Lucky Silver Fiber Arts

I haven't really talked about it, but a couple of people have asked so I figure it's time to make a formal announcement.

As of March, I am no longer affiliated with Off The Wheel Yarn and Fiber, the company I dreamed up and co-created. This was not by my own choice.

Looking at how things went down though, I am happy to have gotten out relatively unscathed. I've dealt with things on my own and am choosing to not go into detail publicly. I am focusing on my happiness and wellbeing and am doing great, so don't worry about me!

CW: mention of pet death, but no details given

My day job is in emergency vet med, and we had a heartbreaking case yesterday. The parents were so distraught that I wanted to do something special for them... I asked if I could have a little of his fur, and I spent last night and this morning spinning it with some wool and turning that art yarn into a wall hanging. I have enough yarn left to make another wall hanging, so I'll finish that tonight when I get off work.
I see a lot of sadness in my job, but I also see so much heroic helping, so much love, and so much hope!! Yesterday was one of the most traumatic days for those pet parents, but I like to think these memorial gifts will bring them comfort...

Finally getting the tree decorated! Of course it's covered in handspun yarn and hand-dyed fiber!!

It's official: my friend Beth and I have a yarn shop, Off The Wheel Yarn and Fiber, and it is OPEN FOR BUSINESS!!!

It's not huge (yet!), but we have a great selection of really cool yarns!! Vintage and modern, commercial and handspun, novelty and normal, whatever you love we've got something for you!!

Come in person and check us out - we are located inside Off the Wall Books N Café on Spartanburg Hwy in Hendersonville, NC! We'll have yarns for sale online as well, and I'll post that link as soon as it's up!

And please follow our page! I'll be doing a live video soon to give everyone a peek at what we've got to offer!

I have felt like I was drowning the last few months, but I think I'm finally beginning to be able to keep my head above water! 😅

I am incredibly excited by a new project I've been hard at work on! Inspired by the beautiful autumnal colors around me, I began contemplating the beauty of the different stages of life.

I wanted to incorporate these musings into my art by making a series of embroidered pieces centered around local plant life that I've foraged.

I start each piece with only the vaguest idea of what I'll do with it and just let the creative juices flow! I am very pleased with the outcomes this far!!

I've been working on a few different projects in my extremely limited spare time, so I wanted to let you all see what I've been doing the last week or two!

First, I finished the yarn made from space-themed art batts and roving. I love it!!! 😍🌌 I've started a sweater/shrug using this yarn, but my ADHD won out and I started on a different project... I'll definitely get back to it!...someday... (first two photos)

Secondly, I've been crocheting myself a shrug that may turn into a sweater out of homemade magic yarn. I'm really enjoying this project, and I hope it fits and looks good when finished!! 😅 (third and fourth photos)

Thirdly, I'm extracting dye (technically stain, but that's a bit knit-picky...and I'm a crocheter, so... 😅) from pokeberries! If you're not familiar with these berries, they are a toxic deep purple berry that grows in huge weeds throughout the southeast. I've never done any natural dyeing, but I have read up on this one a good bit, so hopefully I can get a beautiful colorfast magenta out of it! 🤞💕 (last three photos)

And lastly, I'm keeping one project a secret for now because it is a pure experiment, and I have no idea how it's going to come out... I hope to make this into an awesome product that people are going to LOVE!! 🤞🌅

Stay tuned for results and hopefully new product!! 😁❤

I've continued to spin at least a little every day since the end of the Tour de Fleece; I just haven't had time to post about it! 😅
My current project is a two-ply made from one ply spun from my galaxy art batts and one ply from a space-themed merino/silk blend roving.✨💫
I started with 15 oz of batts and 11 oz of roving and spun them fairly thin, so I should be able to get a lot of yardage out of this! I might even make myself something out of it!! 🌠⭐🧶

Here's the cream colored yarn and the Lincoln locks from Wednesday's ice dye! I'm not 100% satisfied with the blue and yellow mohair locks, so I'm overdyeing them currently, and the mohair locks from the other pan are still being washed.
Overall, a success because half of it I love immediately and the other half I'll love with just a tad more dye!! 😁❤

I love spinning locks!!!

Continuing on my spinning-every-day journey, I just finished a gorgeous royal purple lockspun yarn! I dyed 8 ounces of local lincoln locks and corespun them around a funky purple novelty yarn then spiral plied with a strand of purple cotton! Purple isn't usually my favorite, but this yarn sure is!!! ❤😍

It's a hot sunny day, so of course I had to take advantage of that and do some ice dyeing!!
I've got two hanks of yarn, a few local Lincoln locks, and a lot of local raw mohair locks (some had already been dyed a gentle blue by the person I got them from).
I placed the yarn and the Lincoln locks on the top layers of two roasting pans, and I like to take advantage of all the dye so I layered the mohair locks in the bottoms of the roasting pans. They'll get dyed by the runoff dye from the top layer!
I sprinkled everything with citric acid then added ice to the top layer and covered it in dye! I'm excited to see how everything comes out!!

