Postcards from Camp Pluckyfluff (Part 2)

Saturday, February 18

The sharing table.  Sharing is good karma!

This morning, we arrived at Downtown Knits with wheels and fiber in hand.  Lexi was being secretive about what we would be doing, so we eagerly awaited our instructions.  First, we did a practice yarn where we tried a few different techniques for plying with thread: basic thread plying, granny stacks, beehives, and twists (kind of like eyelash yarn).

Kayleigh's practice yarn

After everyone finished playing with their practice yarns, Lexi told us to cut some fabric into a blindfold- yes, a blindfold.  She then instructed us to choose some lofty fiber and fluff or card it together.  She told us to stick with fiber that is easy to spin with a small amount of fun stuff for texture.  After we set up our wheels, Lexi told us to put on our blindfolds and refrain from talking for 20 minutes while we spun the fiber we had chosen.  This spinning meditation was meant to teach our hands to know what to do and to train us to feel what the fibers want to become rather than overpowering the fiber and forcing it to do something that is unnatural for it.  While not everyone was happy with the results, we were all amazed that we could actually make yarn while blindfolded!

Lexi and Esther were impressed by our impeccable posture!

This was a relaxing experience.  We were able to be in the moment while spinning instead of trying to plan ahead and grab certain colors at certain times.  We just dealt with issues as they came.  The various wheels in the room making their own sounds an rhythms created peaceful music during this Zen activity.  Every spinner should try this at least once.

Our "blind" yarns!

Spinning blindfolded is a Zen experience.

After lunch, we were shown a yarn that Lexi calls a Coil Boil (as seen in her new book).  This yarn is created in three steps, two of which we had time to do today.  Step one is to fill a bobbin with corespun yarn.  The bigger the bobbin, the better since the end result is one-sixth the length of the original corespun yarn. The next step is to coil that yarn around another thread core.  This creates a yarn that looks somewhat like a thin rope.  We'll see what the third step is tomorrow!

Wish you were here!

Our coils, not boiling yet...

Kelly and Kayleigh

Postcards from Camp Pluckyfluff (Part 1)

Friday, February 17

Greetings from Apex, North Carolina!  We are here for a weekend of non-traditional spinning with Lexi Boeger, author of Handspun Revolution and Intertwined.  She recently published a new book called Hand Spun.  When we arrived, we dropped in at the yarn shop for a book-signing party that was being held to celebrate the beginning of Camp Pluckyfluff.

Lexi's new book- a must read!

If you have never been to historic Apex, it is an adorable little town near Raleigh.  The next time you're in the area, be sure to stop by Downtown Knits on North Salem Street.  This wonderful yarn shop is gracious enough to host our group of 17 spinners this weekend.  Our friend Esther Rodgers of Jazzturtle Creations sponsored this event.

She was so impressed with the length of my name, it needed an exclamation mark!
Mom was so proud.

We can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!


Kelly and Kayleigh

An Inspired Felter

At our January meeting, Carolyn Thiedke not only shared with us the lovely felted wall hanging she made for the 2011 Creche Festival at Mepkin Abbey, but she also followed the thread of her inspiration back through layers of remembered images and a progression of experiences with a range of felting techniques.

Carolyn's piece is 32" x 36" and depicts Mary and Joseph in silhouette, outlined in light from the full moon. The bare tree and the night gives the image a sense of stealth and night-time silence.

Several pieces were wet-felted to make the deep blue background.  The tree is a mix of fiber, thread and fabric, felted with a machine as well as a needle felting tool. Mary and Joseph and their shadows were needle-felted as were the white cloud wisps and the moonlight that outlines the figures.

Detail of Mary and Joseph

 Carolyn tried to trace back exactly how the idea came to her to create this particular image. The shadow cast on the street by tree limbs in the street light she sees on a regular early-morning bike ride was part of it. Pictures in favorite art and quilting books were also an influence though not necessarily a direct reference.

After the wall hanging was completed, Carolyn found a picture with very similar themes in a book she has looked at now and again over many years. Those ideas must have taken up residence in the back of her mind because they were expressed again in this piece albeit with Carolyn's own interpretation.

 An accomplished quilter and lifelong knitter, Carolyn said she felt like only a "dabbler" in felting but has enjoyed a progression of felting projects over the last few years.

First, intrigued by a "how-to" article in Martha Stewart Living magazine she bought a wool sweater at a thrift store and made a jazzy stuffed pig with a corkscrew tail.

