Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

So over the past few months I've been working on projects and homework assignments. This year the focus is on combing, so I will put up pics when my homework is mounted/complete, but here are some recently completed projects:

some wool batts I made to sell on etsy.


my crazy quilt: I finally cut out all the pieces, now I just need to sew them down and get them embroidered!





my little robot doll that I modified by adding a snaggle tooth, a butt crack, and a heart tattoo :)

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Summer Update & Dyeing with Elderberries!






Well, this summer has gone by faster than any other, and I think that means it was because I was having so much fun, right? :) Check out my natural dyeing in progress w/ elderberries and the little snails that like them too!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Schools out baby!

These past few weeks have been kind of stressful not knowing if I was going to be able to keep my job teaching in the city. Unfortunately there were 200 teacher lay offs, but luckily I was not one of them. I know that life always presents challenges and lessons for us to grow and learn from, and we don't always know what path we may have to walk down, but I really really like the path I'm on and just wanted to wander for a few more miles anyway :)

Another exciting adventure was getting my new tattoo!! I realize it's one of those things that people may have grown accustomed to seeing as part of our fashion/culture, but every day I look at it I am still amazed it hasn't washed off..

(my spider tattoo)

The symbolism behind the tattoo is personal, but it's kind of got 2 meanings. The first, is that being that I am a spinner I feel an affinity towards spiders and the story of the weaver Arachne always intrigued me. The second meaning is that this year has been a challenging one and I wanted the web to be similar to a dream catcher, and catch all the good that comes my way in life and let the bad things pass through. That's why there is a trebble clef caught in the web, it represents Greg and how he is a good thing that has come into my life :)

Here is a preview of my summer to do list:
- Relax!
- hang out with Greg and do fun things
- hang out with family and friends
- Finish knitting 3 projects; fish gloves (90% done), sleeves in your pi-shawl (20% done), and random scrap yarn scarf (25% done)
- Spin wool for my purple/yellow sweater (I know it sounds weird, but trust me this is going to be a cool exercise in color!)
- Teach classes and people about knitting/spinning
- work on the house like painting the downstairs and upstairs bathrooms
- write a spinning article for spin off magazine
- start writing my how-to-dye book to get the colors you want
- submit a workshop proposal for Rhinebeck for next year

I will post pictures of knitting/spinning progress and any other good news worth sharing!

Friday, May 29, 2009

3 weeks and counting

!!!!
Okay, had to get that out of the way first. I have mixed emotions about the summer almost being here. As you may/may not know, the Rochester City School District is planning on laying off 200+ teachers and I am not sure if I am in the mix yet or not, will know in the next few weeks. That being said, I am looking forward to the road ahead, even if I can't exactly tell yet where it's leading me.

Things that I hope to accomplish this summer:
- Get a tattoo (so excited! 6/19/09)
- Celebrate lots of positives like birthdays, graduations, weddings, babies (come to think of it all in the next month!)
- Write my how-to-dye manual
- Study in Canada
- Love and be loved
- Catch up with friends and to-do lists
- Enjoy the warmth and no snow!
- Lose 10-15 more lbs and keep it off for the year ;)
- other things that I know are on my mind I just can't yet think of them...

The dwarven battle bonnet has been knitted (the helmet part) and I am going to spin the white wool to dye soon, pictures to follow.


I am also teaching the following workshops :
6/14/09 knitting machien demo - yarn boutique 1230-130
6/21/09 entrelac technique - yarn boutique 1230-230
7/5/09 mitered square technique - yarn boutqiue 1230-230
7/20 & 7/22 beginning crochet for children - villiage yarn and fiber shop (ages 10+) 10-12
7/25/09 knitting machien demo - yarn boutique 1230-130
7/27 & 7/29 beginning knitting for children - villiage yarn and fiber shop (ages 10+) 10-12
8/3 & 8/5 beginning drop spindling for children - villiage yarn and fiber shop (ages 10+) 10-12

more workshops dates/times to be posted soon.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Lemonade Stand Award



Katie nominated me for this, thanks dah-link! I hope to post a few more projects in the works, like my Dwarven Battle Bonnet. Currently swatching for this project, will keep people posted w/ pictures. Until then, off to see the Indras at Boulder coffee house! Woot!



The Lemonade Stand Award is for being a blogger who shows great attitude and gratitude.
To pick up the Lemonade Stand Award:
Comment on this blog.
Cut and paste the award logo and use it in your own blog.
Nominate blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude.
Link to your nominees within your blog post.
Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.
Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Even More Goodies

So the other night Greg was spinning on his spindle, and I couldn't help but take a picture.. I am so proud of him!!

I also carded and put up 2 more batts on the etsy site:

Trying to sell some goodies

I updated my etsy shop with some more yarn/fiber and I will be continuing to add more goodies especially as it gets closer to summer. Here are some things I have at the "shop" :)

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Consolidation!

After dipping my toes into many waters of aliases, nicknames, user names, etc. I decided to stick with SpinnyBuns for continuity and originality. This weekend I had the luxury of dining with Lexi (aka Pluckfluff) and Steph ( aka Loop) and they were discussing the history of their aliases. So I decided that I would stick with the name SpinnyBuns, coined by my quick-witted husband.

This weekend was amazing to say the least. First, I've been waiting for a month, scratching each day off the calendar with anticipation to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Normally I would go with my spinning partner in crime, Serena. In an effort to bond with Greg on a closer level, I took the chance and asked him if he would like to join me on this holy pilgramage to fiber mecca with me. Much to my surprise he agreed, and even better he told me he was going to purchase a spindle and start spinning yarn!

We set out to Maryland on Friday night and arrive around 1 am. I passed out immediately but Greg had a hard time falling asleep. I set the alarm for 6 am to find out that he had only had an hour of sleep. Inspite of that, he was easygoing and we whipped through the festival in 4 hours. The last stop at the festival was at the Golding booth where Greg purchased his first drop spindle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had to take pictures because it was such a special moment:


Greg then went and bought some Romney wool, and spun some yarn in the car!! I'm so proud!!
There were other purchases like a pristine white cormo fleece (5lb10oz and yes that's like a little baby of awesomeness :)), a flicker board, a diz, and some amazing out of print color theory books.

On the way out of the festival I bumped into Lexi and she introduced me to Steph. That was the icing on the cake!

I hope to post some more pictures of all the batts/yarns/and other goodies that are rattling around on my to do list.
In the meantime you can check out my new consolidated etsy shop: spinnybuns.etsy.com
I will be updating the shop this week, putting up some yarns/batts and stitch markers too :) I'm getting ready for the big summer kick off of all things handmade and figured the earlier I got into it the better!!