More Batts

Ever since I got my Fancy Kitty Kitten Carder, I have been having so much fun processing wool for spinning! I realized last night that I have accumulated quite a collection of batts so I thought I would post pics of what I have been working on! I was trying to get ready for an Art Show coming up, but after getting sick for a week, I finally had to accept the fact that the show just wasn't going to happen for me this year. At least I will be able to get my etsy page stocked up nicely! Hope you enjoy looking at what I have been up to with my wool!

My Incredible Finds

I went to a yard sale last weekend and hit the jackpot! I usually don't stop at sales because quite often I follow signs all over to find nothing at all! I decided to try to find this one and I am so glad I did! I have been wanting a water pitcher and bowl for ever and usually they are either out of my price range or they just have the pitcher, but I found this one and it is going in my bathroom when we move! I really love it!
I also have been looking at Grain Mills for a while, but the ones I really like run $200.00 and up! I found this one at the same sale for a lot less. I haven't had a chance to clean it up all the way, but it's a really pretty brick red and it works great and it's an antique one so it's even better!I also got a rolling cart with 4 baskets which works great to put my fiber in. My son who is 7 and a complete tool nut got a small hand cart for $1.00 and he was in heaven!!

I got this for free and it works great! I love old waffle irons and I already have 3, but this one was given to me and I will tell you what, it beats Eggo's and day! Hannah told me the waffles were delicious!

My New Batts of Wool

These are some of the batts I have gotten done with my carder so far. I am so happy to have it and it really does speed things up a good deal! This first one is Romney that I dyed for a custom order of yarn.

This one is Romney wool that I dyed! It is a really pretty pink with a bit of pink firestar added


This one is Romney wool with some bright red firestar added! It is really soft and fluffy!

My New Drum Carder

I finally got a Drum Carder! I think God got tired of hearing beg for one! It is absolutely wonderful! It is a Fancy Kitty Kitten Carder and I must say that if you are ever in the market for a carder, you must check these out! They are incredibly affordable as far as carders go. Very nicely made in the U.S.A. by Ron Anderson! I know this sounds a bit like a sales pitch, but I really am thrilled with it and if you ever have a problem, you can actually reach Ron by phone. They really do have customer service which is almost unheard of these days! So if you are in the market for a drum carder, check them out http://www.fancy-kitty.com

Christmas yarn

Here is my first Christmas yarn! It is beautiful white mohair, once again from Sugar blended with red and green silk! I am really happy with the way it came out! Right now I am working on a custom order for some beaded yarn! Yes I am doing another one!! And after that I am probably going to do a white yarn with red beads! I know I am nuts, but I am having fun!




I finally dyed my first batch of wool with commercial dyes and it came out really nice! This is the wool for the custom order and it will have silver lined glass beads in it when I am done!

My New Wheel and more!

My friend Carol reminded me that is has been a while since I have posted anything so I figured I better get something new up! Things have been very hectic around the house. I have been home schooling my 3 kids and that in it's self is quite an adventure! I have been trying to get some new yarns done for an art show next month and we might be moving some time this month!! The place we might be moving to has a tub and I promise you if everything works out, I will be doing my own rendition of "Calgon, take me away" the first night! Oh how I would love to take a bubble bath! It's amazing how little things like a tub can make one so happy!

Here is a picture of my pretty little new wheel! It is an early 1800's Romanian spinning wheel and I absolutely love it! I had seen it on Down in the Country's website and fell in love with it! I was hoping I might be able to talk hubby into it, but no such luck! The next thing I knew it showed up in the mail and I found out my mom had gotten it for me with a bit of help from a complete stranger! This lady Pat had stopped at my mom's to pick up some stuff she was buying from my mom on craigslist and they got started talking about kids and my mom told her about the wheel. Pat said "Oh my gosh, that's why the Lord brought me here and proceeded to give my mom some money towards the wheel! My mom decided to put in the rest and have it sent to me! What an incredible surprise it was!

I have been working on some new yarn and here are some pics of them. This one is a black Romney wool that I blended with dyed nylon roving. I really like the way it came out and it's really soft and fluffy!
This one is from white Romney wool that I dyed myself! I think it came out really pretty!
This one is mohair yarn with light blue beads! The mohair came from Grace's goat Sugar and it has been a dream to spin! In fact I bought all of the rest of it that she had listed on etsy! If you are ever looking for some of the most wonderful fiber to spin check out Grace's fibers on her etsy site at www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com! And yes, I did a 2nd beaded yarn! Actually I have done 3 so far!
This one is from white Romney wool that I dyed myself and it is super soft and fluffy!

