Highlights of 2016 - January - June

 Things started looking up in 2016 - most of the work on my house was finished and I had much more time for my interests.  

Started the year with a silk-scarf dyeing workshop at a friend's home.  We used bits and pieces of silk cut from old silk ties and saris that had outlived their usefulness to dye new white scarves.

Scraps are Laid Out Over Half the Scarf

 

Other Half of Scarf
is Folded Over the Top

 

|

After Rolling and Tying Securely, Scarves are Steamed

 

Left in Sink to Cool Before Rinsing

 

 

 

Drying in the Sun (Mine on Rignt)

 

Closeup of My Scarf

Not my craft, but...   late January, I received this beautiful bowed psaltery in the mail.  Also a critter called a 'flapdragon' that now lives in my loom room and that delights me every time I open the door.  I met Muis Dreamsinger (muggle name Morris Lieberman) at a festival in 2015, and he had a display of the most enchanting harps and psalteries, I couldn't resist ordering one.  

It was a pretty slow time of day and I had the chance to sit and chat with him for a good hour or so about his craft, his cancer, everything, and nothing.  Planned on ordering a door harp at a later date, but sadly, when I got around to looking for him last year, I learned that he succumbed to cancer in 2019.  

February 8-9 Chenille Scarf Weaving with Deborah Jarchow

I've talked before about what a fangirl I am when it comes to fiber artists.   This was my chance to add another fiber celebrity to my scrapbook of memories. Deborah is famous for classes on rigid heddle weaving, among other topics, and for many years had a studio in the Studio Channel Islands Art Studios. As I write this, she's in the process of moving to Arizona.  California's loss.   

A friend from my weaving workshop and I decided to take a weekend mini vacation and head up to Camarillo for one of Deborah's classes.  What a fun class!  Deborah provided portable looms and our choice of chenille, and two solid days of instruction - everything from evaluating the quality of material to various techniques for design and finishing.  She even loaned the looms (we may have paid a small rental fee but I don't remember) so the slower weavers (me) could finish our projects at home.  Of course, I came home with several cones of beautiful chenille and a couple of handmade shuttles.

I highly recommend taking any class with Deborah!

A Small Area of Deborah's Studio

My Finished Scarf

 

 

February 13-15 Lace Workshop with Robyn Spady

Studio 66 organized this three-day workshop, The Beauty of Lace Weaves, taught by Robyn Spady.  Robyn is an expert, thoughtful, and generous teacher, and I left the class understanding much more about the structure of these weaves.  Highly recommend taking any class from her if you have the opportunity.  Another celebrity for this fangirl.  Yes, I do sound like a broken record, but I have been really fortunate to encounter so many excellent teachers.

First Sample in Progress

Finished Samples.  Mine 2nd from Right

March 20 - Saturday Spinners came to my house to play with drum carders.  Some beautiful batts went home.

And here's what I spun from my batt:

 

March 24 - This is the day I officially went down the rabbit hole to the land of quilters.  I got my certification as an APQS long arm quilter. Basically means I know enough to safely use the machines in their store. Doesn't mean that I have any skill at it. 

 

April 10 - Finished a small batch of yarn - Cormo/Polwarth fleece I bought in New York a couple of years ago. Took the easy way out and had it cleaned and combed by Morro Fleeceworks. Hand-dyed a little of the roving, spun, and Navajo-plyed it. Proof positive that I do occasionally actually finish something.

 May 28 - Farther down the rabbit hole.  Started a quilting class about learning to use the Accuquilt cutter and a bunch of different piecing techniques in a sampler.  I started out with the white background the pattern called for and hated it - so substituted different black backgrounds and loved how it made all my colors pop.  I think I'm hooked.

June 1 - The center row is done!

In July, we had a big adventure, so I will stop here and resume in a new post.  See you again soon!

In which I recap the rest of 2014

So, two years later, I return to the blog.  I really had good intentions the last time I worked on it. I was committed to bringing it up to date and even had a list of things I wanted to talk about. So much for good intentions.  I have had some fun, been busy working, and picked up a couple of new hobbies along the way.  Sorry to anyone who is actually reading this, but my OCD self won't let me just ignore the missing years and start in afresh.  So here goes.

Highlights from 2014 that weren't already mentioned:

May 3-5 - A Spindle Turning Class with Neal Brand in Denton, TX.  

Neal is well known for his Tibetan style spindles.  You can see samples of his work in his etsy shop and if you're really lucky, he may have one or two that haven't been snapped up already.

