Back at It

Took a little smidgen of a break over the Christmas break. It was a wonderful Holiday season with my Brother and Sister-in-law in from Japan. They are expecting a little boy in March and let me tell you..... We can barely contain my Mom. This will be her first Grandson and is she ever excite, elated and over flowing with joy..lol Of course we are all looking forward to welcoming our 'Little Bear' into the world:)

Mr Bill got me the one thing I have been wanting for a long, long time... An Ottlite! I love it, Love It, LOVE IT!

Outside of that, it's time to get back to the grind and share the fruit of my labor with fiber fanatics near and far. Here are two new 'Spin me Batts' , fresh off the drum carder and waiting for you at LunabudKnits.

-Kestrel-

A walk down memory lane and based on the colors of the American Kestrel.

-Mermaid Surprise -

Full of Fluffy Merino, Bamboo Goodness, Sparkling Firestar and a smidgen of Glitz!

My Boyfriends Back!

Shay-Nah! Shay-Nay! My Boyfriends BACK!!!!

I don't know why I did it, or what gave me the urge to go stand out on the back deck tonight. But I am thanking God that I did! See I heard a meow coming from the field behind our house. Well, I started calling for Little Kitty and saying 'Meow, Meow' which is our kitty speak for 'Where you at?'

I thought he might be coming from between the two neighbor's houses so I grabbed a flash light lickety split and ran for the front door! But, once I was between the two houses the meow was fainter. So I ran back in the house and through the basement. Kicking at Bill to wake up as I went. In to the back yard I went and I realized he had made it into the neighbor's back yard!

We meowed at each other through the fence until we came to a spot large enough for him to squeeze through. At which point I snatched my Little Kitty up and ran for the back door! That was an hour ago and outside of taking a little break to eat, Little Kitty has not left my lap:)

Little Kitty in my lap!

Little Kitty eating a smidgen of food. Don't want to over do it as he wasn't chewing the kibble and I don't want to hurt his little belly. Right now, I can feel every little bone in his body:(

This pic was taken right before Little Kitty had his mishap with a stray dog that chased him to lord knows where on 11/30/09 (yes, I know the date my little bud disappeared). As you can see, he has quite a bit of catching up to do. But, I'm sure we will get him there and soon!

Very Very ....

Busy week. And is that ever a good thing:)

Busy at the carder and busy at the dye pot, making for a Busy week. And, is that ever a good thing!

I'm very excited about the 'Spin Me Batts', a new batt collection in the shop. Spin Me Batts are a little step down from the Wacky Batty. Lovely Wool based batts with none to just a couple mix-ins. To top that off, they are all repeatable! Above is pictured the Iced Cranberries, Spin Me Batt.

Hanging from the chandelier are some very loved semi-solid Wool Lace and Silky Wool skeins. They are simply calling out to be knit up lickety split!

The Cinnamon Chai, Spin Me Batt ;)

Shop Updates

Have a few new batts, spindles, and handmade ornaments up in LunabudKnits. Haven't uploaded all of the ornaments as the bulk of them are at the Artwalk in E-town.

I love these spindles, they aren't overly fancy, but are very good little spinners

This one is almost beyond temptation for me. Reminds me of chocolate chip cookies that have a delightfully crispy burnt edge.

One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor!

Wet felted and embellished with satin ribbon and vintage beads.

PS: Still no sign of Little Kitty:( Still depressed over this which explains the lack of blogging.

Little Kitty

It is with a very sad heart that we think our Little Kitty, Ace is dead..

Monday morning, he darted out the door when Bill opened it and would not come back in. Bill went to put on his shoes and heard a ruckus at the front door. When he got to the door, Little Kitty was no where to be seen and the mulch was dug up as if there had been a fight. The neighbor across the street saw what happened, she has been very ill for the past year, so needless to say, there is nothing she could have done. Apparently some jerk was to lazy to walk their dog decided it would be a good idea to just open the door to let it out. This dog while roaming the neighborhood happened upon my little kitty on the front porch, proceeded to chase him and we have not see Little Kitty since Monday morning. We have searched the neighborhood for our little furry buddy, but have come up empty handed. Last night we plastered the neighborhood stop signs with fliers, so we still have not given up hope.

I am heart broken and Bill is too. I spent most of Monday and part of yesterday crying over my Little Cuddle Bug Kitty. He would curl up in my lap and suck his toes while I typed away at the keyboard. Just Sunday night, he was begging for a smidgen of turkey salad which he got. He had a little bit of eggs and bacon for breakfast on Sunday and helped me put up the tree on Friday. We curled up on the couch and slept all night together in the basking glow of the trees lights.

This is a video I was lucky enough to capture of Little Kitty and Miss Kitty playing in the kitchen/ dining room and then careening through the living room. I'm sure they would have come around the corner playing like crazy except one of the kitties slid on the tile floor and must have whacked into the hall door.

A few pics of Ace, aka. Little Kitty, Little Stinker........

Little Kitty never could figure out that we could see him while he was 'hiding':)

Hanging out w/ Miss Kitty.

Sucking his back toes. He did this as he supervised me at the computer.

Waiting for me to sit down at the computer.

Begging for scraps.

Attacking Miss Kitty.

Hiding a week or so after we found him on the side of the road.

Helping me with the laundry.

Keeping an eye on the fish.

Funny story here. Little Kitty and Bill would play a game where Bill would push kitty around on the floor and kitty would slide across the floor. One day, he accidentally pushed kitty into the water dish. Little Kitty shook his head, looked at the water dish, dipped his paw in it and drank. Luckily, he kept it up long enough for me to grab the camera.

Waiting for Bill to come home.

Tugging on my zipper. No zippers or buttons were safe from Little Kitty. He once de-beaded a hand knit shawl I made. did not realize it until I picked up the shawl and beads scattered every where....lol Luckily the beads were simply tied on.

Saying here I am.... Pet me! Pet me!

He was well loved and greatly missed.

Art Walk in Elizabethtown, KY

There are a few hand painted yarns and felted ornaments being offered by Lunabudknits at the Artwalk in downtown Elizabethtown this year. I learned about it through my friend Luna of Blueball Mountain Spindle and Needleworks who was gracious enough to let me add a few of my items to her display through the month of December:)

Hit the road at about 11 am and arrived at Luna's farm at around 1 pm. After being greeted by Bella, the very happy house pup, Luna took me out to greet the sheep, chickens and the most precious little calico kitty who thinks she is a guard dog. At this point, I realized I forgot my trusty camera so you must believe me when I say that the farm and house is absolutely wonderful!

There is a lovely little herb garden with tansies, wormwood and many other good smelling herbs off the back of the house. The wash room in the big barn is something to be jealous of indeed! With tubs for washing, pickers for picking, areas for dying, and lovely shetland fleeces bundled and ready to be washed, dyed, and picked. The big barn also houses the Shetland rams and chickens. Off to the side in a field with a little quan-hut are the beautiful ewes who were very healthy and enjoying the rays of the sun as we stopped by to admire their freshly shorn sides. And between the house and the big barn is the most pleasantly perfect little building Luna and her husband are in the process of restoring so that I can be a little wool house or craft room for Luna. The little building really has potential to be something so very special and I can barely wait to see what special use Luna has for it!

OH, I almost forgot to mention! Luna has two, not one, but two! bee hives on the hill behind the garden. Ah, the joy of fresh honey!

We went back in and waiting on the table for us was some of the best chicken salad you have ever had, compliments of Luna's hubby, Allen. After a quick bite to eat, it was on to the crafty room. Boy, oh BOY! does Luna ever have a wonderful crafty room. Full of bright and beautiful yarns, lovely trimmings and add in's as well as her extra wide drum carder. But the true center piece was the new Fancy Kitty electric drum carder! Ah, the joys of a carder you don't have to crank..... Someday, someday.......

We headed to the little shop where the fibery stuff is for the ARtwalk to do a few last minute arranging and setting up. From there, I bought a couple of bumps of roving from Luna and sat down at her traveler wheel. The first bump was spun into a single and the second was a spun single with brightly colored locks spun in. I then plied the two singles together to get a beautiful pale blue glitzy art yarn with stray locks sticking out here and there. You can see the yarn in the next 3 pictures....

The next yarn is from a batt I purchased from Luna at the Kentucky Wool Festival in Falmouth KY back in October. It is Merino carded with silk and loaded with firestar and glitz. Not too sure what I will do with it, but for now, I really enjoy just loving on it:)

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sale

In keeping with the spirit of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, LunabudKnits will be offering a 10% discount for all online sales November 27th through November 30th on ALL merchandise including wheels, roving, yarn, drum carders, casein knitting needles and many more.

Simply check out and pay as you normally would through Paypal and your Paypal account will be refunded 10% of the merchandise sale price. Please note the discount does not apply to shipping charges.

Happy Spinning, Happy Knitting and Happy Holidays!

Steph

ALMOST.......

DONE!!!!

I'm at the end of my spring cleaning and have put a good sized dent into the mound of washing waiting to be put through the washing machine.... And all I can say is 'YAHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'.

I think the issue that really started this massive 'Spring Cleaning' mission is the simple fact that I have a tendency to be a hoarder. You see, when I was growing up, we moved at the very least once every year and some of my precious junk would magically disappear. This was compounded by the fact that once we stopped moving, Dad and I started collecting. We didn't really collect anything special, just stuff other people did not want. See, if someone would say, I'm throwing such and such away, one of us would run right over and bring it home. Not that I went over board with hoarding, but I'm putting a stop to it before it becomes a problem. Honestly, I think this trait was passed down to us from my Granny (Dad's Mom)....lol She is a tidy little hoarder as well....lol I think hers stems from growing up in Liverpool during WWII.

Anyhow, enough of the explanations and on to the good stuff.... Pictures!

I'm finally able to cutely display the Casein Knitting needles available at LunabudKnits:)

An old horse tooth I found in a barn and then found again in a cute little box(pictured below).

The jeweled frog box.

The first load of stuff that went to Good Will. I'll tell you one thing, there are a lot of expensive clothes and shoes in those 4 bags, but it was like a weight was lifted from my shoulders by donating them to Good Will!

It's Beginning to look a lot like........

SPRING CLEANING!?!

Everywhere you go in this house of hair....lol

Twice a year I go psycho on the house to prevent any creepy crawlies from getting into my stash. All of my skeins are line up in a row and spend about an hour each in a steam bath regardless of whether they are protein (ie. wool, mohair, etc) or plant (ie. cotton, linen, etc) fibers. Any ball of yarn that enters this house is immediately put into a skein for just this occasion. As the skeins lay out waiting for their bath, other wild and crazy things are going on too....

You see, it started last night at around 9:30, continued until 3 am, and will probably continue until Sunday or Monday when I have my buddy with his steam cleaning team come to suck any vestige of dirt remaining in the carpets. Every single drawer, shelf and closet will be opened and emptied of it's contents, vacuumed, wiped down with Spic'n'Span, oiled if it is wood, and finally refilled with my precious junk that I decide to keep.

I'm up to my eye balls in precious junk, so I am being rather harsh on myself and have created a monster size 'Good Will' mound and have completely filled one garbage bin. I'm being a very good girl and sticking to my resolution that if I haven't used it, worn it or looked at it in the past year, well, it's probably time for that little treasure to move on to a new home.

Seriously, I have enough junk to fill several peoples homes, drawers and closets. And all that junk has been weighing on my mind, shoulders and not to mention my drawers, closets and shelves for quite some time. Pretty much the only type of precious junk that is safe in my house from this cleaning cycle are books. It's not really that the books have lucked out, but rather that I went through them like a mad woman this summer so that I could put more books on the shelves. Light bulbs and power tools are safe as well....lol The only way I could be parted from my power tools would be over my cold, dead body. Even then, I'm pretty tenacious about them!

I think what really prompted the massive cleaning was receiving a 40 lb box from a supplier full of yarns and roving and I had not a single inch of space to put them. Time to get back at it.....

Sorry no pictures of my manic cleaning:)

Oh..OK... Just one picture, but please excuse the MESS!

Phat Fiber Box Here We Come!

Whew, it took me a while, but I finally have my little submissions ready for the Phat Fiber Sample Box. Here they are:

Wacky Batty

Wacky Batty's are odd ball One Of A Kind creations made for your spinning pleasure.

I simply can not begin to describe how luscious these batts are! Well, I can start with an OMG. These started as part of my fiber club. Honestly, if I have to look at either of these selections for too terribly long, THEY WILL BE SPUN!

These particular batts all started with a mess of fibers I received from a supplier (note, we will not be using this supplier ever again!). The tangled mess started as a wad of pure white 60% mulberry silk tangled together with about 40% merino here and there. I'm very thrifty, so I really could not tolerate the idea of chucking this soft fiber. Off to the carder I went. After the first pass through the carder, I started stripping the batts into 5 peices. Taking one strip from each batt, I would send the batts back through the carder. This was done 10 times! Once the prime consistency was met in these batts, I added a touch of green and blue glitz as well as silk noils and neps and sent them back through one more time.

At this point, I'm sure you have seen my shop and know that I'm a HUGE fan of color. I blended several batts consisting of earthy brown merino and camel; brown merino, black corriedale, green sari silk and natural camel down; ocean blue and warm teal merino topped with black corriedale and blue tussah silk; and last but not least hand dyed aqua alpaca fleece, ecru bamboo, and snow white firestar. These fun batts were then layered into the final result which you see here. Oh, yes, there is a touch of white banana fiber in there.

We had a discussion a while back on the Etsyfast group about pricing. If I calculate the price of these batts by my time, I have well over 17 hours into these batts and at minimum wage of $7.25 the hourly price of my work would be $123.25.

Two batt groups available at LunabudKnits each weighs 4.7 ounces. Price is per 4.7 ounce. Ingredients: Alpaca, Merino, Firestar, Mulberry, Tussah, Sari, Camel, Silk, Corriedale, Glitz, - 4.7 oz 134 grams

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

In EXACT order above...

'The Good' 'The Bad' 'The Ugly

And yes these are terrible pictures of a terrible deed. Master minded by 'The Bad' Little Kitty, Ace who is not quite so little any more. Nor was he quite so cute at the moment either!

See, it happened Friday while I was vacuuming the carpet in the dining room. Unbeknown to me, 'The Bad' Little Kitty who is not quite so little any more, Ace was hiding behind the striped curtain which is behind the three tiered stand you see in 'The Good' picture. I don't know how he managed to knock over the stand which resulted in 'The Ugly' but the rotten little stinker who has grown rather fat managed quite well in his hasty retreat from the room. This unfortunately resulted in breaking my 3 tiered stand.

The stand was broken in two 'Ugly' places. The picture above shows the place where the spot weld on the metal did not hold due not only to being knocked over, but also from being knocked over on to the kitchen table and then hitting the floor. I'm hoping in the future to have this little spot re-welded.

At the time, I was not aware that this join had never actually been connected to the stand! And there was good reason for this. Because who ever had initially welded the plate to the stand was not the best welder on the planet. This left a rather large bead where the plate met the post. To top it off, the plate was not attached at the proper position on the post. So in came my trusty little dremel tool and the cutter head and grinder head. I cut off the back of the plated with the cutter and then used the grinder to smooth it out to properly fit into place. The grinder head also came in very handy to get rid of the bead from the bad welding job.

Here is 'The Ugly' completely fixed into 'The Good'. Sorry for the dust. I had no idea the dremel left that much of a mess.

And of course who can stay completely mad at 'The Bad' little kitty when his fat furry little butt sleeps in the funniest of positions!