Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Ashamed !!!

I am such a bad blog keeper upper, i'm so ashamed (hangs her head in shame).
I new i would not have time to update on a daily basis but this is ridiculous!
I will try my best to remedy this .
I've been real busy with my shop lately. I've had quite a few orders especially for my hand knitted patchwork socks.




These socks are truly unique. Not one is the same.
I so enjoy making them.

This pair is available now at my store:
( It was, i just checked the shop and they are sold.:) but if you would like to have a pair,convo me.
They are Dk weight (thick) winter socks.
I also had several orders for spinning fibers(carded batts) and hand dyed locks .
I'm glad , i thought due to the bad economy it would be really slow but it's not bad at all.I'ts been busier but it's enough to where i can keep up comfortably withoout getting stressed.
It seems that spinning is really getting very popular.I wish i had more time to spin myself, it is so relaxing.
I will be offering more hand knitted socks and hand dyed yarn in the next couple of weeks.
If there is anything you see in my shop (especially the sold items)that you would like in a certain sizeor color ,please convo me and i can make it for you. It will probably not be exactly the same, since all my items are one of a kind, but close to it.
I wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving 2

Friday, August 29, 2008

Got Coils? Yes i do.....



well, i finally got the nerve up and tryed my hand on some coil yarn. I'M HOOKED!!!


This is so much fun!! i will have to spin my core yarn with a little more twist,but other than that....good to go!I will make a lot more of this,maybe with some glitz and some silk?


Well, here are the pics and im off to the carder......


Friday, August 22, 2008

What i've been working on the last couple of days



This is a custom order for a pair of my Patchwork socks for one of my etsy customers.One down, one to go.....


....and DONE!!! :

Monday, August 18, 2008

new project

I started a new project yesterday with my natural dyed roving.
since all the colors really go so good together i decided to card them all together in a repeating stripe pattern. i rolled the batts into tight rolags

Then i hand pulled them into pencil roving. boy, i tell you that takes almost as long as the spinning itself, but it makes the spinning so much easier and the yarn so much more even.


To be continued.....

Next day...

i spun about 3/4 of the roving into a single

Will finish and ply today,stay tuned...

...and here it is:





Very nice muted pastel colors.I will hurry to my etsy shop and list it.......

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Still spinning...



This is what i did yesterday...

Friday, August 15, 2008

Spinning bug



Well, i lied (hangs her head in shame ).I did not dye anything yesterday,instead i sat down at my wheel and spun this supersoft,delicious bulky weight yarn.


I wish pc's had a feelomatic.this is one of the softest yarns i've ever touched .and i made it ! :)


After a year of spinning i finally starting to get better control of the setup of the wheel to get the yarn i want. It's been hit and miss so far because i have to get all my info from books ,internet or tips from other spinners.I sure wish i could find someone who could show me in person.Well, ive got about another 150 gr. of this delicious fiber to spin,so i better get cracking before the spinning bug goes on vacation.:)


Thursday, August 14, 2008

And so it beginns...







Well, I finally did it,I joined the masses and jumped in the blog pool!

I'm probably not going to be very good at this,at least to start with,but maybe as time goes on I'll get better(hope is eternal ).So if you will bear with me i"ll give it a shot.

Mainly i started this blog to share tips, tricks, links and information on anything i found helpful or might be helpful for someone knitting, spinning, dyeing and fiber preparation .

Also i will use this blog to rant and rave about the cancer monkey riding my back and last but not least to promote my little online shop at http://www.skimpysmom.etsy.com/ where i sell my handmade wares.Well you didn't think i did all this just for selfless reasons ,did you?

So, before we go on I'd like to introduce SKIMPY since i get asked a lot who skimpy is and how in the hell that poor child ended up with a name like that.








Behold "SKIMPY" also known as "SKIMPMAN", "SKIMPERS", SKIMPYDOODLE" and some other names i really don't want to put down here(never know when kids might look in).






I started knitting when i was about 6 years old. My mother ,who is a crafty lady( in more ways than one), also taught me sewing and needlepoint/cross stitching.

I got away from needle arts in my early thirty's, until i got reacquainted with knitting during my radiation treatment for breast cancer (more about this black time in my live later). Starting with scarves(about 25), sweaters(4)i finally got hung up on socks.
Of course that branched out after awhile into dyeing my own yarn into spinning my own yarn into preparing fiber from scratch(fleeces, mostly raw) so i can spin and knit it . Of course that involved a spinning wheel, a drum carder,lots of wool and... nowhere to put it. Our little house started busting out of its seams. Wool,yarn,needles,dyestuff covered every flat surface in the house.One memorable afternoon when my poor suffering husband almost sat on a pair of dpn's we decided its time to get a "STUDIO" for my stuff (not the word my husband used).So we acquired a 12x24 ready made cabin and had it set next to our house. It's a diamond in the rough yet,it still needs to be insulated,wired and piped but...it's my little heaven where i spend most of my time until hubster gets home or it gets too freaking hot in here (no air conditioner yet either)


I got all my "stuff" in here now,except my dye things,since i have no water in here yet.
Speaking of dyeing, i better get to it.More later....