It's Art Yarn- Let it Go; Camp PluckyFluff Chicago 2009

Well, I'll start my "What did I do this summer" series of blog posts with the MOST amazing weekend ever!!! I was SO lucky to be the host of the first Chicago Camp PluckyFluff with Lexi Boeger, the author of Intertwined, the Art of Handspun Yarn. This weekend includes 2 days of intense art yarn spinning and crazy carding! It's also a wonderful chance to meet other spinners and fiber artists!!

I picked up Lexi on Friday afternoon and we had a book signing at our workshop local, the amazing Loopy Yarns, at the old Dearborn Station in Chicago's downtown.

It was a wonderful evening of wine and snacks and meeting some spinners I had only known over the interweb!!

After the signing, Lexi and I went to see some good friends of mine that happened to be playing at my favorite jazz bar, The Green Mill. This was really kizmit as I spent SOOOO many nights at the Mill when I lived in Chicago (one of the city's most well known, and oldest jazz bars... once owned by Al Capone's crew), as well as the band that was playing was the group I was on the road with when I met my now husband. I hadn't seen them play in over a year.. and they just "happened" to be in the City and playing that night! Lexi and I were able to skip the line (thanks to the awesome guest list +1) and just mosey into the bar! It was a great evening of jazz and whiskey! Lexi and I hung out for as long as possible.. and then back to the hotel to rest up for the next day's spinning extravaganza.

Sat started with a tour of the "sharing" area. It's SO amazing how generous people can be!! All of our spinners (we had 16 people of ALL ages!!) brought stuff to share!!




And that's just the FIBER/Carding area!! I didn't even get a shot of the "add in's" table which had plying yarns, ribbons, fabric, feathers, bells and anything else you could imagine!!
We were really blessed with an incredible group of spinners! We had all types of spinners as well.. from folks like me who spin primarily art yarns, to some who were just dipping their feet into the art yarn pool.. to our youngest member, a 13y/o boy who'd started spinning because he liked the yarns he saw in his Grandma's magazines.

SO.. first we spent some time in the carding area, where Lexi demo'd her "crazy carding" where she put "fiber sandwichs" thru the carder for super textured batts!!



We started with spinning our new crazy carded batts.. and just letting the fiber be spun as it wants. For me, this is the way I always spin.. lumpy, bumpy- just let it happen. For some, though, this was very difficult. Letting not evening out the slubs or neps.. we came up with our weekend Mantra- It's Art Yarn- Let it Go! Lexi also demo'd adding things into a single like sequins, fabric, feathers and other goodies.


Lexi Spins her Crazy Batt


My Crazy Batt yarn on the niddy noddy

The rest of the day we spent like the beginning- spinning and spinning and spinning!
It was so wonderful to finally sit and spin with my ravelry/etsy internet friends Jenna (Pumpknpunk) and Mary (butterflygirl)


We did thread plying techiniques like grannystacks, coils and beehives. We added cocoons and plied them into halo's. My cocoons were firestar and angelina.. sparklelicous!!




At the end of the first day the floor looked like a sparkle fairy had visited us all!


That night we went and had a wonderful dinner at a local joint.. and then it happened to be Venetian night in the City and Lexi had a hotel room that looked right over the lake.. right where they shot off the fireworks.. so we were able to enjoy a post dinner show! It was quite wonderful!

Lexi kisses my fish

Fireworks from Lexi's room

Day 2 was spent as day 1.. spinning, carding and just creating!

These were the techniques I really wanted to master- corespinning without a core, translucent mohairy, extreme tailspinning and Lexi's most difficult, aura. it was a wonderful day and I got to master all 3!

Lexi tailspinning

Lexi Spinning Aura

Me tailspinning

It was an amazing weekend! I spun 8 yarns.. mastered difficult techniques I'd been working on for awhile.. spun with new girlfriends and just had a totally creative weekend!

My yarns

New "real" friends- Mary (butterfly girl), Lexi, Me, Heather (girlwithahook), Natalie (cloudlover) and Jenna (PumpknPunk)

I can't wait until April when I bring Lexi down here to North Carolina and I do it all again!!

Tomorrow.. the next best weekend of the summer.. spinning backstage at Bonanroo music festival!!

Ok.. I admit it.. I suck at blogging!!

But I PROMISE that for the rest of the year, I'm going to be BETTER!! I can't believe it's already Nov 1!! The entire summer is gone.. and I haven't even told you about what I did!!
I'll break it up into a few posts tonight, so it doesn't get too overwhelming.. for me that is, not you!! LOL!!

