Tag Archive for ‘yarn’ at Inspiration Junkie robayre.com

Tag Archive for 'yarn'

A Letter to Myself

Published

robayre

on February 11, 2013

in General Update and life

. 5 Comments

Dear Teenage Robyn,

I know you won’t believe it, but as an adult you will have:

Your very own studio, in your very own house

with plenty of art supplies to go in it!

A spinning wheel to make your own yarn,

a button maker,

a spiral book binder,

sewing machine,

plenty of silk screens (that you built! I know you don’t even know that is possible coming from using commercial screens in high school)

a gumball machine filled with your own handmade items

And an online store where you can sell the things you make!

Being an adult is AWESOME!

Kool-aid dyed yarn

Published

robayre

on June 14, 2010

in Cool Links, Coverage, fiber and General Update

. 4 Comments

Speaking of Tumbler (my lil post the other day)…

Yesterday I posted this old picture of some yarn I spun from wool I dyed with kool-aid. Today I found that picture was posted on tumblr by robot heart. Currently that image has been “noted” and “reblogged” 47 times. How cool is that?

I love tumblr, but usually I just “heart” images that I like, and only share my own images, as I kind of feel weird reblogging another person’s work. BUT, in the case where my image is the one being reblogged, I’ll jump in on the fun and add it to my own tumblr.

Don’t have a lot to say

Published

robayre

on April 6, 2010

in General Update and My Artwork

. 1 Comment

Here is a yarn I spun on Monday. That was a record for me. One complete yarn in one day, woah. You can see other yarns I have spun over the years here in this flickr photoset.

And, I made a few more little book page spreads. The rest can be seen here.

Day Twenty-One – Spinning

Published

robayre

on February 21, 2010

in fiber, Fun, General Update and life

. 1 Comment

Today, for Thing-A-Day, I spun for a couple hours. I’ve been working on this super thin yarn that will be plyed with another to make a crazy sock yarn. Normally I spin barefoot, but I just got home so I still had on my shoes. Normally I’ll just spin from a long roving, but because I want the colors to alternate a lot, I’ve been pulling bits the staple length and spinning from those. There are a total of 17 different colors and they are all a really nice merino wool.

I posted an animated gif file I made while spinning earlier this month, but you really can’t see much of a dent on the two hours more I’ve added. It’s so thin that it just doesn’t add up quickly.

The colors may not look that great right now, but once plyed, the finished product will look closer to this other yarn (below) that I spun, only all of that was dyed with kool-aid and it’s a much chunkier yarn.

Tonight my best friend and I went to go see Gaelic Storm (for the second time) at the Historic Egyptian Theatre. We had a really good time and now I’m in a St. Patrick’s Day mood. I always love going to concerts like that because the audiences are so energetic. Mostly, I think it’s the Irish crowd, because it’s the same vibe when I’ve gone to see Black 47 and Irish Festivals.

Here is a quick snapshot of what it looks like inside the theatre. We were sitting on the balcony.

The band performing. One thing that was REALLY cool was that the lead singer told the audience that he met his wife for the first time at Eduardo’s (a well known local restaurant). She was a grad student at NIU. How cool is that? Singer from Ireland, tours the world over and he met his wife in my own town.

And finally, the gratuitous shoe shot. I had to use the upstairs restroom and just loved the checkered flooring in there. Someday I will have black and white checkered floors in my home.

a new yarn

Published

robayre

on November 30, 2009

in fiber and General Update

. 3 Comments

I made this yarn over the last few days. It’s 68 soft yards in length.

It uses a tiny bit of fiber I had left over from the most beautiful fiber I think I’ve ever purchased. I’m sad to see it all gone. I’m not even sure what kind of wool it was other than I bought it here and it has the most beautiful colors and is so soft to touch. With such a small portion remaining I decided to make a very fine yarn and extend the fiber as far as I could, plying it with a wonderful white Blue Face Leicester. There are so many colors in the first fiber, I think the white works wonderfully showcasing them all.

