MidSummer: New Wheel, New Classes, New Ride

Summer’s just barely half over and already its been amazing. June - The day I hear my new spinning wheel is ready I learn about a new online course from FiberyGoodness, S3: Sketch Spin Scribe. So of course I sign up. There there was the lovely Sat spent driving on back road of Wisconsin to pick up the wheel from Spry Whimsy, an awesome fiber studion in Stoughton, WI, check it out you won’t regret it. And in case one internet class wasn’t enough I decided that I had to try this one two, Dye Secrets with Natalie Redding to learn about dyeing fiber. Both are self paced which is good, as then I have a chance at finishing.

July - This year I got to see not one but two city firework displays. One friday from a field by the Wheeling airport, and one saturday at a friends house that included beercan chicken and firespinning in the backyard before hand. I used my favorite staff for the fire spinning. And while way out of practice, I managed not to burn myself or fall in a whole so quite the success. Same weekend I set up the new spinning wheel and learn about the Tour De Fleece, a fiber event that follows the Tour de Force bike competition, only instead of spinning bike tires the idea is to challange yourself spinning fiber. There are no rules only guidelines "The concept is simple: Challenge Yourself. Spin. Have fun.” I could work with this. I set a modest goal: spin a little bit every day I could.




Then finally it arrived my new car. So shinny and new. So purple. So mine. And jsut in time for birthday shenanigans with Cole. Went straing from the dealer to pick her up, then headed downtown for Dinner and then Neo for dancing. Got lucky that first night driving it and didn’t have to do actual parallel parking. A week later I still love the car, even though the same tire has had two flats now. Second time at the dealer, and after much complaining, the new tire patch is holding and we are rolling.

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Hesitant

I'm hesitating and not completely sure why. The yarn is fantastic, the pattern was easy to follow. I've actually made great progress on this one.

I've gone from this:

to this:

In just under three months which for me is cheetah fast.

But since then it's been sitting on my table taunting me. All that's left is the edge trim, which is a pain but not horrible. There is the fact that I might not have enough yarn to complete the trim, I did add extra repeats but it's not like I cant get more yarn. I've invented worse excuses to visit yarn stores.

There's also the worry that after all this effort it wont wind up looking good on me. What if i guessed wrong and it doesn't fit? This is a big one. After all I'm not happy with my shape right now, yet not unhappy enough to force me to do anything about it. But three months is a long time to work on something that might wind up unflattering. So it sits there in project limbo. If I don't finish it I don't have to try it on.

Even more, this is the first non scarf/hat project I've come this close to finishing in years. I really should be more excited. Yet there it sits taunting me.

Only thing to do is sit down and finish it. So that was to be the focus of the weekend yet even with that I'm stalling. Oh I justify it by writing about here, I'm sure others have been in similar place with their own projects so that makes it ok for me to talk about it and continue stalling.

So no more stalling, I gather up my needles, what's left of my yarn and in my favorite comfy chair by the window with plenty of natural light here I go...great now I'm hungry, lunch first and then right back to the vest...yeah right.

what happens at craft night...

For those who missed it we had our second craft night at the new location, Barnes and Noble in Deer Park. The new location seems to be working out just fine.

Here's some pics from the last few sessions:

Renee works on new fall cards

Cole experiments with luminaries

Stacy embroiders a onesie

Progress on the blue vest

Completed scarf, first project done on the 35mm needles.
5 strands of yarn knit together as one

Tasty treats
the real reason
we show up :)

Current plan is to do two a month till the new year to give people plenty of time to work on those holiday crafts. So if you've got some free time come join us there's always room for one more.

Midwest fiber and folk festival

The fiber festival has been around for 5 years now. Last year was when I found out about it but wasn't able to go. This year I was determined to go and I'm so glad I did. It was fun, mostly cause the vendors were so great willing to talk about their stuff but also very willing to share ideas and techniques. Talking to one vendor saved me from getting in over my head with some fleeces, tempting as they were I'm not ready for that yet.

Some fun pics of the goodies I was able to procure from the fest. Of course I had to buy from the vendors I knew of from Etsy along with some great local folks too.

Doing it in Public

Doing It In Public is a gathering of like minded fiber folk who want to share their interests. They meet several times a month at various Barnes and Noble stores in the northwest area. This month they happen to be meeting at the one not 5 minutes from my house, so I had to attend. Only problem was i still had almost two weeks left of driving restrictions. So I did what any good fiber person would do, bribed a friend to come along and drive. Fortunately Rene is a stamper and had expressed a desire to learn to knit before, so I didn't feel too guilty asking her. And most importantly a good sport.

We only planned to stay an hour, meet everyone, check out all the cool projects people are working on (my favorite part) and see how things went. The women we met were great, super friendly and very supportive of Rene's first knitting attempt. Yes that is her in the pic knitting like a pro, so proud of her.

An hour goes by. We are having fun chatting, knitting and getting to know the group. Rene is still knitting away so we decide to stay a bit longer. Next thing we know they are starting to close up the cafe and it's time to go home. On the way out one of the women complemented me on my teaching style, saying I was a very good patient teacher. This was especially cool since there were several real teachers there, some were even teaching at the Midwest fiber and folk fest coming up in June.

As we are driving home Rene says "so you want to go back again for next weeks meeting?" I just smile and say sure. She's hooked, it will be fun to watch her progress as a knitter as well as a stamper.

Stalling

The plan was simple, take a few days off work around the birthday and holiday weekend to focus on some new pieces for a consignment job. Looked forward to the plan for months. Things did not go according to plan. In fact I'd have to say the plan got derailed completely. Which may not be a bad thing.

Things happen, plans change, we adapt. But in adapting to the changes a few thoughts came up. I wound up not doing what was planned, an unexpected bonus was that I got to spend time with a friend I normally don't get to see very often. But now I was very off schedule. The scary thing was that I didn't want to get back on schedule.

