Let's Get Together!

Let's get together on Thursday, November 17th 2012! Bring your favorite fiber project to work on, or one to share! I'll bring a table loom for people to try! Kids are welcome! We will also have a craft project for kids and kids at heart to do!

Where: The Rancho San Diego Library Community Room
11155 Via Rancho San Diego
El Cajon, Ca 92019
When: 5:30pm until they kick us out! ( about 7:45)

We'll try to have more get togethers in the future! If you have any great ideas at where we can find a great meeting space, please let me know!

Art Walk at the Bay

On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, SCARF was out demonstrating spinning and weaving at Art Walk at the Bay.


We had looms, a spinning wheel, a spindle, and of course the kumihimo disks.  I think we indoctrinated quite a few young weavers.

We had a booth with an excellent view.  On Sunday, a triathlon was being run so the traffic was a little wonky.

Hand spun yarn and inkle loom straps.

Michelle weaving on an inkle loom and Donna spinning on her wheel.

Samples of woven and knitted items - some of them hand spun.

The Kumihimo table with some woven items.

Mags preparing more Kumihimo disks for distribution.

At the end of Sunday, the finished woven item from the Ashford loom.  We started with the purple and we had quite a few serious young weavers doing an excellent job.  The purple to the green was the weave for Sunday.

This young up and coming weaver spent quite a bit of time weaving on the loom and he came back at the end of the day for the scarf.  I believe he represents the next generation of master weavers.

San Diego Fair

Members of SCARF participated in the sheep to shawl demonstration at the San Diego Fair's Agri-barn on Father's Day.


There were spinners and a weaver.  We were able to finish weaving the shawl before the day was done.

Margaret Tyler at the start of weaving and the warp.

Jan carding some Columbia.

Donna modeling her demo shawl from a previous event.

The stage with our new banner.

SCARF Market Bags

We ordered some SCARF logo market bags.  They are made of 100% cotton from India.

The logo is on both sides of this bag.  If you live locally and would like one of these bags for $15.00, send us an e-mail.  Or you can purchase the bag with the logo on one side for $12.99 at Cafe Press.  We also have a v-neck t-shirt and a mug with our logo on it there.

Peace Felt

While we're on the topic of felting, I thought I'd pop in with a neat international fiber related project.

Peace Felt is on a misson to spread Peace one person at a time and YOU can help. Just register by June 29th to be included in the 2011 project. Then on or before international peace day (Sept 21, 2011) create an item including at least 25% hand made felt that represents the idea of peace. After International peace day (but before Sept 30) you send your item off to your "recieving partner" and your "giving partner" sends thier piece of peace to you!

Check out the website to register and get more information.

http://www.peacefelt.org/

Because I Felt Like It, part 1

Let’s start at the beginning. Felting, what’s that? Well, wet felting is a process in which loose fibers such as wool, alpaca, llama and silk are “tangled” into a cohesive product with the use of hot water, soap and elbow grease. Natural fibers have scales that open up when wet with hot soapy water, the elbow grease comes in the form of friction and pressure that tangle the fibers. As the fibers cool down, the scales close and the fibers lock together. There are more technical explanations, but this works for me.

Nuno felting is a wet felting process in which loose fibers are “laminated” onto a fabric such as silk gauze for beauty, wear ability and stability. Loose fibers can be felted into a fabric, in fact yurts are made from felt. I just don’t want to wear a yurt. So, wanting something pretty to wear I started using the various beautiful, commercially-available rovings as “paint” with a hand-dyed silk scarf blank as my canvas. In fact, it’s become a running joke that I’d rather felt my roving than spin it.

So what’s all involved? A lot—so much that this will be a multi-part posting. Where to begin? Well, get yourself some very sheer silk fabric. If you hold it up to your face and blow through it, you should readily be able to feel your breath coming through or clearly be able to read a newspaper through it. I have been fortunate enough to know people that have traveled to China and were able to bring yards and yards of it back for me. I have heard that you can purchase scarf blanks online but I haven’t had to do this as of yet.

After you have the silk and cut it to size you want, if it is white like mine was, you can dye it. I generally take stock of my rovings and try to custom dye the silk. I have used Jacquard, Mother MacKenzie’s Miracle Dyes, Ashford dyes, and even tea and coffee. Other materials you’ll need are some plastic sheeting (6+ mil or thicker but not so thick that it’s not pliable), bubble wrap-type pool or spa covering; a pool noodle, a cheap nylon sheer curtain, hot water, liquid dish soap, an old dish soap squirt bottle, a pair old knee high stockings or a pair of pantyhose, and towels. Yes, these are some unconventional materials, but they are what work for me and this is all about my method of felting.

So gather your materials and get ready to rock and roll (rolling is a big part of wet felting)! We’ll get to the actual process in part 2.

Art Walk in Little Italy

It was a fun time had by all at the booth manned by SCARF.  

We had all kinds of different weaving samples and take home kumihimo disks for everyone to try out their skills in japanese braiding.

