See Jayne Knit

Camping Out

2011-03-14T15:28:00.003-07:00

Tony and McGee

2010-11-04T14:45:00.002-07:00

2010-10-30T12:19:00.001-07:00

NCIS Sock Yarnz!!

2010-10-20T07:44:00.002-07:00

Can you guess who is who? (We've got Abby, Gibbs, Ziva, and Ducky)

PS. These are available in my Etsy shop!

Freshly Bathed Pigs

2010-07-30T11:23:00.002-07:00

October

2010-07-15T18:52:00.003-07:00

Yarn I'm working on called October.It's gonna pin-stripe in tiny one row stripes for socks. I'm working on a sock and will add a pic when it's more than 1/4 of an inch long.

OH! And my etsy shop is having a big summer contest! See shop announcement or below:

***SUMMER CONTEST!!!***SUMMER CONTEST!!!***SUMMER CONTEST!!!***

Remember my 5000 sales contest? Well, this is the same deal. From now until September 21 (last day of summer), you will get one entry into the contest for every ten dollars you spend in my shop. Any items. Not including shipping. On September 21, I will do a random drawing and the winner will get a $100.00 credit for my shop.

House and Stuff

2010-02-24T17:14:00.001-08:00

Yum!

2010-02-24T15:18:00.001-08:00

Better Late Than Never

2010-02-22T15:08:00.002-08:00

Finally getting in on a bit of Ravelympics

Best Place to Knit...

2010-02-22T14:38:00.004-08:00

Ravelympics!

2010-02-01T19:45:00.002-08:00

Pigs!

2009-11-17T13:37:00.002-08:00

Tee Hee

2009-07-31T12:49:00.001-07:00

2009-07-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

Crossing the Finish Line

2009-07-26T21:03:00.001-07:00

Assorted

2009-07-26T19:45:00.002-07:00

What The Heck Is...

2009-07-09T13:03:00.001-07:00

The Tour de Fleece?!

It's a ravelry thing -- to take place alongside the Tour de France bicycle event in, you know, France.

We spin while they spin.

Thank goodness I don't actually have to get on a bicycle.

If you go to Ravelry, you can find a group on this topic, with all kinds of teams and threads and amaaaaaazing yarn pr0n eye candy to drool over and covet.

I'm using my blog as a flicker page for photos so I can upload them to rav. I'm planning to post most of the finished yarns in my shop...if I can part with them.

Better Late Than Never

2009-07-09T10:40:00.003-07:00

I finally have a team ravatar for Tour de Fleece

Tour de Fleece Day Four

2009-07-07T19:09:00.002-07:00

RubberHoar's Revenge

2009-07-06T14:59:00.002-07:00

Tour de Fleece

2009-07-05T17:22:00.003-07:00

I Knit A Lion

2009-05-30T00:04:00.006-07:00

I love this guy! He was fun and not that hard to knit, but very detailed (lots of fussy little pieces and finishing). I hang out at Black Sheep Yarns in Port Moody, and the owner got in a set of patterns by Chris de Longpre. The Lion is from the set called Safari Friends, put out by Knitting at Knoon.

Safari friends comes with patterns for a lion, an elephant, a giraffe, and a zebra. I have elephant legs on the go already.

This designer has also created patterns for dinosaurs (very cute) and for aliens (even cuter!). I can't wait for the alien patterns to arrive at Black Sheep cuz I plan to be all over those.

The pattern instructions are extremely detailed and well thought-out. You can see quite a few animals on Ravelry for these patterns, and they all look adorable. I used Queensland Collection Kathmandu for the main lion and Elann.com Sierra Aran for the mane. The little guy sits about six inches tall (not counting the leg length, and he took me about seven hours to create. Rrroooowrrrrr!

Work In Progress

2009-05-28T10:06:00.003-07:00

One of my many WIP's is Carmela's Cardigan from Patons Top Down Classics. I just started this a few weeks ago, but it knits up super fast in Elann.com's Seta Lana (Celadon). I bought this at elann's bag sale, and the day it arrived, I ditched all other projects cuz I just had to get my hands in that soft silky yarn. Mine came on a Monday, and I went to knit night, only to see that I was not alone. Another knitter had her Seta Lana on needles the day it arrived too.

Pix here...more at Raveland

In Which I Finally Caved...

2009-05-27T20:49:00.005-07:00

Succumbed
Crumbled
Got Sucked into RAVELRY!

And now I leave you with photos of my finished ChicKnits Twist Cardi, cuz naturally I'm filling out all the details on RAVELRY. I ravel as SeeJayneKnit :D

What's Up??

2009-03-02T15:20:00.003-08:00

Well lessee...

It's knit-night tonight, and I don't know if I will be working on this little lovely:

Which I got a fledgling start on last night...

Or if I will be sewing together all these nice blocked pieces of my ChicKnits Twist Cardi. I'm still knitting the Right Front, but why should these other pieces wait.

I can't do any thinky-knitting at knit-night. There is just too much conversation going on, and I make the most pathetic mistakes.

I have all this new handspun that is waiting to be washed and hung up to dry:

And then there is all this other yarn waiting to be labelled, listed, or shipped.

On Thursday, I got my second Tattoo!!! Yippee!!! I'll post a pic when it's a bit more healed. Thanks to Ryan/Llama at Sinister Skin in Port Moody, You rock! You did a fab-oo-lous job dahling.

Booooooo

2009-02-25T14:21:00.003-08:00

It's snowing. I am sooo sick of snow. Grrrrrr!

