Flowers are blooming

Maybe not everywhere, but the signs of spring are slowly making their way to us. This week we have had several days over freezing. This is cause for some celebrations.
I decided that I would name some new sock yarns in honor of the breaking spring weather, so I listed Crocus in the shop today.
Just like the first flowers seen here, it went very fast. Don't miss out on the other offerings.










There is a beautiful 2 tone rose with green that is listed as Wistful Roses.














Sticking with a rose theme I love the Rosemary Harkness rose coloring, so tried to dye up that too.












Finally for the day I listed Midsummers Night Dream.

Miss me?

So I have been trying hard to get things done, but somehow I have been laid up for the past week. Last Tues I had some surgery on my right foot. Which now looks like this:
Needless to say, this has put a huge damper in my daily activities. Keeping the foot elevated is the most important part. That and keeping the pain meds close.

Who knew that a silly toe would be this painful. I am however hoping this is the last time I have to be off my feet due to this.
The cyst that has been bothering me for the past few years has been totally removed, and we are fusing the bone to keep it from coming back.

Needless to say, I have not been up to doing much at all. Being fiberless is really not a good thing for a fiber fanatic.
Knitting can be massively messed up if knit under certain medications. Especially intricate lace knitting. So working on my Queen Susan Shawl is out.
So what to do?
Thank goodness for drop spindles. Its not something that one can hurt themselves on when in a medicated state.


I pulled out a beautiful Bossie from my collection and began to spin a wonderful batt I won from Abby Franquemont. Of course, reading her new book is also to blame too.

I will just say it is AMAZING. If you have not seen it, find it. Search it out.
You will not be disappointed at all.

However your wallet may be a bit lighter at the end when you discover you are missing some interesting spindles in your collection. You have been warned.

On the Yarn front - the new yarns are dyed up and I hope to be listing them very soon. Till then, I shall leave you with some eye candy.

The Snowicane has hit, and so have the yarns!

The storm has settled in here, and there is no reason for me to leave the house. Instead, I spent the day taking pictures of the yarns I dyed up on Weds.
I started taking pictures of the various yarns, and I had a hard time deciding on names. Thankfully some dear friends came to my rescue and helped.
I give you: Snapdragons

All of the yarns have the same
Yarn Vitals:
Yardage :306 yards
Weight: 3 ounces 100 grams
Yarn Size: sock weight
Fiber Content: 92% superwash wool, 8% acrylic


This is Parrot Tulip,






Then there is Cornflower, which is a nice 2 tone blue, but somehow it managed to obtain a few stray red flecks. See them in the pic?

Sweetheart Roses turned out so pretty, I can see it becoming a beautiful pair of socks, or even the main design coloring of a pair of warm mittens.














Finally I leave you with Hydrangea.

The first two are listed in my shop now, the others will be going up soon.
Stay warm this weekend!

Colors Spring to Life

Today was a dye day for me. Yarns arrived and skeins were tied.

Then the magical dyes were opened and colors began to scamper across the skeins.


There is a storm that is to be moving in, and I was thinking about that as I started. But soon the spring that will come came sweeping into the dye pots, and beautiful flowers began to jump into the skeins. While some of the skeins may look similar in the above picture, they truly are each one of a kind skeins.

Waiting for them to dry tonight, and tomorrow I will get pictures. I am thinking of re-skeining them, but I may leave them in the skeins as they are now.

Keep an eye on the shop - the beautiful spring sock yarns will begin blooming soon!

From Roving to Yarns.....

In keeping with the earlier post this week on habits, I pulled a roving from my shop and decided to spin it up. The first colorway I pulled was the Portulaca colorway of handpainted Superwash BFL.
I decided since I am going to be refeshing the shop with new fibers soon, I was going to play with the various techniques of spinning the rovings.
For this one, I divided the roving in half length - wise and weighed it. Then I divided each half into 4 smaller lengths.
I spun trying to keep the color stripes in order, but there was some variation in each length. The resulting yarn is soft, lofty and has some thick and thin sections that vary from sport to worsted weight in spots.

The colors softened nicely once spun and plyed giving me a wonderful marled effect.

