Website, Newsletter and Gift Cards!

Today I want to mention some new things and remind of some old - that now have a new twist!

First, a couple of weeks ago I started having problems with my website. Instead of continuing to maintain a separate shop catalog site (and all the time, stress, and hassle that seems to entail), for now I am going to be selling on ETSY only. In the future I may revisit having my own site for sales, but the truth is - most of my sales come from Etsy and shows. My website was more of a time-sucker than anything else. So, I hereby surrender to etsy! :)

You can find my HAND SPUN YARNS on Etsy HERE.
and
my HAND KNIT ITEMS on etsy HERE.

Kittygrrlz.com has NOT gone away, though! As a matter of fact - if you are looking to bookmark just ONE page to find Kitty Grrlz - that is the one! It now has links to my most recent blog posts, an upcoming shows/events listing, AND a NEW way to subscribe to my Newsletter . .

which brings me to my second point - my newsletter. I can no longer manage it the way I had been, so am now using bravenet.com and their free newsletter/mailing list service. I'm hoping to upgrade eventually to a pro/paid account, but for now I am hoping their free version will be enough to get my monthly newsletter out.

WHAT is my monthly newsletter, you ask? Well, at the beginning of each month, I email ONE message out to all subscribers. This message includes news, upcoming show information, AND, most importantly - specials and discounts for NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS only! They can vary from month to month and I will say that TOMORROW I will be having one of my best 1-day newsletter sales ever! I also plan to have some good specials in December. There is at least one special or discount *every* month, though.

If you are interested in signing up - please go to kittygrrlz.com and scroll down - near the bottom is a box for you to enter your name and email address. After entering your information, click "GO". On the next screen you will need to enter the letters/numbers shown in the box, click again, and then you should get the first confirmation page. At this point an email will be sent to you. Since it is a "double opt-in" list you need to open that email and click on the link to confirm your subscription. You should then receive a welcome email and will be all set for the next newsletter. IF for some reason *you do not receive the confirmation email* right away, please try again. When testing it out, I noticed that sometimes that email didn't seem to get "triggered", but upon trying again it worked fine.

Finally, I wanted to post about the fact that I am now offering GIFT CERTIFICATES! These are online versions of my Kitty Grrlz Cash Gift Cards that I now also have available in person at shows. Online, I am offering values of $25, $30, $50 and $60 - but if you would like a different denomination, all you have to do is email me and I can set up a special listing for you. Want to buy yarn for someone but not sure what kind they would like? What colors or fibers they like to work with? A Kitty Grrlz Gift Certificate is the perfect solution! And, in person keychain gift cards come with a 5-20 yard sample of yarn! This option is also available online but would incur a shipping cost. Please check out the listings here for more information.

Please keep in mind that if you ever need to contact me, or would prefer to order/purchase directly through me, you can email me at any time!

Weekend Challenge - Art yarns done!

It may have taken me a bit longer than just your normal two day weekend, but I did complete my weekend challenge! I spun 9 skeins of art yarn and 1 CoilySpun skein - started on Friday night and finished Monday. Here is a mosaic of the art yarns (I don't have pictures yet of the final skein of "TealWoodSpruce" or the CoilySpun skein - look for those later today!)



Yesterday I received my order of more bamboo fiber from FiberLady so now I will be spinning bamboo for the next couple of days. I also "re-organized" a bit and picked out yarns to go with some batches of fiber for another round of art yarns. I kind of like the idea of making weekends my time to spin art yarns, so maybe those will become my challenge for this coming weekend.

But, for now, I've got to get to work - the bamboo is all ready and waiting to be spun!

Weekend Challenge - Art Yarns progress?

I have made some progress in my goal of spinning art yarns this weekend! I still have 4 more skeins to spin and I'm not sure I'll get all 4 done tonight, but I know I will get at least two more spun. But, I did spin up 3 other colors so far.

Friday, I spun "Boho" into these two bright and fun skeins -


And, Saturday I spun "Parade" - these I also added some coils as I was plying -


I don't have pictures yet, but today I spun "Plum Peacock" and will be spinning "Sprucewood" after dinner.

I sort of like having this sense of "purpose" for my weekend spinning, so I think each weekend I will pick a different type of yarn, or maybe fiber, and challenge myself to spin that. I'm already thinking that next weekend will be the challenge to spin ALL the remaining LOOP fiber I have! It isn't a HUGE amount, but I do have at least one Spontaneous Spinning batt left and some babycakes. But, I guess I need to finish this weekend's challenge first and then get through the week!

This week I am getting another order of bamboo fiber - more of the dark purple and orange color, and more of the color I use for my "Ice Princess" colorway. We'll see how it goes, though, as I already have a queue of 6 colors waiting to be spun!