Here is the other yarn made using some of the same fiber. I striped this one with white and then plied it with a black cotton string.

As I mentioned in a previous post there was a knitalong for making tall socks with handspun yarn and I wanted to see if I would be able to make a yarn thin enough to be sock yarn. I have a tendency to spin thin, naturally, but have you seen sock yarn?!?! It’s SO thin! Well, when I showed this complete yarn to Matt he said “it’s like thread” so I will take that as a positive. Maybe I will be able to make my very first socks with my very own handspun someday :)

Tada!

Published

robayre

on November 9, 2009

in fiber and General Update

. 2 Comments

Another handspun yarn done!

This was one of those nightmare fibers I spoke of yesterday, one I purchased based purely on the beautiful colors. And the colors are lovely, aren’t they? Very Autumn. In fact the fiber is a very itchy, wiry one that would not work well against the skin.

What else could you knit with this yarn that you wouldn’t wear?

Yarn Destash

Published

robayre

on November 8, 2009

in fiber and General Update

. 3 Comments

I finished spinning and plying this yarn last night. You might recall it from a few posts back when I posted some poorly photographed progress pictures.

Last year, or earlier this year, I promised myself not to buy any new fiber until I spun up everything I already had. This is an attempt to prevent my collection growing out of control like my current store bought yarn situation.

I’m excited because I’m getting close to the end of the collection. When I first started spinning (2004) I would impulsively buy rovings based purely on colors. When I’d get home and try to spin them, I’d often find the colors didn’t suit me after all, or the fibers were troublesome, scratchy, nubby, riddled with vegetable matter, and/or over dyed/partially felted. Immediately I’d stick them on the shelf and not even want to look at them again.

The case with the fiber above was more of a color issue. Green is my favorite color and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the green and red color combination. They’re called complimentary colors, but I rather like to think of them as competitors, fighting for which one makes more of an impact. It wasn’t until I got it home that it struck me “oh no, Christmas colors”. You will never know how many times this has happened to me, where I create something that I love and only once it’s finished and I’m happily admiring my work that it occurs to me “Christmas!” and instantly I am repulsed by it. It’s not that I don’t like Christmas, it’s just that I have an aversion to my work resembling Christmas craft/decorations.

Well, now enough time and experience has passed that I know a better fiber when I see it. From now on I’d like to keep better track of what breed all my fibers are actually from for selling purposes. I’d also like to think I have a better eye for color and have learned that a more blueish green or teal-y color and red still create the same impact that green and red do, but without the negative connotations. AND lastly, I want to buy a ton of fiber because I’ve had this project in mind for a couple years, to spin enough yarn to make a simple vest for myself. I mentioned it first in this post.

One last bit of fiber inspiration: Yesterday I saw a tweet post by knittydirtygirl where she is starting a knitalong project on Ravelry to make knee high socks, toe up, from handspun yarn. Here is the yarn she will be using. Dare I say it, but after the vest project I’d like to tackle that one. I’ve never made socks before, not for lack of trying though. I think I will need some guidance from my sister, the sock knitting expert.

sup

Published

robayre

on September 9, 2009

in Artists, Cool Links, etsy, life, My Artwork and Projects

. 2 Comments

This is what I’ve been up to lately. I’m crocheting a very wide cowl, in a mustard yellow. It will basically be like a long scarf, but instead of having two ends, it’s all connected in a long loop. This way I can wear it long like a scarf, doubled up around my neck, or hooded over my head in place of a hat and scarf. I’m just using a basic crochet and I’m almost ready to head into the third skein. It’s a Lions Brand, vanna white yarn. I just had the urge to start it and had one skein of it in my stash from a year ago. Fortunately, because it’s a commercial brand, picking up more skeins at michael’s matched perfectly.

here here here

Yesterday I took a leap towards the biggest challenge on my 2009 list. I finally called up and scheduled a hot air balloon ride. I was hoping that I could wait until fall to cross this item off, this way the trees would be changing color. I was not thinking about how quickly schedules can book up, or that weather can be very unreliable. Fortunately the company I spoke with still had plenty of open dates. I’m crossing my fingers that everything goes to plan, but I understand it might take a few scheduled dates before a successful flight. In my excitement, I’m sharing a few hot air balloon Etsy items above.

