Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Phat Fiber Box - Feb

A little about the samples in the phat Fiber box for February. First we had a sample if Isis, in a limited edition colorway (as in I haven't dyed anymore, lol). Second sample was a handspun rayon 3 ply in a Neapolitan colorway. This is one I can't do again, but I wanted to show my spinning skills to the world. There was also a few promises in there. One I swear I could keep, since they were chocolate. Nummy!

Tieing it all together was a sample of Nile, in it's world debut. Yes, we sent boxes overseas! How bouncy happy shiny is that???

New wools posted!

Yes, we not only carry cotton yarns, but wools as well. I just needed to get them skeined (harder than it sounds) and posted. Dyed on a base of pure merino wool for a whopping 440 yards of knitting pleasure. I call this one Anhk. More bases to come soon.

I'm aslo working on getting my Isis and Nile ready fora MASSIVE dyefest. Have you ever seen the look on a total stranger's face when your mum tells you that you need to dye tonight? It's really funny, when they don't know what you do for a living.

Expect to see some interesting pricing maneuvers on Isis, because I finally figured a way to price it based on the exact yardage.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Coming soon

More yarns in the store soon. It's looking a little empty right now, with just 6 yarns. Yesterday a blog about me on the Phat Fiber site went up, and I've been a busy little bee shipping off the orders that resulted. I now I'm putting my little wheel to work it's heart out. I have a box of yarns I am plying up, all Isis. I also have about 10 balls of Ankh, out 100% merino fingering weight to skein up and get pictures. Ma nature isn't being sunny right now, so I hope to get all this done this weekend. I also will be getting more Isis prepped for dyeing and some Nile too.


bzzzzzzzzzzzz, I'm a busy little bee today.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Phat Fiber Box

Samples are in for the Phat Fiber Box. I sent in for Feb and March, some beautiful things. I'll post teasing pictures up here all week, as the boxed are due to go on sale in one week, Feb 16th. They sell out fast folks. Jessie writes such wonderful posts about everyone. I squeed when I saw my graphics posted up on the site. You can also sign up to be notified of when she plans to post the boxes this month. Or you can just stalk her Etsy store. There's collaborations from artists featured in the boxes to look through for now.

Nile

Nile is the new comer to the shop. What started out as a 3 ply Navajo chained yarn has become a true 3 ply. Mainly because I can't chain fast enough to keep up with the wheel. A mercenized cotton yarn, this is another of my Custom Spun yarns. While not as brilliant of an idea and the birth of Isis it's still a beautiful yarn. Again, it takes about 2 hours to spin up 150 yards of it, in a 2 step process. In this case Nile is dyed after it's spun and had a nice long bath and hanging to even out and set the twist.

Isis

Isis is the brain child of me sitting there preggers on the couch bemoaning the fact I couldn't handle wool (was sensitive right then) and wanting to knit. I really don't like working above sport weight, I like light yarns. So, how to get a nice fingering weight cotton yarn that wouldn't break the bank?

I sat there playing with some of the heavier yarns, and came up with what everyone thought was a cracked out idea. Why not separate the plys into something I liked? It wasn't until I got my wheel 2 years later that I was able to make a lot of it. Until then I pretty much sat there with the ball and hairclips and let it hang. Someday I'll take and post a video of my "technique".

Isis undergoes a 3 step process just to come into being. This is why I refer to it as Custom Spun. All work is done by me, on my wheel Arduwynne. On average it takes me 2 hours to make up 150 yards. And this is usually done after it's been dyed, so there are 2 skeins that absolutly match in colors.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Shop update

Well, I promised yarns. So far there are 14 listed, and more on the way. I've got skeins drying, and am prepping samples for the Phat Fiber Box for February and March. This is a great little sampling of Indy dyers all over the place, and I thought it would be a great way to get my products out there. More info here.


Green Green Grass of Home - Hand dyed and spun BFL


Seawall - Hand dyed and spun corriedale


Meadowbrook - Hand dyed and spun BFL


Gray alpaca - hand spun natural color


Sylvia's Mother - Hand dyed and spun cotton

More to come soon this week.