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...

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.

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 - 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 - 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.