Get Your Mini on at COLORBOMB!

Another !exclamatory! post! !!filled!! with exclamations!!!!!! I'm excited because I had fun dyeing this week, and I've finally added new yarn crack to my Etsy shop!



Introducing Family Jewels Fingering Minis and Family Jewels Fingering Minis Family Pak from COLORBOMB Creations!

Hot out of the dyepots (ok, they're cooled down now, but you know what I mean), my new Mini Skeins are PERFECT for all kinds of projects that require a bit o' this color and a bit o' that color. Think hexi-crack, blankiemania, mochi-garumi, colorwork...



Individual colorways available currently are: 'Creamlicklesicle' (orange peel), 'Krazy for Kornflower' (azure blue), 'Turqonton' (turquoise), 'Powder Puff' (soft pink), 'Lime Lolly' (acid green), and 'Lemony Fresh' (bright yellow) - with more to come soon.

Each mini-skein is 10grams (.35oz) and 32meters (35 yards) of professionally hand-dyed 100% superwash Merino wool sock yarn in slightly-variegated/semi-solid colorways on a 2-ply base yarn with a medium, evenly-distributed twist that yields a plump and soft yarn with loads of 'sproing'.

Buy just the individual colors you like OR go for the gusto! and get a Family Pak with one of each, packaged together at a discount, as the 'Candy, Little Girl?' color combo.

You're probably asking yourself: "Where, where can I get me some of these beauties?!?" Glad you asked! Get on over to www.colorbombcreations.etsy.com and slurp yours up before they're all gone!

Lace Me Up!

New, NEW, All New!

How about something NEW from COLORBOMB? I know you'll want some! I've taken the first baby step into the field of hand-dyeing millspun yarns, and my first offering is LACE ME UP!, a 2-ply superfine merino lace weight yarn. I've put it up in 3.5 ounce (100 gram) skeins that top out at over 1000 yards (914 meters) of next-to-skin soft yumminess. (In the Ravelry database here.) The first colorway I created I call 'Unsubtle', for obvious reasons:

Hot, isn't it? All the skeins in the first small batch are already spoken for - sorry! - but this IS a repeatable colorway, so let me know if it is something you're interested in and I can create a custom Etsy listingfor you anytime. Look for more colorways coming soon.

Wanna keep up with the latest from COLORBOMB Creations? If you're a member of Ravelry (and really, who isn't these days?), pop in to COLORBOMBers, the group for all things CBC, where COLOR CAN'T HURT YOU!

Introducing... SmorgasBOMBS!

What've we got here? SmorgasBOMBs, new from COLORBOMB Creations!

Yep, it's been awhile since I introduced a new product, but these were just 'born' this week - mixed fiber grab-bags for your spinning/felting/crafting pleasure!

This first batch of SmorgasBOMBs is available in two colorways, 'Hot' and 'Cold', and will make their debut at the Tactile Fiber Arts booth next week at SOAR.

Packaged in plastic bags re-claimed from the Sock Summit dumpster, each SmorgasBOMB contains 4 ounces/115 grams of animal fiber. This batch may contain any/all of the following breeds: Babydoll Southdown, Cheviot, Coopworth, Cormo, Corriedale, Cotswold, CVM, Dorset, Lincoln, Merino, Mohair, Rambouillet, Romney, Targhee, Wensleydale.

If you are a spinner, a SmorgasBOMB would be perfect for spinning up an eclectic art yarn, trying new fiber breeds or fiber prep, or carding together to make your own custom blend. Not a spinner (yet)? Felters will find endless delight playing with small bits of different fibers, and the sky is the limit for crafters of all types - let your imagination take over!

Tags: fiber, handspinning, wool, colorbombcreations

Got Milk (Fiber)?

Finally, a shop update! Woot, woot! Yep, reader, yesterday I added 8 new colorways of milk protein top to the COLORBOMB Creations shop on Etsy. And you're lookin' at 'em right now!

Milk fiber? What's milk fiber?, you might be asking yourself. It's one of the hot new spinning fibers on the market today. Lemme tell you a bit about what you can expect when spinning COLORBOMB milk top.

First, I handpaint 100% milk protein (also known as 'casein') combed top using professional dyes in the most spectacular colorways I can think of. After carefully setting the dyes so you won't experience any of those pesky bleeding problems sometimes the hallmark of hand-dyed fibers, I put the top up in daisy-chain braids that I call Pigtails™, which are easy to undo & spin directly from on either a wheel or spindle. For milk Pigtails™, the put-up are in 2oz. (60g.) increments to give you an opportunity to try a bit before committing to a larger quantity, & to keep the price affordable for all.

Now, a bit about the characteristics of milk fiber. Exceptionally soft & stronger than wool, milk fiber exhibits anti-microbial/anti-bacterial properties & wicks moisture, making it a great choice for socks & underwear, & because it has the same pH as human skin, it is great for sensitive skin - like babies! It is an absolute dream to spin, very easy even for beginners, with a long (~5"/13cm) staple with a gentle wave to it. Give it a try, I'm sure you'll love it!

