etsy friday

I missed last week, and there won't be one next week*, so etsy friday's a little heavy today, k?

:)

When I said I signed the Buy Handmade pledge, I didn't take it to mean that everything I bought was going to be handmade... Hillary was right that there are no handmade Wiis to be found anywhere, and goodness help me if my son doesn't get one of those lightweight r/c helicopters (that he'll destroy in like, 3 minutes... one minute for each of his years!). I really have made an effort to buy handmade when I can though.

For my immediate (adult) family, there are three women and two men to buy (and knit!) for. I made them up each a small box of etsy body goodies in addition to my (still in progress) holiday knitting. Buying-wise for the ladies...


Sample sized bath salts and sugar scrubs from SweetSpice.etsy.com

Shannon from SweetSpice sells lots and lots of good body things, and I couldn't resist picking up this "sample" pack of 3 sets with sugar scrubs and bath salts. Each is about 3 oz, and came beautifully packaged like you see (gift wrapping, not one of my strong points so I appreciate all the help I can get!) You get to choose your scents, so this is also a nice treat for yourself if you're looking to sample scents and don't want to dive headon into a full purchase all at once.

And of course for both the men and women, a favorite standby...


Guest sized soaps (one pound) from FrostFishCoveSoaps.etsy.com


2 lbs of soap from FrostFishCoveSoaps.etsy.com

Then men are each getting a pound of soap from Frost Fish Cove Soaps, while I'll split up the pound of smaller guest soaps among the ladies' boxes. I hope they love handmade cold-process soaps as much as I do... I'm a bit (!!) of a Frost Fish junkie, and have some more ordered for myself on their way to me :)

You may have guessed by now that I can't possibly use all of the things I buy (except fiber! :)) and you'd be right-- lots of things go as gifts for my loved ones. I've been holding onto these for part of this year's giftboxes as well...


Clever Girl shea skin spread by clevergirl.etsy.com

I'm kind of bummed to see that Bek from CleverGirl has put her skin spreads and facial scrubs on hiatus... the shea spreads are so good smelling and I fell for the sample face mask scrubs she included with this order so long ago. BUT! checking out her vintage bakelite + modern metalwork jewelry (ooh, her Sunny Side Up series is SO my favorite!!) makes me feel better. And covetous :)

I have two "male" scents for the guys' boxes-- vetiver and moroccan mint, and the ladies will get more of the fruitier, female scents that I prefer. (I think I'll convo Bek and ask if she's bringing her body care stuff back... I have lots of skin spread, but really mean it when I said I liked her Best You Ever convertible facial scrub/mask/cleanser samples she sent...)

I also really, really like some body stuff I kept for myself...


2 - 8 oz sugar body scrubs from SweetSpice.etsy.com

These are awesome. A girlfriend gave me some handmade sugar scrub last holiday season and while I loved it, it was a bit too oily and a bit too "scrubby" for everyday use. The scrubs from SweetSpice I'm using every day in the shower, and they're not too hard or oily AND I end up smelling good, too :)

I also really appreciate that the scrubs (both these and the sample sizes, above) are plastic shrink wrapped closed-- it not only looks more "professional" in the gift giving sense, but it also feels more assuring that they won't leak or get on anything else if I were to ship them.

And now for things I'm not shipping to ANYONE... :)


"Sari" -- superwash merino, glitz, sari silk, and silk batts from EnchantedKnoll.etsy.com

EnchantedKnoll was so kind to make these up for me custom-- one of my favorite things about etsy is having the artist right there, and that so many are willing to do custom work. Josette had 4 oz of these batts for sale but I wanted eight... I'm thinking I'll spin them up and ply them with freshwater pearls and garnets like I did with the last wonderful batch of batts from her shop. She so kindly made them up for me, and they're beautiful!



