What a long strange trip it was.... has been...continues to be...

I'm back amongst the living, so to speak. We got our internet hooked up yesterday so now I can chat, and visit, surf, check my 200 or so emails... think about etsy again...

It was a nightmare getting to this point but was all worth it in the end. Bennington is a beautiful place to live and best of all... hubby is doing much better. He has a broken back, in case I haven't mentioned that before. He wasn't able to work the last four years that we were in Hawaii and had slowly been getting worse. Now he is doing well enough that he will be able to help unload the container, if it ever gets here, and is even talking about getting a job at some point.

The worst part of the move was giving up my "kids". The girl that was renting our place had agreed to take them so that they wouldn't have leave their house. Then less than a week before we were scheduled to fly out she had the landlord call us and tell us that her father was making her take all the cats (five of them) that she had at his house and therefore wouldn't be able to take ours. We all cried because it was too late to do anything else and I had to take them to the humane society.

I say nightmare because everything that could go wrong did every single step of the way. But at the same time someone always stepped in and saved the day. We found two young guys to help load the container while at the Toyota dealer trying to sell my car three days before leaving the island and on the day that the container was delivered. Up until that point there was me and the guy who had replaced me at work who offered to help. We lucked out though and ended up with four helpers. Granted... we had to rent a U-Haul because they couldn't get the container up the driveway into the yard which meant that everything had to be loaded and moved twice. Ugh.... then the U-Haul almost got stuck in the same mud that prevented the container from getting the hill....

That is only a small portion of our trip; we are thinking about writing a book someday. The house that we are renting smelled so bad when we got here that we were seriously thinking about breaking the lease and finding someplace else to live. We have decided to stick it out and and are spending many hours cleaning a house that apparently hasn't been loved or cleaned in years.

On the bright side... I have a new RAV4 with a V6 that goes really fast and is fun to drive. Now the snow won't be a problem this year. The weather has been wonderful... sunny and warm almost every day. Good thing too; our blankets are all in a container slowly making its way to here from California by rail. That is a story for another day but hopefully in two more weeks we will have all of our belongs once again.

I even have a chair to sit in once again so can start spinning in the evening. I didn't have a chair the first week we were here so was standing all day long. You would be surprised how much you miss the little things once you don't have them.... chairs, extra glasses and mugs, fabric, forks, spoons, knives, fabric...

I wasn't planning on writing a book here but with an adventure this big it is kind of hard not to. Hopefully things are back to normal now and I will be able to post more often. Oh yeah... food is a lot cheaper over here. :)

All the things we've missed

Now that we are getting closer to our move date we are starting to get excited about the things that we will be able to get again once we are back on the mainland.

Here is what we have come up with so far:

Grandma Brown's Baked Beans
Real Bologna from the deli case (hubby keeps talking about bolonie hats but I think that might be more of a "good ole memory" type of thing.
Molson's Beer
Jeremiah Weed
(Can you tell what we think about most of the time time? :) )
Saranac Beer
Pete's Wicked Ale
Real bacon
Mustard from Oscar's Smoke House in Warrensburg, NY
Good Music... yeah for weqx in Manchester Vermont... boy have I missed you!

That is all I can think of for now.

We haven't made much progress on getting rid of the kitties. I was hopeful last Sunday when I took one of them to be "interviewed" by a couple looking for a new kitty. I knew it wasn't going to work as soon as he answered the door. They were both in their 70's and Lei'a is comparable to a two year old. She wanted to jump on the piano, the tables, knock over the pictures, and generally be herself. I had to hold on to her real tight until we left. It was probably for the best as I had to take her to the vet Tuesday morning because she had gotten bit (unbeknownst to us) and her toe was abscessed. $165 later... she doesn't look too bad this time, they only shaved her toe instead of her whole foot and leg like last time. The local humane society now has a website where they post pictues of pets that need a home so I sent them all the info on the girls; one of them is listed already so here's hoping someone will see them on there and give me a call.

We now have both vehicles up for sale and I only have 6 more days of work. Yeah!!! I will be talking to Matson tomorrow getting a quote to ship all the junk door to door.

I have been doing a little spindle spinning, not much the last few days but some. I seem to do the packing on the weekends and just deal with the day-to-day stuff during the week. I think that is it for now; I'm falling asleep.

