GREENER SHADES DYES AND HANDSPUN

Two colors...one pot.  Love this dye and the end results.  Yarns are for sale.

PLAYING WITH FOOD COLORING AND SURI LOCKS

 One pot and four food coloring dyes produced this lovely assortment of colors with a light antique caste to them.

Next step is to put them through the carder.

DYEING TO STAY INSIDE THIS WINTER!

What do you do when the polar vortex is howling outside your front door?  Break out some lovely Shetland fiber and food dyes and play on the woodstove.

These yarns are available for shipping.  Contact me for yardage and pricing. 

 

Also play around with overdying some light moorit locks which resulted in some really lovely batts.  These are available for sale.

Some of my handspun yarns from this winter of artic blasts.  All for sale.  Contact me for yardage and pricing.

CHRISTMAS CRAFT SHOW HERE I COME

 Our farmer's market in Marquette ends on October 27th.  This will give me almost a month to spin, knit and prep enough inventory to attend the annual Christmas Craft Show in Marquette's Dome.  Last year 10,000 people attended the three day event.   I am hoping it will prove to be a good market for some of my less pricey items.  We shall see.  I just hope I have enough fiber, as I seem to be going through the 2012 clip at an alarming pace.

One Fleece

That is all we still have for sale this year, as all the Cormo X top is sold along with the other fleeces.

I want to thank my customers for their business and love of my fiber. I believe we will have some truly wondrous fiber and rovings available next season by mid-summer as I've had a chance to look under the coats on our flock and beautiful things are happening.

Check back with us if you have any special interests and get on the list.

LAST CHANCE AT FLEECES & FIBER FOR 2010

Raggedy Ann's fleece which won a first in crossbred colored finewools at MFF is sold.

Gryffindor's fleece which won a first in purebred colored finewools at MFF is spoken for except for two pounds I am retaining as he also went BIS.

Bailleys 1 pound 10 ounce fleece that is seriously crimpy, springly, locky and has a three inch staple in a dark brown is available after WI Sheep & Wool Festival for $25.00. SOLD

Alafair's 2 pound silvering black fleece that has been heavily skirted is available for $20.00.

Rose's 2+ pound silvering moorit dense crimpy fleece that has been heavily skirted is available for $20.00. SOLD.

And there will be choice Cormo colored top for sale as soon as I receive my shipment from Zeilingers later this week. Price and amounts available to be determined. It is a heathery blend of brown/dark grey/white with a very soft handle. Will be weighing it out and checking with people who have already placed reservations. If any is left it will be $30 per 8 ounces or $58 per pound. I have 8 ounces left for sale @ $30.00.

I plan to handpaint some very luscious but slightly VM contaminated white Cormo roving sometime this fall and have that available as well.

Let me know if something spikes your interest and I can send you samples and details.

FLEECES THAT ARE STILL AVAILABLE

I will have three pounds of Gryffindor's lamb fleece available for sale after Michigan Fiber Fest in late August. One pound is already spoken for. $25.00 per pound.

I will have five pounds of Raggedy Ann's second fleece(19 microns mid-side and coated year-round)available after Michigan Fiber Fest. $25.00 per pound.

I have 2+ pounds of Alafair's black with silver Shetland fleece. Very nice handle and look...heavily skirted. $12 per pound.

I have Secondhand Rose's moorit with some age silvering to it Shetland fleece for sale. $10 per pound. I believe there are at least two pounds. Her fleece is very dense and crimpy and about 2-1/2 inches in staple length.

I have a few other select brown tone fleeces(Shetland)I might be willing to sell. Fiber samples and pricing available upon request.

SHEEP ARE SHORN--FIBER ALERT

Our flock has been shorn and I have already skirted and shipped out a number of boxes of lovely fiber for processing at my favorite mills.

By August I will have Cormo X top available. This is being produced from the neck wool from our Cormo X and Cormo flock(all of which microned in the 20 or under range at mid-side). The mill's comment was: "This will be fabulous.".

I will also have pin-drafted white Cormo and dark grey Cormo X roving shortly along with a number of Shetland rovings--some blended with local llama(from a prize winning herd)and local angora.

For those of you who like to process your own...I have two Cormo X fleeces I will be showing at Michigan Fiber Fest. They will be for sale(and I can split them if you like)for $25 per pound. One is from Gryffindor(6" staple luscious rose-grey 19 microns with some variation through the fleece in shadings)and the other is Raggedy Ann(4-3/4" taupe with crisp crimp and lock structure--19 microns). I have 4# of Gryffindor and 5# of Raggedy heavily skirted.

And a few Shetland fleeces are available as well from some of our more exciting ewes. Samples can be sent for anyone interested with more information.

HANDSPUN YARNS AND TENNYSON ON THE WHEEL

This is Tennyson roving being spun up into singles. The singles were then plied with some unbleached silk/Merino roving I had purchased for the following yarn. It is for sale for $4.50 an ounce and is heavier worsted weight.

