west coast living

well, i made it! i've been here in california for a little over a week, and am finally settling in. it's a lot to get used to, but i'm already finding places to go for interesting things, and am enjoying the farmers markets that abound here (must remember how to cook). most days are sunny, and becoming cool; which is lovely after the 90 degree+ days of the last few months.

the drive from east coast to west coast was dry, dusty, and with a hefty dose of the desert. while leaving albuquerque we watched some colorful and strangely acrobatic hot air balloons float over the city. all in all it's been a peculiar couple of weeks.

yummy fresh figs! fruit, i know what to do with, so these along with lots of strawberries, and peaches have been a sudden staple to my diet.

art makes my new space feel a little like home. the funny thing is, by being 3000 miles away from my family and nala and meiko, i realize that it's not stuff that makes a home, but the people who are in it. corny, but true.

finally happened along a tray for my teaware. trays are my new favorite thing. 

bits of before

i snapped some photos before i left, and have finally gotten around to posting them. the silk noil and color grown green cotton blend spun up with interesting texture and i think will stay a single. happily, the hue wasn't diluted much at all by the addition of the white silk. this is before fulling and enhancing the color by an alkaline bath.

although it has been finished for awhile, here is the silk cosy for my kuchulu spindle. bright yellow, and soft pink; the influence being from the kumihimo kaitei.

moving (physically, not electronically)

well, you may have noticed the lack of posts in the last month. it's only going to get quieter, as i've decided to move to california at the end of september. it's crazy scary, but something i need to do. i've been in savannah for 12 years, and it's time to put down roots somewhere else. california seems a reasonable place as any, and my cosmetology license has been reciprocated, so now the job hunt and place to live hunt is going underway. wish me luck!

spinning, spun, sampled

too much drama overflowing from work into life; must dam it up. enough said about that. after teaching a beginner drop spinning class the other day, i was asked if i could spin display samples up of all the spinning fibers a shopkeeper friend has in her store. i thought that would be quite nifty and give me a chance to spin fibers i would normally not.

over two days, i spun wool, alpaca, cotton, bamboo, silk, tencel, merino, hemp, flax, yak, and camel, from laceweight to bulky, worsted, slubby, navajo plied, and what have you. some stood out better for me than others, and those which are my least favorite to spin because they make your hand feel like it's been licked raw by a cat, are still on my dislike list. i think i am currently in love with color grown cotton, though.

spin, spin, spin

yay! i completed my first ravelry 'tour de fleece' a couple of hours ago. all in all, i was able to spin a sampling of dyed bombyx silk brick, 25 grams of treenway silks dyed tussah roving, 25 grams of bombyx silk noil, 25 grams of treenway silks tussah noil, and a half sheet of mulberry paper. the mulberry paper connects with the silk theme, as silkworms eat mulberry leaves.

the interesting thing about these types of silk (the exception being the bombyx brick) is that as a single they are somewhat course feeling, but once plied, become soft and light. as well, the bombyx noils contrast more when blending with carders than the tussah, which is a finer noil.

as if a steady stream of spinning for the last 23 days wasn't enough, i've started carding a bombyx silk noil and green colorgrown peruvian cotton batt to spin this week. striking while the irons hot, and all that.