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Monday, February 24, 2014

Journey to the Golden Fleece- Module 2 - Road of Trials

Once upon a time there was a wonderful woman.  She was creative, open minded, free thinking, all loving, a little overly proud and selfish, and far to positive for most people to handle ("How do you see the bright side in EVERY single dark matter??" They'd say) She loved to spend as much free time as humanly possible creating and making anything.  Her favourite thing to make, was yarn.  However, she was also a mother.  And as the life of a Mother goes, most of the selfishness and pride, and creation went by the wayside. There was laundry to wash dry and fold AND put away.  There were dishes (Oh so many dishes!!) to do. There were meals to cook (more then 3 a day, which always lead to more dishes!) And then the love and tenderness and firmness and caring and book reading and playing with and all that stuff that goes along with raising children as well, got in the way.  It's funny, how she would simultaneously feel pride at her children's achievement as she watched them accomplish something from the stands, and feel a twinge of resentment, that she could possibly be creating something, possibly be grabbing her own bit of pride as well.  She could want to hug and love the child that was having a total melt down because they dropped their pizza on the floor which the dog promptly grabbed,  while at the same time want to whisk them off to their room so they could not disturb anyone else with their fit.  The conflicting emotions of Motherhood often left he overwhelmed. And when it was all just a bit to much, she'd step away and close herself in her craft room, and create something. Anything. But mostly yarn.

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My Road of Trials yarn hinges on one thing that has got to be my biggest trial of all: Motherhood. It's the journey I started with, and the journey I will follow, likely through out the remainder of the modules. (Module three is the vision quest, a journey into the deeper you, and having examined what drove me to this course, and what I've discovered through the journaling about me already, Motherhood is a huge part of me, but definitly not the only part of me.)  A quick break down of the components and how they relate to this road of trials is as such:  There is a big fat purple single (of varying grist/diameter) that was auto wrapped with a teal, navy and white crochet cotton, each of varying diameter, which was then quick coiled and Shelob'd (which is a technique Wool Wench shared with us!) The purple represents the pride, how it swells and how it is always there.  The threads it is auto wrapped in represents the chaos and struggle that is often playing along side. And it's coiled up(mostly just because coiling looks super pretty ;) ) and then wrapped in the silk hanky which was purple and grey, to represent how it's all wrapped up in love.

Creatively this was a real struggle. I couldn't for the life of me 1) keep the purple single even and 2) understand that it was OK that the single wasn't even.  Spinning has become very technical for me since starting the Master Spinners course.  Instead of being bound to the rigidity of counting treadles and keeping make lengths consistent, just allowing for texture and the auto wraps to actually auto wrap (without adjusting and allowing them to do what they wanted...) was really difficult.   I am happy with this yarn, though. It's light and fluffy, and textured.

Onward to Module 3, The vision quest!

~Kara

Friday, February 21, 2014

Found it Friday- Sheep shelf.



An artist by the name of Oscar Tusquats created 21 tables like this from taxidermy sheep. One of them is black with white legs.  It was inspire by a painting done by Salvidor Dali, “Interpretation Project for a Stable-Library.”


image and original story found at 
http://www.neatorama.com/2014/02/06/Sheep-Cabinets/#!vvesM


This is the best thing sliced bread.  My husband told me I was not allowed to sell the house for one, not even the black one.  Which is highly disappointing.  But I suppose I'll live.

~Kara

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Holy newness, batman!

Yesterday, Majacraft unveiled their newest creation.  The Majacraft Overdrive Head.  I do believe I really really really want need this. So badly.
I watched the Fibery Goodness live-stream on youtube, where they went into great discussion about all it's features, and the development, showed all the prototypes. It was great to watch!  And it was great to "meet" Arlene and Suzy.  Their little duet at the end was awesome.  I'm going to share the video with you, so you can watch it, if you like.