Here is a pic of the 3rd beaded yarn I have done! They haven't taken as long as the first one and yes my family thinks I am nuts! I tired to get my son to help me slide beads on one of them and I even offered to pay him and he said"NO" ! My hubby said" You're doing another one of those!" Maybe I am nuts, but I sure am having a lot of fun!

Birth of a yarn!

I thought this yarn would go fairly quick! Boy, was I wrong! I started off by spinning 2 full bobbins of black Romney wool that I had washed and carded. Next, I realized that I did not have enough beads for all the yarn I had spun so I mixed in some gold glass beads and set out to string on approximately 1200 beads! After spending about 2-3 hours stringing beads on I started the long process of spacing them out on approximately 350 yards of yarn!
There is incredible wisdom in the saying " measure twice, cut once". For spacing beads it would go something like " measure twice, space beads once"! You can probably see where I am going with this... I thought about 6 inch spacing would be good, that is until I got half way through and I was about to run out of beads! So back to the beginning to re-space the beads a foot apart!!

Finally after what seemed like forever I got the beads spaced out and set out to ply the 2 singles together! They seemed a little off, but I just couldn't figure out why! At the end of plying a full bobbin, I finally figured out what the problem was! The single with the beads had lost some of it's twist and I decided the only right way to fix it was to separate the 2 and re-ply the one with beads! My hubby and I spent about 45 minutes undoing the yarn! He is absolutely the best hubby in the world! I redid the beaded single and then plied the 2 singles together again and happily I am done with the yarn! I was a bit surprised that I never started to actually hate the yarn and I have to say it actually came out really nice and fluffy! And Yes! I am starting another beaded yarn! I think it is one of those things that if you don't give up in the middle of what seems like a nearly impossible task, you get to the end and maybe are a little bit better off and maybe a bit wiser for pushing through!

I realize in writing this, how things that we struggle and labor for can become mundane and common to us! Things such as our children, that we have joyed over after giving birth, when they sit there and say mom,mom,mom 20 times when we are tired or a house that we built and were overjoyed with, but now it's been lived in awhile and it's become just where we live! Ihope and pray that we will not loose the joy of the things we have struggled for no matter what they are!

New Yarns

I have been trying really hard to actually get some yarns finished and here is what I have so far. I am a bit proud of myself because I have done most of these this past week and I feel like I have actually accomplished something! I hope you will enjoy looking at my latest creations!!

This is a single of black Romney wool that I working on. It is spinning really nice. It is really soft and has a bit of a silver highlight to it!I am going to spin another bobbin of it and then ply the 2 together with some iridescent blue glass beads.

This is some wonderful mohair roving from Sugar that I got from Grace at www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com ! It is so soft and absolutely a dream to spin! I am not quite sure what I am going to do with it yet! I do know that I am not sure I will sell it!!! Oh Grace, just wait until I win the lottery!!

I really like the way this one came out. I started with beautiful white Romney and dyed it and then I plied this with 2 strands of cotton sewing thread! Next time I want to spin it a bit thicker to ply with the sewing thread so it will have a bit more curl to it, but I think it came out nice and I love the colors in it!


This one is Romney wool that I blended with nylon roving that I dyed. I wasn't sure how the yarn would turn out because when I started to blend them together I was worried about the colors looking muddy, but I think that they came out pretty clear!

Butterfly Cupcakes

I was asked to make cake for the party at Sunday School and my 4 year old, Olivia, asked for butterflies on it. I decided to make cupcakes with butterflies! Everyone liked them except one little boy, Tucker, who wasn't too crazy about the butterflies! I figured next time I would put gummy worms on them instead just for him!

Art Yarn and Dyeing Wool

I am finally figuring out that you seem to have to do things backwards on blogger to put up pictures in the order you really want them! We will see when I am done if I finally got this right! These are pics of my 2nd art yarn I have done and I am starting to get a million ideas for them. I even broke down and ordered a copy of Spinning Designer Yarns since, a year after I started spinning, I am still kind of winging it!
Here is a close-up of the yarn. It is a Corridale wool/ pink silk blend spun onto rayon thread and then top plied with silk thread and I am very happy to say that it sold in just 3 days of listing it on etsy!



Even though I want to use commercial dyes for dyeing, I could not wait any longer to try hand painting wool. This was my first batch of hand painted wool and I am really happy with how vibrant the colors came out! I am so hooked on this now!
I am happy with the way that this one turned out. It reminds me of the mountains and sky at sunset in the desert.
This one I dyed with 3 different shades of Kool-aid and I am kind of torn between whether or not it looks like a vintage rose shade or watermelon!

