Which spindle/project bag suits you?

This past year, I purchased several antique Japanese obi's...the long elegant sashes used on kimono. I have made spindle/project/evening bags from them! Each bag is unique and will hold a sock project or several spindles and roving or you evening necessities! I think I have either 6 or 8 different fabrics so far. Check them out at:

Yarnover or Shepherd's Harvest

Not so old goats

In addition to the hand dyed wool roving, I have lots of dyed mohair this year...from goats. I found a reasonable source for young adult mohair, yearling, in combed top. It is sleek & shiny...like fine jewelry!

It is great to spin very fine for lace or for making boucle's. Spun thick, by itself, it will be heavy and probably last nearly forever. Mohair is strong. It is wonderful added to a batt of wool to increase the luster or used as a single ply with plies of different fiber.

See it at Shepherd's Harvest and Yarnover

Semi-solid roving

This is a new product as well. Medium wool, dyed in semi-solid colors. When you spin this roving, the tints and shades will blend into a heathered but smooth mix of related color. I would not expect any radical pooling or jagged color transitions when using the yarn you spin from this.

Shepherd's Harvest is Mother's Dayweekend.

How are you going to spend YOUR Mother's Day?

"What is SILK NOIL?" you ask.

Silk Noil is the short bits that are left from the silk cocoon after the finest silk has been reeled off. Some say it is short because the caterpillar chewed a hole to emerge...and that may be the case with some Tussah silks. Silk noil can be spun into a very slubby yarn. The fabric woven from silk noil yarn used to be called "raw silk." In the 1960's, my mother would get all excited about owning a suit made from "raw silk." It was pretty fabric: tweedy but lustrous.

I have been using silk noil for years as an additive for wild batts. I use it to put soft, contrasting color slubby bits in wool yarn. This year, for the first time, I will have a limited supply of dyed s ilk noil for sale at Shepherd's Harvest.

Shepherd's Harvest is coming soon!

And I am busily working on new products! These are the first little two ounce hanks of firestar roving. Firestar is a soft, sparkly add-in for you spinning and felting. I have received mixed information about what it is made of: polypropylene or nylon? It dyes like nylon. It adds strength and luster to your wool. It is not scratchy at all! A great addition to sock yarn.

KIVA loans

One of the most amazing gifts I ever received from my son was a KIVA card for Mother's Day last year. Although we do not live in the same state, John and I are close. We talk often. But gifts? for Mother's Day? Not so much. I'm usually working on Mother's Day anyways. But last year, he blew me away with a KIVA card. What a superb gift!

I loaned the $25 gift to Ana. She is 27 years old, a widow and has a young child. She lives in the jungle of Ayacucho, where she has her own house made of wood. Ana had wanted to study agronomy, but due to her economic situation, she couldn’t finish her secondary studies, and her plans never worked out. She understood that she could not depend on her parents, so she began work as a laborer on her neighbor’s farm. All the money that she earned, she saved up. Now she has her own land to cultivate, produce and sell cacao and coffee. “It’s not possible” does not exist for her. For this reason, she has already found her niche in the market, generating quite a degree of success for her young age. Her success is due to her early mornings at her farm, to give it needed attention. In general, she works Monday through Saturday, from 5:30am until 6:00pm. Normally, her products are sold at centers in her community. In the future, she plans to put in a grocery store to diversify her market. ... Ana invested this money in fertilizers and other consumables, with the goal of improving her cacao and coffee plantations.

Ana's story appealed to me because, like me, she was widowed very young and had to figure out what to do next. I had far more luck than she, being born where and when I was. When I was widowed I already had my education and deep roots in my community.

Ana paid back her loan right on time. I have subsequently re-loaned the original amount to Sebastiana Gutierrez Quispe, an artist, also form Peru. She is right on schedule with her payments as well.

I want to expand my activities on KIVA with your help. I announced a few days ago that I will be lending 5% of the gross sales of Sue's Luxury fiber to women associated with the arts at KIVA.ORG. The minimum loan is $25 and we have already almost reached that benchmark! WOW! THANK YOU! I'll keep you posted!

Meanwhile, you, too, can make a difference. go to KIVA.ORG and see.

Happy New Year!

The wool nook is open! OK, it's not really complete...space and baskets are still being sorted out. More wholesale accounts are in process. But it HAS begun. One corner of the gallery is now devoted to wool and silk and cool fiber related stuff. The gallery is open on MONDAYS, 10-5 and by very generous appointment. Since the storefront is on the first floor of my building, and I live above the store, and I work at home....Obviously, appointments are easy. We just compare schedules and see what works.

What will you see in that tight little corner? Lots of roving, hand dyed and ready to dye, mohair locks, yearling mohair top (YUMMY!) It is so glossy! There are art batts, hand dyed silk and cotton scarves, lots of handspun and art yarn.

So much color! It is exciting!

Battle scarf?

Battle yarns are being photographed and composed by my son, John Hensel, who is a profesional photographer. Stay tuned! The process is fascinating.

