Happy Dance

Yay! I had two sales on Etsy today! I am doing a happy dance. Just when things were feeling kind of slow since the craft fair this weekend was a bummer I get a great pick-me-up.

Thank you shoppers! You are in my happy thoughts tonight as I head off to dream land.

Craft Fair Saturday

Well, I was at the 2nd Annual Brooks Avenue Church of Christ Craft Fair today. It was slow but steady traffic. I think that things went fairly well. My coffee cozies and button brooches went well, which is funny since they were a last minute add.

Next Saturday I'll be in Garner at the Civitan Center. I hope that there will be a large turn out looking for a great Christmas gift, or gifts even.

Other news, I've been updating the appearance of the shop. I hired a fellow Etsy artist to work on my banner and create an ad for me. She has been great to work with! If you find yourself in need of graphic design work check out kngo.etsy.com. Thank you kngo for your great work so far.

Santa's Planning Something Special

I have it on good authority that Santa is planning to bring me a drum carder for Christmas. He and I have been discussing the possibility of a purchase for awhile now and it seems like he's warmed up to the idea. I'm excited by that idea since that opens a whole new world of fiber craft for me. I'll be able to make my own batts!

In the short term I received some beautiful superwash wool from Sheep Shed Studio this weekend and began spinning some of it. I posted some new yarns yesterday so you might want to check them out at the shop, but here's a sneak peek.

Olivia - Superwash wool and nylon 2 ply Bulky Weight.

Melon Salad - Superwash Wool single, Aran/Bulky Weight

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone is having a lovely day with family and friends. I posted a few sister skeins this week and did a tiny bit of spinning so I'll be doing photography again this weekend.



If you are doing some Etsy shopping on Monday check out my showcase spot on the Supplies main page. I'll be up there all day.



Next weekend December 5th I'll be at the 2nd Annual Craft Fair at the Brooks Avenue Church of Christ in Raleigh come see me there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photography Weekend

I didn't do a whole lot of spinning this weekend. Instead I worked on a cowl for a Christmas gift, took photos of my sister skeins and went to the Renaissance Festival. We had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful and there were some amazing vendors there so it was like a giant party for art/craft-0-philes.

I've been wrestling with how to post sister skeins. Skeins that are spun from the same dye lot, batt, etc. . I don't want the shop to look boring and even considered not posting them at all. In the end I think that I'll post them. Enough times I've liked a handspun yarn only to find that it doesn't have enough yardage for me to use. I hope that knowing there is a bit more yardage available might be useful for some shoppers.

I'm planning to post these lovelies throughout this week so keep an eye on the shop.

I put a new gadget up on the blog today too so you can get a mini view of what's up in the shop and link right to the shop if you find something irresistible.

If you have any special requests for colors, spinning styles, etc., please comment, I'd love to hear them.

New Fiber More Spinning

I received some awesome batts this week from one of my favorite Etsy shops Crystal Creek Fibers so what did I do? I sat right down at the wheel spun them right up. I figured you might like to take a quick peek.



Forever in Blue Jeans - Merino wool, Alpaca, Angora and Silk
















June Wedding - Rambouillet wool, Silk and Angora


Both of these yarns are super soft and squishy. Don't you just love the shine from the silk.

Lazy Sunday

I had great intentions for today but I didn't accomplish much. The weekend wasn't a total loss, I managed to squeeze out 2 skeins which are drying as I write this post. I posted a few more skeins this weekend on Etsy. http://hooksandeyes.etsy.com/

Here is some "yarn porn" to drool over.

Hot Cocoa - Merino wool and silk

It's made up of a lot of different colors but mixed together the color makes me thing of hot cocoa.

Have a great week everyone!

Spin, spin, spin

After spending too much time window shopping on Etsy.com I have been dying to order more batts and roving. That, combined with the opening of my shop and selling a couple skeins of yarn, has the potential for some serious plastic abuse. So, to combat that, I've resolved to spin up a good portion of my growing fiber stash before I go out and shop until I drop.

I guess I needed the motivation so I've been spinning like crazy lately. In the last 3 days I spun 6 skeins, which is a lot considering I have work and kids to manage too. One skein was a total flop, but I learned a lot. This one will be kept in a safe place so as not to hurt anyone. Four of other 5 will be photographed for posting in my shop and one will be made into something nice for an upcoming craft fair.

I'll be posting photos of some of these beauties once I get my light box and camera out for a photo shoot.

Shop is Up and Running!

So I got a kick in the pants this weekend and measured my yarns for WPI (Wraps per Inch) and yardage. I even started a spreadsheet!

I know, how organized was I?! Anyway, I finished the exercise of measuring so that I could begin working on my write ups for listings. The little blurbs you read that describe the yarn are harder to write than I thought. How does one sound clever and interesting while describing yarn?

Well, I did some preliminary write ups and then I was feeling saucy so I went for it. I posted a small sample of yarns up for sale in my shop, 4 to be exact. I was so pleased with myself I had to do a little dance. While I was admiring my work, I checked email only to find, you guessed it, I sold a skein!

Yep, I sold a skein of yarn in the first half hour of existence. I received a note from my first customer requesting a center pull ball winding and offered her a chance to purchase a matching skein I hadn't had time to list yet. She said she'd take it!

So, day one was a complete success in my new little corner of the internet marketplace! Okay, I can't retire just yet, but it is a great feeling to sell something I made. I am going to go right out and list some more!

A sample of the various photos for a single yarn.

What to do with handspun yarns...

I spent the first part of this year learning how to spin yarn on a wheel and wondering what in the world I could make with small amounts of yarns. I've decided to give a hat a try. Okay, I tried a lot of hats and mittens and scarflets and other small projects. I'm glad to say I have a new found love of my handspun yarns by making a bunch of satisfying small projects.

Today I completed a hat that I think came out pretty. I love the colors of this handspun and I'm planning to spin some more in this colorway. I was especially happy to find this yummy chocolate taffeta ribbon.

I entered it into a raffle swap over at Craftster, I can't wait to see what I get back in the swap.

New Shop Coming Soon

I put on my photographer hat these days. You would be surprised at how many ways one can photograph yarn. I think I've hit on a good formula so now it is just a matter of taking photography time. I'll call it studio time since that sounds much more interesting.


Usually I have more help than I really need from my 5 year old daughter taking photos so it may mean waiting until after bed time to get some actual work done. I'm excited since I am that much closer to getting my etsy shop up and running. I am aiming for a December opening so that I might capture some Christmas holiday traffic and some New Year Resolution purchases.


Just to whet your appetite, I'm posting a few of my trial photos.

Winter in the Evergreens-
Green, black and white merino and silk blend





Misty Roses-
Red and purple merino and silk blend

Pumpkin Patch-

Yellow, copper, orange and brown merino