A little departure from the weekly “Ask Tara”, this week I asked a few spinners what their Spin-Life is like. I’m delighted by the variety of places and ways people spin!

Today I’ll share their fiber “studio” set-up and next week we’ll talk about when and where they actually sit at their wheel.

But first, let’s meet the spinners:

Liz of Hobbledehoy
Esther of JazzyTurtle
Velma of ColorBOMB Creations
Rachel-Marie of KnittyDirtyGirl
Lacey of In A Circle of Fog
Erin of Wooly Hands
Mia of Knit and Play with Fire

Do you have spinning studio? If so, what’s it like?

Liz:

I have little corners of storage space set up like this:

for fiber to spin, handspun yarn, and batt bags.  I spin out in my
living room most of the time, but I have a giant bedroom that I
sectioned into studio space (it’s seriously ginormous!)  I usually
card at a table in my dining area (where we store my loom, but never
eat).
My bedroom studio area is a cat-free zone, so I keep finished products
there, a long L shaped desk with my sewing machine, a computer, my
fabric stash, and crates of bagged batts.  I have a separate closet
for storing bumps of wool or large quantities of un-dyed fiber, but
bumps only last a couple of weeks, so that closet is mostly filled
with packaging supplies.

Esther:

I usually spin in the living room because that’s where the tv/dvr is. I keep my prepped fiber in a big wooden salad bowl- next to my wheel, and a pile of ‘next on the wheel’ fiber next to the couch (unless hubby puts it back in my studio b/c he’s a neat freak)

My studio has my desk/computer a bookshelf and 2 metal 5 shelves for rubbermaid tubs full of fabric, my sewing machine, serger and other supplies. I have a table for my printer and carder with fiber underneath. I have an entire wall of cubbies (that i got from target) where most of my fiber lives (what’s not under the carding table) the closet holds 9 cubes from the craft store that organizes all my scrapbooking supplies.

Rachel Marie:

I store my drum carder on the shelf but I use it on the floor. I spin in the studio, use my laptop everywhere… My studio is right next to my baby’s room so I just gate off the steps and he can play in my studio and his room while I work.

I have my journal illustration supplies in a handy basket, so when I do need to work downstairs because I want to be around the family or something… it’s easy to take that down to the kitchen table.

Lacey:

Erin:

Today I’m so happy to share an interview with Cosette Cornelius-Bates of Cosy Knits (literally).  Cosy designs whimsical knitting patterns, knits adorable, embellished accessories, spins beautiful yarn and authored Knit One, Embellish Too. You can read all about the process (and her new article in Yarn Forward!) on her blog Cosy Makes.  I asked her to share her experiences as a full-time fiber artist and below is our interview.

When did you discover a love for fiber arts?

A couple of years out of college, I saw one of my good friends knitting (by the way, she was the first person I ever remember seeing knitting). However, she knit left-handed so I ended up teaching myself out of a Dummies book. Then I knit not too well (through the back of the loop) for at least a year. I also started teaching other people to knit and organized us into a knitting groups. I was hooked!

Then my husband and I moved to Vancouver BC. There, my favorite yarn store was an old school wool shop – batting, big huge carder in the back etc. They had a very small store front stuffed full of 6 spinning wheels. I noticed they offered classes and convinced my friend Sarah to take one with me. Spinning class led to dyeing class and shortly thereafter, I found 2 wheels at a thrift store. It seemed I was meant to be fibery.

How did the business begin?

Like most people, my business began because I liked to knit and so knit too many things. So the beginnings was merely getting rid of things I knit and had no use for. A girl only needs so many hats! That said, I think the business really began when I started embellishing my hats, making a unique and interesting artistic product.

How did it become full-time?

I became full time the first time because I had money left from my book deal to live on when we moved back from Canada. Then I picked up a small job for a bit because I needed to, and now I just became full time again – trying to build up the business and make it viable before we have children. The business has always been slowly building on itself. Knits, patterns, spinning, teaching, and then dyeing.