It was pretty windy both days, but it was warm and some of us got a little too much sun.  The crowds were great and we exposed quite a few folks to weaving.  We even had questions on classes over the summer and we are getting together to do some planning on that.  Keep checking the calendar for upcoming events.


Here are some of the photos from the weekend.

The side table with samples of woven items, knitted items and hand spun yarn.

The back table.

Inkle loom

LeClerc 4 shaft table loom.

Ashford 8 shaft table looms.

This loom was warped with double weave.  We had quite a few enterprising kids weaving on this pattern.

Beth demonstrating a braiding loom which results in this kind of braid.

Respect the Spindle on Super Sale

Interweave Press who publishes a ton of craft resources has put Respect the Spindle, the download, on super sale for $.10 - yes, that is 10 cents.  The regular price is $14.99.


The video is with Abby Franquemont and there is a companion book.  Here is an excerpt of the description:


In Respect the Spindle: The Video, veteran spinner and spindle aficionado Abby Franquemont shows spinners old and new how to create volumes of incredible yarn with this amazing yet simple tool.

You’ll learn:
• How spinning works and how to spin on a simple stick
• How to make a functional spindle out of almost anything
• How to spin a lot of excellent yarn in an amazingly short time
• How to manage the yarn supply, to ply efficiently, and to finish appropriately

The result? Spinning will become your take-along, anytime, anywhere craft. You won’t want to leave home without it.


Go here to order your copy now.  The deadline for this super sale is May 2 at 11:59 pm MST.

A Confession

I'm a geek. A dork. Some might even say I'm a nerd. How can I classify myself so? Well not only do I knit and spin (in public) I'm gearing up for my third term in the Ravelry group Harry Potter Knit Crochet House Cup (HPKCHP). I'm a Ravenclaw (see, I told you, nerd all the way!).

The general idea is that during each three month long term you will complete at least one of the eight classes offered each month by knitting, crocheting, or spinning something that fits the class prompt. Each project must be completed start to finish in the month that class is offered. Classes such a Herbology, Defence against the Dark Arts (DADA for short) and Care of Magical Creatures are common each term and the "homework" usually follows what you might expect to find if you actually were attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They stay pretty vague to leave room for interpretation and imaginative explanations for how your projects fit the prompt are encouraged. For example in March the class Muggle Studies was offered and the topic was illness (very interesting to Wizards who don't often get ill). The homework assignment was to craft an item that would prevent, treat or comfort someone who is ill.

You can even earn an O.W.L. by submitting a proposal for and completing a larger project over the full three months of the term. Something like an adult sweater or blanket or maybe a circular shawl.

Despite the total dorkyness I really enjoy it. I get excited to see what new classes will be posted at the beginning of the month, and I really like figuring out how the things in my Que will work with the prompt. It also gives me a great excuse to look for new knitting patterns or spinning projects that I might want to start. It's helped me to become more confident in my knitting as well. I busted out two shawlettes and a shrug in March! I never would have thought that possible six months ago. I'm getting faster and I'm trying harder patterns.
Pattern; 198 yds of Heaven by Christy Verity Yarn; Patons Classic Wool hand dyed with Wiltons food dye.

I'm so pleased with the results of joining this group that I'm considering joining the Tour de Fleece group this summer to give my spinning a boost!

So What motivates you to improve your craft?

S.C.A.R.F is heading to the San Diego ArtWalk!

Mission Federal ArtWalk • Little Italy, San Diego
April 30 & May 1, 2011 • 11 AM - 6PM • FREE Admission

S.C.A.R.F is going to be at the San Diego ArtWalk both days! Make sure you look for us hanging out at the San Diego Creative Weavers Guild Booth! 

Swing by and learn some weaving! Bring your kids and come "talk" knitting, crochet or spinning with us! We love to speak "fiber"!

The Birth of a Fiber Guild

To auspicious beginnings -

A few slightly over the top crafters who are young, hip, and happening have decided to start up a new guild that is inclusive of all types of fiber crafts. Our goal is to keep this guild alive after we are all gone and spread our love of fiber crafts to the young, disenfranchised, and too technologically advanced portions of our society who need to learn how to craft with their own two hands (and maybe some elbows, chins, and feet) and free their creative minds.

Some of our plans will be to demonstrate a variety of crafts at local festivals and local public libraries, and pretty much where we can find some place to set up some equipment to include but not limited to spindles, spinning wheels, looms, knitting needles, crochet hooks, and felting needles. We will also consider knitting machines and sewing machines. We are all fiber crafters after all.

There will be a team of posters to this blog and we will be keeping a calendar of events as time goes on.

It was decided that we would post some items that we each are working on to show our individual craftiness. We also hope to do some fundraising to get our organization off the ground and there is a serious rumor of a 2 day fiber event/market for the spring of 2012.

Welcome and please join us - especially if you have some serious skills to offer. We are looking for some enthusiastic people to be in on the ground stages of what we hope will be a grand adventure.