Spin Spin SPINZILLA!!!!!!

October 4, 2014Dyeing, SpinningCheryl

It is almost time for SPINZILLA!!!! At the time of writing this there is about 30 hours to SPINZILLA……..and I am almost ready…lol…almost:)

I believe we all are born with talents and it is up to each of us to discover them and develop them to the fullest. Some people are whizzes with numbers, others accomplish amazing athletic feats. There are those who climb mountains, and those that swim across large bodies of water. Brave souls who sail around the world in tiny little boats all by them selves and those that leave the confines of earth and step into space, and don’t forget those that eat many hot dogs in just a few minutes!…….Me……. my talent is to spin. Nothing earth shattering, nothing that will be remembered after I’m gone, but I spin and I love it!!!!! I see spinning similar to riding a bike. You can take a lovely Sunday afternoon ride, soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the view….. Or you can take your bike to the top of Pikes Peak and race down like the wind! Your hair blowing straight out behind you, heart racing , thrill ride of your life adventure. I’m the top of the mountain thrill ride type:)))))) So you can imagine that SPINZILLA is my kind of FUN! Here is my chance to show myself just what I can do….and the rest of you too:))))

Getting ready for SPINZILLA isn’t just about getting fiber ready, but also about setting the stage for success. First off you have to clear the calendar. I’ve told the family I am unavailable from the 6-12 of October. We are in the middle of selling our house and moving in with MIL but still everyone knows that Cheryl is UNAVAILABLE. No packing, no cleaning, nothing but spinning and the absolute least amount of time spent at the bakery and running the web store.

Next step is to stock up on the essentials. For me this is making up quick meals that I can fix and consume in a few minutes.

prepping for spinzillz — Meals for SPINZILLA

I’ve cooked up pasta, made a big pot of fat free sauce. There are eggs boiled for some quick protein and I will make lots and lots of little turkey sandwiches tomorrow. These are my favorite meals that my cranky old body will digest. My cooking during SPINZILLA will consist of a few minutes of microwaving or toasting…simple and quick!

Next up you need to have plenty of fiber to spin.

New Hue Handspuns Spinzilla — SPINZILLA fiber Prep

There is 10 pounds of Bam Huey fiber all rolled up and waiting to be dyed. (yes that is a special treat in the background, all low fat chips just for me!) I’m only dyeing up 6 pounds of this Bam Huey for SPINZILLA. I’ve been waiting for my dye order to arrive, but it must be stuck in customs. So this means I had to come up with an alternate plan. I have a secret order that I was planning to spin, but without the dyes I could not do it. I then decided to create a new colorway just for SPINZILLA and see just how much of it I could spin in 1 week. I dyed the fiber in the wee hours this morning and by evening here is the first batch drying.

What…..did you think I was going to show you the new colorway this early ?!?!?!?!?!?!

Nope, you gotta wait until I have a skein all plied up:)

I have also been getting my work area ready. I’ve emptied all my bobbins and the skein winder is at the ready.

Miss Mini is empy and ready to spin, my chair is ready and waiting. The sad part is the chair will be going to the dump after SPINZILLA. The poor thing is comfortable, but it is falling apart. It is sad to see it go, but it is time…

Yes you can see the fiber hanging to dry, but the color really doesn’t show.

Last but not least one must get in the proper mood to spin for a week. How better than to watch a Godzilla marathon on TV?!?!? It would have been sooooo purrrrrfect for the Godzilla marathon to be on Sunday night just before the start of Spinzilla 12:01 AM Monday October 6th…… but I’m happy enough with a Saturday night marathon.

So to all of you who train to run marathons, climb mountains, or eat the most hot dogs, I salute you, for Monday I climb my Mount Everest, swim my English Channel, and race my amazing race….. On Monday I spin……… life doesn’t get much better than this:)

Until next time,

Happy spinning and Knitting,

Cheryl <^..^>

1234 Huey & Putting one foot in front of the other

September 4, 2014Fiber, H, Handspun Yarn, KnittingCheryl

The release of 1234 Huey has been delayed but should happen soon…..some times life is so much of an adventure that all you can do is put one foot in front of the other. My life is on one heck of an adventure right now. Come take a peek if you DARE!!!!!!

