When good gloves (and socks) go bad

So, I did quite a bit of work this week (see the shop for updates) and I wore gloves, I swear,
but apparently they had holes. le sigh
I came up with a few more new colorways, and dyed up a few old favorites. First is Cowboy (already sold out!)

and Deep Forest (I love this one).

I also tried a new experiment with some lovely South African Fine roving -- Perfect Pairs. I took a semi-solid length of roving and paired it with a handpainted length containing the same color to sell as a duo. And of course, I picked my favorite colorway -- Pomegranate.

(There's only one of these pairings left, so grab it if you can!) I think this is something I'll definitely try this again. This roving is fabulous, soft, and very reasonably priced as well. I can't wait to spin some of this up for myself. But what colors?? Oh, the decisions....
On the knitting front, I still LOVE the Cowgirl sock -- she is beautiful, BUT I am struggling a bit with the pattern.

From my view, the pattern omits some helpful directions (such as stitch counts and "you should be here now" info)and for some very strange reason, although I am following the pattern verbatim, I am getting weird nubbins on my sock...

and ended up with awful holes where there should be no holes after my short row heel.

I am persisting, tho, as the still looks pretty nice on, but this may be the first sock I actually block (darn nubbins). Although I have knit a total of 7 short row sections, for some reason I can't do number eight right!! I have ripped it back 3 times now. No more knitting during the ball game, dozing off sitting up or knitting with screaming kids around. It, and I, am in a time out for today.

I couldn't resist...

But seriously, is this not the coolest sock ever?? I just had to cast on for the Rainbow Socks from this months Magknits in Sereknity Cowgirl Perfect Sock. I have spent DAYS trying to resist, but I just had to see if the marriage of this colorway and pattern would do what I hoped and it does! It is a very addicting knit, even with all the purling, and is going surprisingly fast. I am using size 2 needles (they were what I had available) and the fabric is soft and the size should be just right. Here a shot of the other side...

I am very definitely going to do 6 short row sections for the longer cuff. Back to knitting (and laundry -- tons of laundry. No dyeing until the machine is free. UG.) I leave you with one other irresistable...

ain't he the cutest??

It's been a long week...

...of dyeing! I finally made some headway at getting the shop stocked, and had a minor burst of creativity so I came up with a few new colorways (these are all listed in the Etsy shop as I type)...
Fat Tuesday...

Mums...

Bountiful Harvest (this was a tough one to name, with so many different opinions from friends)...

my favorite, Cowgirl,

and Maui Sunset (don't know how this pic got missed the first time around, but it is here now... ),

inspired by a photo sent to me by Donna.
I focused on the bit of color at the horizon, but may need to tweak it a bit for her. I love how this particular version came out, tho. I really like how the dark blue plays against the brighter colors.
And for good measure, I dye a couple skeins of Black Forest Fudge, my old stand-by favorite, since I was doing up some fiber for Knit Pickings as well. I'll also have this in merino/silk roving as soon as it is dry. (drool!)

In knitting news, I am cruising slowly along on Poppy's sleeves, and am feeling better about the striping as they develop. I'll spare you the pics for now, but will show more when they are further along. I did take a break from it to cast on Jacob's R2D2 hat yesterday and literally knit ALL DAY while sitting at the computer doing listings and Photoshop and was therefore able to cast off the main portion this morning. I fudged it a bit. I didn't want to have to go back and duplicate stitch the details on -- I know me, it would never get done. So, I instead knit it as a stranded piece (something I really want to get better at) and just used the existing charts for this. If you try the hat this was, make note that for some reason, the first 15 stitches are omitted from the chart (I used the adult large in a smaller gauge - more stats later). It got a bit sticky in the decreases, again -- it wasn't designed to be knit this way, but I managed it in a fairly presentable fashion. I also got nervous it wasn't going to fit, so I reduced the rate of decrease after a few rows. It shows a bit now while lying flat, but I am confident it will all come out in the blocking. It fits the Boy with plenty of room to spare and he is thrilled. Now, to just knit the little protrubing bits and the "eye" as a patch that I will sew on. (Another personal mod. If I had knit it in, I would have had to carry the yarn all the way around the hat to knit about 12 stitches. Not happening.) So here it is...


and you know what you really want, the inside...

how did I do??

Executive Decisions

*** A note of thanks to all my friends and fellow bloggers who have expressed concern and support after my last post. You have no idea how much it means to me! I can assure you that I am OK; more importantly, my family is OK, and I will keep getting up each day and getting through. With the support of such wonderful people, I know I can make it. You are all the best! ***

Now, for the most important executive decision of late, not made by me, but by Ericka and Chris, I present to you some images from their big day...
There was a bubbling (and, thankfully, late) bride, caught by surprise in the back of the chapel. Were she not late, I would have missed the whole thing! Isn't she lovely?

There was a smiling and anticipatory groom (the way he looks at his beloved just slays me)...


There were knitters, knitting in the chapel, and later at the reception, as we were required to do...

A lovely couple and wedding party, the bride gorgeous in her hand-knit shawl...

Centerpieces, inspired by the bridal shower...

And the king of all wedding cakes -- a Whoopie Pie cake! YUM.


It was a perfect day for a perfect couple. I hear they are tearing it up in Disney, but -- horror of horrors -- can find no yarn! AHHHHHH!

