That's so Twisted

New Colorways coming... soonish?

2008-10-23T08:57:00.008-04:00

I have been reformulating colorways. As an anal perfectionist this has drained my spirit. I was analyzing some data and got some good news and some bad news. The bad is that it is taking **forever** for each colorway. Well, the 10 to 15 hours version of forever. I love developing colorways. *LOVE* it. But I already did all these. And the forever factor is just being a drag. The good news is that new colorways take way less time and are way more fun. So if you like new colorways, lucky you. If there was an old colorway you are just aching for, um, bummer for you. I'll get to them all. Eventually.

Today I'm going to start a small series about my development process.

I start with a drawer full of tiny skeins dyed in all kinds of colors. Each is neatly labeled and includes shades from light to dark. It's a magic drawer full of intoxicating colors. I love it! If I'm rebooting an old colorway I have something to match to (or at least make a good guess about what might work). For new colorways I might match to something that has inspired me or I could just be pulling ones that catch my eye and trying them out with others until I'm happy. Or I might let my kids loose on them and see what happens. Regardless of the source of inspiration I start finding the formula for a colorway here. Sometimes the drawer stays open most of the day just in case something in there wants to tell me something.

As for Chi, the Studio Ferret. He is fat and sassy! I love that funky dude so much! I don't know how I managed a work day without him. He has his (hopefully) final vet appointment to cover all the crap that went wrong for him when he was out on his own. Poor little guy. His colorway is coming right along. But I cannot come up with the right name for it. All the words that make me think of him just don't sound like good names for a yarn colorway. Take for instance: stinky, monster, weasel, mess, scamper, attack and fidget. On Monday Precious was the colorway's name. But then I was sitting and petting Chi droning "my precious, my sweet sweet precious" and I had a serious Gollum moment. Eeww! So now it's not working for me.

Chi moment: after his last bath he climbed up onto my head to skake himself dry like a dog. Thanks Chi.

DH moment: I was stressed and discouraged yesterday. We were just going to hang out and watch an episode of My Name is Earl. He came to me with not just the DVD but three cookies hot from the oven and a cold glass of milk. He baked three cookies to cheer me up. And he's very strict about his diet so he didn't have any. I love this man.

Development

2008-10-19T14:10:00.005-04:00

I'm still mired in colorway development. I still have hundreds of hours of work left to do before I'm back to where I was before I had to change my type of dye. The bright side today is that I'm finally to the point where the old dye is useless (and stinky and in a few cases chunky too) so I get a bunch of shelf space back. (I'm really working to find bright sides here!) However, I want to get some good photos of the dye all together. I fixed the light (I'm using the word "fixed" loosely!) for more studio photo ops! Anyway, dumping that dye is going to be a big deal for me. Maybe I should have some sort of ceremony. Incense will be involved with or without ceremony due to the aforementioned stinkiness. The new dyes are in the red topped squeeze bottles. Ooooh, I love these! With the old dyes it was like trimming your own bangs, first a little too much, then a little too little, blah, blah, blah.

Shelf space. That means I get to have more colorways available. This is good for dyeing on a whim. It might also be helpful with getting my wonderful customers what they want. I keep trying to figure out what people want. I can only dye so much. But everything sells so quickly that I don't get much data to analyze. The only actual conclusion is that if there were eight of me things would work out better. But I'm a wife and mother, so I already knew that one! There is so, so much that I want to do with my dye skills. So very, very much. I'm not good at prioritizing, so I'm working in too many directions at once. But I'm sick of waiting. I have awesome ideas that I know will be loved and appreciated.

Chi found a new thing to love. Starch packing peanuts. (They look like regular ones, but they are biodegradable and safe for him if he eats any.) He swims in them and dumps them out and tosses them about with great abandon. And then attacks me when I clean them up. This doesn't sound like the best deal for me, but he's so fun to watch. And he drags his white board into the mess. What a goof! Why does he love white stuff so much? Not very interesting for photos. But I am keeping track of Chi favorite dyes for a Chi-tastic colorway. I might have to fudge it a bit, five purples all squed toward red/pink isn't really what I do.

This weekend my family had a belt testing at our Tae Kwon Do studio. The kids and I are now just about a third of the way to black belt and DH is going to catch up soon. We are very involved in our martial arts community. I am starting to stress. There is more sparing as you advance. And I suck at sparring. I don't like to hit or kick anyone. And once I get hit or kicked I freeze up like a frightened rabbit. Some of this is leftover from things in my past that just need to stay in the past. I think I need to face these deamons. Yuck. If my kids weren't involved, I'd quit. Or maybe not, but I feel the need to be a good role model for them. TKD is really good for me too. This is the second thing in my life that I'm working hard to develop right now.

2008-10-16T13:33:00.004-04:00

Let's just pretend the obligitory "Gee It's been a long time..." stuff is right here. I've been busy. It's a good thing.

For the last few weeks (since I finished the last items from my September update) I've been spending all my work time with my new dye. The old dye is gone. Well, strictly speaking there's still *lots* but not enough to mix each color for any one colorway anymore. There's been work on new colorways and getting the formulas in the new dye for old colorways. This is not exactly fun, but it's not a bad time. It makes me crazy to think how many more I need to do. I just want to dye yarn. It's my destiny!

My sweet Chi continues to gain health and confidence. He gets smooched between each colorway or skein dyed. I love him so much! It's been too long since I've had a pet. He has a thing about white boards. So do I, but I don't drag them around and try to eat the corners off or curl up to sleep with them. I just use them for notes. Chi thinks this is lame and a total waste of a white board. We are learning to share. (I also don't make a tent for my litterbox/toilet with whiteboards, but that one I might try some time) He also likes dye (me too, me too!) but he only likes the magenta-ish colors. He likes to pour them on the floor and run thru them and distribute foot prints everywhere. What a charmer! (Dye is safe! He would have to breath it to get hurt and he shows no signs of that!) He is so hard to photograph. He is either scampering about or asleep in dim lighting conditions. He is chilling here with "the boy." Toby gets him more relaxed and more excited than I do. I love that he has a different vibe/relationship with each of us.

Pictured here is my lovely assistant Hazel. She washes bottles for me. This is a huge job when I spend all day sampling one color after another making small changes each time. I'm looking forward to football season ending (don't tell my husband) so my son can come back to work. He ties knots on all the free samples I send out and puts all the yarn/roving info stickers on bands and tags, but not during football. My husband does the books and taxes. Thank all the powers that be! I think my family is more proud and happy about our small business than I am. They are so sweet! I do not lack for support, ever!

I really need a new knitting project. I'm at difficult points in all my current projects. And I mostly want to knit to relax, so this is icky. So I want something that I am less likely to mess up and that has little shaping or other tricky bits. I also can't wait to use the bag that Keri of 3amEnchantments sent me! I think I'll go with a ginourmous scarf that can just wrap and pile all around my neck and shoulders. I'm getting cold here!

I'll close with a yarn photo:

2008-07-09T18:01:00.000-04:00

I love yarn!

Catch Up

2007-08-23T16:51:00.000-04:00

OK. Two small businesses, 3 weeks of house guests and my computer's untimely death was too much. We did manage to finish the wet side of my studio (yay!!!) and go on a mellow and cheep vacation. The kids are back in school and I'm back at work. Way back at work. One full time job, one half time job, motherhood, and being married to my dream man takes up a lot of my time. And I've been asked to be the Creative Director for the local theater program that both my kids are involved in.

Here's the big yarn news: I love Ravelry. Almost too much. If you're not on the list run, don't walk to sign up for an invite. They are still testing and developing but it rocks out already. Enough talk. on to the candy...You can get it here starting tomorrow. I'll be sending 20% of the price of each skein sold to Jess and Casey to help with the ginormous price of this awesome free website!

I now have a laptop, a cell phone and an iPod. Wireless internet has worked for one day in the studio. All very well and good, but when did I go from the kid who could program the VCR without thought to the adult who can't even figure out how to move a frickin cursor across a screen? Case in point: I was having trouble with my iPod's shuffle feature. I wanted it to shuffle only the songs and not the chapters of my audiobooks. One of my cousins who came for a visit (and lives in an iPod-free home) fixed in about four jabs of a thumb after my husband and I had been stumped for days (and we were really trying!) Sheesh.

Exciting, New (and really dirty)

2007-07-12T09:26:00.001-04:00

I can finally start telling people. Yay, I suck at keeping my own secrets!

My husband has wanted to own or co-own a game/hobby shop since high school or earlier. We have often discussed this for an option in our 50s after an early, well funded retirement (yah, good luck us). But an opportunity to join with another friend (with the same dream) without all the pesky waiting. Great timing, No. Once in a lifetime chance, Yes. The shop is established but has been left to stagnate for the last few years. The owner, a wonderful friend, became a father after years of trying and just wants to be with his sweet little girl. This is lovely for them and he has been wonderfully helpful and supportive. But damn! That place is a pit! The whole place is like the floor and wall behind an old fridge when it finally breaks and you have to get a new one. It's a shock every time I look closely. And nothing is organized. At all. Eeks!

Now yarnporn for you: Sorry I put all that dirty store/dream opportunity stuff first. It's been bursting to get out! This is what I'm putting in the shop today. More than originally planned. I have an emergency room bill to cover now. We used to have better insurance, but it was cut so that people could keep their jobs, so that's OK. Last time our insurance was cut it was due to a budget issue from the Reps giving themselves a raise. grumble, grumble, grrr... Back to the yarn, the ones in the center on top are the new silk/merino single. Yummy. The right side is mostly my new colorway: Talon.

Yarn and Kitchen Demo

2007-07-07T16:24:00.001-04:00

I can no longer be accused of not dyeing blue. See?

Top to Bottom: Lizardman, Angst, Giles, Neapolitan.
I love dyeing yarn. A lot. I played with some new colorway ideas last night. That was fun too. Currently I monopolize the entire kitchen when I dye. That's all gonna change. A while back I took over the small rental apartment on the back of my family home. The main loft area got a small makeover and was transformed into a lovely studio where I currently do all the dry parts of running a small dye house. There's a lot more than you'd think... skein from cones, reskein dyed yarn, print yarn bands, attach the yarn bands, all the computer stuff like listing on etsy and yada yada yada.

Now it's time to redo the apartment kitchen into a proper wet side. So naturally we went to IKEA. The ceilings are only 70 inches tall (the apartment is the old servent's quarters in my 150 year old house, they must have had some short staffers!). We had a time of it getting all the shelving I needed that will fit the size dye bottles I use and all that for the money I could spend. But my husband is a super-wiz at that kind of thing and so he's sweating his ... butt off putting my goodies together. He took out all the old kitchen bits: fridge, stove and 3 or so feet of cabinet/sink. Yah, it's dinky. And now it looks like this:

Scary.

We need a new subfloor in one area, there is mystery pluming and it's really, really ugly. Other than that it totally frickin ROCKS! I will get a huge boost to my efficiency and we'll be able to eat at the kitchen table again. Woo Hoo! I think my family is particulary looking forward to being able to use at least one of the three sinks in our kitchen without having to move yarn, mostly empty bottles of dye or whatever out of them first. And yes I do use all three sinks. We only have three because one of the more recent owners of our home was a soap maker. I'm following in the footsteps of a cool indie-artist/work-at-home mom. It's all kinds of good around here.

Creativity v. Productivity

2007-06-28T11:08:00.000-04:00

Creativity:
I've got a few new colorways in the works and notes for several more. Yay! I needed that. And I have 4 new yarns picked from a field of about 15. Well, maybe 5. And 6 doesn't sound unreasonable, right? Hmmm... Sarah is helping me organize sample knitting for my etsy photos and for garments people might want to knit for fall and winter (and by organizing I mean she's doing it and I nod and smile and send yarn) . How awesome is that? I love you Sarah! I have too many ideas. This only seems like a problem when I try to follow thru with all at once.

Productivity:
That's a shot of my last delivery to Threadbear. I'm almost done with the order for tomorrow. It has some of the new colors. Yum. Last time I was there I asked for input and got BLUE and Neapolitan. You can check Rob's blog tomorrow night to see it.

Goals and Stuff:
I had a sinus infection for 7 weeks. It was a boot to the head as far as productivity goes, but creativity was totally shot. Now I am well, if still low on energy, and I want it all. I'd like a couple of days just to work on browns. Browns (the way I do them) include yellow, red, blue and most of the time some black too. That's a lot of trial and error. I can picture an hundred plastic dixie cups in a grid with charts to keep track of proportions and such. Damn it's fun being a geek! This summer is going to be hard on my little business. My daughter, while sweet and enthusiastic, turns my 3 hour per batch timing into about 4.5 hours per batch and I have fewer days that I can even try for a batch. I got advice on this topic from a professional which was work for an hour or two before the kids wake up and a couple more after they go to bed. Hunh? First of all, I sleep a lot. Like almost every day. And second, I like time with my husband. I mean *REALLY* like being with him. So that schedule won't work. AT ALL. Oh, and there are three renovation projects in the works. One is just massive (more on that later) one is minor and one moderate. I'm really not sure when all that is going to get done. All three are non-optional at this point. Summer Break... right.

New Product Ideas- HELP!

