Category: Fiber Arts

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Fiber Arts Friday: A bit of everything

Welcome back to Fiber Arts Friday!

I’ve had a case of Fiber ADD again this week.  I think heading up to Jay NY for the shearing seminar got me motivated to play with everything alpaca again.

If you frequent my Fiber Wordless Wednesday you’ve seen my shearing job so I won’t bore you with that again.  If you haven’t seen it check it out or think about participating next week, share anything fiber animal related from sheep to rabbits and everything in between.

With my hands on all that alpaca fiber at shearing made me want to spin so I got to work on this bobbin.  I haven’t spun in a while and I’m amazed how I’m doing so poorly and getting lumps when I’m trying not to get them.   Ugh.

Alpaca Yarn

 My green shawl has stalled.  I got 2 more pattern rows done since you last seen it but at least that was enough to get me onto my last skein!  I’m almost there.

Lastly… Here’s the start of the heather gray alpaca shawl using the same pattern as the green shawl.  See why I decided to sell the green one and keep this one? 

 Crochet Alpaca Shawl  Crochet Alpaca Shawl


Don’t forget to check back for Fiber Market Monday’s!  Got anything to do with fiber? Post it! Etsy, OpenHerd, AlpacaNation, personal websites etc are fair game.  This is a shopping market for fiber lovers of all types!

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Alpaca Buttonhole Scarf/Cowl Pattern

 Let’s face it, alpaca yarn is expensive and if you’re like me you hate to waste any of it.  I had about 50 or so yards left over from a project and came up with this little pattern to make a cowl.  With 2 buttons finishing it off it happily fits around my neck perfectly like a coker necklace.  I’ve been putting together a scarf using this pattern with other leftovers I have.  I’ll post picks when I get it done.

Click Here for PDF – Crochet Pattern

Materials:

Worsted Weight Yarn
US J10/6.00MM hook
~50-70 yards of yarn. Perfect for leftovers or novelty skeins!

Key:

CH – Chain
SC – Single Crochet
DC – Double Crochet
SK – Skip

Setup Row: Chain 21

Row 1: DC in 4th and 5th chain from hook.  CH 5, SK next 5 CH, DC in next 3 CH, CH 5, SK next 5 CH, DC in next 3 CH, CH3 (counts as 1st DC for next row) Turn.

Row 2: DC in next 2 DC, CH 2, SK 2, SC, CH 2, SK 2, DC in next 3 DC, CH 2, SK 2, SC, CH 2, SK 2, DC in next 3 DC, CH 3 turn.

Row 3: DC in next 2 DC, CH 2, SK 2, SC, CH 2, SK 2, DC in next 3 DC, CH 2, SK 2, SC, CH 2, SK 2, DC in next 3 DC, CH 3 turn.

Row 4: DC in next 2 DC, CH 5, SK 5, DC in next 3 DC, CH 5, SK 5, DC in last 3 DC, CH 3 Turn.

Row 5-?: Repeat rows 2 – 4 until desired length, ending on row 4.

Cowl Finish: Add 4 rows of SC for an area to fasten 2 buttons to.

Scarf Finish: Appox. 150-200 yards of yarn needed. End Scarf on Row 4 and fasten off.

 

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Fiber Market Monday: Starter Herd

Welcome back to Fiber Market Mondays!

This is a forum to showcase anything made from natural animal fiber, raw fiber or even the fiber animals themselves!

Spring is here and with it comes Mother’s Day.  What better way to celebrate mother’s day than a mommy and me starter herd package?!   This package is a 3(2) package.   You’ll get proven dam Bella who is bred for a Fall 2011 cria as well as Fontina, her 2010 Female cria!  As an added bonus if you say you saw this ad on Fiber Market Monday I’ll even add in free breed backs for BOTH Bella and Fontina for a 5(2) package!

Fiber Market Monday

Do you craft with animal fiber, sell raw fleeces or fiber animals?
Share your links with us every Monday.
Etsy, OpenHerd, AlpacaNation, and private websites are OK!!!!!!!

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Fiber Arts Friday: Fiber Funeral

Welcome back Fiber Arts Friday fans.

This week I lost a good friend, neighbor and equine enthusiast, David Britt.  Of all things David died encephalitis after getting the flu.  I’m so thankful that my last memory of him (a day before he got sick) is when he saw me riding by on one of my horses.  He couldn’t help throwing open a window, hanging half way out, screaming out my name and waving feverishly just to say hello and wish me a good day. David was that kind of guy and so full of love for life and everyone in it. I’m going to miss him and so will the horses, who drag me to a stop at his driveway because they know he’d always come out with some carrots.

David and Goliath
David and Goliath

So, why this talk of death? Well it’s my only release really.  Sorry to unload on you folks but just getting it out there really helps.  Thank you for tolerating me.

Ironically Stephanie (Hog Island Sheep Rancher) sent me over a TIME article about woolen caskets on Monday.  It just seemed to mesh into what I was going through this week so why not look into fiber funeral options?

There is a rather inventive wool mill in Britain called Hainsworth who has been in the mill business for 225 years and make everything from felt for billiard tables to the uniforms for the Queen’s guards. With economy tanking and the “green” initiative soaring the company figured out a way to tap into a traditionally wood and metal market with their felted wool caskets and cremation presenters.

I’m a bury me in the back yard in a pine box type of personality but I’m thinking oh wouldn’t an alpaca casket be even better?!  Ok, can you tell I don’t handle death well? Seriously though wouldn’t it would be the perfect send off for a fiber artist. You could needle felt a flower to it instead of real flowers.

Ok that’s it I’m done, I can’t type any more but if you want to check out their wool caskets Click Here.

Have a great weekend everyone I’m off to learn how to shear alpacas.

  Click Here for Link Parties

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WIP: Fan Pattern Shawl Con’t

So my hope was to finish the shawl sitting around a camp fire while we were camping at Letchworth State Park this past weekend.  Instead our camp fire dreams were stomped out by Smokey the Bureaucratic State Employee Bear!   

  1. Letchworth kicked us out of our cabin that we’ve rented for the past 11 years and tossed us in another one while our usual cabin was geting an overhaul.  Why? Because….
  2. Letchworth took out ALL wood burning stoves from ALL of the cabins
  3. Letchworth no longer provides campers with firewood even for outside camp fires
  4. Letchworth pissed me off and totally ruined our camping trip! ARGH

The first night we all stood around what used to be a fireplace and did nothing but bellyache about Letchworth.  We were so bored we all went to bed at 9pm totally sober and irate.   

Day 2 was a little better; we drank beer, ate bacon and eventually went on a hike.  Later we drove all the way back to Geneseo to pick up some of those manufactured logs just so we could have an outside camp fire.  More drinking made the processed fire almost look realistic.

Letchworth State Park
LSP - Outlet after lowerfalls footbridge.

Letchworth State Park
LSP - Lower Falls after a hard rain.

Since most of my time was spent complaining about the State of New York and Letchworth State Park in general I only got 1 pattern row done on my scarf.  But, the good news is I’m almost done with a skein and there’s 1 more skein left to work and the other one will be used for fringe.   

   

Oh, I also read a book called “A Dog’s Purpose” by Bruce Cameron.  If you’re a dog lover I highly recommend it.  If you’re a crier keep tissues handy.  I slobbered all over my sleeping bag and pillow on several occasions.  

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