It's been awhile since I spun anything just for the joy of spinning: without a project in mind. I had fun carding and spinning up this lovely blend of hand dyed wool, mohair, llama, and silk from Fraydknot. I really love her sense of color and blends. These colors are so soothing... I wasn't sure what to make with it, it is just so beautiful on its own.. I guess I'll just stare at it for a while....

The end of January

The last few days I've been playing with some qiviut yarn, trying to figure out what to do with the most expensive yarn I've ever owned. Quite a quandry. I think I've settled on some kind of wimple smoke ring thing, I'm kinda making it up as I go along...we'll see.
I have had a really fun project to distract me from the qiviut. I got some more fabulous batts from Loop on etsy. My MY this stuff is awesome, blue green black bamboo, wool, sparkles. This stuff has it all. I spun it with some plain green bamboo, then plied with cotton thread. I loved the way it turned out. So soft. I found the cutest pattern for a baby cap on ravelry, then altered it to fit my thickness of yarn.
Here's what I ended up with. I am very happy with how it turned out

Has a week really gone by, my goodness!! I guess I got sick, then I started creating more and more, haven't had time to write.

I got some gorgeous batts from Loop on etsy. http://etsy.loop.com/ Really amazing stuff!Bamboo, corriedale, merino, silk...So soft. I spun up some singles and knit some baby booties. I am using the rest for some freeform crochet project(pictures to follow)

Thursday January somethingth

My son has been home sick from school all week, somehow I have managed to complete a few projects.

I got some lovely camel down fiber from Copper Moose and have been spinning away. Wow, so sooo soft! I new it was short and fine. It wasn't too hard to spin, but you have to spin it fine. I had to ply it for strength and thickness. My first attempt to make a three ply yarn long enough for a project. (I usually am way too impatient to spin more than a single) Here's what I came up with:

I've also working on my first written pattern for a maple leaf. It will have a lace option. It has been a blast to work with, but I am not used to writing things down as I work, I prefer to just make stuff. I will try posting this pattern sometime next week.

day 1

Welcome! My name is Tavia and I live in upstate New York. My husband and I and our 2 kids have moved from the city to the country trying our hands at homesteading these past 6 years. We built a cordwood house with only hand tools. Lived without electricity and running water. Tried our hands at beekeeping, dairy goats, Icelandic Sheep, chickens, etc. I have learned about harvesting local plants for medicine, beer making, cheesemaking, canning, organic gardening etc. All these adventures have really shaped our life into something I could have never imagined.

Throug the midst of all this chaos, and it really was/is chaos, I have relied on art to give me solace. I love art, in all its forms. My favorite media is probably fiber. I love to knit spin dye felt etc.

My hope for this site is to help share patterns and ideas to help with the creative process, along with some homesteading tips I am learning along the way. I know there must be people out there dabbling in similair adventures, hopefully we can help each other.