cloudlover designs

March 22 shop update!

2011-03-20T21:54:00.003-05:00

3.22.11 update preview, originally uploaded by cloudlover69.

I know, it's been a while. Too long, in fact. I do have a post planned to (kind of) explain where I've been and what I've been up to, but in the mean time- here is the next shop update preview! These lovelies will be going live in my BigCartel shop on Tuesday, March 22 at 2PM CST.

I also wanted to let you all know that 15% of all my sales made during March will be donated to the Red Cross and their efforts to help Japan recover from the tsunami. In addition, 100% of all profits from my Sakura colorway (which will be listed in the upcoming update) will be donated as well.

Shop update - 11/23 at 2PM CST!

2010-11-22T23:02:00.002-06:00

11.23 update preview!, originally uploaded by cloudlover69.

All of this and more is being added to my BigCartel shop on Tuesday, November 23 at 2PM CST. AND, for a full week starting today, get 15% your order by entering code THANKGIVING15 at checkout! Happy Turkey Day!

Shop update 10/18 at 2PM CST

2010-10-17T22:37:00.003-05:00

shop update 10/18 at 2PM CST, originally uploaded by cloudlover69.

It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm adding these and MANY more lovely fibers to the BigCartel shop at 2PM CST on Monday, October 18.

There will be two NEW base fiber blends available, both are superwash: one is 70% merino, 20% cashmere and 10% silk and the other is 50% silk, 30% merino and 20% sea cell. They are both amazingly soft and a real treat to spin!

Wisconsin Sheep & Wool this weekend!

2010-09-09T14:27:00.003-05:00

This is a super-duper quick last-minute post letting you all know that we'll be at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool festival this weekend, September 10-12. Our booth is in Country Store West- come visit if you're in the area! It's seriously my favorite sheep festival of them all, there is so much to see and learn.

9/2 Shop update preview!

2010-09-01T22:41:00.002-05:00

These are some of the pretties that will be going up in the shop Thursday, September 2 at 2PM CST!

Shop update - 8/21 at 1PM CST

2010-08-20T17:14:00.002-05:00

The next Cloudlover update is scheduled for Saturday, August 21 at 1PM CST, here! I'll be adding some handpainted yarn with this update, as well as 4 new colorways on various spinning fiber bases!

Friday the 13th update preview

2010-08-12T23:00:00.003-05:00

A sneak peak of what will be available at 7PM CST over at www.cloudlover.com!

Shop updates and spinning class!

2010-08-11T12:44:00.003-05:00

Two quick things I want to announce:

As part of Chicagoland's first ever Yarn Crawl, I'll be teaching a drop spindle class at My Sister's Knits on Saturday, August 21 at 12 PM. If you've ever wanted to learn to spin your own yarn, this class will be a great introduction to the fun, easy, and portable art of drop spindling! Please contact the yarn shop direclty to sign up for this class.

Also, this Friday, August 13, I will be doing a shop update at www.cloudlover.com. This update will be pre-loaded, meaning everything will go live and available for purchase at 7PM CST. I'll continue to do Etsy updates, but I want to make a gradual move to my BigCartel shop as the listing process is much faster and easier, which in turn makes buying faster and easier. As always, I will combine shipping across both shops. :)

One last thing- as a follow up to my last blog post about donating a portion of shop sales to the International Bird Rescue Research Center, a total of $265 was raised and donated from all your purchases during July. Thank you SO much!

Four Seasons

2010-06-02T10:02:00.003-05:00

This is really two blog posts smashed into one, because I have a few things I want to share but not enough time to blog about each. I'm super busy getting ready for the Hoosier Hills Fiber Art Festival in Franklin, Indiana this weekend- in fact, we leave tomorrow afternoon- yikes! But before I go, I wanted to share a few new colorways I've whipped up in the past couple of weeks. They are inspired by the colors of an orchard during the four seasons of the year- spring, summer, autumn and winter:

From top left: Spring Orchard, Summer Orchard, Autumn Orchard, and Winter Orchard, available in my Etsy shop!

The second thing I want to say, and I'll put it bluntly- this oil spill is really pissing me off. An area that was already shaken down and damaged not 5 years ago by a natural disaster is getting slapped by an environmental disaster that makes my stomach turn.

(Picture ganked from NY Daily News)

I'm torn between wanting to help and wanting to stand by, shaking my fist, waiting for the multi-billion dollar corporation clean up the mess. But I think it's bigger than them, and us. So I've decided that for the entire month of June, 15% of all sales from my Etsy shop will be donated to the International Bird Rescue Research Center. Maybe we can raise enough money to adopt a pelican. In July, I'll find another organization to support. A small difference made is better than no difference at all.

Saturday night spinning

2010-05-23T18:02:00.001-05:00

Saturday night spinning
Originally uploaded by cloudlover69

I've been on a 2-ply kick lately, probably because they're easy to churn out while watching TV- which I've been doing a lot of lately! Last night I was catching up on Lost. I took this picture after I finished plying some Falkland Maerchengarten and Decay together. It turned out beautifully, if I do say so myself!

UFO to WIP to FP

2010-05-12T21:10:00.003-05:00

Let's ignore the fact that I've neglected this blog for about as long as I've neglected knitting and focus on two major accomplishments- the first being that I'm blogging, and the second being that I KNIT SOMETHING!

And it is NOT a scarf. Or a cowl. Or a hat. Or fingerless mitts. It actually has SLEEVES!

It's the Anthropologie-inspired capelet by Julia Allen, and it was so flipping easy even I could do it (even though it took two tries and over half a year.) When I first cast on, I did everything right- measurements, gauge swatch, etc- but the neckline was gimongous, so I frogged it and started over with a much smaller neckline and more yarn so I could make it long enough. I used handspun from Hobbledehoy and then carded and spun some of my own batts to make extra yarn, which is mostly down on the ribbing. It's chunky, soft, purple and pink, and I MADE IT. I love it.

i heart taters...