What’s a normal working day like?

I generally get up in the morning and check in with the computer. I do most of my marketing by blogging, so I generally think about whether it’s a blog day or not (depends upon what I’ve been up to). Deadlines are what my business is all about. I might have a pattern due at a magazine, a yarn/fiber show in a month or a big craft fair to prepare for. Any or all of the following might be included in a day.

spinning yarn
dyeing roving/yarn
blog writing
knitting ~ for patterns, commissions, or craft fairs
cooking
yoga
computer stuff ~ answering emails ~ updating etsy etc.
organizing classes for the Pittsburgh Craft Collective
bookkeeping
photographing fibery goodness

And all of this is carved around my husband’s school/work schedule so that I have time to play with him too.

What do you wish you had planned for/expected before starting?

For me, it has been a big woolie snowball that I’m just caught in, and that’s the way I like it It always seems like there are more things happening to me than me intentionally doing.

That said, it would have been nice to know a bit about sole proprietor small business taxes before i made that leap.

Is it easier or harder to be “creative” in your full-time fiber artist schedule?

I don’t really find the whole of being a fiber artist creative, or maybe it’s just creative in a different way. Pattern writing is creative to me. And knitting/embellishing my hats feels like painting. That said, I find spinning and dyeing to be less creative pursuits. But that isn’t bad because I find that they complete the job perfectly. It’s nice to have such a varied job. I couldn’t dye all the time or knit all the time. It would drive me insane. It’s like cutting and gessoing your canvas before you can paint on it.

You mention painting, did you study art?

Before I started knitting, I went to university for Art and English and was certified to teach both.  After I started knitting, I went to graduate school and got a Masters of Christian Studies in Christianity and the Arts.  At the end of my masters program, which combined a written paper with a presentation of art of some sort, I had a knit/spun/designed gallery show of my work.  That’s how the blog started, to keep track of the knit thesis.  Here’s the gist: http://cosymakes.com/2007/04/13/thesis-show-write-up/

How did your book deal come about?

Before the blog started (read, before my last semester when I was working on the thesis), I found that there were a lot of fabulous crafters on Flickr and started posting my knits.  Shannon Okey of knitgrrl.com noticed me and did an interview with me on her blog.  I started my etsy shop.  Got mentioned on Whipup.  Then one day I got a note over flickr from the crafts aquisition editor for my publisher, asking if I’d be interested in doing a pattern book.  I was busy with my thesis, but my friend Alissa talked me into it.  The other thing was that I had never actually written down a knitting pattern.  So working on the book was a totally new ball game.

Did you spin all of the yarn for the book?

You can find my handspun throughout, as well as that of Rachel-Marie (knittydirtygirl), Daniella (feltstudiouk), and Abby (folktale fibers).  Since spinning and dyeing also happened at about the same time, the book contains a lot of hand dyed recycled sweater wool and a whole section on how to recycle thrift store sweaters.

Did writing the book change your business? or your work?

To some extent, I felt myself claiming fiber arts as my real work before the book.  But after the book, it felt all the more real.  One good thing about my publisher is that they allow me to buy my book from them at wholesale and sell it, so the book became a part of the business as well as a boost to the business.  Having a diverse business is how I survive year round and the book has been priceless.

I don’t see the book as changing my work much.  The patterns in the book are like the hats I sell at craft fairs… which I still do.  They went well together and made a nice book, but you only need so many basic hat patterns to embroider on.  It has been fun starting there with my designing and moving out from it.  The book was a bit of a manifesto for me, to get some ideas and opinions out there on creation, recycling, creativity, spinning/dyeing and color.  It was great fun to write, but my work, even when the book was finally published, had moved so far beyond what was in the book!  I was surprised one day when I noticed that if I were to start the book last May (when it came out) it would have been totally different.

