New Product In Store: Imperial Stock Ranch Yarn

Right before Stitches we got a great shipment of new yarns from Imperial Stock Ranch. The Imperial Stock Ranch is a family owned and operated ranch located on more than 30,000 acres of Oregon’s beautiful high desert where you’ll find resident populations of elk, deer, antelope, gamebirds and fish. It is on this vast landscape that their stewardship practices — of the land, of the animals and of their family — are cultivated and the strong foundation of our business has been forged.

Once a year, they harvest the soft, white wool from the sheep and begin the process of transforming this naturally renewable resource into a wide selection of fibers and yarns. All of their wool is specially milled without harsh chemicals or extreme temperatures, leaving it comfortable, soft and pure. Custom colored to reflect the ranch’s unique high-desert landscape, Imperial Stock Ranch yarns and fibers offer knitters, weavers and other fiber artists a naturally beautiful array of hues, textures and weights. You won’t find Imperial Stock Ranch wool in any other yarn on the market. They are a USA wool product.

The Imperial Stock Ranch has received numerous awards for excellence in stewardship and land-management practices. Chalk it up to a 140 year tradition of responsible stock raising and mindful land guardianship.  You can read more about their commitment to sustainability Here, and of course find out more about how their yarns are made Here. Come into the shop and see examples of each of their yarn lines and peruse their elegant patterns written by Leigh Radford.

Some new classes…

Meet the Artist

This newsletter’s featured artist is 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 her time raising her two children. Matney is a self-taught knitter of 8 years creating handmade scarves and hand-spun yarn for many special and unique people….Read More

New FREE Pattern at Urban Fauna Studio!

We love our local knitting group, Purl Jam! They’re regular fun at Fiber Club Night and we learn so much from them. Tracey Kay recently published a FREE Ravelry hat pattern “Fenced In”. A cozy toque/beanie with chain link fence cables. Knit in the round from the brim up. The pattern is offered in 3 sizes for bulky weight yarn….modeling it are the Purl Jammers themselves. We’re offering free printed copies (thank you Tracey!) at the shop with any purchase of bulky knit yarn! Jam on down to the shop….and make yourself this fun hat!

Upcoming Shows

The Festival brings residents, neighbors and friends together for a day of entertainment, music, dancing, and good food. It doesn’t matter whether you’re from Glen Park or Glendora – you’ll feel like part of the neighborhood. The Glen Park Festival is a great time and a great cause! Urban Fauna Studio will be hosting a FREE make and take project! We hope you’ll come out and say “Hi!” and enjoy this family friendly community event! Sunday April 25th 10AM – 4:30PM on Diamond Street More info here

Image courtesy of Imperial Yarn

We also have several new Louet wheels at the shop, a Louet drum carder, and a new Mach 2 in stock. All available for rental or purchase. Take them for a spin and pick out a Valentine’s Day Gift early!

Learn to love fiber craft:

We’ve added more classes for February and March! Learn the basics or move to the next level, we have classes for everyone. Register now so you can ensure your space in one of these fun intimate workshops…

Saturday 1.23 Learn to Nuno Felt a Great Neck warmer - 2 spaces left
Nuno felted fabric can be used for a variety of projects including quilt squares, scarf making, jewelry, mittens or apparel. The beginning nuno felt class is a great starting point for learning how to make flat felt fabric. $40 pp

Saturday 1.30 Beginning Knitting - 3 spaces left
You’ll learn how to cast on stitches, knit, and purl as well as some simple stitch patterns that work well for scarves. Make a hand knit scarf to keep warm on these rainy days! $26 pp

Saturday 1.30 Fix-It Clinic
Bring your knitting and crochet problems in for diagnosis and first aid.  Our resident knitting and crochet expert can help you start a new project, untangle an old one, or learn a new skill. $26 pp

Monday 2.01 FREE Fiber Club Nigh at The Old Jerusalem Cafe
Join us at our montly hangout the Old Jerusalem Cafe! Drop in and bring a fiber craft of your choice to work on. Now meeting on the first Monday of every month. FREE

Tuesday 2.02 DIY Sweethat knit or crochet
Know the basics of either knitting or crochet and want some expert help with making that first hat? Sign up for the Sweethat class! Class meets on two Tuesday evenings. $52 pp

Saturday 02.06 KTTG #6: Survey of Knitted Lace – 4 spaces left
Interested in lace knitting but scared? With the guidance of Kira you will be able to tackle a variety of patterns by learning how to read them and confidently take on those new lace patterns.

