I'm a librarian, spinner, knitter! This is my blog for crafty things, updates to my shop and more.
You can check out my handspun yarns here - Kitty Grrlz Hand Spun Yarns and my hand knit items here - Kitty Grrlz Hand Knits

Thursday, February 26, 2009

New Yarns & Sheep in the City

I know I have been very bad about blogging, but it has been a really busy week or so. My birthday was last week, so I did take some time off this past weekend. I'm sort of regretting it now as I prepare for my show, which starts tomorrow, but I really did have fun. We went out on Friday for lunch, and Saturday night to the bars. This was the first time in a long time that i just went out and *relaxed*. Even though I knew I should have been home spinning, I was able to have fun. I really needed a night out like that with Scott as sometimes I feel like the fiber is overtaking everything!

Anyways, today I updated my etsy shop with some new yarns. These are the last new yarns I will post until Monday, when I will post whatever I spin this weekend. I plan on spinning "Squish-tastic!" 2plys while there, and I should get at least 3 done! So, I WILL have new things on Monday.

Here is a mosaic of the new yarns. You can click the picture to go to my etsy shop and have a closer look -

I also received more bamboo fiber in the "Black Gold" colorway. This was the yarn that was featured last weekend in the ETSY WEEKEND DEALS email and Storque article. I have a listing on etsy HERE for a custom-spun skein, but I do plan on spinning that up just as soon as I can. I have quite a few custom spins to get done next week, but in between, I'll be spinning more bamboo and probably a couple more art yarns. If you want to make sure to get your skein or skeins of DRAGONSONG, you may want to purchase the custom listing or EMAIL ME directly.



And, a reminder about THIS WEEKEND! It is the SHEEP IN THE CITY GETAWAY in Oak Creek, Wisconsin! It runs all weekend, and I will be teaching two classes. On Saturday, I'll be teaching art yarn spinning and on Sunday I'll be teaching art yarn knitting. I'm really nervous about doing these sessions, but hopefully it will be okay. Which means I need to get offline now and get fiber/patterns/etc ready for the weekend!

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Friday, February 13, 2009

More New Art Yarns & Bamboo

I've been trying to keep focused on spinning the past few days, and I have managed to get some new bamboo AND new art yarns spun up. Yesterday, I spun up two new art yarn colors. The first is spun from merino wool dyed by the Yarn Wench. She called this color "Lifesaver" and I think it really fit! But, while I was spinning this yarn, all I could think was "Summer Cooler" - so that is what I named it. I have two skeins and they are the bottom two in the mosaic below. The second color was spun from more Yarn Wench merino, this time a color called "Suited Up". When I first bought this fiber, the name reminded me of "Barney" on the tv show How I Met Your Mother. I originally wanted to spin it into a single ply, something that could maybe then be knit into a "guy" item. Well, as it worked out, I had some yarns that matched it well, so I abandoned that idea and decided to spin it into an art yarn. Hence, the name is "Barney's Midnight Blues" to try and keep a bit of the original thought I had when buying the fiber. I have two skeins and they are the top two in the mosaic below. You can find them all on ETSY HERE.

On Wednesday, I spun up 8 skeins of bamboo in the Stormy Night and Summer Shades colorways. I usually name the Summer Shades colors "Stormy Seas" to go along with the "Stormy Night", but this time they seemed a bit different, so I stuck with their original names, though two are lighter and two are darker. These are all on etsy HERE.


Today, I am thinking I'll try and spin up two more art yarn colors - once again a "bright" one and a "blues" one. This blue one will be slightly brighter shades of blue with more pure white and off-white yarns spun in. The bright one will be pinks, oranges, a bit of peach and purple. That one will be called "Summer Scorcher". Not sure about the blue one yet. Probably something simple like "Winter Ice Blues" or "Winter Blues". Then, it will be back to the bamboo. I have 3 remaining colors that I'd like to get spun up before I get my next big box of bamboo fiber which should arrive on Wednesday!

But, now, it's off to work!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Finally, a couple of new art yarns!

Yesterday, I *finally* got a chance to spin up a couple of new art yarns. Here they are!

Plum Hony - two skeins, both spun from hand dyed merino wool dyed by the Yarn Wench in her popular "Plum Honey" colorway. These pictures aren't quite as good as I hoped I'd get (it's cloudy today), but the colors are shades of burgundy, gold, and peacock/teal.

And, the other is Atomic Forest - two skeins spun from hand dyed merino wool dyed by the Yarn Wench in color "Bennie's Bright Peacock Feather". Naming this one was really difficult because I feel there is a perfect name out there for it - one that captures the vivid shades of green with the pops of burgundy and teal. But, I had to get it listed, so settled for "Atomic Forest".

You can find these in my etsy shop - HERE!

Today, I'm going to spin up some bamboo, and tomorrow it will be back to the art yarns. I'm either going to do a couple of shades-of-blue yarns, or i may go for a couple of brighter colorways. We'll see. I just hope it's sunny because I seem much more motivated to spin the art yarns when it is nice and bright!