Does not wanting to get back on schedule mean I'm losing some of my passion for these crafty obsessions of mine? Or are they just temporarily on hold till I sort out all the things clamoring for attention in my house. I still spend a lot of time looking up new ideas, new techniques but I'm not spending as much time doing. I tell myself its a time thing. I'm tired when I come home from work and I don't want to be in the torch when both brain dead and physically tired let alone train like I should. Yet if these are truly important to me wouldn't I want to be working at them no matter how tired?

Some of it I'm sure goes back to my blank canvas phobia, sometimes the hardest part of a project is starting one. Especially when you have high expectations of it. I have all sorts of idea for this consignment job, I want to make some custom pieces just for their shop, something exclusive. Yet why haven't I started to? It all comes down to because it just doesn't feel right. The space isn't right, I'm not right, and the pieces aren't right.

So now this vacation isn't about focusing on a particular schedule but rather me allowing myself to take care of all the distractions that have been keeping me from doing. In a way that might be more important to the over all goal of sustainable creation. I've always counted on little burst of creativity when I needed it. How nice would it be to access that as a constant stream instead of small bursts?

So in the end maybe it was a good thing my vacation got derailed and I'm not just stalling on starting a new project. Once the distraction are taken care of the space will feel better, once the space feels better creating will feel better. So in the end it will all work out, according to plan.

At least something got acomplished

It's March  and I have already finished 6 projects since Christmas. This may be a new record for me. First finished was Orange bunny,  done as a surpise for Kevin. Only took me a year to finish, not bad giving my track record. Then I also got done the Monster dice for the Christmas grab bag, that was a major painting feat for me 15 individual dice minatures painted in under a month. But I did like how they turned out, as did Karen who got to pick them from the grab bag.

Next up was a hat for my self. Now for Christmas I had given my cousin and my aunt each one skein of this really cool high end yarn I found at my local shop. I loved this yarn so much that after Christmas I had to go get a skein for myself to play with. And so the Star berret was created from a pattern I found on Raverly. 

My coworker Rene liked the hat so much I wound up making her one to cheer her up after she did her taxes. Then she ordered two items for a late Christmas/Valentines holiday get together. She is my best customer after all. So I made a third hat for our friend Kari, did I mention that I like this pattern?? And for Theresa I found the lovely broken rib pattern scarf that I think turned out nice once I altered the pattern a bit.

This may be the only positive to come from all the couch time lately. At least if  I'm making something I don't feel like such a slug for not wanting to get up and move. 

First SetBack

It was all arranged, nice surprise bonus check from work meant things were gonna happen. Sabiene was going to get fixed, new couch (ruined by unfixed cat) was going to get replaced and new spinning wheel was going to be ordered. Exciting stuff, well in my world exciting stuff.

Then one return trip into the city and *cue the scary music* the ca-thunka thunk sounds begin with every shift. Not good, paranoia sets in, right after the "Please just make it home" litany. Next day take car to mechanic. Then a second mechanic, then a third but they all say same thing transmission... and those are not cheap.

Weigh the options, new car just not in budget right now. Find a reliable mechanic referred from a friend and see what they say. Call the next day for Quote only to find out poor guy is home with pneumonia.

Have now been without a car for 10 days. finally they are able to look at it and I should be able to get it back by next Friday. But it is going to cost my entire bonus check and then some.

So once again my plans are put on hold. They will happen, just with some delay. Since I was stuck at home on sat I decided to try out the new controller and run it through a whole cycle. Fired up the torch and made my first set of beads in over a year, nothing spectacular just basic, but the flame still felt good. And the controller worked great. So now planning my next options. I think I'll play around with the enamels next to get a good feel for the colors and still pratice basic shapes.

First Progress

Three days off. One for catching up on much needed rest leaving two for attacking the studio. I had let the studio space go, it had become a dumping ground for everything I didn't feel like sorting through. Couple that with two rambunctious kitties and soon the mess becomes a disaster.

Now at first it did seem a bit overwhelming, so I broke it down in chunks, only working on one part of the room at a time. As a reward once I was done with a section I let myself stop and take a break with something fun like a quick YouTube search on tutorials to remind myself just why it was I needed to wade through this mess. And along with way discovered tons of craft video tutorials I hadn't even thought existed, so bonus.

I did take some photos to prove my progress, I was playing around with some new software and so made a slide show and uploaded to the YouTube account just to see if I could. There is still a ton left to organize with the beads and shelves but progress has been made.

The result of two days of work is that I now have a working hot glass area again, and the kiln controller is set up so now I can actually control the soaking time now. Hopefully no more slagging good beads. I now have a space I want to spend time in instead of avoiding and to me thats real progress.

Back to the beginning

This is what started it all. A skein of hand spun yarn. Not really all that remarkable, except that it is the first skein of yarn I've ever made on a spinning wheel. Now I've been a knitter for years, also a glass bead maker, miniature painter, baker and what ever else strikes my fancy, but it was this skein of yarn that made me want to clean out my studio, made me rethink my value as a crafter. 
I've only been spinning for a total of 10 hours now, but both shop owners as well as my fellow students have complemented me on the yarn I've created. And if that many people are telling me something is good I'm not going to listen anymore to that lone voice in my head filling me with doubt.
I've still got a long way to go before I get anything I consider usable for outsiders, but the act of creating the yarn is very satisfying. And I've been neglecting the creative process for too long. Lately I find myself just contemplating the idea of making something and then not following through.
This blog is an attempt at following through. I've set aside some time this next month to focus on cleaning, and reorganizing my studio. We'll see just what happens but I've decided to try and document the process in part to keep me motivated and in part as practice for later when I start making production pieces again.