15 days to Stitches Midwest....

and I'm starting to freak out just a little!  Must really kick the spinning into overdrive!

I don't have any pictures today, only this one of Bug from last week....  (She likes to sleep under the cart I keep next to my spinning wheel.  It holds all the pertinent items I need for spinning.)

but i've been spinning...and prepping more fiber...and figuring out some of the details. 

I want to share more pictures of what I'll have at Stitches but realize taking and editing pictures takes time!  So, not today, but soon I'll set aside a little time to take some pictures of the latest yarns that are ready for Stitches Midwest!

20 days until Stitches Midwest...

Hurray for Friday!  But, not so happy that there are only 20 days left until Stitches Midwest!  I have so much spinning to do...

This is the latest art yarn color I'm working on...two skeins done, two to go...

While I was working the other night, I didn't know where Bug was!  Then, I found her under the hutch...here she says, "Stop stalking me with the camera already!"

This weekend I'll be doing some final fiber prep... and then it is nothing but spinning until Stitches!!

Prepping for art yarn spinning

Today, I tried to do some prep work for some art yarns I want to spin, including the July Yarn of the Month! The way I usually do this is -

First, I vacuum and clear the living room floor.
Second, I pull out the fiber colors I want to spin as art yarns.
Third, I go through all of my bins and boxes of novelty yarns and pull out and match up the ones I think will match the fibers I've pulled. I always pull more than I will end up using since this is only a preliminary sorting.
Fourth, well, that depends. Sometimes I just bag them up and do the final choosing later, when I'm ready to spin that particular color. Today, I got 3 colorways completely chosen (and in order for spinning) before the clouds and rain came, making it way too dark. I always like to do this at peak daylight - preferably on sunny days. But, the sun is coming back out now, so I think I'll go through and make the final decisions on at least a couple more colors.
Fifth, they sit until I am ready to spin them. While I end up clearing them from the living room floor, it does usually mean I have yarns lined up all over - on top of shelves, on the table in my "fiber room" and anywhere else I can fit them that is relatively out of the way. Or, I just bag them up for later.

This process always makes me excited to spin them ALL right away! I have some new color combinations this time that I've never done so I am itching to spin them up! I hope to get at least one done tonight, after spinning some bamboo for a custom order.

Here are some pictures from today's prep - including one of my cat Bug, who was impossible today! She wanted to lay down right in the middle (in the pictures, that is where I sit as I sort) and I had to keep pushing her away. Finally, she found a spot on the outskirts of the fiber "mess" and did what she does best - took a nap.

Am I there yet? (moving and new yarns)

I think I may have mentioned that we were moving this month. Well, we are sort of moved. I am here in our new apartment with Bug (our cat) and my laptop. And the printer. And a box of fiber ready to spin. And my wheel. And a few other things that made it down here with me on Sunday. BUT, almost all of our other stuff? Still 3 hours away waiting to get down here. I'm hoping it will all arrive today and then I'll feel a little more "settled". For now, I still feel like I'm just visiting or staying in a hotel. At least I've got the laptop, the TV, and Bug! :)

Here she is, as a matter of fact, as Queen of the Boxes - these are boxes we brought down a few weeks ago - mostly non-essentials - stuff like our collectible toys/figures, books, and a few miscellaneous things that are non-necessities.

For perspective, here is the full-length shot of the closet -
That is the closet in what will probably be "my" room - I'll have my fiber in there, and probably a desk/computer, etc. My bookcases will also be in there. As the queen of clutter we are trying something NEW with this apartment and that is trying to keep the living room area look really clean and OPEN. NO clutter! My wheel will still be in there, because I'll still be spinning in that room since it has GREAT lighting. But, all the other fiber WILL be confined to this one room. Maybe I'll take more pictures later . . .

In fibery news - I was hoping to have new yarns spun the past couple of days but I've been feeling sort of in limbo without all of my stuff. I DO have fiber to work on, and hope to get to some of that today, but I DO have some new yarns from BEFORE the holidays - ones I don't think I ever posted here, so here they are! :)
From top to bottom -
The last batches of Plum Divine for 2009! One skein has already sold, but the other skein is still available here in my etsy shop!

