A Busy Spring

May 28, 2021mulchandmorecrafts Leave a comment

I am realizing the amount of time needed to do a monthly virtual show! Since I have found the Facebook group of Wool and Fiber Arts I have met many new fiber enthusiasts as well as reconnecting with others that I’ve met at the in person shows we’ve done.

This is another WAFA show weekend and I will be airing at 4:30 EDT on this Sunday, May 30th. https://fb.me/e/4p3bTS5pE should take you there or at least to the announcement of our event. (I’m still learning this technical navigation)

If you would like to see the full schedule of the activities of this weekend (which started today) here is the brochure https://issuu.com/terramiakat/docs/wafamay2021.. I managed to watch some of them today, and the nice part is that even if you miss the live you can go back to the individual’s page and watch again on a replay. After their show the vendors can also post pictures in an after the sale album of their remaining items.

This month our son Cliff will be showing his needle felted art dolls, while I will have a variety of hand dyed yarns and roving. Stop by and say hi!

As soon as the show is over, we send invoices and mail product and fill the album, then will begin the planning and making for the next show, dyeing some yarn and roving in the colors of the palette of the month as well as getting ready to participate in the challenge of the Tour de Fleece! It is shaping up to be a very busy year!

Virtual Live Show

November 25, 2020November 25, 2020mulchandmorecrafts Leave a comment

For anyone interested in using fibers or shopping for things made from fibers check out this 4-day show https://issuu.com/terramiakat/docs/holidaymarket.ver11?fr=sOTZhMDIyMTEzMzM&fbclid=IwAR1tDHvMCzE968S2JWjgV3wB9UgNqvaxix4jnqYVt_8uIIGYnVfF0i4B1ys

I am privileged to be in this month’s show on November 27th from 4:00 – 4:30 pm EST ! I with be showing hand dyed fiber and yarn, hand spun yarn, as well as felted hats and knit shawls. This is only a portion of the things I make, but it feels so good to finally be doing a show. Stop by, this is the year for remote shopping and I’ve been very happy to have been able to shop some of the wonderful vendors who participate in this Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/wafalive

Now I have to get back to practicing the video part of the new things I’m learning.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving All.

Blog Avoidance?

April 16, 2017April 16, 2017mulchandmorecrafts 9 Comments

Don’t know why I haven’t been posting as regularly as I had planned? I don’t have writer’s block as I have many thoughts written down in notes. Maybe it’s the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day and I need a few of those for sleeping?

Craft shows are approaching! I have copies of our schedule printed for handing out to those interested in where we will be. I’ve revised my candle scent listing brochure, adding more scents (that will eventually be discontinued) to my sale column! This also meant relabeling all my inventory boxes and sorting through over 100 scents (does that explain why I am trying to cut back on my variety?) Plus I’ve been making more candles, printing their labels etc. Hopefully I won’t have to make candles between some of the back-to-back shows.

And I’ve been dyeing!…lots and lots of wool fiber 🙂 Tonight I finally took the time to edit the many pictures I’ve been taking of the finished colors. And I’ve spun a few sample yarns, changing the look of the colors by plying them with different colors.

And I managed to achieve these each of these two-tone results in the same kettle of dye!

And for a visual hint of how this was done, the following two pictures are of the same roving;

And the latest two color-ways;

Most of the above fiber will be available at craft shows for $3.00 per ounce (both the Suffolk roving and the Merino top is about 8oz per batch/colorway). If you would like to purchase some to spin, contact me and I can list it for you if it’s still here.

Hope everyone will continue to follow and realize, as I have, that I will probably always be a sporadic writer….too many irons in the fire…which reminds me, I need to plug in and do some new wood burning! Til next time, enjoy your lives, and hope you had a Happy Easter.

On My Wheel

February 8, 2017mulchandmorecrafts Leave a comment

On my wheel today I have some llama. I just retrieved it from the fiber mill on Monday, so when I saw it I had to quickly finish the pound of super wash merino that was almost done.

When I sent the llama fiber that I had washed it was a combination of greys and white that I had washed and stuck together in a bag, thinking that they would process it together and I would have a heathered light gray to spin. Imagine my surprise to open the bag and find this fluffy striped fiber awaiting me 🙂

white and grey llama

This is the start of the bobbin, today it is almost full so tomorrow will start the second spool to ply with it. Anxious to see the blend of natural colors that will result, no dyeing necessary!

spinning llama

And here’s a picture of the first pound of garnet red that I finished, the second pound is drying to set the twist. I have different colors of super wash to spin yet and also a few pounds of alpaca that was also processed at the same mill.

garnet super wash merino

January’s Fiber

January 31, 2017mulchandmorecrafts 8 Comments

Normally people might read ” January’s fiber” and think I had made drastic changes in my diet! But no! I’m referring to the wool that I’ve been getting ready for this summer’s craft shows.

