Look what came!!!

It's my Crazy Monkey Skein Winder, perched in its new spot next to my Beka swift! This thing is amazing, all my coned yarn is already skeined and ready to go. I need to order more now!!
Might as well give you a shot of the desk park of my studio too, since everything is pretty clean. I have an entire room here, and so far I only really have this one little corner filled. I have a tiny cubby shelf set up for store stock, but it was supposed to be bigger, so that's probably the next thing on the list for this room. Better storage!
I had received some kind of hand crafted knitting "caddy" from Rick's grandma, but we weren't quite sure how it was supposed to be used. After a lot of discussion on this Ravelry forum, there were a couple different viable uses found for it, and I've been using it for this:
That's a section of the Sampler Afghan from Cables Untangled. I'm using Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool, so the dowels on this fit perfectly through the skein. It's wonderful for projects that stay close to your couch.

I've been on a spinning/knitting with handspun kick lately. I finished a folded brim hat out of some 3-ply worsted handspun, and Rick couldn't help but ham it up a little.
On the wheel are some super low twist bamboo singles, which I actually finished last night. Should be up in the shop in the next few days.

Busy, Busy!

I've been keeping so busy, I've been having to force myself to stop working for things like food and bathroom breaks during the day. My main focus has been wedding stuff. I really want to get it all done early so I can have a month or two to de-stress before hand and get back to my poor, neglected business!
First, I've been making my own pocketfold invitations, following this awesome tutorial: DIY Wedding Invitations



I think they look really pretty for all the money I saved doing them myself. Rick's sister is a photographer, so she will be taking care of engagement shots this weekend, and then she'll be designing the main announcement with our picture for me to put on them. I already have the info inserts ready to print on my Mac. The envelopes will be easy, since I can print the addresses onto them with the same font right from my printer/computer. Oh, I love technology.

I think after the invitations are finished, all we really have left to do is get my dress fitted (appt already set), get the boys measured for tuxes, and get our readings picked for the ceremony. I'll be so glad when I can rest until May 2nd knowing that there is NO more planning to do. I'm not a party planner. Ish.

On the knitting front, I had a big custom order in shades of purples to do last week, so I did a test regular sized skein for one shade to make sure I had it right. I liked it so much, I knit a pair of monkeys out of it in 2 days flat. (OKAY, I knit *most* of it in 2 days, I've been procrastinating on the very tippy tip of the second toe. But thats up on my schedule after I finish this post.)

For the first year I've been in business, I have not owned a swift, or a skein winder, and only just recently acquired a ball winder. My right arm has nearly fallen off a number of times winding huge amounts of yarn off of cones to be dyed later. I've been saving up for quite a while to get both a swift and a skein winder, and good news! That custom order I had last week was just enough to put me over. Look what I got yesterday!

It's a Beka swift. I REALLY, REALLY love it. I was worried that the traditional umbrella type would be a bit to fiddly and/or might break easily if I use it more than just every once and a while for personal knitting projects, and the adjustable peg type swifts just looked ugly and strange to me. It was love at first sight when I saw this on Ravelry, and I had to have it.

Also, today my Crazy Monkey Skein Winder shipped, so it should be here soon! I can't wait to skein entire cones in no time.

OK. I admit, I suck at keeping up the blog. I blame it on too many wool fumes and wedding plans. First, there was this little beauty:


I designed this Rock 'n' Roll All Nite Sock for the lovely Sharon of Stitchjones.
Other than playing too much with wool, I've been busy planning our May wedding. We'll be going back to my hometown in Spearfish for it, and afterward we leave for our 15 day European cruise honeymoon! (We got a $4,000 discount on it since I've traveled on the cruiseline before. What a deal!)
Mom came a few months ago to go dress shopping, and we found this gorgeous gown in a store here in MN. It was the only one we had found and liked, but it was $800!


Mom checked some boutiques in SD, and she found the exact same dress in a store there for $300! It should be arriving at my house any day now, and I'll obviously have to get it altered a bit, since the halter was a bit too big for the chesticles.

As for now, I'm dyeing a lot more yarn and fiber for the shop, since last week my hours at my part time job got cut nearly in half. This weekend, though, I'll be busy with these two cuties
No, not my girls. They're my nieces, Katelin and Samantha, respectively. Mom and Dad are going out of town so they're going to spend an awesome weekend at Chez Auntie and Uncle.

Yes Sir, Yes Sir, 3 Bags Full!

<---------- Look what I got!!

Our friend Erica's parents had kept 2 sheep and a llama as pets until recently, when they had to sell them. They gave me the fleece for free, considering I would knit them scarves from it. No sweat there, I would kill for this llama fleece in any other situation! It's so soft and clean that I don't think I'm even going to wash it before spinning.

















