Here's the thing about ravelry ... I browse handspuns from my friends of Novelty and Art Yarn Spinners, delighting in color & texture - even their projects that make me giddy! I search for a pattern, narrowing criteria for my needs - but often finding a new interesting pattern as the images pop up between clicks and refreshing of the search page. Even though i am not actively knitting or spinning i feel the inspiration working. I can leave the computer full of plans and ideas, maybe with printed patterns, notes for a spinning technique. 

Once in awhile i stay too long. I know what you are thinking, "not possible! you would never stay on the computer too long - especially not on a site with literally thousands of potential projects and incalculable variations to such projects!! no.way." But i do ... sometimes.

A lot of change is looming on my horizon. Some days i really don't want to be happy about it, but i am. I am excited. Don't misunderstand me, though - there is a mountain of work included and i want to rise to the occasion. 

Maybe i will even discover a new color along the way ... hold on ...

(:

I have been a productive knitter lately.  Some are items for sale, some are gifts, some are just because ...  I do enjoy knitting, the whole process of starting with an idea or pattern, yarn and sticks making knots and loops until something magical happens and *poof* a finished product (hahahahaha, it's always that easy, right?)

I dream of spinning ... frustrated with my art & my being right now ... spinning will return, it always does.  

For now? on with knitting!

Join me at Grinny Possum sometime - for a class, special project or just to knit!

My current dilemma is what to do with these 2 skeins of handspun:

yes, i do realize yarn can live and be very happy at my house without a goal in mind ... but these 2 yarns long to be together!  A corespun red with a lovely sheen playing over its bumps and hives and a firework burst of blue et al ... approximately 25 yards of each, so a hat would be possible. but i really make a lot of hats.  Not that this one wouldn't be fantastic!  But i am looking for another idea ... not even a specific pattern, per se, but a structural idea.  The result could be "next to skin" because of the smooth and loft involved here.  SO, please share your ideas, thoughts, random words of knit and spin love - whatever you have!

I thought of making this a contest, but i really just want to hear ideas for now.  HOWEVER, we may make this a regular segment and regular contest of sorts - so ponder that, too :)

We have an adventure almost daily.  Sometimes it involves getting in a vehicle and driving to a place, sometimes it is within our yard or the park and somedays it is only confined by our imaginations as we read a book or craft a raft that might take us far beyond the bathtub drain.

When i was around 12 years old i read a quote in a quote book that went something like this: "Never tell a child something is impossible for he may have been born to this world for just that purpose".  I've tried to live by that basic idea since.  The two things i was known for as a preschool teacher was 1) students who sat in a circle when i asked them to and b) outlandish creative ideas that could get terribly messy.  (oh, and blue milk, but that is another post.)  Kind of a "live with the rules, but enjoy the fringe, too" sort of method.

Our homeschool and home life are far from perfect on so many levels.  But there is not one day with my creative, sweet, sometimes too smart and sly girlie that i would trade for any other reality.  I don't feel like i'm "rediscovering the world thru her eyes" as some would say.  For me it is a whole new world and i enjoy watching her explore and discover on her own. 

"To live" certainly is an awfully big adventure - i enjoy it all and pray i give my girlie a good dose of curiosity so she will keep adventuring, always.

I regularly only use drink-mix or other food-safe dyes.  Before my girlie was mobile i used some fantastic chemical dyes with great results, but once she was roaming i put those away in favor of friendlies.  Then it wasn't too long until she was helping pour water or dump in color.  I love that!  I wanted her to always be able to help so i made the jump for us both.  We have wonderful fun and lovely results blending colors and such. 

Whenever we use egg dyes (we also use regular food safe dyes for egg color, but purchase egg dye kits on clearance) we truly enjoy the extra bold colors.  Today's venture wasn't typical - only 6 colors (the yellow and orange are in the same container in the photo).  Usually it's no fewer than 10!  By adding a bit more water then blending colors sometimes it doubles.  A fun way to add some color pops to spinning and felting projects.  What a marriage of science, art and FUN :)

Actually typing on the blog ... yea, i know ... long time, no see :/

Only recently have i even begun to pressure myself about the slacker-ness this blog embodies.  Which is sad in so many ways.

