On the Needles and On the Spinning Wheel

Sorry it has been several days since my last post but I've been busy!

Here's what I have on my needles right now. It is a wool art yarn spun by Esther at JazzTurtle on Etsy - spring green, lavender and white plyed with a gold metallic thread with silk flowers attached at random places along the skein. I am making a long skinny scarf with this using large size 13 needles and a basic stitch of knit one row, purl one row and then I wrap a row every ten to twelve rows and drop that wrapped stitch in the next row to create a long stitch. I am not using a pattern, I'm just making it up as I go along. I'm still debating on fringe or no fringe - I'll see how long the scarf is when I get towards the end of the skein. If the scarf is long enough I'll do fringe. If it isn't I'll either not do fringe or use a different yarn to create the fringe. Here's the skein of yarn

And here is what's on the spinning wheel right now. This is a roving consisting of merino and tencel from CJ Kopec Creations on Etsy. This is for the March/April Spin Along on CJ's Ravelry group. It is coming out nice and thin so I will be able to Navajo ply it and still have it be a lighter weight yarn (I'm thinking sport to DK weight).  The colors are so rich and the luster of the yarn is incredible. I can't wait to finish this one up!

Wordless Wednesday

Foster Kittens Update

Sorry, lately I've been posting mostly fiber and yarn and I know some people don't really care to see all of that, but it has consumed my life and my time for weeks and I just had to share!

I decided I needed to update everyone on the foster kittens that we took in three weeks ago. Three days after we took them in, the smallest kitten woke up with one watery eye. The next day, both eyes were watering. The next day he was sneezing so hard he got a bloody nose. I called the shelter and ran in to pick up some antibiotics. He was to be on a seven day course of the antibiotics. The antibiotics were I believe maybe orange flavored - they mixed up orange at any rate - and he hated to take them. I felt so bad forcing him to take the stuff but I knew he had to take it to get better. The next day I thought we were going to lose the little guy because he was so stuffed up and lethargic. Jim gave him Reiki and I cleaned his little eyes, face and nose up several times a day with a warm damp wash rag. Within a few days he turned around and by day 6 of the antibiotics he was playing and eating again. Day 7 he was exhausted - in fact all the cats were laying around the house like little furry rugs and nobody was active. Every other day he was active, followed by a day of inactivity. Now, finally he is eating like a little hog, romping through the house for hours and gaining weight. He also had severe diarrhea when we got him and that has gotten better. Rather than feeding them the Science Diet kitten food that the shelter gave me, I am feeding them the all life stages grain free kibble that we feed our cats, along with scrambled egg, cottage cheese and plain vanilla yogurt to build the bacteria back up in their systems. No, I don't spoil my foster kittens! ;o)

These kittens were named Thelma and Louise but now that they're older we have Thelma and Louis because the "paint" kitten is clearly a male. And Thelma is clearly a female - a DIVA in training! She meows her displeasure at all sorts of things. She loves to snuggle on your lap, but only if it is her idea. If you pick her up and she doesn't want to be held she squirms and meows until you put her down. Several times I've run out to see who was hurting whom and it was Thelma squalling because somebody looked at her wrong. She starts fights and then meows loudly when the other kitten or cat plays too rough. Louis, on the other hand, purrs loudly when you talk to him, pet him, pick him up, etc. Male cats are always so much more affectionate - I should have known from the beginning just from attitude that one was a male and the other was a female!

So, here are some photos I took a few days ago while Thelma and Louis were watching a fly on the ceiling. They are too cute! I have to call the shelter this week and see when they need to go back. Both kittens are at least 2 pounds 5 ounces now - Louis has gained a full pound since we got them and he has surpassed his sister in weight now. Doesn't it look like he's smiling in this photo?!

