I've Been Busy!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile but I've been busy. I think I have ADHD project syndrome. I can't be happy with just one project in the works. I need to have several going at once. I currently have a rug project in the works. I'm using some dark brown alpaca roving that is far too coarse to be used for next to the skin wear and I think even too coarse for outerwear so I am hand spinning it and crocheting it into a large round rug. I'm also hand processing some dark brown Icelandic wool and spinning that to incorporate into the rug.

I did finish some other projects recently though.

Here is a large wrap/shawl that I made using some novelty commercial yarns along with my handspun yarns. I love the colors and textures to this wrap/shawl! I called this piece "Autumn Splendor"

 

Autumn Splendor is available for sale in my ArtFire store.

I have also been doing a lot of spinning. I finally finished spinning the suri alpaca and Polwarth rovings from the Split Rock Ranch Fall Spin Along (I know...I'm way behind!)

Here are those yarns along with some lockspun yarns that consist of suri alpaca locks and yearling mohair locks, plied with metallic yarns.

I haven't listed all of these yarns yet because I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to sell them or use them in another project. I might just list everything and then whatever is still available in the store when I'm ready to start a new project, I'll pull from inventory and use. I think these yarns coordinate beautifully!

I also completed a custom dye order for someone but I'll do a new post later for those.

Thank you for stopping by!

Peacock Neck Warmer SRR OOAK Hand Crocheted Original Design

Since I discovered my stash of Peacock colored yarns recently I went on a creative binge with them. Here is another neck warmer that I created using the yarns.

 

This cozy neck warmer is a Split Rock Ranch One-of-A-Kind Original Design created by using three strands of yarn at a time; one strand of handspun merino that has been thread plied, one strand of handdyed mohair boucle and one strand of poly flag yarn in Peacock colors of teal, blue and purple. The trim is acrylic feather yarn that adds a flirty and fun touch to the neck warmer.

Measures 27 inches across at the neck line and approximately 33 inches at the ruffled base of the neck warmer and 6.5 inches from top to bottom. Warmer closes with a fun flower shaped metal button. The feather yarn has been left long to create some modest fringe at the front of the warmer.

 

Nice and soft and so much fun to wear!

This neck warmer can be found in our ArtFire store. Look for Peacock Neck Warmer.

Autumn - Fabulous Fringe Scarf - Another Split Rock Ranch Original Creation

I recently finished this scarf using some fabulous yarn that I bought from YarnMarket.com. It is spun by Natalie at Namaste Farms using locks from her own Wensleydale sheep to make it. This is similar to the Extreme Fringe Scarf but the fringe is yarn cut in varying lengths and then hand tied onto the center and outside edge of the scarf. I used the Wensleydale Long Locks yarn and a skein of my own handspun that I found in my stash. It coordinates perfectly with the Long Locks yarn!

Here are the yarns together - my two-ply handspun already crocheted into the skinny scarf and laid with the Long Locks yarn - could they be any more perfect together?!

And the finished scarf. The scarf is 8 feet long including the fringe - 6 feet long without the fringe at each end. It is 1-1/2 inch wide not including the fringe. This is the scarf just draped around the neck and tied with the organza ribbon that I ran through the center section of the scarf.

And here is the scarf put on with the center in front and the ends looped around the back of the neck and over the opposite shoulders.

And I honestly don't remember how I created this next look. But it is more like a neck warmer or collar than a scarf.

And a close up of the scarf so you can see the detail of the fringe better.

 

I will share more finished projects soon!

Sorry I've been AWOL, but I really have been BUSY!

So sorry it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted. Losing Smokey really knocked me down for a bit. I'm just now getting used to the idea that he is no longer here. And I still cry when I think of him (like right now). But, I have so many other animals to care for that I cannot stay sad for long, the others need me. We haven't gotten a call to foster any kittens yet this year either. Maybe that's for the best because I'm fairly certain if I had a foster kitten right now I wouldn't want to give it up when the time came.

But, I have been keeping myself busy with fibers. I will share with you what I've made in the past few weeks.