We are still healing from the loss of our little fur girl Pooky. Keeping busy has helped and boy-oh-boy have we been busy! Lets get the personal stuff out of the way first and then on to the important stuff….FIBER!!!!

We are MOVING! For many people moving isn’t such a big deal, they do it all the time……not me. Being a 4+ generation farm girl I never moved growing up. I had a few different dorm rooms and apartments while in college. I was married within a year of graduating from WWU and we have lived in the same house we bought just after being married in 1986. So for the most part I have lived in 2 houses for my 51 years. Twenty eight of those years have been in this old house.

I have to admit a just a few months after moving in to our house I wanted to move out. Not because the house is horrible, but because I am NOT a city girl. Now after 28 years we are moving at last! The reasons for moving are many, some good and some not so good . We are taking a positive approach on this new adventure and see it as the 2 year plan that gets us to our final home. We will be selling our house and moving in with my Mother-in-law. She is 88 and having a total knee replacement next week. Our bakery business has still not recovered from the continuing economic dump of 2008. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the best move for everyone is for us to sell our house take over the basement apartment at mom-in-law’s for the next year or two.

The challenge is to take our 50+ years of collected junk from a 2500 square foot house plus 2 car garage to 550 square feet, plus a storage/dye room of about 100 square feet. Can you say DUMP TRIP????? We have put many things out on the curb and they vanish within minutes. If I had known that the dead air conditioner would be gone in 4 minutes I would not have left it in the attic and tripped over it for 5 years!!! Who knew…lol…. even tho it is funny to see how fast things are picked up it reminds me how bad the economy still is that so many people are desperate enough for cash to troll the neighborhoods for scrap metal. We have put out large piles of scrap metal 5 times and every time it has been a different person picking it up. I’m glad and a bit sad all at the same time….

We have actually enjoyed getting rid of the junk. Most of it really is just junk, some memories, but do I really need things I haven’t seen for over 15 years?!?!?! Not only do we have to empty out our house but we have to move Brother-in-law out of the apt. to an upstairs bedroom. He has lived in the basement for about 35 years and the apt has pretty much become a dumping ground for his junk…..as in there are just a couple of rabbit trails through the room. It is going to take a lot of work to clean out but it will be worth it, and in the long run B-I-L gets a cleaned out usable apt once we move out which makes him happy too!

We will still be making needles, dyeing fiber and spinning yarn through all this adventure, but I may not be able to keep up communication as much as I should. Please bear with me and just holler if you need something, we may be quiet, but we are here working away!

Now on to the important stuff……..Fiber updates and Pictures! First up are pictures from my last trunk show at Yarntastic! Featuring my 2 new handspun lines 1234 Huey and Cam Huey

Handspun New Hue yarn — Handspun 1234 Huey and Cam Huey trunk show at Yarntastic!

I hand paint the 100% Merino fiber for the 1234 Huey Handspun yarn in a 3 color gradient style. These new yarns will soon be available at New Hue Handspuns along with the 75% Merino 25% Baby Camel Down, rustic spun Cam Huey.

I finally have a sample knit from each of the 10 colorways, and all of them done from my own patterns created specifically to show off gradient handspun yarn. The Shawl and Scarf pattern is available free on Ravelry, New Hue Handspuns 1234 and Cam Huey Gradient Shawl here are a few close ups.

New Huey Handspuns — 1234 Huey Scarf in the Beach colorway

The other new free pattern I have up on Ravelry is the New Hue Handspun 1234 Mitts. Nothing very difficult or exciting about this pattern, just a nice simple plain pair of mitts designed to show off 90-100 yards of handspun yarn.

There are a few more patterns yet to be written up, here is the Shrug I have been working on.