The biggest part of my time was spent spinning some more super wash yarn. After a sale on HandmadeArtists I realized how low my inventory of super wash was so decided to get busy. I managed to finish spinning five pounds of the merino super wash top from my stash, and dug out another 5 pounds to see if I can do the same amount for February. One pound of larch green was plied with one pound of dark olive for a total of about 1200yds. The red pound is called lipstick (about 550yds). Then a pound of light blue (about 600yds). And pictured the first skein of the pound-a bulkier art yarn of maybe 250yds. The rest of it is finished but drying to set the twist. I still need to label the individual skeins before I will have an accurate yardage count.

superwash merino hand spun

Then I took a day off to play with colors. Five batches/ four colorways gave me a start on adding to my top inventory. I will have the fun of spinning some of the top that matches the yarn to knit into a hat. The rest will find homes with other spinners or felters.

dyed merino top and alpaca blend yarn

Then my supervisor (Sheldon the cat) was inspecting the progress of some dryer balls! I think he likes being in charge of quality control!

Sheldon inspecting!

And I’ve a head start on February’s to do list, just finished the first pound of singles and ready to start plying.

Happy February all.

Snowy Days

January 12, 2017mulchandmorecrafts 12 Comments

Snowy days and days and days, with a little freezing rain thrown in to the south of us!

snowy view

But with the snow comes lots of time to stay inside and craft so I’ve been very busy this past week.

merino top and alpaca blend yarn, hand dyed

Last Friday I dyed some wool and top and yarn. While it was drying I finished spinning some green yarn, plied it and set the twist.

warm and cool primary colors, plus pink+blue=purple

When it was dry I spread it on the table for pictures, but first I had to play peek-a-boo with Sheldon! After the game was done he still was tempted to take a closer look at the wool, but behaved and just looked 🙂

my eyes are closed…you can’t see me

can I fit?

hi!

Then I teased some of the purplish wool to remove more of the VM (vegetable matter) that hadn’t come out in the washing.

Can’t I help?

teased wool and debris

After loading my hand cards with fiber, I found that Sheldon was still watching me!

Dressing the cards

carding wool with help

carded wool

Here are some the rolags (rolls of carded wool) ready for spinning, but I have a lot more carding to do first.

rolags ready to spin

As I mentioned before we have two black cats. The following pictures will show you how we tell them apart: Sheldon has the crooked ear from the injury he came to the shelter with. Stanley has half of a white whisker (the other half must of broken off during their wrestling matches). While Stanley can usually be found be found on my husband’s lap and occasionally on mine, Sheldon has to see (closeup) whatever I am doing and shares his lap time with me and our son, while only occasionally my husband, maybe because that lap is already taken by his brother. Both take turns trying to help me spin or knit but are learning that yarn is NOT a chew toy.

Sheldon

Stanley helping me spin

The yarn that Stanley was helping me spin has now been plied and has formed skeins totaling over 500yds. Time to start spinning the next color/pound of superwash merino. Made more dryer balls today, so those are drying now. I’m thankful for the speed by which things dry during the winter months thanks to the even heat of our wood furnace. So winter does have its advantages!

singles of superwash merino

How do you enjoy winter days? Anyone a fiberholic too?

Kitties and Crafts

December 12, 2016mulchandmorecrafts 2 Comments

Kitties and crafts are an interesting combination! Before adopting, one was on my lap while I was knitting on a hat! He jumped down through the loop of the circular needles, ignoring the yarn, so I mistakenly assumed that his twin brother would act the same 🙂

They did come home with us with slight colds (along with the medicine to treat their sneezes) Sheldon has recovered and Stanley’s sneezes are getting less frequent! But that means their curiosity is increasing! Sheldon has to see whatever it is we are doing. With Christmas fast approaching I have been trying to get some knitting finished. Sheldon thinks moving yarn is to be bitten, then he jumps on my lap for a closer taste! Makes for slow knitting!

That innocent look of “who me?”

After nearly a week I decided I wanted to see their reaction to my spinning wheel. I started spinning some short lengths of my hand dyed merino top. Within a minute Sheldon had put his paw on the moving treadle but soon figured out that it would get hit by the wheel as the treadle raised. He moved to the side and with his paw on my toe “helped” me treadle for a while. Then he jumped to my lap, smelled the wool , but was mesmerized watching the flyer spin as if trying to figure out how it was working. Then he bit at the yarn! After the second bite and second NO he decided to get down but continued to watch from a short distance. Unfortunately I have no pictures of this since my hands were full protecting my yarn!

hand dyed top

I spun two bobbins with somewhat even color changes, hoping they would line up with each other when plied.

spools of singles

The colors overlapped some but came close to what I’d planned. The most I could fit on my bobbin was 220yds (seen below on the niddy noddy) but with the two smaller skeins totals just over 300yds. (enough to knit another shawl!)

Plied yarn on niddy-noddy and in smaller skeins.

Oh What a Tangled…

November 17, 2016mulchandmorecrafts Leave a comment

Very fine linen yarn.