I’ve participated a couple more times in the flickr pool What I Wore Today (drawings only). Oh, and thanks to a friend‘s heads up, now there is a blog that features WIWT drawings.

Still sniffling over here

Published

robayre

on January 2, 2009

in Cool Links, etsy, fiber, General Update, life, Mail Art and My Artwork

. 2 Comments

I’ve decided to participate in NaBloPoMo for January, which means I will blog daily for the whole month. Last February I had such a great experience blogging daily over at Thing A Day, so I’ll probably do that as well, which means, blogging daily for two straight months, woah! But, for now during NaBloPoMo, if you don’t see a new post here, it might be because I posted over at the Every Day Create group blog or the Makers group blog, but I will definitely post somewhere.

I have a couple things to share today.

Above is one of my mail art pieces that was up at my show last month. I’m excited to finally share the pieces online. Some might be added to my etsy shop, so check in there ocassionally.

My friend Kelly made this awesome wrap using some of my handspun yarn. I had given her the yarn as a ‘new mom’ gift, and being a knitter/crocheter, I knew she would get use out of it. How exciting, to see what someone has made with my yarn. I think of this quote that I have blogged about before by Lexi Boeger “Handspun yarn is more than simply yarn…Every Inch has been fed through the hand of the craftsperson…Each yarn is a reflection of the individual spinner who made it. It is this quality that makes handspun yarn so amazing to work with. As you work through a skein, you can see, inch by inch, the decisions that the spinner made. It passes before you just like a story.” And the same can be said for handknit items as well, so Kelly’s work with my yarn should tell twice as much.

Lastly, a kind of update and announcement about my friend Nikki who has been fighting? no, Battling? no, let’s say “DESTROYING” cancer, has been told she is in remission. After a long series of intense chemo treatments starting last summer and ending in December, she has kicked that cancer’s ass. As she is planning her formal wedding this summer, she entered an essay contest about whose “Love Rocks” the most and was nominiated in the top three. Please go to this site, read the stories and vote for her and my friend Tom’s story. I think you will agree, it is the most touching, but also the best written and composed essay.

Okay, that’s all for tonight. Good night everyone.

mitten progress

Published

robayre

on May 28, 2008

in General Update

. 1 Comment

7.28 spun, originally uploaded by robayre.

You might recall this mitten from much earlier this year. Well, this weekend I finally got around to dyeing and spinning the fiber for it’s pair. The original plan was to have a green mitten with one pink stripe in it, but the green did not turn out as I’d hoped. In my mind it was going to be a darker green with some light highlights and blue highlights, but instead it turned out just light, bright green. I might try and dye the yarn with some darker greens and see what happens.

Just a couple more things to share: Here is a tiny little rhubarb plant growing at my parents house. It was planted with just one tiny leaf now it has three leaves, perfect for making one miniature rhubarb pie, lol.

I picked this huge bouquet at my parents’ house. I love lily of the valley, the smell so wonderful, plus their little bells fit perfectly in with my obsession with all things miniature.

I mowed at my parents’ house this weekend and yep, it finally happened. I mowed right over a little toad, fortunately that little sucker stayed close to the ground and didn’t get hurt. That was a relief, until after I passed it and it started to head back under the mower as I tried to scoop it up and move it. Please little creatures, stay clear of the twirling blades of death, it is not the safe refuge you might think it is.

I just finished talking with my friend Nikki, pictured above. Tonight she starts her intense chemo sessions, which she has humorously nick-named Camp Chemo, because once again chemo will be sucking away her summer break. She seemed to be in high spirits and we had some laughs while she waited in her hospital room for the fun to begin. If you are interested in reading about her, please check out her Caring Bridge page, she is a great writer, much more organized and thought out than my messy, train of thought written blog.

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