Simple Life

So I got an email from a old friend, and she asked how I have been, at first I thought of my long list of life complaints. Then I stopped and thought about how lucky I am. Yes I do not have constant and reliable full time  employment at this time but I am teaching what I love, fibers. Working at home is not the greatest thing because I also do laundry, clean and care for all of the animals, but I can wear my comfy clothes while I do that, prepare for teaching and work in the studio.

I really thought about this as I started to cook my breakfast. While cooking my eggs from my own chickens,  smearing jelly that I made on my toast, pouring my coffee into a mug made by a friend and a hand woven napkin to sit down to eat with.  I have a good life I have a life that is full of simple beauty.

 

And I really like this life that I have, I get to work in the studio several times a week and that is a privilege. I dyed a bunch of yarn a few weeks ago to make some kitchen towels with. I had one thing in mind when I went to the dye studio (my garage and driveway) and this is what came out. Not at all what I had imagined but I think it will work. So now I have to finish what is on the loom so I can ball this new yarn off and wind off a warp and get to work.

I also have two friends and a stepdaughter in my life who are expecting little ones in the next year so the baby knitting has begun, and I’ll post photos when I can of those projects.

Rugs

 

 

 

 

 

So I have been busy at the loom, I have finished off one warp and it was a long one. I wove 5 rugs and I am so happy with them. 4 are destined for etsy (two were listed today) and one is for our bathroom. I have a rag rug that I purchased years ago that fits in the bathroom perfectly, so I wove one the same size, so that there is always one down that fits just right.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here are the finished rugs listed on etsy

 

 

 

 

And here are the two destined for etsy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was hand hemming all of the rugs I got started on the next warp and I am crazy about rug so it is another rug warp. I am excited to see what I get out of the next warp, my step daughter has placed an order for a rug from this warp, but I should get 4 more rugs from it as well.

But on Saturday I went to a friends Llama and Alpaca farm for shearing day.
So there were many pictures taken but I edited down to these mostly pre haircuts.........

This years baby

Last years baby Oiron, he is so friendly

I think I need a haircut I can't see anymore



Sisters

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now back to the warping board to get this new warp wound off and me back to weaving.

 

You can always find me at

Etsy  https://www.etsy.com/shop/NODesignsTextiles

or

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/NODesigns/189372791189976?ref=hl

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday Fun

So it has been a bit, but I have been really busy. Life can get crazy and I am trying to slow down and enjoy some of it. I have been designing and proposing classes finalizing teaching schedules and trying to get some studio time in. I have a booked summer, I’ll be teaching both kids and adults at Craft Alliance in St. Louis, MO and Lillian By Design in Alton, IL. I’ll post more about those classes as the approach and as I get class samples done.

 

I had a birthday this past weekend and a friend invited me to the Southern IL Sheep and Wool Festival in Waterloo, IL.

 

 

 

 

 

I had birthday money from my mom so I did a bit of shopping. I love Dyeabolical, I love her fibers and her colors, her names of colorway are really fun as well.

 

 

This is 70%Blue Faced Leicester/ 30% Firestar

The back bat I am unsure of the colorway name but the front colorway is Sid Fishious

This is 100% superwash merino wool alter ego in the colorway Firefly I think this will become socks. I love this color I had two skeins on yarn in my hand and my step-daughter picked this one, good choice Em.




Then yesterday I received a package that had been ordered for me from Dyeabolical for my birthday as well by my wife. I was super excited to receive more fiber.

The fiber is 85%Polwarth Wool/15% Tussah Silk in We're All Mad Here

The yarn is 100% Superwash merino wool in Super Ego in the colorway Thunderboom

I gave her colorways and fiber types and yarn weights and I think she did great.

You can find Dyeabolical at www.dyeabolical.com or her Etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/dyeabolicalyarns

 

I however have gotten some loom time in just getting it threaded and beamed but we are ready to go now and today I get to start weaving I am so excited to get going i am working on rag rugs this time, we will see where this leads..........................

 

 

 

 

 

 

As always you can find me at www.etsy.com/shop/nodesignstextiles

or at https://www.facebook.com/pages/NODesigns/189372791189976

 

     So its been awhile, I had made that promise to myself about blogging more often, and then my life got crazy and I did not know how to talk about it. In the end the place I have worked for a long time, and felt like was a big part of me, closed. It was a small business and the owner got tired and just wanted to be done, it wasn’t financial which is good. But I have been sad and the process of closing was exhausting mentally and physically, it felt like a long goodbye with old friends. But on the flip side while I look for something new I can get a bit more studio time in and catch up on a lot of work.

    
     I am staying positive about all of this, before I found out about my losing my job I was offered a spinning wheel at a great price and I am so glad I bought it. I haven’t named her yet but her style name is Elizabeth and so for now its been lizzy...... I am in love.

So here she is....................

 

    

 

And this is what I spun on her for the first project it is an alpaca with sari silk bits blended in. Did I say how much I love my new wheel, this yarn was so easy and fun to spin.

I am also trying to get back to weaving I have a half threaded loom that has been siting from before Christmas. So back at it I hope to get everything threaded and get to work this week. The problem is I never do short warps, and this is a long one. It will be good to be weaving again. I am also in need of updateing my etsy shop which can be found here https://www.etsy.com/shop/NODesignsTextiles . Check it out and let me know what you think.

So here is to change, which is painful but good.