2007-06-20T18:45:00.000-04:00

I love handknit socks. A lot. But I don't want to just dye sock yarn. I have invented a technique that allows me the freedom to dye sweater yarn so that the stripes on the sleeves are about the same width as the stripes on the body. (Is it freedom or a shocking degree of anal? I'll let you decide, but keep it to yourself) This system, technique, whatever isn't wasted on socks. But there is so much more I can do.
Take for instance this mind-blowing yarn I like to call Catnip (for the reaction I get from everyone who gets to touch it) Similar to Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb, this 50% Merino 50% Silk yarn would make really odd socks but is begging to be a scarf or sweater or (as one friend suggested) underwear. Can you picture a Clapotis that gradually changes color from orange to pink to purple? (or whatever color progression strikes your fancy!) Yummy!

Also in the works are a Brushed Kid Mohair yarn. I tried lots before I decided on the one I will be carrying in my etsy shop. BTW I will only have it in my etsy shop (the Catnip too) so I can keep the price at a point where I could afford it! There's also a couple yarns I'd like to knit sweaters out of.

I passionately love having my own business. But I can't figure it out all by myself. I didn't start as a knitter. I'm not a good knitter now. Gauage... not even close. Patterns... not so much. Loving yarn... hell yah! So, if anyone has any ideas of the kind of pattern my yarn could work well with, I'd love the input.

It's the last day of school

2007-06-14T09:29:00.000-04:00

I have the fear. I love my kids and want to be with them a lot, but all day every day is more than a lot. I want to keep dyeing too. Dyeing took a huge dive last summer. That just can't happen this year. Done with the summer anxiety rant now.

Good stuff now!
jen of the piddleloop sewing team and organizer of the awesome sock kit I participated in sent me this huge pile of goodies! There were several bags and pouches and each one was holding onto a fun surprise! There were things from my etsy favorites list and stuff with hearts and stitch markers in my favorite colors and my initials. I so totally love the pins from the Moustache Factory. There are two pins that make a giraffe, one pin is the head and some neck and the other is the rest of the neck and the body. How totally fun is that? I also love the toast with a moustashe!

My husband and I have both had a sinus infection for more than five weeks. This sucks mightily and is the cause of many a belated email response and the like, but it has allowed me to spend some quality time in bed with pointy sticks and yarn. Obviously I have been out of it because I haven't been able to do anything like follow a pattern, so I've been coming up with stuff like this:

and this:

The up side of this is that I can say for sure that my Duchess yarn holds up pretty well to lots and lots of frogging!

Handcrafted is the new Luxury

2007-05-22T14:15:00.001-04:00

I just love that. I love things that are the new other things. I'm usually so out of the loop I'm surprised by the new and the old. I heard that black was the new black. I hurt myself laughing. If anyone knows any fun "x is the new y" and wants to add them in comments I'd really appreciate the boost today!

I'm a good dyer. I dye great huge piles of yarn (this photo was taken in the almost dark, the yarn is really tasty and delicious and saturated with fun color!) and then I have to do the rest of the small business stuff. Ug. At least I'm moving forward with my little baby steps. I need a sweet little business fairy that will work for honey and kisses.

I'm stalling. I should be getting listings ready. The last few times I listed I was using the most appalling old mouse and keyboard. I've upgraded from my 11 year old's cast offs to my husband's. Hooray.

One more thing... the collaboration kits all sold already! So much fun! If you missed them you can still buy pouches and notions bags that are lovely and affordable and of excellent quality here or here.

And check out this awesome shop. I met this awesome book binder at my favorite local art fest. Maybe I can talk her into doing a collaboration....

Collaboration Kits

2007-05-21T09:05:00.002-04:00

Sock Kits are going out into the wide world today! I have been working on my small home business every available moment for over a year. This has been one of the most fun and exciting things I've done! Jen and Wendy of piddleloop started with three fun and colorful Amy Butler prints. When they had cut out four pouches worth from each they sent me the fabric scraps so I could dye some coordinating yarn. How awesome is that?

Of course, I had no idea what to do to make sock yarn coordinate with a beautiful and functional knitting pouch, but that didn't stop me! I don't need a clue to jump in the deep end! I started with matching the colors. A couple didn't get matched exactly because they were so dark they tended to bleed and muddy the rest, but for the most part I think I'm spot on.

Meanwhile Jen was cooking up more goodies to include in the kits. Anyone who has ordered from piddleloop before knows that this is one of Jen's specialties! I heard about stitch markers then a pattern being developed and shopping trips into the city.

So it comes down to this: why didn't I make one for me? (and jen! and Wendy!) Really, what was I thinking...

The Plague

2007-05-14T10:23:00.000-04:00

I've been avoiding my computer like the plague. If I owe you an email or package or anything I'm sorry and I'm back to work this week. We've had a few crazy things all happen at once. I got the bill for the roof. 12 guys each working 11 hours more than the high end of the estimate makes for a deeply shocking dollar figure. My whole family has been taking it in turns to be sick. Right now my husband is the only one staying home, but he has strep and requires lots of help. Not more than one person in my house has slept all the way thru the night in over a week now.

I'm really looking forward to contacting my online friends and catching up on the blogs I read and spending some time doing something I'm good at instead of running about in a panic trying to fix stuff and put out fires. I've got some awesome stuff to launch as soon as I get myself organized!

Much hullaballoo

2007-04-29T10:30:00.000-04:00

This past week included having our home roofed, our son's musical, our daughter's class circus, my Dad's birthday, shipping yarn to The Urban Knit and a delivery to Threadbear. I've also got a couple collaboration projects in the works that I will be able to share sooner for one and later for the other. There are some hints about the sooner one in the Arpil 23^rd post on piddleloop’s blog.

Having the entire top of my home ripped, pried and smashed off was a very emotional experience for me. It had to be redecked and everything. Luckily my husband is friends with the owner of the best roofing company in the area so we got a great deal! For two days I couldn’t settle to anything useful. I fretted and paced and was totally rattled. The crazy crashes and other scary sound effects and events that shook my poor house were really disturbing. My house, my home, is very important to me. When my parents bought it years ago the old owner sold it to us for super cheep because my aura matched the house’s aura. I hadn’t spent much thought on such things but it turns out to be true. My home and I have a connection. So now she has a lovely new roof with straight lines and no holes! Yay! The shadows of the men running around on the roof caught my eye constantly. When they were on top of the tower I couldn't even hold the camera still for nerves.

My Dad is one of the best and more caring gift givers ever. I think that makes it worse that he’s *impossible* to shop for. We got him some boring stuff but I made him a special cake. Well really it was close to 200 special cakes. And we had a nice black and white theme going with wrapping and the minimal decorations we did. Aren’t they cute? They are only a smidge larger than a quarter.

