59 posts tagged “new yarns”

So, I haven't been online as much lately, but oh, I HAVE been spinning! Lots and lots of new yarns, though some have sold, and more are coming! Here are the latest -

Beautiful Bamboo - Summer Neon Taffy - Two skeins available here and here or click on the picture below.

FunctionArt - Pink Lemonade - a smaller art yarn skein spun from merino wool with novelty yarns/fibers spun in and plied with thread. Sort of coordinates with the Novel-Ply "Citrus Sun" and I do also plan on having two more skeins in brighter shades of orange, yellow, and pink.

Novel-Ply - Citrus Sun

FunctionArt/Batt-tacular! - Aqua Splash! - spun from a carded batt from TerraBellaSpun.

This single ply yarn was spun by me from a blended fiber batt from ButterflyGirlDesigns. It is 67% bamboo, 25% merino wool, and 8% nylon firestar. She called it "The Curtain Dress" inspired by the dress Scarlett O'Hara made from curtains in Gone with the Wind. It is beautiful intense shades of teal, gold, and black.

Kitty Singles - Vintage Spring - hand dyed Falkland wool dyed by the Yarn Wench, spun by me.

And, another FunctionArt/Batt-tacular yarn, spun from a carded fiber batt from FeltStudioUK.

Another single ply -

And, more bamboo! This is a new color, "Seashore" . . . I'm calling it Seashells by the Seashore, just because I like the ring to it! I have two skeins available here and here, or click on the picture below.

And, one more FunctionArt/Batt-tacular! yarn - spun from the "Sexy" batt from FeltStudioUK. I just LOVE the colors in this one! Wasn't sure at first the combination would work, but . . . I think it did!
In other news, I officially purchased health insurance today! (For when my job ends at the end of the month.) It is just something I refused to NOT have, so . . . even though it is costly, it will be a good thing knowing I am covered . . .

But, dealing with things like this are really making me start to freak out a little in regards to having no job! I only have 8 days left! I haven't not had a job since . . . god, since I was like, 12?? Okay, those weren't official jobs, but I have been working for a very long time - AND I have been working in libraries since 1990!? How weird will it be not to anymore? Though, I do hope to return to a library at some point - right now I'm thinking/hoping maybe the end of the year or beginning of next . . .

Ah, but who knows. I've got to just take this one day at a time, I think.

That's all from me today!

OH! One more thing - I am taking part in the Etsy-wide YART SALE in my Kitty Grrlz Knits shop! I've got 12 items listed for very reduced prices - check them out HERE.

This weekend was supposed to be filled with spinning, but instead I was distracted by the stormy weather, and also finally gave in and organized my novelty/specialty yarns -

Now, at least, it should be easier for me to gather yarns together for my art yarn spins! I also moved my fiber bins - they are now stacked to the ceiling!?

You can't really tell from these pictures, but the room does look a little more open now!

I DID get some spinning done, and should have 2 new bamboo skeins and a new CoilySpun yarn ready to list later today. Over the weekend, I did finish up a couple of custom spins, one of which was "Plum Berry Sky". This one was spun from a carded batt of fiber from FeltStudio -

I also spun up some merino wool coils -
And, finally, since I had two skeins of "Hillside Wildflowers" and the customer opted for one, I do have one skein available -
I also have two bamboo sets listed (I will have a set of Spring Garden listed later today) -

Citrus Dreams
Cotton Candy Blues -

And, I also spun up a Navajo 3-ply bamboo skein - this one was going to be part of a two-ply, but this batch was darker than any other I've had before, and I just loved the colors so much, didn't want to dilute them by plying with a lighter batch - so, I just spun it by itself into a 3ply - Dark Stormy Night -
Finally, before I go - I am running a BAMBOO SPECIAL in the month of JUNE!
**If you buy TWO or THREE skeins of bamboo yarn - you will get Free Shipping in the USA or Half Price International Shipping.
**If you buy FOUR or more skeins - you will get the shipping discount *AND* $2.50 off *each skein*!

Please see the bamboo listings in my etsy shop or website for more details! This offer will run until 12midnight CST on June 27. (I have a show June 28 and will be on vacation from June 29-July 4). Also, I have a HUGE box of bamboo fiber ready to spin - if there is a color in my sold section that you would like, there is a chance I can spin it again - please contact me for details!

So, I know I've said it before, but I've got to say it again - THANK YOU to all of my wonderful customers!!! Thanks to you all, May has been my best month *ever*!?!?! I am so grateful and appreciate you choosing my yarns for your wonderful projects!

I know I've been a slacker when it comes to the blog, but it's been a busy month! I've spun about 7 pounds of bamboo up in the past couple of weeks, and worked on some custom orders. I've got more bamboo coming any day now, and new art yarns in the planning stages . . . and, of course, some great new custom spins lined up! I hope June will be another great month!

