I'm Back

Actually, I haven't been anywhere...we've just had a really busy spring. I've even been on a bit of a break from my Etsy shop. A couple of the sheep and one of the goats had some health issues back in the early spring and needed some special care. I also had a set of twin lambs on the bottle for about three months (they were in the basement for about three weeks). Thus the basement project I talked about in the previous post went on hold. I did work on some felting pursuits in the meantime, but not really anything for the shop.

Lately I somehow got the urge to start carding spinning batts with lots of sparkly fibers in them. I ordered some Firestar and Angelina, some dyed mohair locks and bamboo, dyed up a bunch of Merino in bright colors, and started carding away. I really like the way the shiny stuff looks in the batts and the handspun yarn. Here's a few of the batts I listed in the shop:









I'm calling these my "Sparkle Petite" batts. They're small (around one ounce each) with several natural fibers (wool, bamboo, mohair) and lots of sparkle.

I'm also wanting to try spinning some more novelty or art-type yarns using my "sparkly" batts. That's not my usual type of spinning and I don't really know that much about it, so I've ordered a couple of books to get me started. We'll just have to wait and see how these "new-fangled" yarns turn out!

EtsyFAST Trunkshow Sale

Several EtsyFAST members are having a special on-line sale to coincide with the Trunkshow Sale at the Etsy Labs. I'm offering 15% off selected handspun yarns in the shop from November 1st to the 15th. You can see them here. There are lots of shops participating, so you might want to hop on over to Etsy and check it out!

New Yarns

I've kind of been on a yarn painting kick lately. I'm low on spinning fiber and rather than order more right now, I'm going to wait and see what our fiber is like that we sent off to the mill. Here's my latest sock yarns...first, "Prairie Meadow."

And then, "Wild Rose."

"Wild Rose" has longer color sections than some of my other sock yarns. I have another one in the crock pot right now that I did in longer color sections also. It's another one in fall colors--chestnut, orange, yellow, ecru, and olive green. It should be out sometime this afternoon.

Don't forget to check out Fiber Friday going on today at Etsy!

New Shop Section

I'm all excited! I got my second skein of sock yarn painted the day before yesterday. So I started a new section for hand painted sock yarn in my Etsy shop and listed my first one this morning. It was also Fiber Friday at Etsy, so after I got the new yarn listed, I started to post about it on the Fiber Friday thread, only to find that it had already sold! I could hardly believe it! (A big "thank you" to my customer in case you're reading this!) Anyway, I thought I'd go ahead and post a couple of pictures here. This yarn was my entry for the EtsyFAST August Challenge. The theme is "Celestial." When it was hanging up to dry, it reminded me of pictures I had seen of the Northern Lights, so that fit right in with our theme this time. Here are a couple of pictures:


I'm hoping to order some more yarn and do another batch before long.

It's in the Shop!

I got the bamboo yarn listed in the shop today! It came out to 3.8 ounces and 104 yards. I named it "Pretty Posies."

You can click on either picture to check it out. I'm including it in our EtsyFast group's July Challenge of a garden/flowers theme. For more information, check out the group's website. I'm fast becoming a big fan of bamboo. As I've said before, I like the softness and shine, and I've read that it's supposed to have natural antibacterial properties. What they are, exactly, I don't know, but I like the sound of it. :)

A New Venture

I'm getting ready to try something new (for me) in spinning: bamboo yarn. I've seen some pictures on Etsy of some bamboo yarn and thought it was SO pretty. I ordered two 4-ounce packages of top the other day and finally got it dyed yesterday. Here it is in my "dye studio." (In other words, a corner of the basement.)

Then here it is after rinsing, hanging up to dry. I thought it might dry quicker than wool, but it hasn't seemed to so far. I rinsed it out yesterday afternoon, and it was still damp this morning.

I really like the way bamboo shines. You can't really tell from the picture how much shine there is, but I think it really looks cool.

This one has shades of lavender to almost pink, with some white. I'm anxious to get started spinning. I keep fluffing it (it was really scrunched up after I squeezed the water out) to help it dry faster, and also because it's fun. :)

Fiber Friday, June 15th

It's Fiber Friday at Etsy where the fiber artists post their new items for the week. My newest yarn isn't ready to list yet, but I thought I'd post a couple of pictures here to give everyone a sneak peek. Here's the roving:


And here it is on the bobbin:


I had planned on putting some other colors with it for the second ply, but I liked the look of just these together so much I decided to stop with these. I used Jacquard salmon and teal. Anyway, here it is...hope to get it listed before long.

Yo Ho Matey Yarn

I got the new yarn listed in the shop yesterday afternoon. Here are a couple of pictures of it:



I designed this yarn to celebrate the release of the third "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie the other day. The colors were inspired by the characters: apple green for Barbossa, golden yellow for Elizabeth's dress and the treasure, steel gray for Will's sword, red for Captain Jack's bandanna, and a little blue for the sea.
Click on the link at the right if you'd like to check it out. That's all for now...thanks for reading!