2009-12-09T20:00:00.002-06:00

...and they heart me!

This came out of our CSA box last week. I am going to have a hard time eating it :(

For the love of Rambouillet

2009-11-29T13:25:00.003-06:00

Yes, I'm still alive and well, despite what this blog might lead you to believe. In fact, it must take something special to make me come back after all this time, no?

A few weeks ago, I bought 30 pounds of Rambouillet top. Even though I have miscellaneous Rambouillet fibers lying around (some handpainted top, some fleece) I haven't actually worked with any of it until now. I am sorry I waited so long! This stuff is magical. It's got the softness of merino (I think it's even softer, actually) but it is much, much fluffier. I'm not sure what exactly it is that makes it so easy to spin, but this stuff just leaves my hand and turns into yarn as if it was enchanted. I can spin this fiber long-draw style straight from the un-predrafted top. Seriously. I think that says something. The result is the squishiest, softest, springiest yarn I've ever spun. I can only imagine what divine handspun socks it would make...

Anyway, I sold the first yarn I spun out of the first batch of fiber I dyed, but I'm working on another. This is my new favorite colorway too, I might add- Hanging Gardens:

I've got some for sale in my shop, and I plan to make this a regularly stocked fiber. But you'll have to convince me to list it for you and not hoard it all for myself first!

New! Cloudlover Fiber Club!

2009-10-09T19:13:00.002-05:00

I am finally opening a Cloudlover Fiber Club! It will be a 3 month club- each month you will receive a new, surprise colorway (4-5 oz) on a different fiber base. Everyone in the club will receive the same colorways each month so it is perfect for spin-a-longs! The cost will be $55 for one subscription (which includes shipping to the US & Canada, int'l shipping will be $10 extra). If you buy multiple subscriptions, you'll receive a $10 discount. I am starting the club with 10 slots, which will go on sale in my Etsy shop at the following times:

5 slots on Saturday (Oct 10) at 12 PM CST
5 slots on Sunday (Oct 11) at 10 PM CST

I will not be taking reservations for this first round of memberships; the club will open again in January for renewals and new members. Please send me a convo through my Etsy shop if you have any questions :)

Fun in the summertime

2009-07-12T10:43:00.004-05:00

I honestly can't believe it's already the second weekend in July. Last week was our annual vacation to Southern Illinois for hiking, canoeing, fishing, wine tasting, etc. It was a relaxing "I wish this would never end" vacation. Here's a pic of Ben and me hiking at Grand Tower (Mississippi river in the background):

And here's me under an amazing "secret" waterfall:

This trip really made me wish I was in an area where I really *could* walk down to a lake to canoe every night, go berry picking, and buy my wine at a friendly local winery. I'd honestly love to live down there, but seeing as how Ben spent the first 24 years of his life in Southern Illinois, I think we'll need to find somewhere new to explore. It's just getting harder and harder to come back from these trips and back into the daily grind of corporate city life. Some day...

As for the woolly work, I'm in full wool-hoarder mode. The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Festival starts at the end of this week(!) and I'm doing some last minute dye sessions. Here is a new colorway called "Cereus", inspired by night-blooming flowers:

spring cleaning

2009-04-12T15:46:00.003-05:00

Today it's finally warm enough (read: tolerable) to open the windows, let some fresh air in, and get some yucky heavy duty cleaning done. And by yucky, I mean hosing out the litter boxes and bunbun cage. I've got plans to organize my stash room so I can fit ALL of my yarn and fiber in one place. Right now there's a shelf of it towering in my living room in addition to the inventory in the front room. Ben is moving into my place at the end of the month, so I've got to make room for HIS shelves of crap too, ha!

Anyway, as you know, I've been dyeing my butt off for the summer shows I'll be vending at. I'm aware that I now have more stock than will fit in Ben's car, but I dye on! I've been coming up with lots of new colorways lately, which livens up the sometimes mundane dyeing of 4-6 colorway at one time. Check these out:
"Futomaki" on Falkland:

"Valencia" on merino/tussah silk:

Spring is also time for gardening, which means it's time for food, which means it's ALSO time for our CSA from Genesis Growers! We got our first box a couple of weeks ago, and it contained a bunch of yummy cold-weather veggies- beets, onions, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, kale... I made a fantastic "root roast" and served it alongside sauteed kale and garlic topped with almonds:

I think my favorite part about root roasts is that they are so yummy all on their own, without adding much in terms of seasoning. All I did was chop up the veggies, tossed them in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and a dash of Italian seasoning blend, and then roasted them at about 450 until done. You can't go wrong adding a smidge of freshly grated ginger too, if you're into that sort of thing. Anyways, I'm actually quite pleased when I open up my refrigerator and find it almost empty except for a few stray condiments and drawers full of fresh veggies. It makes the whole "what should I eat?" question a lot easier to answer, and my mind is forced to concoct new ways to eat all of these garden treats. It's definitely a welcome form of mental "spring cleaning!"

dirty little secret

2009-03-30T21:57:00.002-05:00

My shop has been kind of sparse lately, but I've been dyeing more now than ever. Where is it going, you ask?

I'm prepping to vend at my first sheep and wool festival, the Shepherd's Harvest Festival in Minnesota, during the second weekend in May. I have no idea how much I should bring, so I'm erring on the side of more than will fit in Ben's hatchback.

Yeah. I'm getting tired just looking at that pic!

Look, I'm spinning!

2009-02-21T10:06:00.003-06:00

It's been really hard to maintain a balanced schedule between work and the fiber biz. I loathe getting home at 6 and having only 4 hours in which to make dinner, take care of the animals, catch up on Etsy stuff, list items, and then hopefully card batts or spin before it's time for bed. Sticking to a shipping schedule frees up time, but not enough! I blame the day job ;)

Anyway, I managed to finish a few yarns this week. Here are two of my favorites:

"Märchengarten", my new favorite colorway, spun into a Falkland single!

