Berry Tired

A pile of spinning fiber, with its label and a drop spindle with some of the spun fiber on it. The fiber is a Keira Wiggins blend. The blend is 60% Blue Faced Leicester wool, 15% Mulberry Silk, and 25% recycled sari silk. The label is white, with the name Keira Wiggins embossed on it. The spun yarn gathered on the drop spindle gives the impression of a 90's arcade carpet. This is because the recycled silk fibers are brightly colored, and the BFL fleece base is a midnight blue. #fiberarts #dropspindle #spindlespinning #handspinning #wool #silk #BFLwool #Merino #handspun #KeiraWiggins #Malabrigo

A closup of the Keira Wiggins blend. It looks like 90's arcade carpet.

3 braids of Malabrigo superwash merino. The two on the left are natural white, and the last is jet black.

Went on a little trip to Boston with my mum 🥰

Got some gorgeous new spinning fiber. 300g (a little>12oz) of malabrigo superwash merino, and this gorgeous blend by Keira Wiggins 😍

I'm obsessed with the arcade-carpet vibes of the Keira blend! I plan on plying it with the black Malabrigo merino 💕

Dark green bobbin lace in progress. Two strups of peach fabric protect the pencil-bobbins from the pins holding the pattern down. There are several magic-loops of yellow thread, each coming off a pin. Most of the pins are metal with smaller heads, but several pins have brightly colored plastic heads. #fiberarts #lace #bobbinlace #diy

I'd say that's pretty leafy so far!

Almost done with the little ones. Getting pretty good at those sharp pointed turns 🥰

A close up of a round lace pillow. A bobbin lace pattern is pinned to the center. There are light peach-colored pieces of fabric covering the pins on either side of the pattern card. The pattern is of a floral design. #fiberarts #diy #bobbinlace #lace

Got a new design on the pillow 🥰

My cousin commissioned a lace masquerade mask from me for Halloween, and this is a proof of concept for that mask.

Gotta make sure the leaves are leafy!

A close shot of a bobbin lace bookmark in progress. The lace pillow is bright red, with a rectangle of white paper in the middle that has the pattern. To the left and right of the pattern are gatherings of no.2 pencils acting as lace bobbins. The actual lace is a rectangle with pointed ends. A lozenge shape? I'm forgetting my geometry. The threads used are cotton embroidery thread in magenta and peach. The magenta is used for the cloth stitch edging, as well as the half stitch lines between the "spider" motif. The peach color is used for the spider stitches. I'm using the 8-legged spider pattern here. Along the bottom edge of the lace, where the newest stitches are, there is a gathering of sewing pins holding on the latest stitches. #lace #bobbinlace #galiciabee #diy #fiberarts #handmade

New lace on the pillow for the boyfriend's mum 🥰

Used the "spider and line" ground from the Jo Edkins site to make the motif in the center.

The edging is @galiciabee.bsky.social's edging for the Mille Arachne bookmark! Her patterns are stunning! Check her out on YouTube too, she's a great teacher!

Non-English YouTube resources include MundilloLace (Español) and The Lacemaker Diary (Italiano)

I def recommend to start with diy tools, bobbin lace is a fiddly mistress 🤣 I mostly learned to do it from YouTube (RedCardinalCrafts and Louise West), but the Jo Edkins bobbin lace site really helped me structure my learning, and is a wonderful reference! Plus it has lovely animated diagrams!

A closeup of a strip of bobbin lace with a pointed end. It is being held down at the edges by a large number of sewing pins. It is made with dark gray cotton embroidery thread. The lace pattern is made of torchon ground (the netting looking part), with some rose grounds down the center (flowery looking bits). #fiberarts #handmade #lace #bobbinlace #Torchonlace

A picture of some bobbin lace in progress, the same lace as shown/described in the previous photo. Most materials for it are DIY. The lace pillow has a base made of 2 cardboard pieces sewn together. On top is a bright red square pillow made from a broken reusable bag and old pillow fluff. At the bottom of the lace is a group of sewing pins holding the latest stitches in place. There are two clusters of bobbins, gathered at either side of the end of the lace. The bobbins are a bunch of pencils with thread wrapped around the middle. None of these tools are perfect, but they do the job! To make patterns for myself, I made a grid on another piece of cardboard. I took a hat pin and poked holes where the lines on the grid crossed. To use that to make a pattern, i tape a piece of paper over the holes, and shine light through the other so I can see the grid. It's a little wonky, but again, they do the job!

Oof I gotta get back in the habit of posting here.

The issues is my brain is occupied fully by bobbin lace 🤣

My Love says it looks like I'm doing brain surgery.

As always, descriptions and more deets in the alt-text!

