9 posts tagged “merino”

I managed to get some new yarns listed tonight! Four new single plys. Three are spun from wonderful merino wool/bamboo blend dyed by Cloudlover, and the other is Falkland from the Yarn Wench.

Here is a mosaic of the new skeins, all listed now in my etsy shop -

Here are direct links and more information -

Kitty Singles - A Clockwork Orange - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn (Falkland Wool) 126 yards, worsted weight

Kitty Singles - Blackberry Sea - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn (merino wool/bamboo) 152 yards, DK weight

Kitty Singles - Peppermint Twist - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn (merino wool/bamboo) 162 yards, DK weight

Kitty Singles - Not so Fiendish - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn (merino wool/bamboo) 126 yards, worsted weight

I know i've been quiet lately, but I'm working on a big custom request, along with having some other distractions at the moment that have been keeping me from my wheel. I hope to have more yarns to list at the end of the week, though, probably on Saturday.

Also - just a note about my shipping charges - I am no longer offering free shipping in my etsy shop, and my international rates have gone up for those outside the USA and Canada, but if you'd like free or discounted shipping EVERY month, please check out my mailing list - you can sign up in the sidebar of this blog, or at the bottom of this page!

I am really trying to stick to a heavy spinning schedule this week as I prepare for the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair. My plan is to alternate between "bamboo days" and "wool days". Yesterday was a "wool day", so I spun up some merino wool and merino wool and silk blends. I've listed all of these skeins in my etsy shop - here is a mosaic of the new ones - (below you'll find direct links to the listings)

Kitty Singles - Ivy League - Hand Spun Merino Wool - 132 yards - worsted, thick n thin
Navajo 3-ply - Ivy League - Hand Spun Merino Wool and Silk blend - 90 yards - heavy worsted/bulky
Navajo 3-ply - Mahogany Peacock - Hand Spun Merino Wool and Silk Blend - 58 yards - heavy worsted/bulky
Squish-tastic! - Mahogany Peacock - Hand Spun Merino Wool and Merino/Silk - 88 yards - super bulky
Squish-tastic! - Mahogany Peacock - Hand Spun Merino Wool and Merino/Silk - 28 yards - super bulky (mini skein)

I've been a bit distracted lately, but I have been spinning. I've finished some single plys that were custom requests so they never quite made it to etsy. Yesterday, though, I spun four more single ply skeins, all from some different blends of fiber. Two of them are spun from Optim fiber - Optim fiber is made by stretching fine merino wool to reduce the fiber diameter and lengthen the staple, resulting in wonderful loft and softness - making it feel similar to cashmere. It doesn't have quite the elasticity/memory of wool but isn't quite the same as bamboo. I like how the skeins feel! Very soft and smooth. The other two skeins are merino/silk blends. I usually spin the merino/silk as Navajo 3-plys, but they take me SO long that I was looking for something that would take me a little less time, hence the single plys. Now I've got to decide if I'm going to do more of the merino/silk singles or go back to the 3plys . . . I guess I'll wait and see how I feel.

Here is a mosaic of the new skeins -

From the top left corner to the bottom right corner -

Wine Garden - 130 yards, merino wool and silk, Worsted weight
Rocker Grrl - 130 yards, merino wool and silk, DK weight
Peach Crush - 110 yards, optim fiber, Worsted weight
Captivate - 100 yards, optim fiber, DK weight

I'm not doing so well on the trying-to-blog-regularly, but maybe I will get back into the routine soon. I HAVE been doing pretty good with the exercising, though, which is what I've got to go do right now . . .

So it seems this week I was on a kick of spinning more simple single ply yarns. I received some super soft merino wool from FreckleFaceFibers and wanted to spin them up right away but wanted to do something "quick and simple" with them - so they became slightly thick n thin worsted weight single ply skeins -

Candy Corn Tonight (from fiber called Jack O' Lantern)

Raspberry Truffle (from fiber called Sangria)

I put "quick and easy" in quotes because even a simple single ply yarn isn't always easy - while merino wool is my favorite as far as softness goes, it isn't as easy to spin as, say, Falkland. Merino is very squishy and likes to "stick" together. Falkland is just a bit more smooth, and slips apart when drafting just a little bit easier. So, I also did spin a single ply this week -

Raking Leaves - spun from hand dyed Falkland wool from the Yarn Wench.

Finally, last night, I decided to take two really soft Spontaneous Spinning batts from LOOP and spin them into Corespun single ply yarns. Corespun yarns are spun by spinning the wool around a core thread. In this case, I used a crochet cotton thread. Here are the skeins (one of which has already sold - yay and thank you!)

