Moraart Studio: February 2013

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

In the spirit of Nature's Cauldron

And, in the spirit of
Nature's Cauldron
http://www.naturescauldronfarm.com/ post the other day.
This is the wardrobe I find myself wearing most often.
And, if I were going to STITCHES http://www.knittinguniverse.com/stitches this year
I'd have a few of these pieces in my backpack.

From left to right:

Light blue shawl is a knit 'Lotus Shawl' I pattern tested for designer/pattern writer Hanna Breetz http://evergreenknits.blogspot.com/ with yarn from (Local-20 miles or less) Alpaca from Eva's Alpacas @ Juniper creek Alpaca Farm http://junipercreekalpacas.com/ dyed with my Indigo plants from the garden.

Owl Hat is the pattern, 'Who?' http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/who-2 yarn from Joshua's Shetland Sheep https://www.facebook.com/pages/Joshua-Farm-Shetland-Sheep/216027411763321 in the Chico area. I dyed it a light yellowish orange with my garden coreopsis and I bought the recycled buttons for the owl's eyes at Roxanne's shop http://humblefabrics.com/. Humble Fabrics is a great little shop full of hidden treasures for a crafter/artist.

Sweater is Full Belly Farm http://fullbellyfarm.com/ in the Capay Valley(60 miles?) dyed with mountain sage, marigolds and indigo all from my backyard! Some of yo might recognize the pattern as 'The february lady' http://www.ravelry.com/projects/StacyMora/february-lady-sweater.

And, the 'Ginko Shawl' I wear every morning! It is one of my first hand spun projects. The fiber is two plied with Sue Flynn's Romeldale 'Cinnamon Girl' and a local roving collected locally by Helen Derrick that I found @ 'The Mendocino Yarn Shop' in the basket full of local fibers. http://mendocinoyarnshop.com/

These are my treasures that will out live any store bought yarn and all have a story about their Fiber Shed. AND, I have many stories and memories of my experiences gathering plants and fibers from my local area.

Fiber Castle in the Snowy Woods

BFL, Namaste Farms http://namastefarms.com/ Teeswater Locks (5-15" long!),
Mendenhall's http://woolranch.com/ merino dyed yesterday and drying by the fire.
The color of the dye is chartreuse. However, looks more like electric lime!
It will look good with other browns and greens and will tone it down.

Meditation pillow used for short sit.

It was snowing outside yesterday and I was inside organizing my yarn stash.

I am so tempted to buy more.

So, in an attempt to count my blessings and recognize the amounts of fiber I already have

...I've pulled one of the storage bins out.

This is about a 1/5 th of yarn I have.

Much of it I find hard to part with and also unsure what to create with it.

Hoping documenting on Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/ stash will help me put it all together.

I so am tempted/want a few yarns right now!

From Quince&Co. http://www.quinceandco.com/ I want some honey puffin to finish an Agne's sweater.

and Habu and Vreseis http://www.vreseis.com/ I want fiber to make a Leisl top/tunic dress for summer.

But, I do not have 8 arms and can not finish projects as quick as I think of them! And, in looking in my stash I have lots of organic cotton yarn for the summer dress. And, even more wool to create a few sweaters!

I have two projects on needles to finish for the spring. If I finish maybe I'll get some more (organic and grown with color) cotton from Sally Fox @ Vreseis.