The below is Shetland lamb blended with cashmere. It is $5.00 an ounce and I only have the two balls.

MITTENS FOR SALE

Medium adult spiral knit mittens from Shetland wool "Nissa"...$24.00.

Kid's mittens from various Shetland handspun yarns...$12.00.

Medium/Large adult spiral knit mittens from Shetland wool "Thriller"...$26.00

NEW SKILLS FOR OLD HANDS

It all started with a trip to my local yarn shop to get some reinforcing thread for socks. There was this book about making two socks at a time on circular needles...so I bought it along with two pairs of circular needles. Then home to try to make it work. It didn't. So I set things aside for about six months and one day I am sorting through things to sell and I come across the book again. And the sock patterns are so lovely I figure at least I can do them on double-points if all else fails...but why not try the old circular needles again? And this time it worked. At least to the point where the heels are turned. Then I still run into a quandry about adding stitches...but once I am past that stage and have decreased I go back to the circulars. I figure eventually I'll get the middle section right as well. Here are finished socks that fit me perfectly made from my favorite yarn of the season "First Snow". I am a size 7-1/2. The socks are for sale for $25.00. They are handspun Shetland/dyed Merino/Tencel.

And just before Christmas I made two pairs of tot socks. The pair on the left is made from leftovers fromother projects. Pair on the right is "Diva" Shetland yarn. They are for sale for $15.00 each.

THANKS TO ALL MY CUSTOMERS

A huge thanks to all my fiber customers this past year who managed to find room in your growing stashes for some of my handspun. You've kept our flock fed and housed for another year and given me the opportunity to add another breed to our small farm. Looking forward to seeing each and every one of you next season at the Farmer's market in Marquette.

May your winter be filled with fun activities and wonderful knitting projects.

NEW YARNS FOR SALE

"First Snow" is one ply of brown Shetland lamb plied with a dyed Merino/Tencel blend called "Thistle". There are 14.63 ounces available at $5.00 an ounce. SOLD.

Lullaby is one strand of BIS Raggedy Ann's colored Cormo X lamb fleece plied with pastel baby shades of Merino/Colonial wool. More than a pound available at $5.00 an ounce. There will also be some pure Raggedy yarn available for $5.00 an ounce.

YARNS FOR SALE

Forsythia--Two ply variegated yarn created by combining natural brown Shetland with dyed yellow Shetland and white bamboo. Only 13 ounces left at $4.50 an ounce. A lightweight worsted with nice feel and some sparkle to it.
White Cormo two-ply at $5.00 an ounce. About sixteen ounces are available. Also one ball of dark brown Shetland "Nissa" lamb--4.88 ounces for $21.96. SOLD.
Two small skeins of novelty yarn called Ready or Knot. 3.5 ounces total at $4 an ounce. Pure Shetland. SOLD.
A variegated Shetland two-ply yarn produced from a blue-grey fleece, brown fleece and white fleece. "Kalico Blue" is $4.50 an ounce and there are 46 ounces available. Worsted weight and every ball is unique. I've done these colors together before and they make beautiful knit projects.
Heavier worsted weight two-play brown Shetland lamb "Wren". 18.9 ounces available at $3.50 an ounce. The colored yarn is September and one ball is left. It is one ply of Wren combined with some painted roving I received as a barter that has red/pink/green shades throughout. The September ball is $22.50 and there are 4.5 ounces in the ball. SOLD.
The grey yarn is two-ply Shetland called "Sarah" after my daughter's ewe that contributed the wool. There are 12.75 ounces at $4.50 an ounce. "Winter Sky" is one ply Sarah with one ply of a multi-blue Colonial wool blend. There are 19.13 ounces available at $5.00 an ounce. "Thriller" is a combination of a light grey, black and white Shetland fleece that is spun rather rustically into heavyweight worsted two-ply. There are just 17.64 ounces of this left at $4.00 an ounce. It makes wonderfully warm mittens and hats. SOLD.

TIS THE SEASON TO BE SPINNING

Welcome to the first post on my new blog which will feature the yarns I handspin from my flock of lovely, fine, soft Shetland & colored Cormo sheep. I have a rather large refrigerator box full of rovings waiting for me to get to them stashed in the back of the house. As I get projects finished I plan to post photos and details of the yarns I am creating, so those of you who do not live close enough to visit the farmer's market or Knitter's Niche can indulge your fiber cravings.

Some of those rovings include a gorgeous golden/brown blend of my daughter's favorite ewe Ruby and alpaca and silk. And there's a small amount of cashmere that I blended with a taupey lamb's fleece that is ultra-soft. I have also started blending some angora into my Shetland rovings and have a lovely dove grey batch. And then there is the bag of brown Merino that was blended with coarsely carded unbleached silk(golden in color)that I'll be plying with Tennyson(my very soft, fine brown ram).

So stay tuned. Photos will be coming early next week of the yarn's that are already spun up.