Is there a mental disorder that makes you feel like drips hit your skin when there are no drips?

Some of my favorite things...

2007-04-17T10:11:00.001-04:00

Inspired by NotScarlett's post yesterday.

I love...

The way my husband looks at me. I know every time he looks at me that I am a treasure.

the first bite from a bowl of ice cream

my Dad's out-there sense of humor. He sometimes laughs so hard over the crazy, messed-up things he thinks of (but would never actually do) that he has to sit down if standing or pull over if driving. It can be quite a shock to the uninitiated but is a joy to those of us who know that he's just enjoying something!

My business. Mine, mine, mine... bwahahaha... I love my space and getting to be creative and technical and do it my own way. I love the wet dog smell of wool steaming, the whiff of vinegar that I get when my hands move close to my face, I love how my cuticles always look moldy with dye that I can scrub off my skin but sticks around my nails.

I love my home. I live in a house that is huge and old and is a fixer-upper, but has a personality and a soul. I love that it has a tower. I love that the tower is so scary with chunks of ceiling falling down, rattly windows (with drippy 150 year old glass) and an uneven and squeaky floor that no one but me is comfortable there so they will leave me alone when I'm up there.

I love tee shirts that fit just right, that cover my lower back even when I sit down and show off my tattoo and accentuate my good bits and cover my jiggly bits.

I love that my son is starting to have the same taste in books that my husband and I share.

I love when my little girl is tired enough to snuggle and be quiet (incredibly rare!) but not tired enough to whine and fuss.

I love the smells of coffee brewing, bread baking and oranges being peeled.

I love the amazing old trees that line The Historic Tree Street District where my house and that of my parents are in our small town. When we walk from our house to theirs I love to move to the spots where you can see part of each trunk down 2 or 3 blocks. I love when it's foggy or snow covered or blazing with fall color or sprouting leaves in spring. I love that from my tower I can see the tops of trees and some roofs and not much else and I can believe that it is peaceful and serene.

I love exclamation points!

I love doing sound effect and when other people do. My husband is particularly good at martial arts sound effects.

I love lime green and browns and salmon and marigold and purples and pink.

I love FIEEN: Family Imagination Expansion Experience Night. Knitting, model painting, legos, play-doh, photo albums.

Oh... Shiny!

2007-04-15T18:47:00.000-04:00

Shiny
Slang. "Good", "great", "neat", "wonderful", etc.
also superwash merino/tencel yarn from twisted.

I actually made up the last bit. This is my new yarn. I like it a lot and I hope you will too. It feels so good, looks cheery but is very tough.

I love this job! I've moved all the dry parts of my process into my new studio. I still have to do the dying in my kitchen. Luckily I have a huge kitchen and there is room for a dye shop and a family kitchen in one spot. We do overlap on the kitchen table. I have to totally renovate the space in my new studio that will be the wet area. That will come. I'm celebrating my move with a Yellow-Orange-Brown Sale. Anything with any of those colors will be on sale. This would not have been my choice but I am embracing the studio. Love the studio. Thrive in the studio. This, like almost every wonderful thing, is due to my beautiful husband. We didn't plan for me to take over this space for another couple years. Thank you sweet Love.

Yarn Run

2007-04-13T17:05:00.000-04:00

This is on its way to Threadbear. I actually bought a bigger basket for my fortnightly yarn runs.

I love that you can see a peek of my two different socks. Each was knit from a mini skein as a sample. I didn't want them to just sit around in a sample box or what have you.

Oh, that's my kitchen floor when it's clean. How scary is that? I keep reminding myself my home is a fixer-uper. Some day...

Wholesale Order

2007-04-10T10:43:00.000-04:00

I'm sending all this to yarn4socks.com. It should be up on their site soon. I'm really going to miss it. I have been adding to it colorway by colorway and the display of yarny goodness makes me happy. Maybe I should just make a bunch to hang on my wall maybe with some vintage frames with no glass. Yah, in my spare time or something.

Front Page News

2007-04-06T16:34:00.000-04:00

Who knew I was front-page-worthy? I almost missed it. I was on my way home from an out of town trip when my Dad told me about getting the paper from his front porch and seeing me on the front page. Here I have tried to make a face as horrible as the one in the picture and couldn't get close. Soooo embarrassing! Article. Read if you dare... it's called "Artist makes yarn to dye for" and is mostly accurate.

2007 Goals

2007-03-29T13:34:00.000-04:00

check.

I was totally freaked out last night when I was running numbers and found that I have already surpassed my goals for 2007. The whole fickin' year! Like, all, ALL of 2007 and it's still first quarter. Yay!!! I used to know, on at least a weekly basis, exactly how much I had sold by quantity, gross and net profit. (Yup, I'm a total math-geek and proud of it!) But I've been much too busy producing and selling and getting yarn to its intended recipients to (compulsively) calculate stuff on a regular basis. My husband is going to get a bit of a shock when he does taxes for my business next year! Oops.

The photo is of the sky a couple mornings ago right before a freaky storm. The bruised peach color actually woke me up. By the time I got my camera and went outside it had deepened into this interesting color. Even my daughter slowed down to take it in. The sky went thru colors I'd never seen...

Update Tomorrow!

2007-03-19T14:14:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking that this is going to be a small update. With all the goods spread out on my desk (in alphabetical order, of course) it looks not so small. Yay! Oh, and this doesn't even show all the special order stuff.

I love listing. I hate shipping. I suck at it and spent a couple weeks working out a new system which sucked even more. So my husband will be taking over till I can find someone else who can be competent and will work for yarn. My husband, by the way, not working for yarn. He's really hard to fire, so I hope he does a good job. He can't be any worse than I am.

Thanks to everyone who ordered from my last update and had to wait for their yarn and roving. I got so many support emails and long distance hugs. Knitters/Spinners just rock!

I love having enough time to blog and do laundry and take a breath every once in a while. I even got to see friends a couple times lately! All this is due to having an assistant. I've always had a hard time with the concept that I can't do it all. (Not as hard a time as I have saying NO to anyone looking for help or volunteers or whatever) It is so lovely to have help. I did feel a bit bad over sticking her at the skeiner for 7.5 hours to reskein my last wholesale order. I did enjoy not being stuck at the skeiner for 7.5 hours my own self tho!

Soooo Good.

2007-03-15T17:29:00.000-04:00

Life is moving a bit to quickly for my taste lately. So much of what's going on is incredibly awesome. My daughter was just the hit in her youth theater production of Peter Pan. My son's Destination Imagination team just won second place in their division and are going on to compete at the state level. I've volunteered way more than I planned to for both, but my kids deserve it. I've been looking for something this cool to do with my son for years. I'm glad we do it together. Too bad it is at the same time as the drama season! I've planned to put her in that as soon as she was old enough. She's destined for the stage. And my sweet little business...

