A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

Happy Monday!

So the plan for today is to dye yarn. Its going to be about 85 and kinda muggy, but tomorrow and Wednesday are going to be in the mid to upper 90’s and even stickier, so if there is a day this week to dye it looks like it will be today.

I did my prep last night. Dragged in a Laundry basket full of yarns and tied all my extra ties on the skeins. Learned my lesson on that when a hank of Espresso came untied during the dyeing process and turned into angel hair pasta on me! I was going to toss it but I gave it to MIL instead and she managed to untangle all 1700 yds of it!!! God Bless her, I wouldn’t have had the patience!!!

So 3-4 extra ties on each hank, depending on the yarn. Then they all got dropped in steaming hot buckets of water with Syntropol and vinegar and are waiting patiently in our back hall way (out of harms and Mimmo’s reach) for me to begin after breakfast.

I’m not sure if MIL is around today, need to check if she can help with the baby some . . . and perhaps provide lunch/dinner . . . though just in case I’m going to fix something for lunch while we are having breakfast so that all I have to do is take it out of the fridge, we can eat out on the patio today . . . its in the shade.

I’m thinking of doing a new colorway today . . . I have an idea in my head that I want to put to yarn . . . the scarey part is making the leap from in my head to the 15 lbs of yarn and couple of lbs of fiber sitting in the buckets. That is about how much I think I can get done today . . . 15 lbs. Gives me a couple of lbs of the superwash plus a couple of lbs of it for a sweater design I want to work on, a couple of lbs of the Regular and a lb each of most of the other yarns. The only thing I don’t have skeined up to dye this time is sock yarn. I wanted to get some done but ran out of time to get to it. Next time I guess.

Time to go put the coffee on and get this show on the road. I’ll post pictures of the yarn once I have it drying . . . Blog readers will get the sneak preview

Okay, this may seem a bit ridiculous but here are the pics of my stash. This includes my stuff and most of the business stuff which is on the near end of the first photo . . . I’m not telling where the line is

This is why I don’t need more yarn or fiber!

That space is something like 4 feet wide by 17 feet long and about 6 feet high!

I did most of this stashing while I was working full time in anticipation of the day when I wouldn’t be working outside the home and would have a rug-rat or two to keep me from getting much done. Idea being to spend the money when I had it and store the yarn away so that when I couldn’t buy any more I’d have plenty. “Mission Accomplished!”

I’ve also got easily 100 lbs of spinning fiber that has been washed and carded an another 30 lbs or so that haven’t been sent out yet.

Year to date in 2006 I’ve gotten to spin, maybe, if I estimate up, a whole pound of fiber! And that counts samples for the business! At that rate my grandchildren will be using this stuff!

No more shopping for me! Seriously, none.

These 2 tubs are 70 qts each and hold most of my UFOs. I tend to start lots of things and once I get the hang of what it is I’m learning by doing the project I tend to loose interest and move on to starting something else. Some of these are inches from finished, others are barely started. Every once in a while I pull something out and actually finish it. Other times I go through and find things that get sent to the great frog pond in the sky . . . either way, as long as I’ve learned what ever it was I started the project for that is what really matters, right?

The little box on top is my hat box. It has the hats I make here and there out of random scraps or when something strikes my fancy to play with. I take it out in the fall and let a bunch of different kids I know, some family, some who could just use a new warm hat, pick something. then when everyone has made a selection, the remaing hats go to charity. Much easier than knitting specific hats for specific kids . . . and a great way to use up leftovers.

And this is my wheel. I love, love, love this wheel and I’m so very glad I got it when I did, before the baby and the staying home . . . it never would have happened now. I don’t get to spend as much time with her as I’d like, but as soon as the little guy gets just a bit bigger he’s going to learn about keeping his mitts off Mommy’s toys At least by the time he is 4 I should be able to have it in the same room with him while I use it and not have him climbing it! Right? That blue stuff on there is the fiber my mom got at NH S&W years ago that will someday be her shawl. Someday!

Okay, its late, I should go get some sleep. 6:30 comes awefully early these days. And someone will be wide awake and wanting us to read to him. Yup! First thing in the morning when his eyes are barely open he wants his favorite book and he wants us to read it to him. How cute is that?

Finally made it to the Post Office!

And there were 2 post cards waiting for me!!!!

Thanks Kim & Susie!

And Kim, yes, we live rather near Hilltop, in fact our neighbor works there!

I also had several little envelopes of stamps from Ebay waiting for me! Ebay is such a dangerous place for someone like me with no impulse control!!! Only marginally better than a bakery and that only because I can’t eat stamps!

Actually, you can find some pretty interesting stuff for short money if you don’t get caught up in the bidding. I got some neat older stamps as well as some from other countries. And I didn’t spend much $.

I have also been doing some fibery stuff.

