Yarndemon's Adventures...

No Big Deal

2011-08-27T14:46:00.000-04:00

We didn't get blown away by Hurricane Irene, thank goodness! Truthfully I slept through the worst of it last night. We got a lot of rain & some really strong winds. We were lucky though & only had some minor limbs down in the yard, nothing major, nothing that could hurt anything. Keeping my fingers crossed that everyone else in it's path fares as well.

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes last week! I got a surprise package from my friend Grace. She sent a couple little friends along to keep me company. :) Aren't they cuties? Thank you so much Grace! It really made my day to get that package in the mail.

I got myself a great birthday present! LOL. My Comb & Hackle set came from Blue Mountain Handcrafts. They are beautiful, Eric does an amazing job! And a bit dangerous looking too. The whole family got into it & decorated the package for my birthday. he he

Beth & Katie made these awesome covers for my tools too!!!

Thank you Beth, Eric, Alex & Katie!!

Here is what I've been combing, and I've only poked myself once with them. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I'm still here!

2011-08-15T17:05:00.000-04:00

I'm still here believe it or not! I work so many dang hours in the summer I have a hard time keeping up with everything. Good grief, where the heck did the month of July go?! And I really do miss it all.... blogging, my blog writing friends, my crafts, my family, etc...

I have squeezed in a few crafty things this summer. Here are some photos of what I can remember, LOL.

I got some yarns spun during the Ravelry Tour de Fleece. And created a cute little logo for the FIX TDF Team.

Outerspace Batt from Knottie Girl Designs...

Truffles batt from Blue Mountain Handcrafts.

A batt that I got from Shannon...

My first coils, superwash merino roving from Bumblebee Acres.

Superwash roving from Blue Mountain Handcrafts.

And with my first coils I wove this scarf & hat. I picked up stitches for the border, ribbing & button band & knitted those. And I made the buttons out of polymer clay.

I started this sock, we will see if I get it finished... and then the second one! This is my first toe up sock. The jury is still out on toe up sock knitting. I'm knitting this with some of Kathy's awesome sock yarn that she dyed.

Well, that's about it. Other than making a few clay stitch markers & such here & there, that's all I've gotten done craftywise since the last time I posted. Hopefully sometime in September my hours will go back to something near a normal 40 hr week & I'll be able to catch up on everything & everyone. Take care! And if anyone needs me, just shoot me an email. Most of you have it. :)

JAXON HAS BEEN FOUND!

2011-06-11T22:30:00.000-04:00

Thank you so much to everyone who posted about Jaxon! All those extra good vibes & prayers worked. Today Shannon came home with her baby Jaxon safe & sound. Good things do happen.... I'm just so happy to hear the good news. I'll post Shannon's message below.

Hi Everyone! We are home, showered, bathed ect and resting. Jaxson has lost alot of weight, is a little dehydrated, dirty, the bugs had a field day with him and he is tired, but given the circumstances he is in wonderful condition. I am taking him to the vet on Monday to make sure that everything is everything but I am so unbelievably happy he is home.

Jaxson has been living in the woods only 1/2 mile from the campsite he went missing from. He has been following the creek that was beside our site. He did go to this ladies yard to play with her dogs, but would not let anyone near him, when anyone would get close he would take off back into the woods. This morning at 8am, J and I went into the woods near where they said he was staying, called him and he came right out to us! I picked him up and loved on him as he howled at me. I am just so happy he is home!

On a funny note, I had to go to the emergency room today because when we were coming back across the creek I slipped, fell and sliced my toe open rather deeply, I had to get three stitches in it. Oh well, it is all worth it to have my baby back. I want to thank each and every one of you who prayed and sent mojo my way. You guys are awesome and I am very honored to have you as my friends. ~ Shannon

Help if you can!

2011-06-09T21:56:00.000-04:00

My friend Shannon (theluckielizard on Ravelry) has lost her beloved Jaxon. He disappeared from their campsite while they were on vacation at the Clabough's Campground in Pigeon Forge, TN. Jaxon is a 3 year old black & white Boston Terrier. Do you live in this area? Do you have family or friends in this area? Do you know of any good ideas to help find Jaxon? Shannon has called every shelter, vet, animal clinic, pet store and business in the area and left her information with them. This is after spending three days walking the entire area looking for him. She also ran ads in the local paper and posted everywhere online she can think of. She also hired a call service that actually puts out an “Amber Alert” for Jaxson to the surrounding area and sends flyers to all the local shelters and animal clinics/hospitals.

If you hear of anything or have any ideas you can contact me or Shannon, here is her online flyer.

Feel free to post this on your own blog... I'm thinking that someone out there knows someone & so on, maybe it'll get to the person who is caring for Jaxon & looking for his owner....

Please send lots of thoughts & prayers to Shannon & her Jaxon.

Spin Artiste.... and other things

2011-06-03T23:49:00.000-04:00

Has it really been that long since I posted here?! Sheesh! Where does all the time go?

I remember when I was little the summers seemed to last forever.... and that was usually just 3 short months. It's amazing as we grow older how fast time gets away from us.

What have I been up to? Working, that's pretty much it. It starts in March with all the new products coming into the store to be checked in, stocked & stored. Then the weekends start getting busier. Summer help needs to be trained, crazy busy holiday weekends that we work through so others can have that pleasant vacation they have been needing. Now school is almost out for the summer & it's only gonna get busier.

I get tired, I work hard, a lot of times I'm working in the stifling, humid heat of the southeast coast, my feet hurt, I don't have enough free time to keep up with all of my online friends (I miss all of you guys!!!!), I don't get a lot of time to knit or read or spin or any of the other things I love to do.... but I'm so grateful that I have a job, and a job that I like (most of the time, LOL). And I'm grateful that I have friends who are understanding & welcome me back into the fold when my "busy season" is over. And I'm grateful that I have a husband who understands about the long hours that I have to work & who doesn't mind eating leftovers & sandwiches for dinner. :)

I have had a few hours here & there to spin a little bit.... and I've come up with a few new clay stitch markers even though I'm so far behind in orders it's ridiculous (thank goodness for understanding customers!).
Here are the elephants that I came up with recently thanks to Jenn of KnottieGirl Designs, they were her idea.

Our F.I.X. group has been growing, we have several great new members. If you have time to check out their shops I have updated the links on the FIX tab at the top of my blog. We are also having another Gift Certificate Giveaway this month. So if you purchase anything from any of the participating members don't forget to post your purchase in the FIX Ravelry Group Gift Certificate Giveaway thread so you don't miss your chance to win!

The F.I.X. group was also featured on Spin Artiste today! Arlene & Beth (Blue Mountain Handcrafts) had a wonderful interview. Several of the other FIX members also participated in the interview. I'm so proud to be associated with such a wonderful group of people who honestly care about each other, how they are doing, how their business is doing, & go out of their way to help each other out. Go check it out. You really should check out the Spin Artiste site anyway, Arlene does a wonderful job & brings us great interviews & articles every week!

I also recently got the Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook... what an awesome book! I am now on a quest to spin as many fibers from the sheep in that book as I possibly can. LOL. If you love wool, sheep, spinning, or are interested in them in any way I would highly recommend this book. There are wonderful photos & lots of good fiber & breed information, but also a lot of really good reading material as well.

I hope all of you, my friends, are doing well. I'm gonna try my best to get some blog reading done so I can get caught up with you all! Have a great weekend!!!

I really was!

2011-03-28T23:29:00.000-04:00

Honest, I really was getting caught up on all of my blog reading.... then the hubby decided to share the flu with me. I was just about over that & it decided to turn around & bite me in the butt, it turned into a sinus infection. UGH. Let me just say that I'm tired of feeling bad. I almost felt human today so that's a little better.

Here is what I've done while sick, besides sleep too much & spend too much time in bed laying around, & attempting to go to work & get a few things done there, ha ha.

I finished up some handspun yarn on my Vespera. This is the first yarn I've done from fleece to finished yarn. I have almost a pound of this green fiber so I have plenty more to get through. :)

And here is what I'm doing with that green yarn.... I'm making a Flower afghan with scraps of handspun, my green yarn & it will be bordered with cream I think. The pattern is the Flower Patch Afghan by Mary Jane Protus, from the Afghans for All Seasons book. This will take me a while to finish. I'm just doing a square every now & then when I get some small amounts of handspun to use up for the flowers.

That's about it. I hope everyone is doing well. :)

Heavenly Handspinning.... in more ways than one!

2011-03-14T22:25:00.000-04:00

Look what arrived in the mail on Saturday!! My very own Vespera e-spinner & a lazy kate from Jan & Richard at Heavenly Handspinning.

My little Violet does make a bit of noise (sounds like my sewing machine) so I gave her a little sweater to wear. LOL (one of my hand knit dishcloths worked perfect!) That helps keep her a bit quieter & she doesn't overheat because it doesn't cover the vents in the motor. And a little drop of oil on the rotating post where the band goes made a world of difference in the noise too! Now she's a smooth spinner, and really FAST!

Here she is with a bobbin full of yarn. I plied this 163 yards of worsted/bulky yarn in no time!

This little e-spinner might not be totally silent like some of the other models out there, but for the money you just can't go wrong! Super little wheel!! I love it! :)

And this yummy batt came in the mail today from Beth at Blue Mountain Handcrafts, along with a cute crochet hook case. I needed some more yarn that would go with my Narcissus yarn (a batt I spun last year from BMH) & Beth was kind enough to indulge me.

I think I'll go spin a little before bedtime.....

The Princess & The Pea

2011-03-07T21:46:00.000-05:00

The Princess and The Pea - That was one of my favorite stories when I was little. When I saw this the other night it's the first thing I thought of.... there she was, my Princess & the Pea. LOL

Kevin piled the pillows up to see if she would get up there... well of course she will! :) Princess Jasmine's fascination with the pillows continues....

And I'm doing a little knitting. This isn't my handspun, it's a friend's. My buddy is a crocheter, she's tried knitting & just can't seem to fall in love with it. I don't understand this at all. LOL. But I did take pity on her, I didn't want to see her commit unspeakable crimes with a pair of knitting needles. She really wanted something knitted with her beautiful handspun, so I'm trying a Knotted Openwork Shawl. There is an error in the pattern, row 4 should have a "pass 3rd st on RH needle over the first 2 sts" after the K3. But other than that it's a super easy pattern. And it should go quickly using size 15 needles. The pattern called for size 17, but the largest I have is a 15, so 15 it is.

There are also a few things you might want to check out this month!

Don't forget this month FIX is giving away awesome prize boxes! If you purchase anything from any participating shop you can enter that purchase in the drawing.

You can find FIX on Ravelry or check out the FIX Blog.

Also, three of us have teamed up for an awesome giveaway! It's the 3 Evil Enablers Giveaway.

Ron from Fancy Kitty is giving away the Grand Prize, a Little Tom drum carder! Beth from Blue Mountain Handcrafts is giving away 2 lbs. cormo & 4 oz. bamboo. And I'm giving away a Sheep Orifice Hook, Sheep WPI tool & Sheep stitch markers.

Hurry & get your entry in, you know you don't want to miss the chance to win that drum carder!! Or the yummy fiber & tools. :)

Starts: March 1st
Ends: April 1st
Winners announced: April 2nd
One prize per person per drawing

International winners will be responsible for the shipping charges of their prizes*

HOW TO GET ENTRIES

~ you must be a member of the Blue Mountain Handcrafts Ravelry group

~ all entry orders must be placed between 3/1 and 4/1 (orders with combined shipping count as 1 entry)

~ 3 entries - for any new video posted (or link to the video) of you using a Fancy kitty carder or picker (1 video per person)
~ 3 entries - place an order with Blue Mountain Handcrafts
~ 3 entries - place an order with Yarndemon Designs
~ 1 entry - post a pic of an item previously purchased from one of the 3 above shops and tell us why you love that shop (one post per shop per person)

Technical Difficulties

2011-02-20T09:09:00.000-05:00

I'm even further behind now.... my faithful computer decided to poop out on me this past week. It had to go spend a few days at the computer Dr., thankfully I got it back on Friday. So I'm up & running again. As far as we can tell it had a corrupt system file or something, so they had to re-install the whole thing from scratch. At least I didn't lose all of my photos & other info. I'll be playing catch-up this week so bear with me if you haven't heard from me. :)

But I'll be watching the Daytona 500 today, the computer will have to wait until later. he he

I'll leave you with this sweet photo.... Jazzy didn't want her daddy to go out of town to work last week. Silly girl.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T18:12:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. Mine was good even though I had to go to work. :)
My wonderful hubby gave me a dozen beautiful purple roses.

