Shiny Fancies: Fin

The last piece in my show was this yarn/knitting needle installation, Tangle.

The glass knitting needles and handspun art yarn that I make are one of a kind "art" but are also functional and since I make them largely with the goal of selling them, they're a little different than the rest of the pieces. I was a little hesitant to include them in the show but I had played around with the idea of using the large blank wall you face when you walk into the Craft Center. It seemed like such a nice place for a big piece and it called to me..."make a mess."
So I did.

Detail of a lengthwise knitted "scribble lace" scarf knitted with some of my very first art yarn made in a class with Pluckyfluff's Lexi Boeger.
Siamese cat and boxer dog knitting needles with a swatch of "Salamander Jr" yarn

This next swatch was the very first thing knitted by my friend Charlie. I was a mean knitting teacher and gave him one of my crazy art yarns to learn to knit (it was all I had on me at the time). Beagle knitting needles.

Mohair from Eureka Mohair Farm in Tollhouse, CA. I dyed the locks and spun it into a "landscape yarn" with slow changing colors evoking a sunrise when knitted up. Turtle knitting needles.
Chihuahuas working on "Au Naturel" yarn, natural colored merino x lamb from Humble Hills, MO.
Detail of a matching yarn to "Au Naturel" showing off the lock structure (foreground) with my random generated scarf in the background (orange and blue). The scarf was created by assigning numbers to different elements (colors, techniques etc) then drawing numbers out of a hat to give myself a guideline for creating the yarn.
Couple more detail photos of the tangle:

Individual closeups of the yarns coming soon...these yarns are being reskeined and rewashed/set then will be sold on etsy at a discount...check it out! (coming soon)

My friends were awesome and filled the gallery for my closing reception (it is admittedly a small gallery). It was also my birthday, and though I had been frantically working on my spinning wheel in the hopes of finishing it by this birthday, I decided not to rush the finishing process (literally, I'm finally on the sanding and oiling) and cooked all day. I like to do something cool on my birthday and usually I try to do something artistic. This year, I decided to let go of needing to make something tangible and lasting.

I like the number 7. I was born in '77. My brother was born 7/7. It's a good number. The long awaited spinning wheel has 7 fish, just because as long as I was making it, it technically wasn't any more difficult to make 7 fish than 6 fish or 8 fish. For the closing reception, I wanted to make 7 different roundish treats.

I've noticed that though I like to cook a lot of things, there are a disproportionate number of things I cook that are little and round, so it was not at all difficult to come up with 7 round things.

1) Romano cheese sourdough bread puffs: sourdough bread balls cooked in garlic butter then rolled in romano cheese.

2) Green tea balls: similar dough to sesame balls, a dough made with glutinous rice flour, sweet potato and matcha filled with poppy seed paste and deep fried.

3) Cream puffs. 'nuff said
4) Chocolate peanut butter bonbons. Aaron's mom's recipe.

5) Chocolate gingersnap rum balls. I was impressed that this mound was almost completely eaten.

6) Chile cardamom truffles. Dark and delicious with a slow burn.
7) Pao de quiejo: tapioca cheese puffs. I made the batter at home and brought it to the craft center, then baked it in their oven so they came out piping hot for the reception. Apparently I forgot to photograph the plate before they got devoured. Here they are from the other night.