If you are arriving here first, please click over and wish my dear friend a happy day.
While you are there (if our coordinating across the time zones works) you will read a little about what Cookie made me do* and you will maybe understand why I have knit less than I hoped to over the past few months and why I have been absent here more than I hoped.
If you don't click over (Cookie thinks a few of my readers are afraid of her) then click here and you will see my new Etsy store and here for the website that will support my new venture.
The idea, to offer fiber batts for sock spinning in a new format, first occurred to us in October. It took three months to get to this point and about 8000 cell phone minutes. I would not have been able to work out the kinks without Cookie's help and the help of other friends that have stepped up to test spin and knit.
When Cookie sent me this sock, made from crazy thin yarn, spun from my batts, I knew that we had a decent product:
I am so grateful that I have friends who knew that I needed to move beyond the grief of last year and onto having fun. If the fluff sells, great. If not, I will be spinning up the 40+ pounds of fiber that are in the spare room for the rest of my days.
I am not giving up this blog. In fact, I am so relieved that I can now talk about the project that has had me stirring dye pots, dealing with deliveries and cranking away on the drum carder for hours at a time. My goal is to work on shop things no more than two days a week and to knit more and to be myself again.
* not a complaint for those of you who are waiting for me to complain about her
Now tell them how your husband is going to hunt me down if this doesn't work. *L*
I am so proud of you and what you've done! Mostly while on the phone with me, which makes it all the more impressive.
xoxox
Posted by: Cookie | January 16, 2011 at 02:11 PM
This is so exciting! Congratulations and I wish you the best of luck on your new adventure!
Posted by: Yarndude | January 16, 2011 at 02:35 PM
Ya know, that sock really looks like it was knit by a bitter spinster. I'm just sayin'...
xo
Posted by: Cookie | January 16, 2011 at 03:14 PM
I'm going to have to click over there and check it all out. I have been wanting to spin more sock yarn anyway...
Posted by: Brenda | January 16, 2011 at 03:26 PM
WooHoo!! I wish you the best of luck! Way to go!
xo
Posted by: Marilyn | January 16, 2011 at 03:38 PM
This is SO cool, Ms. Joan. The new blog is fresh and beautiful and the product is gorgeous! Congratulations and yay hooray on the launch!
As I said over at Cookie's (and I hope you don't mind that I congratulated her, too), this is a wonderful idea, beautifully executed.
xoxo
Posted by: Nora | January 16, 2011 at 04:06 PM
WoW!!!!! I was just at Cookie's wishing her a Happy Happy and just.oh.mercy!
Amazing and Fabulous and Wonderful! with the added bonus.. "it'll keep you off the streets". (I really have no idea why I wrote that last bit, it just always comes up)
XOXOX
Posted by: marianne | January 16, 2011 at 04:23 PM
OMG, it makes me want to dust off my wheel!!!
Posted by: Kitten | January 16, 2011 at 04:37 PM
I had to facebook your fluff. xo
Posted by: Kitten | January 16, 2011 at 04:44 PM
Congratulations Joan! This is great news. I'm off to shop....
Posted by: Diane | January 16, 2011 at 05:00 PM
congratulations. The sites look great and the fiber even better.
Posted by: Elizabeth | January 16, 2011 at 05:01 PM
The fiber is beautiful! It makes me wish I knew how to spin
Posted by: deidre corbet | January 16, 2011 at 06:27 PM
Congratulations! Best of luck with your new venture.
Posted by: Karen | January 16, 2011 at 06:32 PM
I saw it when Cookie posted earlier. Another reason for me to find a job, or quit smoking. I wonder if partner would give me my cigarette money for fiber if I quit. I would be able to get two boxes a month.
I found Cookie by way of your blog. It was her I hate people post I came upon and fell in lurve.
Posted by: Denise | January 16, 2011 at 07:09 PM
I'm so happy for you, Joan.
Posted by: CindyCindy | January 16, 2011 at 07:46 PM
Trust me, you are not going to be stuck with all that fiber. It will be FLYING out the door. It's really that good--lovely preparation and spins soooo easily!
