Still here!

I am still here, after a hiatus. I have relocated to the Georgia - South Carolina area, as this is where I grew up.  I am posting up photos from the 2012 Annual South Eastern Fiber Fest in Asheville NC. I am looking forward to it this year and starting to drool over the classes already! Here's the link to the site, feel free to check it out. They offer tons of classes, and slews of vendors. Hopefully in the future I may even have my own table. I know knitters, spinners and even those who don't know of the magical world of fiber enjoy going. My father has accompanied me the last two years, and he loves it (probably because of all the beautiful ladies). Besides so many vendors offering fiber, tools, spinning wheels, looms, yarns, and pretty much anything you can think of in the yarn industry- they have a fiber show where farmers bring their sheep and alpaca for judging their fleece. At the end of the weekend, the fiber is available for sale, and usually it will provide the grade, the score and a little bio about your furry fiber friend! Also, there are stables you can meet a few sheep, goats, and alpaca - and throughout the show there are plenty of angora bunnies available!

Hand Paint Roving or Yarn Tutorial

Aloha!  I'm sorry it has been such a while since I've last written ano entry.  I have been working my butt off trying to add more inventory to my Etsy shop, and take care of my husband who has been having tons of dentistry work and acts like a big baby.  So, this being my first tutorial, I hope you like it! I also will have a  video tutorial up tomorrow.  I just decided to do a photo tutorial for those who can't view videos, yes there are still people out there who don't get youtube (like my dad!).

Supplies

• Plastic Wrap
• Veggie Steamer
• Rubber Gloves
• Turkey Baster, Surenge, or Paint Brush
• Trash Pot
• Acid Dye ( I love Jacquard Acid Dyes- I bought a set of 15 from Sheepish Creations on Etsy )
• Vinegar
• Mason Jars
• Cheap plastic cups
• Newspaper
• Dawn Soap

Roll your roving into neat balls.

If you are dying yarn, make sure you weave scrap yarn and secure around the skein to insure no tangeled mess!

Ok! So fill the sink with the hottest water possible from faucet, and soak roving or yarn about an hour.



Meanwhile, while your fiber soaks, lay out newspaper and strips of plastic wrap.

Look up your acid dye stock solution recipe (water per oz. dye ratio with vinegar), and store your dye stock solution in mason jars. I added vinegar to my plastic cups, and the dyes I was using. This makes it easy to lighten/darken dyes or create a custom color.

When fiber or yarn is done soaking for an hour, lay in out on the strips of plastic wrap.

Apply dyes with turkey baster, surenge or brush.  Be sure that the dyes soak through all the fiber.

I usually keep a paper towel handy to test my dye on first.

When it's all dyed, fold the sides of the plastic wrap over the fiber, and roll up like a burrito!

Place in the trashy pot with the vegetable steamer, with just enough water peaking through the holes at the bottom. And steam for about an hour, I leave a lid half way on, and keep the stove burner on about a 7 on a 0-10 scale.  Half way through I have to add more water.

 



When an hour is up, I take my tongs and place the rolls in the sink full of hot hot water and dawn soap.  I let it sit 15 minutes at a time, until the water runs clean.  Then, take an old towel and roll up the fiber to get most of the water out.  Hang to dry outside or in the shower.  Be sure to rotate hanging pieces to ensure no weak spots and to help quicken drying process.

If you have any questions, email me- RickiKellyStudio@gmail.com

Happy Dyeing!

Busy Bee

Wow!  It sure has been a while! I've been quite a busy lady lately!  Trying to up my inventory in my Etsy shop, and the husband has been getting alot of dentistry work done lately, I've been babysitting, and we also have a new addition to the Kelly Family - Yoshi!  He is a 2 year old 8 pound fur ball of love, or you could say a Japanese Chin with quite perky ears!  Yoshi has been a blessing to our family, and he won't take less than 3 walks a day! He is blind in one eye, and loves to hang out the window of the car and wind surf!

Moving on... OK! So, this past friday on short notice, I was told of this Entreprenuer Expo held on Schofield Barracks by a fellow artisan that does custom cheesecakes - The Sweet Shoppe by Mariah . It was being held this past Sunday, and I just HAD to go! I was totally excited to meet other Entreprenuer Army wives, and get my name out there locally!  It was awesome, I made my best friend come and assist me.

Here is the link to the Entreprenuer Expo which was started and runned by Hairbows by Tamara  It will be held again in April (the 17th) and May (the 15th).  There are give aways, and quite a lot of vendors. I highly suggest visiting to check out all there is, from Scentsy to photography to custom cheesecakes and specialty cakes.

Also I have new yarns up on Etsy.  I'm working on dog sweaters, clothes, accessories and stylish pet carriers.  Still working on a tutorial video!

Testing testing, 1 2 3?

This video is just a short stop motion collaboration that I've made to try to test out my new video editing software. Honestly, I'm still confused with most of it and would really like to just make my videos and edit them with my Iphone4. But, if that was the case, I'm sure we would be watching something so blurry and pixelated and hard to see. So, Hopefully, if I can get this to work, I will have my video blog up sooner than later! The last short film might very well be the intro to the blog, or I might just make a new intro for every "vlog" for the Ricki Kelly Studio.

Fibre Painting Frenzy!!!

Lately, this past week, I have went on a fibre painting binge!  I was asked to dye a skein of mine that was up for sale on my Etsy, as a custom "pick-your-color" handspun, and I decided to reach in my fibre bin and dye some extra.  I was completely inspired by the movie The Runaways with Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning about Joan Jett and Cherie Curry.  I tend to stick with one color way per ~2oz of fiber, because I seem to get bored with continuous color.  Here are photos of soon-to-be handspun yarn!

