LA PURISIMA MISSION

I've discovered a new Mission in California,

 owned by the state,

that has been preserved as a historical site.

A really great gal I met at my Studio tour,

Diana,

turned me onto it. 

 She told me I'd love it after she saw my work.

It's in Lompoc, Ca.,

and shows the spinning wheels and looms that the Chumash Indians worked on. 

Look at the size of that floor loom!

It's immense!!!

This is going onto my bucket list as a place to visit for when I retire.

HELP NEEDED...

to identify this antique spinning wheel.

I recently acquired this gorgeous old spinning wheel from friends and shop owners up on the mountain.

My husband is going to clean, oil and restore it for me,

and I'm hoping someone out there might be able to tell me something about this wheel and its origin and date.

I love it's weathered blue color and I found these initials "AEG" on it's frame that feel embossed into the wood.

I also found these initials on the side "M.N.D.H." that were hand lettered.

It's patina is so beautiful, I can't wait to see it all oiled up again.

It must be old, 

there are no nails anywhere,

only pounded in dowels for joins.

Although there is a piece of metal that has rusted that turns the wheel.

And look at the join on the wheel below,

it's just so cool.

So I'm really hoping that someone out there might be able to share a little info on this beauty.

Note the old piece of leather that the orifice is slipping thru.

Wonderful!!!!

It was love at first site  :)

Senior Anna Lee is Hooked

SPINNING

BEGINNING 3-D ART

wool, angora goat, angora rabbit, and cotton rovings

Yeap, I've turned another student onto the joy of spinning.

She's HOOKED!

There is something magical about this fiber art.

Because it's a global skill,

once the kids go thru the difficult process of learning it,

it becomes a very relaxing pastime.

And they can't get enough of it.

So even though the unit is over, 

many of my students continue to spin for their own enjoyment,

 like Anna here.

Anna carding up her fibers to spin.

Andean plying up her singles into a 2-ply.

And her finished skein.

Lovely!

What's Laarnie What Too?

Spinning, dyeing and building her own drop spindle.

Senior Laarnie Barcelon is the lone ranger in my Advanced 3-D class this year.

But that's a good thing, she is able to become completely absorbed in her work and go deeply into Right Brain.

As a result she is producing incredible works of art this year.

She started the year off by dyeing raw fleece with food colors.

Then I taught her to spin on a drop spindle and also on the spinning wheel.

She took to the spinning wheel like a duck to water.

Just look at her lovely tail spun yarns here.

All these yarns below were either spun on the drop spindle or the spinning wheel.

Drop Spindle

She was also required to build from scratch her own drop spindle.

It was so beautifully designed and crafted that I had to take several shoots at different angles.

The cross bars are from the leftover molding pieces we used in the barn

 up at the cabin this summer.

She was required to build it from at least two different types of wood.

I believe she used oak. alder and poplar.

I adore how she trailed beads and gemstones around the layers 

so that our eye wraps around the piece.

Lovely work Laarnie.

 I'm so proud to showcase your work!

Back to School Nite 2014

A special thanks to seniors Kaili Hamada and Bianca Tolentino for hanging out with me and demonstrating for the parents on the Saori Loom and Spinning Wheel at Back to School Nite as I introduced myself and my program to the parents.

Yarn for Kaili

HAND SPINNING UP AT THE CABIN

MY WORK

dyed wool roving

One of my most thoughtful and sweetest juniors, Kaili Hamada, gifts me her leftover drum carded tidbits, so that every so often I'll find a colorful, fizzy surprise on my desk.  

I've been taking these goodies up to the mountains and last weekend split them into smaller chunks (below), put them into a brown bag so I couldn't see thru, then randomly pulled pieces out to spin. 

I Andean plied the singles back on itself then surprised Kaili on Monday with the skein below.  

I told her to make something special with it.

Getting Back in the Groove

I never really stopped spinning once I learned how over 30 years ago, but I did give up weaving on my beautiful Gilmore four harness floor loom exactly 19 years ago, when I daughter was born. 

Being a working mom with two small children, I instead took to portable arts/crafts projects to fill that void.  

But now that my kids only need me occasionally, I've got lots of free time to start weaving again.

So last weekend I pulled my loom away from the wall and cleaned off all the dust bunnies, and am looking forward to warping it with my handspun art yarns, and that great new Saori philosophy

Woo Hoo!   

Shout Out to Bianca Tolentino

For going above and beyond by coming in everyday at lunch to teach herself how to spin on a wheel.

You go girl!!

Spinning Out of Control

Did a fair amount of spinning yarn on my wheel this summer.  It's a super relaxing way to spend the evening while catching up on my Dexter's and Breaking Bads.  Last year I purchased these earthy batts from Drucilla Pettibone who lives out on a farm in the Carolinas I believe.  She raises a lot of animals and she loves to combine all their fleeces and coats, along with vintage fibers and laces into her art batts.  If you look closely you can see bits of ripped fabric along with other goodies floating around.  

I bought two different batts from her, one darker and one lighter, the lighter one has a softer feel to it then the dark one.  Anyways I spun them both up...

Andrean piled each to itself...

Skeined them onto my Niddy Noddy...

then rolled them both into balls.

I used a size 15 circular needle and knit them up together as one...

for a really lacy looking child's cap.

I added buttons to both side of the ties, and now this is off to My Shop.

Junior Tristin Eddy - Spinner Extraordinaire - With Her Yarn!!!

One of my favorite aspects about teaching is when my students fall in love with an art or craft, and want to explore it more on their own at home.  This year Tristin caught the spinning bug.

Every year in my Beginning 3-d class I teach the kids how to spin and dye their own yarn using only little coat hanger hooks which amazingly work really well.  And then if the kids get into it they might move onto a drop spindle or even choose from one of my many spinning wheels.  This year Tristin Eddy totally loved the process and came in at lunch and after school so she could learn to use the wheel.  I encouraged her to take it home and she was off to spin up some beautiful roving that she had bought over Xmas break in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  I understand that Tristin's grandfather has a wheel for her and she will be picking it up soon.  That makes my heart so happy Tristin.

Tomorrow I hope to show off Tristin's yarn below. 

And here it is - Tah Dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Can you believe this is her first singles on the wheel???  She's pro already, plus she has started to knit it up into a scarf, WOW, told ya she was gooooooooooooooood  :)

Ma, Pa, Grandma & Grandpa Eddy, look at your girl go!

Inglenook Fibers - Spinning Batts

Aren't these fabulous???!!!  I bought these spinning batts from this etsy site http://www.inglenookfibers.etsy.com/ after I saw them on my friend Lori Lawson's blog http://www.paintspinknit.blogspot.com/ and knew I had to spin some up. 

As soon as they arrived 2 weeks ago, I shared them with my beginning 3-d kids who I'd just taught to spin and they loved the colorway choices and the easy spinability.  The price was very reasonable for the amount that the site sends you.  The best part is that when you open up the batts there are even more glorious colors on the inside that you can't see when they are rolled up.  What a treat.

The fibers included in the batts are merino, silk, alpaca, wool, bamboo, silk noil, flax and bits of angelina for a tiny bit of sparkle.   Lovely!