Until next time, happy spinning....

I'm going to be a Vermonter and some pretty yarn.

Isn't this yarn wonderful!? I decided that I couldn't part with the green and red roving that I featured a few weeks ago, see here, and started spinning it up myself. I just love the way it turned out. Everyone that I have shown it to says that it reminds them of candy canes; which means it came out the way I intended. Scary.... that hasn't happened before.

This will most likely be my last post for awhile as we are indeed moving to Vermont in a month. Eep... So many things to do. I gave notice this week. We won't go there but I think things will be a bit chaotic after I am gone. I booked our flight the same night that I gave notice; we fly out of here on Tuesday, October 2nd. Good bye Hawaii... hello Vermont. We will be arriving in prime leave peeking season. At least I get to see the colors this year; first time in six years.

I have some new ideas for my etsy shops; yes I have two of them, so look for some changes once I get settled in somewhere around the middle/end of October. I don't know yet when our container will ship out of here so don't know when I will have all my furniture etc. on the other end. Seems like it took 10 - 14 days when we shipped our things over here. There is a very active quilt guild in Bennington, lots of potential customers for hand spun surface embellishments and felting materials. I wonder if there is a spinning guild in the area? Any one know; feel free to contact me or leave a comment here.

So long for now... I look forward to the time when my thoughts are occupied with things other than what to mail ahead of time, what to carry on the plane, what to check in, who is going to adopt the cats, where are we going to stay when we first get there, will I be able to find a job within an hour of home, will he find a doctor who will help him to feel better and care about his quality of life ... and I wonder why I am wide awake at 3 am every day. Thank goodness for yoga or I would be totally insane by now.

Featured Roving of the Day

This roving will make some wild looking yarn; that is for sure! It really is bright orange with little bits of mango color here and there. I listed this a week or two ago and I can't believe that no one snatched it up right away. Of course I always think that about the new rovings that I list.

I don't know how much longer my shop will open so if you see something you like grab it now. I think we may have finally found a place to rent! My goodness... who would have thought that it would take so long to find a place to live. Between thinking about that and the heat I haven't done much crafting at all. I did get a couple of great quilting books for my birthday; one of which is out of print that I found on amazon.com. Yeah!!

And the timing couldn't be worse but I think that my quilting muse has decided to put in an appearance. Figures, just when I need to start packing and put everything away I have all these great ideas floating around in my head. So I have been doing quick drawings and making lots of notes so that hopefully when I look at this stuff in a few months I will remember what I wanted to do. I am also trying to decide what crafts I should keep out until the last minute so that I have something to work on that doesn't take up too much space. I think I am going to leave one small tub out and stuff as much roving into it as I can and just work on making singles until it is time to leave.

Will I be sorry to leave Hawaii... I don't really think so. I do miss the mountains and the changing seasons. It looks like we will be in Vermont for the fall colors and that makes me very happy indeed.

Until next time... happy spinning and quilting.

Fiber Friday!

I love the way this fiber came out. Just imagine all the pretty things you can make for the holidays... I'm thinking a scarf or maybe a tree skirt. Has anyone ever knit or crocheted a tree skirt before?? Hum... There is 8 oz. here, 4 of each color. I listed it in my shop yesterday and can always do up more if someone does want to tackle a tree skirt with it.

Until next time... happy spinning

Wednesday

Boring title I know. I got home too late to take pictures last night so have no new roving to show you (or to list) not good... So I figured I would show you an old picture of "my stash". This is really stuff that is for sale but until it sells, it's mine!!

I have been working on some different ideas with regards to dyeing roving and have found one that I really like. I hope to have pictures tomorrow, providing the roving finishes drying out today.

No news on the moving front. I do however, now have a list of the most important features that the chosen place should have so maybe now I can narrow it down to one state and go from there.

I also want to introduce you to one of my "kids" a.k.a. "The Bad Kitty". Phil named her that not me! This picture was too cute to pass up. Like most of you we already have hundreds of pictures of the kids...

Until next time, happy spinning...