Can you explain your process from fiber to finished yarn (or knitted thing)? Do you plan it out ahead of time?

My knits contain a mixture of recycled sweater wools, handspun, hand dyed, and commercial wool. So, I enter the yarn room and start rummaging. It’s a bit like looking for truffles Sometimes I have an idea of what I want to make (perhaps size, color, or shape) and sometimes I let the yarns inspire me. After the physical act of creating the object, I get another bout of searching – wondering what the accessory needs to make it a successful, finished work of art. Sometimes it’s just a button or two. Sometimes it’s buttons and a bunch of embroidery in different colors. Each hat calls for something different.

Today, I was going to write about my new line of Vegan yarn and roving. But I started Twittering with fellow yarnies about vegan fiber and why I don’t love bamboo and soy.  The conversation turned to why I don’t stock those two fibers and I wanted to share my musings about it with you.

As I explored and researched bamboo and soy, I realized something deeper about my business ethics. The Boutique and my own personal life is fuled by two concurrent passions:

1. Support the community (both local and far-flung community of independent yarnies)
2. Do my best to choose the most eco-friendly option

Those two passions converge nicely in nearly everything I dye and spin – local fleeces, mill-end fiber, recycled banana yarn (handspun by a fair-trade women’s co-op) but sometimes they get a bit tricky, like bamboo and soy.

Why not Bamboo and Soy?

Both are touted as environmentally friendly for very good reasons: bamboo is made from the very sustainable bamboo plant which quickly regrows; soy is made from the leftovers of tofu manufacturing, so it’s essentially recycled material.

However, I choose not to stock these fiber regularly in the Boutique because I’m not comfortable with the manufacturing process.  Both are made into fiber (for spinning, millspun knitting yarns and for commercial fabric) by a process that includes “multi-stage bleaching” that isn’t considered to be sustainable or eco-friendly. You can read about the entire process here.

I’m not a scientist and frankly, I don’t understand the whole process.

However, I do feel they are NOT the most eco-friendly cellulose fibers due to their manufacturing  (#2 above) but when they’re in something created by a fellow indie dyer (like Cloudlover’s beautiful merino/bamboo blends) they are certainly appealing (#1 above). They are not on my never-use list (like acrylic) and when it supports a fellow indie, I love it.

So for me, there’s a distinction between buying something in bulk, regularly, to supply my fiber-friends with and supporting another small business when s/he makes what they feel to be a eco-friendly decision. The former feels like it gives the product  my Eco-Friendly Seal of Awesomeness while the latter is an acknowledgment that I don’t have all the answers and I’m not the only one dyeing awesome fiber.

I’d like to know if this distinction makes sense to you? Do you find you have these similar goals in your eco-friendly choices?

If you have any questions about any fiber (whether I use it or not), please let me know! I love reasearching!

This winter, I promise to snuggle in with fiber.

Through  knitting:

Leyburn socks (am now about to turn the heel in the first)

Twist & Shout (nearly done – working on 1st sleeve)

spinning:

And admiring fleeces:

(Jacob fleece – dyed)

(see the first part of my Winter Manifesto here)

One of the most common questions I’ve recieved asks  about pattern suggestions for Bananiére. For example,  a customer recently wrote:

“Can you give me a few ideas on the banana yarn.. what have you made? What have others made with it? I’m trying to come up with something to do with it.. such an interesting yarn!”

Let’s start with what other customers have made:

Jenn made a lovely wrap:

LuluBean made a scarf (looks like a 1×1 rib to me):

Can I knit a sweater?

I’m often asked:

Is it suitable for a sweater?

Not so much. This yarn is heavy and dense (by virtue of being handspun) and doesn’t have the elasticity of wool. This means that it tends to stre-e-etch when knit in St st or garter stitch.

There are a few ways of working with the inelasticity:

• Crochet – while crochet will be denser (and heavier) it will create a stronger fabric (most stitches) and help it bounce back into shape
• Knit in a stretchy stitch and the yarn will stretch when necessary and bounce back.
• Knit a biased fabric. It will still stretch in width rather than length – perfect for a bag or scarf
  

Even with those solutions, I still wouldn’t use Bananiere for a sweater – the resulting garment would be very heavy without the natural warmth of wool or alpaca.

So let’s work with the natural traits of the Banana yarn.

Bananiére is

• Strong
• Cool (as it not-warm…although it is “cool”, like “groovy”, too!)
• Interesting

Because of this, I suggest making:

• Shawls
• Bags
• Accessories (belts, bookcovers, skinny scarves)

And here’s what you’ve been looking for, the free patterns!

Free Shawl patterns suitable for Bananiere

• Bloom Shawl
• Bob & Weave
• Sunday Market Shawl

Free Bag patterns suitable for Bananiere

• Unbiased
• Saturday Market Bag
• Nordstrom Crochet Hobo Bag

Free Accessory patterns suitable for Bananiere

• Bias Scarf
• Simon Belt (opens a pdf)
• Crochet Belt
• Book cover (my own pattern!)

These are just a few of the many possible patterns.  A quick search on Ravelry for “free” and “bulky” will pull up many more! You can usually substitute Bananiére for any pattern that calls for a bulky, cellulose fiber (cotton, hemp, linen) but remember the above characteristics.  The yarn is similar to Sari Silk in construction – it’s easy to substitute one for the other!

I’m always looking for new Bananiére patterns, if you’d like to design one, just let me know!
Did I miss your favorite pattern? Suggest it in the comments below!

Wrapping up the Month of Love!

Each weekday I’ll be posting 1 yarn inspired by a famous pairing, from now until February 14th and each Wednesday I’ll be giving a little roundup of the last week’s love-y yarn.
The Contest is closed, since is the last week of Love, but  you can always suggest yarn names and colors in the comments!

Pinky & The Brain – suggested first by my husband (whom I ignored) and then by my best friend (whom, of course, I listened to!), it simply stripes between pink + white (available here)

Crockett + Tubbs was suggested by Hanna of Ever Green Knits (she also created the most excellent resource for eco-friendly knitters – Green Knitter). It wasn’t until after I had spun together the ocean blue, seafoam green and white (available here) that I discovered it perfectly matches the Season 2 poster:

Awesome!

Tea + Honey was inspired by a suggestion from Laila of Rawfish.  She suggested Tea + Sugar…but since I take mine with honey, I knew I needed to go with that!

This is my usual afternoon tea setup (on the rare occasion I’m at home to have afternoon tea) – cup, teapot, water, knitting, journal and music.

Rick + Ilsa – inspired by the dark romance of Casablanca.

Pride + Prejudice was suggested by Erin of Knitting Hands and is inspired by the dramatic dresses of the Bennett girls. (already sold)
I’ll wrap up the Month of Love with Spike+Dru (inspired by my nearly-complete first-time watching of Buffy) and Clif + Norm (from Cheers!). Drop by the Boutique for those last two Love yarns this week!

If you are one of the inspiring people I mentioned above, you have won 50% off one skein from the Boutique! To redeem it, just buy what you like and put “Month of Love” in the message to seller. I’ll send you a revised invoice (or if you want to pay right away, I’ll refund your discount.)

Even though the contest is over, I’d still love to hear your ideas! What couple did I miss? What sort of series would you like to see next?

You already know that here at Blonde Chicken Boutique, it’s all about the Eco-friendly. But what does “eco-friendly yarn” mean? In the next few weeks I’ll explain the three main tenets of Blonde Chicken Boutique: Local, Sustainable and Recycled. Living consciously is a journey and I’ll be sharing the books, websites and people who have informed my journey. Eco-friendly means different things for different people, but this is what it means for me and for the Boutique.

It’s been a while since I talked about why I choose to get both my fiber and my food locally, but I want to restart this discussion and share why I get so excited by recycled and sustainable fibers.