NEW LOOPY ART YARN

Here are pictures of my first art yarn that I have done! It is hand dyed hand spun by me out of Romney wool wrapped in cotton thread on a core of Rayon thread. I have to confess that it was fun to do and now I have a million ideas for more art yarns. I have already started on a black and white loopy yarn . I will be listing it on etsy as soon as I can. Please let me know what you think!

HELP SAVE THE MEMORIAL

I would ask you to please check out the link on the right about saving the memorial in the Mohave Desert. The ACLU is fighting to have it taken down and right now due to the legal battle it has been covered. The memorial is a cross erected 75 years ago to honor and remember those who had lost their lives. While the cross is an obvious Christian symbol, this one was not put up to shove religion down anyone's throat, it was put up by soldiers who lost their fellow soldiers in WWI in 1934. Now the ACLU is screaming that because it is on government property it violates the so called "separation of church and state". They need to sit down and read what separation of church and state means!

Mr. President

To messers Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut.

Gentlemen

The affectionate sentiments of esteem & approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful & zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more & more pleasing.

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state. [Congress thus inhibited from acts respecting religion, and the Executive authorised only to execute their acts, I have refrained from presenting even occasional performances of devotion presented indeed legally where an Executive is the legal head of a national church, but subject here, as religious exercises only to the voluntary regulations and discipline of each respective sect.] Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem.

(signed) Thomas Jefferson
Jan.1.1802.

I do not understand why the American Civil Liberties Union, by which their name implies the liberties of citizens, takes such an active stance against anything of Christian nature! Is it not my civil liberty to believe in Jesus Christ? The ACLU is making a mockery of the civil liberties of the American citizens of this country and getting paid by your taxs dollars to do it!

At any rate this cross was placed to remember fallen fellow soldiers and I believe it is nothing but pure disrespect to those who fought and those who perished for freedom to take it down! Please watch the video and sign the petiton! Please take a stand not for religions sake, but for what is the right and descent thing to do!

More yarn on Etsy

I have another yarn finished and up on etsy for sale! It is Romney wool dyed with pink, purple and blue food coloring. It's really nice and soft!

Yarn Sale On Etsy

I have already put up pictures of this yarn after I got it spun , but now it's washed and up for sale on my etsy page. It is a Corriedale wool/ pink silk blend. I am really happy with the way it turned out and it's really soft!


I have another yarn that I just finished that I will be listing on etsy soon.

PRETTY IN PINK

I finally got the Corridale/ pink silk yarn finished! Now all I have to do is wash it! Even though pink is not my favorite color, there is just something about the color that I really like!

NEW WOOL I HAVE BEEN SPINNING!

I got some beautiful Leicester Longwool locks from Sara over a MJF recently and it has been really nice to spin! Some of it I have been spinning straight from the locks, so it has been a new experience for me! I got some alpaca fiber in today so I will have to post pics of that soon! I am sure that one can never have too much fabric or too much fiber!!

What is your opinion?

I am curious to know what you think of the new Burger King commercial! It's the one for the SpongeBob kids meal! Personally, I think it is absolutely inappropriate way to advertise a kids meal even though Burger King says the commercial is geared towards parents and adults! I would love to know what others think especially other parents!

CHICKEN NEST BOX GIVEAWAY

Pam at Life on a Southern Farm is having a giveaway on her blog for a chicken nest box! Please check it out! Just click on the picture on the right!

EVERY GIRL WHO SEWS NEEDS A STASH!

I think that every girl who sews ought to have a stash, so when I found out that my dear friend Ruth didn't really have one I just had to help her out! Even though sometimes it's hard to part with your stash, this has been so much fun and I have found a lot of stuff I forgot I had! Plus it's always fun to help someone else get started on their own stash!!!!

MOVING SALE

We are moving soon and I have some items that I would really love to sell before we do! I will probably be listing new items as I continue sorting through stuff! Thank you for looking!
Set of 4 chrome canisters. $20.00 + shipping! SOLD!
Hand painted Lavender butterfly box. Approx 6 3/4" by 9" by 4". $10.00 + shipping .SOLD!!
Hand painted blue oval box with orange flowers. Approx. 6 3/4" by 9" by 4". SOLD Lavender rose hand painted Bible of book tote! Approx. 9 1/2" by 6 1/2" by 1 1/2".
$10.00 + shipping.

Blue flower Bible or book tote. Approx 9 1/2" by 6 1/2" by 1 1/2". $10.00 + shipping.
Rose Bible or book tote. Approx. 9 1/2" by 6 1/2" by 1 1/2" $10.00 + shipping.
Flower and bumble bee Bible or book tote Approx. 9 1/2" by 6 1/2" by 1 1/2" $10.00 + shipping