Fiber Market Monday

Fiber Market Monday is a new Link Party set up by Dutch Hollow Acres for people to market their fiber arts products. I thought I would join the fun and spread the word!

This week in the shop we have our new and improved 2-yard wrap Lleda Niddy Noddies.

The new design features durable metal-to-metal threaded knobs ensuring a snug fit when assembled, adjusted for use or disassembled for storage or travel. These are great for winding your handspun into a tidy 2-yard skein!

I also wanted to include a reminder that our ArtFire Studio yarn clearance sale is still going on. We are switching yarn bases so all skeins dyed on the old bases are 10% off! That's everything in our Artfire shop!

Drum Carder & Wool!!

Due to the great generosity of my wonderful customers I was able to use some of my recent earnings to purchase a new piece of equipment for the business.

Yesterday, after sleeping in on my day off of The Day Job to help myself get over a cold, there was a ring of the doorbell and a lovely man left this:

After much dancing around the kitchen and squeeing at Rachel, (who was being a darling and making me oatmeal since I was not feeling well) I opened the box.

Oooooooooooh!!! The Strauch Finest Drum Carder! So illness (and oatmeal...sorry hun) momentarily forgotten I set about playing with my new toy...um I mean...thoroughly testing the new equipment. ::sheepish grin::

Look how shiny!! 

I especially like the pointy bits!

Here are all of the accessories:

So I grabbed some SW BFL I had lying around (literally because this is quite the wool-infested household) and carded my very first batt! TA DA!!

Then I blended in some alpaca:

Awww how cute and pretty!!! ::dances in amusement of her own genius in spite of the machine doing pretty much all of the work::

Naturally I had to see how it spun up. Love, love, love, tweedy yarns! ::drool:: Must make more so I have enough for mittens. :) Of course at this point the adrenaline I had been running on gave out, my cold smacked me in the face like a Mac truck, and I had to go nap for several hours. It was SO worth it!

Today I got 5 lbs. of wool in the mail (plus a little bonus fiber) to dye up and use as base fiber in the up-coming line of Llady Llama Fiber Co. batts (official product name to-be-released). Our cat Orpheus just had to inspect the sheep-scented bag it was shipped in (you should have seen them both playing in the drum carder box yesterday...adorable!)

Painted Post Alpacas Open House

 

On August 21st Llady Llama Fiber Co. was a vendor at the 2nd annual Painted Post Alpacas Open House. Above is our booth setup with me knitting in the back there. We had great weather (much better than Sunday, so we were glad to have been able to make it Saturday) and we look forward to attending next year as well.

We debuted a new product, our Llotis Kniting Needle Gauges:

  

These will be hitting our Etsy shop (www.LladyLlamaFiberCo.etsy.com) later this week. 

Here's just one of the farm's adorable suri alpacas:

 

Farm to Table Week 3, Hand Dyed SW Merino Singles

Farm to Table

This week's CSA allotment was huge! Zucchini, broccoli, scallions, beets, chard, lettuce, peas and my absolute favorite fruit- Rainer cherries!


We are really enjoying the chard and beet greens and I thought I'd share my sautéed chard recipe. This also works great with beet greens (or any greens I'm sure).

Sautéed Chard

De-rib generous bunch of chard.

Chob rib into 1" pieces.

Cut chard leaves into 1/2" ribbons.

Heat 1/2 tbsp. butter in sauté pan.

Lightly sauté 2 tbsp. diced onions or scallions.

Add chard ribs & cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add chard leaves and another 1/2 tbsp. more butter.

Add dash of sherry & lemon juice.

Sauté until leaves are wilted but still bright in color.

Add a large clove of minced garlic, salt & pepper to taste.

Cook very briefly & remove from heat.

Optional: Add tbsp. or two dijon mustard to sauce.

Adjust the sauce ingredient amounts to your taste. This is just an estimate as I usually eyeball it and taste and I go.

Spinning

I just finished spinning up 4 oz. of superwash merino that I hand painted. I'm making this into a 2-ply and it should turn out to be a heavy fingering weight. I really had to pack my bobbin full to get all the singles on one and it created a bit of a mess when I wound it off into a center pull ball for plying.

