Spinner's Lap Cloths

My friend Carissa and I have been working together on many projects lately. Being in a small town away from any major city, materials don't come easy and having someone to chat about ideas with can be even fewer. Luckily I found a friend and fellow crafter in Carissa. When we are looking for opinions of ideas and projects we can discuss without being negative or disheartening.

One project that we have worked on as a pair, is the spinner's lap cloth. I told her my idea a while ago, and since she was really getting into sewing, she went home and made a mock-up. After many samples and discussions, we finally settled on a creation we both love and can make without breaking the budget. Believe me, with fabrics costing above $10, it's easy to make a simple pattern cost $50 just because of the materials. Keep in mind, though, that doesn't include time to photograph, upload, and package each item either.

So, now we have our cloths, she with her favorite fabrics and me with mine. I tend to lean towards most whimsical, while Carissa's are more traditional.

Check out more in either of our shops at:
DawningDreams.etsy.com
OR
DawningDreamsYarns.com

Carissa's site:
Loksi Company
LoksiCo.etsy.com

Gorgeously Gothic Spin-A-Long Coming!

My son started reading “The Series of Unfortunate Events” after receiving the first “The Bad Beginning” book for Christmas. Since then, those bothersome books have brought nothing, but leisurely laziness to my home. With so many ill-fated adventures, one must take events into their own hands by stopping to spin a tale using a frenzy of fibers from my Gruesomely Gothic Spin-A-Long! Samples of some of the colorways are headed out in January's Phat Fiber Box, which you can find more information at www.phatfiber.com/.

THE DASTARDLY DETAILS:

Listing for the fiber will go up for sale on my Etsy Store the day Phat Fiber boxes go on sale. I will either card two beastly batts of 2 oz each, or I will dye 4 oz of Superwash roving that is inspired by one of the 13 books. Some of these sinister sets can be viewed and purchased right away. Others, you will have to wait and see what comes in the mail.

The awful batts boast lots of texture and dark colors. The possibilities are endless with angora, Angelina, Firestar, wool, mohair, and other dreadful fibers. (NOTE: if you are allergic to a particular fiber, please let me know ahead of time.) I will also include extra goodies to add-in, which could include sequins, locks, ribbons, or a number of different items.

When you have finished spinning your atrocious yarns, photograph them and send the picture to me at dawningdreams@gmail.com. I will then post pictures on the Dawning Dreams “Gorgeously Gothic SAL” Thread for final voting.

THE PRIZES:

1^st place - Complimentary 4 oz choice of batt or roving and handmade orifice hook

2^nd place - Complimentary 2 oz choice of batt or roving

3^rd place - Handmade orifice hook

THE TIME FRAME:
January 17th - Ordering available

February 1st - Batts will be sent out.
March 2nd - Final yarn pictures due by for contest consideration
March 8th - Winners announced!

Feel free to take pre, process, and post photos of yourself spinning. The more pictures we have to choose from, the better your chances. You will also receive double entries for finished yarn AND finished object photos.

If you would like to join this Spin-A-Long please feel free to purchase this listing (or more if you feel so inclined) and join the fun at http://www.ravelry.com/groups/dawning-dreams

THE QUESTIONS FOR SURPRISE BATTS:

Please, include the following devious details for your bad batts in a message, so that I may make your package as perfectly personalized as possible.

What are your top two color choices?

emerald green, amethyst purple, ruby red, topaz yellow, sapphire blue, tourmaline green, and turquoise blue

Include your selection of add-ins (you will receive a variety of those you choose, though not necessarily everything):

Buttons, ribbon, lace, sequins, locks, metallic threads, beads, faux pearls, fabric strips, feathers, silk flowers, or if there is something else you have in mind that I may be able to find.

Here's a preview of the samples Phat Fiber will be distributing, which includes 3 of the 13 available colorways:

December Phat Fiber Joy!

Spinning on a Quill Spinning Wheel

3rd Annual Arkansas Fiberarts Extravaganza

This past weekend, I had the absolute pleasure to vend at the Arkansas Fiberarts Festival on Mt. Magazine. The chairs abounded with knitters, crocheters, spinners, dyers, and every other walk of fiber life. I wish I had gotten a picture of the hallway that was lined with gentlemen and ladies working on projects. There were about 50 at one point!


Pleased to have such a variety of vendors as well, I actually didn't get to shop around due to the fact that I was so busy at my own booth. I did, however, obtain a ball of hand-dyed worsted weight yarn from Mad Science Creations that is a stunning dark blue and black. I also bartered for a neat project bag for socks.


