Creative plans ahoy... here comes another crafty weekend.

So my Live Journal AAM Mentee (I'll just call her J) is looking for baby slings/carriers, at the same time that I'm thinking of what else I want to put in my Etsy shop. I have some baby related ideas, stuff to carry in the shop, and as I'll be sewing this weekend, I'll whip her up an ABC like the one I wore to my Dad's funeral. She was stunned and happy for that. It's the one thing she's been dragging her feet on that she really wants. I understand completely - if you aren't a size 6 or under it's hard to find things in the big name stores that are comfortable and appealing.

It's fully reversable (Brocade on one side and microsuede on the other,) and seems to be a big hit whenever I wear Garret in it, so I'm going to make her one, and then get started on a couple more for friends.

Depending on the input I get on those, they may get carried in my Etsy shop, and when I get about to making a website showcasing the wares with models, I'll have babies to show them off in. Can you believe he's 3 months old in the picture to the right.

Good Grief how they grow. At the bridal shower yesterday he got so many comments on how big he's gotten. Laura had a lot of people in her family who were well aware about her being there when he was born - so the kids have managed to get a bunch of adopted aunts and an adopted grandma who just loves them without having met them before Sunday. It was very sweet.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend coming up - not a lot scheduled but housekeeping and crafting. I have soaps that are waiting to be made up, and roving to be dyed... I have to organize my craft area first though. A must do if I'll be sewing/spinning/dyeing/soapmaking etc any this weekend.

Making J's MaiTai gets me out to my favorite fabric store too - I need to see if I can find some cute quilting squares, as they make up a perfect size panel for one side of the carrier. J wants Pinks and Browns in combination, and as Michelle (my friend in Salem) is planning on going straight from wedding planning to TTC, so I'm also going to work on a Mei Tai for her. She hopes to be pregnant by this time next year, and hopefully close to having the wee one. all I can say is "Oye..." Hers will be in deep reds and royal blues... she doesn't think she'll ever have a girl. I'll also have something in pink on standby too LOL!

I also plan on getting out my knitting machine... I found a lovely lovely shawl I want to make, and the knitting machine would make it in no time flat.

It's called a Heidentuch and it actually ties around back to be worn in this way:

the ties can be worn on the inside or outside of the garment... it's so pretty.... and I'm looking forward to having it to wear. It should be a snap to make as it's pretty much two triangles that have curved decreases at the ends. It's a traditional Danish shawl, and since I've been all into my ancestory lately I thought this would be nice. I have some Bison down that if spun up thin enough may make a very nice very light weight version of this too...

Speaking - or typing about knitting. I don't think that I'll be going back to the local group much, favoring the Wednesday night group instead. It's just a warmer group with much more in common and I feel much more welcome. The Tuesday group is nice - but I'm working on providing AARP services at work, not focusing on how to recieve them at home.

My postal supplies should be in tomorrow, and as I just re-listed a bunch of yarn over on my etsy shop yesterday, I'll have it ready to go for this weeks round of advertising... which I usually do on Fridays, but have slacked the last month... too many delays too many people up and dying on me, and too much keeping me from working on anything yarn related. I'm hoping I can suss out a pattern for longies on the knitting machine too, and I'll not only make Garret some longies, but might convert some of my Etsy yarn listings from yarn into diaper covers LOL. We'll see. I can definately say that the ball winder will be a big help in that instance.

I have come across a pretty cool technique for hand painting yarn involving first knitting it up as a long panel on the knitting machine, then hand painting it, and letting it dry out - we'll see how that works out.

I have one other thing I'm planning on carrying in the etsy shop, but don't want to really say anything about it as I'm not sure how it will go over, and I want to make sure I can actually do it before I go spouting off first. I am sure those of you who craft and sell on etsy can completely understand that...

Outside of crafting, we also have some gardening to get to this weekend. I have seeds to plant, and a front yard to get all cleaned up of last years left over leaves, and branches that fell this last week in the downpour and windstorm that we had. It will be a busy and healthy weekend. Of that I am certain.

PeanutButter, Jelly and Video...

So at home right now on the wheel, I have a new colorway taking form. It's a ply I'm calling "Peanutbutter and Jelly" and as long as I can get a few hours to get it finished, my game plan is to get it done and blocked this weekend, and then up on Etsy on Monday. The wool is Coopworth, and it's nice for scarves, mittens, and garments worn against the skin, although it's no where near as soft as a blend of Targhee, Merino and Ramboullet that I'm going to start working with in the upcoming months.

I've been thinking that I have zipola for traffic here and I'm trying to figure out how I can improve that too. I could bribe people with pics of the kids, but that only works for those who have a vested interest in my kids...

So I'm going to start doing some video's I think. I sell drop spindle kits over on Etsy, and I was thinking that while I send a written set of instructions along with the two ounces of wool, I might want to do some little videos too. Heck - I have the video camera...