But i digress.

I have also recently been thinking A LOT about tips and techniques i'd like to share and keep a running file of - so that's what we'll be doing here.  I do hope to actually, well, blog a bit more often.  But, if nothing else, I will be filing away some things for all our future usefulness as well.

I do hope to see more of you ;)

You can also check us out on facebook as "Follow the Star Studio" (darn fb making me use capital letters!).  Photo posting is simpler there, but finding things once posted is not an easy - or sometimes even possible - task.

Had a lovely field trip with my girlie last week to visit the talented Luna at her cozy color filled shop in Elizabethtown KY - Blueball Mountain Spindle and Needleworks.  Lovely yarns, supplies and accessories, but the love of fiber is so apparant everywhere you look!  Texture and color - you know i am in!!  Stash addition pic to come, have to have the right light to show off the batt ... If you can't make it to her shop - never fear, come to SIFAF and you can see her fiber passion for yourself!!

If you are in the Greater Louisville area and want to broaden your fiber arts skills, check out the classes at Grinny Possum!  I'm teaching several and am delighted at the variety we have lined up for the Fall.  The list on the website is what we have planned for now ... keep watching for more, haha!  Also, feel free to suggest projects or skills for which you would like to see classes or workshops.

grapeful: 41 yards, thick/thin handyed lincoln and alpaca with a touch of purple glitz.  there is also one little touch of pea green that snuck in somehow ... variety is ;)

chocolate raspberry: 33 yards, thick/thin, hand dyed lincoln & alpaca and natural alpaca.  curls and energy are becoming signature for me, eh?  i want to knit something like this (if not this) into a headband - how fun to have extra curls?!

done been told: 31 yards, thick/thin, hand dyed lincoln & alpaca and natural alpaca.  i am amazed at the shade of this teal - very peacocky in color and desire to show off.  blended with asome purple, too, which adds to the dimension ... did i mention how much i like the teal??

bunny n beast: 58 yards, single ply fuzzarelly blend of angora, alpaca, possibly merino and i think silk ;)  once again, purple is shy around the camera (at least for me), but there are so many tidbits of colors in here, i could photograph it all day and still miss some!  soft and friendly yarn.

rosebud: 36 yards, navajo plied alpaca from Mt Ampato Alpacas (Cheryl Ross).  was a lovely striped roving she worked with her mill to craft.  spun wonderfully :) the spin is great - the plying lack a bit - was my first navajo ply of any real amount.  but i like it :)

caliente: 22 yards of thick spun red with touches of orange angora plus the fiesta rayon fabric. bright and bold - ready for all the attention in the room!

i'm running out of space for this post - imagine that!  ok, one more will finish up Tour de Fleece :)

Just so you know - the purple in the first 3 yarns of the previous post really are nice purples, but they still seem so gray on the monitor.  guess i have more photography lessons on the way.

daydream: 40 yards, almost a boucle of hand dyed vintage aqua lincoln plied with olive gold silk (repurposed). my favorite yarn of the month - at least color-wise.  these are colors i want to roll up in and daydream :)

stitch in time:15 yards (but almost filled the bobbin!) of lofty white wool.  not sure the breed, but definitely soft.  spun in are pieces of remnant sewing bits - bias tape, hem lace, ribbon, etc.  this is similar to a favorite art yarn called "remnants" that was white alpaca with the bits and pieces.  i have other versions dancing in my mind ... 

what a ride it has been! or rather "spin around july" haha ;)  Again, thanks for all the inspiration, support and encouragement.  I have all the ideas you've shared saved for future, too - but don't be afraid to just blurt them out.  remember, we LOVE random!

Come back for exciting news in the coming weeks :)