New yarns, sale section, shipping rates, etc.

Today I listed three new single ply yarns in my etsy shop. They *might* be the last yarns I list for about a week, though I hope to still have a few new things tomorrow and maybe Thursday and Friday, but it will depend. Before I get to the new single plys, here are a couple of other notes -

My YART SALE continues until June 30! You can find yarns on sale (20-40% off!) in this section HERE. I'm also offering Free USA and $5 International Shipping until the end of the month as well. Once July 1 hits, though, the sale section will be gone and shipping prices will increase. My new shipping rates are as follows (and remember, this is PER ORDER, so no matter how much you purchase, you only pay one flat shipping rate):

USA - $5
Canada/Mexico - $10
Everywhere else - $12

BUT, if you sign up for my newsletter (see the sidebar on this blog, or go to the bottom of THIS PAGE) you will NEVER pay full price shipping - newsletter subscribers always have free or discounted shipping! I try and send out only one email per month that includes monthly specials, news, and upcoming show information.

Speaking of SHIPPING, I will *not be shipping any orders from JUNE 25-JUNE 30!* All purchases made and paid for during this time will be mailed out on July 1. My last trip to the Post Office will most likely be Wednesday before noon.

Finally, here are the new yarns! :)


Black Amber - 136 yards
Lost - 170 yards
Dill Pickle - 186 yards

Holiday Spice in summer!

I know this may be more of a fall/holiday colored yarn, but I couldn't resist getting this one spun up as it's been waiting for me to spin it for awhile. It is similar to last fall's "Holiday Spice", so even though it was spun from a different Yarn Wench colorway this time, I've kept the Holiday Spice name. I have two skeins, both 100 yards, and both a little more bulky as opposed to super bulky. Here is a mosaic of the skeins, which you can find on etsy HERE and HERE.

Not sure if I'll get to spinning today. We received free tickets to the NASCAR Nationwide Series race tonight, so we'll be going at some point. This afternoon I hope to prep some Falkland fiber for single plys, but not sure if I'll get to spinning them or not. I WILL be spinning lots of Falkland and bamboo singles over the next couple of days. I *think* I may take a break from the art yarns until the beginning of July, but who knows. I still have quite a few that are waiting and pretty much ready to go. I'll also be working on a couple of custom orders these next few days, too.

But, now, it's time to do some fiber prep!

Plum Divine - finally!

I have finally spun up my latest "Plum Divine" skeins! I stayed up until 5am to do it, but they are done! (and, really, I was only up so late because I ended up getting such a late start on spinning yesterday!). I've got four, 3 are basically the same, but the 4th one is a little different in that it has 19 different novelty/specialty yarns spun in (as opposed to the 12 the others have.) This last skein has a bit more burgundy and yellow in it than the other 3. Here is a mosaic of the skeins, and below are links to the individual skeins in my etsy shop -


FunctionArt - Plum Divine - Hand Spun Art Yarn - 94 yards (1)
FunctionArt - Plum Divine - Hand Spun Art Yarn - 94 yards (2)
FunctionArt - Plum Divine - Hand Spun Art Yarn - 78 yards
FunctionArt - Plum Wine & Sunshine Divine - Hand Spun Art Yarn - 88 yards

Now it's time to get to work! I'm either going to be spinning two art yarn skeins tonight, or 4 Falkland single plys. It will depend on how I feel after exercising and an early dinner!

Change of plans . . . new single ply yarns & bamboo today

So, I had a change in spinning plans yesterday. After receiving a custom-spin bamboo order, I decided to spin up a couple of skeins of bamboo which didn't leave enough time to spin the Plum Divine. Instead, I spun two more Falkland wool single plys. TODAY I'm going to spin some Plum Divine and hopefully another color, too! Here is a mosaic of the new yarns listed -


Kitty Singles - Linnea - Hand Spun Single Ply Wool Yarn
Kitty Singles - Pink Grapefruit - Hand Spun Single Ply Wool Yarn
Beautiful Bamboo - Razzleberry - Hand Spun Single Ply Bamboo yarn - 186 yards
Beautiful Bamboo - Razzleberry - Hand Spun Single Ply Bamboo yarn - 162 yards

A "Haunting" new art yarn!