So, I'll get started on those posts now.. and until then, watch for a HUGE fiber update to start tonight and go thru all day tomorrow! LOTS of stuff going up.. including TWO 2 heavy worsted/bulky 2plies! YEP.. 2plies!!

xoxo

Tour De Fleece Progress- Day 3-8

So I am still on my target goal, of completing at least one yarn a day.. though I have slipped a bit in blogging about my progress daily!
Day 3
I carded up a couple amazing batts of assorted blue fleece (targhee, cormo, corridale, merino), a touch of merino top and a TON of rainbow kid mohair locks and blue angelina..
Then I corespun it.. and the yarn is just fabu!! It has such texture! I just love it!




I also corespun some beautiful kid mohair locks "mohairy"- translucent over the novelty yarn, with spots tailspun. I love how it turned out!



All the kid mohair locks in these yarns come from GoatGoatSheep

Day 4
I spun some light worsted soft spun singles of merino/seacell from EGMTK. I added some extra purple and gold angelina..


Day 5
I spun a BUNCH of supercoils which were destined for necklaces..




I also spun some slubby wool destined for necklaces..


Day 6
I corespun a batt of assorted fibers!! Super texture and YUMMY!!


Day 7
I spun up 3 oz of "rough cut diamond" enchanted knoll batts and plied it with silver thread and 12 swvorwski crystals. (plied pics coming later)


Day 8
I started some BEAUTIFUL AllSpunUp merino/silk bamboo. Going for light sport weight soft spun singles


So today.. Day 9
I'm putting away the AllSpunUp to finish later today, and am switching to a corespun atomicblue batt, with an iridescent autowrap. Photos and progress post later tonight. I'm also carding batts today for a shop update. Lots of handspun yarn and a few new batts going up!

Here's the yarns I finished Day 1 and 2

NEW in the shop!! Felt soap and Fiber art Necklaces!!

I'm so excited to be offering some new products in the shop!!

The first is the YUMMIEST handmade cold press soap, by local soapmaker (and fellow ACETeam member) TGurleyBathAndBody Tracey makes the most amazing vegan soaps with pure essential oils. These are big bars! Each one is approx 5oz! I take her wonderful soap and felt soft merino sweaters around the outside!!
Why use felted soap? Well the felted sweater gives you a built in washcloth!! It enhances the lather and gently exfoliates. The felt makes your soap last twice as long and you use every last bit as the felt will shrink as the soap gets smaller!! (This is very important when you are using delicious handmade soaps like these!!) Once the soap is gone use the felt as a scrubbie or put it in a drawer to give your clothes a yummy scent.

There's lots of new scents planned.. Chai spice is coming, as well as a holiday scent. There will be make your own felt kits, as well as mini felted soaps, 1/2 the size of the ones up now, so you can mix and match scents. I can make custom soaps to match any decor! These make the perfect less than $15 gift!!

I'm also super excited about the new fiber art necklaces in the shop. I still have my fun double supercoil style..


But now I'm offering a NEW style!! These new necklaces have fun vintage ribbons and felted handspun yarn and felted crochet cords (from handspun yarn) I felt the ends together, add a loop and a button, and voila! a beautiful drapy fiber art piece!!


Some styles have beehive thread plied yarn, supercoil yarn.. These necklaces have the funkiest handspun around!

Look for lots of new colors and styles coming soon!!

Tour De Fleece Day 2

Today was a fiber filled day.. except I only finished one yarn from start to end! How did I have a fiber day then? BATTS!! I carded another 8 batts for the shop which totaled 12 total that went up today!! Whoo HOO!!
There are some beauties! I really went with luxury today.. adding lots of angora, cashmere and silk!!


I did finish the targhee/finn corespun fleece with angelina and glitterati. My Sunshine Day yarn!!


I also finished a beautiful corespun with a fun textured batt in earthy tones with pops of color, my Forest Floor yarn.


So for my next yarns... probably spun tomorrow (since I can't stay up until 3am again tonight!! LOL!) I'm going to play with some of the yummy kid mohair!! I carded up a version of the shop Mermaid Garden batts, with lots of blue fleeces-cormo, targhee, corridale, cotswold, alpaca.. and lots of rainbow kid mohair locks.. and TONS of blue angelina (of course)



I'm also going to do a 'mohairy' yarn over novelty yarn, with tailspun bits. I carded up some kid mohair locks into a textured cloud with angelina.. and then I have some full locks

Tour De Fleece- Day ONE!!

