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Things around Casa del Studioloo are a little sullen today. It's funny how you never know how you will feel about something until it happens. The death of Michael Jackson yesterday hit me hard and made me feel a little bit like I was on my own planet lastnight. However, I wasn't! I was at the fabulousity of the Knitty roundtable! and I met lots of fun people and got to play with some lovely yarn...and splurge on lovely iced teas and coffee and mmmmmalabrigo at The Purple Purl.
Here are a couple of my crazy little swatches from lastnight:


I have also decided to pull myself out of my MJ sad by spinning up a Michael Jackson tribute yarn. Here are my materials:

Lovely natural seacell blended with black merino from The Black Lamb and some gold thread, sequins, and black and gold glitz. We will see what happens with this. Not sure where I am on it yet.

Let's see..what else have I been up to?
I affixed a bunch of old wine corks from my days as a drunken sailor to the banister upstairs.


Did a little kettle dyeing:


And I finished up my first moss garden:


Have a good day everyone!

ps - sock progress!
 
 
25 June 2009 @ 09:35 am
I have been a very busy bee, just finishing up the first 10 of 30 pottery classes I plan to complete over the next year before I can join a local pottery guild. My first set of classes was a lot of fun and I really liked the teacher and how she is very creative and not afraid to help you, even when you don't want help..but need it. She knows how to talk to people and help them get the best results. I can't wait to return to these classes now that I know more about how things glaze. I think that it is really only half concern in shaping, sculpting and forming your piece. When you glaze it, you have no real idea of what will happen (especially because I am a beginner) so it can be exciting but end up happy or not so happy. I think I am happy with about half of my original pieces from this first set of classes. Some will go to Goodwill however. :)

Here are a few little snaps of my pieces. There are bigger and more images on my Flickr.









My favourite piece I think is also the weirdest and technically most unprofessional one - this toadstool dish:


For those of you who may not already know, I am crazy about gnomes and nature. I am working on my first jar moss garden. So exciting!
These will be my implements:


And, I collected my moss:


There are also new yarns in the shop:
http://www.studioloo.com/yarns.htm

Even a new gnome one!


Oh, and check it out - I caved and I am finally knitting socks! The Jaywalkers are my first attempt.


I am thinking that relatively soon, once I figure out my cart application, I will be putting a new face on Studioloo.com and perhaps I might stop blogging here and start blogging on my site. I have two livejournals and sometimes it can be a little daunting to update both. I don't really talk about any personal items on the internet so there is not much of a reason to keep 2 journals...hmm much to think about.

Happy crafting!
 
 
 
23 May 2009 @ 10:31 pm
Hi Everyone,

I have been working for the past few weeks on a new website geared at celebrating the spinning of yarn and organizing spinning events. You can check it out here at
http://spininpublic.com/



Also, we have created a swag store and you can get our logo on a shirt, mug, etc. just for the fun of it.


Happy spinning!
 
 
22 May 2009 @ 09:50 am
Just a few shots of my latest yarn. I will likely put her in the shop tonight or on the weekend.

Barbie's Ice Cream Social














I left their hair all very long so the artist can give them any haircut they desire, or leave as is. :)
 
 
I finally managed to finish the project I have been working on most of the week. It was for this Ravelry challenge: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/novelty-and-art-yarn-spinners/643969

Basically, you are to take a bunch of your scraps of yarns, fibers, etc. and throw them all in a pillowcase or mesh laundry bag with some soap and felt them in the washer. I decided to make a piece of art for my studio with them. I used a load of different friends and people who inspire me and a genus name generator and sewed all the felts onto a canvas with the genus name of each of the friends. Here are some pics:







There is a whole Flickr set here with individual details on each piece:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/studioloo/sets/72157618337669000/

Here is the progress on the skirt I have been working on. I just need to sew on the appliques.



Also, pottery class is going great. I need to remember to bring my camera to share what I have made so far. I am working on a few little pieces at home as well including these sheep buttons.


 
 
10 May 2009 @ 09:37 am
This was a yarn spun for this challenge:
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/novelty-and-art-yarn-spinners/578132/1-25#10

But I wanted to share it here too for those of you who might not follow the Ravelry challenges/groups.

I finished this yarn yesterday after waking up early in the morning and getting the story all finished up. I will post the story below with photos of the different facets. It has been spun in a full end to end storyline and when knit up, will follow exactly, the storyline. I will put more footnotes and details at the bottom so this post might be long.

**"Golden Grumbles"
Cindy (2009)**


Once upon a time there was a little boy who went walking through a golden acorn forest in search of some animal friends. As he approached a large pink tree with black flowers he noticed something hiding behind it. He crept ever closer to the tree and started to hear the squeaks of a small animal.