Tour de Fleece Day 25: Two days ago was the official last day of the TdF, but I'm going to keep going. I've really enjoyed spinning every day, and I still have about half a pound of chiengora to finish up. 🐶🧶
I don't have a tally of my yardage, nor do I have great pictures showing tons of different skeins of yarn. I've been so focused on this keeshond fur that I've hardly done anything else. Though I didn't quite finish the full two pounds, I am proud of how much I did get done in between working 50+ hours a week at a new job and being a present wife and mother of two chiengora factories of my own.🐕🥰
Here's what 1.5 pounds of keeshond fluff looks like spun into a DK weight yarn!! 😁🐶🧶🐕❤

Tour de Fleece Day 23: Plying up pounds of chiengora! Fun!!!

Tour de Fleece Day 22: I haven't posted in a couple of days because I had a bit of a health scare. Luckily, everything is alright and we were worrying for no reason!! 😊❤
So now I can get back to spinning!! I've spun most of the last pound of chiengora, and am about to ply it! This isn't quite all of it, so I'll still have a bit more to do after plying this, but I'm getting close!! ❤🐕🧶

Tour de Fleece Day 18: Back to the chiengora! Hopefully I'll have time to get a lot more done tomorrow!

Tour de Fleece Day 17: I planned to spin some more chiengora yesterday, but I was too excited to ply the collaboration project Lori Evesque and I worked on! We each spun two of our batts into singles then sent half of it to each other to be plied together. I'm thrilled with this collab!! I love this yarn and will have to make something special with it!!

Lori Evesque and I partnered to create a fun yarn by each spinning a single from one of our batts and sending half of it to each other to be plied together. I just opened the package from her, and I'm so excited!! Her singles are gorgeous, and this is going to be such an interesting and beautiful yarn!! 😍🧶

First though, I've got more chiengora to work on... 😅🐶

Tour de Fleece Day 16: I spent most of the day spinning chiengora between my turns fighting evil galactic corporate overlords in the best game of D&D ever! Afterward, we took our four-legged boys to the park then I spun more while listening to podcasts with my husband. Overall, a nice relaxing day off! 👽🐕🧶🐶

Tour de Fleece Day 15: I barely had any time to spin yesterday, but I balled up the singles going to Erika Majer, and I started on the last pound of chiengora!

Tour de Fleece Day 14: I only had about thirty minutes to spin today, so I finished thinly spinning a black-and-white art batt. (the purple and pink batt I spun earlier this week is peeking out.)

Tour de Fleece Day 12: I've had lots going on today, so despite it being my off day I haven't been able to spin as much as I'd like... I did get one art batt spun super thin, and am about to start on another. I also set up some local Lincoln locks to be ice dyed. It's a parfait style ice dye, so the first layer is Dharma's Ice Blue and the second layer is Deep Magenta. Ice dyeing fiber is definitely less magnificent than fabric, but I think they'll come out pretty! There will probably be more purple than either blue or pink, though! 😅

Tour de Fleece Day 11: I took a break from chiengora today. At work, I finished a doily while watching training videos, then later at home I did a lot of work tagging and categorizing inventory to bring to a shop tomorrow. I finished the day by spinning up a small amount of a purple and pink art batt for a collaboration with Erika Majer. 😊

Tomorrow, I will get back to the keeshond fluff! 😅

Tour de Fleece Day 10: (better late than never, right? 😅) I finished spinning the first half of this chiengora, so here is what one pound of keeshond fur looks likes as a single!! 😁🐶

I still have to spin another pound and then ply them, but I'm getting there!! ❤🐕🧶

Tour de Fleece Day 9: I spun a good bit of keeshond fluff today and have almost finished the first ply! I'm not gonna lie, I'm ready to spin something else! 😅 But at least this is nice and soft, so it's a fun spin overall!
I also reverse dyed (bleached) several things yesterday and today, so I've got some cute new clothes I'll be adding to my inventory and my own wardrobe! 😁

Tour de Fleece Day 7: It may not look very different from yesterday's photo, but I've been spinning for three hours... 😅
Hopefully I'll have time over the weekend to make a more noticable difference! 😁🐶🧶

Tour de Fleece Day 6: Spin spin spinning more dog fluff!
I'm looking forward to my next day off so I can actually make a dent in this two pounds!! 😅🐶🧶

Tour de Fleece Day 5: I'm spinning as much chiengora (dog fur) as I can get done today!! Its beautiful and soft, but my nose sure is itchy! 😂🤣

I spun two art batts into singles yesterday (first pic), and am working on some keeshond fur today! (second pic)
I'm having a fun Tour de Fleece, even if I don't have as much time to spin as I'd like to! 😅
I'm not sure how much more I'll get done tonight because the fireworks have started going off, and my sweet little pup is quivering under the futon!! ❤😥 (third pic is Percy being adorable when not terrified by the world exploding all around him...)