So, back to the Overdrive head.  I have an Aura. I love him. He would be so much more awesome with this head attached.  I could spin yards upon yards of yarn!  So, I'd appreciate your help in getting one of these fabulous beasts.   Just to the right there is the link to my Etsy shop: SpinHeartSpin.  Check it out, and if you see something you like, don't be afraid to buy it ;)

~Kara

Friday, February 14, 2014

Found it Friday- The Gap

No.  Not the clothing store. Though I do have a pair of jeans from there that I plan on wearing into the ground and patching the ever living snot out of when they start to fail, simple because they are the most comfortable jeans ever.
I digress.  This Gap is about the creative gap. The one you are in as a beginner artist. Where you know you can create wonderful things, but no mater how many times you make, it's always falling short of the vision.  This video is an encouragement to working through that Gap. It may take a long time. But you will find your voice. I'm still finding mine. I'd say I'm still in the Gap.  I know my current limitations (family responsibility etc.) are holding me back, but I create what I can when I can. I'm trudging on through the Gap. So. For those out there, who find themselves striving for more, to be better, and to be all you know you were meant to be, I give you this video. I hope it finds you at the right time, as it found me, and bolsters your ambitions.
And since it's on Vimeo, and not Youtube, I have to give you the link.... Sigh...

http://vimeo.com/85040589

Keep going, keep creating, keep working.  You will be awesome one day.

~Kara

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Keeping on track.

Well, more or less.  I've had a look at the schedule I've made up for myself, and I'm behind, but definitely not for lack of trying. 
These are my first four attempts at recreating a commercial yarn. Yep. 4. Four tries. Four fails. The fifth attempt, after consulting the experts, was perfect.
Well, it's not perfectly perfect, but it's what's going in the book. It's homework worthy. Thank goodness! 

I've given myself 3 days off over the weekend, that I will probably just use to catch up. Still on track.

~Kara 

Friday, February 7, 2014

Found it Friday -Disgruntled ex has 17lbs of yarn for sale

And maybe two cats.  This is the funniest thing I've read in a long time with perfect quotes, like

"Maybe that's why I had thousands of dollars of credit card bills from "ravelry.com" and other such life-destroying sites."
And

" Some of it is even still in its packaging, I guess just in case she decided she suddenly needed this brand new package of yarn and there was some sort of crop-shortage in yarn-land so she had to buy it in advance." 

Apparently yarn and fluff aren't all love and sunshine.  At least not everyone. And definitly not to this guy.

Maybe I should send him a link to last weeks Found it Friday... That second song pretty much sums up his life...  And maybe, just maybe, she found a guy who asked her if she was knitting with handspun to replace this guy, as the first song...

~Kara

Sunday, February 2, 2014

and so it begins

The final homework push.  I wrote it out. I have a plan.  It starts off today, with two skeins.  Module C1.  A wool silk blend, and a wool wool blend.  Should be easy enough.   After that, there's just one skien a day, or computer work and calculations.

The plan.

It's not inclusive of every module.  So I'll be pushing into March. Which I'd hoped not to have to do.  But it's okay.  You can't rush this stuff.   I've got to get it done in a timely manner though.  I don't want to drag it out any longer.


I can keep this pace. The laundry and the kitchen may suffer from it, but I can keep this pace.  I know I can.

~Kara

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Wewt! Again! Craftster Best of 2013

Hurray! Such an honour to be chosen again as a Craftster Best of Winner. And this year, not once, but 3 times! Three of my projects got top "votes" by members hitting the "This Rocks" button throughout the year.

The three projects that were chosen are Making Mawata,  I gave my Lady a makeover, and A couple small pin woven tapestries.  I do believe I have shared the first two here, but not necessarily the last ones!!  So here they are, for your viewing pleasure :)  One was made for a swap, and the other as a thank you gift!

This one was woven with my Spun Summer yarn, incorporating the beehive coils, the little bee and the daisy that was already present in the yarn.
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This one was a combination of handspun, commercial and locks.  It's a bit uneven in tension, but hey, it's tricky to weave evenly on a pin loom!!
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~Kara