A SAL, a KAL, & a Cowl

Three-fer! Ever wanted to feel like an Elizabethan queen (or king)? Then boy, do I have a pattern for you: the Court Jester Cowl! My friend Tracy Hudson, aka Himalaya, knit up a kickin' cowl, & when she posted it in the Novelty & Art Yarn Spinners group on Ravelry, my cohorts and I jumped on it. You're lookin' at me in mine - Buffoon in my projects - there in the photo-op at Black Sheep Gathering.

Soon as I saw Tracy in hers, I PMed her & demanded that she write up the pattern. Turns out, I wasn't the only one pestering her to do so. Studioloo Cindy also inquired, albeit more gently than I, about a pattern. Tracy was gracious enough to accommodate us, and it bloomed into a 3-way spin-along/knit-along in the N&AYS, COLORBOMBers, & Insubordiknit groups on Ravelry.

Designed to show off art yarn ("art for your neck" as Tracy dubbed it), it's a corrugated rib cowl with two contrasting art yarns, knit in the round. I had this skein of thick-and-thin COLORBOMB Singular TnT handspun in my stash, spun last year, & decided it would be a nice backdrop for some supercoils. I dug out some acid green Romney roving my friend Janet gave me & set to spinning up some LoopyDoopy Minis for the project.

This would have been a REALLY fast knit-up if I hadn't had to stop repeatedly to spin more supercoils. In fact, I ran out of the acid green fiber and had to spin the yellow Romney, and eventually spun up some chartreuse Romney. But they look great together, & unless I mention it they're just a "design element". ;)

I did a few pattern mods on mine: cast on fewer stitches to make it tighter in the neck like a turtleneck, added extra ribs, did my ribs as purls to pop the texture to the front, substituted seed stitch for stockinette at the hem, & made mine longer. Mine didn't ruffle around the bottom edge like the pattern because of the extra increases & length. I called mine 'Buffoon' because, according to Wikipedia, it "is a term for someone who provides amusement through inappropriate appearance and/or behavior.” Me to a T!

I was planning to line it with fabric (the Romney in the supercoils makes it a little scratchy), but I realized that would make it difficult to maintain the stretchiness, which it needs to be nice & snug around the neck. Besides, when it is cold enough to wear this TOASTY garment, I'll probably have a turtleneck on underneath it to keep it off my neck anyway.

Received the very BEST comment on it from Jim/Fosterson: "It's like a Gallifreyian High Council Collar on acid!" Gotta love a man that makes Dr. Who references!

Speaking of Jim, check out his version of the cowl. One of my COLORBOMB customers, apuffyj, made one using a skein of my Enwraptured handspun yarn - beautiful in blue! And the incomparable Miki/Knitzphat made a gorgeous chocolate brown/green version.

So, the pertinents: I used ~75 yards of a bulky singles for the main color, 'Psych', and ~40 yards of 'Acidic' supercoils for the contrast color. Knit on US13 needles. SUPER easy-peasy pattern, too. If you've been looking for a simple but effective way to show your handspun art yarn (or someone else's) off to best effect, this is a great lil' project.

Tags: knitting, art yarn, COLORBOMB Creations, handspun, cowl

Monday

A gift of spring, from me to you - I'm guessing this might be particularly welcome if you reside in a still-icy clime (I'm talking to you, Sharkbite Su!). This tulip is a volunteer, or, maybe planted by gnomes in the night? (More likely I planted it & forgot, lol). Whatev, Cole & I were tickled when it popped its sunny head up last month. Me likee tulips!

In knitting news, I'm getting close to finishing Color is a Lifestyle¹ sock #2, BUT... Yep, I made a boo-boo! I decided to add 4 extra stitches at the ankle, just after the heel gusset, but I didn't think through just how to do that, & all of them ended up on the same side - doh! Weirdly, it doesn't seem to affect the fit of the sock, so I decided to call it a wabi sabi socky design element instead of an error to avoid frogging back 3.5 inches or so. Why not, it's my friggin' sock! I started the calf increases last night, so am hoping to finish them before the end of the month rolls around on Wednesday.