Part of my commitment to eco-friendly crafting is to find high-quality, recycled spinning supplies.  While there’s a plethora of local wool that qualifies, finding vegan (non-animal) fiber is a bit trickier (I finally found some good organic cotton, I’ll share next week). You can imagine my delight when I was offered this recycled banana fiber unspun and undyed.

Textiles from banana fiber is pretty rare here in the states, but in India and Japan it’s widely available. Commercial banana fiber is produced in the same way rayon is – the stems and leaves are made into a pulp and extruded into long strands.  Banana trees are more renewable than the wood used for rayon, and of course it’s multi-functional (mmm, bananas), so the fiber itself is already pretty eco-friendly.

But that’s not all. My Bananiere fiber comes from the remnants of the clothing industry. These bits and bobs are cut from the looms and would be tossed out if not for the ingenuity of a women’s coop, in Nepal, that collects them for spinning.   I buy the yarn they handspin from this fiber and handdye it for Bananiere (in the Boutique) but I was thrilled when I was offered the unspun fibers!

These fibers are most definitely scrappy, not smooth roving or combed top, often with a few knots, but this is part of the recycled charm! The fiber is shiny and soft, but with a bit of fuzz.

I drop them in the dyepot  with skeins of Bananiere to produce matching sets of yarn and fiber.  Once dry, I tease the fiber apart a bit so it’s easier to draft or card.

The fiber can be carded with wool to add just a splash of texture:

or it can be the star of the show:

In this yarn, I wrapped the banana fiber around a core of hemp thread to create a strong, but crazy yarn.

Ready to try it out for yourself?
You can find it in the Hand-dyed Fiber section of the Boutique (if it’s sold out, drop me a line and I’ll reserve some for you!)

Have you spun with banana fiber? If not, what’s you’re favorite recycled fiber or yarn?

Inspired by Amanda’s beautiful Winter manifesto, I’ve started writing my own.  I’ll be adding to it for the next few Fridays.

February can be a cold, hard month: full of ice and short days and a deep longing for spring.
I find there’s no better way to combat the cold than to embrace the light where I find it and to look for the small moments of joy. To remind myself that there is really just one more month of winter (spring comes early in East Tennessee!), I’ll dedicate myself to this manifesto.

1.  Enjoy and relax with my loved ones;

with coffee,

with chocolates,

while baking,

while playing.

What do you want to enjoy this winter?

Welcome back to the Month of Love!

Each weekday I’ll be posting 1 yarn inspired by a famous pairing, from now until February 14th and each Wednesday I’ll be giving a little roundup of the last week’s love-y yarn.
But I need some help! Suggest a couple you can win 50% off your next skein of BCB yarn, by commenting right here!

This week was filled with bright, happy yarns made to combat the winter white and gray outside my window. As I started to write this summary, I realized most of them are inspired by favorite TV shows that are long gone! Consider this a fiber-y stroll through an old TV Guide!

Donna & David (let’s not pretend you didn’t watch 90210!)

(available in the Boutique)

Buffy & Angel (another yarn inspired by a TV show we know you love!)

(available in the Boutique)

Danny & Sandy – Grease Lightnin’!

(available in the Boutique)

Mork & Mindy (suggested by MissMuppy ) – inspired by those rainbow-striped suspenders! Nanu, Nanu!

(already sold)

Fred & Ginger, suggested by my friend Xiane (she co-organized CRAFT ATTACK!)

(already sold)

If you are one of the inspiring people I mentioned above, you have won 50% off one skein from the Boutique! To redeem it, just buy what you like and put “Month of Love” in the message to seller. I’ll send you a revised invoice (or if you want to pay right away, I’ll refund your discount.)

Keep those suggestions coming!

I’ve almost run through the list of suggestions that inspired me and I need 2 more!

What show from the 80’s or 90’s have I missed?