Mint Enchanted -

Emerald Enchanted - (sold)
So this is what I've been up to this week, along with some other custom orders. Tomorrow my ART YARN CHALLENGE begins and I will be spinning nothing but art yarns for the next 3 days (at least). I'll blog a bit more about that tomorrow, though . . .

One of these days I will start to post here daily again! But, for now, here is another quickie update post -

I have been spinning this week in preparation for YARN CON! YarnCon is THIS SATURDAY, October 4, at the Pulaski Park Field House in Chicago, Illinois. For all the details, CLICK HERE!

I've been spinning some bamboo and today will start in on some new art yarns! Yay! Not sure how much I'll have time to finish before Saturday, but I do know I will have at least two brand new art yarn colors.

I've also been spinning some "Squish-tastic" bulky 2-ply yarns, along with a little bit of Navajo plying - here are a couple of the most recent yarns I've finished and listed on my website and etsy.

Aqua Lime Explosion - as a Squish-tastic! and 3ply -

Tainted Love (aka Black Cherry) as a Squish-tastic!

And, Sabrina's Garden, a merino wool and silk blend Navajo 3-ply yarn -

Well, that's it for now, I've got to get spinning! I'm going to try and post some more pics tomorrow of the new art yarns, but we'll see!

One thing you may notice is the fact that there are some colors I return to over and over again . . . Pine Forest happens to be one of them. I first spun this colorway into two art yarns. Then, recently, into some single plys. And, now, here it is in yet another form -

This is a thick/thin super squishy 2ply! One ply is a thick/thin merino and the other is a thin merino/silk. I also have a mini skein of it, too -

And, since I always have extra of the thin merino/silk strand, I also have a small 85-yard skein of the merino/silk Navajo plied!

Last night, I did another of the bulky thick/thin 2plys in the "Meridian" colorway! I didn't get the Navajo 3ply done, but I did get a large 120 yard skein of the 2ply spun up - it should be listed later today!

Tonight, I finish the Navajo 3ply and then it is back to the bamboo! I have some more to spin for a possible buyer this weekend at the CRAFTACULAR (at the High Noon Saloon in Madison, Wisconsin - Saturday, June 28, 10am-4pm!) and then also wanted to get a couple more skeins spun up for the show in general.

In other news, I have 3 days left of my job . . . . . it's just . . . weird. But, I will definitely love having more time to spin!!

That's all from me for now!

So, my show this past weekend was actually really good!! It was at a mall in Madison, and can I just say - Madison rocks! There are definitely a lot of knitters there so instead of selling mostly hand knits (which is what I *thought* would sell) - I sold yarn!! I always prefer when the yarn sells, since I really do enjoy spinning more than knitting right now. That's not to say I don't like knitting - it's just right now I'd rather be spinning. Honestly, there isn't much I would RATHER do than spin . . .

At the show, which WAS long - 11 hours on Saturday and 7 hours on Sunday and that was just the "open" hours - I was there early both days! - I got A LOT of spinning done! Yay! Since I hadn't spun much in the days leading up to the show, it was actually really great to just sit and spin all day. Here are the yarns that I finished:

Plum Grove - Navajo 3-ply in Merino Wool/Silk blend. This fiber is an 80% merino/20% silk blend hand dyed by the Yarn Wench as a special request. (You know I can't seem to get enough of this colorway!). I spun one batch into this Navajo 3-ply skein, 200 yards total of thinner worsted weight:
With the other batch of merino/silk, I spun a thin strand, that I used in a different yarn (I'll show that one in just a second) but had a bit left over to make this smaller 80 yard skein:

The other yarn I spun was the bulky 2-plys I like to do - spun from one thick/thin strand of merino wool, and then plied with the thinner strand of merino/silk. I also ended up with one large and one small skein. Here is the large, 136 yards, 4.3 oz!

And, the Mini Skein of 46 yards:
This week I plan on spinning up some art yarns, but first I just *had* to spin some of the "Babycakes" I got from LOOP last week! First, I selected some that I thought would work well together (since they are small little "mini-batts" of fiber, I wanted to combine them for a longer yarn) . . . here is a shot of the ones I chose:
Each row was spun into a separate yarn, in my "Rocky Roads" style - plied with thread with coils along the way! I finished quite late last night so was only able to take some shots of the yarn (before setting the twist) in my crappy night lighting - but here is one (I'll have better ones later today!)

They are VERY textured and sparkly! They'll be listed on etsy and my website later today!

That's all for today!

So, once again, no post on Monday. One of these weeks I'll post every day, really!

But, I don't have much to say/show today, but I do want to post my latest yarns . . .

oh, wait, before I do that - I have a Treasury on Etsy right now! Please CLICK HERE to check it out! It is "From Fiber to Yarn to Art" and includes some of my favorite fibers, yarns, and finished products. It will only be available until Thursday morning, though!

