August 26, 2011

Siever's Fiber Art School and a Few Other Things

So I know that things are going to get busier as the Christmas season approaches and I don't want to neglect the blog, I think we have a good thing going here.  So I am going to post something fiber related on Friday's and hopefully you will enjoy reading it.  I would love to do some fiber reviews as well.  If I start having a bit more time I will defintially do some non Friday fiber posts. 

I will be moving my "Treasury Tuesday" posts to our Hello Purl Facebook page as a link so you can check them out directly on Etsy.  Be sure to become a fan if you haven't already (I like to give coupon codes and share what is happening in the studio there).

Everyone's work from the weekend at Siever's Fiber Art School.

I won a weekend at Siever's Fiber Art School through my guild the Traveling Treadlers and I enjoyed a weekend Spin Retreat on Door Co.'s Washington Island.  It was lots of fun and I learned a lot.
  • I changed my spinning technique so I draft back which allows me to control the type of yarn I want to create better.  
  • I learned how to do a long draw draft (this is where you pull the fibers back far from the wheel's orifice).  I only practiced this for a few hours so I have far from perfected it.  
  • I spun some cotton, not very well but I think I may have to give it a try again.  
  • I dyed all of my fiber samples for Septemnber's Phat Fiber box.  

Fiber dyed and drying for September's Phat Fiber "Enchanted Forest" theme.
  • I also learned how to Navajo ply, which is where you create a 3ply yarn from a single bobbin.  Navajo plying creates a nice round yarn. 
Some spinning I did at the retreat.

My first Navajo ply yarn (fiber dyed from Punk n Sparkle).


Everyone was wonderful and I had lots of fun.  If I can scrape the money together (or win another weekend) I would love to go back and take another fiber arts class.

August 12, 2011

Phat Fiber Sneak Peek

Don't forget to try and snag your Phat Fiber box this weekend!  The theme is Bollywood and it sure to be full of sparkle.  If you are a Ravelry member (it's free to join) you can check out a sneak peek video in the Phat Fiber forum.  If not just check out the photos of our contributions below to get you excited.  You can try and get your hands on the fiber goodness here on Sunday August 14th at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. CDT (Chicago Time).  Don't forget full sized versions of the samples we created will be in our online shop on Monday!

The Bollywood samples we sent in for the August Phat Fiber box.

A sneak peek of a full sized version of a Bollywood mini sample batt.