All things fibery from Minneapolis!
Sebastiana Gutierrez Quispe to help her buy paint and canvas and to
Anush Baghdasaryan to help her advance her sewing business.
This turquoise bag is a prototype...too stiff for comfort, but the shape an size works well.
It even holds the rather large Babe brand Spindle.
This spindle bag, made from a swatch of Japanese obi, is totally functional and ready for sale..once I figure out the price.
Shepherd's Harvest is 2 days away! he newest product I am bringing is hand painted bamboo. It is SOOOO pretty! And SOOO slippery! The hard part was figuring out how to package it so it can be handled without unwinding. I finally cut up some wild paisley chiffon and tied each ball up like a gift box! Hope this works! If you are interested in the bamboo, come early...the supply is very limited.
Work in the Susan Hensel Gallery has been overwhelming of late. We just opened the tenth anniversary show of A Reader's Art! TEN YEARS! 100 artists books from 50 artists from all over the world. Quite a feat, made more possible by the able curation of Jon Coffelt.
New spring colors and the tried and true easter egg brights that mohair so loves to be.
WOW! What a machine! My out put now is primarily artyarn and I needed a carder that would hold up to crazy-batt action. The Patrick Green remains for fine carding, but this Louet is a workhorse! I sold my old petite Strauch to help with the financial aspects of equipment. This Louet has identical drums to their standard manual carder. Those of us who attended Camp Plucky Fluff here in Minneapolis fell in love with the Louet.
The carding station is in my dark, but thankfully dry, basement on an old restaurant cart with pull out trays that hold my combs and miscellaney associated with fiber prep. I keep my hand cards next to my wheels for quick fiber prep/re-prep/sudden creative need.
A great find at Office Max led to the color wall for fast composition at the carder. 3 crates for $12! I cut up old boxes to make the dividers and then carded up a rainbow of roving. I had dyed up, over the years, a nearly perfect color mixing palette. Pulling off bits of roving is OK, but it is much easier to compose from airy batts. So, now, with the addition of mohair, bamboo, silk and pretty things, I can "paint" at the carder.
Then I had to reconsider the wheel situation. I sold my last in-the-box-Babe at Christmas, keeping my beat-up, cracked first Babe for sentimental reasons and for demonstrations at art/fiber fairs. Well, I had found too many situations where the generous orifice on the Roberta was too small and the speed and pull too harsh. I looked into a bulky flyer for the Ashford Traveller, but that orifice is smaller. I did not yet want to invest in a Majacraft with a delta flyer. Low and behold, Babe's Fibergarden has started making delta flyers for their Babe wheels!
and beads with beehives are much easier on the delta flyer. Phew! an inexpensive fix! The flyer cost something like $84. So I can now happily spin away with the equipment I already have!
Come visit me here! I will be showing fiber, fiber and more fiber! 
, 
, Roving, and 
and 
..all reasonably priced for gifting!
The wild batt 2-ply yarn and the llama 3-ply yarn, over 450 yards each. The llama weighs a lot! The wild batt yarn is light and lofty. The batts were spun on the Roberta Electronic Spinner and the llama on the Ashford DT Traveler. Now I am spinning a bit of leftover pink and peach merino and some more batts.
