Howdy! Anybody on my Friends List who was previously reading spinningfiber – it’s gone. I have only a vague understanding of what prompted it; the community’s founder removed the other maintainers, and then deleted the community.

If you’re looking for your hand-spun fix, handspinning is doing its best to take up the slack – the moderation team is in place there, and we’re trying to get the word out.

And here, for your viewing pleasure: this is one of my entries in the Juried Show that’s going up on April 10 – a set of five skeins of tram embroidery silk, shades of emerald green.

The ribbon is proceeding slowly onward. I encountered some serious problems (mostly tension, although a couple of missed turns also contributed) and had to start the ribbon over. It hurt, but it was truly for the best. At this point, I’ve gotten through most of page 7 out of 15 pages of chart (plus a moth on each end) – I had stopped the first one after four pages. It’s definitely taking on the feel that I’m aiming for – the lettering looks much more regular this time around, and the brocade looks a little more fully covered because of the changes in tension.

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The folks at Pony told me that Kirstin at Muench Yarns carries their needles. I checked the Muench Yarns website, and was only able to find their KNITTING needles… but after a couple of emails, I got in touch with Kirstin herself, and she does indeed have them! She has the 9, 10, 11, and 12 sizes, all in the gold eye.

From her email:

I do have the Embroidery Crewels in sizes 9,10,11,12 in stock. They are with
a gold eye. Funny, I do not remember anymore why I have them, I believe it
was a special order, but I thought to order 500 each extra at the time.

I am a wholesale distributor, and do not sell directly to the public, so I
would need to have any inquires go directly to info@muenchyarns.com where I
would set up a customer service person to handle the needle inquiries.

The prices are as follows :
Size 9- 16 needles per package $1.50 each pkg of 16 needles
Size 10-16 needles per package $1.50 each pkg of 16 needles
Size 11-12 needles per package $1.50 each pkg of 12 needles
Size 12-12 needles per package $1.50 each pkg of 12 needles

So! Anybody who wants to get the Pony crewel needles, she’s got them, and they’re inexpensive, and they’re in the US!

I’m working on the Geffe ribbon; I’ve gotten through nearly four pages of chart (counting the moth, which ought to be more like 2 pages because the two-color brocade takes FOREVER on 73 tablets!)

I’m pleased with how the beads are working out. They’re strung on the main weft, which is a bit of a pain in the butt – I strung on about 20 of them, and they keep wanting to get in my way.

Close-up of the moth. It’s in two shades of ecru; I had planned originally on just one shade, but when I started fiddling around with two, I liked the look. I think it’s worth the trouble, although only just. This is my hand-reeled filament, made from 4 reel strands – or about 80 cocoons thick.

I’ve still got about 13 pages of chart, one of which is the moth on the other end – so there’s a long way to go! I’m working from the left-hand side of the graph below; I just finished the word “sweet” in the top line.

It’s finally done! I have to admit – the leaves have a little bit of experimentation going on, partly because I was trying to figure it out, partly because I was just tired of working on this piece. I glued it to the mat under tension with PVA bookbinder’s adhesive, and put mat on front and back to keep it under tension in the frame.