Thursday, November 29, 2007

Thursdays are good days because...

Thursdays are always good days because they are studio days. I spent ALL day (11am till almost 8pm) in the studio dyeing yarn. I got a TON done. I'm worn out now, but in a good way. No energy left to type, though.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Look at these socks



How cool are these socks? My brother got them for me for my birthday. I love them!! They are Ozone socks and now I want lots of them!

New Camera

Today is a good day because I am getting a new camera! I am about to go pick it up now. I broke my old one (dropped it on the floor) and now the flash won't work. And it was probably time for a new camera anyway. So I took advantage of after Thanksgiving sales and got a Canon SD1000. And I even saved $120! So maybe now I'll actually take pictures of some of my WIP and get them posted...maybe.

Mondays are For Mail

On monday my day was good because Mondays are Mail Days for me. I dye and reskein all weekend and by the time the postman arrives on Monday I have a big pile of packages for him to pick up. And that makes me happy because I know that my yarn is on its way to customers all over the country, and sometimes even all over the world!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Giving Thanks

As the holiday season swallows us up its easy to forget to be thankful. I LOVE the holidays, but so often other people stress out about it and seem miserable. So I am going to try to post often (I'd say every day but I know that probably won't happen) with something that has made my day good, or that I'm thankful for.

So for today:
My day is great because
a) my parents were getting rid of some clothing to make space in their closet and I inherited a stack of long sleeve t-shirts to wear in my studio (i couldn't bring myself to buy a long sleeve t-shirt just to get it covered in dye, so I've been braving it in short sleeves)
b) yesterday my FIL and fiance cut me a trailer full of fire wood and today my little brother (visiting for thanksgiving) made me a rip roaring fire!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Sweater Cards


In a recent Berroco newsletter they had the neatest templates for making your own sweater shaped cards (or ornaments). You can use the patterns they have, or insert photos of your own knitting. I used a close up photo of a scarf using some of my yarn and it turned out great. All you have to have is Photoshop.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Birthday Gifts!

Today was my birthday and I got some great gifts that I just have to show off!

Yesterday I got an early present from a family friend, the coolest tote ever! More about it here.


Then today, from my parents I got the book Knitting Beyond the Edge, a mug from a local shop carrying artisan-made pottery, and a drying rack for my studio-- perfect now thats is getting too cold to dry my yarn outside.




Then when I got to the shop for Charity Knit Night there was a present waiting for me from Ann Marie and Jo-- Knitted Toys!


And when I got home from Charity Knit Night yet another present was waiting for me at the house--- a beautiful suede shirt jacket from my in-laws. I am going to wear it on Thanksgiving.


Sunday, November 18, 2007

Dog Sweaters



I was flipping through the Land's End catalog this morning and apparently dog sweaters are very "in" right now. I like Land's End's style a lot, so if I see something in their catalog I know it must be classy, right? Well I found not one, but FIVE dog sweaters for sale in this one catalog! Two of them match human sweaters and the other three are personalizable with embroidered initials and all that. Maybe this will inspire me to finish that fair isle doggy sweater I started a year or two ago...its for a small Jack Russell, it can't take me that long to knit, can it?

Goodies!

Secret Pal Swap 11 just came to a close and look at all the goodies my swap pal sent me! There are a bunch of pictures so I am going to make them kind of small. Click on them for full sized views.

Beautiful pearl stitch markers. Only, I'm afraid I might be missing some. I found one floating around in the bottom of the box, and one attached to a bag. I know stitch markers are often sold in sets of at least 4 so I am sad to think that some of my stitch markers may have escaped on the journey to my house :(. But still, these are beautiful, and I often only need one or two to mark the beginning of a row.



The yarn: Wildfoote sock yarn in a pretty shade of dark green w/ a white "twist". Not only is it the perfect color for this time of year (Christmas green) but green is my favorite color. And its superwash which I love b/c, unlike some more responsible, caring knitters, I like to throw my socks in the wash.


My favorite part of the package was probably the project pouch made by PiddleLoop; its one of their "travel cases"and comes with a smaller pouch perfect for notions and such. The fabric is a very tasteful, feminine print. I used to do a lot of sewing so I can tell that both the fabric and the workmanship are of very good quality. You can see that I've already found a use for it :)




Cute Buttons! and more stitch markers (my initials L B) My favorite button is, of course, the sheep. My pal must have seen on my blog that I collect sheep.



