Can you believe it? A 1o day forecast full of sun in Connecticut!  This week, I’m dyeing for the September Phat Fiber box which has the perfect theme -  Farmer’s Market.  Last weekend, I took my camera to one of our local markets to gather some inspiration…

“Zinnia”  has already out “baking.”   I want to do at least one more theme color – I can’t decide – I like the Heirloom Tomato and oh – those apples!   I think I’m really ready for fall.  One more week of summer weather with the girls back at school will be perfect, then give me the clear skies, cool breezes, and glorious days of autumn!

Just one more quick “advertising interruption.”  I just want to talk about the “August Superbox Giveaway- BUY PHAT incentive” for a moment.  This is a prize you can enter to win if you purchase anything in the month of August from either my shop or another Phat Fiber contributor’s shop during the month of August.  All you have to do is post what you purchased and from whom in the above linked forum threat to be eligible to win.  I think the Superbox is like a regular box, only with a set of larger than average samples in it.  At the top of the first post int he thread is a link to the video.

I’m off to the “dye pots.”  Hope you have a great weekend!

I am spinning for the Tour de Fleece…

74’s Organic Wool – This is part of the Spincerely Naturals line (okay, well, so far, the only part) and since it is still so new, I thought I would take it for a test drive for some more “R&D” and see how it likes to spin.   The color is new too and still nameless.  It is a light cherry, white, and coffee brown – I guess a lot like what some people call Neapolitan but the pink is a bit too red and that name is a bit overused anyway.

Spinning time for Stage 10, day 12… about 2.5 hours – a little this morning and more this evening

Today is special in the Tour because… For the French with the Tour de France it is Bastille Day and for me with my Tour de Fleece it is my Etsiversary!  3 years ago today, I sold my first hand-dyed roving!

I am thankful for… Peppermint Patties. Yum!

From the kitchen... quiet today.  Only K was home for dinner and I think she made guacamole.  B came to work with me, and Dave dropped J off with The Ladee of the Sunshine today.

Today I… took B to see Eclipse.  We liked it. I was gory, but it could have been worse.  Vampires tend to turn to stone when they die rather than bleed all over the place and they don’t look so scary when they just look like a toppled and cracked statue.  I had heard that Team Emmet is growing since this movie, but I just don’t see it.  Emmet still equals “ew” to me.  Jasper was cute in this one.  He had a much better part than just walking around looking constipated all the time.  I think that just as with the books Twilight is my favorite, I think the Twilight movie is till my favorite.  I know – low budget and all that, but I love it for its campy-ness and unintended humor.

I am wearing… brown capris and a green and brown mottled top

I am creating… still yarn

I am watching... once again the prime time version of the Tour de Fleece.  We discovered today that the live version and prime time version have different commentary

I am reading… same book still… starting to feel like I will never finish it

I am hoping… to get a lot of dyeing done tomorrow and that the sun will be out and strong

I am hearing… the Tour riders reflect back upon their day

Around the house… quiet though K seems to be watching something in the basement.

One of my favorite things… Snickerdoodle. He is very cute. And busy.  He is chasing something that is invisible to me.

Here are a couple of pictures I am sharing…

Format by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

For the last month or so, I’ve been doing R&D.  (DH loves when I say that, btw.)  I’ve been the proud owner of a set of Greener Shades dyes for about 6 months and finally happened across a really nice supply of organic wool top to try it out on.  I did some testing and voila!  We have a new product line to play with!  This new line is called Spincerely Naturals and thus far is is composed of exactly *one* product.  But, it is an awesome product!

What is Spincerely Naturals? It is soft, white (prior to dyeing), wooly and makes fantastic yarn that is squishy and elastic. (And it smells heavenly!) Here is the description from the supplier that just says it all,  ” Fine wool top. Imported for one of the United States’ few certified organic spinning operations, and sourced from a leading European certified organic wool topmaker who worked with a South American organic wool grower, we’ve been able to secure a supply for handcraft use. Specifications: organically grown and sustainably processed top, white. Staple length 2.2-3.5 inches (55-89 mm). Fiber count 74s (19.5 micron).” Did you notice?  19.5 microns??? 74’s????  Yes, this stuff is as soft as merino!

After previously dyeing with the wide array of acid dye color choices, it is a bit different to work with the limited colors available from Greener Shades.  But I think I’m getting there with my mixing.  The photos in this post show mostly the pure dye colors as I wanted to see what they were all about before starting to mix.  Greener Shades also doesn’t come with much instruction on hand painting, but fortunately most of the acid dye techniques I’ve used work very well.