Here is a cute little headband/ear warmer I came up with using some short rows to show off the gradient. I also have one done in the Desert colorway, but no picture yet.

Last but not least is the Hat or Neckwarmer pattern that needs to be written up.

1234 Huey and Cam Huey neck warmer in Mountain colorway

oh what the hay…one more picture:) this one is 1234 Huey in the Prairie colorway . I have paired it with the super baby soft 100% Baby Camel Down . Here you can see that it is balled up and ready to knit. It now is a scarf…….OH MY! I can’t wait until winter to wrap this ultra soft and warm scarf around my neck!

So as you can see, although I have been quiet, I also have been busy. There are a few secret projects I’ve been working on too that won’t be seen until spring, but the work must be done now. I have been playing with some new colorways in between cleaning out my house. The new fall leaves colorway is making me VERY happy:)

Before I know it, it will be September 26th and time to pack up for Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. My wedding anniversary falls on the same weekend. Last year my truck was hit on the freeway retuning from setting up for the show and I spent my anniversary in the emergency room…..this year I hope for better….lol. As soon as OFFF is over it is time to start stocking up for SPINZILLA…….I have to defend my title of Individual Grand Champion. Last year I competed against 600 US and Canadian spinners. This year it is open world wide and there are almost 1,000 spinners signed up so far!!! I’m going to have to keep my nose to the grindstone to come out any where near the top. Last year I spun 16,852 yards during the week, and I had to take a few days off due to visitors and burning my hand. This year, NO visitors and No dyeing during SPINZILLA. My goal is to break the 20,000 yard mark……we shall see:)

Next time around I hope to have some new Bam Huey colorway pictures for you, right now I need to go restock the shop with fiber, and get to work on listing the 1234 Huey Handspun!

Happy Spinning and Knitting,

Cheryl <^..^>

Good bye Princess Pooky

July 3, 2014HCheryl

Our Princess Pooky has passed away and my heart is broken…..

She was our little girl, always there for a snuggle or a game of chase. She ruled the house. It hurts too much, we lost our child. Seven and a half years was too short. I can’t hardly think or stop crying, so rather than trying to explain how much we loved her and how big the hurt is, I will tell her story with pictures.

already a daddy's girl by day 2 — Already a daddy’s girl by day 2

Mommy's little snuggle bunny — Mommy’s little snuggle bunny

Pooky's first Christmas — Pooky’s first Christmas

looking through the hundreds of pictures we have of her is becoming too hard so I must stop now….. I will return in a few days with updates of fiber festivals, spinning, and new yarns, but for now I need to let my broken heart heal.

good bye Princess Pooky, thank you for being the bestest little kitty in the whole wide world, we miss you so much……

Love Mommy <^..^>

New Line Launch Team for Knitters, Spinners and Lovers of Hand Knits!

May 11, 2014Dyeing, Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Knitting, SpinningCheryl

New Line Launch Team spots are OPEN!

Sign ups for the team have been extended to Midnight Pacific Time JUNE 8th 2014. This is the last chance to purchase 2 new yarn/fiber lines at wholesale prices!!!!!

You may be asking yourself what is a New Line Launch Team. Short answer is that it is a way for Knitters, Spinners and Lovers of Hand Knits, to help me get a new handspun yarn and fiber line into my shop. What do the Team Members get out of it? Wholesale prices!

Starting a new handspun yarn and fiber line takes lots of work and money. Hard work isn’t an issue, I’m used to hard work and love long hours of spinning. It is money that I need to invest into a large fiber purchase. What the team members do for me is prepay for fiber and yarn which gives me the cold hard cash to make a large fiber buy. I will be selling a limited number of spots on the team for knitters, spinners, and lovers of Hand Knits. All kits will be sold at Wholesale prices! This is the first time I have offered handspun yarn, fiber and Hand Knits at wholesale prices to the public. This special pricing will only happen during the launch of a new yarn/fiber line, so grab it while you can because you will not see it for this price again!