On the other hand, I finished The Man's hat. Yay me!!

They Really Don't Like This Guy in Paia

2009-02-23T16:20:00.001-08:00

Sign Outside a Hair-Waxing Establishment in the Town of Paia (Maui)

2009-02-23T00:03:00.002-08:00

A Funny Thing Happened to my Camera

2009-02-22T13:00:00.007-08:00

When digital cameras became popular, I was a holdout. I liked my Pentax "traditional" camera. But when we go on holidays I take a lot of photos. A lot. Like fifteen or twenty rolls worth. I calculated that I could buy quite a nice digital camera for the same cost as one trip's worth of film and processing for the old one. I bought a Kodak EasyShare with a big-ass lens, not one of those cigarette-pack slip into your pocket kind. I bought it a week before a Disneyland trip several years ago. It took fabulous pictures.

Until it didn't.

It fell four inches. I kid you not, four fucking inches, and then refused to work ever again. And it was in its heavily padded case too. We were in our second hour of waiting to get on the new Monsters Inc. ride (which wasn't worth the wait by the way), and the last photo I got was of that big blue monster guy and then the camera went tharn. A quick trip to Target in Orange County to buy a second one, and my anxiety was relieved.

I loved that camera. Future shop refunded our money on the first one, so I was set. That camera took every picture you've ever seen on this blog. Every picture you've ever seen in my yarn shop. Every picture of family fun and pets and general silliness. That camera took the picture of yarny goodness up there at the top of this post.

In Hawaii, I carried that camera into the ocean, stood waist deep in the water, and took shot after shot of my kids and the Man body surfing. I focused on this big wave they were all about to catch. Action shot. And then felt the wave break right over my head and well, right over that camera. It died on the spot. No long lingering good bye.

This time it was a quick trip to Maui Wal-Mart for a replacement with an even bigger-ass lens than before. Great camera! Sucks up so much light that I have to learn to take my yarn pix all over again. I wonder where I will buy my next camera.

Below: pix with new cam of a hat I'm knitting for the Man. I dyed and spun the yarn. It's your basic knit one purl one watchman style hat. The brim will fold up.

PS. Wow, I can't believe that people still read this blog. Cool!

Tired of Hiding

2009-02-21T20:33:00.004-08:00

I am a writer. Among other things that I am and that I enjoy, I am a writer. I have boxes of journals,and myriad computer files, full of poems, observations, essays, and stories about my strange life. Stories that I hope to publish one day. I'm just narcissistic enough to believe that other people might enjoy reading those poems, thoughts, and stories too.

I'm not in a space in my life to pursue publishing at this time, but I miss writing. I miss blogging. I used to share my life here a little...and then I stopped. I stopped mainly because I don't like my family, and I don't like that they can find me here and read things about my life. I'm not talking about my own family -- my husband and kids -- I'm talking about that other family, the one I grew up in. Well, I'm tired of hiding, and I've decided that if I want to write, I'm just going to go ahead and write.

Ten things to know about me:

1. I love my job (I play with string and fluff and beads for a living)
2. I am a hermit
3. I live in a house with The Man, The Boy, The Cupcake, two guinea pigs and a hamster
4. I think of my old family as Oddly, Weary, Milk, and Poach
5. I go to knit night at Black Sheep Yarns in Port Moody
6. I go to church and I love Jesus, and I even believe in all that crazy supernatural resurrection stuff, but only if gay people and bad people and everyone else gets to be there too. Cuz lord knows, I ain't perfect.
7. I wish that Coke and Cheetohs was considered a healthy meal replacement
8. I love movies
9. I don't read the newspaper
10 I have DID (you'll have to look it up). And no, The United States of Tara is not an accurate depiction. Neither is Sybil.

And here's a bonus...I recently returned from a trip to Maui with Man, Boy, and Cupcake. One of the highlights was that we snorkeled a lot and saw giant sea turtles...like these guys:

Apple of my Sky

2008-11-12T22:12:00.003-08:00

This is my newest and mostest favoritest colorway. I've dyed it on roving (and spun), on sock yarn, on BFL Aran, on chunky wool, on merino sport, and on alpaca (not shown). Today I knitted up some fingerless mitts on some chunky handspun in that colorway. So cheerful and purdy...makes me smile.

Haven't Forgotten How To Knit

2008-11-09T15:33:00.003-08:00

See! I can still knit!

A new LYS opened up here in Port Moody, and they have a Monday evening knit night. So every Monday, I pack up my Namaste bag for a couple of hours of stitchin' and bitchin'. This means that I actually do knit for a few hours a week, and I've been enjoying that, so I have been knitting on other days too.

I decided to work on one new (natch) project and get it completely finished before looking back at all the other unfinished knit business that has been languishing in drawers, baskets and bins.

I'm knitting Chicknits Twist -- and looky! The back, two sleeves, and part of the left front are all done:

The pattern is easy without being boring, and I love the yarn I'm using. It's an elann bag yarn, a superwash merino/bamboo blend that came out semi-solid in the dye job, so elann sold it off in bags of ten for extravagantly low prices. I think it sold out in 90 seconds. Mine is a deep espresso brown that makes me feel happy while I knit.

Yes, the next thing in line is to finish off the top down cardi I'm knitting in hand-dyed handspun yarn. I did most of the body and all of the sleeves, including sewing and blocking to this point:

I need to do something to finish off the body and then some kind of button bands, and then it is done.

