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The sun is out, and I attempt to catch up…

Yay, the sun is out. We have so many sunless days here in the winter. I feel like when it does come out, I need to go out and really enjoy it! So I’ve been catching up on my “to do” list! 1)Let me see I made 3 Hula Hoops, for Christmas presents, very easy and fun. If you are interested in making one yourself, I have included some info on how to do it: This is the best tutorial I have found for making a hula hoop yourself, watch out, you can’t make only one! He also includes all of the supplies you will need. A taping link, and a hula hoop demo to get you started. Watch out it is addictive and fun, (and burns calories)! 2) Felting gnomes, which turned out to be elves, and Santas! See photo at top, more than one was made but the rest became presents, and this is the only one that got captured in a photo! Felted gnome tutorial here   3) Painting more Sumi-e paintings. Bamboo, Prawn and Iris…. I was amazed that all of my “practice” bamboo paintings were eagerly taken by visi

This one is for Theresa

Therese at Blueberries, Art and Life is my painting mentor. Thanks to her I found a new creative outlet. First a photo, then a sketch with a sharpie marker. After that, I started working on layering the paint on the paper in washes, and letting the colors mix there, instead of mixing them on my palate. I started with my sketch… I then layered cobalt blue, and then alizarin crimson, the areas where these over lapped they made a grey. After this I continued added one color at a time in a dilute wash. Until I was satisfied with the results. This method was fun and I like the results. I’m going to try another similar to this. Layering washes has also helped me in my yarn dyeing process. I now am following suit with my fiber, and applying one color at a time. Although with fiber this has a much longer drying time, but it is worth the time and effort it takes. First successful example I actually listed this hand painted yarn on my Etsy site if you are interested in knitting wit

One Pound of Fiber down, ???? to go…

I finally finished the lovely fiber that I started, yes, I know, for the Tour De Fleece 2010. Well at least I did finish it. It started out as a fluffy pound of Blue Face Leicester Wool that I purchased at a fiber fair from Breezy Manor.com From Orion, I was drawn to it due to the natural dark color. And so I started to spin, and spin, and spin. I finally got done, and have a estimated 960 yards from it. Yay! Enough for that sweater I wanted to make out of it. The decision has been made on what to spin next, and it is…..(drum roll)….. 4 oz of beautiful Screaming Wild Monkeys, from River’s Edge Weaving Studio , this is so super soft and squishy and the colors are amazing! I couldn’t resist. It is a blend of 70% Superwash Merino, 15%Banana, and 15% Seacell, and impregnated with silver. I was not familiar with Seacell, it is cellulose-based fiber manufactured in the so-called Lyocell process. The seaweed has been permanently incorporated into the fiber. I’ll let you know