This photo is proof that I'm continuing in my newly-renewed spinning jag. I can't even remember when the last time I listed a skein of LoopyDoopy™ yarn (my line of supercoils), but I put one in the shop today! Want to see more pictures? I know you do!

1. COLORBOMB 'Flashback to 1974' handspun art yarn, 2. COLORBOMB 'Flashback to 1974' handspun art yarn, 3. COLORBOMB 'Flashback to 1974' handspun art yarn, 4. COLORBOMB 'Flashback to 1974' handspun art yarn

Want it in YOUR stash? It's yours if you go here & lay down the cash! Better act fast, this one is likely to go quick. ;)

Before I go, I wanted to share this closeup of the fabric I bought on Etsy: stoner deer! It's part of Jay McCarroll's Woodland Series, & Saremy of Chicken Boots is going to make me a knitting needle case with it! And with that, I guess that's it. For today. Happy Monday!

¹Check it out! This link is my first test of the new Ravelry pony feature that allows non-Ravelry members to view Ravelry project pages that allow public viewing/sharing. So although I can't imagine there's a yarn-obsessed person out there who isn't a member of Ravelry yet, there might just be a VWorld reader who isn't & who wants to see my projects. From now on, all my Ravelry project links should be viewable by all! So, go forth & heart my projects at will, Ravelers & non-Ravelers alike! /shameless self-promotion

Tags: yarn, supercoils, COLORBOMB

Craft or Bust Week 12

Today finds us at the close of the 3rd month of Craft or Bust. Can you believe it? That's a whole quarter of crafting, with absolutely zero busting!

This week was almost exclusively about spinning yarn, in terms of crafty pursuits. Lots & lots o' art yarn!!

In the shop:

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Denim Shmenim

Melon Baller

Buttered Popcorn

Green Man

Oh, and Neon Filoffee, that last one, which is a TwoFer, it's bound for France, for a swap with another art yarn spinner. She says she loves it - score!

Don't you just love all that texture? We've got bobbles, we've got wrapping, we've got flowers, we've got supercoils. Enough texture to git 'er done, I'd say.

The weather all week ('til today) was sheer awesomeness, so I spent a good part of it doing my spinning outside in the backyard. There's not much nicer on a Saturday afternoon than sitting at the wheel amongst the daisies, letting wool pass between your fingers & listening to the chickadees in the Hawthorne tree. Look, I'll show you!

Tags: yarn, handspun, art yarn, COLORBOMB Creations

The Handspun Love Continues

Yes! MORE art yarn! I'm finally spinning again. I listed two, count 'em, two skeins in my Etsy shop today. This one here is called 'Melon Baller', 'cuz that makes me giggle uncontrollably. Tee hee! It is one of my Enwraptured™-style yarns, wreathed in myriad threads &, in this case, the secret ingredient: banana silk!

The closeup gives a good view of all the goodies packed into this singles, super-bulky yarn: locks of the Cotswold, BFL, Wensleydale, & Leicester variety; more wool, including Romney, Rambouillet, & Corriedale; cotton quilting fabric scraps; upcycled threads; and the aforementioned banana fiber. That last is a form of rayon, & adds the soft & silky look & feel that you KNOW you love! This is one texture-y good yarn! And it's listed HERE.

I also listed a new skein of 'Denim Shmenim', the blue shade of my Shaganator™ yarn like 'In the Buff' and 'Green Man' you saw the other day. It's jeans-inspired color palette would coordinate with anything, just like your favorite pair of dungarees! And this baby is jammed with more upcycled yarn scraps than you can shake a spindle at. The whole shebang is plied with a single strand of navy wool yarn to sturdy-ify the skein. Fun! Wanna see a closeup? I know you do!

Ain't it grand? Yeppers, & it can be yours if you go HERE. Hope to keep this spinning spree going, but I need your help - buy some yarn, mama needs to pay the RENT!

Tags: yarn, art yarn, handspun, COLORBOMB Creations

Handspun SQUEE!

Yep, I'm spinning again folks. We got us an art yarn bulletin! That there is 'Green Man', one of the colorways of Scraptastic™ yarn I make. Scraptastic™ is one of my Greenish™ yarn lines, made of upcycled materials. In this case, a metric TON of yarn scraps! I have myriad sources for collecting scraps, & I need to send a shout-out to one of 'em: thanks to all my local knit homies for saving your yarnie bits for me!

