In Jonathan’s words….

“Here are some photos of the solar skylight chandelier I just completed and installed in Old Jerusalem Cafe. If you’re local or visiting, drop in and check it out, and if you are far away this might be your first glimpse of this beautiful cafe and hookah place which was opened a year ago in our neighborhood by brothers Bara and Etal Nasir.  You should visit; it’s a nice place.

Above: Blas and Ian Gammon, manager of Cold Harbor Mill. Cold Harbor is a 200 year old water powered spinning mill which produces worsted spun yarn in the UK.

Above: Felt artist Nicola Brown and her dog at their country home in beautiful Ballybrack, Ireland.

Some Upcoming Classes at the Studio

Monday 7.5 Fiber Club Night at Old Jerusalem Cafe* FREE This coming Monday we will resume our fiber night! We’ll be bringing some felting supplies and spindles for people who want to play. Bring your projects and come craft along with us!

Saturday 7.10 Drop In Clinic: Crochet and Knit with Barbara Barbara Iachini has been crocheting for 25 years. She holds the Master of Crochet Stitches designation from the Crochet Guild of America. Currently, she teaches both knit and crochet at a yarn shop near her home in Colorado. Have her help you start or finish your next project. By appointment. Please CONTACT US for details.

Sunday 7.11 SpinLab: Entrapment! $55 In this three-hour workshop we will explore various potential add-ins for your yarns and many ways to spin them securely in. We will also cover techniques that involve wrapping or trapping your yarn in threads, from lovely candy-striping to wild tornados of whirling thread.Instructor: Shannon Herrick

Saturday 7.17 Intermediate Drop Spindling with Wonder Mike $45 Now that you’ve mastered a spun single, let’s show you how to ply and finish that yarn. In this “Part Two” Intro class, Michael will show you how to Handy Ply (a version of Andean Plying), how to skein, and set the twist in your yarn. He will also review your technique and suggest ways of refining and getting the most out of your spindle spinning.

Sunday 7.18 Needle Felted Bird $16 This fun technique uses a special needle to transform wool fleece into everything from detailed surface embellishment to 3-D figures. Using a felting needle and wool, learn to needlefelt a lovely bird! You get to pick from a rainbow of colors to make your bird.

Photo by SpiderFelt

Saturday 7.24 Merino Wet Felted Flowers $25 With a wonderful kit by Spiderfelt.com and Blas’ help you will assemble 2 large or 3 medium sized 100% wool felt flowers using a wet felting technique.  

Sunday 7.25 Fiber Blending With A Drum Carder – Materials Included - $80 Do you love textured yarns and those fun and beautiful carded batts for sale at fiber festivals? Would you love to make them yourself? Learn to create blended batts for spinning using multiple fibers and colors with techniques for basic carding and a variety of techniques for blending fibers. Instructor: Keena Golden

All class registrations entitle you to 10% off the cost of supplies, yarn and fiber on the day of class! Private classes and fix it clinics are always available by appointment, e-mail us with your needs!

Upcoming Events

July 31st – August 1st Renegade Craft Show (Studio Closed)

August 2nd – Fiber Club Night

August 28th – Studio Anniversary Sale and Mini Fiber Festival – ONE DAY, BIG DISCOUNTS!

September 19th – World Wide Spin In Public Day for SF

For the latest news check our Event Calendar for full details

Summer at the Studio
We’ve adjusted our hours for summer and Kira will be in the studio regurlarly two Sundays a month! For private lessons and drop in clinics give us a call or e-mail to find out which days she’ll be here.
Mon 12-7 pm Tues, Weds & Thurs – By Appt. Friday 12-7 pm Saturday 12-5 pm Sunday 12-5 pm  

Show Us Your Creativity Contest

We’ve picked TWO lucky Winners from our Flickr Photo Contest! 
PJ_Church AND tizana682003 Please come by the studio to pick up a goodie bag for youself!  

Shannon Herrick of The Spun Monkey is a felt artist, teacher and fellow spinner! We love her work and her contributions to our studio. We hope you’ll enjoy learning more about one of the studio’s shining stars…

How long have you been running your fiber art business and what inspired you to do this for a living?

The Spun Monkey has been around since late 2006, when some friends convinced me to be a vendor at my local farmer’s market. At that time, I had been spinning about a year and a half, as a hobby…okay, an obsession. It was exciting and fulfilling to share something that gave me such joy to create, to meet and talk with other crafters and let my little yarn babies go to evolve as the creative process continued in someone else’s hands. Craft shows followed and eventually I started paying attention to my Etsy shop and picking up wholesale customers. It’s been a fun (and sometimes frustrating) journey as I work towards turning The Spun Monkey into a viable income while also balancing family and our ongoing search for home…

What part of your work do you enjoy the most?

Deadlines.

What part of your work do you enjoy the least?

Deadlines.

