Yup, I’ve been busy. New baby, new shop coming, and a wedding to travel to this weekend… fun times.
But, here is a preveiw of what you will find in the new Shop this coming Wdenesday at 1 PM. 
Posts Tagged yarn
Busy, Busy, Busy…
Jun 18
Well, we are still here. Still pregnant. Still waiting. We have had a very stressful week, dealing with insurance stuff and midwives. But all is well, and we are now just waiting for baby to make an appearance.
The first 2 beebas are in rare form, making as much trouble as they can figure out to do. And each new thing we bring out in prep for the baby, the cosleeper which we will be using as basinet for downstairs, the swing, the baby chairs, even my new carrier that I made last week… they all are apparently crying out to be tested by the big kids.
Beeba 2, at 2 years old, still insists that she is “baby”, and wants desperately to be allowed to ride in the baby swing… pointing out that she is a big kid and can ride in the big kid swings in the backyard and at the park? nope, that doesn’t distract her in the least bit.
I, in the meantime, sleep less and less with each passing night, making for a grumpier mommy each day.
You know, many people say that the last few weeks of pregnancy are practice for new baby days. I call fowl on that. As an avid cosleeping, breastfeeding, babywearing mom, I know full well that when baby is born, I will get FAR more sleep than I am now. at least after that initial first day or 2 when you just watch the baby sleep in wonder that they have finally arrived.
But, you don’t read this blog just to hear about my pregnancy trials and tribulations. You want to see some of the new yarn that will be coming to the shop in the near future? I have some pretty stuff… here goes:
Targhee wool, spun to a DK weight. Mostly blue, with hints of purples running through it. Yummy.
BFL/Silk in a 50/50 blend. Yummy! I am calling this one Cranberry Spice, I think. Reds and Purples all running together in happy harmony. There is over 7 oz here!
100% Alpaca, spun to a heavy worsted weight, dyed by one of my freinds, Amy of CajunFiberCo. I love her colors. She called this colorway "Firstborn" in honor of her daughter. It is very fitting, don't you think?
The link to Amy’s site is here: CajunFiberCo. Seriously, if you love fiber, you should check her out, she has awesome fibers and better colors!
this one is i think a domestic wool, in purple and orange. not my colors, but the yarn came out nice and pretty anyway.
So those are my newest yarns… I hope you enjoyed and will check them out when they hit the shop.
Don’t forget, until the baby is born, you can get up to 25% off with the code Getting Ready!
New Yarns; Busy days
Apr 28
So, once again, I have managed to build up a little stash of handspun yarns that need listing. But, I’ve been very busy around the house too… that nesting thing, I think… Hmmm… I think thats what you call it when the 8 month pregnant chick runs around the house cleaning everything in sight despite knowing that it will be a mess 2 minutes later, does a marathon of laundry that leaves the whole house with approxiamately 3 loads of laundry unwashed (and beleive me, we have a lot more than that usually), and started cooking big monster sized meals from scratch to save away in the freezer for after baby.
All that has left me with very little time to do things like MAKING things, or taking pictures of the things I have made. and I keep telling myself that for now, at least, I need to stick to my schedule… but its hard.
I spent several days this week going through my fabric drawers… all that diaper fabric that I have not looked at in over a year? well, now, a large chunk of it is in my paypal account… as in, gone, goodbye, syonara… I don’t miss it. destashing that stuff gives me 2 things. 1, space for the things I DO use, and 2, MONEY. Money that is MINE. well, ok, so I am debating what to spend it on, and the head-runners right now are either a new camera, or full size wool combs. Either one would be nice to have. Either one would in its own way make life easier for me. (ok, maybe the wool combs would not do more than give me another way to prep my fibers… and I do already have minicombs made by a freind… which do work well)
So, I guess the camera is winning out… and that is ok. I have been wanting a new camera for a long time… the one I have now is over 4 years old, and while it works, it is not as product image friendly as I would like, aside from having essentially no video capability.
So, the one I think I want is this: Olympus Stylus 7040 Pink 14MP Digital Camera, 7x Optical Zoom, 3.0 LCD, HD Movie/HDMI Control, AF Tracking
It costs more than I Actually have for now, so I will have to hold off a bit till either 1, the rest of my destash stuff sells (over at DSD for any Divas who might read this blog and not have seen it) or till I sell some more stuff in the shop, as I DO see this as an acceptable use of business moneys, being that it will be used very very often to photograph products.
I would also love to have it before the new babe is born, both so that I can get some videos done for the website (how to spin from a batt mostly) and so that when the new baby is born, we don’t have to miss a second of his or her life on camera. Ok, so really, that is more so that the long distance family can see baby too.. but still.
Meantime, between all this STUFF I have done. I HAVE managed to get spinnign done. which is why I have a pile of yarns sitting in front of me, waiting to be shown to you, and listed in the shop. This is mostly only because I have been getting tired so quickly, and have had to take frequent breaks from all the other stuff. what better to do than spin?
