92 posts tagged “art yarn”

I've listed a bunch of new yarns this past week! These will be the last new ones until after the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival, which is THIS coming weekend!

In other news, my FunctionArt - Summer Mountain Morning yarn is featured in this week's Etsy Voter - please show your support by voting - you can find the voting HERE.

Here are some mosaics of the new yarns, but for all the details, please check them out in my etsy shop!

Fall Collection 2009 - all spun from LOOP Spontaneous Spinning batts -

Then, there are the blues and purples, also spun from LOOP batts -

And, one more, this set spun from Yarn Wench merino wool -

I've listed a few new yarns recently . . . two art yarn skeins today and 2 bamboo skeins yesterday. Very opposite yarns - the art yarn is very bright and cheery in shades of bright pink and peachy coral, and the bamboo is the most gorgeous deep plum/purple! Here is a mosaic of them, and you can find them in my etsy shop HERE.

I also finally spun a two-ply recently! I do like how the twoplys turn out, but since they take me so much longer than all of my other yarns, I don't spin them very often. But, I had this custom-color dyed by the Yarn Wench in merino wool, and thought it'd look good as 2ply. The colors were hard to capture, but here are the two skeins -

You can find them in my etsy shop HERE and HERE.

I'm getting ready for Wisconsin Sheep & Wool, which is in a couple of weeks, so I may not be listing much or posting here, but I AM spinning and will have new yarns available there and then will list what doesn't sell after the show. Lots going on right now and one of these days I'll blog about it all . . .

As promised, pictures of the two new single ply yarns listed in my etsy shop today -

Top - Blackberry Sea - 190 yards - DK weight
Bottom - Orion - 146 yards - thinner Worsted weight

Also, I don't think i ever posted this mosaic, but here are some of the yarns I listed this past week -

short and sweet today as i've got to get some spinning done! :)

I know this may be more of a fall/holiday colored yarn, but I couldn't resist getting this one spun up as it's been waiting for me to spin it for awhile. It is similar to last fall's "Holiday Spice", so even though it was spun from a different Yarn Wench colorway this time, I've kept the Holiday Spice name. I have two skeins, both 100 yards, and both a little more bulky as opposed to super bulky. Here is a mosaic of the skeins, which you can find on etsy HERE and HERE.

Not sure if I'll get to spinning today. We received free tickets to the NASCAR Nationwide Series race tonight, so we'll be going at some point. This afternoon I hope to prep some Falkland fiber for single plys, but not sure if I'll get to spinning them or not. I WILL be spinning lots of Falkland and bamboo singles over the next couple of days. I *think* I may take a break from the art yarns until the beginning of July, but who knows. I still have quite a few that are waiting and pretty much ready to go. I'll also be working on a couple of custom orders these next few days, too.

But, now, it's time to do some fiber prep!

I have finally spun up my latest "Plum Divine" skeins! I stayed up until 5am to do it, but they are done! (and, really, I was only up so late because I ended up getting such a late start on spinning yesterday!). I've got four, 3 are basically the same, but the 4th one is a little different in that it has 19 different novelty/specialty yarns spun in (as opposed to the 12 the others have.) This last skein has a bit more burgundy and yellow in it than the other 3. Here is a mosaic of the skeins, and below are links to the individual skeins in my etsy shop -

FunctionArt - Plum Divine - Hand Spun Art Yarn - 94 yards (1)
FunctionArt - Plum Divine - Hand Spun Art Yarn - 94 yards (2)
FunctionArt - Plum Divine - Hand Spun Art Yarn - 78 yards
FunctionArt - Plum Wine & Sunshine Divine - Hand Spun Art Yarn - 88 yards

Now it's time to get to work! I'm either going to be spinning two art yarn skeins tonight, or 4 Falkland single plys. It will depend on how I feel after exercising and an early dinner!

Well, as promised, I spun a totally new art yarn color yesterday and have the two skeins now listed in my etsy shop. As soon as I saw this hand dyed merino wool roving on the Yarn Wench site, I knew it would make a great art yarn. Called "Haunting", it's a very autumnal/fall color combination of dark blue and plum, with orange, gold, and rust in there, too. I spun two similar skeins, though one is plied with dark blue thread and the other is plied with orange/rust thread. You can find "Autumn Haunting" HERE and "October NightSong' HERE.

I also had time for one single ply - Brass Petals - spun from great Falkland dyed by Cloudlover. I have 6 more great colors ready to spin, and am hoping to have them all spun by the weekend, if I'm lucky.

Today, I hope to spin two more of the Falkland single plys and at least two skeins of Plum Divine art yarn. Tomorrow, more Falkland, and another NEW color of art yarn. I may have to slip some bamboo in here somewhere, too!

But, now I must get to spinning. To end, here is a mosaic of the new yarns:

Yesterday in my Plum Divine post, I made mention of my topic for today - and that is featuring the crocheted moebius cowls of iWunder on etsy!

Jennifer does many things, actually. She has hand dyed yarn, hand knit purses, and scarves for men and women. But, what has really caught my eye in her shop are the unique crocheted cowls she makes with my art yarns and also other hand spun yarns.