Before I get to my "big news", here are some pictures of a few new things that are now available -

Spike's Moonlight - Batt-tacular! bulky yarn

A smaller skein of FunctionArt yarn -

LoopCoilyPuff/CoilySpun Super Coils Skein! Spun from 4 Loop "babycakes"

And, one more bamboo skein -

Now, for my "news" . . .

Back in January I found out the project I've been working on will be "complete" by the end of June. This basically means that my "day job" is ending. Ever since I found this out, I've been trying to figure out what to do - get another library job, try and find a part-time job, or try and make Kitty Grrlz full time. Well, the way the past few months have gone, it is very very likely that . . . I will be making KITTY GRRLZ my full-time gig!!!! I am so excited, and anxious, but really look forward to being able to devote myself to spinning and knitting full time. The past couple of months have given me hope that I can make it work. I will still be "keeping an eye out" for a good library job, or maybe a part time job, but right now, my "plan" is to make Kitty Grrlz full time through the end of the year.

The prospect of doing this is so scary. But exhilarating. I have flip-flopped on my decision countless times over the past few months, but . . . I think I'm ready to make it official! I will be Kitty Grrlz full-time as of July 1!!

Yesterday I received two amazing packages - a box of approximately *8 pounds* of bamboo fiber for spinning . . . AND, a HUGE envelope packed with LOOP babycakes! Ahhh, heaven! These pictures aren't the best, but just in case you'd like to see what . . .

8 pounds of bamboo:
and, 6 batches of "babycakes":

look like . . . well, now you have! :)

What's a shame, though, is I'd love to dive right in to the babycakes, but will have to wait - the bamboo is what is in need of my attention for the next week . .. or two. My Ravelry ad *should* start running tomorrow, which means I want to have new bamboo listed every day for the next two weeks!? Not sure it will be possible, but . . . we'll see. I've also got a few art yarns I want to spin, and some more batts . . . and . . .

Never enough time!

I do have a couple new yarns to share as well. The first is another "Batt-tacular!" yarn spun from a batt of merino and superwash wools and glitz from TerraBellaSpun. Here is "Blue Copper Night" -

And, the second is "Copper Flash Sky" - a "Novel-Ply" yarn spun from handdyed merino wool and plied with Moda Dea Fur-Ever yarn.

Last night, I spun up a bright aqua and violet FunctionArt art yarn- two skeins from hand dyed merino wool (dyed by the Yarn Wench). I'm thinking one skein is already spoken for, but I should have one available to list later today. Here is a sneak peak -

I do have another batch of this fiber color, so may even spin up two more skeins!

That's all for today!

So, for anyone into fiber/spinning, you may be aware of LOOP - her batts were on the cover of Spin-Off magazine recently, and the demand has definitely increased for her wonderful fiber batts. But, none of them compare to her "Spontaneous Spinning Batts" - from her listing, this is a description of the batts:

"Spontaneous Spinning Batts are lumpy, bumpy, super textured spinning batts inspired by an awesome experience I had at Camp Plucky Fluff! These OOAK batts are an exercise in NOT thinking and letting spontaneity take over. I have so much fun making these batts but you'll have even more fun spinning them! They are carded to intentionally create lumps and bumps in the fiber with loads of color and lots of goodies like glitz, locks, yarn scraps, sari silk, silk noils and even sequins carded in! The result is fabulous texture and automatic randomness in your yarn. As you spin these batts, be spontaneous- let the batts spin themselves. It's so much fun!!!"

They are near impossible to get - when they appear in her shop they are gone in SECONDS! Seriously, I know. But, a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to snag *two* of them! And, both in two of my favorite colors . . . . which also happen to be the colors in my logo - orange and purple!

The first one - Purple Progression. I LOVE purple, so this batt was perfect! And, so fun to spin! It contained Corriedale wool, bamboo, alpaca, silk, and merino with a little sparkle, too. I spun in 6 different purple yarns - 3 light and 3 dark - and then plied with shiny light purple thread. The pictures don't quite do it justice, but here is the finished yarn - Plum Perfect Purple:

The second one, well, is quite opposite! The batt was called "Creamsicle" and has shades of orange, yellow and white in it for just an amazing brightness! The fibers in this one are bamboo, silk, alpaca, wool, and of course glitz. I spun in yellow and orange yarns and plied with a variegated orange/yellow/white thread. The blends of fibers give this one a really interesting texture - mostly soft/smooth but with some bumpy parts from the yarns spun in and the wool. I'm calling this skein, "You Are My Sunshine" :
Alas, these are the only two "SSBs" I've had the luxury to spin, but I did join her "Spontaneous Spinning Club" which means I will be getting one new batt each month! Yay! I've also got some batches of "babycakes" on the way, which will be combined for various types of yarns . . .

