Hungry for Handspun

Batt Update!

If you haven't noticed already, I've been having a lot of fun with the drum carder this week!  I've added 8 sets of Batts to the shop today, and plan on cranking out a few more to list on Thursday.  I seem to have been stuck in the cooler colors for today's update (with the exception of the pink and the brown batts) and I promise to have some warmer colors in the shop on Thursday.  Here are the Batts I added today:

 

That's about it for this evening!  I will be blogging about my newest adventures next!  Stay tuned!  And check the shop Thursday evening for some more fresh batts :D

Bit o' Yarn listed today and Knitting Progress!

Just a quick little post!  I listed a little bit of  yarn today in the shop!  here are a few photos of them:

Lace weight:

 
and a little bit of worsted weight:

 

I have a few more worsted weight to list..I'll get around to those later this evening!

In knitting news...I've finished the Girasole blanket!  Well, the first one is finished:

And because I love it so much, I've started a second one:

I'm doing this one in Berroco Comfort "Beetroot"  Love this color!  It's actually a bit darker than pictured here.  It's knitting up nicely though!

That's about it for now!  Have a happy weekend everyone :D

Back to blogging!

It seems all too often I neglect this blog!  I must apologize for my lack of writing.  I've been keeping busy, yes I have.  I've updated the shop a few times since the last time I posted here and I'm currently dyeing up some new hand painted yarn and I'll be working on some more fiber this weekend for my next update (I'll announce when that update will be happening once I figure out the date).   I've been doing quite a few other things in the meantime.

I flew home and was introduced to my new niece in August.  She's a very sweet beautiful baby and she's going to be spoiled with knit items from her Auntie.  Here she is in all her cute glory with her pinky up ready for a nice cuppa: 

And here is one of the toys I knit for her, from the Baby Elephant pattern by Hansi Singh:

My knitting mojo returned awhile ago, and besides knitting items for the niece, I've been working on a few projects for myself!  Most recently I've become obsessed with afghans.  I have started an aran afghan called "Boys Afghan" (That's a Ravelry link) using some Elann superwash yarn.  I've got one panel finished and I've started on the second:

Panel #1 (honeycomb pattern..I need to make two of these):

Panel #2:  Lattice Pattern:

In total, this afghan will have 7 panels that  have to be seamed together.  I'm not a huge fan of seaming (who is?), so once I'm finished with the panels the afghan will either sit for awhile unfinished, or I'll suck it up and seam away. This afghan has been put on pause for my current knitting obsession...

Girasole (another Ravelry Link) by Jared Flood.  Oh my Oh me I am loving this pattern!  It can be knit in lighter weight yarn as a shawl, or in a heavier yarn as an afghan.  I'm working it as an afghan and using di'Ve Zenith yarn in "charcoal" for my first (yes, my first...I plan on knitting a few of these).  It's just a beautiful pattern.  Have I mentioned how much I love it?  Knit in the round, so there are no purl rows!  Woot!  Here are a few photos of my progress on it:

It's just so beautiful!  I hope today to finish chart D.  At this point I'll have 640 stitches on my needles and I predict that will slow me down a little bit..but I'll keep plugging away at it.

Well, that's about it for now!  I've got wool to section and  yarn to dye!

I'll catch you later :D

Tour de Fleece Days One and Two!

I'm sure most of you who spin and are members of Ravelry know about the Tour de Fleece.  If not..my take on it is:  a bunch of spinners set goals for themselves and then try to achieve these goals during the time frame of the Tour de France.  Some people watch the Tour while they spin for inspiration, some completely ignore the Tour and spin however they please.  There are no set rules..only loose guidelines.  And there are prizes.  Lots of fibery prizes (I've donated one this year as well).  Anyway...  My goals for the Tour de Fleece this year are pretty mellow.  I want to become better at making coils and teach myself how to corespin.  So on day one, I made some coils like so:

And for Day 2 I decided to get over my fear of corespun and just try making some already!  So, here is what I have at this time..I hope to have the yarn finished and off the bobbin in a little while:

I spun that from my "Chocolate Mint Cookie" Batts:

And for those of you unfamiliar with corespinning..I made a little demo video.  It's short, it's probably not the most informative, and you have to listen to my voice.  If none of those things put you off (oh, and I mispronounce "treadling" as treeeeedling..cause that's how I say it), then here is the video I made an hour or so ago courtesy of YouTube: I'm not sure how helpful it is, but thought I'd just put it here in case it might help someone!