Meanwhile, I have chosen one hank to knit and that process is also fascinating.

The stich definition is good, it is easy to pull the added elements to the front. It looks normal and transgressive all at once. A very odd piece of fabric. A battle scarf?

Wild Wool Market is coming

I have set up a rolling display for the upcoming South Minneapolis Wild Wool Market, happening May 29, 10-4. Yes, it IS Memorial Day Weekend...but we'll have fun anyways. Tonight it is under wraps for the gallery opening.

Treasures!

One of the highlights of my New York trip was a day in the garment district. Silks and trims at wholesale! Here are some of the trims: tiny rick rack and 3 kinds of sequins. I wanted them all! Whoopee!
The day I got back, while desperately wanting to assemble my Aura, I had to make a delivery to the Textile Center. Dutifully I delivered the hand dyed bamboo. And then I visited my friends at the Weaver's Guild only to find a 4 harness loom at an unbeatable price. Now I did have a great Shepherd's Harvest this year. I was able to get the AUra without having to deplete savings. This was just not the day to buy a loom. So I went home with out it. The next morning I called and had them hold it for me;-) It is a little Schacht table loom, about 18" wide. It has been well loved...i.e. a bit beat-up. But someone cleaned it and restrung it and everything works just fine. All I need are lease sticks and time!

SOON! AURA! SOON! SABBATICAL!

Well, Shepherd's Harvest was a great success! Thank you all for making it fun! In the 4 or 5 years I have been doing this festival, I don't think I have ever encountered a crabby customer, nor, even, a crying child! Natural fiber is heap-big, powerful joy juice! Soon I will have my Aura! I have been told that it will ship this week from New Zealand! I also now have a very wide hackle! I got it from Mielke's Fiber Arts. The hackles are in production again, from 2 manufacturers....finally.

In my other, but rather closely related "Other life", I own and direct the Susan Hensel Gallery. Do take a good long look at the website to see what I have been doing for the last few years! The current show, Earth & Air by Leslie Sobel is our 40th! Wowsers! Times flies!

So, now, I ask myself,"What does it mean to BE Susan Hensel Gallery for 7 years?" Well, I will investigate that over the next 6 months! I will be taking a sabbatical! Regular programming of the gallery will be suspended June 1, 2010 -Dec 31, 2010. The regular programming of gallery shows will resume at that time with a solo show my Dean Ebben: IN THE HOUSE OF THE MINERAL SPIRITS. followed up by A Reader's Art and an Installation by Libby Soffer, Sara Christensen Blair& Gregory Blair and Debora Miller. But the gallery will not be silent. I will be focusing on my relationship to fiber and textiles in my personal art. Since I moved to Minneapolis 7 years ago, a transformation has been happening. I tell people that I was "bit by a sheep." I learned to spin on a drop spindle and spinning wheel not long after I got here. No matter what I do, no matter how I resist, the fiber keeps luring me away! My son thinks he'll come out to visit someday and find an urban sheep ranch! (I just heard that someone up the street was raided by animal control for raising goats in their apartment!) So, this summer and fall I will be spinning, weaving, studying in and around the fiber arts. Stay tuned!

I will study in the University of Minnesota Split Rock program with Adrienne Stone. I will attend the full week of SOAR, Spin Off Autumn Retreat. I may take some field trips to see fiber mills and who knows what else! It will be an exciting time!

Shepherd's Harvest with a goal!

I have dream! It is to own an Aura Wheel from Majacraft. So, day one of Shepherd's Harvest has gotten me part way there in the most enjoyable fashion! What could be more fun than enabling other happy fiber people to fulfill their dreams too? I spent the day selling and teaching from the booth about Wild Batts, spindling and "Lazy Felt". And I spent it with my newly engaged friend Carla who bought her first loom today. I bought alpaca fleeces. So, I ask you, "What could be better?"

Come by tomorrow if you are in the area. With or without purchases, it is a blast!

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.

This year I also have Angelina fiber, dyed wool and cotton nebs, sari silk and yarn confetti for sale as Wild Batt additives to take home.

Try out the Batt Your Own Wild Batt station. AT the carding station, for an additional fee, you will be able to card up to 2 ounces of purchased Sue's Luxury Fiber at a time with additives such as angelina, firestar, nebs, yarn confetti, mohair (included in the price of carding.) It is too fun!

BATTS AHOY! Are there batts in your belfry?

In addition to dying mohair and roving, the electric carder is humming as well. I am painting with wool, bamboo, silk, angelina, mohair, alpaca, sari threads, mystery fleeces....It is so much fun to see the stack grow higher!

Let the Dying Begin!!!

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.

Slowly, between naps, I began dying mohair this week.New spring colors and the tried and true easter egg brights that mohair so loves to be.

Today I began the roving...peacock colors and muted early spring colors.

Come see the new colorways at YARNOVER, Saturday, April 17. I will be helping out Steven Be and will have fiber and yarn in his booth.

Then, Mother's Day weekend, SHEPHERD'S HARVEST!!!!!!! Save the date!!!!! May 8 &9.