{painting} — watercolor with ink illustrations. “Endless Love” by Jill Cannon(top image)9”x 12” watercolor painting with ink illustrations.  “Spring Breeze” by Jill Cannon (bottom left image)6”x 6” watercolor painting with ink illustrations.  “Cheer Up” by Jill Cannon (bottom right image)4”x 6” watercolor painting with ink illustrations. These paintings/drawings were done while I was home at my parents during my father’s recovery from brain surgery last year.  They are all originals.

{painting} — watercolor with ink illustrations.

“Endless Love” by Jill Cannon
(top image)
9”x 12” watercolor painting with ink illustrations. 

“Spring Breeze” by Jill Cannon 
(bottom left image)
6”x 6” watercolor painting with ink illustrations. 

“Cheer Up” by Jill Cannon 
(bottom right image)
4”x 6” watercolor painting with ink illustrations.

These paintings/drawings were done while I was home at my parents during my father’s recovery from brain surgery last year.  They are all originals.

05/29/2012 painting watercolor flowers ink illustration artwork artforjerry crafty original
{handspun} — Franklin. I joined my first spin-a-long with Diane who does the Knitabulls podcast and ordered the hand dyed fiber from GnomeAcres. It is 100% Superwash Merino and a 4 oz. bump. The colorway was designed after Diane’s bird, Franklin, which is a girl. We had just over a month to spin and I loved working with this fiber. It was so wonderful to draft and spin… and the color is gorgeous. Amanda, of GnomeAcres, has an unique method of hand dying her fiber, she dyes it while it’s still braided so there is a touch of white in the middle. At first I wasn’t so sure I’d like that, but it really grew on me. The colors blended so well together with that touch of white in there. I also tried fractal plying for the first time. It is where you take a braid of roving and split it length-wise completely down the middle so you have two ropes that are identical. Spin one as is onto one bobbin, this will result in a very slow color change. Break the other half of the roving apart length-wise about 4 times (I did once down the middle, and then did each of those halves again, etc.) so you have a lot of skinny ropes. I kept the same colors together at the ends, or mirrored them, for example if it was grey at the end of one of the skinny pieces I joined it to the other grey ended half I just separated. (I hope that makes sense!) It will result in a very quick color change on this bobbin. Then, I 2-plyed the bobbins together and voilà, delicious looking yarn! There is also a pretty decent write up on Knitty about fractal plying: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwbis11/KSFEATfractal.php Here are all the details and how long each took me:First Bobbin (split half into eights): 5/3/12–5/6/12 Second Bobbin (spun half whole): 5/8/12-5/9/12  2 Ply: 5/10/12-5/11/12 Re-ran through wheel to correct overspin: 5/11/12 Soaked: 5/12/12 Approximately 376 yards WPI: 17-18 Sport Weight I have a little bit of one bobbin left that I will Navajo Ply at a later date. I donated this skein of yarn to an art auction fundraiser I hosted for my parents :) art for Jerry. 

{handspun} — Franklin.

I joined my first spin-a-long with Diane who does the Knitabulls podcast and ordered the hand dyed fiber from GnomeAcres. It is 100% Superwash Merino and a 4 oz. bump. The colorway was designed after Diane’s bird, Franklin, which is a girl. We had just over a month to spin and I loved working with this fiber. It was so wonderful to draft and spin… and the color is gorgeous. Amanda, of GnomeAcres, has an unique method of hand dying her fiber, she dyes it while it’s still braided so there is a touch of white in the middle. At first I wasn’t so sure I’d like that, but it really grew on me. The colors blended so well together with that touch of white in there.

I also tried fractal plying for the first time. It is where you take a braid of roving and split it length-wise completely down the middle so you have two ropes that are identical. Spin one as is onto one bobbin, this will result in a very slow color change.

