Halloween Clubs!

Ok, so I normally don't blog about giveaways, but I REALLY wanted another chance to win this, and I LOVE Halloween. I thought other people might be interested in knowing about these clubs... and some people who read my blog might have real jobs (as opposed to my fake, fantasy camp job) and can maybe afford them. Alrighty, so here we go. The first Halloween club I wanted to tell you about is by Twiggi Knits. She has come up with an AMAZING idea, the four weeks of Halloween club. Why not celebrate Halloween all month?? One day just isn't enough. You can purchase one week, or all four, or any combo in between. You will get a project bag, 4oz of yarn or roving, a knitting accessory, and some candy. Awesome! So go check that out. Also, Phat Fiber is giving away one week of this club, so go here and enter to win!!

The other Halloween club I wanted to tell you about is from Boho Knitter Chic. She is having a Halloween Spin-A-Long. The kit comes with either 2 oz of smooth batts or art batts. Then you can take pictures of your finished yarns and win prizes. How awesome. I would love to try doing a Spin-A-Long as I loved doing the Tour de Fleece.

So go check out the Halloween clubs. If you join one, send me pictures!!

Friday Fling!

So today I am taking myself out on the town. I have decided that since I don't have to work, I am going on an adventure. First, I am going to Wasilla to check out the yarn store that is going out of business, Ewe First. I am sad to see it go.... I love the name, and it was a beautiful shop. It is sad to see LYS go out of business... I hope it doesn't become a trend. Then off to the FAIR!! I love the fair. W and I are going next Sat, but one day is just not enough fair time for me. So, I am taking myself and I can do what I want and just have a grand ol' time! I am so excited about my adventure that I couldn't sleep and got up at 8. So now I am off to finish getting ready. I will post later about how it went, maybe with some pictures! Hope everyone has a great Friday!

New Goals

As I look at my blog postings, I am sad to see that I haven't done a very good job this month. I guess part of it has to do with the fact that I was in Oregon for a week, but really... I don't have an excuse. I'm lazy. So I'm now going to post some goals that I have for myself here in hopes that it will help keep me motivated and on track. After all, once I posted about how I was going to be on the internet less, it really did work. So here we go:
* I want to keep my sewing room clean. It is amazing right now, and I feel motivated when I walk in, not overwhelmed. I want that feeling to stay.
* I want to start exercising 10 mins a day. If I can find 10 mins to spin, 10 mins to knit, 10 mins to sew, and 10 mins to exercise, I think my days will be amazing. And all of that is only 40 mins! I can do that.
* I want to finish some quilts. My puzzler quilt comes to mind. And my baby chick applique.
* I am going to try VERY hard to work from my stash... my fiber stash, my yarn stash, and my fabric stash. I have an amazing amount of all of these things and there is no reason for me to be spending so much money on these items. I am worried that my lack of spending will adversely affect the economy, but in order to buy more, I need to make more space!!!

I think that is it. I will do my best to keep you updated on my progress on these goals.

Dog Children

We don't have kids, we have dogs. But sometimes, I feel like my dogs act like children. Here is a play-by-play of my evening.

12:52 am: Frito whines like he wants to go out. I get up and try to let him out. Snickers bolts out the door to look for the cat (there is a cat that often wanders the neighborhood at night...), Frito stands there and sulks because it is raining. Snickers comes back in and I go back to bed.
12:55 am: Frito clearly wants to go out. I try to let him out. This time he goes onto the porch, but refuses to go out from underneath the awning. He pouts and comes back in the house.
12:58 am: Frito is still whining. I ask W to let him out... maybe it will make a difference. W doesn't even make it half way down the hall and Frito steals his spot in bed. It was a ploy. W tells him, "I love you Frito, but you and Snickers are evolving and I don't like it"
2:07 am: Frito finally mans up and goes outside despite the rain. We all go back to bed.
5:02 am: Snickers for some reason thinks it is time to get up. But he just wanted to smell the air outside and see what the weather was. I tell him, "I'm not the Doggie Weather Channel. Can we please go back to bed?!?"

7:00 am: W gets up. The dogs don't come to bed like normal. I get up to move my car so J can go to work. I see that W's car door is open... apparently someone decided to rifle through his car some time during the night. They must have been quiet, as while the dogs were antsy, they were not barking or acting as if anything was wrong. Luckily, nothing was taken out of the car... but really? Someone had to walk into the driveway to see if the car was unlocked (yup, W forgot to lock it... luckily, I guess...). I wonder how often THAT happens. Creepy.