Well, as promised, I spun a totally new art yarn color yesterday and have the two skeins now listed in my etsy shop. As soon as I saw this hand dyed merino wool roving on the Yarn Wench site, I knew it would make a great art yarn. Called "Haunting", it's a very autumnal/fall color combination of dark blue and plum, with orange, gold, and rust in there, too. I spun two similar skeins, though one is plied with dark blue thread and the other is plied with orange/rust thread. You can find "Autumn Haunting" HERE and "October NightSong' HERE.

I also had time for one single ply - Brass Petals - spun from great Falkland dyed by Cloudlover. I have 6 more great colors ready to spin, and am hoping to have them all spun by the weekend, if I'm lucky.

Today, I hope to spin two more of the Falkland single plys and at least two skeins of Plum Divine art yarn. Tomorrow, more Falkland, and another NEW color of art yarn. I may have to slip some bamboo in here somewhere, too!

But, now I must get to spinning. To end, here is a mosaic of the new yarns:

New yarns - art yarns and bamboo & sale continues!

First, just a note that I am keeping my sale section around until the end of June. You can find yarns reduced 20-40% off in the Sale Section in my Etsy Shop Here. I don't think I will be adding anything new to the section, but thought I would keep it until the end of the month with the yarns already reduced.

Today, I listed some new art yarns and yesterday, some new bamboo. The art yarns are actually colors I've spun before, but I had to spin them before spinning new colors because the fiber and materials were taking up room in my "staging area". Now that I've got these colors done, I am ready for some NEW colors! I've got one planned for today that is a new combination, and then I hope to spin some Plum Divine tomorrow. I'll also be spinning a few single plys today, if time allows.

Here are the new yarns - Sangria Garden Rose and Iris, Dreaming.

And, the new bamboo - Summer Carnival and Summer Neon Taffy

New yarns!

I didn't expect to have time today to list new yarns, but I just finished listing 5 new ones! I ended up spinning past midnight last night!

This morning started out pretty dreary - it was raining when we got up early to do our weekly grocery shopping - and I was worried about how the Family Reunion would go. But, by the time we were on our way around mid-day, the sun was coming out and it turned out to be perfect - partly sunny which kept it a little cooler, a little breezy, and all-in-all a perfect day! The reunion was fun, but wow, being out in the fresh air really made me tired. We got home at a very reasonable time which meant I could list the yarns from yesterday! I'm finally done doing that (had some issues with pictures, and took a break to watch Harper's Island) and now, at only 10pm, I think I'm calling it a night! I've got a full day of spinning ahead of me tomorrow and I want to be ready - I'm determined to do one more day of single ply yarns - probably bamboo - and then Monday it is going to be a week of art yarns! (Okay, there are going to be a few Falkland wool singles in there, too, since I've got a nice order coming from Cloudlover, but my focus this next week is going to be on art yarns.)

Tomorrow is the LAST DAY of my YART SALE!! I've added a few more yarns today, including these new ones, and may add one or two tomorrow morning. Here is where you can find my items -

Kitty Grrlz Hand Spun Yarns - YART SALE SECTION HERE
Kitty Grrlz Hand Knit Items - YART SALE SECTION HERE

And, finally, here is the mosaic of the new yarns!

YART Sale continues, new single plys, and weekend plans

My YART SALE continues today and through the weekend. I've added four new single ply yarns today that are all in my YART SALE Section. Here they are -


I've also been adding a few yarns here and there to the sale section as well.

Tomorrow we are going to a family reunion, so I don't think I'll be adding any new items, but I AM going to add a couple items to the sale section. (I'm thinking at least 2 art yarns and they will most likely be the Sangria Garden skeins). Sunday, I should have some brand new skeins to list (that is if I get anything spun TODAY as I sure won't be spinning tomorrow!) and then starting Monday I will be spinning mostly ART YARNS!! ALL WEEK!!! I will probably end up sneaking some others in there, too, but I'm really needing to spin something a bit different than all these single plys I've been doing this week.

And, as a reminder, here is my YART SALE info for both of my shops AND my destash specials -

Kitty Grrlz Hand Spun Yarns - YART SALE SECTION HERE
Kitty Grrlz Hand Knit Items - YART SALE SECTION HERE

Please come by and join in the YART fun!

But, wait, there's more! Remember my destash from last month? Well, I still have some fiber and yarns available. For the duration of the YART SALE, you will also receive the following discounts on destash:

Fiber - 20% off
Yarn - both commercial and handspun - buy two or more lots and get 15% off

You can find the fiber posts HERE and HERE and HERE, the commercial yarn post HERE and the handspun yarn post HERE. You can email me at kittygrrlzinc@yahoo.com if you are interested in any of the destash items!

