a fresh start

Today was the average day, run lots of errands...feel like nothings really getting done.  Then I just cut all my hair off.  Ahhh.  I feel great!  The big motivation was my hair falling out in huge clumps. I'm sure it will continue to come out (from nursing), but it won't seem as bad!  I know the pics a little silly, but it's exciting.  and yes I cut it myself.  It's a little wonky but in a week no one will ever notice!

Craft wise I'm still spinning the super wash, but I'm hoping to finish that tonight.  Then it's a ply party.  After that I need to get cranking on some small spin projects for the farmer's market. Just over a week away!!  

E was productive in the kitchen today.  I can't wait to taste them!  The berries and the plums are from our yard!  What really stinks is E can't eat them.  I'm one lucky lady.

The cookies I bakes off yesterday?  The best I've ever made.  I'm excited to take some of this to bounty of dessert to Concert in the Park tomorrow with my friend Betty.  Before e, we got into a lot of trouble together.  Now the trouble is a little more sober!  Hope you're enjoying summer!  

Catch Up!

There's a lot to catch up on, but little time to squeeze it all in!  I'm going to try and add to this all day then post later this evening.  My life doesn't seem to allow a block of time to finish this task all at once!

On Saturday I had my little de-stashing sale and did quite well.  I was able to put all the left over yarn into one tote instead of two.  I wasn't able to pawn off any fiber but hopefully craigslist will help with that!  Michele came by and kept me company.  She also took some plums off our hands! I can't wait to try the jam she made!

I also had a chance to label all the yarn and fiber with my new labels!  I just need one more little sticker saying needle size and gauge and we are in business!

Speaking of business, I'm hoping to squeeze in some dyeing today.  I called the grandmas yesterday to see when they could come by.  e is going through a new phase that is wearing me out a little faster than usual.  I also haven't had that sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.  Getting a little bit of work done will feel very rewarding!

Well the grandmas have come and gone.  They've decided he's teething.  I kindly disagree.  The took e for a nice little walk and I was able to dye.  I haven't dyed rovings at my house and it's a little different process than the yarn.  Today was a little trial and error, but I know what I need for the next dye adventure.  I was also able to make cookie dough which will be baked tomorrow.  Ahhh, sense of accomplishment.  I'm off to spin my super wash merino (I still have one in the shop).  The purple optimized merino singles rested last night and might be plied the next few days.  

I meant to bring back pictures when I sat down this time but I just didn't get to it.  I'm sure all of you have excellent imaginations and can think of pictures to fill in the spaces!

I'm in!

I'm going to have a booth at OFFF!  I can't wait to see you there!

More later when the squawker is sleeping!

The Lessons I Learn

We'll I think I'm one of the riders that fell out of the race on the really long hilly day.  Every time I join a project like this I'm super motivated in the beginning.  Then about midway through I don't feel like playing anymore.  I don't like putting constraints on craftyness.  It might also have to do with how busy I've been!

I went to visit a friend and she had a bucket of fiber she wasn't ever going to spin.  I got to go diving and found a few treasures I wanted to try out.  The pictures are from Funky Carolina

fiber.  The friend was apart of a fiber of the month club and had some extras she didn't want to spin.  I love the colors, it's a South African Fine, similar to Merino.  I don't know if the fiber got squished or over cooked, but it's a little felted.  I'm really having to pre-draft to avoid hurting my wrist.  I explained this to E and he thought it was comical I could get an injury from spinning.  I don't think it's that funny.  Anyways.  So now I have to bobbins being used up in projects I'm not super excited about.  The sad thing?  Those are all the bobbins I have.  So I think I'm going to muscle through both projects and get to something more fun.

So another lesson I've learned?  Spin what I like.  That means I have a lot of fibers I don't like and don't plan on spinning anytime soon.  I also decided I had a lot of yarn that I probably would never get to knitting.  So...I'm having a 'Help Me Help Your Stash Grow' Sale.  I'm thinking this Saturday under our carport.  I have three overflowing bins to clean out!  email me (knittedwit at gmail dot com) for directions to the house if you live in Portland.  I'm thinking the sale will be from 9am to 12pm.  Bring some knitting or a spinning wheel if you want.  Yarn, Fiber, a baby, what else do you need on a Saturday morning?  If you have yarn or fiber you want to trade or sale, bring it!  

