Still plugging away...

I am almost finished with my June Phat Fiber Superbox spinning.  I won this box in June for purchases I made from contributors to the June Phat Fiber box.  This box had fiber and yarn samples, some full size batts, a project bag, full size yarn, a spindle, and patterns in it.  It was like a huge fiber explosion!  I was thrilled to win it, because I NEVER win anything.  I took all of the yarn samples, ran it through my winder and now have a huge ball of cool looking yarns.  I started crocheting already...we will see what I end up with. :)  I decided to spin the fiber and filled up one, two, and am now working on my 3rd jumbo bobbin!  I am loving the chance to spin every kind of fiber that you could think of!!  So far my favorite to spin was the cotswold!  It's such a sturdy fiber!!
Here is a picture of skein 1 and skein 2, still working on 3!

Bolly Batt ingredient sneak peek

Merino is here!

Yeah!  It seems I have been waiting FOREVER for my merino to come in for the shop...but Friday it arrived- lots and lots of it. So, on to the dyeing! Any special colors you would like to see?

I am almost done bagging up my PHAT samples for the Bollywood theme.  I am in love with them!  My favorite so far- maybe because of all the bright colors!  I decided to do them up as Bolly "wool" Bags.  For the full size bags, they weigh in over 3 ounces.  I pulled off approx. 1 yard sections of roving in orange, green, deep blue, pink/purple (merino and Falkland Island wool) added a nice bit of bright yellow firestar, curly yearling mohair locks in a bright turquoise, sari silk, black angelina, a nice fluffy pink sparkly batt and finally a few yards of ladder ribbon done in warm jewel tones.  I will have the full size bags in the shop after the 12th.  I also will be providing the Phat Fiber Blog with a full size bag as a giveaway.  You can spin/felt from the bag, or you can card it up into a super colorful "Bolly Batt"!

It's done!

All I can say is WOW!!!  Height 14 inches......
She is so proud of it!  

First woven scarf

A couple weeks ago I spun up some alpaca that was dyed by my friend Kim.  I decided to use this handspun on my first handspun weaving project.  I used a store bought warp, and used my handspun for the weft.  I learned tons doing this first scarf.  Next time, I will warp with larger spaces so that the bumpy lumpy parts of the handspun are not hidden.  Also, I will make sure if I am doing color changes that I actually keep track of how many rows were woven with each color.  But all in all, I am pretty happy with my first scarf!  And warping was not as scary as I thought it would be!

Needle felting on a grand scale

My DD has been busy again!  She recently sketched out a Suess like character in her sketch book and informed me that she wanted to make a HUGE needle felted likeness of her sketch.  I of course was excited to share all of my dyed wool to help her create this project.  She is still working on this, but of course I HAD to start taking pictures.....
The orange body is the size of a basket ball...it's huge.  The little green fluff is part of the tail.  She is going to work on contouring the body after she finishes covering it in the orange wool.  It has been so awesome seeing the progress on this project.  Okay enough gushing from the mom...:)

Bollywood as an inspiration

Loving the colors and different fibers that I have been dyeing today.  You cannot help but be in a good mood after looking at all of the fabulous colors coming out of the dye pots.  Still have another 1lb of merino to work on and then hopefully will get some of the firestar finished.  It's easy because felting is not a concern.

Back from vacation

It's always nice to be home.  On the fiber front, I am in the process of dyeing fibers for the August Phat Fiber box.  The theme is Bollywood.  I am finishing my dyeing today with yearling mohair locks.  They are soooooo soft!!!

Our vacation took us to the woods for ziplining and then to the beach for lazing around.  The ziplining was amazing and my DD (15 yo) had a blast.  And the beach was wonderful too.  I think we are spoiled here in Florida and probably take the beach for granted.....

Here is a video clip of me zipping the last part over 700 ft. of water.  We started high up above the trees.

TDF day 12......and other wool stuff

I have not spun on all of the days, I have to spread the love between all of my obsessions hobbies.  Yesterday I did spin more corespun. for my DD's hat.  I also dyed some more fiber- some for the shop, more for just some projects I have in mind.  I also felted a small pouch.  I have a workshop in August that I am teaching and needed to do some sampling with the wool I want to use.  I'm glad I did because it did not shrink as much as I anticipated-so I adjusted the template size.  Today will include dyeing more wool- and getting ready for our upcoming camping trip. :)

Silly Sunday Post

Needle felted sheep and alpaca made by my daughter.

Tour de Fleece 2011

Well I accomplished all of my goals for the day.  Tomorrow I will work with the Suri Alpaca fiber.  I will spin some that I have processed into roving and I will spin some that has been finger fluffed.  It will be interesting to see the different textures that I can get.

I also have a goal of learning the techniques in the DVD Sit and Spin by Jacey Boggs. 
Tonight I worked on thick and think yarn.  After spending all of my time trying to make my spinning thin, I now get to make big fat puffs! :)

It was only a matter of time.... ;)

I have a new fur baby.  Yesterday my youngest and I headed out on a road trip about 3 hours North.  I have been looking for an angora breed for a few weeks, but every time I think I have found one, they are all sold out.  Yesterday morning I stumbled across an add for a French Angora.  When I contacted the breeder, she informed me they were gone :(  But she told me she had 3 Giant Angora's that she was selling for a friend who had to move.  She sent me pictures, and I did some research- found out they are perfect for spinners, next I decided I need to see how BIG these GIANTS would get- so we went on a trip.  Now mind you, my husband could not believe I was willing to drive 3 hours one way to go see a bunny (sometimes men just don't get it....)

Anywho....of course one of the females came home with us.  Oh lordy she is going to be a BIG spoiled baby!  Even Morgan our shepard mix is in love with her.  She actually wanted to stay out next to the hutch all night.  Crazy dog!

Now we just need to name her....always the hardest part for me!