I'm lucky enough to have Threadbear as my LYS. Jealous? Well, they are carrying my Superwash Sock Yarn. That was a crazy chain of events! I really don't feel ready, but I'm pushing myself outside of my insular comfort zone. The first batch I delivered ( 29 skeins in 4 colorways) sold out in less than 24 hours.

At our (by our I mean my husband's) annual Superbowl party one of our friends seemed interested in a little part time fiber work. She started this week. She's reskeining and washing and mixing. I hope she doesn't run for the hills.

I have gotten several wholesale inquires a week. I now have a waiting list to get on the waiting list. Crazy! All the long, really, really long days are messing with me. I didn't think I'd reach this degree of success for a few years, if ever. I superstitiously believe that if I don't do it now I'll miss my window. I've poured my soul into my colorways and yarn designs. I believe in myself. Now if only I didn't have to sleep I think I might be able to do what I schedule myself for each day...

Oh yah, it warmed up a couple times and some of the bats that choose to hibernate at our house came out to see what was up.

PORTAL

2007-01-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

My biggest shop update ever is today. I was down to just 5 items. And that just won't do. I'm also unveiling my newest colorway: Portal. It's based on a poster above my husband's painting desk. The colors are pulled from a "Webway Portal" which is used to create wormholes used to travel thru space (but not time, I checked). I love how edgy and dynamic it is.

Update: my yarn and roving is going pretty fast! Feel free to add yourself to the mailing list if you want a heads up for the next update.

From the land of ice and snow

2007-01-22T10:48:00.000-05:00

It is so lovely here. Ice coats everything. Even the bits that melt just get added on to the icicles to form artistically interesting new icicles. And the snow is that sparkily snow that winks at you in the sun. Not much wind either so my drafty old home is not a windy house of ice people. I think after 10 or so years I might have gotten the hang of our wood stove. Yah, I'm that slow.

The day after MLK day was a snow day. This close after the winter break and when I have so many responsibilities... so not necessary to have a four day weekend. Three was totally enough!

Visually Challenged No More!

2007-01-12T17:40:00.000-05:00

My girl hasn't had much in the way of challenges in her life (other than patience, he he). She has been charming people into doing her will from day one and her lawyering skills are good enough to convince people that they really want the exact thing she wants and forget about what they wanted in the first place. But she's so darn cute I can't even begrudge her. And heck, she'll be a millionaire by age 25. So that'll be nice for me in my old age. Not that I'll be old when she's 25 or anything. Although the gray hairs are coming fast and furious these days!

Could you say no to that face?

Introducing... NETHERFIELD

2007-01-08T14:51:00.000-05:00

I'm not often described as a subtle person. This subtle colorway came from a love of Jane Austin books. "Netherfield Hall is let at last..." I love every version of Pride and Prejudice I've ever seen. But the book is still best. I'm holding in a rant about the last few minutes of the newest movie, but what were they thinking!?!

It is now avaliable in my etsy shop in sock weight, DK and superwash roving. The whole time it was drying that roving kept catching (and holding) my eye. I hope it goes to someone who will send me pictures of the yarn and maybe a finished project.

A Secret

2007-01-07T18:43:00.000-05:00

Don't tell anyone, but I have gobs and gobs of yarn. And roving. Some of this is for a wholesale order but much of it will be listed in my etsy shop on Monday. I am starting an email update list. Too many people want to know when certain items will be listed and I can't keep it straight in my overwhelmed, overworked brain. So if you want on it email me your email address or put it in a comment here or convo me from etsy with it.

School starts back up tomorrow! HOOOOORAY!

There's been some fun talk about Degrassi around lately. I do love those crazy Canadians and their warm and fuzzy angst. I've been listening to lots of Evans Blue. That band is full of melodramatic angst. Love 'em!

Yarn Piles and a Mystery

2006-12-20T12:25:00.000-05:00

This is my desk. I'm super backed up. The current road block is my photography. I don't want to list with sub-par photos but I think I'll have to at this point. The photo is just about half of the stuff waiting.

I'm working on an email list so I can tell my knitters when the shop is repopulated. If you want to be on it or have a list system that you love will you message me?

And I'm covered with hives. Mystery Allergy. So far the possible triggers for my allergic reaction seem to be:
my own skin
air
food
the medicine I'm taking to control the hives

The only thing I think it isn't is stress. I'm so much less stressed than usual. Mostly when I get sick I think it's my body telling me I need to rest. Right now I'm happy and enjoying the party season (while trying not to let any of my skin touch any other bits of my skin). At least I'm not allergic to my Dad's fudge. Yummy!

Have you seen the $100 Business?

2006-12-14T17:03:00.000-05:00

I have spent half my day sneaking to my computer to read "just one more entry..." (Hi Mom, I blame you) of this fascinating blog. It's the story of a plucky and intrepid business student in ...oh where are all the Mormons again? She started with $100 and lots of business principals (little actual retail experience and that sort of thing) with a goal of proving that money was not important to starting a viable biz (and she wanted to learn some stuff too). And she's given herself only 30 days to do it in. I’m inspired and chock full of peppy business ideas to move forward with. This is very good timing. December has turned my small business into a itty-bitty business. In my defense there has been a tree falling on our house thing involving insurance and crap like that, no working shower and shower guts all over the downstairs and two birthdays for a total of 6 cakes, 5 parties and a piles of gifts here and there. I also heard a rumor of some large holiday coming soon, but I’m in denial about that one! Have I flogged this list to death yet? I'm just trying to make myself feel better. I have been busy! Really, I have.

FOs from one of my favorite customers.

Right: Crochet scarf in Burn and Chroma Pea

Below: Moebius scarf in Sherwood

Thanks Sharon! You are a knitting queen!

Birthday Parties and Baking

2006-12-11T14:46:00.000-05:00

These cuties are waiting to be swatched so I can add the yarn to my etsy shop. Don’t you just want to squish em’? It’s hard to hold on to yarn so I have swatches for my esty listings. My yarn is so unique that I want people to know what they are getting before they buy.
OK, that’s the gratuitous yarn content.

Both of my kids have had birthdays in the last few days. It’s been Parties
and Presents and Processed Sugar,
Oh My!

Next up is Christmas. We are baking this week for our friends and family who live far away. On the menu: Tea Ring cake mini loaves, Peanut Butter Fudge, Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Kitchen Sink Cookies and Pecan Balls. I’m putting on weight just thinking about it. I’ve made six cakes or what-have-you in the last four days. I ran out of bowls and spatulas and pans and non-stick spray. I can’t even imagine what my kitchen is going to look like after the kids and I get going!

