I had to skip the Farmer’s Market last week, since I was IN my best friend’s wedding, but the week before that I actually went to 2 local farmer’s markets. The new Jonesborough market is still small, but all of the produce (of which there was very little by 10:30 am) was local. My favorite local chocolatier was there (Earth and Sky Creations)- and we bought a chocolate for each of us. On the car ride home they both got melty and so we were at a rush when we stopped by the JC market. So rushed, in fact, that I left my camera in the car and it wasn’t until the last minute that I grabbed it and shot the brightest thing I found:

While I was out of town for the wedding, I thought about these flowers, so bright amongst the green leaves. I decide to finally break out the banana fiber I’ve been too nervous to spin and I dyed it a few shades of green. I found some brilliant impatient-orange recycled silk that are the perfect shade of orange. The banana fiber and recycled silk are recycled in the same way: a Nepalese woman’s co-op collects the scraps from sari weaving; apparently banana fiber is a very common fiber in India! While the silk is smooth, with all the fibers parallel, the banana fiber is very crimpy and clustered up, tied together is some places. Making it spinable is a time-consuming task and involves “fluffing” it, pulling apart the fibers, cutting or untying the knots, getting it as parallel as possible (I tried handcarding to no avail!). Because the banana fiber is so uneven and I wanted to ensure a sturdy yarn, I chose to use a commercially spun 100% hemp yarn as the base and spun the banana and silk around the hemp yarn (like corespinning).Impatient Orange – available in the shop

The resulting yarn is fluffy and soft and scrappy, while extremely sturdy and strong.

and funky!

PS. The chocolate got melty, but we popped it in the fridge when we got home (just a few minutes) and it ended up tasting SO amazing – PB for Jay, Chili Powder for me.

As I sat with this quilt, her wedding gift, in my lap, I thought of all the hopes and worries and happiness we’ve shared. The giggle fits and camping on the beach and loud singalongs to Les Mis.

I wanted this quilt to symbolize so much: the warmth that our friendship has brought me, the years of letter writing we’ve engaged in, my hope that she’ll enjoy husband-snuggling under a blanket as much as I do.
Making the quilt was a ritual I needed; to stitch our friendship into something tangible, to allow myself to believe in our new lives, to physically labor my prayers and happiness for her into something she could hug.

Separated by 400 miles, I purchased 4 fabrics, 1/2 yard of each while my mom did the same. We met up to exchange fabrics and buy the border. We retreated to our own homes and Mom pieced 5 blocks and I made 7; neither of us using a pattern, just throwing together the 9 fabrics however we wanted.

I’ll give it to her today, her wedding day, hoping that all of my thoughts, prayers and wishes make it out of the quilt and into her life.

Remember the Fiber Shop Swap?

It’s all wrapped up now and I wanted to thank my partner, Extreme Spinning!

Preschool, available in the shop

She sent me two amazing fiber art kits that included yarn, fiber, binding cotton, pearls and instructions for it all! The two yarns pictured here were spun from those kits and were so fun!

Bright orange impatients, cheering me up after my chocolates melted!

*I’ll be out of town this weekend, so I’m skipping next Saturday & this week’s project will be completed next week.

Last week, at the Johnson City Farmer’s Market, I was struggling to find some yarn-worthy inspiration. We had slept late and most of the fresh veggies were gone. While the goat cheese was delicious, I didn’t think white slabs of creamy goodness were going to translate into an interesting yarn. Just as we were leaving, I caught site of these white stalks, which reminded me of Soy fiber (I don’t know why; everything reminds me of some fiber!)

I was thinking of that pale green when I dyed the fiber and those spiky stalks on the round one (what is that?) inspired the way I spun it.

I’m not entirely happy with how the color came out, I was going for something a bit more green, but this ended up in the blue-green range. A little of the natural cream of the soy fiber still shows through, like the barely green of the stalks.
This yarn was definitely a lesson in dyeing soy and in trying to match the inspiration photo!

On a muggy Friday evening last month, Jay and I had the pleasure of visiting Hobby Knob Farm in Weaversville, NC. Shepherdess Elizabeth met us on her big back porch, where she was working on a fleece, cleaning out the grass as it sat on a big screen door.

Elizabeth gave us a grand tour, past the guard llamas that were being groomed for her daughter’s upcoming 4-H show and up to the sheep on a leash.
Yes, a sheep on a leash (a very long leash) in the yard! I knew then that I was gonna love this place!

The flock of sheep all live in several huge fields and are rotated throughout the day. When we arrived, Elizabeth put out some feed in the chicken yard and the sheep (and their constant companions, the llamas) came running.
As cute as the sheep are, that chick in the above picture, might be my favorite – she looks like she’s wearing pants!

