Purlewe Knits

I’m sick.

Have been for about 2 and a half weeks.

Feel terrible.

All I can do is sleep and try not to move much. Moving makes me sicker.

Hopefully back soon.

I’m not sure I can tell you what I’ve been doing. School, work, batts, and sleep are consuming all time!

The weather in Omaha has been so terrible the last few days weeks. It was it’s normal summer stifling hot and then it dropped 40 degrees and started raining and has been that way for a while. I haven’t been feeling well (you know when you really feel the world will end if you don’t blow chunks everywhere) and with the weather being so crappy all I want to do is sleep. I took the big monster dog for a walk in the rain this morning because he was getting all depressed too. I’ve haven’t been able to warm up ALL day and now my throat is getting scratchy.
If you are here wondering about your batts, I’m getting there! Promise! It is just me doing the batting! If you are curious, email me, order up, and feel good about your fiber!

Here’s a quick pick of some merino and the piles I made to card.

And I have a logo! Steal if you please – support the cause! Thanks to Candice for the awesome logo!

It is dry! And it grew! (not what I expected!)

without and with flash (It is ALREADY starting to get dark early here!)

It is 45 yards and 12 wpi – a nice worsted yarn. Which is amazingly what I was shooting for. I’m getting better at this spinning thing!

I’m still thinking about the payment thing. Not sure if I want to do an Etsy store or set up a pay pal account and invoice people. I’m leaning towards Etsy. I think it will be less work for me. I think they take 3%, but if I reach my goal that’s only $10 and I’ll happily chip that into the fund!

I had this idea a couple of nights ago and I’ve been hashing out the details over the last couple of days. Here it goes …

I am selling pink batts to raise money for brea@st cancer research. It is bre@st cancer awareness month and who doesn’t need some pink fiber?!?!?

After paying for the fiber and packaging/shipping all money collected will go directly to Susan G. Komen for the Cure* That’s going to be about $2.50 a batt!! My goal is to raise at least $350 with this venture to send to the Komen foundation! Help me get there!

Batts are $4, plus shipping which is $4.60** Order more and save on shipping. I have lots of pictures of a few batts in my flicker account. The best color representations are below. I had had a heck of a time getting the mohair to photograph well.

Each batt will be approximately ONE ounce of fiber. Half of the batt will be a white or naturally off-whitish top (probably merino or corriedale), the other half will be mohair hand dyed with natural plant dyes by me.

I spun one of the ounces today to have an example of spun fiber. I spun the mohair/corriedale roving mix, which was the roughest I’ve carded so far (if you want this mix you need to request it). It made a lovely yarn; lots of sheen from the mohair and fluffiness from the corriedale. I’ll post pictures of it when it is dry. Before washing I had about 43 yards and I’m guess the weight is roughly a worsted (2 ply).

I’m going to offer a limited number of these batts. At this point I’ve only got fiber on the way for 145 with work and school (and dyeing the mohair) that is probably all I can handle.

Payment … I’m working on that. Check back.

Have I missed something? Let me know … purlewe AT cox DOT net

Want to order?!?! Let me know … purlewe AT cox DOT net. I’ll get you on the list!

* Komen does NOT endorse me and/or any of the products provided. I do NOT have any relationship with Komen or any of the events, products or services that Komen provides. They had some linking terms on their website and I think this covers it …

** Shipping is high, yes I know. Thank the USPS. I used their cost estimator to come up with this figure and tested it across the continental US and Canada. The good news is that until you go over a pound, the shipping is going to stay $4.60. So get together with your friends and order 10 batts – save on shipping!! US and Canada only please. I know this sucks, but because I’m new to this I don’t want to get to far over my head.

I’ve never been one to really test the waters before jumping in. I typically just dive right in and I’ve done it again – with this fiber thing. About a year ago I could barely spin a constant thread. Now look at what I’ve gone and gotten.

I love it! I took today off and spent most of it studying for a chemistry test, but I did take an hour to play. My first batt!

And my fist batt with its parents – some random wool my mom gave me this weekend and some mohair that I dyed with poke (or polk – I’m not sure which).

I also sold my first handspun this weekend and my first socks this weekend. There’s a nice little arts and crafts fair near my parents house. Hubby and I traveled down this weekend and had a very nice trip.

I got a few things too, like this awesome sock knitting bag. I traded a pair of socks for this and some Tomato Jam. AWESOME jam … and I don’t like tomatoes! If you like this bag and want something similar let me know and I’ll hook you up with the maker.

I also traded her some of my handspun merino for a bag of raw alpaca and a bag of mixed wool from her sheep and angora from her bunny. This is the alpaca.

I got another bag, as in a tote bag, I’ll save that for another day.

I got some dog treats … that are making Minnie pee out her a$$. NOT a good thing!

I also got a necklace from VKE beads. I traded another pair of socks for a set of placemats – that’s a bit of a crazy story – not in my favor. I sold two skeins of yarn outright! All and all I came out negative … the tote bag set me back a little, even though I included a skein of handspun in the skein.

Mom and I dyed some wool this weekend too! This is all Top of the Lamb worsted, in natural, overdyed. I’m really happy with it and think I might do a argyle vest with it.