Baby, it's cold outside

2006-12-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

My usual spot to take yarny photos is currently covered in snow and tree debris from a recent ice storm. And it's cold out! So plan B is now in effect. Now that I have a plan B that is. I have a lot of photographing to catch up on. I have 6 skeins for the shop with 6 more to reskein then photograph. Hopefully I'll be listing today or tomorrow.

The baby loves me. She has the sweetest disposition and just look at that strawberry blond hair! She was a bit shy of me for most of my visit with her mom but finally warmed up to me and gave me the sweetest hug and patted my back. I think that was the nicest thing that happened to me all day. I owe her a hat. Hopefully it will be done before it gets hot here.

I am deeply honored by the love my husband showers on me every day. He steps up every time. I know that I'm lucky. I just don't know how or why I got this lucky. He makes my small business possible (also fun and exciting). He's my muse. I am solidly in love with him.

One Word Meme

2006-12-04T19:40:00.000-05:00

1. Yourself: Becoming
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): Stellar
3. Your hair: Process
4. Your mother: Knits!
5. Your Father: Support
6. Your Favorite Item: Home
7. Your dream last night: School
8. Your Favorite drink: COFFEE
9. Your Dream Car: Chauffeured
10. The room you are in: Family
11. Your Ex: Feral
12. Your fear: Alone
13. What you want to be in 10 years?: Content
14. Who you hung out with last night? Family
15. What You're Not?: Dumb
16. Muffins: Blueberry
17. One of Your Wish List Items:
18. Time: Eek!
19. The Last Thing You Did: Washed
20. What You Are Wearing: Partridge
21. Your Favorite Weather: Crisp
22. Your Favorite Book: Vorkosigan
23. The Last Thing You Ate: Cheese
24. Your Life: Full
25. Your Mood: Improving
26. Your best friend: There
27. What are you thinking about right now?: Husband
28. Your car: Broken
29. What are you doing at the moment?: Typing
30. Your summer: Crazy
31. Your relationship status: Dreamy
32. What is on your TV?: PS2
33. What is the weather like?: Snow
34. When is the last time you laughed?: Recently

That was tricky.

From Jillian at Knittingfrau.

Yarn for The Urban Knit

2006-11-29T15:16:00.000-05:00

20 skeins
5 colorways- 4 with brown and 3 with turquoise
3 skein designs-organic stripes, variable stripes and mutating variegate
2 yarns-Duchess and superwash sock

I love that I got to do all the fun stuff for this yarn: skeining, dyeing and photographing and someone else is going to do all the icky stuff like posting, selling (hopefully) and shipping! I put extra effort into making each skein a perfect display of my art and science. This is an excellent opportunity to advance my education in the field of wholesale yarn selling. I feel that is where I want to be. We'll see.

The first step is asking for HELP!

2006-11-13T20:21:00.000-05:00

I love being my own boss. I’ve slowly come to the realization that I can not do it all. So I’m going to be working on agreements for sample knitters and designers. I love producing the most awesomely unique yarn I can imagine. But it limits my knitting time and I’m a dismal designer. So here’s what I’m looking for:

Sample Knitters: Are you a competent knitter who finishes projects quickly? Want free yarn? Some of the yarn in my shop needs to be seen in its full knitted glory. If you like one of my yarns and have an idea how to use it contact me. If I currently need a sample knit in that yarn then buy the yarn and knit. When you’re done (within a month please!) send it to me, I’ll study it and photograph it and send it back (also within a month) with a skein of equal value. You get to pick your bonus yarn or you may choose store credit (to be used within 4 months).

Designers: Do you have a great idea for a design that will highlight the unique self-patterning qualities of my yarn? Contact me.

Photo is of one of the garments I have designed. Or rather, knitted. Pattern... nope. Notes... not so much. Dismal designer... check.

Happy Anniversary

2006-11-13T08:14:00.000-05:00

We don’t do much for our anniversary. At least, not much different from every other day. Every day we say the good stuff. We make eye contact and often tear up with the strength of our emotion. Our daily emails are peppered with love and devotion. With every decision we think about each other. It’s so good. I can’t believe it’s only been 6 years. The best damn 6 years of my life!

I love you all.
You are the most important person in my life.
Every single thing about you is perfect for me.
You do it for me.
I believe in us all the way.
You are the best thing ever.
I treasure you.
You have my heart
On and on and on…

Last year we got our wedding band pattern tattooed around our arms. How romantic is that? We got them on opposite arms so they would show off beautifully as we hold hands. We are so in love. I love that we still gross people out with our PDA!

Trip Knitting

2006-10-30T14:43:00.000-05:00

I love a good road trip. We got suckered into going to a wedding that's about 20 hours drive away and my sweet man just can't take off too much time from work so we're driving down, we'll be there for an evening and a day then the two day trip back. I'm slightly worried that the Jeep won't make it. Also we don't know anyone except my husband's parents. So I'm looking at the trip as 40 hours of sitting still family time.
My current knitting project is winding down. Here's the first few inches of ruffles. Can you see how cramped the stitches are on my super long needle? It's going to take some time but nothing like 40 hours. So now I have to plan what to knit on the trip....

Welcome to SHERWOOD Merry People

2006-10-23T15:40:00.000-04:00

New colorway: Sherwood. Picture a deep, thick forest hiding ever so many Merry Men (and Women) dressed in bright, festive garb. So more like the old Errol Flynn movie with song, dance and feasting and not so much like anything resembling reality. I will start by listing only sock yarn, but there's light worsted weight superwash merino on the way. I'm also dyeing lots of Secret today. It's a springish colorway, but I want more pink in my etsy shop.

My Weight in YARN or life lessons

2006-10-20T11:54:00.000-04:00

Oh
my
goodness.
This huge pile 'o yarn was sitting in my garage for a week while I bit my nails and pulled out hair and stared at the ceiling from 3 am to 5 am. I love my Metro-sexual UPS man (think tanned, perfect hair, gleaming white teeth and impeccable grooming- sorry, it’s hard not to digress here). But it was his day off. So the other UPS guy cleverly hides over 100 pounds of yarn in my garage with a bunch of other almost identical boxes on their (long delayed) way to Goodwill. This pile is behind the broken down car and several generations of bikes and power tools that I don't even know the purpose of. Sheesh. You know that saying about don’t put your eggs all in one basket. Well these cleverly hidden boxes represent all my business eggs and about 400 eggs from the family pot. Do I even need to say it? LESSON LEARNED!!!
As usual I have my glorious husband to thank for all this. He made the calls and did the research, all while working on a troublesome and important project at his own (paying) job! Oh, he’s going to be feeling the love from this one! I am so fiercely in love with that man!!! (Hon,If you are reading this I am way more into you than the UPS man and I’m glad you don’t look like him cause I want you all to myself!)
I have much good news that has been clouded by waiting for the egg basket delivery of my weight in yarn. I have attached myself to a cool woman who is doing some sample knitting and development for me. She seems to be gifted in many of the traits I lack as a yarn business person. So big Hurray there. Etsy continues to be a beautiful place for me. I’ve done some awesome trades. These earrings from camelliageorge for my mom (hit of the party) for this yarn. She gave me a free reign so I developed a brand spanking new skein design that had been bouncing about in my brain.

