Any requests? And yes, that is yarn in some of those buckets!

HWJF and I randomly shout this around the house when we’re being asked to do something by the other and are otherwise occupied. I’ll let you imagine what that really means.

Anyway, I’ve been beyond busy lately! There’s still much to do and much going on and not a lot of time, but let’s try to play catch up, shall we?

I spent most of this past Saturday working hard in the dye studio (a.k.a. basement) with the extremely gracious help of Sairy doing this:

I’ve been asked to send some of my stuff to Sock Summit and am desperately trying to get everything to go in the mail by Monday! You’ll be able to find some of these pretties in booth 808 with Knit a Bit. I’ll have my merino/tencel base as well as a new 100% merino base and a new superwash/nylon base available. Anything that doesn’t sell and/or I decide not to send will end up in the shop sooner or later, so don’t feel left out if you can’t go.

Also related to shop talk, I finished HWJF’s latest pair of socks!

I dyed the BFL fiber so that one bobbin was a solid color and the other contained complementary colors to create the stripes. The socks themselves were knit in my standard toe up heel flap pattern with a loose bind off and no ribbing at the top so they would curl down and give a nice finished edge. If you like how these came out and would like to spin something similar for yourself or someone you love, keep an eye on the shop! I’ll be posting fiber dyed in a similar way very soon.

And speaking of spinning, I finally have a finished yarn for this year’s TdF!

This is the final product of the batts that I carded up using my Cloudy Day colorway and a crapload of angora from Stitches. I spun it all on to one bobbin and then plied from a center pull ball. Sairy got to see both the correct and not so correct way to do that (there was yarn barf and scissors. Not. Good.). It worked out to be about 200 yards and will hopefully be enough for a Quant for the spinalong. It is soft and squishy and I think I’ll have very toasty ears this winter if I can get the knitting done!

And just because I finally got it uploaded here’s a pic of the little fluffy one on my lap when I came home from the hospital in May.

In other sort of unrelated news I wanted to share with you all some other exciting stuff that’s been going on in my world. After a long time of thinking about it, I applied for Yoga Teacher Training and was accepted! I’m very excited about this new path in my life and while this isn’t a yoga blog and I certainly don’t plan on turning it into one, I expect I’ll be sharing a bit about that experience with y’all from time to time. My classes begin on September 11th (an auspicious day for a new beginning) and run until next June. In addition to that I received my level I Reiki attunement this past Sunday. It was an amazing experience and I’m starting to feel the effects more with each passing day. I’m hoping to complete level II before my teacher training starts as I think the two will complement each other well.

So that’s what I’ve been up to! Hope to have more spinning progress to share with you next time! Have a great week!

First, thanks for all the comments on the steeking disaster. Risa has offered to help and I have confidence that the sweater can be saved. More on that next time.

For now, a couple of random things and then a bit about what’s going on with Zarzuela’s Fibers right now. If you aren’t interested in what’s up there, probably best to tune out now.

Random #1: I’m published! I wrote an article about angora bunnies for the inaugural issue of Spinning and Dyeing, the latest FREE ezine from Knitting Purls. If you’d like a copy of the issue and would like to sign up for a subscription, send an e-mail to info [at] spinanddye [dot] com. There’s other great stuff in there too!

Random #2: I’ve decided to try some 365 projects on flickr this year and even started a new group! I’m participating in Crafting 365, 365 days, the knitterly and crafty types, and I started up PlurkCraft365 for the crafting plurkers. Come join us!

And now for Zarzuela’s Fibers news!

There’s a 10% off sale on orders of $10 or more going on now in the shop. Take advantage of my need to see some of the old inventory go so I can make new stuff. Your 10% will be refunded after payment is completed and does not include shipping charges. This offer excludes the fiber club and gift cards.

Speaking of the fiber club, the first shipment will be headed out the door by the end of the month. Signups will close on January 24th, so hurry if you want to get in on the action. Each shipment will contain 6 oz. of spinning fiber and a nifty surprise! I think it will be a fun club and with 6 oz of fiber you’ll have enough to make a real project. Sign up soon!

