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…
Tag: local resources
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….
Little York Fiber Festival in NY!
It was great to visit the Little York Fiber Festival at the Cortland Repertory Theatre today. There were a variety of artisan, fiber farm, and mill entrepreneur vendors with a diversity of fibers from sheep, alpacas, llamas, and angora rabbits. Special thanks to Linda Schwab for introducing me to Margaret Flowers, fiber artisan and fiber farmer at Trinity Farm with…
Establishment of “Latino Cultural District” SF California
Recently San Francisco’s Mission District was named a “Latino Cultural District” based on the Latino/a melting pot that has historically welcomed people from diverse countries. A SHORT HISTORY Immigration to the Mission District began during the 19th century Gold Rush. The end of the Mexican-American War and Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo forced Mexican residents to leave, and spurred entry of…
Enjoying Ithaca Festival May 2014!
The Ithaca Festival is this weekend! It was exciting to see the creativity variety among the Ithaca community during the Festival Parade on Friday. The festival provides a space for the community to come together and appreciate local talents, creativity, and resources. It builds on human and social capital. Below are photograph of my favorite parts of the parade: Today, Saturday,…
L.A.’s Natural Appeal
One of the things I love about coming home to Los Angeles is appreciating the contributions my mami and papi make to the natural aesthetics of Los Angeles. Their garden is deeply inspirational as it embodies a variety of colors, shapes, and textures. It emanates visual, tactile, and olfactory senses that instills happiness and delight for…
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…
Linking Fashion with “People, Planet, Profit” goals
This year I got the great opportunity to work with fellow apparel design and fiber science students in a sustainable fashion project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency under the supervision of Professor Tasha Lewis, Dr. Park, and Dr. Netravali. The project fused sustainable design theory, upcycling–the process of adding value to cast off, second-hand…
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…
HELEN TREJO 