No pictures today. I should have taken my camera out with me today to take pictures of our dear, stormy York River, but alas, I didn't.

This entry is also posted to my non-fibery journal, but it really does belong here more than there, so, without further ado:

I went in to work today, more to keep Nettie company for a bit than anything else. I did show her some wool she mentioned wanting to buy from me, but other than that, she and Mom just stood around and talked while I flipped through the latest issue of Spin-Off. I grabbed it today, even though I really shouldn't have, since my paycheck hasn't been posted yet and I have verrry limited funds, but I don't work again for another week, and Spin-Off disappears quickly.

Before we left, I dumped things in the car, then walked over to the beach and stood just at the sand, watching the water and the rain. I miss mountains so very much, and I'll jump at the chance to see them again, whenever we move, but I will miss stormy seas...

Anyway, I got home, made a cup of tea and curled up to read my magazine for a bit before I napped. I just got up, and I was coming up with tags for the fleece I've been carding up, so in the future, I'll know just how many ounces I have, where I got it, etc. I made a comment to Mom about how I can dig through my handspun yarn, pull one out, and know what breed of sheep it came from solely on color/feel/luster/bounce/density/etc. She told me that just means I'm good at my craft.

My craft. What a concept. It hasn't been until recently that I realized that maybe, just maybe, I really am good at this. Of course, I make no claims at being an expert. That would just be silly. I think the fun will go out of it if I ever learn all there is to learn about spinning. Still, I've started noticing the little things I do during the day that are fiber related, and I've noticed they aren't so little. The ideas swimming around in my head, the plans for things, ways to improve what I'm doing... I looked down at the basket of fleece to be flicked yesterday, as I sat at my computer and talked to my best friend, and the sheer practicality and immensity of the fact that there I was, taking a greasy pile of wool, washing it, processing it by hand and turning it into yarn to keep myself or a loved one warm hit me like a lovely ton of bricks. And now, with this new job, I feel like I've stepped back in time. A customer commented that I was an apprentice, and I think he really is right. After all, I run things for Nettie, do menial work, and learn little things along the way. When she gets her 18th century craft fair out of the way, she'll be coming into the shop regularly while I'm there to teach me how to weave. This is what I've always dreamed of. An honest-to-god apprenticeship, in what I love.

Anyway, I'm off to listen to the rain and work on, well, you all know by now.

I promised pictures, so here we go!

First off, the tweeds. Not the best picture in the world, but it's passable!


I forgot to grab the yardage on the green, but I have one more skein of the brown, and both are over 200 yards.

Now, something I've been working on for a few months. In a fit of rebellion, I quit my previous job at the local dollar store and went to Maryland Sheep and Wool in May. I spent entirely too much money, all of it well. Now... I'm not much of a fuschia type. I prefer earth tones, however, I saw a gigantic bump of carded sliver in layers of fuschia, gold, black and little blips of white. I picked it up, looked at the sign, and knew it was mine. Out of a pound, I have about 2 ounces left to spin. It's turning into an EZ as Pi shawl to wear when I feel like making a statement.



That's it for now. I may take some pictures this coming week of the shop, and my favorite little sights from the bench outside. Have a wonderful day!

It's been over a year since I blogged here. I admit, my mind hasn't been on sharing fibery goodness with the world. Things have been hectic, quitting jobs, getting jobs (more on this later in this post), family health problems, a dear friend shipping off to Iraq... ut through it all, I have been creating, I promise!


My latest obsession with tweed has left me a bit frustrated by commercially available fiber. Mind you, I do dye, and I dye on commission, but I'm starting to wonder what the big deal is. You can slap as much color on it as you want, but I want, no, I need my fiber to have character!

Luckily, I have a drum carder. I recently ran across this yarn on etsy. I looked for the Crosspatch Creations roving, and I did find it, but I haven't had my first paycheck from the new, fiberlicious job yet, so I had to wing it. So, I grabbed the bag of Columbia/mohair roving I got in Vermont, some scraps of undyed BFL, some grey Jacob, and a lot of silk noil and got to work. Let me tell you, this yarn has me infatuated! (Since my camera is being fickle, I'll describe. I dyed the Columbia a very deep, forest green, the Jacob a medium green, and the BFL spring green. The bits of noil are blue, gold and cream colored. I carded the Columbia and noil together, then layered it over a thin layer of the Jacob and BFL.)

I carried the bug further last night and carded up another bag of batts in a brown, grey, white and green frenzy. More on those later.

Alright, I suppose I've tempted anyone reading this enough. I might as well say it. A few weeks ago, my dear friend Cathy gave me a heads up that our LYSWS (yarn, spinning and weaving!) was hiring. As she has a little one, she couldn't take the job, but she thought I might be interested. I called the owner, a friend of ours, and she all but hired me over the phone. A few days later, I was training! Aside from the tourists, it's by far the best job I've had yet. What's better than working in a yarn shop? Working in a yarn shop where you get PAID to knit, spin and weave between customers!!!