I'm a Yarnie!!

I finally took the plunge and became a yarnie on Ravelry! Now you can stash my hand dyed yarns!


So, who is doing the Tour De Fleece?
I am!! I am on three teams: Phatfiber, Spin or Dye Swapping and of course I have my own team! We would love to have you! All that is required is that you join my group and then either spin from your stash or fiber from my shop.


I have been busy carding some lovely batts with my drum carder. Here's what I have come up with so far:

4 oz of alpaca/silk/firestar

1 oz alpaca/angora/silk/firestar


kid mohair/wool/silk/firestar
4 oz of alpaca/silk/firestar/mohair


I am gearing up to begin spinning like mad!! So do you plan the project to knit before you spin or just spin and see what happens?

July Sneak Peek

The Phatfiber July box is fast approaching. This box is no wool so I thought you guys might enjoy a sneak peek!






My samples this month include hand dyed mohair alpaca and silk and natural angora, with a little firestar thrown in for bling! The resident bunnies were happy to donate to the cause!

Another Phatfiber Phrenzy!

I am a bit behind but now it's time to share the loot! First up the stitchmarkers! (I adore these things!) I wish I would have gotten a better pic but here are the stores that contributed:

Vickie's Stitch Markers (Hers is the one attached to the cute fish!)
The Twice Sheared Sheep
babydragonjewelry.etsy.com

oh and I just realized I totally dropped the ball and forgot to take a pic of these goodies:
Phabulous bag from SLV Folk Arts and Fiber Festival
an aw-thats-so-cute charm ( button?) from Earth Wood and Gems
Phab beads from Laura Murphy
and a crocheted sample from Quite Nice, which is, well.....quite nice!

Now on to the fiber! As usual I spun it all up into one phabulous phunky yarn!!!! I got all fiber this time so I am in love with Jessie more than usual. Just sayin.......

Moonlight and Laughter batt of South African Wool/Merino/Angelina called Sunshine on the Shore....
here it is on the bobbin (ignore the pink stuff.....)

Pacos batt of Alpaca/bamboo/merino/silk/giltz in the Mermaid colorway.....


Merino Wool roving from BunkyBobo's Hand Dyed Yarns in Hot Spur.

Mohair Locks!!!! from Goat Goat Sheep!


I love me some mohair so I blended it in a bit with the Merino. ,ut I didn't use it all; I am saving this stuff for some farm fresh batts!!!

A cormo/wool/angelina from Bohemian Knitter Chic...... a girl after my own heart (I am biased, being a cormo breeder I am fond of cormo!) Really this batt is phab! I didn't get a good pic of it being spun but you'll see more of it later.....

100% Corriedale Wool from Northern Lights Fiber Co. in the Breaking Clouds Colorway....
Here it is being spun up and look! As promised, on the end of the bobbin you see bohoknitterchic's batt.

More Breaking Cloud so you can see it loveliness!

More Mohair!!! (Did I mention I love Mohair?) This is from WondersMohair. As with the first mohair I spun a bit but saved the rest ;)


Superwash Merino/Silk/Firestar batt from Corgi Hill Farm. This colorway is Ocean Ltd. Edition.


Shore and Sand from Liberty Fibers, Merino Silk roving.....

On the top of the bobbin you see the above sample, on the bottom of the bobbin is another sample from Northern Lights Fiber Co. in Pretty Posy. It is a yummy merino/silk blend (oh my yum!!!)
Superwash Merino, Whirling Tides from nikobee (sorry the picture really does not do it justice.)

Oh no!!!! I lost the tag to this one! I think it is Delightful Designs (???) Can someone help me out? This was a nice fiber!
Milk fiber in the Sable Island Colorway from Extreme Spinning. This was another spin a little/save a little fiber :)

And a beautiful Merino/Tencel blend from it's a colorful life. I ran out of room on the bobbin for all of this one but it was a very generous sample. It will go to live in a batt someday soon :)



And finally the fiber that wouldn't fit on the bobbin but will also go live in a farm fresh batt:

1,000 Petals Silk Noil
Moonwood Farm 100% Bamboo top

Now go show some phatties some luv!!!

A Tour of Stonehedge Fiber Milll!

My local Spin Guild took a road trip yesterday and drove to East Jordan to drop off fiber and tour Stonehedge Fiber Mill!




This is Chuck, Deb's husband. He and Deb are at the helm of the mill often keeping late hours to get your fiber or yarn back to you! Chuck told us that he had still be up the night before at 3:00 am!
This beautiful fiber in the beginning of the Shepherd's Wool yarn in the Antique Rose colorway.
and here is the yarn itself........(this is the mill ends)
Stonehedge Mill is also where Mountain Colors Yarn is plyed and labeled, bet ya didn't know that!Here is Twila, my 9 year old daughter, she likes to tag along on the fiber outings!

Angie and Deb's daughter at the plying machine :)

We can't forget to say hi to Chase, the resident dog!
Alright let's get to the tour! This is where the fiber begins it's journey. First it is picked through by hand to open it up and remove any undesirables......this is a very clean Icelandic fleece.
As the fiber is picked through it is place in this bin.

After a good going through it is washed in mesh bags in the giant sinks then hung to drip dry a bit.....
then it is moved to the racks to dry the rest of the way. (In this picture is Deb and one of our guild members Christine.)

After going through the commercial picker it is moved to this spot, weighed and put through.....
the carder where it comes out looking like liquid smoke!

This contraption is placed on the machine if batts are preferred over roving.

Here is the fiber being carded before coming out of the machine.

Then we headed into the next building to see the rest of the process. This machine is being set up to spin the fiber into singles.
This is the fiber being spun into singles for the mill's yarn: Shepherd's Wool


and here are the singles on the bobbins waiting to be plied.....

the plying machine doing it's job......


and the final process: tying off the skeins.


Of course, the trip wasn't complete without a trip into the Mill's Yarn shop!



Back on the road again, we traveling to Grayling to Little Acres farm where Dawn was kind enough to share her wares!


This beautiful fibers are a blend of wool, alpaca and mohair. For those of you who are allergic to mohair, I must sincerely tell you how sorry I am! Mohair is one of my favorite blending fibers! For those of you who are interested Dawn is a seller at many fiber festivals including Northern Lamb and Wool, Michigan Fiber Festival (and a few more I forgot!)
Back at home my hand dyed skeins are dry and I am trying to decide to skein or not to skein and I am racking my brain for names for the colorways!


This one looks like seaweed to me.........

Marigold perhaps?
This one is Bob White for sure!
And for you Phatfiber phans here is a sneak peek at July's samples :)
It no wool this time so we have farm fresh batts for you with silk, firestar, angora and alpaca blends!
Oh and I have to give a shout out to my girls on Ravelry! Look ladies I am almost done!!!