I also got my Valentine's Fancy Kitty Swap package today! Here are all the wonderful goodies that Monica sent me.

A lovely batt of Merino & Romney, a handmade Valentine card, handmade chocolates (YUM) & other candy, and one of Monica's beautiful Diz. She even made me a special Diz in purple, sweet! Thank you so much Monica!!! I love everything!

I wanted to show everyone the gorgeous tote bag that I got from Beth at Blue Mountain Handcrafts a while back too. This is a great padded tote bag! And I love the mixed purple fabrics on the pockets. It's reversable but who would want to hide the pretty pockets?

Nothing new on the knitting or weaving front... but I did get some more yarn spun. This is my Vacation SAL package from BMH. Mine was New Zealand. I had the merino/silk with the Violet solid. I started with 6oz., 3oz of each color. I ended up with 310 yards of sport/dk weight yarn.

Next up for the wheel is this lovely fiber that I got from Robin, that I plan on plying with the solid red alpaca that I dyed.

And I got some new markers made. Giraffes, aren't they cutie pies?

Have a great week everyone!!

F.I.X. Gift Certificate Giveaway!

2011-02-06T21:37:00.001-05:00

The F.I.X. Chicks are having another gift certificate giveaway this month. If you purchase anything from any of the participating members don't forget to enter, we've got a $65 gift certificate this time!

Here is where you can find more info: FIX Ravelry Group, FIX Blog

PARTICIPATING FIX SHOPS

ARTFIRE SHOPS
Yarndemon Designs
Blue Mountain Handcrafts
Bohemia Fibers
ICandyarn
Knottie Girl Designs
Prairie Fire Soapworks & Fiber
Modern Spin
Camel Shoppe
Lil Bit Of Heaven Fibers
Lylianmae Fiber Artistry

ONLINE SHOPS
Blue Mountain Handcrafts
Herman Hills Knittery
Spin To Yarn

ETSY SHOPS
Yarndemon Designs
Blue Mtn. Handcrafts
Icandyarn
Prairie Fire Soapworks
Camel Shoppe
Lil Bit Of Heaven Fibers
Stone and String Studio
Spin To Yarn

HYENA CART
Prairie Fire Soapworks & Fiber

Not much...

2011-02-01T23:57:00.000-05:00

Not much going on around here. Just working, trying to pay bills, catching up on custom orders, a little spinning & weaving when I can fit it in.

We have heard from our Marine, he's doing good. A little homesick, but otherwise fine. Hopefully he will have internet set up soon in his living quarters.

Here is the little bit of spinning I finally finished. This is the 5 oz corriedale I got a while back from Blue Mountain Handcrafts. I ended up with 250 yards of n-ply, DK weight.

And I've finished my second woven scarf. I used Plymouth Suri Merino for the warp & my Seashell beaded handspun for the weft. I pushed most of the beads to one side. I also only used about half or less than that of the beaded yarn, so I have plenty left to do another scarf.

After looking at this last photo in daylight, I suppose I should have steamed the scarf before taking the photo. Oh well. I'll get that done eventually. :)

Thoughts Appreciated

2011-01-25T13:29:00.000-05:00

Please keep all of the young men & women serving our country in your thoughts & prayers.

Our Marine, along with many others, are now headed overseas to Afghanistan. It was a sad day Sunday when we all had to say goodbye....

A drive by post...

2011-01-20T00:05:00.000-05:00

Just a few quick photos for you this evening....

My silly Jazzy.

And let me show you what 5 oz. of corriedale fiber looks like on my bobbin.

I can't believe I got it all on there! Looks like I'll be doing my n-plying on my little Babette (Fidelis Wheel).

Hope everyone is having a good week!!

I can't remember it all!

2011-01-16T18:17:00.000-05:00

I know a lot has gone on since I've made my last "real" post. But I can't remember everything I was going to share! Sheesh.

We have been doing well. Just working & enjoying some time with our Marine before he gets deployed later this month. I've been making some clay stuff, doing a little spinning, not much knitting going on lately, a little reading.

Jasmine is good, her last vet appt. went well, the vet said that he would never had guessed that she was almost 10 years old if he hadn't read it in her chart. That's a good thing. :) She has been doing a lot of napping as usual. And has taken quite a shine to the pillows on the bed, she thinks they are all there for her, every day she is on a different one. LOL

I came up with Cactus Stitch Markers & Buttons, turned out cute I think. They are all in my artfire shop if anyone is interested in a few faux succulents. :)

Here are the last projects that I finished right around Christmas that I know I haven't posted about.

My first woven scarf, the only one so far. I was weaving some pillows, the yarn was a bit "sticky" but I was going to suffer through it until Kevin admitted that he didn't like them. So why bother? I cut them off this weekend. Now to figure out what project I want to do next....

Here is the Starr Neckwarmer that I made for my childhood BFF for Christmas, with some more kitty fur yarn that I spun. This is the Ripple Cowl by Rachel Bishop (Ravelry link). Nice, quick pattern. And Beth loved it, that's all that matters. :)

I cleaned up my messy fiber/craft room! This is before....

This is the same area after the clean up!

I really shouldn't show this photo, I should be ashamed of myself to have this much stash & UFO's hidden in here! LOL

OH! Anyone up for a SAL (Spin-A-Long)? Blue Mountain Handcrafts is having a Vacation Destination SAL. Check out the linkey for more info if you are interested. We've only got until the 22nd to get in on it!

Great prizes to be awarded for the SAL too! They include one of Beth's awesome new Tote Bags, a spinning batt, a set of my markers & a WPI tool.

Well, I think that is about it for now. Hope you guys had a great weekend!!!

F.I.X. January Prize Box Drawing!

2011-01-07T23:12:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!! I'm still trying to recover from & get caught up after the holidays. Hopefully I will be back to posting & reading blogs on a more normal basis soon.

I wanted to let everyone know that the F.I.X. group is having another prize box giveaway this January! If you are looking to spend any Christmas money on fiber, yarn, markers, soap & other goodies, it's worth checking out all the awesome shops that are participating. And you could possibly win yourself a great prize to go along with your purchases!

Don't forget to check out the videos at the bottom to see what you can win!

JAN FIX PRIZE BOX DRAWING

Starts: JAN. 1st
Ends: JAN. 29th
There will be 4 prize boxes entries can win with values ranging from $78 to $60

--to get an entry into the drawing place an order during the drawing dates in any of the participating FIX co-op members etsy/artfire/websites and post your order in the special drawing thread in the FIX Ravelry group

PARTICIPATING SHOPS

ARTFIRE SHOPS (no account required)
Blue Mountain Handcrafts
Bohemia Fibers
ICandyarn
Knottie Girl Designs
Prairie Fire Soapworks and Fiber
Yarndemon Designs
Modern Spin
Camel Shoppe
Stone and String Studio

WEB-STORES
Blue Mountain Handcrafts
Herman Hills Knittery
Spin To Yarn

ETSY SHOPS
Blue Mtn. Handcrafts
Icandyarn
Knottie Girl Designs
Prairie Fire Soapworks & Fiber
Yarndemon Designs
Stone and String Studio
Camel Shoppe

The first warp & scarf!

2010-12-24T12:14:00.000-05:00

Since I didn't have to go to work today I stayed up late last night. Here is what I was doing..... The new Harp warped for the very first time! I dug around in my stash & came up with this pretty purple elann.com Lara sport weight cotton yarn. I used the Lara to warp my loom with, please excuse me if I'm not using the correct weaving terminology, I'm new at this. he he. I used the direct to loom warping process with my warping peg. It was actually really easy. Kevin did help me when it came time to wind the warp up on the back, he held it tight while I wound. I think I had it ready to go in an hour, I think that's pretty good for the first time. I have an 8" warp, I'm dong a scarf.

I searched through my stash, I had intentions of using some store bought yarn for my first project. I just couldn't find anything that I wanted to use. I kept going back to my handspun. And I wasn't certain how much yarn I was gonna need for the weft (I think that's what you call it), so I picked out a skein that I had plenty of, this one was over 300 yards. This is some pretty yarn that I spun from one of Beth's (Blue Mountain Handcrafts) batts. Kevin said that my weaving looked a little wonky or uneven, but it's really not, it's the handspun yarn. Some of it's thick & some of it is thin. I think it looks really cool.
I can see a difference in my weaving already. Where I am at now looks much better than the beginning. I've got to learn to not be afraid of the loom, LOL, I tend to be really "easy" with it. :) But I'm having lots of fun!
Stay tuned for the finished scarf!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!

Be safe & have fun!

Christmas came early!

2010-12-22T23:58:00.002-05:00

I know it's been a while.... sigh. I just can't seem to get everything done that I want to get done this year. I keep running out of dang time. And it's not like I don't stay up till midnight or 1am every night trying either. Here's hoping that I will find all this missed time in 2011, I have big plans for this coming year! :)

In the meantime let me catch you up a little. Christmas has come early to my house!!

First up, I entered a contest on Nichole's blog & won! Woohoo! I received this awesome book from Storey Publishing Co., Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders: 101 Patterns That Go Way Beyond Socks.

If I hadn't won this book in the contest I would certainly have purchased this one. It's a great book with tons of patterns in it that I will actually knit. Or want to knit, another time issue there, LOL. Thanks Nichole & Storey Publishing!! I love this book & hopefully I'll have a knitted item from it to show everyone soon. I certainly have plenty of sock yarn in my stash just waiting to me made into something useful.

I also have a few newly spun yarns to show you too, I'll slip those in here before we continue with early Christmas....

More Starr Kitty yarn, made from batts of Starr kitty fur & merino blended on my Fancy Kitty drum carder. This yarn came out MUCH better than the hand blended I did last year. I am hoping to get this knit into a cowl for Beth (Starr's mom) for Christmas, I'm halfway there!

Here is some yarn that I spun from these gorgeous batts from Modern Spin.

Here is the BIG surpise!! Today my boss gave me an awesome bonus. The majority of my other bonuses this year went to pay bills. So this one I decided to spend on myself. :) Levi is home on leave right now, let me tell you how nice it is to have him around the house for a few days! Even though his room looks like a trash dump once again. Well, while he was making a run back to the base to get more "stuff" (he is bringing all of his things home now before he deploys in January), he stopped by The Tail Spinner & picked up my new Kromski Harp 24" rigid heddle loom!

Isn't she a beauty?! I can't wait to get some yarn on her. I couldn't tonight, I had 3 chocolate pies to get started. Dang pies, LOL. Maybe tomorrow night I'll get her warped up & ready to go. Keep in mind that I know absolutely nothing about looms or weaving. I've just been reading online about it. We will see what happens.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas & New Year!!!!

Just in case I run out of time & don't get to post again. :)

Gifts for Knitters & Spinners...

2010-12-11T20:01:00.002-05:00

Knitters & Spinners Delight

Curated By: Yarndemon

ArtFire.com

Craft Tutorials

Secret Holiday Exchange

2010-12-02T20:54:00.001-05:00

I just had to show off my Secret Holiday Exchange package! It was waiting on my porch for me when I got home today. :) Amy, Bohemia Fibers, put together this fun exchange for the holidays, thanks Amy!!
Darice (DariceMoore on Ravelry) sent me this wonderful package of goodies!! It even had cute little drawings on the package, he he. There were some prettily wrapped packages inside but I fell earlier & broke something on my camera so those photos didn't turn out. pout.

