Tag: Fiber Arts

Posted on

Fiber Arts Friday: Modern Nature Jewelry

Welcome back to the wonderful world of Fiber Arts Friday!

This week I’d like to take the time to introduce you to my sister-in-law Kathleen Lang Klik, who is a very talented photographer and jewelry designer.  You might remember me mentioning her a while back in a post about felting beads with alpaca. Well, as it turns out Kathy took her new found knowledge of bead felting and turned it into a beautiful work of jewelry art. The necklace she created from those alpaca beads was recently featured in the magazine Bead Trends.  

Bead Trends Jan 11

Of course I’m very proud that she chose to entitle the piece “Dutch Hollow” in honor of the alpacas who supplied the fiber for her beads.  Kathleen has such a great eye for the art of jewelry making and I really enjoyed the textures, shapes and sizes she chose for this piece.

 Alpaca Bead Necklace  Alpaca Bead Necklace

I hope her work and the attention it is getting inspires more artists to look to alpaca fiber beyond its traditional uses.

Fiber Arts Friday Exclusive!  If you’d like to see more of Kathleen’s work, she has been gracious enough to offer FAF readers a 10% discount at her Etsy Store!

Modern Nature Jewelry
Use Coupon Code: ALPACA10
Good from March 18th – 24th, 2011. 

Be sure to check out these other great sites to see what everyone else has been creating this week.

Photobucket
Creative Friday Button>

Posted on

FAF: Where do you fiddle with fiber?

I’m often asked how I find time to do all that I do.  The key for me is to never have down time.  Even a 15 min break can net you 1-2 rows on a project. As long as I can fit what I’m working on into my jacket pocket I’ll carry it with me and work on it little by little.  I save the night time for bigger projects that have outgrown my pockets. 

I relish the down time I get in the office with a few minutes knitting or crocheting. Sometimes I even bring in a drop spindle and spin on breaks.  I’ve even been known to knit away while on conference calls, which by the way I think helps me remember more on the call.  There’s something about fiber arts that wakes up your brain.  Mind you it must be an easy mindless pattern but having my hands fly away somehow controls my ADD and lets me absorb more that goes on around me.  Ah ha! I knew I saw an article about this before.  At least I’m not the only one.

Anywho! This week my day job had me playing “field tech” and I toured almost all of Western New York without setting foot in the office.  But even as a traveling tech I am allowed lunch breaks! Even the cramp confines of a truck can become a knitting parlor once a day! 

Knitting and Driving

————————————————————————————

Share in your comments:  
Where was the weirdest place you fiddled with fiber?

Pst… Shamless plug… Do you like this blog?
<—Click on “Follow this Blog”  on the left!

————————————————————————————

 

Photobucket
Creative Friday Button>

Posted on

Fiber Arts Friday – New Fiber

Welcome Fiber Arts Friday and Crafty Friday Folks.

I haven’t been overly fibery this week because of some big projects and unexpected surprises.

Let me start off with what I did manage to do. I got 2 skeins spun up of my alpaca/merino. Nice bulky 2 ply ready for a hat or thick scarf.
If you saw my post earlier this week about our Labor Day projects you’ll know why I haven’t been able to keep up with my usual Fiber ADD self. Sometimes even I have to get down and to “real” farm work.

The other surprise this week was the arrival of a new cria. I had come home on Wednesday to meet up with the UPS freight guy and noticed an extra body in the girls pasture! Vanilla had her cria 2 weeks early. I rushed inside, got towels and of course my camera and went out into the field to meet our newest member. I got to work drying off the cria and about 2-3 minutes later it dawned on me I didn’t check the sex. IT”S A GIRL! I was totally thrilled that A) I was home B) the cria, though early, was healthy and strong and C) it’s a girl! D) I got the color I wanted! Yippy!

At 13.6lbs she was a bit small but stood up within the hour and started to nurse and mom had LOTS of good milk/colostrum ready to go. Since she was a bit early one of her ears is a bit folded still but it should correct itself in a few days. Otherwise she’s beautiful in every way and I can already feel the superior density in her fleece which is exactly what I was breeding for.

Well if I think about it, maybe I was fibery this week by welcoming new fiber animals into this world.

Lastly name.  I think we decided on Dutch Hollow’s Parcella D’oro  (Parcel of Gold) Play on the fact the only reason I was home was because of a UPS delivery 🙂

Posted on

Custom Dog Collars and Leashes

Dutch Hollow Acres is now able to offer custom dog collars and leashes made from alpaca fiber.

Alpaca yarn is twisted into different thicknesses of cord and braided into attractive collars and leashes for you!

Your dog will love the soft feel of alpaca oh their collar and you will enjoy the exquisite texture of alpaca in your hands using one of our leashes.

Collar
Collar

 
 

Leash
Leash

==============================
1/22/10
I am awaiting the arrival of my new cord making machine so I can make the following without taking hours and hours to make just one!
– alpaca mecatet
-alpaca reins
– alpaca leashes
– alpaca show lead ropes for both horses and alpacas
– alpaca dog collars and more
==============================