Busy, Busy, Busy

I have been in a bit of a frenzy trying to get things dyed up for my first show of the season toward the end of next month. With having the kids home all day and it taking time and concentration to dye I have only been able to work on it in the evenings after Kevin gets home.

So far my tally dyed is:
31 skeins Baby Alpaca/Silk/Cashmere Lace (Opulent)
55 skeins of Merino SW Fingering weight (Sensational)

I have been winding yarn while the youngest takes a nap and have 30 skeins (400 yds each) of a new Corriedale/Nylon Fingering weight done so far, and about 25 of BFL fingering weight. Things are coming along slowly.

I have been very diligent at dyeing every night, well that is except for last night. :( Kevin sent me a msg from work yesterday saying that his left hand and foot were kind of numb, his jaw was hurting, his chest was heavy, had a headache and so on. With all the heart problems in his family I told him to call 911 and get to the hospital. The stubborn man that he is finished work, came home, showered and tells me he felt a little better after a shower. Umm that wasn't going to fly with me. I played the kid card and he decided to go to the ER. ;) They took him right back, gave him a nitro pill and nitro paste, did an ekg, blood work, battery of other tests. He said that after having the nitro he felt much better other than the pounding headache from the nitro. Finally all the tests came back and he was told that everything looked fine on paper, but with his symptoms they wanted to do a stress test to be safe. This meant they wanted to keep him. Of course he wavered and wanted me to tell him to come home, but even though I wanted him home I knew that he should stay (don't make me play the kid card again lol). So now it is a waiting game as to when they will ever get to do the test. I sit here at home nervously waiting to hear something/anything.

In my "spare" time I have been working on a shopping cart for my website! Yes folks it is finally in process. Not as fast as I had hoped, but a little here and there is better than nothing at all. :)

Sorry for the photo-less post. Photo taking, just has not fit into my day recently. Hoping to get photos of all the dyed yarns, but that is going to take quite some time to get a picture of every colorway that has been dyed on each yarn. LOL

Happy Delivery

Boxes have started arriving here full of fiber and fiber related goodness. Now if this wet weather would stop so I can work on dyeing the yarn and roving. I have been doing small batches at a time as I only have so much room to hang yarn to dry in the house.

Sensational Sock 3 / Baby Alpaca/Silk/Cashmere Lace



I started on the Baby Alpaca/Silk/Cashmere Lace weight. With the humid weather and all the rain it is taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r to dry. I have fans and dehumidifier going to help the process. I have to say that I LOVE this yarn. It is more than yummy.

Lilac/Fresh Mint/Passion Pink/Tweety/Crimson Caress/Sea Foam (the Lilac looks blue in this photo)


The Lilac looks more true to color in this photo.


There are 1,312 yds per skein. These will all be going to the fiber festivals this year, but if you want it before then let me know.

I spent part of the day cleaning since the kids are with my Mom for the week. This is the first time that the youngest has been away from us for longer than a few hours. :( He sounds like he is doing just fine, but I still feel sad. Then the rest I spent skeining up the Sensational Sock 3. I have a full storage bin of yarn waiting to be dyed now. If the weather would just cooperate.

I have more boxes due here Thursday. This shipment will include:

Yarn:

Merino Lace
BFL Fingering
Wool/Nylon SW
Falkland SW Dk
Merino Sport

Rovings:

Superfine Merino
Merino
Merino SW
Alpaca/Merino/Tussah Silk
Merino/Bamboo
Merino/Tencel
BFL
BFL SW
Baby Suri Alpaca
Baby Camel/Tussah Silk

If there is a yarn/roving that you would like dyed let me know now and the colorway that you would like so I can dye that up first. Tomorrow I will be working on the Lace and if I have the time I will move onto the Sensational Sock 3.

If you are in the way of the storms this evening I hope that you all are safe.

Seriously?!

Last week was crazy. I was in and out of the ER. The first time was for the pressure behind my left eye. CT scan showed nothing, trip to the referred ophthalmologist showed nothing other than I light eyes in the back. He said it was weird and that it was like having brown hair, but blond eyes. Umm o.k. He believed it could be sinus pressure and I should go back on the allegra, but as a precaution put me on steroid drops for that eye.

