Fiber Gallery -:- Classes
Fall class schedule is here! I am teaching (erm at least as far as I can remember):
Basic Socks on Double-Pointed Needles: Three 2-hour sessions. Learn to knit in the round using double-pointed needles, then turn the heel as you create your first sock. Buy or bring supplies (list provided at registration) $60Saturdays September 8, 15 and 22
10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Socks Reinvented: Two 2-hour sessions. Cat Bordhi has completely reengineered socks in her latest book, "New Pathways for Sock Knitters." We'll knit up one of several intriguing new creations. Knowledge of knitting in the round with either double-pointed needles or magic loop required. Buy or bring supplies (list provided at registration) $40
Sundays Sept. 30 and Oct. 7, 2 to 4 p.m.
(can I just say I LOVE the new Cat Bordhi book? Of course I would)
Fair-Isle Mittens (Color Work): Two 2-hour sessions. Make a pair of mittens inspired by traditional Fair Isle techniques. Skills you will learn include knitted braids, corrugated ribbing, Fair Isle knitting in the round, and shaping techniques. For intermediate knitters. Buy or bring supplies. List provided at registration. $40.
Saturdays Sept. 15 and 22, 1 to 3 p.m.
Lattice-Cabled Fingerless GlovesTwo 2-hour sessions. Learn how to cable as you make these fingerless gloves with an intricate but easy design. Buy or bring supplies. List provided at registration. $40.
Whew! That's a lot of classes to be teaching this fall !
Saturdays Sept. 29 and Oct. 6, 1 to 3 p.m.
Canning and matching yarn to the canning
My canning appears to be matching the yarn I have been dying lately- lots of pinks for both of them! I don't think my fruit is supposed to be floating- I think my syrup is too heavy in some of the cans (syrup flavored by boiling the peels etc with sugar and water, gives it that lovely peach color from the peach peels). Whoops. I hot packed all of the current cans, and they all sealed with no problems. I've canned apples (for fillings, not so much for eating), apricots, peaches, and a couple cans that are a hodge podge of the above with some dried cherries thrown in for good measure.
Thrums batts and naturally dyed rovings.
wasabi
Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers
This weeks shop update is all naturally dyed yarns and fibers! Well, ok, there are thrums in some of the batts that have been chemically dyed. Thrums are the leftover bits of yarn or-in this case- fiber from when you card on a drum carder or handcarders. For yarn you would generally have to card the thrums to make them fiber-y again (like the old rag factories) , so this is just skipping a step. At any rate, I save up all the bits from carding and other "waste" fibers that my carder spits out, save them up, and blend them in to pretty batts.
You can see all of the different fibers for the update here: August 28 shop update photoset and go shop at Midnightsky Fibers Shop
Spin Out 2007 (from january one)
january one is collecting prizes for Spin Out 2007, and of course entries! To date they have raised $5180!
Point being, not only are you donating to a good cause, but you have a chance to win some totally naturally dyed fiber batts from Midnightsky Fibers- see? Aren't they pretty? (lower right batts)
KwH per month- lowest yet!
I averaged 3.29 Kwh per day the last couple months. Granted, that doesn't take in to account hot water or the radiator, neither of which I have control over (giant boiler in the basement is responsible for both of those and they aren't metered for me) other than trying to minimize the use of them. BUT it does include lots of electricity from my dyepots and my horribly horribly inefficient fridge.
At any rate, even with what it would take to heat my water and radiator heat (which is off- I wonder if having a central heating/water heating source is more efficient, past that you can't turn it off), I am about 1/2 way there to the 90% reduction project's "90 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH" goal.
As a side note, while comparing to the 90% reduction project... I:
-Use less than 100 gallons of gas a year to fill my car (this may go up as I work more outside my house, but is unavoidable), compared to their goal of 50 gallons, and the national average of 500 gallons/per person. The 100 gallons also is taking in to account other people driving me, like to family reunions and such, since I only fill up the tank for my car maybe every other month or a bit more often (and not usually all the way, and it usually has a quarter tank left). My car holds about 14 gallons of gas, fyi, and gets ~23 mpg, so not great (old car).
-If I switched to green energy totally (from my electric company) I would totally be under the kwh limit.
-Garbage and recycling- average is 4.5 pounds of garbage. I probably have a pound or two a day, sadly (and more recycling- lots of glass bottles)- mostly food that goes bad, and I don't have a compost bin handy.