N is for Naughty

You might be able to tell by the pictures I took that I was in a bit of a hurry.  I don't want E to find out about this yet!  I stopped off at Northwest Wools on my way to see family and found some wool.  I wasn't planning on buying anything (famous last words, I know), but I discovered this morning that I wouldn't be able to buy this dyer's wool anymore.  Sandy is one of my favorite!  She is so sweet and does an amazing job with color.  I would love to dye roving like her.  I have a plastic tote that is devoted to her wool!  I stopped by the shop and they happened to have some of her stuff because she had left over from Black Sheep Gathering.  I went a little over board I know.  I bought three colorways in Superwash Corriedale and one colorway in BFL.  I just happened to buy two of each in the colorway.  I figured I enjoyed spinning the Superwash Corriedale so much this last time I should get more. I've been so tired of going through my fiber box and there's fiber I don't like.  I'm learning, and only buying what I do like!  I do need to clean out the bucket and have a stash sale of all the stuff I don't want to spin.  

Last note about Sandy.  If you visit my shop, the top picture is BFL she dyed that I spun and plied.  I'm still a little sad I sold it!

I'm meeting some knit friends at Twisted tonight for some e loving and chatting.  I hoping for some more label input.  As soon as I have a general consensus I'll show the results here.  

Tomorrow there is a German Festival!  I'm hoping to get some good Oma tchotchkes for Christmas.  I'll be back with the results.  My guess is I should probably go spin!

another quicky

There's been some development on the label front.  I have a bunch of in laws in town so I'm WIPED out.  I don't want to feel like I'm ignoring this space.  I think I'll get back here on Sunday.  That feels like ten years from now!

I'd so rather be doing this right now!

I feel like life has slowed down for me a little bit this last week and half.  E worked an extra day and I haven't had much extra time for me.  When I do get some time, like e taking a nap, I don't want to do much.  Just relax and not think!  I have been doing a few things.  Here are some label options for Knitted Wit.  I'm thinking the third one in is the winner.  I'll take them to knit night and get a few more opinions though.  

Then there's the spinning.  I'm trying to get a lot done to sell handspun at the Farmer's Market.  I'm also working at the Tour de Fleece.  So what's on the wheel now is optimized merino.  I believe that's when they take the fiber and stretch it out to make the fiber smooth.  It's very nice to spin.  I think I'm making lace weight just about.  I don't know what it will be like when I ply it.  I think it will be very nice for a shawl.  We'll see if this ends up for sale or not!

This is the hanspun I've gotten done while the tour de fleece has been going on.  I think at the end of all this I'll weigh what I've done to see if I've hit the 2 pound mark.

Here is some of the yarn I've dyed lately.  I'm waiting for the labels.  I suppose I could post this in the shop.  I'm a little apprehensive right now.  I haven't been selling much there lately.  I figure once August hits sales will pick up.  I'm also trying to have stock for the Market.
Here's a blurry picture of the handspun that's finished.  I forgot one skein, hence the bonus picture up top.
This is a prize I was fortunate enough to win from Deb.  I donated to the Crohn's Walk she participated in.  I'm so excited to spin this up.  It's a Merino/Bamboo mix dyed by Capistrano Fiber Arts Studio.  She dyes beautiful yarns and fiber.  I have some yarn that I just found recently in a garage clean up.  I want to find something special.  Possibly something small for e. I don't have a ton of the yarn!  Anyways, this fiber is my reward for all the spinning during Tour de Fleece.  I'm thinking of having a sale for those who have participated in the Tour de Fleece. Free shipping is what I'm thinking.  Yeah, that sounds fun.  I figure all this emptying of stash means I need to restock.  I assume other spinners will feel the same when they see their empty storage boxes!
Well, e is still napping.  I think I have twenty more minutes and I want to bust through the purple merino on the wheel.  I'll try to be back a little more regularly.  This place makes me feel some normalcy and that I'm accomplishing more than being a milk machine!

I will do a real post one of these days...

But for now I'm watching crap tv trying to survive the heat.  I did take a bunch of pictures and will show a bunch of things one of these days!

Two Months!