"Cupid & Psyche", spun from batts carded by Hobbledehoy! I spun this one thick and thin and added little squishy coils here and there.

And as long as I've got spring on my mind, despite the fresh blanket of snow outside, here's a pic of Mr. Bun!

I can't wait until it's nice enough to let him romp around in the yard!

off to a good start

2009-01-27T21:44:00.004-06:00

January is turning out to be much more fun that December. Something about the dark winter months and the drama with the holidays just kind of gets me down. Even though it's even colder, the days are getting slightly longer and it's enough to get me revved up again. On top of that, I've got new fiber blends to dye and new colorways dancing in my head. I'm going to try to give myself a schedule to stick to on the weekends so I have room for dyeing and drum carding. Here's a peek at a mystery batt I was working on the other day:

And for those who are curious, here is my super high-tech roving painting set-up. Even though he insists on overseeing operations despite my best shoo-ing efforts, Bela Lugosi has not yet managed to dye his feet hot pink. Sometimes I let Mr. Bun out for a romp and he ends up chillin' underneath the table- one of his favorite spots!

New year, new toys...

2009-01-17T14:13:00.003-06:00

First off, I want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported my fiber adventure in one way or another- my customers, my spinning buddies, and my boyfriend. I can't believe how far I've come over the past year!

Also, I promise to get better about blog posts. I'm going to aim for at least once a week. Hold me to it!

My new big thing outside of spinning and dyeing has been baking. I treated myself to a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer a couple of weeks ago, and the oven has been on ever since. I LOVE making bread, but I hate having to clean off a big section of counter space to knead it on, which then ends up making a big flour mess... Now everything is done in a bowl that cleans up lickety split. Hello fresh loaf of bread twice a week! If that wasn't enough, I bought a cheese making kit from Ricki the "Cheese Queen". I made my first batch of mozzarella last night and marinated it in olive oil, herbs and red pepper flakes. My lunch today: harvest grain bread with mozzarella:

In other news, it has snowed more in Chicago this year than I think it has in the years since I moved here combined! Thankfully the cold snap is over (almost 2 days straight with subzero temps).

Ok, I've got to get back to the dye pots. If you're a spinner or fiber enthusiast, please check out the poll on the top right of the page! I've got access to tons of new fiber blends, so I'd like to order the ones you all want to spin the most!

Random things...

2008-11-02T10:09:00.004-06:00

I got tagged by Rawfish!

Here's the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself. (See below)
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them. (See further below...)
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I like bad jokes. I like any jokes, really. I can't go 30 minutes without saying something sarcastic, or trying to make someone laugh during the course of a normal conversation. It's like I'm Chandler from Friends. I wonder sometimes if people get it, or they just think I'm an idiot.

2. I'd be completely content locking myself in my apartment for an entire weekend, doing nothing but watching X-Files, spinning yarn, eating pizza, and drinking wine. Actually, I pretty much do that every chance I get. Everyone thinks I'm an extrovert, but I'm a classic introvert- I need "me" time almost constantly. My boyfriend is the only person I can be around 24/7- the only other person I can be "alone" with, if that makes sense.

3. I'm kind of a wino. Not in a 12-steps kind of way, but in a "what would I do if I couldn't afford to drink wine every night" kind of way. I should just say I'm a hedonist and I somehow manage to balance out all my lushing about with being productive and ambitious. I'm not one of those people who tells themselves "no", although I should probably try that sometime.

4. I realized this past year that I've become terrified of driving. This is probably due to the fact that because I live in a city without a car, I haven't driven anything anywhere for over 3 years. The thought of driving down the highway with all those speedfreaks cutting people off and not signaling makes me hyperventilate.

5. I love to cook. I love eating at fancy restaurants and then trying to make whatever I ate at home. I would rather slave over dinner for 2 hours than eat fast food. Sure, I still break down and get delivery or takeout if I'm super busy, lazy, or the kitchen is empty, but I've gotten to a point where I'm kind of a food snob. On the food topic, I eat like a vegetarian 85% of the time and don't eat red meat or pork, except once a year at the office holiday party when I have a giant expensive cut of filet mignon. I can't afford to eat red meat worth eating, so I savor it when it's on someone else's dollar.

6. I have really broad tastes when it comes to movies and music. I love electronic lullaby music as much as I like ridiculous industrial and heavy metal. I love horror movies of any flavor. I like the "dark" stuff, but you'll also catch me watching Disney movies. There are few things that really scare me or gross me out. I have a lot of fun trying to find those things. Movies that really push the envelope are my favorite.

Ok, maybe those are some lame factoids but it's hard to think up these things, and even hard to type with a cat on your keyboard. I'm not sure who's left to tag, but if are reading this and haven't done this yet, consider yourself tagged!

And here's a gratuitous batt picture:

Fall Bake-Along: Pumpkin Bread!

2008-10-05T21:31:00.003-05:00

So some Twitter friends and I have been discussing baked pumpkin goodness all week long. Here is my recipe for pumpkin bread:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use olive oil for everything though!)
1/2 cup water
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour (sometimes I do half white flour and half whole wheat flour)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup chopped dates*
3/4 cup chopped walnuts*

*optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugar, oil, water and eggs together. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cloves and cinnamon; then add to the first mixture. Add the pumpkin, dates and walnuts and mix well. Pour into your baking tin of choice (I use either two small loaf tins or one big loaf, but you could probably do these as muffins too.) Bake until done, at least 1 hour. Best served with hot coffee or tea on a cool autumn morning, or with a glass of milk as a bed time snack :)

buried in wool

2008-08-11T21:38:00.003-05:00

It's a great place to be, really. I'm almost through the 20+ pounds of roving I ordered a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to have to buy a whole bump next time, and replenish dyes soon too. So I guess my business experiment is going well. I don't think I'll sell it all in a month, but I'll at least "produce" it all in that time. I've found a lot of ways to streamline all the little processes, from fiber prep to shipping. I just wish I wasn't bogged down by a day job. I keep thinking about the endless possibilities, but those possibilities more bandwidth than I have to spare.

Here is the latest batch of rovings:

I've been buying a LOT more of other artists' fiber lately; something I thought I could curb by producing more of my own, but being surrounded more by my own stuff makes me crave something different and new. I've been trying to spin lots more, but it comes in fits and starts.

This is probably the best yarn in the world, spun from Hobbledehoy batts- I call it "Waves Become Wings":

And this is "Aeroplane Flies High" from my handpainted roving:

That's all for now! I've got to try to catch up on some sleep :)

whole lotta roving

2008-07-27T18:34:00.002-05:00

This was the first weekend I tried to bust my ass over the dye pots. I only really ass-busted yesterday, but that's because this morning I saw the new X-Files movie! Anyway, I met my "goal" which was 18 four-ounce handfuls of fiber. I managed to dye 5 skeins of yarn (custom order) and 13 rovings. I'm keeping about half of them for myself to spin, and I listed the rest today in my shop. Here's my favorite so far:

And here are the others, all hanging out in my yard, post photo-shoot.

I was so tempted to fall asleep in the roving pile!

I did a few more today, including some for the Craftster Fiber of the Month swap. Now I'm finally going to go spin. This past week has be exhausting, for some reason, and has sucked away my spinning mojo.

holy fiber art!

2008-07-19T19:56:00.003-05:00

I went up to the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair today with Ben. This is pretty much the first time I've been able to meet real live spinners and let me tell you, it was awesome. Not only to be surrounded by everything I loved, but finally see my hobby outside of my living room and the internet. It made it that much more REAL! I did pretty well, all things considered, and only managed to buy some stuff that is really new to me:

From top left: Sari silk, organic cotton roving, cotton and ecospun roving, loosely carded ecospun (all from Little Barn); merino-sea cell roving from Creatively Dyed, a handful of freshly sheared alpaca, and silk hankies from Lone Tree Wools.

We almost came into owning a "fiber rabbit" too:

I honestly don't know if I've ever seen Ben happier than when he was holding that bunny!! Only $30 too; I thought they were so much more (I know the pedigree ones are.) Maybe when I get that farm house...

I also got to meet some fellow Etsyians- KittyGrrlz, My Favorite Thing, and Spinundrum. We may even meet up and have a spinny session or two in the future! Yay!

All in all, a really great event. If I'm anywhere near Illinois next year, I will definitely consider participating as a vendor.

Off to watch the old school "Batman" and to spin up some of this loot!

experiment

2008-07-16T07:33:00.002-05:00

I need to publicly announce goals or else I am much less likely to follow through with them. You all need to help keep me accountable for achieving this!

The goal: to devote an entire month to some hard-core dyeing & spinning. Hard-core meaning ~30 rovings/skeins of yarn dyed on the weekends, and spinning every night. The BF encouraged me to see if I could bump this whole side-project woolly business up to the next level, and he promised to help. I placed some mammoth orders on Monday- 10 pounds of merino, 7 pounds of falkland, 6 pounds of BFL, 27 skeins of yarn, and dyes. Yeah, my bank account is freaking out a little bit, but hopefully I can get through this in a month and more than have it paid for in a week or two. This will also help me get geared up for doing the craft show(s) in the fall.

In other news, two of my newest yarns:

Another Elvis-inspired yarn, "Viva Las Vegas", spun from Hobbledehoy batt,wrapped in gold thread with some sequins here and there:

And "Monster Mash" from some Falkland roving I dyed up. Colors didn't turn out quite as I expected them too (I wanted more vibrant purple) but it will still stripe nicely and it's bouncy fun!

back to it

2008-07-12T11:49:00.004-05:00

A week ago, I got back from vacation. This pretty much sums it up:

But if you'd like to see more, they're on my Flickr account. Gratuitous greenery! The BF and I visited one of his old classmates who now lives on small farm and has plans to flesh it out and make it fully sustainable over the next couple of years. I got to spin outside under a giant tree with hummingbirds flitting around and big ol' farm cats flopped about on the grass. Yeah, it's kind of a wonder I'm back in Chicago. I don't know how well I'd handle country living, but I'm getting closer and closer to making the jump and trying it out. But I don't want to work. I just want to retire to a full time spinster at age 25. Wishful thinking, eh? I don't think I can afford a farm AND student loans on a spinster's income. Rats.

I did a lot of spinning while I was down there- mostly in my BF's parents' house and in a local cafe. To my surprise, only the bus-boy asked me what on earth I was doing. Maybe it's rural enough down there that most people are familiar with spinning wheels?! Anyway, here is what I got done last week and some of this week:

From top left: Laminaria, hand dyed BFL; Calico, hand dyed merino (huge skein for a two ply!); Prismatic Wall, hand dyed merino; Harlequin, merino from Pigeonroof Studios.

I finished two yarns yesterday, including the first of my Elvis-inspired yarns that I've been dreaming up (I went to Graceland last week!) More will follow, rest assured...

Time to get back to the dye pots. And to place another wool order. I may do something crazy like purchase an entire bump. WHOA.

Oh, P.S.- I got into YarnCon! I've got time, but I have to lay out a Plan for inventory, setup, etc. And I'm feeling kooky enough to apply for DIY Trunk Show too. I'm out of control! It's probably actually not-so-smart to do two craft shows within two months of each other in the fall when everyone is clamoring for holiday shopping and I'm only doing this part-time. But I'm enough of an over-achiever to try it anyway.

countdown...

2008-06-19T22:29:00.003-05:00

My vacation officially starts in one week and half a day. I'm already looking at the lists of wineries and trying to determine a wine budget (2 cases for about $300 - eep!) BUT I'm saving so much money by not flying anywhere/not staying in a hotel/etc. so I might just do it. I'm so excited to see real live cypress trees.