The last post I made was Wordless Wednesday and it was this Extreme Fringe Scarf

This scarf is another Split Rock Ranch One-of-A-Kind Original Design creation. The base scarf is handspun from a merino/bamboo fiber blend batt purchased from Hanks in the Hood and spun by Brenda Vance at Split Rock Ranch. The merino/bamboo yarn was plied with a viscose thread in a gorgeous copper color. The fringe is tailspun yarn handspun by Esther at JazzTurtle Designs using some gorgeous long Teeswater wool locks. Tailspinning is an extremely labor intensive spinning technique that results in some stunning extreme lock yarn with a price tag that reflects the time and effort involved. Teeswater sheep originated in The United Kingdom and are relatively rare in the United States. It takes a couple of years growth to reach the long staple length so the price tag on the Teeswater long locks is higher than that of more common shorter staple length fibers.

This scarf is named "Verdigris" and is available for sale in my ArtFire store. Here are some additional photos of it, showing various ways to wear the scarf.

I won't bore you with what else I've made in the past few weeks - I'll do another blog post soon with more projects to share!

Wordless Wednesday

More Cowls

I wanted to share with you a few more things I've made. Each of these accessories is a OOAK Split Rock Ranch Original Design. I did not use a pattern, I just improvise as I go along.

Remember the Peacock long scarf? Well, I used the rest of that skein of yarn and then found some coordinating yarns in my personal yarn stash to finish making this cowl.

 

This cowl has loads of texture and those fabulous Peacock colors! Warm, fun and fashionable, I believe this cowl will garner loads of compliments when you wear it.

The Peacock cowl is available for sale in our ArtFire Store.

Then I decided to use two of the same yarns that I used on the bottom part of the Peacock cowl and made this cowl. I used a handspun wool yarn plied with a coordinating colored thread and a hand dyed skein of mohair boucle yarn held together. Then I crocheted a row of the handspun lincoln locks eyelash yarn and wove through a purple organza ribbon. I called this the Mermaid Cowl. This cowl was given to someone who signed up for the Handmade Pay It Forward on our Facebook page several weeks. ago.

And, by request, I then crocheted another cowl using a cotton/rayon yarn. This person lives in a warmer climate and would love the fashion look of a cowl without the warmth of wool.

So, here's my Melon Cowl. Feeling a little melancholy? Let our Melon Cowly cheer you up!

The Melon Cowl isn't listed yet but will be available in our ArtFire store soon.

Later I'll share photos of another hand knitted scarf in really bright colors - I called it Neon Rainbow.

Split Rock Ranch Fall Spin Along - Cornucopia

Above is a collage of the finished skeins of yarn from the very first Split Rock Ranch Spin Along. There are two Navajo plied yarns, one singles and one two-ply yarn. I love how these turned out! Great job from the spinners who participated! And check out Lisa's finished scarf crocheted from her yarn! What a fabulous way to use the yarn Lisa!

Misty and Foggy - Long Skinny Scarves Made With Handspun Luxury Yarns

I love silver and gray - they coordinate with so many different colors. I think gray may even be the new black - the color that never goes out of style. Over the years I've spun lots of different silver and gray luxury yarns using ultra-soft alpaca, llama, lambswool, bamboo and other fine wools to create some gorgeous yarns. I finally decided to dig into my silver/gray luxury yarn stash and create something. I came up with "Misty" and "Foggy" this week.

"Misty" - Hand crocheted long skinny scarf made from handspun yarns and a novelty "fur" yarn in varying shades of silver and grays. Alpaca, llama, wool, mohair and bamboo. 61 inches long with 7" fringe at each end for a total of 75" in length - 2 inches wide. Even if you wrap it around your neck twice there is still some left over to drape down the front. Use it as a scarf, a lariat necklace, a belt or use your imagination!

Foggy

 

Foggier

"Foggy" - Hand crocheted long skinny scarf made from handspun yarns and a novelty "fur" yarn in varying shades of black, silver and grays. Alpaca, llama, wool, mohair and bamboo. 67 inches (5 feet 7 inches) long with 6" fringe at each end for a total of 79" (6 feet 7 inches) in length - 2 inches wide. Even if you wrap it around your neck twice there is still some left over to drape down the front. Use it as a scarf, a lariat necklace, a belt or use your imagination!

