The Sheepy Kitty

Spun up October samples

2009-10-31T12:49:00.001-07:00

I was supposed to get a PhatFiber October box. I heard that it was a really good month. The USPS never delivered it:( For almost the past 2 weeks everyday I have looked at the porch to see if it is some how there- yet it never is.

I saved some extra samples of Crushed Velvet and Venetian Mask for me to test spin. Then after I packed up my samples and sealed the box I found 2 samples that escaped the box packing- so I got a little more of Venetian Mask and 1 sample of Venetian Mask II. So I spun them up. I had more of Venetian Mask, so I Navajo plied part of it and I Andean plied the other part.

Pictured- Crushed Velvet, Navajo plied Venetian Mask, Venetian Mask, and Venetian Mask II

Phat October

2009-10-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

Kilala and I have been busy dyeing fiber for the October PhatFiber box. The dyeing wasn't that hard, but the weighing, packing, and mailing seem to take me forever. It also doesn't help when my supervisor- Kilala keeps trying to jump into the packaged samples. Here are this months samples:

I have spun up and plied the samples, but they need to take a little bath still.

Purple Unicorn - Corriedale

2009-09-24T21:31:00.000-07:00

What the fiber looked like before:

The spun sample of about 6 grams on my wheel and made into a 3-ply:

Corriedale has a longer staple length that makes it easier to spin. Corriedale is also a nice soft squishy fiber that can be worn next to your skin.

Enchanted Forest Merino

2009-09-24T21:25:00.001-07:00

This is what the fiber looked like:

I spun up a 4gram sample on a spindle and made a 2-ply yarn here it is:

With Merino what isn't to like. It is soft and buttery, so much so I tend to spin it rather thin.

A Modern day furry tail

2009-08-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

Not so very long ago, in a not very nice part of a big city, a tiny kitten the size of a sausage was found living all on its own; she was only a few days old, and had lost her mother and any litter mates. The person who found the tiny kitty took her to the city's animal control, and they sent her to a foster home with a fuzzy-haired woman who knew just what to do with tiny, homeless kittens: feed them with a bottle. But the tiny kitten, now named Wisteria, didn't want to drink from a bottle...even at that age, she had a very strong personality! But the woman with the fuzzy hair was patient and showered Wisteria with love and affection (and bottle feedings), and Wisteria grew strong and beautiful.
The woman with the fuzzy hair loved to knit and crochet, and when Wisteria came to live with her, she was learning to spin. Wisteria came over and sat on the treadle of one of the spinning wheels the woman was learning on, and that made an adorable picture. Wisteria's fur was long and fluffy and soft, and if you wrapped her up in a roving she'd blend right in with the wool. She was the perfect cat for a fiber fanatic--and of course, every cat loves to live in a house full of fiber.
When Wisteria was big and healthy enough (about two pounds), she was ready to be adopted, and the woman with the fuzzy hair took her out of her happy home and to a strange place with cages. Fortunately, Wisteria wouldn't be there for long, because the woman had hand-picked Wisteria's new owner: another fiber fanatic from her spinning class.
Wisteria's new owner came to pick her up, filled out all of the proper forms, and took Wisteria to meet her new family: two dogs and another cat (and two children and two adults). The family renamed her Kilala.
Kilala adapted to her new environment very quickly and now rules the house, and she has retained her kittenhood interest in spinning and other fibers. When her new mom tried to think of a name for her new fiber business, Kilala insisted that it be all about her--after all, there was already one awfully cute picture of her on a spinning wheel, right? And her fur is long and fleecy, isn't it? Kilala laid on her mother's pillow at night and purred suggestively until one day, her mom woke up and thought, "Sheepy Kitty! That's a great name for my shop!" Then she tried to shove Kilala off of the pillow so she could get some more sleep without sucking on cat fur.
In other words, Kilala lived happily ever after.