Color blending

I had to have a root canal done this morning and the whole rest of the day passed in a daze. This evening, I finally felt like a member of the human race again, but was too down to spin any of the batts that I had already been working on. They are lovely, but somber. I decided to grab the kid mohair that I have dyed in the past week and throw colors together to see what would happen.
They are a lot more vibrant than they look on the carder or in the batts below. I just took a photo of how they look on the bobbin, but I know from experience that they pick up their shine after washing.
I ran the mohair through the carder one time, so they would not muddy. As I am spinning, I am seeing some really cool color combinations. I am going to spin a batch in berry blue Koolaid, moss green cake icing and violet from the Country Classics. I will probably also do one in pink with purple and the berry blue. The colors shifting as I spin are rather soothing. I plan to design another crochet shawl using one of these combinations.

I plan to take at least three projects to Indiana with me next week. Road trips always cause me to think outside the box. One of these batches will be in it for sure. I also plan to take my Little Gem with me. With flight regulations being what they are, I am for sure going to take two suitcases. Since I am planning to visit the Wooly Knobs Mill, I need room to bring a bag of roving home!

My sister says she takes the kitchen and almost the sink when she takes a trip. I am wondering how I can get my studio inside a suitcase. Two weeks is a LONG time!

Hungry critters

I hauled the bale of hay out and was ready to cut it up and distribute it among the feeders, when I realized that they made a really cool looking picture. If you look closely, you can see all of the colors of the angora goats, several of the Shetland, the Shetland/Border Leicester crosses and the Jacob's ewe.

I ended up leaving this bale tied and went and distributed more hay around. Since I have an early appointment tomorrow, it will save me time. I will just cut and put out what is left. I hope there is some! They are going through a lot of feed right now!

Planning

I am a procrastinator by nature - especially when I know there is a deadline. I did manage to get a bunch of photos together finally for my application to teach a workshop. I plan to use this one for that application and for another art festival. I like the mysteries of felting and enjoying seeing people's reactions to their own efforts. It is not hard to do. I teach it here at the ranch the last Saturday of every month (except for next month, July when I will be teaching it in New Mexico). For 2 1/2 hours of time and about $20 people can make a work of art that is totally unique. I like to make the wearable art, because then you can show it off.

The next workshop is this coming Saturday, so if you have never tried, give me a call or email me. Kathy 572-3758, jmarckathy@aol.com

In the design mode

I have been spinning lace/fingering weight ( I always debate about which size it really is) yarns recently and liked this green/gray one so much that I ended up crocheting a shawl. I started with a leaf pattern that I discovered in a book and within the first row came up with an idea that would expand it into a shawl. It looks nothing like the original pattern that sparked the inspiration, so I feel safe publishing it. I am now making one in a shade of watermelon cherry/grey. I decided that I liked the yarns because they are a blend of all sorts of fibers and colors. Mohair slides into bits of wool and then llama. The colors do the same thing, and it is so random, that it reminds me of the years that I spent playing with jigsaw puzzles. The eye is tricked into seeing one color when looked at from a distance, but the beauty is in viewing it close up.

This one is priced at $70 and the pattern is available for $5.

In other areas

Marc and I are now looking at acreage in different areas of southern Arizona. We are limited by property size here in terms of numbers of animals that we can legally keep. I intend to remain with the legal limits, since I do have so many people come through. This means that I have to start looking at alternatives, and more acreage in a cooler spot seems to be calling. We love the Tucson culture and our friends, so we don't plan to move too far. A tourist area without all of the traffic is in our plans also. Above is a piece that we are considering. It has National forest in the back and a view that is to die for. Marc that he will run away, if we move and I ever even look at another piece of property. This place seems to have a lot, and according to the regulations in that county, I could keep 320 animals. I plan to stick at around 60, but would be able to keep the animals long enough to get the best fleeces off them and also have a chance to evaluate them. Now I have to decide at 6 months, which does not suit my breeding plans.

Sure hope that my customers will be willing to drive down! I might even be able to put some of them up, depending on how things work out.

Tempus fugit!

Time does seem to be flying. I got excited about weaving again after selling a few shawls. This green one is a blend of fibers with a matching coiled yarn on a perle cotton warp. It turned out to be a lot of fun and now I am doing variations of it in different colors and fibers. I have finished four shawls, since the last post. I am pricing this one at $175. I have a black one that has touches of pink and blue in that is $185, and then a Shetland shawl and a Mohair/Jacob's wool shawl that are in a more classic style and priced at $250.

On my loom I currently have a raspberry colored perle cotton warp with a raspberry mohair and white Shetland weft. It also has the coiled yarn. I will do one that is raspberry and black kid mohair (yarn is already spun), since I wanted to see how the different colors added change the look. I can already tell that the one with the black kid mohair is going to be gorgeous, soft and rich!