12 posts tagged “wool”

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)

So, I had a change in spinning plans yesterday. After receiving a custom-spin bamboo order, I decided to spin up a couple of skeins of bamboo which didn't leave enough time to spin the Plum Divine. Instead, I spun two more Falkland wool single plys. TODAY I'm going to spin some Plum Divine and hopefully another color, too! Here is a mosaic of the new yarns listed -

Kitty Singles - Linnea - Hand Spun Single Ply Wool Yarn
Kitty Singles - Pink Grapefruit - Hand Spun Single Ply Wool Yarn
Beautiful Bamboo - Razzleberry - Hand Spun Single Ply Bamboo yarn - 186 yards
Beautiful Bamboo - Razzleberry - Hand Spun Single Ply Bamboo yarn - 162 yards

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'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!

So all is well with my website. Seems it may have been working earlier than I thought yesterday since once I cleared my cache it came up just fine! This means kittygrrlz.com is back in business! :)

I have listed most of the new yarns on etsy now and just have to finish listing the bamboo on my site. I've got 2 skeins each of Marmalade Mint, Southwest Sky, Springtime in Paris, and Summer Neon Taffy. I have one skein of Aqua Lime, Summer Rainbow, and Prairie Dusk. I should have pictures up on flickr later today. These are all single ply bamboo skeins - and I've now lowered the price a bit AND if you are a newsletter subscriber, the price is even a couple of dollars lower!

I also listed two Navajo 3-ply skeins of the Seawool in hot shocking pink and black! This fiber is so soft and squishy, but also smooth-soft, like silk or bamboo - it's just wonderful!

I think that's it from me today. More pictures and new yarns to come tomorrow morning!

So, I'm hooked.  I love Navajo Plying!  I love it because it keeps the colors of the fabulous Yarn Wench colorways much more "together" which I feel shows them off more!  I also feel like the end product is a stronger, more durable yarn.  Here are some of the latest Navajo plied yarns I've spun:

Sun Scarab, spun while at a craft show on Sunday, September 2:

Jinx's Woods, named in part for my kitty Jinx (RIP), the original color was called "Feral" by the Yarn Wench:

Last night, I spun up this wonderful handdyed merino wool (called "Compliments 2") from the Yarn Wench:

I also used two novelty yarns--Moda Dea Dream and Moda Dea Frivolous.
Here is the single spun up on the bobbin:
Then, I plied it with Sulky metallic thread, and here is the finished yarn (though before setting the twist!) I managed 2 skeins, 146 yards and 60 yards, out of what started as 3.7 oz of fiber!
Dreamsicle Sky, 60 yards: