Back to work

Whew, well I have missed writing on my blog, but I needed to have a slightly different focas for a while. I haven't been without art though, as the pics show! The first photo ( why blogger put it third I don't know!)is a cat stuffie I made the day before Halloween... I needed to have something to smile about, and he, with his friends the pumpkin I sewed and raven I bought, was perfect!

Next is a wonderful old box I found at one of the thrift shops I visit, which proved to be irresistable to my cat Trouble. It has wonderful brass insets and corners, and obviously handmade drawers. I don't know what I will store in it, but it will have to be something as wonderful as the box.

The balls of yarn are of cotton and merino wool/silk that I spun up. It is really hard to spin cotton thickly... I usually spin wool, and much thinner, and the change is much harder than I imagined. I want to use it as a supplimentary weft for the borders of a cotton shirt I want to weave. I have a lot of practicing to do before then!

The fifth is a set of wrist warmers I knitted and then fulled for a friend for Christmas. I love the ragg type marled yarn. It is the merino and silk I spun up and it is so soft and silky. My friend has very sensitive skin, but this won't bother her a bit!

The last two photos (okay, I love the vagaries of blogger, they put these first!) speak of two places I have gone recently. The house is in Alexandria VA, where I had lunch with a friend and discovered two great shops, one a bead shop, and one mixed media. The house just caught my eye for the lovely ironwork. I plan to do a day trip around DC to tour all the interesting sites in the new Dan Brown book, Lost Symbols. It was fascinating. He is a master of taking the real and historical and weaving them 'round with half truths and fiction to make a compelling story, difficult to put down. I spend my 1.25 hours of commute everyday listening to books on cd. I have a tough time finding more than a few minutes at night to read, so this allows me to "read" during unproductive times. I like that!

And the orange fluffy stuff? Lovely longwool dyed the perfect color to compliment a fall colors grouping of wool I bought over the last year. There should be enough to weave enough fabric for a shawl and maybe a top too. I love those colors.

I also spent time thinking about what I want to do with my life, and how to accomplish it. I won't be too explicit now, but I have alot of work to do to set up my future. I guess I should go back down and work on Christmas, usually it is my fav time of year, though the last few years have been somewhat less so. I plan on this year being better.

A Little fun

The big news for this weekend is that I got a new printer... an Epson Artison 800. Zowie, it is fabulous! I printed a test photo, it was like looking at HDTV!
I also did some spinning, a little natural brown cotton from Sally Fox. I am going to use it in a top, along with some classic denim cotton I am spinning too. I am spinning it a little thicker than I usually like to spin, it is good to get outside my comfort zone. I am still trying to figure out whether I want to ply the 2 colours together in a marl yarn, or ply back onto themselves and use them separately in a colour pattern. In fact I am not sure whether I want to weave or knit. I think I want to weave it, so I would maybe use a nice 8/2 or 10/2 cotton in the warp. I have alot of yarn to use up!
The kitties are pins I made from some Laurel Burch fabric and wool felt. I am making several more, to go with lots of outfits! Several ladies where I work want one too... I do think they are cute. The funny little jagged things are bits of zippers... I love to use them as frames and other lines on mixed media as well as my sewing garments... they look great outlining a collar or pocket!

Ah it is a tiring life,

being the rodent and insect controller for a whole household! Though if a rat appeared, I am not sure what Trouble would do. When faced with a squirrel up close and personal, he looked... astonished!

The day began very foggy, and threatened rain all day but except for a little spattering on my drive home, never developed. Tonight though, it should rain good and hard. Since we need it, I can't complain, and since it is coming at night, even better. Spring is in sight, and there's warm days acoming. Too warm, before too long, I imagine.

I got lots of spinning done this weekend, though I won't say much for the quality. I wasn't necessarily trying for even thread, but I would like it to hold together. Some of the stretches are pretty thin, but most of that should be evened out by Navaho plying ...plying onto itself through a loop. This plying style yields a three ply yarn, a wonderful yarn for socks since the 3 plys make the yarn symetrically smoother than 2 plys. I am not too unhappy with it, since it has been years since I spun cotton, and I only ever spun cotton a tiny bit anyway. Can't get better without practice.

I have been reading my BIL's new novel, about paleogenetics, sort of. Well, it is an action story, with a little love story and some (easy to swallow) science, and a little mystery too. A rollicking good read!

I have also been sewing this weekend, and will post a pic when I am done. I have a couple of garments on line, and a stuffie too. I went thrifting, and got a wool blanket in a pretty shade of rose for $4! Nicely felted too! There just aren't enough hours in the day, or enough days in the weekend to do everything!