Dye, Baby, Dye

It's noon, and I'm finally eating breakfast.

Falkland wool and Peruvian Highland yarn soaking in readiness for dying.  Wine cozy yarns flash drying outside, soon to be crocheted.  Will I be brave enough to break out the drum carder today??  Don't have the Firestar yet, but do have throwsters and tussah silk to add into the mix.

Breakfast is done, back to work.

Supplies Abound

If you don't hear from me for a few days, fret not!  I will be working like a mad woman now that I have all my supplies!  Drum carder?  Oh yeah, right here next to me!  Woolie and silkie heaven!

Anita

WoooooooooL!!!!

Okay, so I knew I ordered a lot of wool.  People - IT'S A LOT OF WOOL!!!

In dye baths now, blends of:  pink orchid/deep magenta, sunflower yellow/brilliant yellow, fire engine red/cayenne red.  Green is up next.  These are colors for the [rose] needle felting class I'll teach at Pheebie's Needleart http://www.phebies2.com/ July 30th, 10am - noon.  Will also dye purple, lavendar, yellow and green for those who wish to use the pansy needle felting mould.

Soaking in water, awaiting their turn in the dye bath; four skeins of extreme thick-n-thin yarn.  Have this yen to blend cayenne red and magenta - wowee!  Oops, just remembered I need to soak yarn for fringe, too.  Okay, taken care of.  Gotta do stuff like that immediately, or I'll forget!

I want to spin up some natural/dark BLF blend, then over dye it, maybe denim blue.  Extreme thick-n-thin for a scarf kit.  Oooo, I like it!  Charcoal gray, too.  Must be time for me to go and play at the spinning wheel!  Oh my gosh - fun!!!

Anita

House Sitting

I've been so fortunate to house sit a lovely home in Carlsbad for the last week and a half.  It's mid-July, and I've worn long pants and long sleeve shirts comfortably!!!  Do you know how novel that is to a desert dweller??

I haven't been idle while house sitting.  I crocheted wine cozies until I ran out of necessary yarn colors (placed a mondo yarn order in the mean time), and have spun eight skeins of BFL extreme thick'n'thin yarn for scarf kits, and four [probably] DK , 2 oz skeins of dark BFL.

Placed my first Ashland Bay ecru account order, too.  The box has arrived and is sitting in my dining area as we speak.  POUNDS of wool to dye and spin.

AND, did I say I'm getting a drum carder for my birthday???  Part of my Ashland Bay order is FireStar, which I can hardly wait to dye and incorporate in my bats.  AND, I placed a fairly large silk order, so I'm gonna have wonderful silk fibers to card into the wool, too.  All I need to order is more Angelina fiber and I'm set!

I came up with the name Angel Clouds for my bats; Kristine of www.StorybookFibers.etsy.com came up with the rest:  Heavenly Fiber Blends.  Isn't that lovely?  Thanks, Miss Kris!

Thursday, AJ of www.PrincessCocoBoutique.etsy.com and I had lunch, then [mostly] window shopped along South Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach.  www.cedrosavenue.com  Had a great time.  Love becoming better acquainted with new friends.

Holy cow - how'd it get so late?  Gotta go to bed.  'Night all!

Anita

Practice Lesson

I may get to give a crochet lesson.  Hope she has time (she's getting ready for a trip, you know how chaotic that can be) because it would be good practice for me.  I know I can teach someone how to crochet, but if I get a class of eight or more people, I want to be conscious of the little bits of info that make a big difference (things I just do without thinking).

Lots to do today.  Will report back with updates tomorrow!

Anita

Rediscovering Macrame

I was embellishing wine cozies tonight when my fingers started macrame-ing the decorative dangly part.  My brain caught up to me, I thought how cool is this, and promptly couldn't think how to do what mere seconds before came second nature.  I have no business being conscious of my actions!!  (how's that for a statement!!)

With that in mind, maybe I should take photos and upload them while asleep.  Need to send pics to the Bead Gallery for trunk show advertising, and DANG IT.  I can eventually find the photos, but not how to upload them to where I want to send them.  All you computer geek type folks?  Please send understanding vibes my way - I need them!!  There should be a law that says crafty people over a certain age don't have to mess with the computer part.

Anita

Really? Insomnia?

I thought I'd gone to bed for the night.  My body thought it was taking a nap.  So I got up, Googled a silk supplier, thinking about what I need to order...  and read about silk fusion.  Augh!!!  Like I need to try something else!  Somebody tell my brain to shut up and go back to bed!!  A 2:50 am squirrel moment.  sigh

Happy 4th of July!!

While running errands in Claremont Friday, I thought of popping into Phebie's Needlearts to see if she was interested in having me teach classes.  Naw, I'd do it another time.  But why not now?  So I trotted myself up the stairs to her cute little shop  http://www.phebies2.com/ .  She was filling out her class schedule calendar (what timing!) and was happy to add me to the roster.  I'll teach a needle felting class July 30th from 10 - noon.  Give her a call if you'd like to sign up!  909.624.5250

I did meet my quota the other day, but a day late on the yarn.  Spun two more skeins yesterday, and plan to spin two more today.  Ran out of natural yarn for the wine cozies, so have to wait on those.

Really really hope I hear from the fiber wholesaler tomorrow in regards to my account.  I need to place an order, stat!

Be safe today.  Drive sober.  Enjoy fireworks.   :-)

Anita  

Focus & Discipline

I have plenty of focus once I get into a project, but the discipline to sit still long enough to engage that focus...  well, let's be nice and say it's a bit of a struggle for me!  When I hear stories of people who get up at o-dark-thirty every morning and produce x amount of product in six hours so they'll have time to home school their four children, tend to their flock of sheep and weed their organic garden, garbed in designer clothing, simultainiously writing a book on living the simple life...  Good gad, look for me twitching in a corner somewhere just thinking about it!!

When I was younger I had more energy (read more manic phases), but I've always been a nap taker.  As I've [oh so gracefully] aged, my energy level has settled into recliner mode.  Getting my butt up and moving (literally and figuratively) takes a lot more discipline and, well, why do you think I'm writing about this today.  I'm procrastinating!  Discipline and procrastination are arch enemies!  Denial is whispering, its part of your warm up, you'll accomplish so much today, it's okay to do other things in the meantime.  HA!  Next thing you know, I'll be cleaning the refrigerator (okay, so it needs it, but it's not on today's list!!)

sigh  

Today I commit to complete by midnight:  5 needle felted black flowers, 2 skeins of yarn, and 1 wine cozy.

I only have 14 hours and 20 minutes, better get on it!  ...after I cruise to the antique shop to see if the shabby chic buffet Kristine wants is still there...  and I want to finish reading that book...  I wonder if it's crowded at the beach today... etc etc ad nauseum and so forth.

sigh

Anita