Okay, on to the yarns. First, here is some bamboo that I spun up on Saturday night. Very thinly spun! It isn't quite on etsy or my website yet, but should be later today, along with another skein of handspun bamboo that I spun up yesterday. This one is called "Marmalade Sky" and is spun from fiber dyed by the FiberLady.
Then, there are the CoilySpun skeins I spun on Saturday, too. They were spun from hand dyed domestic wool dyed by the Yarn Wench. They have both been listed on etsy (click on the picture to go to the listing) and kittygrrlz.com.

And, finally, here is what I spun on Sunday - more Andromeda! Andromeda has been a very popular colorway hand dyed by Lynn (aka the Yarn Wench). Each batch is slightly different and I've already spun up several of them. This time, I wanted to spin a thin single of merino/silk, a thick single of merino, and ply them together (similar to what I had done with the "Pucci" colorways). But, I didn't have any of the merino/silk Andromeda! So, thanks to Naomi, who was willing to do some swapping, I got the fiber I needed as she sent me her batch of the merino/silk. There is one large skein of the bulky two-ply (110 yards, 4.6 oz) and then a lot of 2 mini-skeins, including 50 yards of Navajo 3-ply spun from just the merino/silk blend.
And, the mini-skein lot:

Last night, I spun up some more bamboo and then some "Batt-tacular" yarns! Two single ply skeins and 1 bulky plied-with-thread skein, all spun from batts from TerraBellaSpun. They should be listed on my website tonight and a couple of them will probably be on etsy, too. Then, tonight, I have two more batts I hope to spin and then it will probably be back to the art yarns.

But, for now, I must get to work!

has it really been a week since I last posted???? Shame, shame!

But, I've been busy. I had a show on Saturday so of course spent last week getting ready for it, which basically meant forcing myself to KNIT! I don't know why it is so difficult for me to get working on a knitting project - once I complete them I'm always happy - but once again it was down to the wire as I tried to get two Triangle Shawls done . . . and it paid off as one of them sold! Here is the other one . . . they are *really* difficult to photograph. I realized this time that the problem is the only open/bright/white background space I have is by our window - which doesn't work too well when you are trying to take pictures having the light *behind* just isn't conducive to getting a good picture. So, I will have to work on trying to find another space. Right now I'm thinking I need to find a white sheet or something that i could drape over the TV or something, then I could use that as the background . . . but, I digress. Here are a couple of shots of the shawl - but they are much better in person!

I also took pictures of two more scarves that I knit from hand dyed yarn - this yarn is Austerman Samoa nylon microfiber yarn that was hand dyed by Lynn aka the Yarn Wench, special for me. Both of these scarves are listed on my WEBSITE and also my hand knits etsy shop, Kitty Grrlz Knits. (The shawl will be listed later today.)

CopperBurnt Sky:

Ruby Sky:
And, of course, there has been lots of spinning! I spun up some bamboo recently, but the first one I did on Friday and it just didn't turn out well - I mean, I like it, especially the color, but it was spun much too unevenly and, well, here it is so you can see for yourself:
I guess it just turned out thicker and more over-twisted than I like. For comparison, here is another bamboo skein that I spun up on Sunday. It is much thinner, and more even (though I still get Wraps Per Inch varying between Sport and Fine weight), but to me, it just looks much more "professional":

This one should be listed later today. I'm still not sure if I'm going to list the other one. I may use it for my knitting experiment, we'll see.

I also spun up two Navajo 3-ply Yarns this weekend! Mostly done at my show. They are both available on my website or on etsy. If you click the pics below it will take you to the etsy listings.

This is "Sabrina's Garden" and is 160 yards. Merino wool.

This is "Fuchsia Cocoa Citrine", 116 yards, merino and silk blend hand dyed by the Yarn Wench.

Both are priced a little less than normal as they were mostly spun while at my show. Which, by the way, was an okay show. I sold a few yarns and the shawl, made my fee and gas money back with even a little to spare! Yay! Now, I don't have a show until April 12, and the main thing I want to have done by then are MORE SHAWLS, and more bamboo yarns.

Finally, I just have to say WOOHOO! I was on the front page of etsy on Sunday night! Here is a screen shot of part of the treasury that was curated by SteppingStones. Thank you for including me and yay for it making the front page!

Oops, ONE more thing, then I must get to work. Here is a sneak peek at a new yarn I spun last night. It is merino wool hand dyed by the Yarn Wench, with lots of specialty yarns spun in, and plied with rayon thread. 114 yards and 4.1 oz! AND, I still have more of the fiber so will be spinning a matching skein (will probably be smaller, though) tonight. This one, though, should be listed later today, once I get a chance to take some better pictures!