Blackberry Sea aka Tealberry - a custom color gone right

Awhile back, I received this yarn. It is Trendsetter "Flora" yarn in color "Blackberry". As soon as I saw it, I wanted fiber in the same color so that I could spin an art yarn and maybe a single ply. I put in requests to two of my favorite dyers, and in the end received two very different results. The thing about this color is that there are definite sections of each color; it is very bold and distinct. The merino that I received from one of my requests turned out beautiful (and I will eventually get to spinning it, too) but a little more blended. But, the other request ended up being a near-perfect match! (I say "near-perfect" because I don't think *anything* could be *exactly* the same.)

The first fibers I received were dyed in Falkland wool by Cloudlover. Those became single ply yarns, since that was why I had initially requested the color from her - the Falkland she dyes is my favorite! It is smooth, fairly soft for Falkland, and, most importantly, so easy to spin!

After getting a few batches of the Falkland, and each one being better than the last, I finally took the plunge and asked for the color in merino. Once again, I was so amazed at how well it matched the Flora yarn! The first batch become a "Novel-Ply" skein, where I spun the merino thick/thin and then plied it with the Flora yarn. After that, I spun a couple of single ply merino skeins. The latest batches of merino AND a merino/silk blend are the last ones shown in the mosaic below. I spun a "Squish-tastic" yarn with these, which is one strand of merino spun thick/thin, a strand of merino/silk spun thin, and then the two are plied together. This skein turned out so smooth and soft! It actually feels different than my other Squish-tastics, but in a good way. I think it is my favorite of all the Tealberry/Blackberry Sea skeins I have spun!

You may notice, though, that I still haven't spun this color as an art yarn. I'm not sure why I haven't yet, but I think it is because the colors are so great I don't want to dilute them with other yarns. The colors are also difficult to match, so I'm not sure how it would turn out. I know I have ONE yarn that matches - the Flora yarn - but I haven't really come across any others that seem to want to be spun in for an art yarn. I have one more batch of merino on hand, and one more batch of merino/silk. I'm not yet sure what they will become.

Finally, most of these have been spoken for before I finish them, or have sold when listed. But, three of the skeins shown below are still available in my etsy shop -
Novel-Ply - Blackberry Garden - Hand Spun Yarn
Squish-tastic - Blackberry Sea - Hand Spun Super Bulky 2ply Yarn
Navajo 3ply - Blackberry Sea - Hand Spun Navajo 3ply Yarn

This week . . .

I will be knitting ALOT. This means I may not have many new yarns listed. I am preparing for the MUSKY JAMBOREE in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, which is Sunday, August 10. I really need to have more of a balance between knits and yarn, so I will be knitting lots of shawls, scarves, and wristwarmers this week. (and, hopefully some hats if there is time.)

Before I started the knitting yesterday, I did get some new yarns spun!

Plum Divine - yes, I am back at spinning this colorway. I broke down and asked for a pound of it to be dyed for me by Lynn (aka the Yarn Wench) which means I should have new yarns in this color over the next few weeks. So far, I've spun up one 4 oz batch. One skein I knit up into this scarf -
for a customer. And, the other skein, at least for now, is available on etsy -

I say "for now" because if this doesn't sell quickly there is a very good chance I will be knitting it into a hat or maybe a scarf for my upcoming show.

I also spun up a bunch of Novel-Ply yarns - these are yarns that are spun with one strand of hand spun merino wool and then plied with a novelty or specialty yarn. Here are the newest ones -

Hot Stuff -


Ocean Splash -

Autumn Sizzle -

Red Maple Buds -

Turquoise Sands Surprise -

So, that is all from me today - I may not be posting for the rest of the week, but I may try and sneak in a few pictures here and there. But, I will be knitting knitting knitting up a storm this week and hopefully will be back to spinning next week!

(oh, and just an update - my email is back to normal now! yay!)

Email problems & my new favorite yarn

So, apparently I can't get into my kittygrrlzinc yahoo email account!?!? If you need to contact me today, please EMAIL ME HERE. I am so mad. I am logged in all the time. All of a sudden I am trying to delete a message and it prompts me for my password. Which, how can I not know it?? But it doesn't accept it, and when I try for the password help it tells me I am providing wrong information and locked my account. GRRRR ARRGGGGHHHH . . . I guess it is a good thing that we are going to the State Fair today so all I can do is go and hope I have a response from them by the time we get home.

In other news - I wanted to post today about my new favoritest yarn!!! Here is what I wrote about it the other day -

"How this one came about -
When I got this fiber in the mail this week I was actually a little disappointed - not in the color necessarily - but because I thought it would have some of the dark green in it like the Sabrina colorways. My fault for not looking more closely at the pictures. So, I was going to relegate it to one of the bins for "later".

Then, yesterday, I went to Michaels and Joanns on the hunt for some dark purple yarns for more "Plum Divine" yarns. I happened to pick up 3 different dark plum shades of yarn.

Last night, while organizing and re-organizing, I realized that some of the dark yarns I got would work really well with this colorway. And, the pinks to contrast with the darks . . . and I also had that dark brown"Punk" yarn . . . and the dark blues used in "Mahogany Peacock".

and, before I knew it, I had a new art yarn planned. Last night, the name I had thought of was "Plum Cherry Blues" - my typical color-based name . . . but then this morning while spinning it there was something about it that reminded me of the 80s . . . maybe that purple and pink combination? - and the song Tainted Love popped into my head - thus, the new name for the yarn!

It is spun from merino wool hand dyed by the Yarn Wench in color "Black Cherry" and has novelty yarns in dark plum, dark blue, dark brown, and bright pink spun in along with 3 colors of angelina and plied with matching pink thread.

Totally awesome! :) "


I also spun up a new single ply yarn the other day - from an alpaca/merino/silk blend -

I also spun up two more skeins of "Radioactive Chance" -

I also have a new Novel-Ply yarn up at my website - this one will be on etsy later and I also have more Novel-Ply yarns ready to be listed soon. I was hoping to get most of them listed today and tomorrow. Here is the one that is already up on my site -

Okay, I think that is it from me this morning. Hopefully, I will hear from yahoo and be able to get back into my email account soon, but in the mean time - I've got to get ready to go to the Wisconsin State Fair today!

More new yarns, of course!

Of course I have more new yarn pictures for you today! (maybe some rambling later, too, but for now - pictures!)

First, are two yarns spun from hand dyed merino wool, dyed by the Yarn Wench in color "Arcadia". I realized when listing these yesterday that this seems to be another one of my favorite color combinations. These two are a little different than the similar ones I have already spun (Cherry Peacock is much darker, and Blu-Mocha Cherry is much brighter). Here they are -

CoilySpun - Teal Mocha Rose

FunctionArt - Teal Mocha Rose
And, the other two are almost totally opposite! These two are also spun from merino wool hand dyed by Lynn, but this is color "Citrus" again. The first is a different twist on my Novel-Ply yarns. In this one, the yarn I plied with has 60 Hello Kitty face beads strung on it - so when plying they get interspersed throughout the skein! The yarn I used for plying is Schoeller & Stahl "Tahiti". The other is a FunctionArt skein in bright yellows, oranges, and pinks!

Novel-Ply - Pink Lemonade Kitty
FunctionArt - Summer Citrus Sun

Last night, I spun up a bulky Squooshy! Two-Ply in the Pine Forest colorway. It is one thin strand of merino/silk plied with a thicker strand of just merino. So soft & squishilicious! I should have that listed later this afternoon. I also have a smaller skein of just the merino/silk Navajo plied. I *love* how that came out. The greens in it are so vivid!

Today, I may do another similar yarn or I may work on spinning up more bamboo. I have a show this weekend (THE CRAFTACULAR at the HIGH NOON SALOON in Madison, WI!) so am trying to get a few things done for that - which means I will probably be knitting by the end of the week, too!

Busy spinning weekend!

So, this weekend was pretty great in that I spun ALOT. Saturday alone I spun *6* skeins of yarn! Yay! I love days when I can get that much done. I didn't do quite as much on Sunday, but still got some more bamboo spun up . . . . before I get to pictures of this weekend's spinning, I just want to mention that over on DancingMooney's blog, "Random Musings About Art, and Life" it is the time for here What's in the Bag? Giveaway! If you would like to win a great bag of goodies from Etsy sellers, check it out! :)

Now, on to the pictures . . .

First, the bamboo. This first yarn is another spin of bamboo two-ply, the color I've been calling "Summer Carnival". This batch was spun just a bit thinner, so it turned out to be more DK than Worsted weight. I've got 306 yards! This may or may not be a special request, but either way I do hope to have it listed soon. It was spun by me from hand dyed bamboo fiber from the FiberLady.