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Want to win a $25 Kitty Grrlz Gift Card?

Check out the Kitty Grrlz Giveaway on the PhatFiber blog! Here is a link directly to the post.

I contributed about 25 samples to the January box in the form of my Kitty Grrlz promo mini skein keychains. Most of them had a small sample of the Ice Princess bamboo color, spun a bit thicker than normal. I should have more of that color spun up soon!

This month, for the February box, I was able to send 45 keychains, this time with samples of 2ply and Navajo 3ply yarns. PLUS, ONE lucky box purchaser will receive an EXTRA special keychain that has (instead of the regular business card) a $25 GIFT CARD attached! It will be randomly put into one of the February boxes.

For more information on the Phat Fiber Sample Box, check out the BLOG HERE or the etsy shop

February boxes will go on sale on Monday, February 16th!

I'm on Facebook!

Even though I should have been spinning, I set up a Facebook profile tonight! I now have a personal page, I guess you'd call it, and a page for Kitty Grrlz Hand Spun Yarns.

This took up way too much of my time tonight, which means I only have two new yarns for tomorrow - both single plys. One is a Falkland wool and the other Merino. I had wanted to spin an art yarn, too, but just didn't get to it. I do have it all ready to go - all the yarn snippets are cut and in order and the fiber prepped. It's what I will spin as soon as I wake up . . . later!

I did add some yarns today - mostly two colors of bamboo. Kitty Grrlz Light and Kitty Grrlz Dark!

Now, I must sleep so I can get some spinning done later!!!!

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Sunday, February 8, 2009

Prepping for This Week's Spinning & New Yarns

I only have 3 art yarns skeins left in my etsy shop! So, this morning I decided to do my "prep" work for spinning art yarns. I pick out some fibers (most of these have been pulled out recently because I wanted to spin them, so this part was already done.) Then, I bring out my boxes of novelty and specialty yarns, and match up these with the fibers. Both couches were covered! Here is a mosaic of the mess -

And, here is the final "spinning queue" - bags of sorted art yarn materials and bamboo -

Now, the trouble is deciding what to do first!

And, here is a mosaic of some of the newer yarns I have listed on etsy. You can find them all HERE.
Now, i better get to work!

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What's in a Name?

Lately, I've been thinking about the names of my yarns and the fibers they are spun from. Before I started spinning, I made jewelry (briefly), and I always named the pieces I made. This carried over to my yarns and hand knits and I couldn't imagine NOT naming them, even when I have trouble coming up with good ones.

My names aren't always that original. I tend to use color-names, or sometimes names that simply come from what I think about when I see the fiber, or finished yarn, or what I was thinking about while spinning. I also have certain words I tend to use to signify a certain trait - I like "midnight" for darker shades and moods, "sky" for lighter shades. I also like words like "wish" and "dreams", etc.

Since I receive much of my fiber from Lynn aka the Yarn Wench, sometimes I simply keep her names of the colorways for the yarns because they are so perfect. Names like "Carol Brady's Kitchen" and "June Cleaver, Vacuuming" - how can you beat those??? Sometimes, I like the names of her colorways, but they may not have . . . a point of relation to me? Not sure if that makes sense, but usually . . . I "feel' the names, and sometimes, there isn't that connection, so I try and come up with something new. And, truth be told, sometimes I just can't come up with anything so fall back on the colorway names!

I guess I was thinking about this recently because of two recent yarns I spun and named. This one, which was from a fiber colorway called "Glo-Brite" became "Heart Shaped Box". There were a couple reasons for this name bubbling to the surface. First, the combinations of pink and red with the slight shades of brown, got me thinking about Valentine's Day, and the heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. Those same shades also made their way into the video for the Nirvana song, "Heart-Shaped Box", which, well, Nirvana is definitely one of my favorite bands. And, finally, since my birthday is coming up shortly after Valentine's Day, and one of my Mom's traditions (since my 16th birthday) was to give me a heart shaped box of some sort - the name just sort of stuck as I spun through the first two skeins.


The next yarn I spun after that one, was this one. From a Yarn Wench colorway called "Meme". This is a good example of a name that, while great, I didn't really connect with at this time. To me, the colorway was more "Gothic Nightfall", but since that one had already been used, I wanted to come up with something else.


My first instinct was to call it "Violet", after the Hole song of the same name. Again, this is one of my favorite bands, and I can't really think about Kurt and Nirvana without thinking about Courtney and her band. And, I just felt the vibe was there, but didn't feel it was descriptive enough and kind of plain, since who would really know THIS was why I named it? Then, I started thinking of a line I once said to my friend back in our tragic, drama-queen college days - No one can help you in your darkest hour. I wanted to call it "Darkest Hour", but that seemed a bit . . . dark? depressing? Not the type of vibe I wanted to give for a yarn that I think is one of my favorites . . . so, I compromised and the main name of the yarn is "Violet", but in the listings, i did add the "aka Darkest Hour"

So, there is a little bit of insight into the thoughts that run through my head when naming yarns! :)

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