I'm back!

And, my first "official" day as Kitty Grrlz full-time is now over . . .

I don't have pictures yet of what I did today, but I do have a couple of new yarns to share - this was the yarn I started the day of the Craftacular - which was a blast! I will miss the High Noon Saloon as the Craftacular venue but look forward to seeing the new location in December.

This yarn is a "Squish-tastic!" bulky 2ply with the coordinating mini-skein of Navajo 3-ply. It is spun from the popular Yarn Wench colorway, "Tropical Fish". In the 2ply, one strand is merino and the other is merino/silk. The 3ply is also spun from just the merino/silk.

This 2ply skein is a massive 5 oz! The mini skein is 90 yards and 3.1 oz -

I thought I would jump right in to spinning this past weekend (we returned in the early morning hours of July 4) but I was so tired! And, we did get together with family - Friday the 4th - after sleeping for a few hours - we went to my boyfriend's Mom's annual 4th of July party. Which was fun. Sunday, we went to MY Mom's house for a small gathering and the big news that day was - MY SISTER got engaged! :) In between, I slept a lot which seems to be the norm when we return from vacation. I was very worried about taking the vacation - but it was also really nice to just get away from everything for a little while. It also helped that I won a small progressive jackpot on a penny slot machine, which made me feel a lot less guilty about the money spent on the trip (and also means I came home with some money which may have to go towards a laptop - I have to return the one I am using soon). I have a couple of pictures from the trip that I may post, but I haven't yet edited/uploaded them.

This weekend, I also DID spin up a quick skein of bamboo -

But, for the most part, the weekend wasn't quite the working-weekend I expected it to be, and even today started off slowly. I got up early to mail out an order, but then went back to sleep! It was rainy and stormy which made it even easier to stay in bed . . . but, I have commissions that need to be done, so I did eventually get up and got to work! :) Worked on commissions most of the day but also spun up two single ply skeins from LOOP Spontaneous Spinning batts! They will be posted tomorrow afternoon, I hope.

I am going to try and post every day - and hopefully not late at night - I really want to get back to my "normal" work-day hours . . . this staying up until 2am really isn't good as I miss lots of good daylight by sleeping in! I love spinning in the sunlight . . .

That's all for now! Watch for lots of new yarns from me now that I will be spinning and knitting full-time.

Spinning in the New Year!

So, it was a great New Year's weekend with LOTS of spinning getting done! Yay! Late New Year's Eve, I had this fiber ready to become my "First Spin of 2008":

I'll admit, it was a little tempting to actually start spinning this at midnight, but instead, I spun it up on New Year's Day . . . here are the results . . .

The first skein was spun with lots of novelty yarns and plied with two colors of thread. This is superwash merino wool hand dyed by the Yarn Wench, so it is sooo soft and wonderful! This skein is 72 yards, bulky weight. It should be on etsy later today, but is already on my website. I am calling it "Chocolate Cherry Valentine."

The next skein, and the one that was actually spun first, is pretty much the same, except it was plied with Lana Grossa Nuvoletta yarn, a mohair/acrylic blend. This one, "My Cheeky Valentine" is 64 yards, bulky weight, 3.2 oz.

Then, since it seemed I was on a Valentine-inspired kick, I spun up these two skeins from hand dyed merino wool (from the Yarn Wench as well). They are 80 and 82 yards, bulky/super bulky and have novelty yarns spun in, glitz and angelina, and also tons of super silky soft Kid Mohair locks.
These are also available on my website and should be on etsy later!

AND! I have finally gotten a few Kitty Minis up on my site! Kitty Minis (okay, I just couldn't call them Kittens!) are mini skeins of handspun yarn--either individual skeins or lots of smaller skeins. They would be great for freeform crochet, mixed media, scrapbooking, collage, or any other crafty fiber fun project. They are also priced at below what a similar full skein would cost, even though you still get decent total yardage! The first lot has already sold, but here is a picture:
That was 84 yards of handspun yarns!

The second one is a lot of two small skeins (20 and 24 yards) of my "Punk Rock Valentine" yarns! Here is a shot:

And, the last one is a 54 yard skein spun up from sample carded batts, mostly in blues and purples, with a few yards of brown/tan/gold at one end. I was going to split this, but kind of liked it together, so I'm calling it Woodburnt Blues.
Kitty Minis will hopefully become a regular item available from me. I hope to list new ones at the beginning of each month.

Another new item I'm hoping to have listed tonight are novelty yarn lots for spinning, collage, mixed media, scrapbooking, or any other crafty project--but mostly geared towards art yarn spinning. This idea has stemmed from a couple of things. First, I have SO MANY novelty yarns that I can't possibly use them all up! Second, I used some fibers from an etsy seller who seems to have disappeared that I really liked. They were color coordinated lots of various yarns and fibers in 30 or 35 yard lots, 2 yard lengths. I loved the convenience and color combinations. The only drawback was that I usually needed more yardage for 2-4 oz of fiber. So far, from what I've found, it seems like no one else has this type of yardage available for the price. So, I'm going to try and fill that gap--my lots will be MORE than 5-10 yards, MORE than 30-35, probably 40-50 and still be similarly priced! They will be cut in 2 yard lengths. Perfect for spinning into art yarns!! Right now, I have two lots ready to go--they are a little more uniform than future lots will be, meaning each one only has about 4 different yarns. I'm thinking future lots will have a little more variety of yarns with less strands of each. But, we'll see. Watch for them on kittygrrlz.com later today--that is, IF I can figure out what to call them!

Well, I think that is it for now! I leave you with one more picture, PlumLime Grove Yarn, this is the second skein done with the Plumgrove hand dyed merino wool from the Yarn Wench. This was such a fun color combination to do!

New "Kitty Mini" Mini Handspun yarn skein . . .

Now available on etsy, my "Kitty Mini" yarn skein which is 46 yards of handspun merino wool plied with thread! Check it out as it will only be available until the weekend, then it will be cut up and used for keychain promos! :) It is the larger one shown in the picture below!

Sweet Tarts Mini Skein