Happy Friday! Featured Roving of the Day

Here is a picture of the roving that I did for a custom order this week. The batch came out beautiful, much nicer than the picture. I am tempted to sell my current camera on "you know where" and find one that is a bit truer with the colors. I used a different process to dye this roving. I did it in three stages with the last stage (the purple part) being painted on by hand. It was a lot of fun to do and I think I might do a similar batch this weekend only in a different color scheme. The problem, and it isn't really that much of a problem, is that it takes 2 to 3 days for each batch. Hubby just loves it when I have pots and jars of roving all over the kitchen... something about allergies to wool. I keep telling him to find me a house with a summer kitchen so that we don't have to share.

Work has been too much like work lately. Every time year end rolls around I wonder why I decided to go into accounting. I haven't even done any spinning lately. Now that I have finished Harry Potter life can get back to normal... once I see the movie this weekend that is.

I wish I had some news on moving but I don't. I didn't really like the inside of the house that looked so promising from the outside. Small rooms with old wallpaper, old carpets, forced hot air... it wouldn't be a problem except that chances are I will have to do everything myself because of Phil's back and I don't want to buy into a big job if I can help it. Plus, these people are turning down good offers which means they want the full asking price... for an old house that needs work... good luck to them.

Featured Roving of the Day - Plum Tussah Silk

I am finally getting to the point where I can take pictures (albeit bad ones) of some of the roving that I dyed a few weeks back. You wouldn't know there was a drought on this island the way it has rained at our house for the last few weeks. I think I have moss growing on my arms. Ah... the joys of living on the side of a volcano with its weird weather patterns.

I keep trying new ways to take pictures so that the color is more true-to-life... and then I read on a Canon site that these particular cameras are made to make the colors brighter than they really are because people like it better that way!?! Says who! I want my blues to look blue, not purple. Any way, I have discovered that by using two ott lights and setting the roving on my sewing table I can get the color on the roving right but the table/background turns a nice pink/peach color as you can see. So ignore the background color and enjoy the roving. :)

On the moving front... I am sitting here at work watching the number of emails I have in my Gmail account (aren't separate tabs a wonderful invention) hoping to hear back from my realtor friend in New York. I found one house that I like and she was going to go see what kind of shape it was in and see if they would consider a rent to buy option since it has been on the market forever. It has two porches, one enclosed, and both have views of the surrounding mountains. So I am picturing myself on my enclosed deck, with no mosquitoes, doing yoga. Om....

So much for the patience that yoga brings... until next time, Happy Spinning

Featured Roving of the Day (and I got a niddy noddy)

Isn't this roving pretty! I did this up as a sample for the custom order that I am working on. The final order will have more purple in it but this one is really nice too. I listed it today for those interested. Oh yeah, it is a superwash just in case that makes a difference.

And here is a picture of my new niddy noddy. It is a Kromski medium sized one and I love it. It makes my yarn look so professional. :) Even a lefty like myself was able to figure out how it works. I just wish it did a yard when wrapped; it is a little over which means I have to multiply it out and hope I have it right.


On the moving front... we have decided to buy a house instead of finding a place to rent and then have to move everything again in a year or less. The reason for this is my husbands broken back. The thought of having to move everything twice was something he (and I) didn't care to think about, turth be told here. After all, we aren't twenty anymore and that furniture seems a lot heavier than it used too. Plus, the prices to rent are absolutely ridiculous. Our mortgage will be a lot less than the monthly rental amount.

In spinning news, I have decided to crochet myself a new handbag. It will be a modified market/hobo bag. I pulled some superwash from my shop and am spinning that up. I have even put together some of the wool to bring to work and spin during my lunch break, not that I am in a hurry to get this stuff spun up or anything. At least it will keep me busy and give me something to work on when I'm not packing. I think I will line it with some nice batik (I have a few thousand pieces to choose from) so that it doesn't stretch too much when it use.

I guess that's it for now... happy spinning

New Tussah Silk

Here is one of my newest pieces of tussah silk. I listed this one this morning and I am sure glad that I did. Someone liked the colors well enough that I have a custom order to do. I like custom orders... they give me a chance to grow and play with the colors that I like while trying to create the perfect roving for someone. So now I am sitting here at work, chatting with you folks and deciding the best way to dye the roving when I should really be doing the paperwork that is backed up here because of the checkrun that I just spent the last two days working on. The joys of working for the man....