In the end I was able to get it untangled and wound just fine. I think I need to look into getting a jumbo flyer and large bobbins though.

Strawberry Rhubarb Deliciousness

Here's the strawberry rhubarb pie that I made from some of last week's CSA haul. I forgot the granulated sugar on top of the crust until it was already too late (whoops). It was still delicious and really made it feel like summer around here! We have another pickup today and I'll be sure to post pictures of all our goodies later.


In fiber arts related news I am working on the foot of the second sock for my friend Heather's little girl. They're just a basic kids sock which I gussied up a smidgen with some k3, p1 ribbing. I'll throw up a photo when they're done. I also have some sw bamboo-merino-nylon on my spindle and some sw merino on my wheel that I'll try to photograph too.

Roving, Sprouts, Bread and The Gold

I know it's after the fact, but I thought I'd mention that I did with the gold for The Flying Camel Ravelympics event. I still have to dye it all but I've picked Goddess Knits' Persephone Shawl pattern to knit it into.

This is the roving I'm currently spinning. It's 4 oz. of SW Merino that I dyed:

I've also been embarking on a new culinary adventure: sprouting! I used the hemp bag that is hanging above my sink in the picture to sprout some grains.

Below is the 11 grain mixture that I sprouted in 3 days. I got all my sprouting supplies and seeds from SproutPeople. They are a great company and they have lots of sprouting information on their website and their YouTube videos!!

Today I baked the sprouted grains into some homemade wheat bread.

The bread is delicious but the grains got a little crunchy. I'll have to add them a bit later in the kneading cycle on my bread machine next time.

I also have a mixture of leafy sprouts going right now in my Easy Sprout:

These are the Italian seed mix of clover, garlic and cress. They need another 2-3 days before they are done but they're already quite tasty!

I'd encourage anyone who's interest is piqued by sprouting to give it a try. It's healthy, easy, fun, and interesting. It's very rewarding to grow your own food in a couple of days and it only takes about 1 minute twice a day.

Wool Combs & Ravelympics Progress

Last week I splurged on a little fiber tool reward for myself and my business. Thanks to my very wonderful customers, I was able to afford some Paradise Fibers wool combs and the wool comb pad.

Of course I had to try it out right away! I have 6 oz. of llama fiber that's been waiting to be combed for almost 2 years, so I lashed some on and away I went. The picture below shows my very first handcombed roving! It also shows my makeshift diz and the darning needle I used to pull the fiber through the diz (they are my scale models here).

I'd love to comb all of it up right away but I must restrain myself and focus on the spinning I'm trying to complete for the 2010 Ravelympics. Being a huge Doctor Who fan I am once again on Team TARDIS. My event is the Flying Camel (the spinning event for those not in the know). I have set a goal to spin up the remaining 10 oz. of mystery wool that came with my spinning wheel. So far I have spun 2 bobbins full and I am currently plying those up. I was going to just spin up the singles for the event, but I don't have enough bobbins for that. Here's a plying shot:

Below is a picture of my lazy kate with the singles I am plying and the big 'ol stack of roving I have left to spin. Beast Boy is helping to cheer me on!

Here's a close-up of the singles (with Beast Boy peeking from behind lol):

This is some reward roving I dyed up for myself. It's about 2 oz. of SW BFL that was left over from my base roving for the shop.

I started spinning it up for some laceweight yarn just before I decided to enter the Ravelympics (it was a very last minute decision this year). Unfortunately due to my bobbin shortage I have to wind this off into a center pull ball to free up the bobbin and come back to spinning it later.

I am also knitting up 2 pairs of socks for Heather's two girls. They love to see me spin and knit when I am over at their house and they asked me for socks a couple of months ago. I am on the heel flap of the first sock (I love how fast they are going being children's socks). I am bound and determined to turn one or both of them into fiber arts geeks (Heather knows about my devious plan and has no qualms about it) so they're each getting some nice soft, warm, squishy, sock inspiration!

I'll try to post another Ravelympics update later this week!

Yarn and Roving Etsy Update!

I just finished listing some new yarn and roving on my Etsy shop. Included in the update is the launch of my worsted weight yarn line!

