workshops | Thespunmonkey's Blog

Yesterday, we had our third swarm in two weeks.

This time it was a bowling ball-sized clump up in the pear tree. I didn’t get a picture, as it would have involved getting up on the ladder without protective gear, but C was able to clip a branch with about one third of the bees attached. He placed it in his hand-built skep and while we ate our dinner, the rest of the clump moved right on in!

It was mid-afternoon when the swarm was noticed, and so there wasn’t any time to lose in hunting down another box. C whipped up this skep in less than thirty minutes from a woven basket we used to keep toys in. Since we didn’t have any cow manure on hand for a more traditional variety, C mixed up a little plaster to cover the outside of the basket, set it on a base that provided them with an entry/exit point and voila! Home Sweet Buzzy Home.

As of this morning, there is not a bee left in the pear tree, and only a few still lingering on the rose arbor.

The box and skep are now ocupado and we have a stack of books on beekeeping from the library.

In other news, I am likely to update the shop this weekend…there are tons of wool bits for crafters, perhaps a few yarns. I am hoarding for several reasons, however…MDSW is coming up, where Cloverhill Yarn Shop will have my wares, Purl Jam is opening up in Califon, NJ with a selection of Monkeyspun, and Bazaar Bizarre at Maker Faire is fast approaching. I will do my best, though, to keep the shop in order, and also to provide Urban Fauna Studio some fresh yarns. In the meantime, I will be teaching an art yarn workshop there this weekend and will be scheduling felting workshops as well as new installments of the SpinLab series of classes. Contact me to sign up for the newsletter if you are local to any these areas and would like a reminder! And please let me know if you have any special requests for workshops in the SF or East Bay Area.

The Boy wants a cat named Potato.

He says his fingers have knees. Fingerknees.

And that he’s “hot as a monster,” and so sweat he can’t stay under the covers.

He wants to know why Pete didn’t get up and get dressed today. Like he did the other day to come with us to the farmer’s market.

I want to know when I can give him a new home for us and that cat named Potato.

In the meantime, if you’re in the Bay, I’ll be teaching a nuno felting workshop at Urban Fauna Studio on January 23rd. Details HERE. There is no felting experience required, as this is an introductory class. We’ll make a small piece you can either use as fabric to cut and sew, or add a button to and use as a neckwarmer. We’re also thinking about scheduling a class for designing and creating a larger piece, like a scarf or wrap. Please let Jamie or Blas know if you’re interested and we’ll get it on the menu!

And for those of you lovely New Englanders that might be interested, we are going to have a whole weekend of felting mayhem at Knit or Dye in Brattleboro, VT. That’s right…coming back to my beloved wintery wonderland to teach two five-hour workshops, Saturday and Sunday, March 13 and 14. You can take one or both days, as they are each different and neither requires any previous experience with felting. Saturday will be an Introduction to Nuno Felting and Sunday will be The Nuno Felt Scarf, a design workshop where we create a larger piece. If we get it filled up so I can fly out there, we will also try scheduling a kids’ bead-making workshop and some spinning classes or private lessons. Be in touch if you’re interested!

This post is all over the place, but look what C found:

Gobs of them. Dinner last night and dinner tomorrow night. Some of them were as big as my hand. C definitely has his Mushroom Eyes on lately…every time we are out on a hike we wonder at how we’ve forgotten to bring a satchel and he ends up stripping off a layer of clothing for carrying home the latest find. The other day there was a specimen the size of a serving platter that we still haven’t been able to identify and it’s beginning to stink up the garage. This oyster score was pretty sweet, though.

And there’s been some of this: