I love this little ‘zine! It is chock full of neat info about crafting and crafters, and I’ve read and re-read the issues that I own. Not only would you be doing a good thing to help out a small-press publisher & crafter, but you’d be doing something to keep the tradition of small press alive!
You can donate as little as a dollar… but the more you donate, the better your perks will be – because Heather is just a doll like that, she’s offering freebies for various levels of donation!

Please help CROQ – you won’t be sorry that you did.

Why, you ask? Well, for one thing, August heat, wool, and Xiane do not a good team make… but more importantly, the BIG MOVE is here!

Yes! I’m in the final stretch of moving my household and business to right between the lovely little towns of Belmont and Mount Holly, North Carolina. This will put me much closer to Charlotte, right off of Interstate 85, and inside my own townhouse with a teeny yard… and most importantly, my own STUDIO yay.

For you, my faithful friends, readers, and fiber-nuts, this means new products to peruse as well as many updates about building one’s own studio space. I have many things coming down the fiber trail for us! This includes a new schedule for blog posts – I am bursting with ideas and I want to share them with YOU.

If there’s anything in particular you’d like to hear me babble on about, please post suggestions here. I’ll be revealing the new posting schedule sometime this week, and input is always, always welcome. Remember, I’m blogging for *y’all!*

I visited last week as a shopper and really enjoyed myself, and spent all the money in my wallet on pistachio encrusted tofu, local-roasted fair trade, organic coffee beans, dark cherries, and a demi-baguette from a nice bakery vending there. Totally worth the trip.

I’ll have my newest hand spun yarn and my spinning wheel – if I can get some Be A Spinner kits together in time, I’ll have those, too. And if you’re interested in taking lessons from me, I’ll be taking requests for that, too!

I hope to see you there!

BRILLIANT!

If you don’t live in the Charlotte Metro area, you can click on the badge to take you to the entire offering of various parties worldwide. And if you’re not currently signed up for Etsy, well.. what a wonderful time to find out all about it, and meet artisans in your area to boot!

The Charlotte party looks amazing. The kickass Crown Town Handmade team is hosting, and they’ve made QUITE a nice set of activities. Here’s the scoop:

When:
Friday, June 18, 2010
6:00 PM

Where:
Midwood Park / Patchwerk Playhaus
Charlotte, NC

@ THE PARK…
6-8pm, free
Handmade Raffle with prizes donated by Crown Town Handmade artists
Crafty Supply Swap
Make-Your-Own Miniature Terrarium
Cupcakes & Punch in honor of Etsy’s 5th B-day

MIDWOOD PARK
2100 Wilhelmina Avenue
all ages welcome

……………………………………………………

@ THE PLAYHAUS…
8-10pm, free*
Happy Hour Craft Circle: work on your latest personal craft project & see what your local makers are crafting
Screening of Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft & Design

PATCHWERK PLAYHAUS
1508 Central Ave.
in the back of Century Vintage (enter through alley between Snug Harbor & Soul)

……………………………………………………

WHAT TO PACK IN YOUR CRAFT BAG:
__ $3 cash/raffle ticket
__ unused craft supplies to swap
__ jar with lid or container for mini terrarium
__ personal craft project
__ beer or wine ($5 cash fee per container/6-pack)*

You can find out more at the Meetup link above, or on their Facebook event page.

*******

Look for me there! I’ll probably be the only one in all black.

So many people ask me, “What exactly can I make with this yarn?” that I thought it would be a helpful way to give y’all ideas. Whereas I feel that you can make ANYthing from handspun, these are patterns that are specifically designed to allow the unique qualities of art yarns and handspun to show themselves off to the fullest!

The first entry in the gallery is here:
the Lucy Shawl
You can see more photos and info at Hello Yarn’s Ravelry page for the project: Thick and Thin Shawl

If you see something around the Web or on Ravelry that you think I should highlight here, please drop me a comment or email and I’ll run right over to take a look!

If you’re on Ravelry [and if you're not, you SHOULD be] I’d love to see you there:

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/threeravens-dot-net

I’ve got a shop update coming up, too – more yarns to start, with art batts to come. It always takes the longest to list items on Etsy – I wish I could just snap my fingers and move on to making more pretty things. Technology gods, are you listening?

The Power of Color

Black and white are the safe choices in the design world. The color of luxury is elegant and subdued. Yet, at the same time, even top-tier designers, artists and luxury brands have always used bright colors as well. It is not about either or. It is not black-and-white or color.

See more amazing color in the form of interior design, vehicle paint, theater seating and other things here: http://www.thecoolhunter.net/article/detail/1727/the-power-of-color

Look what I just put up for sale in my shop today? There are actually three of them – I showed “As Evening Falls” because, well, it is black and purples! C’mon now, you know me. *grin*

I should have new yarn listed by sometime tomorrow, too. I have a backlog of yarn to get up for sale, so keep an eye on this blog to see when updates happen! [alternatively, you could sign up for the Threeravens newsletter...]

Let me know what you think of the new batts, or any suggestions you have for colors!

Here they are, the very first batts made with my Fancy Kitty drum carder! I will be spinning these up tonight, and I’ll post photos of how the yarn turns out, for all to see.
The learning curve for using the carder is quite shallow – even a n00b like me was able to make quite passable batts on the first few passes. There’s still some issue with fiber getting leftover on the drum and licker-in, but as I get better, I know this will improve. I also have been lucky enough to get good advice from my fiberista pals [thanks especially to Madame KnittyandColor!]

I’m hoping to have batts listed for sale by the end of March, if not sooner. Practice makes perfect, and I’m an eager student.

Yay batts!

It’s here. What’s here, you ask? My FANCY KITTY DRUM CARDER is here!

*bounce bounce bounce*

What does this mean for you, dear readers/shoppers/XianeFans? It means that soon, oh so soon, I’ll be offering exquisite art batts for sale, as well as upping the overall awesomeness of my own hand spun yarn.
Don’t worry, I’ll still be offering yarn created from the batts and hand-dyed roving of other fabulous fiber artists – but this will allow me to dive even deeper into my love of color and texture… and I get to share it with you!

If you haven’t signed up to my mailing list [points to the bottom right of the blog] then now is the perfect time. Besides the yarn deals that I offer my subscribers, I’ll be having some celebratory batt specials as soon as I get them cranked out and listed!

Now to find a place to put this magnificent thing…