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 -

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!

Weekend Recap!

Wow, this weekend seemed to fly by! Friday night I got home from work, ate, and fell asleep . . . by 6pm!?!?! I guess I must have been tired, or something, as I didn't wake up until Saturday morning! That was kind of bad because it meant no spinning! :(

Since I had fallen asleep at such a ridiculously early time, I did wake up early on Saturday, and actually got some spinning in before the Family Reunion. So, I spun this up early Saturday:

Then, about 12noon, it was off to Pike Lake State Park in the Kettle Moraine in Wisconsin for the Pike Family Reunion! This isn't technically *my* family, but my boyfriend's on his Mom's side. It was pretty nice--overcast so not too hot and the rain held off and the sun actually came out a bit near evening. He saw a lot of his cousins that were his "summer brothers and sisters" and his Mom got to partake in Southern Comfort without having to worry about driving (we drove).

Got home and watched the NASCAR race, or, rather, I fell asleep to the race! :)

Sunday! Spinning day! Woohoo!! I know all I ever talk about is spinning, yarn, knitting (and of course my cat!) but that is my life! :) Almost all my "free" time is spent spinning or knitting! I have alot of shows planned for the fall and really want to have a large stock so I'm not scrambling around trying to get everything done in the fall! Anyways . . .

Sunday, I got to spin! I spun up some gorgeous Yarn Wench fiber. I don't have pics of the "Tiger Eye" yarn yet but I do have pics of the "Violet Song" yarn. "Violet Song" is my entry into the Wisconsin Street Team's June contest--the theme is the Wood Violet or Violet colors--and so I spun this:

You can see more pictures in my flickr account here! (they are also on my website here and of course on etsy here and here)

I really liked spinning this one--the novelty yarn was dyed special for me by the Yarn Wench
and I strung the flowers right onto that yarn and plied away! I am looking forward to using the other colors she did for me!

Before using the flowers, I had them out, and my cat, Bug, decided she needed to be in the middle of them!


And, here she is looking up from the ones I ended up using in the yarn:

And, here is one more shot, of Bug through my spinning wheel (she loves to sit on my chair! if i get up even for a second she hops up and makes herself comfortable!)

Well, I think that's it for now! Must get to work!

Meet the Grrlz Pt. 2

Yesterday I told you about Jinx. I wasn't able to get her kitten pictures scanned last night, but here is another of my favorites of her:
She used to sleep in my open drawers alot. I think it was to hide from Bug:

So, yes, that brings us to Bug Juice. Bug Juice is an Oregon kitty as I got her when I lived in Roseburg, Oregon. She was a stray that my supervisor at the library brought to work in hopes of finding her a home. Bug was a smelly kitten (now she's a master groomer!) and had quite the personality. Jinx was none to happy when I brought her home, and this picture shows them as close as they would get at that time:
This really is the quintessential "Kitty Grrlz" picture! :)

During this time in Oregon, Jinx steered clear of Bug, often hiding out in the closet full of boxes:
From Oregon, I moved to California briefly. Here is a picture of them both in my display cases:
They both actually went in there *willingly* I did not put them in there!

After a year or so in California I wised up and realized I truly was a Mid-Western girl at heart and returned to Wisconsin. This is when Jinx really mellowed alot and Bug got fat(er)!
Then, in 2004, Jinx died. It was really traumatic because I should have known something was wrong and didn't get her to the vet in time. I'm pretty sure she died in my arms on the way there. I still miss her--she used to sleep by my head every night and had a bad habit of always following me into the bathroom--of course she did this to beg for water from the tap--she loved to drink out of the sink faucet.

That left a hole in "kitty grrlz", but Bug has stepped up and been a great help to my crafting . . . umm, well, not *really* but she tries: