When You Slam One Door Closed.....

Hello All,

I have finally done it.  I am following my dream.  No. More. Day. Job.  After a few harrowing months with the "Troll" aka the micro-managing office manager.  I decided to cut down my stress and walk away.  Phew do I feel great.  I thought there would be a lot more worry.  But no, I am very comfortable with my decision.  The niggling idea that my eldest is about to leave for college and I need to make money to help with those expenses IS hanging about.  But I think that will assist me in working harder and longer to make this work.  

Being the A-type personality that I am, have already set up a schedule for my work week.  

Every Morning:  Exercise.  Gotta do it, I have been growing this secretaries butt for a while now, and sitting at the desk makes me stiff.  So my Hubby and I walk the dog for 3 miles every morning while it is still cool and then when we get back to the house I usually do stretching, sun salutations, to keep limber.  This is done while my loving husband makes breakfast.  Yup, I am spoiled rotten.

Monday:  Computer work.  I even DRESS for going to the office.  I can't let all of those pretty work clothes go to waste because I'm working from home now can I?  Today is gray heels, a gray pencil skirt and a pink button down shirt with pearl necklace and earrings.  On these days I blog, check.  I post on ravelry, check.  I research more shows, check (very productive morning so far)! Then update etsy, post to Indie Untangled, update my spreadsheets, print lables, pay bills, order and update our banking software.  There will be more but for now that seems to fill most of my day.  I also upload and post new products that I dyed the week prior, but because I did NOT dye last week (nephews were up to swim) so I did not take photos on Friday.  I forgive myself, it IS the first week working from home, and there will be some projects that got missed.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday:  Studio work.  Again I dress the part.  It is messy, hot work so I wear stuff I don't care about getting splattered.  Black or gray sweats (even in the summer, the studio is in the basement and stays cool) and then a tee-shirt or sweatshirt.  Jenn gave me this cute apron when I first started and that keeps me from getting soaked.  On really cold or messy days I use my old Chefs coats.  On these days I clean the studio, skein off projects or custom orders, make new dyes, dye and dry pieces, and spin on my wheel.

Friday: Photos. Now this sounds deceptively  easy, but it is not.  Remember I have been productive over the last three days.  There is a MOUND of dyed things.  These items need to be fluffed, folded, braided, packaged and readied for their photo shoot.  Every items gets at least 10 photos done, all angles and situations.  And, Yes, before you ask, I DO dress the part.  It is usually very flamboyant.  Crazy colored clothing and jewelry, a hat or mabie some ears and a tail.  Those were leftover from Halloween, bunny ears and a fluffy white tail.  :) It is good to let go a bit or you will grow OLD.  

Saturday and Sunday:  Show days or FAMILY TIME!  I can not tell you how long it has been since I have had a weekend to spend with my guys.  A picnic or a walk on the beach.  Just floating in the pool reading a book.  Hunt thru antique/junk shops.  Cook glorious creative meals WITHOUT feeling like I should be doing something else.  Yea!!

I should tell you as I type this my youngest, Colin 16, has been in and out of the dining room where I must work this morning because of guests, chatting with my father and my husband, goofing around and making a nuisance of himself and making it VERY difficult to finish this blog.  

I can not wait until school starts.

Have a productive day!
DD

Whoops, almost forgot a pretty picture to help you thru your day.

This is Morning Coffee, a spin to knit scarf kit.  Espresso to Latte is the brown and the yellow to red is YOP.  You spin one as its own skein and then then other then knit them together as a scarf.  Soooooo pretty.  Time to think about christmas gifts. 

;)

The Bump to My Grind

Hello All,

Now that the spring show season is over, Jenn and I regroup, relax, and re-stock.  I was able, for the first time, to purchase what is called a "bump" from our fiber supplier.  This is 22 POUNDS of fluffy, soft, wonderfulness.  I chose BFl for my first bump.  Easy to dye, beautiful to spin and well liked by our customers.

I thought I would share my babies, first pictures.....  Here she is fresh from the postman.  I honestly thought it was gonna be a HUGE box, but alas, no it was a normal/average sized container.

See what I mean, it's sitting in the dry sink so it can't run away as I put out its guts, normal in size.  No fork lift needed to drop this guy off.



