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Introducing Shawlcraft Trios

Do you have a hard time picking out yarns that will go together for a shawl project? Maybe you have 2 skeins that work and you keep trying to find that one more skein that will make the other two sing. I have made Shawlcraft Trios just for you!.

3 skeins in viral colors

These sets take most of the guesswork away from your yarn buying adventures. You will not experience decision fatigue because I have put together skeins that will work beautifully together. 

These are sets of 3 fingering weight yarn skeins that are curated by me to go together into a wonderful project.  There are 1200 yards in these packages which is enough to make a variety of projects.  You could make a wonderful colorful shawl or even a sleeveless tee. 

3 skeins in neutrals

All you have to do is add needles, the pattern and the enthusiasm to start a new project. Just go to your Ravelry app and search for projects that take 1200 yards of fingering weight yarn and you will have hundreds, even thousands of projects to choose from.   Click here to see your options

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A Conversation with Roan Farnum

In my continuing series about Fibershed, I talk with Roan Farnum about their creative journey and how Fibershed plays a role in those creative endeavors. It was fun to talk about how they are taking a raw fleece and developing it into a sweater.

You can listen to it here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts

If you would rather watch, click here to go to the video of our conversation.

to go to the video of our conversation.

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My Creative Journey into Slow Fashion

I’m answering the questions I had for my guests in upcoming episodes. I’ve been making since I was a kid. I was taught to embroider and sew clothing early on. It was a valued skill in my family. As a young adult I picked up needlepoint and even started to paint my own canvases. I was mesmerized by the wall of color in the needlepoint store. I learned to weave and dye and spin on my journey as well. And when I needed to have a smaller footprint in creative endeavors I went back to sewing and began to quilt. This has led me to wanting to creative more slow fashion for myself. But the reality of fast fashion and its environmental problems has made my goal of a local slow wardrobe more tangible and has become a passion project.

Listen here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Would you rather watch the powerpoint? You can see it here on You Tube.

Watch the powerpoint here.
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Fast Fashion and Climate Change

In the new podcast episode, I teach you about how our clothing choices affect climate change around the world. Each time we purchase textiles that are made by big centralized industries in countries far, far away, that decision adds to the greenhouse gases that are responsible for climate change.

It’s not a coincidence that this month we have seen the hottest temperatures in our country for the longest period of time. We have more flooding and more severe storms. There are wild fires around the world as well.

We can make choices that will make a change for the better. Will it be easy? No! Will it be quick? No! But it will be something.

Listen to the podcast here. OR watch on Vimeo or You Tube

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The Human Cost of Fast Fashion

multicolored logo for podcast

In this episode, Lisa discusses the human cost of fast fashion. There is a high price to be paid for cheap clothing and other textiles. It is paid by the garment workers who are paid by the piece but never reaching a living wage. It’s paid for by the dyers, farmers, spinners and weavers who don’t have access to health care for occupational injuries and illnesses. What can we do about it?

Listen to this episode here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. OR watch on Vimeo or YouTube. You will find a couple of simple ways to support the supply chain and those who work to make your clothing.

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It’s Coming…. The 2022 Tour de Fleece

The Tour starts on July 1st. That’s just 9 days away. What’s the Tour de Fleece? Well it is a spinners event that runs the duration of the Tour de France. It was born probably over 10 years ago. I know I’ve hosted teams for at least 7 or 8 of those years. The premise is that you spin everyday that they tour is on. On the rest days, you can take the day off. And when the bicylcists are in the mountains you have a challenge day. Your challenge can be learning a new technique or maybe you spinning longer and farther than your usual day. The point is to have a goal in mind for this time.

What I know for sure is that every year that I commit to this event, what I am really committing to is me time. By spinning every day, you are spending time practicing your skills. And each time that I finish the tour, I am a better spinner. My goal this year is to make friends with my e-spinner. I have a Heavenly Handspinning e-spinner and it has a different kind of tensioning system. And it is not working for me. I have to change my spinning technique in order to get the yarn that I want. I need to do some research and reading and maybe some YouTube watching. And then I need to practice. I am looking over my stash and most of that is what I have for sale in the shop. So in the next 9 days I will be picking some colors and fibers to use.

At this time I have 3 people on my team. If you would like to join the team, just reply or comment to this post. You should also join our facebook group here. We can post photos, ask questions and just be part of a community. Let me know your goal for the tour as well.

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Toxins in Our Clothes

Toxins, Mutagens and Hormone Disrupters…. These are just a few consequences of buying and supporting the fast fashion industry. We just don’t know what has gone into making our clothing and household textiles. There aren’t studies about using know carcinogens in clothing against the biggest permeable organ in our bodies: our skin. We don’t have adequate labeling and these global textile industries just are not transparent.

You can listen to the podcast here or iTunes, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Prefer to watch? You can see it here on YouTube or here on Vimeo

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Podcast episode: Three Kinds of Creativity

Are you creating as an amateur, a professional or are there times when you are creating sacredly? Learn about these in this new episode of the Flying Goat Farm Podcast.

Listen to it here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or whereever you listen to podcasts.

An applique piece I call “Servant to Art” Made with sacred creativity

Watch it on Vimeo here … .Or if you like You Tube better, watch it here.

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Avoid Burnout and Find Your Inspiration

I dropped the next podcast today. It’s all about Burn out…. what causes it and how to deal with it when you feel burnt out. I also give you ideas for finding inspiration. And lastly, there is a creative exercise for you to complete if you choose. I’m really excited about this one.

You can listen to the podcast here or become a subscriber on iTunes.

You can watch here on Vimeo or here on YouTube

As always, leave a comment here or email me and tell me how the creative exercise worked for you…

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Winter Half Pipe KAL

If you’ve been reading this blog you know that I am starting a KNIT ALONG this Friday, in just 4 days. This is in honor of the Winter Olympics and the Ravellenics event. The objective of Ravellenics is to start and finish at least one item in your preferred craft whether that is spinning, knitting, felting, etc. So what could I actually start and finish in 3 weeks? Well a hat. So I’m inviting you to join me in this KAL. There is still time to stop by and get a kit in you are local. And of course with priority mail you can get it pretty quickly if you aren’t local to us.

So that got me thinking.., What are my favorite Winter Olympic events? I like the ice dancing and really all figure skating. I do like the snowboarding and I like the event where they cross country ski and shoot rifles too. What is that called? Biathlon, maybe? I think that is fascinating. Oh and speed skating. I think speed skaters are so graceful and they are so cunning too. What are your favorite events to watch?

Cabla Hat You can find this pattern on Ravelry here too.

I must decide on my own hat to make this time. Maybe I will do my own pattern (the Cabla hat) and I will make it longer than I think I should. And I’ll make it a Fibershed hat as well. So what will I chose to use? I can chose a madder one or walnut or a natural color. Maybe I make a white hat and then dye it in something local after it’s knit? As I sit here working in my studio store, I look at all my choices. I think I’ll use my Cacao yarn. It’s a mohair yarn that is a lovely brown color, the color of weathered driftwood. I have a sweater made a similar mohair but in a more grey rather than brown tone. And I do think that will go well together. And I can always natural dye the hat after it is knit.

So that’s my choice! Now just to cake it up and be ready to cast on Friday. Oh and if you join our group we’ll be having a cast on party Friday cocktail hour. You can find the kits here.