It must be the daylight...

We are at exactly 19 hours of daylight as of today! It makes people manic I tell you. Kids go bonkers, drivers go nuts, motorcycles start doing wheelies down the freeways, dogs want to play fetch and be walked at 10pm, cats are freaking out with the dustbunnies at 3 am... and fiber freaks well they spin and knit like mad :)

My car knitting.... the stuff I do at red lights and traffic jams (please don't try and tell me that you don't do it too, at least I set it down when my foot is on the gas pedal), is a sampler stole out of a blue mohair, my recipe.


And then I am spinning up some superwash merino/tencel blend hand-dyed by Susan. This yummilicious fiber is in the Autumn Sunset colorway, and I just love how the tencel adds that silky feel and shine.

This is the top, and fine singles...


This is about 3 oz spun up thick/thin and 2 ply. There is about 180 yards. I could have spun the singles tighter, but was more focused on trying to get the rhythm of the thick/thin thing. It balanced pretty well, but has not yet been dunked. In natural light.


With a flash.


I have about 4 oz of the top left and am planning to spin it all in fine singles and navajo ply it.



Make peace, spin fleece!

WoW!!!

I have to keep reminding myself that these amazing people are 8th grade graduates! This weekend's (years!) highlight was the graduation of 7 amazing 8th graders from our Waldorf School.

Their individual gift presentations during graduation were a (nothing less than professional) photographic slide show (see www.jangdagallery.com), piano, viola & violin solos of the masters (double jaw dropping amazing WoW!!), personal compositions on piano (again... WoWWW), FreeBird sung and played by graduate playing his own handmade electric guitar (WoW! dang, why didn't I have a lighter to wave?!), a self choreographed modern dance piece!

Wow..... speechless! Well if you can be speechless and gushing at the same time! I just adore these people. These were also students of my specialty classes (woodwork/handwork fiber arts), and friends of my oldest child. I am so grateful to have been able to know and work with them since they were just little tykes. I look forward to being witness to their journey into highschool and adulthood! They are just amazing!!!

Here is a picture of a few of them (the guys) with a few of their buddies enjoying a post grad sunset!



make peace, spin fleece!

Coastal Paradise

Happy Mother's Day... and some eyecandy from yesterday's perfect day.

Sleeping Lady at almost sunset, about 9pm. The sun finally sat at 1030pm.



Snarly Trees on the Coastal Trail. Can't wait for the leaves. They are budding this weekend!



I began spinning up 4 oz of merino/yng mohair from The Spinning Bunny in the Fruit Salad colorway that is being closed out. I tried to thick/thin slubby spin it and was not very successful. It looks muddy and not slubby. It is true what spinners say about it being difficult to spin thick/slubs after having mastered thin singles. :(

Pictures of muddy mess to follow... when I am done grieving!

Rhapsodies in Fiber, my Bohemian Collection...

Ok.... it is obvious that the blog has been seriously neglected. But... this is what I have been up to! :)

This was a very large show, this is just a sampling!

This peice "Tidal Creatures" is a wall sculpture (most of my sculptures are), and is about 24" X 14", and is a combo of wet felt, and needle felt, with embellishments.


"Drew" is about 18" X 14", needle felted wool/silk/silver over a sculpted core. (Sold)


"E=mc2" is a blue eyed Einstein and is needle felted wool over scupted core. He's 14" X 10".


I wish you could see this one better. I rarely.... never until this one, frame felt. But it was thin and I almost threw it away. I loved the color though and so it hung around and someone encouraged me to frame it. I found this gold frame and it just made the picture pop. Now it is one of my favorite peices ever. "Kincaid Trees at Sunset"


Another view, a bit closer...


"Baa Baa Black Sheep," is a large soft scupture. The sheep heads were wet felted from merino, the locks were needle felted on after and the faces then embellished and mounted together. This is large, maybe 2' X 3'


This is "Blonde Bohemian Girl," needle felted wool, with silk/silver over sculpted core. She is 14" X 10"


This is a small sculpture. 5" X 8".... "Polynesian Party Girl," needle felted wool, silk, silver over sculpted core.


"Serenity Sister in Greece" is needle felted wool over sculpted core. About 20" X 14"


As I said, this is just a wee sampling! It was great fun, and several large peices sold during the opening so I didn't get to photographing them. What was the most fun, was that I took E=mc2 to the opening as a work in progress, so that viewers could see and feel what fiber sculpture is about. Most people have never seen anything like it so it was fun to share. :)

I hope you enjoy!