I started breaking down this bad boy into 4 ounce balls....... After about  5 pounds and not seeing a dent in the box, I stopped for the evening.  The rest of the bump was placed in it's own snug rubbermaid container to wait until I needed more.

I was attempting to clean stuff up in expectation of my new arrival, remember I was thinking this was gonna be HUGE.  Look how tidy and all the empty bins.....  Since this picture was taken I have removed the gray cabinet (left hand side of the picture) and moved it to another room,  to give myself space for another countertop.  Jenn and I are looking at doing some wholesale, and I wanted to make sure I had enough room to dye in bulk.  Sweet huh? 

Thanks for looking at my baby's pictures ;)
Happy Spinning
DD

Hi All!

It's Tuesday and here are some of the new stuff I'm listing in the shop.  Ususally I don't promote in the blog, but I'm short on time this week. Sorry

 

 

Maelstrom, Merino Wool.  So very cool!!  Will make a killer yarn or felted scarf.

 Zeus, Merino Wool, new colorway.  The colors are a bit deeperr than in the pictures.  I really gotta get a new camera.  Santa?????

Cabbage Rose, Merino Wool.  Soft and subtle the perfect christmas colors.  Red, white and a hint of tan to ground it.

Equinox, Merino Silk Blend.  Deep gold in a continuous gradient out to a dark blue.  Again, damn camera.

Hope you have seen something you'll love.  See you next week.
Happy Spinning,
DD

Live and Learn

Hello All!

Long time no blog......

As many of you know we are now Phat Fiber contributors.  Very cool, Jessica Booth is a genius! 

That being said, each month you have a theme to "help" guide your muse.  This months seemed to be easy, "Ice Cream Social" Yum!  Sprinkles and chocolate and gummy bears!!

So I decided to dye this GLORIOUS  Merino Tussah mix to look like vanilla soft serve with multi color sprinkles.  I did and it does!  But along the way I loose my faith in how this would look SPUN UP, would it become mud?? 

I couldn't risk it......all those people waiting, hoping to snag a box only to find, UUGH???.  So I decided,just to be safe, to keep the samples and NOT send them.  What was I thinking?  Darn knee jerk reaction.

The rovings are quite "bright" sprinkles and the underside was left white for the vanilla.  Multi color sprinkles were squirted on in layers.  When it came out I was devastated!! Too Bright!!  What was I going to do?

When it came down to it and I spun some (to get my self more depressed about what a loss this was) I found I was given a lovely muted heathery single. Soooooo soft and the silk gave a killer sheen.

Long story.....short: I should have sent the samples and I'm going to finish off one of the 4 ounce hanks.  Then for funnsies I navajo ply it.  Trying to keep the like colors together and make up for any spinning gaffs. 

Then I'll put it up on the shop along with other unspun rovings. You'll be able to spin this cloud yourself.

Learn something new everyday.

Happy Spinning
Feed that PHIBER PHETISH

DD

Have Wheel Will Travel

Hi all,

OK, so I am on vacation in Swan Lake, Maine, just outside of Belfast. Yes, I know this is unusual, but I HAVE to take some time off or I am going to burn out like a sparkler on Fourth of July. This is the perfect place to recharge my batteries. Wow what a beautiful lake.... So quiet and so much to do. Canoe, kayak, fish, hike..... We would be doing more of this hiking if Loving Hubby had not ruputured his achilles tendon and is now waiting of surgery (it will happen the Monday we get back). But this is where I will be spending my time spinning for the next week. Tough huh???

Here we see my lovely and loved Louet S10 waiting to be used on the upper deck. Horrible view huh? I plan on spinning ata least a pound while I am here. I have brought with me different fibers that were not lucky enough to be purchased. Their loss is my gain.


Here is the first four ounces of my Beach Horizon which is a Superwash Merino. Sorta fits for the location...... I have a full eight ounces of this that when unsold, so I am going to spin them and then try my hand at plying. Should be fun.
Pretty huh? I'll check in with more photos of the spinning and mabie of me in the Kayak.

Hope you all have a wonderful day and I'll be back soon.

DD

Spin, Spin, Dye, Repeat

Hi Gang!

