Friday, April 23, 2010

BUG DAY!!!

Oh my!!  Bug Day at Randall Museum in San Francisco.     Our demo was silkworms and spinning silk that had been dyed with bugs - cochinael.  Anne H., the silkworm lady and I set up facing the corvid cage.  In this cage were 2 ravens, 2 crows and 1 magpie.  The museum fixes a nice cage for these guys with tree limbs and toys hanging from the branches.  The ravens are are performers at heart.  The largest one did a dance under the cymbal, hitting in in rhythm to its dance -- 1-2-3  Hit the cymbal then 2 hops.  Repeating.  Then he moved to the log, same beat still going, pecking the cymbal this time -    Om pah pah   Om pah pah   two or three times then he hikes his leg and uses it to strike the cymbal.   He did this routine every time a new set of kids came up to look in the cage. If only the video on the new camera was easy to work!

Next to us were the two large tortoises.  These two guys had florescent orange tags on the rear end of their shells.  The attendant flashed a light up under the rock and I swear I saw two glowing tortoise rear ends!!

Conference of Northern California Handweavers -- fiberholics by another name ..........


Although I have been attending CNCH gatherings for many years, this is my first year as a vendor.  Being there early, and getting to ogle and 'drool' on the many beautiful pieces in the gallery, before the masses, the beauty of which overwhelmed me to the point that I did not use the camera I was holding.  Only when they were tearing down the exhibit did I realize I did not get a single picture.   :(






But, I did get a pic of a great weaving done with scrap yarns by Bambi.  She was our neighbor in the booth next door.  Her blankets were awesome!





She fell in love with the batts, so much so she had a hard time choosing between 4 different batts.  Deciding on 3 different but complimentary batts, we stacked them up and tore them into roving making a giant 'rose' when rolled up in a wheel.










When she started spinning the batt I had to get a        
picture.  See the rose under the table?

We asked her to send a picture of the finished product - yarn, weaving, whatever.

See more pics of Bambi and the show on flickr.









We set up a little different this time and had                    Brooke Sinnes of Sincere Sheep join us in the booth.  We had fun and will have to do it again sometime.





This show is not as fast paced as Stitches West but it was a good show.  There was time to look around and see the work of others without hurrying and weaving thru the masses.  Saw way too many books I need to have and many more that I just plain want!!  Being around all these weaver makes me want to run home, haul out the loom, dress it and start a project.  Studio, oh studio, where for art thou??


We just finished a large order going to Morgaine at Carolina Homespun.  At Stitches West she inquired as to whether she could chaperone the batts on their East Coast journey as they went out into the world.  We knew our babies would be in good hands.  Today in Atlanta, Georgia, our 'kids' are out and about cavorting with other fibery confections among the fiber loving humans gathered there.  Too bad they did not take a camera to document their travels.  Oh well, those of you that have chosen to caretake them, please send photos of your collaborations.  It would be nice to see the kids all 'grown up' in the world and working.

The sun is out and it is warm.  I hear the dye pots calling ........  Let's see, merino, merino/cashmere, polwarth, merino/ silk - what do I want to dye today???

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Color combinations from nature

With all these new colors to choose from my mind is in overdrive combining colors faster than my hands can keep up with.  Here are some of the combinations so far:  watery blues some with hints




 of shocking magenta,  ...........

















........... flowers of spring, ...........


















........ the changing leaves of fall, ..............






I just want to spin them all!!!