spring cleaning

Today it's finally warm enough (read: tolerable) to open the windows, let some fresh air in, and get some yucky heavy duty cleaning done. And by yucky, I mean hosing out the litter boxes and bunbun cage. I've got plans to organize my stash room so I can fit ALL of my yarn and fiber in one place. Right now there's a shelf of it towering in my living room in addition to the inventory in the front room. Ben is moving into my place at the end of the month, so I've got to make room for HIS shelves of crap too, ha!

Anyway, as you know, I've been dyeing my butt off for the summer shows I'll be vending at. I'm aware that I now have more stock than will fit in Ben's car, but I dye on! I've been coming up with lots of new colorways lately, which livens up the sometimes mundane dyeing of 4-6 colorway at one time. Check these out:
"Futomaki" on Falkland:


"Valencia" on merino/tussah silk:


Spring is also time for gardening, which means it's time for food, which means it's ALSO time for our CSA from Genesis Growers! We got our first box a couple of weeks ago, and it contained a bunch of yummy cold-weather veggies- beets, onions, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, kale... I made a fantastic "root roast" and served it alongside sauteed kale and garlic topped with almonds:


I think my favorite part about root roasts is that they are so yummy all on their own, without adding much in terms of seasoning. All I did was chop up the veggies, tossed them in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and a dash of Italian seasoning blend, and then roasted them at about 450 until done. You can't go wrong adding a smidge of freshly grated ginger too, if you're into that sort of thing. Anyways, I'm actually quite pleased when I open up my refrigerator and find it almost empty except for a few stray condiments and drawers full of fresh veggies. It makes the whole "what should I eat?" question a lot easier to answer, and my mind is forced to concoct new ways to eat all of these garden treats. It's definitely a welcome form of mental "spring cleaning!"

off to a good start

January is turning out to be much more fun that December. Something about the dark winter months and the drama with the holidays just kind of gets me down. Even though it's even colder, the days are getting slightly longer and it's enough to get me revved up again. On top of that, I've got new fiber blends to dye and new colorways dancing in my head. I'm going to try to give myself a schedule to stick to on the weekends so I have room for dyeing and drum carding. Here's a peek at a mystery batt I was working on the other day:


And for those who are curious, here is my super high-tech roving painting set-up. Even though he insists on overseeing operations despite my best shoo-ing efforts, Bela Lugosi has not yet managed to dye his feet hot pink. Sometimes I let Mr. Bun out for a romp and he ends up chillin' underneath the table- one of his favorite spots!

Spring? Is that you?!

This weekend has been #%&@ gorgeous. Saturday morning I got to volunteer at the Ginkgo Organic Gardens in Uptown. It was the first work-day of the season, and it could not have been nicer (last year it was snowing!) There are so many things I like about that place, namely being outside, gardening for a cause, and hanging out with awesome people. Seriously, what more could you ask for?? When I got home, I cleaned up the kitchen and started dyeing up some more roving (Falkland, this time.) It's still drying in the bathroom right now, so I should have pics of it soon.

Today was just as beautiful, so the BF and I went to Vella Cafe for his birthday breakfast, and then shopping for food and garden supplies. I think I'm going to do a bunch of herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, lettuce, and flowers. I also bought a raspberry and a blackberry bush. I'm out of control! We started turning up the beds and lining them with brick so they look extra nice (and so the lawn maintenance people know to not weed-wack anything down!) I hope the landlord doesn't mind... I'll definitely post pics of it when everything is up and running.

I think now it's time for a glass of wine and a handful of fiber to spin up.

fib3r pr0n

Work has kind of sucked this week- I've worked late at least two nights, and Wednesday I was up in Milwaukee, which meant I had a 12 hour day. ICK. So the fuzzy arts have been on hold for a bit. To make up for it, here are gratuitous pics from other rovings/yarn that I haven't posted yet (quasi-new):

Bela Lugosi roving (corriedale):


Nocturnum roving (corriedale) Not as happy with this one. I was going for some deep tonal blacks but it didn't really happen, what with the big red splash and the white spot. Whatever, it'll spin up just fine methinks:


Pigeons roving (BFL). Now I know pigeons aren't purple and blue and all that, but it reminds me of the way the light hits their feathers and shimmers in all those nice pretty colors:


And here are my second three rovings, ever- left to right: Amazon, Sakura, and Dollhouse:


Amazon handspun:


Sakura handspun:


Snuggling yarns!


I tried spinning Dollhouse with the intent of plying it with thread, and I think I'm going to hold off on any more plying adventures until I get a wheel. It just ends up being a huge mess and a pain in the ass. Never mind that the cats have darn near destroyed everything while I am spinning it anyway!!!

out of control

I've already dyed up every last bit of natural roving I bought (a pound each of corriedale and BFL) and now I have this overwhelming sense of panic- what will I do now?! Spin, of course! I am going to end up selling most of this on Etsy because there is just no way I can afford this habit unless it is self-sustaining. I'm reaching capacity on what I can stash, especially considering I can't go through it that quickly (and I want to save room & money for the fun stuff I find.) I can always re-dye a colorway for myself when needed.

Anyway, onto the roving:

These are 4 shorter corrie strips all dyed separately but intended to coordinate together; named "I Want Candy":

Here they are woven together:


"Nightmare", BFL roving in blacks, grays, pinks, purples, greens, and blues:


Another BFL called "Lightening"- blacks, blue, and burgundy (which I thought was gray, at the time- oops):


And here is "Solemn" (I'll get better at naming these, I promise)- another BFL. I wrapped the roving in a spiral instead of a back-n-forth linear pattern when I painted it, the idea was to try to have spots of blended color on the roving resulting in subtle tonal shifts. I think it worked out nicely, and I'll have to keep this one for myself!


I have 5 more rovings drying in the bathroom as I speak, and I'm in the midst of spinning up my Sakura roving while the BF plays FF8. Rock.

more roving...

The two bits of roving I dyed yesterday were dry this morning, and here they are!



They turned out quite nicely. I wish I had more colors! (No worries, I ordered more last night.) Not sure what I'll call them yet...

I woke up today and got ready to do some more. I also remembered that I wanted to check out the beauty supply store down the block for some color application bottles. Hooboy, they had those in a thousand different sizes and styles, plus every other kind of hair color applicator known to man. AND a foam head! (for modeling hats... seriously.) Who thought a beauty supply store could be so exciting.

So, I dyed two medium batches and one larger one (maybe 3 oz or so). Here are two of them in the burrito stage:

super-productive Saturday

I woke up and immediately started cleaning up my kitchen so I could play with my new goodies. I decided to only do two short lengths of roving as a test batch just in case I effed up big time on my first go. Here they are, soakin in the sink...



And here is me modeling a mobius scarf/cowl that I finished up a couple of days ago:



It's just the pattern off of the balls of Landscape yarn I used. How original, I know! But it's so colorful. Too bad spring is here!

I also expanded my stash wall. The batts and roving were getting a little crowded. Plus, now I have room for more! Or a cat...



Stay tuned for finished dyed rovings. I'm so excited!