I love taking photographs of shadows.
I find the distortion and playfulness
of shadow images to be endlessly fascinating.
For a long time,
I have been
contemplating
designing
a series of
scarves that
are crocheted
shadows.
I have been posting for days now about spinning the streamers from the Blue Man show.
I wove a Unicorn with the first of the upcycled paper yarn, then a Fairy doll, then a basket.
As I came to the end of the paper yarn, I realized that I just had to do something very special with the yarn.
When I flipped my sketchbook open to start some new drawings, I saw sketches and notes that I have …read more

For the last few days, I have been posting about spinning paper yarn from streamers that I brought home from the Blue Man show.
With the upcycled paper yarn,
I wove a Unicorn.
crocheted a fairy
and crocheted a basket.
I am down to the
last of the Blue Man
streamer paper yarn,
so I feel like I want to
make something
that is a ’statement’ piece…..
I have been mulling and mulling it over… after all, this is quite special yarn, so I want to design and make something that is worthy of the yarn. I also want it to be fun, and quirky and funky and tongue in cheek.
A …read more

For the last few days, I have been posting about some fun projects. I have designed and made  them with paper yarn that I spun from streamers that I brought home from the Blue Man show.
Yesterday, I posted about
a fairy that I designed and crocheted
with the upcycled
handspun paper yarn .
I wasn’t sure if I
would add hair or not,
so I photoshopped some in.
And, I loved it,
so, today I stitched
hair onto the fairy doll.
I find it frustrating that
I can’t get the fairy’s
pointy ears to show up
in the photo! humph!
I love
crocheting baskets.
Of course, I
couldn’t resist
using the paper yarn
to crochet at least one
basket.
I …read more

We went to see the Blue Man group in performance.
At the end of the show,
they fired off special effects cannons
that launched paper streamers at the audience.
I thought:
“Ooooh …. all those pre-cut strips of paper!
Perfect for spinning! ”
So, after the show,
I scooted down to the  floor,
and asked the guy who was sweeping up
the streamers if I could have some.
“I’m a spinner and weaver and I would love to make them into yarn!”
He looked at me like I had just sprouted a  second nose.
He muttered something inaudible and handed me an armload of the streamers.
I wondered how it would be to spin
the …read more

A couple of days ago, I posted a tutorial on how to upcycle  tissue paper by spinning it into handmade yarn.
BIG tip: To set the spin on the paper yarn, squeeze the copp (the ball of yarn on the spindle)  hard with your hands while it is still on the  spindle. Voila! the twist is set.
As well as knitting
and crocheting
handspun upcycled paper yarn,
you can use flower looms
to make wonderful
flowers.
I recently broke and
then repaired my
vintage flower loom,
so am rather careful with it
nowadays.
I wasn’t sure
about how much
stress the paper yarn
would put on the flower
loom, so I made
myself a wooden one.
That’s it on …read more

I’ve had lots of requests for a video on how to spin tissue paper into yarn, so today, I made this video tutorial.
I have to apologize
for a mistake
that I made
when I was
making the video.
I have been
plying yarn
like mad, and
I always spin it
counterclockwise
when plying yarn. So, I kind of was running on ‘automatic’ and just kept spinning counterclockwise, which is not a problem, as you can spin tissue paper yarn either clockwise or counterclockwise.
BUT… I said I was spinning clockwise, when I wasn’t. So, doh, brain function.
Actually,
ahem.
The entire
video is
rather ‘casual’!
My husband came
into the studio
as I was shooting
the video, which
sent the dogs …read more

The other evening, I watched  a great little video on Ruth MacGregor’s website : Spinning video
A few years ago, I was given
a very dirty Shetland fleece.
I  washed the fleece right after it was given to me,
and then re-washed it a few months ago.
Now, that’s effort…
washing the fleece is my
least favorite part of
the fleece to yarn progression.
The fleece  has been idling away under the desk in the studio.
Watching Ms MacGregor’s video made my fingers itch to get spinning again. So, today, I got out the fleece, and my carding combs,
and started picking, fluffing, and carding.
Eventually, I
had a lovely spin.
And, then a …read more

If you live a yarn-centric or yarn centered life, chances are good that you enjoy working with more than one yarnie technique.
Crocheters often weave.
Weavers often knit.
Knitters often embroider.
Embroiderers often crochet.
Tatters often crochet.
Spinners use their yarns in
all kinds of ways….
Some of us love to
explore all of the above.
And why not bring all  these strands together  in one piece? This is often called free form work.
I call it  a ‘Cross- Currents’ approach to the fiber arts.
This photo is the back of  a Cross Currents Jacket
in which I used handspun yarns,
with crochet, weaving, knitting,
embroidery, spool knitting  and tatting.
How do you pull together all …read more

There are many enterprising yarncentric folks out there, creating wonderful lives for themselves by building neat yarn oriented businesses on the net.  Jennifer Tan of ‘Gosh Yarn It’ is one of those nifty yarntrepreneurs.
I ‘met’  Jennifer a year or so ago when she commissioned me to make her daughter a one of a kind spool knitter and then asked me to design and make some 2 peg spool knitters for ‘Gosh Yarn It’.  It’s been fun to see Jennifer growing her business and when she got in touch with me again a couple of weeks back, I asked her if …read more

A few years ago, I bought some pieces of plexiglass from a guy who reclaimed offcuts from a plexiglass manufacturer.
I used the pieces of plexiglass
to make  pocket looms
that I used to teach
weaving workshops.
Plexiglass is a
nightmare to cut with
saws-
it releases foul smelling
gasses!
So, I won’t be doing
that again!
Last week I posted about another plexiglass loom- this time an inkle loom:
And, thanks to Tropical Twister, a really fun small loom weaver’s blog, I have just learned about another plexiglass loom:
An ingenious design for laser cut backstrap looms in wood or plexiglass from Action Weaver.
And, now, on to glass:
Weavezine just had a wonderful article …read more