There are just too many beautiful fiber things out there, and too many kind etsy sellers :) Just like Rachel and Lori... they BOTH swapped with me, stitch markers for fiber! Can you believe it, cos I obviously got the better end of the deal ;)


Sylthering Sheep, superwash merino by DyeabolicalYarns.etsy.com

I usually never take pics with flash, but there was NO other way for me to capture the bright neon fantabulosity of this colorway by DyeabolicalYarns. Oh, don't see it on her sold items list? That's cos she gave her blog readers first crack at her new dyework, and this was my choice. Awesome, eh? (Really is though! I never buy superwash merino from anyone... I have enough undyed here to choke a chicken and can't bring myself to buy more dyed or undyed-- but HAD to have this one!)

Another had to have by Lori...


"Jam" 70/30 superwash merino/alpaca by FromTheWoolRoom.etsy.com

Oh yes. I didn't even capture how saturated these colors are-- and you read right, it's sw merino/ALPACA. Yes, for socks. Awesome, awesome socks. (Alpaca felts less readily than wool so I'm hoping they'll hold up to a gentle wash in the machine and line dry.) From The Wool Room used a grey base fiber for this dyed braid, so the colors are just so intense without being dark. I think the choice of the grey colored base fiber will be really interesting to spin; for me, sometimes I've been disappointed to see white remnants of base fiber pastel-up colors in handdyed roving (mine included) esp. when spun finely, so this'll be a treat to watch and see.

One more treat before I head off into the sunset...


Felt fruit googly eyes cards from peasoup.etsy.com

I can never catch up to the huge amount of cool cards I buy on etsy, and have slowed down on purchasing cards recently to try... but couldn't resist these. PeaSoup makes handsewn felt cards that she stamps with kitschy phrases (the banana? "i like you a whole bunch...") that just, yeah. Too cute. Nicole also helped me out with a custom order; I saw a card that was in her sold items but not for sale, and she reproduced it for me.

I love etsy.

And etsyians!

:)

Have a good holiday season, all. Miss you!


* I'm heading off into the sunset, visiting family over the next few weeks and trying to get my head and life in order in the process. I don't expect to blog for a while, and have put my etsy zeromarkers shop on "holiday" status for the time being to give myself some breathing room. Have a good season if I'm not back by then, and feel free to browse my old etsy friday posts if you need a handmade fix/inspiration for your holidays :)

And for those of you in the Bay Area (California)? This weekend has a few local treats in store. A Verb for Keeping Warm is co-hosting an open studio "Winter Fiber and Yarn Show" Dec 1st & 2nd... Kristine dyes and sells beautiful fibers and yarns, handspun and commercial, many of which have been dyed with natural dyes. (She has an etsy shop too!) I'll be unable to make it, since I'll be at the Article Pract yarn tasting on Sunday... there's still time to sign up! The sampling this time?

SOCK YARN.

Expect me to come back with a slew of tiny socks modelled by The Bellwether's keychain sock blocker, k?

:)

spinny bitty

Time flies when... well.
Or, how I spent my Thanksgiving vacation.

:)


Handspun superwash merino, 2-ply
110gm, approx 360 yd
fingering weight
roving dyed by zero.etsy.com

I take it all back from before-- saying I couldn't spin a plump, squishy, full of life fingering weight yarn. Don't get me wrong, I love the slightly dk handspuns of mine (so warm! so fast!)... but I felt I was kind of missing out on a whole range if I didn't start trying to spin a fingering weight that I was happy with.

And I am happy with this one :)



When I dyed this, it was pretty out of character for me-- I usually like to dye (and spin) not too contrasty fibers... but this one! Green, purple, orange, blue... probably others I'm forgetting there were so many :) Even so it definitely has a purple overcast to it... for some reason it reminds me of Mardi Gras. Or Mardi Gras beads. :)



As lovely as it is, I am setting it loose on the world :) You may have read about Alyson's pup needing some emergency surgery over the holiday weekend and her subsequent stash sale (dude, check it out-- good stuff!)... I wanted to help so I've listed this yarn for sale in my etsy shop with all proceeds going to Alyson directly, and I'll ship it for free to the buyer once payment's cleared Alyson's pp account. I've tagged it "bittyfund" for easy finding on etsy -- I know Jen (Piddleloop) is going to be listing a few of her adorable 4x6 pouches specially for Bitty fundage too.