Oh, in case I didn't mention it before, I'm going to Southern Illinois with my boyfriend, to run around the woods he grew up in. It's a cheap thrill for a girl like me who's wild at heart but has been in the city for far, far too long.

In other news, I got another customer appreciation photo!

This was spun by Claire de Lune out of my "Tart" roving.

Speaking of yarn, I started handpainting yarn. I think I'm pleased with the results so far, and I'll have more fun trying new things this weekend- since I have 16 skeins waiting for me in the living room ;)

I should have more BFL here tomorrow, so I'll get in one more huge weekend of dyeing before I'm off for a week. I think I'll dye some skeins for myself to take on the trip- duh, I'm bringing my wheel, could I live without it for a week? ;)

stuck

2008-06-11T12:38:00.002-05:00

I'm on my break at work, staring at the YarnCon 2008 vendor application. I'm going to do it! But I'm stuck on this "short bio" part. What to write about myself? How to capture the awesomeoness of handspun yarns in but a few words? Blargh.

I'm also trying to plan out where I'm going to put all these flowers around my house:

They were $4-5 a TRAY at my favorite grocery store (all of that cost me less than $20!), so I went a little overboard. I've planted a fraction of them around the base of two trees in the back yard, but I'm thinking the rest may need to go in pots. Lots and lots of pots!

My head is also here right now:

A June sky never looked so good! Also, handspun yarn looks better when photographed in the back yard with grass in the background. I think all my yarny photoshoots will be al fresco from now on-

zzzz

2008-06-07T17:17:00.004-05:00

I am pooped. I got up at 8 today (after staying up till 1 AM dyeing and rinsing wool- remind to not do that again) and gardened for 4 hours out in the 85+ sun and humidity at a local organic garden. Fun, but I'm covered in a mix of dirt and sunscreen and I'm so tired I don't even care!

This week, I spun up a couple of new yarns and started doing some fall knitting. Yeah, knitting is hard to get into when it's this hot, but I'm working up some great fingerless mitts. The first is from Folktale Fibers famous handspun patchwork yarn in the colorway Silhouette:

These are my test mitts, so they're a little big. I'm keeping them for myself.

Then, I got all inspired by the book by Cosette Cornelius-Bates, aka Cosyknitsliterally, called "Knit One, Embellish Too." It totally caters to my sensibilities and skill level as a crafter and knitter, so I started these mitts from some Pigeonroof Studios roving I spun up:

I think I'm going to embroider some vines and sew some small coordinating buttons on as 'grapes' or whatever.

I feel like it's been forever since I've knitted anything, so it's nice to do it again. Also, I find it's great to keep me busy during 7-hour sessions of playing Twilight Imperium with some friends.

Anyway, here are the yarns for the week:
Frog Prince, bulky singles from misc batts, unknown weight and yardage:

Get Happy, a mash-up of several

And Violet Hour, many purple and black batts, plied with clear thread, 110 yd, 4 oz:

Plus the Pigeonroof yarn in the WIP above. I got Intertwined the other day, so I'm going to try some new techniques this weekend- I think I'll start with corespinning my autumn-inspired LOOP batt!

I'd better go either check on how my rovings are drying, shower, or fall asleep.

woolly week!

2008-05-29T07:25:00.002-05:00

I ordered a ton of fiber last week and it has all started pouring in, including stuff from my first Craftster swap and first club installments!

Here is what I got from Lapoli- May FOM swap- i love the purple and gray:

And here is my first LOOP spontaneous spinning batt- I chose autumn as my favorite season, and I'm psyched. Steph also posted this on her Flickr so I got to drool over it for a couple of days- I was so happy when it turned out to be MINE! I couldn't get a good pic of the whole batt (it is HUGE) so here's a pic of the little flowers it come with- LOVE THEM!

And finally, my first Hobbledehoy batts of the month! I've started spinning these already! I love purple, green & blue:

Aside from all this fiber to make me happy, I posted a bunch of stuff on Monday and had 4 sales within as many hours. Woohoo! Thanks to the loving BF for helping me package stuff up and ferry it to the post office. Time to finish up my smoothie and head off to my "real" job...

days get better when...

2008-05-22T22:19:00.003-05:00

This week started sucking a bit yesterday when one of my fellow admins quit unexpectedly during the middle of the day. That of course left the rest of us scrambling with a game plan to divvy up the work until we can get another person hired. No biggie, but just not the most fun thing to deal with. So after working an hour late last night and tonight, I was SO jazzed to come home to this waiting for me on the front steps:

I ordered this last week as my mother's day presents from my cats to myself ;) They know what I like! The fluffy rainbow batt is in a place out of reach from little claws on the very top of my stash shelf. Will I ever be able to bring myself to spin it? Inspiration is not lacking; as you can see, I also got Handspun Revolution. Yes! This three day weekend is going to be great...

If that wasn't enough, I actually went looking through the Treasuries on Etsy and look what I found!

Maybe it'll get to the front page!!!

new fun things

2008-05-21T23:00:00.004-05:00

This past weekend was super productive. On Friday night, I spun a gimongous skein of yarn. This was the first time I had maxed out my jumbo bobbin- 170 yards, 5.75 ounces! Yowza! I call it "Corsair", because it reminds me of an elegant pirate:

I really love this. It's a mash-up of several different batts, but mostly some superwash merino from Enchanted Knoll. I think this yarn would make the most gorgeous cape or shawl EVER, so I'll be sad to see it go... and not so sad if it doesn't sell ;)

Also, on Saturday, my awesome BF finished up the banner he designed for my shop & blog (see above!) and then formatted parts of it to make into stickers! Yes, STICKERS! I've had a sticker fetish since I was a kid, so this is a huge deal for me!

So the kite-sheep is my logo, and the other sticker, the one with the clouds and the sheep, is something he did just for fun. You can't read it, but it says "Domesticated Sheeps- Making your day more happy." Ain't that the truth!