While I would love to spin nothing but SSBs and babycakes, I do have other fiber to spin, and recently had the joy of trying out a new fiber seller - FeltStudioUK . I was asked to spin up the "Forest" batts . . . I made sure I got extra fiber so purchased two batt lots - and with the smaller one I spun up this yarn:

This smaller skein IS available as I will be spinning a slightly different skein with the other batch for the custom request.

I spun up yet another batt last night - this one from TerraBellaSpun - and that one should be listed later today. It is pretty shades of purple and blue (with shades in between) and black, plied with three threads to match the lighter colors. It also has a bit of sparkle in it! Since it is mostly merino wool, it turned out as a soft & squishy bulky yarn!

Tonight, I'll be stepping away from the batts for a bit and will be spinning up some merino top hand dyed by the Yarn Wench. Or Bamboo. Or both. We'll see! :)

So, I didn't get quite as much spun this weekend as I was hoping to as I just wanted to laze around instead! But, I did get a TON of pictures taken for all of the hand knits that I need to add to my Kitty Grrlz Knits shop and also did get some yarns spun.

First, here are a couple shots of the hand knits. I will slowly be adding more shawls, scarves, and wristwarmers throughout the week. I'm editing the pictures slowly as even though I re-did my set-up, I'm still not getting the quality I want - but, for now, this is the best I can do.

Mocha Swirl Hand Knit Scarf - knit with a nylon/tactel yarn (Gedifra India)

Earth Mother Hand Knit Triangle Shawl - knit with Gedifra Poesie yarn (nylon/polyester/microfiber)

Then, there are the yarns! The first ones I have to show are a second round of the "Spring Break" colorway - this is actually the "Hot Tropics" color hand dyed by the Yarn Wench. This was my second batch (the previous two yarns have sold). Even though I thought this was the lighter batch, I actually think it is darker. I spun in a TON of green, purple, and yellow angelina for sparkle in these, along with novelty yarns in green, purple, and yellow. Then, I plied it with purple thread. Here they are:

106 yard skein:
108 yard skein:
The next batch I did was the "Cherry Peacock" colorway, also dyed by the Yarn Wench. This was Falkland wool and I absolutely loved this color and wished I had more! Very difficult to get the true colors, but here is a shot of the one available skein (the other is reserved):

I also spun up this yarn, it was a "test" for a custom spin I am doing. This one has a few colors/yarns in it that won't be in the "final" yarn, which also means this one should be listed and available later today. It was spun from the "Forest" fiber batts from FeltStudioUK.etsy.com I didn't spin in the sequins as they will be used in the second skein. This is a small skein of about 62 yards, with lots of novelty yarns in shades of green and black spun in, and plied with metallic green thread.

I also spun up two Spontaneous Spinning batts from Loop yesterday! I will wait to show those as I'd like to get better pictures. They will both be listed later today, though. One is "Purple Progression" and the other is "Creamsicle" (though my yarn names will probably be different. They were great to spin - lots of different fibers like wools, bamboo, alpaca, silk, and more! Look for pictures of them tomorrow!

well, actually this is about Spike and Angel.

So, on my way to work this morning, I was listening to a CD that had two of the Buffy musical songs on it, one of them being Spike's song . . . which of course got me thinking about Spike in general . . . and about how many fans find one of the most annoying "inconsistencies" to be when Spike says, "You were my sire, man, you were my Yoda" to Angel in the episode "School Hard".

Now, we later find out that it was in fact Drusilla who turned Spike. BUT, Angel DID turn Drusilla, right? And in many vampire-lores, it is the "master vampire" who is the powerful one, right? The one who started the "chain"? Well, and here is where the logic isn't perfect, but . . . I don't think Spike meant Angel *actually* was the one to bite him, but rather . . . Angel was the "master" (yes, I know he wasn't the "first" and even within the 4 of them, DARLA actually would be the "original", but go with me on this . . .) and it is obvious that Spike looked to Angel to learn and mold himself on how to be a vampire, in a way. So . . . this small little line no longer bothers me (not that it ever really did, to be honest - now I just have a convoluted way of explaining it away . . .) Am I making any sense?

This also got me thinking about Angel vs. Spike . . . I've always liked Spike better. I thought Buffy/Angel was kinda creepy (and not that some of the same factors should apply with Spike, but by then she was "older" and more "mature" - she was just so young with Angel, ya know? and he was so old . . .) but Buffy/Spike just made sense. I also think Spike was just . . . better. Angel was a total jackass *before* he became a vampire, is it any wonder he was such a bad-ass vamp? He had to be cursed into his soul. Spike, on the other hand, or William the Bloody, well, he was different, wasn't he? And those traits? Those traits came through in Spike whether he wanted them to or not . . . and Spike, well, he WANTED his soul, and even BEFORE he got it showed much more "humanity" than Angel . . . remember the Judge? He knew it.