100% Tussah Silk

I hope it looks prettier spun!

Planning to add beads as I spin it!

50% Alpaca   50% Silk

50% Alpaca  50% Silk

100% Tussah Silk

50% Merino  50%Silk

50%  Merino  30% Silk  20% Angora

50% Merino  50%Silk

So after watching The Runaways,  I have looked into how to add beads to my fiber as I spin it, instead of adding beads while knitting or crocheting.  I am so excited about this, but to test this out before fuzzing up good fiber, I took the rest of my stash of carbonized bamboo to try this out.  Ok, ok ok. I LOVE bamboo yarn, at least commercial yarn, but spinning bamboo is a different story. It just may be the fact that it is carbonized bamboo, this is the first bamboo I have ever spun, but the reviews on the carbonized bamboo were saying it was like spinning gold- in my opinion that is far from the truth.  It is squeaky and snags on everything.  Do NOT spin this if you have any hangnails or jewelry on!  It easily tangles. Moving on...

Well, maybe adding beads will make the bamboo alot better for me. :)

Basically the process of adding beads in the spun yarn is super easy, but very tedious.  You'll need to have a very large eye beading needle.  You could make one with glue or tape and fishing line.  It simply looks like a big threading needle, bendy and not sharp.  All you do, is make a bunch of these small fiber strips and bead them, and when you're ready to spin, spin with regular fiber and then simply add these in.  Make sure you're drafting them so your yarn will be even, unless you want thicker yarn where the bead will be. 

I can not wait to spin these colored fibres and the beaded fibre!  As for the wedding dress yarn and the crocheted monokini... they're still a work in progress!  

Recently...

Aloha-

Here are some photos of what I've been up to lately.  I've been quite a busy bee!  I appologize for not having a video up, but hopefully when my husband, Adam gets home from training he'll be able to record for me.  The main reason really, for not having as much yarn up in my Etsy shop is because I'm still working on yarn for Christmas presents.  Those are temporarily suspended as of now, because I've FINALLY been able to finish the white angora/silk/merino blend of fingering weight that has been sitting on my bobbins for about two months now!!  

Also, recently I have found the most amazing commercial yarn for my monokinis I am crocheting for my Etsy shop from this wonderful lys called Aloha Yarn located in Kaneohe, HI.  This is called Cascade Cotton Rich DK made of 64% cotton and 36% nylon so the swimsuit will have stretch and be able to wear in water.  I purchased some other yarn to test out for swimwear- Cascade Fixation (98.3% Cotton & 1.7% Elastic) and Crystal Palace Yarn 'Bamboozle' (55% Bamboo, 24% Cotton, & 21% Elastic Nylon).

Also, my most recent project- taking an old wedding dress and spinning art yarn from it.  I thought it would be quick seeing as though it would fill up the bobbin quickly, but having to cut the fabric into strips takes alot of work!!  I love it though, and I have a dream of seeing this as a very couture high-fashion cowl or neck wear.  Here's a sneak peak-

Today, I am custom dyeing a skein for a fellow etsian - VeryChicBaby .  And I've decided since I'm whipping out the dyes, to dye alot of fiber.  I will post up photos sometime tomorrow of this process, and hopefully start spinning some!  I love coloring yarn and fiber!!! Must get back to work!  Mahalo!

Aloha!

 The word sutra, from Sanskrit, means "a thread," such as for stringing jewels or prayer beads.  It also carries the connotation of the word "story," the way we hear "tale" in the word "yarn."  It comes from the same root from which we derive the word suture, meaning "to sew," "to connect," and "to heal wounds."

 So this is my first blog ever!  I am ever so excited that it is finally up and running!  I wanted to basically give a run down of what my blog is about... 

     The whole point of this blog is to feature yarn, knits, crochet, and fiber.  The reason I wanted to do this is to show you guys what I do, who the person is behind the yarn, and to show you how you can spin your own yarn too.  When I started spinning there wasn't a lot of resources for the aspiring spinner, and especially living in Hawaii, sheep, alpaca, angora are rare, if not unavailable as well as the spinning/knitting community being very small.  I want it to be known, it doesn't matter how old you are, where you live, or how you are financially, you can spin your own yarn with unlimited possibility.  I started spinning in October of last year and fell in love.  I love how relaxing it is, the meditative state I reach when spinning.  And when you knit or crochet with your own handspun yarn, it makes it so much more personal than any commercial yarn could.
     With my blog I want us to spin a sutra-  I will share all the knowledge and resources I have in the world of fiber arts.  We will cover :

• Tools of the trade - Spindles, the Wheel, the Charkha, carders, dye, lazy kates, niddy noddies, etc.
• Fiber - Wool, alpaca, cotton, bamboo, silk, yak, cashmere, angora, etc.
• History of yarn and spinning across the world!
• Preparing fiber for spinning
• Drafting
• Dyeing with commercial dyes as well as Natural Dyes (things you can find in your own yard!)
• Spinning techniques
• Plying techniques
• Spinning lingo
• Finishing yarn
• Knitting (how to and reading patterns)
• Crochet (how to, reading patterns and making your own patterns!)

I will be posting up a video blog, hopefully tomorrow.  I'm super stoked about this!  Other things I am  excited about - crocheted monokinis soon to be on my etsy shop! rickikellystudio.etsy.com    Also, I;m really interested in finding an organization that helps women in third world countries by teaching them trades, such as spinning yarn.