Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Phat Fiber Fun

I got my mixed box today.
The fluff

The yarn

The stuff

So much fun crammed into one little box. I had tried for a fluff box but couldn't get one so I'd thought I'd settled for a mixed box. Wrong. There was no settling. I love the mixed box. I'm spending too much on larger portions and some things that I didn't happen to get in this box. Next month I will have to hold back and not go nuts with the shopping because the month of June is science fiction and there will be no stopping me then.

Some of my favorites from this box are:
North star alpacas
Scarab color way. I didn't think I wanted yarn in this box but this sample is amazing.

There are more yarns I'd buy if I didn't spend all my money on fiber.

Bitsy Knits
Blue Morpho

And The Critter Ranch's
Monarch

There's lots more that I love in there but I've had to turn the light on to see it all and now the tree frogs are all upset. They thought they could take a quiet dip in their water dish by moonlight and now I've turned a spot light on them. They are very embarrassed and would prefer I turned the light back out, so you will just have believe me when I say HURRAY for phat fiber sampler box butterflies and flutterbys!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Fulfillment Friday

Things accomplished this week include:

Three more rows added to Fugly
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I'm not looking forward to weaving in all those ends. It's gotten wide enough now that it gets used, so I only get to work on it on warmer evenings.

Combed llama (left), combed merino/targhee (center), and more mohair washed and awaiting picking
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More merino/targhee goodness washed and waiting to be picked and combed
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Samples spun, more fiber and yarn cataloged
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Gee. When I look at it like this it looks like I actually got something accomplished!

Friday, April 1, 2011

What I'll be doing this weekend

I've been spring cleaning all week, and for the first time in several years I'm able to spring clean the basement. I'm not sure I'll be getting the walls painted anytime soon, sad really because they really need it, but I've been down there organizing, sweeping, and de-webbing.
I've bought shelves for my fiber stash, which has really helped.
Fiber stash

It doesn't look like it, but it is now organized. That's four full shelf units plus a half unit off to the side. Two and a half units are full of raw (unwashed) fiber. Five mohair, three llama, and ten full sheep fleeces. The rest is made up of fiber samples, mostly between 4-8 ounces each. The remaining units are fiber ready to card, comb, and or spin, and tools of the trade.

Over the weekend I get to go behind that curtain on the right and drag everything out of that room to clean and organize. Then I scrub all the floors and walls down.

But, before that, I get to have some fun.

Kenshin & Ava

My fleece from Raspberry Hollow Farm arrived yesterday and boy it's it beautiful. My ever helpful Kenshin agrees.

This weeks accomplishments include
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Combing lots of Coopworth, spinning a little Cheviot, working on the fugly afghan (no it's still not done), and this morning I managed to wash 2 oz of llama, .8 oz of suri alpaca (I really wish I had more of this), 7 oz merino/targhee cross, 3 oz mohair, and a 2oz sample of Ava from the above picture.

When I jumped into spinning I didn't care about fiber weight loss when washed and combed. I also didn't keep samples of the different kinds of fiber. Now I'm keeping records and samples. That's what these little bits of fiber washing today are for.