Fly By

Oh hello little yarny blog. Neglected, aren’t you?

So what have I been up to? Lots of stuff, all accomplished on weekends and occasionally late into the night. I’ve been trying to spin every night, so far I’ve managed. I’ve also been making a lot of randomly designed creations on my drum carder that eventually become the base for my Bedlam yarns. I used to spin each batt as it came off the carder, which would create a bunch of low yardage skeins that I’d sell in a bundle.

To be honest, that process was extremely time consuming for me so I’ve taken a break from it. Instead, the Bedlam collections have evolved into Litta Bitta Bedlam. Basically I’m saving up all the batts that become Bedlam yarns and when I’m ready to work with them I pull the batts into roving, toss all the small bundles of roving into a basket and grab them randomly as I spin. This really mixes it up as you can probably imagine and I love the results.

I tend to get paralyzed by certain projects. For me I think it’s just the (perceived, I’m not that arrogant I promise) expectation to produce. It’s of course flattering to get the requests but for some reason it backfires on me and I find myself occasionally unable to move forward. So instead, in the case of Bedlam yarns, I think I’ve found away to avoid that problem. And yarn problems are good to have, don’t get me wrong.

I also don’t actively set out to create any specific batt anymore either. Each batt is a couple days creation, as I gather little bits here and there and card them as they come my way. If it is even remotely spinnable it goes into the carder, the packrat in me won’t let anything go into the trash. When the carder is full, the batt is ready. I pull it off and start over. And I’m always surprised by what is in each layer as I start pulling the batt into the roving, kind of a “Oh! That’s what I did with that scrap!”

Hey, I’m easily amused. It’s all good.

I don’t have any photos of the super top secret roving creation (o.k. it’s not a secret, I just didn’t take photos), but here are some recent results:

In other areas, I’ve been working frantically towards building stock for a show I will be in coming up in November in Sheridan,Wyoming. This will be the second year in a row I’ve gone armed with yarn and other goodies, I hope we are as successful this year as last! If nothing else being able to go and take my wheel with me is always fun, you meet a lot of really interesting people when you roll into a place carrying a spinning wheel.

And, by this time next week my best friend in the whole wide freaking world will be here! Jen is coming in on the 18th and leaving the 28th. Yarn madness and baby smooshing will commence! OMG, I am so excited to have her here! Can you tell?

So next week a bunch of stuff will all happen simultaneously. A metric ton of undyed yarn will arrive (I might have gotten a wee bit carried away, I freely admit it.), Jen will be here and the spinning wheels will be running as the roving stash is busted out. I seriously cannot wait. Vacation and so many good things! I’m so glad I waited to take time off this year. It was hard but in the end it will be so worth it!

Have a great weekend all!

Tour de Fleece 2008 End!

O.k., so I didn’t post every day of the tour, but darn near. However, I did spin every day of the tour, even on one of the rest days so I consider this entire journey a success!

Weekend stuff and wow, I’m pretty tired!

New and exciting things to come soon!

Day 15

Untitled, 250 yards. LOVE how this turned out, I don’t know if I’ll be able to part with it!

TdF-Day 14

The little bit of Jacob fleece that I washed last night was dry by the time I got home tonight, thank you hot temperatures and wind! I ran it through the carder and spun up the batt, 66 yards.

While I love the look of this yarn, I am not loving all the work that went into producing this tiny skein. I really need to finf someone local to process all the remaining fleece!

You’d think that living in Montana that this would be pretty easy but suprisingly, no.

Tour de Fleece Day 13 and SCORE!!!!

My friend Jen says I either have the best luck or the most rotten, I’m inclined to agree with her.

Focusing on the good, I was fortunate enough to score this tonight:

That, my friends, is two full Jacob fleeces, one in each bag. There were seven available, but I could only shove two into my car and only had room to store two. Best of all, they were FREE. Yep, free! A local friend of mine tipped me off when she saw the ad in the newspaper and I was the first person to call and leave a message and went out tonight after work to check it out. All the fleeces were equally gorgeous, I almost died when the lady told me what she had.

SO, even though I said I wouldn’t buy any new material during the Tour de Fleece, I never said anything about free spinnables so, YAY! Score!

I’m going to have it shipped off to be professionally processed because I just don’t have the facilities to do it myself. I did test wash a triple handful of it tonight and it came clean pretty quickly so I’m confident that having it professionally worked up will be a breeze for whoever I choose for the job.