New knitting

2006-10-18T18:12:00.000-04:00

Check out my lace moebius! If you haven't seen Cat Bordhi's Magical Knitting here it is. I haven't done any real projects until now, but I have done a few practice moebii to get familiar with her technique. Now I'm winging it. The concept is that it will have black in the middle and shade to bone white for all the outer ruffley edge.
The problem is that my winter stuff is brown and it's grey. My summer stuff is grey and I got brown sandals. Why do I even wear mostly grey and brown? I think the plan has been (for like 10 years) that I will wear neutral for a background and use my colorful, fun stuff to liven things up. Hmmm. I need to get knitting. I'm browned out.

Hello Boo-ty Swappers!

2006-10-16T09:20:00.000-04:00

I noticed that lots of you are doing secret pal swaps and the like with surveys. I don't have any survey here but I will tell you a bit about myself. I'm new to blogging and this is my first swap. I hope to make some fun friends in this awesome online knitting community. I learned to knit a couple years ago after taking a spinning class. I wanted to use some of the funness I was making. I have been around knitting and fiber art my whole life so I took to it fairly well. I've taken some classes with Debbie New and Lucy Neatby. Both are awesome teachers. I learned a lot of cool interesting things and know some advanced techniques but am still lacking on lots of basics so my stuff is kinda odd. I knit with natural fibers on whatever needles come my way.
Mostly I dye stuff. I have a small shop on etsy where I sell mostly sock yarn and roving. I am married to my perfect mate and have a son (10) and daughter (4). My favorite food is potato whatever, favorite drink coffee and favorite smell is baking bread. Halloween is and always has been my favorite holiday/season. I love the crisp, fragrant air and crispy, colorful leaves. I love to dress up and pretend and getting candy for doing so is sweet!

No Motor

2006-10-12T18:34:00.000-04:00

I have no motor. It is hard to be a skein artist when you can't skein anything. It's had me a bit down. And tired. Like I lost my motor too. But enough of the wanh, wanh, wanh. New motor is on its way and I've had a few mellow days (almost unheard of for me). I'm looking forward to a few big production days soon.
I'm having super fun creating new colorways. I posted a new red colorway that's still a work in progress. I can't quite figure out what it needs. I've got one in the works called Sherwood: dark greens with pops of brighter colors. The second one is for my Boo-ty swap and is seco-info (hint: her favorite color is blue)!
I just hit my next big goal on my etsy shop. I think I'm gaining a balance between having a life and having a business. A major step forward will be the end of football.
This is my little girl bossing the big boys around. The other moms watching practice think it's cute and funny. She's really amazing and operates on maximum all day long. Parenting a child on overdrive is never dull! Tomorrow my husband is taking the day off to spend with me. After months of practice and games, it's my turn for a whole day. We are going to a movie in the theatre (if there's anything out, I don't even know) and my dad is treating us to lunch at one of our favorite resturants. I'm going to eat upscale chocolate covered raisins and hang with my sweetie. I am powerfully in love with that man!

I really do knit

2006-10-01T09:37:00.000-04:00

I knit. I really do. Just not much and not well. I knit interesting stuff tho. My husband wanted a stocking cap that reaches all the way to his waist. Crazy, eh? But here it is. It actually hits the ground when our daugher wears it. The colors are his choice, mostly our school colors with a manly background. The patterning is my design. I wanted the stripes to vary in length but stay within a certain size throughout the lenght of the hat. It was fun to do for a long pointy object. I don't get to use nearly that amount of math on a batch of sock yarn. Can you tell from the photo that I only worked in one end so far?

LUNAR has landed!

2006-09-29T19:43:00.000-04:00

My husband is also an accomplished artist. He's an award-wining model painter. We are so in tune with one another. Our newest collaboration has been with color. He has been giving me more input in designing colorways and I've been working with him on color schemes for his models. Lunar, however, is all his idea. I'm a lucky wife. I am all kinds of mushy in love with that man!

2006-09-29T12:29:00.000-04:00

I love Halloween. I love the costumes and the season and pumpkins and candy and walking around my neighborhood at night with a bunch of happy kids running about. We have the most awesomly perfect Halloween neighborhood. Old houses with conviently small yards, old trees to look spooky and produce drifts of dry leaves to swish thru.
I joined my first swap. It's a Halloween themed swap. Isn't that perfect. I was reminded of the "Halloween-in-a-Box" that my Dad sent me my first year of college. Here's where, if I were really clever, I would insert a link to that vibrating ghost sound effect. I want to come up with something really good.

Regimental

2006-09-26T15:24:00.000-04:00

My newest colorway...Regiment. The name (like all my names) is a word I like that I picked off my list almost at random. I like the word because how rapturously the Regiment is greeted by the sillier Bennet women in Pride and Prejudice. On that note: I love the newest movie version but what the heck happened to the last 5 minutes? Was the script writer working from a copy of the book missing the end? Did her dog eat it? Why couldn't they destroy some other part so I could feel mostly satisfied after watching it? Arg.
On a very silly note... There is a song I hear sometimes on sirius satellite radio (uncensored) that has quite a few naughty words. I heard it on the regular radio and they had kinda blurred out the naughty words with the result of a completely mysterious song. I laughed my **blurry** off!

Rain, Rain go AWAY!!

2006-09-18T18:27:00.000-04:00

Three dye days worth of yarn is sitting on my desk. Damp yarns put out to dry only get wetter. I had to blow dry some special order yarn because I was embarassed to have taken longer than estimated-by days. Ouch! We finally got a sunny afternoon. I moved around the yard, like a cat, following the pools of sun about.