Dinner time! More tomorrow - including pictures of the last of the weekend art yarns.

My Weekend Challenge - Art Yarns!

It seems that as much as I love spinning and knitting full-time, even I face motivation issues at times. I love spinning art yarns, but they also need to happen a bit more "organically" than some of the other yarns I do. I often need to choose the fiber, partially prep it, but then leave it alone for a few days. Then, I may return to it and find the yarns that I will use to spin in with the fiber. Then it may need to "simmer" a few more days. Until, finally, I take the fiber and yarn and just SPIN IT. I guess this is my "creative process" of sorts, but when I'm trying to get a certain amount done in a certain amount of time, this process doesn't always yield the results I need, or want. So, I am issuing myself a CHALLENGE for this weekend (well, starting today) and that is, I will SPIN ART YARNS ALL WEEKEND! This is actually a shot of some of the fiber that has been "simmering" this week -

There are 3 different colors shown here, in addition to another one off to the side, not in the picture. The 4 piles at the top are "Sprucewood", and the bottom sets are "Parade" and "Boho" - all merino wool hand dyed by the Yarn Wench. By Monday - these piles will be magically transformed into art yarns! :)

To get myself ready for some art yarn spinning, I spun up this beauty last night. It was spun from a Spontaneous Spinning Batt from loop. This one is mostly alpaca, but also has bamboo, Tussah Silk, cotton noils, locks, and angelina. The alpaca makes it feel very warm. I added in some novelty snippets and even more angelina for additional sparkle, and then plied it with two colors of thread - light purple and light green. It is a pretty heavy skein - 5.2 oz - and 100 yards. I'm calling it "Garden Fairies" -


So with that as inspiration, it is now time to begin my challenge . . . starting with "Boho" - the brightest of the batch!

This week's new yarns - single plys!

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 . . .

My website issues

I am still having issues with my website and am currently looking into other options. For now, I am (hopefully) redirecting kittygrrlz.com to this page.

From here, you can:

Shop my Hand Spun Yarns on Etsy

Shop my Hand Knits on Etsy

I will be posting more about this as I work it all out.

Update October 19 -
I will be using this page temporarily to direct ya'll to my various places online. See above links for shopping and here are some other places to find me on the web -

My pictures on FLICKR
The rest of MY BLOG

And, here is a list of my upcoming shows through the rest of the year -

Saturday, November 22 : DIY TRUNK SHOW in Chicago, Illinois
Saturday, November 29 : ArtvsCraft in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Saturday, December 6 : Holiday Craftacular in Madison, Wisconsin

If you would like to contact me, you can always email me here.

Thank you!

Yay!

Seems my website is fixed! Have no idea what happened, but, it's back!

Also, I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I DO have a SHOW this weekend! It is "A COMMUNITY AFFAIR" in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin - at the high school on Saturday, October 18. More details can be found HERE or HERE. I'll have some new yarns and new scarves, too!

Website issues and new yarns!

So, I am once again having an issue with kittygrrlz.com - while I try and figure that out you can always find my items on etsy - Kitty Grrlz Hand Spun Yarns on etsy and Kitty Grrlz Hand Knits on etsy

In other news - I have some new yarns! Actually, lots of them, including some new bamboo colors, all of which can be found on etsy. Here are just a couple of the new ones that aren't bamboo -

October at Midnight

FunctionArt - PlumBerryCrush Redux

And, a rare two-ply - Night Prism

Then, there are the red yarns! I had a request for a red art yarn, and ended up spinning 2 more of them - all from carded batts of fiber.

Vampire Night - spun from a Loop Spontaneous Spinning batt -

and, Love Hurts Redux, spun from "sexy" batt from feltstudiouk -

That's all for now!

New yarns!

First, I have to say YAY FOR YARNCON! It was a great show - lots of great yarn and fiber and lots of great people! Thanks to all who came out and an extra special thanks to those who purchased some of my yarns.

Second - I DO have new yarns to list this week and will slowly be working on more. So far, this is what I've got listed -

FunctionArt - Tainted Love Redux - this is the second time I spun this colorway - hand dyed merino wool dyed by the Yarn Wench - and I used mostly the same yarns with just a little variation. I also used lots of angelina for sparkle and plied with fuchsia/dark pink thread -


And, some new bamboo -

Meadow Night

Prairie Dusk Light


I have a couple more skeins of bamboo to list today and maybe tomorrow, and also two new art yarns - one will be listed later today and the other tomorrow, I think.

Garden Princess -

TealWoodSpruce

YARN CON!

Tomorrow is YARN CON in Chicago!


Here is a preview of my newest yarns that I'll have available there!


For more pictures of new yarns check out my flickr HERE!

New yarns & Yarn Con!

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!