Fabulous Fibers meetup in Orem

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Dame Toadstool

I had a lovely lunch and brainstorming session with The Cotton Floozy and Volatile Volscian* last week in Provo. We ate at the new Two Jacks Pizza at 80 W. Center Street (in what used to be a Pier 49 pizza parlor) and then popped over to Heindselman’s in Provo** because OF COURSE we did. We raided their clearance yarn and I’m not ashamed to say that I grabbed one of Floozy’s picks out of her basket because I needed it more than she did. Looking forward to telling you more about that soon!

At the checkout counter, I noticed a flyer for a Provo/Orem crafters meetup. I think it’s the same one I read about in the Daily Herald a year (or more?) ago, and I hope to check it out sometime soon.

Fabulous Fibers flyer for meetup in Orem, UtahFabulous Fibers 
We appreciate all knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers, bobbin lace makers, tatters, quilters, and beaders, or anyone who shows up!

Free Group
Casual Setting and Dress

Meetings Wednesday 7pm
Barnes & Noble Cafe, University Parkway, Orem

Contact Info:
fabulousfibers@gmail.com

I’m a little offended that embroiderers and cross-stitchers were overlooked on the list while beaders were not… but I suppose I’m not overly offended. Speaking of being offended, I wonder what the dynamic of the group will be. Will it be an “oh my heck” dynamic or a “shit damn hell”-tolerant dynamic? It’s in a public bookstore so I wouldn’t expect anything racier than that. (Though a girl with a sailor’s mouth can dream.) I guess we’ll see!

*Whose name I mistakenly thought was “Volsican” and only just discovered that it’s Volscian. Which makes a hell of a lot more sense since her real name may or may not be the same as a certain maiden warrior character in Virgil’s Aeneid, who was a Volscian.

**It breaks my heart that Heindselman’s doesn’t have a website. I’m glad that I could at least link to their entry on Knitmap, though.

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Vintage Happy Valley: Crochet a Pillbox Hat

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Dame Toadstool

Vintage Happy Valley banner

Colder weather calls for hats and matching gloves. And what’s better than a nice handmade set that you crocheted yourself? How about a crochet pillbox hat? After all, “the whole smart world is putting on pillboxes.”

Pillbox Hat You Can Crochet Yourself

This is from 1941. A Utah County lady would have been ahead on fashion if she made one of these at that point, I think… though if it’s like many of the crochet or knitting projects I’ve started, sometimes I need a decade or so of a head start!

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Floozy Finds: Orem Stonehenge, Where the Demons Dwell

Posted on November 17, 2011 by TheCottonFloozy

Floozy Finds - The Cotton Floozy reveals Utah County craft culture

There have been many replicas made of Stonehenge. All over the world, using various sizes and materials.

There is Banksy’s version made out of portable toilets:

Banksy Stonehenge

(f)art!

And of course, the little teeny tiny one from Spinal Tap:

Stonehenge, Tis a Magical Place

Tis a Magical Place

But perhaps, my favoritest one is in Orem, Utah, on Center Street, east of I-15, right before you hit the Target:

Orem Stonehenge

Orem is sorta a Magical Place, too. Sorta.

Stonehenge thingeys

I would totally climb these if I could climb.

Orem traffic lights at Stonehenge

Ancient Druid Traffic Lights

This is where I am supposed to tell you why this magnificent Stonehenge replica exists here in Orem. And you know? I just think that would spoil it. Isn’t it enough just knowing that this exists in Small Town, Utah County, USA? No? Go google it then.

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What am I DOING? New weaving idea!

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Volatile Volscian

what are we DOING?

I’m changing my title, so I need to make a new banner. Old banner for now!

I have been really slacking on making things lately. The only thing I’ve done this week is make this scarf. I finished the weaving today, and I’m going to felt it next time I do laundry.

handwoven wool scarf

The yarn here is mostly some Paintbox 100% wool I got at Heindselman’s in Provo. Lovely stuff! The warp I got from a Stitch & Bitch white elephant party last year, and it’s a wool/cotton blend. Also very lovely stuff. I don’t have much left of it.

I wove this on my frame loom which I made for weaving rugs. I’ll go more in depth sometime, but that’s not what I want to talk about now.

I wanted to make scarves, but it couldn’t really be done with normal tablet weaving. I got a great idea where I set up two tablet weaving warps parallel to each other and draw the same weft through, creating a loose weft between them for the body of the scarf. I even went so far as to try the idea:

handwoven loose scarf tablet weaving

This was done with cotton crochet thread and lofty acrylic yarn. I loosely wove some extra warp into it after finishing, just to keep things in place and prevent tangling. It looks how I wanted and expected, which is great, but I didn’t like the technique. It took longer than normal tablet weaving and it was too difficult to get a nice edge while maintaining enough looseness to keep it the same width all the way down.

Being unsatisfied with that method, I tried the frame loom, and I really like how it turned out. I’ve even figured out how I can make them longer instead of being slave to the predetermined size of the loom. This type of weaving is great because you can, at any point during or after weaving, scrunch up the weft to make it thicker and shorter, or pull it down to make it looser and longer. This scarf used 100 yards, the whole skein. I wanted it a bit thicker and a bit longer, but I didn’t have enough yarn for both, so I wove the whole skein and moved the weft around so that it filled up the whole warp. I don’t know if that makes sense, so I’ll probably have to show you sometime.

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Vintage Happy Valley: Honey Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Dame Toadstool

Vintage Happy Valley banner

Once you’ve recovered from the sugar crash after finishing off that last bag of Halloween candy, it’s time to start thinking about the next Food Holiday. It’s called Thanksgiving, of course! In modern times, it’s an easy holiday to miss since all the damn stores start selling Christmas decorations alongside Halloween stuff in August.

Okay, so in reality, Thanksgiving is pretty hard to miss. Your family and friends and coworkers are probably already whining and moaning about all the work that Thanksgiving is and how many mouths there are to feed* and maybe even a dramatic we should just skip it and order pizza. Or maybe you’re hosting this year and doing the stressing and bitching yourself. Good for you! It’s warranted when you do it.

Just remember that no matter how many family fights break out, how dry the turkey turns out, or how much you visualize murdering your cousin’s arrogant boyfriend… it’s your duty as an American to gorge yourself on pumpkin pie. For the sake of the The Pilgrims and Native Americans and Black Friday. Is it also your duty to make the pie this year? Let your family call you a “honey” of a cook and try out this 1942 recipe for honey pumpkin pie!  Continue reading →

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