Anyway.... on to happier things. I cleaned my sewing room yesterday. I organized my fiber stash and my yarn stash... I also saw all of my unfinished quilts. All of the organizing reminded me of the projects I have in progress and motivated me to finish some of them. Hopefully. I will try and post pictures of my stash(es) later. Now, I must get ready for work. I work hard for my money$$!! :)

Blog, oh blog

I started this blog a while ago... I think 3 years now. Wow. That is crazy. Anyway, when I started (it was under another name, but I moved all the posts to this one...actually after checking on that, it was a lie...they are on my .mac website...) it was mostly to make fun of Weston. He always talked about blogging and was teasing me that I should "go blog that", so I did. Then I started talking about all of the various things that I do (hang out with my dogs, knit, sew, spin, cook, etc). Every now and then I would talk about something in the news (the dog that got killed by a trap, the discrimination ordinance).... but now, as I realize that other people actually READ my blog, I wonder what it should be. It is really weird to me that people want to read what I have to write. Which is funny, as I spend a lot of my day reading what other people write, so it shouldn't surprise me that people read my blog, but it does. I actually LOVE that people that I don't know read my blog. I think it is really cool. In fact, in my dreams, my blog is as big as the Yarn Harlot's.... but again, that is just a dream. So, I guess I am just doing some blog searching on what my blog should be. Should it stay how it is, a mish-mash of my crazy life? Or should it be dedicated to my crafting?

Who knows, but I think it is fun to watch it evolve.

And if you want to know what happened in my life before 2008, you can see that blog here.

Oh, and also, a quick rant. I'm a bit tired of hearing about swine flu. That is all.

August Phat Fiber Box

"Meet Me At The Fair" was the theme and the contributors went above and beyond with their packaging! It was amazing. My pictures aren't the best, but I am going to try and post links to every shop, and you can click on the pictures to make them larger. First up, stitch markers and patterns. I recieved a stitch marker from 4 Stitch Me Knot (I guess her shop isn't up and running yet...) and one of my favorite phatties, Twice Sheared Sheep. I wasn't lucky enough to score the corn dog pattern, Pogo (nuts!), but I did get a gorgeous headband pattern from Katherine Vaughan Designs. She has some wonderful patterns for sale on her blog. I really admire designers. I have a hard (make it close to impossible) time trying to come up with ideas for knitting, much less figure out how to make it work. I am getting better at being more creative with quilting (I designed my own quilt and have.... one... block done), but that is a flat piece, where knitting is much more 3-D. Moving on....
The rest of my box is FIBER! I scored a fluff box, partly because I'm obsessed with spinning and partly because I didn't want to risk getting one of my own samples. :) I have seen some of my samples on the Rav Phat Fiber page, which is VERY fun and exciting. But here are the links to the shops...
Carly Original sent in a sample called "gymnastics" (It is purple, blue, and pink) that is hand dyed bamboo. I LOVE the colors and can't wait to practice on this hard for me to spin fiber. She is also a very nice person who messaged me on Etsy when she saw I made my first sale! I thought that was awesome.
Desired Haven Farm sent in a big batt that is red and black titled "Derby". I spun it up, and really enjoyed the black part of the sample. The red (which was Gretchen and Alpaca) was a bit lumpy, which made a cool effect, but I'm more into smooth yarn, so it wasn't my favorite. It was VERY soft though, and if you are into art yarn, check it out!
Silver Sun Alpacas sent in a gorgeous natural sample of 90% alpaca and 10% mulberry silk. I can not wait to get my hands into this. I've spun some of her stuff before, and it is amazing.
Plum Crazy Ranch and Fiber Art had a ginned cotton sample titled "Cotton Candy in the Buff". I thought that was rather creative. I have ever thought of spinning cotton, so this will be an interesting experiment. It was also neat to see such and organic sample from them, as normally their samples are crazy colors (which I actually love!).
Pacos had the small sample that looked like a candy apple. It is 100% alpaca and while it looks like a small sample, is actually a good amount! She really packed it on there! I love how rich the color is... and I have loved spinning alpaca, so it might not be too long before some of this makes its way to my house.
Another one of my favorite Phatties, Fiber Fancy, had a gorgeous candy apple batt. She is having an amazing sale right now, so be sure to check it out. Her prices are REALLY reasonable and having ordered from her multiple times, I can attest to the fact that her products are gorgeous and amazing. I'm supposed to be on a fiber diet, but her sale may break me....
Hands and Notions (a phattie I have not seen before) sent in a sample of wool locks titled "Jubilee". They are a very earthy color and look fun to spin. She also has some fun fiber grab bags on her site that would be neat to see... I love surprises!
Weston's favorite sample was from Whimsy Wool and is called "Big Top". It is a very soft merino wool in some gorgeous colors. If you are looking to purchase some hand spun yarn, her prices are incredible!
Jela's Fiber was my pick for favorite color... the yummy green batt is so pretty and has just the right amount of sparkle. It is made of merino and bamboo with a hint of Angelina. This color matches my coat, and is my absolute favorite shade of green... it looks like spring grass.
WC Mercantile (which is where I bought my spinning wheel from!) sent in 100% milk fiber in a cute little popcorn box. I'm telling you, the packaging this month was amazing. I know that spinning this will be hard for me, but the color is so amazing, I'm going to give it a shot anyway! And if you are looking for a spinning wheel, check them out! I got AMAZING customer service and a bunch of free fiber... plus the shipping was really quick!
(RuLe OuT) Fiber Addiction, NOS sent in a silk hankie called "Mosquito Bite". I thought the name was very creative. And fitting. It is a pink, mottled color. I haven't spun from a hankie before, but I need to try as I also got one in one of my club packages recently. And, because of our weird "second summer" we've been having recently, I actually got two mosquito bites on my foot last week.... annoying.
Beesy Bee Fibers sent in a gorgeous pink merino/tencel sample. The color is so pretty... I LOVE tencel yarn so I will have to see how much I love spinning it. :)
All Twisted Up sent in a wool/mohair sample in a soft pink called "Cotton Candy". The color reminds me of a baby girl... I love it. Her shop is full of different things for the fiber artist... she sews, knits, spins, dyes. She reminds me of myself. :) She dyed a lot of roving in colors that depicted the different world fairs, and they are available in her shop as well.
Boho Knitter Chic sent in a box of three samples in blue, yellow, and pink. I think it was called "Clown Hair", or at least that is what it reminded me of. And it came with a lollipop! How fun. These have just the right amount of sparkle as well. I LOVE sparkle in my batts and fibers, and these are just very fun. The bright colors are amazing and I can't wait to spin them up! She is having her first spin-a-long based on Halloween. I just read the description and UGH, these people have such wonderful things it makes it SO hard not to buy them! I LOVE Halloween... what is a girl to do???
And last, but certainly not least, is my FAVORITE sample of the box. I have admired this shop for a while, and have been VERY tempted by at least one of her rovings. Now that I have sampled her items, I don't know how much longer I can just look at them on my computer screen. The Spinning Sheep sent in a sample with a small fiber braid (in gorgeous fall colors), a sample of her hand lotion in "Pumpkin Patch" and a small bag of candy corn. I LOVE her logo, with the cute, crazy sheep. And her lotion has a soft scent that isn't overwhelming, which I really appreciate as I am very sensitive to smells and was excited to be able to actually use this!