There is some news in the moving department. We might have found a place that is reasonably priced and is on 6 acres. The only draw back is that there is no oven in the kitchen. Not that big a deal though, we can live without one for a few months. We will find out Friday whether we are getting it or not. We will even be able to bring the kitties if we want. Yeah!!!

Until next time happy spinning...

Friday at Last

Greetings everyone, hope those of you in the U.S. of A. had a nice 4th. We didn't do a darn thing but that is okay. Well I can't say that I did nothing, I woke up that morning to my first large sale (5 items). My stock of tussah silk took quite a hit so I figured I better get busy and dye up some more. Here is the result, they look so pretty this way. I hope to have a few of them in the shop by Monday. I wasn't too happy with the yellow and orange so might save that and ply it up with another color.

I also finished some fiber art that I had been working on forever... kind of got side tracked by the spinning, and crocheting, and dyeing, and school.... This is my version of a waterfall, I have wanted to do one for quite some time now. This will most likely be my last piece for awhile because as I think I have told you before I am hoping to move back to the mainland real soon and I can't create when my mind is focused on something as big as that. Plus, I am starting to get into that "nesting" mode for movers and want to get everything put in its rightful place so that I can get started on the packing. Now all I need is a place to move to, who knew it would be so hard to find a house to rent in the upstate New York, Vermont area. We might end up in Rutland, will let you know as soon as I hear back from someone.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and happy spinning.

4th of July Sale!

Not much to report today... I have been spinning a little bit, plying a little bit and crocheting a little bit. All this and I really haven't accomplished a darn thing. I did add some hand spindled yarn to my etsy shop several days ago. Things are so slow for me this time of year. I don't mind though, I am playing with new ideas and deciding what I want to do for the holiday as far as the shop goes.

I did get some new white roving with brown stripes in it; like this roving except brown instead of black. I tried something different with it last night and will over dye it again tonight I think. I like the way it came out and want to add another color and see what happens. If that works I might have some good stuff to list in the next week or so. I am trying to "find" my niche so that my roving is unique and recognized as mine right away.

I got some wonderful alpaca from northstaralpacas recently. All I can say is wow! Soft stuff. I am going to save it and make myself something special. I don't think I will dye it either, seems kind of sacrilegious to mess with it.

I almost forgot to add... I am having a sale thru the 4th of July. 15% off all roving. Just mention July 4th in your note to me and I will send you a corrected invoice. If you pay when purchasing, I will refund you the 15%.

Guess I did have a bit to report after all...

More Yarn and Roving

I have been practicing and practicing and I think I am getting pretty good at this! This is some roving that I got from Pigeonroofstudios on etsy. It still amazes me how different the yarn sometimes looks when compared to the roving. I have another "batch" ready to ply from this roving and I think it is going to look completely different than this yarn. It will have a lot more hot pink in it.

Not that I am getting carried away or anything but... I have now ordered and received some sock yarn to try my hand at dyeing. I want to have lots of different items in my shop come the holidays and figured now was as good a time as any to start. I have tons of ideas but at the top of my "to-do" list at the moment is getting the family moved from here in Hawaii back to New York or Vermont. I am finding it hard to concentrate on any crafts when I start thinking about all the packing and stuff that awaits me in the next month or so. Ugh....

Inspiration

I love it when my customers send me pictures showing me what they have done with my roving. Cleo Wolfus used roving that I featured here in May and made felted dreadlocks out of it. This is her "Alien Imp" Headdress.

I love it!

These pictures are copyrighted by Cleo Wolfus and are shown here with her permission.

How I Dye Silk Roving

As promised, here is how I dye silk roving. First let me say that what I have learned comes from trial and error (lots of error) and tons of reading on how of other people have done it and the problems that they encountered. The main thing to remember as you go along is that the fewer times you handle the silk the better off you and the silk will be. Using this method I don't handle the silk at all until it is completely done.

The first thing that I do is partially fill up the glass jar that I am going to use. I use room temperature water because I don't want the silk to felt. I then add the silk and let it sit and slowly absorb the water. I usually leave it sitting overnight but you could start it first thing in the morning. It can take an hour, more or less, for an ounce of silk which is what I used. That is just a pickle jar by the way, I like to recycle whenever possible. You will be okay as long as it is glass.


