve allowed myself the pleasure of discovering the characters of each different type of wool, roving and carded batts. I’ve let the texture sink into my hands. I’m really proud of things that I have created, but always twigging in the back of my mind was….
“what about the basics”?
….This is a legitimate question coming from someone who will dive from the high dive before checking the pool for water. That kamikaze approach seems to have worked for me for most things. Or what I also refer to as pulling stuff out of my butt…
Not good enough. Place des Arts was just in process of starting a new term and I met Irene at the guild meeting where she mentioned the course. I was hooked, and also in a bit of hero workship (pun intended), Irene is an amazing teacher.
Bundled up in the rain, sporting my best hand knits, and with all the enthusiasm I could muster for a 7:30 am commute to the burbs, I headed out.
I am absolutely thrilled because today Irene reintroduced me to wool. It’s a relationship I was taking for granted. We are now in an early old style courtship phase, the wool and I. I will not blow this relationship by trying to get to third base on the first date.
Yes, it will be a long courtship, but this relationship is a keeper and deserves the best me I can put forward.
My new love. I shall call her “Crimpy”.
And here she is after just a bit of teasing….
And now on to the carders for some delicate combing.
And finally, after our first encounter, a little batch of rolags.
I will be spinning this today. I know it’s not going to look great, but I don’t care. I will drown myself in the warm wonderful feeling of discovering this fibre from the ground up.
Gotta run!
by carmen | Jan 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
I’ve got a lot of tidying up to do in the studio. Things have been pretty hairy (fluffy, furry, yarnie) since Circle Craft. I just haven’t been able to get the studio in order.
I had the perfect excuse today as my friend Joan brought her daughter over (a talented knitter in her own right) who was curious about the drum carder. I wanted to show her some carding and just grabbed a few handfuls of what lay behind the fabulous blending machine on the carpet and ran that through.
How fun, merino, perindale, corriedale, silk, kid mohair, bamboo, yak, mohair locks, angelina and who knows what else. The resulting batt was just a plucky bunch of fibre fun. And moreover, it was sort of housework.
Cat Batt Inspection
I was fortunate to be able to spin myself stupid. The last web order was shipped today (or so I thought) Oddly enough, every time I go to the post office, I come home to another order. I really should start hanging out there.
Oh, I wanted to show you what cruel and unusual punishment I inflicted on that lovely piece of fabric yesterday.
Okay, now what do I do with it? Back to web orders.
by carmen | Jan 7, 2009 | Uncategorized
Web orders almost being caught up gave me license to play a bit today, so I worked on a few things that just needed sorting out.
1. Create batts to formula. If someone loves it, how am I going to repeat it. Up until now things have been whimsical, but very random. Today I measured things….oooh scary.
2. Finished a jury piece. I’ve been working on it for weeks off and on and it’s finally done. Now if I can remember where it is when I bring everything to set up.
3. Shredded some beautiful fibre for a project that I have been working on. It hurt, but what’s done is done. No turning back now.
4. Looked at, but could not complete a “Craft Jury Artisan Questionaire” How do I explain to people who don’t know me or my work what I do. It’s easy to sound arrogant, or too flippant or too mechanical. I tend to fill these things out like I am explaining a tooth extraction. And…..it is paperwork (which, to anyone who knows me, knows it is not my strong suit).
5. Forced myself to look through a box of scraps and found the most wonderful chunky vintage boucle that made some excellent pom poms.
6. Pulled out bits of another jury piece to work on. Found the angora that Pearl gave me for Christmas, which will work perfectly for this project. With deadlines fast approaching these fibres have to be transformed into beautiful things in a very short time frame.
Wish me luck.
by carmen | Jan 6, 2009 | Uncategorized
As the New Year starts, I am already chasing my tail with how busy things have become. This has put me in the position of stating full on that I am no longer doing commission work or custom orders.
I am losing a lot of production time to design that will not become part of my regular inventory. It is time that I cannot recover. In retrospect, it may be one of the reasons why I was so overwhelmed last year. Don’t get me wrong–for those that follow the blog, you all know I love a good challenge and 99% of people are pleased with the final design…BUT….
I’ve only ever calculated the time in making the finished product and not the 3 times that I ripped it out to start over or sketched or resized something. Now this doesn’t mean you can’t have an existing design in a different colour or wool. I feel awful even writing this, but one of the reasons I started on this path was to bring my visions to light. In some ways I have lost sight of that.
It’s 2am and I’m working on an order. No,this was my design that some one asked me to replicate twofold. This one I am having enormous fun with. I hope I am not harming the business in any way by imposing this limitation. This year will be a selfish MelonHead me, all me design year.
Oh, and hang on to your hats. I am immediately applying this now freed up time to taking a dye workshop at the end of the month…
by carmen | Jan 5, 2009 | Uncategorized
I’m moving things around again. There’s nothing like a good Canadian Tire Sale in the houseware and storage section to get my ass in gear. New devices for yarn force me to organize the collection that is so much more massive since obtaining the drum carder.
I’m certain that there is now over 100 lbs of undyed fibre in the house as well as finished inventory and it is getting harder to find space around here. Harder, not impossible.
Just a few new yarns, batts and hats for the new year.
Some yarn.
Some Batts.
And a hat. 120 grams of hand spun fun.
Even the concept of time organization is being played with via my new fab Rumi Daytimer. I do find it a bit odd that they would fashion a day timer after someone who would spin for days (and I’m sure missed a few appointments as a result). I have written things in it, so I guess I’m committed.
14 hours of Battlestar Gallactica. All of the 4th season including the finale and the first episode of the new and final season. A definite reward for an accomplished week, but even better, I am getting more work done during the self imposed couch time. And the fun is only just beginning….