In other, me-centric, news, I have made the long thought out decision to no longer re-skein my yarns. The reasons are numerous and varied, but I do feel ultimately that this is the right one for me. The debate rages on and on among dyers and customers alike, and while I often like the look of a re-skeined yarn with the colors broken up from the original hand-painted appearance, it doesn't seem to have as much impact on sales as one might think. At this point, I am looking at the time it takes for me to re-skein, not to mention the FRUSTRATION. My equipment, while faster than winding each skein by hand, it incredibly difficult, unreliable and fussy to use, and better models cost far more than I could even conceive of spending. Also, most of my yarns are now coming to me in cones, which I will be sending first to a mill to be wound off into 4oz. cones, cutting down on my time initially skeinning. All this means I can DYE MORE YARN. The Etsy shop has been a snore, as I have been spending so much time on wholesale orders. I really want a balance between the wo, and I want to be able to spend more time developing new colors. TIME. It all comes down to time. So there it is. And seriously, these still look nice, don't you think??

Oh, and here is a new colorway, Freyburg...


I have also made a decision to join the local Planet Fitness gym with a dear friend. I need it. It will be good for my physical and mental health, and while I could do without the initial expense right now, it is cheaper than therapy!
Look for more shop updates this week, as I have no outstanding wholesale orders and can concentrate on retail. I have soem sock bags that have been begging to be photoed for far too long, some hat kits, and lots and lots of stitch markers. I also have boat loads of fiber to dye -- merino/silk, merino superwash and non, South African, some tussah, BFL -- oh the fibery goodness! If there are any colorways you are hoping to see, shoot me an e-mail or comment. Direction is good.
Oh, and there has been some fairly significant knitting (I do still do that) on Poppy. The unevenness of the Noro stripes has been railing against my perfectionist nature, but I am persisting, trusting it will all work out in the end. The issue? No, I don't expect to have even stripes, but with the way the color sequences fall, it looks like the front and back are knit from too different yarns. I figure it will all come together when the sleves are added. We shall see. At least she fits well!


I am also having a bit of confusion at the shoulder directions, which call for some oddly stages decreases and binding off, but I think I am just going to leave them as is and graft together a the top, so I don't have seams. I'm a bit of a weirdo -- I love the kitchener stitch. I should have that completed today, and then cast on for the sleeves. I my actually get to wear this one this fall! WOW!

Uninspired

Been a bit quiet around here, huh? Truth be told, life is kicking my ass right now, and somedays I am having a bit a trouble knowing which way to turn. I won't bore you with the gory details. I'm working on it, tho, and trying to slog through each day doing at least one positive thing -- to accomplish SOMETHING -- and not just crawl in a hole and hide. THAT certainly doesn't help, although it seems tempting at times. So today, I am working on another wholesale order, starting with some of the simple things. I dyed some yarn yesterday that wasn't quite right, revisited it today, and now it is beautiful again. I feel better. Onward and upward, no?
I don't think I can even hope to catch you all up to the events of the past few weeks. I did head to the Big E to demonstrate spinning with some Island Pond Spinning friends, including the wonderful, newly-wed Ericka (more on that in a bit). It was a long but pleasant day, and I finally gave Navajo plying a good honest try, coached by Carol Spoerl, our fearless leader-of-the-day. She kept telling me she had all the patience in the world to teach me -- problem is, I don't! But I persisted and created the ugliest skein of yarn from the loveliest of fibers (Spunky Eclectic Triple Play Batts purchased at the Fiber Frolic).

I will eventually conquer this technique -- the sacrifice will not be in vain. I also began spinning some Soysilk fiber (hand-dyed by me) and I LOVE it. so smooth and soft and really quite easy to spin. Both Carol and I experimented with this and some bamboo, and the soy won out hands down. Good stuff.
From there, it was back to the busy work/school week. I had the interesting experience of being finger printed as I applied to substitute teach in my town. (I figure this is a good way to bring in a little cash, and yet, if I am busy with work and orders, I can always say "no".) I also spent many days working on a special little flock of sheep for the Sweet Sheep shop. (I neglected to get a pic of the whole crew in-process, but here is a representative pair.)

Michelle will soon have 15 pair of these lovelies in her hot little hands in various lengths and needle sizes. They would make lovely gifts! (Oh yes, folks, that time is rapidly approaching.)
Then, it was off to Maine for our last "hurrah" at camp, and to celebrate my baby boys SEVENTH birthday. 7!!!!!! We spent the day roaming the Freyburg Fair with friends (sorry -- bad mommy -- no pics) and my Boy and his Daddy even went on a helicopter ride, while the Girl and I had some "girlie" time alone. We finished the day with presents and a chocolate chip cookie cake, and all was well in the boy's world. We then enjoyed a family visit to camp on Saturday, grilling for 17 people that evening, ending the season in just the right fashion. Unfortunately for my dear hubby, I deserted him on Sunday, leaving him to break camp, in order to attend the wedding of my dear and wonderful friends, Chris and Ericka (see -- told you I would get to it!) It was a lovely event, and they are an even more beautiful couple.
A few pics from the happy day...


All they best to you, my loves!! (This event warrants more than a mere addendum to a post, so I will give you a full account in the next few days...)