Selfless Act

2006-09-15T15:19:00.000-04:00

For two days and one thunder stormy night there was a kitten stuck in a tree outside my bedroom window. It would not come out of that tree. But if anyone went near it or when the weather got ugly it would cry pitifully or angrily or in terror. I am such a softy when it comes to kids and animals and it was depressing me terribly. The neighbor who owned the cat borrowed our ladder (the longest on the block) but it didn't reach. They drove their van over and put the ladder on the roof and still weren't close. So it spent the night crying. The next morning I checked on it and it had gone up two more branchings. Silly kitten. That afternoon I checked it again and it had gone up another. So now it's about 50 feet in the air, well above my bedroom window and above its own house. It called to me all the way down the street from the tree on the far side of the house. Another of the local moms was making all the calls she could think of and found a friend with the spikey leg brace things. Just as it started to rain again he came and looked up and up and up. I could see that he had not been remotely prepaired for this degree of cat-in-tree. But the earnest trust in Cindy's eyes and most of the neighbor kids cheering him on sent him up that tree. I couldn't watch, but my son told me when he got to the cat (20 seconds of ladder and 20 minutes of tree-spike action) and tried to put the cat in a bag. No luck. But she (he? I don't even know its name!) climed on his back and dug in. Luckily there was a leather jacket involved. There were cheers and tears when he made it down. This pic is from a little less than half way down, even with my window. Then he went home to dinner. I learned later that the neighbor hadn't been willing to pay to have it done and was expecting the cat to die of kidney failure (I think that's what tree stuck cats die of). I think Cindy and I cared more than the cat's owner. All I can say is John is a real hero. Thanks to John!

Jumpy things

2006-09-11T18:56:00.000-04:00

Do you remember those inflated jumpy things? I loved them! I wish we had room in my yard for a trampolene. No such luck. Why is jumping so fun? I don't like rides or heights, but I still like jumping on sproingy things. Hazel had a wonderful time at one of her girlfriend's 5th birthday party where she jumped the afternoon away on
This is me and my Dad. Aren't we cute? My dad has always been there for me. We are lucky to have him. This is us at my Toby's first football game of the season. Go Junior Bulldogs!
On a knitty note the shawl I'm wearing is an attempt at a circular shawl in old shale pattern. I much prefer the one from Knitting Pure and Simple. However... it has been frogged a few inches back. No biggie but frogging doesn't seem to inspire me to re-knit right away. I got some groovy suggestions on my legwarmers from Knitter's Review so maybe I'll work on that!

Leg Warmers

2006-09-08T13:56:00.000-04:00

I'm not loving these. They slouch down after just a couple steps. I mostly knit them because I really wanted to knit with this yarn. I designed it to be very organic and unpredictable with long colors like Noro yarns. I love the way they look, but they don't work as leg warmers. I basically followed the pattern in Last-Minute Knitted Gifts I really would love some awesome leg warmers that actually fit.
Any ideas?

School's in, baby!

2006-09-06T20:24:00.000-04:00

School has started and I've had my first taste of half a day's peace to work and get things done without anyone asking me questions. Lovely, I must say. I treasure my hands splattered with different colors. My cuticles look moldy. Am I sick for loving that? I mentioned to a neighbor a little cocktail and chocolate shin-dig I'm throwing to celebrate the beginning of school (no kids allowed!) and she actually did a little kick up her feet dance. How awesome is that? (Note the traditional holding-out-the-camera-to-fit-everyone-in first day of school photo.)
This is a dwell on the positive blog so I won't mention this rancid old bat who took my daughter off the bus list and then left me nasty messages with her teacher and on our answering machine when I didn't pick her up at school or how upset I was when she wasn't on the bus. I'll dwell on the kindness of a grandma who waited to find out where Hazel was and then drove me there to get her and took us home. She doesn't even know me very well. I am truely touched.
On the biz front: I hit $2000 in sales on my etsy shop yesterday. I'm taking that as a sign that this school year is going to *kick ass* for me!

I'm so Skatty

2006-09-05T11:38:00.000-04:00

Here is a sample of my newest skein design, "Skatty". I'm still working on it but I'm pretty excited about it. It is mostly organic stripes but with pops of contrasting color not blended in to the rest. I can see lots of possibilities for colorways full of funky goodness and crazy color combos. I could add a little or just a tease of color, it'll depend on the colorway. I'd love some feedback!

I took my kids to IKEA for the first time. Their lives will never be the same again. I'm not much of a shopper, but I love IKEA! I have an obsessive, unnatural love for IKEA. You just gotta love that crazy Scandinavian design philosophy! We spent most of our time in the kitchen. Our beautiful vintage stove is dead. The whole kitchen was built around it. So when we buy a new one we have to replace some cabinets and such too. I'm actually going to have an actual pantry. Sweet! As much as I'll miss my beautiful stove I'm so excited to have useful storage and a kitchen that I can actually get *clean*. Jeff has been trying to convince me to get rid of that stove for years. He didn't have any luck till an IKEA opened up an hour away.

Lips like...

2006-09-01T11:09:00.000-04:00

While listening to Sirius #21, the alternative rock station, I heard a song called "Lips like morphine" I thought to myself that I'm more of a lips like sugar kinda girl. I switched to channel #22 the classic alternative rock station, and guess what was playing... "lips like sugar". But I don't really like that song either but my husband got home right then so he got my sugar kisses and a new song came on. Lips are good. Sugar, also good. Morphine not so good.
Caffiene is really my drug of choice. It is not helping with the transition from summer mornings to school mornings. At least not so much. Some things on the path to school year readiness are going swimmingly, haircuts and new lunchboxes and the like. It's mostly the waking up part that's the big road block. OUCH we say!
This girl is so cute. She had all the women at the salon institute fooled into thinking she was sweet and well-mannered. To be fair she was being freakishly good until we left then the pent up energy and *questions* burst forth onto me. Sigh.

so yummy...

2006-08-31T12:07:00.001-04:00

Life is busy and crazy and funny and stressful. There's no time to reflect or absorb change or breathe. I need a forum to dwell on the yummy bits that don't get enough attention. So here 'tis. My husband J kicks *ass*. My problem is that he has to go to work and football and other things completely lacking me. My son T is sweet and clever and witty which all combines oddly with being a 10 year old boy. He's fantastically odd. My girl H is larger-than-life, she's outragious and funny and a right royal pain. She *looks* sweet and innocent and works that angle in public but lets her true personality shine at home. Grr... I have a lovely little business that makes me feel like a rock star. I am loved and supported by my family. My mom and dad live a couple blocks away and are an actively wonderful part of my world. So, yummmm....
Sun shining on my yarns. Even though this pile is actually waiting for me to have an hour to list on my etsy shop and represents a lot of work done and to do I still love it. Who cares if there's no room for my elbow on the desk, I have a gorgeous mound of squashy wonderfulness smiling up at me. I dig it.
I do a bit of knitting. On the needles right now is a delightful garment from Knitting Pure and Simple. It's the second to the bottom, Easy Lace Poncho. They must like pure and simple names too. I prefer more energetic and dramatic names like Exile, Venom and Secret. I'm kind of a word junkie.