Hobby Knob is focuses on heritage breeds of sheep: Jacobs, Cotswalds and some Shetland crosses.

The fiber I got from Elizabeth is a blend of her wool and mohair with local alpaca. It dyes beautifully soft colors and spins so easily, so smoothly!

This yarn was dyed with the leftover Easter Egg dyes and spun to a heavy worsted weight. I named this first skein spun the fiber I got at my farm visit after Elizabeth!

Last week,while strolling through the very lively Abingdon Farmer’s Market, I slyly snapped this photo of a pepper plants and begonias, while my husband bought some peppers.

Throughout the week, I thought about the photo and what aspects I wanted to caputure in the yarn. I was most struck by the variety of greens and the interplay between the shot of red with the rest of the photo. It took me a few days, but on Thursday I pulled out some gray streaked mill-ends wool and a local wool/alpaca/mohair blend from Hobby Knob Farm. I put both fibers into a dyepot with a medium green. As the temperature rose, I sprinkled in a few more greens (dye will “strike” the fiber quicker when it’s already heated, so you can get patches of distinct colors while kettle dyeing).

The resulting fiber was dried outside in the sunshine and spun into a bulky single, shot through with begonia red recycled silk. The scrappy silk offers both a contrast of color and texture, the same contrast provided by the begonia in the picture.

I would love some company for the Farmer’s Market Project! Read this to learn more and then leave a comment if you’d like to join me. I welcome anyone who does any craft; I’ll make a blogroll of those involved, so make sure you leave your blog address!

Romaine Lettuce, taken at the Johnson City Farmer’s Market

The Farmer’s Market Project is a self-challenge: each week I’ll take one picture at the Farmer’s Market and will post it here. During the next week I’ll dye and/or spin a yarn inspired by that picture and will list the yarn the very next weekend.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting the yarn inspired by last week’s photo.

Fiber Friday is here and today I’d like to share what I hope will become a regular feature: an interview with a full-time fiberist! I’ve gushed over her beautiful batts, and now I’m happy to share some insight into the world of Hobbledehoy. Liz (aka hobbledehoy) is a successful full-time spinner with a thriving Etsy shop. She candidly shares the realities of life as a spinster on her blog. I find her blog and business inspring but I was curious about her beginnings, so I asked some questions and she generously answered:

How’d you get started spinning?

I’ve been a long-time fan of the Craftster.org forums, and discovered novelty spinning on one of the boards there. I’m a bit obsessive with new hobbies, and will gobble up all the information I can find about a specific craft before trying it out. I ordered a spindle and dyed wool yarns with KoolAid while I waited for it to arrive. A week later, I ordered a wheel. It all happened so fast- most of those first few weeks are a blur. None of it would have been possible or affordable if it weren’t for mill end wool providers and a lucky Etsy search (where I discovered a used Babe wheel for sale).

Which came first: the spinning or the bunny?

I spent a full year spinning before I brought little Huxley home. I had no idea what to expect- processing fiber from my own animal. Fortunately, Huxley is a sweetie and doesn’t mind sitting still for hours while I snip away his fluff (I’m too scared to pluck! Plus, it makes him antsy).

How did your business begin?

Actually, I was selling one inch buttons and simple earrings on Etsy- two or three months before I began spinning and selling yarn. The business-y aspects of selling yarn began when I realized that in order to afford fiber to spin, I had to sell what was spun. I’m not much of a knitter, and would literally spend days cranking out new yarns- that’s a lot of fiber!

Did you set out from the beginning of it to have a “business” and be “self-employed”?

No. I just wanted to rake in enough cash to pay for textbooks and student fees. When I sat down to chart my profit, I realized that I could probably spin yarn for a living- especially since the cost of living in this area is relatively low. I live frugally, but am able to make ends meet by taking overhead production costs into consideration.

What led to your self-employment? How did you make the decision to being “full-time”?

I was working approximately 20 hours a week in college, taking 18 credit semesters. When I added spinning to my already compressed schedule, I decided that something needed snipped. I made the decision to quit my part time job when I noticed a trend with my sales- 80% were to returning customers. I decided that if I could sustain a base of loyal customers and continually lure in new shoppers through branding and marketing efforts, I just might be able to squeak by with my hobby. Now, I’m preparing to start clocking in full 40 hour work weeks with my business, possibly branching onto a website this Fall. I’ve been keeping my head above water, just slightly, until now, but am looking forward to building a more structured and less spontaneous business.

Thanks Liz, for sharing your business beginnings! And to further make your Fiber Friday, Liz posted a little tutorial for corespinnig (instructions here):