Battman Batt from Material Whirled

I spun this from a Battman Batt that Reenie of Material Whirled sent to me. It was a serious distraction from my other spinning projects that I have lined up. I spun in little vintage plastic flowers edged in metal. Super cute! There are 154 yds. on this skein.

Vintage Floral

I finally got photos of the yarn I made using a deconstructed asian floral pattern shirt. It took me 30 minutes worth of attempts to finally get the fabric to spin up. It was very slippery. I've also spun in sections and slubs of blended wool & silk. Vintage bobbles and bakelite beads were plied in with sulky holoshimmer thread.

Spinning in Technicolor

I spun up my fiber sandwich- but challenged myself to spin it into a fine thread. I really wanted to ply in color, so spun it fingering weight and wildly plied it over a black single. I would love to see this felted!

Yarn Magazine

Received a copy of Yarn Magazine in the mail yesterday that featured a photo of the yarn I entered in the Bothwell SpinIn. Was delighted to see an article about spinning on the wild side! Lexi of Pluckyfluff was quoted throughout and photos of one of her yarns was used to demonstrate non-traditional techniques. There are some juicy little tid-bits about her next book too! If you can get your hands on a copy, check it out! Also- the folks from the Bothwell SpinIn were kind enough to send me confirmation that the proceeds from the auction of my yarn "Crikey" were sent/received by Steve Irwin's wildlife foundation. Thank you Bothwell!

All Peeped Out

I'm seriously annoyed that I'm unable to finish this yarn for my swap partner (and friend!) Liz. The whole project was hinged on some beads I bought on ebay over 2 weeks ago that never came. Checking back on my purchase, which I paid for, I now see that the seller is no longer valid. Sent an email, but its likely they simply took my money and ditched. My next option is to beg someone I know who makes lampwork beads to do some custom work for me. Envision some yummy colored glass jellybean beads nestled in that fuzzy grass along with felted marshmallow peeps, foil wrapped chocolate eggs and a chocolate bunny. I still need to fuse the angelina in the eggs and peeps and finish felting the chocolate bunny. Thankfully Liz doesn't mind the wait, as she's still trying to get her swap projects done as well.

Had planned on getting more photos today of other completed projects, but was having no luck with batteries- both in my camera and in my car. Dead, dead, dead. Thank you everyone who was so nice for helping me out- C&F Auto for peeking under the hood, giving me a jump and topping off my oil- Carmel for picking up my daughter at school when I couldn't get the damned car running- and the guy at the hydraulic shop who stopped to help and scraped my battery leads. I've got my fingers crossed that corrosion was the culprit. I'll know in the moring when I try to start it.

Fiber Sandwich

This is my share of the Fiber Sandwich swap organized by Julie http://tisjewel.blogspot.com/on yahoogroups http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Spinning_on_the_Edge/

Everyone who participated sent Julie x amount of fiber & return postage. She built up all the layers and sent everyone a portion based on how many ounces they sent in. I sent in a potluck of 4 ounces- silk waste, mohair, alpaca, wool, yarn scraps...

It has been intresting hearing feedback from participants. Many are finding the mosh posh of colors and textures liberating, as it forces them to let go of the urge to spin a fine even single. Letting go is the first step to creating novelty yarns, and when you rapidly change from a super fine angora to an unruly mohair lock, you have no choice but to let go. Also, I've found some really great color combinations that I never would have thought of by grabbing random color scraps and spinning them together. It gets even more intresting when you ply two singles together. I've just started spinning my fiber and hope to have it finished sometime tomarrow. Check back for photos!

Bothwell SpinIn Prize from Majacraft

This came in the mail last week. I've been trying to figure out what the board with the two holes and stretchy cord is for. There is also a wooden handle with an eye hook next to it that I'm not sure of. If anyone knows what these are used for please let me in on the secret! I'm thinking I scored something really cool, I just don't know what it is and can't find it listed on Majacraft's website. The other items that I can identify are some fabulous hand-dyed roving, wicked sharp carding combs, super sweet measuring tape and some lavender bees wax pollish for my wheel & tools.