The Fyber Cafe

The Fyber Cafe We create beautiful art by exploring natural fibers of the animal kingdom, by felting, spinning, weaving, knitting, and dyeing. Dog hair is our specialty!

This is why I keep doing what I do. This Email welcomed me this morning after my client had opened her box with the bri...
06/10/2025

This is why I keep doing what I do. This Email welcomed me this morning after my client had opened her box with the bridge landscape and dog hair yarn I made for her (see previous post). It gave me chills. I love what I do, but reading something like this touches me far beyond just the love of making stuff. It really is about the human connection, shared excitement, and of course loving those dogs!

While readying for our recent sailing venture in Washington, we took time to stop at Deception Pass just south of Anacor...
05/30/2025

While readying for our recent sailing venture in Washington, we took time to stop at Deception Pass just south of Anacortes where our boat was waiting for charter. I knew then that I had a felted landscape commission to do which would be based on a photo provided by my client who lives in Anacortes. The commission had started for me simply to spin her dogs’ fur (5 of them) into yarn and then grew into including the landscape. During our stop at this bridge, I studied the powerful current and beauty and stance of the bridges (2 of them) and tried to capture this dynamic place in my mind. Deception Pass is a narrow pass which connects the Strait of Juan de Fuca and ultimately the Pacific Ocean with the water channel east of Whidbey Island and the north wing of Puget Sound near Everett. Each day as the moon passes across the earth, its gravity pulls oceanic waters into tides which surge beneath and then retreat away. The tidal changes in this area are many feet deep, so imagine how much water flows every day from west to east and back to fill then drain this immense waterway through a channel as narrow as Deception Pass (see map - toothpick points to Deception Pass). Boats ride the surge but cannot cross it. When I returned to Denver, I finished this commission based on the photo provided by my client. The felted landscape is made mostly of dog hair, with highlights from dyed blue and green wool and Bombyx silk for the sun and shimmers.

Today Shilah and I crashed the Goldens in Golden annual crush of dogs to enjoy being in a crowd that was mostly non-huma...
02/08/2025

Today Shilah and I crashed the Goldens in Golden annual crush of dogs to enjoy being in a crowd that was mostly non-human. We crashed the event because Shilah is not a Golden Retriever. But my mittens and business card holder are Golden Retriever brushings, my hat was pure sheltie, and my scarf was collie. No one tried to pet my hat or mittens though they are friendlier than my dog as far as getting petted by strangers.

Here’s a new way to use dog hair - sent to me by a recent client for whom I made a hat with his Akita fur (second photo ...
01/27/2025

Here’s a new way to use dog hair - sent to me by a recent client for whom I made a hat with his Akita fur (second photo below). My client is a repeat client and loves his dog of course and the matching blanket I made for him this summer. The German shepherd belongs to a friend of his, and I just might hear from him soon and get to spin up this luscious fiber!

A couple more made yesterday. The left side one I named Grimmacing Grammy and possible friend to Hannibal Lector. But so...
01/09/2025

A couple more made yesterday. The left side one I named Grimmacing Grammy and possible friend to Hannibal Lector. But someone thought she looked like an Indian Warrior. So I have renamed her…Grammbo - Native Warrior! Watch out!

While nursing a fever (my first in over 25 years) and a virus invader for weeks, it has been easier than usual to just h...
01/09/2025

While nursing a fever (my first in over 25 years) and a virus invader for weeks, it has been easier than usual to just hang around, shirk my waiting commission work, and let my hands play uninterupted in the studio. Yarn and rocks became the chosen medium. I have been using unusual materials for a rock wrapper (usually just rocks and caning) because that’s what I have: beads, stencils, candy wrappers, found objects, estate sale trinkets, discount rock show finds, ungroomed wool wads, repurposed jewelry, heaping piles of yarns. Despite all the new work it has not made a dent in the SABLE (Stash Amassed Beyond Life Expectancy). One group of new favorites is my new “rock” band (they only play Wrap music on hair guitars - teehee). Two of the members (Keith Richards and Janis) were featured in the Denver Post’s 2025 Music Guide. So now they are famous even though they still cannot carry a tune.

One more wrapped rock. This one is made with rough-cut polished jasper with a painted Tyvek bead on a Koolaid deer antle...
12/12/2024

One more wrapped rock. This one is made with rough-cut polished jasper with a painted Tyvek bead on a Koolaid deer antler disk wrapped with thin yarn and glass beads laid in with thread. All mounted on my handmade paper. This would be the first wrapped rock I expect to frame rather than simply set on a table or desk.

I just keep making these things. Last night I made this one, made with a found cobblestone of diorite gneiss, yarn incl...
12/09/2024

I just keep making these things. Last night I made this one, made with a found cobblestone of diorite gneiss, yarn including some of my handspun dog hair yarn, a rusty disk found on the street, and a button from my grandmother’s button box which is probably over 70 years old. I wrapped the metal disk such that you can see the rock in the middle, and then laid in the button also with an inside peek. My career as a geologist taught me that as I walk my dog each day, my eyes search the ground looking for gold nuggets hiding in the dirt. I have never found a gold nugget, but my scanning finds other treasures including rocks, leaves, branches, pennies, and this rusty old disk.

Today I received my copy of a new book, second edition of Knitting with Dog Hair by Kendall Crolius. I was a contributin...
12/05/2024

Today I received my copy of a new book, second edition of Knitting with Dog Hair by Kendall Crolius. I was a contributing author and enjoyed my delightful conversations with Kendall in helping her with the spinning techniques unique to this specialty. Here are photos of some of my contributions to the book.

Yesterday I wrapped a couple more rocks. First photo shows a found rock disk with yarn wrappings (some handspun), a she...
12/02/2024

Yesterday I wrapped a couple more rocks. First photo shows a found rock disk with yarn wrappings (some handspun), a shell disk and turquoise bear. The second is a rock show slab with fossil shells that clearly are ancestors of similar shells we find today (see closeup in third photo). The piece is mounted on my handmade grass paper in a teak frame. Rocks and yarn and trinkets - oh my!

The rabbit hole deepens! Yesterday I visited a rock show and came home with a few nice rock and mineral pieces to use i...
11/23/2024

The rabbit hole deepens! Yesterday I visited a rock show and came home with a few nice rock and mineral pieces to use in more rock wrapping. I found this lovely polished malachite piece and wrapped it with cotton yarn and sewed on a turquoise bird. The wrap pattern came from a book I had explored thoroughly years ago about wrapping balls made with rice hulls and tissue paper (and a rattle in the middle made with bottle caps and a penny). I think the patterns in this book have great potential for wrapping of rocks rather than the handmade balls. Might have to visit the rock show again today!

So my pile of waiting dog hair commissions includes work making 3 blankets, 4 pillows, and miles of yarn. So what do I ...
11/18/2024

So my pile of waiting dog hair commissions includes work making 3 blankets, 4 pillows, and miles of yarn. So what do I do? Follow a whim and wrap rocks! This is something I discovered this weekend and what a way to use up yarn, estate sale finds, and “borrowed” landscape rocks from the neighborhood. Oh and a little knitting too making rock pockets. Even when my mind is on hold, these hands just won’t stop fussing about with stuff!

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