Fiber Musings

Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Month: May 2012 Page 1 of 2

Ode to the Lowly Index Card

By

On 31 May, 2012

In Sketch

I’ve been trying to do a little bit of art everyday, but I’ve been failing miserably. Then I came across the Index-Card-a-Day Challenge.

Create something on a simple index card. Anything. A poem. A scribble. A story. Stitch it. Paint it. Collage it. Or any combination of them. It doesn’t matter. Just create something on an index card.

The challenge runs from June 1 (tomorrow!) through July 31. A mere 2 months. 61 days.

Since the medium is cheap, readily available and small, it doesn’t intimidate the same way a large blank (artist quality) canvas would.

My only personal rule for this challenge is to use only what I have on hand. I will not buy anything specifically to work on this challenge. However, I can use the by-product of something I purchased for some other purpose. I’m thinking receipts or leftover scraps from a sewing project, etc.

I have a huge stash of index cards because I find them so handy for all sorts of stuff. I have watercolor pencils and paints. I have ink and stamps. I have glue, fabric and yarn (oh, boy! do I have fabric and yarn!)

Let the challenge begin!

P.S. I don’t think I will be joining the Flickr group. I may or may not post my cards on any regular basis. I haven’t thought that far out yet. The important thing is to create!

Giddy

By

On 22 May, 2012

In Spin, Weave

CNCH Ribbons! (click to enlarge)

Look what came home with me from CNCH? A pair of blue ribbons!

Here are the judging criteria. Both of these received perfect scores. Yes, the sketch book, the one I didn’t like and wanted to re-work, received a blue ribbon. The note from the judge on my skein was that she would have given me sixes if she could (on a scale of 1-5). I am beyond tickled!

The beggar’s bag, however, did not win a ribbon. The judges disagreed on the scoring (14.5 and 25, respectively, out of 26 points). According to the notes, what aspect liked by one was the very thing that the other judge didn’t like. Ah, well. I was told to expect that. In any case, I still like the bag. And 2 ribbons out of 3 submissions isn’t bad, especially since this is my first juried show.

Now, I just need to figure out what to weave with my skein.

CNCH Gallery Submissions

By

On 18 May, 2012

In FO, Sew, Weave

Beggar's Bag (click to enlarge)

CNCH starts tomorrow. I’ll provide a report next week. In the meantime, here are some eye candy on a few of my submissions. Drop by the gallery and take a look if you are in the Bay Area this weekend!

The bag on the left is the Beggar’s Bag for the Traditions and Innovations Gallery.

Draft: Floral Dance Star Variation (Anne Dixon)
Warp: Borgs 22/2 Cottolin (natural)
Tabby Weft: 8/2 cotton (natural)
Pattern Weft:  assorted handspun handpainted BFL singles (purchased at 2011 Whidbey Island Spin In from Island Fibers, I think)
Construction: all hand pieced, even down to the zipper and  lining.

I definitely learned quite a bit on this project. Even after re-sleying, I think the sett is still too close. I found out later in my research that I should have sleyed it for a loose plain weave. This is why I had to go to a 8/2 cotton instead of cottolin for weft. It’s a good thing too since I ran out of natural cottolin.

Return to Sender Yarn

Return to Sender Batt

On the left is my Return to Sender skein, blocking on the skeinwinder. On the right is what the batt looked like before I started. The fiber is 85/15 BFL/tussah, dyed with natural dyes by Mary Finley and Roger Salter of Dreamy Goat Design Studio.

I split the batt into pure colors, and stripped out the mixed bits as my “in-between”. Spun the colors in progression as a fine single and plied it with an 80/20 “black” BFL/tussah (SOAR 2009 ? special — Bend, OR). You can see that the black BFL toned down the colors quite a bit, but still quite nice.

Weight: 4 oz. (2 oz. RTS, 2 oz. black BFL)
Yardage: 1,012 yards
Plies: 2
WPI: 44

I have one more gallery submission for the Return of the Return to Sender (yarn spun for the 2010 CNCH), but I forgot to photograph it before sending it on. I used an alternate treadling to Floral Dance with my 2 ply yarn and turned it into a sketchbook cover. Probably subliminal. I’m not that happy with the cover. I will likely re-do it after the conference.

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