Speaking of etsy, I did manage to dye up some of the new seacell/superwash merino roving for my shop as well, inspired by "Love in the Time of Cholera." I recently bought 4 oz each of alpaca and merino in the Sangria colorway from SpunkyEclectic and plan to spin it into a 2-ply (a ply of each), so couldn't resist dyeing the seacell/sw merino with of some of my favorite superwash merino at the same time... the effect of dye on the two different fibers is fun but will look great if plied together.


"Leona Cassiani"

(The rest of the flickr sets are here, the rovings for sale are here.)

I do have one unlisted set of these fibers I need to try and take pics of (again)-- "Miss Lynch" in emerald and deep greens that wouldn't photograph true. If you're interested in the greens lmk, otherwise hopefully I'll have them photographed later today or tomorrow :)

I did dye several samples of the seacell blend to spin up myself. I spun all of the solids together thinly and navajo plied them...


wooden keychain sock blocker from thebellwether.biz

The seacell seems to be more of a sheen, not so much shine. I love spinning the tencel blend rovings, but they always look so shiny that I don't really gravitate towards knitting them once spun. It may be that there is less plant fiber in the seacell blend than the tencel blends I've spun (30% seacell), but I like it. The seacell doesn't dye (you can see the white streaks in the individual pics in my shop), but spun up you don't really see the white-- just sort of an iridescent quality left in the yarn. I can't help but think how awesome the fiber would be dyed up in black and brown (thinking of splityarn's Hanami stole in seasilk-- 70/30 silk/seacell.)

I also abused the 7734 put of my navajo plied sample yarn-- the hot set rinse water was clear, and despite me agitating, thwacking, and just being mean to the yarn :) it held up quite well.

Me, not so much :) This is too long... miss you, have a good one.

long grey weekend ahead

I was filling out Carol's questionnaire for her Black Bunny Fiber Club (the first club i've ever joined! can't wait...) and she asked about favorite colors in fiber. I looked over my new fiber storage area (took over a few shelves in the utility closet) and realized that a lot of the fiber I choose is dark... or at least brights tempered with blacks and grey. Then I can't help but notice the project in my lap...


Totally Autumn throw by Anne Hanson of knitspot
Knitty Fall 2007
Started: 17 November 2007
Interlacements Merino Worsted (superwash)-- 2 greys
US 9 (5.5mm), 48" Knitpicks Harmony circular
garnet and freshwater pearl knitting stitch markers from zero.etsy.com

...and my self-styled Imogen Jacket "kit"...


Noro Silver Thaw color 11
(a gift, thank you sis!!)

...and think it'll be a long grey weekend ahead for sure.

I shouldn't even be thinking about starting Imogen yet, but had one of those nites that called out for a little mindless me knitting so swatched and now I can't stop worrying about it. The swatch looks fine and I got gauge on US 8 (14 sts/4", middle sample):



...but I'm just not used to knitting garments. The gauge is on, but how "open" is knitted fabric supposed to look in a garment?



I mean, it looks fine to me when not held up against a window, but I'm just way too used to supertight knitting for socks and small projects that need no drape and this freaks me out. I don't expect to start knitting Imogen til holiday knitting is over, anyway. I do have another project to think about in my immediate future...


Superwash merino and *seacell* spinning fiber to be dyed for my etsy shop

Maybe I'll put some color in my weekend this way :)

Have a good one, miss you!

the trouble with garterlac

Garterlac washcloths (dishcloths), six
Pakucho organic naturally colored cotton
Started: ? November 2007
Finished: 16 November 2007
US 9 (5.5mm), 32" circular Knitpicks Harmony

Last year I knit my dad a pair of (wool) socks for the holidays, maybe not the best choice for desert wear but hey-- I thought they were cool :) This year, it's washcloths and bath stuff. We'll see how they're received... as for me, I really like them!