Video helped me when I was learning to spin, and while I'm no where near a master of it, I am far more proficient now than just under a year ago, due to sitting at home with the laptop glued to YouTube, watching over and over as people shared their skills.

In the mean time, I have another funeral to attend this week (which does not make getting spinning and shipping of sales go as fast as I'd like to see it happen) and then with any luck I'll be back to operating under my normal paradigm with the new season.

Can you believe it? Spring is here! This means of course that once the weather gets better I'll be able to get more dying underweigh and will have all sorts of rovings to play with!

A little project for when the weather gets better...

The Ramboullet fleece I need to wash... omg it's so darn soft. Not a lot of vegetable matter and it's actually far cleaner than I expected.

It's a little out of focus, so you can't see the super fine crinp, but you can see how long the locks are. I'll scour the foeece and then card it into batts this spring. It's over 5 pounds before washing... not sure what the weight will be post scouring.

I have to bring in Beaky from the Mini Van tomorrow, and will do some spinning - even on the crappy ankles, provided I'm not feeling so horrid that I can't move. (Our whole house is down with the flu/cold.) I also have to get the printer drivers installed on the laptop I'm using so I can print out some mailing labels... I have to get some hand spun out in the mail, as well as a drop spindle kit.

Etsy's picked up for me lately, and I'm thankful of this. :-)

Updated Etsy and OMG I'm tired...

I came home last night to a 3 year old who acted like she'd not been sick earlier in the day...  which was a good thing.  She helped with laundry (she loves pushing the buttons on the new washer and is rather anal retentive about doing them in the proper order) and then helped me take pictures for the Etsy shop.

She went to bed with Mary Poppins on darn near mute, and slept pretty soundly until about 1:30ish when she had a terrible coughing spasm.  This necessitated another complete change of bedding for her bed and ours, as well as showers for Mommy, Daddy and Daughter.  She was completely wrecked about waking up in this manner, and I can't say as I blame her honestly.

New sheets on the beds, hers in Disney Princess Motif, we also put one of those lounging pillows on her bed to enable her to sleep on an incline, and then dosed her with mucinex as well as triaminic.  Re-Coated in Vicks, with a waterless vaporizer running next to her, she fell back to sleep in no time flat.

Me - well I think I may have seen the clock turn over to 2:48am, but it's all a bit fuzzy.  She appears to have slept well after that, and when I woke up she was snuggled in under her covers.

I have two skeins to send out today - both lovely colorways and going to a good home - bringing the number of commercial spun / hand dyed down enough that I was inspired to actually load up some of my hand spun to Etsy last night - so here's what's about to go out this morning:

and here's the new Etsy Mini with some of the hand spun loaded up last night.

Etsy Buy Handmade TGTreasures

 

Pardon me while I pass out on my desk now... or maybe I'll just go grab another cup of coffee.

 

Pics of my darlings, and enacting some changes so I can get back to sanity (and spinning.)

ok - First I have some pictures to share... they were all taken with my cell phone, so some have a pretty soft focus.



Standing on the toy box at grandma's -

Waiting for the HannaTanna 3D concert


Hanging out with Auntie after the concert


Being "Fierce" with the hair...




Now - I have a heck of a night owl in my daughter. I've not been able to get any more yarn dyed lately, nor spun. She's up and wants to help, and well a 3 year old in the mix is not always the best for the process of dying and spinning.

So with that in mind, Tess is moving into her own bedroom this next weekend (not this weekend as it's Donna's wedding and she's staying at Grandma's this weekend.) We have co-slept with her since she was a baby, so this is not going to be an easy transition, but we're going to try to make this appealing. Her bedroom will be turned into a Disney Princess dream, complete with matching curtains etc... The DVD/TV may not be going there, but may instead go to the play room. We'll put a cd player in there instead. She seems to fall asleep to Jack Johnson pretty easy.

She can watch movies in the play room while we get Garret down for bed, and then it's bed time for her with an earlier routine. *sigh* This will be followed up by enforced early rise for breakfast, and then as it gets warmer out, being outside all day when it's nice out. We have the van so my husband can play chauffer - she's going to start getting into classes this spring too which will likely have her coming home much more tired than just from a day of play at Grandma's.

We're getting a thicker mattress for the Pack n play. Garret may sleep more in it after nursing sessions so Gaelon and I have more bed space.

I may go home early today, stop and run some errands along the way. I still have to get shoes for Saturday. I then have to get that mattress.

I am in awe of women who can get themselves up, dressed, polished and ready to go all while having the kids clothed, teethbrushed, fed, and off to daycare. Seriously...

and then hopefully once this all gets settled down, I'll be posting more about my yarn production, and less about insomnia.

Support my daughters dress habit... or Etsy Sale!

I'm running a special at Etsy right now because I want to clear out the commercial spun yarn in favor of my own. All these were kettle dyed and are wonderful in hand - very soft. Both Sock and Worsted Weight yarns... all called Yarngetti by my daughter.

Etsy Buy Handmade TGTreasures

For the rest of the month I'm running a special - 2.00 shipping on the first item, and 1.00 a skein thereafter...

