Sewing Lockdown - Hodgepodge Farm Residency #2

Sewing in front of the fire...

This past October, I spent about 10 days at my annual Hodgepodge Farm Residency. This year the theme was "Sewing Lockdown". 
In the 10 days, I think Cal and I left the house maybe once or twice and both times were on a sewing related errand. We spend our days drafting patterns, trying out patterns we'd been wanting to make, drinking gallons of tea and cooking fantastic meals. We ended our lockdown with a totally glamourous photo-shoot showcasing our new wardrobes. 
I totally feel so much more confident with my seaming and construction techniques now - thanks to my advisor, Cal. 

Always make a muslin for fit, even if it's hideous xmas fabric!

Before I left for my trip I spend days shopping for fabric online and quite nearly "broke the bank" on organic jersey, sweatshirt fabric and other must have goodies. I really feel like I had to walk away from my "shopping cart" several times and snap myself back to reality before I continued paring down my purchases.  I think I ended up with a good base to make loads of sweatshirts, long-sleeved tees and leggings - the staples of any wardrobe (in my opinion). 
All in all, I drafted and tested patterns for: leggings, a sweatshirt, a shift dress, a smock dress and a tee-shirt. 

Long sleeved tee and crocheted Coral Cloche hat.

Cowl neck sweatshirt.

Shift dress, leggings and tee.

Smock dress.

I also made the Painted Portrait Dress by Anna Maria Horner and got to incorporate an amazing batik print I purchased at Rhinebeck by Amity Farms Batik for the yoke. The last thing was a Wiksten Tova out of a double gauze Nani Iro print - amazing. So, 7 garments, 5 of which I drafted the pattern for - to fit ME - in 10 days... Not so bad!

Painted Portrait Dress with sheep themed batik.

Wiksten Tova in Nani Iro.

As usual, I had an amazing time with Cal and being upstate NY during the autumn and meeting her new chickens, visiting Gertie and other friends. I have to admit, my favourite chicken is now "Minky"...

Cal and I posing 70s style in our Painted Portraits...

Were we to have a band, this would be our album cover.

Minky is the creamy white one... 

Sheep and Wool Festival 2013!

Welcome to Rhinebeck...

About a month ago, I left for my annual trip to the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival.

As usual, I had a fantastic time.

Cal Patch and me.

I got to wear my new Violaine - a crocheted sweater that I made out of my own hand-spun yarn. 

I purchased the roving last year at the festival and managed to finish the sweater just in time. 

Hand-spun goodness.

It was so wonderful to see so many cheery faces, meet new people and catch-up with friends. 

I spent the weekend doing what most people do at Sheep and Wool - feeling fibre and petting animals.

I'm going to let the photos speak for themselves for this post now...

Cal Patch and Sonya Philip

Cal and Jill Draper

The gal's from Fancy Tigre Crafts!

Cal and a new friend.

Me and some puppet friends.

The Ravelry Meet-up.

The Damage.

The start of the Autumn round-up!

Fibre Fest Here

So, it's been awhile since I posted! A long while... I have lots to write about, it's been a busy autumn. 
I couldn't decide what to write about first... Rhinebeck, my Hodge Podge Farm yearly residency, Vogue Knitting Chicago... So, I decided to go way back and go in chronological order. I'm going to start with the Wolfe Island Fibre Festival!

It would be great to go back with bikes.

Back in mid-September, I attended the Wolfe Island Fibre Festival with my friend, who had a booth selling her amazing fibre.
Wolfe Island is a short ferry ride from Kingston, ON. It is near the Thousand Islands and is absolutely gorgeous! The weekend of the fibre festival was also a gorgeous September weekend, we couldn't have asked for better weather.

Pretty September sunflowers in full bloom.

Andie has been working on building her amazing new line called, Well Turned Out Fibre House. She makes beautiful rolags, braids, soaps and will be adding lampwork beads to her repertoire. 

Some braids.

Pretty, pretty braids.

Wolfe Island, as I mentioned, is a beautiful little island full of farmland, beaches and quaint shops and cafes. The festival took place in a few buildings on the island and, so we got to walk around and explore.

Andie on the beach.

Stone table.

It was a welcoming, wonderful fiber-y weekend getaway! Not to mention, it was a nice break from my year-three spinning homework - which I need to get back to ( a whole other story)!

Beach-y shadow fun!

Let's Get Random...

There's been lots going on...  one thing is a very big project that I'll be able to talk about very soon!

Brrr - Moebius!

I'll be teaching a few classes this weekend at All Strung Out Yarns! The Moebius is a fun an versatile accessory for every wardrobe and can be worn many ways! I'll also be wrapping up a three session hand-spinning class, which I hope to continue - it's been a very fun one to teach and I really feel in my element when I'm talking about fibre and spinning.

Inside Moebius

I've been working on a sweater out of Jill Draper's Empire yarn. She has a contest going on in honour of Fred Rogers and it's really cool! You can find out all about it on her Ravelry Forum.

Long Cardi with "Bell Sleeves"

I've also (still) been working on my Borealis by Cal Patch. It's a lot of fun, but I'm at the stage that happens in shawl making where I'm asking myself, "Is this actually getting any bigger?" There's a big milestone coming up -decreasing!

It's growing s-l-o-w-l-y

This Saturday (after class), I'll headed over to Long and McQuade to participate in their monthly Ukulele group and I'm just so excited!

"Buffalo Gals Go 'round the Outside"

Cal Patch Crochet Genius!

In my opinion, Cal Patch of Hodgepodge Farm is a DIY genius! Her crochet patterns are really what it's all about as far as the direction that crochet is going. Beautiful, contemporary and showcasing gorgeous yarns (like Jill Draper's).
I'm currently working on her new pattern for a shawl called "Borealis" and it's so much fun and so addictive. Although hers is made from the Aurora by Jill, I'm making mine out of some of my own hand-dyed. Fittingly, it's a gorgeous silk/alpaca blend I dyed during my visit to Hodgepodge Farm!
In other news... I'll be teaching a three session spinning class starting this Sunday (February 3) at All Strung Out Yarns. It's going to be a fun one and student's choice on whether to use a wheel or a drop spindle.

Here we go now!

False Start...

Fall 2012... The Lost Posts...

It's all about friends!

I had a great fibre-y fall, as autumn is usually full of fibre-y things.  I'm way behind (obviously) on the Rhinebeck post and my fun two day workshop with Lexi Boeger AKA Pluckyfluff!

Arriving at Sheep and Wool!

As usual, The Sheep and Wool Festival was amazing. I got to hang out with my pals Cal and Jill, meet some new friends like Sonya Philip (of 100 Acts of Sewing) and Laura Nelkin (of amazingness) among others! 

Friends new and "old"!

I saw lots of cool animals and amazing yarns and fibres! I bought some roving to spin up to make a sweater for next year.  I've got four skeins done so far.

In addition to the festival, I got to visit Lagusta's Luscious and the Tuthilltown Distillery as well as the Hodgepodge Farm animals - Gertie, Trice and the Chickens.

The other fun thing I did was attend a two day workshop with Lexi Boeger with my buddy Andie L at the Niagara Artists Centre.

A beautiful Early Fall morning!

The workshop was an amazing break from our OHS homework (which is totally great but by the book).  In Lexi's class we got to be truly free in our spinning and learned some fun techniques. It felt great! 

From table of fibre to crazy bat to crazy yarn!

From fluff to auto-wrap to fluffy yarn!

Even yarn made of FABRIC

I've learned to share my Instagram photos directly to my blog, which is going to be fun but, not being super "tech savvy", the pics show up as links, not actual pictures.... oh well, can't have everything!