I haven't seen too many solid garterlac dishcloths, but the effect of garter stitch entrelac on a solid yarn is really fun and textural-- quite like damask knitting shifting in the light. The garterlac pattern is just so satisfying to knit-- I'm also the oddball who loves picking up heel stitches, so grains of salt abound, but Dave has a truly addictive pattern here. (Just ask trek!)



I've been really fascinated by Pakucho organic cotton ever since Clara wrote about it-- if you're not familiar with it, it's a naturally colored cotton-- no dyes are used to achieve the color of the yarn. The green you see (as well as the shades of brown and cream it also comes in) occur naturally and are farmed using pre-Columbian techniques; a cottage industry of color, history and fair trade. Seeing it at elann for less than $3 a skein (one skein = one cloth, plus leftovers) was the clincher for me.

The yarn is cabled-- made up of 5 plies of 2-ply yarn. (The above pic is of a woven in end, the yarn is more plied together than that but not very tightly overall.) I started the washcloths on (blunt tipped) Addis but just couldn't get all the plies when knitting by touch, and even after switching to the super sharp Knitpicks Harmonies I still would miss one on occassion...



No matter though, not for this project. The look of the cabled yarn in garter stitch is just beautiful, and the washcloths are crazy soft and supple. I knit at a slightly looser gauge than I'd normally choose to give the fabric even more drape and account for any tightening up/shrinkage in the wash... these are all unwashed/unblocked, though I think I will give them a hot wash and tumble dry before wrapping up as a gift. The cotton will shrink (10-15% I've read), but I want to give them the same kind of treatment they'll receive by a non-knitting, machine washing recipient to see the effect beforehand. The colors are also supposed to intensify with each wash, and I'm excited to see if it's true.

I'm also thinking about knitting the scrubby and soap pouch from One Skein, but reviews on Ravelry of the aloo nettle yarn in the project weren't too positive. Maybe Euroflax Linen? We'll see, I have some bright red euroflax but think a more "natural" color would be a better compliment to the green washcloths. (Anyone want to swap?)

They do look good by on their own though...



...but my new piddleloop bag is staying with me :)


eta!! threadless is having a $10 tee sale thru dec 16th... woo!

etsy friday

Today's the day of the etsyFAST trunk show in NYC (you can join the fun in the etsy virtual labs starting at 6pm est today here), and this was my last purchase from the etsyFAST sale...


Brass and glass shawl pin from texturedturtle.etsy.com

I love this pin, and at 25% off...!! (Even though the etsyFAST sale ran thru Nov 15th, texturedturtle still has her sale prices valid in her listings today!) I bought this to compliment my mom's holiday gift, but it's a bit heavy for lightweight lace-- I'm toying with the idea of keeping it for Imogen and picking up a lighter beauty from Romi or rubyvegas. We'll see, I'm burying my head in the sand for this holiday thing the past few days-- just indulging in... myself instead :)

While MaryLou from time2cre8 always indulges me...


Business card envelopes from recycled books by time2cre8.etsy.com

Time2cre8 is one of my favorite shops on etsy-- I've bought my recycled business card envelopes from the beginning from MaryLou, and lately she's been picking up books for envies for me and I've been buying them sight unseen since I know they'll be rad... and they are! These are from children's dictionaries and are just really fun. I'm sure the buyers from my shop will enjoy receiving these stuffed with my "specially treated" business cards :)

I'm also hoping they'll dig these...


Custom monogrammed gifttags from time2cre8.etsy.com

When I dye roving for sale for the shop (I think I'll do it this weekend again... i've got some new color combinations inspired from characters from my reread of Love in the Time of Cholera), I use a simple hangtag to mark the fiber and weight like these. Time2cre8 sells custom hangtags with any letter you choose, and you get 25 different fonts on the 25 tags! I opted for just one, boring bee that I am, but they're still cool :)

Seriously though, if you're in need of tags or print or paper media (custom or not), not just etsy sellers but for anything (holidays?!), time2cre8 is a great place to start. I know a few etsy sellers use her services for yarn bands, and I've never been disappointed with anything I've bought here.

