Starting out the new year . . .

Well, it is the 6th day of the New Year and this is my first blog post. What does this mean? It means I have failed miserably at my "resolution" to blog more!?!?! Oh well. Things just started off a little badly and I think the past few months finally caught up to me and I just SLEPT almost all day New Year's Day which just put me behind on everything and out of sorts. But, I think I'm back on track and ready for the new year!!

Oddly enough, it is starting out the same way 2008 ended - with spinning yet MORE bamboo yarns!! I really wanted to be spinning art yarns by now, but the bamboo has been selling and I hate to have so few colors in my shop - so I decided to spin up some of the remaining colors I had. I've got three listed today - more Springtime in Paris, Serenity, and Very Berry Blues. These are all colors that I probably won't have again until February or March. Why? Because even though I just ordered over 25 pounds of bamboo fiber, these colors are not on the order. They'll be on the next one. BUT, this does mean I'll have lots of good colors coming soon!! Here is a mosaic of the three colors I just listed (you can click on it to take you to my etsy shop bamboo listings)-

Today, I plan on spinning some more Summer Carnival and Marmalade Pine, along with at least one single ply WOOL yarn. Then, TOMORROW, I believe I will get back to the wool and spin either an art yarn or two, maybe a Squish-tastic, or maybe a two-ply. I've gotten some gorgeous fiber colors from the Yarn Wench lately and they are just screaming to be spun!!

Last week, I did spin a few yarns, and one of them was the "Green Man" colorway I've done before. Both sets I spun were for special requests, so never made it to my shop - but here is a mosaic of the 4 skeins anyways -

I do have one more small batch of this fiber color (Pine Forest) but have run out of a couple of the yarns used in these, so if I do another skein it will be slightly different.

I also have some LLAMA roving to spin!!! My MOM got it for me for Christmas - almost 9 ounces in a nice natural brown color. It is from Windridge Farms in Colgate, Wisconsin. I have to admit that I was surprised at how SOFT it is and am really looking forward to spinning it. But, since I'm not sure if I will sell the resulting yarn or not, it's got to be put aside until I get some new yarns into my shop. I know for some having 50+ items is alot, but for me, I feel like my shop is bare, so really need to get spinning!

Which is exactly what I'm going to go do right now!

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New yarn . . .

So, at random times during the day and night, I think of things that I want to post here in my blog . . . but by the time I actually sit down and am ready to put the thoughts down - they are gone. Or, they just don't seem as important any more. I mean, really, who wants to listen to my opinion about American Idol?? Or what I think about Brett Favre retiring??

This means that today, I'm just going to show you my new yarn. This is the one I previewed yesterday, but got *much* better pictures of it yesterday and it is now listed on my site and on etsy. I also finished the matching skein last night. It is a little different, since I seem almost incapable of spinning two skeins *exactly* the same . . so, more on that one in a minute.

Here is the one already completed and listed. I am calling it "The Green Man - Tales from the Mythic Forest". This is the title of a poetry/prose collection that I became familiar with through my young adult librarian experience. I will admit here that I have not actually read the entire book - but it has always been highly recommended and has some wonderful authors that contributed. You can find out more info (or buy it for yourself!) here on amazon.com.

This (and the second skein as well) are also my entires for the EtsyFAST March Challenge, the theme of which is "Fairy Tales". I initially wanted my "Irish Fairy Tale" yarns to be for this challenge, but they sold immediately. So, I spun this one, thinking it would also be called Irish Fairy Tale, but . . . as I spun it I just kept thinking of the cover of the above book . . . so that is what it is called.

It is a whopping 114 yards and 4.1 oz! It is spun from merino wool and has several high-quality specialty yarns spun in as well as a couple colors of "Fun Fur". It is plied with dark greenish blue rayon thread. Here are a couple of pictures:


The second skein, which will be listed later this afternoon, is very similar. It is 110 yards, and has the same yarns spun in. It is plied half with gold metallic thread and the other half with green thread. It will be called "A bit of Irish Lore" or, maybe "Leprechaun Gold" - I'm not sure yet!

I also listed the pretty pink/white/cream/tan bamboo yarn that I showed yesterday. You can find it on my website or on etsy by clicking the picture below:

And, finally, I also listed the Jazz Garden shawl on etsy yesterday. You can find it on my website as well, or click on the picture below to find it on etsy.

That's all for now! :)