Faerie Mountain Fibers

Stitches Bound! Booth 1040 Spinners heaven!

2011-02-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well the days are coming and passing very fast. My head is spinning!! Spent last Saturday at Sue's farm helping with shearing. Oh I really love the little lambs!! When I left I had 4.5 fleeces. They will be available to purchase in the booth this year. We divided them up but you can get the whole fleece if someone else has not beat you to it!! These fleeces are right from the sheep - Karli, Katy, Velma, Glory and Hopi. Check out the pics!! Fleeces: Velma, Hopi, & Karli Still have 2 more to divide !!

   Velma -- a prize winning fleece


   Hopi

   Karli

All have staple lengths of 4.5 - 5 inches.
The crimp is scrumptious. The white fleeces all shine with luster.

Have wrinkled and spotted hands from all the dyeing - and there is still some undyed wool left!

This year we will have spin to knit kits for the Energized Singles Jacket -

Now to get everything in the back of the truck to take to Stitches. Any one have an extra large shoehorn I could borrow??

See you at Stitches!!

BUG DAY!!!

2010-04-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

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 ..........

2010-04-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

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???

Color combinations from nature

2010-04-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

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!!!

Spring at Faerie Mountain

2010-03-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

Spring is in the air! The flowers are blooming all over the place. And the finches gathered around the feeder are dressed in brilliant spring finery - all yellow and red. All this enticed me into the dye area and this is what I found there! I had been trying out the new dyes and left them to dry overnight. As the wool dries the color changes to get more vivid. They were not this bright last night!

The Merino in the first pic is so soft -- and the firestar in the second pic is so brilliant I had to get it out of the sun to get a good pic of it.

where to begin -- such a dilemma!

Stitches West 2010

2010-03-05T13:53:00.000-08:00

Color! Fun! Meeting old friends and making new ones! Stitches West 2010 was a blast! Thank all of you that came and helped at the booth. And a thank you to everyone who came by the booth.

Set up was on Wednesday and Thursday with Market Preview for all the students on Thursday night.

Tried something different -- instead of a straight box-like shelves for the batts -- I kept seeing a 'mountain'. So we built one out of the wire cages -- even had 'snow' (silver sections) on top when I discovered the last box of shelves was not black!! OOOPS!!

When we arrived back at the booth on Sunday morning we found the lamb snoozing atop the tower of batts! Wonder what went on while we were away and in our beds??

We really liked having a corner booth. It made for lots of room in the booth - so much so I signed up for this same space next year!

Now we have to get ready for CNCH which will be here at Santa Clara Convention Center in April. Hope to see you there!!

Great Holiday Parties!!

2009-12-25T12:07:00.000-08:00

We had a great time at the Holiday Shows. Knit 1-1 was packed with joyful people. Over at Verb people were spinning, enjoying the cupcakes and petting Cleo & Marcel. Cleo was so cute in her pretty Red jacket. She ruled the block. Marcel eyed everyone who came near the cupcakes. Don't know if she ever got one or not -- cupcake not people - haha!!

Girl on the Rocks and Pigeonroof Studios were there with all their goodies. (I had to keep wiping the drool off my chin. It was beginning to be embarrassing). We all had a good time partying.

Cupcakes!!!! Tree from Girl on the Rocks

WonderMike and Kristine

YUM

Pigeonroof Studios

FMF

Marcel AKA Cupcake Guard

Getting ready ..... phew ....

2009-11-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

.... seems to be the mode of things now a days. Fiber in the door, weighted out, then into the pots. No time to get all enamored by all the color possibilities -- I just wants it all! There is always that 'what if' niggling at the brain -- you sometimes experience it when you are making the second of a pair - socks, mittens, sleeves, earring --do they really have to match?? ;)

This next batch is scheduled for hand-painting -- only do it over some solid vats dyes instead of painting the undyed fiber - to get even more variations. Chestnut and indigo give a brilliant mallard green -- like I need a reason to get into the indigo pot.

Last Wednesday Debbi (Twisted Sunshine Designs) and I went to the Treadles to Threads Guild meeting. They are currently doing a fiber study by having different members study a fiber then report to the group. The fibers discussed were Perendale (wool) and Inego (plant based fiber). Even if you do not know this longwool chances are you have walked on it. The carpet industry uses this wool because of its resilience - springy carpet you like to wiggle your toes in. Cheviot rams crossed with Romney ewes gives best of both wools -- "crisp springy fibers, high loft, good staple length and low luster" Clara Parks in The Knitters Book of Wool. The Ingeo is made from the sugar in plants such as field corn, wheat, sugar beets and sugar cane. Paradise Fibers carries this in top form. The presenter said she spun some up and her pet promptly ate it -- with no ill effects. You can find this is 'fluff' form at Jo-Ann's and Michaels under fake Snow that you put under your tree AND it is not flammable like the other fake snow is. :) I think I prefer the wool besides there are too many cats here to bring in 'edible' yarn - that would be too much opportunity for them to get into trouble.

Lambtown Pics

2009-11-14T13:23:00.000-08:00

Lambtown was great fun. Maughra is busy making crazy batts!

The booth was so 'stuffed' with all the fiberlicious goodies, she had to literally stand in the back corner just to have space to work! You can see one of the lovely cormo fleeces from Sue's booth next door at her elbow.

2009-11-13T20:36:00.000-08:00

Where to begin. This particular spelling of Faerie is the one that refers to the magic surrounding the Fae Realm. This magic is most evident in the colors found in the dyed goods of Faerie Mountain Fibers.

The Faerie Realm is very colorful and we try to follow that in our color selections..... everything under the rainbow just about sums it up. From natural dyes to acid dyes we color our way through the fibers, dyeing anything that stands till long enough. At times it appears as if the faeries got into the acid before they started dyeing the fibers when the riot of colors are revealed in the dye pot!

First and foremost I am a certified silk junkie and a fiberholic. We at Faerie Mountain Fibers all share this addiction to its fullest. It is hard to keep track of the number of fleeces that are hiding in the corners - I know of at least 6 in my possession -- 3 of which are still in need of soap and water - lots!! There have been comments about the lack of room in my house because it is filled with fiber. I do not understand, there is enough room for me to spin, sleep and eat - what more is there?

Our first show was Lambtown, USA. It was great fun. Sue Reuser /Cormo Fleeces was one of our booth neighbors. A friend of hers brought her chinchillas. While working the booth we all took turns going over to pet both the chinchillas and the fleeces.

Excitement abounds as we get ready to do our first Stitches in Feb. 2010. That is a big step and an even bigger event. As I look at all the dyed fiber waiting patiently for its adoption to a new home sitting beside the plain fiber awaiting the soothing color baths I can't help but wonder if we do indeed have enough fiber -- but you can never have enough fiber, besides the one who dies with the most fiber wins or at least that is what I have heard!

I hear the dye pots calling ...............