Intrigued, he slowly started to creep around the majestic tree following the little pitter-pat of footsteps. Then he stopped and whispered 'hello?' and heard the fast and heavy breathing of something very scared. He looked around at the golden water trickling over the pebblestones in the river and said 'who are you?'.



Suddenly, the darkness of one thousand lonely hearts fell upon the forest and the boy heard a really muffled grumbling. The creature replied 'Grumbles'. The boy, suddenly realizing that perhaps he didn't consider all the consequences of haphazardly wandering into the woods in search of friends, understood he was at the mercy of whatever was hiding behind the tree.



He did the only thing he could think of at the time. Throwing caution to the wind and ignoring all of those 'Don't Feed the Wild Animals' signs he noticed at the gate, he offered the creature some of the candy he had brought along in his sack. The creature grumbled 'Candy? mmmgrbrrrmmm' and had visions of the swirling colours of hard candy, and long strings of pulled taffy.



Wide-eyed, frisky, and very very fluffy, he crept around the tree to the boy. With puckering cheeks, and briskly whiskers, the boy realized he was being stared down by none other than, a wild golden hamster!
For the next few hours, the boy and the hamster ate lollipops, licorice, taffy, caramels, candy corns, jawbreakers, bubblegum, and those swirling, coloured hard candies the boy had found at the bottom of his Grandma's purse with the humbugs. As they gobbled them down, the hamster recounted his tale to the boy.



It was a sad tale of how from almost birth, the golden hamster could not find friends because of his name, 'Grumbles'. His brothers and sisters, and even his mother chose never to listen to him when he talked, believing that all he would do was grumble on and complain about things. He explained that it was not his fault that he was named Grumbles even before he could squeak.



Eventually, Grumbles got really tired of having no one to talk to and being treated as a second-class, bronze hamster that he developed a habit of grumbling about his troubles. It was his way of venting his frustration but also made him feel like someone was talking to him. The sound of his own voice was suddenly of great comfort to him.



Grumbles recounted of his failed school friendships and how eventually he packed his red sack and decided to retreat to the woods and live on the land as an outlaw. He found the patch of land near the majestic pink tree and settled there, grew a garden of asparagus, brocolli, wheat, corn and beets. He made a pact with the local birds that involved him supplying them with winter seed in exchange for them not eating him.



Grumbles and the boy found that they had lived very similar lives filled with failed friendships. Hours passed since they started talking and eating candy and now the only grumbles they could hear were the complaints of two very bad stomach aches.

Grumbles invited the boy into his modest straw and mud cave and they decided after a long nap that they would remain friends and the boy would live with the golden hamster and help him both cultivate the land and free him from the enslavement of the birds.



For years the two friends lived together, sewing seeds and growing wheat and even a field of candy floss. With never another lonely day, there was never another grumble, and they lived happily ever after.


NOTES:
Here are a picture of my supplies (minus all those time-consuming hamsters I needle felted - they are shown above)



And here they are all laid out as per the storyline:


And here are some finished shots of the yarn:






I tried to depict all of the visual parts of the story including:
Candy - felted beads and candies and long pink sections to show pulled taffy
Bronze Hamster - with bronze bamboo
Mud/Straw Cave - Some grey and brown wool with hemp
Childhood - one of the felted hamsters is a wee tiny baby
Golden Acorn forest - hand dyed gold merino/viscose with acorns in it
Grumbles and grumbling - throughout the yarn are grey locks to represent what grumbling looks like
Pink Tree with Black Flowers - Pink wool with black flowers
Fluffy-ness - Fluffy Ecospun
Garden - a section of green, yellow and dark plum - to represent asparagus, brocolli, corn, wheat and beets
Golden water over pebbles - Golden mohair locks with stone coloured felted beads
Darkness of 1000 hearts - a section of dark black
Birds and seeds - tiny birds and sprigs of berries and seeds trapped in the yarn


Needless to say, this was a labour of love, but I am happy with how it turned out. It will be up for adoption at some point with a signed manuscript of the story.
 
 
The last week of April and first week of May were so much fun that I could probably write about it for days but I will try to compress just some details relating to the artsy stuff. I went to Pluckyfluff camp the 2 days prior to Maryland Sheep and Wool. Lexi is a really cool person to be around and a great teacher and she just inspires you to get spinning yarn and really loving it. If you ever have the chance to take one of her camps, I would definitely recommend it a million times over. You can never know anything and even though I have been spinning art yarns going on 7 years now, I learned much and was pushed beyond my boundaries.
The blue carpet inside the venue make the light balance a little difficult to get great photos and I didn't bring my large Nikon camera, only my little point and shoot but here are some shots:
Lexi showing us one of the many techniques she taught:

A few of the group yarn shots:

There is a whole Flickr photoset here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/studioloo/sets/72157617852968349/

Maryland Sheep and Wool was a lot of fun as well. I ran into a lot of great people and totally went on a wool binge. One of my favourite things to do in the morning is go around and see all the animals and take pictures of them.
Alpacas



Buns

Giant Sheep

Baby Mohair Goats


This guy wins the 'softest nose ever' award


We stopped inside the tent in front of the stage for some lunch and ran into some really nice Bluegrass style music by The Speakeasy Boys. They have a really lovely sound.


