Thursday, May 27, 2010

I'm still here....

Still here.... just lots of work & little free time, & too much Ravelry! LOL
Hope everyone is having a great week!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I went a little batty...

Yep, I sure did. I went a little batty & I'm soooo glad that I did! Just look at these gorgeous batts that I received from Blue Mountain Handcrafts yesterday!
I got my Flower Fairy Spin-A-Long package. Narcissus. It's HUGE & it's beautiful! If you spin you should check the SAL out, Beth has some gorgeous batts listed. I promise that you won't be disappointed. :)
And since I didn't need my own marker shipped back to me, Katie made me a purple flower goblin, isn't he adorable?!

I also picked up one of her Pinks Flower Fairy Batts, I couldn't resist!
I also received my last shippment of the Random Beauty Batt Club. LOVE the batt, & check out the great buttons she included. As well as a notebook & a good sized fiber sample. I'm sad though, I'll miss getting these lovely batts every month.

I totally forgot to post my latest yarns. I finally finished up my beaded yarn. I started this on my visit to Chan's last fall. I ran out of beads mid-way through & had to get more, it ended up sitting on the bobbin for a while. I like how it turned out though. I ended up with 200 yards of worsted weight yarn.
Next up, my first "art" yarn. I'm not much on art yarn, it's pretty but I wouldn't know what to do with most of it other than look at it. But I decided that one of my Random Beauty batts deserved some fancy spinning. Actually this is a pretty normal thick/thin yarn, it just has about 10 or 12 silk flowers plied in there. Turned out pretty I think. It'll make a nice scarf or cowl. I ended up with 240 yards of heavy worsted weight, super soft yarn.

Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow or this weekend to start on one of those new batts! And maybe one of these days I'll have some actual knitting to show you. :)

Friday, May 14, 2010

Flower Fairy Spin-A-Long

I've teamed up with Beth at Blue Mountain Handcrafts for a Spin-A-Long & prizes!
Spin a little whimsy with our Flower Fairy Spin A Long inspired by Cicely Mary Barker’s illustrations in her poetry book FLOWER FAIRIES OF THE GARDEN. Show your love for flowers and those gorgeous wee folk who tend them unseen and have a chance to win a prize with a value of $65!

Each SAL package comes with a gorgeous batt, a coordinating stitch marker, a handmade card & some flower seeds.
Check out these beautiful batts!  6 to choose from: Lavender, Marigold, Narcissus, Pinks, Scilla, & Tulip.
Everyone participating in the SALwill have until June 22 to post pictures of their spun Flower Fairy yarn in the Blue Mountain Handcrafts Ravelry group in a special SAL thread. On June 23rd voting will begin...anyone can vote...and voting will end on June 30th. Whoever has the most votes wins the prize! The prize includes one of Beth's awesome Caddy Sax bags, a lovely batt, a full set of my Fairy Flowers markers & a custom orifice hook I made, a flower with fairy.

I have full sets of the Fairy Flowers stitch markers in my shop if you are interested.


I'm looking forward to getting my own SAL batt! I'm not eligible for the prize since I supplied part of it, but I'm still gonna spin one of those gorgeous batts. :)  Come on & join us!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Spinning at home...

While I haven't been spinning in public, I have been spinning at home. Here are my latest 2 yarns.

These pretty fibers from Skeinwinder 123....
Became this yarn. A soft, squishy worsted weight yarn.
And I carded up some brown wool with some gold sparklies & got this yarn.....
I am trying to design a shrug using this brown with my Pharoh yarn. I searched Ravelry for 2 nights into the wee hours of the morning for the perfect pattern & couldn't find it. So I'm striking out on my own.
I will let everyone know how that turns out. :)

In other news... I got my May Random Beauty Batt Club shippment from Beth over at Blue Mountain Handcrafts. Check out this awesome package!
That beautiful batt there is 4.4 oz! It's HUGE! And soft, & squishy, & sparkly, &, &.... ha ha. She also sent a crap load of fiber samples (silk, cormo, mini batts, locks, etc), some purple plying thread, a pretty vintage flower pin, , sticky notes, some yummy smelling hand soap & a whole flock of sheepies.

I love spinning Beth's batts, they are so dang fun. I highly recommend the batt club, she taylors each package to what kind of "stuff" you like. Come on spinners, you know you want one. he he

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I plan on getting dirty in my flower beds, & enjoying it.