I also finished up the book Craft, Inc. by Meg Mateo Ilasco last night. It was a great step-by-step on how to turn a craft hobby into a full-time job. Granted I won't apply half of it to myself because I am in no way ready to do this full time, it was good to know the first steps- like applying for business licenses, etc, which are mostly necessary to do shows and stuff. Hey, who knows, this could go somewhere!

To reward myself for feeling all ambitious and productive, I bought a ton more fiber. Well, at least a couple of pounds anyway. I realized a 3 day weekend was coming up and I wanted to get psyched for busting through most of my stash. I also packaged up and sent off handpainted rovings for my first two swaps- one through Etsy and the other through Craftster. AND I just wound off a skein and am setting the twist now, so hopefully it'll be dry in time for Fiber Friday!

Hmm, yeah... I HAVE been busy ;)

sheesh!

2008-05-11T19:40:00.004-05:00

First off, I just want to say that getting my paws on some Pigeonroof Studios roving must be even harder than getting Hannah Montana tickets. Not that I have tried getting Hannah Montana tickets, but that is the best analogy I can come up with. At least people aren't buying the roving only to sell it on Craigslist for 10x what they paid!

Anyway, I've been busy with keeping my apartment clean. Seriously, that is a full time job. I have actually done a lot of spinning this week though:

MOULIN- spun with some batts from Hobbledehoy, Loop, and Mandalinn, plus some stuff from my stash, plied with woolly nylon:

MIDGEWATER- my first TRUE scrap yarn, spun from a thousand different batts and rovings, worsted to bulky weight:

COSTA RICA- I spun this sitting outside last weekend. Drop-dead gorgeous BFL from Allspunup, spun into a striking worsted weight single:

POODLE SKIRT- spun from a batt by The Ranch, super thick and plied with clear poly thread:

On the bobbin- SUGARCUBES roving by Hobbledehoy, spun into a worsted weight two-ply, ready to be crocheted into a baby hat/booties set for a coworker- stay tuned for FO pics SOON!

Time to go rinse some roving and set it out to dry. I FINALLY got to dye some wool this weekend, it's been ages!

First wheelspuns and some roving...

2008-04-18T19:23:00.003-05:00

So I spent ALL of last weekend spinning. I mean ALL of it. I left the house on Saturday only momentarily: to walk to the post office to pick up a box of wool. Here is the result:

From left to right, top to bottom: Cry Baby (from Copperpot Woolies), Blues (very first spin, my own handpainted Corriedale), Secret Garden (Hobbledehoy LOLbatt), Solemn (handpainted BFL), Woodstock (from Lapoli), Live Wire (another LOLbatt), Allsorts (from Copperpot's gimongo batt, my first plied yarn!), Vamped (handpainted Corriedale), and Water Hyacinth, singles in progress (from Mary Jane's Attic.)

Also, I dyed a ton of roving the weekend before- another collage to feast on!

Treebeard closeup, Material Girl, Maison Moderne, Dried Petals, Color Box, Color Box closeup, Meritage, Concord. Treebeard again. I LOVE Treebeard. I'm going to have to try that colorway again. All of those are Falkland wool roving.

Ok, it's time for me to go work on that Water Hyacinth single... it is taking for-ever!

ZOMFG I GOT ONE!

2008-04-09T20:24:00.003-05:00

So I've been checking Ebay and Craigslist on and off, looking for any used spinning wheels in the area that I might be able to buy. I told myself I'd wait until I got my recession check, but a deal I couldn't pass up came along this weekend: Ashford Traveller (older model, single treadle, single drive) was posted on Craigslist for $250. I almost peed my pants and obsessively e-mailed the seller. I got to look on it on Monday night (it was very close by) and after checking it out to the best of my ability (with some help from the awesome people on Craftster!) I took him home.

Look!

It didn't come with bobbins, so I've ordered those, and in the mean time I am cleaning him up, oiling him down, and practicing my treadling while trying to think of a name! I'm so excited!

Spring? Is that you?!

2008-04-06T18:13:00.003-05:00

This weekend has been #%&@ gorgeous. Saturday morning I got to volunteer at the Ginkgo Organic Gardens in Uptown. It was the first work-day of the season, and it could not have been nicer (last year it was snowing!) There are so many things I like about that place, namely being outside, gardening for a cause, and hanging out with awesome people. Seriously, what more could you ask for?? When I got home, I cleaned up the kitchen and started dyeing up some more roving (Falkland, this time.) It's still drying in the bathroom right now, so I should have pics of it soon.

Today was just as beautiful, so the BF and I went to Vella Cafe for his birthday breakfast, and then shopping for food and garden supplies. I think I'm going to do a bunch of herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, lettuce, and flowers. I also bought a raspberry and a blackberry bush. I'm out of control! We started turning up the beds and lining them with brick so they look extra nice (and so the lawn maintenance people know to not weed-wack anything down!) I hope the landlord doesn't mind... I'll definitely post pics of it when everything is up and running.

I think now it's time for a glass of wine and a handful of fiber to spin up.

April Fools? Or just a really great idea!

2008-04-01T19:09:00.002-05:00

Eversheds to Run Sheep Pilot Scheme at New City Base

In a bizarre turn in its campaign to create London’s greenest law office, Eversheds is to let sheep loose on the roof of its new building at One Wood Street.

The trial scheme will see four sheep used for a three-month period to maintain the grass on the building’s flat eco-roof, which is designed to prevent heat escaping through the office ceiling.

The firm has recruited an animal welfare officer, Sean Coates, who will spend the equivalent of one day each week taking care of the animals.

Coates, a former RSPCA officer who is now a freelance consultant in urban livestock management, said: “It’s important we keep the sheep in tip top condition to get the best out of them.

“They work as a team so if one of them isn’t pulling their weight, we need to make sure we’re covered.”

Coates said that the animals did not represent a danger to pedestrians in high wind, but added that the firm was insured in case of such an incident.