Little wash in my kitchen:

Jacob fleece is especially awesome because the wool is a mix of black, white and brown and it makes some amazing natural colored yarns!

My only contribution to the spinning cause for the Tour today:

Finally, the lovely yarn that I spun a couple nights ago is twist set and ready to go!

Tigerlilly, 215 yards. WPI=10 to 11.

That’s all for tonight yarn fans!

Tour de Fleece Day 10, Rest day 11

Spun this last night on day 10, it is probably over 200 yards, I just took it off the bobbin tonight and haven’t counted the yardage just yet. Sorry for the cruddy photo, it was late and the room was dim! It’s a lovely orange with hints of pink though, I loves it.

Untitled-Day 10

July 15 is a rest day for the Tour, I actually hadn’t realized this until about an hour ago. Which is good, it’s been a busy day for me! Plus, I had to bake Amish Friendship bread tonight as the batter/starter I was given by my boss had matured and was ready for the added ingredients and baking. Word to the wise, don’t ever, ever stick your nose in a just opened ziplock bag of fermented bread starter unless you want to feel your sinuses burn for several minutes afterwards. That said, I have four bags of starter, does anyone local want one? Bread in 10 days with minimal effort!

TdF-Day 7

Chim Chiminy-3 ply (2 merino handspun singles, 1 novelty yarn w/alpaca poofs) 75 yards.

Calico Kitty Cat-Merino/Mohair Blend, 161 yards.

Busy Weekend

I spun and spun and spun some more this weekend, I feel like I accomplished much! I also managed to get some yarns listed that have been sitting around the last week or so. I should list more often but by the time I get home in the evening I’m usually so tired it’s all I can do to keep myself from slipping into a coma whilst making dinner.

As much as I really don’t like to move my spinning wheel, I’m going to take it with me to Wyoming over the 4th of July so that I can spin during the days while Jacob plays outside at my mom and dad’s place. They have an area of their yard that is in shade for the majority of the day, last year it was the perfect place to set up a little spinning camp and do my thing while keeping an eye on Jacob. I know that if I don’t take it with me I’ll regret it later!

So, without anymore delay, the yarn updates!

Sooper Bedlam Smoosh-170 yards

Berries & Greens-170 yards

Skeinlet Sensation Lot 28 (Already sold by the time I am posting tonight, those things go like wildfire!)

AntiquedSmoosh-60 yards

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone! Eat s’mores! And potato salad! And beer can chicken! And, and, and…

*Makes mental note to avoid dastardly scale next Monday morning*

I live!!

Argh, poor husband. He’s got a wicked cold and has felt like stir fried ass all weekend.

He said “Is it just me or are summer colds worst than winter ones?”

Summer is much, much worse.

We did get out yesterday and go to the park and then went to dinner to celebrate Father’s Day a little early to avoid the rush today in addition to him not feeling well.

Otherwise, there’s been yarn and spinning and running through the sprinkler in the front yard.

BedlamSmoosh, 110 yards.

Boomdiada, 183 yards.

Cucumber Cool, 183 yards

Sockins-Pastel Rainbow Superwash Sock Yarn, 400 yards.

Wildflowers, 360 yards.

I think this is quite possibly one of the coolest things ever. I don’t know what makes me happier, Mike Rowe (for obvious reasons, my goodness) or the general coolness of Stephen Hawking saying “Boomdiyada”!

Also, I’d be willing to bet money that my kid is the only one in Montana with a Moxie t-shirt!

I guess that’s it, I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

Progress, finally!

Whew, this has been a busy weekend! Trying to keep up with everything here at home, keep my kid entertained (the weather hasn’t been overly lovely), and spinning and dyeing, I’m almost worn out! Then I got the bright idea to go to the gym early this morning and swam half a mile. Which? If you haven’t ever tried this I am warning you that it is not easy at ALL!

 Anyway, on to the yarns!

Spring In The Step-231 yards merino wool handspun.

Calico-225 yards, superwash merino wool handspun.

Chakra Scramble-250 yards sport weight.

Hot Hot Hot-250 yards sport weight. Radioactive, so bright!

Sprucey-250 yards sport weight.

I have a couple other projects still in the drying phase and sock yarn should be ready in a couple days!

 Sunday already, I need more weekend!