How do you become a New Line Launch Team Member? Simple, purchase any kit! Spots on the team will be open from May 10, 2014 Through May 30, 2014. Warning, spots are limited and may sell out prior to the cut off date. Kits can be purchased here here at New Hue Handspuns.

I will be hosting a Knit and Spin Along at my Ravelry Group New Hue Handspuns Creations. Check out the group to see how New Line Launch Team members can receive discount coupons for New Hue Handspuns.com. There will be prizes awarded for team members, the more that participate, the more prizes Big Smile .

Let’s get on to introducing the yarn!! Here it is at last, the Cam Huey and 1234 Huey handspun yarns and spinning fiber.

New Hue Handspuns Cam Huey — Handspun Cam Huey, Merino/Baby Camel Down

The Cam Huey handspun yarn is DK weight 2 ply yarn. The white, thicker rustic ply is 100 % Merino wool. The thin brown ply is Baby Camel Down. Talk about soft and strong! The lofty Merino gives strength and a big squooosh factor to the yarn, and the oh so soft Baby Camel Down just begs to be snuggled. I made an ear warmer/head band out of this yarn last Winter. It was so comfortable and warm, I only took it off to wash it once in a while. I was quite please on how durable the yarn was. The Cam Huey comes in a 200 yard skein.

New Hue Handspuns 1234 Huey — 1234 Huey 100% Merino Wool

The 1234 Huey handspun yarn is also a DK weight 2 ply yarn. Both plies are 100% Merino wool. I hand paint the fiber with 3 colors in a gradient style. I then spin the fiber in the color pattern of 1-2-3-3-2-1. This way you can create a scarf/project with matching ends. The skein for the scarf knit kit is 100 yards. The skein for the shawl size kit is 300 yards. There are 10 colorways for you to choose from.

Three of the colorways are pictured here, Beach, Mountain, and Forest. The remaining 7 colorways will be for those who want a bit of surprise to their package. I will only describe the colors, no pictures

1. Beach – Cream, Pale Green, Pale Blue.

2. Mountain – Purple, Bluish Purple, Blue.

3. Forest – Light Green, Dark Green, Brown.

New Hue Handspuns 1234 Huey, Forest — 1234 Huey – Forest

4. Ocean – Light Purplish Blue, Medium Blue, Dark Blue.

5. Meadow – Spring green, Medium Green, Dark Green.

6. Rose Garden – Bright Pink, Reddish Pink, Deep Dark Pink.

7. Prairie – Pale Tan, Rusty Brown, Dark brown.

8. Tropic – Bright Teal Blue, Bright Teal Green, Very Bright Teal Blue/Green.

9. Desert – Pale Yellow, Sandy Brown, Reddish Brown.

10. Canyon – Rusty Brown, Rusty Orange, Rusty Red.

SCARF KNIT KITS

The Scarf Knit Kit has 500 yards of DK weight handspun yarn. Included in the kit are two 200 yard skeins of Cam Huey Handspun yarn and one 100 yard skein of 1234 Huey Handspun yarn, your choice from 10 colorways. Along with the yarn you will receive my new scarf/shawl pattern, created specifically for this yarn combination. The pattern will be available on Ravelry, or I can email a PDF copy to you, or a hard copy can be included with the yarn shipment if you prefer. There will be only 50 of these kits offered at the wholesale price.

THE SHAWL SIZE KNIT KIT

The Shawl size kit is 3 times the size of the scarf kit. This kit includes Six 200 yard skeins of the Cam Huey Handspun, and one 300 yard skein of 1234 Huey Handspun. Along with the yarn you will receive my new scarf/shawl pattern, created specifically for this yarn combination. The pattern will be available on Ravelry, or I can email a PDF copy to you, or a hard copy can be included with the yarn shipment if you prefer. There will be only five of these kits offered at the wholesale price.