Went with several aquaintances from the L.A. Spinning Guild to this workshop where we learned techniques to turn several different types of spindles and accessories.  Came home with several new friends and some new skills to practice.

My First Ever Turned Spindle

Two Finished Whorls

A Whorl in Progress

Two Finished Spindles, Various Bits and Pieces

Two More Finished Spindles, Support Bowl, and Whatzit

 

May 27, 2014 - Another Wheel Joins the Menagerie

A fellow guild member sent me to look at this gorgeous but neglected little flax spinning wheel at a local (ok, 20 miles away) antique mall.  The seller had cut the price in half by the time I got there.  A friend in the know tells me it is likely a Tyrolean wheel, either Bavarian or Austrian.  Someone else identified it as an eastern European "Gypsy" wheel, and I've also seen a similar wheel identified as Hungarian but without provenance.  The paint is badly in need of preservation and I think it's too frail to be a functional spinner, but it is just too lovely to let go.

 

 

 

June 12-15, 2014  AAW Symposium

I made a road trip to Phonix to attend the American Association of Woodturners annual symposium.  3+ days of seminars, classes, shopping, and schmoozing.  In addition to a car full of tools and supplies, I came home with the two bowls below...   Every year, members are asked to donate bowls that are sold at the symposium to raise money for a local nonprofit.  Each bowl costs just $25.  AAW calls this program "Empty Bowls."  This year's proceeds benefited Seeds for Autism.  I couldn't resist the two bowls below - the first because the spalting reminded me of a map, and the second because of the interesting shape and the dark spot that looked like a ray.

November 2, 2014 WEFF

The Southern California Handweavers Guild has an annual event called WEFF, WEaving and Fiber Festival, in Torrance.  My friend Gail used to have a booth to sell her beautiful triangle looms, and in 2014, another friend Eileen and I shared a table in her booth, selling our hand-turned wood items.  I also sold sock blanks.  I'm in total awe of Eileen's talent and her generous spirit - she was one of our group in the spindle-turning class and helped a couple of us with techniques at her home after we returned from Texas.  Loads of friends came to the festival, so we had a fun day visiting and shopping, and I sold enough to make it worth the cost of the table and hauling all my stuff over there.  But probably not enough to be a vendor again.

Some Blanks Before They Became Tools

An Assortment of Tools Waiting to be Purchased

 

And that's enough of 2014.

CSKMS Conference 2014!

Still trying to catch up with history...   (written way back when and never published!)

Last August (2014), I hauled Elias Cabot on the Southwest Chief for the first leg of a trip across the country - destination Geneseo, New York!

This blog is about my fiber arts adventures, but I have to put in a plug for AMTRAK here.   I hate, hate, hate to fly.  Love to drive anywhere, and really love to take the train.  Having made the mistake, though, of taking an overnight train to Seattle in steerage (a.k.a. coach class seat, where the person in the seat next to you WILL TALK ALL NIGHT), I will only go on overnighters if I can get a  sleeper compartment.

The great thing about the sleeper is that you actually get to sleep if you want to.  Meals are all provided - if you're traveling alone you'll be seated with up to three other people which has been loads of fun for shy little me most of the time.  And you're free to wander up and down the train if you're feeling social.  But you're also free to lock yourself in your compartment and relax in privacy if you're so inclined.

It's not an inexpensive way to travel - but for me it's a self-contained vacation, not just a way to get from point A to point B.  For someone who always needs to be doing five or ten things at the same time, I always find myself just relaxing and enjoying watching the country go by for hours at a time. 

So two nights on the Chief, a brief stay in the Chicago station and transfer to the Lake Shore Limited.  My sleeper had an honest-to-goodness toilet (!) in one corner.  I'm not sure how much fun it would be sharing that space with another person, but for someone of my relative years, what a luxury not to have to toddle down the hall to the community bathrooms in the middle of the night.

I thought three days on the train would give me the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with Elias Cabot. First of all, these rascals are heavy.  Trying to haul Elias in his carrier up a very narrow and twisting set of stairs to my compartment on the upper floor of the train was not so much fun.  But I'm nothing if not persistent.   

So on my very first day, I set up my table and was ready to start cranking.  I never really notice the rocking motion of the train, so it never occurred to me that it might be a little difficult to knit.  Cranking was fine, but doing any fine work was out of the question.  Imagine trying to move a stitch from one needle to the next, while you have someone pushing on your elbow randomly and someone else moving your machine around. After a few tries and more bad words than I realized I knew, Elias went back in his carrier for the duration.