DEAR AMERICA

2008-11-04T23:12:00.003-08:00

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very sincerely,
And with many congratulations,

Jayne
(and a whole lotta other Canadians)

PS. I'm in a helluva good mood :)

When Yarn Sings

2008-04-04T21:03:00.003-07:00

We all know that yarn can speak. It can whisper sweet nothings into our ears, telling us that it wants to be bought, to be owned, to be cuddled, to be knitted into that extra special something.

We all know that it's true, and if you don't know this, then you are in a deep state of denial. The rest of us pity you. I did not know, however, that yarn could sing until yesterday when this little baby started crooning to me.

I bought the roving from Twisted at etsy. Now you need to know that I have bought a lot of beautiful roving. I've even dyed some. And quite often when I spin that roving, I love the yarn that it becomes. I think about keeping a great deal of it.

But I have rules about these things.

If I have projects on the go in my own handspun, then I'm not allowed to get all hoggish and keep any more. That stuff goes into the shop and gets sold so that yarn can travel out into the world and speak to other knitters, as yarn was meant to do. Somebody has to pay the bills after all, and it might as well be yarn.

Just not this skein.

This skein is mine. The roving was a favorite from the day it arrived in the mail. It was so lovely to spin that I was sad when it was finished. And there's no way that it will allow me to sell it off. I just can't part with it.

Besides, it sings.

Moments Away From Happy Feet

2008-03-31T19:12:00.003-07:00

I haven't done a lot of knitting since Christmas. I knit several pairs of mitts for my shop before Christmas; my mom and my nephew got socks. My other two nephews got monster-hats (alas unphotographed), and my daughter "swiped" the one special project sweater that was supposed to be for me.

In January and February, I eked along on a pair of socks for a dear woman I know and love. She has size-10 feet, so that took a while. Then I started a pair for myself. What is special about mine is that they are knitted with some of my very first yarn spun finely enough to knit some DK weight socks. DK/light worsted is my favorite weight for sock knitting. I had to sub in some other yarn I spun and plied as I didn't keep quite enough to finish the job. But I like the final effect just fine. One toe to graft and a few ends to get rid of, and I will have happy feet.

And now for a quick sweatery update:

Now About That Sweater...

2008-03-28T17:44:00.004-07:00

So I decided on a whim that I would start my handspun sweater. I had dyed up a particularly glorious batch of Blue Agate merino roving without a clear plan of what to do with it. Spin it? Sell it? Sell it spun or as roving? Keep it?

Then I noticed that a few other Etsy roving-dyers had posted what looked to me to be colours that would coordinate very well with my Blue Agate. I ordered them and started spinning. I saw a picture in my head of a basic cardigan that would stripe out in different, but coordinated colorways from similar rovings.

This is the front:

This part will really blow your mind. When I had spun enough of the three different rovings to get started, I looked at the yarn and thought, hmmm, maybe a size 9 needle. and then I looked through my copy of Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel, and thought, maybe something like this (looking at the short sleeved yellow cardi), but without that big panel thing.

And then I cast on. I made a guess about gauge (no swatch) and I made another guess about how much to start with, and I started knitting. Basic top-down raglan with open fronts. I'll add a band later. I knitted and worked increases, took note of the happy marriage of yarn with those size 9 (5.5mm) needles and carried on. I changed yarns, increased some more, knitted some more, put it all on a string, tried it on, put it back on the needles and kept on going.

This is the back:

In the spirit of making things up as I go along, I worked increases until the top part fit to where you divide off the sleeves. I knitted and tried it on again and decided where a bit of waist shaping should go. I'm working on that part now.

Here is a pic of two of the three spun yarns I'm using with some of that delectable Blue Agate roving. The spool has more yarn, cuz I was starting to run low on that colour.

Today, I'm working waist decreases, and I just put it down this second to take an up-to-date photo of where it's at. Stay tuned for more updates...

By the way, I'm having fun with this :)

The Coolest Stitch Markers Ever

2008-03-27T08:27:00.002-07:00

In my travels through the land of Etsy, I've recently discovered, and fallen in love with, the style known as Steampunk. If you go to Etsy and search "steampunk," you will find all kinds of intriguing pieces, put together with love and old junk. Funky old junk. And when I say junk, I mean it in the most affectionate way. We're not talking about trash.

I started getting ideas in my head about how this might work with stitch markers. I imagined a cluster of unique markers that could be slipped on and off an aged chain. I imagined something I could wear that would capture that steampunk sensibility, but that would be practical and useful at the same time.

Then I went to all my favorite beaderies and used-stuff shops. I dug through my old bead box. I hunted supplies at etsy, and lo, the idea became this:

Yes, they are super cool. Yes, they are available in my shop. I kept a set for myself, and I love them! And yes, there will be variations on the theme available as I continue to dream them up.

Dear Blog...

2008-03-27T00:02:00.002-07:00

I am knitting! Here is a little peek:

Cheers,

Jayne
xo

Dear Jayne...

2008-03-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

I miss you.

Your Blog
xo

Spin Spin Spin

2008-01-19T13:49:00.001-08:00

In spinning news, things just get better and better all the time. Here are some mitts I knit with some of my earliest handspun. I dyed up roving in Blue Agate Beauty and spun it thick 'n thin into chunky. The mitts are soooo soft.

I bought a roving from a wonderful seller on etsy called Pigeonroofstudios. But don't shop there, 'cuz her rovings are so popular that they sell out in minutes, and I don't need any more competition. Hers is the one on the right. She called it Tree Scum. Mine is the one on the left. I called it Little Green Apples.

