My First Pencil Roving

On the way home from our trip to the Kentucky Sheep & Fiber Festival in May, I was lucky enough to be able to stop and visit Blue Mountain Spindle & Needleworks shop in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.  While there, I purchased 100% Fine Merino in fabulous colors: spice, green and lilac. 

 On my homemade hackle (see post "Hackle DYI Discovery" on this blog or click link to see instructions for making your own hackle  http://yarnzombie.net/Travis/?page_id=87)
 

I placed each color across and then another across until the hackle was almost full.  Then with the fender washer a.k.a. "a diz",

I pulled the fine merino colors together to make a pencil roving, my first pencil roving.  It was not easy but eventually got the hang of what I was doing and made three very nice balls of roving.  

As the evening grew on though, I made a huge mess.  I got tangled up somehow and the merino would not slide out of the hackle as it previously was.  I'm ready to try again.  I hope to make enough pencil roving to spin a single ply with it to knit or crochet something pretty and unique. 

Falkland "Rain Forest"

I ordered six more months of Fiber Club from Happy Fuzzy Yarn.  I was feeling a bit down and really wanted to treat myself.  And then when I got home from work there on my kitchen counter was a familiar package from the Riin of the Happy Fuzzy Yarn.  I had my third installment of my yarn club.  It's called "Rain Forest" and it's a Falkland fiber.  

I think the fiber colors are much richer in person.  Check back with my blog Fiberista, I'll have Rain Forest spun up in no time. 

Rug By The Fire Single

 

There were plenty of "chic" movies on TV and a very cold weekend for perfect for staying in a spinning the weekend away.  This is my single "Rug By the Fire" the fiber from Happy Fuzzy Yarn.  I've mentioned in previous posts how much I enjoy receiving 4 oz. of fiber each month in my mailbox.  This was the second installment of my three-month club that I was gifted as a Christmas gift from my step-dad.  Because I never have to deal with any bumps or vegetable matter in the fiber is it a joy to spin. The colors truly do remind of me of the blue, green, and gray flames to a fire.

Happy Fuzzy Yarn Fiber Club

My step-dad is fabulous! I received a 3-month fiber club membership from Happy Fuzzy Yarn for Christmas.  Riin just notified me that my first month's fiber is on the way.  I can't wait to see it.  I'll post a photo before I spin it.  Does receiving fiber in the mail sound great to you too?  You can't go wrong with the fiber if you love to spin a beautiful yarn.  I highly recommend it!

Zinio

Please subscribe to Zinio.  I have discovered a wonderful fiber emagazine you are going to enjoy seeing!  Once you subscribe and create a password and all of that go to Art then Crafts and look for "Entangled" emag.  You can view the entire Preview emag.  Entangled includes nice photography and interesting articles about all of the things for the love of fiber, fiber animals, people who also love fiber, spinning and how they got their dream LYS and how they have succeeded in the business.  The one year (4 emags) subscription is only $20 US.  You can even download it to your ipad, PC, Mac and Android. 

Off of the Hook - Cashmere and Silk Fingerless Gloves

While traveling by car Tuesday to Nashville, Tennessee for a family road trip, I took along a crochet project that I had just started; a 10/J bamboo crochet hook and a muffin of some light blue recycled sweater cashmere and silk yarn (see 70% Cashmere post).  Off of the hooks came two fingerless gloves, a matching set.  I added matching motifs to the back of each (top of hand) with a big eyed plastic needle and the same cashmere and silk yarn.  There is much more yarn, so there may be a matching scarf in the very near future. I have been collecting glove molds for some years now, and they are the perfect models for my fingerless gloves don't you think? They were very cooperative! 

Merino and Silk

What a beautiful spun yarn.  I really love the way only 2 ounces of merino and silk spun for me.  It's the first silky roving I have spun and it was easier than I thought it would be. 

BaaBaa...

A long time friend of mine goes shopping and gives me a call.  This time she was excited and I could hear it in her voice.  She found a sheep with spinning yarn lingo on it.  She described it to me and told me the cost and of course I had to have it but I did not imagine how really wonderful this little sheep is until I got to see it.  Take a look at the pics.  I love the texture.  I love the wording.  I love the sheep. Thanks Cindy! 

My sheep is made of wood and measures two feet wide by about one foot tall.  

This pic is a closer look at the textures and of the word stenciling. 

And this pic of the face and horn may mean this my sheep is actually a little ram.  

Kromski Niddy Noddy

I'm pretty new to the world of spinning and fibers and all of the lingo that goes along with it.  I kept reading and hearing about "niddy noddy" and I ordered and received mine in the mail just a couple of days ago.  I watched the Kromski "Tim Talks" video on You Tube so I would wind my freshly spun yarn correctly onto my Niddy Noddy.  I think the skein looks really nice.  Tim taught me that the niddy noddy is a measuring tool - which I didn't know.  Mine is a two foot niddy noddy so that means if you wind 50 times you have 100 feet of yarn.  So, the niddy noddy not only makes your yarn beautiful and organized but it also helps you measure skeins that are equal for selling at the fiber festivals.