This Fall I have been exploring new creative arts, including making ceramic dishes and dyeing wool fabric. My ceramics class started in October, and I feel like I am just now beginning to get the hang of things. My first bowls are now finished, and I am happy with the results. The fact that each is unique (and a little wonky) is fine with me. My favorite item so far is the bowl shown below. It is the perfect size for oatmeal or yogurt, and best of all, it is purple!

I spent this weekend working on projects, and have several finished objects to show for it. Two of my projects were a baby quilt and a baby blanket for my soon-to-arrive nephew. All of the fabrics that I used are cotton flannel from Connecting Threads. I especially love the Yosemite fabric, which I used as the quilt top. I also couldn't pass on the blue and brown plaid for the baby blanket.

With the Vista Fiber Fiesta only one month away and the Torrance Fiber Festival in early November, I have been dyeing lots of yarns and rovings for my booth.

The last few weeks of fiber time have been devoted to spinning up some of the batts that I carded last month. I've been experimenting with plying the batts with handpainted rovings and with natural colored fibers. So far, I am really happy with the results, and I can't wait to see how the sample skeins knit up.

Last week I finished three knitting/crochet projects, including a crocheted hexagon baby blanket that had been hibernating since 2010. I also finished a hat out of my handspun yarn that I started last summer (no picture, sorry!), and a baby sweater out of hand dyed superfine merino wool. The pattern for the baby sweater is called Henry's Sweater by Sara Elizabeth Kellner. I love shawl collars in general, so this sweater really won me over. And it was quick to knit - just a couple of weekends.

I've been having a great time over the past few weeks carding batts on my Fancy Kitty Kitten drum carder. I suppose you could consider these to be "kitchen sink" batts, because I am throwing in a bit of many different types of fibers. I've been using a variety of handpainted and natural colors of wool and silk fibers that I have in my stash. And to liven up the batts I have been adding a hint of sparkle with some angelina fibers. My goal is to make batts that create a heathered yarn, and after two or three passes through the carder the colors are well-blended, but not so much so that you can't discern the original colors upon careful inspection. The spun singles are beautifully heathered, and I can't wait to ply them up and start knitting.

Now that I have a dedicated studio space, my looms and spinning wheels have some breathing room. I've been enjoying a few minutes of spinning in my studio nearly every day for the past three weeks. My fascination with plying two different colorways together continues, and in just a couple of week I had spun and plied enough yarn to wind a 3-yard warp out of the reddish-pink hued yarns. The weft yarn that I am using is one of my handspun yarns in purples, periwinkles, and greens. So far, I am loving the results!