Darice knit me that gorgeous purple beret, the pattern is Meret by Wooly Wormhead. Totally cute on but you'll have to wait until my hair looks decent before I get a photo of me wearing it. :) Also included in the package: gummy bears & chocolate (YUM), really cute little bag, pretty & sparkly stitch markers, a large pink jingle bell on a cord, some absolutely silly Santa Flamingo tea candles (seriously! check those funny guys out), a gorgeous purple batt, and some sparkle batts from Modern Spin.

Here is a closeup of the pretty beret.

And the pretty batts...

Thank you so much Darice!! I love everything!

December FIX$

2010-11-30T21:55:00.001-05:00

Will you be shopping online for any holiday gifts? Getting any of your knitting/spinning friends gifts? If you shop with any of the FIX Participating members the month of December you could win yourself a little gift of your own! A $55 gift certificate!

Check out the FIX Blog and FIX Ravelry Group for more information and a list of the participating shops.

Starts: Dec. 1

Ends: December 29

Prize: FIX Gift Certificate ……$ 55.00 Winner will be announced shortly after contest ends
Gift certificate that can be spent in any participating FIX members shop/website….GC can be split up between several shops…winner chooses how to spend it.

How to enter: Place an order with one of the participating FIX members shops. Post your order in the DEC FIX$ GIVEAWAY thread in the FIX Co-op Ravelry group. Participating co-op members are allowed to play in this contest!

Finally!

2010-11-25T23:34:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I finally have some finished projects to show you! First, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was nice & quiet, just how I like it.

Ok, here is a finished knitting project! This is Patricia Bishop's Off to the Races Wrap. It think it came out pretty, & it was a super easy lace pattern. I do think I am gonna re-block it though, it's a little short for a true wrap. I'll block it longer & more narrow, more like a scarf instead of a wrap. I think I'll use it more that way. And I have plenty of yarn left for a matching hat & mitts or something. :)

Started with these batts:

Spun this yarn:

Knitted this wrap:

Next up for my spinning are these gorgeous Mixed Berries batts from Magan at Modern Spin.

And I've also decided that I have a need to learn how to create polymer clay beads. Like I need something else to suck up time. LOL Most of you who read my blog are creative people, so you understand this need. he he I have gifted myself with some online clay tutorials from Cindy Lietz. This has already been some well spent money! I really enjoyed myself while making these beads, and Cindy makes it all look so easy to do.

Here are my first beads! These are my smooth Faux Raku beads. I love how these came out!

And here are some beads I made with the Torn Paper Watercolor technique. I think I could do better with this technique, but not bad for a first try. I did some round ones, some large ovals & some small ovals.

Here is a bracelet & set of earrings that I made with some of the Torn Watercolor beads.

I also made some new stitch markers & WPI gauge. Dragonflies! I think they came out really cute. I'll have some listed in my Artfire Shop soon.

And finally, last Monday my boss took all of us employees fishing in the gulf stream. We had a great day! I caught a 62 lb. wahoo!! Jacob there is holding one too, his was 60 lbs., we also caught several small blackfin tunas.

Now to get geared up for holiday shopping.... I'm not really into this. And for those of you who will brave the crowds on Black Friday, good luck! I'll be at home. Any shopping I do tomorrow will be online. LOL

Again, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Black Friday Free Shipping!

2010-11-25T00:22:00.000-05:00

Visit Yarndemon's Studio

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Gifts

2010-11-08T23:15:00.000-05:00

Blue Mountain Handcrafts is having a Pick Your Poison SAL/KAL/CAL, come on & join us, it'll be fun! You get to pick your fiber, you pick your pattern, & we are giving away prizes! Just click on the Ravelry link above for all the info. :)

Test, test....

2010-11-08T01:01:00.000-05:00

I'm testing my new blog layout, still have to update my header. :) Here is a nice Artfire Collection for you.

FIX to be Dyed

Curated By: PrairieFireSo...

ArtFire.com

Unique Gifts

Sheep come in purple?

2010-11-03T21:20:00.000-04:00

Just a quick fly-by post this evening.... I needle felted another sheepie tonight, and she's purple! :)
I wanted to see how durable one of these would be on a keychain, so she's on mine. We will see what happens.

Video#2 --Fiber Indie eXperience Co-op Nov. Prize Box Drawing

2010-11-01T21:08:00.000-04:00

Here is video #2 for the F.I.X. November Prize Boxes! Check out my link at the top of my blog to see all of the FIX participating shops...

Video #1--Fiber Indie eXperience Co-op Nov. Prize Box Drawing

2010-11-01T21:05:00.000-04:00

It's November & the F.I.X. group is having another Prize Box Giveaway! Here is video #1, I'll post video #2 in just a few minutes... check out these awesome prizes!! If you purchase from a FIX shop make sure you post your entry, you don't want to miss out on a chance to win one of these great boxes!

Love my friends!

2010-10-27T22:04:00.000-04:00

Without my friends I would be lost.... the gals that I talk with, share with, laugh with, care about & know that they care about me. Many of you are spread across the country & beyond. And I cherish you just as much as if you lived next door. Thank goodness for the internet, most of you feel as if you are right next door! If only! :)

So I say thank you to each & every one of you! Sending some big hugs to all!!

And speaking of friends.... Jessi sent me a most awesome late birthday package! I like 'em all, early ones, on time ones & yes even the late ones, pressies are good to get any time! Right? Yep!
Take a look at the lovelies that Jessi sent...

Gorgeous handdyed purple yarn!!!! A cute zippered pouch filled with yummy goodies & a little bitty tin with the cutest purple & lime stitch markers. Thank you soooooooo much Jessi!! I just love it all, & the yarn is just so "me". I don't know what it will be yet, but I know it will be something just for me!

I got another package that included some scrumptious yarn recently too! My friend Kata sent me this lovely green mix handdyed yarn, she dyed it just for me. It's gorgeous Kata!! Thank you sweets! And it was well worth the wait. :) You know I love ya! Yarn or no yarn....

And here is my latest handspun yarn. Lovely soft Alpaca/Merino from Upstream Alpacas called Rosebud.

I ended up with 223 yards of sport/dk weight, soft & squishy yarn. I tried spinning this roving a little different. I split the roving in half lengthwise. Then took one half & spun it just like that, with very long repeats. The other half I split into smaller & smaller strips so it would have shorter repeats. Then I plied them together. It think it will knit up really interesting. Some of it will be striped & some will be more blended.

So much yarn, so little time....

What it takes to create...

2010-10-21T19:21:00.000-04:00

I was curious to see just how much time it takes me to make a set of clay stitch markers, so this time I kept track. And took some photos of the process. I thought it was interesting. And I discovered that I was pretty dang close to my time estimates.

Here we have the creation of Alpaca stitch markers, 7 sets of 4...

Making the parts - 1 hr & 15 min

Next comes the sculpting...

After putting on the final details - 2 hrs & 48 min

My little heard ready to go in the oven!

Out of the oven & ready to finish up. (I didn't include oven time)

7 sets of 4 Alpaca Stitch markers - Glazed, finished & ready for packaging - 1 hr & 13 min

Total time for 7 sets - 5 hrs & 16 min

Total time for 1 set of Alpaca stitch markers - 45 min

(actually just over 45 min, but under 46. close enough)

I think this is a good time estimate for just about all of my markers. There are a few sets that I have that are more time intensive (it's all in the details!), and some that are less time intensive. I think they would all be fairly close though. I could probably make a set of the hot peppers in about 30 min, but the sheep probably take at least an hour for a set.

So.... if anyone was wondering how long it took to make a few clay alpacas, now you do. :)

Look! It's a Sheep!

2010-10-18T21:56:00.001-04:00

Well, I never did get around to showing off my weekend at the fiber festival with Chan. Let's just pretend that I did, I'm just too overwhelmed with things I need to be doing, want to be doing to go back over all that. :) Anyhoo, while I was at the fiber festival I purchased my very first sheep fleece. Here is a photo of me & Beth who helped me pick out my fleece since I had no idea what I was looking for.

I've started processing a little bit of the fleece now. After washing & combing a little of it, I realized that I will have quite a bit of neppy stuff that I wouldn't want to spin. And I really thought it was such a waste to throw all of that away. So what to do with it? I just can't seem to make myself like the artyarns where nepps are a usual occurrence. So what to do with it? Make needle felted sheep of course!!

I searched online & found Felt Alive Needle Felting Shop, ordered some needles (great needles with cushioned grips) & a foam pad. It arrived today! So without further ado....

My very first needle felted sheep! Made from the neppy wool from my fleece. Not too bad for my first one if I do say so myself. :)

Just look at that cute little fat butt. he he

I also have a couple new listings in my Artfire shop. As well as a SALE! In honor of getting my Artfire shop up & going again, everything in the shop is 10% OFF!!

Here are the two new WPI Gauge Tools. Alpaca WPI tool...

And a cute Flower WPI tool...

Back to work tomorrow, poo. Hope everyone has a great week!

PIX for FIX$

2010-10-18T11:57:00.000-04:00

The Fiber Indie eXperience Co-op is having a PIX for FIX$ contest in October! If you purchase anything from one of the participating shops you have the opportunity to enter the contest & could possibly win a $55 gift certificate!! Who wouldn't want a $55 GC?!

Starts: October 11
Ends: November 5
Prize: $55.00 Gift Certificate

Winner will be announced November 6th

Prize: gift certificate that can be spent in any participating FIX members shop….GC can be split up between several shops…winner chooses how to spend it.

How to enter: place an order with one of the participating FIX members shops. Post an original (meaning it’s yours) pic in a special thread that will be created for the contest along with the shop you ordered from, date, and items purchased and then tell your friends here on Rav to come vote! The pic with the most LOVE votes will win the gift certificate. Multiple orders means multiple entries. Participating co-op members are allowed to play in this contest!

PARTICIPATING SHOPS

Zoo Creations
Yarndemon Designs
Knottie Girl Designs
Blue Mtn. Handcrafts
Prairie Fire Soapworks & Fiber
Lollyarn
Icandyarn
Modern Spin
Bohemia Fibers
Herman Hills Knittery
Prancing Pixel

And don't forget to head over to the FIX Blog..... Beth from Blue Mountain Handcrafts is having a giveaway! You don't want to miss your chance at winning the gorgeous spinning fiber!

Wish List...

2010-10-14T00:45:00.000-04:00

Wish List

Curated By: Yarndemon

ArtFire.com

Craft Tutorials

PRAIRIE FIRE SOAPWORKS GIVEAWAY

2010-10-11T20:38:00.000-04:00

I'm not feeling well.... a cold or something going on.... but I wanted to pop in & let everyone know that Lydia (Praire Fire Soapworks & Fiber) is having a giveaway over on the F.I.X. blog! Check it out!!

Hope to be feeling better soon so I can post a few more things that are long overdue....

Doghouse Yarns & More

2010-10-03T13:37:00.000-04:00

Let me show you some photos of my trip to VA. I stayed with my pal Chan, thank you Chan for letting me stay at your home & entertaining me. :)

On Friday I met up with a good friend, Aimee, at Dog House Yarns & More in Culpeper. You can check out Aimee's etsy shop HERE. I got these gorgeous silk hankies from Aimee, she sells similar ones in her etsy shop.

Later that afternoon Chan joined us at Dog House Yarns & More. Aimee & I spent the good part of the afternoon at the shop. Rosanne was the perfect hostess, we had a great time visiting. And I have to say that if you are ever in the area you should stop by the shop. Rosanne has some beautiful stuff there! It was very hard to choose which ones wanted to come home with me. :)

Aimee, Me, Chan & Rosanne

Here is what I came home with.... lots of gorgeous yarn & fiber goodies! First up is this lovely Plymouth Mushishi yarn. This stuff is sooooo soft & smooshie!

Two yarns from Seacoast Handpainted Yarns.... Raspberries & Spring Flowers. I couldn't decide between the two so got them both. he he

And Chan got me this cute little project bag!