I also did a skein in off-white, which I call 'In the Buff'. Although both of these two skeins have already sold, I can generally gather enough materials to make a skein of Scraptastic™ in whatever color you want; just drop me a line!

These two skeins are paired, a TwoFer™. One each of Tufty™ (top) and LoopyDoopy Extreme™ (bottom). These skeins now live in France, with a handspun swapee! Super fun to make, can't wait to see what she does with them.

Last but not least is 'April Showers Bring May Flowers', the BOMBastic™ skein I spun today! Take some BFL wool roving, spin it thick-and-thin into a singles, then ply it into beehives, coils, turkish knots, & turbans with cotton, then add a few fabric flowers: voila! This one is headed into my Etsy shop as soon as it dries - it could be YOURS!

Tags: COLORBOMB Creations, art yarn, handspun

Here's Waving at You, Kid

In honor of Jacey Boggs, who is arriving today at SOAR so I finally get to meet her!!, I'm re-posting this photo of myself sporting the hat I created for inclusion in her how-to DVD Sit and Spin!, using her faboo Insubordiknit handspun yarn. Called 'Babies in a Blender' (Rav link), it was worn by the drummer in the video. (I think it looked way better on him, but whatever.)

Answering the perennial question: "Art yarn is nice, but what the hell do I do with it?", I crocheted the hat from wee mini-skeins of Jacey's art yarn, complete with little 'shoulder sockets' for the doll arms. Someday I'll make another, using my own art yarn; I want to knit one this time, & I think it needs more appendages!

I thought I wrote a review of the DVD, but can't find it anywhere, so I have something to add to my to-do list when I get home. 'Til then, enjoy these little in absentia blog posts, & this trailer.

Tags: Sit and Spin, handspinning, Insubordiknit, review

It's Official: I'm a Creative Reuser!

What's better than handspun art yarn made from 100% re-purposed/up-cycled materials? I know! I know! - handspun art yarn made from 100% re-purposed/up-cycled materials that is featured in a book!! Yeppers, my yarn is in a new book!

Early this year I was asked by Garth Johnson of Extreme Craft to submit photos of my art yarns to a book project he had in the works. After some procrastinating I did, & now I'm a featured artist in the 'couture & softgoods' chapter!

1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse: Remake, Restyle, Recycle, Renew from Quarry Books is due to be released on Nov. 1 - just in time for holiday shopping (hint, hint). Humboldt locs, you can pick up a copy at our friendly neighborhood indie bookstore, Northtown Books in Arcata (thanks, Dante, for bringing this to the crafty masses!) Don't live behind the Redwood Curtain? No worries, Powells's has it.

I submitted 5 yarns for inclusion, 4 were selected by Garth, but I don't know if all 4 are included in the final iteration of the book; here's hopin'! These are the 4 pics I submitted.

Top L: (S)craptastic Handspun in 'Clown Pants' colorway
Top R: Sarindipitous Handspun in 'Madras Madness' colorway
Bottom L: Shaganator Handspun in 'Grape Ape' colorway
Bottom R: Raggedy Handspun in 'Green Man' colorway

Look for my friends Marcy Bruce from Shipwreck, Leethal, Rock Chick Design, & Whit McLeod Furniture, who are also contributors.

Edited to add: Oooh! I just Googled myself & discovered all 4 made it in!! Peek at pages 71, 88, & 90 to see my yarns!!! You can virtually browse the pages on Google here. AND you can order your own skein of any of these yarns in whatever colors float your boat - just drop me an email or visit www.colorbombcreations.etsy.com to order!!

Tags: handspun, yarn, Creative Reuse, COLORBOMB Creations

Yarn Every Day Challenge - Day Uno!

Check it out: I found Blondechicken's Yarn Everyday Challenge via Ravelry, and decided to get on board. The challenge? Spin something every day for the month of April. I thought I'd take it a step further, & shoot for spinning an entire yarn every day in April! This is my Day 1 yarn.

I used the flowers I felted using the Husqvarna needle-felter I borrowed from Janet in February (remember my post about it?). I used the technique suggested by Jacey in her Sit and Spin! DVD, stringing the 'flowers' on pieces of roving, then spinning the roving directly into my singles. Those flowers aren't going anywhere!