I used some of the same yarns as the "Misty" scarf for this one but Foggy has a darker side and a lighter side - foggy and foggier - for two different looks!

Both of these scarves are available in our ArtFire store. Click on the link on each name to go directly to that scarf's listing.

Psssstttt: Check it out in the right hand column - a coupon code for a SALE on Misty, Foggy and Mum's The Word scarves!!!

Mum's The Word

Last week I did a trade with another fiber artist - Rachel at Coolclimates on Etsy. Actually she bought some of my batts and I bought a skein of her yarn. The yarn is called Hyakkaryouran Hana - after a Japanese textile.

Here is the Hyakkaryouran Hana fabric

She strung fabric chrysanthemum flowers and leaves on pink cotton thread and plied with a chunky spun yarn consisting of wool, mohair, tencel, bamboo and recycled sari silk in a spring-summery mix of pink, peony, fuchsia, coral, apricot, mint, lime and salmon.

Here is the yarn before spinning

I immediately fell in love with this yarn and was so glad that Rachel had asked me if I was interested in trading some items. I got the yarn several days ago and it has been sitting here at my work station in a zip lock bag, calling my name. I already had a silver/gray long skinny scarf on the crochet hook and was going to finish it first but this gorgeous yarn was calling to me over and over and over...so yesterday I caved. I knit it up on size 13 needles making the pattern up as I went along. I managed to get all the flowers and leaves on the right side of the scarf and allowed it to roll to the center to create a tube.

Here is the finished scarf - Mum's The Word

As promised, here is the link to the Mum's the Word scarf. You can find it in my ArtFire store.

Spinning, Dyeing and Working with Fiber

I thought I had posted photos of the yarns I've been working on lately and realize in going back through my posts that I've mostly been showing and talking about the foster kittens! Honestly, I do work around here and not just play with kittens all day long!

My latest projects have been to spin a roving that I snagged from somebody on Ravelry who was destashing. The roving is called "Just Figs" and was the March/April spin along roving for the Into The Whirled group. One of my customers fell in love with this colorway but only had one roving and needed more yardage so when I snagged this I asked her if she was interested in having me spin this for her. Of course she said yes!

So, here's how the roving started out. It has lovely purple, russet, gold and soft green in it and they blend so beautifully together.

I spun the first 4 ounce roving and then Navajo-plied it. Navajo plying is also called chain plying. Basically you form a big loop or chain and then ply the yarn back on itself; it is a 3-ply yarn and the beauty of this plying method is you can keep those colors together rather than have them fall where they may, looking more like a barber pole.

I have another 4 ounce roving that the customer originally wanted to have spun two-ply but I emailed her photos of the N-ply yarn and she loves it so much she decided to have me N-ply the second roving, too. I'm about half way through spinning that skein.

Day before yesterday I decided to start dyeing up some skeins of yarn to sell in the store. It takes so much time to handpaint rovings and handspin them; I wanted something that gives me almost instant satisfaction so I hand painted several skeins of yarn. These skeins were dyed in the same dye pot using the same dyes applied at approximately the same rate on each skein. The darker skein is 100% New Zealand wool which is coarser than some wools but it showcases color sooo well and it is a perfect yarn to use for knitting or crocheting something that you want to then machine felt. The lighter skein is 92% wool and 8% acrylic and is a sock weight yarn. I'm not sure if this is a superwash wool or not, the skeins are not marked superwash, but it took up less dye than the NZ wool skeins. 

I took photos of the skeins after dyeing and drying and then again after I reskeined them into 2 yard long skeins. I love how the colors look so different after the skeins have been rewound!

I listed these two skeins in my Etsy store yesterday and then posted them on the Split Rock Ranch Facebook page. By the time I went back to get the URL for the second skein, there was only one skein left. The first one had already SOLD! By the time I finished posting the second skein on Facebook and got back to my Etsy store the second skein had sold, too! The woman that I am spinning Just Figs for fell in love with these yarns and wanted to add them to her order.

I  was a little disappointed that the skeins turned out so dark and so predominantly purple and burgundy so yesterday I did another dye pot with the exact same skeins of yarn. And here are the results of using less burgundy and purple and longer sections of gold and green.