Kitty Singles - Candy Colored Clown - Hand Spun Merino Wool Yarn - 134 yards
Beautiful Bamboo - Spring Garden - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn - 224 yards
Novel-Ply - New Year's Twilight - Hand Spun Super Bulky Yarn - 70 yards and a small 20 yard skein
Thread-Ply - Spumoni Sparkle - Hand Spun Thread-Ply Yarn, thicknthin with a few coils and beehives, too - great sparkle! - 60 yards and 30 yards

Here are a couple of others, too -

Kitty Singles - Rose Mocha - Hand Spun Single Ply Rambouillet Wool Yarn - 155 yards

Kitty Mixers - Adirondack Autumn - Hand Spun Two-Ply Merino Wool Yarn - 150 yards

Kitty Singles - November Garden - Hand Spun Single Ply Falkland Wool Yarn - 168 yards

Wow, I am even more behind than I thought in posting current yarns! Here is another mosaic with even MORE recent hand spun yarns! All of these yarns can be found in my etsy shop HERE!
Beautiful Bamboo - Sand and Sea - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn
Beautiful Bamboo - Chocolate Berry Shine - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn
Kitty Singles - Sabrina - Hand Spun Single Ply BFL Wool Yarn
Kitty Singles - Sweet - Hand Spun Single Ply BFL Wool Yarn
Squish-tastic - Twilight Dreams - Hand Spun Bulky Thick/Thin 2ply Yarn
Navajo 3-ply - Twilight Dreams - Hand Spun 3ply Yarn - merino wool and silk
Kitty Singles - Holiday Memories - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn
Kitty Singles - Orchid CinderWood - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn

Okay, I think that is all! I better get offline now and try and get something spun. I've got some Rambouillet wool ready to spin into a single ply, a few more batches of bamboo (I'm almost completely out of bamboo, though! I need to order more!), and some merino and merino/silk ready for some Squish-tastics! and Navajo 3plys. Alright, definitely better get to work!

My Spoiled Kitty Grrl

I forgot to add some kitty pics to my last post! The other night, I came into the living room and Bug was all curled up amongst her toys and I just had to snap some pictures! Here they are!

Bug - wants to spin art yarns, too?

Since I haven't posted any kitty pics lately, I thought I would post this mosaic of shots taken tonight of Bug lounging on "Intertwined". Maybe she thinks she will learn the techniques through osmosis? I did disturb her sleep to take these pictures, which I think you can tell by her expression in the last shot -

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!

My Dad met Johnny Depp . . .

So, my Dad called me yesterday, we hadn't talked in awhile . . . but the main exciting news up where he lives (northern Wisconsin, near Minocqua) is that they are filming (or were, I believe they wrapped up this weekend) the new Johnny Depp movie up there - the Dillinger movie. (They are supposedly now coming down to Milwaukee and have also filmed in other locations in the state.) So, he had some stories about that and said that he shook Johnny Depp's hand!

Now, I'm not young and silly anymore, but this made we wonder, why the heck wasn't I up there trying to stalk Johnny Depp!?!? Ha ha! :) Seriously, though . . . having a major movie production going on up there has got to be pretty exciting, but given the local population means that they weren't dealing with quite the swarms of people they are used to - hundreds instead of thousands . . .

anyways, didn't ask if he got any pictures, that is a better question for my sister . . . she's the one with the camera.

in other news, the weekend wasn't quite as productive as I'd hoped, but I did get a few new bamboo yarns spun up!

Summer Neon Taffy Single Ply

Peachy Keen Taffy Two-Ply
And, finally, "Stormy Sea" - these aren't listed yet but should be this afternoon.


And, finally, I leave you with a kitty pic - Bug tends to sleep under my chair when I spin, but it amazes me how close she will actually rest to my treadling feet?!?!? She was snoozing away . . .
and, then, once she realized I had the camera on her, decided to groom herself . . .
Silly Bug!

That's all for today!

Some cute kitty pics and more new yarns . . .

First, I've got to share some pics of my spoiled Bug girl! Instead of sleeping under my spinning wheel yesterday, she decided to lounge amongst her toys!


Then, there are the new yarns. ALL of these are now on my website, and should be listed on etsy during today and possibly tomorrow (yes, I am trying to spread out my listings on etsy instead of doing them all at once.)


Batt-tacular! Hand Spun Yarn - "Yesterday's Neon"
Spun from a carded batt of merino wool, alpaca and glitz.

Batt-tacular! Singles Hand Spun Yarn
"Roses"
Spun from a carded batt of superwash wools and sparkle!
Batt-tacular! Singles Hand Spun Yarn
"Violets"
Spun from a carded batt of merino, superwash wool, mill ends wool and glitz.

