Indie Knit & Spin February 25th

2017 Indie Knit & Spin is quickly approaching!  

Here is the low down of what I'll be bringing with me

See you there!

Spicy Salt Bar

Geode Soap

Clean Your Face

Full Moon

Sunshine

Rose Geranium

Winter is Here

Latte Bubbles

Sweet Dreams

Lemon Honey Oatmeal

Lavender Oatmeal

Ultimate Shave Soap

Moroccan Spring
Green Tea Lemon Balm 

++  soap sampler sets - 10oz of soap - very limited quantities!

Bath bombs - Lavender Orange + Peppermint scented

Drawstring project bags for your WIPS

Shawl sticks + pins

plus maybe some felted soaps

Find Dusty Tree Soap 

at Indie Knit & Spin

Wilkins School Community Center

10-4pm 2/25/17 Pittsburgh, PA

www.dustytree.com

Wool Wash!

- Wool Wash -

coming to an 

Indie Knit & Spin

near you!

// Made with all natural ingredients + Lanolin //

(restores moisture & helps protect your woolies)

Progress shots:

goings on.....

Indie Knit & Spin

February 6th

10-4pm

Wilkins School Community Center

- Spicy Clove -

handcrafted with:

Clove, Orange + Cedarwood Essential Oils

paprika for natural colorant

- Lavender Oatmeal -

Handcrafted with:

Lavender Essential + Colloidal Oatmeal

alkanet for natural colorant

Indie Knit & Spin - Featured Vendor

Dusty Tree Soap (click on this link to read more)

 is a featured vendor for the 

Indie Knit & Spin 

event that is quickly approaching

November 14th 

10am - 4pm

Wilkins School Community Center

Regent Square - Pittsburgh, PA

Indie Knit & Spin 2015

Fall is in the air and it is time to start planning for the Indie Knit & Spin - A Pittsburgh Yarn & Fiber Artists' Marketplace.  This is always such an amazing event that keeps growing every year.  This year there are plenty of exciting classes.  I thought I'd highlight the class list.......

All Classes IKS 2015

Spinning Classes with Lauren Haiken

9-12     Worsted? Woolen? What? – Exploring the two main spinning styles
2-5       Taste the Rainbow – Exploring the Many Splendors of Multicolor Spinning

Quick Classes – 30 minutes to an hour

10:00-11:00       Exploring Fiber Arts (ages 6-12)
11:15-11:45       Basic Chart Reading (lace)
12:00-1:00         Altering Patterns
1:15-1:45           Beaded Knitting
2:00-2:30           Conservation Wool Breeds (lecture)
2:45-3:45           Crochet for Knitters
4:00-5:00           Dyeing Wool with Plants (lecture)

2 Hour Classes

1:30-3:30      Design It, Write It
3:45-5:45      Anatomy of a Sock Heel
1:15-3:15      Eastern European Knitting
3:30-5:30      Yoga and Yarn

1-5 Dyeing
10-12:30 Button Making

Visit here - Indie Knit & Spin to learn more!

Throwback Interview

Here is an interview from 2014 for the Indie Knit & spin

Link

Dusty Tree Soap

Posted on 10/24/2014

Name: Rebecca Shepler
Business name: Dusty Tree Soap
Website(s): www.dustytree.com and on Facebook as Dusty Tree Soap

What kind of items do you make?
I make handcrafted cold processed vegan soap. All are Palm and Soybean Oil free! (yeah…Viva Orangutans!) Most soaps are unscented, but I do use therapeutic grade Essential Oils in a few. I NEVER use GMO oils, Sodium Lauryl Sulfates, Aluminum, chemicals, parabens or other weird stuff….just all natural goodness.
My wonderful and creative parents make Handcrafted ceramic soap dishes and buttons. Both were a hit last year and they are kind enough to make me more for this year.

How long have you been in indie artist?
I’ve been a knitter for about 17 years and have been making soap for the past few years. I also sew so this year I will be bringing some small drawstring project bags with me.

What got you interested in your art of choice?
I like, no I LOVE to make things. I’d much rather learn how to make something from scratch with my own hands than to buy it in some store. Once I had kids, I knew I had to make all natural soap. Their new perfect skin just needs it!

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
I make soap..a product that we use everyday. I love that I can take a basic necessity and make it into something creative and unique. More often than not, most batches are an experiment to see what I can add to help nourish the skin in a different way.

What most inspires you?
My kids and their endless questions of why and how things work. I’m fascinated by their curious minds.

What makes your creations unique?
I make all of my soaps with no dyes, scents or colors. If a bar is scented then I use a therapeutic grade Essential Oil never a fragrance. I use herbs, spices, food and clays for colors..most things you can eat so it is naturally good for your skin. I use a combination of vegetable oils (Olive, Coconut, Sunflower, Grapeseed and Shea Butter) that are exceptional at moisturizing and cleansing your skin.

