Kitty Grrlz Cash Rewards Program

September is here! Which means fall fiber shows and November craft shows! I will be busy building inventory for the events I'll be vending at (a full list can be found in the sidebar of this blog), but that also means I won't be offering many discounts or specials. To make up for this, I have decided to steal an idea from Kohl's and offer a Kitty Grrlz Cash Rewards Program for the next few months.

What is the Kitty Grrlz Cash Rewards Program?

The Kitty Grrlz Cash Rewards Program allows everyone who purchases from me from September 1, 2011 through November 30, 2011 to earn "Kitty Grrlz Cash" which can be redeemed after December 1, 2011 towards yarn, batts, or anything else in my etsy shop. If you earn enough, you will get FREE yarn, batts, or gift cards!

How do I participate/earn rewards?

Earning the rewards is easy - simply purchase items from my Kitty Grrlz Hand Spun Yarn Shop, my Kitty Grrlz Hand Knits shop, or from me in person at shows between now and November 30, 2011. You will earn $15 for every $50 spent - that is about a 30% return on your purchases!

ALL purchases count towards this program - yarn purchases, fiber purchases, gift card purchases, and even hand knit purchases in my Kitty Grrlz Knits shop!

Do I need to do anything special?

No, I will keep track of everything!

How do I know how much I've earned and how do I get my reward?

I will keep track and at any time you can email me for the total you have earned so far. Then, on December 1, 2011, you will receive an email from me with the amount you have earned, and how to redeem the "Kitty Grrlz Cash".

Are there any catches?

The only thing is that the rewards can NOT be redeemed for actual cash. If you have earned enough to cover the entire cost of the items you want, you will pay absolutely nothing to redeem the Kitty Grrlz Cash rewards. If the amount earned is less than the item or items you want to purchase, you will need to pay the difference before I will mail the items.

I hope this explains it all, but if you have any questions, please feel free to post them in the comments or email me directly.

I really want this to be a "THANK YOU" to all of the wonderful people who have supported Kitty Grrlz throughout the years! I sincerely appreciate all of you!!

My favorite bamboo color . . .

well, my favorite THIS week at least - is Stormy Night! I forget how wonderful this blend is until I spin it again, and this last batch was extra wonderful! I have 3 skeins of it listed on etsy now - and another pound of it to spin (though 3 of those skeins are already spoken for, I believe)



Today, I finally got back to some art yarn spinning and spun two of my favorite colorways - Mahogany Peacock aka Mahogany Midnight Moon and Black Cherry aka Tainted Love. Tainted Love will be listed tomorrow for sure, and Mahogany Midnight Moon might be (it may be spoken for already, but if not, it will be listed.)

Tomorrow, I am going to spin a Navajo 3ply from a merino/silk blend in the Black Cherry/Tainted Love color and also a 2ply or 3ply from a pretty shade of merino/silk called Broken Heart. These two, along with the Tainted Love art yarn, are probably going to be the extent of any "Valentine" yarns I do this year. I just don't have a lot of pink/red fiber in my stash at the moment!?!?

Ah well, that's all for now - hopefully I'll have some good art yarn pictures tomorrow!

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Plum Honey Yarns

For those who are familiar with my yarns, you probably know that I get about 99% of my hand dyed fiber from Lynn aka The Yarn Wench. She has an amazing eye for color and I feel her colors truly are the best and give my yarns that something extra . . . at shows people often comment on my colors and most of the time I owe those compliments to Lynn. There are some that I continue to go back to every time she dyes them - Plum Grove, Pine Forest, Mahogany Peacock are just a few of the ones that I spin often.

There has been one color, though, that is another one of the colors she dyes often, in many variations and all fiber types. But, this one color, I have NEVER SPUN until NOW! This color is "Plum Honey".

So, finally a few weeks ago, I broke down and bought a batch of merino in this colorway, and then a week or so later, bought a batch of it in merino/silk. My plan was to spin one of my "Squish-tastic" bulky 2ply yarns. And, well, I *finally* got around to spinning this color and it is AMAZING. I can now see why it has been so popular and I'm still not sure why I've never bought and spun it before! Anyways, here is a mosaic of the yarns I spun - there are 4 pictures but only 3 skeins. You can find the large Squish-tastic skein HERE, the small mini skein HERE, and the Navajo 3-ply mini skein in the merino/silk HERE - if you are interested.



that's all from me for today - i've got to get spinning!

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A few more bamboo yarns

Just a quickie mosaic post to show some of the most recent bamboo colors I've added to my etsy shop - Prairie Dusk, Ocean Dusk, and Citrus Dreams. Springtime in Paris coming tomorrow, and more Summer Carnival coming Friday! Bamboo is still on special - $15 each single ply skein, and the 2ply skeins are on sale, too! Click here for all that is currently available!

Navajo 3-ply Yarns

Currently, I am running a featured yarn ad on Ravelry for my Navajo 3-ply yarns. I learned how to Navajo ply in the summer of 2007, I believe. It took a bit, but finally, one day, I just sat down and said, "I AM going to do this." I used Lynn's (aka the Yarn Wench) wonderful video and tutorial that can be found here. The key was I needed both the video AND the description to help me finally get it. Once it clicked, though, I was so happy and spun 3plys nonstop for awhile!

There are two main reasons I like the 3ply over the 2ply. The first is that I like how it keeps the colors together a little better. It doesn't dilute them or mix them quite as much as a two-ply does. I love the colors in Lynn's roving, and Navajo plying helps keep the colors a little more solid and intense. The effect of a two-ply can also be really beautiful, but it tends to mix the colors and dilute them. So, Navajo plying is what I do when I want to maintain the integrity of the colors.

Plus, it is sort of easier to spin - all you need to do is spin ONE single ply strand and then Navajo ply it into the 3ply! You only need two bobbins and you never have any "left over".

The second thing I really like about it, though, is the roundness of the yarn and how it looks when knit. I remember reading early on that 3plys are preferred by some because of the even, round nature to them and the fact that they really show off the knit stitches. I didn't really believe this until I actually knit with one of my 3plys. Then, I realized and could see the difference between something knit with the 3ply versus the 2ply. I think both have their purposes and everyone has their preference - but I think I prefer the 3ply now, too.

The one downside for me about Navajo plying is these types of yarns take me *so long* and you always get less yardage from the fiber than you would if you spun a single or even a two-ply. And, it isn't actually the plying that takes the longest - that is actually pretty smooth, fun and easy - but spinning the single is what drives me crazy! I've been spinning a bit bulkier lately, but usually I try to spin a really really thin single to end up with a thinner end result. It's spinning that single that seems to take me longer than anything else! But, I do still love spinning them!

My preference of fiber for the Navajo 3-plys is the merino/silk blend, or the SeaWool fiber which is wool and seacell. Though, I think the merino/silk works better for this type of yarn. I also like using merino and Falkland.

Here is a mosaic of some of my newest Navajo 3-ply yarns - all of which can be found on etsy HERE.


I am hoping to continue to list new 3plys through the end of the month. I have lots more merino/silk I'd like to spin this way, and will have at least one more skein of the SeaWool spun, too!

And, what do I like to knit with the Navajo 3ply yarns? Wristwarmers or Fingerless Gloves! While fairly basic in design, I really do love how the 3plys work for them. I can get a small pair out of less than 2 oz of yarn, usually two pairs from one larger skein of Navajo 3-ply. I also prefer to knit them on double-pointed needles so that I don't have to seam up the side. Here is a mosaic of some of the ones I've done. (Some of these are available in my Kitty Grrlz Knits shop HERE.)
That's all from me today!

Last weekend's new Art Yarns

I forgot to post pictures of the art yarns I finished last weekend. Well, I finished the last ones on Monday, but these were all spun between Friday and Monday night, from the fiber shown in this post -

From top to bottom -
Elizabeth's Garden (merino wool fiber, colorway "Elizabeth")
Neon Yuletide (merino wool fiber, colorway "Atomic Yuletide")
Holiday Treat (merino wool fiber, colorway "Crabapple")
Dreamscape (merino wool fiber, colorway "Dark Shadows")

Most of these can be found in my ETSY SHOP HERE!

I'm not sure what my challenge for this weekend is going to be. I *think* I'm going to do some more art yarns, but I also might take a break from them this weekend and work on some Navajo 3-plys spun from merino/silk blends and seacell fiber! I'm going to see how today goes!

Weekend Challenge - Art Yarns progress?

I have made some progress in my goal of spinning art yarns this weekend! I still have 4 more skeins to spin and I'm not sure I'll get all 4 done tonight, but I know I will get at least two more spun. But, I did spin up 3 other colors so far.

Friday, I spun "Boho" into these two bright and fun skeins -


And, Saturday I spun "Parade" - these I also added some coils as I was plying -


I don't have pictures yet, but today I spun "Plum Peacock" and will be spinning "Sprucewood" after dinner.

I sort of like having this sense of "purpose" for my weekend spinning, so I think each weekend I will pick a different type of yarn, or maybe fiber, and challenge myself to spin that. I'm already thinking that next weekend will be the challenge to spin ALL the remaining LOOP fiber I have! It isn't a HUGE amount, but I do have at least one Spontaneous Spinning batt left and some babycakes. But, I guess I need to finish this weekend's challenge first and then get through the week!

This week I am getting another order of bamboo fiber - more of the dark purple and orange color, and more of the color I use for my "Ice Princess" colorway. We'll see how it goes, though, as I already have a queue of 6 colors waiting to be spun!

Dinner time! More tomorrow - including pictures of the last of the weekend art yarns.

My Weekend Challenge - Art Yarns!

It seems that as much as I love spinning and knitting full-time, even I face motivation issues at times. I love spinning art yarns, but they also need to happen a bit more "organically" than some of the other yarns I do. I often need to choose the fiber, partially prep it, but then leave it alone for a few days. Then, I may return to it and find the yarns that I will use to spin in with the fiber. Then it may need to "simmer" a few more days. Until, finally, I take the fiber and yarn and just SPIN IT. I guess this is my "creative process" of sorts, but when I'm trying to get a certain amount done in a certain amount of time, this process doesn't always yield the results I need, or want. So, I am issuing myself a CHALLENGE for this weekend (well, starting today) and that is, I will SPIN ART YARNS ALL WEEKEND! This is actually a shot of some of the fiber that has been "simmering" this week -

There are 3 different colors shown here, in addition to another one off to the side, not in the picture. The 4 piles at the top are "Sprucewood", and the bottom sets are "Parade" and "Boho" - all merino wool hand dyed by the Yarn Wench. By Monday - these piles will be magically transformed into art yarns! :)

To get myself ready for some art yarn spinning, I spun up this beauty last night. It was spun from a Spontaneous Spinning Batt from loop. This one is mostly alpaca, but also has bamboo, Tussah Silk, cotton noils, locks, and angelina. The alpaca makes it feel very warm. I added in some novelty snippets and even more angelina for additional sparkle, and then plied it with two colors of thread - light purple and light green. It is a pretty heavy skein - 5.2 oz - and 100 yards. I'm calling it "Garden Fairies" -


So with that as inspiration, it is now time to begin my challenge . . . starting with "Boho" - the brightest of the batch!

YARN CON!

Tomorrow is YARN CON in Chicago!


Here is a preview of my newest yarns that I'll have available there!


For more pictures of new yarns check out my flickr HERE!