Are you ready for photos?

This:

Turns into this:

and this:

turns into this:

This:

turns into this:

and these:

Oh wait!  What ARE those?  Phat Fiber samples?

Yes! Sixty samples were sent off for the Midsummer Night’s Dream box for June.  The color?  Lysander, picked and named by Agent J who happened to be reading it just when color advice was needed.  She picked the green, black, and purple because she said that “everything happens at night.”

I’m happy to announce the official product launch of Spincerely Naturals 74’s Organic Wool Rovings.  Watch for them to appear in my shop soon!

I don’t really have any irresistible knitting projects going at the moment.  Mostly right now, I’m knitting dish cloths for the summer reading program adult incentive baskets this summer.  They are fun and quick, but I keep forgetting to capture their images before they leave  my house!

I also have a couple of traveling knitting projects which live in my Stitched by JessaLu bags…

The first one is Hedera by Cookie A.  This was the project I started for my trip to Michigan during April vacation.  I’ve been on the heel flap for a while.  The yarn is Merino/Tencel blend from my shop.  Yup, product research, lol!  I wanted to test this yarn on a sock to see if it would be stretchy enough as the blend is more drape-y than spring-y.  The result is that I think these are going to be lovely socks to wear. The yarn is soft and smooth and there is definitely enough stretch in the fabric so that they will be comfy socks too.

The second is some kind of Summer Waves pattern that Cheryl was knitting when we went to Spa: Knit and Spin in Maine in February.  The yarn is Oasis by The Woolen Rabbit which is SO soft! It is silk and Camel in the colorway Ribbit (which I do think is a rather unsophisticated name for a yarn with elegant fiber and spectacular depth of color.).   I confess that I haven’t knit on this one too much lately either.  Maybe I need to do some more traveling?

Since it has been awhile since I have last posted, just a couple quick updates…

Reading: I’ve also  been stuck on the same book for awhile too!  I’m trying to read The Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller. It is good, but, well, it is just not The Hunger Games, you know?

Gardening:  Today, I need to do some soil prep to plant the wildflower seeds that I just bought from New England Wildflower Farm.  I’m going to plant these along the edge of our new field. In the middle, the baby grasses are coming in nicely, but the edges are sparse and we also need to reduce the mowing area.  Everything in my yard so far is growing like a maniac with the early warm weather we have had.  We have had full size leaves on most of our trees since the beginning of May.  This is very unusual for where I live!

Spinning:  I’ve been spinning some yarn as R&D for my Etsy shop.  I’ve started to use Greener Shades dyes on some of my rovings and I’m going to be launching a new fiber by the end of May!  Stay-tuned for more info…

My Etsy Shop:  I had closed my shop during the month of April for travel and to catch up on home maintenance (which never, ever ends, btw).  I have plenty of great items in there now and have more to list so here is my shameless shop promotion – please go check it out!

Well the sun is out, and the Earth is calling.  I’m off to play in the dirt!  Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Yeah, I know, I wish!   Is it funny that I made my 1000th sale during the Super Bowl???

It was time for me to have a drawing and I couldn’t get anyone’s full attention!!!!  I guess it is a very blind drawing since they were all looking at the TV —

37 entries! Thanks everyone!  And the winner, in case you can’t quite read the slip, is “Phatfiberlady.”  Congrats Jessie!!!!

My 1000th customer is Rebekah from By Rebekah with Love. Thank you!  Watch for something special in your order!

I think there is some sort of significant here – a MILESTONE that should be noted – in reaching 1,000 sales.  On this day, February 5, 2010, my Etsy shop tells me that I have 990 sales.  Ten more and that is 1,000!!!!

What is the best way to mark a MILESTONE such as this in this virtual landscape of blogs and online shops?  Yes, it is  with a CONTEST!!!  A contest with a prize that sends actual fiber into your hands!

Here is the prize, a 4 ounce roving* of Lagoon in 60% superwash merino/ 30% bamboo (from Rayon)/ 10% nylon:

So, I need to tell you the rules, right?

Let’s see:

Post a comment on this post to be eligible to win.

Contest will run until the number of sales in my Etsy shop reaches 1,000.

I will then randomly draw a winner from the entries.

