This week celebrates both Agriculture and Fashion Revolution in Ithaca. In honor of both, I am posting photos of the first hand-spun and hand-knit scarf I made from New York fibers. The scarf was a lifesaver during Winter, especially during the Arctic Blasts over the last 2 years. The last time I wore the scarf was in March,…
New York Fiber Podcasts
I’m going to post podcasts that focus on the New York fiber community here. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting several of the interviewees throughout my time in New York, so I’m really excited to share these! I’ll update this post as I find more, or if anyone knows of any others let me know!!! WAMC Northeast Public…
Honeycomb Knits with Alpaca Fibers
I’ve been spinning with alpaca fibers lately and I’m in love with all of the different color combination possibilities! I ordered 1 pound of brown and black alpaca roving from A+ Fiber Mill earlier this year. I’ve been spinning the fibers on my drop spindle, and am surprised that I spun all of the brown roving already! I…
Spindles & 3-D Printing!
ATTEMPT 1: I began to learn about 3-D printing recently. My main motivation is to try to print my own drop spindle. I love my wooden spindles, but ran into an issue of breaking one this summer. I had to pause my spinning for a while until I got hold of a new spindle at the…
Inspiration from Fibershed Wool & Fine Fiber Book
I recently borrowed the Fibershed Wool & Fine Fiber Book that presents a variety of fibers available in Northern California. There are several types of wool that highlight the unique sheep breeds in the region, such as California Red, Santa Cruz, Navajo-Churro, Merino, and Ouessant sheep to name a few. There are also suri and huacaya alpacas, angora goats,…
(dis)order with New York Fibers
This textile is made of a variety of animal fibers in New York. I was surprised by the variety that I ended up including such as wool, curly horse hair, alpaca, angora rabbit, and mohair. The fiber that I was most intrigued by was the curly horse hair, which I blended with mohair, and is integrated…
Fiber Concoction
I started to knit my mohair, wool, and curly horse hair yarn that I spun last summer during the Tour de Fleece. I’ve been waiting to use it, and thought it would be perfect as textile art that I can appreciate forever! I am very intrigued by the honeycomb design and made it a core part…
Part IV: New York Fiberscape Dress Complete!
The New York Fiberscape Dress is finally complete! This was my first time making a garment entirely out of my hand-spun yarns, and it took a lot of determination and patience. I was motivated to work on it even though it was very labor intensive (over 800 yards of yarn plus hand-knitting!) because I was able…
Honey Bees & Knitwear Design
Lately I’ve been very interested in learning more about honey bees. I was inspired after learning how to do the honeycomb diamond knitting pattern last December. These are some things I’ve learned so far… Their Lives Honeybees are very dependent on each other for survival in a matriarchal society led by the Queen Bee, who is the…
Natural Dye Exhibit
This Fall I took a Natural Dye special studies course led by Professor Denise Green in Fiber Science & Apparel Design at Cornell. Each week, students presented about different natural dyes including Japanese Indigo, Madder Root, Eucalyptus, Onion Skins, and Gypsywort. It was fun to see the variety of colors, and learn about their seasonality….
Eucalyptus Experimentation with Wool, Alpaca, and Silk
I recently spun with Icelandic wool from Trinity Farm and Shetland wool from High Bid Farm. I spun these fibers during Spinzilla, which took place during October 5 to 11. Spinzilla promotes global hand-spinning to support the Needle Arts Mentoring Program and needle arts. In total, I spun 453 yards of slub yarn, including plying! 🙂 After spinning, I…
New York Lincoln Longwool Sheep! Spinning, Natural Dyeing & Knitting
I recently began to spin and dye with longwool from the Orchard View Lincoln Longwool farm in New York. I love the length and luster of the fibers! Below are some of my knitted natural dye samples. I am currently taking a Natural Dye class and was able to dip my hand-spun yarns into indigo, hopi sunflower,…
Wool Day in Ithaca!
Today I was happy to celebrate Wool Day in Ithaca! There was a small festival where I got wool, mohair, and alpaca roving from the Laughing Goat Fiber Farm, thanks Lisa! I plan to use the fibers in an upcoming natural dye student exhibit and show fibers from animals raised on the same farmland and in Ithaca….
Part III: New York Fiberscape Dress Almost Complete!
I previously wrote about my spinning and knitting processes with fibers sourced from the Washington County Fiber Tour. I am happy to say that it is 99% complete! The dress fits my twin sister comfortably. I was worried that it would be too large since my knitting gauge varied based on the yarn. In total…
Season for Fibers – Fingerlakes Fiber Festival!
The Fingerlakes Fiber Festival was my first festival of the fiber season. I got to see a lot of familiar faces and I stocked up on a variety of wools from unique sheep breeds including Hog Island Sheep, Icelandic Sheep, and Blue Face Leicester Sheep. Thanks Fingerlakes Woolen Mill, Trinity Farm, and High Bid Farm! I am…
HELEN TREJO 