I used the big ol' batt of purple Romney I bought from Janet at the Natural Fiber Festival last fall. Ended up with 100 yards of 6-7WPI Bulky weight yarn that I think I might full a bit to finish. It'll go to my Etsy shop as soon as it's ready!

Wanna see what everyone else is making? Check out the Yarn Every Day Flickr Pool. And don't forget to check back to see what I make tomorrow.

Tags: yarn, handspun, spinning, challenge

MmmmmmONDAY Catch-up, Not Ketchup

As I've mentioned, I'm finding it hard to keep up with all the beyond-exciting things going on in Velma's World. OK, that's really only half true: keeping up is difficult, but I'm not sure how fascinating my life is; you be the judge.

Want some yarn porn? I've got your yarn porn right here, baby!


First of a brand new COLORBOMB yarn style: Tufty™ handspun art yarn! Inspired by the spankin' new how-to video Sit and Spin! by Jacey Boggs, aka Insubordiknit, Tufty™ yarns are sprinkled with tufts of fiber wrapped like little presents of love in the yarn. This one, 'Cheesy Poofs', is undyed Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) roving wrapped in a burnt-orange commercial boucle laceweight yarn, and peppered with Corriedale lamb locks dyed in shades of peach and orange. Playful, texture-filled yarn perfect for a small project.


Inspired by this photo, 'Poop de Peeps' is a Nubular™ handspun art yarn loaded with Wensleydale wool cocoons or nubs that remind me of 'poop' that Peeps might leave behind, nestled in creamy Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) wool singles. The yellow, green, blue, and pink cocoons were dyed with Easter egg dyes, while the ecru singles they are spun into is the natural color of the sheep it came from. Tons o' yardage here for a fun spring project.

Both yarns are available for sale in my COLORBOMB Creations Etsy shop! Thanks to fd's Flickr Toys for the mosaic maker and to Picnik.com for the photo editing!

I've also been experimenting with 'crazy carding' & spinning up some scrap fiber yarns. I made 2 last week: "Antidote to the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" (above) and "Cat Barf, But in a Good Way" (below). Both are destined for my own personal stash, which makes me a very happy camper.


The story behind 'Antidote to TTHNGVBD' started on Thursday of last week. I was happily spinning away on the as-yet-unnamed 'Antidote', when I accidentally knocked my camera off the table next to my wheel, shattering the LCD! At this point, I was the proud owner of one very "ex-parrot" camera (read: deader than a doornail.) Now, bear in mind that for a spinner selling yarn on the internet, her top 3 tools are her wheel, computer, and camera - I was immediately thrown into a complete panic. No way to take pictures means no way to sell yarn!

After calming down & assessing the situation, however, I realized that my camera still takes pictures, I just can't change the settings (since I can't see the settings, you know.). So things aren't quite as dire as I originally thought. I think I can limp along with this camera 'til I can afford to buy a new one (sadly, fixing the LCD crystal will cost almost as much as buying a new camera; damned planned obsolescence.).

Thursday got a LOT better, though, lemme tell you. Big ups to KnittyDirtyGirl and HatDiva for their generous offers to help a girl out in her camera crisis. Both of them offered me their old cameras when they saw my freak-out on Twitter. Later, my attendance at my Fiber Guild's monthly meeting brought me a veritable landslide of goodies: I received a bag of silk warp scraps from Linda Hartshorn, loan of a needle-felting machine from Aunt Janet, 2 inkle looms from the Guild destined to be morphed by the Hubn into cone yarn racks for storage, and a free raw Romney/Dorset fleece from an HSU professor via Harry, our Guild president. Talk about a massive attitude adjustment! Thanks to everyone that helped turn my day around.

