Arts Prescott Cooperative Gallery on Whiskey Row is my home away from home. We are 22 local artists and we all take our turn working the gallery. Normally I work about 3 or 4 shifts a month. It is fun to meet the people and tell them about all of the artists in the gallery. Each year we have an annual holiday party and this year it will be November 18, 2006 from 6PM to 8:30PM. Hope to see you all there!

Raggedy RO Handspund Yarn by Rowena can be found at Studio Three in Prescott and on my web site. Susan Weese from Monument Colorado sent me this note and photo of her first project justing the Raggedy RO Spring tones. I was happy to get this photo. Here is her note. Thank you Susan!

Rowena, attached are photos of the first item I made from your yarn - a baby hat for the new baby daughter of friends in Michigan.

I used the Miss Dashwood pattern I downloaded from the archive patterns at knitty.com. It took almost two small skeins of the lighter colored Raggedy Ro yarn and came out very nice and soft! The pattern is very girly, with earflaps on each side that button up into the hat, cute ties (I did 2 stitch I-cord versus their recommendation) and a great floppy, picot edge brim.

Hand-woven Fiber Amulet Bag Class is planned at Studio Three here in Prescott. These classes run throughout the year. This class will be taught using a lap loom. I love the Harrisville Lap Looms! The class is $65, which includes a yarn Treasure Tail, beads and a great instruction manual. This shows not only how to weave the bag but the adornment is stressed.

I have a knitted kit version put out by SWTC with instructions and a Treasure Tail along with some examples of beads you would use. The kit includes a yarn Treasure Tail created with Rowena’s Handspun, Soysilk®, Bamboo, and other novelty yarn. Some basic seed beads are included and easy instruction with ideas for embellishments.

Beads and More Beads! So Many Beads So Little Time! Wow, Labor Day is past and fall is about to appear before we know it. The fall colors inspire me to make beads to fit the mood and weave the leaves.

I wanted to let everyone know that Wendy Simpson Conner still has a few copies of her video, "The Bead Movement". If you are from Prescott you will know a good many of the people in Wendy's video. Wendy traveled all over the U.S. to interview bead collectors, bead makers, bead lovers, and The Bead Museum Founder.

Wendy encouraged many people to talk about why they love beads. Lindsey Wagner, an actor and bead lover tells her story about how she was introduced to the bead fever. After watching Wendy's video I made sure to watch every Lifetime Movie I could find with Lindsey Wagner. The warmth she added to Wendy's video makes me want to see her films and also check out the beads she may be wearing. You can find "The Bead Movement" by Wendy Simpson Conner in most bead shops. If you can't find it go on line and check and if you still can't find it contact me and I will give you her info. She signs the video if you ask her.

My dear friend Glenda Campbell and I were interviewed by Wendy at Antonius Glass Studio here in Prescott. We talked about the beads we make and we note that we have known one another since Mr. Chadwick's 5th grade class at Sunnyslope Elementary School. It was an afternoon I will not forget for sure. Also, just a note, I later flew to L.A. and went to the opening of the film, "The Bead Movement", which was at that time up for an Academy Nomination. ...An experience to remember!

Rowena Bead&Fiber
A Trip and class from Judith MacKenzie-McCuin: Living in Prescott gives me all of the opportunities to spin with beads and learn new things about fiber This summer Rowena traveled with fellow bead artist Glenda Campbell to the San Francisco area and stayed with Kate and Will Taylor.

Kate and Will are both spinners and weavers both very active in the San Francisco guilds. It was Fiber and bead talk all day along with short trips around the area.

The main reason for the trip was two great work shops given by Judith MacKenzie-McCuin, famous spinner of our time. Judith traveled from Montana to teach Spinning for Socks which was organized by Morgaine of Carolina Homespun and then Color and Spinning at the home of Will and Kate Taylor.

Both classes were so extensive that it would take a book to tell you about all we learned in just two. It’s always interesting to remember all of the great people you meet taking these classes. It is like spinners coming together and the room sizzles with fiber, beads and ideas. If anyone is at a fiber convention and Judith is teaching don’t pass that up.

Judith's Spinning With Beads class is awesome and it was written up in many magazines like Spin Off.Judith’s knowledge on wild fiber is shared in her video and DVD’s of spinning of “Spinning Exotic Fibers and Novelty Yarns” is well worth the money and her classes enhance what you learn in her video. Also, during the class at the Taylor’s home, Judith taught an afternoon of dyeing with her own “Mother Mac Kenzie’s Dye Kit” It was so simple and the colors were so vibrant that you come away wanting to hit the dye pot immediately. Mohair was also not left out of the mix. Spinning and plying Mohair and then to dye it in the afternoon makes for a skein of art!

Being a bead maker myself makes me appreciate Judith’s colors and what happens when you mix them to create your own design of choice. During those 2 weeks where Judith shared much of her knowledge one event will remain in my mind for a long time to come.

Each year Kate and Will Taylor arrange for all of the spinners in the area to come together at the Retzlaff Winery for a Spin In. Kate and Will work very hard to set up the tables and the whole area for vendors to have space. There are spinners in a great circle which ends up being clusters, and we all just enjoy the day and the wine. The food table is unbelievable in itself. Each fiber artist brings the best food dish and you see the artist come out even in the food they bring. Tables of fleeces and mohair piled high or hanging from every hook makes for a sight to see.

This adventure was written up in our local newspaper The Courier. If anyone has seen it any where else please leave a comment where you read about it.
What an experience to remember!

Rowena Bead&Fiber
"Suzi Pro" and Simplemarketfarms. Jeanne and Paul at simplemarketfarms. Yes, I will do that. I love the drop spindles Sleeping Beauty,the Briar Rose, and of course the Rapunzel.

Yes Sharon, I love my "Suzi Pro" and I am so pleased with her. She spins like a dream and my "Raggedy Ro" is so much more fun to spin. I am able to put several colors of fiber together like I learned at Judith MacKensie's spinning class hosted by Will and Kate Taylor in June. Moving back and forth from each color makes the fiber change flow more smoothly. I can't say enough about Suzi.

I folded Suzi up and drove to Phoenix to my sister Dixie's for a visit and to show off my new travel - work horse wheel. Oh...I found a green roll of that matting to put Suzi on when I spin. It comes in a roll and I found it at Wal-mart. The great thing is it is the same color as the wheel.