This is how it will look once the silk has absorbed the water. I usually add about 1/4 cup of vinegar at this point and let it sit for awhile longer. You can also add the vinegar at the beginning if you want; I didn't see any difference in the way the silk came out adding it before hand.





Next we add the dye. I used Wilton's cake dye for this project.
I dissolved the dye in warm water to make it easier to add. Just make sure that you leave enough head room for the additional water.












This is what is looks like after you add the dye. My jar was pretty full as you can see.












Next the jar goes into the big kettle. I use a thermometer to make sure that the water doesn't go over 160 degrees. I will add here that the color that I used for this project wasn't really the best because the water didn't get hot enough to dispel all the dye, I rinsed and rinsed and still had this nice copper colored water.












Once the desired temperature has been reached I turn off the heat, cover it up, and let it sit for awhile. Once the water is clear (or you can't wait any longer) remove it from the water and let it set someplace out of a breeze to cool. Cool breeze on hot glass equals broken jar. Once it has cooled to room temperature dump the whole thing into a strainer. I have one that I use only for my roving. I also have a microwave safe dish that the strainer fits into.


Once the water has drained I fill up the microwave dish with room temperature water. I then set the roving down into this water and gently rinse it. Do this as many times as needed until the water runs clear. Let the roving drain for awhile. To get excess water out before drying I wrap the roving in an old bath towel. I just dump the roving right out of the strainer onto the towel. I gently separate it at this point and then roll up the towel. I leave it sitting for a half or so and then hang it out to dry.


The finished product!

Silk Yarn

As promised here is a picture of the silk yarn that I had spun up last weekend. This is tussah silk that I dyed myself. The size is actually pretty consistent considering this is the first time that I tried to keep everything one size. I have a sample of some sock yarn and this is the same size. That is a dime in the picture for comparison purposes.

I am dyeing some silk this weekend and am taking pictures as I go along in hopes of showing you the process that I use. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures at each step. We are celebrating my completion of college tonight so I could forget... :) I have been taking classes online for the last three plus years (it seems a lot longer to me) and even though it is only an Associates Degree in Accounting I am pretty proud of myself. I think I deserve a gift... now if I could only decide what I want. Yarn, roving, another spindle, a new Berina sewing machine... decisions, decisions.

Until next time... happy spinning.

Featured Roving of the Day - Pastel Tussah Silk

I'm back...

Between dental work, work work, and finals I haven't had a chance to do anything fun lately. I will be done with school tomorrow though and can then work on getting better pictures for my shop, spinning, crocheting and all kinds of fun things.

I have to decide if I am going to continue with etsy or really work on my website and promote through my blog. This is only a hobby for me so I think I could do almost as well on my own, providing I actually spend some time promoting. The way etsy has been the past few days I couldn't do any worse on my own.

Back to the featured roving for today, I think this would spin up into a nice light blue, purple blend. It still surprises me how the color changes once you start spinning it. I have some silk yarn to show you next week, providing the sun comes out this weekend and I can take pictures of it. I am really trying to spin sock weight yarn and I think I did pretty good with this yarn. I will let you decide and feel free to tell me if I screwed it up. :)

Until next time... happy spinning

Featured Roving of the Day - Burgundy

Good morning everyone. This is the burgundy roving that I told you about when I featured my purple roving a few weeks back. You can see the whole story here. It was supposed to red, that is all I can say.

I have been spinning a few different types of roving this week. I can only do one at a time until I get another spindle in the right size. I am working on that though; my birthday is coming up in another month or so and I am going to get a special spindle from the Bosworth's... don't tell hubby... I want it to be a surprise. Anyway, I have been spinning some tussah silk and also some BFL that I got from pigeonroofstudios over at etsy.

Now that I am almost done with school... finals next week... I can start thinking about something other that homework. I have been doing this for three years along with working full-time and I am more than ready to have my life back thank you very much. I think I want to try spinning some nice thin silk that I can sell as surface embellishments for those who quilt. I am also learning to crochet and like the idea of free form crochet so might do something with that also.

Some may possibilities, now if only I didn't need to work anymore... speaking of which, I better get back to it...

Until next time happy spinning...

Featured Roving of the Day - Orange and Yellow with a Black Stripe

This roving reminds me of peaches!