There are a ton of new art yarns in the shop, most of which were spun at pluckyfluff camp. http://www.studioloo.com/yarns.htm


Here's one I am keeping for me - Fashionzilla.
 
 
I finished the yarns from the Spinning Twins Challenge - using the exact same materials in two vastly different yarns.

Here are my materials - of which I forgot ot mention the orange mohair locks, and did not end up using the orange flowers.


Here are the final yarns:

On the left is the tamer of the two, where more control was used - it started out as 3 bobbins of laceweight which I plied all together and ended up with a DK weight 3ply. I really love how the colours look together.
On the right is the artsier yarn, the kind of spinning I prefer to do - it is thick and thin, wrapped in gold thread, and has slubs and coils and large sections of lovely curly mohair. What a fun challenge. :)

I have also started the Irise Lace Shawl

It is from pattern but I am not making the tank.
 
 
16 April 2009 @ 09:07 pm
Progress on my tunic is coming along nicely. This is the original sketch:


Here is what is done so far:

I think that I will make the black section a bit thinner than the picture shows. I still have to select from my stash a white yarn with which to complete the bodice.

My next project is this skirt that I sketched out:

Mat from http://www.manspun.com spun up some beautiful merino/bamboo yarn for me which I dyed robin's egg blue. I will need about 3 skeins of it I think.

I also have a spinning project underway called 'Fraternal Twins'. It was thought up by Jacey of http://www.insubordiknit.com. The idea is to use two sets of the same materials but spin two different yarns, with the option of using more control with one while you let the other sing to it's own tune.
Here are my materials:

If you are interested in taking part, the challenge is in my art yarn group on Ravelry. The thread is here: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/novelty-and-art-yarn-spinners/597441/26-50#45

Also, I have been busy spinning and dyeing up sock yarns. And..some good news. Because I have been doing a bit of educating myself on small business, etc. I am now able to allow FREE SHIPPING on all art yarns going forward. This is for US and Canadian customers. I am in the middle of about a million things including:
- a podcast
- a redesign of studioloo.com with cart functionality, etc.
- a new site - a cooperative one relating to spinning. this one is still a little hush hush :)
- and...a million other things...

Here are some of the new things in the shop:



Art Yarns (now with free shipping): http://www.studioloo.com/yarns.htm
Sock Yarns: http://www.studioloo.com/sweetpeasockyarn.htm
Spinning Fiber: http://www.studioloo.com/fiber.htm
 
 
26 March 2009 @ 11:41 am
Hi everyone,

So, I am choosing to play a fake April Fools joke on ya'll. The non-joke is that I am offering FREE SHIPPING on all art yarns on my site until April 1st!
So, stop on by and check out the shop: http://www.studioloo.com/yarns.htm

Just pop me an email letting me know the yarns you want and I will invoice and get them on their way to you. :)

I am very busy putting things together for Saturday's Stitch n Kitsch show. This show I am going for a Spring theme - with a bit of a gnome feel. Should be really fun. I will be sure to take pictures and share them with those of you that can't make it out to the show.
But if you are in the area, stop by because there are a lot of talented artists. :)

 
 
24 March 2009 @ 07:16 am
It feels like forever since I have updated - been so busy. I have managed to finish a few things however. First off is my Bloomin' beanie.

This is just a beanie that I drew up in my notebook and I am really happy with how it turned out.

And, I have finished a bunch of new art yarns. Here are a few:
Heironymous Bosch


Light Poppy:
as inspired by this picture:


And there are a few others you can check out here: http://www.studioloo.com/yarns.htm

Also - if you are in the Kitchener/Waterloo area, come on out and see me!

http://www.stitchnkitsch.com
 
 
22 February 2009 @ 08:22 am
It has been a very busy week and I have 2 new lines of yarn on their way. One is finished and has been put up in the shop, the other I am hoping to have ready by the end of today - some time between a photo shoot for a magazine article, answering loads of emails and cleaning up my studio.
Where does the time go?

First of all, I wanted to update those of you on Ravelry - I have edited the group that I originally started for Studioloo Magazine as it is on a bit of a hiatus. I have basically neutralized it to be just related to Studioloo - all projects I am working on, sales announcements, etc. Join me - it's here - http://www.ravelry.com/groups/studioloo

Now on to Sisters - yarns inspired by women and spun from luxurious fiber blends:
Ravelry link: http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/studioloo-sisters
In my shop here: http://www.studioloo.com/yarns.htm
Preview:
Ingrid Bergman:


Dita Von Teese:


Coco Chanel:


Have a great day everyone - I'm off to have some cocoa and watch the snow fall while contemplating my next move. :)
 
 
19 February 2009 @ 09:24 pm
Hi ya!
So, if you follow my blog at http://www.yarnaday.com, I have had to change the RSS feed again. I really apologize but you will have to update your link to it if you follow via RSS. Blogger recently made changes to things that my webhost will not support (passive FTP) so I had to change back to Wordpress. The good news is that the LJ feed works again. Yay!
 