And finally I got 8 oz. of this beautiful merino roving from Greenwood Fiberworks.

It was a fun day. I hope to visit Dog House Yarns & More & Rosanne again next year.

Stay tuned for more photos & goodies from the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival!

After the rain...

2010-09-30T22:00:00.001-04:00

Well, we are quite soggy here, luckily our home sits on high enough ground that all this rain we had didn't do any damage other than running some bugs into the house to try & get dry. That didn't work, they got smooshed instead! LOL

I have a lot of photos to share & a lot of stuff to show you. I had a great weekend last weekend visiting Chan & going to the fiber festival. Meeting up with quite a few other online knitting/spinning friends. I'll save all of that for later though.

I'll start with my finished yarn. I'm participating in a SAL/KAL on my Ravelry Fancy Kitty Drum Carder group. I made up a few batts, several of you have seen these already. And finally finished up my yarn. I ended up with approx. 675 yards of DK weight yarn. I'll have plenty to knit the wrap with & possibly have enough left over for a hat or something. :)

Stay tuned for more posts... I'll get around to all of them eventually. :)

A lot to show...

2010-09-08T22:10:00.000-04:00

I actually have a lot to show this week. I have finished knitting, finished handspun yarn, birthday gifts.... just all kinds of stuff.

So, lets start off with the finished knitting... I finally finished a knitting project! Another great cloth pattern by Sue at Harvest Moon Designs. This is the Seaside Set, cute huh?

And here is the very first yarn that I spun on my Elizabeth. I ended up with approx. 347 yards of fingering weight yarn. It's a little overspun, but I still think it came out nice for the first yarn off my new wheel. :)

Here is the birthday gift that my wonderful friend Chan sent me.... a slider hook flyer for my Elizabeth!!! This baby is awesome! The bobbins are quite a bit larger than my original bobbins, however my original bobbins will still work on the new flyer. I'm so excited to give this a try!! I just need to get it sanded & stained so she matches my wheel. :) Thank you soooo much Chan!!! I lourves my new flyer, you're just too good to me.

Now lets check out the birthday gift that my wonderful friend Kathy sent me. (Both Kathy's & Chan's boxes arrived on the same day! It was a good mail day!)

Kathy sent some of her yummy handdyed yarn, it's just gorgeous & squishy soft, superwash merino DK. You can't have my beautiful yarn but you can get your own HERE.

This was a large package! Look what else was in there.... spinning batts carded by Kathy herself.

Combs so I can make myself a handmade blending hackle, or get Kevin to help me (ie. make me) one. LOL

Some gorgeous Mohair (left) & Alpaca (right) fibers....

And more wool....

Kathy called it the "do it yourself" birthday gift.... I just call it awesome! Thank you sooooo much Kathy, I love all of it. And you are just so sweet for thinking of me & always knowing the perfect thing to send me. :)

This is so cool! Check out my little sheep! He's nestled there in that pretty bow. :) Trish made the bow, she has a whole etsy shop full of adorable bows! She makes them for packages, barrettes & pigtail holders, just too cute. And you can even buy this bow with my little sheep in there too.

And here is a little something that I picked up at Beth's shop Blue Mountain Handcrafts, more gorgeous spinning fiber!! Woohoo!

Well, I think that's it for now.... I'm sure I'm forgetting something. If I remember what that is I'll let you know. :)

Beautiful Spinner...

2010-09-03T10:13:00.000-04:00

Here is my beautiful new Elizabeth II spinning wheel all stained, waxed & put together. She spins wonderfully, so smooth & effortless.

And here is my very first yarn spun on her....

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I know what I will be doing after work.... spinning maybe? :)

Get Your FIX!

2010-09-03T00:59:00.000-04:00

Our very first Fiber Indie Experience Prize Box Drawing is about to start! The dates run from Sept. 4th thru Oct. 9th. If you purchase from any of the participating members you can enter to win one of the great prize boxes! There are 3 of them, take a look at the video if you want to see what you can win. Check out the FIX Blog or the FIX Ravelry Group for all of the details.

Birthday Jackpot!

2010-09-01T01:14:00.001-04:00

Lookie what the UPS guy delivered to my house! My very own Ashford Elizabeth II spinning wheel. This is a before photo. I have everything sanded & stained (a pretty cherry stain) except for her wheel. I hope I can get the wheel finished tomorrow after work, & then give it all a good coat of wax. I am really wanting to get her put together & ready for her first spin on Thursday. I'm so excited I can hardly stand myself!! :)
Stay tuned for more photos after she is finished up.

New toy!

2010-08-29T21:52:00.001-04:00

First let me show you what 9.2 oz of fiber looks like on one of my huge super de-duper bobbins...

Here is the finished yarn. Now I just have to decide if I want to dye it or not. I'm leaning towards dyeing, I don't usually wear a lot of black, so if I overdye it with purple then it won't be so black & white...

And here is how I got it skeined up.... lookie at my new toy!! Kevin finished it up today. We still have to do final sanding & staining, but he thought I should try it out first to make sure we didn't need to make modifications. It worked wonderfully! Sooooo much easier than the niddy noddy.

My hubby is so sweet. Poor thing knows more about yarn, spinning, & spinning tools than he ever wanted to know. LOL

Oh! I even made a few batts yesterday after I got home from work. I had forgotten how much fun it was to do that. :)

It's Sunday, back to work tomorrow.... poo. Maybe we will hit the lottery & I won't have to, well a girl can dream can't she?

New Goodies!

2010-08-23T21:33:00.000-04:00

I got a sweet little birthday goody from Sherry over at Prancing Pixel on etsy. This sample fiber from her Tree Fabric africa batts.

Thank you so much Sherry! I love it & can't wait to spin it up. :)

And here is some fiber that I snapped up at Upstream Alpacas, she was having a pre-vacation sale!

Jeweled silver grey baby alpaca roving, this is soooooo soft!

This one is alpaca/merino in the Rosebud colorway.

I also had quite a few friends do a little shopping in my etsy store on my birthday so I could get a little birthday cash to spend! Thank you guys, you're the best!! :)

Early Birthday Gifties!

2010-08-17T12:31:00.000-04:00

I just love getting early birthday gifties, don't you? Early ones, on time ones, & even late ones! :)

My birthday isn't until tomorrow, but when I got home from work yesterday I had a package waiting on me. I just knew it was from my sweet friend Grace even before I had it in my hands! She's always on time. Not like me, I'm always sending them late, he he.

Sure enough, Grace sent me a wonderful birthday package!

Sam I Am the gnome, isn't he a cutie pie?! A sweet note card, a wonderful shawl pattern & some gorgeous yarn to knit it with. Thank you so much Grace!! I love it all & you just made my day. :)

I just had to steal Grace's photo of her gang of gnomes, not only is Grace the Queen of Shawls, she is the Queen of Cutness now too. They are just so adorable! There is Sam at the top left with all of his buddies. He is now settled comfortably in his new home here with me. :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!

Long overdue...

2010-08-14T19:45:00.000-04:00

I've been a bit slack about getting stuff posted here lately. I do have a few things to show you guys.

I crocheted this square with some of my handspun, sent it off to be included in a special project for a friend.

This is the yarn I started with, made with the batt that Beth's daughter, Katie, made me.

And this is what I'm spinning at the moment....

I've got a little over 4 oz. already on the bobbin! I don't think there is gonna be any problem getting all 9 oz on there. :) It's just taking forever to get it all spun up. Course that could have a lot to do with the fact that I haven't had a lot of free time to spin lately...

I picked up some wonderful soap from Lydia's etsy shop, Prairie Fire Soapworks & Fiber, a while back. This photo shows the Goat Cream soap & the sweet yarn sample that she sent, I also had a bar of Grapefruit soap, but that one didn't make it into the photo. he he

And some soap from Jenn's etsy shop, Knottie Girl Designs, too. I know, I'm a little soap crazy. There's just something wonderful about handmade soap.

This is a couple bars of Green Apple Glycerin soap & 2 Orange Scented Avocado Cucumber Soap with strawberry seeds (which sounds heavenly, I think that will be the bar to go into the bath after I finish up my grapefruit). She also included a couple scented stash sachets, how clever!

I picked up 8oz of this gorgeous spinning fiber from Beth at Blue Mountain Handcrafts a while back too.

This is Ashford 20/80 Silk Merino roving. And it is absolutely gorgeous in person!!

And my newest acquisitions.... from Kathy's etsy shop, Gypsyknits.

The adorable sheepy Knifty Knotions Box & the Sox Box bags, & some lovely, soft & squishy BFL roving in the Meadow colorway, & a generous sample of more BFL roving.

Thank you to all of you enablers, I loved all of my "stuff". :)

I think I'm caught up now, I think. I hope everyone is having a good weekend!!

Have you had your F.I.X. today?

2010-08-07T21:33:00.000-04:00

I haven't had a lot of time here lately to keep up with a lot of the goings on. Summer is just too busy at my day job. A bit frustrating for me, I don't like working so many hours. I'm tired. You know what I mean?

But I do have a little exciting news here. We have a new Co-op up & running. September will be our first month, we are starting with 8 members. We will work out the bugs & then start adding new members a little at a time as we go.

Check out the tabs at the top of my blog now! I actually figured out how to do that all by myself. LOL

If you want more info about F.I.X. there is plenty if you click on those tabs up there. :)

Fiber Indie eXperience is a cooperative of Indie artists who work together for the benefit of the whole by helping, encouraging, and promoting each other. We don’t see ourselves as “competitors in business” but as friends of a like mind with a passion for fiber. Each member has a small business in which they sell their fiber and fiber related handcrafted items concentrating on quality rather than quantity. When you shop with a F.I.X. member you can be sure of receiving a beautifully handcrafted item and all our members genuine appreciation for supporting a fellow co-op member.

The F.I.X. co-op will be having 6 prize box drawings each year. The first one starting this September, 2010!

I hope to have some spinning, knitting or other fun stuff to post soon!!!

14 years...

2010-07-27T10:22:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our (the hubby & myself) 14th anniversary! Happy anniversary sweetie, I don't know what I'd do without you.

We didn't do anything special, just being together for the evening was special. :)

To my blog buddies: I apologize for being so scattered this summer & not around much. I miss all of you bunches! I hope to have myself together more one of these days & my time & routine can get back to normal.

Hugs to all! I hope everyone is surviving the heat okay.... I know it's miserable around here.

Been a while...

2010-07-07T21:21:00.000-04:00

Sorry I've been MIA lately. Just not enough time in the day to get everything done. Summer is HOT & busy. Which means HOT & stressed. My A/C quit working on my truck, of course during one of the hottest times of the year here. The hubby put some coolant in it, we are hoping that works, I really don't want to have to take it to a shop & spend hundreds getting it fixed. I rode around in that thing for weeks baking! UGH I drove home today with it blasting cold air until I was ready for a jacket, just because I could. LOL

Anyhoo... I hope everyone is having a good summer, & I hope it is cooler & less humid where you are. :)

Here are my latest yarns....

Informant - Superwash merino from Micamynx.

Spun into this pretty, soft & squishy yarn, 270 yards of 2-ply, 16 wpi / fingering.

Narcissus batt from Blue Mountain Handcrafts

Spun into this lovely, super soft yarn, 176 yards, 2-ply, 12 to 13 wpi / Sport weight.

Look what else I got!!! Some awesome new Super De-Duper bobbins from Heavenly Handspinning.

Since I can't see being able to afford my Elizabeth wheel for a while yet.... and since I have no intentions of ever selling my little Babette (Fidelis wheel), I'm kind of attached to her.... When I saw that Jan had new super sized bobbins I snagged me a couple. These I can afford! And they are awesome!!! I have started spinning some black/white fiber that I had, a total of 9.2 oz, that was the largest qty. I had of one particular fiber. These babies are supposed to hold up to 10 oz of fiber on one bobbin!! One bobbin!!!!

