Drowning in fiber, new friends, and studio news.

Hmmm… I decided to post at least once a week and suddenly my exciting life has become sort of boring.   What is happening in the world of Yarnarchy?  For one thing, I am quite literally knee deep in yarnarchy. The whole right corner of my main room is overflowing with fiber, yarn, spinning wheels and tools, and is a huge chaotic heap of color and texture. This will change today.  My family may evict me otherwise.

Some general news: We have had a sudden spike in farm members–three new renters, all boys ages 20, 37, 55.  Unfortunately, none of them like yarn but I’m sure they have some redeeming qualities.  My elder daughter Willow (17) has decided that she likes yarn again and has crocheted a couple of hats in the past week. I am really glad, because of course I want both of my girls to talk fiber with me but only the little girl has been interested for the past couple of years.  I am practically sitting on my fingers and biting my tongue to keep myself from trying to connect with her over yarn.  I have to give it a while longer, otherwise she’ll consider my excitement to be micromanagement and rebel by setting her hook and yarn aside.  Patience, patience…  I will be at a small local holiday faire this weekend- City of Burlington Holiday Fine Arts and Gift Fair, 11/18 noon-8pm, 11/19 8-4pm at the Parks and Rec Center, 900 E Fairhaven.  I don’t remember the last time I did such as small event but my landmate was going to do it and I thought that at the very least, it might be worth $70 to be able to dedicate the better part of 16 hours to knitting, spinning, and crochet. I love that I can bring my work with me.

One big bit of news is that I am almost, almost, almost finished with my studio move.  I have one more big installment to assimilate into the space and I’ll be through.  Granted, I still have a storage unit that I have to deal with but it’s a wee one (5×10) and 75% of it is comprised of items I want to part with but not for free. Meaning that I have plans for a third job as an Ebay seller or listing most as vintage or destash on Etsy.  Yeah, I totally have the time for that. As if.  Yet, I cannot bring myself to let go of it.  At least without compensation.  I choose to believe that I have inherited some thrifty depression era values and survival skills and not a hoarding syndrome.

After I get this last bit set up in my studio, I’ll post new photos but here are some that I took in the summer before I’d really moved anything in. The basic premise was to create a small studio attached to a two story building (12×14?), the bottom floor of which is Robert’s unfinished wood shop and the top is Willow’s room.  I wanted a steampunk studio and by both necessity and personal preference it needed to be built using entirely reclaimed/recycled materials.  I also wanted lots of whimsy, which is not really inline with Robert’s Capricorn thinking but he got into it and of course created something even better than what I’d envisioned.  The room is small, and has all sorts of nautical details-the recycled oak flooring has darker wooden plugs which give it a pirate ship look, the left wall has a bumped out alcove (running the length of the room and starting about 4 feet up) the roof of which is supported by a natural cedar pole with root wad sticking out of the front of the building. This helped form the shape of the alcove which curves outward in an arc and tips out, the ceiling of the alcove being maybe a foot further out than the base of the alcove. That side of the room contains the only plaster in the building and is finished with wood lath strips, add a brass porthole, and suddenly the whole side of the room looks like something out of a pirate ship or vintage steamliner. There are many unique antique windows throughout, and the rest of the interior is finished with old growth wood of varying types.  The right side of the building contains a custom shelving unit which holds a collection of vintage trunks, suitcases, boxes, and fabrics.  Each shelf pulls out for ease of access, and the whole look is pretty darn amazing.  A whole wall of gorgeous vintage traveling cases filled with buttons, fabrics, notions, feathers, and much more.  I’ll try to get the current photos up soon.  Here are those pre-occupancy ones:

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