Have a good one, miss you :) Enjoy these three cool things til then--

1) This honorable mention photo for the knitty calendar contest, a space invaders baby sweater and tiny bmp socks (like april sez, makes mah ovaries cramp!)

2) Lime and Violet's Daily Chum were too kind choosing my shop for their etsy site of the day today :)

3) 10,000 sheep drawn by online workers

I can only think of one better way to kick off my weekend...

sweet 16

Since hurting my back two weeks ago, I haven't really felt up to sitting in front of my spinning wheel. I did manage to finish a quick handspun project though...


sweet 16 scarf
handspun superwash merino, spun thick and thin -- 4 oz
roving dyed by me for my shop, zero.etsy.com
started: october 2007
finished: 13 november 2007
US 15 (10mm) 24" Addi
16 st CO, knit in garter stitch til the yarn ran out

I absolutely fell in love with the lumpy bumpy of urchin in the the current knitty, but hats + me != yes and I didn't have anything like the yarn on hand... so that crisis was averted. Then I saw yarnstorm's churning out of colinette point five garter stitch scarves and figured I could make one, both yarn and scarf, pretty painlessly.

I had a 4 oz braid of roving from my last dye session that would.just.not.photograph.true, and I didn't feel okay selling something that looked that coloroff in my etsy store. So I kept it, though I really am not a fan of green, teal, turquoise... and spun it up into a truly thin (lace) to thick (trouble on my US 15's) yarn very very quickly-- yall, it was SO fun to spin! It took me an afternoon of my son's play outside to pinch pull push this slubby yarn into submission; I had no idea what Colinette Point Five looks like (am i missing out?) which was probably a good thing, would have run on my fun.



I just love the truly odd nature of the yarn-- I've knit with some "thick/thin" commercial yarn (one of the handpaintedyarn.com rougher ones), but it wasn't nearly as wildly thick and thin as mine is. I really liked the knitting with this handspun though, because you can really see the construction of knitting stitches knit up in this yarn.

The wildly varying gauge of the yarn means that the edge is imperfect looking...



...but doesn't bother me, which is surprising! As you can see above, it's not really that odd looking worn, but certainly not perfect :)

The stretches of thin and thick widths worked up like this almost reminds me of scribble lace, and knitting this up kept me thinking about spinning up an intentional "scribble lace" yarn with a predetermined yard stretch of thin yarn, followed by a predetermined length of thick yarn. All in one colorway (either a solid or a variegated) would be really cool without being way over the top... and mixing up two different fibers/colors would be way out there in one of those good ways :)


best pic of colorway

I was also shocked at how much scarf I was able to get out of the yarn-- I've been eyeing the painfully cool teenagers with scarves to their knees with lust in my heart, and I had no idea I could achieve that length with only 4 oz of roving. It's definitely a combination of big needles and the nature of the yarn, but even as "open" as the scarf is, it's super warm wrapped around (and around and around!) me. I still don't know the proper ways to wear a scarf (growing up in the desert will do that to you), but still it's fun.

Segueing from fun to fun (yall know how much I love my segues)... the etsyFAST street team is holding a scavenger hunt contest! (No, not for used *anythings,* thanks!) Search for our team flyer thru etsyFAST shop listings and win fabulous knitting and fiber prizes! More details here-- the contest runs only thru Nov 15th, so you have a good chance to win if you have some time to kill :)

cable and rib scarf, seasonal stitch markers

The holiday knitting train keeps on rolling...


Cable and Rib scarf by knitspot.com
Paton's Classic Merino, "grey mix"-- approx 1.75 balls
US 7 (4.5mm), US 24" knit picks harmony & addi
Started: November 2006
Finished: 4 November 2007

As much as I wanted this knit to be over (repetitious, sam-i-am...) I'm glad I went ahead and made it as long as I did; it's near on 6' tall judging against how far it looks when held over my head. :) I still love the Paton's, think it is a super deal (I think I bought them last year at 2/$7? Better price per yard than knitpicks' wool of the andes, and not as thin/inconsistent across colorways.)