Things have been so slow at etsy that I have decided to list new items only a few times a week, I see no need to waste the money relisting when no one is shopping or even looking. Besides, I think most people are going to want to spend more time outside now that it has warmed up most places around the country. I know I would be playing in my garden if I had one.

I did survive my trip to the dentist... two hours in the chair for one stupid tooth, felt like I had been hit with a pipe wrench by the time I got home. Today is the first day since last Wednesday that I might... might get through the day without at least one aspirin. I have been taking 4 a day up until today.

Until next time... happy spinning... or felting... or quilting... :)

Featured Roving of the Day - Pink and Black

Weird combination, I know. I listed this one in my shop this morning.

I can only visit for a minute this morning because I have a two hour dentist appointment later today and need to get everything done here this morning. I can honestly say that I would rather be going anywhere than the dentist! Oh well... if you don't hear from me tomorrow that it is why. I plan on staying home and feeling sorry for myself.

Until next time... happy spinning.

Hand Spun Yarn - My First!

Not too bad for a first time plying attempt if I do say so myself. I ended up with about 36 yards of yarn for the skein on the left. I was thinking about selling it but after looking at the going prices on etsy I would be losing a ton of money; either that or making about 50 cents an hour. So I figure I will keep the yarn for myself and just offer roving for other folks to spin. This superwash was made from the same color roving that was featured a few days back.

The skein on the right is made up of all the little bits that I have saved from different rovings that I have sold over the past month. I ended up with about 25 yards of yarn in this one. I figure that I will use these for my crochet lessons. It will give me a good idea on how they work up should I decide to ever make yarn to sell.

New Spindle

Isn't it gorgeous! This is maxi spindle from Jonathan Bosworth. It weighs 1.53 oz.; quite a bit heavier than my other one. I used it yesterday to ply yarn. I should have a picture of that for you tomorrow or the next day. It came out very well for a first time. I "handy-plyed" it which was pretty easy except for the fact that I had 26 plus yards of yarn wrapped around my hand.... my poor fingers were all bunched together for a least a half hour. Isn't that roving beautiful that it is sitting on? I hope to start spinning that next week. It came out really well, I might have to make some just like it to put in my etsy shop.

This is a picture of my two spindles together so that you can see how much larger the new one is. You can also see the mess that now occupies my sewing table. I think I have found my calling. I truly enjoy spinning and making yarn. I told my mom that my quilting muse is currently is buried under a pile of yarn, never to be seen again.

Until next time... happy spinning... and a thank you to all the troops out there on this Memorial Day weekend.

Featured Roving of the Day - Jewel Tones

Isn't this pretty? This is what happens when you add vinegar to black dye. This batch isn't for sale; I'm making yarn out of it. Maybe I will sell that if I can't figure out what to do with it at that point. I also have some of this color with a black stripe through it, like this roving, that I think will make a nice contrast when plyed.

I got my new spindle yesterday! It is a Maxi Bosworth spindle. It is a bit bigger than I expected but that is okay. I plan to use it for plying and it will be perfect for that. I hope to have a picture for you this weekend. I also have a term paper to write so don't be surprised if I don't get to post here.

I am also re-learning to crochet and have found a wonderful blog that is giving a crochet tutorial every week. I have posted a link to her blog (crafty daisy) in the sidebar. What a wonderful thing she is going for us! I am a lefty but won't let that slow me down. I am waiting for a book that I won on ebay that has pictures for those of us who are left handed. Wait until you see the wild colored blocks I am making for practice! The first one is lime green with a white and multi-color stripe in the middle.

Wrist Distaff

I wanted to share something different with you today.

This wrist distaff is made from tussah silk that I hand dyed and spun into yarn using my own drop spindle. The opening for your wrist is 11 inches while the distaff measures approximately 6 inches. It has beads at the end of each tail for weight. Did I mention that I braided every single one of those strands? It took me over an hour. My singles were pretty well behaved because they had been sitting for awhile but still....

This one is available in my shop. I also made myself one and have to admit that I am still trying to figure out the correct way to use it. Most of the time I just do small lengths of roving and wrap it around my wrist. That seems to work until I have a "power surge" aka "hot flash" and then the roving just sticks to me so I really need to figure out how to work the distaff. Hopefully once I am moved back to the New York/Vermont area I can find someone who will take pity on me and show me the proper use of this wonderful tool.

