Touching my fibers for most, if not all of the year, led me to realize how much I really love fibers! The Yarn Love Challenge on Instagram has opened my eyes to a world of fellow fiber enthusiasts who also love their fibers! I wasn’t able to keep up and post every day in February, but here are my…
Tag: knitting
Wool Womb
Wool has become a large part of my life lately with my constant hand-spinning, visits to farms, sheep gazing on social media, and pop ups of sheep in popular culture. More recently, I had the great pleasure of seeing an artistic piece full of wool fibers by Emelia Black. It is on display in the annual…
Celebration of Ag and #FashionRevolution
I am lucky to participate in a Sustainable Fashion exhibit in the Jill Stuart Gallery. It was coordinated by the College of Human Ecology Green Ambassadors at Cornell University. The Exhibit includes student, faculty, staff, and local community member contributions. Since my focus on Sustainable Fashion is the intersection of New York fibers and fashion design, I included my…
Fashion Revolution Week & Ag Arts
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Part II: New York Fiberscape Clothing & Textiles
An update about the NY Fiberscape Dress that I wrote about earlier in the summer. I knitted some swatches with stockinette and cable stitches to figure out the knitting gauge. I liked how they both turned out, so I decided to make the dress in stockinette stitches, and create the cables in a knitted cowl made of…
Soil to Skin Rebecca Burgess’ 150 Mile Wardrobe
The Fibershed project in Northern California has been extremely motivational for me, especially since it has inspired my Master’s thesis. I have explored fiber farm and mill resources in New York, and received consumer feedback about NY “fibershed” knitwear. (An official “fibershed” has not been established in NY, but it definitely has the resources.) It is amazing to see…
Personality Characteristics of Hand-Knit Sweaters
I was excited to make this word cloud that represents personality descriptions of hand-knit sweaters (cashmere, alpaca, wool). It is based on responses from 200 women in New York. It is great to consider the different words people use to describe a sweater as it if were a real human being with a personality. It’s not something we usually consider…
Fiber Artisanry with Local Fibers
I’m excited to show one of the first knit and crochet accessories I made from 100% hand spun yarns. I previously wrote about the NY fleece origins here and about my process of learning to spin here. I’m glad I had the opportunity to learn how to make my own yarns at Knitting Etc. because I can expand my creativity…
Fiber Farm Community Supported Ag
I recently became a virtual farmer in support of Sweet Tree Hill Farm in Virginia. The farm has Shetland sheep, angora rabbits, and cashmere goats. I was excited to learn where the the funds I provided would go. They helped pay for 1 month’s worth of hay for the fiber animals. I’m glad I can contribute in…
HELEN TREJO 