I dyed more yarn and fiber on Monday. I was going to do another batch today but it was over 90 degrees and the humidity was very high so I wasn’t about to start boiling water!!!!

That and the baby wasn’t feeling well, running a bit of a temp . . . and C.R.A.N.K.Y!!!! I’ve called the Dr and we are going in the morning just to be on the safe side. I’m sure its probably just teething or something but anytime the temp goes over 100 I call the Dr. . . .

Anyway, fibery things. I dyed up a batch of 1004 The Mean Reds on Monday and it really is some lovely stuff, if I do say so myself. I”ve got the fiber packaged up and I’ve got to work on skeining the yarn next. Its all in a giant laundry basket in my kitchen. Though a big pile of wool and mohair isn’t really something you want to spend a lot of quality time with in this heat!

I’m also working on redoing the website. I’ve reorganized some of the current pages, like the yarn and fiber pages, and I’m actually working on a new version of the entire site . . . And you heard it here first.

I took a pic of the new fiber today and I hope to get it added in the morning and the yarn will go up once it is skeined off. I’ve decided to stop doing the whole hank thing (except as special orders) and start skeining off to 50 gram skeins for most things (100g for sock yarn).

I’m hoping to have the brand new version of the site up next week and to send out a newsletter to everyone at that time.

Well, I’ve got to go clear up the toys, the living room and baby’s room look like a hurricane blew through them! One may be old enough to enjoy using my carpet sweeper but its just a bit young for learning to put the toys away . . . perhaps by winter?

Blog Contest – well sort of . . . Updated!

I’m going to have a blog contest, sort of. I’m working on a little project that I could really use some help with . . . and I’m hoping everyone in the Knitting Blog world will help me

I’m starting a stamp collection that will actually be for the baby when he gets just a bit older. The idea is that instead of doing a sticker chart we’ll use a stamp album/collection. When he does his chores he’ll get to pick stamps from the box to add to his album and as an added bonus we can research the places, people and events depicted on them. (Sneaking a little education in there . . .) However, for this little project to really work I’m going to need lots and lots of stamps esp. from interesting places!

Here is where you come in. I’d like to have everyone send me a postcard from where ever you are (or from someplace interesting you have been for that matter) with the most interesting local postage stamps you can find . . . if in the US the commemorative stamps would be great . . . rather than the regular old flag ones.

Since I’m hoping that a number of people from other countries will be interested and send in a postcard I’m going to actually do three drawings. The first, for the folks from the US, will be on August 1st. That should give anyone interested plenty of time to get a postcard here. The second, for the International folks, will be on August 15th since I know mail ususally takes longer to reach here when coming from another country. That leaves almost a month travel time for it to get here . . . The third will be for the funniest combination (see below) and will also be when the international bunch is done on the 15th.

For each prize I’ll contact the winner to offer a choice between a Warm or Cool colorway or if they would prefer a “Solo” colorway which is basically one color of hand-dyed yarn. Rather than pick a specific fiber now I’ll work with the winner to get the right yarn for them. (So if you are allergic to wool, don’t worry, you can have another fiber

And I’m going to add a third prize for the most interesting/unusual combination of stamp(s) and postcard. I would ask that you keep it “clean” as the point is to give these to a child Otherwise feel free to come up with a wacky combination or a strange card or one from someplace with a really funny name . . . which ever card/stamp combination makes me laugh the hardest will get a prize . . . (I’ll go check now for what that will be)

Interested? Its really quite simple. Just send me a postcard with your name, email address and mailing address (so I can contact you and mail you the yarn if you win) to the following PO:

Margaret Testa
PO Box 1439
Saugus, MA 01906
USA

As the postcards arrive I’ll even take pictures of some of them to post here so we can all play along together. Feel free to enter more than once by sending additional postcards but please stamp them individually, not by sending an envelope full as the real goal is to collect the stamps!

Privacy Policy: I won’t be sharing the info with anyone. Period.

Questions? Leave me comments or send an email and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Close call!

I’ve finished the KP socks . . . with only 3 yards of yarn to spare! Talk about cutting it close! I hope I get the row counts all exactly right on the 2nd sock otherwise I might actually run short of yarn to finish these socks! Has anyone else had this happen with Knit Picks Sock Garden?

Just a note to say . . . updates all around.

Baby blog updated: The Offical First Birthday Story (illustrated) is now available on the baby’s blog.

Challenge update: Haven’t gotten to spin or card for a couple of days now.

Knitting: I’m almost finished (nearing the ball of the foot) on the first of the KP Sock Garden socks. I’ll take another picture soon.

I’m also thinking of clearing some space at the kitchen table and actually sewing Cousin Josh’s sweater together. I’d finished the knitting on it months ago but it looks like we are going to see him in October . . . I just hope it still fits!