Catskill Mountain Fibers

Archive for the ‘Etsy’ Category

I’m so happy to have had a few sales of my hand spun yarn in our Etsy shop. Until now, I hesitated to list it because . . . I wanted to keep it all for me!  Had to start letting some go, and for it to move so quickly makes me feel really good. I hope those that purchased the yarn are thrilled with it, too.  I’d love to see what is created with it.
I have more to list and need to get photos. I also have some gorgeous batts that I made up a couple of months ago to get in the shop. More roving . . .

OK! 

The final day of summer. The day before our darling daughter’s 19th birthday. Another year almost over. Time travels much too quickly! An understatement.

Autumn is my favorite time of year. The scent of leaves in the air, cool nights, beautiful crisp, cool days, the colors of the leaves on the different varieties of trees. Truly amazing.

Once the leaves have all met the ground dreaded anticipation of winter sets in. Muted browns and grays are predominant and dreary. The ground becomes hard with frost and eventually freezes. This is the period of time that slows considerably as dreams of spring seem so far reaching, almost unobtainable.

Winter is the time to spend handling wool and other fibers. Preparing them for spinning or felting. Creating yarns of color that promise change in the dull landscapes. Hope for the new year that will bring color, perfumed air, animal babies, and so much more.

Today I’m organizing my fiber stash in preparation for the coming months. I would like to participate in a couple of local fiber festivals next year – whether offering yarn or dyed spinning mediums, I want to be there.  I have enough to keep me busy for the entire winter without having to purchase anything but there is roving available from a particular seller that I would like to buy lots of. I’ve had two lengths and the yarn spun from it is truly amazing. MORE!  As soon as we have enough sales on Etsy to allow me to buy at least 10 lengths I’ll be quite pleased.

I would also like to make stuff for family members but spinning seems to get in the way. I just enjoy spinning so much. I have two “Spontaneous Spinning Clouds” from Loop on Etsy and plan to core spin these. I just want to be very sure of the technique before diving into them.  Leave it to Steph to come up with another brilliant mix of fibers to spin from.

I have a batt that I created on my carder that I would like to blend one more time. It reminds me of sterling silver. Quite lovely blend of wool, silk, bamboo and angelina.  I’ll consult my “Intertwined” book to figure out how this fiber might be spun up.

ciao! 

Out on my rear deck are 2 boxes containing raw fleece. One box has 10 pounds of kid mohair and it is NASTY! I’ve been telling myself for many months that I need to put on gloves and go through it to salvage the best parts. In box #2 is 3 pounds of Cheviot and 3 pounds of a Border Leicester cross – both white long wools. I didn’t look at it too closely when it was delivered. Maybe if the weather is good tomorrow I’ll sit on the deck and go through it. These will be the last raw fleeces that I buy. I simply do not have the energy or patience to process them all correctly. I’ll be sticking with scoured fleece, batts and roving from here on.

I also plan on buying mainly from the co-op I belong to and also from R. H. Lindsay. I’ve received excellent quality fibers from both and got fantastic deals on dyes (MX & acid) from the co-op.  We’re still hunting for a local source for stainless steel tines for our wool tools. We’re purchasing from a place in the state of Florida right now and each six foot tine ordered is in its own plastic tube. Order 20 – get 20 plastic tubes. PITA!  Due to the cost of each rod we’ve had to raise the prices on the hackles and wool combs. Once we find a local source we’ll be able to drop the prices to keep them in the affordable range we’ve set out to offer to all customers. Fortunately, the wood we buy is always reliable, not warped, well seasoned, and from a great supplier that always has the cuts we need ready and waiting.

I wish that my health and current state of mind were in a better place so that I could get my hand spun yarns listed for sale. With the chronic illness I have exhaustion sets in rapidly with little exertion. This sucks but at least I’m still able to sit and spin to produce the yarn. . . taking the photos in correct lighting, photo editing, and listing on Etsy can be daunting for me.

We need to start selling some stuff soon – our fridge recently died and we lost everything in the freezer, which just happened to be packed full of various proteins and frozen vegetables.  $1250 later (our savings is officially empty and I had to put two bills on hold) we have a lovely Whirlpool Gold bottom mount, French door fridge that is a medium gray color – advertised as ‘stainless look‘.  I love it!  Anyway – the frozen (unfrozen) veggies went outside off of the deck for our adopted deer – Droolie.  The huz has given her that name because of the way she salivates as she waits for us to come out of the house to bring her goodies. Huz can hand feed her – she’s quite bold and trusts us completely. I saw that she was here earlier today with her fawn but I was too late to get anything out to them. She does visit every day and I have stuff for tomorrow ready to go when she arrives.

I’m still spinning yarn up for the Garden (slug) Snail and will probably have it done tonight. Since this creature will be felted I’m not going to bother with finishing the yarn – setting the twist and whatnot. I’m spinning on my large whorl and it’s a 2:1 ratio so the twist is quite low anyway. I used a yellow & pink merino roving for the body(knitting complete!!) and a myriad of colors for the shell that is Falkland roving.

So, it’s getting late and I’m going to spin to try and relax myself in hopes of getting to bed before 2 a. m..

We think that the wheel that I’ve been trying to ID is from a kit. Something that isn’t meant for use, but for display. It’s just too fragile to imagine spinning on it. We’re considering putting a finish on it and mounting a ‘welcome’ sign. Maybe something to hold a small flower pot. Finish it up with marine varnish. Maybe then Jenn & Erich can put it on the front porch of their new home!

The huz has been designing and building yet another spinning wheel. This one has a miner’s head on it and goes super fast. He has it on hold at the moment as he constructs more wool tools for our Etsy shop. His new hackles are just amazing! Nice long tines, increased work space for blending fibers, all are self clamping. Our original design, the ones made with common nails and spring clamps will still be made and sold very cheap – $25 each. The 18 inch hackles are priced at $70. His new 2 pitch, wide head wool combs are $50. We have a version with a more narrow head that will sell for $38.  The wide heads will become his primary offering for combs.

I’ve been spinning wool up for a toy for our big dog, Caesar. He has a hat that I had knit a long time ago and has been carrying it around for months. We tend to spend a lot on toys for our dogs, only to have them quickly dispatched to the garbage within a day or so of purchase. The huz suggested that I knit and felt something up to see how they do with it, so . . . I’m knitting a Garden Slug from a book by Hansi Singh. Her patterns are just the best! You can find her patterns on Etsy for individual sale or buy her book (which I did!) to have a nice collection of her patterns.  I’ve just checked her Etsy store and found that she has a great Tree Frog pattern that is a MUST HAVE!

Off to spin & knit the day away!