Spinnin' Away!

I've been on a batt buying kick as I haven't done much dying on my own as of late. This is mostly due to the fact that Jenna (my partner in color crime) and I both dropped some serious duckets on sewing machines. Hence, all the sewn apparel and quilting happening at ChezLinoleum. However, we should get to dying again soon, don't you think Jenna? Our dye pots are gathering dust...Anyway, I digress. So yes, instead of dying my own fluff I've been buying other people's fluff and spinning it up or mixing said fluff with some of my stash fluff on my drum carder before ultimately spinning it up.

Now, I gotta tell you peeps that I LOVE spinning. It is a process that rivals knitting and crocheting for me. In fact, when I'm feeling down I often think that sleeping next to my Lendrum would sooth my bereft soul. Then I actually come to terms with the logistics of this notion and opt for snoozing with my cat instead. Poo Poo Kitty is nice and squishy. Much easier to cuddle up with. So, my Lendrum remains next to my chair, at the ready, whenever I'm feeling the need for some spinning meditation and just look what we've been creating together lately...



Purty eh?

I spun eight ounces of Mountain Colors Handpainted Targhee Roving, in their Moccasin colorway, into singles on my Lendrum. Then I plied it with the leftover gold thread from my first quilt on my Mach I. Since my Mach I's arrival at my condo it's become my primary wheel for plying. Doesn't matter the size, weight or crazy factor of the yarn I'm spinning, I always seem to use it for the plying process.

Next up, look at this wacky color combo...



I used a Donna Batt (Battman Batt from Material Whirled) for the singles that make up this yarn. Then I plied it with some leftover pastel variegated lace weight mohair.

Neato eh?

I gotta tell you all that rarely do I look at a batt and think I MUST HAVE THIS NOW. However, the minute I saw the Donna Batt, I thought just that. I told Reenie that this colorway is so wrong that is just right. She responded by telling me that we should have t-shirts printed with that statement on it. Sounds like a good idea to me!

Needless to say, I have more Donna Batts on the way. Ultimately, I have special plans for this yarn...

*Wink*

Drama Queen

Nothing like beginning a year with massive life changes. I cannot bring myself to go into detail right now, but let's just say that my path to the future has gone off road. Needless to say, I have no words for the experience right now, but I'm sure I will again have the ability to string plenty of apt phrases together after gaining a bit of distance from the whole debacle.

Personal drama aside, I have finished another Danish Tie Shawl. Like it's predecessor, this delightful example of shawl-dom was knit from my own hand-dyed fingering weight yarns.





I am also quite close to finishing the pattern testing for the Pie-rets. Let me tell you all that I must have been drinking when writing up the lattice crust version of said hat. Uh, yeah. Pattern testing has been nothing short of an adventure. Wow. Anyway, I'm almost there. Should be finished with the final version of the Pie-ret patterns this week. Stay tuned!!

Pedagogy

Well folks, 'tis almost the new year! As such, I've lined up a few teaching gigs around LaLaLand in honor of '09. Let's hear for working 7 days a week!

Ahem.

Despite the time suckage factor, I really do love to teach. As many of you are probably aware, teaching was my career of choice way back when. I absolutely loved imparting my passion for making unto others. I just had trouble making ends meet while doing so, hence my transition to the Cube Farm. However, I am fortunate to still have a few opportunities to play with you all! So, without further ado, I present my teaching schedule for the next few months...

On Saturdays (for the foreseeable future) I can be found at Abuelita's Knitting and Needlepoint in South Pasadena, where I teach both knitting and crocheting. Project based classes as well as private lessons can be had. Currently, we are encouraging peeps to crochet a pair of Fuzzy Boots!



Contact the store to sign up or just email me and I will pencil you in for a lesson!

My other teaching opportunities will occur at The Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica. Contact those peeps to sign up for class!

January

Design your own Amigurumi (must know how to make loops with a hook to take this class)
Sundays, 1/18 & 25, 11-1 pm

February

Project Ugg (my westside Fuzzy Boot class)
Tuesdays, 2/10, 17 & 24, 7-9 pm

Acid Dyes (oooooh, dyeing yarn!)
Sunday, 2/22, 11-1 pm

March

Crochet Project Class (beginners to know-it-alls welcome)
Sundays, 3/8, 15, 22 & 29, 11-1 pm

Whew! I am going to be a busy gal...

Happy New Year all!!

Busy, Busy!

Last weekend, after having returned home from Vegas, Jenna came over to mi casa for a play date with our dyes. I experimented with a few new colorways for roving...



Definitely liking the intensity. I need to make more in the same vein as Jenna and I plan throw our hats into the hand painted ring (read marketplace), offering our fuzzy wares for sale. Just giving you all a head's up...

A few weeks ago I hand painted about 1500 yards of mohair. I love the results!



And finally, I am spinning weekly, if not daily at this point. Unfortunately, my spinning regimen tends to wane when I am traveling. I feel as if I have to give my wheel love when I'm back home (and in between design projects). Currently, I am experimenting with a new colorway...



I'm not sure that I like this yarn yet. The colorway seems a bit conservative to me. Thoughts?

Dead Sea Stole

This is a Monster Crochet first peeps! Yes indeedy. This is the first piece that I have made from my very own hand spun and dyed yarn!

I began this project by dyeing merino roving in blues and greens and then combined it with other hand dyed roving that I had previously purchased. Next, I spun the blue/green roving into singles, eventually plying them with black/navy/brown singles I had spun around same time to create the dual colored yarn making up the body of the stole.





Once I had accumulated about 1000 yards of homespun, I began to research stitch patterns and decided on a crocheted chevron.



At this point, I knew I'd be "making waves" and as such this creation was ripe for an applique I had been wanting to design for some time. Fish skeletons!



Bone colored fish skellies did not appeal to me however, so I dyed worsted weight wool with a mixture of yellow green and glow in the dark acid dye. (Yes, it is possible to purchase glow in the dark acid dyes!) The chartreuse fish skelly applique was born!

These skeletons were crocheted using a G hook and then sewn onto the front of the stole with sewing thread. I finished each fish head off with a needle felted eye.



I am absolutely thrilled with the results of this HUGE project! Not a fast process, but very satisfying nonetheless. You can be sure that there will be more "from fluff to FO" projects to come from ChezLinoleum!

Copyright 2008 Regina Rioux Gonzalez. All rights reserved.

Danish Serape?

What does LadyLinoleum get when she pairs some of her lovely hand dyed yarn with the Traditional Danish Tie-Shawl pattern from the latest issue of Spin-Off mag?



Nothing short of a Danish Serape!





Both bright and bold, this cool wrap combines some of my old dye experiments with that of the new. The variegated red is Kool-Aid (and so it begins), as is the turquoise variegated, while the cobalt was achieved in a Jacquard dye bath. All of the yarn is Bare Peruvian Highland Wool (fingering weight) from Knit Picks, which is a great starter yarn for beginning dyers, oh by the way.

The shawl construction is very intriguing as it begins with a starter rectangle, stitches picked up along three sides to form a triangle, then continues with the body of the shawl, increasing at the center and ends on every other row. The beginning rectangular sequence of stitches is brilliant actually.

Ooooh, I almost forgot! The other very cool aspect of this shawl? The edging!



It's braided! Actually, it's crocheted. But it looks braided! Crocheted with two colors simultaneously, this edging is a finishing technique that I intend to use again and again. Cool eh?

Spin-Off always has wonderful knitting (and crochet) patterns in addition to great articles and project ideas for the spinner. It is my current fave mag to be sure.

Now, if I could just figure out what to wear with this shawl, I'd be sittin' pretty...literally!

Happy Friday all!