 
13 February 2009 @ 04:03 pm
Studioloo is now on Twitter..if you wanna follow me:

http://twitter.com/studioloo

Oh, and I added new orb bundles to the shop:







more in the yarn shop!
 
 
The snow is finally starting to melt and after a long thunderstorm that rained all night lastnight, I even see some grass! I have been feeling really wishful for spring lately and have enjoyed the sunshine while doing lots of dyework in my kitchen and studio.

I have started dyeing BFL/nylon sock yarns now and have learned that blue faced leicester dyes so much differently than merino - but I like it.
Here are a couple I dyed up:


I also finished a couple new art yarns:
Panache


Designer Gown


And, of my various works in progress, I am working on this scarf from my handspun for a friend:


I can't recall if I posted this picture of the felted beads I made last week but I just love them.
 
 
Although I really should be cleaning my studio today I am thinking of just kinda taking it easy. I have a whole bunch of dyed rovings that need to be photographed, as well as yarn and I need to get on a website update.
My studio is not normally such an unruly place but I pulled out all my fiber whipping up these batts and now a la...


Even my stash is messy!


Here's a sneak peek at a hat I am working on - The French Seamstress hat - of my own design from scrumbles that I crocheted and knitted:



And a bit of yarn porn from yesterday's dyework - yarns drying on my banister.

 
 
07 February 2009 @ 02:37 pm
Yesterday was a day full of progress! I cleaned out the whole kitchen, made a cup of elderberry tea and settled into doing a bunch of dyeing. Here are some photos.









And, I finished something..!!


I am starting once again working on a really old work in progress - the freeform crochet magical umbrella



I just got back from a serious yarn crawl with my friend Anastasia and now that I have mmmmmmalibrigo, nashua, noro, and some fleece artist under my best...it's likely time to settle in for a cozy day.
 
 
01 February 2009 @ 12:04 pm
I have been spinning up yarns and putting together rovings, batts and whatnot...for most of this weekend.

Here are a few of the new ones:




There are a bunch more yarns here:http://www.studioloo.com/yarns.htm

And here is a progress shot on the coral reef:

The set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/studioloo/sets/72157604803527465/

Today I have been skeining BFL/nylon sock yarn for dyeing next week. So much to do!

Here are a few of the fibers:






They are all here: http://www.studioloo.com/fiber.htm

And, I am starting to incorporate freeform crochet into collage and such..this is a work in progress


Happy February!
 
 
I have been very busy dyeing merino/viscose and spinning yarn. There are shop updates here:
Fiber:http://www.studioloo.com/fiber.htm
Yarn:http://www.studioloo.com/yarns.htm

Here are a few of my favourites from this bunch
Clementine Kids:

I adore this yellow/orange combination and it is making me really antsy about winter ending.

Imagination

This is one of my favourite rovings I have dyed up. I love the swirly effect of the viscose wrapping the multicoloured merino. I love green right now. I almost want to dye everything green.

Raspberry Coulis

I think, inspired by all the smoothies I have been making lately.

I have been spinning a lot lately, and just feeling really inspired to spin more and more.
I made a trip to my favourite spinning shop, The Black Lamb, the other day and picked up all sorts of lovely merino blends, roving, and some really nice mixed up 'suprise' bags that are a new find at the shop. This is one of the yarns I spun up using some of the surprise bag full of hand dyed locks, blends, etc.


Yesterday was also a wonderful mail day!
I received the 'Sit n Spin' DVD from Jacey of http://www.insubordiknit.com

I sat down last night while spinning and watched it and I have to say that even though I am very well versed in several different art yarn spinning techniques, the instruction in this DVD was really good and I learned something new about creating thick and thin yarns and this amazing 'tiny circles' technique that Jacey has mastered. I think that just watching different spinners spin in their own style really helps move me out of my style and start to learn other ways of accomplishing techniques. So, I would recommend it - I was inspired and it just had a fun feel - including the extras. Also, on the set you will see my Green Grass scientific clock in the background and some of my crocheted items hanging around along with those of a bunch of other friends/fiber artists.

I also received the premiere issue of Handknit Heroes - a knitting comic! I have not sat down to read it tonight but it is very shiny and smells new! Check it out!
http://www.comicknits.com/index.html
I will probably curl up and read it tonight.

Have a wonderful day everyone!