April Phat Fiber, Yarn Everyday Month and 2 Questions

Hello! I have my roving all dyed for the April Phat Fiber sampler! I'm really excited and plan to make sure there are full size listings in the store. (Maybe I should do 2 ounce listings and offer custom requests on the colorways?) So... do you want a peek? It's probably too late now, You've seen the picture.


Now just to divide the roving up and label it. If I have time I may work up some yarn as well.

In other yarn news, Yarn Everyday Month is back. This year I am going to work really hard to get some yarn or fiber work in everyday. Last year I also tried to blog each day but it didnt really work after a few days. This year I can do it though. I have a new (to me) awesome Fricke spinning wheel and just under ten pounds of wool to work with. Plus I have fiber reactive dyes so I can handpaint milk fiber for the store now. I'm really rather excited to be honest.



So, I did a lot of typing on an earlier blog post so I'm trying to keep this one more to the point (and tons lighter!) But I have two questions that I would love assistance with.

1. I plan to sell at the local market again this year. I thought that it would be a good idea to have a few yarns that were multiples for people who don't want to be limited to smaller (70-150 yard) projects.

Currently I am spinning 3 ounce bundles to get the amounts close to the same yardage, aiming for 100 yards/piece. For the three skeins I have done 2 are 74 yds/piece and one in 102 yds before dyeing and setting the twist. I will probably bump it up to 4 ounce bundles so that I know I have 100 yards.

Originally my idea was to provide 3-4 different colorways that had 3 skeins each. Do you think this would be enough? Should I do more than 3 skeins of each color I offer? Would it be better to test the waters with only 2 colorways and have 4-5 skeins of each?


2. I am thinking of moving my blog back to wordpress (froggyfiber.com) because it would give me a better chance to monitor comments and reply. I like talking to everyone but I don't always want to reply back on the post. I really like sending back a personal email. Plus, I'm tired of it just sitting there unused! So, is there anyone knowledgeable about importing posts and themes? I need a cleaner nicer theme for wordpress that is easy to install and change the banner on. Is that too much to ask? (Ha! that was totally rhetorically but if you know, do tell!)


I will be forever indebted to you if you can help with either question. Thanks bunches!

So we meet again... Everyday Yarn Challenge Sept 2009!

Last April I participated in the Yarn Everyday Challenge hosted by blondechicken on Ravelry. I found it to be really challenging and everyone's enthusiasm was contagious. While I wasn't quite able to make it to the end of the month, I really enjoyed seeing everyone's progress.

Fast forward to mid-August and I felt the urge for another spinning challenge. I started with one goal but feel that is best to revise it to spinning everyday with a total of 15 finished yarns by month end. Here is my first and second day's worth of spinning.

Other fiber artist on Ravelry you are more than welcome to join in the fun, just post in this Ravelry thread. You don't have to join the group, its just a place to share. Everyone is welcome, the more the merrier! =D

The odd things you realize...

...when you go to a spinning group meeting. I had an epiphany today.

We were all enjoying a late spinning group this month due to the Easter holiday and luckily one of our regular spinning buddies was able to make the meeting this month. Catching up on past events I mentioned the accident we had and the fact that I got laid off from my last job in a pretty nonchalant sort of manner. I hadn't put much thought into it but November to January happened very quickly. Of course, anyone who knows me can tell you I was more shaken up by the car accident then the job situation. Sure, the economy is lousy and we don't have a bundle saved up... but really whatcha gonna do? A little later I was talking with the same spinning friend and mentioned that my birthday had just past and that I was really excited this year. Seriously, this has been the first year in several that I have truly and honestly been excited about my birthday. (I'm really looking forward to 30 next year!)

That's when it hit me... staring me right in the face for the last 3 months. I am 100% happy more than I have been in years. Those two jobs that were a bad fit just sucked the life from me and I don't want that to happen again! I recently started looking for a job again... somewhat seriously anyway and found myself immediately sucked back into applying for the same type of job I just left. How crappy is that. Its like this great fall back but in 2 years or less I will be unhappy again. So now I am running wild in my head trying to figure out just how I can possible keep this feeling. How can I make it last longer. I'm happier (and by proxy my husband and son are happier. =P) The only problem is that life doesn't run on happiness, we need funds to make it go. So... now to brainstorm!



For the fiber folks, I have spent the last 3-4 days spinning the roving below. Its coming along well but now I am stuck. When I made the roving my idea was for it to be a semi-striping single to knit or crochet. Now I'm thinking I should ply it... then I saw the lovely coils on the Ravelry forum and thought... this will make great coils. ARGHHHH! I can't decide. So, lets take a poll, what do you think?