Tuesday 3.02 Beginning Crochet
In this two-part class you’ll learn the basic stitches while making a cute stuffed bunny and also start a crocheted scarf. Class meets on two Tuesday evenings. $52 pp

Saturday 3.06 KTTG #7: Understanding and Correcting Knitting Mistakes
Learn how recognize and fix many common knitting mistakes and avoid making them in the first place. This class will make you more confident when trying new techniques! $26 pp

Saturday 3.06 Intermediate Knitting
Bring your knitting to the next level with this skills workshop designed to move you from a beginning knitter to an intermediate knitter.

Sunday 3.07 Spinning on a Drop Spindle
Ever wondered how yarn is made? In this class you will be given a brief overview of spinning and what can be spun. You will work up to spinning with a drop spindle. All supplies included. $40 pp

Saturday 3.13 Learn to Weave with a Cricket Loom - 3 spaces left
We sold out so quick for our first section we brought it back for March! This class will teach the basics of weaving with a table top rigid heddle loom. Registration includes a brand new cricket loom and instruction. $210

Saturday 3.20 Needle Felted Bird
Needlefelting, an exciting and easy dry felting method. You get to pick from a rainbow of colors to make your bird. $16 pp

Every month we will be giving you a closer look at our Artist Community. The studio carries products from artists and designers we love and we hope to share some of their story with you. This month we feature Kira Dulaney of Kira K Designs. Kira is a Bay Area resident who learned the basics of crochet around age three and knitting around five.  She studied theatrical costume design and worked as a costume designer in and around San Francisco for several years.  Her research in historical clothing is a strong influence in her design sense, and many of her patterns reference styles from the 1920s through the 1960s….read more

The boxes are big but the machine itself is not very bulky. Weighing in at around 30lbs this machine is not super portable like the  Gocco (which I can throw into a tote bag on a whim) but we could take it with us when doing demos and it has only a few parts that are not self contained. It does make screen printing incredibly easy and uses less consumables then our Gocco. Our first real project was to make 100 of these recycled cotton tote bags with the Urban Fauna Studio logo for our anniversary party.

The supplied instructions are straightforward enough. Although we were initially confused about several points (which side of the screen to use, dry time, etc) by the video tutorial they provide. While we can understand it was meant to be comedic and fun to watch, the wise cracking hosts were hard to follow. We found this Yudu Demo Video and the FAQ on the Yudu site to be waaaaay more helpful.

We took a couple shots of our process as we were making a T-shirt screen to give you an idea of the process. This is definitely not meant to substitute for the original instructions but we are sharing some tips and tricks we used.

On the emulsion and the screen…
If you have a smaller image definitely cut the emulsion to size so you can use it for another round. Or prepare multiple images for one screen. Probably one of the common mistakes (we know because we did it too) was to place the emulsion sheet on the wrong side of the screen. The screen was wet down with a damp sponge on both sides (not dripping wet but saturated). You want to make sure the emulsion is adhering to the back side of the screen (flush/smooth side – pic on left). We squeegeed only 1-2 times and used the sponge to wet the emulsion from the front side (has a raised ridge on the corners – Pic on right) , clearing any bubbles and lines.

Drying the screen
Then place into the slot in the machine to dry. For us it took about two rounds of the drying cycle (20 mins each) or 1 round and hitting it with your hair dryer. We just used a regular hair dryer, nothing fancy, NO embossing tools or heat guns etc… We kept the dryer about 12 inches away from the screen when using heat, about 6 inches away on cool setting. For some reason the LED screen does not count down from 20 mins., it will beep when done. When it’s dry it will be a darker green and you can peel the plastic cover off easily. I would always recommend drying longer if any part of the plastic cover resists you when pull off. Otherwise you will rip a hole in it.

Transparency
We used the provided transparency and some standard ones I had in my stash and there was no difference. We only used the recommended ink jet printer and have not experimented with laser yet. Place your transparency on the light bed.

Exposing the screen
Place your screen back side down on the transparency.

Place the platen down (dark side) on top of it all. Note, keep your sticky side covered with the protective sheet or things will get stuck to it…lots of things. You can replace the sticky side but it’s a pain to clean the old glue off.

Place heavy stuff on it (approx 5 lbs)….press the exposure button (8 mins).

You then take the screen to the sink and use a wet sponge to wipe the emulsion side of the emulsion side of the screen. The exposed design will wash away and the rest will be in tact. Voila! You have your screen. Put back in the fan to dry or you can blow dry.

Making your prints
Then you are ready to make your prints!  Be sure to mask off with some painters tape or packaging tape. That way you won’t spread your ink all over the edges of the screen. Blas is using clear packaging tape here.

Then you will flood your screen with ink (large bead of ink across the top) and pull down with the squeegee to fill the screen.

