Time

Hard to believe that a week has already passed since I gave a presentation at the Old Pueblo Knitters' Guild about the importance of needle size. No computer issues, which was a total relief. It is always a challenge to prepare for a group that could know as much as you do about a subject!

Pixie is the newest addition to the ranch. My son took two of the house cats when he left this summer and the house was just too quiet. We still have Emerald, but she alternates between living in the couch and hiding in Kyle's old room. She is coming out more now that we have Pixie - but it is only to terrorize her. Pixie comes to the studio a lot. She and Charcoal tolerate each other. Some friends came and helped pluck the rabbits last week. Pixie decided we did not groom them sufficiently, so she worked for a while.

Cadbury's cage was given a new floor by one of my new friends. All of the rabbits are now outside. The English is still on the back porch, since I need to cut the hair off his belly. It matted too much to be plucked.

I spent a few days spinning black and red in order to have some complementary yarn for a freeform skein. If it does not sell soon, I plan to knit it up. The above is an alpaca/Merino blend. The alpaca had a lot of trash in it and the static electricity kept attracting it. A turn through the dryer with a perfume free Bounce cleaned it up a lot.

I am setting up at a fiber art show tomorrow south of Tucson. I will be at the Amado Territory Inn at Arivaca Road. Go south on I-19 to exit 48. The inn is on the east side of the highway. Hours are 10-4. The shop will be closed and reopen on Monday. Come visit!

Tucson Wool Festival Shawl

The shawl to be raffled off to support the Casa Maria Kitchen in Tucson is now finished. The Freeform Spinners of Tucson spun, wove, knitted, and crocheted

Rambouillet wool in natural brown and roving that I dyed in autumn shades. I spent the last few weeks assembling and adding a corkscrew border.

Raffle tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5. This year I will let you buy tickets in advance. You do not need to be present to win. You do have to provide a valid telephone number or email, so I may contact you.

Hope that a lot of you can make it to the festival this year. There are always new vendors, changes at the ranch, and different volunteers. It always amazes me how quickly the time passes and how much more creative we all get!

Patagonia

It was great to get out and see people for a change. I work in isolation in my studio and can get disconnected sometimes from the everyday world. Summers in Tucson are pretty quiet.

At the festival I met Cynthia Binyon from Bisbee, a handweaver who specializes in rugs from reclaimed materials. Pictured above is one of her rugs that I bought because I loved the color combination. It does not really match anything in my house! I bought two others and will feature them in a future posting.

I dug out all of the colors in the rug and carded them into roving, which I have already spun. Great fall colors that I spun up as lamb's tails, elastic, and a single. I am doing a variation in mostly mohair now - which has turned out a lot greener, since I left out the navy blue.

Above is a photo of my booth. Elastic and funky yarns were definitely a hit!

The North Tucson Living Magazine has an article on me in its October-November 2010 issue. It was in mailboxes yesterday and should be online soon at: www.northtucsonliving.com.

Do pass the word out about the wool festival. The shawl is almost finished - I am crocheting a border! The vendor list is complete on the website.

Patagonia Fall Arts Festival

The Patagonia Fall Arts Festival is Friday-Sunday. I have a friend covering the shop for drop ins, but the good stuff is going to be with me. There will be roving, batts, and what I can't fit in the truck, left in the shop. Can't wait to get out and see what other people are doing and see some of my friends who can't make it up to the ranch.

I will be doing a lot more shows this fall and I have applied for Stitches West next February, so please check my website or call me, if you are coming on a weekend.

I finished the Suri alpaca scarf. The yarn was coiled, but Suri develops tails rather than clean coils, so it turned out a lot more interesting than I anticipated.

Batches of yarn produced over the past week and already in the shop.

I sold some skeins with a lot of yardage in them, so spun up some more - different colors naturally. The turquoise one at the front has 700 yards and is a fingering weight. They are going in the shop this morning.