THE SPIN KIT

New Hue Handspuns spin kit — Spin kit with Forest

The Spin Kit will include all the fiber needed to make the 3 skeins of yarn in the Scarf size knit kit. Six ounces of Merino wool, two ounces of Baby Camel Down and two ounces of hand painted Merino wool. Be sure to join in the Spin along on Ravelry if you would like coaching on how to spin it up like Cam Huey and 1234 Huey. There will be only 50 of these kits offered at the wholesale price.

LOVERS OF HAND KNITS

Do you love handspun hand knits, but you just don’t have the time or energy to spin and knit for yourself? Want to give someone a very special birthday or holiday gift? This is your chance to join the team and help support the New Line Launch! I will be offering VERY limited spots for Lovers of Hand Knits. There will be two finished Scarves offered and one finished Shawl. All hand knits will be dyed, spun and knit to order with your choice from 10 colorways. Expect 1-3 months for delivery. Your delivery date will be set when order is placed.

New Hue Handspuns Scarf — Scarf in Cam Huey and 1234 Huey – Beach

New Hue Handspuns shawl — Shawl in Cam Huey and 1234 Huey – Forest

Launch Teams memberships will be available from May 10 – June 8th. No limit on how many of the kits you can purchase, but the total number of kits is limited to 50 Scarf Knit Kits, 5, Shawl Knit Kits, 50 Spin kits, and 3 Lovers of Hand Knits. USA shipping will be a $6 flat rate. I will ship international, but I am sorry to say that this time around I will have to charge actual shipping costs. I’ve always kept international shipping at a flat rate of $6, but I can’t afford to pay the additional shipping cost on wholesale purchases. International purchases will receive a paypal invoice for the actual additional shipping costs over $6 after purchase is made.

International orders will ship on Monday July 14, 2014. USA orders will ship on Monday July 21, 2014. If all orders are completed ahead of schedule I will ship earlier!

PRICING

Scarf Knit Kit : Retail price, $98 New Line Launch Team price, $58.80

Shawl Knit Kit : Retail price, $294, New Line Launch Team price, $176.40

Spin Knit Kit : Retail price, $48, New Line Launch Team price, $28.80

Finished Scarf : Retail price, $198, New Line Launch Team price, $118.80

Finished Shawl : Retail price, $594, New Line Launch Team price, $356.40

All kits are available for purchase here at New Hue Handspuns

I’m excited to get the Cam Huey and 1234 Huey lines up and running, and am looking forward to getting to know the team! Come by Ravelry and introduce yourself in the group.

Until next time,

Happy Knitting and Spinning,

Cheryl <^..^>

Fiber shows, Fiber Festivals and a New Fiber!

May 7, 2014Dyeing, Fiber, Handspun YarnCheryl

I’ve been swimming in fiber this past month and it has been a blast. It’s been fun, but I realized that I need to set aside time in my schedule to blog! Once again it is a game of catch up….Here is what I have been up to lately….

Early April I was invited to bring my fiber and yarn back to Yarntastic!, for the Yarn Train weekend. The train brings a hundred plus knitters from the Seattle area to Portland to yarn shop hop. It was nice to chat with so many enthusiastic knitters and even some spinners too. When ever I am out with my yarns I am always spinning. This was the first time that I did not spin. I had knitting that needed finishing and mini skeins that needed tying and tagging. It was a really strange feeling to be out in public with out Miss Mini, but it did give me a chance to show off our needles in action. Someday I am going to figure out how to spin and knit at the same time……. Don’t laugh I’ve done crazier things in the past 🙂 I was so caught up in my knitting that I forgot to take pictures at Yarntastic! but here is a shot of the mini skeins drying.

Once I was back home from Yarntastic! It was time to start prepping fiber for Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival. I ordered up fiber, and started dying like crazy. Over 20 pounds of fiber hand painted in 3 days. Weighing out and rolling the fiber took most of one day! Check out the racks of drying fiber.

New Hue Handspuns fiber — Baa Baa Huey and Bam Huey Drying

here’s another pile of fiber that is dry and waiting to be packaged.

New Hue Handspun fiber — Sure wish fiber would bag itself…lol

Before I knew it, it was time to start packing up for CGFF. We managed to get almost everything in the truck, but the new display tree did have to ride on top.

