It’s hard to believe this past week was only my second week at The Twisted Purl… I’ve learned SO much in such a short amount of time. Thanks to Cyndi, I’m already comfortable with a number of terms and pieces of equipment that, just two weeks ago, I didn’t know existed. I feel as though I’ve been initiated in to the secret world of fiber arts, and I’m loving every second of it.
Tuesday, after discussing a number of important topics– namely women entrepreneurs and haunted mansions– Cyndi put me to work practicing and perfecting techniques I learned last week. I relied on trusty old ROY-G-BIV to make several carded batts, and labeled many many felted soaps. Although the above tasks are somewhat repetitive, I sincerely enjoy them. In truth, repetitive tasks tend to be my favorite. There is peace in the process, in addition to that lovely feeling I get when creating anything with my hands. In the short time I’ve been an intern, I’ve already noticed that after a morning of creative activity at The Twisted Purl, I face the rest of my day with a calmer, more joyful attitude.
On Thursday, Cyndi taught me a few methods for dyeing and painting wool roving. As usual, I was hesitant about choosing my colors, and unconfident in my final product. I am, however, excited to see how they look as carded batts and/or spun yarn! Cyndi said that if she has time, she might spin one of them this weekend (ahh!). Although I’m a little worried, I’m not too worried, because if it’s really ugly we can just sell it to my mom. I don’ have a picture of the first roving I dyed (which was very “Springy”), but the second is pictured below in the shape of a pizza.
And here it is again, steaming to set the colors:
My favorite roving I dyed, though, was a solid color “in-bowl” experiment. It turned out (I think) to be a nice lavender. We shall see! Also, while all of this dyeing was going on, Cyndi managed to learn how to arm knit and made a scarf using the technique. I can’t keep up with this lady! Next week, she is going to help me make a more “artful” carded batt, and my homework is to come up with a theme to base the colors on. (Check out Zoe and Cyndi’s Monet yarn, it turned out so beautiful!) Time to start looking around for inspiration–
Kate
You’re so right. Having that creative time just focuses you for the rest of the day.