ICE PRINCESS - Handspun 2-Ply Yarn - Merino, Tussah Silk and Bamboo - 260 yards

I found this gorgeous roving in my fiber stash this past week. It was the January 2010 Roving of the Month from a fiber club I joined from Cloudlover69 on Etsy so I don't have a photo of the roving before spinning. I started spinning this one very thin, thinking I was going to navajo-ply it (which is basically where you chain ply almost like crochet and ply the yarn back onto itself, making a three ply yarn) but decided that it would be easier if I just split the roving in half, stripped each half into thinner strips for spinning and then two plyed it. I love how this turned out. At first I thought there was too much white in the roving for my liking and thought I would end up with too many long white runs in the yarn, but after stripping the roving into much thinner strips the white just blended in with the blue, aqua and turquoise and made pastel colors. I had some yarn left over on one of the bobbins after I got done plying (since I started spinning it much thinner on the first bobbin) so I navajo plyed that bobbin and ended up with another 21 yards of 3-ply yarn for a bonus skein.

I photographed this yarn yesterday morning (after steaming it Thursday night) and listed it in my Etsy store and then posted it on my Split Rock Ranch Facebook page. It sold within minutes of listing!

Spinning up a Storm!

I have been spinning up a storm this week! I just listed two new skeins of handspun yarn today in my Etsy store.

First up is the Reggae on the River BFL roving that I showed you yesterday.

First the roving

 

And the finished two-ply yarn

 

I may buy another one of these rovings in merino/silk or merino/bamboo so I can spin it even thinner and then Navajo 3-ply it which keeps the color runs cleaner. I think the colors were somewhat muted by doing a two-ply yarn and mixing the colors. Any thoughts on that?

And next a boucle yarn made from a fiber blend batt of BFL wool, silk, bamboo, glitz and angelina in greens, purples, turquoise/aqua and white plyed with purple and turquoise cotton thread. I love how this one turned out! It is so soft and poofy and fluffy.

Pansy

What's on the Spinning Wheel

Now that my hand is no longer cramping and hurting when I spin I'm spending longer and longer periods at the spinning wheel. I love watching a roving or batt of fiber turn into a beautiful skein of yarn!

I recently finished this skein of two-ply yarn spun from a roving of 60% Merino and 40% Bamboo dyed by FreckleFaceFibers on Etsy in her Sweet Nectar colorway - burgundy, vermillion and deep orange. This fiber is so soft and has incredible luster (shine) and drape! Sweet Nectar is available in my Etsy store. It weighs 3.8 ounces and has 324 yards; it is a light sport/heavy fingering weight.

 

And here is the roving this yarn was made from:

On the wheel now is a BFL (Blue Faced Leicester) roving dyed by Rogue Adventures on Etsy in her "Reggae on the River" colorway. I am going to two-ply spin this yarn by spinning half the roving on one bobbin and the other half of the roving on another bobbin and then ply them together letting the colors fall where they may (it has a barber pole or tweedy effect) so this will be a very bright and fun yarn - I think it would be perfect for making a hat and mittens for the kids!

Here is the Reggae on the River roving

I will post photos of the yarn when I have it finished.

Another Treasury!

My Amazon Border Leicester locks made it into a Treasury this week! The Treasury is named Turquoise Waters and Coral Seas and it is a beautiful Treasury.  You can click on the name above and go directly to the Treasury. Please feel free to click on the Treasury and on the individual Treasury entries - each click is counted like a vote. Treasuries with lots of votes make it to the front page of Etsy, which is a huge honor!

 

 And, here is a bigger photo of the Amazon locks.

WW - Italy Vineyards and Countryside

OLIVIA'S PANSIES - Handspun 3-Ply Yarn - Merino and Silk - 280 yards

Olivia's Pansies is spun, steamed and listed! This is a 4.5 oz roving from cloudlover69 on Etsy in her Olivia colorway: olive green, cobalt blue and purple in an 80% Merino/20% Silk fiber. This yarn has lots of luster, drapes beautifully and is next to the skin soft. This is Navajo-plied (3-ply - also called "chain plyed") and I ended up with 280 yards of DK weight @ 12 wpi.