What styles, artists, designers do you find more inspiring and why?

There are so many amazingly talented fiber artists out there, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting several of them. I was a sidekick spinner in Jacey Boggs’ Sit and Spin DVD and have taken her workshop as well as Lexi Boeger’s Pluckyfluff spinning camp. Their energy, drive and enthusiasm are contagious and through their projects I’ve met lots of great folks. My very first experience with handspun yarn, though, was knitting with some Misshawklet. Holly is sweet as pie and now donates 50% of her profits to charity. Talk about inspirational.

Being self-employed can be hard to maintain motivation. What do you do to keep the creativity flowing in your everyday work?

Wow, so true. If I feel myself heading into a creative lull, I might do one of several things: 1) Take a class or workshop. Even if it covers techniques I already use, it is always inspiring to be in a room full of creative folks who will take an idea in all manner of new and exciting directions. 2) Buy fiber from another indie artist to play with. I love that no two people work their dyepots the same. I tend to get bored with my usual color palette and so digging into something I might never pull out of my own dyepot is a source for many an inspirational spin. 3) Go to the library. Besides spinning and knitting books, I find science and picture books a treasure trove of ideas for colorplay. I like to work with colors inspired by birds and insects, landscapes microscopic sea creatures.

What blogs/magazines/books do you like to read?

I could spend five years answering this question. I’m a homeschooling mom, so most of my blogroll leans in the direction of other creative mamas like Kathy at Tangerine Dreams, or in the direction of beautiful photography like Abby’s. Too many to mention, and I must admit that blog-reading is eating up most of my reading-for-pleasure time…when I do pick up an actual book made of paper, I enjoy a good deal of japanese fiction and literary magazines like Granta.

Do you have any hobbies other then fiberarts?

What else is there? Okay, I am starting my first quilt, paper-pieced and sewn by hand. The kiddo and I are into cycling and baking and practicing our penmanship. I recently was gifted a stone inkpot and handcarved bamboo pen…I plan to write a lot of sloooooow letters to my easterly friends.

Anything new on the horizon for your business?

The Spun Monkey will be at the Bazaar Bizarre at Maker Faire in San Mateo, May 22/23, 2010. Keep an eye out for a new line of kettle-dyed handspun organic merino singles and shawl knitting kits with yarn and pattern!

Thank you Shannon! Come by the shop to check out her yarns, kits and nuno felted accessories,

We want you meet Matney Paine of YoKNITS!  YoKNITS (which stands for the knitting term Yarn Over) is run from her home in Colorado, where she spends most of my time raising my two children. Matney is a self-taught knitter of 8 years creating handmade scarves and hand-spun yarn for many special and unique people. All the handmade, homemade, handknit, handsewn, handfelted, hand-dyed, hand-spun items on YOKNITS are one of a kind. let’s find out more about her business…

How long have you been running your fiber art business and what inspired you to do this for a living?
I started out as a self-taught knitter, selling my knit items at craft fairs and local events for about 7 years. Then I just made a sudden shift to spinning after being mentored for 2 mos. In the rhythm and technique. I have been spinning yarn for 11 mos.

What part of your work do you enjoy the most?
I enjoy sitting at the wheel of course, but I also enjoy the response to my work. I feel like people have been really great and easy to work with and it keeps me inspired to make yarn for someone to create with.

What part of your work do you enjoy the least?
I do not really enjoy the smell of wet wool.

What styles, artists, designers do you find more inspiring and why?
I enjoy so many different types of art. Lately I have been really into photographs of stacked teacups…and certain vintage yellows that tend to catch my eye. Dresses from the 1930’s….I really adore anyone who can photograph halos well.

Being self-employed can be hard to maintain motivation. What do you do to keep the creativity flowing in your everyday work?
Double shot lattes

What blogs/magazines/books do you like to read?
I like to search blogs by images, I love stumbling into someone’s life and reading about their personal experience. I think it is amazing that so many people are part of the cyber blog roll world….I have an ego about reading, in that I feel like I already had all of “those” ideas.

Do you have any hobbies other then fiberarts?
Mostly I raise my two blue-eyed children babes in the Colorado Mountains, and I tend to flow in and out with the seasonal hobbies. I have a love hate relationship with my sewing machine….. And I am going to learn to Clog this year!

Now that I am a responsible adult with children of my own I laugh sometimes at the all too famous word from my mother, and an assumed many other mothers, “Someday when you are grown up you will understand”….My deepest ambition as a adult…is really just to be ballerina, if not literally, somehow subconsciously.

Anything new on the horizon for your business?
I just want to keep it spinning!

Thanks Matney! Be sure to visit her online at www.etsy.com/shop/YOKNITS

Midnightsky Fibers is an UFS artist based in Seattle, Washington. This eco-concious company is run by owner-creator Jenn Wisbeck. Many of the yarns are vegan, and the company also reuses water, uses nontoxic dyes and mordants, and supports other green businesses when possible. Let’s find out more about Jenn and Midnightsky’s story….

