A productive day . . sortof

Yesterday did turn out to be a pretty productive day! I finished up a scarf I'd had on the needles for a few weeks, and knit two more, and started a 4th! yay! I also spun up another art yarn - pictures of that one tomorrow. I also listed the 3 yarns spun on Sunday. Had some trouble with taking pictures of the first two skeins - those blues and purples give me such trouble - but here they are -

Arctic Princess - spun from hand dyed merino wool, with novelty yarns spun in and plied with shiny metallic thread - 98 yards. Colors are dark but bright blue, light ice blue, and light pink -

Then there is the matching Hello Kitty Grrlz skein! This one is similar, but is plied with 3 colors of thread strung with Hello Kitty face beads in 3 colors - pink, blue, and purple. There are over 60 beads!
And, finally, here is "RiddleBox" - spun from a Spontaneous Spinning Batt from Loop - in shades of dark purple and plum and shades of green -


That's it from me for today - I want it to be another productive day so want to get started right away, and I'm already up a bit later than yesterday . . .

Another week begins . . .

and I am up early! Yay! Now, if I can just STAY up and not go back to bed, I should be off to the start of a very productive day!

This weekend wasn't so productive. I usually can get multiple yarns done each day, but the past 3 days, I seemed to be stuck on getting just one colorway spun up.

I mentioned color in the interview from Friday, and while I DO love ALL colors, sometimes I have to step outside my comfort zone of plums and blues and certain combinations I return to often - and go with just bright random colors. That is what I spun this weekend - lots of bright colors!

The first, on Friday, was a batch of hand dyed merino wool from The Yarn Wench called "Candyland". It was mostly shades of bright blue, pink and yellow. I went with those colors for the novelty yarns I spun in, and also plied with all 3 colors of thread. Here are the results - what I am calling "Dr Seuss Circus" -


Then, on Saturday, I spun up another batch of "Magic Bus" - this is what was used for the "Hippie Boho" yarns. This batch seemed darker, though, and had a bit more red in it. So, I went with more red yarns in this one, and also spun in bright blue and red angelina for some sparkle. Both skeins are plied with a dark orange thread. Here are the two skeins -


Back on Thursday (listed on Friday) - I also did another batch of Devine Melon - now, this is a colorway and combination I do really love and have gone back to again and again. So, while not new and "outside my comfort zone" - they are of the brighter nature -

Yesterday, I finally spun up another Hello Kitty yarn! I will have pictures of that one and it's coordinating bead-less counterpart tomorrow, along with a dark purple and green art yarn spun from my Spontaneous Spinning club batt from June - which was inspired by the Purple Passion butterfly. These 3 yarns will be listed later today, too. The Hello Kitty and coordinating skein are called "Arctic Princess" and the purple and green one is called "Riddlebox".

But, for now I must got and get to work!

Blog interview!

So, today my interview with Tara of BlondeChickenBoutique was posted on her blog! It is part of her "Fiber Friday" postings as well as part of a series of interviews with full-time fiber artists! Please check it out!

It is also why I may be posting a bit about doing this full-time. There were some things I thought of after the interview, and also think there may be other useful things I could share. I may get to posting that later today, but definitely hope to include it as part of my daily posts next week!

New art yarn . . .

I have a new FunctionArt art yarn listed in my shop - it is a colorway I've done before but as always this one is a little different. I think this batch of fiber was a bit darker and I used some different yarns I didn't have when I spun the other one - one skein has sold already but here is the other one - "Compendium" -

I also wanted to write a bit about how things are going now that I'm full-time, but, honestly? I think I'm going back to bed for a bit! :) I think I will post again later, though.

New yarns

So today I'm just going to post some pictures of some new yarns - then it is off to work I go! :)

Mahogany Ash - thick/thin single of hand dyed merino plied with a thin single of merino/silk -

Mahogany Peacock - Navajo 3ply from hand dyed merino/silk -

CoilySpun - Ocean Splash 2 - spun from hand dyed merino wool -

Instead of posting all of the bamboo - here is a mosaic created with fd's flickr toys of the newly listed colors - all available on ETSY or MY SITE.

That's it! I'll have a new (or rather a new version of a previously spun color) art yarn later today and have lots to do so off I go . . .

Bamboo, bamboo, bamboo!

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!

Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair

First, I have to say my website issue still is not resolved, and in the wee hours of the morning I realized that my *url forwarding* may have expired MONTHS ago?!?!? That *really* sucks. And while it is my fault the domains themselves expired because I wasn't checking that email - if the forwarding actually DID expire back in April like my account stated this morning, well, I would have seen those messages as I WAS checking all of my accounts back then! So, anyways, if you are trying to get to kittygrrlz.com - please check me out on ETSY instead - kittygrrlz.etsy.com


As for the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Festival - it was good. I will be honest and say I was a little disappointed. I hoped it would be *different* than a regular craft show in that there would be more buyers for hand spun yarns, and there would be those who would "get" both my yarn and the pricing. Unfortunately, the crowd wasn't that different from any other show I've done. Most of the buyers seemed to be looking for sock yarn, and hand-dyed "regular" yarn. The ones who did get the hand spun aspect were there looking for fiber for spinning themselves. So, once again, I was sort of in the in-between place of needing just the right buyers to come along. Luckily, there were some that did! There are always a few who are looking for something unique. There are always a couple who want to venture out and try something new. There are always the ones who understand the time that goes into it. So, overall, I did okay. Very similar to the Indie Craft Shows I do like Art vs Craft, Craftacular, and the DIY Trunk Show.

It was *exhausting*, though! I was so spent by Sunday afternoon I just wanted to crawl under my table and sleep. It didn't help that 1. I had a headache all day and 2. there was music playing *right* next to me - which not only made my headache worse but also made it very difficult to talk to customers.

There were a lot of great vendors there, but I managed to be good, and only bought a few rovings from CreativelyDyed. Here are some shots - the first is "SeaWool" a merino wool and Seacell blend, and the second are 2 merino/tencel blends. I actually bought a braid of the SeaWool on Saturday morning and spun it up right away! I'll have pictures of those skeins probably tomorrow morning.

Here are some shots of her fiber and also hand dyed yarn -


Here are some shots of my booth on Friday night -


And, finally, I will end with pictures of a new art yarn finished before the show and now listed and also a couple of kitty pics!

Hippie Boho - both are spun from merino wool hand dyed by the Yarn Wench in color "Magic Bus" and are available on etsy - you can click on the picture to go to the listings.


Bug, sleeping on top of my paperwork and receipts from the show -

and, not happy about being disturbed . . .

more new yarn pics tomorrow!

I am an idiot!

So, I have too many email addresses, which I haven't been regularly checking lately - so today, I try and go to MY WEBSITE . . . and the DOMAIN has EXPIRED!?!?!? GRRRRR . . .

I DID renew right away as soon as I realized what happened, but it still isn't showing up!?!? I hope it comes up soon - I handed out quite a few cards this weekend at the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair - ALL with THAT URL on them!?!??!

It's my own fault for not checking that email account, but grrrr . . . I am so upset!

Oh well. If you ARE trying to get to the website and it still isn't coming up - Please check me out on ETSY - HERE!

I'll be posting again either later tonight or tomorrow morning with a recap of the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair!

Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair

Well, I've been a bit distracted this week so have missed posting, but I really wanted to mention where I will be THIS WEEKEND!

The MIDWEST FIBER & FOLK ART FAIR in Crystal Lake, Illinois! It is my first 3-day show or fair and also my first strictly-fiber event! You can get more information HERE.

In preparation for the show I have been spinning almost non-stop. I have lots of new bamboo spun up (and I still don't have all done that I *want* done, but today it is time to spin some art yarns!). I also have a few corespun yarns as I just decided to try it yesterday and really liked it - so I have 3 of those, too. Also, a new Novel-Ply yarn that is just so squishy and soft! I don't have pictures yet of anything because I just don't have the time to take/edit/upload them right now. Whatever remains after the weekend will be listed next week, though.

I do have a few new ones from last week that I don't think I've shared -

Wild Birds Again - slightly different version of the Wild Birds art yarn - I have two skeins available - here is one (you can click on the picture to go to my etsy listing)

Oops, I don't have the pics of the two bamboo colors on flickr yet - so here is just a link to their etsy listings -

PUMPKIN PATCH

SPRING FOREST

Well, I think that's all I have time for - it's time for me to get to my wheel! :)

South Shore Frolics Festival Of Arts

THIS Sunday, July 13, I will be at the South Shore Frolics Festival of Arts at South Shore Park, from 10am-5pm, in booth #1!


Come check it out! I'll have lots of yarns and summer shawls, too. For more information, CLICK HERE!

And, since I can't possibly post without a yarn picture - here is a new art yarn, spun from a Spontaneous Spinning batt from LOOP. Lilac Silver Mist -

Another yarn post . . .