In addition to all that, we’re having a spin along in the Ravelry group! Beginning spinners and more advanced spinners are all welcome. The more advanced among us will be trying our hands at navajo plying. In fact, a couple of us will be spinning for a Turn a Square hat. I’ve dyed strips of fiber in a couple of colors. 2 oz of 1 and 1 oz. each of two others like this:

or this:

We’ll spin each color in sequence on a single bobbin, navajo ply to keep the colors together and then knit our hats! I’m very excited to see how this little project comes out.

This kind of dyeing and custom work of any sort is always available for anyone! Leave a comment here, send me a message on Ravelry or e-mail Zarzuelasfibers [at] gmail [dot] com if you’d like something done. And come join us in the spin along. There are prizes to be had at the end!

Finally, there is yarn coming to the shop!

This is just a sneak peek of some merino/tencel fingering weight. Expect these little beauties and a few more to go up in the shop sometime this week. Price will be $22 + shipping.

That’s all for now! See you Friday with more knitting and spinning fun!

Sorry for the unannounced hiatus from the blog everyone. I’ve been off from work since last Wednesday, don’t have to go back until tomorrow, and apparently decided somewhere along the line that my time off included time off from the blog. Whoops.

I hope those of you that celebrated had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a very nice day. My parents came here and spent the night so there was much cooking and fussing that first day I had off from work. Thankfully everything turned out ok including the turkey (thank you Boston Market on that one!), even if my pies looked terrible, and everyone was more than adequately fed. I do believe my parents enjoyed themselves, even if my Mom found it weird to be sitting down and relaxing on a holiday (I refuse to let her do it all any more when we are here for a holiday. It makes no sense.)! Mom’s dog Sandy even took the opportunity to show off her NJ appropriate attire.

How can you not love that?! I was also very happy to find out that she has now decided to start wearing her sweater that I made for her earlier this year. She may need another one methinks.

Besides, Thanksgiving, I’ve been getting some much needed rest and still managing to check things off the lengthy “to do” list I made for myself before the holiday. I’m starting to feel the holiday knitting crunch though. We’ll be going up to NY to celebrate my Mom’s birthday and Christmas with my folks on Dec. 13th, so my deadline approaches! The good news is that one item is finished. The bad news is that one is not and another just got started. Oye. But I guess the other good news is that I will have more blog fodder shortly when I can actually show you some FOs!

In the meantime, I can finally share another secret project that’s been going on here at Chez Zarzuela. A while back, Yvonne asked me if I’d be willing to dye a special colorway for the current round of Secret Pal! I was very excited to do so and after a bit of trial and error came up with this:

The colorway is called “Stary Night”, inspired by the Van Gogh painting of the same name. And yes people, that’s yarn! Merino/tencel to be exact. But don’t worry, there’s fiber too.

Each bump of fiber will also be packed with 1 oz. of angelina (or firestar) to spin in with it as the spinner pleases. I’m very happy with how this all turned out. Big thanks to Yvonne for thinking of me when they were looking for a dyer!

So expect to see hand dyed yarn appearing in my etsy shop sometime in the future (probably after the first of the year). If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see me offer, let me know!

Also, for all those of you making your lists for Santa, check out the announcement for the very first Zarzuela’s Fibers Fiber Club! You’ll find a listing on etsy and a description in the Ravelry group as well.

So enough with the shameless self promotion! More fiber content next time! And it won’t take a week. Promise!

It seems all my crafting these days is for someone else. Sure the holidays are coming, so it’s par for the course, but then there’s that little shop thing and well, there isn’t much time for stuff for ME! This is not a complaint, just a general longing for the day, which I know will be soon, when I can come home and settle down to work on some stuff that I’ve got floating around in my head for purely selfish purposes. I think it’s one of Murphy’s Laws that they left off.

When you must make stuff for others you will want to make stuff for yourself.

At least I don’t remember seeing that one on the list. I’m sure you can all understand me on this one.

So exactly what have I been up to? Many things that I can’t show you since they are for gifts, but some that I can because they are not, or the surprise has been ruined (we’ll get to that).

First up, after some technical assistance from HWJF I finally have gift cards for the holidays in the shop.

Available in any dollar amount. Tell your friends and family! ‘Cause who wouldn’t want the gift of fiber for the holidays?! And yes, Anne, fiber club announcement coming soon! I promise!

