SOAR

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Originally published at WormSpit. You can comment here or there.

The Spin Off Annual Retreat was a blast. I had an amazing time, learned a LOT, met fantastic people… and took only a tiny number of photos. It was like going to the yarn store, and pulling a couple dozen of the best books and putting them into a basket… and they magically turn into the charming authors. Meeting all these fiber luminaries was overwhelming. Some of the people I got to meet that you might know: Judith MacKenzie McCuin, Abby Franquemont, Nancy Bush, Deb Menz, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Patsy Zawistoski, Sara Lamb, Robin Russo, Amy Clarke Moore, Linda Ligon, Phreadde, Jan Louet, and the other Jan from Louet, Mr. and Mrs. Strauch… and many more that are slipping my mind. I was in total overload mode.

Me and Patsy Z

Me and Patsy Z

I traveled on Thursday. The plane flights were uneventful if a bit crowded, and I got to the Allentown Airport in good time. I got to ride to the site with Elizabeth, who was excellent company and helped to soothe my newbie nerves. The country was hilly and beautiful. We got there just in time to run around and meet some people before dinner. I set up my kit in a lounge, and did some silk reeling on Thursday evening. If anybody has any photos of me, I’d love to get some… I was too busy reeling and talking, to make people use my camera.

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Wild Kingdom

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We had feral cat kittens last year. We did all the Right Things – we handled the kittens, we took the mommas to KittiCo to get fixed, we placed ten of the eleven kittens, and we kept one. We started leaving food out on the back porch for the momma kitties – because it didn’t seem right to make them starve. We’ve had the occasional neighborhood tom show up and steal some, but mostly it’s worked out.

Or so we thought. We’ve seen this guy once before, but last night we got a good picture of him:

Didelphis virginiana, the Virginia Opossum. America’s only marsupial.

He sat there quite unconcerned, drinking his fill while we watched, and then waddled off into the night.

Then, this morning when Chis got up at 5:30, we saw this:

Proycon lotor, the American Raccoon.

You can’t see the water dish, because he’s leaning over it – he would go back and forth, washing each piece of cat food.

We don’t live in the country, y’all.

Finish Things

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This is a bit of an in-joke… there are a few people who will understand it.  I made this as a gift for one of my online mentors.

I based the graph on a photo of a red salamander that I found on Dartfrog.

The ribbon is woven of 50-weight sewing thread; I bought it in black and white.  The black is as I got it, the blue I dyed with acid dyes. The red is all silk that I made from cocoons and dyed.

SOAR ribbons, and more spools

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Originally published at WormSpit. You can comment here or there.


These are some ribbons that I’ve been working on.  They’re not pressed or hemmed yet, but I just had to share!

The gold and black is 50-weight sewing silk; I dyed the yellow, the black I bought that way.

The brocade is all silk that I made.  The huaman on the left is something I haven’t done before – it’s designed in negative, with the black of the bird’s wings and body being the background.  I think it pretty much worked.  I want to handle the fade-out of the background better, or make it a shape like an oval or an arch window

I wrapped some more of the little gimme spools.  I’m pleased with the way they look!

Taste the rainbow!  The bright yellow that is #4 from the right… that’s NATURALLY that color.  No dye. Sadly, the gold is all in the sericin, so it would come off with degumming.

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Gotta share with y’all – I’m very proud of my new baby gimme spools!


see, it’s got all my info, like a silky business card!


The red and green are (appx.) 10 yards of embroidery floss… the creamy ones are LOTS (100 yards?) of raw silk filament.

Gimme spools

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Originally published at WormSpit. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been working at getting ready for SOAR next month.  One of the things that I absolutely have to have, is cool, small presents – I’ve always found that I make wonderful new friends at events like this, and I want to give them little mementos.  It has to be something very cool, something very ME, and something they can actually get some use out of.

So, I now present: Gimme Spools!

A handful of samples. I will have more colors - but these are the prototypes

I had thought about getting spools like the ones I keep in my embroidery box, but (a) they’re almost $.50 each, which adds up when you want to hand something out like candy, and (b) they’re a special order item, so it could be a few weeks to get them here.  I figured out that if I printed my information four-up on a piece of quality acid-free paper, I can cut them down and roll them up to make little quills.

An extra-nice touch – I can use my electric winder, which turns a very tedious winding job into a quick zip.

They're a fairly convenient size. If I were just using them for storage, I might make them a little shorter.

They’re a fairly convenient size – if I were just using them for storage, I might make them a little shorter.  They’re not as strong as the Glimakra quills, but they’re pretty strong.

They've got my information on them, like little business cards.

I like the fact that I can put all my info on them, like little silky business cards.  They’re sealed with tape, which makes a nice smooth edge.  Glue stick was too imprecise to make the edge clean.

The cream colored ones have about 100 yards or so of raw silk; the colors are about 10 yards of embroidery tram.

The colored ones have about 10 yards of embroidery tram, which would be enough to embroider an initial or a small flower.  The cream ones are a bunch (100 yards? I didn’t measure) of raw silk filament, which could be thrown to make a small skein of almost any kind of yarn.  I’m honestly not sure which people would like more.  I’m hoping that people don’t decide they want one of each color… I can’t make enough for everybody to have a set.

A blog on my own site!

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I’ve set up a new blog. It was tough – WordPress and GoDaddy are apparently famous for not getting along. But, finally after much finagling, I have my blog on wormspit.com.

MY NEW BLOG!

So… y’all go and check it out! The archives are a transfer from my LiveJournal, so that’s nothing new – just a new format and a change of address.

And don’t worry – I plan to keep checking in with my LJ friends, communities, etc.!