Ensuring good prints and reclaiming your ink
Your first runs may not be ideal depending on the pressure you apply and the evenness of your motion. Each person screens differently. We found that we put too little ink on when we first started screening. Have plenty of scrap fabrics or paper (we used scrap computer paper) to test out your image. After several prints we noticed that ink would seep through the screen and make the image a bit blurry. When you notice this starting to happen you can take out your scrap paper/fabric and screen a couple images (do not add extra ink) until the image becomes sharp again.

Be sure to add more ink frequently while you are printing. You don’t want any dry spots in your image. If there is a missed spot on one of your runs. Very carefully flood the screen again and pull the image a second time over the missed spot.  Remember ALL the excess  ink can be reclaimed by scraping it off the squeegee and placing it back into the bottle. We used 1.5 bottles of ink to screen 100 of the tote bags shown above.

Now you can make awesome personalized prints. In our case, a design that’s pimpin’ the fiber love…

Don’t forget to heat set your finished apparel and then you’re done! We’ll be making the I ♡ fiber themed T-shirts for sale in the store along with tote bags soon! Many thanks to Provocraft for donating a machine to raffle off.

The bottom line
We think silk screening is a lot like spinning or any other handcraft. It can be functional or it can be an art form which takes skill and vision. You just have to see our living room walls (we collect screen printed and letter pressed work) to know that silk screening can be sophisticated and eloquent. It’s painting a picture with layers of color, lines, and texture.

If you want to make 1000’s of prints for sale, order them from a professional printing house or invest in a traditional set up. This machine is not cost effective if you’re going for volume.  Personally I still have a box of homemade screens, chemicals and inks I never used because I could never invest the time to set it all up for use in my tiny apartment. Which is essentially money lost if you don’t use it! Enter the Yudu…now I can actually screen print my projects.

The Yudu won’t magically give you the ability to silkscreen like your favorite artist. It will not replace the knowledge and the fulfillment of making your own screens. But for the consumer, the small business and the hobbyist we think it’s a good tool, which cuts out some of the technical steps in print making and makes the production of small projects fun, affordable and accessible.

Wanna know more about the Yudu?
You can browse Yudu products online. Or you can make an appt to come by the store and we’ll demo the Yudu for you!

Check out our Flickr Gallery and this Ravelry Post for more pics from our Needle Felted Bird Class. Also this weekend is the last time you can catch us during regular store hours for the next three weeks. We can open by appointment during that time. Just give us a call or E-mail. We’re preparing to vend at Stitches West and the SF Quilt Show. Read more at this LINK. 

For the upcoming show….

We have been receiving HUGE fiber filled boxes from our consignors…literally pounds upon pounds of luxury handspun, hand dyed batts, rovings and other fiber goodies. More pictures on the blog soon!

More Cricket Looms, Green Sleeves Spindles  and Hazel Rose Multi-Looms

New Noro (Cashmere Island, more colors of Silk Garden Sock and Kureyon

A generous selection of Shelridge Farm Yarns…SUPER soft, hand dyed superwash merino yarns in worsted and DK weight. You have to feel it to believe this stuff!

Sock Blockers made with reclaimed plastic and Needle Gauges made from Bamboo

Don’t Forget to K.I.T.
Ravelry *  Facebook *  Flickr * Blog * Yelp

New At Urban Fauna Studio
Exciting new additions to the studio are arriving every week! Noro Yarns in an array of the latest colorways, from rich earth tones to sunny rainbow shades. Handmade crochet hook/needle pouches and stitch markers by Kira K Designs and the clever Mach 1 Spindles (single spindles and sets). Take a look at the Mach 1 in action on their site: http://www.spinolution.com/Drop_Spindle.html These babies seem to spin forever!  We’ve got Lacis ergonomic felting needle holders, colonial foam pads and a full line of Peace Fleece to fulfill all your felting fantasies!  Jamie also has 20+ pounds of hand dyed merino yarns that are waiting to be skeined up, including sock, worsted and a new thick and thin bulky yarn. They should start showing up at the shop next week!

New Classes For February
We’ve filled the next month with felting fun! And now you can reserve your place online through Paypal. Check out our courses from needle felted birds, wet felted sushi, felting for children and a fun needle felting play day for you to poke away to your heart’s content! All courses can of also be paid for at the store. Check out the UFS Calendar for a fun weekend crafting session!

Urban Fauna Studio and MaryJane’s Attic At STITCHES West
We’re excited to announce that we’ll be at STITCHES West this year! You can find us at BOOTH 1036. Some fun stuff to look forward to at the UF booth:

Two weaving demos with guest instructors Karrie Weaver and Lynn Li
A spinning demo on the new Mach 1 by Lizette Hopkins of SpinGlitz
A book signing by Lexi Boeger for her new Intertwined book
An all day make and take needle felting table at the booth
And a series of super duper raffle baskets filled with fiber goodies

Stay tuned for more details, as we get closer to the show.

