Tavia's Haberdashery

2008-02-01T11:46:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-30T17:20:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-24T19:49:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-17T16:08:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

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.