AND WE BEGIN!! I'm so excited to be participating this year!! Last year I was in the midst of painting our house, and packing up the rental house and just couldn't spin as much as I wanted to.. but THIS year.. My goal is to spin at least one yarn a day.. and blog about it each day! We'll see how far I get.. but day one took me off and running!!
I had a fantastic setup.. with my wheel... the TV and my wonderful hubby brought the laptop in the living room.. so I could even play on the computer and watch the Tour thread on Ravelry



I started with some beautiful batts that are always available in my shop called "Purity" These are smoothie batts with added bits of texture. Beautiful luxury fibers include merino, bamboo, cashmere, silk, tencel, novelty yarn snippets, sparkle and banana silk. I had a custom order to spin these into some worsted singles and it was a pleasure to spin. I just LOVE cashmere!!


Next I moved onto an art yarn that has been screaming for me to make it a reality. My tribute to Michael Jackson art yarn.. King of Pop.
I corespun black and white alpaca with red white and black kid mohair locks, red and carbonized bamboo, red and black silk fabric, red sari silk, red white gold silver and black sequins and TONS of bling!


I was having a great time spinning and watching the tour! It's rare I get an entire Saturday off.. I really wanted to make the most of it!



After I finished King of Pop I had to spin up the new Ewe Give Me the Knits Bfl/Silk that came earlier this week. I went for sport weight singles, and added 2 shades of red and gold angelina for sparkle..



So here's the 3 yarns I finished today.. It's almost a lb of spinning!!
6+ oz purity, 4 oz bfl/silk and 6 or so oz King of Pop!


I've started yarn 4- I guess it's yarn 1 of day 2 since I began spinning it after midnight. It's corespun targhee/finn fleece with angelina and glitterati


I managed to card up 5 new batts for the shop update tomorrow.. hopefully I'll get another 4 carded in the morning to join them..


It was a good day!! I'm going to do a bit more spinning then hit the sack! Tomorrow more fiber fun with carding, spinning and a HUGE update in the evening!!

Tour De Fleece!!!

I can't wait!! Yes.. I said Tour de FLEECE.. no France!! The tour de fleece is a fun summer event that spinners participate in while the Tour de France runs! We spin everyday along with the race. There are teams and prizes. We have the same days of rest.. and when you feel victorious, wear YELLOW!! I'm so excited to start!! Last year we were painting and packing and moving during the Tour and I couldn't spin as much as I wanted to.

This year my goal is to spin everyday and take daily photos of my progress. I also hope to blog a bit daily about my work. I'm really excited for this challenge!! I want to try a few new techniques.. and even try to spin some THIN yarn!! My tour ends in Chicago, as the last weekend I'll be hosting and attending Camp PluckyFluff, one of the coolest art yarn workshops around!!

Tomorrow my spinning time will be at the same time as the race, so it'll be nice to start the tour spinning my wheel along with theirs.. I'm not sure it will always work out that way.. but I'm committed to spinning as much as possible..

I'm on a number of teams.. My main team is the Breakaway team (for art yarns) Then I'm on a number of wildcard teams- Enchanted Elves, Team Loop, Team JazzySpins, Tour de Fish, Hopelessly OverCommitted, Snobby Spinners and StashBusters

YAY!! I can't wait to start!! Off to prep more add in's for my King of Pop yarn that is going on the bobbin first thing. Then some fiery bfl/silk that I plan to spin into soft sport weight singles.. then a Loop batt I plan to corespin with some beads.. Then mayby some tailspun kid mohair locks... and then it might be 2:00.. but if I start at 9:30 I may just make it!!

LOOK for a SHOP UPDATE with new yarns and batts on SATURDAY AND SUNDAY evening!!

Happiness is........15+ lbs of kid mohair!!

So I made a new wonderful friend!! Patti, from GoatGoatSheep is just fantastic.. and she has some of the softest and silkiest kid mohair I have ever felt. I got a small amount.. and then worked out a large amount.. a very large amount!!

The box was like a circus clown car.. locks kept coming out.. in beautiful colors..

Oh I just love the multi colored mardi gras locks!! SO yumtasic!!

Happiness is sorting a rainbow of kid mohair locks...




SO go check out Patti's amazing fiber at GoatGoatSheep and tell her that Esther sent ya!!

5x13-Some Like it Hoth Weekly LOST! blogtakeover!

wow.. well, I've been crazy busy the last few weeks, and I've enjoyed reading your discussions. The past couple episodes were good.. but not HUGE.. I think we are really getting to HUGE now!!

