All is Right in the World of Fuzziness

On June 5, The Fuzzy Bunny participated in the Wayne County History Museum's Artisan's Faire.  This was a craft show with a twist, where each artist demonstrated their craft in the actual museum.  I met some great local artisans, learned a bit about local history, and hung out in an old jail.  There's no better place for a craft show than an old jail, right?  The museum is actually the old jail/sherrif's residence.  I was set up in the weaving/fiber room, but the jail was fascinating in a creepy, dark kind of way.

The show led to lots of requests for our attendance at other local shows, which is fantastic!  It's always nice to have my work appreciated, and I would love to stay closer to home for shows than travel constantly.  More time for the making of things!

Everything is coming together.  Exciting business opportunities are coming my way and I was just offered a fantastic job as an attorney editor.  It took a long time to sign all the paperwork, but I'm almost an official employee!  After working full-time for the past month or so in a temp job, I'm confident I can keep up a full-time job and maintain The Fuzzy Bunny.  I can't think of a better way to spend my time, dividing it between legal work and using my hands to make practical objects.  On that note, my latest project is a pair of fantastic baby duck socks for expecting friends.  So cute!

Best Smellers

When I left Vermont, I was disappointed to move away from the creative community that I had become a part of.  The other night I participated in my first event since the move, and it was really good to do a show in New York again. I'm happy to find myself part of a new creative community, full of artists and fine creaftspeople who are proving to be resourceful and supportive.

The other night's event was Art & Whimsy, which was a fundraiser for the Empire State Lyric Theatre.  There were lions flanking the entrance, a lemon-themed decor, and spectacular live music throughout the evening.  I failed to take any photographs of the venue, but you can take a look at Stefani Tadio's blog.  Stefani was set up in the same room as I and proved to be an excellent vending companion.  Her specialty is hand-stitched paper art, which is really intricate and pretty.  I couldn't help but pick up a few of her sticky notes; they will make excellent gifts (excuse the plastic, I should have photographed them without it...).

I was so happy to see two artists from Second Storie!   Shanna Murray and Vicki Hartman both set up tables full of goodness.  Shanna had new wall decals, which I loooooved.  There were lambs, and birds, and oval-shaped garlands in different color options...amazing!  It was hard to resist the lambs, but I though this sparkly gold swallow would go well with my very favorite screenprint (for scale, the frame is 22" x 28").  I'm pleased with how they look together.

                           

Vicki had new ceramic houses.  I already regret not getting one that evening!  They were so unique and had an earthy, organic sort of element that drew me in.  I did, however, get this nifty soapdish that my mother pined for at Second Storie.  Now I can finally make my mother's favorite soap (scrubby oat bars with ground oatmeal and spices), put it on this dish, and surprise her with her favorite things.

Back to Phat Fiber

I'm so, so happy to contribute to the Phat Fiber Sampler again!  Phat Fiber is a spectacular sampler of all things fiber-yarn, spinning fiber, stitch markers, patterns, etc.  March's theme is Elements: Earth, Air, Wind, Fire, Aether.  I wanted to create a variety of samples instead of blending all the elements together, and came up with these blends:

From left to right: magma (wool and firestar), terra (wool, alpaca, and milk), abyss (wool, milk, tencel, mohair, angelina) and stratos (wool, bamboo, milk, soysilk, angora, angelina, tussah silk)

I dyed all the fiber then blended them on my drum carder and pulled the batts into roving.  They all turned out spectacularly and I can't wait to spin them up myself.  These fibers are now available in the fiber shop, or you can nab yourself a Phat Fiber box!

The full size versions:

NYC or BUST! Or both.

On December 5, Travis and I loaded up the Fuzzy Bunny Mobile and headed to NYC for the BUST Craftacular.  I was excited...it was my first time doing a show in NYC, and I was looking forward to showing the manwife the city, especially the holiday window displays and the giant Christmas tree.  I thought it would be a nice little vacation for us, especially considering his grandma had just passed away and we needed to get away from everything.  So, I booked a couple nights at a bed and breakfast and hoped for the best.  Anticipation, though, was about as far as we got.  The trip went sort of like this:
1.  we slid over snowy roads and icy bridges most of the way down
2.  40 minutes in the city and someone smashed in the window and stole the manwife's gear (around 4AM)
3.  I spent hours in the police station looking up garages to fix the window while Travis sat in the breezy car (NYC police officers are awesome, by the way, they really went out of their way to help us out)
4.  I manned the craftacular table in a zombie-like state while Travis again sat for hours in the breezy car
5.  we drove home because no one would fix the car window on a Sunday and we had no safe place to leave a windowless car and all of the stuff crammed in it

I don't think I've ever been so tired.  Or hungry.  All of that was rather horrendous, but the show itself was pretty great (and I clearly have the greatest manwife ever for willing to sit in a freezing cold car for many, many hours while entirely sleep-deprived and robbed of his reading material).  I just wish we had been able to sit at our nifty table together and enjoy it.  This was the view from The Fuzzy Bunny table, note the tiny dog on the table opposite us, he was incredibly well-behaved!

