You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October, 2007.
Many, many thanks to all of you who have left such wonderful feedback from the Mobtown Review feature! I value each and every one!
Please know that I am back in the dye studio in the next few days – with a big update on the way! I will be restocking both the Jewels sock yarn and the Pine Meadow roving, along with dyeing more of The Painted Sock in Crayons. I’m hoping to do that update in about 2 weeks – just in time for the holiday shopping season!
I have just ordered base yarn for a lace weight yarn, that I will be calling Jasmine. Its a wonderful 50/50 wool/silk blend. I’m hoping to have the first skeins of this yarn available early next week! I’ll post updates here as I get closer!
Check back often for more news from The Painted Sheep!
The Painted Sheep is in the Mobtown Review!
The Mobtown Review is a new weekly forum in which new and upcoming fiber artists are reviewed. Its the creation of the lovely Mama-E, of Mama-E’s C*EYE*BER FIBERS.
Its a lovely review – go check it out! You’ll want to blogroll this one and get you’re weekly fix – its a new little treasure for us fiber folks! I’m offering a 15% discount for Mobtown Review readers in my Etsy and online shops!
And many thanks to Mama-E for including me in the Mobtown Review!
And Happy Halloween!!!! Eat lots of candy! As for me, I’ll be with the two most adorable children in the world – my niece and nephew!
Quizine for a Cause ScarfFinished, a whole 2 weeks before the fundraiser. I’ll take a better picture when its dry – this one was taken on my blocking board! I’m just so excited – I’m very happy with how it turned out, especially after the two bad starts. The Four Play pattern really worked well with the yarn. I ended up with a generous 55″ x 6.5″ scarf – from one skein of my Alpaca Handpaint. This scarf is going into the Teacup Raffle portion of my company’s annual fundraiser on November 11. Hopefully, we’ll raise lots of money!
I have other FO’s – but no pictures. I’ve finished up the latest round of Christmas presents – for my brothers and father. Now all I have left is Ev’s gifts (the same as the other guys and he knows about it, so I’m pushing it off for now – besides I’m a little sick of knitting the same —- and —– combination! On to my niece and nephew’s sweaters – they’ll be fun to knit. I’ll get measurements when I see them on Halloween (I am so, so, so excited for this – the whole family is getting together to take them trick or treating!) and start knitting later this week. I already swatched for my niece Olivia’s sweater, the Knitting Pure and Simple Children’s Neck Down Bolero – a precious little cardi, knit in one piece. I’m doing it in Farmhouse Yarns’ Cotton Blossom in Tangerine. I searched Rhinebeck, the Fiber Twist and Webs for a perfect button for it – then I found one under my nose. Turns out I have a button stash??? I guess I’ve accumulated a few buttons from knitting for the kids – I found about a dozen Mission Falls buttons, in 2 styles, in my scrap bin – and I think there’s more in there. Anyway, here’s what I found:
Perfect! That is my actual swatch – I am an incredibly lazy swatcher. Necessary evil, in my mind. I break all the “rules” for swatching. There’s 3 different needle sizes in that little unwashed swatch. It all works out in the end – my biggest thing is to check my gauge throughout and if its off, I fix it. I don’t get all crazy about washing and blocking a big square. I’ll be doing the same thing tonight – I need to swatch my nephew Danny’s sweater (a Wonderful Wallaby in green Cascade 220 Superwash) and for my Lambie Hat. Then I have to pick one and start – only a couple months left!
Three fiber festivals in 4 weekends… October has been a great month!