Oh what a tangle this skein of yarn became! This was part of a custom order that I worked on sporadically throughout the summer as I found time between shows. When I placed this thin skein of yarn on the swift to wind it into a cake to use in plying I found that instead of winding off easily onto my ball winder that it kept catching, tangling and sometimes breaking . I finally wound it by hand onto an empty cone. Thankfully the lovely lady was in no big hurry, just wanted her skeins of linen yarn plied to a thickness that she could use to knit.

When we first met to discuss the project, we decided on a workable thickness and that it would be wet plied. We then went about sorting all the lovely colors into groups of three or four skeins, since they were two different gauges, the one almost as fine as sewing thread.

We did meet so she could see and approve of the progress but she wanted to wait to reclaim her yarn all at once. After many more hours than I had originally thought and well over 7000 yds of plied yarn the project is finished! I really want to see the finished items that it will become under an expert knitter’s hands. And best of all I’ve made a new friend.

The finished skeins covered my card table in a single layer, so here are the pictures with some overlap. The one multicolored skein is the uneven yardage from the original plying, plied with a continuous length of two of the finer singles that were left.

plied linen

plied linen

3-ply linen

more linen

And more overlapped skeins

Last Craft Show!

November 16, 2016November 16, 2016mulchandmorecrafts Leave a comment

It’s been over a week now since we did the last craft show of our season for this year!

Entering The Train Depot

It was a first year fiber show that I didn’t find out about until our fiber show that was the end of September. In spite of common wisdom that warns against first year shows, late advertisement for vendors, and a 200+ mile drive to a region of the state that we haven’t explored before I decided to send in an application! I’m glad we did!

The organizer communicated well, asked for pictures of our set-ups and products, and responded promptly to all my questions. The show was held in buildings of a historical museum in Port Sanilac and we needed to be able to fit our display around the furnishings of the buildings. After seeing my pictures she placed us in the Train Depot and let me know that I should be able to use my grid-wall (a display that I didn’t think I would be able to use there) but gladly brought. While this was going on I was busy trying to downsize what we would bring to fit into the suburban. After hauling a trailer full all summer I didn’t want to chance dragging it there and home if there should be a snow storm. (Michigan weather has been unseasonable this year with 50 degree temps instead of the normal cold, but they are saying snow for this weekend!)

Left side of our display, with my shawl and wheel.

dyed fiber, yarns and knitting, nestled around their glass display case and Ben Franklin stove in the back corner.

The weather was beautiful, the organizer and all the volunteers were helpful and friendly, and from the number of people that came through, advertisement had been good. We were placed next to a couple who are always our backside neighbors at the other fiber festival so we enjoyed their company as well. We did splurge for a motel and ate out (instead of our normal camping) but this first year show didn’t charge a fee. Next year they are but we signed up to repeat it and will look for cheaper lodging.

smaller grid wall but still held hats, hand dyed yarn and some soft sculptures (needle felted)

Son’s display of needle felting and copper shawl pins with neighboring booth in the background.

Now that the shows are over I have been catching up on a couple of custom orders, looking forward to posting more often, doing some more dyeing, knitting, and maybe even finding some time to weave!

What are your plans for this fall and winter season? Would be glad to hear what you are planning?

When Life Gives You Lemons….

April 5, 2016April 10, 2016mulchandmorecrafts 15 Comments

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is something we have all heard I think. But I prefer lemon pie!

That’s new snow!

this was necessary in April!

So when life gave us snow yesterday (about 8 new inches after having almost all bare ground), I decided to try some snow dyeing! I’ve done it at guild meetings on silk and cotton(using cool temp dyes), but decided to try it with my wool dyes on wool yarn and top.

I pre-soaked my wool in warm water with vinegar added, then lifted on a mesh to drain in my colander.

yarn on wool top

Meanwhile I gathered a bucket of snow, then froze my hands carefully packing it around and on top of the wool, to a depth of about 3 inches, then sprinkled a little more snow on top.

snow

dye on snow

I sprinkled powdered dye carefully on top of the snow, using magenta, teal, and yellow.

They looked so pretty as they started to melt into the snow.

dyes beginning to migrate

The science behind snow dyeing is that as the snow melts, the different components of each dye dissolves and spreads at a different rate,remixing and being carried into the material below it. (Of course there is a pan underneath to catch the run-off.)

After the melt and before hot water bath.

The results; The snow (in the house) melted 🙂 The resulting wool didn’t look anything like I had envisioned (I had gotten carried away and sprinkled way too much dye for the amount of wool I was using.) Since this dye is heat set I placed my lump of wool into a pan of hot water and heated it for about an hour. Lifted carefully by my trusty mesh I then put it into two rinse waters.

Actual yarn colors are deep red/burgundy, dark purple, and high-lights of blue

Looking at the dyed snow water drippings, I added those to my heating pan and placed more wool top in to heat. I always try to exhaust all of the dye from the water and sometimes get some interesting shades.

dye exhaust is a soft purple/mauve

Snow dyeing is fun, but I have more predictable results with my rainbow dyeing and kettle dyeing (unless I’m in the mood to play “mad chemist”, then any unexpected color may appear 🙂

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