It's been a few days -

Bet y'all thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth didn't ya? No such luck... I've just been a little pre-occupied is all. Can't wait to be able to sit at my wheel or even just wedge some clay to work with.

In the meantime, I've rummaged around and found my nostepinne (Norwegian for 'nest stick') to wind some of the beautiful merino yarn I've acquired into balls to work with instead of those hard-to-deal-with hanks. It's been a while since I've used it and it shows. Instead of ending up with a center-pull ball of yarn, it more closely resembles a football - but, it works just the same! My next two looked a whole lot better!!!

The nicest yarn I've found so far is hand-painted and hand-spun by an Asian couple from (of all places) New Hampshire - it's so soft and the colors are consistent and lively. It's a chunkier weight than what I've worked with before, but it knits up beautifully and felts even better. Sorry, it FULLS even better. I've been corrected before about my use of these two terms. Felting is done with the fiber or roving - a finished knitted or crocheted piece is fulled - two different processes.

I'll try and get a couple of pictures up later today - felting is really kind of fun, but the preparation and testing is tedious. I enjoy testing clays and glazes for my pots, but knitting the test swatches for the different yarns is different, although a very important step in determining the shrink rate for the finished object - just like with clay.

I guess the difference in the process is that testing clays and glazes is more mind-bending - testing the yarns only takes a little bit of manual labor - over and over and over.

I've also been scouring the internet for sales venues - etsy.com, yessy.com, eBay - and am seeing some interesting work, both in fiber arts and pottery. I think I can pull off a few good sales. After seeing some of the work offered, I'm both impressed and curious, and in some cases, outraged and disappointed.

Impressed at the level of skill in some areas and that the work is offered at such a reasonable price. Curious about the techniques used and want to know more about the artist. Outraged and disapppointed at the offerings that are clearly the work of someone who needs more practice and a higher skill level. This work is offered for huge prices and it SELLS!!! And the buyers LOVE it. I just don't get it. I don't have to understand it, I guess - I just have to hope (make sure) that MY work doesn't fall into that last category.

Enough for now - gotta go take those pictures so I can show you my feeble attempts at a new direction in my life.

Take care y'all - catch ya on the flip-flop!!

Oh, forgot to tell you about my new, custom-made warping board so I can set up my loom again - pictures later after I get it mounted on the wall......

Too much time on my hands!!!!!

I've had many friends that have asked when I'm finally going to put a up a website. Since I'm at home for the duration of a medical leave, I thought maybe I'd try and do something productive and create this blog - not a website, but it'll do in the interim.

I'll get some pictures up someday - maybe sooner, maybe later - but for now, I've at least taken the first step.

This is my first attempt at blogging, so be patient - it'll probably go a bit slow for now.

Oh, just realized that a website was one of my New Year's resolutions a couple of years ago - well, it's a start.

Later!!