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Shop Update

Couple of new batts...

and new dizzes now in the shop! =)

Shop Update

Hi all; I know it has been a while since I posted on here; I have been super swamped with a couple of major deadlines lately and therefore haven't been able to do much of anything with my blog/shop.  

Here is some of what I have been up to...

First, for anyone in the area of where SAFF will be, a friend of mine, Stephanie, will be selling a bunch of my batts at her booth, Lunabud Knits!  I have been making batts like crazy for the past 5 or 6 days in order to get them ready for her to take there with her.  I made 16 batts over the past few days, and have also made 9 more batts just yesterday for my shop!  Here are some pics of the batts I have been making..most of which will be at SAFF, and some of which will be in my shop...

Btw, I have no idea how to align these pictures so they are smaller and sit next to each other in a grid type layout...if anyone knows how to do this, I would very much appreciate this knowledge!  =)

I also would like to take a moment to recognize Hello Purl for those of you who may not be familiar with them.  Hello Purl is another shop on Etsy owned by two people; they make some phenomenal batts which I have had the opportunity to try.  Here's some fiber wire I spun with a couple of their batts recently...=)

Also, finally, I just wanted to let all of you know coming up within the next couple weeks, hopefully by the 15th/16th of Nov, Stephanie and I plan to get together and make some videos for our blogs!  The first video we plan to make is one which shows the process we each use for making batts.  =)  I'm really excited about doing this as this will be the first time I am able to make a video showing some of how I create what I do with my fiber.  

Mailing List/Weekly Giveaway 10/18-11/1

*After some consideration, I have decided I am going to change the contest to a bi-weekly event.  I have found it is a bit difficult to keep up with having one every week so I think this should be a happy medium.  

I have also decided to start a mailing list for those interested in being notified when I have a new giveaway and for when I announce the winner/s.  That said, anyone who is interested in being notified regarding the giveaways on my blog, please let me know  by sending your email address to my email at myspinculture@gmail.com.  I will send you an email twice a month letting you know about the contests I am having which will of course be at the same time after which the winners of the previous contest have been announced.  I will no longer be sending out messages in Etsy, so please be sure to let me know if you are interested in being notified.  Thanks!  =)

For this contest, I am giving away 3 oz of these luscious locks I have had in my shop!  These are soft, lustrous Border X Cotswold locks with 6-8 in. staple.

The winner may choose from colors I have dyed at the time; I will either have them listed in my shop or if not, I will send pics to choose from.  =)

How you can enter:

1. Each item purchased in my shop counts as an entry.
2. Follow my blog.
3. Comment on my blog-(only one comment will count as an entry per week)
4. Spread the word about my blog/contest-(each outlet you use, i.e. facebook, twitter, etc. will count as one entry each)

*Make sure you post in here if you spread the word so I know where to look and be able to count that entry!  

If you win:

I will be posting the winner here on my blog on the last day listed in the title of each weekly giveaway.  Be sure to check back on that day to see whether you have won.  If your name is listed, email me at myspinculture@gmail.com to let me know your contact information so I can get your prize out to you.

This Week's Winners

Hey everyone, here are the winners for this week...Please make sure if you are a winner, you contact me via email with your shipping info so I can get your prize out to you! * myspinculture@gmail.com*

1. Saus
2. Llabbott
3. Chrissa Rohlfing
4. Victoria Barton
5. Ester D. Puente
6. Tammy
7. Genea
8. Beansproutmomo
9. Katherine Elizabeth
10. Hpaisan40
11. Mary/May
12. Rebekah Morgan
13. Chaoticbeth
14. Courtney
15. Mairedodd

Congratulations everyone who won! =)  Remember, if you want me to spin your sample, let me know and I am happy to do so!

Shop Update

Hey everyone, here's some new batts I just added to my shop.  =)

Locks now up in my shop as well!

Weekly Giveaway 10/11-10/18

Mini Day of the Dead Phat Fiber Art Batts or Fiber Wire!  (Your Choice!)

Normally I contribute to a group known as Phat Fiber; each month I make approx. 50 samples of a fiber which goes along with a particular theme.  This month's theme was Day of the Dead.  As it turns out, I was not able to get my samples done in time for the box this month, therefore, I will be giving out samples to 15 winners of this next giveaway.  I currently can't take pictures of the samples because of some camera technicality issues I've been having, although I can show you the batt which I am giving samples of...

Here's what this fiber looks like spun up on some fiber wire...=)

Also included will be a sample of some of these beautiful, soft Border x Cotswold locks which have an avg. staple length of 6-7 in. and get up to 8 in. long...

I will be posting more pics of the actual samples tomorrow; all of these will be listed in the shop as well tomorrow afternoon some time.  I will be choosing 15 winners at random who enter in one of the ways listed below.  =)

*I am changing rules slightly by adding a 4th way you can enter to win:

How you can enter:

1. Each item purchased in my shop counts as an entry.
2. Follow my blog.
3. Comment on my blog-(only one comment will count as an entry per week)
4. Spread the word about my blog/contest-(each outlet you use, i.e. facebook, twitter, etc. will count as one entry each)

*Make sure you post in here if you spread the word so I know where to look and be able to count that entry!  

