luxe

the photos i meant to post didn’t show up for some reason…so here are some for the ladies (and fellas, if you fancy)…
hot gardener:

and at the beach last year…

and how about for the lady kitties out there? okay, here is pavel and papa crashed out…

sooooo. today, got up, did dyeing, some sockyarn (6 skeins) a bunch of 2 oz bundles of the soy/merino fiber, 4 oz bundles of superwash merino and to-morrow i need to dye the rest of my merino and some more sock yarn for the sock of the month club i will be starting. i am doing a batt and roving of the month club also. oh, i also dyed a couple of yards of wool felt. i have yet to see how that looks. i forgot to cut it into sheets before dyeing it, so it may be more muted than last time. i dyed all of the aforementioned stuff in my vintage electric roaster, which is really rather large. i piled roving in and got the dye throughout and then put layers of plastic grocery bags to separate color layers and then the next layer and on the top, i had the sock yarns wrapped in plastic wrap on top of plastic bags and mesh. i will let you know if it worked out okay. the sock yarns were fine, i was running low on saran which was why i didn’t wrap everything up. i wasn’t sure what temperature to set it to and it seemed to be getting way to hot, so i turned it down to 150 degrees, the lowest temp and left it on for about an hour and then turned off the heat and let it sit for a few hours. i will post photos to-morrow. i hope the weather is dry enough to hang things up outside. some of the fiber came out soooo pretty. i used the orchid purple, which is a more pinky purple and olive drab with some rasberry mixed in and that olive drab is from the gods. you can put it with anything and it looks fantastic and adds depth. i also did a sock yarn with the olive drab and avacado for jake. it looks purdy. fun, but still something a boy could wear. i knitted up some of my own sockyarn and i have to say it looked really pretty. i love the louet gems yarn but it is so expensive (worth it, but expensive) that i am not sure if people woudl be willing to pay the difference. the superwash i use now is really good, but the louet has a nice sheen to it. anyway.

i went to michael’s after picking up the car from being inspected and got maroon and purple silk flowers to use in a yarn for my brother’s fiance. i hope to have some time to spin tomorrow. my hands are really hurting me, so i am going to try not to use them at all tonight. sob!

i emailed nava to tell her that i loved her book and then had looked for her fine art work and it is just lovely. i would love to see it in person. i think it is really rare that a photo can really give you that great of a vibe of how the work is in person, but in her case, the work is very tactile, so i imagine it is super duper incredible in person. anyway, we have emailed back and forth several times and she is so incredibly nice. i told her that i feel really out of the loop in regards to my fine art and how to go about approaching galleries, etc. she gave me loads of great ideas and it made me realize that it scares the crap out of just about everyone to do it. not just me. i am probably more confident than i deserve to be, i always have been, even with work that really wasn’t so good. at all. yeah. i admit it. i guess that when you are passionate about your work, that passion just makes it look extra rosy, you know? anyway, i dropped out of the art world for fear of being so disappointed in the people that run it that i would want nothing to do with it. for that reason, i didn’t go for my MFA. i have a big back and forth about being a professional artist because i have manic spurts and then have short periods where i need a break. the thing is, just like spinning and knitting for a living, it is a job. you don’t get to only do it when you are into it. that is called a HOBBY. savvy? anyway, once again, i am astounded by the amazing degree of open hearted generous women out there.

i have lots of thing i need to take photos of, weather permitting, tomorrow and if i can get my dyeing done, photos taken, i would like to do a bit of sewing. i have a slew of patterns that amy butler sent me and some designs i have sketched up, too.

i strung a gazillion flowers onto different threads for the upcoming yarns and i popped into tj maxx before i ran home. i need summer shoes, i am attempting to not wear any gross shoes anymore. at the beginning of the summer, new flip flops. i tend to wear nicer ones and it is hard for me to let go of em, but i am doing my best. i picked up a pair of wedge sandals that have this squishy nice footbed in them. they are a bronzy color, but i am not sure if i will keep em or not. i will walk around the house in them and see what i think. there were tons of really really cute tops there, too. if i make a bit of money this weekend, i will buy some new summer clothes. mainly i just need some tops. i will make some more skirts and hopefully some dresses, if that is realistic. i need a swimsuit, too. i am not sure if any of the ones i have fit. i need a cover-up or two, as well.

i grow sleepy. i am fighting myself not to knit or sew or embroider or type anymore. i am behind on blogs, but too sleepy to read em. oh, also, whilst dyeing, i listened to lime and violet for a while and actually rather enjoyed it. it was more like listening in on someone’s conversation, but while i was busy, it wasn’t really a big deal. they manage to bounce off of each other really well without any one of them seeming to be more dominant that the other. which is a really good thing. i would really like to work on my luxe podcast that just goes along with my blog basically. has some clips of what i am doing, or tutorials or whatever. maybe some footage or photos of me in action, dyeing, spinning, whatever. i think that there needs to be more things like that around. methinks.

oh! i almost forgot! michael’s recently got in a martha stewart line of stationary, craft supplies, papers, boxes, frames, all kinds of things and they are just gorgeous. honestly, they are really reasonably priced for the quality. it actually kind of reminded me of amy butler stuff. there is ribbon and …if you have a michael’s nearby, go check it out…i can’t find a link. sorry. really lovely, though. and i am a snob. so take my word for it. you might pee in your pants a bit. they have these “collector” boxes for displaying stuff that are different colors and have a scalloped design on them…so many things you could do with them. they are a bit pricey, but so purdy. if i was rich…

thanks for all of your sweet comments on this and the LJ bloggy. you guys rock. and you made jake blush. he loves it.

xoxoxoxoxoxo