Studio work and other textile joy

I have been trying so hard to get to this blog, but I have been busy getting ready for the Baby Fair with Oma Gosh! Designs, so soon that will be finished with for a few months before the next one. And then we have the Market @ Whippletree Junction starting on the 13th, with the day before being the World Wide Knit Public Day all in the courtyard outside my studio! Lucky me - I am very excited. This photo is of a little poncho I am making today using Mochi Plus - a favourite yarn that has lovely repeats to it. Just imagine a little one with a colourful poncho on. I have made a few in the cream and pastel colours, but felt that colour was in order!

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of taking a spinning workshop with Anne Field from New Zealand - what great fun that was. It was all about exotic fibres and although I was nervous, I was able to manage very nicely and everyone was lovely and welcoming. Lucky me. I took a picture of my spinning wheel (a Schacht) - isn't she pretty and riding on a ferry!!!!


So now I am dyeing and spinning and picking and carding, and fleeces keep coming my way - so much wool and so little time to enjoy it. I was trying to spin at least 2 hours a day, but somehow I am doing about 2 hours a week. Expectations can be so high. Anyway, I am loving what I am doing and just wish I could do more.

Tartans

I have just visited an amazing website http://www.stonearabie.com/ for those of you that are facinated by the tartan. This man apparently has been weaving for only a few years and he is a genius. For me tartans have been too slow and too precise for my patience level, but I have been inspired to look into it again. One of my students is really crazy for them, so I put her on to this website so she can drool. Whenever I have done a tartan, I, of course would put crazy colours and threads together to maintain my interest - always breaking the rules! The tartan I have pasted in was the one I did for my mother-in-law many years ago - and I set it up correctly but I used shiny reds and greens and a boucle white. It was fun and fanciful rather than a 'true' tartan. I wish I had the stole that I wove for her - it would be interesting to see again.

The studio has been very busy with students, Oma Gosh! Designs and selling used weaving and spinning equipment. I love being in my space and sharing what knowledge I have and hope that I can be as inspiring as Tartan John.

Imagine a day...

Imagine a day....
...when the peace of a forest
and the strength of a mountain
become a cathedral
for your heart...

This day has been filled with such energy that I am exhausted by it. And it is all extraordinarily good filled with generosity, goodwill, kindness and creativity. There are very good people in the world and I just happen to know some of them.

Spinning and memories

I was thinking today about how I have been spinning and being in the zen zone - lots of memories coming back. This spindle whorl appeared while I was looking for something else which was odd, as I had been thinking about Simon Charlie ( I believe I took a picture at the museum in Duncan (I'm not sure where I got this photo) and I believe it is Simon Charlie's...anyway...) I was thinking while spinning, about my Cowichan princess daughters and our visit with Charlie in his carving studio which is just down the hill from my studio. The girls really were humbled by this great man and I was glad that they had the experience before he passed away. So that is just one of many memories that passed through my mind while spinning some incredibly beautiful local wool.