The conference itself was wonderful and went by way too fast.  Met some friends I had only chatted with on Skype until then, made new friends, shopped, sat at my machine and made continuous heels (twelve in a row!) until I finally felt like I knew what I was doing.   Before and after the conference I did some antiquing, genealogy research, and visited my great-great-great grandfather's farm in Ontario County, NY.

Got back on the Lake Shore Limited to go home, and had the best sleeper car attendant.  He took one look at me and all my luggage, hauled it aboard, sorted it (and me) out, and had me settled in my roomette long before the train left the station.  Good thing, because I came down with a bad cold overnight and spent the entire trip sleeping.  Not only did my attendant bring me all my meals and frequent cold drinks, he made sure my attendant on the Southwest Chief knew I needed special care.  And I didn't have to lift a finger the entire trip home.   I didn't mean to turn this into a commercial for Amtrak but there it is.

 

Conference highlights:

MADE TO FEEL WELCOME BEFORE WE EVEN GOT OUT OF OUR CARS!

 CLASSES

Jamie Mayfield

 Kathy Roletter

Sharon Lesio

 

Sarah Monroe

Sandee Plocharczyk

 EllenMacInnis

Dara Wagner

 Contests

Marty Wieferich Shows her Ribbons

 Head Over Heels for Vets

Knitted Items Ready to be Given to Vets

 

We honored members and guests who are vets.

What I Learned

 When I wasn't visiting with the vendors and members, I was determined not to go home without getting a handle on heels.  I sat and cranked out twelve heels in a row.

 THE BIG ROOM

 Here are most of the workstations in the center of the room.

 I was fascinated by all of the different workstations - from modified barstools to rolling cabinets.  Here are a few of them.  I took very careful notes about the owners of each and put them away safely.  They are so safe that I may never find them.

 

 Carol G. decorated this barstool with duct tape.

 

 This was my setup - a lightweight metal table from WalMart - fortified underneath with plywood where the CSM is attached.

 My neighbor had a portable workbench.  I had my eye on the wooden crate he built to carry his machine and supplies.

 Vendors

 Noah's Landing

Susan Sivey came from Shreve, OH with a supply of sock yarns.

http://www.noahslandingyarns.com/Home_Page.html

Plum Cottage Crafts
Stephanie DeVoe brought a variety of yarn on cones and in skeins.  I didn't give her a chance to finish setting up before I snapped this photo.  OK, I actually didn't give her a change to set up before I was shopping for yarn.
http://www.plumcottage-crafts.com/

Subito Farm

While daughter Sarah Monroe was teaching classes, cranking out socks, and winning contests, mom Cindy was manning the shop.  A nice variety of handmade accessories, handspun yarns, and patterns.

http://www.subitofarm.com/index.htm

https://www.etsy.com/shop/subitofarmstore

 Fred C. Hauck

Fred does CSM restoration and repair, and makes accessories - stands, buckles, weights, heel forks, you name it!  I was sorely tempted by the bright red weights until I remembered that I would have to carry that extra six pounds all the way back to California.  Fred spent most of the conference helping people solve problems with their machines.  

Sadly, Fred passed away in May, 2021.  He was an unforgettable man.  I met him when I joined CSKMS - which he founded after CSUSA folded.  I had many conversations with Fred over the years that I was active on the board.  Fred always spoke his mind - whether or not you wanted to hear it.  But he was kind and generous to me and was devoted to keeping the art of sock machine knitting alive.  Rest in peace, my friend.  

This is Fred demonstrating a machine to a member.  His lovely wife, Lea, is on the right.

 Semper Fi Wood

John Hilgers makes beautiful wood things.  In addition to cone winder adapters and bobbins, he brought tool holders and a pair of carriers for Hansen MiniSpinners.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SemperFiWood?ref=si_shop

  John is also working on a CSM travel case.  You can see the prototype in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B681A0GfWw&feature=youtu.be

 I'm now the proud owner of this hickory veneer carrier for Bunny Watson (the MiniSpinner) and this CSM tool holder.

 My current mania is turning wood, so I brought along a variety of my wood-handled hooks, latch hook tools, seam rippers, and needle cases for the 'garage sale.'  When one of the vendors couldn't come at the last minute, I sold the society's window decals and tote bags along with my tools at the vacant table.  It was pretty thrilling to see so many of my tools go home with society members.