After I spun them both as singles, I plied them together into what I'm calling Apple Core. I love it and kept a skein for myself. I listed the other skein at etsy.

This is another of my recent spun yarns. I haven't listed it yet, and not sure if I will or not yet. I will likely call it Embers since I dye that colorway on other yarn. I plied it with two different rovings that I spun into singles.

This one never got named. I took it to an appointment to show off to a knitter-woman I know. She couldn't stop cuddling with it and finally asked (sort of begged) if I would sell it to her. It's a single of 100% Blue Face Leicester that I spun by stripping off roving that I dyed and reversing two strands so that they spun as they mixed colours from each other.

And finally, a couple of delectable rovings I dyed last week. The first one is BFL; the second one is merino.

More Show And Tell

2008-01-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

Wheeeee, I love to spin yarn! I had no idea that spinning was so much fun. In my last post, I showed off Little Red Schoolhouse, and then the next day it sold. I was so proud of the little yarn that could. I've been selling yarn for quite a while now, so it's not that big a deal anymore, just a really fun job. But I felt so pleased to list and sell one of my own handspun yarns. I've been learning very quickly, and enjoying every bit of it.

This one is called Marge. I spun some pretty corriedale roving into a thicker strand and some soft merino I dyed orange into a thinner strand and then plied them together. My kids and The Man loved it and said it looked like Marge Simpson. Marge is listed in my shop to rave reviews. Oh Homey.

This one doesn't have a name, but I'm keeping it for now. One strand of merino in Blue Agate, and one strand of merino in a green and purple colorway (remember the roving drying on the rack?). Verrrry soft. I think I'll make a second one, and then we're talking yardage.

This one is MINE, so don't even ask. It took me HOURS to spin. I was testing out a Fishy Wishy theory, and it worked out exactly as I hoped, so I'm thinking socks.

For Me.

I'll have to make a second batch, but I have the roving ready to go.

And speaking of handspun, these are some socks I started on Christmas Day with some lovely bulky handspun from Shunklies.etsy.com. Beautiful, soft and so fun to knit. I got one super quick sock done on The Day, and hoped to finish the second one on Boxing Day. Don't know what happened. Maybe tomorrow. It was while knitting these that I knew I had to get a wheel as soon as possible.

Launching Out

2008-01-06T17:45:00.000-08:00

There is is! The first skein of yarn I've deemed fit for listing in my shop. I'm calling it Little Red Schoolhouse, and it is spun thick and thin in 100% Merino, using a roving I dyed in Embers.

I feel all tee hee hee about this. And I have two other yarns that are drying even as I post. And one that I'm spinning for myself. And a pair of mitts I knit with my yarn. And...

Yarn Hangout

2008-01-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

Step into my parlour...

So my big son turned 15 and grew another inch. He's now 6' 3" tall, one more inch and he'll top the Big Man around here. Big Man has bitter memories of the little twin bed he cramped himself into as a teen, so when he saw that The Boy was looking squished in his bed, he declared that a change was in order. Boy moved downstairs to our extra room, a much bigger room with a much bigger bed. He moved out one weekend in November, and the following Monday, I moved in. Yes, I took over his upstairs bedroom and turned it into (da da da da)

YARN ROOM!!

I can't tell you how much I love to have my very own yarn room. I have installed all my yarn to dye, my personal stash, my bins of finished yarn, and a beautiful collection of art/hand spun yarns. Shelves are stacked floor to ceiling with yarn for dyeing. My own stash and mailing supplies all fit in the closet. Even my beads and stitch marker supplies have a spot.

The room had a clothesline running along one wall, where The Boy used to hang his artwork. Now I hang long skeins of handspun there. Skeins of handspun and yarn to dye fill little nooks and cubbies. I've decorated with my own paintings, and little goodies from friends and knitters warm up an already very inviting space. I have a comfy chair for sitting and knitting and a good light. And candles. The Man installed huge IKEA hooks along one wall for hanging skeins of yarn that are ready to dye.

Finally, I put a bean bag chair in the room too, just in case I get a guest or two. Sometimes I hang out in there with the door closed, spinning and listening to my iPod. Sometimes I hang out in there with the door open, and one of my kids or The Man himself comes by to hang out and chat. I'm not in there all the time (why not??), but when I am, it seems to be the most popular room in the house.

And many many times a day, I'm in and out of there, or I just stand in the doorway and look. And smile.

I Have A Roving Eye

2008-01-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

Roving you say? Why is there dyed roving in my house?

Because of this! (Wheee!! Aren't new toys grand???)

Yup, I'm doing the spinning thing now. I bought my wheel on Friday. It's a Lendrum Double Treadle, and I am having tons of fun plying, um, playing with it. Lendrum wheels are Canadian made (like me), and I found a distributor who lives about half an hour from where I live. She has just started up her home-based business, so if you're interested, send me an email, and I'll give you her number.

You're also getting a few shots of my new yarn room here, but I'll talk about that in a later post. Look, up on the line. See the little white skein hanging proudly between that other more grown up looking spun yarn (not mine). The little white skein is my very very first ever bit of yarn spun by me on my new wheel.

My second and third attempts have had lots of things done to them, so I'll post about those later. Then I dyed some roving in a version of my new colorway Blue Agate Beauty.

Then I got really cheeky and tried spinning some fine yarn. See spool posing next to that gorgeous little sheep (thanks, T!). I plan to spin some more fine later on and then attempt to ply two strands together.

