Whoa! Briny Deeps!

Wow. Okay, so I got a little off-track in my fiber schedule this week because something really cool happened. I've never made repeatable batts before. I generally dye fiber in small batches and create one-off batts in whatever colors strike my fancy at the moment. I made a huge batch of identical batts for the Phat Fiber box this month, and offered full-size sets in my shop.

And they were popular. Like, way more popular than anything else I've ever made. It was... kind of amazing, actually. And a little overwhelming. I'm... totally flattered, guys. They've sold out a couple times, but as of this writing there are two more sets in the shop. These will be the last sets that are identical to the samples in the box. If these sell out and there are still folks who want them who haven't been able to get any, I will do my best to recreate them but I can't guarantee they'll be exactly the same.

If they do sell out and you still want some, leave a comment here or convo me on Etsy. No pressure or obligation to buy at all, I'm just trying to get a general idea of how many people want them so I know about how many I need to make. They're $5.5o/oz. and they look like this:

Thanks for all the support, everyone.

Happy Spinning!

Shop Update

Hi guys,

There are a few new things in the shop, with more new things to come later this week or possibly this weekend. I will get a real blog entry done soon, but in the meantime I thought you might like to see the pretties! (And in order to put pictures of the pretties on Ravelry, I have to have them online somewhere else. And this is a very lovely somewhere else, if I do say so myself.)

Yeah... it's been a while...

So, it's been a couple months since I blogged.  Oops.  The upside here is that now I kind of feel like if I blog any time in the next two months, I'll be all On Top Of Things blog-wise.  (If anyone is actually reading this at all and cares whether I blog more often than two months apart, you should probably leave a comment because talking into a big empty void feels kind of weird, like talking to myself in a crazy way.  Bonus points if you have a question about fiber or a suggestion for a blog topic.  Seriously.)  

Anyway, parenthetical weirdnesses aside, some cool things have happened in the past couple months.  I got more involved with Phat Fiber, and have really enjoyed that.  Phat Fiber is amazing and if you are the kind of person who likes buying yarn or fiber from indie dyers or spinners, you should totally check it out.  There are also really cool handmade porcelain buttons that sometimes show up in the box, and they are absolutely amazing.   And handmade stitch markers and project bags and knitting-themed greeting cards and handmade soap and all manner of things that we all know fiber people love.  You know you want this.  

Being involved with Phat Fiber has gotten me more involved with Ravelry, and you'll find me there every now and then posting in the Phat Fiber forum as well as several other fora, especially ones about spinning and art yarns.  My name over there is, *gasp*, SerendipityFibers. 

I did actually FINALLY get around to organizing the batt clubs and getting them listed, and they are a lot of fun so far.  I've dyed milk fiber, which is a really lovely fiber that everyone should try at least once.  I dyed locks for the first time today.  They seemed a little intimidating compared to top and roving because I was worried that the shorn ends would felt together into a big colorful lump of weirdness, but all went smoothly and they were a lot of fun to dye.  They're Cotswold, and will be in the next Phat Fiber box assuming I manage to get them dryed, labelled, and in the mail as-soon-or-possibly-sooner-than-humanly-possible.  

And to that end, I am going to bed now-ish so I can get up early tomorrow and wrangle them into neatly labelled little plastic bags.  Yes.

Introducing... ARTinis!

ARTinis are teeny little 1/2 oz. batts bursting with color and texture, just waiting to be spun up into a fabulous art yarn! ARTinis generally contain a little wool and a LOT of special fibers like bamboo, milk fiber, SoySilk, tussah silk, sari silk, tencel, Ingeo (corn firber), locks, snippets of yarn, etc.

Try them! You will like them! They are a lot of fun to make, so expect to see more of them showing up in the shop in the future. In the meantime, these two sets are sitting in the shop already, glimmering and sparkling and waiting for someone to take them home.

First set is here, second set is here.

Cheers!

Dyepot preview!

See Rachel dye.

Rachel likes to dye.



See Rachel dye wool.

See Rachel dye tussah silk from happy caterpillars.

See Rachel dye super-awesome MILK FIBER.

See Rachel dye angora from happy bunnies at Evergreen Vistas.




See the shop on Tuesday & Wednesday for brand new 1/2 oz. batts!

English Rose

Today I whipped up a batt set that instantly became one of my all-time favorites. English Rose is 3 ounces of hand-dyed mill ends (domestic wool with a touch of mohair) in two super soft squishy floofy batts just waiting to be spun or felted. If you spin it as is, the resulting yarn will alternate between rose by itself and barber-pole sections that twist dark green around the rose. Or you can separate the sections and spin it any way you choose! If you want it, grab it quick, before I decide to keep it for myself! And be warned... whoever spins this one up had better send me pictures! I can't wait to see the yarn it becomes!

Announcing... Phat Fiber!

Big news... I will be contributing to the April Phat Fiber Box! If you're new to Phat Fiber, check it out here. Basically, it is a box filled to bursting with little bits of fiber joy from dozens of indie fiber folk. Every box is unique, and each month is completely different. Past boxes have included such goodies as mini skeins of handspun, mini carded batts, locks, dyed roving, stitch markers, and hand-carved wood buttons! It's also stuffed full of coupons each month to the various shops contributing to the box. If you want one, you'll need to join the notification list so you'll be emailed when the boxes become available in the Phat Fiber Etsy shop. Phat Fiber is only a few months old, and the whole thing (box packaging, blogging, videos, Etsy shop sales, etc.) is all run by one woman, Jessie, and her husband Marcus. There are never as many boxes as people wanting them; last month they sold out in 90 seconds! So be sure to visit their website and get on the list so you'll have a chance of snagging one. If you aren't quick enough, there is a consolation prize... anyone on the list who doesn't get a box gets access to a secret website filled with coupons to the various shops. Did I mention there are frequent giveaways of full-sized items on the blog? Phat Fiber rocks! Come join us!

I sent in several kinds of samples this month. Here's a sneak peak at what some of the mini batts looked like:

The photo came out a touch too yellow, but you get the idea. 1/2 oz. is a nice size for batts. You can do a lot with mixing and matching them, and they're fun to card, so I think I'm going to make a few zillion more. I hope to have them in the shop by the end of the week.

To that end, I will be dyeing up some of this fabulous fiber:

Plus lots of tussah silk:

So stay tuned for great things hitting the shop later this week!