-Water- goal is 10 gallons. Even without my business I probably don't meet this, though I use maybe 10 gallons a day for my business (lots of greywater!). I probably don't meet this simply because I like to take a hot bath every other day, and that is probably quite a bit of water right there, even without filling the tub all the way up. So I would say..maybe 15 gallons a day. Of course, work is supposed to be factored in, but... still, better than nothing.
Consumer goods and food I will get to later, but I will say that my cat probably fits the goals more closely than I do- junk food is my downfall, though I do eat a lot of organic local food (which sadly is plastic encased)
At any rate, even with what it would take to heat my water and radiator heat (which is off- I wonder if having a central heating/water heating source is more efficient, past that you can't turn it off), I am about 1/2 way there to the 90% reduction project's "90 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH" goal.
As a side note, while comparing to the 90% reduction project... I:
-Use less than 100 gallons of gas a year to fill my car (this may go up as I work more outside my house, but is unavoidable), compared to their goal of 50 gallons, and the national average of 500 gallons/per person. The 100 gallons also is taking in to account other people driving me, like to family reunions and such, since I only fill up the tank for my car maybe every other month or a bit more often (and not usually all the way, and it usually has a quarter tank left). My car holds about 14 gallons of gas, fyi, and gets ~23 mpg, so not great (old car).
-If I switched to green energy totally (from my electric company) I would totally be under the kwh limit.
-Garbage and recycling- average is 4.5 pounds of garbage. I probably have a pound or two a day, sadly (and more recycling- lots of glass bottles)- mostly food that goes bad, and I don't have a compost bin handy.
-Water- goal is 10 gallons. Even without my business I probably don't meet this, though I use maybe 10 gallons a day for my business (lots of greywater!). I probably don't meet this simply because I like to take a hot bath every other day, and that is probably quite a bit of water right there, even without filling the tub all the way up. So I would say..maybe 15 gallons a day. Of course, work is supposed to be factored in, but... still, better than nothing.
Consumer goods and food I will get to later, but I will say that my cat probably fits the goals more closely than I do- junk food is my downfall, though I do eat a lot of organic local food (which sadly is plastic encased)
30% off sale
It’s the August Clearance Sale at Midnightsky Fibers!
Time to get rid of some yarn to make room for new styles and new colors for the fall!
30% off sock yarn, handspun & painted yarns, vegan yarns, fibers, and more!
The Sale ends 8/20, all prices as marked. Sale includes items already listed on Midnightsky Fibers as of 7/31.
Keep your eyes peeled for our new lines of naturally dyed sock yarns and handspun yarns coming soon! We will still be offering our usual smattering of kits, clubs, sock yarns, handspun, and handpaints in our other dyes as well, but we have decided to jump in to the quirky world of naturally dyed yarn. Look forward to yarns dyed with pomegranate (left over from making the spice), madder, and much more.
Check out the shop and sale items here: Midnightsky Fibers Shop
Indie Public
Find more photos like this on Indiepublic
Indie Public is a cool new site that lets you customize a page for you (handy if you are a shop). I see mostly etsy people there, though a variety of other small businesses are there as well, in addition to a bunch of cool people generally.
Anyways, this is a cool feed of sorts from them, where you can make a slideshow. I added a couple yarns (rather heavy on the sock yarn I'll admit) to test it out.
How the cat tells me it is bed time
Joey usually likes to sit all the way on top of the computer, splayed across an arm- preferably both if you will let him. When he gets tired though and wants me to stop playing my music (he is sitting on the speakers after all), he will get up off my arms, knead on the blanket wrapped around me, and sit with his head on the computer, staring at me.
He will do this until I go to bed, at which point he will come over and sleep on a pillow next to me until I manage to accidentally thwack him as I move around in bed. He has a special liking for the foam pillows that curve to help your neck and back pain, especially the one without a pillowcase on it- of course, since it is white and he has black fur.
He will do this until I go to bed, at which point he will come over and sleep on a pillow next to me until I manage to accidentally thwack him as I move around in bed. He has a special liking for the foam pillows that curve to help your neck and back pain, especially the one without a pillowcase on it- of course, since it is white and he has black fur.