Ev and I went up to Massachusetts today for two events. We made a couple of stops on the Fiber Twist – time restrictions meant we couldn’t do more than that. Well, OK, that and my desire not to push it with Ev – he’s been to all 3 of those fiber festivals too. I know he likes these things, but not that much. We made it to Moonshine Design at Keldaby, where we visited with Cynthia (she was in my class at Harrisville), saw her studio and met her herd of beautiful angora goats. Of course, I couldn’t leave without a pair of her mohair socks (commercially knitted, then hand dyed by Cynthia) – just the softest, warmest socks! We then headed up to Foxfiber Fiber & Design. They have cormo and border leicester sheep and an amazing farm – great views this time of year. I picked up a skein of border leicester and mohair yarn and got some pictures of her sheep:
After stopping at Yankee Candle, we headed for Webs and the “Reunion”. It was fun – a handful of people who had taken Gail’s class were there, along with their goddesses. It is amazing how unique they are and how much detail some people put in theirs. We had a great time sharing our stories of how each came to be and how they seem to take on a life of their own. Here’s a group photo:
Of course, there was shopping – its Webs after all. I was well behaved – I bought the yarn I need for my nephew’s Christmas sweater, along with a skein of Alpaca Sox – I love this stuff.
After all that, I think I am officially fiber-festivaled, yarn shopped-out. No more yarn shopping for me – maybe a whole week or so…
I’ve just completed my quarterly tax forms for The Painted Sheep – one of those “necessary evils” to owning a business. Tedious as it may have been, it was exciting to see the end result. Why? Because we’re growing! Business was up by more than 35%! This quarter saw our first wholesale order and participation in a show. We’ve now shipped orders to 22 states and Canada! Many thanks to all of you who have made this little dream of mine a reality!
There’s many more great things to come! I have recently found a new wholesale source for yarn. I’ll be adding at least one new yarn to my selection – a lace weight merino/silk blend. After a few weeks’ break, I am just itching to get back into the dye studio. I have lots of ideas for new colorways! Details to come…
Keep an eye on the website and Etsy shop – I am planning on having a sale soon, to make room for the new stuff!
Don’t forget that we’ll be vendors at the next Nutmeg Spinner’s Guild meeting on December 1!
This is Julia! Go ahead and laugh! Julia doesn’t take herself too seriously. How could she, with looks like that? 
Julia is ready for her close up, so here’s a few more shots. 
Isn’t she great? Julia is the result of a class I took at Webs, “Felting Your Inner Goddess”. It was taught by Gail Callahan, aka The Kangeroo Dyer. She is made entirely of wool and 95% of her is needle felted. Most of her is carded batts, some basic but soft wool. I used bits of merino top for the details on her face. That fabulous hair is Cotswold lamb fleece, that was washed and dyed in the locks. It was sitting in my stash for years – waiting for just the right project. Her clothes (top, skirt, belt and shoes) are from one of Barb Parry/Foxfire Fiber’s batts – Border Leicester, I think. For her skirt and the base for her top, I wet felted a piece about 12″ x 12″ and then cut the shape I needed. The pieces are then needle felted onto her. I added to her top by needle felting additional wool onto it. The class was a great way to learn needle felting, especially with making faces. The inner goddess piece comes in with creating the facial features – you know your own best, so your needle felted creations often resemble your own features. That nose – mine, all mine. 
Wondering where her name came from? One day when I was working on her, I pulled her out and hit me – she has an odd resemblance to Julia Child! More so before the hair and makeup were done – I don’t see it as much now. The name stuck and she’s been Julia (usually said very dramatically – more like Joooliahhh) ever since!
Julia is 2 years in the making – I took Gail’s class in October 2005. One of my long unfinished projects, finished today. What prompted me to finish? The Inner Goddess reunion is next weekend! Webs is hosting this event on the afternoon of October 28, to get all of the “goddesses” together and see what people who have taken the classes have come up with. I couldn’t resist and knew it was just what I needed to motivate me to finish her. Next Sunday, we’re off to Northampton to meet up with the rest of the Inner Goddesses…
In the meantime, Julia has been hired to do Customer Service for The Painted Sheep. She will soon be handling any obnoxious customers. Any and all stupid questions will be promptly directed to Julia. She has asked that her picture be prominently posted on the website. She has also asked that she be sat on some sort of tufted pillow, in a place of importance in the house, so that she may scare the hell out of the cats. While I work on that, she asked me to let you know the following: she may or may not respond to your customer service requests. She never responds before noon. If responding to you involves putting down her drink, it is highly unlikely that she will do so. She can, however, be bribed to answer requests with bottles of wine. Oh, and she prefers reds.
Recent Comments