Keep it or let it go...

So I totally bailed on posting everyday this month. It really is hard enough to get in a habit of spinning everyday without having to write about the yarn (or portion thereof) that I spun. So, lets just keep the posting true to being about the interesting things.

One new thing is the shop has been updated recently. Recently being within the last 3-4 days. I also plan to finish listing items that have been photographed today. I got a little off track around my birthday and didn't log time spent working. I decided to pick up again today. It's not easy though... I have a 9 yr old distraction.

The spinning everyday thing is going pretty well. I went pro on my Flickr account so that I can add multiple photos. I can now also add more sets (which I have) to organize things a little. I even uploaded photos specifically to put in groups. I always limited myself a little when I knew there was only 200 photos available to view. One of the new fiber photos I put up is on the right.

I originally dyed this with the knowledge that I would spin it up. I wanted it to be something of a semi-striping roving. However, because of the limited amount of counter space, when the roving was dried and braided the colors were virtually solid blocks. It photos so well, looks so good that I am sorely tempted to list it for sell. That's doesnt mean that it would sell but at least it does look good.

Outside of adventures in fiber dying... I have completed two more yarns due to the spinning challenge. I haven't set the twist on either yet. One is part of a de-stash one of the ladies in the spinning group did. She gave a way a ton of pretty fibers including this variagated blues. I'm not sure what brand it is, reminds me of Lornas Lace fiber and it spun extremely soft. The other yarn is merino/silk that I carded when I had the Strauch Petite. It was pulled (by hand) into roving and I could never get it to spin quite right. I picked up a portion of it that was pulled into pencil thin roving and when that was successful I found the remaining roving and spun it up. I guess some things just take time. Speaking of which, I have been working on my "long term project" and I honestly think I lost my determination for it yesterday. I actually lost my yarn multiple times in a five minute setting and finally just had to stop. I'll probably try to find something nice and easy to spin tonight. Maybe coils, a few people have been doing coils and its been a while. Guess we will just have to see.

Challenge Yarn Day 4, 5 & 6

So I spent my spinning the last 3 days working on ANOTHER teeny tiny yarn. Luckily, I only had a small amount of this to spin up so its all done!



Above is a spinning shot and below comes the "it's been plied and I'm all done" shot.


Pre-set this measures to approximately 58 yards, 2 ply.

Yarn Challenge Day 3

Tomorrow morning I am going to post about a couple of new batts that will be listed in the store and some cleaned cheviot fleece complete with pictures. Today, however, was a long day so you will get a picture of me spinning a yarn. A long... tedious yarn. I expect to be spinning this until I die.



This is 1/4 of a future cabled yarn. The theory is it will be plied with a dark purple single. The I will spin a light purple single and another black single that will be plied together. Then the two plied yarns will be plied against each other to become a cabled yarn. All for the purposes of matching this yarn and becoming the bottom and the straps to a knit (or maybe crocheted) purse. It's a lot of the work in the interim.

Everyday Yarn Day 2

So, I thought since I was trying to push myself to spin more it should be a natural connection to blog more as well. One of the *many* things that I regret not doing more of is writing. I don't know why but I could write a mean paper. On the other hand, I like blogging because it has a bit more personal and informal touch. So I will try to write everyday to show what progress I made in the spinning challenge (and anything else that comes to mind.)

Day Two's yarn was more of an unfinished object than it had any right to be. It was originally spun at one of our Second Sunday gatherings and I had every intention to ply it with thread. Then I got home and started wishing that I had core spun it... should have thought of that before I went to town though. So I took this off the bobbin, wound it into a ball and wondered if there was a way to unspin it into a thread and make it a corespun yarn. After that I just forgot about it. Until today.

Today I was searching through my "misc" bin of fiber related goods. Basically, its a big bin of things that I have used or purchased that hasn't found a permanent residence anywhere. (Or as my mom would say... that I hadn't put away.) I looked at a bunch of fibers that one of the ladies was destashing at the spinning group and realized that I still had this ball of blended, glitzed, thick and thin handspun. Then I sorted through another bin and found some embroidery thread. SCORE!

Now for the result...


The top yarn is approx 49 yards (pre-set). The bottom was what remained when I ran out of thread so I just plied the remaining yarn back on itself. It's a little tadpole of love. =D

(At the end of the month I will try to upload better pictures of my yarns. I usually end up spinning at night so my pictures are not as nice as I would like them to be.)

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