To chase away those winter blues a cute felted flower kit! I have actually used the Daffodil pattern in this collection and it turned out so cute. I can't wait to try another one. The colors in the photo turned out funny, but its a pretty magenta color. Bright and cheerful! I'll have to put it in a vase in my studio.

And last but not least, a set of wooden double pointed Sox Stix from Lantern Moon. They are size zeros. These will be a special treat to use once I allow myself to cast on for another sock (I have several that need to be finished first!) I haven't used these yet, myself, but have heard great things from some of my knitting friends who knit a lot of socks. I can't wait to finally get to try them.


Oops, just about forgot about the sticky notes. Not a big deal, you might say, but I am always looking for sticky notes because I like to use them to keep my place in patterns. And these are cuter than your average sticky note too!

Monday, November 12, 2007

The Seven Deadly Spins

A wonderfully intriguing new way to look at Yarn Clubs! Want something different than just the regular sock club shipment every other month?
Are you looking to try new and exciting projects in a variety of yarns?Well, Kelly Eells of Liisu Yarn came up with a brilliant idea!A bimonthy yarn club based on (are you ready for this?) the Seven Deadly Sins. Every other month a fun kit will arrive -- seven colorways of a variety of Liisu Yarns, seven designs by seven amazing designers and gloriously different knits each time.
Fun accessories will also be included to compliment the yarn, patterns and themes!

Let's hear it for Greed, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, Pride, Wrath, and Lust![Notice that nary a one of the sins is Hoarding so it is safe to sign up. :P

To find out more about what this great new club offers, click here.

p.s. Guess who is going to be dyeing some of the yarn? Yep-- yours truly!!

What Type of Knitter Are You?




"You appear to be a Knitting Goddess. You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with reward, you simply want others to love knitting as much as you do. If someone wants to knit miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them. If someone wants to learn short row shaping, you can help. There are no taboos in knitting, only opportunities to grow. Everyone should have friend like you around if they want to learn to knit, and there's a good chance that your passion has rubbed off on a few others."

What type of Knitter are you?

Friday, November 2, 2007

I'm a winner!

After completing Clue 3 of the Secret of the Stole on time (barely!) I was the lucky person who's name was drawn for the prize! I had to wait for it to arrive in the mail to learn what it was.

I got two skeins of beautiful, soft merino lace yarn. Its a one ply yarn which makes it sooo soft and squishy. In a beautiful pale pale blue. so lovely. My Secret of the Stole is in a multi-ply silk/merino blend which is beautiful but not at all squishy. So I can't wait to try this very different yarn.



I also received the cutest stitch markers. Someone my have to tell me how they work though as I've never had any with this type of clasps. I think the little turtle is my favorite-- isn't he cute? Now the question is, which of my many WIP should I use them with?


p.s. my stole hasn't progressed much since I finished clue 3. Life just got too busy! But I'm still working on it, little by little...

Thursday, November 1, 2007

To Do Lists

Once in a while my life overwhelms me just a bit. There isn't time or energy to do everything that needs to be done. This isn't a bad thing, really, and I'm not complaining (too much) because I know that if I wasn't so busy I'd be bored. And really its not that there is SO much I have to do, its more that there are one or two things hanging over my head making it feel like I have an overwhelming amount of stuff I must get done. Right now those two things are a) the Knitty ad and b) pattern editing.

I have signed up for (and paid for) an ad in the winter Knitty. It is due on Monday. I don't have anything. And I'm out of ideas. I had to wait till now to even think about this ad because of the whole name change chaos. And now...no ideas. And I know that I don't have the skills or talent to make it look good. Ugh. I wish I'd addressed this earlier when I had time to beg an artistic friend to help me. Any good creative ideas on how to best use a long, skinny banner ad space?

Pattern editing is always hanging over my head. I enjoy designing, but I don't enjoy writing the patterns out or editing them after I've sent them out to testers. When my testers send me back their comments I dutifully print them out and put them in a special folder which I even carry around in my knitting bag to motivate me to do something with them. But knitting and dyeing are so much more fun...


****Added 11-2-07: Do you think that something using my sheep logo, along the lines of the drawing seen here would catch your eye more? Or something using photos of the actual yarn?