Smells like Roses (sort of)
What's this?
A nice big gallon freezer bag of sawdust from approximately 4 or 5 spindles made of Argentine Lignum Vitae (Bulnesia sarmientoi).
Baby Llama Handspun
My good buddy Elizabeth N. was kind enough to pick me up some nice fibers at Madrona 2010 (Washington fiber workshops and vending). This lovely naturally gray baby llama was one of the neatest finds. Pretty inexpensive at $20 for a 4 ounce braid.
It spun up to about 300 yards of fingering weight 2-ply.
From braid to niddy noddy took me about 2 months of leisurely spinning. The majority of the work was done on Gripping Yarn supported Russian spindles. I switched to my Ashford "boat anchor" for the plying.
Rosy Days; Argentine Lignum Vitae
I’m absolutely in love with Argentine Lignum Vitae. A client asked for it as a possible wood choice, so I ordered two blanks. While there were 20 or so other woods in this shipment, when the box was opened the aroma of that one particular wood infused the entire box with a warm, rosy scent.
A better workshop?
I put it out to the universe that I need a bigger workshop in order to expand my spindle production.
The universe answered with a MAYBE (to be announced). I'm too excited to sleep so I bounced awake at 4am. I'm going to need a nap today for sure.
Spinning your own yarn; Senior Workshop April 16th in Seattle, WA
I haven’t seen the advertising personally, but Kelly (a friend in our Fantabulous Tuesday Daytime Knitting circle) mentioned that she’d seen an ad for the senior’s workshop that I’ll be hosting on April 16th @ the Greenwood Senior Community Center in her Phinney community newsletter. (reminder to self: hunt that down.)
A small business is as a small business does...
I don't know what that means... but I think it means that if I put extra love and attention into figuring out sourcing, better shipping options, and responding to the needs of my clients, it will result in happier clients and a happier Lisa too!
Deborah Chandler on Learning
I don't recall ever having students who wanted to weave ugly things, make pieces that would fall apart, or create anything that they couldn't be proud of. On the other hand, at least 25 percent of my students have set such high standards of themselves, based not on knowledge of the subject but on a general attitude of inadequacy, that they are perpetually frustrated and self discouraging. It isn't better standards I need to teach, it's acceptance of and gentleness with one's self, one's creations.
Learning to Weave
Band Saw works great!
I'm very happy with that cheap Skil band saw I bought last week. I won't be ripping a lot of boards or anything and it does exactly what I want. This means that I can source more wood and have it available much quicker for clients.
In awesome land, Dez from Lumberjocks is going to give me a hand-me-down (pay it forward) drill press. I could conquer the world! with a Dremel, japanese saw, band saw, lathe, chisel files, sandpaper, and drill press combination. I really could!
The agony of de Feet (har har har)
... and the back. And the throat!
I flew through minor throat surgery with flying colors. It kept me
out of the shop for 5 days. In that time, I managed to work up a pretty
decent backlog of orders. (I create and sell custom tools for hand
spinning yarn.)
Catching up has been a mixed bag. I’m feeling a little off my
sculpting game. So my first spindle, while functional and to the order
of my client, just didn’t please me. The weight was too much, the Cherry
bruised, the bead was off…
Silk and Cashmere Fingering Handspun
I received a nice ounce of cashmere in a swap and decided I wanted to see what a 2-ply 50/50 silk and cashmere yarn might look like.
Here's some silk on one of the Gripping Yarn supported spindles. (Bocote, Tulipwood, Walnut)
And here is the plying ball!