Happy spinning!  And for any Tour de Fleece people, have fun and good luck!

Shop Update Tomorrow!! Have a little lookie....

Just a picture of what I'll be listing in the shop tomorrow!

Hopefully I'll have some Batts carded up for the weekend!
Thanks for looking :D

I might share some of my knitting projecsts soon!

Fiber Club Sneak Peek! And A Little Look at Where It All Happens...

So...Here's the sneak peek at the fiber for the first installment of "Fiber Feast"! 

Yes, I know it's not in it's dyed state....I'm keeping that mostly a secret (there may be an extreme close-up of the colors once I've got them dry).  Can you guess what the fiber is from the photo?  I'm not telling!  All I will say is that I dyed it all up today and will have everything ready to ship out on July 1st.  I can't wait to send out the first course of the Fiber Feast to those participating!

And I thought I'd show you all a photo of my huge workspace!  Where I do all the dyeing:

Wow, check out the miles of counter space!  I had just finished setting up to dye all the fiber for the club at once.  I won't show you the dye aftermath...it's colorful, but not pretty.  And here is my ginormous stovetop:

That's where the steaming and kettle dyeing takes place.  Please forgive the stove mess!  And no, that's not the kettle I use to make myself tea (mmmm tea).  That's the banged up old kettle I use when I  have to mix up a bit of dye.

I'm slowly getting my "storage/packaging/planning/workroom/guestroom" organized..and I'm hoping to give you all a look at that once I've got it looking respectable!

I'm also working hard this week to prepare for my next shop update on June 30th!  I realize it's been awhile since I've had any new handpainted combed top.  I'll be remedying that with this update!

I hope you enjoyed this little tour!  I leave you with a photo from my garden (grape vines gone wild)!

Batts!

Just a little photo of the shop update for today!

I'll be dyeing up a bit of combed top for braids later this week!

Oh How the Time has gone by! Fiber Club and Other Ramblings...

And I've been so very bad about posting here!  I'm hoping to reprogram myself so I blog once a week!  We'll have to see how well that goes.  My plans are to keep everyone more up to date with shop updates and other happenings in my little world.

So, what is new...If you've stopped by the shop anytime recently, you will notice that I have started a Fiber Club.  It's the "Fiber Feast"!  A three month fiber club with one braid of approximately 4 ounces delivered to you every month!  I'll be dyeing up one extra braid for myself and hoping that the Fiber Feast members will join me in my Ravelry Group Hungry for Handspun by Moonlightbaker for a spin along!  I'd love to see all the different ways the same color fiber is spun up by everyone.   I'm planning on posting little sneak peeks of the fiber once it's dyed before it is shipped.  These will be extreme close-ups though...I don't want to give too much away!  Currently we have 6 members of the club and one slot is still open in the shop....

I've also been playing a bit more with dyeing sock yarns for the shop.  I'm having great fun with it at the moment, and hope to be doing more in the future!  I want to try my hand at laceweight sometime this summer.

Otherwise I'm still spinning and knitting as well!  I'll have to share some photos of what I've been knitting soon!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Next Shop Update!

Hello all!

I'm planning my next shop update to be Tuesday, January 27th!  This date is set and I will not be changing it (I know I tend to change my update days fairly often...that's another thing I'm hoping to improve on!).  I should be starting the update at about 2pm Pacific time on that day.

Here are a few sneak peaks at what is going to be in this update:

 

 

I do plan on makinga few batts once I've finished with this update.  I'll probably list the batts as I make them!  So look for those later in the week.

Thank you for looking!

Have a Happy! :D

Cat-Friendly.....Let me introduce you to my Kitties!

I mention that my shop is "Cat-Friendly"..but what do I mean by that?  And who are these cats?

Well, I mean that I am owned by two kitties, but they do not own my wool.  They are allowed in most areas of this dwelling, but they are not allowed in the wool, they cannot lounge about the wool, the wool is a big no-no for them (they really don't show much interest in it).  However, this does not mean that there will be no stray hairs.  There may occasionally be a cat hair in something I send out .  I do my best to make sure this doesn't happen, but it might.  That's what "Cat Friendly" means.  In a perfect world I would live in a place where my studio was separate from everything...let's all hope for a perfect world someday ;).

And who are these cats?  Well, the are Tim the Enchanter and Mabel the Little:
here they are about 9  years ago as babies:

And here is Tim now:

and Mabel:

Tim is goofy, Mabel is serious about being a cat.

Just thought I'd introduce you to them!