Here is a photo of my original bobbin with one of the new ones. The original bobbins are pretty dang big.

And let me tell you how wonderful Jan is, if you don't already know. When my new bobbins arrived, they didn't fit just right on my wheel. I contacted Jan about that, sent her some photos... she suddenly realized what had went wrong. She had tested the new bobbins on her double treadle & new electric wheel, worked fine. She didn't even think about trying it on her original (one of the very first) Fidelis wheel. The wheel measurements were changed since then & my little Babette is one of the older models. Her & her husband proceeded to immediately make me 2 new bobbins, I had them in a matter of days! They spin wonderfully, nice & smooth & quiet. You just can't ask for better customer service!! Thank you so much Jan!!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Tidbits

2010-06-13T19:55:00.000-04:00

Just a little note to let all of you know that don't know already, Jessi (aka: Bubblesknits, aka: Alabama Fiber Dreams) has moved back to blogger! Here is a LINKEY to her new place.

And she is having a contest....Wollmeise, need I say anymore? LOL

Learning to live with it...

2010-06-12T13:10:00.000-04:00

Yep, I'm learning to live with having wavy hair. I had straight hair when I was younger, I don't know what the heck happened. LOL As I've gotten older my hair has decided to be curly or actually wavy. I've always straightened it. But living here at the beach in southern NC with all the humidity, lets just say it doesn't work too well with forcing your hair to be straight. So today I went to my wonderful stylist & told her we needed to figure out how to work with the waves. Here is the result. Oh, I'm also trying to let my bangs grow out.

Excuse the goofy photos of me.... I hate having my photo taken. :) We will see how I like it. It should be much easier to do anyway.

Update on the Orthoheel Tide flip flops.... they did make my arches sore the first few days that I wore them. But then I'm not used to wearing shoes with propper structure. I like them. And I have to admit that my feet don't hurt in the usual places when I wear them to work all day. My big toes aren't painful when I get home, & it doesn't hurt to walk around the house barefoot anymore either after being on my feet all day. I think I'll give them a thumbs up, & probably purchase another pair when I get some more money.

Now on to the fun stuff! Here is what I've sent in for the June Phat Fiber box. This is The yarn money you can save with the Phatfiber box stitch markers. he he

Jessie with Phat Fiber had made this cute logo so I just played off that & made some yarn with eyeballs. :)

I also have some new sheep in my Esty Shop. Bright sheep! They come in Purple, Pink, Lime & Aqua. I've got stitch markers & matching orifice hooks.

I also got a few things from Beth over at Blue Mountain Handcrafts. Don't you just love it when the mailbox is stuffed with fiber goodies when you get home?! Here is my plum Flower Fairy Caddy Sax & Little Buddy Bags. The photos don't do them justice, the material is just gorgeous!

And here is some lovely, soft, squishy superwash merino. I can't decide if I want to spin these & leave them separate or possibly ply them together.

Here are a few samples that Beth included. If you buy anything from her shop, make sure you look for the special listings! That is how I got these beauties.

Here is some more gorgeous soft & squishy superwash merino that I got from Micamynx on etsy. (I snagged her photo cause I forgot to snap one before I started spinning it.) She has lots of beautiful fibers & handspun in her store. And I love me some superwash merino! It spins so easily & it's sooooo soft.

Here is my latest finished handspun too. I stared with these batts that I carded, 50% domestic wool / 50% bamboo.

I ended up with 250 yards of soft, heavy fingering weight yarn. The bamboo gave it a nice shimmer too. You can't tell it in the photo but it has a nice graduated color change when it goes from purple to green.

Well, I think that's about it for today. That's enough huh? LOL

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Where does it go?

2010-06-05T22:57:00.001-04:00

Where does all the time go anyway? It's zooming by. I've been super busy at work, which is a good & bad thing. So far we are having a good start to the summer season, that's good... but I've been really tired, that's the bad thing. Oh well, it only lasts a few months.

Speaking of work... if you have followed my blog for a while I'm sure you've heard me complain about my feet hurting. If you have just started reading my blog, my feet hurt pretty much all the dang time. There have been days when my big toes are down right painful when I finally get off my feet, just burning & sore. And here lately my right hip has started hurting too. It really sucks getting older! LOL To make a long story short, I'm on my feet all day at work a lot of times. And I hate wearing sneakers in the summer, it's just too dang hot for them. I hate having hot feet. I live in my flip flops through Spring, Summer & Fall. Unfortunately they aren't the best thing to be wearing when you have feet problems.

I've been searching online for some "better" flip flops, something that isn't so uncomfortable to wear all day. But they had to be cute at the same time. That's a pretty tall order. Most shoes that are better for your feet really aren't all that attractive. Times have changed though! I found this website, Orthaheel. But I really wanted to try some on before I purchased them. After all, these aren't $10 flip flops... so today I headed to a store in Myrtle that carried them.

I came home with these, Orthaheel Tide Sandals.

See, these are really cute flip flops. This is the color that I got today. If I really like them I might get another color, or possibly another style, they have several. They feel really good on my feet. A little weird though, I'm not used to wearing flip flops that have proper arches & foot alignment. LOL The big test will be next week when I wear them to work. I will let everyone know the results. And they do have a 30 day money back guarantee, can't get any better than that!

I also had a computerized foot analysis & it confirmed the hot spots on my feet that hurt all the time. The pressure points caused by the way I stand. And the big toe was one of them. I was amazed at the little test they did, wearing my regular flip flops & clasping my hands together in front of me & in back of me they could pull me forward or backwards by putting pressure on my hands. They slipped a little thin orthopedic support under my foot, when they tried the test again with these I didn't budge. Amazing! I will be saving my money for some of those supports for my shoes!

I see comfy, pain free feet in my future! :)

I also had a good day shopping for shorts for work too. (I hate shopping just so you know, unless it's for fiber or yarn, he he.) I went to 2 stores & came away with 4 pairs of shorts that were on sale! Usually I have to go to 10 stores & still don't find what I'm looking for. It was a good day! I also got the grocery shopping done, so tomorrow I plan on knitting, spinning, making stitch markers, & watching the race.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some photos of some newly spun yarn & some pretty roving that I've just acquired. Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

I'm still here....

2010-05-27T00:29:00.000-04:00

Still here.... just lots of work & little free time, & too much Ravelry! LOL
Hope everyone is having a great week!

I went a little batty...

2010-05-20T22:04:00.000-04:00

Yep, I sure did. I went a little batty & I'm soooo glad that I did! Just look at these gorgeous batts that I received from Blue Mountain Handcrafts yesterday!
I got my Flower Fairy Spin-A-Long package. Narcissus. It's HUGE & it's beautiful! If you spin you should check the SAL out, Beth has some gorgeous batts listed. I promise that you won't be disappointed. :)

And since I didn't need my own marker shipped back to me, Katie made me a purple flower goblin, isn't he adorable?!

I also picked up one of her Pinks Flower Fairy Batts, I couldn't resist!

I also received my last shippment of the Random Beauty Batt Club. LOVE the batt, & check out the great buttons she included. As well as a notebook & a good sized fiber sample. I'm sad though, I'll miss getting these lovely batts every month.

I totally forgot to post my latest yarns. I finally finished up my beaded yarn. I started this on my visit to Chan's last fall. I ran out of beads mid-way through & had to get more, it ended up sitting on the bobbin for a while. I like how it turned out though. I ended up with 200 yards of worsted weight yarn.

Next up, my first "art" yarn. I'm not much on art yarn, it's pretty but I wouldn't know what to do with most of it other than look at it. But I decided that one of my Random Beauty batts deserved some fancy spinning. Actually this is a pretty normal thick/thin yarn, it just has about 10 or 12 silk flowers plied in there. Turned out pretty I think. It'll make a nice scarf or cowl. I ended up with 240 yards of heavy worsted weight, super soft yarn.

Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow or this weekend to start on one of those new batts! And maybe one of these days I'll have some actual knitting to show you. :)

Flower Fairy Spin-A-Long

2010-05-14T00:28:00.000-04:00

I've teamed up with Beth at Blue Mountain Handcrafts for a Spin-A-Long & prizes!

Spin a little whimsy with our Flower Fairy Spin A Long inspired by Cicely Mary Barker’s illustrations in her poetry book FLOWER FAIRIES OF THE GARDEN. Show your love for flowers and those gorgeous wee folk who tend them unseen and have a chance to win a prize with a value of $65!

Each SAL package comes with a gorgeous batt, a coordinating stitch marker, a handmade card & some flower seeds.

Check out these beautiful batts! 6 to choose from: Lavender, Marigold, Narcissus, Pinks, Scilla, & Tulip.

Everyone participating in the SALwill have until June 22 to post pictures of their spun Flower Fairy yarn in the Blue Mountain Handcrafts Ravelry group in a special SAL thread. On June 23rd voting will begin...anyone can vote...and voting will end on June 30th. Whoever has the most votes wins the prize! The prize includes one of Beth's awesome Caddy Sax bags, a lovely batt, a full set of my Fairy Flowers markers & a custom orifice hook I made, a flower with fairy.

I have full sets of the Fairy Flowers stitch markers in my shop if you are interested.

I'm looking forward to getting my own SAL batt! I'm not eligible for the prize since I supplied part of it, but I'm still gonna spin one of those gorgeous batts. :) Come on & join us!

Spinning at home...

2010-05-07T23:11:00.000-04:00

While I haven't been spinning in public, I have been spinning at home. Here are my latest 2 yarns.

These pretty fibers from Skeinwinder 123....

Became this yarn. A soft, squishy worsted weight yarn.

And I carded up some brown wool with some gold sparklies & got this yarn.....

I am trying to design a shrug using this brown with my Pharoh yarn. I searched Ravelry for 2 nights into the wee hours of the morning for the perfect pattern & couldn't find it. So I'm striking out on my own.

I will let everyone know how that turns out. :)

In other news... I got my May Random Beauty Batt Club shippment from Beth over at Blue Mountain Handcrafts. Check out this awesome package!

That beautiful batt there is 4.4 oz! It's HUGE! And soft, & squishy, & sparkly, &, &.... ha ha. She also sent a crap load of fiber samples (silk, cormo, mini batts, locks, etc), some purple plying thread, a pretty vintage flower pin, , sticky notes, some yummy smelling hand soap & a whole flock of sheepies.

I love spinning Beth's batts, they are so dang fun. I highly recommend the batt club, she taylors each package to what kind of "stuff" you like. Come on spinners, you know you want one. he he

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I plan on getting dirty in my flower beds, & enjoying it.

Spinning in Public

2010-05-07T00:50:00.001-04:00

I wasn't spinning in public... but a friend of mine was & she posted some great stories from her experience & I wanted to share them. Kerry (she's on Ravelry, Kerrison, if you want to pop over & say hi or tell her what great stories she came back with) has a Fidelis spinning wheel just like mine. She had the chance to take her wheel to a craft fair & spin for a couple of days & sell some of her handspun yarn. Here is what she posted in our Heavenly Handspinning Fans ravelry group....

I think if you do go spin in public, you’ll get lots of fun stories:

Honestly, I had one guy who stopped and asked me what I was doing…when I explained, he couldn’t see to grasp why I would spend my time spinning when they have “machines for that.” LOL.

Another lady said “I didn’t know people still did this! Are you the only one in Virginia?” --- there’s LOTS of spinners in VA!. hehe.

And a young girl asked if I knew Sleeping Beauty.

An older gentleman this weekend stopped and watched for a while with a soft smile on his face. I started up a chat and he just got all misty eyed and said he hadn’t seen anyone spin since his mama passed away. His mama and grandma spun, so for him, watching that was really emotional. He was a sweetie.

And I had a lady who had been spinning for 10 years, but she had never seen a wheel like Fidelis - and she marveled at the beautiful yarns it made. (There’s magic in my wheel, I’m positive. B/c I sure as heck don’t have a clue what I’m doin! LOL) … she said her expensive Saxony doesn’t make yarn as lovely as the Fidelis. :)

However, no story beats the lady at the quilt show in January who asked the roving vendor “What’s this stuff” pointing to wool/roving. And when she was told “wool” her reaction was “You mean from a sheep? I didn’t know they still made that!”