Saturday I participated in the Grand Opening/Ribbon Cutting of Kristy McLeod's new Hands on CRAFT space. What a great way to spend Valentines' Day! Their mission is to further traditional craft through education, special events, and materials supply; they carry COLORBOMB Creations yarns, so you know they have good taste. ;) Kristy was nice enough to invite me to bring Harry, my spinning wheel, and spin up an art yarn to add to the raffle in support of their crafting programs for kids. She provided a big ol' basket of fiber scraps and I let the kids pick out the colors that went into the yarn, which I dubbed 'Box of Crayons'. I had a blast spinning it up, and the recipient of the skein seemed really pleased with it. Wanna see pics of the event? Check out Autumn's blog post at Monkeyspinner. Theoretically, the Ribbon Cutting ceremony photos will appear on either the Arcata Eye Scene Blog or Terence McNally's Flickr photostream eventually. And as soon as I receive my copies of the photos of me spinning, I'll post 'em here, so check back soon.

This is what's on my bobbin now:
I'm spinning up the materials sent to me by woolthing from the Novelty & Art Yarn Spinners swap on Ravelry; you've gotta jump into the way-back machine for that one: it was last summer! (Yep, I'm a little behind. Sue me.) Romney/Rambouillet batts + Lincoln locks + silky silk so far, and I'll add thread & beads in the plying process. I'm spinning it up with the inspiration of these words: 'dreams', 'rain-spattered', and 'bicycle'. Here's the materials I've been challenged to spin in (click on the photo to be taken to an explanation of the swap):



In book 'news', I'm gonna go with "no news is good news". Seriously, I haven't been reading as much as I did last month. Feeling stuck in my progress on World Light. Ready to be done, but I'm only halfway through. Probably not a good sign in terms of a stellar review for me, eh?

Tags: yarn, handspun, COLORBOMB, art yarn

Ack! Can't. Keep. Up. !

Seriously, I've been spinning yarn like a mofo, Twittering like mad, knitting a weensy bit, reading, taking pics... But blogging has been taking a back seat. Again. So much to do, so little time. What-EVAH. I do what I can. Like take time to enjoy the rainbows. This one was over our house yesterday afternoon; Cole captured the Kodak moment his own self.


Like I said, I got my spinning mojo back! And I owe it all (well, some) of it to Jacey/Insubordiknit and her 'Sit and Spin!' DVD!! And since it's W.O.M.B. Wednesday (What's on my Bobbin Wednesday), check out 'Purple Nurple', fresh off the bobbin today! I tried out Jacey's clever method of spinning supercoils right into a singles, and it so totally worked. You can see one of 'em in the 3rd photo in the mosaic above. This yarn is some Über-bulky shit - 1 or 2 WPI, it's as big around as my fingers! What all's in there, well, let's see... Sequins. Easter 'grass'. Lots of yarn scraps. Mohair locks. Wensleydale roving. Corriedale clouds. TONS o' sparkle, in 3 different colors/textures. Cocoons. The aforementioned supercoils. A little lace. Some mesh. Everything but the kitchen sink!

Oh, hey spinners: help a girl out - go to cosymakes' blog and answer her spinner's survey, and get a chance to win some free fiber!

Tags: handspun, artyarn, COLORBOMB, rainbows

Viral Video, Redux

More Velma, more spinning, more yarn!! This one is a tutorial on adding yarn scraps to your art yarn. Enjoy!

Tags: YouTube, art yarn, COLORBOMB, handspinning

'Nicked Shaving' is Scrappy Goodness!

It's Wednesday, boys and girls, so let's see what's on my bobbin! Mmmm, scrappy goodness, that's what. I've been working (slowly, been feeling very lazy ass for awhile) on a (S)craptastic style yarn - and it's done!

"What the hell is a (S)craptastic yarn, Velma?" Glad you asked, reader! (S)craptastic yarns are one of my Greenish products, made of 100% repurposed and reclaimed materials. In this case, it is naturally-colored gray Shetland wool that I bartered for (go, green!), filled with loads of yarn scraps all in RED in honor of the Valentine's crafting season. When I plied it, I threw in tons of beehives, coils, and stacks for added visual & tactile stimulation. Here's the pertinent details:

46yds./42m., .4.7oz./139g., 3-5WPI - Super-bulky weight

Available on Etsy!

Wanna see how it's made? Guess what? You CAN! I made 2 more spinning videos for YouTube consumption, one showing the spinning process, the other how I plied it. They're both pretty crappy vids, but you can at least get an idea. Sorry that the 2nd video is cut off; my battery crapped out before I finished!