A couple of symbolic sightings..
The microwave in the first scene was at 3:16 (the flight that brought them back to the island)


The key for room #4 that little Miles opened was under a white bunny rabbit!

Sawyer and Kate were on Camera #4.

The van Miles and Hurley were driving around in was van# 8, as seen when Miles hung up the key.

New Dharma "school" or education logo.. on Hurly's notebook..


Last night I thought, was great!

We got to see the background on Miles.. and we got confirmation that he is indeed Chang's son.. though we don't know if he was born on the island, or was brought as a child. We can assume he was born on the island, as Hurley says they've been together on the island for 3 years, Miles replied they don't run in the same circles.. and in the same conversation Chang said his son, baby Miles, was 3 mos old.
This also brings Miles and Chang into the whole issues with the fathers theme.. as Miles has LOTS of issues with his father as well..
Chang was reading baby Miles a book about polar bears..
Hurly also compares Miles/Chang relationship to Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker.. interesting because we know that Chang will lose his arm at somepoint.. as Luke lost his hand..

We also know why Miles demanded 3.2 million dollars from Ben.. it's double Widmore's offer.

What Lies in the Shadow of the Statue? Bram (the man who spoke to Miles in the van) was on flight 3:16, and is the one who Elena addresses when she says get everyone together.. on the beach.. SO.. WHO are these people? That cache of guns was ON the PLANE!! it seems these people are planted on the plane as well.. knowing FULL WELL they are going to the island.. SO did Elena get Sayid so he WOULD come to the island? Do these people work for Ben.. were they planted knowing full well he was going to need reinforcements if he was going to take back his position as leader from Locke? But.. they didn't seem to know who ben was.. when he was unconscious.. and when he was going with Locke.. but maybe they were just playing along.. OR.. are they somehow involved with Alpert? Widmore told locke there was going to be a war on the island, and everyone would die if he weren't back.. we assumed the war was going to be the "purge" between the others and DI.. but maybe it's something else...
We know they oppose widmore.. and they seem to have no link with DI.. but since they oppose widmore.. you'd think they'd be for ben.. but as I said earlier.. they don't seem to know him either... So maybe they are somehow related to Alpert.. he does seem to be different than the rest of the others..
OR.. the people in the Van are Dharma 2.0.
In the Shadow of the Statue may have been how the original Dharma found the locations to build the Orchid or Swan or both in that, as the sun travels across the sky, the actual Shadow of the Actual Statue might have ascribed an arc that pointed out locations of specific anomalies. The Statue would have not have to be there if someone knew the original height. Simple trigonometry, time of day, time of year, location of Island on the Earth would do the rest.
That would fit in perfectly with the video from Comic-Con last year. Pierre Chang basically told the audience to reconstitute the Dharma Initiative to finish the work he and his colleges were engaged in!
They know about the island, they know about Miles connection to it and they use some sort of key question just like "What did the snowman say to the other snowman ?"
BUT....
The dead guy that Miles channeled in his 'audition' (whom we are asumming that Sayid killed) was carrying the same intel that Tom showed Michael last season to prove that Widmore is the one who planted that airplane... (the empty graves and the old decommissioned airplane..)
But if Widmore was set to recieve that same intel, doesn't that show that it was actually an unknown third party who planted that airplane?
I mean, if he had come up with that hoax, then he wouldn't need any of that intel, b/c he would have already known all about it.
And so.. could it be that these "shadow of the statue' people are the ones that concocted that hoax?

Chang refers to the Hydra Island and their ridiculous experiments.. so it's obvious he only seems to care about the "power" of the island.. IE the orchid and swan.. but then why was he wearing a Hydra Lab Coat?

We see Dharma School.. as Jack is cleaning the chalkboard. Interesting that
on the right side were the 3 periods of the Egyptian era- upper, middle, lower..
then on the right were some hieroglyphics and the phrase, "Writing of the works of God" It appears that the "class" was learning about ancient Egyptian language, dialects, and hieroglyphics. It seems that the "class" needs to learn how to read, write, and speak ancient Egyptian... maybe it's not a class for children.. but for the DI scientists to be able to interpret what they find?