Hehe. (eyeroll) No… really. In 2000, all the sheep disappeared off the face of the earth!*

Spinning in public was DEFINITELY an experience and it made memories. :) Who knows when I’ll do it again. But it was fun.

Thanks so much for sharing these great stories Kerry! One of these days I'd love to have a chance to take my wheel to a fair or festival & spin in public too. :)

Knit & Crochet Blog Week #4 & #5, plus...

2010-05-01T00:08:00.000-04:00

Well, I was just dang pooped last night when I got home from work so I didn't get to my Knit & Crochet Blog post for the day. So here I am playing catch up. Don't forget to scroll on down & see the goodies that I received!

A New Skill
Is there a skill related to your hobby that you hope to learn one day? maybe you’re a crocheter who’d also like to knit? Maybe you’d like to learn to knit continental, knit backwards, try cables or attempt stranded colourwork.

Hmmm... I really don't know how to answer this one. I could say colorwork, but I really hate changing colors when I knit. Just makes too many ends to weave in & I don't like to sew. Crochet colorwork is much easier, I can crochet the ends in as I go. I think one thing that I do want to learn eventually is how to do a toe up sock. The provisional cast on has always confused me.

Location, Location, Location
Where do you like to indulge in your craft? Is your favourite arm chair your little knitting cubby area, or do you prefer to ‘knit in public’? Do you liek to crochet in the great outdoors, perhaps, or knit in the bath, or at the pub?

I'll have to say that my favorite place to knit, crochet or spin is my sofa. I'm usually watching TV with the hubby while doing my knitting, etc. My sofa has a recliner in it so I usually have my feet up & snuggled in a blanket while knitting. If I'm spinning, the hubby got me a great chair pillow for Christmas last year that is perfect to lean against while spinning. Great for back support so I don't find myself at some contorted posture trying to spin. LOL
I have taken my knitting & crochet to public places, I just don't do too many things where I have the chance to sit & knit in public. I will take it on trips in the car, on an airplane, or when I have to go wait in a Dr. office.

Now on to the goodies that I got in the mail! We had a Spring Swap on my Fancy Kitty Ravelry group. Johanna sent me the most wonderful package!

I had no idea you could stuff THAT much stuff in one of those envelopes! LOL Two gorgeous purple batts that I can hardly wait to spin, & some Mulberry Silk.
Here are the treats, gummy bears (my absolute favorite!), M&M’s & some treats for Jazzy that she loved!

What was in the brown bag you ask? Well…. there were all these handdyed bamboo fibers! And…. these little brown boxes, Hmmmm… what are those cute little cupcake things? Bath bombs! How clever. :)

And it was all packaged so pretty, wrapped in purple tulle. Thank you soooooo much Johanna! I just love everything!!

I have been spinning some more yarn, hope to have some photos of new yarns soon. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Knit & Crochet Blog Week #3

2010-04-28T23:12:00.000-04:00

Ok, I got my days mixed up, this was supposed to be yesterday's post. Oh well, I blame it on too many hours at work. LOL

Blog about a pattern or project which you aspire to. Whether it happens to be because the skills needed are ones which you have not yet acquired, or just because it seems like a huge undertaking of time and dedication, most people feel they still have something to aspire to in their craft. If you don’t feel like you have any left of the mountain of learning yet to climb, say so!

Right now I'm tired so I'm not thinking real clear. I think the one thing I would love to do right now is finish a great sweater or shawl with some of my handspun. I have been spinning yarn like a madwoman the past coulple of months, the knitting/crochet mojo has left the building. I would really love to knit some amazing pattern with some of it. Something like this....

I am still amazed that I finished this Lace Cardigan. It was a challenge but came out so nice. I believe it is the nicest thing I have knit so far.

Knit & Crochet Blog Week #2

2010-04-27T23:34:00.002-04:00

This was todays topic for Knit & Crochet Blog Week...

Write about a knitter whose work (whether because of project choice, photography, styling, scale of projects, stash, etc) you enjoy. If they have an enjoyable blog, you might find it a good opportunity to send a smile their way.

That's a tough one! There are so many wonderful knitters, crocheters, designers out there. Check out my queue on Ravelry if you want to see the many styles & patterns that I'd love to try some day. I have 788 patterns queued, I'll never get to them all in my lifetime. :) And I'm positive I'll hit 800 soon.

If I had to pick just one, I'll go with Sue Schaefer of Harvest Moon Designs. I have purchased many, many dishcloth patterns from Sue. She has a neverending supply of wonderful, creative & pretty patterns for cloths. I really enjoy knitting dishcloths/washcloths. They are fairly quick projects, they are functional, & they make wonderful gifts. I have no idea how she comes up with so many different patterns, but I sure am glad that she does! :) And she is a very sweet lady, always a real pleasure & a blessing.

Knit & Crochet Blog Week

2010-04-27T23:21:00.001-04:00

I saw this on Chan's blog this evening & thought I'd join in.

How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting? was it a skill passed down through generations of your family, or something you learned from Knitting For Dummies? What or who made you pick up the needles/hook for the first time? Was it the celebrity knitting ‘trend’ or your great aunt Hilda?

I know my Grandmother (Mom's mother) taught me to crochet when I was little. I made long chains & some single crochet, but that was about it. I decided to pick it up again about 14 years ago, all I remember is that I wanted to make an afghan. That was somewhere around the time that my wonderful Grandmother passed away, I think in a way I wanted to honor her by continuing her craft. I remember helping my Mom clean out Mawmaw's home, there was a closet full of afghans that she crocheted. Probably about 40 of them! Enough for everyone in the family to get one. And I can say that I received the very last one that she finished, I had asked her if she would make one just for me & she made me a lovely sunny yellow afghan, she gifted it to me about a month before she passed. I cherish it to this day & always will.

So, with a need to learn I called on my other Grandmother (Dad's mom, I was blessed with two wonderful women as Grandmothers. Actually 3 if you count the hubby's dear one.) to teach me. This is "SO" my Mawmaw! She showed me how to make a chain again & showed me twice how to make a single & double crochet. Then she gave me a book from the 70's (you can imagine the patterns! LOL) that had printed instructions on the stitches, a crochet hook, & then sent me on my way. She expected me to basically teach myself, I was a smart girl she said. ha ha! I just love that woman to pieces!

Well, I did teach myself! I proceeded to crochet 11 afghans in the next 2 years as Christmas presents for family & friends. I was so proud & happy the day I gave my Mawmaw her afghan that I crocheted. :)

I then went on to have several original patterns published in magazines & books. I really should try to get my designing mojo going again, it's been a while.

To make a looooong story a bit shorter, one of the afghan's that I designed won the Juvenile division of the Herrschner's afghan contest. I headed to WI for the awards & tour... the Knit division winner talked me into purchasing my first knitting needles. Knitting always mystified me, one too many needles! Well, I got home with my new knitting needles, went online for some instructions, purchased some books.... the rest is history. I've even had a few small knit patterns published.

Even though spinning isn't part of this topic I thought that was worth mentioning too, for those that don't know that story. My pal Chan was taking a class on spinning. Spinning yarn? Why would you spin yarn when you can buy it? Famous last words! I watched & read about Chan's experience, I got curious, purchased a spindle, wasn't long before I bought my spinning wheel. Now my spinning fiber stash rivals my yarn stash! LOL

I have been blessed with wonderful family & friends who have helped & encouraged my creativity through the years. Thank you to all.

Spinning My Wheels... In more ways than one

2010-04-19T23:57:00.002-04:00

Well, I haven't gotten much accomplished lately... I feel as if I'm just spinning my wheels, going nowhere. Super busy at work, which means lots of long hours. A short vacation that left us feeling as if we should have stayed home instead. Tax time stress, bill paying stress, messy house & yard stress, not enough hours in the day to do it all.

Anyhoo... last week I did get a chance to play with my new toy. Ron at Fancy Kitty had a little contest on our Ravelry group & I won! And I won BIG! I won a motor kit for my drum carder! I couldn't believe it, still can't. What an awesome prize. Ron has wonderful handcrafted products, all of them that I've used so far. I have a collection of his smoothie crochet hooks & my kitty drum carder. Truly superior quality & craftsmanship. And I just can't tell you how awesome the motor for my drum carder is. What a difference! I can put batts together much more quickly, & do other stuff while batt creating if I want. :)

These are the first batts that I created with the motor going. First I blended some purple mystery wool with some purple bamboo, and the same thing with the green, mystery wool & bamboo to match. Once I got those through the carder twice, just to make sure it was blended really well... I then sent it through the carder one more time to make the blended purple to green batts. The purple blends into the green, so I am hoping to get a nice graduated yarn. And I'm really curious to see how the bamboo/wool blend spins. I found that I'm not too crazy about spinning 100% bamboo, I'm hoping this will be much better.

And here are the last batts that I created before the motor arrived. These are a mystery wool, silver sparklies & a little bit of white milk fiber.

I have been spinning some roving lately, hope to finish that up & have some photos soon. In the meantime I'll show you some gorgeous merino rovings that I got from Steph at WC Merchantile. This is some lovely, soft, squishy fiber. If it wouldn't ruin it I'd use this stuff for a pillow to sleep on! LOL

I also purchased something recently & after using it for a few weeks I have to say it's a wonderful thing! After seeing a similar item that Jessi purchased a while back I went to check it out. And I found this little Litter Locker at the Dr's Foster and Smith website.

This is perfect for a family who has one or two cats! Think "Diaper Genie" for your cat litter box. This is an awesome product! And not a bad price either. I can put at least 2 weeks worth of used litter in there before I have to empty the bag. Each bag refill is supposed to last at least 2 months. I haven't used all of the first one yet & it's been 3 weeks so far.

Speaking of litter. Jazzy is trying a new one. Worlds Best Cat Litter. It's made from corn. She just started using it yesterday, but so far we both like it very much. It's a little more expensive than the regular clumping litter we've been using but it's supposed to last longer because it clumps better. One bag should last a month for one cat using it. I can tell you that it's much less dusty, it does clump really good, & we haven't had any unpleasant odors at all, even when scooping it out. That's a really good thing!

And speaking of Jasmine... here are a couple of cute photos of her playing fish with her daddy. We tied one of her toys to the end of some fishing line on a Spiderman fishing pole (you know, the kind you get for kids), Daddy tosses it around the house for her to chase. She loves that. :) And she was having so much fun she didn't even mind when Mommy got the camera out & snapped a few photos.

Just look at this adorable face! How could you not want to just smooch her? LOL She loves that too, ha ha. Well, maybe I love that part more.

Hope everyone has a good week!

New Mail Box!

2010-03-31T21:48:00.000-04:00

The hubby put up a new mail box last week. It's a bit larger than our old one, which was falling apart. It paid off today, cause I got some goodies in there!

When I was sorting out my new room I found some material that I decided I didn't need to store anymore. At one time I thought I might want to learn how to quilt.... didn't turn out so well. I don't get along with my sewing machine all that good. LOL

So I sent it to Beth, who I knew could use it & make something nice out of it. And just look what she sent me back! This gorgeous Caddy Sax Bag & matching Little Buddy Bag. Who knew that my material could look so good?! And anyone who knows me, knows that I love purple.... great job Beth! I love them!!

Beth's Caddy Sax bags were featured in the Spring issue of Interweave Crochet, check it out! Congratulations Beth! I can say that I knew her before she was famous. LOL
If you want your own Caddy Sax bag or Little Buddy bag, head on over to her etsy shop or her website: Blue Mountain Handcrafts.

Her DD also made me a custom Sheepie of Many Colors pin. Isn't it the cutest?! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! :)

I also have a finished project to show too! My first washcloth with my own hanspun cotton!! I know, it's just a washcloth but.... it's HANDSPUN cotton! he he
Simple Ridge Dishcloth pattern from Bernat. (That is a Ravelry link, but you can also find it on the Bernat website) I only had about one yard of yarn left, close call!