Yarn Update

The latest yarn is all spun up, the twist is set, and it's hanging up to dry. I'm hoping it will be dry by this afternoon. I'll need to weigh and measure it, too, so I may not get it listed in the shop today, but if not today, then maybe tomorrow. The close-up isn't real clear, but you can see the colors pretty well. When I spun the first ply, I was kind of worried that it might come out a little blah. But when I added the red ply, that gave it the zing it needed, and I thought it came out pretty neat. I'll try to get better pictures when I list it. Better go for now...thanks for reading!

Grapevine

The newest yarn is now in the shop. It's called "Grapevine." Here's a picture:
There's a pretty good amount of yardage in this one for as bulky a yarn as it is. There are about 174 yards and 5.1 ounces. I'm getting ready to work on a fun yarn project next, but am keeping the name and inspiration secret until it's done. You'll just have to check back to find out more! Better get busy...thanks for reading!

A quick note about the Indian Paintbrush yarn...I listed it in the shop on Wednesday and it sold on Thursday. I was really surprised! In case my customer is reading, a big thank you! I've been working on my shop listings this morning. Everyone else must be doing the same thing, because it's running really slow. After the new postal rates went into effect, I was afraid I would have to raise my shipping. But it turns out I've actually lowered most of my rates by switching to the new 1st Class Mail International instead of using Global Priority Mail. Those rates had really taken a big jump. Hopefully the shipping times won't be too slow. I also changed my U.S. shipping rates. For one item, I think it will be more economical to ship 1st class. I think the shipping time was listed as 3 days, where Priority Mail is listed as 2-3 days. If more than one item is ordered, I'll probably ship Priority Mail anyway, though. The way I understand it, it's cheaper to ship Priority Mail if a package is over 13 ounces. I'd better go for now and keep working on my listings. Thanks for reading!

Well, the twist has been set, and it's hanging up to dry. Actually, it's probably dry already. I'm not sure why, but it seems like this yarn has really taken a long time to finish. I've been spinning up some chunky singles yarn in response to the Etsy folks who said in their forum posts that that's what they're looking for. And besides, there are already some finer weight yarns in the shop. I spun this latest batch of Merino before dyeing the roving...now just have to come up with a bright color combination. Next time, I may dye the roving first and then spin in. It's neat to do it both ways since you get such different looks with each type. I've been using a slow cooker to dye my yarn and roving, but it's not very big, and I've been looking for other ways to dye it. My next experiment may be with "sun dyeing" if I can find a little info on it...and a sunny day.

The "Indian Paintbrush" yarn is finally spun and off the bobbin! Woo hoo! It seemed like it took a really long time to get this one done. I still need to set the twist and weigh and measure it before listing it in the shop. Here's a picture:

The Indian paintbrush flowers are starting to come out more I noticed yesterday in the field. I need to walk up there and get a picture of them to put in the listing also. I should be walking more anyway. I really like walking for exercise, but I've been working on the shop so much that I've been neglecting it.

I started a forum topic at Etsy a few days ago about what handspun yarn buyers are looking for in handspun yarn. So far it has 72 posts! It has been so interesting reading what everyone has to say! Everyone has been so kind and helpful with advice and suggestions. Some people said they like sport weight or sock yarn, but it seemed like the majority are looking for more chunky weights in handspun. So it looks like I need to work on some more of those next.

Better get off and get busy...housework is calling!

The Roving's Here!

Well, the Merino roving that was on backorder finally came! Two pounds of it, just waiting to be spun into some soft, cuddly yarn. Now I need to put on my thinking cap and come up with some ideas for colors.

The alpaca socks are coming along. Last night I finished the heel flap and turned the heel, ready now for the gusset. They're like Charmin...squeezably soft.

It's Fiber Friday at Etsy. I don't have anything new to list right now, but I may jump in and feature one of the yarns with lots of views. Better go for now...thanks for reading!

Etsy Welcome

The spinning wheel is still taking it easy waiting on more roving. I've been reading the forums at Etsy trying to learn the ins and outs. Most of them say you need to promote your shop outside of Etsy, so I've been working on designing some business cards and flyers. I also posted in the forums for the first time over the weekend. They say you should introduce yourself, so that's what I did, and received a nice welcome from other Etsians. I need to use this time also as I said to catch up on housework. So far, I can't see that the house looks much different:) The day is young yet, though. Maybe I should make a chore list... Of course I could have a couple of the chores on the list done in the time it takes me to make the list! Better get busy...thanks for reading!

Etsy Mini

There's a new gadget at Etsy called Etsy Mini that allows sellers to place a little shop window on their websites or blogs. Check it out there at the right. Clicking on a picture will take you directly to that listing in my shop. Neat, huh? I placed something new in the shop this morning...hand dyed roving. So far all I had in there were handspun yarns, but it needed a little variety...thus, "Tropical Island" roving. You know, blue skies, ocean, sandy beaches, etc. If there's something you'd like to see in my shop (colors, fibers, one- or two-ply, fine or bulky yarn) please contact me through the link in the shop. I'm learning the ropes and would be interested to hear what customers are looking for. Better go...thanks for reading!