Whirligig
IMG_0045
Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers
Whirligig from Sweaters from Camp. Pattern is my Kevin Ames. Yarn: Shetland. Crochet steeks for the arms but I just cut the front. I think the picture is pretty self explanatory :)
IMG_0069
IMG_0069
Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers
Tigger from knitty:Tigger
In Merino Frappe and Bali Sky
Didn't make any changes other than doing the collar in the CC since I was running out of the main color.
A handsewn Quilt to be
IMG_0072
Originally uploaded by midnightskyfibers
I've always loved hand sewing. While I can and have machine quilted and sewn quite a bit (my downfall is the planning stage- I hate measuring super accurately then cutting out exact lines!), I always come back to the rhythms of hand sewing.
I am starting a quilt that is completely handsewn. You in the back? I saw your jaw drop. I probably won't have enough fabric to make a quilt that is full or queen size, but I didn't want to spend a couple hundred dollars on supplies all at once in case it was something I didn't end up finishing. So I guess I will have to eventually go back to the fabric store. O darn. Or go to http://www.purlsoho.com/purl/products/fabric who has the tree bark fabrics as well (but not all the others, at least I couldn't find the stripes [top left] there).
Of course, I then promptly run out of thread. At least I remembered to wear a thimble right? I should probably wear one on my index finger of my hand that is under the fabric as well.
The tree bark fabric is the main fabric for the quilt, the others are accents. I am making triangles (one side bark one side pattern) and sewing them together. I am loving the tree bark pattern more and more, If I was a bit better at sewing (erm really, at patience and measuring right) I would make a skirt from it. Maybe I will if I am not sick of the fabric by the end.
I wish the fabric came wider though, it would be lovely sheets, but sheets (really just the bottom sheet, I just get tangled in the top...though hmm...with a quilted blanket I guess you would need a top sheet since you can't wash it like a duvet) with seams in them down the center sounds like a disaster.
New Articles to read
New Articles to read at Midnightsky Fibers! Good for late night reading or your morning coffee if you are like me and not quite conscious in the morning. Articles include:
Felting And Animal Ethics 1
Felting & Ethics 2
Spinning Mills
Setting the Twist
How Many Ounces to Buy
Why have a blog
Saving $ and Energy on washing
Eat local!
Eight reasons for organic delivery
Meet the shop cat!
Read the Articles In the Patterns and Articles section!
Felting And Animal Ethics 1
Felting & Ethics 2
Spinning Mills
Setting the Twist
How Many Ounces to Buy
Why have a blog
Saving $ and Energy on washing
Eat local!
Eight reasons for organic delivery
Meet the shop cat!
Read the Articles In the Patterns and Articles section!
TAM exhibit, teaching classes
Sweater in progress from handspun. It is really...red and purple!
I'll get around to talking about the art exhibit soon, I just have to get pictures from other people first, since my camera took pictures like this: (yea the lighting from up above to down below was problematic!).
(Not that you can really see them, but the two in the top with flowers on them are the ones I designed, they are quite a bit more subtle and brown (hence issues trying to photograph them on the Tacoma Art Museum's floor). Lot's of abrash and combined colors in the knotting.
I will say, my clients were so pleased with their rugs that they signed up for next year on the spot! They even picked their artist for next year right then and there (since I won't be there of course!) so they would have someone familiar with my work. They are going to have a rug designed for their dinning room table area to match the rugs I designed.
Let the insanity of finals papers and projects begin! Ok, really they have been in the "OMG they are due WHEN??? stage for the last week, and I am so behind on reading blogs!)
I taught a really great class of Foucault a couple days ago, it's amazing to me how many people have never heard of the power-knowledge-truth triangle who are supposed to be familiar with Foucault, especially when almost every anthropology class ever mentions him. People told me after the class that it was the best explanation they had ever gotten (and this wasn't just one or two people either...), and that it actually made him make sense. Especially for discourse.
Attack of the twistie tie
We are having a great war here, now to be dubbed the attack of the twistie tie. Much flouncing about, high flips, general heroics, and much purring and and gnawing at of the twistie tie. The twistie tie was finally forced to give up in defeat and cower under the kitchen table next to the alum and lac.
The cat, celebrating his win, does a victory lap or two before finding a new target- the ribbons on my dress.
The cat, celebrating his win, does a victory lap or two before finding a new target- the ribbons on my dress.
Art opening tomorrow!
