Well, I have decided to start this blog again!

I realize that losing Sasha was a necessary part of life and that ignoring it won’t make it go away. This blog is an important extension of my shop and life and I need to have it for everyone.  So without further ado, my first post in forever!

I finally was able to snag a Phat Fiber box this month and it just came today!  Phat Fiber is a box full of yarn & fiber samples, along with patterns, stitch markers, buttons, coupons & other fibery goodies!  It is very similar to the Sampler boxes, but geared towards us fibery geeks!

SPOILER ALERT!!!! 
Following this is photos of what I received in the June Phat Fiber box, don’t look if you haven’t rec’d it yet and don’t want to be spoiled!!

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Here is what I got in my box!!!  The theme this month was Oceanic, so it was right up my alley!!

Opening the Box:

Inside the box:

Cute little message in a bottle:

Gorgeous handmade button:

Fish Stitch Marker

Cute purple stitch marker

All the amazing fiber samples!

And all the awesome yarn samples:

I also got two amazing patterns, a ton of coupons and lots of new vendors to buy from!!!  I just signed up to become a contributer myself, so look out for Mandalinn Knits & Spins coming to a Phat Fiber box someday in the near future!! Probably the August box, but I will post here when I am sure.

There are many new and exciting things that I am working on lately, including getting ready for SAFF…which will be my first fiber festival ever, starting a Mandalinn Knits & Spins Batt Club (yup finally!!!) and other various interesting things.

I have also been having fibery fun days here with my buds lately and will continue to do so and share the fun here.  We do everything from carding, to dyeing, to knitting, to spinning and more!  Gnat (barknknit), Krisha (susie190) & Monica (BeltwaySpinner) were here on Sunday for like 7 hours of awesome knitting & spinning!  It was the best day in a long time!

I am also quite active on Twitter lately, so please add me if you Tweet!!

And finally, I have been KNITTING like mad lately.  I have many neat projects lined up, including a sweater out of my own handspun!!!!

So I hope you will stick around as I will be adding a lot more in the days to come, I am so glad to have this going again, it is a great way to keep motivated!

Happy Knitting & Spinning!

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Whew it has been a while….

For some reason I have been totally “down in the dumps” lately and I have no clue why.  It sucks and I have been neglecting my friends, family and blog.  Hopefully I can get out of this funk soon, because it sucks.  Meh!

 Well today is Miss Bella’s surgery for her spay, microchip and softpaws, she is there right now having it done and I hope to hear something soon.  I know it has to be done, but I just worry since she is such a tiny baby still.

Hopefully she will be home soon and purring away.  And content so I can go to my SnB meeting tonight, I need some away time.  LOL!

Speaking of SnB, here is the latest project I am working on!  I finally casted on my Lady Eleanor and I love how she is coming out.  Entrelac is so much fun to knit and really keeps your interest!  It is going so quickly so far and I am loving the Noro Silk Garden I chose.

Here is my latest spinning!  Flamingo Bay—252 yards of fingering weight….65% Merino, 15% Colonial and 20% Tencel from Copperpot on Etsy!

I am really happy with how it came out.  I am work on another yarn right now that I can’t wait to put up, it will be fantastic I think!

I also have been updating my Etsy shop with 6 new rovings and 2 bags of locks.  Here are two of my faves!

 Love Bites—-5oz of Falklands roving

And Psychedelic—3 oz of Mohair Locks

Along those lines, I had to reorder wool today for my shop since I just sold off the last pound to a buyer in Romania of all places!!  🙂  So I went ahead and finally ordered a full bump of the domestic wool roving.  A full bump consists of TWENTY-SEVEN POUNDS!!!!!!!!!  I think I am freaking insane!

Also on the insane front, I just ordered a new carder, yup not too long after my first one, I ordered a new one.  AAAAHHHHH!!!!  I love my Louet Jr…..but a production model it is not and it just wasn’t fitting the bill for what I needed for my shop.  So I ordered one of these!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yes it is a freaking Strauch’s Finest!!!  OMG I am drooling over the photos and cannot wait for it to be here.  And best of all, I ordered it from fellow Etsy-er, Artclub and she is throwing in 2 pounds of mixed fibers to boot!  I am so stoked!!!  Crazy, but stoked!!!  🙂

So be on the lookout for new fantastical batts to be coming to my little shop soon!  YEAH!

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Finally got some new spinning done!

I finally got the chance to sit at my wheel and spin up a couple of fun, colorful yarns.  I definitely have spring on the brain I guess.

First up is Circus Parade—144 yards of dk-worsted weight Corriedale, spun from the 2oz of roving from Traveling Rhino’s October batt of the month club.

Second is my new all time favorite.  It is called Freak Show!  It is 68 yards and 4.2 whopping oz of crazy handspun goodness. A huge and chunky yarn!  There is wool, bamboo, mohair and tons of bling and glitz.  This was spun from an awesome “Oh Hell” batt from the talented HollyEQQ!  I got it from her monthly club as well.  It was so much fun to spin and see what came out of it next!!!

I am working now on more dyeing for the shop since it is pretty empty again with fibers and I am blending up my batts for a special Valentine kit I will be posting shortly.  There is only one and it will be awesome, be on the lookout!!!

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Finally, a shop update and some happy news!

Today I had my first shop update in a long time, 4 new rovings and much more to come.  Including some locks that are dyeing right now!  Here are the new fuzzies!

Sugalite–6 oz of hand-dyed merino roving in purples and blues.

Amaranth–3.8 oz of hand-dyed Falklands roving in purples and fuschia.

 

Frogger—4 oz of hand-dyed Falklands roving in shades of green. 

 

Mali–roving in shades of green, blue, purple and fuschia.

 Much more to come in the following days and weeks, including art yarn kits, Valentine’s Day batts and other specials!

On to my good news……the dogs and kitty are finally getting along.  We all actually slept in the same bed for the first time since Bella joined our family.  Last night we didn’t, but that is only because Bella kept swatting at Sasha trying to get her to play, but it hurts because of her claws.  I have the SoftPaws sitting here and they will be put on at the vet’s next week, so that should help.  But no more segregated house for us!  Woohoo!  Bella chases them around and just wants to play now.  It makes me feel like we definitely did the right thing by taking her in.  I couldn’t imagine life without her!

Next week I go in for my lung function test, so we shall see if I finally am better and if I get a diagnosis of asthma or not.  Hopefully I can at least get some good allergy meds, since I have been suffering lately.  I am just glad that life is evening out around here.

Best of all our SnB group that meets every Wednesday at Panera by Tyrone Mall from 6:30-9:30pm is going great, I have finally made some awesome friends down here and look forward to it every week.  Come and join us if you like! 

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I have someone to introduce you to…..

This little cutie ended up in my garage on Sunday.  We of course took her in and set her up in the garage.  My first thought was there is no way that I can have a kitten.  I have two psycho dogs and not to mention allergies to cats.  But she is still here, not a sneeze yet.  The dogs do not like her and one was trying to bite her and she was biting back, but I think over time they might be okay.  My dad & stepmom are allergic, but I think they might be able to deal with one cat in this huge house.  Somehow she now has a collar, toys, food and a litterbox and a name….Bella.   We do have word out for our friends/family to see if anyone would like to take her home, but who knows.  I think I am crazy, really!  ARGH!!!  😉

My swap partner received her package, so I can show the yarn I spun finally.  Here it is:

Jade Dreams
500 yards of 2-ply superwash merino
Light fingering weight
Handspun & dyed

I am really pleased with how it came out and I hope she is too.  It was a lot of work, but worth it.

I haven’t gotten the dyeing done that I was hopeing for, but I did card up some of the awesome Coopworth locks that I got from Frene Creek Farms today.  It will probably become socks, but we shall see.

Bliss Batts

Well off to card up the rest and maybe get some spinning done.  I finally have my energy back for the most part, which is good.  🙂

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Feeling so much better and drowning in WOOL!!!!

First off, thank you so much for all the well wishes, emails, etc.  It means so much to me.  I went to my family doctor yesterday and all is looking well.  He says I still need to take it easy and that it will be a few weeks before I am 100%, but I should be fine.  In 6 weeks  I will go in for a lung function test and follow up, but he doesn’t expect any issues.  So with that out of the way, I am starting to get back to normal around here.  And my swap package is in the mail, I cannot wait until she gets it.  I can’t wait to share photos and I hope she likes it as much as I do.  🙂

 I just had UPS drop off a box with FIFTEEN pounds of wool at my door, the undyed is back in my shop and I hope to get some dyepots going here either later today or tomorrow.  I am also finishing up a gorgeous skein of merino/colonial/tencel in shocking pinks, blues & shiny white….I know not exactly a fall color, but it is gorgeous!

Here is the latest skein up in the shop, perfect for this time of year:

Sangria—206 yards of merino/colonial/tencel.  Thick & Thin, perfect for a hat, scarf, small bag.