The variations and flow is so nice, I can see this being used in scarfs, hats, or even a very nice pair of thick fair isle mittens. Especially if paired with a solid cream color to allow this yarn to take center stage.
I almost decided to keep it for myself, but decided to offer it instead. Its listed here and here. Another beauty shot:











So now I have pulled another colorway, this time I chose Firecracker, another Superwash BFL roving.




Once again I split it length wise and weighed it.




Then divided each half into two sections. I am going to try to keep the colors a bit more defined.


The first bobbin is done:


This yarn should turn out about fingering, but it really puffed up when washed, so since the last skein did that, I am spinning it thinner.


I hope to finish the 2nd bobbin and ply it tonight.


Its turning out really cool, don't you think?

Habits in Business

Habits -
defined in Websters Online Dictionary definition
6 : a settled tendency or usual manner of behavior
7 a : a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance b : an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary

What habits do you have? Most times I hear the word habit I think of negative connotations. But habits can also be very beneficial. When we try to make new habits, we often refer to them as resolutions.Sad that we only are encouraged to make new resolutions on New Years. I came up with a whole list of new habits or resolutions yesterday, a bit late for it to be a New Years resolution right?

I pondered this a bit then realized - Yesterday was Chinese New Years! I was right on time.
So I give you my resolutions of new habits for this year:

1. Blog 2 times a week minimum. This might be the hard one to get into. But I intend to do this. You are warned that some posts may be lame.

2. Work on promotion of Shop. Look into more ways to do advertising, and do it daily!

3. Get your packaging items in all one place, keep them stocked and be prepared.

4. Make a to do list weekly for the shop. Do not put this off.

5. Work on a new business plan. Set reasonable goals. Put it into action.

What new habits are you going to do? Feel free to let me know of other habits you find helpful in your business!

Shop Update!

Wow, this month is just running away. I have finally managed to get a picture of the last project of 2009.

This is the 2nd Whisper Scarf pattern in the Fiddlesticks knitting pattern packet.

I did a bit of modification on it - as I only did the required 2 repeats of chart B. But when I got to chart C I realized that it was going to be shorter than I expected.

So I added 2 more repeats of Chart C, which has a rose in the edge detail.
Pattern: Whisper Scarves from Fiddlesticks Knitting (this was #2)
Yarn : Schulana Kid Seta Melange in a dusty rose colorway.
Needles : size US 4

I have to say, I really like this pattern. It is well written and the charts are wonderful. I may have to make these scarves again.

I did do an update in my shop this week, make sure you take a peek at Sparkling Roses.

This is some yarn I really love, so much I have gotten 2 more lbs of the roving from the breeder/seller of this mohair blend.

I originally purchased this fiber at MD Sheep & Wool. Somehow I lost the contact info on it, and spent some time looking for the seller.

I finally found her - however she had just gotten a new batch of this blend. So its just a bit different from this one, as the dyeing of the fiber is very hard to match from batch to batch.

So I am offering this yarn for sale.
Its a wonderful blend of colors - gold, yellow, purple, green, blue and some firestar gold glitz to add sparkle. This is a mohair blend with over 700 yrds in total!
Some lucky knitter will enjoy knitting with this luscious yarn. Hurry and check it out here. It may not last long and you don't want to miss this for that special project.

January - the time to stay in and knit.

The whole country seems to be in the deep freezer at the moment. This is the perfect time to stay in and knit.

I was just checking my previous posts, and saw I had not posted a picture of the finished whisper scarf #1.
So without any delay - here is the picture I took when the blocking was done.

I did manage to get the #2 whisper scarf done on New Years Eve. Just in time to allow me to cast on the Queen Susan shawl at about 20 after midnight on New Years Day.


I got the yarn on New years eve, promptly wound and got ready to cast on.
While working with yarn that is the size of sewing thread at first scared me a bit, I have found it very relaxing to work on.
So much so that I now consider it my reward in the evening for working on other projects during the day. This will be a project that will take a bit- if my calculations are correct ( I do not even attempt to say I am good at math), it looks like the center section is going to take me around 3 mos or so.

Once the project gets a repeat done ( 38 rows) I will get a picture of it to show.

Last evening Chey came in the house - minus her collar. She some how has figured out how to throw it off her head every now and then.
So we headed out to look for it, unfortunately finding the chain collar in the snow pack is a bit of an adventure.

So I enlisted her help.

(picture is her with it on a few weeks ago)



So far, no luck. But she is enjoying digging the snow when I throw a snowball in a spot and let her dig.

