Sue's She Shops OverDoSue MakeOver

We hear a lot about 'Boys and their toys.  You know...power tools, dream cars like Jags and Corvettes.  And how about all the hoopla about guys and their 'Man Caves'!

It's high time gals like me...Fiberistas...have 'She Caves'.  I'll call mine 'Sue's She Shop'.  Of course you know I talking about Sue's MadeWith Fabric&Fiber Studio14....which just this past week got a total OverDoSue Makeover!

Why?  I had to make room for a new to me Fiber Toy...a Leclerc Table Loom 4 Harness Dorothy model.  Naturally I'll name her Dorothy.  Adding Dorothy to Studio 14 resulted in this post on Facebook.

Studio 14 Makeover Mess! So, this is what happens when I get a new (to me) Fiber Toy...a Table Top Loom which is about 22" wide x 24" tall x 20" deep and sits on a table 20"x28". 

 Now you would think something that small would slip right in to my about 16ft x 20ft studio. Nope, it required a total move of every shelf, table, cabinet and rearrangement of nearly every skein of yarn, bolt of fabric and finished goods. 

It was all good though...the fiber dust bunnies, lint, dropped pins, buttons etc. accumulated over almost a year got swept and dusted. Tomorrow....the Reveal. Oh, and you will be able to get in the door. I think I need a Re-Grand Opening to celebrate my Table Top Loom...one more off my Fiber Bucket List. Now to find time to WEAVE!

The Reveals

Check out Counter left front. Yarn Blending and RagRug Supplies right front. Spinning and Weaving back left. Sewing center on back wall behind the Roving Bins.

 

 Reveal part 2...The Sales Floor Areas!!

Welcome...come on in...the AC is on and there is lots to see and do at Sue's Studio!

Yellow Tag Sale still going on for Aprons...you don't have to cook to wear one! Just sayin'. Lots of NEW Microwave Bowl Cozies...Found some great Texas Fabrics in my Stash. NO MORE TO HOT TO HANDLE bowls out of the Microwave. Always a good supply of these best sellers. Also have a rack of Yellow Tag Rag Rugs plus a good stock of new designs...always have a rug on the loom or on the hook.

I know it's still HOT, but I've been busy with knitting needles and crochet hooks

 getting ready for Fall and Winter....THINK COOL/COLD/GIFTS.

Do you Love Vintage...like me? I have a wonderful collection of Vintage Quilts....wall and bed sizes. I also make bags, pillows and more from vintage fabrics, crochet and embroidery. They will bring back sweet memories of mothers and grandmothers. 

So, Yes, I DO All that the sign says and sometimes have to stop and unwind by rewinding. 

 I always have plenty to go around!

On the DPN's...Double Pointed Nightmare!

Several years ago I began combining crochet and knitting, especially when an edging was needed on a knitted item and visa versa.  Adding a knitted band to a crocheted hat requires picking up crochet stitches with a knitting needle.  Simple enough, right!  Except when it is in the 'round' like this hat/cap. 

 

I would try every small circular needle in my arsenal before I would even think about knitting with FOUR needles...aka DPN's...double pointed needles.  Seriously, when I first started knitting, using two needles was sometimes a challenge and circulars, well, they actually are my faves.  But, I didn't have a small enough circular for this hat/cap so...DPN's...which, at one time I had nightmares over, were unearthed from the bottom of my needle bag.   So, the made with Hand Spun Yarn by Sue McPeak hat/cap required a knitted band with DPN's....there was no other choice....I had to make something with the HandSpun Yarn by Sue McPeak.

I haven't had much time of late for spinning!  Can you believe it?  Especially since February, when my wheel arrived and I was totally in the OverDoSue SpinArama mode.  However, at some point one has to take time to make something with all that 'Hand Spun Yarn' by Sue McPeak. 

The NUMBER #1 question people ask when they see the 'Hand Spun Yarn' is....

"WHAT DO YOU DO WITH IT"? 

I LOVE this question as it gives me the opportunity to 'Show and Tell'.

 

I SHOW the Capes and Cowls and TELL...

"I Knit, Crochet, Weave and whatever else my

OverThinkItSue can come up with.

 

Speaking of Knit and Crochet with Hand Spun Yarn...

