Archive for June 2008

My order from Spunky Eclectic came earlier this week. The box wasn’t particular large. But it contained pounds of wool that I had been anxiously waiting for. I am quite happy with the quality.

The above is 4 oz of Galaxy Series, hand-painted natural colored Blue-Faced Leicester wool. Colorway Saturn. The colors are wonderful. Exactly what I was hoping for. Can you guess what I want to do with it? Morning Surf. Yes, I love that scarf! I think 4 oz is enough. I just don’t know when I’ll start this project. It is getting so warm here in So. Cal.

The above is 8 oz of naturally colored Blue-Faced Leicester wool. It’s considered a dark color by the vendor. From the book In Sheep’s Clothing, Blue-Faced Leicester wool is a good choice for strong and smooth fabric. Staple length 3-6 inches. It’s micron count is 28-24. Not as fine as Merino. I’ll have to do the next-to-the-skin test. Is there a good method? :-) I might take this to -Dye Fest. Yes, I am going! Yay! Now I have to figure out the colors that I want to try.

Above is one pound of Black Shetland wool. The color is more dark chocolate than pure black. I wonder if I’ll get a ‘raven-like’ effect when I dye this at Dye Fest. Shetland has a micron count of 30-23. Staple length 2-5 inches.

Above is one pound of gray Icelandic wool. A really nice silvery gray. Feels a bit scratchy. My guess is that it has both the outer and inner coat fiber. I am not sure. I’ll have to handle it more to see. And you know I will. :lol: It’s micron count is 31-28 for outercoat, 22-19 for undercoat. Staple length is 4-10 inches for outercoat, 2-3 inches for undercoat. The book says that the if spun softly, the fiber from both coats can be used together for garments. This really needs planning. Anyone has any suggestion? I might take this to Dye Fest, too.

No, I didn’t convert. CB and some of our good friends are Episcopalians. A few were graduating from the EFM class last Saturday. CB and I were invited to participate the ceremony at the Cathedral Center. The service was a bit odd. But I enjoyed the visit anyway. Plus, we got to go to brunch afterwards. Someone found this really nice place in Silver Lake, Cliff’s Edge. Very hard to find location. No signage other than the little valet parking sign. But the atmosphere was fantastic. Food was good, and the price was right!

Sunday we surprised our friend Connie by showing up for Los Angeles Recorder Orchestra’s performance at St. Bede’s. Connie played the Bass. I’d never seen so many different kinds of recorders. Actually, I thought there was only one size. Check out LARO’s photo page for various types of recorders. Especially the Contra and Great Basses. Very odd looking. :-)

We also went to a blessing of same-sex union two weeks ago. Wonderful friends of ours. A lovely couple. About 250 people showed up. And I think about that many went to the reception at the couple’s house afterwards. Catering was done by Paul McCullough, former contestant on season 3 of The Next Foodnetwork Star. (I told quite a few that he was on season 2. :oops: ) Everything was super delicious. Definitely check him out for catering service. Too bad I forgot my camera! :-(

Made Chinese dumplings Monday evening. It had been years since I last made them. I learned the how-to when I stayed with a Shangdong family at 14. I learned how to knead and roll the dough into round dumpling skins, add fillings and made little dumpling shapes. Now I make up the filling recipe myself. You can be very creative with what you put in them. Hmmm… there was a time when I would experiment making dishes just from memory of taste. I don’t think I can do it now. Monday’s dumplings were good. CB and I ate 35 of them, and froze some. The flavor needs to be tweaked a little next time.

Dumpling shape looks like the old Chinese money 元寶 , a kind of ingot, gold or silver. So dumplings of all kinds are very popular when celebrating new years, signifying a prosperous beginning.

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The annual GLASG Dye Fest is coming up on June 28th. There are two mini workshops that I want to participate in. One on natural dyeing, the other on no-felt space dyeing. I just made a purchase on spunkyeclectic.com. Some gray Icelandic, some black Shetland and some dark brown Blue Faced Leicester. I want to experiment dyeing with naturally colored fiber. There will be many expert dyers there and I can expect excellent input. Can you guess why I got the black Shetland? :-)

The thing is… this morning I found out that I might have to be in China on June 26th for room designs. ARRGGHH! Are you kidding me? The scheduling seems a little funny to me. Maybe there’s a mistake. I need to call Taiwan to confirm this. Of course I’ll go to China and miss the Dye Fest. But, but….. :cry:


Photo from Summer 2008 issue of Spin•off

Creator: Smoking Hot Needles (Monika)
Fiber: Merino/Tencel, colorway ‘Aspen’, from Spunky Eclectic
Pattern: Morning Surf
Read the creator’s original blog post

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this scarf. It’s featured in the latest issue of Spin•off. The article presented several finished spin-to-knit scarves using the same pattern, Morning Surf. This one is my favorite. The pattern, the colors just work together very nicely. Plus the knitting is fabulous! I want one! The pattern is free. I just need to find the right fiber to spin. Oh, and time. ha ha ha :-D

Other news. I talked to my sister in Taiwan. We are going to continue the effort of completing the hotel unless there’s a serious buyer. This means that I will most likely go to China very soon. IF there’s a serious buying interest before July, I’d be able to escape the trip. Crossing my fingers.