Stuffed pig made from a felted sweater

 Then she knitted this pair of slippers and felted them in the washing machine.

She had fun with some quick needle-felted animals and she began to look more closely at books on felting. Carolyn said she is a bit surprised that she chose to felt the piece for the creche festival, but based on her sketches, it "just seemed right."

Detail of tree limbs and moon.

We had 25 people at this first meeting of 2012. Our year is off to a great start! Thanks to Carolyn for sharing her work and her process with us. It is fascinating to think of the crooked path our sources of inspiration travel to find their expression in our design, image, and color choices.

Lots of Activity

As this new year gets underway, activity among fiber artists and arts organizations is already picking up.

For those who create wearable art, the North Charleston Arts Festival is soliciting pieces for a juried show at the festival this year. The deadline to submit your articles of clothing and/or accessories is March 5. If you are interested in submitting items, get details by calling 843-740-5854.

Palmetto Fiber Arts Guild members Kelly Fort and Barbara Vanselow will be teaching classes through Charleston County Community Education. Kelly will be teaching an 8-week class for Beginning Knitters beginning Jan. 26 in James Island, and Barbara will teach an Introduction to Bobbin Lace on Feb. 4 in West Ashley.

And at our Guild meeting on Jan. 21, local fiber artist Carolyn Thiedke will share examples of her varied work (felting, quilting, and more) and talk to us about her design process and techniques. Carolyn showed creche pieces in the 2011 Mepkin Abbey Creche Festival. 

And before we get too far into 2012, we should take just a moment and look back at a really good 2011 for our fiber guild. Highlights for the year included an active spinning group, a public exhibit at the Center for Women showcasing our wonderful wallhanging from the Maseru Tapestries Cooperative in Lesotho, a good showing at the Hand & Heart Show and Sale, and a fun bus trip to Asheville to the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair in October.

Some personal highlights among our membership are that Michaela McIntosh is now serving as the South Carolina Representative for our parent organization; the Handweavers Guild of America and Linnie Trettin had the awesome experience of an 8-week stint at the Penland School of Crafts in papermaking.

Big thanks go to our Board and leaders: Lynn Holland, President, Kelly Fort, Vice President, Jessica Jones, Secretary and Garnette Tuten, Treasurer. Amy Heins, as Publicity Chair, set up a FaceBook page for us early in the year, which as been fun. And when Amy could no longer manage ongoing publicity for us, Judy Warren capably stepped into this important "get the word out" role.

Jessica Jones did a great job coordinating our first-ever bus trip and Linnie Trettin worked incredibly hard on the "Connected By a Thread" exhibit, including developing the photos, matting and framing them. Special thanks to all for jobs well done.

We are quite lucky that for 2012, all of our officers will stay in their roles and Michaela McIntosh will join them with a special focus on program planning.

Please join us on Jan. 21. We're off to a good start already.

Happy Holidays!

Some of us celebrate Christmas, some Hannuka, and some The Winter Solstice, but our deep and abiding fiberphilia (made-up word meaning, of course, love of fiber) makes us easy to shop for. Let's see what fiber-related gifts Palmetto Fiber Arts Guild members received this holiday season.

Sandy Hutchinson's friend, who is widely known for her stunning quilts, surprised her with this lovely hand-knitted scarf, in rich colors and a flawlessly even seed stitch.

Nancy Warren got a new temple to help keep selvages in a straight line. This looks like a great size for table linens  and scarves.

Nancy is already busy on her new small Mirrix tapestry loom. Here, she is bead-weaving without a shedding device. This piece is a beaded hatband that will be an anniversary present for her husband. This little loom will also be perfect for small tapestry weavings and beaded cuffs.

Dale Fort made these beautiful wool combs for Kelly.

Here they are in action on wool from a fleece bought at SAFF this Fall

And books! We have new books!

Barbara Vanselow has this new one: Around the Corner Crochet Borders: 150 Colorful, Creative Edging Designs With Charts and Instructions for Turning the Corner Perfectly Every Time by Edie Eckman.

Nancy Warren received Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts by Rayna Gillman. Notice it promises a "stress-free" journey to original design. That makes me think it's really hard.