New Hue Handspuns on the road — Packed Puppy Truck

As usual I didn’t get all the fiber packaged before the show, but I always find time to finish rolling the fiber after I set up my booth. For the past 2 years I have shared a booth with the Jenkins and their beautiful Turkish Spindles, but they were not able to make it this year. Ed and Wanda are great fun to hang out with at the shows, so it was a little lonely not having them there. I did love spreading out and filling a whole booth, and once the show opened I didn’t have time to be lonely 🙂 I had wonderfully fun new neighbors to chat with at my new booth.

New Hue Handspuns at CGFF — The Garden Room

I had an excellent new location right at the front doors next to the info booth. The windows are great for lighting up the lace shawls but played havoc with my camera flash. It really wasn’t that yellowish in the room. I have always used a garden theme for my displays, from my shawl flowers to the yarn hanging on the garden fences. I don’t have a green thumb for a regular garden, but in my fiber garden I grow yarns of many colors. This year I added a tree to the garden.

New Hue Handspuns tree — Fiber, yarn and shawl Tree

There was also a plant stand and planters to show off small color work projects, seen on the right side of the picture.

New Hue Handspuns garden room — Garden fence and new plant stand at CGFF

The new fountain display flowing with mini skeins of handspun yarn somehow missed getting in the pictures. I will be sure to get a picture next show.

One of my favorite parts of vending at fiber shows is when people bring their projects they have made from my fiber and handspun yarn. Check out this beauty made from a skein of handspun Baa Baa Huey Lace. BEAUTIFUL!!!

New Hue Handspuns Baa Baa Huey handspun lace — Handspun Baa Baa Huey lace gradient.

It was a fun show as always. A beautiful start to each morning, how is this for a room view!

New Hue Handspuns at the Gorge — Sunrise from the deck

The Columbia Gorge is a beautiful place and so close to home, makes me feel a little spoiled:)

Once I was unpacked and inventory done, it was then time to get moving on my new yarn line. I’ve been knitting up samples of the new yarns. Unfortunately I made a math mistake in figuring yardage. This means I had to redo all my figures and resize the skeins, thus a delay in releasing the yarn. BUT don’t fret, it will happen soon. This weekend the new yarn will make it’s appearance and you will have a chance to snag some up at a VERY good price. Details will be in my next posting on Friday. Check back and see how you can be a part of the New Hue Handspuns New Line Launch Team.

Until next time,

Happy Spinning and Knitting,

Cheryl <^..^>

Time Flies, and Plans are Hatching!

March 30, 2014Handspun Yarn, Home Life, KnittingCheryl

Time is flying faster than ever, or at least it seems that way. I remember as a kid time passing so slowly, a week was forever and a year an eternity. Now a year passes in a blink of an eye, and a day lasts no longer than the flutter of a humming bird’s wing. I don’t seem able to slow time down, so I best be picking up my pace! I can hardly believe I have been home for 2 weeks and I have not found the time to blog! It has been on the list of things to do each day, but somehow the day runs out before I get to blogging. Thanks to those of you who have been rattling my cage, and checking up on me, you’ve inspired me to make time for blogging and move it to the top of my To Do List! Now I have a lot of excuses of why I didn’t have time to blog, some of them are plans that are still under wraps, and some that I can share with you. For now, let’s play catch-up!

We left off with my last days out Llama farm sitting, and the Big Table of work I brought along with me. The Good News is that the table is now cleared off!!!!

New Hue Handspuns Big Table — The Big Table has been cleared!

I made a lot of progress on my projects and even finished a few 🙂 Our part of the taxes are done and turned over to the accountant to deal with. I finished all the adding, subtracting and figuring before returning home, but once I was home it was several days of digging trying to find some missing papers. We kept with our usual time frame of finishing in the nick of time…. as in plug in the last numbers and race to make our appointment in time….lol some things never change.

I did finish the Water Lilies and Hillflowers Scarf, and blocked it first thing when I got home.

