Blergh.

I am having a Not Good dye day. The Elf just helped me clean up an enormous spill. I've learn not to try and dye nearly a pound of fiber at once. With my make-shift set up, it isn't worth the risks. I'm trying to dye roving in a Luna Moth colorway for Phat Fiber. I knew there was a reason I didn't want to do that particular box. All of these troubles are like the universe screaming "I told you so!"

But I'm pushing on anyway. The roving is steaming and I just hope that it'll turn out decent enough or that I can at least salvage it with an overdye.

It's been storming for more than a week now. My Sunshine State is failing me. It isn't usually this bad unless a hurricane is coming through. I need sunlight the way fish need water.

No pictures today. I'm doing all I can not to throw things at the wall in frustration.

Tdf13 day 3

Today's spinning:

"Good Red Dirt" by Three Waters Farm
"G-Man Gideon Graves" by Luthvarian Fiber Arts
"Spike" by Hilltop Cloud
"Drawn to be Bad" by All for Love of Yarn
"Absolute Zero" by The Dyeing Arts
100% alpaca by NorthStarAlpacas
"Detective Superintendent Hannasyde of Scotland Yard" by Bitsy Knits
50% baby alpaca 50% fine moorit wool by Catawampus Farms

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.

Otherwise occupied.

What have I been doing? Well, lots of things - most of them far from my blog.

I carded this batt (I really hope the curly locks stay curly) based on this super hero.


This is the side that I think of as the inside - not on the top of the carder when I'm carding.


The top side.


Rolled up and pretty. It's wool, mohair, and bamboo.


Can you see how busy we've been? This is the Beast. He's four feet away from me in this exact pose right now.


I'm almost done with this roving. I really enjoyed spinning the first half (it's already been plied). This second half has taken *forever* to spin. I have about fifteen inches of roving left (what's hanging from the tension knob in the picture). Then it has to sit for a few days before I ply it. Whew.

I have another bobbin to ply and then I'm have to decide if I want to spin my Master Chief batt, my Promethean batt (which actually isn't finished yet), or my Black Cat batt. Or.. or.. or.. yeah. Such problems I have, right? Well, to be honest, I'm using wool to distract myself from the fact that our oven is broken and has been for about a week. With luck (and $200+) it will be fixed tomorrow. I also had to take the dog to the vet yesterday ($200+ for allergy meds, shots, and flea meds) and the Elf to the asthma specialist ($70+ for the doctor and medication). Right. Look at my fluffy fiber stash! It's so shiny..

The woes of wool.

Okay. I give up. Spinners and fiber fanatics, I call upon you for help.

I want to add "interesting" things to my batts (those sheets of fluff that my drum carder produces for spinning - for you nonspinners). Where in the world do I start? What are fair prices for these things? Where in the world do I find them?

I wanted to try sari (saree?) silk. Here's the thing, it's supposedly a waste product. Tell me then, why does it cost so much? I don't want it already carded so that I can separate the colors some - all I'm finding is Paradise Fibers. So.. is this silk really that different from buying silk thread at a craft store? Or using silk roving in teeny bits?

What about all those locks? Cotswold, mohair, etc. I have a fairly fine toothed carder - is it worth the $6+ an ounce for this stuff?

I see all of these lovely batts on Etsy and I feel overwhelmed. I want to be able to combine colors as well as they do. I want the variety of texture that I can only imagine these batts contain. Which leave me with: where in the world do I start?

And because I can't leave you without any pictures (also this will help explain some of the crazy going on in my head). Here's the loot from my first ever Phat Fiber box.









So much squishy goodness in this box! The theme was "super heroes" and I can't wait for next month: villains!

A good mail day!

I meant to post this.. Thursday? I'm really not on the ball this week.


Check out this all of this loot! My dear friend sent an unbirthday package for me and the boys: spinning tops, monster finger puppets, and yummy chocolate (not pictured because I hid it away immediately). The high speed whorl and fiber I ordered got here two days early. And the super fun EyeCanArt kit that I won from Nicole's giveaway. Also a book to review for LibraryThing! Yay!

Today I've been doing this:



It will eventually be combined to make "Master Chief" batts.

More exciting news? I ordered my first ever Phat Fiber Sample Box! How will we celebrate this? With the vanilla frosted brownie cake the Beast requested, of course! Speaking of, I should get started on the mini apple pies for B and myself.