The decision to conduct the trial came after Eversheds undertook a lengthy consultation into ways to introduce sustainable energy methods into the new office, which will be completed in May.

The majority of partners in a partnership vote supported a trial of the grazing scheme, leading to Eversheds consulting energy experts, farmers and animal trainers about its viability.

“As well as keeping the roof trim, it’s possible we will also use their waste to fertilise plants in the firm’s new herb garden,” Coates said.

If the scheme is continued beyond the three month trial, Eversheds associates will be given the chance to name the animals in an online poll on the firm’s intranet site.

The firm yesterday also revealed that it is set to use the underwire of bras in its London office’s 160,000 sq ft of flooring (The Lawyer, 31 March).

****
I'm going to go work there and become a corporate rooftop sheep herder. I'm not sure what I want to do with tonight. I'm in kind of a cranktastic mood, so I'm not sure if that means I need to force myself to be productive, or just veg out. Not really sure what would make me feel better at this point, or what I have the energy for. First things first: dinner. Ugh.

grin

2008-03-30T21:35:00.002-05:00

I just ordered 3 pounds of roving from the Brown Sheep Studio! Because I didn't get to dye or spin ANYthing this weekend, I will more than make up for it NEXT weekend. I've already got a pound and a half of falkland waiting for me...

Not that it was a bad weekend- I went up to Milwaukee (for FUN!) with some friends to tour the Sprecher Brewery. $3 for a tour, four 8 ounce "samples" in a glass cup and all the rootbeer and other soda you could drink... hel-lo! I'm not a beer drinker at all, but it was a good time nonetheless. After that, we got dinner at a restaurant at the bottom of the old Schlitz brewery, and then hit up some bars in downtown. I can't believe I have to go back up there tomorrow AGAIN, which means I should go to bed ASAP. Oh well, at least I get a free lunch.... :\

fib3r pr0n

2008-03-28T21:26:00.003-05:00

Work has kind of sucked this week- I've worked late at least two nights, and Wednesday I was up in Milwaukee, which meant I had a 12 hour day. ICK. So the fuzzy arts have been on hold for a bit. To make up for it, here are gratuitous pics from other rovings/yarn that I haven't posted yet (quasi-new):

Bela Lugosi roving (corriedale):

Nocturnum roving (corriedale) Not as happy with this one. I was going for some deep tonal blacks but it didn't really happen, what with the big red splash and the white spot. Whatever, it'll spin up just fine methinks:

Pigeons roving (BFL). Now I know pigeons aren't purple and blue and all that, but it reminds me of the way the light hits their feathers and shimmers in all those nice pretty colors:

And here are my second three rovings, ever- left to right: Amazon, Sakura, and Dollhouse:

Amazon handspun:

Sakura handspun:

Snuggling yarns!

I tried spinning Dollhouse with the intent of plying it with thread, and I think I'm going to hold off on any more plying adventures until I get a wheel. It just ends up being a huge mess and a pain in the ass. Never mind that the cats have darn near destroyed everything while I am spinning it anyway!!!

more yarn

2008-03-24T20:54:00.002-05:00

I spun up some of my first dyed roving last week, plus some batts I bought on Etsy. Here they are:

This was spun from the green and yellow corriedale roving which you can see in the previous posts:

And here is a sample-size LOOP batt called "ribbon dance". It was FANTASTIC to work with!

There are two more, but I am going to wait until the bit of yarn I'm working on now is finished so I can post a complete "roving to handspun" comparison!

out of control

2008-03-23T13:30:00.005-05:00

I've already dyed up every last bit of natural roving I bought (a pound each of corriedale and BFL) and now I have this overwhelming sense of panic- what will I do now?! Spin, of course! I am going to end up selling most of this on Etsy because there is just no way I can afford this habit unless it is self-sustaining. I'm reaching capacity on what I can stash, especially considering I can't go through it that quickly (and I want to save room & money for the fun stuff I find.) I can always re-dye a colorway for myself when needed.

Anyway, onto the roving:

These are 4 shorter corrie strips all dyed separately but intended to coordinate together; named "I Want Candy":

Here they are woven together:

"Nightmare", BFL roving in blacks, grays, pinks, purples, greens, and blues:

Another BFL called "Lightening"- blacks, blue, and burgundy (which I thought was gray, at the time- oops):

And here is "Solemn" (I'll get better at naming these, I promise)- another BFL. I wrapped the roving in a spiral instead of a back-n-forth linear pattern when I painted it, the idea was to try to have spots of blended color on the roving resulting in subtle tonal shifts. I think it worked out nicely, and I'll have to keep this one for myself!

I have 5 more rovings drying in the bathroom as I speak, and I'm in the midst of spinning up my Sakura roving while the BF plays FF8. Rock.

more roving...

2008-03-16T18:01:00.002-05:00

The two bits of roving I dyed yesterday were dry this morning, and here they are!

They turned out quite nicely. I wish I had more colors! (No worries, I ordered more last night.) Not sure what I'll call them yet...

I woke up today and got ready to do some more. I also remembered that I wanted to check out the beauty supply store down the block for some color application bottles. Hooboy, they had those in a thousand different sizes and styles, plus every other kind of hair color applicator known to man. AND a foam head! (for modeling hats... seriously.) Who thought a beauty supply store could be so exciting.

So, I dyed two medium batches and one larger one (maybe 3 oz or so). Here are two of them in the burrito stage:

super-productive Saturday

2008-03-15T19:19:00.003-05:00

I woke up and immediately started cleaning up my kitchen so I could play with my new goodies. I decided to only do two short lengths of roving as a test batch just in case I effed up big time on my first go. Here they are, soakin in the sink...

And here is me modeling a mobius scarf/cowl that I finished up a couple of days ago:

It's just the pattern off of the balls of Landscape yarn I used. How original, I know! But it's so colorful. Too bad spring is here!