I used the steroid drops as prescribed then on Thursday as I was helping James with his school work my right arm and hand went numb. Before that I had to pick some stuff up off the floor and got really sick feeling. I sat down to try and relax and see if maybe I was just holding my arm wrong and it had gone to sleep. Once I sat down I had a weird shaky sick feeling. I waited a while to see if the numbness would subside, but it didn't. Sent a msg to Kevin and called a local Dr office since we still hadn't found a Dr yet. I was advised to head to the ER. So another call was made to the MIL and I waited for Kevin to come get me as I wasn't about to drive like that.

Another CT, an EKG, 6 viles of blood work and 6 more hours in the ER came up with nothing! In a way I am glad that nothing was found, but then it makes me feel like I am crazy. My arm was numb all that day and you could physically tell that the hand and fingers on that side were colder than the left. They couldn't give me any answers and I was told to followup with our GP. While I was at the ophthalmologist I asked the ladies there if they knew of any Drs. I was told to call a place in Lawrenceburg and they are taking new patients! Whoo Hoo! Down side is I can't be seen until Mat 17, since I am a new patient and they only see 2 new patients a day. They were booked that far out! I am just happy at this point to have found a Dr.

I stopped taking the steroids as they were giving me a bad chemical taste in the back of my throat and burning it. Since I quit taking them the numbness has subsided. I remember having a bad reaction to steroids when I was younger and I had to take them for my asthma. The Dr at the ER said it could be back problems or a pinched nerve. I just wonder if it could have been an allergic reaction to the steroids? If you know me you know that I can't have any normal reaction to meds.

In between all this I was filling out my order for yarn to dye. :) Guess what came today?! Oh yeah some yarn. I still have another order to put in for roving and more yarn. I should do that in the next day or so in hopes that it will all be here for next week. Then the madness will start with the marathon dyeing. I need to get it all done and dry for my first show of the season in May. The Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival! I can't wait as I had to miss it last year and really wish I could have gone.

Amongst everything else that has been going on I have done some spinning and knitting of you can believe it. It is so nice to be able to spin colorful fun rovings into bright beautiful yarns.




These colors made me smile. :)



Oh by the way I see that people are reading the blog. See "purl of wisdom" below here? Yeah that is where you click to leave a comment or "purl of wisdom". :) I do like to hear what others have to say.

Bit of a Scare

So as some of you know I have been having off and on pressure behind my left eye for 4 - now 5 days. It is hard to explain as it comes an goes as it feels like and is more like someone slowly adding pressure behind my eye then letting off, not a constant pressure thing and it honestly doesn't hurt. I have had a few mild annoying headaches with it, but they have been few and far between. I had also had 2 dizzy, sick to stomach, hot flash kind of spells as well.

At the urging of my Husband and friends I relented and went to the ER last night. We are still looking for a GP in our area if you know of anyone please let me know. We arrived at 5:40 and was home by 11. Most of that time was sitting in the waiting room. They did a glaucoma test - it came back normal. They did a CT of my head - it came back empty LOL - it came back normal. So I have them stumped as to what could be causing it.

I have been referred to an optometrist and have an appointment at 3pm today. Hopefully he will be able to shed some light on what the problem is. Maybe it is eye strain as it has been far too long since I have had my eyes checked. I just need to get it figured out and fix whatever the problem is.

On a positive note I did get some knitting done. I am working on kitting up a few samples for my display and I was able to make a little progress. Not exactly where I wanted to be knitting, but at least I had something to do unlike the others that were there bored out of their minds.

The gentleman across from me just kept watching me in amazement as I was knitting and watching t.v. LOL He couldn't believe how fast I was knitting and that I didn't need to even look at it. I told him that I wasn't knitting very fast as it has been a while since I have been knitting and my groove hasn't come back yet. Guess it kept him busy while they waited too. ;)

I will have pictures later of what I am working on.

Only the Best

I have to say I have the best graphic designer ever! He has always been there to help me out whenever I needed it. This time was no different. I needed graphics for an add. What add? My add for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival that will not only go into the program, but will also be in Skirt! Magazine. I can't believe that the festival is just a little over 50 days away!

