Monday, May 13, 2013

The Season of Festivals

Sure Spring is the season of renewal.  The trees are flowering and leaves are turning green.  Forsythia and lilacs have blossomed and are now green bushes.  Flox, rhodedendron, peonies and tulips are entering peak in my neighborhood and fiber festivals are popping up EVERYWHERE.

I recently had the opportunity to attend one of the largest and oldest fiber festivals in our area, Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (MSWF).  It was great.  I was so distracted by the many fiber, yarn and equipment offerings that I neglected to take any photos of the event.

Instead, I offer a brief list of the vendors we enjoyed along with links to their websites and a few tips.
Just Our Yarn or JOY for short is where we spent a lot of time.  After all, how do you resist beauties like their River Run shawl kit
River Run kintted shawl

Their kits are available at shows and you can visit their website to contact them for a list of shows they are attending.  There is a brief list on their website here.

Next stop was Bullen Woolens, a fiber favorite of ours.  They never disappoint and they were sharing their booth with Von Strohm who had some lovely fiber for sale.  Pat Bullen is so busy dyeing yarn and vending at fiber festivals that she hasn't had a chance to construct a website.  Her contact information can be found here.
Here is a photo of the fiber I purchased from Von Strohm.  Their website is here.  They have a fiber and quilting shop in South Bloomfield, Ohio.  Here is the fiber I bought
 I love the purple and shades of grey with the natural of this Columbia wool.  


I also purchased a couple of cones of yarn for the studio.  I love both and hope to add two dark shades for a shadow weave fabric for a jacket or sweater.  I have some vague ideas.




I highly recommend attending a local fiber festival if you can find one.  The Spinning & Weaving Group (SWG), part of TNNA (the National Needle Arts Association) has a list by state of local festivals HERE on their website.  They also have a list of teachers who teach weaving and spinning HERE.

You can follow SWG on Facebook HERE.

Have a great Spring!

Friday, May 3, 2013

Everything's coming up Cherry!

In the world of Schacht, the word of the year is CHERRY! or cheery if you ask me.  I love wood and cherry is on the top of my list of great woods.  Schacht is now offering their top looms in cherry with the Barry Schacht medallion on the side.
This medallion commemorates founder Barry Schacht's special birthday and will appear on the Matchless spinning wheel, the Wolf Pup LT, the Baby Wolf 8 shaft loom with stroller and the Mighty Wolf 8 shaft loom with stroller.  All looms can be ordered NOW for delivery beginning in August.
Interested?  Please email me at: lotsaknots@msn.com or leave a comment to this post.

I am enjoying spinning on my cherry Matchless with a romney, mohair, cormo mix fiber that has a very tiny amount of shiny angelina.  Here's how it looks on the bobbin:



The variegation is a nice surprise along with these slubs of mohair that add texture to the yarn.  It should be ready for plying soon.

Next blog post will focus on weaving.  I am working on a pattern for placemats which I hope to publish on Patternfish.  I'm still sampling and trying different weft colors now that I have decided on the warp.  Stay tuned.