I'll leave you with the pretty pink & purple yarn.... hope everyone is having a good week!

Time Flies!

2010-03-28T17:54:00.000-04:00

Wow! It's been a while since I posted anything. With the increase of my hours at work I'm having a hard time keeping up with everything non-work related. Good thing this only lasts 6 months of the year. I don't think I could handle year round madness. LOL

I do have a few things to show for my efforts lately. First up are my new Starfish stitch markers. If I can get these done they will be headed to Jessie to be included in the Phatfiber box for April.

Next I have some finished handspun cotton to show! It's a bit lumpy but that's ok, I still love it. I'm sure I will get better with practice. After all, my first wool handspun was pretty lumpy too. :)

I stared with this cotton that I cleaned & dyed...

Then handcarded into punis....

And ended up with approx. 58 yards of sport weight yarn.

I'm sure it's destined to be a wash/dish cloth. And I'll use it until it just falls apart! :)

I hope everyone has been doing good & has had a fabulous weekend!

This Weekend...

2010-03-15T22:00:00.000-04:00

What did I do this weekend? (My weekend is Sun/Mon right now)

I think it would be easier to show you, let's just say that I'm pooped! But really happy!! I finally got the hubby in gear, got his stuff out of the room, finished painting, & moved all of my stuff into the room & organized. What you aren't seeing is the washer, dryer & laundry shelf immediately to the left of this first photo...

That's the whole room except for the laundry & the doors leading to the LR/DR & outside.

I cleaned out & washed this nifty storage container, it now holds all of the stitch markers & orifice hooks that I have for sale in my etsy shop. My bookshelf needs some new paint, but that's for another day.

I got these great magazine holders at Office Depot for .99 cents each! I now have all of my magazines in order, on a shelf, neatly. LOL

I got these great hanging storage things at Big Lots. I'm sure they are supposed to be for clothing, but they work great for yarn & fiber. I had to cut pieces of cardboard for the bottoms of the shelves so they wouldn't sag, it worked perfect.

Who knows where I got these, I've had them forever. But we got them mounted on the wall & they now hold paints, dyes & other stuff.

I now have all of my "craft" stuff in one room where I can find everything!! I just want to go in there & sit & admire everything. LOL

Hope everyone had a good weekend & start to the new week!

Cotton Candy

2010-03-08T22:06:00.000-05:00

My first handpun cotton! A while back I purchased some raw cotton from Monica. I dyed some up this weekend. My Ashford fine handcarders finally came in & I carded some of it up.

Here are my finished punis (a cotton rolag if you will).

I spun up a little mini-skein of the purple cotton. A bit lumpy but that's ok, my first wool handspun was lumpy too. :)

Hope everyone has a good week. Back to work for me tomorrow... I'm working Saturdays for now so my Weekend is Sun & Mon. I felt like I was laying out of work today. LOL

A "Katie Special"

2010-03-04T00:09:00.001-05:00

Short version of the story.... I sent Beth a swap package that included a sheep tape measure. Her DD, Katie, loved it. And since I had several left I popped one in mail to Katie too. When I got home today I had a wonderful package waiting on me. Katie sent me a Thank You card with all kinds of super cute drawings inside, & a sweet handwritten note. AND she included a batt that she made just for me, even made sure that my favorite color (purple) was in there!

My "Katie Special" batt

Let me just say... I love this kid! She is one of my "kind". Check out the awesome card. Thank you so much Katie, I love the batt & the card. :)

Beth even included a sample of her Mulberry Silk fiber, this stuff is heavenly! I had to put it away so I wouldn't get it all dirty petting it too much. LOL

I also picked up a couple of pretty sparklies in Beth's vintage jewelry shop, Beth 1818 Vintage Costume & Fine Jewelry. These pins are just gorgeous. She is closing it down & everything is on sale!

Hope everyone is having a good week! I've got a long day tomorrow & should be in bed.....

I have pink hands!

2010-03-01T17:57:00.000-05:00

Well I do have pink hands... should have worn gloves. LOL I dyed up some fiber yesterday. I'm not much on the whole dyeing thing. I don't think I could ever make beautiful hand painted yarn or rovings, don't have the patience. But plunking big hunks of fiber in a pot & making it all the same color isn't so bad. And now that it's dry I can mix it all up on the drum carder. Hey, that's why I got the drum carder! :)

I got a starter dye kit of Greener Shades dye from Blue Mountain Handcrafts. So yesterday I broke out the dyes & some fiber that I got from The Sheep Shed Studio. Here is the resulting colored fiber. Some of them are quite eye popping, you might need your sunglasses on for this photo.... he he

The pink was done with food coloring, super bright pink, not quite what I was after (I had in mind a softer pink) but it's all good. The rest of the fiber was dyed with the Greener Shades Dye. The yellow turned out super bright too, not looking for super bright yellow either but that's ok. Let me just say that these dyes are super concentrated!! The purple was straight dye too. The green & the peach were custom mixes. I didn't get all technical with the measuring, just kind of flew by the seat of my pants on that. I did look at a color mix chart to get the general idea of what I was looking for. I love how the peach & the green came out. Both were perfect.

The little bits up front are small amounts of sparkly icicle top. They took the dye really well too.

Minus the purple, I did that just cause I had to dye some purple fiber, LOL... these are gonna be my Juicy Melon batts that I've been thinking about. Stay tuned to see how they come out.

My busy season is starting at work... so if you don't hear from me as much don't worry, just means that I'm exhausted. :) Hope everyone has a good week!

Awwww... how sweet!

2010-02-22T23:15:00.000-05:00

I just got some photos in my email that I wanted to share. Look how cute! This is the real Starr kitty with the little Starr Kitty Jr. that I knitted for my BFF (since we were kids), for Christmas this past year. Let's just say that Starr was really taken with Starr Jr. :) We don't know if she smelled her own fur (Starr kitty Jr. was knit with some yarn that I spun from Starr fur & wool.) or if she smelled Jasmine, if she smelled the wool, or if she just liked it "because".

She licked her & snuggled her... it was sooooo dang cute!

And here is a photo of Beth, me & Starr. We make sure to take a new "Christmas" photo every year when we go in to see them & all of our families. I really cherish my Christmas visits with my buddy & her family. We miss them so much living so far apart now.

Thanks for sending the photos guys! Hugs!! :)

Remember?

2010-02-21T17:19:00.001-05:00

Remember those gorgeous batts that I got from Beth at Blue Mountain Handcrafts?

Here is my finished yarn. I love this yarn!!! I plied the single with a gold thread. I ended up with 420 yards of sport/fingering weight yarn. I'm thinking that I'll go with sport weight for pattern searching since it is a thick/thin yarn.

I am thinking shrug... something that I'll use often. I am also thinking of spinning up some brown, plying it with the gold thread & using that with this. Maybe some brown ribbing & this gorgeous multi-color as my main color. Maybe something like this Bolero with Lacy Sleeves (Ravelry Link). We will see...

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Great Mail Day!

2010-02-16T20:57:00.001-05:00

Lookie at the goodies that I got in the mail today from Beth at Blue Mountain Handcrafts!

This pretty superwash roving in the Concert T-Shirt colorway...

The most beautiful, sparkly batts that I've ever seen! These are called The Pharoh's Main Squeeze, Beth has a way with naming her fibers. he he

I can't wait to get these on the wheel, I plan on spinning them into singles & plying with a gold thread. That's the plan anyway. :)

And I have a small finished project to show. This cute little soap bag was knit with some yummy cotton by Jabo, that I got from A Row of Purls Too. I must have more of this yarn!! The pattern is the Pluie Soapholder, free on the Berroco website.

Another goodie that I got in the mail to come, just have to get some good photos of it. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T13:50:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is having a nice Valentine's Day! My sweetie brought me some beautiful roses & a ginormous card this morning. (Yes, that's my card there behind the roses! ha ha) He's so funny & sooooo my best friend.

I also finished up some more handspun yarn this weekend. This is some pretty BFL Fiber that I got from Kathy's Etsy Shop.

Spun up to fingering weight, navajo plied, 290 yards. Very pretty, it's going into my stash, I feel more like spinning here lately than knitting. When the knitting mojo returns I'll have plenty of handspun yarn to choose from! LOL

Now, I need to get off this computer so I can watch the race! :)

Snow Update - It's gone...

2010-02-13T14:20:00.000-05:00

Yep, it's all gone now except for what is left in some shady areas. But it sure was pretty this morning when we got up. We ended up with something like 3 or 4 inches. I know my jeans got wet around the bottom while I was out walking around.

The snow never did stick to the roads or the driveway much. Unfortunately we found out that what I had this week wasn't food poisioning, it's a stomach bug & now the hubby has it, so we didn't go out in the neighborhood to look at all the snow this morning. I just enjoyed the snow in my yard while it lasted.

The birds have been wearing my feeders out today, they have been quite entertaining.

We've had Black Capped Chickadees, Cardinals, Wrens, Sparrows, and even a Myrtle Warbler (this is the first time I've noticed Myrtle Warblers at my feeders!).

This is the best photo I could get of one of the Myrtle Warblers, isn't he cute?!

There is one other place the snow is hanging around for a while.... MY SNOWMAN! He's on the porch in the shade so hopefully he will last a little while. :)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Snow Update...

2010-02-12T23:02:00.000-05:00

One snow update before bedtime... we've got about 1/2 inch so far & it's still coming down pretty good! If I was feeling better (been icky the past couple of days here) I would probably stay up all night & watch it. LOL But, I'll get up early so I can see what we got before it has a chance to melt....

I think my daffodils are gonna be confused....

We've got flurries!!

2010-02-12T20:07:00.000-05:00

FINALLY!! We've just stared getting snow flurries! Woohoo! I'll keep taking photos, we have the possibility of 2 to 6 inches. :)

Spinning, spinning, spinning...

2010-02-09T23:24:00.001-05:00

I have a couple new handspun yarns. Currently I'm spinning a bright & colorful BFL roving from Kathy's Etsy Shop. I needed something cheery, I'm loving it. But, let me show you the two finished yarns I have.

This green sat on one of my bobbins for over a week. I was so disappointed, I thought I had lost all of the purple, that it had blended right in with the green. To my surprise once I got it into a skien & gave it a bath, that purple showed up! I've got a nice green yarn with purple tweedy bits all through it. And it's super soft, a combo of targhee merino, faux angora & a little sparkle.

Fiber purchased from Beth at Blue Mountain Handcrafts.

Turned into these batts...

And then I ended up with 298 yards of 13 WPI, squishy soft yarn.

Next I have some yarn spun from my Blue Sky batts. These were a lot of fun to spin & I like the finished yarn. The faux angora gave it a nice fuzz. :)

This fiber...

Became these pretty batts...

Which became 263 yards of 15 WPI yarn.

Hope everyone is having a good week! I'm sore, we've been doing a lot of painting at work, getting the store all freshened up for the coming season. Lots of going up & down a ladder. LOL I must be seriously out of shape!

Fancy Kitty Swap

2010-02-06T19:02:00.000-05:00

Our Fancy Kitty Drum Carder group on Ravelry had a swap, I got my package today! Beth sent the greatest package!!

Here is the whole contents of the box… My gorgeous Random Beauty Batts (Anita’s Methadone Batts, LOL), batt fixins, 2 great smelling soaps, gummies, beads, little sheepies (to start my own flock, snicker), a gorgeous vintage candy dish, & a crochet hook holder (at least that’s what I’m using it for).

My gorgeous batts (just so everyone knows, I've been drooling over Beth's Random Beauty batts for quite a while now! I was so tickled that she sent some with the swap!)...

Lots of great batt fixins...

My cute butterfly crochet hook holder...

It's perfect for my Fancy Kitty crochet hooks!

And take a look at the lovely vintage candy dish that she sent (I collect glass candy dishes)...

