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I've Never Had it Done So Gently Before

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Exciting News!

Hello friends! I'm excited to announce I've been accepted into the ever-fabulous Patchwork Indie Arts & Craft Festival in Long Beach, CA on Sunday, May 15th 2011. I'm very excited, as this is my first indie craft fair, and hopefully the first of many!




I will be offering all kinds of handspun yarn, carded and dyed fibers, how-to spin kits (spindles+fibers), and my knit/crochet items. Plus, there should be a new product unveiled at the show! hint: think back to your playground days (o;

For more info, visit their Facebook page, and if you're nearby, definitely come say hello!

And for fun....



<3

Monday, April 4, 2011

Productive Weekend!

Big dye-day this weekend + set the twist on EIGHT skeins

8skeins

and some serious over-dye success!

before....blah...

before over-dye



after...hurrah! :oP

overdye2


and for fun, here's all the skeins...in one!

bigskein1

The blue-green one is part of a super-secret collaboration that is set to be unveiled at the end of May (though this could change). Excitement!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Battz are up!

Now listed--4 drum carded batts by moi! Lots of texture, lots of color, lots of fun!


First Batt Update 3/18 @ 12pm PST


Sogentlybefore on Etsy

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Drum Carding!

After a bit of a hiatus from blogging, I'm back and gushing with details about my new drum carder! While I am a proud lover of hand carders, this work is extremely laborious and taxing on the body.


drumcarder

Enter tax return
and beautiful new 'Fancy
Kitty Drum Carder'!

(I made this a haiku for you)


Now that I have cut down on labor, I'm ready to really start offering prepared fibers in my shop. Here are a few of my first creations...


3rd batt on new carder
(In the shop soon!)



2nd batt on new carder
(Sold)



And finally, this batt...

First batt ever on my new drum carder!


was spun into this yarn...

unnamed2
Thick & Thin, Lurex-Wrapped Goodness


And when can you expect to see my batts for sale? Check out SoGentlyBefore.Etsy THIS FRIDAY 3/18 at 12pm PST.

See ya then ;o)

Thursday, December 30, 2010

New Wheel!

So, for about a year and a half I have been using my lil' spinning wheel from Heavenly Handspinning , which has served me well. However, it wasn't made to stand the test of time, and certainly not everyday use and abuse like I have put it through. I'm pretty much the only one who can get it to work at this point.

Enter Christmas and my lovely parents...I introduce:

My new Lendrum wheel!!:

Battered Wheel vs. New Wheel

Here you can see my old wheel on the left, as a point of comparison.

I'm so excited to score this beauty after going so long with a small orifice (limiting my art yarn capabilities) and having to fix my old wheel every 2 weeks. Now, I've got so many options in terms of flyers, bobbins and a bonafied non-homemade lazy kate, I hardly know what to do with myself!

Not!

I got to spinning straight away, and here's my first spin:

"Pebbles"

Pebbles

Pebbles

A little over-twisted, which is to be expected while I get used to the new more efficient equipment, but once I set the twist it will relax a bit, puff up and make me proud!

I can't wait to share my future spins, especially all the fun and funky yarns I have planned in my head!

Keep an eye out for more (o;

Friday, December 17, 2010

Handmade Holiday

With Christmas approaching, things in my life are about to get hectic! After deciding to do a 100% handmade Xmas this year, I started making as many projects myself as I could...


Monkey Wrap
"Monkey Wrap" for my lil' sis with the funky grandma style
(note the vintage Rawfish fiber!)


Outrageously Pink Tam for Gma
"Outrageously Pink Tam" for my actual Grandma with a funky style. (LushMommy & Pumpkinhaus fiber + commercial hand-dyed yarn)


gnomehatme
This is me, in the Gnome Hat (pattern by the lovely Dani of Pumpkinhaus), which was supposed to be for my 18 month-old nephew, but I didn't check my guage, so now it's for me!

Still have a lot to make, like this "kitchen set" for Landon:





I'm so happy that everything is coming together for this handmade holiday! Though I have a lot of work ahead of me, I know that it will be all worth it in just a few short days...

Good luck to the rest of you, handmade holiday or not!

<3

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Rolag Launch

Hi friends!

So my big rolag launch last Thursday was a success! Got 6 batt sets up on Etsy and only 3 are left!

"Midnight Directives" Fiber Rolag Set
"Midnight Directives"


"Route 66" Fiber Rolag Set
"Route 66"


"Sonnet" Fiber Rolag Set
"Sonnet"


Check them out, and don't forget I'm offering free US shipping! :oD

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

New things are coming...

What an exciting week! I finished my very first shawl....

shawlfinished6a
"Birds of a Feather Shawl" hand-dyed, hand-carded, handspun and knit by moi!



And on Thursday, I will be launching my line of hand-carded rolags in my Etsy shop! Care for a sneak peak?

SNEAK PEAK!
"Drama" -- 2.57 oz of super soft Merino, BFL, Mulberry Silk hand-dyed by LaiGrai, Tussah Silk and Merino fleece galore!


Each of these mini-batts are LAYERED with a variety of fibers and colors many times over, so just like big batts, there are tons of color and texture surprises to be found as you spin!


Check out my Twitter all day tomorrow to see these rolags and more up for sale!

Friday, November 12, 2010

A Poem, for the Sake of Friday

For Sale
by Robert Lowell

Poor sheepish plaything,
organized with prodigal animosity,
lived in just a year—
my Father’s cottage at Beverly Farms
was on the market the month he died.
Empty, open, intimate,
its town-house furniture
had an on tiptoe air
of waiting for the mover
on the heels of the undertaker.
Ready, afraid
of living alone till eighty,
Mother mooned in a window,
as if she had stayed on a train
one stop past her destination.


Pasadena, CA


Pasadena, CA 11/06/2010


Lowell, Robert. Life Studies. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (October 16, 2007)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Birds of a Feather Shawl

After realizing I had far too many WIPs and finally finishing one of them, I allowed myself to start another.

As seen in an earlier post, I spun up a beautiful yarn called "Birds of a Feather"

et3

Once the twist was set, I was off to begin my "Half Circle Shawl" (pattern by Jennifer Jones). Here's my progress thus far:

Birds of a Feather Shawl

And a detail of a fun strand of gold elastic I spun into the yarn:

Birds of a Feather Shawl

I'm really enjoying this project! There's a lot of repetition, but enough variation to keep me interested and focused. My goal is to finish it by the end of the week.

This project is part of the "Shawl-a-Month" project led by Pumpkinhaus in LaiGrai's amazing Ravelry group. Here's the thread. (You'll need an account to see it!)

More progress to come :oD