Sunday, December 26, 2010

Today in Abq




You see him and you wonder, if it is Apple heaven or Apple hell.
Heaven it is. Trust me, I know.
I hope your Christmas was as good as his - it could not have been any better.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Virgo Fun

The other day I pulled out all the dyed rovings, bundled them up, weighed and labeled them.


Even though I don't plan to recreate any of the colorways, I wanted to name the current selection.
And to sample them!
Sleepy Ike kept me company, as usual right in the middle/on top of everything.
Among the Rambouillet there was Ivanhoe, Loch Ness, Chelsea, Emily, Yoda, Shirley Temple...
... for Merino and Wensleydale I chose Rose Garden, Grandma's Kitchen, Summer Snow.
When my Americanized brain just didn't want to come up with any more splendid ideas, I named the last one Wanderlust, haha!


After this extacy in color I bundled up the latest shipment of Rambouillet fibers, natural shades of grey and brown, processed in excellent quality by Zeilingers in Michigan.



I cannot even begin to describe how cloudy soft and fluffy this stuff is!
Yum!
Wishing you all lots of colors, softness in your life and a very happy evening, too!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Sweet Surrender

For over a year I managed to resist, now they got me with a sneaky sale...





This went straight from the shipping box into the washer, dryer, on the bed!
Do I sleep good!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Earl on Hand

I am always a little bit sad to see summer go. Our dry New Mexican summers are simply the best and I need a while to adjust to the cooler wheather.

Wool is my comfort.

Fall and winter just beg for knitting and working with wool in front of a crackling fire and I so enjoy pulling the woolen sweaters from the depths of the closet like old friends, that you have not met in a long time.

This year there is the added pleasure of Earl and Princess. Remember?



The transformation from this...



...to this....



....never ceases to amaze me!

Just this week I needed my fingerless mitts for the first time this fall and that made up for the chill!



I can't say this often enough:

Thank you, Earl!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

self

Some people are really good at taking self portraits.
Not me.
Believe me, I have tried. Here is proof.
Sometimes I try to the point where the camera gets so heavy, that I have to support it with two hands.

Still doesn't work.
***sigh***
I do take pretty good bug shots though, I dare say.



When I am really desperate, I ask the girlie for help.


She did great!


And all this because I wanted to show you my latest favorite scarf!
I sure hope you'll like it, too!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

back to black

The big boys took off and life is (kinda) back to normal.

Yarn is everywhere.





I like it this way.

I have been making scarves for the Hip Stitch Craftshow this coming Saturday, they seem to be popular, I certainly think they are cool. - Gotta make stuff that you dig yourself, right?!


This one is my favorite:



I don't like black, and I hardly ever wear it. However, this scarf is different, because one of the yarns comes with a story.

The black yarn with the colorful fringes, has a history of being in my stash for almost 10 years.

I bought it with my dear friend Ulrike in the yarn store in Bethesda. I so remember us digging in the sales bins and coming up with just two balls of this fringy stuff in two colorways. One, the not-black-at-all one, I used years ago in Fiona's poncho, outgrown by now.



Please note the glow-in-the-dark homemade buttons!

Sweet memories!

I have yet to show you a special edition of my zippered pouches, finished a few days ago. - I made this for my apple gadget loving boy:


Cool japanese cotton-linen blend fabric, vintage polished zipper, lined with thick camou fleece.

All set.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

ciao

The brother and friend were in and out in three days.


You could not imagine them any more content, when they finally took off.


Facial expression definitely matching the cat, who swallowed the canary.




My wish: may their trip be everything they dreamed of!

Monday, October 25, 2010

no peeking

Thanks for all your kind compliments, yes, the studio tour went very well!
It really got me in the groove and so I'm just keeping it coming, reducing the PC time in favor of my sewing machine and the knitting needles.

The zippered pouches really got me these days with their endless possible fabric combinations.

I enjoy going through my fabric stash, combining themed designs with colorful patterns, choosing flannel or vintage velvet for the lining and digging in the stash of vintage ribbons for the little tag loops.
The Olivia pencil pouch would be my favorite kid themed one. That fabric is just too nice in its blue and off-white simplicity.

Here blues on the back and flannel peace with an orange bang on the inside.


Now this one... what can I say...
It is one of my alltime favorite fabrics!

I love the combination with a rather conventional, traditionally pretty design - makes for a pleasant surprise when you flip it over!



The birthday of a very good friend of mine is coming up. Since she is a hardcore zippered pouch user, I knew what I had to make once I got my hands on this fabric:


I've named it the "girlfriend pouch" --- or "ants in my pants", since the back features tiny ants zooming around on those pretty blue swirls.


The beauty is lined with some vintage velvety corduroy, yum.
Happy birthday, Ann!

Friday, October 15, 2010

status

All is well here.

Tarantula count of the year is on a record high with five sightings. No camera on me, so here one of last year's hot shots.

I got back into running, my birthday gift to myself.
Gadget love was satisfied - birthday gift from the family - which is indeed encouraging to get into gear.




Snake count is relatively low. Four sightings.
However, one as a house guest - trying for a sleepover with me!
Eeeek!

What you may or may not know is that I am getting ready for the High Desert Studio Tour.
Tomorrow is the day. And I have been busy.
Sneak peek...



See ya'!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Earl and Princess

I would like to introduce you to some dear friends of mine, Princess and Earl.

Would you please let that name roll on your tongue!

Earl. King of the Meadow. His Royal Highness of the Enchanted Pasture.




At the beginning of the summer my fiberjunkie friend Amber and I embarked on a new and exciting journey. We bought Earl's and Princess' fluff, both Rambouillet sheep, which are descendant from the famous Spanish Merino sheep (read here for details of the history - actually quite interesting if you like sheep!).
You get the picture? These guys have soft wool. Really soft.

Long staple length, a real nice crimp and a beautiful very-close-to-white color.



We meticulously sorted the fleece, discarding the unusable parts, which are - to make it simple - those attached to the lower and especially the rear parts of the sheep.




This took quite some time. The girlie was declared Sheep Queen of High Desert.



A few weeks and some patient waiting later we got the fluff back from processing at Spinderella's Fiber Mill.
Yum!
Living in a house containing these white clouds and dyes and not touching them is like sitting next to chocolate and just looking.
Not possible.





So see what's been cooking in my kitchen lately!
Hope your life is as colorful as mine these days!