If you win:

I will be posting the winner here on my blog on the last day listed in the title of each weekly giveaway.  Be sure to check back on that day to see whether you have won.  If your name is listed, email me at myspinculture@gmail.com to let me know your contact information so I can get your prize out to you.

I'm hoping to keep this going and have lots of fun with this...I have lots of ideas for things to giveaway! =)

This Week's Winner

Hey everyone, I just want to say thanks to all who came to check out my blog!  I really appreciate it.  =)  I have taken down the names of everyone's entry/entries and assigned each entry a number which I have entered into a random number generator on the net, and are the results...

11.       Abigail

22.       Mairedodd

33.       Gwynne platz

44.       Skookumgirl

55.       Rebekah morgan

66.       Crissa rohlfing

77.       Ester d. Puente

88.       Betsy

99.       Lisa tettimer

110.   Rebekah evelyn

111.   Nikki

112.   Mary

113.   Amanda Larson

114.   Dee

115.   Grace Hopkins

116.   Genea

117.   Katherine

118.   Mary

119.   Kathleen lange klik

220.   Karen

221.   Victoria barton

222.   Samantha

223.   Chaoticbeth

224.   Josiah

225.   Hpaisan40

226.   Rebo g

227.   Anna celeste

228.   Llabbott

229.   Heather

330.   Cynthia borque

331.   Adria simpson

332.   Llabbott

333.   Solarousmoonstone

334.   Chaoticbeth

335.   kyndyl

336.   Kathleen lange klik

337.   Heather

338.   Genea

339.   Krysa mae

440.   Lisa tettimer

441.   Deb

442.   Plumdragon

443.   Maire

444.   Josiah

445.   Sam

446.   Victoria barton

447.   Karen

448.   Barb Dempsey

449.   Kcatt79

550.   Dee marquardt

551.   Mary govaars

552.   Rebekah evelyn

553.   Betsy watts

554.   Midnightspecial

555.   Prlknits

556.   Barb Dempsey

557.   Olliff studio

  

     Using random number generator at Random.org, the winning number is 18..so Mary please send me contact me via email so I can get you your $20 certificate for my shop!  Congrats!  =)

Fiber Wire: How it's done

I had someone ask me how fiber wire is made so I decided to write a post about the steps involved in making it.  

1.  Materials include 24 gauge copper wire, something to hold the wire such as the mini spools you can get it on in some of your craft stores.  I will include a picture of this at a later time when there is enough daylight out to take pics.  Also, you will need a spinning wheel of course and the fiber you plan to spin.  (It is easiest to spin fiber wire from a batt FYI)

2.  Take the string attached to the bobbin and tie a loop on the end.

3.  Pull the wire through the loop and bend it about an inch over and twist it together manually with your hands.

4.  Begin to core-spin the fiber onto the string right above where the wire begins making sure you are ONLY holding on the the string.  At this point you are trying to generate twist in the string only and get fiber on the string area right above where the wire begins.  

5.  Once you have some fiber on your string, you can either push some of it down onto the wire or once you do this enough, you can just go on spinning onto the wire.  Make sure you do NOT hold the wire tightly when spinning onto it.  The wire should be held loosely enough to twist in your hand as you are spinning the fiber onto it; continue to core-spin your fiber onto the wire.

6.  Make sure the wire bobbin you are using does not touch the ground or get caught on anything because any time the wire stops twisting in your hand while the wheel is turning, the actual wire will get a knot in it from twisting and may break.  The smaller the gauge of wire being used, the more likely the wire will break if this occurs.  You must then continue this method by spinning some fiber onto the wire, then wrapping the wire onto the spinning wheel bobbin somewhat manually, then letting out more wire, etc. until you either want to stop and cut the wire or you run out of course.

7.  Once you reach the end, spin the fiber on all the way to the end, then fold the wire over about an inch as you did in the beginning and spin more wire onto this area so there is a somewhat nubby looking thing on the end.  (This will be cut off eventually.)

8.  Felt the wire by having a bucket of very hot water and very cold water next to each other and dipping the wire back and forth in each.  It helps if you put lots of ice cubes in the cold water because you will find that when you go back and forth, the hot water will cause the cold water to not be so cold very quickly...it also helps the other way around if you try to poor out and replace more hot water in the hot water bucket.

Here are some pictures of the batt I made this fiber wire from:

Here is a picture of the wheel I used to spin on, (I use a Louet S10):

And finally here is a picture of where I got my inspiration from for the colors I used in this batt/fiber wire; these are beads made by Genea and Staci in collaborative sets composed of glass and poly clay:

I hope this helps and is clear enough for those of you interested in making fiber wire!  I will try to take some pics of some of the things I'm talking about to make this more clear.  If anyone has questions, please don't hesitate to ask!  =)

Here's something I've made with fiber wire...=)