And here are all the skeins together - even though one set is lighter and has more gold and green, they go together beautifully and they are perfect with the Just Figs yarn!

This morning I sent photos of the second batch of yarns to the customer to see if she would prefer to have the lighter skeins instead. She said she wanted them in addition to the ones she already bought! I was so tickled that my last two days were so productive and that I have a happy customer who will have some serious yardage to work with when I'm done with the next skein of Just Figs and get all these yarns shipped out to her.

I named these yarns Ceres in honor of the Roman Goddess of Harvest. The colors seemed appropriate. I am in love with this new colorway!

Chocolate Cherry Delight Yarn - DONE!

I finished spinning the Chocolate Cherry Delight merino/bamboo fiber blend batt into yarn. I ended up with 260 yards of a DK weight two-ply. It is really soft and squishy!

What's on the Spinning Wheel

Before I show you what's on the wheel right now, I want to show you how the Tuscany custom yarn turned out. I was amazed at the yardage I managed to get out of this roving! I ended up with a 3.8 ounce skein with 403 yards of yarn! I had a bit left on the second bobbin that I Navajo-plied (basically you ply the yarn back on itself) and ended up with 0.3 ounces and 32 yards. The customer wanted 400 - 450 yards of a heavy fingering weight yarn and I dyed up just over 4 ounces in the hopes I would be able to spin that into the required yardage. I love it when a plan works out! The customer was thrilled with the finished yarn and it shipped out on Friday.

And on the spinning wheel now is a merino/tencel roving that I dyed up in a colorway that I called "India Spices" - deep orange, aztec gold, brown and burgundy. It is spinning up nice and thin and is looking incredibly rich. I'll post pics of the yarn when I have it done. I am spinning this up for a friend who loves to crochet and she fell in love with this colorway. The finished yarn should have incredible drape and luster to it.

Busy, Busy, Busy...No Rest for the Weary!

Things are still crazy busy around here lately but I have gotten quite a bit of fibery fun squeezed in over the past couple of weeks.

Finally finished spinning the Zinnias merino roving. It took me two weeks (of spinning off and on, not hours at a time!) to get the first half of the roving spun fine and smooth so I decided to Navajo-ply that bobbin and I spun the second half of the roving thick and thin bulky and plied it with a coordinating cotton thread.

I'm knitting up the N-plied yarn (the bottom skein in the photo) using a dropped stitch pattern to make a long scarf. 

Then I'm going to use this yarn as fringe on one edge of the scarf, which will make it almost like a shawl. This Rainbow yarn is tailspun Teeswater locks spun by Esther at Jazzturtle. 

And the finished scarf/shawl should look something like this

Except I may not cut the tailspun yarn to make fringe, I may crochet it along the outside edge of the scarf instead. I'll have to play with it to see what works best.

Tomorrow I'll try to post what's on the wheel right now and what's waiting in the spinning queue. 

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

New Handspun Yarns

I've been busy spinning lately and finished up three skeins of yarn.

First up is a merino/bambo/silk 50/25/25 roving handdyed by Coby Kopec of CJ Kopec Creations in her White Cap colorway. This roving was a joy to spin - so soft and easy to spin thin - I ended up with a light DK weight 350 yard two-ply skein that weighs 3.7 ounces and then navajo-plied the remainder of the yarn into a 24 yard skein that weighs 0.3 ounces. This yarn is incredibly soft with amazing drape and luster. White Caps is available in my Etsy store.

Here's the roving before spinning

And here are the finished yarns

And here is the second set of yarns. I spun up a beautiful batt called Peacock created by Esther at Jazz Turtle Creations on Etsy. The batt contained: merino, milk protein, bamboo rayon, kid mohair locks, border leicester locks, glitterati, sari silk tangles, angelina and are plied with a cotton yarn/thread in coordinating colors.

Here is the batt before spinning

I spun this one thick and thin and plied it with a cotton yarn/thread in coordinating colors. I had so much yarn that it wouldn't all fit on the bobbin so I had to make two skeins of Peacock yarn. The first skein is 89 yards and 3.3 ounces. The second skein is 85 yards and 2.4 ounces. Both are worsted weight yarns. The second skein is a bit thinner than the first one. Peacock and Peacock II can both be found in my Etsy store.