The pattern is straightforward and beautiful, just like something you'd expect from the reaches of anne's brain. The garter stitch is a nice touch as the cables' background, the 6 st cable is unique and looks good (I probably could have blocked it wider to make the cables stand apart more), and the thing is virtually reversible...


wrong side on top, right side on bottom

All in all I think it's a great gift knit pattern-- not too "much" for non-knitter to handle, easy to execute in a workhorse yarn (though, I really still like Dave's Cashmerino one...) and unisex, if I do say so myself.



I still don't know a good way to picture a finished scarf :)

I am also struggling with another photograph today...



I went to the Bay Area Bead Expo this weekend, and while I didn't find what I was looking for, I consoled myself with a total splurge. This is a real leaf, painted with a superfine copper colored paint that is electroplated with 24k gold, and finished in a variety of colors. Each vein of the leaf stands out and is captured by the process-- the resulting charm is seethru except for the natural filigree look of the veining.

I bought a few and made them into stitch markers this weekend, but have been having a time photographing them with the back and forth weather we're having lately. I'm hoping to have them in my shop soon as single markers for the holiday shopping season (email/convo me to reserve one); they'll be much more expensive relative to my other semiprecious stone and freshwater pearl sets at $13/each marker, but if they don't sell I'll have some amazing bling to decorate my soon-to-be-in-progress Imogen jacket with.

(A sweater?!)

etsy friday

late start today! :)



Alyson's to blame for this one. She's the one who pointed out the awesomeness that is this bag, which somehow escaped my attentions but not for long :) Really though, the brown handle, the brown zipper, orange flowers... a non-knitter even commented on its super radness, and as a Girl Who Is Not Into Bags, I was way impressed with that.


Piddleloop Small Project bag, from piddleee.etsy.com

Like I went on (and on, and on) about before, I love my piddleloop bag. (If you haven't heard about pid bags before, check out my older review, much more thorough than today.) I may even love this one more than my loteria bag (shh!), but maybe that's just the negative connotation I have for the neverending blanket inside.

Reminder: If you have a piddleloop, stuff it to its gills and join us in the "how much (and what?!) can you stuff in your piddleloop contest" in the Friends of P forum at Ravelry by Nov 12th (Monday!) I'm donating a set of stacked pearl stitch markers (my latest favorites), and there's also other great stuff to be had for admitting how much you can abuse these things.

My new one isn't overly stuffed this time...



My knitspot cable rib scarf, hanging out next to the new knit and destroy button Jen slipped inside. It rocks, but not nearly as much as *her* new button sets here and here, I have a serious weak in the knees feeling for *yo!!!

More weak in the knees stuff...


4x6 prints by swirlingthoughts.etsy.com

I said a while back that I was in love with SwirlingThoughts' shop, and I meant it. I love her photography; fascinating and somewhat disturbing and confusing... just like love, eh? :) She doesn't sell cards (which is what I usually buy), but I'm going to take these and mount them as postcards to mail and share the love. So awesome.

So are the felt pincushions from What Lola Wants...


handfelted pincushion by whatlolawants.etsy.com

I found What Lola Wants' shop thru the etsyFAST trunk show sale, so not only did she take 15% off of the price, she sent it in the lovely gift box for free! (You can find links to all of the participating etsyFAST members' shops holding their sales til Nov 15th here.) I think this will make an awesome gift this holiday season.

And one early present for me...



My zero stitch marker shop was on the front page this morning!! Yay! :)

Have a good one, miss you!

rhyme times sampler from the bellwether

I really love the spinning blog posts I read that tell a story from fiber to yarn. Most of my spinning lately's been taking from the (burgeoning! I need new storage solutions!!) fiber stash and finishing before I remember to take pics, not spinning something that I've just received and not shown pics of in fiber form yet. This one does though, kinda :)

This week's spinning started with my new subscription to the Rhyme Times.



The Bellwether sells something truly awesome here-- a year long subscription of samples of the new batts and roving in stock from Crosspatch Creations and Three Bags Full. I ordered the "starter issue"-- so I received samples of both the new releases and samples of all of the fibers that have at least a lb in stock... there are a lot of fibers here!! Subscription to the sampler gives you first crack at the new fibers before they're released on the website, and mine also came with special pricing availability for new testing fibers as well.