Here is the result of the DPN's hat Band.

Dreamy, huh!

Learning To Spin...Then What?

I have been learning to spin for 6 months, 1 week and 1 day....well, there about if counting from the month, week, and day that I got my own wheel.  I can't really count the times I tried spinning at the spinning group I belong to.  I'm pretty sure my patient teacher never thought I'd ever get the hang of spinning a decent thin strand of yarn that would flow through the 3/8" orifice, have enough twist to stay together or fill a bobbin.

Sure enough she was spot on with the thin strand flowing through a .375" orifice.  I could clog that tiny thing with every other pump of the treadle.  There was a solution and it works perfectly for a thick and thin art yarn spinner.  It's called a Jumbo Flyer with a 3/4" orifice...pic #2.  Then there was treadling enough to get enough twist so the wad would hold together.  I actually could get twist...over twisted...cork screw tight...for a couple of inches then nothing...Failed the twist test.  Fill a bobbin?  Not enough time in the day when you have to start over a kabillion times.

After 6 months, 1 week and 1 day you can imagine how filling a bobbin, making twist enough for coils and having enough yarn to actually make something has me breaking my arm patting myself on the back.  And that's just one of the bobbins I have managed to fill.  I now have two full hanging racks with Sue Spun Art Yarn in my Shop.  Now both arms are broken.

So, what does one do with a Twisted Mass of Colorful Art Yarn?

One does a Photo Shoot!

Needle Doodling and Subconscious Incubation

Doodling...to Scribble Absentmindedly!

I've been a 'Doodler' my entire life and never really thought about it being a 'Thing'.  It is such a 'Thing' that Google, Wikipedia, Pinterest, UTube and scores of internet sites are as absentminded as I am. 

 Like most lifetime doodlers, I started with crayons, graduated to pencils, pens, paint and other two dimensional Art mediums.  I even passed on my 'Absentmindedness' to my Junior High Art Students with a lesson on Doodling around common objects.  I wonder if they have become lifetime doodlers, too!

There are benefits of being a doodler...according to HuffPost who say, "If you spend half an hour doing something creative, when someone gives you a problem you will think about it in fresh ways."  Doodling as conscious absentmindedness acts as a distraction and allows for "subconscious incubation of a solution".  Hmmmm, now I'm looking back on my Doodle Art examples and realizing I must have always wanted a Mickey Mouse watch and was ahead of the times with 'Arty' nail polish.

 

Doodling has certainly gained the attention of a number of scientific and mental health studies with topics like etymology and memory.  It seems doodling has been an absentminded practice among some of the worlds notable people...like...the poet/physician Keats, literary genius Beckett and US President Reagan.  Of all the notables I would like to associate my absentmindedness with is Leonardo da Vinci.  Really, his notebook margin doodles give new meaning to Absentminded Scribbling.

I guess it was a natural transition from the two dimensional doodling to three dimensional doodling with needle, thread, fabric, buttons, beads, and whatever else I could find to allow for 'subconscious incubation'.  Just look at what it hatched!  

Momentous Scraps

Here I go again.  Another scrapbook.  This one has been a long time coming...like 58 years.  Here's how it started.....

Room 8-A Jr. High 1960
Having written my name and location on the inside of the cover of my first scrapbook was probably the most useful piece of information in the whole book.

It survived mostly due to the cover being a heavier weight paper than the rest of the pages which have yellowed and deteriorated.  Scotch tape, Elmers glue and manila paper were not Acid Free.  I don't think Acid Free was invented yet, and if it was it wasn't free. 

Being as it was my first scrapbook and being an 8th grader with little to no momentous scraps of information to paste on the pages about myself, I proceeded to cut and paste pictures and articles from the school newspaper about Upperclassmen.

 

Here's how it has been preserved, reorganized and updated for a GRHS Reunion in October.

Taking apart that first scrapbook has been kinda hard...mentally...but after 58 years it is falling apart.  No acid free paper or glue back in the day.  So, this effort to save those fragile and yellowed papers will be well worth it.  I've just finished my 7th Grade year, and Wow!...there really wasn't much of any momentous scraps about myself.  However, there was a lot about those cute high school boys!

Go Big Red...Lasso the Lions!