SWIFT -Spinners & Weavers of Indiana - Fibers & Textiles

I recently attended the annual meeting of SWIFT ( Spinner & Weavers of Indiana - Fibers & Textiles ).  It was held at Conner Prairie. north of Indianapolis, IN.  If you have never visited Conner Prairie, you don't know what you are missing.  If you are ever in the Indy area, I highly recommend fitting it in your plans.

There was a very nice turn-out.  Lots of spinners, weavers & fiber artists gathered in one place for fellowship, food & sharing of ideas, projects and inspiration.

This was the first meeting I was able to attend.  I enjoyed meeting new people & I especially loved the presentation from Kate Larson, Susan Markle and Ann Reaves, who were part of a tour led by Nancy Bush to Estonia last June. It was a fascinating glimpse into the daily life & beautiful work of the Estonian fiber artists.
I am quite convinced I am not cut out for that life.  Although according to their customs, I am good wife & mother material.  I am "stocky" enough that I don't have to stuff the calves of my socks like many of them do.  Evidently that is a positive feature there.  Not so much here in the good ole USA.

I also learned some interesting facts about the youth Sheep to Shawl team that competes at the Indiana State Fair.  What talent these young folks have.  I was quite impressed.

I wish I had remembered my camera that day.  But if you go here, there are pretty pictures from the day.

                   This is the only picture I managed to take with my phone...it does not do it justice.



Many thanks to Cheryl Moreo from The Fiber Closet for attending with me.  It was a great day from start to finish (sepecially the finish....Maggiano's tiramisu)

Super Stealth

Just popping in to say hi!!

Much more to follow later about the KnitCircus Spring Retreat in Madison, WI and the Fiber Event in Greencastle, IN.  For now I will just tell you that I had a wonderful time at both.  They deserve much more detail than I can give them today.  But, I promise to fill you in on both by the end of this week.



I have started a super stealth mystery project.  I will keep you updated as I go without giving too much away.  But I can tell you I am super excited about it.

Yarn is Scrumptious Lace by Fyberspates  Yarn Buddy is from Sun Valley Fibers.

I even swatched.....sort of.  

I started with a provisional cast-on.  If you need a tutorial on this...I highly recommend the one 

here

by Liat Gat from Knit Freedom.

Ok, that is all I have time for right now.  But look out, I am a knitter on deadline & flying by the seat of my pants.....whatever that means!

Happy, Peaceful Knitting to all!!

A New Store!

I am venturing into the realm of coding while building a new store hosted here on the blog.

I alternate between giddiness at the joy of it & beating my head on the desk.

The store front will be open periodically this weekend as I work through adding products.  I am adding the commercial products first.  So far I am carrying a few high quality products that I love.

  

                       

                    After I take care of work out the bugs, I will start adding the fiber art pieces.

If you see something that you want to order & you have issues doing so...send me an email at reginasfiberart@gmail.com.

Or as always, the studio/shop is open by appointment (see contact tab above) and I will be at various shows in the Midwest starting in mid April.

I hope to have a calendar up on a tab at the top of the blog soon. It will list the shows & events I will be attending.

Back to work now.  I think I will move to the deck to work for a while.  That should make it seem like a holiday weekend right??

Hope you all have a beautiful, relaxing weekend.    

Baby Hat Cuteness!!

Just popping in for a quick update.

Still feeling a bit under the weather.

But.......... on to cuteness that would make anyone feel better.

Liam modeling the "Created Under Cold Meds" hat.  

Turned out pretty well, I think.

Don't you just love the "thoughtful" pose?

It could just be the model though.

                                        

                                  I am a bit partial to the boy!

It still needs a blue pompom on top but I just couldn't wait to post these pics.

PS. Notice the yarn.  Can't start them too young!

The pattern will be posted soon.  Keep an eye out for it!

Since I am still on the stranded color-work kick...here is a sneak preview of the item on the needles now.

               Road trip tomorrow so I hope to make good progress.

Sickness & Fair Isle...What a combo!

Hello Blogosphere.  Unfortunately, I have caught the same nasty virus that every one else on 3 continents has.  So don't get too close.  It is powerful enough that it very well could be contagious through the internet.  It has certainly laid me a bit low this past week.  So just a quick note before I am back to my puny, futile attempts to kick this thing.

I have been knitting.  I swear I have.  I am just not getting anywhere.

I started out to make a simple slip stitch baby hat.

I had my swatch ------------>


The hat would include at least one, maybe all three of these patterns.

But then .......
  <---------------this arrived in the mail.

This incredible book is 200 Fair Isle Motifs: A Knitter's Directory by Mary Jane Mucklestone.  More on it later.










And since the ribbing was already
done for the baby hat,

it quickly turned into this------------------------->

I am not even sure who the hat will be for, just that I needed to start knitting something stranded immediately.  A quick look through the book found several motifs that would work with the stitch count I already had on the needles.

I always forget from one project to the next how much I love Fair Isle!!


I fear this one beautiful book will fuel my obsession for months to come.  It is chock full of motifs, patterns,  tips & tricks for working with and combining Fair-Isle motifs.  It truly takes the mystery out of stranded color work.  Remember .... you are only knitting with two colors at a time in any row.  The book has the most vivid beautiful color photos of every motif.  There is a simple break down of the motif chart, columns to illustrate the color changes and clear photos of each swatch.  The motifs are arranged by stitch count and row count making combinations so very easy to put together to take your Fair-Isle knitting to the next level.