Anyways, enough about Buffy. And Spike. . . .

I didn't spin anything last night! I can't believe it! But, the forces were against me as I was 1. trying to catch random updates from Loop, 2. watching Thursday night TV (don't even get me started on LOST!) and 3. prepping bamboo fiber. SO, it wasn't a total waste of a night as I do now have 3 colors of bamboo ready to spin tonight and tomorrow!

I did list the three yarns I "sneak-peeked" yesterday! Here they are again with separate pictures and also links to the etsy listing . . . they are also on my website.

Aqua Lime Explosion 3

Aqua Lime Explostion 4

Rocky Roads - Aqua Lime - Hand Spun Yarn with coils

Well, that's all! Lots of work to do today as well as two updates to stalk! ha ha! :)

So, I didn't get a chance to share yesterday, but before I get to the new yarn pictures, I found out on Tuesday (Earth Day!) that I was featured on JenVecc's blog! You can check it out here! Yay!

On to the new bamboo . . .

Another two-ply, this time in colorway "Stormy Night" - 258 yards total!

And, one of my favorite-est colorways, Chocolate Berry Shine - two skeins of single ply:

And, I did get one skein of "Violets R Blue" listed, too!
And, just a sneak peak at what will be listed later today:

More "Aqua Lime Explosion"!

And, a "Rocky Roads" coily yarn spun from a wonderfully soft alpaca/merino/mohair blend! This fiber is from NorthStarAlpacas! Very soft!

That's all I have time for today! Hopefully will have more time tomorrow!

So, tomorrow I will have a featured yarn ad on Ravelry! It will be promoting my "Plum . . . Divine" FunctionArt yarns! I have one ad that I will be using for sure, and another that I might be rotating in. For those who aren't on Ravelry, here are the ads, designed by Scott Bertz of WebWorkLife.

Plum . . . Divine FunctionArt ad:

FunctionArt Ad:

Of course, this means that I have been working hard to have more Plum Divine yarns done! I have 4 of 6 skeins spun up so far and am hoping to finish the last two tonight. Each set of 2 is slightly different. The first set has green, purple, and burgundy yarns spun in while the second set only has green and purple. The second set also has coils and beehives for added texture. I'm not sure what the final set will be - I think it will be closer to the first batch, though, since there is a lot of burgundy in that particular batch of fiber.

I've also got a few special requests in the works as well as working on something else that I'll post about tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some new yarns!

Some more coils! This set is "Smoky Heart" and now on etsy and will be on my website soon!

I also have a Navajo 3-ply skein to list later today. This was spun from hand dyed merino wool, dyed by the Yarn Wench - a color called "Kilkenny". I've already spun other batches of this color into the "Compendium" FunctionArt Yarn, and also a small Novel-Ply skein called "Surprise Party". It's interesting to see the same color spun up in different ways! This is the "Compendium" Navajo 3-ply, and again, this will be listed later today:

And, finally, here is a sneak peak at the Plum . . . Divine skeins! These will not be available until late tonight or early tomorrow morning:

These two are the "Plum - Wine - Divine" One is 130 yards and the other is 124 yards. Bulky weight.
This is one of two Plum - Lime - Divine skeins. They are 94 yards and 84 yards, bulky/super bulky weight and also have coils/beehives spun occasionally for extra texture.

That's it for now! Make sure to check back tomorrow for more Plum Divine pictures and also something else!

Once again I haven't had a chance to blog and now I've got a couple of things to get to today . . .

First, I'd like to mention that I'm being featured on this wonderful blog. And, not only that, but she is having a give-away drawing of a fun bag of goodies later in the month. If you win, one of the items you will receive is one of my mini-skeins of Navajo-plied yarn. Please check it out!

On the spinning front, after completing my first Alchemy request, I needed to spin up a few singles - partly because I sold a few at the beginning of the month, and partly because I needed something that was a little "quicker" of a spin than the art yarns. Here are the 3 newest:

Spring Peacock

Spring Sweets

Ocean Rainbow

Single ply yarns ARE one of my newsletter April specials, so if you are interested in receiving the discount, please EMAIL ME to be added to my newsletter list. I send out only one email a month and it usually includes at least 2 special offers that last throughout the month and are ONLY for newsletter subscribers.

I also spun up some more coils the other day! This is the second batch of fiber called "Headbanger" that was hand dyed by the Yarn Wench. The other 2 skeins have already sold, but these are now available:

58 yards (Bruised Heart 4)

34 yards (Bruised Heart 3)

And, finally, I am doing a show this weekend! I will have at least 5 shawls and lots of yarn! Here is the information:
A Fair to Remember
Washington County Fair Park
3000 Hwy PV
West Bend, Wisconsin
9am - 4pm

Please come by if you are in the area!