I always love to see how my art yarns are used, and when I saw these pictures, I knew I had to make sure to highlight them in a blog post! They show off the colors and textures of the yarn, but are also fashionable and very fun! (not to mention, versatile!)

You can find all of Jennifer's cowls here, but below are just a few of my favorites!

Here is the one made with the "Plum Divine" color! You can see more pictures of it here.

Another of my favorite yarn colors has been "Turquoise Parrot". Here is a cowl crocheted with one of those skeins - (listing on etsy here)

Another color that is one of my favorites to spin is this one - Mahogany Midnight Moon - here is a gorgeous cowl made with this color -

In addition to the art yarns, she also uses gorgeous single ply hand spuns from other sources, but also has used my "Squish-tastic!" yarns. Here is one that really shows off this style of yarn - (you can find more great pictures in the listing here.)

And, even though she has many more in her shop and they are all fantastic, I'm going to end with this one - Surf's Up!

So, if you are looking for a unique and versatile hand made accessory - check out iWunder on etsy!

Recently, I was asked, "If you were a color, what color would you be?"

For most people, this should probably be an easy question, right? Well, I thought it should be, and maybe it would have been except for one thing -

I work with color *every day*. *COLOR* is one of the main reasons I do what I do, spin what I spin, etc. I spend way too much time thinking about color and which ones to use together. I spend hours pouring over hand dyed fiber with the most important trait being the color and color blends (followed second by the fiber type). (And let's not even get into the photo-editing process whereby I angst over whether or not my pictures are truly capturing the yarn colors accurately.)

Anyways, my answer to that question was finally, "Plum Divine" - a combination of green, plum/purple, a little burgundy and usually some chartreuse. And, the funny thing is, this combines two of my past "favorite colors" - when I was very young, green was my favorite color, and more recently, purple has become a favorite. But, this blend, this colorway, is truly my favorite - or at least definitely in the top 5.

The color first appeared on Lynn aka the Yarn Wench's site a couple of years ago as her colorway "Plumgrove". It has undergone some slight changes from batch to batch, and also from fiber type to fiber type - but it always grabs my attention and I can't help but purchase it. I have spun it as an art yarn (in merino), a single ply (in merino/silk and Falkland), a Squish-tastic in merino and merino/silk and a Navajo 3ply in merino/silk. Currently, I only have one skein of it available, a single ply in a merino/silk blend, but I have two batches of it waiting to be spun into art yarns. I hope to have those spun up next week, but as always happens when I receive a batch of it - I need to let it sit and simmer awhile, percolate if you will, before I bring it out, match it up with the yarns, and spin it up.

Here is a mosaic of some of the previous spins in this colorway -

Tomorrow, I will be highlighting a great etsy seller who makes gorgeous cowls with my art yarns - and of course, one of them was crocheted with a PLUM DIVINE SKEIN! :)

(If you are interested in a Plum Divine skein in an art yarn form, I should have 4 skeins spun up next week. I also have one more batch of it in the merino/silk blend which could be spun into a Navajo 3ply or single.)

I wanted to wait until I was able to retake pictures of these skeins before posting here, but it was another gray day today. So, here is a mosaic of two new colors that I listed in my etsy shop yesterday -

The top one is "Sangria Garden Rose", spun from hand dyed merino wool dyed by the Yarn Wench. I really love this color and do have another batch of it. Not sure if it will become two more art yarn skeins, or something else.

The bottom one is also Yarn Wench merino, in color "Adriatic". Gorgeous shades of blues, greens and purple in this one, with lots of fun novelty yarns spun in!

These will probably be the last art yarns I spin for a week or so, but we'll see. I do have a box full of brighter fibers ready to spin into art yarns, but I just don't think they are "ready" to be spun yet!?!? I'm just not "feeling" them right now. I know that's odd, but art yarns aren't something I can "force" - usually they have to simmer or percolate a bit before finally being ready. When they (or *I*) are ready, though, I'll have a nice bright batch!

Right now, I've got lots of bamboo colors ready to spin (including a couple for some custom orders), and also 4 new batches of Falkland from Cloudlover. Since I'm getting ready for a show this Saturday, I'm also knitting. I am hoping to finish three shawls before Saturday. If I have time, I'll be spinning the bamboo and Falkland in between knitting!

I will be listing two colors of bamboo tomorrow - more "Bluebonnet Belle" and a new one, "Mocha Bliss".

Now, it's back to knitting this shawl . . .

Yesterday, I spun up four skeins of art yarn! It always feels good to spin the art yarns, and these were both fun colors to try and spin. I also brought out the sparkle for these, though it is difficult to show in the pictures. One of the colors I spun is for a potential custom order, and the other has been listed in my shop on etsy. That one is "Midnight Magenta" - spun from hand dyed merino wool dyed by the Yarn Wench in color "Gemini". I have two skeins available.

I'm not sure I'll be listing anything new tomorrow, but I should have some bamboo ready for Thursday, and maybe some others, too. I admit I've been a little distracted with some things, one of which is trying to get back into an exercise routine! So far, I've actually been doing pretty well - I'm on my second week - and it is helping.

But now, I am going to try and get a little work done. I want to at least get some fiber prepped tonight, even if I don't get a chance to spin it.