EDIT: I'm having trouble getting the videos to upload. You'll just have to come back for them. :( Sorry for the inconvenience.

Tags: handspun, COLORBOMB, yarn, art yarn, video, Etsy

Want Free Handspun Art Yarn & Fiber?

Check it out! My contributor interview is up on the PhatFiber blog, and if you read it and comment there, Jessie will enter you into a drawing for $10 in BOMBucks, good on ANY COLORBOMB Creations item in my Etsy shop. Yep, it's too late to get one of the inaugural PhatFiber Sampler Boxes (they sold out in 20 minutes!), but you can still get one of the BOMBucks coupons I contributed.

Word of the day: velutinous

(Looking for the Friday Freaky Fun Fact & Foto? Check back later, I won't disappoint.)

Tags: COLORBOMB Creations, Phat Fiber, Etsy, giveaway

Thursday Mashup

I'm all over the place today, like a schizophrenic with ADD, and I thought I'd share the experience. A little something from yesterday, a smattering of Tuesday crap, maybe a peek into the future even. Oh, and some knitting!


Shop Update: 3 new handspun art yarns up on Etsy today! Two new WoolyBear yarns: 'Dirt Nap' and 'Have a Heart'. The former is 42 yards of chocolate-brown Jacob wool, and the latter is the Cormo/merino blend spun up in yesterday's video. They're really gonzo on texture, and I think they'll make someone (or someones) very happy. The 3rd is a frequently-requested skein of SUPERCOILS! Yep, a new LoopyDoopy - this one is one of the 'Minis', smaller gauge (as in about 5-7WPI; no sock yarn here!). It's called 'Forget Me Not', and it's pastel merino - robin's egg blue, lavender, pale pink, dove gray... Gotta give a shout out to velvetpurrs for providing a great colorway name, and to J.Hayworth, hatdiva2, Lar'Zaina, deanno, and thnomad for their great suggestions! Sometimes the well of creativity just comes up dry, so it's good to know that you all have my back.

Lookee! Lookee what I got in the mail a few days ago! A bunch of bitchin' vintage embroidery transfers! My Flickr friend Xao_T saw my blog post about returning to embroidery after 20+ years, and remembered she had some old patterns lying around, and offered to send them to me; what a sweetie!

There are some really off-the-wall images in this collection, as well as some very traditional 50s cutesy icons (my fave!). There's another baggie filled with more animal images (a goat!) not even pictured here. Not sure which is gonna show up in my workbasket first, although I'm leaning toward a kitty playing with yarn, chinese lanterns, or this weird ghost figure in the Leisure Arts book. Whatever gets picked, it'll be a doozy! Thanks, Xao!


Here's a couple of pics of the hub & I riding into town yesterday to pay a visit the recycling center & local thrift stores, which we were combing to find me a vintage Rolodex rotary card file. Saw a really cute one from fellow Team EcoEtsy member EcoMonster on Etsy yesterday, complete with cards & dividers crafted from recycled papers, but at 75 clams, I figure I'll bite the DIY bullet and make my own. Found one, but it was all plastick-y (bleh), and $5, so I'm holding out for a better-slash-cheaper one. Got the Hub on the lookout for one at the pawn shop. (He's off in search of tracing paper for my embroidery pleasure, as we speak. Such a good Hub!)

Lastly (finally!) here's a pic of my current knitting project on the needles: my Stoner Jaywalker socks. I finished sock #1 well before Christmas, but set them aside to concentrate on gift knitting. I picked 'em back up on New Year's day, happy to be wallowing in some selfish knitting again. This is my first exposure to the virus known as "second sock syndrome" - can't wait to get these off the needles and move the fuck ON!

Tags: yarn, yarn pr0n, COLORBOMB Creations, Etsy, handspun, knitting

Please Be Gentle...

...when you offer your feedback on my new spinning tutorial video! Yep, I've entered the YouTube era. I started the COLORBOMB Creations channel yesterday, and this is my *virginal* video. COLORBOMB Creations is going viral! First one out of the chute: Corespinning. The production value is pretty low (*really* low; you can hear the traffic on the other side of the fence & Canada geese flying overhead), but (hopefully) I've put some good info on how to create yarn like my WoolyBear™ & WoolyBearCub™ handspun. Be sure to leave a comment with your thoughts.