I sold/said goodbye to the pom pom tree.  Travis reported from the outside that he could see it going down the street, which must have been an interesting sight in NYC, seeing as how it resembled a Dr. Seuss tree.  I could see Pistachio Press in the distance, behind all the hats (Rachael, of PP, is part of Second Storie Indie Market in Rochester, NY)

Finally, a glimpse of a work in progress.  I just started spinning this green faux cashmere in a super-fine single.  Soon it will be plied and added to the vegan yarn section of my shop.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and provide me with a day of nice light so I can take glamour shots of all the new yarn.

Pictures!

The bunnies and I are finally all moved to New York! Previously, all moves had taken place during the middle of sweltering summer, usually with rainshowers thrown in for fun. I've decided moving in subzero temperatures is much, much better.

As promised, here are photos from the Second Storie Indie Market in Rochester, NY, which proved to be an amazing show, as usual: fantastic people, lots of fun, and ideas for new projects. The screening of Handmade Nation the night before the show started was a great addition to the festivities. It was inspiring to see people succeeding in the DIY movement.

Happy shoppers underneath festive handmade banners hung inside the Visual Studies Workshop.

Chey helped me set up and proved to be an excellent salesperson.

I was lucky enough to sit next to Tara Hogan of INK+WIT, who creates beautiful letterpress designs.

There were amazing hand-bound books by concepcioun that I covet.

I ran into the ever-awesome Mackenzie and Tyler of Secret Pocket again. They were our neighbors last year and it was great to see them again.

Abby Try Again trekked all the way across the country for Second Storie. Her photographs are beautiful! Someday soon I plan to buy this print as a present to myself. I just love the colors.

Drew of The Maple Ridge was another neighbor of ours last year who returned with his awesome little couples, creature blocks, and drawings. I traded for some of his awesomeness and cannot wait to see the manwife's reaction when he receives said awesomeness for his birthday.

Shanna Murray, one of the members/organizers of Second Storie, had the cutest rabbit (along with a really neat collaborative effort and unique tea towels). I looove her font (this may just be my obsession with fonts...I've been meaning to watch Helvetica for some time now).

BUST photos coming soon!

A Spark of Optimism

The past few weeks have been...challenging. A death, a break-in, continued unemployment, and an impending move to another state have made life a little more uncertain than usual. However, today has been a spectacular day, regardless of the -14 degree weather. I set up at the Montpelier Farmers Market, met a bunch of fun Vermonters, bartered soap for cheese, had tea with a friend, then called my Dad, who gave me a long I'll-support-you-in-whatever-you-decide-to-do kind of talk (thanks Dad).

So, I've decided that my first months back in NY will be spent trying to get The Fuzzy Bunny up and running as a full-time gig, and not spent trying to find mediocre jobs that I'm not particularly interested in. With access to high speed internet once again (not so readily available where I've been living in the mountains of VT), 80+ pounds of spinning fiber to work with, a fancy new advertising campaign in the works, and loads of new ideas to try out...well, what the heck, I'm going to go for it.

I'll post pictures (finally!) of the Second Storie Indie Market and the BUST Craftacular as soon as I'm back in the realm of high speed internet. Until then...enjoy the holidays!

Second Storie

It's time once again for my favorite craft show of all time! Every Thanksgiving weekend is made better by the fact that Second Storie Indie Market exists. This show is phenomenal, Second Storie knows how to put on a good show and invites absolutely amazing people with great work. They entertain us with live music, feed us, and even give us time to mingle and shop amongst ourselves (yay for getting holiday shopping done without ever stepping foot in a big-box store!).

This year I will be joined by Chey (sister of the manwife) and my Mom (who will be celebrating her birthday on Sunday while she's at the show!). Stop in and say hi!