Ok, that's enough for tonight.  Back to my knitting nest on the sofa.  Only one more day to kick this before real life takes over again.


Till next time..........May your days be fun & filled with fiber.


~~~~Regina~~~~

PS:  Finished hat will be modeled next week when I am well enough to have the grandkids over.

Mischievous &^*%$# Yarn Elves!!

That's a bold title....right?  Let me start at the beginning to explain why & by the end I am sure you will agree that I used incredible restraint in composing it.

Once upon a time I bought 2 skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino in Atadecer .

Isn't it just lovely?  The softness, the colors, it is magnificent.

I quickly cast on a project. (You didn't think I could wait, did you?)

The pattern I chose just was not doing justice to the incredible yarn so
I ripped it out & decided to think about a better pattern choice.


Meanwhile, my daughter was home for a visit.  Since she is just wild for Malabrigo & these are her colors...I gave her the untouched skein as a gift.  She immediately decided she must knit another Clapotis (pattern by Kate Gilbert).  I naturally told her "go right ahead, If you need it...I have another skein".

Em's 1st Clapotis

Did you catch that??? Those simple words are like a gauntlet thrown down to the "Yarn Elves.  It was a call to action & little did I know tiny, mean-spirited elves were gathering in the stash room. (No pictures allowed in the stash room...could be incriminating).




So as was bound to happen, Em called & said she was going to need that second skein.  I naively told her "No problem.  I will mail it right out"!  I went to get it & it wasn't where I thought it should be.  Now unfortunately this is not really uncommon so no worries yet.  I searched a bit more but was kind of busy so thought I will find it later.  If I had stopped to listen I would have heard fiendish elf laughter in the background.

Fast forward a bit and Em calls again..."Mom, did you mail that yarn?"  Time to get serious.  I proceeded to tear the stash room apart looking for it.  It is simply not there.  By now I am beginning to question my sanity. I even called  Klose Knit where I purchased it to find out if I truly did purchase two skeins. I did & they don't have anymore of it....it has been a while.

So I did the only thing I could.  I went online to buy another.  You know what's coming next right???

NO ONE has any left!!!  Finally I found ONE skein at JimmyBeans.  I bought it so fast it it would make your head spin.  They shipped it directly to Em.  So that problem is solved.

Naturally, I called my friend & LYS owner Cheryl for re-assurance that I was not really losing my mind.  She said, & I quote " You know....Now that you bought more you are going to trip right over that lost skein."

More snickering from the stash room as a plot is hatched to see how far they can take this nonsense.

The very next morning,  I get up and drag myself cheerily make my way toward the kitchen where the lovely "caffeine elves" live.  As I passed through the dining room, I stop dead in my tracks.  Laying right in the middle of the floor ............THE FREAKING BALL OF MISSING MALABRIGO.  I truly did nearly trip right over it.  Right there in the middle of the floor where I had just vacuumed the day before. Thank you so much Cheryl for helping them in their plan to drive me completely insane.

Guilty by association ball of Malabrigo trying to look all innocent!

If you listen very carefully you can hear the echoes of maniacal fiendish yarn elf laughter punctuated by the sound of  me beating my head against the desk.  Sad....Just so sad.

PS. If you need me, I will be in the stash room plotting my revenge trying to appease the

"Mischievous &^*%$# Yarn Elves"

Part 2 Issues Plus Fun Pictures of Babies & Knitting

While writing this blog, I have found that I am really not very good at "Part 2".  I have written several entries that I decided to break into separate posts.  As you may have noticed, I rarely get back to finish them up.  This also seems to be the way my mind works nowadays.   It moves from one thing to the next at warp speed and tiny bits are flung off and lost.

I have decided to go back and revisit the posts that are languishing in my draft file. So hopefully within the next few weeks I will catch up with my life & can fill you in on everything.

In the mean time, here are a few random shots of some cuteness & knitting fun!

Miss Lily with another favorite hat.

It is the Fair Isle Gaiter/Hat Combo by Ann Druce-Hoffman.

Super quick & fun to knit.

Liam being his adorable self.

My Helix Scarf byStephenie Gaustad.  This is a very relaxing knit.  I pull it out when I need to knit in times of stress.  It's also a great project for knit groups & knitting in public places as you can never really lose your place.  I am using Ella Rae Lace Merino in color 103 purchased at The Fiber Closet in Rockville, IN.

This is a new yarn I recently purchased.  Florafil Super Soft Cotton Yarn by Textured Yarn Co.,Inc  in their American Wildflowers Collection.  This color is called Blue Flag Iris.  I am not sure what I am going to make with it yet but it is a truly scrumptious bulky cotton yarn.  

It is recommended that you treat this as you would a hand painted yarn and alternate between two skeins every few rows to assure an overall blended effect. 

There is your knitting tip for the day!!

This is a mystery warp on the Cricket Loom by Schacht.  I am just playing around with it and making it up as I go along.  I would love to tell you what the yarn is but I can not find the ball band at the moment.  And.........I can't find the second skein that I need to continue weaving.

Which sort of sums up my life lately!!