Break the other half of the roving apart length-wise about 4 times (I did once down the middle, and then did each of those halves again, etc.) so you have a lot of skinny ropes. I kept the same colors together at the ends, or mirrored them, for example if it was grey at the end of one of the skinny pieces I joined it to the other grey ended half I just separated. (I hope that makes sense!) It will result in a very quick color change on this bobbin.

Then, I 2-plyed the bobbins together and voilà, delicious looking yarn!

There is also a pretty decent write up on Knitty about fractal plying: 
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwbis11/KSFEATfractal.php

Here are all the details and how long each took me:
First Bobbin (split half into eights): 5/3/12–5/6/12 
Second Bobbin (spun half whole): 5/8/12-5/9/12 

2 Ply: 5/10/12-5/11/12 
Re-ran through wheel to correct overspin: 5/11/12 
Soaked: 5/12/12

Approximately 376 yards 
WPI: 17-18 Sport Weight

I have a little bit of one bobbin left that I will Navajo Ply at a later date.

I donated this skein of yarn to an art auction fundraiser I hosted for my parents :) art for Jerry. 

05/28/2012 2-ply Spinning Wheel fiber fractal plying hand dyed handspun spinning superwash merino yarn fiber art
{made} — Rustic Ruffle Pillow. I only crochet the front of the pillow pattern and sewed a fabric back with a slit to allow the removal and washing of the pillow insert. Closed and secured the slit with a button. Whip stitched to attached the fabric to the front of the pillow. My pillow front kept growing larger and larger as I crocheted… therefore I stopped the last ruffle two rows early. The pillow insert is 16 inches in diameter, the final pillow size is probably around 18 inches. This was a long overdue mother’s day present for my mom… it took a lot longer than I thought it would (but doesn’t it always!).

{made} — Rustic Ruffle Pillow.

I only crochet the front of the pillow pattern and sewed a fabric back with a slit to allow the removal and washing of the pillow insert. Closed and secured the slit with a button. Whip stitched to attached the fabric to the front of the pillow.

My pillow front kept growing larger and larger as I crocheted… therefore I stopped the last ruffle two rows early. The pillow insert is 16 inches in diameter, the final pillow size is probably around 18 inches.

This was a long overdue mother’s day present for my mom… it took a lot longer than I thought it would (but doesn’t it always!).
05/25/2012 fiber art crochet pillow ruffle home decorative
{handspun} — Fresh Cut Grass on a Summer’s Day. This is my first skein of yarn that I’ve spun on my newly acquired spinning wheel! A lendrum single treadle wheel basically fell into my lap and I am so thankful; it is truly something I’m going to love experimenting with. Fiber is my new addiction! So many to try and all the hand dyed fiber is so delicious looking, I can’t resist! :) Yellow – Sincere Sheep, 100% BFL Wool Green – High Bid Farm, 100% BFL Wool 2ply… about 13 WPI — 225 Yards 

{handspun} — Fresh Cut Grass on a Summer’s Day.

This is my first skein of yarn that I’ve spun on my newly acquired spinning wheel! A lendrum single treadle wheel basically fell into my lap and I am so thankful; it is truly something I’m going to love experimenting with. Fiber is my new addiction! So many to try and all the hand dyed fiber is so delicious looking, I can’t resist! :)

Yellow – Sincere Sheep, 100% BFL Wool 
Green – High Bid Farm, 100% BFL Wool

2ply… about 13 WPI — 225 Yards 

05/25/2012 handspun fiber art spinning wheel yarn BFL wool
{made} — Kotori the Owl. LOVE using my handspun for this cute little owl. I didn’t have safety eyes that were big enough, so found some fun buttons to use instead… think the yellow matches good and I liked their shape. Pattern can be found here.

{made} — Kotori the Owl.

LOVE using my handspun for this cute little owl. I didn’t have safety eyes that were big enough, so found some fun buttons to use instead… think the yellow matches good and I liked their shape.

Pattern can be found here.

05/25/2012 fiber art crochet owl animal toy amigurumi