Anyway this is what he came up with for me with little or no time to do it in. I have to say I FREAKING LOVE IT!



If you are ever interested in any graphics, business cards, web design or anything in that nature talk to me and I will get you in contact with him. I can safely say you will be in good hands and won't be disappointed!

Wait for it.....

I am anxiously awaiting for new samples of yarns and rovings to arrive at my door! I cannot wait for them to come. I know that the problem will be that I will want to buy it all, but I have to stay within the budget. *Sigh*

I have been selling what little roving and yarn that I have left on etsy. So hopefully out with the old and in with the new. :)

Speaking of out with the old. We have been tossing around the idea of getting rid of the walls of my booth. They are so cumbersome and just not very stable. I can only use the vertical space for small light things and I would really like to hang my yarns so that they are seen better. We plan the keep the back wall white lattice, but really would like to go to something new and more modular so I can do shows that have the odd sized booths. Currently I am stuck with having to have a 10 x 10 to set up in. With the new ideas that we are kicking around I could set up pretty much anywhere. While I really like the current booth and the rustic look with the baskets, I need to think of functionality and ease of setup/tear down. Especially with having 2 kids and the husband along. lol I am hoping to have the new set up this year, but you never know. My main concerns are vertical space, functionality, visual appeal, ease of setup/tear down and my main concern is that my customers like it. So please keep an eye out for me this year at the festivals, the booth might just look a bit different.

Ohhhhh Naturwolle

I have been looking back at some old posts and realize that there are quite a few posts that never made it to the blog. Humm. Well I think it is time to start posting them even though they are older than the hills. ;)

I have since knitted this sweater and wore it as a coat this winter as it was soooooo warm. Everyone thought I was crazy for just running around in the sweater, but I couldn't wear a coat with it or I would melt. I am so happy with it and everyone that has seen it loves it. :) I will post photos of the sweater later. Come to think of it I don't think I have a picture of myself with it on.

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I have been so in love with this wool for such a long time. It doesn't hurt that I absolutely love the colors Blue and Yellow together.







I also like the fact that the wool isn't spun too tight, kind of like myself. LOL Isn't this yarn gorgeous?



This yarn is 100% New Wool. The gauge it calls for is 3 1/4 sts per inch on US 7-10. I can say that the pictures do not do this yarn justice. If you have ever seen it you know what I am talking about. It is so soft and fluffy and the colors range from dark rich to bright and lively.







I am planning on making this sweater from Interweave Knits Fall 2005 issue. It is the Bulky Brioche Raglan from Ann Budd.









I can't wait to get my hands into this yarn. I am trying to resist it's tempting ways as it whispers my name every time I pass and tells me all the things that it will do for me. "No!" I say. "I must finish other things first!" I don't know how long I can be strong. I might succumb to it and let it have it's way with me. So if you see me fondling any Naturwolle and you know that I have other things that need done before, please shake me back to my senses. Thanks. :)

Long Time No Posts

Wow I can't believe how long it has been since the last time I have posted on here. So much had gone on. Our oldest is now 6, if you can believe that and our youngest is 19 months old! Boy does the time fly. Most of my time is taken by my boys. Not only am I a SAHM I am also now school teacher as we are home schooling the oldest. He is currently doing 1st and 2nd grade work. :)

Also on the agenda is processing and spinning alpaca fleece for a local alpaca farmer. I thought that this would be a one time venture, but she was so pleased that she wants me to continue to do it for her every year!


Currently I am nurse to my 2 little guys as they both have the flu now. We have had a very bad year for sickness here. It all started in October when were were all at the KY Wool fest. We all ended up with a stomach bug and have been getting sick with everything that is going around since. I am hoping with the warmer weather will come the healing of our immune systems so we can finally be on the mend.

I have been knitting a few things here and there, but mostly been concentrating on spinning all that alpaca. It is like a bit of heaven getting to play with all that and get paid for it in the process. I am excited to see it all form the upcoming sheering!

Better get back to spinning. I am hoping to post more often as it has been far too long and I always enjoyed having my blog. I will leave you with a picture of some yummy alpaca batts. :)