Tdf13 day 2

Last night I ended up spinning more. "Long Hair Loki" and "The Dark World" by Things Liz Makes and and unnamed bit of top by All for Love of Yarn.

Today I've spun "Hexadecimal" by Llady Llama Fiber Co., "The End of Rorschach" by Luthvarian Fiber Arts, "Psychedelic Powers" by Alma Park Alpacas,"Hero 2" by Shades of Light, "Regina" by Kitty Mine Crafts, "The Doctor" by Inglenook Fibers, and "Wonder Woman" by Six Fingered Kitty.



We finally got Mama Cat and her three kittens into the house today. They're scared but contained. In the next day or two we'll get them to the vet. Mama may need to be a spay-and-release. She's *really* not thrilled about being inside.

Tour de Fleece

So, I did it. I joined the Phat Fiber Tour de Fleece team. For those of you who don't know what that is, here's my understanding: While the people in the Tour de France ride, we spin. Not all day, though. The goal is to spin every day that they ride and to do something difficult on their challenging day. I know nothing about bike races. And honestly, I don't care. But an excuse to definitely spin every day? I'm all for that.



I'm spinning my samples from the last two Phat Fiber boxes (super heroes and villains). I'm having the boys pick (from youngest to oldest) which sample I spin. So far it's been "Storm" by Fiber Faire, "The Man of Steel" by Woodland Hills Alpaca, and "Joker" by Hello Purl.



And how could I resist a picture of one of my cute helpers?

Otherwise it's been a stormy, stormy day and we've been trying to coax a feral mama cat and her three kittens into the house.

Friday + Wool

This was Friday for my youngest:





With everything I've done since then, I feel like taking a nap, too. Here's what I've been up to:


I spun this from a gorgeous batt by Hobbledehoy. I have honestly never enjoyed my wheel as much as I did while spinning this. It was nothing less than perfection.


"Cable" plying. So. Much. Work. Never again.


Corriedale rainbow.


Superwash BFL Princess.


Superwash BFL Hawk.


Polwarth Flame.

I've added all of these (minus the first yarn - that one's mine!) to my Etsy Shop.

Taming the Jungle

Let me show you something amazing (and embarrassing).

Backyard as seen from the bedroom window.

Before:

After:

Crazy, right? It took the super-powered yard guys three hours to clean our front and back yard.

This is a (bad) shot of the Rusalka batts I've been posting about. I have all my samples for July's Phat Fiber box packaged up. I just need to stamp the paper insert thingies and then it'll be ready to go. I'll also have a Rusalka batt in the shop. For once, I won't be upset if it never sells - I'd be totally happy to spin it myself!

Today I've been carding a blue/purple batt. The kids took over the table so I've had to set it all aside for now. If my energy holds, there will also be a shop update tonight. I've taken pictures and edited them but I still need to write the listings (not my favorite thing to do).

In the meantime I have a good book to read and a sleeping cat snuggled up next to me.

Rusalka

Next month's Phat Fiber theme is "under the sea." For part of my contribution I'm using the rusalka myths as inspiration. If you head to DeviantArt and search for "rusalka" you'll see some good examples. Over the past three days I've been dyeing fibers.

In this photo I have corriedale wool, tussah silk, silk noil, bamboo, hemp, and firestar. I'm excited to mix it all up - but also terrified of making a huge mess out of it.

Phat FIber

I've made a last minute contribution to this month's Phat Fiber box. The theme is villains and I will admit that I took a bit of poetic license.



My villain/antagonists/bad guys are: White Witch, mirelurks, Trixie, and the vague idea of djinn) as bad guys in fantasy novels (but I preferred the word ifrit).


All packaged and ready to mail, which I did this morning. Whee!

Weekend.

My cranky old man thinks he's a box of food, apparently. He spent more than half an hour sitting there.


My dye experiment (inspired by this). I used Jacquard acid dyes in not-quite-primary colors. It's an imperfect experiment but it gives me a good idea of how to get certain colors.


Spinning! Yay! I've been spinning like.. a dervish.


This was a lace/cobweb that I chain plied. I think it's gorgeous.


My Black Cat batt. The locks I used were crap. My step mother gave me an ancient package of locks meant for doll hair or crafting or something. But it's what I had. I managed to get a few tips to show through. If (and that's a big if) I list it in my Etsy shop it'll go under a new heading "Handpun Yarn - Experiments" and be deeply discounted.


Another experiment. This was my Master Chief batt. I spun it up all crazy and then coil/plied around an unknown golden fiber (some people think it might be linen, others think it may just be acrylic). It's crazy. I still have half of the yarn left over (not coiled). My core yarn kept falling apart or getting terribly overspun. How do people deal with that? Clearly I'm doing something wrong.

Not sure what I'll do with the rest of my Sunday. Finish carding my Promethean batt maybe. Or spin the gorgeous art batt that B bought me. Whatever it is, I expect it'll be woolly.