thepaintedredstart

[thepaintedredstart]

May your demons slumber and your wine glass be full

The holiday stag is back!!

I did this design two years ago and every year it’s gone viral without crediting me. There’s another Tumblr account here that has 300000 notes on it and the original poster didn’t credit me meaning I’ve lost out in a ton of potential sales. Pleeeease, if you retweet or repost an artists work, credit them! It helps them so much! Every penny I make comes from my artwork!

Thank you darlings <3

Buy the card here https://www.redbubble.com/people/wolfskulljack/works/13137929-may-your-demons?asc=u&p=greeting-card&rel=carousel

[thepaintedredstart]

Do you like vintage scientific illustrations?

Do you like not spending huge amounts of money on them?

This website has a huge collection of high quality vintage illustrations that you can download FOR FREE

They got pretty much everything!! Vintage maps, mushrooms, flowers, trees, bugs, birds, corals, fish, palm trees, feathers, tropical fruits, you name it!!

They even got some works of my dude Ernst Haeckel on there!!!!

I could go on and on but I suggest you check it out yourself. Personally, I will be covering my entire apartment with these once copyshops are open again. But even if you don’t want to do that, just browsing all these beautiful illustrations is a great way to spend your time. 

Have fun and stay save!

[thepaintedredstart]

I'm knitting in the corner at a party

and guys my age stop by to tell me I remind them of their aunt, of their grandmother. This is a compliment and I take it as such. They confess to having tried crochet once, and I smile. They get back in line for the bathroom.

I'm knitting in the corner at a party and a queer woman sits on the floor next to me, arranges her skirt, and smiles up at me. (I try not to blush.) She asks me all the questions on her mind about my craft and I answer them, hands still moving. We swap yarn sources. She doesn't stay, but she knows where to find me.

I'm knitting in the corner at a party and everyone knows where to find me when they need a minute, when socializing is too much and the music is too loud and they need to catch their breath. They pretend to be checking in on me, which is sweet, but I can see the relief in their eyes the moment they stop performing for a house full of people. They sit down and tell me things and all the while they never take their eyes off my hands.

The party has wound down and I'm still knitting and the hosts, two guys in their twenties, thank me for "helping to curate the vibe." I had no idea that's what I was doing. I leave the party having forgotten to drink anything and without that woman's number but with many rows added to my top-down raglan sweater. I call it a night, and a good one.

[thepaintedredstart]

There is a lot of information out there about weaving, crocheting and knitting, but relatively little about spinning.

Which is a shame, since spinning is really where the "resource provided by the earth" tangibly becomes "object with a use."

Aspects of spinning, such as the amount of twist and the length of the fibers, are impactful upon the thread or yarn created, but lots of fiber crafters don't get to directly play with those variables...

It is so strange how textile production is so utterly dominated by very few fibers, when so many are possible. Industry keeps coming up with new ways to transform bamboo or something into fibers, which is all well and good, but we have yet to run out of easily usable natural fibers that have worked for thousands of years.

Dogbane—Apocyonum cannabinum—was called "Indian hemp" because it was used by Native Americans for ropes, cords and textiles. It's incredibly strong, soft, and easy to collect large amounts of it. But hardly anybody uses it.

[thepaintedredstart]

Finished this lovely bison/merino/mohair spin this week! 50% bison down collected by a friend on a local bison ranch, which I cleaned and prepped myself (obviously there’s still a bit of veg matter in there but I don’t mind), and 50% a mohair/merino blend I had laying around to add a reasonable staple length. I’m so happy with the consistency I’m starting to achieve on my drop spindle!

The single before plying was so pretty

[thepaintedredstart]

Current spin in progress! Some gorgeous orange, gold, red, and brown variegated merino top

[thepaintedredstart]

snake sweater, snake sweater

[thepaintedredstart]

[thepaintedredstart]

Finished skein!

Successfully finished the first half of my first fractal spin!

This is a merino braid from a local indie dyer and was done entirely by hand. This first single is 2 ounces of a 4 oz. braid, and I think that weight pretty much maxes out this spindle! The last little bit was hard to keep consistent because of the weight of the spindle.

I am so so so excited to get the second half done and ply them together, the color gradients on this have been gorgeous all the way through and I think it’s going to be a beautiful 2-ply fractal.

[thepaintedredstart]

Finished fractal! 196 yds of merino, dyed by an indie dyer. This is my last work of Tour de Fleece and I’m so proud I got it done! This was spun on my Turkish/crossarm spindle and plied on my kick spindle

[thepaintedredstart]

Second half done! I’m going to let it rest for a day or two and then they’ll be ready for plying.

Successfully finished the first half of my first fractal spin!

This is a merino braid from a local indie dyer and was done entirely by hand. This first single is 2 ounces of a 4 oz. braid, and I think that weight pretty much maxes out this spindle! The last little bit was hard to keep consistent because of the weight of the spindle.

I am so so so excited to get the second half done and ply them together, the color gradients on this have been gorgeous all the way through and I think it’s going to be a beautiful 2-ply fractal.

[thepaintedredstart]

162 yds. of handspun merino, spun and plied on my kick spindle! We still have more work to do on consistency, but for my first spin on the kick spindle and my 5th skein ever, I’m happy!

[thepaintedredstart]

Kick spindle progress on the second half of a fractal spin!

I’m in love with this blue, and I love the kick spindle. If you don’t have the money or space for a wheel, it’s a fun in between. It’s really not *much* faster than being really good with a drop spindle, but it is faster, and you can use both hands while you spin and draft, which is nice.

It’s also easier to stop whenever you want and take a sip of coffee, which I enjoy.

[thepaintedredstart]

fuck this shit

let's make some lace yarn

200g BFL/Ramie blend that has sat in my stash for *undisclosed number of years*, dyed by me

(id in alt text)

[thepaintedredstart]

Successfully finished the first half of my first fractal spin!

This is a merino braid from a local indie dyer and was done entirely by hand. This first single is 2 ounces of a 4 oz. braid, and I think that weight pretty much maxes out this spindle! The last little bit was hard to keep consistent because of the weight of the spindle.

I am so so so excited to get the second half done and ply them together, the color gradients on this have been gorgeous all the way through and I think it’s going to be a beautiful 2-ply fractal.

[thepaintedredstart]

I’m loving this. I didn’t like this spindle for the first day and it’s quickly becoming my favorite

It’s beautiful, it’s relatively even, it’s portable, it makes pretty turtles. It’s the whole package.

Beginnings of my first fractal spin!

[thepaintedredstart]

Beginnings of my first fractal spin!