YART SALE begins today!

Today kicks off the Second Annual YART Sale on etsy, sponsored by the ESST Team. I am taking part in both of my shops. I have a YART SALE SECTION in each shop and all the items in these sections have been discounted 20-40% off! This sale runs from today, Wednesday, June 10 through Sunday, June 14.

I will be adding new items to the yarn section once per day. Usually these will be NEW items, but on the weekend they may be ones already in my shop. Today, I'll be listing some bamboo for the YART SALE at 20% off.

Here is how you can find my items -

Kitty Grrlz Hand Spun Yarns - YART SALE SECTION HERE
Kitty Grrlz Hand Knit Items - YART SALE SECTION HERE

Please come by and join in the YART fun!

But, wait, there's more! Remember my destash from last month? Well, I still have some fiber and yarns available. For the duration of the YART SALE, you will also receive the following discounts on destash:

Fiber - 20% off
Yarn - both commercial and handspun - buy two or more lots and get 15% off

You can find the fiber posts HERE and HERE and HERE, the commercial yarn post HERE and the handspun yarn post HERE. You can email me at kittygrrlzinc@yahoo.com if you are interested in any of the destash items!

Five new single ply yarns listed & YART SALE starts tomorrow!

Just listed, in my etsy shop, 5 new single ply yarn skeins. Two of which will be included in my YART SALE tomorrow!

What is the YART SALE? It is an etsy-wide Yard+Art = YART SALE.

I will have a section in each of my shops titled "YART SALE SECTION". All the items in these sections will be reduced 20-40% off their regular price. AND, this is in addition to the shipping special that continues through June! Want a sneak peek of the items that will be on sale? You can check out the sections now -

YART SALE SECTION - Hand Spun Yarns
YART SALE SECTION - Hand Knit Items

But, remember, prices won't be changed until June 10th, when the sale kicks off! (I'll begin changing them around 11 or 12 midnight Central time tonight.)

In the meantime, here is the mosaic of the newly listed skeins (the bottom two are on hold for the moment but may be listed later.)

Etsy Seller Spotlight on - iWunder - gorgeous moebius cowls and more!

Yesterday in my Plum Divine post, I made mention of my topic for today - and that is featuring the crocheted moebius cowls of iWunder on etsy!

Jennifer does many things, actually. She has hand dyed yarn, hand knit purses, and scarves for men and women. But, what has really caught my eye in her shop are the unique crocheted cowls she makes with my art yarns and also other hand spun yarns.

I always love to see how my art yarns are used, and when I saw these pictures, I knew I had to make sure to highlight them in a blog post! They show off the colors and textures of the yarn, but are also fashionable and very fun! (not to mention, versatile!)

You can find all of Jennifer's cowls here, but below are just a few of my favorites!

Here is the one made with the "Plum Divine" color! You can see more pictures of it here.

Another of my favorite yarn colors has been "Turquoise Parrot". Here is a cowl crocheted with one of those skeins - (listing on etsy here)

Another color that is one of my favorites to spin is this one - Mahogany Midnight Moon - here is a gorgeous cowl made with this color -


In addition to the art yarns, she also uses gorgeous single ply hand spuns from other sources, but also has used my "Squish-tastic!" yarns. Here is one that really shows off this style of yarn - (you can find more great pictures in the listing here.)


And, even though she has many more in her shop and they are all fantastic, I'm going to end with this one - Surf's Up!

So, if you are looking for a unique and versatile hand made accessory - check out iWunder on etsy!

Plum Divine - favorite of all time?

Recently, I was asked, "If you were a color, what color would you be?"

For most people, this should probably be an easy question, right? Well, I thought it should be, and maybe it would have been except for one thing -

I work with color *every day*. *COLOR* is one of the main reasons I do what I do, spin what I spin, etc. I spend way too much time thinking about color and which ones to use together. I spend hours pouring over hand dyed fiber with the most important trait being the color and color blends (followed second by the fiber type). (And let's not even get into the photo-editing process whereby I angst over whether or not my pictures are truly capturing the yarn colors accurately.)

Anyways, my answer to that question was finally, "Plum Divine" - a combination of green, plum/purple, a little burgundy and usually some chartreuse. And, the funny thing is, this combines two of my past "favorite colors" - when I was very young, green was my favorite color, and more recently, purple has become a favorite. But, this blend, this colorway, is truly my favorite - or at least definitely in the top 5.