Jane and I spent a little time showing new spinners how to use a wheel. I love sitting around such a variety of wheels and comparing and contrasting. Fiber Festivals are the only place I get hands-on testing of otherwise an unattainable variety of wheels.


Here's my new Jordana Paige Knitter's bag shot with the view from our cabin. As you can see, it was stunning to wake up every morning to such a sight, and gave me plenty of inspiration to spin.

To those who have never attended a festival, I would highly recommend getting yourself to one. They are worth every drop of gas to be among such wonderful and fun individuals that make what we do a pleasure.

New Spinning Wheel "Little Lamb"

I've been wanting a new spinning wheel for a while. It's not that I don't love my Babe, but I wanted one with a more traditional look that I could possibly take to Renaissance Fairs. I also wanted a second wheel so I could teach others how to spin even when they didn't have a wheel.

With all the types and brands of spinning wheels available today, I was overwhelmed with the choices. I narrowed it down to a castle wheel with a large orifice. That still left me with half a dozen choices from the Majacrafts to the Country Spinner. One being too expensive, and the other not very pretty.

Luckily, I had gone to a fiber festival and saw a neat little wheel that a woman was using. I had never seen it before and asked her what it was. Yes, I know a spinning wheel, but what brand is what I meant. She kindly told me that it was handmade by a gentleman in Missouri and proceeded to give me a brochure. Since he's such a small producer, he didn't even have a website. I didn't think much about the little wheel for a couple of weeks until I saw the flyer again when I was cleaning and took a closer look. It was a castle, check. It's orifice is larger for bulky yarns, check. Hmm. . .


My mother-in-law kindly emailed the gentleman to get more information. You see, she wanted it to be a Christmas/birthday gift for me. It was to my great surprise that this wheel is not only $100 cheaper than other big brands, but comes with several excellent accessories such as a lazy Kate and an orifice hook. Safe to say, I was ensnared.






As soon as I got the wheel in my house, I broke her down to stain. I immediately noticed that since it was oak, it was considerably heavier than most other wheels. In my mind, this is a bonus with the kiddos running into it. It also won't slide around easily on my wood floors.

I also found out that he adds little acorn details to the knobs. This dates backs to English as a sigh for good luck. A good part of my heritage dates to England, so this was a wonderful surprise. Unfortunately, I had to completely change how I was going to stain the wheel. I originally wanted a red and black theme, but the acorns had me hooked.

The wood took the stain wonderfully. I used three different colors to obtain a aged look. It took two days to stain, dry, seal, dry, oil/grease, and reassemble the whole thing back together.

Spinning is very easy with a heal to toe pressure. The orifice is huge and accommodates my art yarns well. It has four hooks to change between rather than eight. My only complaint would be that the bobbin doesn't hold as much as my Babe wheel. It's a small sacrifice for such a beauty.

Local County Fair Fun

I recently entered many items into the county fair here in my home town. I haven't had anything in a fair since I was in 3rd grade. Back then, I had drawn a ghost mansion with ghosts and black cats poking around the corners. My mother still has it framed in the kids room at her house.

I finally decided to try it out and enter a few things that I had lying around. Funny that I would have these things just strung out throughout the house, but that is the life of a fiber artist. I downloaded the application and found out that there weren't very many categories specifically realted to knit/crochet and none what so ever for handspun. Basically there was handmade baby afghan, knit clothing, crochet clothing, and regular afghan. Well, I don't regularly make full size afghans, but I have the other categories. So, I blindly took my children and articles up to the building where I thought I was suppose to drop them off and labeled them accordingly, then I handed off my precious treasures to an unknown woman hoping that it wouldn't be the last time I saw them.

The next weekend, my family and I toured all the exhibits and I surprisingly found out that my baby bonnet and hair pin lace tank won forst and my shawl pin and baby afghan won second! I was overjoyed. It was nice to know that my work was appreciated in some way.

After picking up all my treasures, plus a $5 winning check I happily brought my goodies home. The baby afghan I wrapped up for my former teacher who had recently had her first baby girl. I also gave her the ribbon as a reminder.

While it was intimidating to enter all the goodies, I really felt that it helped my feel good about the things I had made. We all get frustrated sometimes while making something especially when we drop a stitch or loose count. The beauty of the garment is that we make it with love and with our own to hands.

I can't wait until next year when I'll get to enter more things and hopefully talk my friends to entering some items as well.