Beth makes gorgeous batts, roving, bags, yarn, etc... you can get your own great stuff from her Etsy Shop or her website Blue Mountain Handcrafts.

Thanks so much Beth!! This was a wonderful package & you just made my weekend!! Now to get that blue yarn finished up on my wheel so I can get to spinning these beautys! :)

Lots of goodies!

2010-02-03T21:00:00.001-05:00

Check out this great package that I got from Vicki! We were swap partners in Grace's Winter Warm Up Swap. She sent Jasmine some treats that the picky butt actually liked! Some gorgeous spinning fiber, great hand knitted fingerless gloves, various hot chocolates & marshmallows, scratch pads, a cute little candle holder with candles, a super cute cupcake card & some gummy bears. What a GREAT package! Thanks so much Vicki!!!

Here is a better photo of the fingerless mitts, aren't they gorgeous?! And they fit perfect, I'm sure I'll get lots of use out of them. It's still chilly down here even though we aren't getting snow like everyone north & west of me. And I have to go into storage rooms at work that aren't heated, these will come in very handy.

And I have some new goodies in my etsy shop.... Fruit Slices. This is a new technique that I'm trying out, using transparent clay. The photo just doesn't do these justice, they look so juicy that you just want to bite them. :)

And I have more Chocolate Hearts & Chocolate Kisses listed now... great for Valentine's Day!

I have been knitting, I finished up a small project that I can't show yet.... And I started this cowl, got 20 rows from finishing & messed up! I ended up frogging the whole dang thing. I've cast on again, this time I MUST pay attention to which row I'm on! I don't know how I did that, it really is a simple pattern, sigh...

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Shop Update

2010-01-25T23:53:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post... I made little teeny, silly Cherries. These will be going in the February Phat Fiber box & are in my etsy store now. Cute little things, only 3/4" tall & 1/4" wide.

Now, off to bed... got to work tomorrow & after that, back to the stitch marker factory....

Productivity.... A good thing

2010-01-23T22:48:00.000-05:00

I've had a little bit of productivity around here this week & weekend. Thank goodness! I was beginning to feel as if I'd never get anything finished. I have a lot of in-progress works around here & it's nice to finally mark a couple off the to-do list. :)
First let me show you my Blue Sky batts that I did on my Fancy Kitty Kitten Drum Carder. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this drum carding thing. These are my best ones yet! I love them, & they will be going on the spinning wheel next. These were made from dyesoppers (wool of some sort) from The Sheep Shed Studio (I overdyed some of the blue to be a darker/brighter blue), some faux angora & hand dyed icicle top from Paradise Fibers.

And Ron from Fancy Kitty was wanting some photos of his happy customers using their carders... so the hubby helped me out with that today. It was quite funny, he was snapping away like we were having a photo shoot or something. SNOL
So, here are a few photos of me creating the Blue Sky batts.

And I finished another hat! This is the Blue Moon Hat pattern by Linda Wilgus. (Ravelry link)

I used some of the leftover Berroco Ultra Alpaca yarn from my Colonnade, held double because the pattern called for bulky yarn. This was a quick, easy little project. And I like the finished hat, the Ultra Alpaca is ultra soft! :)

Today was the hubby's birthday, I took him to dinner at a little pizza place in town. He had pizza, I had an amazing dish of chicken, mushrooms, onions, & tomatos on thin spagetti with a butter/garlic sauce. Wow was that stuff good! I'm stuffed & sleepy.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Work?

2010-01-20T12:52:00.006-05:00

What have I been doing at work the past few days? Checking in new doggie collars & adding them to our Webstore.

Aren't they cute?! And of course we got some new little ones for the itty bitty doggies this year. Yeah, a lot of them have fish on them, we are at the beach ya know. :) If you want to check them all out, here is the Dog Collar page on our website....

I love this time of year here. It's not crazy long hours yet due to tourist season, and we are starting to get all of our stock in for the season. It's like getting tons of new pressies! :) Now to just control myself & not buy one of everything we get in. LOL

Hope everyone is having a great week!

I just had to share...

2010-01-18T10:46:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to share this beautiful day with everyone! It is sunny, a nice breeze & 62 degrees here!

Where does the time go?

2010-01-17T21:53:00.000-05:00

Another weekend gone & I don't know where it went! Here is what I did accomplish this weekend, along with some laundry & grocery shopping.

348 yards of sport/light worsted weight merino yarn.

And Beth's daughter wanted some Zebra crochet markers, so I have Zebra additions to My Store. I think they came out cute.

And to all of my friends out there in blogland & ravelry & Facebook & email &..... I'm so sorry that I haven't replied to all of your blog posts, or to all of your emails in a timely fashion, or even made an appearance on FB in forever. I have really been feeling rushed & I can't seem to get everything in some kind of order around here. This started back before the holidays & seems to have continued into the new year. I've been trying to figure out a way to get myself organized, not successful at this point. Anyhoo... I want all of you to know that I'm still reading even if I don't comment all the time. I love all of my bloggy friends & wouldn't know what to do without all of you out there. :) I hope to feel less overwhelmed in the near future & get things back to some kind of "normal", whatever that is!

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Soft, Fluffy Batts

2010-01-13T20:44:00.001-05:00

Here are the latest batts to come off the carder. Talk about super soft!! This is the Targhee Merino that I got from Beth's Etsy Shop, some of my hand dyed Faux Angora & some of my hand dyed sparkly icicle top. I'm looking forward to spinning this & see how soft the yarn is compared to the batts, because the batts are really soft.

This....

Plus this...

= 5.8oz of fluffy soft fiber...

I'm walkin in High Cotton...

2010-01-11T22:51:00.000-05:00

Ok, not really walkin in high cotton but what I got in the mail today reminded me of that Alabama song. LOL
5 lbs of cotton! Isn't it awesome?! I know, you all are thinking I'm nuts. But I'm so excited about this box stuffed full of fluffy, right off the plant, white stuff. I got all this from Monica, check out her etsy shop, she has great stuff there, not just cotton. She actually spins silk thread!

Of course I had to play with one of those white fluffs. It's incredibly soft, and much longer staple length than I had expected. And there are just tons of seeds in there too! I plan on planting some & see what happens this Spring. I live in the perfect place to grow cotton... hot, dry, sandy soil, long growing season. I've had no success with vegetables, maybe cotton will be just the thing.

Why am I so excited about this cotton you ask? Well, when I first started spinning I had dreams of being able to spin some nice cotton yarn, & actually knit some washcloths & hand towels from my own handspun. I know, kind of silly, but that is one of the first things that I thought of when I started spinning. I love to knit cloths, to use & give as gifts. And how awesome would it be to actually knit them with my own handspun?!

I also got in a great shipment of fiber from The Sheep Shed Studio today. (Thanks to those who gave me money at Christmas!)

Looks like I'm gonna have to give in & learn how to dye fiber. I was just able to get so much more fiber for the $ by buying the white. Although I did get a bad of Carol's dye soppers, they are awesome! Here we come drum carder!

And now that I've bored you all to tears with my fiber addiction... Look at what Nichole sent me!

One of her awesome bracelets that she knitted. Thanks so much Nichole, I love it! I plan on wearing it tomorrow. :)

And on the orifice hook front.... I now have Llama Orifice Hooks!

And in closing, I had a pleasant surprise when I cast on for a cowl the other day. The red handspun that I thought was sport weight actually turned out to be more of a fingering weight. I was very pleased about that. I actually spun thin enough to get a 2-ply fingering weight yarn! And the new cowl is turning out great. When I get further along I'll take a photo. :)

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Shop Update

2010-01-05T00:43:00.000-05:00

I have new orifice hooks in my Etsy Shop! I sent Beth a "test hook", she said she liked it & it was good to go, that I should put some in my shop... so I've made some that match my stitch markers.

Black Sheep Orifice Hook

White Sheep Orifice Hook

Sweet Pea Orifice Hook

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T19:01:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! Mine has started out okay, nothing real exciting, I'll take that as a good thing. We sent our Marine off to MO again today. It was sad seeing him go but we were so lucky to have him home for the holidays!
I have a few things to show you.... I'll start with the project that I finished right before Christmas that I didn't want to post here about because it might have been seen...

This is my Starr Kitty Jr., knit from the Knitted Kitty pattern.

I knitted this cute little kitty as a Christmas present for my Childhood BFF. We are all grown up now, but you’re never too old for a cute stuffed kitty! :)

I knitted her with some of my handspun yarn, which contains cream wool & Starr (my BFF’s kitty) fur. So she is a kitty made with kitty fur! This was a quick & fun little project.

This is the real Starr.... we took some super cute photos of Starr with Starr Jr. at Christmas, I'll share them once Beth gets them downloaded. :)

Next up, I finished knitting a Calorimetry, with more of the pink/purple handspun. This was a quick knit, I used size 6 needles though. If I had used size 8 it would have been huge. I'm pleased with it, but I don't know how good it is going to be about keeping my ears warm... tends to want to slide off of them. And that's what I wanted it for, I wear my hair up the majority of the time & it would be nice to have something to keep the ears warm.

Next.... check out this great little bag that I got from Beth. It's a great small project bag, with wonderful pockets on the outside, just right for all your little extras like stitch markers, tape measure, note pad, etc! Go check out her etsy shop, Blue Mountain Handcrafts, she has more great bags & tons of awesome yarn & fiber!!

And I got this wonderfully soft Targhee Merino fiber, Violets & Moonlight, from Beth too. The photo doesn't do it justice. I'm looking forward to getting this on the drum carder!

And I finished up some spinning.... This is Falkland roving from Spinning The Web. I only got 170 yards of navajo plied yarn, but I love the yarn.

I hope 2010 brings everyone good things & peace.... please keep Barbara, Coffee Yarn, & her family in your thoughts.. they are having a rough beginning to the year.

I'm Pooped!

2009-12-27T12:28:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Our's was nice but we're pooped now. After a nice peaceful Christmas Eve at home with the hubby & our Marine, we left at 8am Christmas morning, traveled to see friends & family who live 3.5 hours away. We finally returned home somewhere around 1am Saturday morning. Needless to say I spent most of Saturday snoozing on the sofa. Today hasn't been much more productive.

I won't bore you with photos of the new sheep jammies, underwear, socks, etc. that I got for Chrismas... but I will bore you with this great pillow that the hubby got me!

We have an extra bedroom where I store all of my yarn, fiber & craft items. But I don't like to do all of my crafts back there. I like to be in the same room with the hubby. I like to watch TV while I spin, knit & whatever. There isn't any more room in the living room for another chair for me to spin in, so I sit on the sofa to do it. Well, I have to sit on the edge of the sofa to reach the pedal for my wheel, which in turn promotes bad posture on my part, and ends up making my back hurt. My brilliant hubby solved that problem! He got me this great purple chair pillow for Christmas. It gives me something to lean back against while I spin, making it MUCH more comfortable! Now my back doesn't hurt while I spin, I can just keep going until my leg gets tired. :)

I also had this wonderful package from Kathy waiting on me when I got home from work on Christmas Eve.

I have been playing a little with the pretty wool she sent me, I've sent the blue & aqua green through the carder already! There was also some great smelling soap & a pretty knitted washcloth in there, oh and some peanut brittle which is already gone. Thanks so much Kathy!!! I love all of it! I can't wait to show you some batts. :)

Well, I'm off to find something to eat for lunch.... back to work tomorrow, it was a nice holiday but went by way too fast.....

All Spun Up!

2009-12-22T19:44:00.000-05:00

My first drum carded batt is all spun up! I'm pleased with how it came out even if I do still need to work on my consistency. I ended up with 135 yards of approx. DK weight yarn.

I have another finished project but I can't show it to you yet. The intended recipient just might take a look at my blog & it would spoil the surprise. :) If you want to see it though & are a member of Ravelry you can check it out in my finished projects.

If I don't get back here before Christmas, I hope everyone has a wonderful & safe holiday!!