Two different strips of tatting lace. One is a bookmark made of a deep burgundy thread, in an oblong shape, with a tail of the same thread attached at one end. The other is in progress, made of light blue thread, and about half the length of the other. They are different patterns, which im struggling to find the words to describe. My sincerest apologies. Attached to the light blue lace, is a cardboard bobbin and a wooden tatting shuttle. The tatting shuttle is made of popsicle sticks glued together, then carved with a Swiss army knife and sanded with various grits of nail files. It is a wide version of a celtic-style tatting shuttle. #tatting #shuttletatting #fiberarts #diy

Hooked back on shuttle tatting, thanks to the new diy celt-ish shuttle! Making some holiday/thank you gifts.

Shaped like a celtic tatting shuttle, but way wider than the ones I've seen. Gotta love wood glue, popsicle sticks, and various nail files!

Taza brand chocolate, 3 bars and a disk. The three bars are Lemon Cookie Crunch, Raspberry Crunch, and Cornflake Crunch. The disk is Guajillo Chili. I highly recommend checking out the Taza factory if you're ever in the area. Amazing atmosphere, wonderfully helpful and nice employees, and even better chocolate. The tours are short but well priced, the factory is quite small after all. Well worth it, since they're quite generous with the samples! The chocolate itself is a little bit pricey, but with the quality and amount of work they do its 100% the right price. #Taza #TazaChocolateFactory #chocolate #stonegroundchocolate #mexican-stylechocolate

3d printed parts for the Good and Basic Charkha spinning wheel. Top and bottom left are the accelerator wheel and drive wheel, respectively. In the center is the maiden and its base. On the top right is a small clear box with the spindle pulley and guard. Below the box is one of the mounts for the wheels. I am so excited to put this together! I just need a base, some 3/32" steel rods, and some nice glue that'll work with plastic and (probably) wood. I'm gonna spin the last of my alpaca on it and make my brother something very nice for his birthday 🥰 he's a treasure. #spinning #spinnersofbluesky #fiberarts #charkha #charkhawheel #goodandbasic #3dprinting

Celebrated my bday with my mum, brother, aunt, and boyfriend yesterday! Got to tour the Taza factory, then had a lovely dinner at mum's.

Little brother is the best, and printed me the Good & Basic Charkha parts 😍 gonna put it together soon once we get the base and spindles!

Xtra info in alt text

Some Asian food staples gotten at Fil-Mart Eatcetera. Back row (L to R): Instant miso soup, dried shiitake, dried chillies, chilli crisp. Front row (L to R): Rice vermicelli, canned coconut milk, large tapioca pearls, small tapioca pearls. #Filipinogrocery #FilMart

Hit up my local Filipino Grocery today! got some incredible staples. Plus I have to go back soon, those angels have a kitchen in there 😍

I know nothing of Asian brands, but I doubt they'd hate me learning by trial and error 🤣

Got some of the big tapioca boiling right now for bubble tea tomorrow 🥰

A diy charkha spinning wheel, strapped to a laptop. The main structure is made of knitting needles and popsicle sticks, tied together into a ladder-like frame. There is a ruler strapped across the center for steadiness. The mother of all is a cardboard tube with a plastic straw shoved through it. The spindle is a knitting needle with plastic-lid washers to keep everything on. The new drive wheel is a fly fishing reel tied to the back. I am using some old fly fishing line as a new drive band for better grip. #spinnersofbluesky #spinningwheel #diy

Keep forgetting to post, too busy tinkering!

My love's father found his old fly reel and let me borrow it for the diy charkha 🥰 so the creature got an update!

I am fueled purely on how slow it is to ply on a drop spindle 🤣 usually I'd try to let that slowness tame my ADHDemons, but I wanna knitting this Shetland into a scarf before the winter holidays lmao.

A homemade charkha-like spinning wheel. Bare with me, folks. I'm gonna do my best to describe it. The base frame is made from two large knitting needles, spaced by popsicle sticks, which are secured with rubber bands. It's all secured with rubber bands. There are so many rubber bands. The maidens are two fidget spinners arranged vertically parallel to one another. The center grips have been popped out to expose the ball bearing, and another large knitting needle is shoved through it to make the spindle. There is a large bundle of plied yarn on the spindle. The yarn is oatmeal colored Shetland and spun quite fine. The drive wheel is arranged perpendicular to the spindle and is made out of an old plastic bobbin. It is slotted onto a popsicle stick that is stuck into a third fidget spinner's ball bearing. There is another popsicle stick at the top of the one used for the drive wheel shaft, attached at a 90 degre angle. That one acts like a turning handle for the drive wheel. Its drive band is yet another rubber band at the moment, but that has its issues and will be replaced soon. The whole critter is strapped to a laptop, with more rubber bands, to give it some sturdiness. #spinning #handspinning #spindlespinning #fiberarts #spinnersofbluesky #spinningwheel #charkha #diy

So while my Mum has been offering to get me a spinning wheel for the holidays...