More bamboo - this was actually spun up on Sunday . . . again, fiber from FiberLady, hand dyed bamboo . . . I'm calling these "Violets R Blue", though it was spun from her "Ocean Dusk" colorway. Again, one or both might be spoken for already, but if not, they will be listed soon, too.

The top skein is 220 yards and the bottom is 170 - both sport weight.

Then, there were the single plys! I spun up one on Friday. This deserves a little special attention because it is my first LOOP batt! Naomi of Ryono Creations was kind enough to share one her LOOP batts (I believe it was Sunset Spectacle). I received it on Thursday but couldn't spin it until Friday . . . . and all I can say is . . . WOW! It was so wonderful to spin, I think it was the alpaca in it that made it such a smooth spin, and the recycled silk added texture and color, plus the merino wool . . . just, well, it was so great I could resist no longer and joined her "Spontaneous Spinning Club" - one "Spontaneous Spinning Batt" a month for the next 6 months! I can't wait for my first one! Anyways, here is a picture of the single ply yarn - I'm calling it "Sunset Wish" and it is now listed on etsy and my website. It is 130 yards, mostly DK weight with some thicker sections and very soft!
Then, on Saturday, I did spin up two more single ply yarns from hand dyed Falkland wool, dyed by the Yarn Wench. The first is "Strawberry Mocha Creme" (from the roving of the same name) and it is 165 yards of DK weight yarn. I just love these colors and actually spun up some bamboo in similar colors last night!

"Golden Peacock" is 155 yards of DK weight as well, spun from the colorway "Titian".

I also spun up some more "Eye Candy"! I had been planning on spinning up the last batch of fiber I had in this colorway, but got an extra incentive when I had a query about it . . . SO, I spun up two skeins, but only one is still available:


And, finally, later on Saturday night (I finished these around 10pm!), were two more skeins of "Turquoise Sands Surprise" Novel-Ply Yarn. I liked the first skein so much, and since I did still have some of the remaining fiber from my alchemy request, I decided it would become two more Novel-Ply skeins. Both are spun thick/thin (merino wool, of course) and then plied with super soft Angel Hair Yarn. Both are available now.


So, I think that is it! Tonight, it is more bamboo and some knitting . . . tomorrow I hope to venture into some art yarn spinning again . . . we'll see.

Yay!

Thank you to those who ordered yesterday on my extra-special April 1 sale! I admit I offered the additional discount to try and generate a paypal balance for fiber purchases I want/need to make soon! So, thank you!! Even though the April 1 extra discount is over, I am still offering specials on bamboo yarns and single ply yarns this month. Feel free to EMAIL ME to sign up for my newsletter list - only ONE email per month and these are usually the only specials I offer!

In other news, I have been working on a custom request. The other night I spun up two example skeins out of some of the extra fiber. The fiber is hand dyed merino wool, dyed (of course) by Lynn aka the Yarn Wench in shades of brown and turquoise/teal. Since they were only examples, and I'll be spinning the custom request yarn from a slightly different batch, I've decided to offer these two skeins up for sale. One of them is already up and available on etsy.

This skein is super bulky and soft! It is plied with Angel Hair acrylic/nylon/wool yarn from Joanns. I really love the Angel Hair yarn as it is soooo soft! I thought it matched the fiber pretty well, so spun up this "Novel-Ply" skein. My "Novel-Ply" yarns are yarns that are usually a bulky single ply of hand spun yarn plied with a commercial novelty yarn. If I end up with extra fiber after doing the custom skeins I *might* spin up another of these but I'm not sure.

Here is the second skein. This one isn't quite available yet and I'm not sure if I'll list it right away - this is the same style as the custom yarn will be and there is a chance I may need it for that order. I have slightly different batches of the fiber, though, with a little more turquoise in them that I am hoping will be enough for the custom order. But, here is the sample skein - 70 yards and plied with copper thread in the "Rocky Roads" style (mostly bulky weight but then has coils/beehives randomly throughout!)


And, here is a sneak peek at a new yarn I spun last night. I'm not sure what I'm going to call it, but it is spun from hand dyed merino wool dyed by the Yarn Wench in a color called "Wildbirds". I spun in blue, brown, and peach yarns and plied with copper thread. This skein is 110 yards, 3.7 oz, and I do plan on spinning a matching skein either tonight or tomorrow. (Can't decide if I want to do this one again or do a new one that I prepped last night!) (edited to add a better picture!)


I think that's all for now!