Saturday, November 28th, 11 am - 6 pm

Sunday, November 29th, 11 am - 4 pm

The Visual Studies Workshop Auditorium

31 Prince Street, Rochester, NY 14607

And, have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

The Mail Buggy and White River Junction

This morning involved a trip to the post office, where many shiny yellow slips awaited me. The post office man had to wheel my packages out in what looked like a giant baby carriage. My stellar cart pushing skills (remnants of pushing hospital beds around back in college) kept me from crashing into any pedestrians or giant glass doors between the post office counter and my car. There were many small packages, filled with fiber-related items that will be sent out with my yarn clubs, but there were big boxes, too. And inside the big boxes were amazing things: many, many pounds of wool, soysilk, and cashmere. This is the first time I have worked with cashmere, and it is amazingly soft and cloud-like. I can't wait to spin it! A Smittens cd arrived as well, so now I have happy, sugar-coated pop to spin to. Woo!

slowly expanding wool in the box, soysilk in the lower left, cashmere in the lower right

This past weekend was the Holiday Fiber Festival, hosted by White River Yarns. Lois (of White River Yarns) did a fantastic job of planning and promoting the event. I, as a vendor, was spoiled with an abundance of customers who knew their stuff when it came to fiber, friendly fellow vendors (Country Woolens, DyakCraft, Ellen's Half Pint Farm, Grandview Farm, Snowshow Farm Alpacas, and the Wee Piper), and a whole lot of homemade baked goods and tea. I sat next to Merit Scotford, who taught me (and a ton of other people) how to make Dorset buttons. Back in the day people used to use cross sections of Dorset sheep horns and scrap thread/yarn to make buttons, hence the name. It turns out that these are mildly addictive to make-and a great portable project. Perhaps they would also be a good way to use up small scraps of fancy handspun, too.

a few of Merit's buttons
I hope this event happens again next year. It was like a mini fiber festival that focused on local fiber producers and artists. Putting everyone in the same room with a project table in the center allowed us to all feel like we were part of whatever was going on. We knitted/spun/rug hooked together, and took part in the yarn tastings and button-making, and I felt like I was both an attendee and a vendor, which was great. Business was good, too. I made some new contacts, found some new customers, and had a great time with people who love fiber in all its forms.

a hotbed of fiber activity

Sick Bunny

Oxtoby decided to get sick late last week. I'd like to think I'm fairly knowledgeable when it comes to rabbit ailments, considering what I went through with George, but I'd never experienced rabbit intestinal issues firsthand. I called my vet's office, where they offered no help at all (my regular rabbit vet was unavailable), so I got out my syringes (the kind without needles) and started orally hydrating him. That seemed to work out just fine, but I still made an appointment with the vet to double check for other problems, and they sent me home with some antibiotics. The next morning I woke up to find an almost-dead Oxtoby...unresponsive, labored breathing, and I couldn't get him to take water or even lift his head. Extreme badness.

So...we took a lovely rambulance ride to the animal hospital where Oxtoby was admitted. Sub-q fluids, x-rays, and fecal cultures ensued. His intestinal bacteria had spiked. Luckily, my vet is awesome and knows her stuff when it comes to rabbits. When I came back the next day Oxtoby was back to being himself, trying to escape and eat the potted plants. We're sticking with penicillin injections for a week, but by the amount of trouble he's been getting into, I think he'll be just fine.

More things to binky about.

The Fuzzy Bunny will be at the BUST Craftacular in NYC on December 6! I'm so excited...NYC around the holidays, the Metropolitan Pavilion full of awesome handmade things and music. I hope to do a little holiday shopping of my own, as well as introduce Fuzzy Bunny vegan yarn to NYC.

Also, there's a great giveaway on Ravelry for one of the Spindies paintboxes (pictured above). 5 ounces of fiber from an assortment of indie fiber artists! If you aren't the lucky winner, you can purchase a paintbox in the Spindies Store-they are a great deal for the variety and amount of fiber that you receive, and a different color theme is offered each month.

Holiday Fiber Festival

How could I pass up participating in another fiber event? The yarn store in White River Junction, VT (White River Yarns) is hosting the Holiday Fiber Festival this weekend. I will be there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with handspun yarn, spinning fiber, and all the bath and body goodness you could ever want. There will be other vendors with fibery goodness, yarn tastings, door prizes, drop-in spinning and knitting, and really interesting workshops. Come visit, do a little holiday shopping (time to get knitting those holiday presents!), and learn a new technique. It promises to be a fun weekend!

Friday, November 13: 5:00PM-9:00PM

Saturday, November 14: 9:00AM-9:00PM

Sunday, November 15: 9:00AM-5:00PM

White River Yarns/Junction Marketplace

1011 North Main Street

White River Junction, VT 05001

Binky Balls

My bunnies are silly little fluffmonsters, and they love to binky. Binkying is a true art form that involves jumping, and then twisting and jerking while in the air. It appears to be a fun thing to do, and frequently involves mid-air crashes into walls and furniture. The binky is essentially a physical manifestation of pure bunny joy.