That’s it!  I have no idea how long this will run so it will be interesting!  And just one thing I want to note about the way Etsy marks sales; if someone buys more the one of the same item – that is only marked as one sale.  I’m not sure why, but that is the way they do it.

Oh yeah, and I should tell you, I’m sure there will some extra treats sent out in the package to the person of the 1,000 MILESTONE sale!

(* if you are a knitter and not a spinner – please do enter anyway – we can *talk* later if your name is drawn.)

This December, I participated in a Secret Santa Swap among Phat Fiber Contributors.  I was absolutely and completely spoiled by my Secret Santa Roo, of Moonwood Farm!!!!  Roo is an amazing fiber artist and exceptional alpaca farmer. I spent some time today at both her Etsy shop and website and if you have a chance to go visit them, they are well worth the time.   It is amazing how much the package that Roo sent me is just so, well, just so me! I have to confess that it arrived a few days ago, but as the days are passing in a blur, I haven’t been able to post about it yet. Anyway, the day it arrived, I opened it with Agent K and even she was like “oh my goodness, Mom, she really KNOWS you!!!� Everything was wrapped beautifully and labeled with care. Roo  sent a letter describing her choosing and shopping process.  Roo’s son even contributed part of the gift!

I’m not sure that these photos are really going to show these items in all their glory, but I hope they will show a little of the joy that was found in my box:

From top left:
a bag of ultra soft first shearing baby alpaca from Hercules who was a rescue from Texas (seriously soft!)
Moonbeams Holiday Pudding, 45% alpaca, 25% milk, 25% bamboo, 5% merino, and angelina (I love these colors!)
“Tamara� handpainted combed bamboo top (This is the one that is really, really, really me!)
“Snickerdoodle� handpainted Milk Protein Fiber  (I’ve never had any milk fiber before and I’m very excited about spinning this!)

These are some of the non-fiber items.
A water bottle with a butterfly on the front and a caterpillar on the back which I love!
A “real� Cadbury Milk Chocolate bar from England (!!!!!)(Yum!!!!!)
A hand painted stone by her son  in green, purple, and gold for my garden
A book on Composting (and yes, Roo, I do compost!)

My only problem now is that I want to have time to SPIN!!!!  One more week right?  And then there will be time?  I know. Who am I kidding?   I going to have so much to catch up on after Christmas. Where does all the time go?

Thank you so much Roo for these splendid gifts!

It has been too long since I’ve been here and I just have way too much content slewing around in my brain trying to gush out in a not-so-becoming-manner.  How to even start…  What about a quick and to the point summation like maybe a bulleted list?

So dear blog readers, it has been 66 days since I have last blogged. In that time I have:

• read 3 books. My favorite was The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Murial Barbery.
• driven more carpools than I can count.
• scrapbooked 24 pages.
• completed knitting at least 3 items.
• reached a thousand hearts on Etsy.
• logged at least 99 hours on Facebook.
• started a Facebook Fan page for Spincerely yours.
• started a mailing list for Spincerely yours.
• met with 12 teachers during parent/teacher conferences.
• not yet seen New Moon.
• presented my first library program (yarn construction).
• seen a play (Avenue Q) with my husband for our 19th anniversary.
• had 3 children and a husband home sick for a week with the flu.
• cheered-on  my daughter through her never-ending field hockey season.
• watched a few disks of Mad Men.
• vended at my second fiber event.
• stuffed a bunch of envelopes for the Land Trust.
• driven back and forth to the school a million times.
• stacked a bit of wood (though not as much as my husband).
• urged my new baby grassies to start growing before winter comes.
• returned to the Great Escape with my whole family and rocked their water slides!
• sent out 60 some-odd samples to the November Phat Fiber box.
• wished for a year with better weather oh-way-too-many times to count.
• driven a bunch of carpools (did I mention that yet?)  So did my husband. He drove a lot too.
• been away from home for 3 weekends in a row.
• begun making holiday plans with my husband to try to find new things to do to keep it fresh.
• vowed to jump back on the blogging wagon.
• been thankful for my wonderful family, nice home, healthy children, and a wickedly excellent husband.

‘Til next time…  let’s hope this *confession* of sorts makes the way for it to be sooner, rather than later…

You would think I would know me by now being that I’ve 4 whole decades on me, but no, sometimes it takes a while for me to catch on.  I thought I could live with a certain little mistake in my Damson shawl. I knew it was there and continued to knit on.  6 rows later, at 300 stitches per row, I had to rip.  So for the last 3 days I’ve been ripping and tinking and now I think I’m finally back to my error and moving forward once again.