Props to my personal marketing guru, CraftyCoach, for his gentle prodding to get me to dip my treadle into the video pool. Thanks, Norm!

Want to buy the yarn spun in the video? It's for sale in my Etsy shop: 'Have a Heart' is a ginormic skein, 34 yards of carmine Cormo/merino blend squooshy wonderment, with silk threads & just enough sparkle to make it POP! Doesn't sound like much, yardage-wise, but this ~3WPI super-bulky wonder-skein should be *plenty* for a small project like a hat, or pair it with a complementary commercial yarn to create something bigger. Get it while it's hot, just in time to whip up something for your valentine!

In other video news, my friend Jacey Boggs, Queen Boognish of Insubordiknit, has made a REAL spinning video! Her Sit and Spin DVD, chock-full of techniques for spinning art yarns, is IN as of today! Go, quick like bunny, and get your hands on a copy before they're all gone! And when you do get a chance to view it, be sure to keep your eyes out for my freeform-crochet Babies in a Blender hat (made with Jacey's handspun art yarn + doll arms I added) and The Fez (a crocheted fez made with 'Blood Fever', my own COLORBOMB Creations WoolyBear yarn), modeled by members of the backing band.

Tags: COLORBOMB Creations, YouTube, video, spinning, yarn, art yarn, handspun

Why Google Alerts Should Be Your Friend

Meant to post this yesterday, but my brain is, as you know, often addled by cocktails and it plum slipped my mind.

My Velma's World blog post about my handspun art yarn, 'Clown Pants' from COLORBOMB Creations, being a featured pick on Etsy's Shop Live event in their Virtual Labs appeared in the blog version of our local rag, The Arcata Eye on Thursday. Lots of press for my yarn, my shop, and for Garth of Extreme Craft.

Wouldn't have even *known* about it if I hadn't signed up to receive a Google Alert for my biz name. Google may be taking over the world, but I am enjoying the benefits my new overlords offer. If you are a small biz person, I recommend you set one up for yourself today (easy! fast! no bitter aftertaste!).


Haven't seen any sales of 'Clown Pants' yet, but it might be why it got included in this 'Feelin' the Love' Treasury of recycled/repurposed items from Team EcoEtsy that JenniferJoyCreative made. Gettin' it out there is half the battle, right?

While Cole is out running his annual Ice Bowl disc golf tournament for our local club, Par Infinity, today, making the house nice & quiet, and while this spectacular clear day holds, I oughta get my ass out in our back yard & do some spinning while getting some Vitamin D. Think that's exactly what I'll go do. Enjoy your Saturday, VWorld peeps!

Tags: COLORBOMB Creations, Etsy, yarn, handspun, art yarn, Google

What's on My Bobbin Wednesday

It's Wednesday, right? Wanna see what I've been spinning? Sure you do! The one one the left remains an unnamed colorway of LoopyDoopy supercoils, in 100% merino - mmm, nom nom nom! Pastel squooshiness in robin's egg blue, petal, lavender, and dove gray. Love! Be sure to leave your suggestion in the comments to vote on what I should name this color.

The one on the right, 'Have a Heart', is a decadent mix of cormo & merino wool locks + silk threads + sparkle; from batt to bobbin! So soft you might just want to rub it all over yourself. And just the right amount of bling! Valentine's Day crafting, anyone?

These will be added to my Etsy shop soon; got to soak and dry first, so hold your horses, but soon.

In more Etsy/COLORBOMB news, and coming under the heading 'great minds think alike', my orange BOMBits fiber kits were featured in not one but TWO new Etsy Treasuries yesterday! Thanks to Catskill Mountain Fibers and her Joy of Spinning Treasury, and MidnightCoiler and the Upthings for Somethings Treasury of upcycled/recycled offerings for including me! BOMBits are also currently available in red, yellow, pink, blue, green, black, white, bone, silver, & gold - and they're great for all kinds of crafty DIY projects: felting, embellishment, fiber art, collage, and of course, spinning art yarn! Plenty of materials to make at least 3 or 4 skeins of art yarn. Each contains 3-4 ounces of scavenged, upcyled materials, enough goodies to fill a repurposed & recyclable tennis ball tube, including: 1 ounce wool or mohair fiber, 5 yards each of 3 different millspun yarns, plus an assortment of ribbons, lace, fabrics, sequins, buttons, beads, faux flowers, feathers, sparkle, vintage trim, and other embellishments in coordinating colors.