Want more info? Here are direct links to each listing on Etsy:

1. COLORBOMB 'Bleen' Milk Pigtails™, 2. COLORBOMB 'Acid' Milk Pigtails™, 3. COLORBOMB 'Steampunk' Milk Pigtails™, 4. COLORBOMB 'Surfrider' Milk Pigtails™, 5. COLORBOMB 'Chili Peppers' Milk Pigtails™, 6. COLORBOMB 'Mango Tango' Milk Pigtails™, 7. COLORBOMB 'Lava Lamp' Milk Pigtails™, 8. COLORBOMB 'Daisy May' Milk Pigtails™ Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Coming soon to COLORBOMB Creations: hand-painted 100% bamboo top!!

Tags: COLORBOMB Creations, shop update, handspinning, fiber

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

Hey Spinners: BOMBits are Here!

Last week I added a new product to the COLORBOMB lineup: BOMBits.

Want to spin your own art yarn? Don't have the time or inclination to put together the ingredients? Here's the solution! BOMBits™ Art Yarn Ingredients.

Enough goodies here to fill a recycled tennis ball tube, including at least 1 oz./30 g. of wool or mohair FIBER; plus at least 3 different coordinating millspun YARNS; plus an assortment of RIBBONS, FABRICS, SEQUINS, BUTTONS, BEADS, FEATHERS, LACE, SPARKLE, VINTAGE TRIM, OR OTHER EMBELLISHMENTS. Ready to spin!

About half have already sold, but red, orange, pink, blue, and purple (shown) are still available.

Also wanted to share a picture of the rockin' swap package I got from Mandie at Ewe Give Me the Knits. She responded to my mentioning I'd be willing to swap one of my skeins of Yarn Pirate sock club yarn, and this is what I got. Get over to her shop and get shopping, she's one of my new favorite vendors. Now I've got to get her package in the mail... :)

Lastly, if you're local (to Humboldt), come to Purl 'n Hurl tonight at Mazzotti's on the Plaza - I'm having a 25% off trunk sale of all COLORBOMB Creations yarns in stock - raising funds to pay for the new drum carder on the way. If you aren't lucky enough to live here, don't fret; I'll be extending the sale to the website soon, in hopes of raising enough money to cover travel expenses to attend Black Sheep Gathering. Check back soon!

Tags: COLORBOMB Creations, shop update, handspinning, fiber, swap, trunk sale, BOMBits, artyarn, fundraising, Black Sheep Gathering

What's New with COLORBOMB Handspun

I haven't done a shop update here on the blog for awhile, despite adding new items to my Etsy shop every week. Thought it was about damn time I did! Also want to give a heads up to any spinners reading this, letting you know that I'm increasing my offering of fiber and spinning supplies.

Been getting *loads* of "press" via the Etsy Treasuries. My yarns and fibers have been featured in ELEVEN in the last week alone! This is one of my favorites, and features one of my BOMBatts, 'Peach Melba'. There's still one left, spinners, if you are looking!

Thanks to Amber Alexander, Meri Greenleaf, Doopy Doo, Red Bess Bonney, Kitty Grrlz, Inlerah, Phydeaux, Made of Clay, Blonde Chicken, and Haley Studio for including COLORBOMB products in their Treasuries. They are members of two of the 'Street Teams' I belong to, EtsyFAST and CCCOE - props to my faboo teammates. (The links are to their Etsy shops, where you'll find all manner of Indie giftie goodness; check 'em out!)

I've started making fiber art adornment (read: jewelry), too. I'm calling them 'Neck Baubles'. :) I made some felty beads that look like flowers to me, and strung them on tigertail to make a choker. It turned out so cute! In the shop HERE.

Wore it once to see how it performed, and got rave reviews, from fiber folks no less (I wore it to the tiny animal & fiber show down at the Ferndale Fairgrounds this past Saturday. Also picked up a bit of fiber and a new contact. Whee!) There's another shot of it HERE, just the necklace, if you're interested.

I'll be putting up more of the beads for sale soon, so check back.

I also have a NEW yarn line: Hirsute™: clouds of ethereal corespun singles made from filmy uncarded locks over a millspun mohair yarn. There are 2 up now, 'Peeps on Crack' and 'Purple Haze' - look for 'Humboldt Bud', coming soon.


Finally, I'll share a yarn I made and am hoarding, all for myself. I call it 'Easter Bunny on Acid', and it's a Lockalicious™ yarn. The locks are Cotswald, from The Speckled Ram, just like the locks used in the 2 yarns above. I can't say enough good things about Pepper and her fibers; superb customer service, quick delivery, and an excellent product. Get over to her shop and get you some!!

Tags: COLORBOMB Creations, Etsy, handspun, handspinning, shop update, media