Well off to hopefully get the dyepots going and maybe some cleaning done; the cleaning lady is coming tomorrow for my big Thanksgiving cleaning, so you know I have to clean before she comes, LOL!

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Whew, finally finished….

I have been working on a yarn for a swap for a long time now and it is finally finished and I am so happy with it and hope my partner will be too.  It is some of my best spinning ever.  All I can share is that it is 500 yards of light sockweight and simply stunning. 

It is for the handspun swap on Craftster, where your partner chooses what type of pattern he/she would like yarn for and then you spin it for them and send it with that type of pattern.  She wanted socks and only asked for sportweight because it takes so long, but I decided to go for fingering weight and did it!  Dyed the fiber, spun it to fingering weight and now just have to set it and get the extra goodies ready.  It took quite some time (more than I expected because of being sick), but the end results were sooooo worth it. 

Speaking of being sick, I was finally feeling 100% on Wednesday and Thursday, even went to the new uniform unveiling yesterday evening for the Tampa Bay Rays and was only 8 rows away from KEVIN COSTNER as he performed with his band (yeah I didn’t know he sang either). 

It was a great night, but I woke up this morning literally gasping for breath.  I at first just thought it was a panic attack, but we quickly realized that it was more than that.  I don’t know if it is a relapse of the flu or what.  This is much different than what I had and I get short of breath just walking up one flight of stairs.  If it isn’t better at all by tomorrow I will head out to the clinic (why do these things have to happen over the weekend?).  Hopefully it is just because I pushed myself a bit too much.

So again, back to bed for me, hopefully not for too much longer.

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Bad blogger….

I haven’t been around here much, things are just kind of crazy.  Lots of orders going out, new rovings being dyed, yarns being spun and getting ready for the onslaught of family visiting.  2 aunts, a cousin and her son…..but they are great fun and it should be a blast.  We are taking Taua (who is 6) to Disney for the first time, he is so stoked and can hardly contain himself.  Also going to hang out around here and go to MOSI and the beach I am sure.  One of our stops at Disney will be to the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, that should be a fun experience.

 One new roving in my shop to share:

Secret Garden—4oz of Falklands

I am going to be blending up some more batts to put up this week (including some sock blends with 5-6 oz of fiber) and dying up a bunch more rovings & locks so I can put them up before my vacation with family.  I know everyone is trying to get ready for holiday knitting/spinning, so I hope to get a bunch up.

Stay tuned for a contest here on my blog after I return, with a great prize, should be fun.

Well the Bucs just won, so I am a happy camper, off to get some more stuff dyed.

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Another FO to share…..

Here is “My So Called Scarf” that I did for my Grandma for Christmas.  I had started it a long time ago and frogged it, but restarted it and finished it in a couple of weeks.  Super easy pattern and fun to knit.  I used 1 1/2 hanks of Manos del Uruguay in an old discontinued colorway that I had in my stash.  My grandma is petite, so using it all would’ve been too much.  I am very happy with how it turned out, I just need to weave in the ends and block it (the ends flare a bit).

I also have my first finished yarn done on my new Rose…..

Autumnal–190 yards of sport to worsted weight, 2oz.  This roving is Corriedale from TravelingRhino’s kit last month (I ended up with 3 skeins from that kit, not bad!)

It isn’t as even as I would like, but for my first skein on my new wheel, I am pleased.  I am working on some BFL from Spunky Eclectic in her Burning Embers colorway and it is coming out nicely.

I packed off the Lendrum today and it is on its way to her new home in Arizona, I am sure she will be much loved and used.

Off to finish off my OTT (one tiny thing) swap on Craftster, need to get it in the mail.  🙂

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Lendrum ST is sold…..

Tell me why I am a bit sad?  I love my new Rose (who still needs a name and her new wheel), but I will still miss my first wheel.  Thank you for all the interest.

I got a big order of wool in today, tons of white and black merino, awesome light brown romney roving, some camel down and a bit more cashmere.  Well it was supposed to be only 0.1 pound, but they sent a pound, ugh.  So I am waiting to see if I am billed for the whole amount or not and what can be done.  It is gorgeous, but I already have 8 oz of white and I am not that proficient at spinning cashmere yet.  I do okay with it blended, but by itself, forget it.  So I might have some cashmere up for sale in the shop shortly and definitely cashmere blended batts, be on the lookout!

Off to spin and dye up some more, the shop update should be done by Monday.  I will post here when it is.  🙂

I forgot to ask, do any of you do lampwork bead making? It was something that I have always been interested in and I know I do not need another hobby, but would love any info if you have it.  🙂

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