New Hue Handspuns Water lilies — Water Lilies and Hillflowers back home at my dining room table.

I love Anne Hanson’s Hillflowers because it shows off multi color handspun yarns well. Here’s my favorite shots.

New Hue Handspuns and Kitchnering — Kitchnering Water Lilies and Hillflowers

I have been winding mini skeins when I have a spare minute and knitting on my WIP shawl. Unfortunately the spinning and knitting that have been taking up most of my time I can not share with you quite yet! What I can say is that I am working on a new yarn line and it involves 2 types of yarn. I will be having a special to launch the new yarn, but it is a few weeks away. I also have built 2 new displays for my fiber booth at Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival that is just 3 weeks away! Once again time is flying by me at warp speed. I promise to keep up with time a little better now. Next time I may be able to share a few hints about the new handspun yarn, but for now I need to shift into high gear and get back to spinning!

Until next time, Happy Spinning and Knitting,

Cheryl <^..^>

Book work to Sweater-The End of the Big Table

March 13, 2014Handspun Yarn, Home Life, KnittingCheryl

I’ve made it to the other end of the Big Table, where the book work and sweater reside ….the end with 2 projects that have been looming over me for weeks and I must get them done!

Yes that is Mr X’s Sweater…the one I made too big in the arms. I started the cutting and re-seaming weeks ago, but it is scary and tedious. Two things that send me running away to find something else that needs to be done! But alas the only other thing left is that pile of papers and books. That’s the stuff I have to organize, add up and get ready for my accountant for the yearly taxes. Yes we are cutting it close to the tax deadlines, but why rush when you just have to give them more money!?!?

Today is book work day for me. I love what I do, but like any business it includes doing things you don’t like. Book work is one of those things, but it must be done, so today is book work day. I’m setting up to make it as painless as possible. I finally figured out how to work the Bose radio out here on the farm, and set it to my favorite station! For those of you who know me well, know that electronics are not my friends, so this is a really REALLY BIG accomplishment for me. Anything more than on/off , up/down can send me into a complete brain meltdown. I now have the tunes cranked, snacks bowls are filled, coffee is brewing, adding machine is warmed up, all that remains is for me to get my hind end in that chair and get the work done! But how about I stall just a little longer…lol …and show you a picture of my finished Water lilies and Hillflowers scarf, well almost finished. I’m waiting to block it until I get home:)

I love the Hillflowers pattern by Anne Hanson. It shows off handspun multi color yarns so well!

Ok, I’ve stalled long enough, off to book work land for me…..well one more picture… Last night was so beautiful and clear. I watched the sun set and the moon come out while relaxing on the deck…..how cool is this:)

New Hue Handspun's moon rise — Moon rise

Until next time, Happy Spinning and Knitting…..and book work

Cheryl <^..^>

Making Minis While the Sun Shines

March 11, 2014Handspun Yarn, Home Life, Knitting, SpinningCheryl

Today I will let you in on my plans for all that yarn in the middle of The Big Table…….Minis, yes, lots and lots of mini skeins! This pile of yarn will soon turn into many many Mini Skeins.

New Hue Handspuns mini skein project — Time to make the Minis!

Making handspun yarn can result in a lot of small bits of yarn. There is the testing of dye combinations, then so many options to spin up the fiber. This means there is lots of handspun yarn around my house that never makes it into the Shop. Today I start winding away! I’ve been having a lot of fun with color work lately in my knitting. I whipped up the hat you see in the picture using lots of little bits of left overs. My plan is to have several baskets of minis in my booth at Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival along with a few samples and patterns to inspire others to play with color….while at the same time getting all these pretty bits of yarns out into the world:)

I did get the fingerless mitts finished yesterday, but I stayed up too late watching TV, and fell asleep before I could write a blog post. I got hooked on a show…..there are 44 episodes of it on Netflix….I watched 17 of them yesterday…Yup, I’m hooked. So the rule today was, Post first THEN watch TV!!!!