I think the BEST part of the episode was the end when Faraday came out of the sub! We thought we were finally going to see the DeGroots.. but Faraday is WAY better!! SOO.. how did he get off the island.. the sub? It seems as though he's been gone awhile.. maybe he was removed from the island.. as he was a scary old man who seemed to know the future.. but when he went back he was able to find the degroots (who we know are in ann arbor) and try to change the future? maybe this is how a copy of a page from his notebook (about the different timelines) got into ben's "present" office (that ceaser found when he was searching it)

I'm starting to think that with all the different perspectives, it might be possible that there is no "good" or "bad" guys. It all depends on who you look at. They might be all trying to achieve the same purpose through different ways, or they might be all going a different direction for the island. We don't know right now which is the right one.

I'm just thinking through typing right now, so kind of like a Science v. Faith v. Destiny v. History and each side is fighting for the islands control because they believe it is their island for their purposes. Daniel could be huge on the Science team.

Here is a screencap.. he has a dharma jumper on.. navy like Radzinski. The logo looks like the swan..



Maybe this is how Daniel created the lamp post station.. back in 1977.. Ms. Hawkings said that it was created by a great scientist.. and we couldn't figure out HOW daniel would create that.. but with him back in time.. it makes sense..

What about the scene from Because you Left (the season premier) that had Daniel working in the Orchid.. did that happen BEFORE daniel left.. or has that NOT happened yet..
I'm thinking that it hasn't happened yet.. because we see baby miles in that scene pulling himself up onto his feet.. which kids don't do until 8-9 months.. So maybe that has YET to happen..

The scene with Miles and Hurly talking about how they see dead people was awesome!! I think Hurly can actually SEE the dead.. talk to them.. as we've seen him do.. while Miles it's more of a communication.. but more mental.

What is Sawyer going to do with Phil? I think their cover is now blown..

break next week.. and then the 100th episode.. "The Variable", which is DANIEL centric. Then the week after that is "follow the leader" which is RICHARD centric.. and then the 2 hr season finale, "the Incident" which is EVERYONE centric!

The Two-Minute Haggadah- and other holiday thoughts!

Happy Holiday everyone.. be it Passover or Easter.. this is quite a festive weekend! I went to my first Easter Egg hunt, with my husband's family. Wow.. what a plethora of good friends, family, cute kids and undending sweets! It was a wonderful way to enjoy a beautiful day.. and reminded me of when we used to hunt for the Afekomen (the middle piece of matzah that is hidden during the seder and the children hunt for it after the meal. The seder cannot be completed without everyone eating a piece of the afekomen.)

With that thought in mind.. I share with you my favorite Passover seder.. a funny (and quick) passover story.. with brisket included!

The Two-Minute Haggadah-A Passover service for the impatient.
By Michael Rubiner

Opening prayers:

Thank God for creating wine. (Drink wine.)
Thanks for creating produce. (Eat parsley.)

Overview:

Once we were slaves in Egypt. Now we’re free. That’s why we’re
doing this.

Four questions:

1. What’s up with the matzah?
2. What’s the deal with horseradish?
3. What’s with the dipping of the herbs?
4. What’s this whole slouching at the table business?

Answers:

1. When we left Egypt, we were in a hurry. There was no time for making decent bread.
2. Life was bitter, like horseradish.
3. It’s called symbolism.
4. Free people get to slouch.

A funny story:

Once, these five rabbis talked all night, then it was morning.

(eat soup now.)

The four kinds of children and how to deal with them:

Wise child - explain Passover.
Simple child - explain Passover slowly.
Silent child - explain Passover loudly.
Wicked child - explain in front of the relatives.

Speaking of children:

We hid some matzah. Whoever finds it gets five bucks.

The story of Passover:

It’s a long time ago. We’re slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh is a
nightmare. We cry out for help. God brings plagues upon the
Egyptians. We escape, bake some matzah. God parts the Red Sea. We
make it through; the Egyptians aren’t so lucky. We wander 40 years in
the desert, eat manna, get the Torah, wind up in Israel, get a new
temple, enjoy several years without being persecuted again.

(Let brisket cool now.)

The 10 Plagues:

Blood, Frogs, Lice - you name it.

The singing of “Dayenu”:

If God had gotten us out of Egypt and not punished our enemies, it
would’ve been enough. If he’d punished our enemies and not parted the
Red Sea, it would’ve been enough, oh, Dayenu! Dayenu, Dayenu…

If he’d parted the Red Sea -

(Remove gefilte fish from refrigerator now.)

Eat matzah. Take a few more sips of way too sweet red wine . Slouch.

Again thank God for everything.




I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! Usual Sunday update is happening tomorrow instead! See you then!!