Please, clean me out so I can get some of my hand spun up and can support Tessa's flower girl dress habit.

Also - if you refer folks my way, I'll likely be really nice to you and throw in some unexpected hand spun along the way.

When I have the inclination I'm missing the time.

I swear time is moving too darn fast. When I have the inclination I don't have the time, and vica vera...

What I do have however is some pics to share. I started on a scarf a few weeks ago after seeing a you tube video on the bubble stitch - crocheting of course.

This is what I started a few weeks ago...


and today this is where I am at with it.

The lighting stinks ...

lemme try this again.

Ok - that's somewhat better. What can you expect for a camera phone though - it's literally hit and miss with it.

So My dilemma with which night seems to have resolved itself. My MIL wants to start taking the kids on Wednesday nights, so there ya have it ;-)

Speaking of the kids - here are some pics from the weekend. Not a lot, but goodness they are growing up so fast...

3 going on 13 here with her toy cell phone...

And my 11 month old trying to look cute and innocent - don't let that fool you however. He's 100% boy.

Ok - off to get this posted, to traipse through my Etsy account, and then on to Ravelry.

Can you call Speedos a Pair?

So when Gaelon came to bed last night he told about watching the Power of Ten while I was out at S&B, and that some of the questions on the show got him thinking about the silly drama regarding my posts on divorce over at an other site I write at, which then let him to recall a comedians take on infidelity being caused by a lack of imagination.

We decided then that the best form of infidelity was the one that happened completely in a person's imagination.

Keep in mind - I'd been asleep when he came in. So I was processing this in a very groggy state. It was that babbling you do when you're on the periphery of being awake but just not quite. We have some very funny conversations when one or the other of us are in that state.

I then told him that I was having an affair right there in my imagination, and he laughed. I told him then "I'm all done. I had to dump him."

"Who did you dump Annie?"

"Daniel Craig. He looks great in a pair of speedos..."
(Can you even call Speedo's a pair???)

"But I had to dump him because he had a terrible foot fetish, so it's over."

and I went back to sleep.

My hubby just reminded me of this as I told him about my dream with John Larroquette buying me a bikini to take me to Bimini. Urm - me in a bikini? no. John Larroquette? Again - no.

Man my imagination is on overtime I guess. I wonder what it would be like with adequate sleep.

Cheater!

So - I have two knitting groups available to go to each week. One is 1/4 a mile away from my house, and the other is held about a half an hour away.

Both groups have a lovely group of warm, wonderful women.

However - I feel more comfortable and welcomed at the group that's farther away on the Wednesday nights.

I never knit at the Tuesday group that's closer to home - I bring my wheel and spin, and sometimes even teach spinning. The social dynamic there is different though. The women there are mostly close to if not already retired and their kids are all grown up and having kids on their own. They are also not very computer literate, although a couple of them know their way around XP...

The Wednesday night group - it's filled with both stay at home moms and working moms and some women who aren't moms at all... and not a single one of them is petrified of their computers, unlike the Tuesday night group. I also tend to actually knit or crochet at this group. It's fun, and hopefully I'll get Gaelon's scarf finished soon by getting over there.

Obviously you can tell my preference.

So why do I feel guilty like I'm cheating on Tuesday by going to Wednesday? Especially when I went to Wednesday's first.

Gifts of love

My daughter's cat brought us a "present" at lunch time.

There we are - I'm working from home with my laptop, she's playing on the Dora the Explorer site (nickjr.com) on her laptop and a little bit of grey fluff with a white string is dropped infront of my daughters computer. At first glanceI thought it was wool from my spinning stash, and initially reached out to take it from the kitten, thanking her for her good hunting skills...

when I realized that white string had a foot next to it, a very tiny foot.

that white string was a tail.

Delilah brought us a mouse.

Reaching over the mouse to the box of babywipes, I grabbed a babywipe instead, and wrapped the little gift up while hearing Tessa say "Mommy, What's that, What did Delilah bring us, that's not fluff mommy, that's not yarns mommy"

Yeah - I'm fielding preschooler curiosity at the same time I'm dealing with a dead rodent.

Delilah of course ran off thinking she was in trouble at my first "EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

because come on - if you were eating pizza, snuggling in bed and playing with computers with your little snugglebum - you'd be grossed out by a dead mouse too.

Mouse wrapped up, and tossed into bag with wet pullup pants, tied off, and carried down to the garbage can, we then sought out Delilah. Tessa praised her liberally, and the kitten is now laying next to me purring as I've also reassured her that she's done a good job.

Sunday morning she brought Garret a makeup sponge as a present. She's obviously worked her way up to the real thing.

Well... I did want a mouser. I got a heck of one if the past two presents are any indication. Good thing she's a house cat - the squirrels and possums outside would be in danger next, and I really don't want either of those dropped on my bed. A dead mouse is more than enough thank you.

And I think I prefer the makeup wedge.