Joy to the world

I know it's the wrong season, but my spinning wheel is named Joy and she has been humming with all this newly dyed fiber.



It's also a joy that I have finally opened my Etsy store with the bag made with the black and white Jacob, the burgundy merino and the natural baby alpaca. As you can see over there.............
I'm excited because I've been trying to open the store since April, but life intervened.

I've been lucky to sell some items in the galleries I show in, have made some sales and they've asked for more! Though I've been selling some, it's a pain as so little of the list price returns to me. Those gallery percentages and monthly or quarterly charges really mount up!

That's why I love Etsy. It's so easy to use and the price is right. Also, I've had several questions about starting my store and had them answered in the forums almost instantaneously. Pretty cool that these good folks don't look upon new listers as competition but as someone to help.
Very impressive!

Above is my first beehive yarn made from one of the sun dyed lots. It was a difficult skill to master and I did much calling on my maker and referring to human waste products. I love the way it came out and, no, it won't appear in my Etsy store. I just couldn't wait to try knitting it into a small skinny scarf, a perfect showcase for the beehives. THAT may show up in the store. Soft and wonderful and fun!

I will definitely spin more. I've got my faithful Hitchhiker spinning wheel out now and some gorgeous periwinkle light and dark roving with blue pink areas. The plan is to beehive this one too.

I also spun Daisy and Dandelions pictured on the right above. I love it. It's a thick and thin single ply and will go up on Etsy tomorrow. I'll be putting a lot of yarn up, all hand dyed or hand painted and most hand spun. I have also ordered some Peruvian worsted and sock yarn for dying for people who prefer machine spun yarn. A bit less expensive too.

Busy woman you might say. And I accomplished all this spinning and knitting and dying in addition to falling into a WET culvert while mowing the front half acre. Had to ask our neighbor to pull the beast (a brush mower, the guys call it a bush hog!) out with his tractor!
I'll make him some banana bread tomorrow.

Happily, no pics of this incident.

Oh, and I was able to climb out of the ditch myself without the aid of a tractor.

The weather is to dye for, pun intended. Long, cool days with achingly blue sky and inky nights with a bazillion stars overhead and thousands of fireflies close to the ground in Mollyockett meadow.

Yes, there really is one of those. Our old farmhouse sits on the slopes reaching up to one of the 5 summits of Mollyockett Mountain. If I hadn't bent your ears, dear Constant Readers, with too much verbosity, I'd spin the tale of the Native American woman the mountain is named for.

Another time.