November

November is a time for thanks; I would like to extend a thank-you to all of you for continuing to encourage my creativity. I think we all go through times when we feel like we are in a creative slump. Here’s what I’ve been doing to push myself. First I just have to get off my ass and get moving! Sometimes that’s the hardest thing to do. I do try to make a plan, I need to be better about writing down the plan; it’s too easy to drift from the plan. I’ve been trying to set a weekly goal. This week, I made two pieces of felt yardage for some punch work that will be tote bags, laid out two felted scarves (I’m still fighting with them so it’s a little frustrating), created a pattern for the “Monroe” bag* (it’s printed, labeled, listed on my website and ready to go!), put my new trivet kits up on my website. I still have two items left on this week’s list, finishing my sign and writing this blog post! Not bad, now that I’ve gotten this week under my belt, I’m going to start on next week’s list. How do you keep on task and spark your creative side?

I also few added items, I’ve contacted a Quilt lap stand maker about a wooden lap stand for Punching, he’s sending me one to try out, and I’ll post my review after it arrives. I’m very excited about it though. I’m also working with a new designer close to here in Diamond Bar, her designs are more primitive but with a sense of whimsy, hopefully we’ll debut her designs in December.

* note on the Monroe bag, it is for the plain pattern, no design included

Scroll down to see about the events I have coming up, maybe I'll see some of you this Sunday in Torrance?

Designing Weavers View Book

I am a member of Designing Weavers and this is our new view book. I'm very proud to be among such talented Artists.

October News

Welcome to Fall one of my favorite times of year. If you'd like directions for the pumpkins e-mail me and I'll send them!
Congrats to the Tan Family for winning this month's prize a #9 fine point punch.

I have started a facebook page for wooly walkers, hopefully it will become a nice meeting place for fiber artists to stop by and share their questions & ideas.

I've added a few shows for November:

Southern California Handweavers' Guild "Weaving & Fiber Festival (WeFF)"
Annual Autumn Show & Sale

Sunday November 7th, 2010

Public Invited 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Torrance Cultural Arts Center
3350 Civic Center Drive, Torrance CA
Free Parking, Admission $5

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nov 13 6th Annual Harvest Hook-in, sponsored by California's First ATHA chapter, in Redlands, CA. it's at the Trinity Episcopal Church at 4th & Fern in Redlands from 9-3

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Designing Weavers Holiday Exhibit & Sale

When:
November 20 & 21, 2010
10am to 4pm each day

Where:
800 Woodward Blvd, Pasadena, CA
One mile south of 210 Fwy, two blocks east of Rosemead,
between Huntington Drive and California Blvd.

Welcome September

This month I am starting a give-away. Just post a comment to the question, should wooly walkers have a facebook page? I will randomly choose a winner, the prize will be an fine point Oxford Punch Needle size #9.

The #9 creates a 3/8" high loop and the fine point uses a single strand of worsted weight yarn. I love combining different height loops in the same piece it can really create amazing textures. You can also use a taller loops to accentuate a particular design element, such as lettering, it literally makes them pop!





















courtesy of The Oxford Company

I am also starting a monthly newsletter, if you'd like to be included just let me know!

New shoes

A couple of new shoes that will be available at my upcoming shows.

I'll be at the Estes Park Wool Market, in Estes Park, CO June 11th-13th.

We (my Husband Will & I) then travel over to Eugene, OR for the Black Sheep Gathering June 18th -20th.

In July We'll be heading East to Albuquerque, NM where we'll take a left turn at Convergence 2010, July 21st-25th.

August 6th-8th We'll be in San Francisco for the American Craft Council Show

Tutti Frutti is Woman's size 8, Polka Dots is Woman's size 7 1/2

Ancient Paths New Visions

Ancient Paths New Visions is the theme for this years Convergence 2010 and the Designing Weavers theme as well. I started off wanting to explore a little Shibori dyeing, since felting is already an ancient. Shibori is the Japanese term for resist dyeing using threading, bunching, clamping, and today's tie dye techniques are based on these methods. I first made a large piece of felt using C-1 wool and started to sew threads.I used embroidery thread that I had, it was strong enough and only broke a few when I was pulling them.

Dyeing was the next challenge, originally it was going to go with a friend piece that she was working on, but I couldn't get the vibrant colors that she had in her weaving, so I went with colors that I would like. Purple, green & yellow
I didn't really like the colors so I re-folded the felt in the opposite direction, tied it so the folds would stay and added a brown dye.
Now for the fun part, I made a pair of boots! I didn't take pictures of the process, but here are the finished boots.


With my ancient techniques of Felting and Shibori, my new vision is a wearable pair of boots.

Kumquat Marmalde

Kumquats are a strange little fruit, They measure from 1/2 an inch up to 1 1/2 inches. They're in the citrus family but you eat the whole fruit and actually the skin is sweeter than the pulp.

Zoe, our dog, loves oranges and will wake from a sound sleep if there is an orange being peeled, kumquats are a different story, she really wants to love then as much as oranges, but will only eat the really ripe ones! I don't know how she knows that.
I looked at a lot of recipes and decided that I'd go with one that doesn't use pectin and was in a smaller batch. this is a modification between two recipes. Easy is what I like!






2 Cups of sliced Kumquats I found that it was easier to just slice them with a knife. I tried the mandolin and the Mouli slicer, but it wasn't working with either. I also thought the seeds would be a problem but they were easy to pick out and when you added the water most floated to the top.

Some recipes had you save the seeds and tie them up in a cloth and cook them with the marmalade but I couldn't find out why? Natural pectin I suppose?








Soak the Kumquats in 4 cups of water overnight to soften the skins, not really sure this step is necessary but a lot of the recipes I read used this method.














The next day bring the skins to a boil. One recipe had you then drain and soak them again overnight. I didn't do that, I went right to the next step.














I added 1 1/2 cups of sugar and boiled it until it reached 220 on the instant read thermometer. It took about 45 minutes.


I was also going to add some Brandy at this stage, but it seemed to be missing...











Perfect amount and such a beautiful color. It jelled up beautifully when it cooled and it retained just enough of it's tartness. Now to make some bread to go with it!