Then, do you remember the red yarn that was quite red enough? I fixed it.

Much better. I got a lovely note from the customer who was quite happy with it. That always makes me feel good!

I also spun up another laceweight order. This time it was for 800 yards and I overshot it, but not by quite as much. DC Sunrise colorway (but you probably knew that).

I can’t decide if I like the black background or the white one better for these shots. Any opinions?

I’m nearly done for the next order as well. This time it’s the Strawberry Rhubarb colorway and fingering weight.

It’s really funny. I keep feeling like I’m spinning *really* thick yarn after all that lace. At least I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t have to keep thinking about it too hard.

After this order I have one more scheduled, in DC sunrise and I’ll have filled all my current spinning orders. I certainly wouldn’t mind adding anyone to the spinning order queue, but I am looking forward to spinning for personal use again.

The next two items are kind of special. I’m sure many of you have heard about the Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm CSA by now. Some of the first shareholders are receiving their yarns and fibers now and they are quite lovely! Someone found my shop on Ravelry and asked me to dye their cormo/mohair blend yarn for them. Here’s the result:

It was lovely stuff to work with and it bloomed quite nicely as a result of the dyeing process. It’s always a little nerve wracking doing something like this just because trying to describe color in words and by e-mail could certainly lead to discrepancies. But I’m happy to report I had yet another happy customer. I can’t wait to see what she makes with it.

Similarly, when Deb came to me and asked me to dye some of her cormo I was equally nervous and flattered. I didn’t want to mess it up and was very happy to think that she would trust me with this precious fiber that I knew she loved so much. We had a bit of a time deciding in colors, but in the end Deb decided to draw inspiration from the farm logo. I think I got pretty darn close.

There are hints of pink that you can’t really see in there because of the braiding. It was a fun challenge and I’m glad it worked out so well. Can’t wait to see how it spins up Deb!!

There is more to report but let’s save it for Friday shall we? See you then!

I’m hanging on by the skin of my teeth lately. July has been the month of thecrazy and I’m really ready for it to be over. Before that can happen, we have yet another wedding to attend this weekend in Trenton (#4 of the year for those keeping score) in which HWJF is the co-best man and we are having house guests early next week. Of course I don’t know why I’m so excited about getting to August. That month is going to be nuts too, but at least I have two small vacations planned.

In the meantime, spinning and knitting and the occasional bit of fun mail are keeping me sane. This arrived this week:

The only problem with being *on* etsy is that you start to look around etsy even more! But how could I resist when there were knitting kitties involved?!! I don’t sew, therefore my only path to owning such a cute little project bag was to buy. It holds my new sock quite nicely.

Which has progressed to one finished sock already.

This is the Nanner sock pattern by the ever talented Wendy. It was designed for her Plurk buddies and has special meaning for all of us. I named mine Baaaaaad nanners because of the color, but Wendy said they should be Bad Ass Nanners. I think I like that even better.

I’ve already learned a lot from this pattern too. This is my first opportunity to knit a Wendy pattern (seriously, where the hell have *I* been?!?) and I managed my first successful attempt at Judy’s Magic Cast On. Pretty neato!! Wendy also uses a much different heel construction than I’ve used in the past, increasing for the gusset immediately after knitting the foot of the sock, turning the heel and then making the decreases instead of knitting a traditional heel flap, just in reverse (since we’re knitting toe up here). I found it pretty interesting and I’m anxious to get to that part of the second sock to go through it again. Very cool.

I’ve also managed a bit of spinning this week since I finished up dyeing the fiber I had on hand for the shop. I experimented with about 5 different colors in the dyepot with some superwash merino and came up with this:

I’m calling it Seascape and the plan is to try to navajo ply it when it’s all spun up. It should make a nice sock yarn if all goes well. I also started this:

Some regular merino in a colorway I’m calling Jeans and Leather Shoes. I’m hoping to make the scarf in the last Spin Off with this yarn when I’m finished making it.

Since the Tour de Fleece is winding down these will probably be my last contributions. It’s been a ton of fun, I just wish life hadn’t gotten in the way so much. I also plyed some of the yarns I’ve been working on previously, but no pics just yet.