The color first appeared on Lynn aka the Yarn Wench's site a couple of years ago as her colorway "Plumgrove". It has undergone some slight changes from batch to batch, and also from fiber type to fiber type - but it always grabs my attention and I can't help but purchase it. I have spun it as an art yarn (in merino), a single ply (in merino/silk and Falkland), a Squish-tastic in merino and merino/silk and a Navajo 3ply in merino/silk. Currently, I only have one skein of it available, a single ply in a merino/silk blend, but I have two batches of it waiting to be spun into art yarns. I hope to have those spun up next week, but as always happens when I receive a batch of it - I need to let it sit and simmer awhile, percolate if you will, before I bring it out, match it up with the yarns, and spin it up.

Here is a mosaic of some of the previous spins in this colorway -


Tomorrow, I will be highlighting a great etsy seller who makes gorgeous cowls with my art yarns - and of course, one of them was crocheted with a PLUM DIVINE SKEIN! :)

(If you are interested in a Plum Divine skein in an art yarn form, I should have 4 skeins spun up next week. I also have one more batch of it in the merino/silk blend which could be spun into a Navajo 3ply or single.)

Blackberry Sea aka Tealberry - a custom color gone right

Awhile back, I received this yarn. It is Trendsetter "Flora" yarn in color "Blackberry". As soon as I saw it, I wanted fiber in the same color so that I could spin an art yarn and maybe a single ply. I put in requests to two of my favorite dyers, and in the end received two very different results. The thing about this color is that there are definite sections of each color; it is very bold and distinct. The merino that I received from one of my requests turned out beautiful (and I will eventually get to spinning it, too) but a little more blended. But, the other request ended up being a near-perfect match! (I say "near-perfect" because I don't think *anything* could be *exactly* the same.)

The first fibers I received were dyed in Falkland wool by Cloudlover. Those became single ply yarns, since that was why I had initially requested the color from her - the Falkland she dyes is my favorite! It is smooth, fairly soft for Falkland, and, most importantly, so easy to spin!

After getting a few batches of the Falkland, and each one being better than the last, I finally took the plunge and asked for the color in merino. Once again, I was so amazed at how well it matched the Flora yarn! The first batch become a "Novel-Ply" skein, where I spun the merino thick/thin and then plied it with the Flora yarn. After that, I spun a couple of single ply merino skeins. The latest batches of merino AND a merino/silk blend are the last ones shown in the mosaic below. I spun a "Squish-tastic" yarn with these, which is one strand of merino spun thick/thin, a strand of merino/silk spun thin, and then the two are plied together. This skein turned out so smooth and soft! It actually feels different than my other Squish-tastics, but in a good way. I think it is my favorite of all the Tealberry/Blackberry Sea skeins I have spun!

You may notice, though, that I still haven't spun this color as an art yarn. I'm not sure why I haven't yet, but I think it is because the colors are so great I don't want to dilute them with other yarns. The colors are also difficult to match, so I'm not sure how it would turn out. I know I have ONE yarn that matches - the Flora yarn - but I haven't really come across any others that seem to want to be spun in for an art yarn. I have one more batch of merino on hand, and one more batch of merino/silk. I'm not yet sure what they will become.

Finally, most of these have been spoken for before I finish them, or have sold when listed. But, three of the skeins shown below are still available in my etsy shop -
Novel-Ply - Blackberry Garden - Hand Spun Yarn
Squish-tastic - Blackberry Sea - Hand Spun Super Bulky 2ply Yarn
Navajo 3ply - Blackberry Sea - Hand Spun Navajo 3ply Yarn

A couple of new bamboo skeins listed

I've got a couple of new bamboo skeins, newly listed in my etsy shop. One skein remaining of "New Southwest" -

And, two skeins of "Spring Garden" - 174 yards and 164 yards - both sport weight -

$25 Kitty Grrlz Gift Card Giveaway on the WIST blog!

This week, I am the "Moo Crew" featured seller over on the WIST blog. What is WIST, you ask? WIST is the Wisconsin Street Team on Etsy - a group of Wisconsin artists that also sell on etsy. Each week a member is featured, and often times it includes a promotional giveaway.

You can find my interview here, and make sure to read down at the bottom about how to win a $25 gift certificate valid in my yarn shop or my knits shop.

And, don't forget - destash continues! Check out this post for more information!