Posted by: Anne | January 16, 2011 at 07:49 PM
Congratulations! The fiber looks fabulous! Very, very nicely done.
Posted by: margene | January 16, 2011 at 07:58 PM
Aaaah! Too much temptation. This is a brilliant plan.
Posted by: Natalie Servant | January 16, 2011 at 08:01 PM
That is seriously cool! Love your packaging. Good luck with the venture.
Posted by: Sue | January 16, 2011 at 08:12 PM
Wow! What exciting news! Happy birthday -- to Cookie AND to you!
Posted by: Kym | January 16, 2011 at 09:07 PM
Joan, that is so awesome!! I literally gasped when I clicked on your Cupcake link at Cookie's - the fibers looked so utterly appealing and so bright and cheery - and so unspun, unknit and the undoing of anyone that's held out learning to spin. How exciting!
Posted by: Carrie K | January 16, 2011 at 09:11 PM
Yay! So exciting. I just bought the green/teal :). Congratulations!
Posted by: (formerly) no-blog-rachel | January 16, 2011 at 09:17 PM
Yummy colors. Classy kits.
Done in your stylish way.
Congrats! I'm not a spinner but I'm sure you'll convert many of us!
Posted by: Marilyn | January 16, 2011 at 10:02 PM
Hope this all goes the way you want I don't spin but from the looks of your choices I think you are going to do very well and actually I would be willing to bet that you are going to get very busy very quick a lot faster than you think. Good Luck
Posted by: Traci Irwin | January 17, 2011 at 02:10 AM
These are so cute! What a great business idea, presented beautifully (love the boxes & storage). Well done!!
Posted by: Elizabeth L in Apex, NC | January 17, 2011 at 07:06 AM
Cookie is right - I am afraid of her! Beautiful work though and congratulations on the new adventure.
Posted by: Peppermint Mocha Mama | January 17, 2011 at 09:07 AM
This is wonderful. The presentation is perfect and the batts look soooo fluffy and soft.
Congratulations and Good Luck!
Posted by: donna lee | January 17, 2011 at 09:24 AM
That's so awesome! Your packaging is fantastic, and I'm sure the product is as well. Go you!
Posted by: heather | January 17, 2011 at 09:31 AM
Woohoo! Go you! Love the presentation!
Best of luck with your new venture!
Posted by: gayle | January 17, 2011 at 09:51 AM
Congratulations on your new fiber venture! Your concept and packaging are brilliant. The batts look so pretty. I'm imagining that a few months from now, as word spreads about The Cupcake Fiber Company, there will be fiber frenzy as the Etsy store sells out within 10 minutes of each update. :)
Posted by: Karen | January 17, 2011 at 10:37 AM
Congratulations! That is some beautiful fluff. They look like yummy cinnamon rolls to me! I guess I am going to have to learn to spin.
Posted by: Helen | January 17, 2011 at 01:45 PM
Congratulations on your new venture, Joan! I sent it out into the world via my Facebook and Twitter accounts, as soon as I heard the official news. XO
Posted by: Norma | January 17, 2011 at 03:46 PM
This is great! The sock is beautimous. Joan's Etsy shop, here i come! Congratulations!
Posted by: Gretchen | January 17, 2011 at 10:38 PM
Congratulations and good luck with this new time consuming adventure of yours. The batts look lovely even to a non spinner like me. So I think the next stage will have to be selling some of the yarns made with this lovely stuff for the non spinners between us, right? I guess I will need to share this idea with Cookie to get it going,,,!
Posted by: Rachel | January 18, 2011 at 02:11 PM
Way to go!
Posted by: Tiny Tyrant | January 18, 2011 at 03:28 PM
I've already said it to your co-conspirator: you are a Wicked Woman!! I do not want to learn to spin! NO! NO!! (hiding eyes, not clicking... arrgggg!!)
Posted by: Another Joan | January 18, 2011 at 09:37 PM
What gorgeous stuff and clever packaging. I am not a spinner, but yowza it's tempting.
Posted by: Mary Lou | January 23, 2011 at 09:11 AM
How very exciting! Congratulations on your new venture. Very clever idea and presentation. Love it.
Posted by: Angie | January 23, 2011 at 12:49 PM