I was so wiped out the last two days I couldn't quite make it over here.  But here I am now.  e is 14 pounds (papa was closer!) and 25 inches long!  I'm growing a big one!  I thought I was going to have more to write about that but apparently I don't!  He is amazing, super happy, super easy and a love bug.  There's a little more I guess.

On the spinning front I've been quite busy.  I spun/plied/set some super wash Corriedale.  It was the first time I spun super wash corriedale, it was like butter.  Hairy butter, but butter.  I need to find some more to spin.  Now I'm onto some optimized merino.  That's where they take the fiber and s-t-r-e-t-c-h out the fiber and it makes it silky smooth.  For the most part it's spinning very finely so I might start another project that will go faster.  I like finishing things!  I also want to have a healthy supply for the Farmer's Market.

Speaking of Knitted Wit, I've been working on a new label.  Well, a friend's been working.  I'm having a hard time deciding what to go with.  I love my little sheep picture, but I don't really want to do a color label.  Too pricey, and I can't do it on my printer.  I think I'll end up going with a low tech label and some snazzy paper.  I want it to look professional, not like I just printed if on my hp.  But I want to print it on my hp.  See the dilemma?  

Crying babe coming my way, sorry no pics.  I'll put some up next time of the label.

Quick Note

I did in fact get the dye today.  I was able to dye six skeins which will be split into two a piece.  That feels pretty good, but I didn't get as much time as I wanted to dye.  That and it was freakin' hot today!  Tomorrow is supposed to be quite warm as well, but I'm going to try and get an earlier start.  The dye didn't get here until after 1 p.m. today so I had no chance of beating the heat.  

I've been kicking butt on the spinning front too.  That's part of the reason this post is short and picture-less.  I want to go finish up some corriedale superwash tonight so I can have a plying party tomorrow.  I have another bobbin to ply of merino and silk.  I wish there were a few more hours in the day. 

Tomorrow e will be two moths!  We go see the pediatrician and the only thing I'm excited to know is how much he weighs!  E thinks 13 or 14 pounds.  I'm going for 15!  That seems pretty bold, but he eats a ton and is freakin' heavy!  When we were out and about yesterday EVERYBODY commented on how big he is.  I'll let you know tomorrow!  

Sorry this is discombobulated, I'm off to spin!

One Spinning Project Down!

After finishing that last project I've decided to not spin anything I hate.  My time is too limited to sit there thinking about how much I hate what I'm working on!  So when I went to the box to get out the oldest fiber to spin it went straight to the craigslist bag.  My goal this week is to list that. I might also be going through my stash to have a sale on yarn.  I feel guilty having so much that won't be made into something anytime soon.  We'll see.  

I didn't make any progress on the quilt, it's just here cluttering up the desk.  When I have a few free minutes I've decided to sew on it, instead of waiting for a chunk of time.  I do have one row put together, that just leaves 9? more to go.  Not bad.  They only take a few minutes to zip together.  

e is down for his big morning nap so I need to move on to spinning.  When he gets up we're headed out on a big adventure.  We'll be taking a few buses to Target and Fred Meyer's.  The trip is going to take so long that we'll be nursing at one of these stops.  You can look for us at the patio furniture!  It's the most comfortable.

We might get a few looks similar to this!

taking a weekend

The idea sounded good at the time!  Now I'm finding taking a little break makes it harder to get back in the groove of things.  Yesterday e and I took the bus over to Naked Sheep to help celebrate their third year in business!  It's one of my favorite shops, even E likes going.  The biggest problem is how far away it is.  I can justify the bus trip but not a car trip.  Any ways, I bought a skein of eco wool so I could make the Hemlock Ring Blanket (ravelry link).  I've had one skein of eco wool marinating but the pattern calls for two.  Of course the shop didn't have the dye lot I bought last year! Surprise, surprise.  So I had one in lavender and bought one in grape.  I think it will look really nice.  This is for a xmas present for one of the grandmas.  I plan to cast on shortly.  So Le Tour de Fleece started today.  I can't remember how specific I was with my goals before so I'll state them, possibly again.  As soon as I finish the current project (I wish I had finished already!), I'll start spinning the oldest stash to the newest stash.  I have a prize for my self once this is completed, but more on that later when I have pics.  I like Stephanie's idea of naming a weight goal.  I don't feel like I can commit to something so concrete.  I'm going to use the baby as an excuse.  E works three mornings a week so I don't get to crawl back in bed for a snooze after the last feeding.  When he works the two evening shifts and our weekend, E will take e

