shop update in progress

I started a shop update this evening, but will finish it tomorrow afternoon/evening/latenight. I've been sitting on it for nearly a week now, just waiting for a chance to have a moment at the computer.

Please tell me you've been there.

My poor cat Lucio needed emergency surgery this week for a nasty abscess, and keeping the toddler and cat separated in an open-styled apartment with few room boundaries is next to impossible. The toddler is tired of the cat stealing her toys, jewelery, snacks, and blankets. The cat just wants to be near the toddler 24/7. Lucio is presently sleeping on Ing's train set, purring away.

I've tried to stay outside to avoid the silly drama, so Ing and I have been swimming at the park, obsessing over our ripening tomatoes, and laying under the walnut trees with stacks of library books. The walnuts haven't begun to fall yet, so it's still safe.

As for the Tour de Fleece, I spun religiously until day 12 and then had an epiphany: obsessing over what to spin and when to find time to do so was not the way I wanted to spend my rare free moments, so I'm going to scale back a wee bit and spin more casually. I've got a gorgeous stack of art yarns out of the experience, and am thrilled to have completed a 300 yard skein with 3 oz. of hand-processed corriedale fleece blended with silk.  Ohhh, luscious!

Tour de Fleece 2011, days 1-3

This year, I'm determined to make it through the Tour de Fleece. I've joined two groups on Ravelry and have also started my own thread in my Fan Club for folks to share yarns created during the Tour with Hobbledehoy Fibers.  I started off Day 1 really strong, waking up at 6am to spin a corespun yarn from my own ArtBatts.

Day 2, not so awesome. I spun a few yards of a bulky single ply while my toddler spun my wheel (I need a walking wheel now!) It was one of those days where the Universe was sticking out its colossal tongue at me.

Day 3, I managed an amazing spin thanks to a gorgeous Jazzturtle batt + some fiber I carded to coordinate with it. I'm naming it "Tasseography," which is the "art" of reading tea leaves.

Tomorrow, I might enjoy one final art yarn before I begin spinning yarn for my friend's wedding shawl.

Oh, I woke up super-early this morning and freshened up my shop! There are new Rollybatts, Classic Lil Batts, Garden Compost batts, dizzed rovings, and now, TrotterBatts! TrotterBatts are batts created with sock yarn spinners/knitters in mind. They have a durable soft base with a 10% nylon blend.

Spin-along

It's been a little too long since I've last updated. I've been totally absorbed by my great tomato experiment (and the baby pool and the cool sandbox).

The Tour de Fleece starts tomorrow and I'm anxious to participate this year, even if I won't end up being a frequent poster over on Ravelry. I will be sure to spin every day, and I need to! My friend's wedding shawl is still unspun.

I'm throwing a fun little summer spin-along, and if you're interested, take a peek over at my website for more details. It's a "Pick your own adventure" type deal, inspired by my gardening mis-adventures.

I also have an update planned for this weekend and will be rolling out 6 colorways for my new TrotterBatts- batts intended for sock yarn spinners/knitters which include Polwarth wool, nylon, and another fiber (sometimes bamboo, sometimes milk silk, and in the future, perhaps some baby suri alpaca).