Knit Night & Shop Update

In Personal News:

Rach and I had a blast at the festival despite some rainy weather and we even saw two old college friends there! This year's effigy burned on the final night's bonfire was a dragon much to my delight! It was amazingly designed and at the moment of lighting the blaze the wings popped open and fireworks shot off of the dragons body. The dragon's eyes were also fireworks of some kind. The bonfire is several stories high and the sparks filled the night like a whole new set of stars. 

We also spent quite a bit of time hiking and sitting on a wooden bridge by one of the campsite's ponds relaxing and listening to the bullfrogs. I spun quite a bit while we sat there and I'm down to plying my Mom's yarn!

We each attended a workshop and ate maple cotton candy and amazing Mediterranean food from a vendor and shopped too.

On the way to the festival the first day Rach spotted a store called Woolgathering in Brocton (she saw it while she was driving and she's not a fiber freak, isn't she amazing!). 

It wasn't open but when we got home I looked it up and we stopped in the next day on our way back to Brushwood. We chatted with the owner Barb for about an hour and a half! She is an awesome lady and the shop is great! I'm going to start attending Knit Night on Wednesday nights there and I'm super excited! I've been looking for a knitting group for awhile and hadn't found anything less than 45 minutes away. This is only 10 minutes from home!!! Happy Dance!

In Business News:

Kimber from Palm Valley Fibers finished spinning up the Surf Shop roving she purchased from me. It's so amazing to see someone take my product and transform it to make it their own! 

That is what I love about selling roving and yarn-the item I create goes on to become innumerable new objects and creations. The energy I instill in the fiber as I create with it passes on and it added to by whomever spins it, then knits, crochets or weaves it. If the yarn becomes a gift then there is another person in the chain. If the final item is a gift then there is yet another person in the chain. If the item is handed down etc, etc. Not to mention everyone who interacts with the fiber in a more passive way.

 

In other words, I can't wait to see what she makes with her yarn!

Also there as a small shop update:

1. Evening Sapphire, 2. Dried Roses, 3. Majestic Tempest, 4. Evening Jade, 5. Venetian Vase, 6. Sea Glass

I'm skeining yarn like a crazy person and handpainted yarn should be available in the shop within a week.

Yarn: Coming Soon!

This wonderful package came for me yesterday!! Yay cones of undyed yarn!!!

I am busy skeining these up right now before Rach and I go away to Sirius Rising for the weekend.

Soon after we've returned from our mini-vacation I'll have handpainted yarn available in my Etsy shop! 

We're unable to stay the night at Sirius due to our usual kitty-sitter being unavailable. This is kind of a good thing because it means that I'm not going to be putting my shop on vacation mode and if I get any orders over the weekend I'll still be able to get them shipped off normally.

In case anyone is curious, the yarn bases I am going to have available later next week are the following:

Llore Sock

 75% SW Wool

25% Nylon 

4-ply 

Fingering Weight

Lloot Sock

40% Bamboo

40% SW Wool

20% Nylon

4-Ply

Heavy Fingering Weight

Llabyrinth Lace

55% Silk

45% SW Wool

Laceweight

Llegend Worsted

100% SW Wool

Worsted Weight

I am very excited to be adding these product lines to my store!

In personal news, this is the roving I'm spinning right now:

It's my Lleaf Roving custom dyed for my Mom as a thank you for all her help getting me started with my business! I'm spinning it to be a 2-ply fingering weight and it will probably be knit up by her into ankle socks.

Speaking of my Mom, she has entered the blogosphere and you should check out her knitting blog: MommaTwigKnitter

Also I'm hoping to update the shop tonight with 5 new rovings!

Llady Llama Fiber Co!!!!

The Big News reveal!!

I now am the sole proprietor of Llady Llama Fiber Co. My company sells handpainted roving, yarn, knitting and spinning accessories. I am selling on etsy here and I'm going to be selling at local craft and fiber fairs.

Right now the shop only contains handpainted roving but I'll be adding more products soon.

This is what I've been pouring my heart and soul into for the last 6 months and I am loving it!

I'll be making blog posts when I update my etsy shop and blog readers will be the first to see new colorways and products plus you'll be eligible for special unannounced discounts!

I'll be blogging on a much more frequent basis and I'm still going to keep the blog a mixture of personal, crafting and business-related content.

