Sneak Peak!

Just a little sneak peak with tomorrow's giveaway Snack Mat! 
If you haven't entered please scroll down to the "Grow Your Blog" party post & leave a comment. See you tomorrow!

Snowstorm!

In the winter time there is nothing more beautiful then a thick blanket of snow covering the landscape. This past weekend we were blessed with an abundant amount of snow. I suppose there are many people that don't see a snowstorm as a blessing but when there has been a severe lack of snow and rain for at least a year, well, I think snowstorms look pretty good! 
It certainly is perfect weather for  knitting, spinning, and drinking hot tea by the stove!

Wishing the best  to you and yours this beautiful day!

 P.S. The snow already melted,  thanks to rising temps and rain. But I am sure there will be more in the forecast.

Grow Your Blog Party 2013. And Giveaway!

Hello! And thank you for stopping by to visit me here in my little corner of blogland.
Let me introduce myself and tell you somewhat about my blog.
My name is Holly and I started this blog several years ago in the hopes of chronicling my knitting adventures. Since then I have learned to spin my own yarn and have developed a deep love for the fiber arts. I enjoy sharing what I am working on, be it spinning, dyeing, carding,  sewing, knitting, quilting, crochet, rug hooking, photography, or just daily life in general.

As part of the "Grow Your Blog Party"... ( brilliantly hosted by the wonderful Vicki from Two Bags Full: http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com/2012/10/my-grow-your-blog-party-all-bloggers.html )
.....I am offering a small giveaway. There are no strings attached.  The giveaway is open worldwide to anyone. Even if you don't have a blog please feel free to enter. All I ask is that you have a way available for me to contact you if your name is drawn. ( Email, Ravalry, etc.)
So what am I giving away you ask? Well, lately snack mats have been quite popular and as EVERYONE eats snacks that seemed like the ideal prize.

Made with a scrappy assorted selection of fabrics from my stash and then quilted, The Snack Mat will be a sturdy place to set a mug with a hot beverage and a cookie or two. I'm sorry I do not have a photo to share to give you an idea of what i am talking about'. The idea is still simmering in my head and I will be sewing it this coming week. I'll share photos as it progresses if I am able.
The deadline for my giveaway is January 31, 2013. Lord willing, I will be announcing the winner sometime on February 1.
Stay tuned!

Once again thank you for stopping by! Feel free to pull up a chair, pour some tea or coffee, and browse awhile. I love visitors and I look forward to hearing from you!
Have a blessed visit, my friends!
~Holly

P.S. to be entered in my giveaway drawing simply leave a comment on this post. ♥ Thank you!

An evening carding session.

Carding again this evening. I am working on a merino and silk blend for the shop. Just thought I would pop in real quick and share with you. I am using white merino wool and a multi colored tussah silk. Each puni/rolag is slightly different but oh, so pretty.

January Fiber Updates

 Hello my friends! It is good to be back here in blogland with you. I will admit I have been spending more time on Instagram then on my blog. Probably because the camera on my phone is nicer then my point-and-shoot. And it is fairly instant, far less work then editing photos and doing up a blog post. But I am determined to be a little more regular on here, as time allows, and not neglect my poor blog and my wonderful followers. 
 First up are shop updates. 
I am keeping fairly busy with my shop. Things slowed down around Christmas but are picking back up within the last week. Spindle sales are on the rise and that is a blessing. I get so excited every time I sell a spindle. Actually I still get so excited every time I have any sort of sale. Each one is a blessing and an answer to prayer.
Newest in my shop right now are my Marbled Puni Collections! 
I am working on carefully carding up unique fiber blends on my hand cards and selling them in small amounts. These are similar to batts, but are already split up into sections as you can spin straight from a puni. They will make beautiful heathered yarns and depending on the content, will be lightly textured.
If you haven't seen them yet please do stop by and check them out!
** Concerning Punis, I will be doing a special post about what makes a puni, and the difference between punis and rolags. Stay tuned!

 In my own personal non-business-related Fibery dealings, this is a little of what I have been working on. Bright and early New Year's day, (yes, I mean about 12:30am!) I dumped out my container of woolly odds and ends left over from other carding projects. I wanted to see if I could make some order out of the chaos and maybe card them into rolags/punis. Yes, I know I could use them for felting or stuffing, but they seemed to pretty to use for anything other then spinning. I lashed them neatly onto my hand cards as shown above, then away I carded.

 As you can see they turned out beautifully! They have some short,, blobby spots. And I had to deal with a few more noily sections then I usually do, but overall I loved them. Since I was using scraps they ended up being a mixture of merino wool, angora, silk, bamboo, llama, and sari silk threads. 
 This was my project basket on New Year's Day. Although I ended up just working on my scrappy punis and never did get to spin on my Christmas yarn. I carded, spun, and plied all of my scraps on January 1st, in between the general chatter, food, games and time spent with my wonderful family. 

 Here is the resulting yarn, my first handspun of the year 2013!I am not sure on the WPI of the yardage, I will have to measure it again.

 As for my Happy Christmas yarn, it spun up fairly quickly. I dithered back and forth on how I should ply it. Two ply to blend the colors more? Navajo ply for longer color repeats? Normally I don't have trouble deciding what to do with my plying but I wanted this to be perfect so it sat as a single for a little while. Two different people advised that I do two-ply. So that is what i ended up going with.

And I absolutely LOVE the way the colors ended up! It is a very unique yarn, and some of the colors are not "me" at all. But as a whole I love it and I am already designing a shawl pattern with it. This was only 180 yards of fingering weight yarn. I have already knit almost all of it and I am plying the second skein for it. Depending on how the shawl turns out I may turn it into a pdf for sale on Ravelry. I'll be sharing pictures with you soon!
What about you? What projects have been keeping you busy in your spare time thus far in the New Year? I would love to hear all about them!

Christmas Morning

Reading of the Christmas story before we open our gifts. A most beloved family tradition. Christ is the reason for the  day, and it is lovely to start the day on which we honor His birth, by reading the Biblical account of His birth. 

My family knows how much I adore owls. And I know they know how much I adore owls. Still, I was quite surprise to find this cute fluffy chap under the tree. 

I snapped away with my phone and got quite a few lovely photos of my wonderful family and the joy and love on all our faces. We kept pausing in our own unwrapping to delightedly watch another member of the family unwrap a special something.  Handmade gifts have always figured greatly in our Christmases.

In the preparations leading up to Christmas I particularly enjoyed the hand embroidery I was doing to make small felt journals for my sisters. I will have to share some pictures of them in the future. They were a delight to make. 

The day was filled with family, good food, games, carols and rather a lot of lego building. What can I say? We grew up with legos, and from the oldest to the youngest we still enjoy putting them together. 

I pulled out this roving that I had been longing to work on but did not dare touch until Christmas projects were out of the way. It is a delightful jumble of colors that is spinning up into a beautiful happy yarn. I think I shall turn it into a shawl when I am done....

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas with friends and loved ones! And a blessed New Year's Day as well! And though this year is already promising to be just as busy as last year, I am looking forward to it and can not wait to share my adventures with you!
Happy 2013 my dear friends!

Snap Shots: Christmas Preparations

:: Farm fresh eggs.

:: Cookies in progress.

 ::Chocolate Orange Cookies.

Molasses Cookies

 ::Prepping cookies for the cookie exchange.

:: Wrapped and ready to go.

 ::Hand stamped cards and envelopes.

Brown paper parcels, tied with bakers twine and hand stamped.

Capturing December Day 31: "Fun"

Capturing December Day 29: "Sky View"

{Capturing December} Day 27: "Nighttime"