This becomes relevant when I think about my reaction to fiber. I, too, feel like binkying when I am exposed to great fiber, although I rarely do this in front of others as a grown human looks ridiculous spasming mid-air (especially if I crash into things...). Annnnnyway, my newest favorite thing to create are balls of hand-pulled roving. I drum card combinations of my own hand-dyed fibers then pull them, and have aptly titled them "binky balls". They are super easy to spin and make for spectacularly colored yarns. You can find them in my shop.

My First Fiber Festival!

I felt like the new kid as I was setting up at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival. I've done other shows (Second Storie} Indie Market, Boston Bazaar Bizarre, etc.), but never a fiber festival. Something about being in a show with all of my fiber peers, many of whom have been in fiber crafts for decades, seemed particularly daunting. I imagined people harshly judging my spinning technique, color choices, and lack of my own fiber animals. Admittedly, my fears were completely unfounded as I have never come across an unhelpful or unsupportive fiber person. Ever. That trend continued at this festival. It was spectacular to talk to so many people who were so enthusiastic about fiber.

The animals are always my favorite part of fiber festivals. I was surprised to find cashmere goats. They were so soft. And gigantic. It turns out that there is a convent in Greenwich, NY where they keep a herd and knit fantastic cashmere items. Disappointingly, they do not sell the fiber to spinners (but at only 4 ounces of fiber from each animal per year, completely understandable).

AREA Cria-tions brought a few of their alpacas, who would make fantastic friends for the bunnies (maybe they could share 80's hair tips). Lenni could keep everyone in line. And of course there were bunnies. Fluffy baby angora bunnies who I had to avoid all weekend for fear of wanting to bring them all home with me.

I was happy with my pom pom tree. I went out into the woods to find the perfect fallen branch for this. It seemed to catch the attention of many, and a few people stopped to take photos of it. I also ordered a brand new set of shelves for showcasing spinning fiber...wool, milk, and bamboo roving as well as carded batts. The festival turned out to be spectacular: well organized and well attended. They even had hot chocolate (and hot showers) for those of us who were insane enough to camp in the freezing cold. I was so impressed that I've already signed up to be a vendor next year, and I can't wait.

The Fuzzy Bunny will be at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival next weekend, and I can't wait! There will be over 100 vendors, which means I'll be forced to take frequent breaks and walk around to buy delicious fiber. Tragic.

I'm looking forward to it; playing with fiber all weekend, being joined by my most excellent manwife, doing tourist-y things in Saratoga Springs, camping in sub-zero temperatures...it promises to be a good adventure. My apartment is overflowing with fiber, just waiting to be packed and taken to the show. Hand carded batts will be making their debut, along with handpainted bamboo roving and lots of handpainted milk fiber. So, come see us!

Boundaries, or the lack thereof

Today I found a yellow slip in my post office box, which always means I have presents waiting for me behind the secret doors! Usually the lovely post office men put a key in my box and I go to a cubby, unlock it, and find whatever package has been mailed to me, but today I had to go to the counter. I handed over my slip, gave them my box number, and then heard all sorts of commotion. Things like, "so YOU'RE the fuzzy bunny!" and "we've been waiting all week for you!" and "we have a HUGE box for you!". So the man disappeared behind the counter and returned with a giant box...of wool! Yes, 11 pounds of wool. I brought home my giant box and it exploded open. The wool expanded to cover a good 1/3 of my deck. I fought the urge to jump in it and roll around, however when the other 15 pounds arrive, I may combine them and do just that.

So, this brings me to the question of: how much fiber is enough? Even without enough storage space for what I have, I still wouldn't turn down fiber. It's fiber! Any artist will understand the constant lusting after supplies. And so, I shall continue to drool over fiber and wish for it, even though it may seem excessive to those who don't understand fiber obsessions (afterall, I'll put it all to good use...eventually). Perhaps when I have pathways through my house instead of open walkways I'll consider working my fiber stash down.

The latest thing I've been lusting after are these Artists' Paint Boxes on Spindies. The boxes contain 5 ounces of fiber, a combination of different green fibers (each month the color changes) from an assortment of fiber artists. $25, including shipping. They'd make a great gift to someone (like me!), or for yourself. I personally love experimenting with different fibers and having smaller amounts of random bits that I might not think to dye myself-it often results in unexpected, but beautiful, yarn. Here is a photo of September's green fibers:

I'm hoping I'll find this under my Christmas tree.