Along with the lovely sample cards of fibers came a newsletter and written descriptions of the contents of each blend which is awesome-- if you were anyone else I'd be embarrassed to share how much time I took matching each sample up to its written description, waffling between favorites and trying to feel the difference in fibers between my fingers. Having them all written down and in front of me (as opposed to clicking around on a website, or even inspecting bags of fiber in person) is ideal-- you just pay more attention to the contents and different fibers that may not jump out at you on first glance, getting a much closer look the second (third, fourth, fifth...) time around. I'm toying with the idea of spinning them all together into one crazy short striping skein and making something with it... I was thinking a hat but a sampler kerchief may be the way to go. We'll see (I really like my silly kerchief though!!) :)

Amelia also sent samples of her California Red wool roving (not the elusive all-red sheep that is looking like it doesn't exist, but an oatmeal one streaked with red hairs throughout), and a sample of a Crosspatch Creations Signature Blend batt in "eggplant." There was only 4 oz left of the Eggplant in stock, but I rushed to order it loving the deep purples and the shine of silk in that little sample she sent.


(inside and outside of batts)

Lately I've been buying 8 oz of fiber at a time, afraid 4 isn't enough for not-sock projects... but I took the advice written on the bag to "spin thinly to bring out the different colors and silk...



Lace thin probably isn't what they meant, but it works for me :) This is only half of the batts, the other half I'm still spinning. Early on I tried to decide if I wanted to ply this but obviously didn't-- my thinking was that even plied, it still will be a laceweight yarn and I'll have half the yardage, and I don't need a super sturdy yarn for a lace project (and the fact that this doesn't feel like a weak, break apart yarn on its own already). Right now, this skein measures at about 515 yards-- so here's hoping the next and total will be around 1k for a decently sized lace project.



The texture of the batts [made of "wool (Zion, Connie, Jacob and Maurine-- all Corriedale crossbreds from my flock), Tussah silk, Bombyx silk, Viscose, cut Bombyx silk and Tussah silk noil"] means it's a textured yarn as well as a crazily colored one. I love it (seriously!!) but don't know what kind of lace project would be best for something that looks both rustic with its noils and variation in spinning and almost wild jumps of color. Just something to think about since I will want to knit a largeish lace project out of it, someday-- you know, when I get over my fear of yo's :) (Not *that* yoyo tho, she's famous don't you know ;))





I just love that I "know" the sheep that provided its wool for my projects, and it almost seems like I know the women behind Crosspatch Creations and Three Bags Full just by looking at the colors and reading the descriptions of the blends they've come up with (and I get to sample thanks to Amelia and The Bellwether!)

Despite the fact I was "only" able to buy the last 4 oz of the eggplant colorway, I did find 8 oz of some Three Bags Full roving in "flight of the dragonfly" hitching a ride into my fiber stash as well...



My photos don't do it justice... overcast etc etc (though i did manage to accidentally get my feet with the new tsubo vosa shoes in there!), but I knew exactly what I was getting with the Rhyme Times sampler and I am not disappointed-- so beautiful. I'll be sure to take better pics once I start spinning this, you'll agree with me for sure :) Check out the tiny sample yarns that adorn the bags (they're sealed with something more sturdy beneath)-- it's a finely spun sample of the fiber within the bag. So cool... I wouldn't have thought to spin this roving thinly, but it'll definitely be on my mind now after seeing how the samples spun up. And I just like seeing other people's spinning in person, too :)

Off to go work on the remainder of those batts, have a good one! :)


ps! i've finally started to update my zero stitch marker shop with new freshwater pearls and semiprecious stones with more stock to be added every day-- and I also have a few sets of pressed amber nugget markers set aside for those of you who asked me about them prior and have been waiting patiently for me to find them again. i think i've contacted everyone thru etsy about the ambers, if not please convo me so i can save you a set :)