Newspaper article

One of my favorite alpaca ranches was written up in one of our local newspapers.  Ancient Treasures Alpaca Ranch article - most of my alpaca fleeces come from the ranch and I am now selling hand spun yarn and knitted items at their shop.  Cheryl introduced me to the world of alpacas and I have participated in shearing day there over the past few years.  They have several  new babies (crias) and a couple of llamas on the property too.

We have had our first sales of November.  Hand knit wool beret and Wool headband were sold at Herie7 Natural Fiber Treasures on Etsy.  This weekend we set up the shop at the ranch and had a few visitors looking to see what we carry and inquire on hours to come back and shop later.  I do believe that they may have sold an alpaca this weekend too.

My goal was to measure and label my hand spun yarns this weekend which I have accomplished.  I realized that I actually made a bulky weight yarn which was the merino/silk blend in shades of blue, white and red.  My second batch is looking to be more of DK/sports weight yarn.  It is nice to know that I can spin thickly if I don't concentrate very much on going thin.

ZigZag design on headband made from dyed wool yarn

ZigZag design on headband made from dyed wool yarn, a photo by Herie7 on Flickr.

New design for a headband. Motivated to create more using the stash of small yardage yarns. Should I have a button closure or just bind it together?

Starting to sell on Ebay

So tonight I took the plunge and listed items on EBay.  They are running a special which allows one to list up to 500 items auction style a month without an insertion fee.  They charge a 9% fee but I must admit it was quite easy to list items on their site since I had the pictures.  You can find items under "Herie7" as I am trying to keep things consistent from one outlet to another.

The green ruffled scarf has been finished - yeah!  I am going to sell it in the store on the ranch.  Need to block the alpaca neck warmer and redo the wooden buttons.  I put them on the wrong side of the neck warmer and didn't notice until a friend was modeling it for me.   I do have really supportive friends who provide encouragement and occasionally modeling photos for me.  Still need to find a male to model the hats so I can post them on sites.

The merino silk roving is 3/4 spun simply because it is on the thin side.  It looks beautiful and I will post pictures soon.  Off to bed and relaxation.

Banana bread and knitting

Aran wool scarf, a photo by Herie7 on Flickr.

Yesterday was dedicated to making banana bread in the bread machine - the house smelled so wonderful. Today doing a little yarn shopping and getting together with the girls to knit and drink (coffee/wine). Overall a relaxing day.

The scarf made from lilac aran wool is coming along as you can see from the photo. I'm trying to keep myself to 2 knitting projects so that I finish them. Off to go shopping - enjoy your Sunday

Market My Shop: Save On Packing Supplies

Market My Shop: Save On Packing Supplies - great article by a fellow Etsian on saving costs on packing materials.