Best Tote Ever

I have this addiction to canvas totes. I love them. I can't get enough of them. I justify this addiction by sprinkling them about my house and car so that whenever I go to the co-op or any other store, they're at hand and I don't have to use any paper or plastic bags. Yes, perfectly justifiable; an addiction that helps the environment! This has always proven to be my tote of choice, by Black Sheep Heap:
I love the graphic and the message, it speaks to my love of root vegetables, and it's big. It's about the same size as a paper grocery bag, with handles long enough that I can put it over my shoulder. Perfect! And sturdy. And made in the US. AND made from recycled fibers. Really, I love all of Black Sheep Heap designs (and their focus on sustainability), but this is the one I root around for every time I go shopping.

Stash Busting

I decided to take part in the Tour de Fleece this year, on Ravelry. It's a great event that runs along with the Tour de France; for every day the cyclists ride, we spin. Just what I needed...more motivation to play with fluff! So, I joined Team Stash Busters (and the Rookies-it's my first time, afterall) in the hopes that I would work down my fiber stash a bit. After moving recently (with another move planned in just a few days), it became obvious how unwieldy my stash was. Bins and bags of fiber: some raw fleece/locks, some roving, some dyed, some natural, and in a huge assortment of animal and plant fibers, with a little synthetic throw in. The stash is currently taking up it's own room...eek!

Anyhow, I found a bit of fiber (less than two ounces) comprised of organic cotton and merino. And then I received some thread and glass beads in a random swap. And so, the fiber was spun, the random bits plied, and the whole thing went into my dyepot. I came out on the other end with this:90 yards of pure softness! I love it. I love how the colors turned out, with the slight heathered effect that a cotton/wool blend produces when dyed in acid dyes, the green beads offsetting the blue, the bumpiness from plying with thread...an experiment that turned out beautifully.

In other news, The Fuzzy Bunny World Headquarters will soon be located in the wilds of Vermont. No more of this urban Vermont ridiculousness where there are neighbors within twenty feet of my door, I'm moving to where I can't see any neighbors at all! No high speed internet, no cell reception...it's even on a dirt road. True Vermont.

Success!

The Stowe Street Arts Festival in Waterbury turned out spectacularly! On a day where constant rain and thunder storms were predicted, we didn't see any rain any all. We (the manwife and I) met tons of great people-fantastic customers and fellow vendors (MF Wolik Photography, Sheep Shear Cuttings, and the Singing Spindle Spinnery were some of our favorites) who were displaying all sorts of great things.
This was the very first time The Fuzzy Bunny participated in an outdoor arts festival, which meant a shiny new canopy was necessary. We were prepared with our sidewalls up, to protect the merch from wayward raindrops. You can also see that someone (me) failed to do the proper ironing of tablecloths...
Sugar scrubs made their debut at this show. Two varieties, one with soap in it, and one a straight up oil and sugar scrub, were available in a bunch of awesome scents (citrus, lettuce, white tea and ginger, rosemary mint, yuzu).

Also debuting at this show: the amazing yarn stand! The manwife and his dad designed and built this, and I think it is a great way to display the yarn. Multiple levels, easy to dig through bins to find what you want, and it folds down to fit in my car. They're so smart and handy. I like how the rainbow of yarn looks here-and look, I've added hand-dyed spinning fiber to the mix! Milk fiber proved to be the most popular fiber of the day.

Spindies!

Spindies is a new online store that caters to spinners and yarnaholics. It's filled with a huge assortment of spinning fibers, from milk to merino to silk, in both natural and dyed, and lots of handspun yarn. Fun art yarn spinning kits and roving of the month clubs are also available. All brought to you by the best indie dyers and spinners around. Come see all the colorful fluffiness!

Pedro Promised All My Wildest Dreams Would Come True

I've been searching and saving and hoping for a drum carder since...I started spinning (2005). And now I almost have one! A lovely, pre-loved Louet is on its way to me from Michigan-a lucky find on ravelry/craigslist. I'm so excited! I'll finally be able to process the hoardes of fleece I've accumulated from local farmers (corriedale and alpaca), plus, I'll be able to do allll kinds of custom blends...different fibers, different colors. I can't wait!

This also means that I can join in more fun Spindies adventures. Spindies is a collective of fabulous fiber artists specializing in spinning fibers and handspun yarn. We have big plans for fiber clubs, and while I was planning on adding my fiber to the roving of the month club, now I'll be able to contribute batts to the batt of the month club when it debuts!

In other news, my move is almost complete. And I'm a lawyer now. The Vermont Supreme Court said so. Woo!