So, without further Ado, some yarns:
Jacob wool, spun from a batt, in my original attempt to create that video- which failed horribly due to me and the batt being a sillouhette in the camera's eye.
SW BFL, lovely stuff, though this one broke once in the winding... and I somehow have a sneaky suspicion that I showed it off already... did I??
Merino Yarn, soft as soft can be, perfect for baby somethings... pretty pastel colors. I know I showe dthis, but on the bobbin... isn't it nicer now?
Polwarth- Yumberry... mmm...
and with that, hopefully not too redundant photo session, I am off to get some of this scrumptious yarn listed in the shop!
Oh! and if you have not done so already, jump on over to my ravelry group and enter the baby guessing game! only a few more days before the game closes to guesses and the waiting begins!
Well, this week, I have been working hard, AND hardly working.
I have gotten a fair bit of spinning done, and have no less than 5 skeins of yarn all spun up and in some stage of the process of being skeined, washed, and ready for photos. I’ll show off a few-
This one is Polwarth wool, and it is scrumptious soft. this one is only a bit over 2 ounces, but it is over 150 yards, and very pretty.
Merino wool in pastel colors... this was at least 4 ounces, and there is a fair bit of length here... its probably somewhere between sport and DK weight...
This one is a finer yarn, about a light fingering weight, 2 plied with a lower plying twist than usual. It is superwash BFL and was meant to be lace, but I feel like it is thicker than a typical lace, though I have not measured the WPI yet. There is over 400 yards here, but there IS one knot in the yarn where there was apparently a weakness in both plies that I did not account for. Boy, that hasn't happened in a LONG time. It will go in the shop, but as a slight second because of the knot.
One of the yarns I spun up in the last few days is a Jacob wool batt that I had dyed pink while it was still locks. I took video of the spinning, meaning to create a series of videos on spinning batts using different methods, but sadly, the video camera did not want to pic up the images (too low light) and just shows a big (fat from pregnancy) sillohette. bah humbug on that. I guess I need a better camera… but how to afford that?
On another note, whats going on here is a bit of chaos. We spent a chunk of money a few weekends ago on 2 new appliances, a stand up freezer that we meant to put in our pantry, and a water softener.
We realized right away AFTER it arrived, that the freezer was no way no how getting into that pantry. the room was plenty large (its a huge pantry) but the door? far to small. by inches. even with the doors off both the pantry AND the freezer.
Oh well. the freezer is now running in the cellar (up on cinder blocks) and is being steadily filled with good things. I have been cooking giant batches of food and stockpiling for after baby is born. so far, there is a meal of stuffed peppers down there, 2 sheperd’s pies, and 2 pans of baked mac and cheese. Yum. next will be baked ziti, and after that possibly lasagna. we’ll see how industrius I am feeling.
The water softener, we needed so badly. Our water is a 14 on the hardness scale. If you don’t know what that means… well, my understanding is that 7 is considered hard. 10 is VERY hard, and 14? we might as well be just eating sand.
Sadly, the water softener, while it DID get hooked up last weekend, is still not running and softening our hard water. My wonderful husband was trying to save us some money and him some work, and figured that he would just let the water softener recharge itelf into a big tub… since we have no drainage down there. well. the tub was too small, and we wound up with an inch deep of water across the whole cellar floor. thank goodness that freezer is on cinder blocks.
SO, this weekend, he will be installing a utility sink down there, and connecting the water softener directly to the sewage pipe. (for the drainage). He figures, if he is gonna have to cut into the pipe to connect for drainage, he might as well get a sink out of the process too. he is working very hard to turn the cellar into a usable work space, and this will also allow the de-humidifier to drain directly into the sink too, eliminating his every few days trip to empty the basin for that.
We are getting closer to baby time too. As of this coming sunday, I will be 36 weeks along… further if you go by the date my dear husband is using (somehow he keeps marking wednesday as the week turner) but I will happily keep thinking it will be May 23 for a due date. I know, you see, that the baby is more likely to be late than early, and I would rather not be thinking that baby is late before I have to.
Now, after having typed far too long, I am sure I have lost the interest of all but the staunchest readers, so I will end for today, and say, may you have happy spinning, knitting, or just browsing the web time, until you join me again!
Photo Friday
Apr 2
Here we are again, Photo Friday, and the first in April. With that in mind, lets get on.
Here is April's PhatFiber contribution- It is "Ladybug Tweed" in honor of the theme "all creatures great and small", and includes merino, bamboo, and silk noil. These are all hand-dizzed rovings from the drum carder, and each sample comes with its own little mascot Ladybug Stitch marker.
Falklands wool Dyed by a friend, I am calling this one "Riverbed" because of the lovely greens and blues and even a bit of browns it contains. a soft, lofty yarn, somewhere around worsted weight.
Super pretty, Shiny, 3 ply Sock yarn, From a SW Merino/Tencel blend... "Just Roses"
Happy Friday, and Happy Easter!