Here is the original roving (Olivia)

And the finished yarn - Olivia's Pansies

 

 

New Foster Kittens!

Monday afternoon our daughter and her BF came over to play with Lalo and visit for awhile. While we were playing with Lalo I mentioned that I was ready for another kitten fix. The very next day the phone rang and it was the shelter wanting to know if I could take in two little kittens found abandoned on the helipad in Victor. I started laughing and said "Of course!!!" And then wondered if this would also work with winning the Lotto, etc.....I'm going to have a go at that, too; I'll let you know how that works out for me!

Anyway, here are Thelma & Louise, although I think they look like little males so we may have Theodore and Louis instead (remember how Lily became Lalo?!)

Here's Thelma

And here's Louise:

Louise is in constant motion so it was very difficult to get good photos of her. Thelma, on the other hand, is a total ham and very laid back so I got plenty of great photos of her!

Aren't they adorable?!

There is an upper respiratory virus going around the cattery at the shelter so these little ones will stay with us until there are no more problems at the shelter or until they are big enough to be spayed (or neutered if they turn out to be males), whichever comes first.

WW - Mardi Gras Kitty

 

Wow...somebody collected a LOT of beads yesterday!

On the Spinning Wheel - Olivia's Pansies

Last week I spun this roving up (a super fine merino roving from Poppy Flower Fibers in Boulder, CO) and called it "Crocuses". A friend of mine who has been trying to decide on which yarns to buy for her crocheting needs immediately spoke up for this one before I was even done spinning it.

And here is the finished yarn.

And now on the spinning wheel, a 80/20 Merino/Tussah Silk roving from Cloudlover69 on etsy. Natalie called this colorway "Olivia" and I am calling the yarn "Olivia's Pansies". I'll get photos of the finished yarn posted when I've completed the spinning, plying and steaming.

 

This one should end up looking similar to the Crocuses yarn but the shades of blue and green are different. This one is spinning up lighter in color than the Crocuses roving and I should have longer runs of color in the Pansies yarn. The fiber is super soft and a joy to spin and should be uber soft and lustrous when I'm finished with it.

Shades of Twilight - Etsy Treasury

My Montana Moon handspun yarn made into a beautiful Etsy Treasury today, titled "Shades of Twilight". These are some gorgeous twilight colored finds!

  

  

  

The yarn was handspun from the following roving from CJ Kopec Designs

 

Isn't it amazing how a finished yarn looks so different from the fibers it was created from?!

Wordless Wednesday - Winter Wonderland

 

 

Blue Denim Wrangler Sold & Delivered

Yesterday was a bittersweet day. We sold Blue Denim Wrangler almost two years ago but his new owners were unable to accept delivery for a variety of reasons and we finally delivered him to his new home yesterday.

Blue is a Mesquite son (we sold Mesquite last summer) out of our silver female Minnie Pearl. Blue is so laid back and sweet and easy going; I can walk up to him in the pasture and hug him, scratch his back and pat him. He loves to beg for treats. The new owners have two gorgeous silver/gray females that they are going to breed to Blue and the crias should be absolutely stunning.

Here is Blue as a cria. Can you see why we named him Blue?!

 

The photo above was taken when Blue was weaned.

The photo below was taken in June 2008 after Blue was sheared last.

And here is what Blue's sheared fleece looks like.

 

I had a waiting list for Blue's fleece. If I had kept Blue, I could have sold his fleece every shearing until he passed away and still not have made it through the list of people wanting one of his fleeces.

I'm happy that Blue is going to be used as a stud; he'll enjoy his new job and I cannot wait to see how his crias turn out! But when I started up the truck yesterday, Blue watched us pull away and he had a look on his face that seemed to say "HEY, wait! You forgot me!" I couldn't watch in the side mirrors as we left... Love you Blue.