Don’t Forget to K.I.T.
There are several ways you can stay in touch with us even if you can’t come into the store. We have group pages on  Ravelry, Facebook,  Flickr and Our Blog. Be sure to check our group pages as we’ll be releasing information about our upcoming shows, giveaways, and new product announcements! You can always give us a Yelp too!

The November Camp Pluckyfluff was a success. The participants were an incredibly fun bunch! Not to mention Lexi is an amazing artist and teacher. We had such overwhelming demand for this class that we have scheduled another section of Camp Pluckyfluff January 24th 2009. Register now as the class is already being filled! And for Camp alums, we will offer a second workshop for more advanced spinning techniques. We will let you know as soon as the dates are confirmed. You can see more pictures of their fibertastic fun on our Flickr Set Here

Lexi will also be giving a lecture and slide show about the evolution of hand-spun yarn as an art form at the Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco. This lecture/discussion is not to be missed and a bargain at only $8.00!

Classes Added and Updated

We have also added a weekend of Beginning Spindle Spinning on Saturday December 13th and Sunday December 14th. The 2 hour class class includes a handmade Greensleeves bare bones spindle made from solid maple. Want to start out in style? Then for a little more money you can upgrade to one of their sleek, and exotic hardwood spindles. We have a variety of natural colored woods and sizes. Let us help you pick out a spindle that will be a cherished heirloom! We have updated the Table Top Loom Workshop for December. The cricket looms have already gone home with several happy customers. So if you’re considering one of these fun looms be sure to enroll in the class or pick one up in the shop.

Urban Fauna Studio Shop Schedule
We will be open Friday thru Monday 11am-6pm with the following exceptions:
Saturday Nov 22nd – Shop will be closed early at 2pm
Friday Nov 28th & Saturday Nov 29th - Shop will be CLOSED*
Sunday Nov 30th – UFS will be vending on location at the Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco – come on out to the SF County Fair Building, participate in low cost craft workshops, shop with local artists and support youth art education in SF!  *You can always e-mail or call if you need a specific item. We can meet you at the shop by appt.

–> Watch this blog for updates and giveaways! We have some great craft books to review and raffle off.
–> We have started a Flickr Group for Urban Fauna Studio. Please feel free to join if you have pictures to share or want to keep up with our events and products.
–> Watch your E-mail box in early December we will deliver an exclusive sale to all our newsletter subscribers and special surprise offer that will leave you feeling like your dollars spent will bring change to the global craft community!

We just wanted to weave you a little tale about the wonderful new items at Urban Fauna Studio and in our webstore. We also wanted to remind you of our upcoming mini loom  class! The Schacht Cricket Looms are for sale in the store and online! The Table Top Loom Weaving Class is being rescheduled due to shipment issues but it will be updated on our calender next week.

From Schacht….“The Cricket Loom is compact, capable and cute! At only 11″ x 18″ x 6″ and just under four pounds, it’s easy to take along. The ten inch weaving width gives plenty of room to make a variety of projects without sacrificing portability. Comes with two stick shuttles, a warping peg, threading hook, two table clamps, and 8-dent rigid heddle reed and two balls of yarn ” All this for the Affordable price of $135.00! Makes a great gift for yourself or a loved one! Make scarves, pot holders, place mats, shawls, pillows, and more!  The upcoming class will include two sessions of instruction AND the loom for only $200!

Don’t have time to take a class? Prefer to learn on your own? We suggest the new book from Interweave Press: Weaving Made Easy by Liz Gipson. We  find it to be a great beginner’s manual to both inform and inspire!  A step-by-step guide on getting started weaving; weaving vocab 101, tools and materials explained, the basics of warp and weft, and how to start weaving. The book comes with 17 attractive and approachable projects. Definitely a keeper for those who want revisit the basics or to learn a new craft. Price $24.95

The Hazel Rose Multi Looms are selling like hotcakes! We only have 2 inch looms left in the shop. We have a few spots left in our Handheld Loom Weaving workshop! In this class students will learn to choose appropriate weaving materials, how to weave, and examine a wide variety of completed projects incorporating woven squares.This 2 hour class will also cover advanced weaving techniques and how to join woven squares for large projects. Students do not need any prior weaving experience and will leave with a small completed project. It’s happening this SATURDAY 11/8/08 from 11am-1pm. So don’t delay! Call or E-mail us your name and phone number to reserve your space in the class!

Don’t forget to check our other workshops and classes on our calender page:
http://www.urbanfaunastudio.com/calendar.html

We’re stocking the store this week with new items such as:

* Handspun Yarns
* Merino Wool Felt Hats
* Felting kits by Made by Moxie
* Newly released Knitting, Felting, Weaving Books and more…..

Kawaii Goodies are available here!