I also expanded my stash wall. The batts and roving were getting a little crowded. Plus, now I have room for more! Or a cat...

Stay tuned for finished dyed rovings. I'm so excited!

and this week's wool shipment...

2008-03-12T21:32:00.003-05:00

In the past two days, this is what I've had land on my front steps:

That batt on the left is out of control! It's over 9 oz of misc nonsense from Copperpot Woolies. It is seriously the size of a beach ball. I cackled like a mad scientist when I opened it!

I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight knowing that is all sitting out in my living room just waiting for me!!!

More knitty goodness

2008-03-08T13:52:00.004-06:00

My addiction to handspun yarn (especially plied patchworky ones) is consuming me. I have been trying to come up with simple, basic things that I can make out of them with less than ~140 yards. One of my first knitting projects that wasn't a simple garter stitch scarf was this camera cozy. Unfortunately, it is freakishly fine yarn (to me, anyway- I get nervous with anything less than worsted wait, but I am getting over it, slowly...). Well this stuff is probably sock weight, and the smallest needle I had was a 6, so it's loosey-goosey. But it gets the job done. Yarn by Moustache Rides Yarn at Etsy:
Front:

Back:

Another project: A scarflette (idea found on Crafster, somewhere...) with buttons. Yarn is one of my favorite handspuns so far- it's wool and recycled sari silk from Wooly Treasures on Etsy.

Pardon my cat's foot:

Stitch closeup (I will never cease to be amused with the dainty V's)

That's all for now- I must start making some lavender sachets to keep my stash fresh...

memo board

2008-03-04T21:18:00.003-06:00

I'm one of those people who has little bits of paper over every possible surface of my house, so here is my attempt at trying to change that:
It's simply layer of low loft quilt batting and then some decorator fabric pulled over a stack of two foam core poster boards (about 36" wide.) Everything is stapled & hot glued to the back. The ribbons are secured at the intersections by a few stitches through all the layers, then small green plastic buttons are hot glued on top. Ta da!

It actually matches really well with the chairs in my kitchen.

Also, here is a knitting WIP- it's going to be a pillow case, made out of this awesome patchwork yarn by Abby at Folktale Fibers on Etsy.

another one...

2008-02-29T20:54:00.002-06:00

Here is a finished ball of "Beyond the Realm" (as mentioned in a previous post). Spun thick & thin but mostly a bulky worsted, plied with gold metallic thread. I hope this cold goes away so I can feel more up to spinning the rest of the batt soon!

first worthy yarns!

2008-02-23T14:50:00.002-06:00

100% Merino, in "Magic Mirror" colorway by Freckleface Fibers. About 70 yards, but that's a guess as I lack a real niddy noddy (this skein was wrapped around my dear BF's forearm). It's bulky to dangerously thin, with some kinks. But it is awesome.

This is "Beyond the Realm" in progress (from Copperpot Woolies). Also merino, but much slicker, so it's a bit of a challenge for a newbie like me- but oh so pretty!

yarnz

2008-02-22T23:18:00.000-06:00

Yes, it is 11 PM on a Friday night, and I am buying, drying, & spinning wool. I just finished my first consistent non-freakshow bundle of single-ply, and it is drying in the bathroom. I started up on the "Beyond the Realm" batt I bought from Copperpot Woolies. Spinning is so freakin addicting! As is everything I take up, it seems... Pictures of the goodness tomorrow!

Valentine's Day

2008-02-16T09:41:00.000-06:00

So this year I decided I was perfectly capable of making something for my boyfriend's Valentine's Day present, instead of going out and buying a t-shirt/movie/CD/whatever. I decided on the below: a baby seal, pattern by Amy Gaines on Etsy. I bought it in December when I first started crocheting, intending it to be a gift for a coworker (I ended up making her some slippers instead.) BF thought the seal was super cute (he has a weakness for stuffed animals) so I made a mental note to save it for later. I added a little crochet heart to his flipper, and voila! He loves it.

My next amigurumi adventure will be making a penguin out of some of that fun fur/eyelash yarn/whatever it is. I think I'll make one for myself and one for a coworker who is expecting a baby girl in April.

Hats!

2008-02-13T19:36:00.000-06:00

After a couple of rectangular things and some slippers, I decided to try crocheting hats next. It turned out to be so fast and easy that I made the first in one night, and then did one for my boyfriend and some for the girls at work. They are all made using basically the same simple pattern with minor adjustments based on yarn weight and head size:

The first is mine, made with Bernat Black Lites in Cherry Chill- such an awesome color combo:

Next is Wool-Ease thick-n-quick in charcoal and sky, for the BF (first time trying out a color change):

And one more for a girl at work, using JoAnn's Sensations- Licorice, with a red heart patch:

OK, there's my hat spammage. I made another like the above using the same yarn but in a pink/purple color combo instead. I think I was a little off-put by the thick-n-thin nature of the yarn, especially while trying to make something dimensional like a hat, but it mostly just meant that the straps were a little kinky.

Yay blog!

2008-02-02T09:33:00.000-06:00

I decided a blog would be a great way to keep track of all the stuff I'm working on and have finished. I only started crocheting at the end of November, and I am already knitting and spinning and hoarding yarn & fiber like a fiend. It's slowly spiraling out of control, but I love it because I am constantly busy with a project, and learning as I go. Hooray!

This is my most recent completed project. I started it maybe 2 weeks ago, and the only reason it took that long to finish was because I was waiting on yarn shipments from my mom (I got the stuff in Kansas over my New Year's visit there- mom's Christmas present to me!) Anyway, it's a stupid simple blanket done all in single crochet with a Q hook, two strands held together. I used Lion Brand's Homespun in Baroque & Tudor. I made it to go with my dark purple couch, so I thought the combination of the baroque and creams & multicolor of the Tudor would compliment each other nicely. If I grab more yarn, I might put a border around it, but here it is:

And here is a picture with helper cat, Gus: