Batts in the Belfry

This past spring, I had a great time collaborating with Sheila Bosworth of Journey Wheel.  They had a new 'Special Spindle' made of Macassar Ebony and needed batts to go along with it.  We worked out a color and went from there.


Luckily, I did not have to think very hard!  A few weeks earlier, I had visions of a new line of smooth batts for spinners.  Not layered like my spin me batts, but smooth with streaks of glistening bamboo.  The one I had just finished spinning was a golden amber color, so with a little tweeking to the recipe, the Jewelz Batts were born!  Jewelz batts are a 50/50 blend of merino and bamboo with an extra healthy dash of angelina added for good measure.


What do you think?

Amethyst

Azurite

Garnet

This is a photo from Sheila of the spindles with one of the first batts produced.  Really, Really, REALLY wish I had gotten one of these.  They are absolutely gorgeous spindles!!

Yes, I think I am back.  

Pretty Little Things

Came across this lovely bag chock full of little compact balls of fluff the other day. Upon spilling the little balls out, I realized they are reminders or remainders of some of my first batts.

It really is amazing to hold these little cuties in my hand and truly enjoying my firsts. Not for their perfection or softness or even beauty. No, most of the little guys were stripped down to be recarded into something else. A few are left overs from spinning.

Never realizing I would come to love them years later, I crammed them in a little bag, stuffed them in a drawer, and completely forgot about them. Until now that is.... Now, I plan to spin them all on my 'Shipwreck' drop spindle from Jonathan & Sheila Bosworth and then... Maybe, just maybe, knit them into a shawl. In reality, I will probably finish spinning them, cram them in another little bag and probably forget about them for a few more years to only find them again and pledge another project;

New Demented Creations

I have some new yummie creations for LunabudKnits......

Demented Spinning Batts!!

I have been playing around with the Strauch Mad Batt'r and it has definitely been a dementedly fun time. So much fun that they're going to take me away he-he-ha-ha-ho-ho-hum-hum! It's all about fun art battyness with these lovelies! Fiber is loaded on in droves of chunky goodness with spots of sweet lucidity. The demented batts are all wool based, but have some of the most spectacular add ins I have. I will try to list all the madening little bits, but you might get some other fun hidden stuff as well such as mohair locks, flax, hemp, bamboo, glitz, angelina, firestar, cotton, silk, silk noil, sari silk, ribbons, wensleydale, lincoln, merino, tunis, etc.

Interested in buying your own Mad Batter? check out my shop: LunabudKnits ;)

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

New Fibers!

It has been a while since I posted about what is for sale at my Etsy shop: LunabudKnits. Come on by and give us a peek! And don't forget about signing up for my CONTEST! Free and fun for all ages!

Wensleydale combed top

Merino/Cashmere 80/20 combed top

Drum Carded Superwash Batts

Wacky Battys - A little bit of everything for everyone!

Hand dyed 25 micron lace weight wool yarn

Etsy Updates

I have listed tons of new fun stuff in my Etsy store Lunabudknits/Weed of Dreams. From Roving to yarn you can see a few examples below.....