Garden Tour

I've gotten behind on beadmaking, spinning, knitting, and weaving. So, what have I been doing with my"spare" time? Our garden will be on the spring garden tour that benefits the local Children's Hospital. I go on this garden tour every spring and am inspired by the beautiful ,( and perfect) gardens. Now I'm having this feeling of panic about cleaning everything up, ( how to camoflage the compost pile?) trying to guess what will be in bloom in two weeks, (will those roses bloom? will the iris be all finished?) and the long to-do list to be crossed off before The Day. This garden walk has become more popular every year, last year 800 tickets were sold!! Here are some garden pictures if you can't come to visit!

So... what do you have on your loom now?

The question asked by a fellow weaver, " What do you have on your loom now?" is really a loaded question. There is a very guilty feeling I get looking at my empty loom. Beadmaking sucks up all my extra time now so it seems. But looking at my forlornly vacant loom yesterday the answer came to me, "My cat is on my loom right now." This is the time of year the warmth of a sunbeam moves over the loom and she slowly shifts with it. Whisper is a Ragdoll breed and is as much like a dog as I've ever met. She follows me from room to room, and chair to couch,napping on the bed with me, tucked against my spinning wheel, or under the loom. She can't follow me to the studio and sits curled up by the back door waiting until I come back in, hours later.

Icy Cold Blues

These are size 0 needles which I like for long wearing socks. I had fun dyeing the yarn by laying it on plastic wrap and using small squirt bottles. Then I rolled it up and steamed it to set the dye.

Is it just coincidence that the icy shades of blue in my newest bead set are reflected in my hand dyed sock yarn? So many times a color preference shifts from one art to another without me being aware of it ... until I see it in my Photoshop file .

As I wrap packages for mailing from sales at my Etsy shop I enjoy thinking about the buyers. The most exciting are the international sales. I savor the thought of my beads traveling where I'll never go - Russia, Singapore, New Zealand, Finland , and many more destinations I'll never get to. But people will design and wear jewelry there made from my glass. When I started selling on Etsy I never dreamed I'd sell all over the world! I have a world map on the wall of my studio and mark with a pushpin each new country I've shipped to.

Dessert with NO Calories!!

What is better than whipped cream?? whiter, fluffier, creamier, AND lo-cal?? It's my Cormo wool! I got a full fleece from a covered Cormo that is a spinner's dream come true. These locks are washed once in bags in my top loading washing machine. This fleece is so clean I don't need to pick it and there are no short cuts at all. Now I'm totally spoiled, any fleece I buy after this one can't compare.

Spinning

Now that the weather is cooler, even here in Southern Calif. I get into the mood for more spinning. It's the perfect evening activity after a day of focusing on making beads, soothing and relaxing. I can get so intent on the drama that is hot glass, I tighten up my shoulders and neck but feel the strain ebb away as I spin. These are some new yarns curled up in my project basket now. The blue was a gift batt from a Ravelry exchange I participated in.

Mixing Color in Fiber

Here is a luscious pile of recycled sari silk. It has been fluffed into a cloud that I've added to a fine, soft wool called Cormo, blended slightly on my drum carder and then spun into a fine singles. In my knitting, random bright silk flashes show up. I'm encouraged to knit just one more row, just one more..... to see what colors will
appear next.I like thinking of all the beautiful Indian ladies who have worn these elegant saris for many years and now their fabric has a new life. All the work of those silkworms goes on!!! I have raised silkworms for their silk and appreciate the life connection to this remarkable fiber. Click the picture to enlarge.

Mixing color in hot glass can create many surprises. When I blend colors in fiber though, the results are much more predictable.