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.

Half Way There

Today I spent most of the morning out on the deck. That sounds like a nice relaxing way to spend the morning does it not?

While a morning spent out on the deck relaxing would be a great thing, that was not the case this morning. Not even close.

This morning the first thing on my agenda was to dye up 11 - 4ounce sections of Superwash BFL Roving. So bright and early I was out playing with the dyes. A few hours later I had some beautiful colored rovings ready to get photographed and placed into my shop for everyone to see.

So I will give you a sample of them to drool at here:
The first colorway is in honor of the Blockheadradio.com Morning BrewHaHa, aptly named Brewhaha
The next is Lilac:


Carnation:
Yankee Doodle:
Field of Sunflowers:
I do hope you noticed a difference in the pictures, as I also spent some time creating a light box to use when I take pictures.
I have to say that it was not a hard thing to make and the difference it makes in getting good light in the photographs is amazing.
So Tomorrow will be the day I dye up the Superwash Merino rovings, stay tuned for more eye candy, and check the shop for the other new ones!

What is wrong with this picture?

Next week it will be July. A new month, and a new fiscal year for the State of Pennsylvania. Well, maybe.
You see the State of Pennsylvania has yet to pass a budget for next year. If they do not pass a budget the State will have to lay off State employees. But what about those who work in the Health and Safety areas?
The ones who protect us from criminals, help to keep the streets safe and keep those who have been sentenced to serve prison time behind bars will still have to go to work. They can not shut down a prison very well, nor will those criminals take a day off on the streets if the State Police are shut down.
Nope, they will have to go to work.
Without Pay.

Now that news alone is very disturbing, but what comes next is even more disturbing:

While Corrections Officers are not being paid,
the Inmates they are guarding will be.

What is that telling our children in this State? Sorry kid, if you work hard, and live right you will have to go without pay. Tough luck
However, if you break the law you get a room with 3 meals, a great law library, free education, letters mailed for free, TV service that is subsidized and even get paid while those who are watching you do not.

Don't believe me?

Check the news article here.

Or for more information - go to BlockheadRadio on Monday June 29 2009 at 9 am EST. Don't forget to make sure the speakers are on. The morning Brewhaha will be devoted to this topic.

Counterpane Sweater started, and general life

The past few weeks have seen a lot of activity here, I have been working hard on a sweater that is done in pieces. Its from Knitting in America and designed by Nicky Epstein called the Counterpane Sweater. I have a bunch of the triangles done so far. I am doing it out of Tatamy Tweed yarn and I am really liking the way it is turning out so far:
On last Friday I had a bit of a set back on several things, as I had to have some surgery on my toe. It is healing nicely and I should be back to normal here soon. The boot was the big issue to deal with. It was like walking with a huge bucket on this foot.

Now that it is off and I have a small bandage, I have a feeling I will be getting back to the groove soon.

Do you have a wedding in your future? Check out a way to make your wedding special: http://ping.fm/pDByW

asks have you gotten your gifts for Father's Day? Need an idea? Check out here: http://ping.fm/ywxWc

Need a good idea for a Father's Day gift? Check this out: http://ping.fm/8J5qQ

Cool article on Hemp and Bamboo yarn http://ping.fm/UsG0U

have you read HandmadeNews.org today?
http://ping.fm/KzcSm

Asks if everyone has read the latest article on socks?
http://ping.fm/cCgVA

Time is spinning away!

The time is still quickly passing here. I have spent a lot of time on promoting my shop and working on items for in it.
This past week I added a new yarn, Sky. While its only one skein, its a very nice one. I love the color and the original idea was that I would knit it up into a shawl. Probably from a pattern out of the Estonian Lace book.
But, I looked at all the projects on the needles here, and decided that until I get to that project on my queue, It will be up for grabs on my shop.So while I am putting it on the back burner, you have the chance at it here.

As many of you may know, I am now a columnist for HandmadeNews.org in the Craft trend Department. I can't begin to say how excited and happy this makes me. I encourage everyone to stop by and take a look at all the online paper has to offer.

Just updated my Blog! Check it out here: http://ping.fm/d7WFe

What does it take to make a pair of socks? Find a overview here: http://ping.fm/xz2Vt

Why would people knit socks today? Find out some reason here: http://ping.fm/dAvtk

Do you know what the oldest sample of knitting found is? Find out here: http://ping.fm/Cymuy

http://ping.fm/JVROa Socks!! Got to love them

Don't forget to visit my Shop and see the spindles, and yarns!http://ping.fm/8thyL