Spinning in Public

I wasn't spinning in public... but a friend of mine was & she posted some great stories from her experience & I wanted to share them. Kerry (she's on Ravelry, Kerrison, if you want to pop over & say hi or tell her what great stories she came back with) has a Fidelis spinning wheel just like mine. She had the chance to take her wheel to a craft fair & spin for a couple of days & sell some of her handspun yarn. Here is what she posted in our Heavenly Handspinning Fans ravelry group....

I think if you do go spin in public, you’ll get lots of fun stories:


Honestly, I had one guy who stopped and asked me what I was doing…when I explained, he couldn’t see to grasp why I would spend my time spinning when they have “machines for that.” LOL.

Another lady said “I didn’t know people still did this! Are you the only one in Virginia?” --- there’s LOTS of spinners in VA!. hehe.

And a young girl asked if I knew Sleeping Beauty.

An older gentleman this weekend stopped and watched for a while with a soft smile on his face. I started up a chat and he just got all misty eyed and said he hadn’t seen anyone spin since his mama passed away. His mama and grandma spun, so for him, watching that was really emotional. He was a sweetie.

And I had a lady who had been spinning for 10 years, but she had never seen a wheel like Fidelis - and she marveled at the beautiful yarns it made. (There’s magic in my wheel, I’m positive. B/c I sure as heck don’t have a clue what I’m doin! LOL) … she said her expensive Saxony doesn’t make yarn as lovely as the Fidelis. :)

However, no story beats the lady at the quilt show in January who asked the roving vendor “What’s this stuff” pointing to wool/roving. And when she was told “wool” her reaction was “You mean from a sheep? I didn’t know they still made that!”

Hehe. (eyeroll) No… really. In 2000, all the sheep disappeared off the face of the earth!*

Spinning in public was DEFINITELY an experience and it made memories. :) Who knows when I’ll do it again. But it was fun.


Thanks so much for sharing these great stories Kerry! One of these days I'd love to have a chance to take my wheel to a fair or festival & spin in public too. :)

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Knit & Crochet Blog Week #4 & #5, plus...

Well, I was just dang pooped last night when I got home from work so I didn't get to my Knit & Crochet Blog post for the day. So here I am playing catch up. Don't forget to scroll on down & see the goodies that I received!

A New Skill
Is there a skill related to your hobby that you hope to learn one day? maybe you’re a crocheter who’d also like to knit? Maybe you’d like to learn to knit continental, knit backwards, try cables or attempt stranded colourwork.


Hmmm... I really don't know how to answer this one. I could say colorwork, but I really hate changing colors when I knit. Just makes too many ends to weave in & I don't like to sew. Crochet colorwork is much easier, I can crochet the ends in as I go.  I think one thing that I do want to learn eventually is how to do a toe up sock. The provisional cast on has always confused me.

Location, Location, Location
Where do you like to indulge in your craft? Is your favourite arm chair your little knitting cubby area, or do you prefer to ‘knit in public’? Do you liek to crochet in the great outdoors, perhaps, or knit in the bath, or at the pub?


I'll have to say that my favorite place to knit, crochet or spin is my sofa. I'm usually watching TV with the hubby while doing my knitting, etc. My sofa has a recliner in it so I usually have my feet up & snuggled in a blanket while knitting. If I'm spinning, the hubby got me a great chair pillow for Christmas last year that is perfect to lean against while spinning. Great for back support so I don't find myself at some contorted posture trying to spin. LOL
 I have taken my knitting & crochet to public places, I just don't do too many things where I have the chance to sit & knit in public. I will take it on trips in the car, on an airplane, or when I have to go wait in a Dr. office.

Now on to the goodies that I got in the mail! We had a Spring Swap on my Fancy Kitty Ravelry group.  Johanna sent me the most wonderful package!

I had no idea you could stuff THAT much stuff in one of those envelopes! LOL Two gorgeous purple batts that I can hardly wait to spin, & some Mulberry Silk.
Here are the treats, gummy bears (my absolute favorite!), M&M’s & some treats for Jazzy that she loved!
What was in the brown bag you ask? Well…. there were all these handdyed bamboo fibers! And…. these little brown boxes, Hmmmm… what are those cute little cupcake things? Bath bombs! How clever. :)

And it was all packaged so pretty, wrapped in purple tulle. Thank you soooooo much Johanna! I just love everything!!


I have been spinning some more yarn, hope to have some photos of new yarns soon. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!