I saw different version of a wrist distaff, several actually, on another blog yesterday. One of them was very modern looking and made of metal. The other one was just yarn twisted around itself and tied in a knot at the bottom. It was very sharp looking though.

Until next time... happy spinning....

Featured Roving of the Day - Shades of Ireland

I don't have much to say today (too tired) so I will just leave you with this nice roving. This is one of my favorites and it is quite alright with me if no buys it. That is the nice thing about selling items that relate to your hobby.

Did I tell you that I am getting another bosworth spindle? I can hardly wait for it to get here. It is made of zebra wood and is a tiny bit heavier than the one I currently have. I will post a picture of that later this week when it arrives.

Did anyone else watch the season finale of 24? Will he jump? He wouldn't just toss his gun away would he? Guess we will have to wait and see.

Featured Roving of the Day - A pretty blue and purple blend

This is a very pretty wool/mohair blend (85/15) that I did this past weekend. You can't really see it in this picture but there are shiny bits all through this; must be the mohair.

There is almost 4 oz. of this particular roving available. For those interested I did list it in my shop this morning.

In between the rain showers this weekend I was able to take a picture of my messed up silk roving and hope to show you that later this week under the heading of how not to dye silk. I was also able to do some spinning with my wonderful Bosworth spindle (I love my spindle!) and hope to have to hand spun yarn for sale at some point in the future.

Featured Roving of the Day - Purple!!

Okay, so I wasn't trying to get purple. I was trying out some of my new dye colors and was doing burgundy. Well the burgundy looked rather pink to me so I added a bit of blue and ta da... we have purple.

Now the irony of this story is (the purple happened yesterday) I was dyeing some roving red this morning as I like to have a nice mix of colors for people to choose from in my shop. I added a few spots of blue hoping for some contrast and spots on the red. Well, I didn't add my vinegar right away (bad mistake) and when I went to do this the blue had spread all over and ruined my red. So I added some more red, then some yellow, then some green (I wasn't happy with the color, can you tell) and finally added some black. I let that stew for a few minutes and then added some more vingear. I let that sit for awhile and now I have burgundy! Go figure... think I will give up while I am ahead today.

So tell me, should I list this, will anyone buy it? It isn't a whole lot but would be a good amount for someone just starting to spin. It will also felt if someone wants to make purple flowers.

Until tomorrow... happy spinning. :)

Featured Roving of the Day Blue Silk Royalty

Silk is such a pleasure to spin. This roving is tussah silk which means that no moths were harmed in its creation. I have found that you need to be really, really careful when dyeing it; if you handle it too much your roving will resemble a birds nest more than roving (that would be the voice of experience speaking here).

I tested out my disaster though and it is still spinnable. Maybe some day if I get real brave I will show you a picture of the afore mentioned birds nest. It is a pretty green and white color.

This roving is still available in my etsy shop for those interested.

Featured Roving of the Day - Cherry Bubblegum

I really like the way this roving came out, although I think I would like to keep all of them sometimes. Less stress for one thing, selling on etsy can be trying sometimes, hoping to be seen amongst 500,000 items for sale isn't always easy.

I am relearning how to crochet, I did it way back when I was about 17 (long, long time ago). I am also teaching myself how to spin. My two new hobbies go together quite well me thinks. Now I need to get finished with school so that my time is my own once again. 5 weeks left but who's counting.

There is over 6 oz. of roving here for those who might be interested. Just stop by my shop to see what else is available.

Featured Roving of the Day

This is 2 1/8 oz. (60 grams) hand dyed by yours truly with non-toxic food safe dyes. I really like the way this one came out. Actually I want to keep all of them. :) I found this type of wool to be really springy and requires quite a bit of pre-drafting. I separated this roving right down the middle of the black stripe and continued to do that each time I separated it. That way each section had just a little black in it. Stop by my shop to see more pictures of this roving.

Welcome!

Hi everyone, I currently have a shop on etsy where I sell hand dyed roving and original fiber art. Seems like a strange combination but I have a good time. :) Here is one of my latest offerings; I call it Alice in Wonderland. That was hubby's idea since I didn't really want to call it "Trippin on Acid" which seemed appropriate given all the strange colors that ended up in it. It started out life as yellow, believe it or not.