I’ll leave you today with a picture of the drying mitts

New Hue handspun mitts — Bunny Patch and Bam Huey Mitts

They never look quite as good all wet, but perhaps in a day or two I will get some prettier pictures outside. Speaking of outside….look how nice and peaceful my view was yesterday!

Kathy's Llama — It doesn’t get much better than this!

Until Next time, Happy Spinning and Knitting!

Chery <^..^>

Nine Days and counting

March 10, 2014Handspun Yarn, Home Life, KnittingCheryl

I left off last night with a picture of the Big Table full of yarn. For those of you who know me or have seen pictures of my dining room table you may have recognized that this is NOT my table. I’m off Llama and puppy dog sitting. Hubby is at home taking care of the Bakery and taking care of shipping orders for New Hue Handspuns while I am relaxing in the peace and quiet. See my Blog header picture up above, that is what I get to see every morning from the big table! I’m here for nine days and I brought along all those projects I’ve been meaning to take care of but never seem to find the time. I decide that in nine days I should be able to get a good amount of work done. Lets break down the Big Table into project groups and a few days of blogging.

First up is Knitting projects that need finishing, and newly finished handspun skeins that need pictures taken and listed in the shop.

New Hue Handspuns projects and handspun yarn — Plenty of knitting and listing to keep me busy busy busy!

In this picture you can see 4 shawls that need some knitting! They are all Anne Hanson, Knitspot Designs. I would like to get at least 2 of these done while I am here. Hill Flowers, the greenish one in the in the top right corner, only needs 1/2 of one repeat to finish then it is time to kitchner it. The blue one in the bottom right corner is Sugarfrost. It has lots of bobbles and isn’t even half way done. I would really like to get this one done, but I’m betting a few repeats is all that will be done during the nine days. The purple in the left bottom corner is 100% cashmere and it is for me! Unfortunately being for me puts it at the bottom of the list, the other shawls must be done first so they are ready for display by the time the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival rolls around the 3rd week of April. Top left corner I REALLY want to get finished. The Flaming Swan has been on the needles for over 2 years! For the last year I have been hiding the mango container of 7 balls of yarn that are connected to the shawl behind my display at shows. It sure would be nice to just be able to hang the finished shawl next show. The skeins of yarn to the left are what I spun up during my trunk show at Yarntastic! last week. If the sun comes out during the nine days I hope to get some outdoor pictures of these skeins and get them listed in the shop. If you check out the center of the picture closely you can see the start of a blue fingerless mitt. I’ve been working on the mitts first. They are a custom order that needs to be done by the time I return home, because they ship out the next day! I now have one mitt done, and 2/3rds of the second one. Hopefully tomorrow night I will have pictures of the finished mitts.

It’s time for me to hit the hay, the sun comes up in about 4 hours and the critters will want to be fed, so it is off to bed for me. Tomorrow will be all about the project that takes up the middle section of the Big Table. For now I will leave you with a little more eye candy of my adventures last week…

New Hue handspuns trunk show — part of my trunk show at Yarntastic!

If you look closely you can see the yarn for the unfinished Flaming Swan hiding behind the garden fence….I am SOOOOOO looking forward to getting this one done!!!!

Until next time, Happy Spinning and Knitting,

Cheryl <^..^>

Come have a seat at The BIG Table…….

March 9, 2014Handspun Yarn, Home LifeCheryl

No this isn’t about family gatherings and finally being old enough to sit at the Big Table…..It’s about a Big Table full of yarn and stuff…….Take a look for yourself.

I’ve been a bit slow with the blog posts lately, but I promised myself to blog daily for the next 9 days! I didn’t want to miss today, the first day. I did start this post before midnight, but will miss posting it in time by about 20 min. No details tonight but check in later, by Sunday night I will let you in on what the Big Table is all about! Until next time, Happy Knitting and Spinning, Cheryl

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Nine Days and counting

Come have a seat at The BIG Table…….

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New Line Launch Team spots are OPEN!

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