I found out from 3 suppliers that prices will be raised August 1st. As new stock comes in the prices will be raised on all natural fibers as well as Louet and Fricke products. That’s the bummer news.

The good news is that I’m adding in new fibers. I have a ton more fiber in the shop than you ever see on the website. So I’m spending time in between dye batches today and tomorrow adding in new luxury fibers and more. Soon I will be carrying the colored Louet Merino Silk in stock.

In my down time, what little there is of it, I managed to finishe spinning and plying my Shetland for a project:

It’s 2 ounces of each of the 4 colors of shetland natural - Navajo plied.

And I got the Bison Bliss dyed with Cochineal:

I’m totally in love with that little skein. I just need to find the right lace scarf and I’ll have a new scarf for this winter.

It’s not really illegal but it was on my top 10 most wanted list.

50% Bamboo, 30% Merino, 10% Bison and 10% Cashmere

I’m pushing all other fiber aside and this is what I’m going to sleep with from now on….um, spin with. Right, spin with it. After I sleep with it a few nights….

And now I’m home.
And tired.

This is what the booth looked like.

And because I know you all like to drool over new toys and fibers, and because I’m not capable of doing more than the sipliest of tasks at the moment, I’ll show you what I bought.

Friends Folly Farm Roving and 2 Hatchtown spindles.

And a pretty Border Leicester Fleece from Ruit Farm North.

Today I need to try to catch up on emails. Get some shipping done and work on putting the shop together. It looks like a tornado whipped through there. Hopefully I’ll have an update for you at the end of the week.

I’m in the middle of shipping club so I have to be brief. I had to come here, though and give you a little preview of Louet’s Julia. They landed at the shop yesterday and I’ve got one all set up. I swear, I haven’t touched her yet and it’s driving me batty. The second shipping is done today though, I have some yarn to spin…

This is how she arrives (well, once you remove all the stuff from the box).

Louet finally has some really good instructions!

Not that you need them. The wheel is as easy to put together as the others.

Let’s hit some high points:

After I spin on it some, I’ll let you know more. I’m adding the high speed kit to this one this afternoon and we’ll see what ridiculously thin something I can spin on it. Ok, I’m going back to shipping…..

PS - I almost forgot. This POST is one that the fabulous Abby wrote about Julia. And while we’re speaking of the fantastic Abby… I need to mention that I have some of her Batts coming into the shop. She wrote a bit about it HERE.

Normally this would be an autumn dish but I just had to have some now. On our weekend away I had a dish of roasted squash soup that was just incredible so I really wanted to reproduce it. I think I got it pretty close. This makes a big batch so you can cut it in half or make it all and freeze some.

Roasted Squash Soup

1 Butternut squash
2 acorn squash
Garlic minced
onions minced
Parsley
olive Oil
2 cups of Veggie Stock

Wash then cut in half the squashes. Scoop out the seeds. Drizzle the cut side with olive oil then liberally sprinkle on the onions and garlic. Cover and put into the oven at 250F for about 3 hours or until it’s soft when you pierce it with a fork. Let it cool a bit. Scoop it out of the shell. Throw it in the blender with the Veggie stock - blend smooth. Serve hot with a sprinkle of parsley. If you want it to be a little more rich, you can add sour cream or regular cream. Though, I think regular cream makes it a little more sweet and desert like.

I’ve been eating small bowls of it with a large salad. It makes a great lunch.

Knitting and Spinning
I’ve been wanting to spin far more than knit lately. I suppose my block is the ten million swatches I need to do. Ok, maybe not ten million. I’m just not a swatch gal. I swear I can do a pair of mittens in the time it takes me to one swatch. Especially if you count in the procrastinating.

I’ve got 4 bobbins full of the Merino Bamboo I showed off a little while ago:

I also took time repairing and rearranged my wheels. The shop and the living room were feeling crowded with my wheels. So I moved the big Jensen home and the Indian Head spinner downstairs. The Indian head was broken and I had some work to do to make it work right and I’m pleased with the fix I did even though it’s not the prettiest. The Ashford that was living down there in a corner got pulled out and got her new quill head. That thing is a blast to use. This is the space I cleared out for them all.

If you go to the flickr picture you’ll see a bunch of notes. We don’t wind yarn here anymore so the wheels were able to take that space. Eventually husbeast will take over this area of the basement when I get my dye shop moved. Then the wheels will either have to go in some sort of storage situation or I’ll have to make some room in sewing room.

All the while I’m working on an update. And I”ll have batts in the update. If you use my rolag tutorial from last week, you’ll be able to get a self striping yarn from the new triple play batts. I wound my yarn on the shaft so you could see the color changes.

I had hoped to have the update done last week because I’m working on club now. So I may not get it all done until next week now. I know that’s cruel to tease you and leave you hanging….