Guess who is getting a new collar this week?

End of Year - and Goals!

Its been a long year. Crazy things have happened, but one thing has continued - I still am in love and daily play with fiber.
So instead of making resolutions for the next year, I have decided to take a page from Ida at Knit-A-while, and make some goals for this year.
Here is my list so far - ( there is no actual order )

- to knit a few shawls. I did join the 10 shawls in 2010, but not sure I will get that many done.
- do more weaving and try some different weaving patterns. Challenges are always good.
- spin and knit a sweater for me.
- knit the Queen Susan Shawl. This is a huge one for me. Wish me luck. I plan on casting on as soon as I get the yarn.
- play with more scrapbooking and other fun crafts.
- knit and finish the 12 days of Christmas Sweater. Honest. This is another big one.
-continue to strive to be the person my dogs think I am.
- be happy.

May 2010 be the year that makes you happy too.

Clogs, Finally Done!

For the past several weeks I have been working on several projects. One was my Husbands sweater, and the other was the 7 pair of clogs for my friends nieces for Christmas.
I finally got the knitting part done, one pair on top - the yellow, has been felted. To save him from being overwhelmed trying to remember which was what size, I made it easy for him. All of the clogs with the pink uppers are medium sized. The purple uppers are large. He asked for one pair of med to be yellow, so they are easy to figure.

Once I got all the knitting with bulky yarns and large needles done, I was craving something thin and detailed to knit.

Lace fits this very very well. So Sunday night at about 8 pm I cast on the Whisper Scarf 1 from Fiddlesticks knitting. As of today, I have this much knit so far:Not bad for a few days. I am past the half way point called for in the pattern, but I may do a extra repeat of the one section to make it a bit longer. I have to say after all the time spent on the thicker yarns the past few months, I am so enjoying this pattern.
So much so I bought a skein of yarn to make the 2nd scarf in the pattern pack next. I am still working on several consignment projects too, but this is my carrot to help me get those done.

I hope to felt the rest of the clogs tomorrow and will get a picture to show of all of them when done.

Taking time

The past few days I have been busy with some family things. Spending time with family is the most important thing we can do.
Last night we had a bit of snow. Today Cheyenne was a very happy pup doing the one thing she loves to do when you are supposed to be shoveling the snow.
Playing in it!

(For the record, she catches every snowball and eats it with great joy!)
Take time today to love your family and enjoy the small blessings that make up life.

Need for Prayers, and cards too!

Last night before I went to bed, I caught my "Adopted Daughter" Sarah on Facebook. I was going to share the fun I have been having with the new loom, the spinning, the knitting and even the scrap booking. When she told me some horrible news. Her niece, Alexis, was just diagnosed with Leukemia.
Needless to say, this quickly took the wind out of me. This little gal is 2 yrs old, and so sweet. Somehow, due to the swine flu, her symptoms were not picked up on as quickly as they should have. Thankfully now, she is in Pittsburgh's Children's Hospital and treatment will be beginning soon.

As Sarah and I talked we came up with a few ideas to help everyone deal with this and to help Alexis too. We know Alexis loves to open things, so we are going to get a card shower going - inviting everyone to send a fun card to Alexis.
Please send them to:

Alexis Battisti
1007A East Atlantic Ave
Altoona PA 16602

The second thing we came up with was that due to the Chemo she is going to loose her beautiful hair for a while. What can we do about that? Well, this will be devastating, but instead of making it a sad thing, why not turn it into a fun thing too?

Besides, what does a Knitter do when faced with bad things?
We Knit!

So I am asking everyone for some help, Please leave me some links to your favorite Hat patterns - so we can get started.

Let us make Alexis the Hat Princess !
Lets give her a different hat every day of the year!

Tags, Tags, who has Tags???

As one knows, I love all sorts of crafts. When I heard The ScrapYard Scrapbooking shop was moving into the center where Delightful Ewe was, I tried to convince myself that I was not going to be sucked in.
It was bad enough that every May when I go to Md, Carole tries to slowly indoctrinate me into scrap-booking and stamping. Still I tried to stay strong. Even when Sandy, the sweet owner of the Scrapyard began to learn to knit, I continued to resist.
Now I could give you a very good and even possibly a sane reason why I fell into it by saying I was trying to help find something that sparks Rochelle's intrest. Add to the mix that Carole was nice enough to show me Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas, and well. . .
Suffice it to say I am now doing some of it.
Well maybe more than some.
Okay, I am SUNK!!

