Happy Easter...The Easter Monster is here!!!

And look what he left --

The Color Purple

Weeks ago, a friend asked if I would spin some yarn for her from some fleece she was given by an alpaca farmer. She gleefully handed me a packet of about 8 oz. of purple fleece.

It is beautiful but not ready to be made into yarn -- alpaca by itself isn't the greatest yarn because it doesn't have memory like wool does. So, a knitted item will just stretch out of shape...and stay that way.

I ordered a little bit of white shetland wool fleece and finally, yesterday, I had a chance to color it purple by dyeing it on the stove with pleasing results:










Also, I got a chance to use an Xmas present from SO -- a fleece drying rack that he made for me. The fleece is still drying but soon I will be able to make my friend's yarn. Yay!

Season Opener

While baseball stadiums start till fill with fans, certain other folk are jumping in their cars to hit their favorite antique stores the close for the winter. We went to one of our favorites today: the Gatchelville Store. For a change, I didn't buy anything, but SO did buy a couple of things. Instead, I snapped a few photos to share:


Yummo! A big pile of bark cloth at reasonable prices!














Look! 800 Proved Pecan Recipes...800?!?!














Piles upon piles of vintage and antique buttons - I have been known to get lost in these piles:














Pretty starched vintage tablecloths!












SO asked, "You're taking a picture of that???" Yes, because I love the aqua color and the shabby chicness:












Let the games begin...flea markets, yard sales, estate sales...!!!!

New Site Launched!

Come on over and check it out!

http://www.spinartiste.com/

It's live and launched...and I'm tired. I made so much progress on this yesterday and knew I was so close, that I was up half the night...

The feedback from the fiber arts community has been tremendous -- so encouraging.

I've hired a developer to help me with the finishing touches because I never set out to become a wordpress developer. They can get me finished up in a few days and I will be on my merry little way.

Meanwhile, back in crafty-land, I knitted a hat on Saturday:

I needed it!!! SO and I were at an artifact show and it was freezing so in the morning, I knit a hat and before lunch, my head was covered. The yarn is called "Razzle" and it's a "vegan" yarn -- no animal fibers -- made by an up and coming fiber artist named Compassioknit that I met a couple of weeks ago. We are working on a story for Spin Artiste to be published in the next two weeks.

Fun!