The Art opening for my rugs is tomorrow! Wish me luck! (I'm super nervous even though I've been told to rugs turned out "right").
Yarn Silliness and Fibers
None of these are up on the site yet (so email me if you want one of them), but they might be soon if I don't spin them first!
Felted fibers to make in to nubs for spun yarn. Super sparkly and squisky. Looks like a sea monster!
Naturally dyed yarn. Silk and wool dyed with pomegranate and fustic, light touches of red. Sock yarn dyed with onion skins and madder with a touch of fustic. Sock yarn dyed with just onion skins.
Naturally dyed and slightly felted. Plied, blended, and the usual works.
Not naturally dyed, but super bright (and good yardage). I want a baby surprise in the yellow, but alas it is bulky.
Blue is naturally dyed silk, others chemically and are wool. Smaller skein is fulkled lsightly to make it puffy!
Felted fibers to make in to nubs for spun yarn. Super sparkly and squisky. Looks like a sea monster!
Naturally dyed yarn. Silk and wool dyed with pomegranate and fustic, light touches of red. Sock yarn dyed with onion skins and madder with a touch of fustic. Sock yarn dyed with just onion skins.
Naturally dyed and slightly felted. Plied, blended, and the usual works.
Not naturally dyed, but super bright (and good yardage). I want a baby surprise in the yellow, but alas it is bulky.
Blue is naturally dyed silk, others chemically and are wool. Smaller skein is fulkled lsightly to make it puffy!
bits and bobbins
bits and bobbins
Congrats to Bits and Bobbins (an awesome blog and shop) on being featured in AT Bits and Bobbins house tour and the slideshow here
Congrats to Bits and Bobbins (an awesome blog and shop) on being featured in AT Bits and Bobbins house tour and the slideshow here
Sustainable leaf lights
Bodhi Leaf decorative Flower Lights
These lights- and there are 20 of them on each strand- are from sustainably harvested leaves. How cool is that? From The Succulent Wife (http://www.thesucculentwife.com/), who has all sorts of absolutely beautiful objects- check out the aprons as well.
Nonconsumerism and Nike
Classmates wondering wth is going on and WHY JB has been given a camera. They were hiding in the back of the bus, so they missed a bunch of our very lively discussion up front about the nature of graffiti on Cap Hill.
We pretty much got kicked out of Nike downtown, they were pretty nervous when we sat down in the shoe section. Apparently they were concerned we would start staging a protest. Really, we were just talking about the anticonsumerism goals in postindustrialist society and the problems with comodification, I swear!
On the way down we violate the rules of the bus.
Violating rule 2- taking pictures or paying undue attention to someone else on the bus. (As far as I am aware, these are all people that are in my class or roped in to our rather lively discussion on the trip downtown, not just random people)
I'm pretty sure this guy is purposely ignoring JB as she takes a picture.
Violating rule 1 of the bus- no talking to people you don't know. They surrounded the guy and started talking to (at?) him.
Sadly, no pics of the Nike excursion, that would have really freaked the manager out. Maybe asking people why the floors were divided by gender (and assuming I wanted to wear the female clothes) was a tip off... but really, WHY is there a treadmill with the guys shoes but not the girls (a floor up!).
The dialog about creating consumerism and desire was varied and vocal, both inside and outside the store. Since we were close enough to Pikes Place I managed to convince a couple people to head down there will me for some donuts instead of out usual drink at the bar. Funnily enough, everyone in the group had been vegetarian or vegan for a length of time, though I think I was the only one still strictly vegetarian, though most limited their meat in their diet quite a bit. Woot!
Tacoma Art Museum Openning
Remember the rugs I designed way back in the day? They will be on display at the Tacoma Art Museum on August 4th and 5th. They just came in from Kathmandu to Seattle, where they are waiting to be picked up from the broker as soon as they clear customs. Cross your fingers for me that everything has turned out all right and that nothing has gone horribly wonky with the designs!
So mark your calendars:
Saturday, August 4, at 5:30 p.m. at the Tacoma Art Museum is a GALA reception. More on this later.
Cross your fingers my rugs look something like this (this is the longer of the two)!
So mark your calendars:
Saturday, August 4, at 5:30 p.m. at the Tacoma Art Museum is a GALA reception. More on this later.
Cross your fingers my rugs look something like this (this is the longer of the two)!
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