So I started innocently enough. I was looking at some of the tags he made and thought - oh I could possibly use that for a card. So I played a bit with Rochelle's supplies and this was the result:It was my take on the tag Tim made for day 1.
I was kind of pleased with it, and truth be known I have played with making cards myself before. I do have some stamps, and inks and well, it is just plain fun!

So Day 2 of tags I played a bit more as I did not have the items Tim did, but I made due with some other things:Then I discovered that one could chat with Mario and Tim on Facebook! Oh man what fun. I had a hard time pulling myself away to bed last night. I was so excited to get up this am and see what Tim had created for Day 3. All that was spilled during the chat was that he used some black distress ink.
Today was so awesome. The tags for day 3, and yes you read that right - the TAGS! He made not one but 2 with the technique. I was desperate to try the plaid out. So I went out to the Scrapyard, and came home with some alcohol inks and a mat.
Now, understand, I checked 3 places for the gloss cardstock, without finding any. So it was once again time to make due.
I bought some white cardstock, that is smoother than the others. I played with loading the ink pad with some blending solution until it would glide on this and I was off:I now understand why Tim made more than one tag. This is addicting. I found so many different plaids I could make with just 4 colors, well its entrancing to say the least. It was actually hard in a way to stop making the plaid and make a card.

Now this is what I have done so far - but I am still not sure it is done. I am thinking it needs a ribbon or raffia and a charm yet.But till I can figure out what it needs, I need to finish 2 more pair of felted clogs. I have one of them almost done, so will try to behave, work on them, and not stay up all night with Tim & Mario on Facebook.
Wish me luck!

Tuesday, trying to be good.

So yesterday I decided to catch up on my blog reading. Catching up on the goings on of the Yarn Harlot, and other knitters. I was also drooling at Tim Holtz's blog featuring the 12 tags when I got to Fleegle's Blog.
WOW is an understatement to say the least. After several discussions with FiberJunky, I decided that this shawl would need a very special yarn.
I had gotten a few lbs of white shetland lamb roving from Briarpatchfibers a few mos ago, and after pulling it out to sample it on a spindle, I think I have a match.
While sampling it on my Golding spindle, (FJ has its matching sister spindle)(note - the fiber shown is not the white shetland, but another fiber I had spun a while ago)
I spent time reading the information on the ravelry group about the shawl. Realizing it requires over 5k of yardage, I believe it will be spun on my Jensen Production wheel to save my sanity, or what is left of it.

I did manage to finish a pair of simple guantlets for my brother to wear today hunting. Simple as ever - cast on 44 stitches, join in round and knit 2 purl 2 for about 14 inches. I used worsted weight yarn and size 4 needles. Make 2 for the hunter you know who does not like to fiddle with gloves, ect when the deer comes into view. I finished these so fast I took them to my brother without getting a picture. So here is a picture of a pair I made before:

So now I am working on finishing the last 2 pair of clogs for a special order, and working towards getting the yarns spun for another special order before I start the yarn for shawl.
Yeah, that is the plan.
We will see how long it lasts.......

Distracted to say the least.

So its been a while.
Here it is December, I have lost the end of October and all of November some how. What a whirlwind of the time it has been.
In October, DH had open heart surgery. That was a bit of a life changing event to say the least. Most of October was spent dealing with the surgery, and when that settled a bit - problems began with eldest son. After getting all of the issues with him settled a bit, I was then slapped with reality that it had somehow turned into the first week of November.

I had almost forgotten I was planning a surprise party for someone special. . . . .
That went over quite well, although he states he figured it out about a half hour before the party. I don't think so. We had a good time. He did think briefly of grabbing his chest when they yelled surprise, but thankfully he didn't. I think after everything I might have actually killed that love of my life if he had done that. Stress I tell you - the man causes stress!
The weekend quickly passed after the party - speeding me to picking up the new to me Mighty Wolf Loom.
Needless to say, after the stress and loss of sleep for the past few weeks, I decided I was in need of some play time. After all who doesn't like to play with a new toy? So now I am working on finishing the items needed to be done ASAP! I am also starting to make Biscotti for sale during the holidays too. No rest for the wicked I guess.