 after he eats and hang out, go for a walk with the dog etc.  When I'm home alone with e in the morning I tend to have a VERY slow start to the day, thus limiting what gets accomplished.  Tomorrow E is home in the morning and boy do I need the break!  All this to say, I don't f

eel comfortable committing to a weight goal to spin.  If I did I would like to say I could do 2 pounds.  But with dyeing about to resume, Tuesday, that will take up a lot of time.  So back to the original goal of spinning oldest to newest stash.  Then maybe I can justify buying wool at OFFF.

So here is a picture of the quilt I started working on again.  

Last time we looked at this I realized I had used the wrong measurement for the I can't remember what it's called.  It's not the seam, shoot.  I'm tired.  Instead of sewing a 1/4" seam, I used a 1/2" seam.  Stupid.  So I took apart all the squares I had sewn together, not the squares made of little squares though.  Then I cut down the plain squares to match the patch work ones, laid it all out, and now I'm sewing the rows.  I'm thinking this will be a tie quilt since I don't know how to quilt it with my machine.  I'm thinking orange yarn or whatever I use would look great.  I'll show you the backing and binding when I have all the rows put together.  I'm hoping Cathy from knit night can help out with this.

e is taking a wee nap so I need to go finish up some spinning.  Really I wish I was sleeping too, but it's a little late in the evening for a nap.  Tomorrow.

Small Change in Plans

Last night was a rough night, mainly no sleep.  So today has been a little slower and choosing small projects to be accomplished.  I'm still hoping to get a photo shoot in this afternoon and then add a few items to the shop.  

I'm participating in the Tour De Fleece this year and I'm very excited.  The focus this year to spin from the stash, which I have an ample supply of.  I had already chosen that as a personal goal for the summer, so just a little reinforcement!  I'm going to try and finish up the project I have going now so I can start a new one on the 5th.  I need to start spinning little bits up for the Farmer's Market.  Last year I sold a bunch of starts and stop hand spun for $5.  The basket was empty by the end of the day!  So I guess my goal for the Tour De Fleece is to start spinning up the oldest junk in the box, making my way to the freshest.  

Gosh I'm tired.  I'm having a hard time organizing my thoughts!  Next post I'll show the quilt I dragged out to start working on again and hopefully a finished spinning project!  Sorry no pictures.

Mission Accomplished

I finally tackled a little sewing!  For some reason I built the whole thing up in my head as a major chore, but it was pretty easy and more important, fun!  I'm hoping to make more of these.  I used all the lavender I had in the house, so I need to find a new source for that.  Sorry the picture is a little blurry, I don't have super steady hands and I hate flashes.  

So I made 18 of these little sachets that have lavender, a little rice and a few stray rose petals.  I'll be adding them to the shop when I do a photo shoot of the hand spun yarn.  It's almost dry, so I think I can photograph tomorrow.  The other sewing project I plan on tackling are the little pants I made for e.  I have about four cut out that I need to sew.  Unfortunately he already has grown out of that size.  So you guessed it, I'll be adding them to the shop too!  I need to figure out the assembly line approach to the project though.  That's what really helped the sachet's go along so quickly.  

Real quick, the boys are taking a nap.  I fear it's about to end so I'm going to get some spinning done real fast.

Pretty precious huh?

Next in the Shop

I just have to do a quick wash and dry on some hand spun and it will be in the shop!  The sock yarn on either end of the picture might or might not end up in the shop.  It's some of my favorite and I'm having a hard time parting with it.  Reality check--when am I ever going to have a chance to knit this up?!

I got a nice little note from Lime and Violet.  I'm the featured Etsy shop today!  Thanks for the nod folks!

I found out the dye won't be here until next tuesday, grr.  So I have a week to get some sewing and spinning done.  I've realized how important it is to me to 'accomplish' something in my day.  These accomplishments are usually minor but they make me feel like I'm contributing to the bigger picture of my life.  Not that taking care of e isn't an accomplishment in it self, but a little something for me helps.

Here's the pic from yesterday's post, the log cabin-ish blanket.  

I'm hoping for a few more minor accomplishments for the rest of my day.