So, I was up late again last night, so think I may be going back to sleep for just a couple of hours, but wanted to post the new yarns that I spun up on Tuesday and listed yesterday -

Most of these are Batt-tacular! yarns, spun from carded batts of fiber from TerraBellaSpun and FeltStudioUK.

Dune 2 - alpaca, merino wool, viscose, camel, and silver sparkle, plied with a silver metallic thread, 112 yards, 4.1 oz -

Plum Silver - merino, superwash wool, and white glitz, also plied with silver metallic thread, 108 yards, 3.2 oz -

Olive Mint - merino wool, wool, and glitz, plied with a dark olive thread - 86 yards, 3.1 oz

Home for the Holidays - wool, superwash merino and gold sparkle, plied with a shiny metallic thread in red/gold/green, 124 yards, 4.6 oz!

That's it for now - I may be back later to blog about our Vegas trip . . .

New yarns

It was another late night last night (or early morning, depending on how you look at it!) but I did get 5 yarns spun yesterday! Those should be listed later today . . .

This post will be for the yarns from Monday - two Batt-tacular! Singles spun from Spontaneous Spinning batts from LOOP. The first is "Dazzling Dusk" - 150 yards, 4.1 oz, DK weight -

And, the second is "Pretty in Pinkish" - 100 yards, 3.4 oz, more worsted weight and slightly thick n thin. I also have 10 yards of an art yarn for this one since that is what I was originally going to spin with the batt - but it has a lot of bamboo in it and I prefer not to spin bamboo into art yarns - anyways, here it is -

I also finished this two-ply spun from the Chocolate Liqueur bamboo batts (also from Loop). This one is for a custom spin -
And, also these coils, which I think will also be for a special request -

Today, I've got some more coils to do and I think I'll be spinning another "Squish-tastic!" 2ply, this time with a merino/tencel blend as the thin ply. I've got 5 yarns to photograph and list - all but one are "Batt-tacular!" yarns, plied with thread and spun from various batts from TerraBellaSpun and one from FeltStudioUK. The fifth yarn is a single ply of the Chocolate Liqueur batt!

I think that's all for now!

I'm back!

And, my first "official" day as Kitty Grrlz full-time is now over . . .

I don't have pictures yet of what I did today, but I do have a couple of new yarns to share - this was the yarn I started the day of the Craftacular - which was a blast! I will miss the High Noon Saloon as the Craftacular venue but look forward to seeing the new location in December.

This yarn is a "Squish-tastic!" bulky 2ply with the coordinating mini-skein of Navajo 3-ply. It is spun from the popular Yarn Wench colorway, "Tropical Fish". In the 2ply, one strand is merino and the other is merino/silk. The 3ply is also spun from just the merino/silk.

This 2ply skein is a massive 5 oz! The mini skein is 90 yards and 3.1 oz -

I thought I would jump right in to spinning this past weekend (we returned in the early morning hours of July 4) but I was so tired! And, we did get together with family - Friday the 4th - after sleeping for a few hours - we went to my boyfriend's Mom's annual 4th of July party. Which was fun. Sunday, we went to MY Mom's house for a small gathering and the big news that day was - MY SISTER got engaged! :) In between, I slept a lot which seems to be the norm when we return from vacation. I was very worried about taking the vacation - but it was also really nice to just get away from everything for a little while. It also helped that I won a small progressive jackpot on a penny slot machine, which made me feel a lot less guilty about the money spent on the trip (and also means I came home with some money which may have to go towards a laptop - I have to return the one I am using soon). I have a couple of pictures from the trip that I may post, but I haven't yet edited/uploaded them.

This weekend, I also DID spin up a quick skein of bamboo -

But, for the most part, the weekend wasn't quite the working-weekend I expected it to be, and even today started off slowly. I got up early to mail out an order, but then went back to sleep! It was rainy and stormy which made it even easier to stay in bed . . . but, I have commissions that need to be done, so I did eventually get up and got to work! :) Worked on commissions most of the day but also spun up two single ply skeins from LOOP Spontaneous Spinning batts! They will be posted tomorrow afternoon, I hope.

I am going to try and post every day - and hopefully not late at night - I really want to get back to my "normal" work-day hours . . . this staying up until 2am really isn't good as I miss lots of good daylight by sleeping in! I love spinning in the sunlight . . .

That's all for now! Watch for lots of new yarns from me now that I will be spinning and knitting full-time.