New News!

Almost two months since I posted! Wow time flies. So here is a quick update on the most recent fiber news.

Tour De Fleece yarn - handpainted roving made into 2ply

 Froggy Fibers has ended participation in the local market. Sadly, I believe we were no longer a good match. I'll miss my Saturdays there. However, due to a "miscommunication" with the organizers we were unable to attend in June. We were advised they were at full capacity. So apparently there was no regard for a regular vendor who advised them of our attendance at the end of the previous market and emailed prior to the deadline for June. Well..... lesson learned. No matter how good things seem, it is bound to come to an end.

  Also, for those who look forward to my Phat Fiber samples..I'm going to miss this month. The good news in this is that my reason is taking on a new part time job starting mid-June. My new job schedule was almost 40hrs for the last 3 weeks. However, once the store opens (this Friday!) my hours will drop closer to a normal part time schedule. Which means we should be back on track for the August box. =D

Other occurrences on the fun side of things is that I choose to try to participate in the Tour De Fleece again on Ravelry. I joined back up with fellow fiberistas from last year (previously Rawfish's Ravelry forum now all grown up into LaiGrai.)I haven't been 100% successful  but since the July 3rd start I've spun 3-4 days. I even have pics... just not uploaded to Flickr yet. Which means... lucky you blog friends! You get first peek at my recent yarns including the one above.

 spun pumpkinhaus batt and froggy hand painted roving

more handpainted froggy roving to be plyed with white (maybe)

Always end on a good note! (It's going to be my new blogging motto... I just came up with it and decided that when I wrote it. Serendipity is a wonderful thing.)

and there goes May...

I've been in and out of a little funk this month so not many... *ahem* any, posts from me. I did still manage to attend my local market and drew tons of attention even though there were no sales. I also got back in touch with an old work friend. Well, I would call her a work friend but I guess these things are always so iffy when you lose your job.
Anyway, outside of the market the only other thing I've managed this month was contributing to the Phat Fiber Sampler. I sent a mix of 27 yarn and fiber samples in and slipped in just by the skin of my teeth so to speak. I didn't get my market set up photos this time but I did get the Phat Fiber samples before boxing them up to go.

 Hopefully I'm back on the upswing and will be posting here more. Until then.....

Spoiler: Phat Fiber Samples

Want to see what Froggy Fibers will be sending into the Phat Fiber box this month? If the answer is no, you've come to the wrong place cause I have a picture!



Hopefully I can do a few more samples if I can finish kicking this cold in enough time. Wish me luck!

Fiber Samples

I have the absolute best husband in the world. I don't care what anyone else says. =D Today he helped me place cards on my Phat Fiber samples. I was having a little difficulty because of some tenderness in my wrist. (Perhaps this is a sign I am over using it.) So he offered to staple the cards to my baggies for me. Yea husband!


This of course comes after he played photographer yesterday. My samples are raw wool and I didn't want to direct people to just any random wool cleaning page. It's not a superiority thing, its just because I needed a short link for the back of the business card. So he took photos and I will be writing a detailed photo tutorial for those who received the wool so they can spin or felt with it. (To be posted in the next 2-4 days.)


I also added simple instructions direct to the back of the business card. Unfortunately, I missed the editing mistake so I have extra words on it. *hangs head in shame* All together I sent 30 samples of raw cheviot wool. I'm not real sure how well raw wool is received but I guess we'll see.



Try to forgive my error in communication. It's been ages since I got that degree. (Okay, about 7 years... =P)

In between working and being sick

comes writing.

I have been trying to keep up with my Twitter Item of the Day this week but I have to admit it is very hard. The concept was good when I came up with it, but then coming down with cold the same day gave me pause. Maybe its a sign. =P
I did get a little more done on the yarn of many colors but didn't get it finished. Hopefully with feeling better it will be finished before the weekend is over. I'm very excited about it *crosses fingers.*

Also, I'm hoping to participate in the May PhatFiber sampler box. I got started Sunday (or was it Monday) but didn't get as far as I'd like to. Hopefully tomorrow will see a fresh day and plenty of catching up to being done.
Here's a photo of the work station at the moment:


and here is the progress to date:


Thanks for stopping by!

Samples, Goals and Yarn Everyday Month

It's April!
Guess you didn't need me to tell you that but I thought I would mention it. Especially since it is an extra special month for me. Those signed up for the newsletter will get details later. ;D

So, past the fabulous news that we have started the 4th month in 2009, I thought I would do some updates. First I have pictures of my goodies that will be sent to a sampler box in the next couple of days. I only have 20 but that is because I underestimated how much would go into making each of the samples at "sample-size." Included are 11 skeins of hand spun yarn in the color "Faded Forestry" and 9 tadpoles of roving in either "Strawberry Lemonade" and "Ladybug." LadyBug is actually made with dark gray dyes though it probably appears black in photos.



In making my samples last month I started to think about my goals for April. Last month I tried to log my time so I knew when I was productive. It's harder than you would think when you don't have anything to schedule your time around. Funny thing to me is that before I was laid off I would excuse myself because I was always too tired after work to do anything. So I sort of built myself into a no win situation by that logic. Last month I tried to log time... completely ineffective. This month, I am challenging myself to do it as one of my goals. I plan to log 40 hours a week just as if this was a day time paying job. The plus side is I set my own hours (yay!) and I can work weekends if and when I want. I started today and have already gotten in 3 hours including photos, spinning and carding. Now, if I can just get it lined you so that I am using the time most effectively. Either way, 40 hours is better than the maybe 5 hours a week the last few weeks.

One of the ways that I am trying to challenge and motivate myself is by participating in the Yarn Everyday Month. It's a group over on Ravelry that was started by BlondeChicken. Her original goal was to spin some everyday as motivation for herself but she invited others to join. I am so glad she did. I need to do this and I just always found a reason not to. (Really, I guess my goal for April is to stop making reason why its okay for me not to do what I want to do. Yea, that's it.) So on a successful note, I spun a corespun yarn from a technicolor batt I made on my new(to me) carder. Its just a coarse carder but I wanted to be able to continue offering *some* batts until I can afford to get a larger (costly) carder. So this was my first batt to see how everything would work. I think it will be fine for arty/novelty batts and I already spent a little time carding a beautiful purple based batt tonight. But this isnt about that... its about this:

One Batt, 34 yards, corespun on a #10 weight crochet thread. I have no name for it but will be loading it on Ravelry and Flickr with other photographic proof of my spinning today. =D