Spinning

I've fallen quiet again. I find that I have nothing to post about. We're having the usual homeschool fight - still trying to find our groove. It's practically summer here in Florida and it's hard to think through the heat (though I'm grateful for the sunshine after a week of rain and clouds). What's a stressed mama to do? Spin, of course!


Currently on my bobbin is this. I'm spinning probably lace weight here. I'm thinking about plying it but haven't made a decision yet.


This is the roving that is being spun above. I dyed this quite some time ago.


I spun this mostly over the weekend at the farm. It's near lace weight as well but I think I'm not going to ply it. It reminds me of Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle - which is what I'll probably name it. (Aside: we have a cat named Calcifer - this yarn is nothing like her. And that tickles me.)


50% merino, 30% bamboo, 20% tussah silk. Scrumptious, in a word. I've been waiting on the arrival of my new toy to ply this.


Do you see this? It's my new, beloved toy. Dervish will soon be outfitted with a jumbo flyer! Score! Of course, I need to finish the blue yarn off before I assemble it. But here it is, freshly polished with beeswax. I'm so excited!

Mayhaw Festival

Over the weekend I was at Golden Acres Ranch for their Mayhaw Festival. I was set up in a tent with my yarn and Dervish, my spinning wheel. People came to watch me spin, to learn how to clean raw fleece, to gather information. It was a great deal of fun. Saturday I went by myself. It was overcast and rained occasionally. There was still a pretty good turn out, regardless. I met a great many truly wonderful people.

Saturday it was sunny and beautiful. B and the boys came with me. I'm so grateful for B. He is truly amazing - to spend his birthday chasing our kids around a farm while I share my spinning with others. It seemed that despite the weather there were less people - more kids, but less of a crowd. I still managed to meet many people (a number of whom have recently had sheep sheared and wanted to know what to do next). Busy as I was, I didn't take any pictures. Here are a sprinkling of photographs that B too while he followed the boys around.


I'm told that when they went on the "hay ride" (I didn't see any hay, but you get the idea) this dog (Boo, I think) followed along with the stick. I can't tell you how overjoyed my kids were with this dog. They love our mutt, Cynddl, but he's less than willing to fetch.















This weekend left me wanting, more than ever, to move out of the city and onto some decent land. There were chickens running everywhere, calm farm dogs, bleating goats, sunshine, and open spaces. Despite being glad to be home, I found myself profoundly sad driving back into the city.

Creative ten-year-old.

The Elf's school work for the last four days has been to make three stop-motion videos (he loves these things). One, I said, must tell a story and not involve any violence. This is what he did to satisfy my requirements. I present his retelling of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

I suspect a lot of people who see this are unfamiliar with the character he used. They are mostly from the Halo games. While I do not always approve of the content of the videos that he makes, I must say that he is quite good at creating them.

Etsy.

Okay. I did it. I spent all day writing listings, affixing tags, and taking pictures. I've uploaded all of my currently available yarn to my Etsy shop.

Yay! Right?

Well, Friday night (or Saturday morning) I'm going to put my shop on vacation until Sunday afternoon. This weekend I'll be at the Mayhaw Festival at Golden Acres Ranch. I don't suspect that I'll sell anything there, but I'd rather not double sell something, you know?

Now I'm off to put babies to bed. Then I'm going to sit down with some lovely 50% merino 30% bamboo 20% tussah silk and spin away!

A third.

Yesterday was my third son's third birthday (the Beast). Three is fun.


Would you believe that this shirt was the biggest hit of all his presents? He's been wearing it since yesterday morning and shows no signs of letting me take it off. I have a purple shirt that I may put a cyberman on for him soon.


Rainbow dash was loved by everyone. Applejack lost her hat within the first thirty seconds of play. I'm going to sew elastic to it so that they can easily remove and replace it.


This is the extent of my cake decorating skills. A two layer brownie cake with buttercream frosting and peanut butter M&Ms. Classy, right? A suggestion: no matter whose birthday it is or how much they want it, toddlers should not be given cake thirty minutes before bedtime. It makes things more difficult than necessary.


This is what I did last week.

I've had the piece for this quilt top cut and sewn into strips for years.


I finally sewed the strips together. It's huge. I also sewed together the squares for a quilt for the Elf. I had one side sewn and the other just cut out. Right now it's half quilted. I've sort of lost momentum again.


The Imp's current favorite mama-made pants (mushrooms!). For my next trick, I'll add pockets.

Linking up with Nicole's Craft On. Because I can.