Congratulations to Hattie who first correctly guessed the Big News! She received a 20% off discount as her reward!

Megan also guessed correctly and I have a runner-up reward for her if she e-mails me at LladyLlamaFiberCo@gmail.com about it!

Also thanks to my wonderful girlfriend Rachel who is a freelance illustrator. I commissioned her to design my logo and I'm thrilled with it!! 

She took my specifications and brought Elli my Spokesllama to life!

 

OMG BLOG UPDATE!!! Image Heavy

First, gratuitous pictures of our trip to NC for Thanksgiving:

It was really too cold to go in the water, but that didn't stop Rach and I from going in up to our waists! Oh I LOVE the beach!!!
This is Arden's shawl all done (and in time for X-mas too!) modeled by my lovely girlfriend Rachel. And yes, that is a giant ceramic badger in the lower left corner. Rach loves badgers the way I love llamas and she made it in her Handforming Clay Studio. Leila is poking about in the bottom right there.
Here are my Mom's Monkey Socks all complete. (Thanks Mom for the picture):

These are my Dad's socks.For some reason the first one self-striped beautifully (it was not self-striping yarn) and the second one refused! I cast it on and ripped it out 6 or 7 times before my Dad said I should just knit them and get it over with. Sorry these were late Daddy!(Thanks again to my Mom for the picture):

My Mom has been inspired by the handknit socks I made them and has picked back up her knitting needles after many years away from them. She had never knit socks but I showed her how to make a baby bootie with a heel flap and gusset and she's been feverishly knitting socks for her and Dad since!!! Yay someone to enable and share fibery goodness with!! I don't know if I've mentioned this on the blog but my Mom is my best friend and I call her and talk with her every day, so it's exciting to have her as a knitting buddy too! (Like we really needed more to chatter on about!)

Speaking of Mom, she bought me some stash when we went yarn store crawling in Buffalo this January during their visit to buy my laptop (SQUEEE!! I love my new MacBook more than life itself...and it's purple!!!::licks laptop::) I've never tried Flat Feet and I was helping my Mom pick out her first sock yarn ever, so she get me this as a pressie!!!

At this point, chronologically speaking, my life blew up. With the help of my parents I decided to leave school and pursue other things. It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make but my parents were beyond amazing about it!! I have mental health disorders (those who get squeamish about such things can scroll down, there are more pretty pictures to come) and I've taken time off of school before to deal with them and come back and it was just not working out. I was stagnating there, and using it as an excuse not to grow. I may go back someday, I may not, but for now I am focusing on new endeavors and it has really been good for me!

I still am going to keep the new endeavor a bit secret until I know more, but stay tuned!

I had a spinning swap in January for which I spun this lovely batt from Crystal Creek Fibers (nice transition huh?):

It turned into this yarn: (Photo compliments of my swap partner Hattie because I forgot to take any ::headesk::

 I received this lovely skein in exchange (I don't normally like glitz but this is quite subtle and nice):

I spun up another Crystal Creek Fiber batt (I adore her batts!!) for myself. This is the single, I'll probably do a 2-ply.

These are Mark's Slytherin socks that I just finished (sorry for the lateness Mark!) I'd never done two colors before and I had to wing the heel a bit. If I do another pair with accent heels I'll start further up the heel flap with the color change, do a peasant heel or do toe-up.

This is what I'm spinning right now. The amazing BFL I picked up at the Knox Farm Fiber Festival this fall. I'm going to handpaint it when I'm done.

I still need to make Rach's holiday socks (it's a good thing she loves me), but I need to order size  1 1/2 needles from Knit Picks.

I also need to make my sister's 80's Glam Rock Legwarmers (she asked for them, what can I say, we were children of the 80's) and a BSJ for a friend of the family who is due in April (yikes!). I don't have the yarn (or the money for the yarn) right now so I'm kinda stuck on those.

I'm making the Putting on the Ritz Legwarmers from Knit Picks (these are actually cool legwarmers, not the cheezy 80's kind) for myself and I am done with one. I still need to seam it and I need buttons.

Whew, so much to update on. Hopefully my blog posts will become more frequent again and I promise I'll let you in on my secret soon!!