BOMBits are a COLORBOMB Greenish™ product too, using 100% recycled/upcycled/repurposed materials. Fibers are either mill ends that would be otherwise discarded, or ethically raised & harvested by small farmers. Embellishments are reclaimed yarn & fabric scraps, as well as thrifted & donated trims.

Tags: handspun, yarn, COLOROMB Creations, Etsy

Holiday Craftacular!

Anybody else go to the Holiday Craft Market today? It was the 9th Annual, apparently, and it turns out I knew 5 of the vendors! I was there, not to shop (no $ this year for xmas prizers or decorations), but to fondle my yarn.

Thursday I blogged about Hands on CRAFT, Arcata's new 'center for manual arts' and the newest retailer of COLORBOMB yarns; today I checked out Kristy's booth, full of some of the crafting supplies she's going to have at Hands on CRAFT, including my yarns. That's Kristy on the left, introducing my yarns to a market-goer.

She had a lovely booth, and it was a great way to introduce the new venture. She's opening this Tuesday - go say 'hi' and tell her Velma sent you.

Among the other booths were a few gems that I've gotta give a shout-out to; hi to Diane at Sweet Heat Habanero Jams; Candy and her polymer clay jewelry (she's going to make me a custom be-Hallowigged Velma pin!); Jbird Glass (Cole says, 'hi', Jbird); and Marian of Tegas - check out her beautiful tile art if you're in the market for a special something. And I was surprised to find not one but TWO new sources of fiber: alpaca from Fortuna and merino/southdown in Westhaven. Now that's a successful craft market!

After all that, I even found time to list a new skein of handspun on Etsy (luckily, I took the pics before I left for the craft market; it was dark and wet when I returned, no light for photography, that's for sure). Called 'Ruddy Duddy', it looks like this:

Tags: yarn pr0n, yarn, shop update, handspun, Arcata, Craft Market

This Girl is Biz-AY!

Started out the day with some marketing research for my artyarn biz. I've purchased a few tips 'n hints-style guides from other Etsy sellers this week, and set about learning a bit from them today. Although I bought 2, only one was worth recommending: can't say enough good things about Norm, aka The Crafty Coach, and his Prosper on Etsy Guide. His shop is HERE, and his blog HERE - get on over there and check 'em out, they're both chock-block with useful tidbits for the entrepreneurial crafter. The guide, only 9 smacks (that's the same as ONE sixer of decent beer, my friends), has already helped me: I'm utilizing the tags fields better now. Oh, yeah - and he's a really nice guy, too!

Speaking of Etsy, my day was Etsy-full. Caught up on feedback; tried out the new 'Kiss and Make Up' feature for a listing I received neutral feedback on; weighed in on the Fiber Friday thread in the Forums; listed 'Autumn Leaves', a new Singleton™ style COLORBOMB art yarn (you're lookin' at it there, in the photo to your right). There are more pics here and here, and the listing is here, if you're in a shopping mood. It is 101 yards of wool/mohair goodness, plenty to make a last-minute xmas gift for someone.

Spent some time on Ravelry today, too. Added a new yarn to my stash, a COLORBOMB yarn I just can't part with: 'Irradiated Spiders', which is an Enwraptured™ style yarn, wrapped in over 1400 yards of thread around merino-x wool. It is tactile-y delicious! I think it will look fab paired with 'Chocolat Vert', the Bobblesque™ yarn I made earlier this year in similar colors. More pics on Flickr.

In other, non-yarn news, I joined Twitter this week, and I am thoroughly enjoying the world of micro-blogging. Any Velma's World readers on Twitter? Lemme know so I can follow you. I'm velmalikevelvet there, too.

That's all for today. Gonna work on some holiday gift knitting tonight.

Tags: Etsy, COLORBOMB Creations, Fiber Friday, Ravelry, marketing, handspun, artyarn, yarn