Its been a Busy Busy Month

This month can't be over fast enough for me. Its been so crazy here, I have not gotten much done at all.
I did have items at the Bedford Fall Foliage show, however I only was there 1 day as things here at home went crazy. Dh had to have some surgery, and thankfully is now at home recovering very well.

This week looks to be much slower, so by the end of the week, watch the shop. I will be adding some wool soakers to it along with some other goodies too.

Soakers

Soakers are interesting items. Made from wool, they work much like rubber pants for the cloth diapers. The wool is lanolized, which means that lanolin has been added back to it. This makes it more water resistant.
Knitting them, is fun and enjoyable, and they are so cute! I will be listing them in the shop soon. So check back soon.

Not Procrastinating at all. Nope, Not me!

So if you are wondering where I have been, or what I have been up to. Well I would love to say I have been immersed in wonderful fibery fun. Alas that is not really the case.
I will say that I have begun my frantic scurry to gather items ready for the Bedford Fall Foliage show that I am vending in. After all, why wait till the last minute.
Did I mention that the Fall Foliage Show is the first 2 full weekends in Oct?
Yeah.
So if I am not posting much, you know why.
Now I think I put that spindle under this pile of wool. Nope. Maybe this one? . . . gulp. Off to find it.

Staycations are HOT!

Staycations have been very popular, have you joined in the trend? This is one of the easiest trends to get in on. You don't need to book a airplane, catch a bus, ride a plane, or jump a train to get there.
Want to read more on them? Check it out HMN!

Helping others

While I am not happy with the Pa Government at this time for not passing a budget, and it is causing things to be tight here at home at the moment. I know this is temporary (although if you were to buy something from my shop that would be a help).

A friend of mine, Larry, is dealing with something much more pressing. His Life.

Please read, and if you can help out please do. He is a great guy and I hate to see anyone faced with this.

Larry Hamm over at Chelsea Lynn Designs on Artfire is a friend of many in the world of handmade, he is also the voice of The Crazy Train on Blockhead Radio. Larry has a fantastic wife Janet, and an 8 year old son Jacob who live with him in Lansing, NC deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Larry is a friend to everyone and just an all around swell guy. He is most definitely the "shirt off your back" kind of friend. Right now, all of Larry´s friends and Blockhead Radio are teaming up to help him out in a tough time.

Larry is a disabled diabetic who currently has lost his health insurance. His medication alone monthly is over $2,000. Larry is not receiving disability, he has not been approved yet. His wife is the only source of income and she doesn´t make enough to cover his medications. Larry´s doctors have given him an outlook of only 18 months to live if he doesn´t receive a $17,000 gastric bypass surgery as soon as possible. Larry and his family need all the help from their family and friends they can get! Jacob and Janet need Larry to hang around here with them as long as he possibly can! All of his friends surely want Larry to stick around too!

All of us at Blockhead Radio are gearing up for the biggest Radiothon you´ll ever be a part of! July 24th at 6pm until July 26th at 6pm, Blockhead Rod will be live on the radio for 48 hours straight raising money for our friend Larry. A silent auction of donated handmade goods will also be going up on the home page of Blockhead Radio with 100% of the proceeds going to Larry.

If you would like to be a part of this wonderful event, please email DeDe Sorensen at: 48forlarry@blockheadradio.com Please donate any handmade items you can for the silent auction have your emails in with your donations by July 22nd. If you would like to donate cash for Larry’s prescriptions and surgery please visit Blockhead Radio July 24th through July 26th. There will be plenty of ways to get your donations in.

Keep listening to Blockhead Radio for fantastic indie music, and how you can help Larry Hamm of Chelsea Lynn Designs.

Please Feel Free to Copy and Paste the above for your blog/site/fb/etc.

If you would like to donate and item to the silent auction please email DeDe at 48forlarry@blockheadradio.com.
We ask that you hold onto the item and mail it out. Please provide the following information:
Title of Item
Image
Description
Link to your shop/site
retail value
and if you will ship intl or U.S. only

Bidding on the items will begin at 6pm eastern time on July 24, 2009 and the highest bid recieved by 6 pm eastern time on July 26, 2009 will be declared the winner. All the donations will be going straight to Larry's Paypal account and he will notify you of the winners name and address.