Tucson Wool Festival Anecdotes

Danny Smith, my scheduled shearer was not able to make it this year, so I talked my friend, Scott Scheyli, into filling in. He used to shear his angora goats, but now spends more time shearing his horses. He has not lost his touch and the animals that he got sheared are very grateful. So am I! I hate advertising an event and not being able to follow through. The shearing is always a highlight of the festival for everyone and I would not want to have disappointed.

Alpacazona - an Arizona alpaca farm with a wide variety of handmade items and raw materials for the fiber artists.

Yumiko Alexander from was here selling her book and patterns. Very original designs! She wants to learn how to create her own art yarns!

Celestial Designs traveled the furthest and had a wide assortment of fiber related products.

No festival can be a success without all of the volunteers who show up before and during the festival. Above is Judith Segel with her triangle loom weaving demonstration. She shows up every year - with no other motivation than to share her love of her artwork with passersbys.

Virginia John splits her time between Arizona and California and shows up to help, if she is in town when the festival takes place. This year she warped the loom and encouraged others to sit down and try their hand at throwing the shuttle. Even children were given the opportunity, so the rug will be a true community project. The rug on the loom will be raffled off at the April 9, 2011 Spring Shearing to benefit the Casa Maria Kitchen.

The Shawl raffled off this festival was won by Bethany Newhouse. A photo of her wearing/holding it will be published once she picks it up. The raffle brought in $148 which will go to the Casa Maria Kitchen of Tucson.

Other winners:

Isaac Barrios - $10 gift certificate to Unique Designs By Kathy

Windy Hunter - stitch markers

Kim Newhouse - yarn

Martins O'Brien - felted bag

Rhonda Grimaldo - stitch markers

Julie Olson - Batt of Rambouillet wool

I have a different shearer coming on Tuesday to finish the shearing. If you missed the shearing and would like to see a different style, come out after 11 a.m. She is supposed to be here earlier, but traditionally runs late.

Thank you to all who came out and supported the event. Without you, it would have been a dull day!

Crazy Lace and Tucson Wool Festival Project

We always begin the raffle project for the next shearing event at the one prior. We have decided to weave a rug for the April 9, 2011 shearing, so the weaving will begin this Saturday during the Tucson Wool Festival. You can see the colors that have been selected. One skein is ready and hopefully a few more will be, so the project can be completed in one day.

I began this crazy lace scarf/kerchief last fall. I spun the yarn for the ruffle on a drop spindle during the 4th Avenue Street Fairs. I like to have one new project for each show, so this is mine for the wool festival.

Side view.

This is all the spinning that I have done for the shop this week. I am busy spinning for the rug and cleaning up the workshop and the ranch, so it will look lovely for the visitors. Good thing we do this twice a year! Marc hit the dump this morning and will do Goodwill this afternoon. Amazing how much we can accumulate in 6 months!

I am doing the Art Institute of Tucson's Artisan Festival next Saturday. 10-3. It is on the north side of Grant just east of Swan. The shop will be closed as a result on November 13th.

Setting up shop

The worst thing about doing shows is the set up once I am back at the ranch. It takes a few hours and after standing around at a show, I am ready to be spinning or creating again. Fortunately I had Sunday to put the shop back together, although I admit that I did not finish till 11 on Monday. I am debating not putting it back up after the San Diego show, since I would have to take it down 2 1/2 days later.

There was very little foot traffic at the show, which was a real shame based on how many vendors made it. I used the opportunity to hand out flyers for the wool festival. Hopefully lots of people will show! The Tucson Home magazine has an entry about it, but the magazine was not available at Barnes and Nobles last night, so I was not able to pick up a copy.

I noticed that my check for Stitches West has been cashed, so I am going for sure. It will be fun to see a large fiber show - as well as participate.

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.