And, finally, here is another skein of hand spun bamboo fiber, "Smashin' Satin" which also matches the Navajo 3-ply I have in my shop, too.
I haven't come up with a snazzy name yet for the bamboo yarns, but I'm working on trying to "categorize" and name all of my styles of yarn. This stems from wanting to try and get my yarns re-organized in Ravelry to match the way the "big" yarn companies do it. So, for example, ALL of my yarns will be "Kitty Grrlz Hand Spun", then they will have a style name - like Batt-tacular! (which are yarns spun from carded batts), and then the colorway. Coming up with "style/type" names has been difficult, and so far the only ones I'm using that I like are Batt-tacular!, Batt-tacular! Singles, and CoilySpun (these are the super coily yarns). But, over the next couple of weeks I hope to have them all named and organized! :)

Another missed Monday . . .

So, once again I missed Monday! I had every intention of posting something, but time just slipped away . . . of course now that means I have even more to show/post today!

First, new yarns! Here is one that was finished on Sunday. It is spun from merino wool with novelty yarns spun in (4 of them hand dyed!) and plied with thread. This one also has tons of angelina spun in for sparkle! Available on etsy and my site.

I also finished the second "Violet Blues" skein on Saturday. Here it is:
I also had some coily-spun yarns but they sold yesterday! Yay!

Last night, I worked on "Blu-Mocha Cherry 2" - that is the name of the fiber (hand dyed by the Yarn Wench, of course). First, I found 15! novelty and specialty yarns that I wanted to spin in. I cut them up and set them up:

The color isn't quite right as the ones that are blue look a little purple in this picture. Then, I spun these into the fiber. Here is a bobbin shot of one of the finished single plys, before plying.

Then, I plied with thread. One skein was plied with pink thread, and the other with blue. This is a preliminary picture which isn't quite perfect, but it will give you an idea (these should both be listed with better pics later today):

While I was spinning, Bug, my cat, was sleeping under my chair:

so, this is what she looked like when I was done:

What a mess! She still loves to sleep there, though, even though many times she is really really close to my moving feet! Oh well. Here is one more shot of her through the wheel (please excuse the dust):
I don't really want to post them here, but if you are interested in seeing my "stash" photos, my "workspace" and the mess that WAS my living room, you can check out my PICS on FLICKR. I did some organizing and cleaning this weekend so that THIS and THIS became THIS and THIS. I also did some "organizing" of fiber and matching yarns so that I am ready to SPIN SPIN SPIN this week! I started out good last night by getting my two skeins done, and hope to do the same tonight. This picture shows some of the ones in the queue for this week!

Okay, I think that's all I have time for this morning, but should be back tomorrow with some more great items from some of my favorite etsy sellers! :)

Another yarn!

First, I have to say I have gone an entire 4 days without buying any fiber! Sure, I bought a car, but I am really going to have to watch my fiber spending with the new car payment coming up, so every day I can go without a purchase is a little victory for me! (I won't be on a STARVATION diet, of course, but I DO need to cut back--it has been like a fiber buffet for me lately!!)

Second, it was so tough yesterday! Knowing my car is just waiting for me to pick it up! AND! My money cleared much faster than I thought so it is sitting there just waiting for me, too! But, I decided to keep the plan for Friday on course . . .

Third, and probably best of all . . . I spun a yarn last night! It is just a nice little single ply spun from TerraBellaSpun's "Winter Warlock" batt. 150 yards, a little thinner than my usual yarns, maybe dk weight, not sure yet. I did wash my twist-setting/yarn soaking pot very well and finally got this one and the other one in there. I'm hoping to list them both on etsy and my website either tonight or tomorrow! Here is a picture of the Winter Warlock yarn:

And another:
And, here is Bug, staking claim to the bag that the fiber came in--she doesn't care much about the fiber but don't you dare take the plastic bag away from her! :)

That's all for now! Hopefully I'll be spinning another yarn tonight and new car tomorrow!! YAY!!!

Leaving soon . . .

I'll be leaving soon to head up to northern Wisconsin for my two craft shows this week. The first is the Musky Jamboree tomorrow in Boulder Junction and the second is the Paul Bunyan Festival in Eagle River on Wednesday. This is also a family visit as my Dad and Grandma also live up in this area. Since I don't know when I'll be online next (though I am hoping to use my laptop up there--WIFI at the library, so I'm told), I thought I would leave with some pictures of what I did this week:


And, a cat shot or two:


And, just a few more yarn shots from this past week:


The above two yarns are my first full skeins of Navajo 3-ply yarns! I finally did it! With much help from the tutorial on the Yarn Wench's site HERE. I can't wait to do more! The bright skein is BlueFacedLeicester wool and the bottom one is Falkland wool. Those black and pink yarns above are handdyed merino wool, also from the Yarn Wench, of course. I spun in some novelty yarns, lots of angelina, and plied one skein with black thread and the other with handdyed nylon novelty yarn (also dyed by the Yarn Wench.)

Okay, I think I've got to finish packing now!