Goodies in the Mail!

Some days, I just love the USPS! COLORBOMB Creations has been doing ok lately (thanks!), so I've splurged for a couple of treats for the ol' Velmster, & they've been plopping down on my doorstep like fat rats of happiness lately.

This spectacularly Velma colorway is called 'Loud & Proud', & it is 462 yards / 100 grams of 75% superwash wool / 25% nylon fingering/sock weight yarn of happiness from FibroFibers on Etsy. She's already in my Ravelry stash, & I'm seeing some very playful socks in my future.

I've also succumbed to the siren song of merino roving lately. This bump is just the brightest, most outrageously loud (in a Very Velma Way) bit of fiber from Forest Fiber Works, also on Etsy. Called 'Del Sol', it IS 'Of the Sun'! Can't you see the squooshiest bit of 2ply spun from this lovely? Mama needs a new hat! It is 4.0oz 100% Merino wool roving top handpainted in vibrant golden yellows, oranges and red with rich purple. (I've shamelessly lifted the language from her description!)

I even ordered some fiber from my friend Down Under, WoolDancer in Australia. I got 2, 2ounce bumps of Merino roving that came out of the same dyepot - complementary but not identical, they'll spin up great with the dyed-to-match icicle I also bought from her. Whaddya think? 'Rainbow Glow Shimmer' on the left, 'Rainbow Willow Glitter' on the right.


Finally, I got a giant box of WOOL yesterday from the lovely Sandy & her sheep at Homestead Wool & Gift Farm! Wanna meet 'em? Here they are! (Thanks, Sandy, for letting me use your pics.) L to R: Curly Sue (Rambouillet), Trevor (& his brother Brinley, Baby Doll Southdown), and Amelia (Cotswold). Also in the box were Suri alpaca & coated Coopworth, but I don't know the sheep names, and she also included some extras, including a sample of the amazing Pygora I'll be getting in the fall from Phoebe!


I really can't say enough wonderful things about these great artist entrepreneurs. FibroFibers donates $2 from every sale to the National Fibromyalgia Research Association to further research and education about fibromyalgia, and Jen is lovely to work with (she has another Etsy shop, Jen Hintz.etsy.com, where she sells finished fiber goods). Margot of Forest Fiber Works went above & beyond, sending me an extra ounce or so of fiber when she really didn't need to. Spinsistah Michelle of WoolDancer.com and WoolDancer.etsy.com is just the sweetest fiberista you ever could meet (she's at the Bendigo Wool Show this week, so give her a few days if you're gonna visit her shop). And Sandy rescues sheep and let's them live out their lives on her lovely farm in Wisconsin. Be sure to check out her shop and her blog for details!

All of these great women can be found on Twitter.com, but beware: if you subscribe to their feeds, you'll get sucked into the world of fiber enabling lickety-split, just like I did! But if you dare, you can find them at @jen_hintz, @forestfiberworks, @wooldancer and @HomesteadWool on Twitter. Oh, me? I'm @velmalikevelvet there, too!

Tags: yarn, wool, fiber, Etsy

SCORE!

While I feel a little dirty saying so, I was somewhat gleeful Saturday because I got to pick through another spinner's stash of fiber goodness, acquiring some of it for myself. Local weaver/spinner, Paula Provoldt died recently, and Kristy and I went to the Estate Sale for her effects. Couldn't afford to spring for any of her equipment, although I was coveting this massive clock skeinwinder and the already-gone sock knitting machine would have piqued my interest had I a meager $250 for the asking price, but I DID get me some goodies!

There's about 1/2 lb. of hand-dyed silk noils in some nommy blues & purples. And there's roughly 1/4 lb. of what I think is mohair in roving/top form, in a nice aqua and white mix. Despite the fact that there were 2 entire floor-to-ceiling racks of weaving cottons, I managed to limit myself to 8 cones in very Velma colors, plus a wee cone of sparkly metallic and a big cone of what might be rayon? Lastly, I got the very last 2 lbs. of some creamy raw locks; I think they might be Cotswold, but whatever sheep gave 'em up, they're scrumptious! Kristy got some and dyed them up last week, and they not only took the dye like a hooker takes crack, but also maintained they're curly structure really well.

What did I have to shell out for all this, you ask? Count 'em slow, only 4o smacks! Yepper, just 2 Andy Jacksons brought this home. I'm seeing lots of candy-striping and auto-wrapping in my future with those yarns, and some wads of noils captured with maybe the orange cotton. And then wash up those locks & dye 'em!! Ooh, the possibilities, they are endless.

Tags: fiber, wool, mohair, silk, yarn

'Twas a Good Day...

...filled with new shoes (polka dots!), and a bike ride on a beautiful spring day, and a trip to the Dollar Store.

Picked up my Simple kicks at my friend Beth's shop, North Soles. I won a gift certificate good for a c-note's worth o' shoes at the inaugural Goddess Games disc golf tourney in '06, and I finally cashed it in for the new ecoSneaks 'Satire-Polka' sneakers. Not only are they covered in polka dots, but they're chock full of eco-friendly materials (organic cotton, PET laces, recycled tire soles, etc.). LOVE! I'll try to post a pic of me wearin' 'em tomorrow.

Made it to the bank to deposit funds (I hate the idea of putting cash in the ATM), so now I can send my check to Otto for the used Fricke carder he's got for me. Can you say BOMBatts away? ;)

Finished up my spring cruise with a stop at Dollar Tree. A couple of skeins of $1 fun fur and some office supplies to take to Black Sheep later, and I'm headed home to spin more LoopyDoopy coils. Working on a 3rd skein of the Minis in 'Route 66' colorway from yesterday. Woohoo!

A very good day.

Tags: spring, shoes, Simple, ecoSneaks, shopping, spinning, bike ride

St. Distaff's Day SCORE!

Today, as you may or may not know, is St. Distaff's Day, aka Rock Day. Traditionally celebrated on January 7, the day after the feast of the Epiphany (the last of the 12 Days of Christmas, for you trivia nuts), it was the day that European women returned to their household work. The spinning distaff or rock was the medieval symbol of "women's work", and on this day, according to the Robert Herrick poem "Saint Distaffs day, or the Morrow After Twelfth Day", men and women would play pranks on one another. These "pranks," by all accounts, consisted of the men setting the women's spinning fiber on FIRE, and the women spraying the men with water. Sounds to me like the women should've "pranked" the men a little harder. But the first 2 lines of the poem say:

"Partly work and partly play
You must on St. Distaffs Day"

So that's what I did today: a little work, a little play. I took advantage of the break in the weather to get some natural light photos of yarn (up tomorrow), and then spun a new type of yarn (tease!). The play involved sorting through this MASSIVE stash of fiber that came in the mail today. It is somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 POUNDS of wool!!! There's Romney, and Jacob, and Cormo, and more Romney, and Corriedale, and Shetland, and Merino, and alpaca, and some hemp and a little bit of something called "breeder's cotton". All packed in these great muslin bags, too. (And don't you just lurve the 'Beaver Feed' sacks? Gotta find something to do with those.) WOWZERS! This is my introduction into the world of barter... And I'm hooked! Thanks, Mary!! Now I've *really* got to come through on my end. I sent her a big ol' box of heirloom seeds from my mother's garden so far, but, clearly, there will be more. Much more. Off to fondle fiber. Happy St. Distaff's Day All!

Tags: barter, fiber, ravelry, holidays, St. Distaff's Day