I've been spinning up a storm. I love my wheel. I've been spining up stuff that we weren't too happy with once they were dyed or stuff that never sold. Man, on either count once this stuff is spun its BEAUTIFUL!!! The first was some superwash in Espresso to Latte (check out the shop for other color ways) that the black broke purple and bled down the length of the roving. So I kept it and remade the fiber with no black. I've spun that up in a fat single and I'm going to knit (OMG NO!!!) a hat for my loving hubby for x-mass.

The next was some Salt Water Taffy in a Superwash merino. I was practicing the thick thin spinning for a potential customer. While it came out OK, I found that the superwash is very "slippery" when you try to spin it. It's very pretty and soft but it is as delicate as silk so I had to be VERY gentle.

Next, was 8 ounces of Domestic wool (aka nubbly, scratchy outdoor wool) dyed in Tapestry. I do not understand why someone didn't buy this stuff. True it is scratchy, but its very nice looking. And it naturally slubs it's self, the clumps and pips make for easy slubs that come at relatively equal intervals. The one I'm working at now and I won't have any pictures for you is the Pretty Sophisticated in Superwash Merino. Yea, I'm trying the superwash again to see if it was just me being ham fisted. Its still slippery, but my spinning buddy Gail gave me a couple of tricks to try and they seem to be working. This color way is a sweet pale pink and smoky gray mix. I working it in a standy yarn size. Not fat or chunky but definately not lace weight.

My fantastic Hubby made me a hand carved Niddy Noddy in teak!!! Take a peek and be very jealous!! He even made three different lengths of center poles!!!

Gotta get back down stairs and dye. Today is yarn and some more Superwash.

If I don't get back to you, have a great Thanksgiving!

I'm Getting A Spinning Wheel!!!

Hi all! Sorry its been a bit. We had a small emergency with my father needing some more coronary jewelry. Five stainless steel stents in all. He is fine, at home and in good spirits. Thanks for asking :)

I'm getting a wheel!!!! Yup, Santa (aka my hubby) is coming early this year! Jenn had sent me a e-mail about a lady who was selling perfect Louet 10. I laughingly sent it onto Hubby, who I guess had no idea of what to get me for Christmas, quickly called and snagged said wheel!!

I flipped! Not in a good way either. I was unsure of if I would use the wheel enough. The last thing I want is another "thing" taking up space and collecting dust. And I just couldn't take years of "you wanted it so badly......Are you ever going to use that again....". So I got on the phone to cancel the pickup. That being said, I am still getting the wheel. Gail, the LOVELY woman who is selling the wheel, was wonderful. Fun, interesting and a spinning addict like myself! She reminds me a lot of my friend Lia. Full of life, creative..... I can't wait to meet her!

We will take the two hour ride tomorrow to pick it up! Pictures to follow! Gail, sweet thing, asked me to be her "spinning buddy". I gotta tell you this clinched the deal. I really look forward to spinning along with her (I'll keep you in the loop). I am just so impressed with the way Jenn spins, I hoping that some day I'll be just as good.

My poor family. Hanks of dyed fiber in boxes everywhere, little colored tufts of fluff on the rug and now there will be this gorgeous wheel sitting in front of the TV along with their wii paraphenalia (sp). I can't wait to hear what they tell their friends when they ask "what is THAT?!"

More when I get this beautiful girl home!!!

I've been Spinning Again!!

Help me!!! I adore my drop spindle. It seems that Jenn has been reading the blog and I got caught. It's OK tho, its better that my problem is out in the open now....

Ahh to watch that beautiful fiber twist up into juicy fat singles..... The anticipation.... The silky softness. Oohhh almost as good as chocolate.

This is the "Sari" colorway from the shop. Its the BFL. This one "broke" and I had to take care of it. There is the Sari in Merino still for sale, but not for long if I can help it ;) heh heh heh heh. (Think sick pervert laugh). The first, sorry second, attempt was the Sea Glass colorway.

It came out a bit more thick and thin than the Sari. Still I love it!! I really need to learn to knit. What am I gonna do with all of this?? Any ideas? Do I need to start going to SA (spinning Anonomous) meetings? Hey! No comments on my lack of spelling skills :) Have a Great day, I'm out!!!