Do you have a favorite item or colorway?
Usually the current one I’m using, but I recently have a fondness for my Drunken Hippie soap. It is made with Straub Beer (local and they use no preservatives) and Patchouli Essential Oil. Great lather and scent!

What is something you strive to offer the fiber arts community?
To make them extra squeaky clean with some honest to goodness soap!

Does being an indie fiber artist affect other aspects of your life?
I have a hard time surprising people with gifts…they usually know they are about to unwrap either something hand knit or a bar of soap. If they are extra special they may even get both.

How is the fiber arts world different for you today than it was five years ago?
Fiber is everywhere and in everything. I love being a part of a great community!

Indie Knit & Spin 2014 -- THANK YOU!!

This past weekend was the Indie Knit & Spin.  It is always such a delight to attend this event.  Thank you so much to all of my friends and family who supported me through this and for all the familiar faces and new friends I met along the way.  It really is so amazing to see the talented fiber friends and their latest creations worn during the day and to see all the amazing products each vendor brings.  I didn't take as many pictures as I expected (I guess I was busy) and look forward to using all of the things I purchased.  I bought a lovely skein of fingering weight yarn from Wren House Yarns.  It is a silk and merino blend.  I cannot wait to cast this on the needles.  I’m thinking something extra squishy with lots of garter stitch.  I also got some fiber to once again figure out how to spin.  I really really want to learn.  I tried for a tiny bit last year, but am determined to give it another go this year.  Maybe the really pretty fluff will keep me inspired.  I got dyed Falkland and Shetland and some undyed Tarhgee.  As the saying goes, watch this space……

Indie Knit & Spin update

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out and supported indie busineses last weekend.  I had a great  time!  The weather was perfect, we had a great turn out, there were fabulous vendors and fabulous shoppers supporting us.  I sold out of many items and have only a small inventory remaining....that is a good thing...great thing really.  I cannot express it enough how much I thank all of you who came out to make this day so wonderful.  I've even had people follow up on my blog and send in re-orders.(there is a tab at the top of the page marked TO ORDER)  This is just amazing.  Thank you again!!  I've included here some photos of my booth.  I think it turned out fairly well for not ever doing this type of thing before and for not setting up a trial table at home.  I had an idea in my head and it worked out more or less. 

The booth

A close up

and the 'Rebecca' behind Dusty Tree Soap (actually next to...I was set up in the hallway so my table was pushed up against the wall.)

I've also become a member of the Home-Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild, Inc.  You can find me here.  I'm super excited about this and am waiting for a link from them to have my own Soap Guild Store.  Watch this space for updates and details.

A whole lot of finishing touches!!

Sorry I've neglected you blog, but I've been busy.....both kids had ear infections, submitted a knit sample to a yarn company, planned a four year old's birthday party, had a splinter in my finger surgically removed (huh, seriously!)  hosted my parents for a few day and turned 40 myself (blech!)  Oh...and as you can see from this picture heavy post put all of the finishing touches on my soap for the upcoming Indie Knit and Spin.  Please come out to visit me!!  I'll need someone to rescue me so I can have a bathroom break..hahaha!

It is Nov 17th 10am - 4pm Wilkins School Community Center, Regent Square, 7604 Charleston Ave.

 My Dad helped me cut the soap cigar type bands

 Wrapping the soap

 More wrapping the soap

 and a bunting banner I made for my table display 

(btw..that painting in the background is by Dusty Genard...The Dusty who our son is named after which is where I get the name of my soap company.....our two kids - Dustin & Dimitri.  And maybe if I try hard enough I can do the whole 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon thing, but I won't)

A Busy buzzy BEE

I'm so excited!!  I'm going to be a vendor in the Indie Knit and Spin....November 17th 10-4pm in Regent Square...Wilkins Community Center....Charleston St.

This is my first show and I'm super busy making, cutting, labeling, etc and then my digital scale broke....just when I got my new soap molds too!  Things have been put on hold as I await a new one in the USPS.  At least it was under warranty so it will be replaced for free, but what a bummer.  I tried making a batch with my regular kitchen scale, but I don't like the old fashion display...I'm used to the super accuracy of the digital.


 I've been busy knitting (sort of) I usually am able to knock out a hat in like two days, but seriously two weeks later I finished one.  I think it was the pattern and yarn combo.  Excellent pattern, great results but poor yarn choice.  Don't get me wrong...it looks wonderful and is an amazing hat, but it was not fun to knit.  The yarn is awesome...super lofty and dreamy...love it!  It was from stash...left over from my days of living in LA...SUSS Yarn, Alpaca Tweed and the pattern is Spin Me Round...those decreases of K4tog...killed me!  Urgh, but like it said it is a great result.  Hopefully Maria will think so too since I'll be packing it up and shipping it across country to Portland.  She made my logo, the least I could do is knit her a hat....oh, and maybe some fingerless mitts too!  

Ok, off to check the status of that digital scale...I've got soap to make!!!  Before Oct 17th so it can cure!!!