Miniature Fiber Room - Maybe The Coolest Project I've Ever Done!

I am trying to wait until I have finished this project to blog about it, but I am so excited that I cannot wait! (There's an updated version at the bottom of this post.) I have been making the fiber miniatures for years, but I started this room and finished it in two days. I built it from a shadow box kit (pieces of plywood, actually), painted it, cut and installed floors and moldings (that I also painted), and I am ecstatic with the result. Seriously, I can't get over it. This is 1:12 scale. It is a small version of my own life-size fiber room. The blonde girl is similar to my 10yo daughter. We have two tonkinese cats, and there are models of them, too. I do have a doll to represent me, and though she is wearing a handspun, handknit sweater, she...um...has no pants. So she isn't in the picture. I'm also waiting for a chair to arrive. I haven't filled the white cabinets or counter shelves yet. And I have to knit or crochet three hats for the hat stands but, oh my goodness...

Other than the two teddy bears on the top shelf of the corner shelving unit, I made all the miniature garments and stuffed objects myself - meaning I processed the wool and/or silk, spun the thread and knit or crocheted the objects.

The fiber in the back shelving unit comes from various sources. I washed and dyed the fleeces. The rainbow is from Zebisis Designs. The fiber in the top right compartment is from Corgi Hill Farms, as is the fiber I've used to make the golden and hot pink rolled braids in the middle shelf of the left column. The purple on the shelf under that is from Zebisis Designs, too. The yellow BFL fleece in the middle shelf of the middle column is from BohoKnitterChic Spins. All the rest was processed and dyed by me.

I spun all of the yarns in the yarn shelving unit except for the bright pink one, which was spun by my 10yo daughter. I knitted the sweaters that are hanging on the left.

I crocheted or knitted the three objects in the basket on the floor (a puffed heart, a tiny acorn and a bunny in a dress), all from fibers that I processed, dyed and spun. I wove the rug under the basket on a small square loom from yarn spun by my dear old friend Sonja, from cormo dyed by my friend Maeghan.

I love my fleece-washing station! It even has detergent. The corner shelving unit has thread, scissors, a niddy-noddy, hand cards, a full bobbin of handspun silk, and several tiny handspun, handknit garments. I crocheted the mandala on the wall above the cabinets from silk that I dyed and spun.

I can't even express how proud I am of this. I love it, love it, love it!!!

Here are some additional (process) photos:

Can you see it in the midst of my life-size fiber room?

UPDATE: I still don't have nice pants for the lady, but I have her in comfortable sweatpants for now.

 

I added a crocheted (by me) mandala to the top of the fiber shelves, and I stocked the cabinets and counter shelves.

 

What fun!

Rainbow Nympheas Lace Shawl: A Collaboration

I am so excited about this collaborative project!

Silk hankies (like these, but not this exact lot) dyed by zebisisdesigns:

Spun and plied on spindles by my dear friend Sonja:

Knitted into this Nympheas Lace Shawl by me:

SQEEEEEEE!

Me:

 Whataproject!

Tiny Bunny & Valentine for Linus

The birth of a tiny bunny, from raw fleece to finished:

I think the head looks a bit like Piglet.  Moving on...

I washed a Cormo/BFL lock, washed and dyed (with Kool-Aid) some Targhee cross fleece, spun thread from each and dyed the Cormo/BFL yarn with the used dye bath, and then I crocheted this Valentine for my 6yo son. :)

Mandala & Tiny Glove

I spun a few locks (that I had washed) on a Deerfield Creations acorn spindle. I seem to have a short attention span, so my cop didn’t get very big before I decided to ply. After plying, I ended up with 76 yards of 2-ply thread weight yarn. It weighs 3.7 grams (which would translate to 582 yards per ounce).

I knitted this mandala on size 5.5-0 needles (that's five and a half zeroes).

 

Then I knitted this little glove from the same thread, on size 6-0 needles.  :)

Hee hee.

A Smokey Memento for Sonja

My dear friend Sonja lost her best friend this week. Here’s a photo of Smokey in the park when he helped Sonja with some dyeing adventures earlier this year.

She had brought me some of his brushed fluff a while back.

When I heard the sad news about Smokey, I took out the bag and spun some on a Kundert spindle.

I crocheted this memento for Sonja. <3

Tiniest Acorn to Date!

A bit of a finn lamb fleece…

 A pinch of some BFL that I washed and dyed green…

Spindled…

Knitted (that’s at full width, just before changing color)…

My smallest acorn to date…

Joey's Rainbow Capelet!

I am SO excited about this project!  Sheep to Shawl, seriously.

I got 8 ounces of raw fleece from a rescued cormo ewe that had not been shorn for over two years. The fiber had been even longer, but they’d had to cut off a few inches at the outside. The staple length was still incredibly long (9-11”) for cormo! I washed it, huge lock by huge lock.

I dyed it with food coloring and vinegar in the microwave.

I spun lock by lock, flick combing the ends with a cat brush and picking out bits of VM. It was an interesting spin! The long staple made it a bit of a strain on my fingers. Here’s a spinning progress shot.

I finished spinning and navajo-plied it. Here’s the finished yarn.

 After months of trying to find the right project, I knitted the yarn into this Capelet for my daughter! She LOVES it. :)

A day after it was finished, I couldn't help myself...