Forgive me dear blog, I have not forgotten you or those who read you; but you know how it goes, works gets busy, the weather turns warm, the snow melts and then suddenly after months of not having anything to do your overwhelmed with the shear quantity if things you must accomplish…

Mar-Apr 2010 ITW Spin Along - 'Just Figs'

And here we are, just days away from the May-Jun of the Spin Along shipping and I never even showed you a hint of what the Mar-Apr round looked like! How can you ever forgive me?

'Just Figs' handspun yarn in two ply

I will not make a promise I cannot keep, but: I will try really, really hard to stay on top of things around here…

Okay, I think that there have been enough spoilers released that it is finally safe to share some colour photos!

First up is the colourway revealed:

And since I was able to step out of the dye studio for a few hours one afternoon I was able to spin some up in a thick thin low twist single. And yes, it is as soft as it looks…

Now the tricky part – find the time to spin up the other four ounces of  ‘a warm return’ and then another four ounces in brown then ply the two!! I will keep you posted!

WOW.

Just wow.

The excel document has been created and after a few hours of data entry every single entry has been documented!!

There was a grand total of 331 entries. You. People. Rock.

Thank you so much for every single comment, tweet, blog post, Facebook announcement, Ravelry post and group membership sign-up! You folks are just awesome.

So without further ado, the screen shot of the winning number:

And the winner is…

Mestina of Macomb, Illinois !!

Congratulations Mestina! A message has been sent through Ravelry requesting your shipping information.

To the rest of the contestants: I offer my sincere thanks and a promise that this will not be the last giveaway…

It is official! A new group has been added to the thousands of user created groups on Ravelry – Into The Whirled Fiber Arts

I must admit, it took a few tries to gain the courage to click that big ole ‘Create Group’ button; Insecurity can indeed be a powerful foe. I mean really, how crazy am I to think that people will actually want to join the group, let alone settle in and share their creativity, their photos, and their random conversational ideas? Apparently crazy enough to believe all those people who planted the idea in my head in the first place!

Strange how sometimes the more that is on the To-Do list the quicker things get done. Yet sometimes the more items there are on the To-Do list, the slower things get done; it is like you get stuck and don’t really know where to start. Yea, if that made any sense to anyone else but me – you know what I am talking about. So in an effort to cut to the chase and get the ball rolling here we go…

1) I just started a Facebook Fan Page HERE. Feel free to take this moment to click the link and become an ITW fan, then come back and finish reading what is in store. I am new to the whole Facebook thing so I may be a little slow it getting that going, but I will!

2) Thanks to the encouragement of some fabulous people I am going start a Ravelry ITW forum group – that will be done sometime this week! I will be sure to let everyone know when it is open and ready for members!

3) Creat a plan for the ITW fiber club and formally announce it. Just an FYI – I am looking at a late fall announcement on this.

4) Finalize details on blog giveaway to be announced in a couple weeks. Stay tuned, you will not want to miss this one…

5) Create a newsletter format for upcoming shop updates. If your interested in being on the mailing list please take a moment to subscribe to the ITW newsletter. I promise not to spam you, or share your information.

6) Spend every waking moment in the studio preparing for Etsy updates and the upcoming fiber festivals!!

So there you have it, some, but not all of the To-Do list. This morning I decided rather then keep it locked away in an endless brain loop I would share it with each and everyone of you. Now, it is no longer a list of ideas – it is a list of commitments!!

6.12.2009

Need to go help prepare some Mango Margarita’s for tonight’s BBQ, but I just needed to share today’s spinning. Thanks to some serious inspiration from this whole Tour de Fleece adventure I tried core spinning for the first time and WOW! I will be doing a whole lot more of this type of spinning:

Off to happy hour(s)…

So I fell right off that tracking with my Tour de Fleece coverage. But, I am allowed to as I am part of the Lantern Rouge team. But…

I have not broken my commitment of 15 minutes a day so I am overjoyed to be in the caboose of the race! If I can get caught up on all my chores this weekend I hope to start the other two ounces of Dinoflagellates and maybe try some core spinning!

7.6.2009

…Yes, I know today isn’t really the 6th, I am a little behind in picture posting. Two ounces down, two to go before plying!

Fiber: 64’s Merino wool top named “Dinoflagellates”

For those of you registered and partaking in all the goodness that is Ravelry: Round III of the Swap for Scraps has begun!

Have no idea what all the excitement is about? HERE is a short post about the first time I joined the swap, and HERE is a post about the finished product spun up from the scraps I received.

Great, now that you know what I am talking about…

Guess who is hosting this round?!
Good guess! I am so excited to play swap host!

Over the next few weeks I anticipate the arrival of some 30 or so packages of fibery goodness from around the world. It is then my privilege to open each and every one, fondle, admire, tear apart into little bits of squishyness, then repackage into random selections of scrappyness!!

If your interested in spinning some scrappy-crazy yarn, I highly recommend joining! All the details are listed on Ravelry.

… for the Tour de Fleece of course!!

Now, where was I? Ah yes, the Tour!

I read about the Tour last year, told myself that I would do it this year, then promptly forgot about it! Thankfully an awesome customer linked my name to a forum message and I found my way to the main message board for the 2009 Tour. I promptly joined the group, offered up some prize donations and poured over the rules and the forum posts.

So here is what is involved:
1) Join the Ravelry group
2) Join a team, join two, or not – the choice is yours
3) If you have a Flickr account, join the group

Here are the rules for those who are considering the race:

1) Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. Saturday July 4th through Sunday July 26th. Days of rest: Monday July 13th, Monday July 20th. (Just like the actual tour)

2) Spin something challenging Wednesday July 22nd. (The Tour’s densest mountain stage with 5 mountain passes)

Oh, and last but not least, there are PRIZES!

Okay, now that you are all informed, I need to choose my team and decide my challenge. See you on the Tour!