And Sandy is looking forward to trying some of the projects in Modern Paper Crafts A 21st Centrury Guide to Folding, Cutting, Scoring, Pleating, and Recycling by Margaret Van Sicklen

Sometimes the gift over the holidays is the time to spend on our projects. That was the case for Linnie. She picked up on this sweater, knitted in intarsia, started by her mother 10 years ago. Her mom put it down after one row of diamonds and Linnie hopes to finish it to wear next year.

Linnie said when she got into this project, she learned her mother had a.) switched all the colors, b.) changed the ribbing and c.) stopped because she'd made a mistake and probably was waiting to take it out later (know how that goes!) Oh yeah, and it appears the Mission Falls wool is no longer in production, so Linnie hopes there's enough of these jazzy colors.

And when we said "what gifts did you get?" Liz Hoos thought of a wonderful trip to DC she and Judy Warren made back in the spring. They went to the Smithsonian and saw an exhibit of sea creatures, all crocheted.

The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Exhibit

Judy moved to Charleston from the DC area where her guild had gallery space at the Torpedo Factory. Judy introduced Liz to some of her DC friends and Liz had a wonderful time seeing the sights guided by true insiders. What a gift that trip was! What are friends for?

It's great to have our fiber-peeps who really appreciate our new treasures and who so generously share what they have and what they know how to do. Thanks to everyone for sending in your pictures!

Here's to a Happy New Year for Palmetto Fiber Arts Guild!

Holiday Pot-Luck

Can you believe the holidays are here? It's been a great year in the Palmetto
Fiber Arts Guild and we'll take a little time to enjoy each other and celebrate at our
December meeting.

Please join us for a Pot-luck meal on Saturday, December 17, at the Bee's Landing  Recreation Center from 1:00 - 3:00. We'll also take some time for Show & Tell and have a gift exchange for all who would like to participate.

We don't have kitchen facilities so bring food that is ready to eat -- and remember, we'll have to take home leftovers. Paper products and beverages will be provided.

For the gift exchange, bring a gift that is somehow fiber-related and keep it under $15 in cost. We'll draw numbers and #1 will choose a gift.  Then #2 can choose a gift OR take the gift #1 just opened. And so on around the circle. It can get quite heated.

Don't forget Show and Tell. If you've made gifts this year, we'll keep your secrets

Connecting your Way Towards Etsy Success

Kelsie recently contacted the Palmetto Fiber Arts Guild through our Facebook page and asked if anyone was interested in forming an Etsy team. Sandy sent out an inquiry and got quite a few positive responses from people who wanted to hear more. So, today, Kelsie is our guest blogger. Welcome, Kelsie!

Hello guild members!
    My name is Kelsie and I own the Etsy shop and blog In Favor of Fuzz, dedicated to anything and everything textiles and fibers. I recently came across your group and was curious to know how involved you all were on Etsy, and if the guild had thought about forming an Etsy team. A few e-mails later, I was invited to write a guest post about being more active on this small business phenomenon called Etsy.

    I am always hesitant to give Etsy advice. While I'm no novice, I have yet to achieve a level of success that would spur jealousy from the masses. Plus, there already exists such a wealth of information out there that I know I can't possibly be saying anything new. Yet, in my unending research, I have identified a few key practices that are built into the foundation of every successful Etsy business.

 Use Your Resources:  Etsy offers many tools for your success because, simply, your success is Etsy's success. The Etsy blog constantly churns out advice in the form of tips, video tutorials, interviews, and workshops, and the Etsy community forums is a great place to ask questions and get feedback from other sellers. At the very least, you should be signed up for the Etsy Success Newsletter, which delivers golden tidbits straight to your inbox twice a week, (Account > Settings > Emails > Your Subscriptions)


Participate in the Community: Selling on the internet is not the same as selling in a physical shop -- you can't just drop off your items and leave. You have to attract people to your tiny existence on the World-Wide-Web through your interactions with it. On Etsy, this means offering information about yourself under your profile, adding similar sellers to your circle, adding other people's items and shops to your favorites, and joining Etsy teams that reflect your goals and interests. Think of it as forming your online presence.

Conquer Social Marketing: In order to connect with buyers, you need to get your story out there by utilizing social media like Twitter, Facebook, or a personal blog. If your target demographic is older, you may consider doing a newsletter since even the aging population uses e-mail. The important thing to realize is social marketing differs from traditional advertising in that it is social: you are telling others about yourself in order to start a conversation and get them invested in your personality. Begin your education with this workshop by Diane Gilleland.

Feel free to share your questions and comments!

All featured work by Cindy Steiler of Mary's Granddaughter