I expect I should get a fair amount of knitting done this weekend while waiting around between events and photo ops. I wish you good knitting time, spinning time and relaxation too!

Express Lane continues to chug along making progress on my way to and from work and at lunchtimes.

I have no dyeing to show you because I have no fiber to dye! The shop is completely sold out and I’m waiting on deliveries which will hopefully arrive starting today. In the meantime I’m cooking up an idea for a fiber club that is sports related, so stay tuned!

That leaves only one other bit of progress around here to show you.

She’s definitely a growing girl!

It’s hard to believe how much time flies around these parts lately. It seems like just about the time I catch up in one thing I’m about to be buried in a new week. I still haven’t figure out how I got this busy!

Anyway, the spin in Friday night was a ton of fun. I managed to remember I had my camera with me long enough to get a pic of the setup before we got started.

There was definitely a wide range of equipment represented! Especially after everyone showed up.

There were some of the usual suspects and some new faces which made for a great evening. Being close to the sheep to make it all the more “real” to the passersby was nice. There was also a family with some baby bunnies which nearly melted me into a puddle of mush with their insane cuteness. Did I get a picture? Of course not!

The one thing that I always love when I do public spinning is how amazed and transfixed people are by it. I always think it’s kind of funny, but then I think back to when I started spinning and *everything* about it seemed like magic. Total magic. I still find it pretty magical, just in a different way now. And I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at the reaction. After all, we are so far removed from this process in our modern lives that many of them have never given a second thought to where their clothing comes from. And I wonder how many will actually make the connection.

I went home a bit lighter that night too. I decided to bring the rovings I had dyed for the shop with me, just to see what the reaction might be. The reaction was that I got wiped out! Thanks for the purchases ladies!! Here’s some of what you *won’t* be seeing in the shop in the next update (although I am going to attempt to reproduce most of these if I can):

If you click over to flickr you can see close ups and the names of each of these if you’re interested.

In the meantime, I took stock of my week one spinning for the Tour de Fleece:

Starting top left: Merino/nylon I dyed which I (so far) hate spinning.
Top right: Some local NJ wool from a sheep named Red. Teeswater/Tunis/Dorset cross. (I actually finished a second bobbin of this yesterday)
Bottom left: BFL I dyed for sock yarn for the shop.
Bottom right: An angora/polworth blend given to me as a birthday present from Chris. (Most of that was spun Friday night)

Not bad for a week. I definitely see some serious plying in my future.

We had a wonderful weekend around these parts, but boy was crawling out of bed tough this morning. Luckily I didn’t have to go to work (but don’t worry, I’ll be paying for that on Saturday). I hit the dyepots pretty hard on the 4th as expected.

Some of these have already been reserved, but most will be in the next shop update. Stay tuned!

We also had a little BBQ on Sunday which I believe was a great success. We had several worlds of friends coming together, which made me a little nervous at first but seemed to work out wonderfully.

There were work friends and college friends…

And spinning friends and family…

My folks finally got to meet their grandbunny for the first time (and my Dad kept asking things like “Where’s the saddle?!” and “Where’s her pocket watch?!?”)

Sandy pretty much looked how I felt when it was all done…

But it was definitely a great time and I’m glad so many people could make it. We’re hoping it will become a yearly tradition.

Today is a day of rest for me. Rest and spinning since a certain event started this weekend.

I can’t let team plurk down!!

A very happy Holiday wish to all those in the U.S. today as we celebrate our country’s birthday!

Since HWJF has to work today (yeah. Seriously. I really hate his company sometimes) I’ll be spending my day with these

in an attempt to get next month’s inventory for the shop started. Thanks so much to those of you who have already purchased something from me! I eventually hope to have a gallery here of what you’ve made with Zarzuela’s Fibers, so do send me pics when you get around to it. Some of my plurk buddies have given me some interesting new dyeing ideas, so I’m planning on having a lot of fun today.

If I’m real lucky, I may even get some time to work on this:

SOS’08 Sock number two is Express Lane in DIC Smooshy. It’s already much further along than this pic shows. It really is a fast knit.

I hope your weekend is filled with fiber, fun and maybe even a little sock knitting too.