Give-A-Way Day!!

Today was the big sock summit registration. I registered for the luminary panel. I'm really hoping that I'll be alive to attend. It's the 'closing ceremonies' for the event, but I'm a little concerned that I'll want to crawl under my table and sleep! I have to say that registering made me feel excited and like I was apart of a big moment. I was struggling with thousands of other people to register!!

I had a fabulous photo shoot on Sunday, thanks to auntie for baby sitting! Here's a little preview of what's going in the shop, hopefully everything will be up on Sunday, May 31st.


I think I should also add something to the prize basket today! For every $5 that is donated to Taking Steps your name will be entered to win some fabulous prizes. So far there is a skein of handspun yarn, and fingering weight yarn. Lovely Deb Accuardi has donated June's issue of her newsletter with a skein of yarn to knit the included pattern. I love her newsletter! I'm one of the dyer's coming up even. Deb has some amazing things going on: a few retreats in the works, a sock/lunch club, a pre sock summit lunch, a pod cast and a blog. I'm tired thinking of all that work!! I'm lucky to be attending the pre sock summit lunch and getting to dye yarn to accompany one of the courses!! Being a part of this fundraiser is very timely for our family. E has been experiencing a lot of symptoms of his crohn's disease.

So on to the give a way! If you're new and you stuck around for this, thanks! Leave me a comment about your favorite charity and how you like to fundraise/volunteer/assist them. Thanks again for participating in Sew Mama Sew's fun day!
You have until May 31st to comment and then I will pick the winner and ship off the prize! So the give a way is...A little treat I've sewed and some handspun yarn.

If you don't knit and you win that prize we'll come up with something different!

Let the Fundraising Begin!

So I figured out how to link you to the page for donating to the Take Steps walk. This is a walk to help raise money for Crohn's and Colitis research. Money also goes to community events for people with Crohn's/Colitis. As a little incentive for giving to a good cause there will be some prizes. For every $5 donated your name will be put in the hat and drawn for a prize. Let me peruse the stash of Knitted Wit for a fine prize...oooh, a lovely handspun skein!
This yarn is called confused, merino/silk, 100y. Lovely!

The next prize is a skein of fingering weight yarn or better known as sock yarn! Blue Sky is 4 oz, 400 yards of 100% superwash merino.

There are more prizes to come! For every $5 you donate you're name will be entered once, the more you give the better the odds!


Now on to a little sock summit preview. I started knitting up some samples, according to people on ravelry, they want samples. I started these last night, little socks from Nancy Bush's book Knitting Vintage Socks. I believe she's teaching at Sock Summit! I know there's not much there yet, but the sock is for a little child and I am using size 0. I think a little baby hat would be a great sample. I need to go troll ravelry and see what comes up! I'll add that to the agenda today, along with a photo shoot!! My sister and nephew are going to come play with e today while I shoot some yarn and fiber. My shop is so sad lately, and I have a ton of new fingering yarn to add.

I hope you are having a great memorial day weekend, the weather here in portland could not be any better!
eta the link to donate. DUH!!

Dur!

I just realized all things I forgot to include in the post I just posted!! But there's loads of info that I think needs it's own space.

*Sock Summit is approaching fast. I would love to collect socks to send to afghans for Afghans. Please start knitting now, make sure to follow the guide lines. Drop them off at my booth and get a little gift from me. I'll forward the whole she-bang down to San Francisco!

*May 27 is Give A Way Day with the help from Sew Mama Sew I couldn't link to there blog, it was acting strange. Respond to the blog post for May 27th and you'll be entered in a drawing for a prize. I'm not sure all of what I'm doing yet, so stick around! Hopefully there blog will be fixed, I'm forgetting some details too I think! They will have an amazing list of bloggers participating.

*The Take Steps walk is coming up. This is a fundraiser for Crohn's and Colitis. I'm really excited to be participating this year! I'll be hosting a little donation drive here with prizes as a little motivation. Not all knitting prizes either! I'm so excited. I just made a team, Team Smelley! It's a little joke with me and E. My last name was Smith, his is Kelley. Combine them and you have Smelley! So, I'll figure out how you can just click and pledge and get back to you. I put the team goal at $1,000! A little ambitious I know, but I'm planning on hitting up everybody I know!! Even if it's $5 at a time, we'll get there.

Whew. I think those are the big things I've been meaning to get up here! Now I have to got cut some squares!

Star Sightings

I was in Cool Cottons today when I spotted a local blogger. Well, e actually tried to help her pick out fabric, he has pretty good taste too. Alicia is so nice! I didn't introduce myself, but she was very friendly just like on her blog. Anyways, I was there picking out some sashing for my first baby quilt. I have all the squares made, I need to now assemble and and actually quilt. As soon as I'm done typing I'm going to cut out the back and get a move on this project. The baby shower is June 28, yikes!!

Another little meeting I had was out at Ashland Bay Fiber. I'm switching my base fiber to them instead of Louet. It's nice to be able to drive out and pick it up. Very lovely people too. I'm dying to dye. I've started some more re-skeining in the mean time. I don't think I'll be able to actually dye until June. I seem to have a shortage of sitters. So in the mean time I'm trying to get other things tied up before Sock Summit completely consumes my life. I have to say I'm a little overwhelmed by the opportunity. I really want to make sure I take full advantage of it!

This is what e was up to last blog post!

A Number of First's

It's been busy around here, and not all fiber related. I started a quilting class, in March maybe, where we meet once a month and learn how to make a square. I've learned so much in just the two classes. And probably all the practice I've been getting. To be able to craft as a job would be amazing. I love the sewing but miss the spinning. I was just browsing etsy and drooled quite a bit over the rovings. I don't know what it is about braids of color, they get me every time! But I didn't buy any. I'm placing a huge order for dyeing materials, I can't wait to get started for Sock Summit.

Okay, back to Firsts. So there's the sewing, there's also a sock club. I finished dyeing and re-skeining all 200 skeins of yarn. Yowzer! That was some work. I would love to participate in any club like that again. I learned a lot of great things and feel pretty privileged to be apart of it. I hope all the members like the colors. It's pretty nerve racking doing all that work and not knowing if people are going to like it.

The biggest first is that e turned one this weekend. We had such a great party. There were tons of favorite family and friends. We did miss a few people, but hopefully we'll see them soon. e is also walking! He has been for some time, but I haven't been around here for a while. So with the nice weather and e walking he can play out side and I can type to my heart's content! The only down side is that our back patio is pretty chaotic!

So I'm hoping to get some spinning done while e plays out side. I've been very inspired by the etsy perusing. Other things I'm hoping to accomplish are continued sewing, lots of babies coming. Lots of dyeing with Sock Summit coming up. I'm also hoping to keep the shop updated. Right now those feel a little lofty, but a little discipline can go a long way.

I just got the cutest pictures of e eating oregano. too cute! So only the one picture and no links, but I'm here! I want to learn how to use my flickr account to link pictures and montages. See you around real soon.

eta e's photo!