How long have you been running your fiber art business and what inspired you to do this for a living?
I have been doing this since I graduated high school and all through college, paralegal certification, and now I do it full time! I switched to only natural dyes after interning for 9 months with Earthues, a natural dye studio in Seattle, WA.

What part of your work do you enjoy the most?
Getting to be creative. I don’t do large lots or repeat colors, though my training is in color matching. I like to keep everything a bit unexpected and unusual but still totally useable. I like yarns and patterns that are clever for easy to work with.

What part of your work do you enjoy the least?
There is a very good reason I have 2 accountants, can we just leave it at that? In all seriousness, the financial aspect isn’t too bad, most of it is automated.  Most of the legal and financial stuff I would be dealing with even if I didn’t run a business though!  Besides that, I hate going to the post office! The one right by me closed, and the other ones nearby have terrible parking.

What styles, artists, designers do you find more inspiring and why?
Elizabeth Zimmerman for clever yet simple construction and seamless sweaters.

Being self-employed can be hard to maintain motivation. What do you do to keep the creativity flowing in your everyday work?
I must live a charmed life-I don’t really have an “every day”, or week even for that matter! Working on planning classes and patterns motivates me for the type of yarn I want to spin and dye for. I also don’t work to the point of insanity- yes, I have the long days, but I take days off, go on vacation.

What blogs/magazines/books do you like to read?
I have over 1,000 blog posts in my blog reader every day. Really, I read a bit of everything.

Do you have any hobbies other then fiberarts?
Boating, kayaking, metalwork…but really, most of what I do relates, even if only tangentaly, to fiber.

Anything new on the horizon for your business?
Start looking for my patterns- they are mostly only available to yarn stores and yarnies, but they are a great resource for people who want to buy a pattern license and not need to buy patterns over and over or who don’t have the time to design or have designed a pattern for their shop/yarn/kit.

Thanks Jenn! Be sure to come by the studio and check out Jenn’s newest products which include naturally dyed rovings, batts and yarns!

Kira Dulaney first learned the basics of crochet around age three and knitting around five. Her attention soon moved to cross stitch, sewing, and other crafty pursuits, then she re-taught herself to knit while in college. She studied theatrical costume design and worked as a costume designer in and around San Francisco for several years. The research she has done in historical clothing is a strong influence on her design sense, and many Kira K Designs patterns reference styles from the 1920s through the 1960s. Her designs tend toward garments with clean lines and intriguing details that are interesting to knit and easy to wear. Kira is also a great teacher! So lets learn a little bit more about Kira in this fun interview:

How long have you been running your fiberarts business and what inspired you to do this for a living?
I started self-publishing patterns in early 2007, so it’s been almost three years now. I’d been designing patterns for most of my own knitting and crochet projects for a couple years and people were always asking me for the patterns, but of course I changed things as I went and didn’t take any notes. Eventually I decided to write my patterns down and try selling them. I started very small and slow and learned about the business side of things as I went. I’ve been teaching classes on knitting and crochet for about 5 years now, and starting teaching sewing classes one year ago.

What part of your work do you enjoy the most?
I love when all the elements of a design come together. I’m always making notes about different shapes, stitches, and yarns that I’d like to try, and eventually a silhouette, stitch pattern, and yarn all click together into a cohesive design.

What part of your work do you enjoy the least?
I have really high standards for myself, and I’m devastated whenever errata is found in one of my patterns. I know that it’s natural to have a small mistake here or there, but I still feel terrible about it.

What styles, artists, designers do you find more inspiring and why?
I used to work in theater designing and building costumes, and styles from the 1920s through the 1960s have a big influence on me. I don’t do straight reproduction work, but many of the silhouettes and details from that time find their way into my designs. I really don’t follow fashion that much, but I always keep an eye out for interesting styles that I see on the street.

Being self-employed can be hard to maintain motivation. What do you do to keep the creativity flowing in your everyday work?
Time is more of a problem for me than motivation. There is always so much to do and even though knitting is a necessary part of my work, it sometimes feels lazy to sit and knit for hours.

What blogs/magazines/books do you like to read?
I really only follow the blogs of friends, because it can take too much time keeping up with lots of different blogs. I read Spin-Off magazine and also Bitch and Bust. I like Neil Gaiman’s novels, and lately I’ve been reading non-fiction by Sarah Vowell and Mary Roach.

Do you have any hobbies other then fiberarts?
I love to cook and bake, especially when I can share the results with a table full of friends.

Anything new on the horizon for your business?
I have patterns in the spring 2010 issues of Tension Magazine and Interweave Crochet. I’ve recently starting working with a distributor, so my self-published patterns should be showing up in many more yarn shops across the country soon.