That would just rob me of the joy of getting fed up and making my own? (No, I'm super grateful forreal, she's the best)

I'm so thankful to all the people online who have posted diy charkha instructions. Y'all rock.

No problem! I have personally noticed some loss in heat when cooking the hot peppers for a while, so I recommend only charring those quickly or adding another source of ouch 😊

I usually do about a 1:3 ratio of water to vinegar and about a teaspoon or two of salt per cup of liquid. I do crank up the vinegar because me and the hubs like a tangy sauce.

I'm not a professional of any sort, so as always, pickle at your own risk!

Seconded heartily, love that smoky crunch.

I usually wing it! This one has like 10 shishito peppers, 1.5 small red onions, and 2 habañero peppers. Just with like white vinegar water and salt.

They're pork tenderloin! And dont worry, they're there for color. I had a thermometer nearby for safety. Nobody was overcooked in the making of this photo 😊

A grill covered in meat and veggies. At the front is dry-rubbed pork tenderloin. Towards the back are seasoned Zephyr Summer squash and some red onion quarters. On the small rack on the top are shihito peppers and habanero. The seasoning mix on the pork is garlic and onion powder, s&p, paprika, brown sugar, and oil. On the squash is garlic and onion powder, s&p, a little lemon juice, and oil. The peppers and red onion are unseasoned, for they will BECOME the flavor. #cooking #food #grilling #hotsauce

Rare non-fiber post 🥰

I was absolutely drooling over the grill today. Got stuff going for dinner and also some stuff to make husbando-prime some hot sauce 😍

More info in the alt-text, as is tradition 😘

What a lovely problem to have, eh?

A drop spindle and wool, in a hand, being held up in front of a rain-coated window. There is a large bundle of oatmeal colored yarn wrapped around the spindle shaft, and gathered above it is Shetland wool roving in the same color. #yarn #handspunyarn #handspun #handspinning #fiberarts #handmade #spinnersofbluesky #spindlespinning #Shetland

Ack, been quiet for a while cuz I'm working on a project I can't share. It's for my Mum, and she follows all my socials 🥰

Have some more Shetland progress ❤️ perfect weather to finish off the first 50g of those lovely stuff.

Gorgeous spin, just as pretty as Beans! Plus, I love your kitty's name! We call our kitty "little beans" as a nickname!

Yessss I use old cardboard tubes as bobbins too! I also like the tubes from aluminum foil/parchment paper/etc. They're usually sturdier 🥰

Ooooh good idea! Maybe I'll add garlic to my spicy tea lmao. I just hope it works on these dudes. Little jerk seemed to like my spring onions just fine 🥲

Complicating factors:
-My mother in law likes them, so no relocating
-I'm a big tree hugging hippie so only humane options

It's OK if my only option is to get over it 🤣 (2/2)

Rare non-fiber-arts post:

Anyone have any tips for keeping groundhogs away from my plants?

We have them in pots up on an elevated space, but the bastards figured out how to get up there.

Any success stories from hot pepper tea? (1/2)

#gardening #groundhog

A small twisted skein of cool toned pink yarn.

A drop spindle shaft resting on some roving. The roving is bright green with stripes of yellow shades. The drop spindle has some yarn wrapped onto it, which is made of the roving. #yarn #handspunyarn #handspun #handspinning #fiberarts #handmade #spinnersofbluesky #spindlespinning #corriedale #TDF #TourdeFleece2025

Took a little TDF break to spin up the teeny pink skein from some recycled yarn bits 🥰

Now I'm started on the lemon lime soda blend that I dyed myself. Corriedale is such a joy to spin 😍

A twisted skein of oatmeal colored yarn. It's made of Shetland wool, from Five Sister Farm. #yarn #handspunyarn #handspun #handspinning #fiberarts #handmade #spinnersofbluesky #spindlespinning #Shetland #TDF #TourdeFleece2025

First finished skein of my first TDF 🥰 thanks to my lovely mum, it was even some Shetland from NH 😍 such a perfect fiber for my first TDF skein ever ❤️

Finished measurements: 85yds to just under an ounce (87m/25g for my metric cuties).

A regular amount of this would be 340yd/348m per 4oz/100g.

The colorway is called PEAT BOG?!? I'm obsessed 😭😍

A drop spindle and ball of single-ply yarn. The ball of singles is wrapped around a paper towel tube, into a center-pull ball. It is being spun into a 2-ply yarn, which is wrapped around the shaft of the drop spindle. The yarn is made of an oatmeal-colored Shetland wool. #yarn #handspunyarn #handspun #handspinning #fiberarts #handmade #spinnersofbluesky #spindlespinning #Shetland #TDF ##TourdeFleece2025

Yo #TourdeFleece2025 got me actually lookin forward to plying 🤣 I'm not competing, but I LOVE stats 😍

Shetland ply trucking along well 🥰 can't wait to measure it!