March... in like a lion!

The past few weeks have been eventful, as my Mom has been ill and I've been to Ohio a bunch. This past weekend I headed off with friends to Tennessee for the Southern Select Alpaca Show.  I was on edge Friday as the weather predictions for the entire region were ominous... I've never heard such strong warnings about potential tornadoes and for the first time I can remember the schools in our county were let out early due to the storm potential.

As I was reaching Tennessee, my husband and kids were hunkering down on the farm... we avoided any damage, but there was HUGE hail for a very short time.  Check out this photo!  Yes, that is an egg in there for size reference.  To give you an idea of the weird weather, it was 83 degrees when we reached Shelbyville, TN and as we came home last night we were trying to beat an incoming snow storm!  There were tornadoes in our vicinity, and I was really uneasy being in a strange place during warnings but we avoided any problems.  My heart goes out to those people in the towns that were devastated by the storms, and for those that lost loved ones....

The show was a lot of fun, and the highlight was a blue ribbon and Reserve Championship for 8 month old SSF Michelangelo's Oprah (at top)!  As always, it was fun to reunite with old friends and to admire lots of beautiful alpacas.

Last week I picked these beautiful daffodils from the yard, and this morning we woke up to about 5 inches of snow!  It's just gorgeous out there, and not too cold to enjoy it. Hoss and I went out for an early walk to enjoy the winter wonderland as I know it won't last long; he loves it!

My Green Phase

I definitely get stuck on certain colors or color combinations from time to time in my fiber work, this time it's green! (My newest hat can be found in my Etsy store).   I guess it's my annual desire for spring, though we have hardly had a winter at all!  (That could change this weekend, according to the forecast for Sunday in Kentucky!)

What's funny is that we are undergoing a kitchen re-do (updating after 20 years in our home... this is the last time you'll see the light blue formica countertops in the background of my photos).  The cabinets have been painted a green called Olive Sprig, then lightly glazed- LOVE them!

My honey gave me this lovely plant for Valentine's Day- the green foliage is prettier than the flowers themselves.

When Hoss and I take our woods walks, I'm always on the lookout for green.... here, moss-covered rocks piled up on the hill.... I always wonder who stacked them there, how long ago, and why?

Now I'm off to my studio to work... and after writing this I can't stop noticing the green!

 Daffodils soon to bloom by the studio...

 A lichen-covered stick on the steps...

And more precious green fiber!

On a hat splurge!

Last weekend I was lucky enough to join some friends for another great retreat filled with fun and fiber.  My friend Marti sums it up well here on her blog, with a beautiful video of our escapades.  The photos taken around our weekend "home" at Shakertown really convey the serenity of the setting!  We stayed in the beautiful Brick Tanyard house, and despite rumors of it being haunted the only spirit presence felt there was one of a friendly cat jumping on someone's bed!

I haven't been in much of a knitting mood lately, which is fine as I've enjoyed concentrating on my feltmaking.  It was a little awkward at first to do wet felting in a room of people who were mostly sitting and spinning or knitting, but I soon got in a groove.  I started making hats and then couldn't stop!  Sadly, the first one and the one for which I spent the most time (above) by far didn't meet my standards....  I was playing with using cotton for some nuno instead of silk and I love the effect (around the band of the pillbox), but I kept making the crown part too flimsy despite 3 attempts! Oh, well....

These hats and a few more are now in my Etsy store.  I'm trying, really trying to get things up in there, and have added some other new items as well!  Have a great weekend, everyone :)

Sunny Sunday

Wow, can you believe it?  Two posts in 3 days (and I still have lots of felting to post about)!!!?  It's a bright Sunday morning and I'm just back from a refreshing walk with Hoss.  It was so lovely on the river trail that I stopped in to get my camera and we walked it a second time.  Not a cloud in the sky, and the ground is slightly frozen, so nice not to be slogging in mud...

On mornings like this I have my religion.... I'm filled with gratitude for my entire family both two and four-legged (and for teens safely slumbering in the house), for our health and my ability to walk our lovely trails, and for the opportunity to live in such a wonderful place.

January Retreat

Handspun art yarn that I made on the retreat, I'm loving felting with this!

Oh, what a great time I had at my friend's fiber retreat in Northeast Ohio!  As always, we learned so much from each other, ate lots of great food, drank good wine, felted, spun, carded, laughed, and just had a lot of fun.  

We came with varying skills and experience, and each of us had something to teach.  One of the best things about working together like this is that you always learn so much from other's teaching, and felting styles.  Felting can be accomplished in so many different ways, each person has their own bag of tricks!  That's one of the things I love about it, there is no ONE way to make felt.  (Here are flowers that we made from mostly alpaca fiber).

Madeline, whom I had never met before, is just learning fibery stuff, but she plunged right in and did beautifully with her projects.  She's also a hilarious storyteller and amazing Italian cook, and we enjoyed her famous meatballs and sauce.

 Both Madeline and Mary taught us how to do Japanese braided cords using a KumiLoom.  It was great fun, and offers many possibilities!  I always advice newer alpaca people to take any opportunity they can to learn from Mary, she's a wonderful and thorough teacher.

Here, Donna is working on a wine cozy. Mary taught us some great techniques for making really firm, hard felt and I look forward to using these methods in the future.

Here is my finished wine cozy.  I seem to be a bit stuck on these colors!

Cheryl is a great host, and as always it was wonderful staying in her beautiful home.  It was also refreshing to look out and see the snow-covered landscape, since we've barely had any winter weather here in Kentucky.

Cheryl and I devised a method to drink wine and felt at the same time.  From the response this photo got on Facebook, we need to patent the technique since this photo was extremely popular among felters and was shared around the world!

Donna showed us some fun techniques for embellishing with craters/appendages, and I was happy with how my new iPad sleeve turned out.  

Unfortunately, Donna didn't realize that she was using superwash merino for her cover (superwash means that the scales, necessary for felting/shrinking, have been removed through a chemical process).  It was apparently mislabeled, and there is no way to tell by looking at wool if it is superwash.  That was a tough lesson, as she had worked hard on the layout and it had seemed to be felting!  Live and learn :)

There was no salvaging this, it just wouldn't felt...

We proudly gathered our samples and projects for photos before I left, not bad for 3-4 days!

There were many other things taught and learned, as well as sources and ideas shared, and I've been especially productive since returning.  I have lots of new things to post, (a hat, fingerless gloves, mittens, a wall piece and a scarf) so check back soon!  Thanks to all of my NE Ohio friends for such a fun time :)

Percolating

I took a few weeks off from felting to "percolate" (letting the ideas simmer and swirl) as a friend calls it... it was a bit hard to get started again, but I think I'm back in the groove now! I really want to take some time this next month to do more experimenting and to just ENJOY the process, with no heed for schedules, art fairs and such.

I made a few hats yesterday and enjoyed working with some of my favorite colors. I really love the way the colors turned out in this part, felting always presents surprises!  I'd gotten away from using these colors, but I've been sucked right back in!  (I have a baby blanket to work on, these will definitely be included!)

This piece is still in progress, I'm just enjoying the heck out of the embroidery, and for some reason I just wanted to make lots of "craters" last weekend.  I have no idea what I'll do with the other piece quite yet.

This one has a ways to go.

Stay tuned for a lot more felting experiments in 2012, it's going to be a great year!

P.S.  This photo is in the running for a Cute Cria photo contest on Facebook- if you like it, please click on  this facebook link and Like it to vote- we could win free shearing for our entire herd!!!!