So now that you have WAAY too many shops to tempt you, go spend some $$! And if you are looking for sock blanks (and who isn't!) go check out my shop. And in case you were looking for more Halloween fun, Twiggi is doing a Halloween club. I haven't decided if I want to just do one week, or all four. Seriously, how do these people come up with these amazing ideas?!? I love it! Alright, off to do some work and spin up more of my wonderful samples. Did you get a Phat Fiber box? What was your favorite sample?

Sale Day

So... I'm a bit burned out on Sock Summit blogging. I may come back and explain in more detail, but here is a quick summary of what I haven't told you. The Ravelry meet up was AMAZING. They really know how to throw a party. We got some awesome swag bags and just had a great time. I met the lady who had a knitting needle stab into her leg (I know, crazy, right?!? She just sat down, and it was at just the right angle out of her bag and BAM! Into her leg. She was fine. And quite a good sport about it as well.) and some other fun people. It was a blast. I also loved visiting the LYS (Local Yarn Shops) in Portland. I went to Knit/Purl about 4 times. What a cute shop! I also made the trek to Twisted and bought a lot of fun stuff there as well. Both were wonderful shops. Also, I fell in love with the Button and Ribbon Emporium. It was amazing. I'm SO glad they have a website to order from, because I spent almost $100 there and definitely did not buy all that I wanted. There were so many amazing things to look at. The people who worked there were so nice and generous! I loved every minute I spent there. I had the BEST time at Sock Summit. When people ask me how my trip was, I get tongue tied, as there really are no words to explain it. You had to be there.

ANYWAY. Yesterday was Sale Day at Quilt Tree. It was my first sale day as an employee. It is a pretty big deal, I remember as a customer waiting in line to get in and combat shopping all day. As an employee, it wasn't much different. I was putting away fabric and helping customers find things all day. It was a pretty manageable sale day, I think a lot of people are starting to shop BEFORE the sale, as they are not in the mood to fight the crowds. I thought it was fun though. I was exhausted after working for 7 hours, and was definitely ready to go home. I'm glad it won't happen again for a while... :) I'm also glad that I have three days off, because by the time I make it back to work the shop will be put back together!

W and I decided to go on an adventure last night. We drove around town and explored places we had never been. Drove by the new Target they are building... then followed that street all the way around. Did you know it makes a loop back to Diamond? Yea, neither did we. Crazy. Then we stopped by the Diamond Mall. Wondered around there for a while. Now I don't have to go to the mall for 6-12 months. It was crazy. I don't enjoy shopping in malls (at least here at home. I normally don't mind when I am outside the state as they have a lot of stores we don't have, so I will do it.) and last night really reminded me why that is. The stores had loud music, teenagers working (nothing like a 16-year-old working and answering questions for you to make you feel old), and just too many people. And I just don't like the consumerism feeling of the whole thing. I don't need any of that stuff. Seriously. Who needs pants with holes ALREADY in them for $60?!? Somehow, American Eagle has made people think that is a necessity.

I finished the baby hat I was knitting. OMG, it is amazing and probably the most adorable hat ever. I will post pictures soon. I am very lazy about pictures lately. I am now struggling to choose what to knit next... baby leg warmers or a scarf for myself. And just to set the record straight, there is no baby in my near future, I just enjoy knitting for babies! Quick, little projects are very satisfying. Now off to start my day.