This is the Cheviot fleece, which is a breed I'm not very familiar with, but it seems pretty solid with a good staple length and a mild crimp. It'll probably be blended with another fiber to spice it up a bit.









And, the Shetland. I'm not sure if this is the norm, but this particular fleece seems as if it doesn't really have much of a lock formation. It's just kind of a big blob. That may also be attributed to the fact that they probably did not have a spinner in mind while shearing, but I've been able to work around it, and have already gotten some really good, clean, soft wool from this one.




The best part of these is that I got them right when we moved into our new place, where we have a TOP LOADING WASHER! I finished my last fleece washing in it, and it worked like a dream. So much less work than doing it in the sink or the bathtub.

Weird day...

I've had an..odd day.

It started off with me calling in sick to work, because I re-developed an old painful infection sometime during the night. I went in to the hospital for a lab test, because even though I have had this same thing a bazillion times, this new doctor still won't just call a refill of the prescription into my pharmacy. Whatever.
So I go and pee in the little cup for them, and like I ALWAYS DO after having my lab test, I sit down and wait for the results, and my prescription.
After 45 minutes of waiting, a lab nurse came over, commented on my knitting, and said, "You don't have to stay you know. We'll call you with the results and have your prescription called into your pharmacy"
It would have been nice if you would have said that before I SAT HERE for FOURTY-FIVE MINUTES!!

ugh.

It got better after that, with an interesting trip to my local craft store. I'm out of dye, and I've been putting off ordering more online until we get more settled into our new home. So I decided that a couple jars of Procion MX dye they carry (the ONLY dye they carry that I can use for wool) would hold me for a bit. I ran in, and to the exact spot where I knew the dye was. But, it WASN'T.
After a mini panic attack, I ran to an employee.
"Oh, uhm.............I think we moved it to our closeout store" (Crafts Direct closeout store; crap they got to get rid of for CHEAP)
So I run across the street, hoping, praying that they still have some.
After running around this little shop for awhile too, I have another mini panic attack. I can't find it anywhere.
Turns out, I'm just blind. It was in some far back corner, sitting on the floor. I made out like a bandit; 8 jars for $12; thats half price!

So tonight will be busy dying, and teaching hubby how to help! He's been doing little things to help me like reskeining and picking vm out of fleeces while he watches tv. It's so awesome to have someone who not only respects and admires my little fiber world, but wants to be involved with it as well.

Moved!

I think I've been going crazy! First we went to South Dakota in June, and now we've been moving for what seems like a month, and I finally have my studio with my computer back up and running!
June 20th was my birthday, and hubs got me the best present ever! I had been obsessing to him about starting a big project of a technique I haven't done much before...either something lace or fair isle. The sucker got me three BEAUTIFUL skeins of Malabrigo Lace! I knew what to make with it the second I touched it, and here she is:




















I had my wheel once we got into the new apartment, but I didn't have anything to spin, since I've been waiting to order supplies until we got settled. So I pulled the peacock batt from my store to spin. It's turning out a gorgeous teal, and the gray/silver alpaca is making it beautifully shiny.

Go on with your knittin'

I love this irish knitting poem; it reminds me of the Beatles. Hubs is obsessed with music, and a million times I've heard the story about Yoko Ono sitting in a corner during a recording session and being told by John to 'tend to your knitting, bitch'. It's a good suggestion!

IRISH KNITTING POEM
When the folks next to you act like those in the zoo
Grumblin', growlin' and spittin'
It's a pretty good plan
To be as calm as you can
And do something useful like knittin'.

When a gossipin' Susan with poison barbed tongue
Comes into the room where you're sittin'
And starts to defame
Some neighbor's good name
Count your stitches out loud and keep knittin'.

When there's been a slight misunderstandin' at the church
And others hint broadly of quittin
Why the very best thing
You can do is to sing
And stay at your post and keep knittin

When Satan moves in with his cohorts of sin
Say, "You'll never find me submittin'"
You irk me I find, so get thee behind
And please don't disturb me, I'm knittin'!

I'm also very excited because I've been asked to have my yarn sold in a new online yarn store being opened by a couple of lovely Portuguese ladies. The store isn't quite open yet, but theres a preview of it at:
www.knit.com.pt
My two latest skeins of handspun will be going up there.

I know I'm a little lackin in the picture department today, but it's for good reason. The knitting project I've been most involved in lately is a sock of my own design.
I'm also working on something that will be a personal project. Hubs and I are huge M*A*S*H fans, and he has always wanted a University of Illinois letter sweater just like the one that Col Henry Blake wears. Well, he's getting one. I stopped at the lys for yarn and some new addis last night, and I've nearly finished the bottom ribbing section. Pictures to come when the progress is a bit more...interesting. I'm using armhole and neckhole steeks for the sweater, perhaps I'll post a tutorial when I get to them.