The little bag that kept on giving.

During the Ravellenic games, I knit and felted this little bag.  It was one of those quick and easy little projects that made up for some lovely mindless knitting as I watched the Olympics.  (Looks over should as she really is not sure that it is OK to reference knitting and the Olympics in the same paragraph or post for that matter!)      

A bit later this summer, I thought it would be nice to line the little bag and put a zipper in it.  Well, to be honest those thoughts came after I thought......  Hmmmm wouldn't it be nice to embroider a couple of little flowers on the bag.  

The stitching was done with embroidery thread, handspun yarns and several all wool fingering weight yarns.  Have to say it was a very fun and enjoyable little project that kept on giving even when I thought it was finished:)

A few months ago, several skeins of yarn were returned to the shop.  The lady was a smoker and the skeins reeked to high heaven of smoke.  I definitely could not resell them smelling like that, so instead, I took them home and let them air out for a month or more.  Even though they no longer were stinky-smokey, I still couldn't sell them to an unsuspecting customers.  Instead, I am knitting up a little entrelac scarf to use as a shop sample.  While initially I was not very thrilled with the return of smokey yarn, I have to say knitting this little scarf more than makes up for it!

Remember these from a few posts back?  As you can see below, they have spun up into some lovely lace weight yarn.  I have a few chunks of the turquoise bits left to do and then the little pile will be complete and I can find a project for them.

All of the little bits of lace weight in a pile.  Each one was spun on my Bosworth Spindle from the Shipwreck batch of handcrafted spindles.

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;

Tour de Fleece Start

Started the Tour de Fleece this year with a bang literally!  Bill frowns on bringing a spinning wheel to the lake when we go so this year, I opted for a couple of spindles.

After giving the boat a quick clean and hitting the dock kitchen for a greasy burger & fries, it was time to hit the water to drift in wait for the big 4th of July fire works show put on at our end of the lake.  This year it was between Kennedy & Sunset Marinas.  

This is the first year that my allergies have really gone hay wire.  I think that since I have quit smoking over a year ago my nose is really affected by all the things that never bothered it before.  I'm not complaining though as I very much so enjoy being able to breath after going for a short walk;)

Our boat.  Click to 'biggify'.  The arrow points straight at us.

Spindling before the big show.

The pre-show.

The big show about to start.

After the show, get out of the way or prepared to be run over.  This is a wall of boats heading our way to go back down the lake to their perspective docks.

Singles

Dropped the fiber into the lake.  No way am I going in after it.

You too can be protected from the big storm...lol  Amazing what you see on the way to the lake!

Tutorial - Attaching Yarn to a Leader

I had a request recently about attaching yarn to a leader, so decided to put together a quick tutorial. This will work for both spinning wheels and spindles.

Step 1. Tie a loop at the end of the leader.

Step 2.Draft your fiber and insert through the loop.

Step 3. Fold fiber onto itself.

Step 4. Spin.

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.

They Arrived...

Well, in all honesty, they arrived last week:) My sweet little minors head parts for my Antique walking wheel. I did not take before pictures, but I really should have because the pictures I posted in a previous post really just do not do justice to how dirty these little wooden spindles were.

Here they are after a good hard cleaning. Several of the arms to which hold the minors head were full of mud dobber nests. All of the parts sucked up the wood oil like they were little oil vampires! Thirsty old wood in deed:)

Now, I'm off to whittle away a few little spokes to hold the minors head to the arms. And a few arms need proper repair. Until then, I can't wait to get them on my wheel!

Over the rainbow!

Ah, the joys of old wheels!

Just recently purchased. A lot of used walking wheel minors head parts and ..........

One complete Minors head.

The plan with the Minors head lot is to devise a way to attach a minors head to my current wheel. It looks like I might have enough parts here to make several complete Minors heads and surely one of them will work out.

Found this little charka wheel on one of my many searches on Ebay. It is in need of some tweeking that I have yet to get around to. I would consider this little wheel more of a vintage wheel than an antique.

This was taken Spring of 2009 as I was driving along I-75 in Kentucky. Not a great photo, but not bad considering it was a camera phone:) Just wanted to share a little Rainbow Joy with you today!

My New Moosie Spindle is here!

Yes, it is finally here! After about 8 months my wee little moosie finally arrived safe and sound. And is it ever a joy to spin on. In the photo, I have a picture of the Moosie which has a Kingwood shaft, the skein of turquoise yarn I just finished spinning on it, and a ball of my turquoise hand dyed and dizzed roving that was used for the skein.

If you are interested in starting your own moosie herd, you can contact the Bosworths on their site Journey Wheel.

And of course hand made roving is available in my little shop LunabudKnits:)

Bad bad Girl......

Hehehe....

Well, it wasn't all that bad. And honestly, one can never have enough wheels or spindles or fur! And it was priced just right!

I found a Walking Wheel in my price range!!!

The story goes........

I was skipping along through Ebay on my merry little way when all of a sudden up from no where popped this little picture of a walking wheel. I snuck a peek at it. Low and behold what did my eyes see? A wee little ol' price tag for 12.00!

Now I'm no idiot, so I know this little beauty missing a lovely little leg is worth much much more than they want. I immediately plug in a little absentee bid for $x00. Not even 5 minutes later the little ol' Walking Wheel was pulled from the evil monster that is Ebay by the seller.

Well, you know me, I fired off a friendly little email to the seller. He emailed back that he would sell me the wheel for $120 plus shipping. I could barely restrain myself from blurting out 'But you know these sell up to 4-800 regardless of condition?'. I kept my mouth shut and immediately fired the guy payment through paypal.

Shipping was going to cost more than he had originally thought, so....... Instead of charging me $x00 for shipping, he personally drove my little ol' wheel to my Aunt 2 hours away:) That was so sweet of him:) Now my Aunt has it and will be bringing it to me next time she comes to town. Which is fine by me because I now have my very own Walking Wheel that was purchased (including shipping) for $180!