I’m knitting Damson by Ysolda.  I think this may actually be my first shawl (or a least a can’t think of another at the moment).  I’m knitting it  in Grape Goddess.  Grape Goddess is my favorite late summer color – I can’t resist its purples, greens, and golds for the goldenrods and purple asters.  I think it may even smell of  ripening grapes.

Here are some quick project details:

Pattern:  Damson by Ysolda which I purchased and downloaded from Ravelry

Yarn:  Superwash BFL in Grape Goddess by Spincerely yours

Needles:  Size 5 Addi Turbos – the pattern calls for size 6, but I liked the look of the stitches at size 5

Thoughts: This pattern is very well written. I like the detail given to how many stitches you should have on your needles on any particular row.  Mine seemed to be a bit off from time to time, but after restarting once, I continued on.  This is very addictive knitting and does make for good travel.

More thoughts:  And the cleverness! The cast on for this shawl is so incredibly clever! There is no seam at all!  I forgot to take a close-up of the beginning so I’ll have to save that for the next post, but I’m in awe!

I’m through with the garter section and it is in the lace section where I made my big mistake.  I forgot to do one decrease.  I thought, “oh, no big deal, no one will notice” and I knit on. And on. And on.  And then I couldn’t take it any more and ripped out.  Didn’t rip out far enough so had to tink back. Dropped a few stitches so had to pick them up and now three days later I’m knitting on again. Phew…

Well, as I haven’t been seen around these woods of my blog lately, I suppose I should give some quicky updates. Here goes:

Weather: September weather has been awesome!  Must give it its due.  Good job September, you rock!

Reading: Just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and have started on Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah.  They are both for book clubs. Both book clubs are meeting on Monday, Sept. 21.  Since one of them is meeting at my house, I think that is the one I will go to.

School: All the girls are back at school and they all have way too much homework. We have finally finished going to all the open houses and maybe we will be able to breath again.

Fall Sports:  Agent K made the varsity field hockey team and scored a goal in her first game!  Between field hockey, school, and all her clubs, haven’t seen her too much lately.  I did clean her room the other day, but I will withhold all info on the *interesting* specimens found wherein.  Agent B is running cross country for the first time and is sticking to it even though I believe her feelings  toward it are less than love-filled.  Agent J is not playing fall softball as there were not enough girls for a team, but instead she is taking an art class that she loves, so all is well. (And we can rejoice that our weekends are sports free!)

Etsy shop: I’m busy trying to find new ways to promote my Etsy shop. I’m starting a mailing list (you can see my sidebar for info on how to join) and I’m starting a Facebook Fan page.  I’m still debating on starting a Ravelry group.  I’m not sure how many different things I can maintain and I have to admit to being less than stellar at keeping up with bulletin boards and always figuring out the best things to write without wanting to go back and delete.

Gardening: My flower gardens are starting to perk up with the return of the sunshine, but it was just a little too little, a little too late for the veggies this year.

Nature: It felt like last summer there was always something new and unusual in my yard to blog about. Not so much this year. I have not even seen a turtle.  Haven’t seen any snakes either, but that is way good.  Not too many butterflies and no interesting metamorphosis stories to tell.  We did have a great crop of very friendly and personable hummingbirds this year.  They have all moved on now. I think the one at my feeder this morning was a traveler from a distant land as he just didn’t look familiar to me.

This weekend: Tomorrow I have to work at the library, but after a long week away from my dye dungeon studio, I hope to get back down to it on Sunday morning.  I have lots of wonderful special requests to brew up for you!

As I was writing my last post, the mailman drove my Phat Fiber box up the driveway!  For the last couple of boxes, I never got it together enough to post any blog pictures, but I think I will try to squeak in a post here before I have to get ready to go to work.

Here is everything all together, overall a lot of pinks, blues, and multi’s:

Here are just the yarns (two of these look perfect for sock blankie!):

just the fibers:

and the everything elses:

I’m starting to accumulate a lot of fiber samples. I have them in a bag with my drop spindle, perhaps they will be coming with me to the girls’ fall sporting events?  Of all the sample though I have to say my  favorites are the sock yarns because they can become another square in my sock blankie.

So I better run for now, a billion things to do before work.  Have a great evening!