I've done some more things with that Blue Agate roving. You'll just have to stay tuned on that. And if you look back at the photo of the wheel, you'll see Blue Agate chunky on the bobbin.

Benne likes my hams, so I told her I'd post a photo of Daisy enjoying H's cuddly new sweater.

You've probably figured out that my shop is open again. Here is a new pair of mitts I just listed in some more luscious Hobbeldehoy yarn. This one is called HoneyCake.

Not A New Year's Resolution

2007-12-31T11:13:00.000-08:00

I plan to blog more this year.

It's not a New Year's Resolution, just a plan I'd like to implement. Even if the posts are short, I'd like to get back to regular posting. Stay tuned to see if I succeed.

I plan to: blog more, knit more, and spin more. YES I said SPIN. More on that...later.

Here is some knitting I did for and over Christmas:

The top photo is a close-up of a pair of socks I knit for my mom for Christmas. My mom got sick in December and will go in for surgery in a few days. I thought she could use something warm and cozy. Here is the complete view:

She loves the socks and has been wearing them night and day with a liner of cotton socks. I knit them with handspun sock yarn that I bought from KnittinPretty at etsy.

The mitts are knit with handspun from Hobbledehoy at etsy. I have a serious addiction to Hobbledehoy's yarn, and I think it is the main reason for my desire to spin my own yarn (so I don't go broke at Hobbledehoy). In the long run, the wheel is cheaper.

I was able to knit three pair of these mitts from the one skein, so I kept a pair, sold a pair, and gifted a pair to my niece for Christmas.

This was supposed to be my cozy Christmas sweater. I knit it with Rowan Big Wool Fusion in a smoky blue/grey colour. I used the Rowan Pattern from Big it Up. The sweater was fun to knit, and quick on 12.75mm needles. And it doesn't really fit me, so it went to Little Miss H (who just turned 11). She loves it and calls it her "sleepover sweater." I wasn't allowed to show her hair 'cuz she was mad at it, and I'm supposed to say that this is her stunt-double posing in the sweater.

This is the yarn I used to knit my nephew a pair of socks for Christmas. Yeah, I know, lame to show the yarn and not the socks. Didn't get a photo. Yeah, I know. Lame. Especially as I have more of the yarn available in my shop, and you'd think that pix of nice socks knit in it would be a great marketing tool. Yeah, I know.

The yarn is called Rusty Camo, and it was fun to knit for socks on size 4.0mm (cuffs) and 3.75mm needles (the rest). I used about 150 grams to knit size-10 men's socks with 10 inch legs. The socks knit up fast, and the yarn striped in chunky stripes of rust and green. They looked great.

I also can't show you the two monster hats that I knit for my other two nephews. They were grand, and so quick and easy to knit. The monster patches just pop right out. The nephews loved them and wore them all through our time at dinner and after. Do you think I got any photos?? Yeah, I know.

New Girl in Town

2007-11-09T16:39:00.001-08:00

Meet Mooch!

Mooch is really teeny. We got her a few weeks ago 'cuz we're hamster-lovin' kind of people.

Yes, we still have Daisy. Daisy loves cilantro. Daisy does not love Mooch. We introduced them briefly, and Daisy made it very clear that she was the Alpha-Chick. Then we had to separate the two of them so that it didn't turn into a Sam Peckinpah moment.

Daisy loves Carrots.

Mooch loves to attack the giant sunflower seed head that Grandma sent home with us at Thanksgiving.

This is me waving hello to everyone out there in blogland.

In case you've worried, no I have not been working 24/7. I have been knitting!!! Yes, real knitting has been going on. I can't show you what I'm knitting, unfortunately, but I can show you the secret bag that it's in. Maybe tomorrow. :)

Phew! What a Big 'ol Day

2007-09-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

Today, I got my 1000th sale on etsy. Cue the streamers, the balloons, the confetti, the marching band...

This is considered a seriously major landmark over at Etsy, and I am blown away by it.

Etsy counts sales in an interesting way. Etsy does a lot of things in an interesting way. And yes, the word interesting is a bit loaded in this context. If I list five skeins of yarn from one batch, and five different people each buy a skein of yarn, it counts as five sales. If one person comes along and scoops up the whole batch, it counts as one sale. The 25 sets of stitch markers that I listed as a custom order counts as one sale. So, 1000 sales is a whole lot more than 1000 items.

I've had a pretty exciting day. :)

Oh! And I must point you in the direction of DancingMooney at etsy. DancingMooney bought the item that bumped the counter over to 1000. She is a lovely and very friendly etsy seller. She makes sweet jewelry that is well made and affordable. Thanks, DM, you're a doll!!

And thanks too to all of you out there in blogland and beyond, who have encouraged and supported me in all kinds of ways. Thanks to all my buyers! Thanks for blogging about my shop, or the yarn you bought, the socks you knit. Thanks for pointing me in the direction of great ideas (I still want to know who gave me the heads-up about including a different stitch marker in my sets). Thanks for referring me to good yarn sources. I keep telling people over at the etsy forums that knitters are the best!

I'm pretty tired now, but I want to show you what I knitted with that fun orange yarn I blogged about a few days ago.

The skein called October was enough to knit two pairs of these funky cozy fingerless mitts. I listed one pair in my shop, but it sold already. I'm thinking of keeping the second pair, but we'll see.

I forgot to photograph this yarn in the skein, but it is another one from TinyAirplane's yarn club. She called it Fizzlebottom, but I call it Apple Picking. Big poofy merino that knitted up into super cozy mitts. I'm going to get two or three pairs out of this skein. This pair is listed in my shop now. (well, it's there at the point of posting this, at least)

And as a side note, Daisy wants it known for the record that she isn't actually that fat. She just looks that way when her cheek pouches are stuffed full of seeds. Hmph.

I HAZ FATT FASE

2007-09-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

2007-09-24T18:38:00.001-07:00

Okay, maybe it's not the Great Pumpkin. It's a skein of hand dyed and hand spun yarn that I bought from Tiny Airplanes where else but at etsy of course. She calls this one October.

Fitting.

The yarn arrived a few days ago as an installment of a six-month yarn club that I bought from Tiny Airplanes. I have never joined a sock yarn club (and probably never will), but I am on my third funky art yarns club. I've done one round of the Insubordiknit art yarn club, and then I signed up with Tiny Airplanes. I think I might be the only person in that club, but hey, it works for me. Then I signed on for another three months with Insubordiknit 'cuz Jacey has me thoroughly addicted to her crazy ass yarns.

I had to wonder about Tiny Airplanes' club. Her yarns are really pretty, soft and fun, but the club was ridiculously cheap. So much so, that I think she is paying me for knitting with her yarn. I feel ever so slightly guilty. For a second or two. And then it passes.

The mystery was solved today. I liked that skein of October so much that I snapped off a quick photo and immediately wound it into a big fat ball. I mean we're talking about 130grams and over 100 yards of this beauty. I had a fun pair of cozy fingerless mitts knitted up in about five minutes. I'm already on my second pair. Then I emailed her to ask if she would mind if I sold mitts made with her yarns in my etsy shop.

She is thrilled with the idea. After all, she doesn't knit. WHAAAAAAAT????

A. How can anyone who isn't a knitter or crocheter create such highly knittable (and I'm assuming crochetable) yarn?

And

B. How can she resist? I mean Sheesh!

Now I know why I'm getting such a deal. Shhhhh....don't tell her.

Hey Buddy, Can You Help a Knitter Out?

2007-09-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a wonderful knitting opportunity for anyone who lives in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver. I know you're out there...

My friend Kirsten is the creative genius behind Yummy Yarn on etsy. The pink socks I blogged about yesterday were knitted with yarn she spun. She dyes, spins, and knits beautifully. She also designed that Full of Holes Triangular Scarf that many of you admired and then promptly went out and purchased the pattern.

Now, how would you like to take a knitting class with a knitter like that????

She just emailed me to ask for my help. She is scheduled to teach a knitting class at our local arts centre in Port Moody. The class is on how to knit sweaters without a pattern, and it will be on Wednesday evenings, starting (I think) this Wednesday.

The problem is that she is short one or two people to make the class full enough for her to teach. If she doesn`t get the extra bodies, they will cancel the class.

If this appeals to you, you will need to contact the arts centre by Tuesday to register. The centre is a fun, relaxed venue for classes. And Kirsten is really nice, I promise.

Here is the detail on the class:

Basic Sweaters (Ages 16+)
Instructor: Kirsten Z.
$75.67 includes registration & tax
7-8:30pm Wed (7 classes Sept 26-Nov 7)
Only recently have knitters been given
painstakingly detailed instructions to work
with. In the past, knitters learned formulas
and techniques rather than patterns, and
they made sweaters to fit the wool, the occasion,
and the person. In this class, you
will be guided through designing and knitting
your own sweater to fit. Students may
choose from one of several basic sweater
types: yoked, raglan, saddle shoulder, or
gansey.
*Supply list available at registration
Pre-req: basic skills of knit, purl, increase,
decrease, cast on, cast off.

So, if this sounds like fun for you or a friend, or you and a friend, or your mother-in-law, or that neighbour down the street who keeps talking about knitting a sweater, then this is a great opportunity to Knit On!

Here is a link to the Port Moody Arts Centre, which will give you all the contact information you need to register.

Sock On!

2007-09-22T17:10:00.000-07:00

Yes! Knitting has been happening around here lately.

I finished my socks done in handspun sock yarn that I bought from Yummy Yarn at etsy. I love her handspun and have bought several skeins from her. This skein was called Rosie Toesies. The dark bits you see on one sock's leg and the other's toe came from a second skein of YY that happened to match.

My work requires me to spend a lot of time on the computer, so I have been happy to grab any time away to knit. It is a treat to work with DRY yarn for a change, and I enjoy the simplicity of working on basic socks. Plus I love to wear them when they are finished.

This is my latest pair in progress. I bought this handspun from Knittin Pretty at etsy. The shop is new, and she hasn't posted many yarns, but they are already popular. I bought this blue superwash merino called Lapis and another skein pictured below.

I knit Rosie-Toesies on 4.0mm for the cuffs and 3.75mm for the rest. The Lapis yarn is a bit finer, so I'm knitting them on 3.25mm. I have to admit that I really like slightly heavier sock yarns. I took my Lapis sock and sock in progress over to a friend's house on Thursday. She is a new knitter, but when she tried on the sock, she was hooked on the desire to knit her own socks.

My other yarn from Knittin Pretty is called Wild Thing, and I absolutely LOVE it. My favorite colours. The put up is a whopping 608 yards, which is a really good deal for the price I paid. Keeping in mind that handspun is pricey, of course.

Here is another little goodie that I picked up from etsy. A sock knitting bag that I bought from Stuck in Illinois. This woman makes lovely little sock knitting bags in all kinds of fun fabrics, and she sells them for only $10.00. And that includes shipping!

I bought this Coffee Cups bag first, and it is really well made. Fully lined, light, and just the right size for a sock project. I take it everywhere. It sits on the floor or beside me and holds my ball of yarn while I knit.

I liked it so much that I've ordered a second one. It is in the mail, but you can see it HERE.

And just one more bit of show and tell...

I think this is my favorite skein of yarn ever. Ever. I bought it from an etsy shop in the UK. I love the name of this shop: Shunklies.

She called this skein Walk in the Woods, and it is so soft and squishy and beautifully spun. It has all my favorite yarny colours and in some lovely combinations. The yarn is on the chunky side, and it is a huge skein (200g/220yds). I'm thinking scarf knit on big needles. I can hardly keep my hands off it and can't wait to knit it, but I also can't really bear the thought of rolling it into a ball.

I'm already wearing the pink socks again. They went back on my feet as soon as I finished photographing them. Now I think I want to go and roll around in yarny goodness.

What A Pal!

2007-09-20T08:53:00.001-07:00

Ever notice that I measure my "tomorrows" in weeks or months? Seems that way at least. Okay, I promised some action on my sockapalooza bonanza-of-goodies, and here it is!

My sock-pal lives in Anchorage Alaska, and she is wonderfully generous, as I have found other Alaskans to be. You can find her at her blog Knitting Escape, and hey! Look at that. Not only does she blog about as often as I do, but her last entry was about MY socks. You can find all the lovely details there.

Aren't they beauties?? My package arrived and I couldn't believe it. Lacy patterned socks just for me. I only ever knit plain stockinette socks, so my feet were feeling pretty special in their new socks. I had to sit and reflect for a moment that someone I've never met knit me such a lovely pair of socks.

One happy foot:

Two happy feet:

The socks came gift wrapped, and they were not alone. They came with a bunch of Alaskan goodies, including chocolates (notice they are absent from the photos, wonder why?), and yarny gifties.

Thanks, Barbara! You're a peach!!!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year!!!!!

2007-09-05T20:56:00.001-07:00

Today, my kids went back to school.

Technically, yesterday was the first day of school, but since they only went for an hour to satisfy some attendance-taking requirement, I call that the bait-and-switch back to school day.

Today was the day that they left the house, caught buses and remained gone until about 4:00. THAT is my definition of the first day of school.

I love my kids, but summer is long, and they get bored.

Today I walked around the house in my underwear.

Okay, I didn't do that, but I could have if had wanted to.

I was supposed to post all the lovely things that my sockapalooza4 pal sent me, but I lost my good photography light, so it will have to happen tomorrow. I'll leave a sticky note on my laptop to remind me.

I will also post progress on my second pink sock, which I'm hoping to finish tonight.

I noticed that a lot of you were interested in the handspun sock yarn. I find that you have to haunt the place (etsy) a bit to nab the really good stuff. Since I'm such a nice person, I will tell you how to haunt some of the best places.

Way #1: Go to Etsy Front Page; click on buy; categories: There are two categories for finding great yarn in the order that it gets listed. Those categories are KNITTING and SUPPLIES/handmade. I scan these listings regularly since those are the categories in which I list my items too.

Way#2: Go to Etsy Front Page; click on buy, and use the search bar. Plug in handspun yarn, and it will show you all the listings from most recent back.

Way#3: Go to my Etsy shop; scroll down, while scanning the right hand sidebar. You will come to a box with my Fishy Wishy avatar, under which will say profile and then favorites. If you click on my favorites (items/sellers), you can see a lot of the yarn shops that I like to say nice things about on my blog. I check those stores fairly regularly for new listings.

If you have your own Etsy account, you can "heart" or favorite shops and items that you like and build up your own library of shops to stalk.

Since this has been a very wordy post with no eye-candy, I will leave you with some eye candy from my own shop.

Canadian Maple: making its debut as a sock yarn

ChocolateBerry Truffle (mmmm)

The cutest stitch markers: Wasabi World (they look like little wasabi planets to me)

Happy Blogiversary Baby

2007-09-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

Got you on my mind...

All day I've been reminding myself to blog because it is my BLOGIVERSARY today!!! Yes, one year ago today I started blogging. Imagine that.

I had to get my entry in before the date changed so that it would count. Well it is 9:45pm around here, so I say that counts. Over at Etsy, everything runs on NY time, so people are up very late while it is still pretty early for me.

I have knitty stuff to show off too. This IS a day.

Doug posing in his new socks: He says his feet are very happy.

I knit the first one back in March with (yes) some of my very first hand-dyed yarn. Then the remaining yarn sat around with the orphan sock until about a week ago when I got going on the second one. Doug and I were watching a movie last night, and when he got up to get a snack, I snuck the socks onto his chair. He was so thrilled, he put them on right away and had a big smile on his face for the rest of the movie.

Alas, I did not manage to get a photo of the finished Butterscoth socks for my sock pal. I did get them into the mail though, along with more sock yarn for her to enjoy and some fun stitch markers. And wait'll you see what I got from MY sock pal. Show and tell on that tomorrow. And yes, there will be a tomorrow.

Guess what this is?

Yup! Another finished pair of socks. I finished these up at camp with the handspun sock yarn I bought from rmddesigns at etsy. I have another skein from her and a third on the way. We'll get to some show and tell on that eventually.

I have discovered a great love for knitting socks with handspun sock yarn. Yes, it is ridiculously expensive, but I can think of many many good reasons to do it:

1. Handspun sock yarn is usually a wee bit heavier in gauge so socks fly along.
2. Handspun sock yarn is ridiculously expensive so you buy one of those instead of eight of something else and thus stash stays small and you use up your yarn purchases faster.
3. Handspun sock yarn has this funky colour changing thing going on so you can knit the plainest of socks without ever getting bored, cuz that yarn is always so durn interesting.
4. Every single stitch done with handspun sock yarn is a joy.
5. Um...I like handspun sock yarn.

6. How could you possibly resist something like THIS:

I mean, that is just one hunka hunka burning bliss. I can't wait to knit socks with that yarn. I bought it from a shop called Bizyhands at etsy (natch).

Or how about this one: (alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com)

And one of my favorite hand spinners at etsy is YummyYarn. I've blogged about her before -- she's the one who designed the Full Of Holes Scarf. This is my current sock on the go (one done, one at the cuff stage): 100% BFL Sock Yarn, handspun of course.

So that's me, and a bit of what I've been up to knit-wise. I haven't been blogging 'cuz I hate summer and go into survival mode, which basically means ignoring a lot of things until the kids go back to school.

Back to school in two days...and counting...

Let Me Tell You About Harry

2007-08-16T00:54:00.001-07:00

It's late, but I haven't blogged for a while. I came home from camp and hit the deck running with post-camp laundry and jobs, summer stuff, business, work, Doug's work, kid stuff, etc etc etc. This last week and a half has been a complete blur.

But I have to tell you about my buddy Harry.

The building you see in this photograph is the dining hall at camp. Doug and I were staying in a cabin way up the hill from there. Every year we stay in "The Old Workers Cabin." Not sure if it's the cabin or the workers in it that are old, but I've stayed in that cabin for the last twenty years, and it is a lot older than that, so probably both are true.

The cabin can house four "units" of people. Doug and I got our room all to ourselves this year, but other years we have had one or both kids sharing it with us. One, when we only had one. Both when we had two. I have a lot of great stories of life in The Old Worker's Cabin. But today's story is about Harry.

Contrary to popular belief, our family did not go away on vacation exactly. All four of us went up to camp -- Daybreak Point Bible Camp on Anvil Island in the Howe Sound of British Columbia. Lots of proper nouns in that sentence. Hayley went as a camper. Colin was on the work-crew, and Doug and I were on one shift of cooks. We worked on a team of five that included us and cooked all the meals for 140 people for a 24 hour shift, and then got a 24 hour shift off. We usually napped when we were off shift. We had to work a bit harder this year because several people got sick up at camp, and we were a bit short-handed at times. The cooks are a fabulous bunch of people, and I love to work with them. We all pitch in to help each other finish and serve meals, and other camp staff (all vounteers like us) help out too.

Early in the morning, when I was on shift for breakfast, I would get up and head down to the dining hall to start work. Most of the time, the other three rooms were quiet, with occupants still sleeping or hoping to squeeze in an extra hour. The room across from ours housed one of the camp directors and her two young sons. Mom is a huge Harry Potter fan, so no shock when I tell you that her younger son is named Harry.

Harry is hilarious. At two, nearly three years old, he still has a baby face and wispy long, curly baby hair that reminds me of my son Colin at that age. Like Colin, Harry has huge eyes that take in everything around him, and like Colin at that age, Harry has the vocabulary and language facility of a much older child. Perfectly enunciated and grammatically correct sentences of marvelous complexity could come out of that kid's mouth, totally defying his outward appearance. And like Colin, he was a child who wanted to be treated like a cat. I know this behaviour. You can look at them sideways, but never come on too strong. Gradually I could feel him becoming more familiar with me.

In the dining hall, I'd see him playing with playdough.

"I have a big saw. I am sawing wood."

Or playing with a muddy mix of cornstarch and water.

"This is cement. I am making roads for the trucks."

One morning on my way to "work" I saw him standing in his doorway, rubbing his eyes sleepily and watching me brush my teeth and get ready.

"Hi Harry," I said casually.

"NO!" (emphatically) "I will NOT say hi."

I held my laughter until I got all the way down the hill. That kid cracked me up. That line has become a catch phrase around here.

By the end of the week, he was cuddling in my lap.

De-Stash SALE!!!

2007-08-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

I have WAAAAAAAY too much stash, so...

I'm having a de-stash sale over at my etsy shop. All yarns from my personal yarn stash.

I'll be posting yarns today (Saturday), and de-stash yarns will be available until Monday morning (August 13). Then I'm yanking anything that did not sell.

If your own stash is over-flowing, you might want to avoid my shop today. Who can stand the temptation??

Have fun!

I'm Ba-ack!

2007-08-04T19:10:00.001-07:00

This is where I was for the week: Anvil Island in the Howe Sound of British Columbia. Actually, I'm standing on Anvil when I took that picture. The other island you see is called Gambier Island.

Tired. Dirty. Need my own bed.

More tomorrow.

Confessions of a Socka-Pal-LOSER

2007-07-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

I even bought a book and everything!

The Sockapalooza-4 deadline draweth nigh, and I must confess that I will cross the finish line, but not with brilliance.

I joined up with high hopes. I dyed special yarn. I bought a book of sock patterns. My pal was going to get a brilliant pair of socks. I was going to leave mysterious and witty messages on her blog.

Well...

I sold off her yarn. Never opened the book. She doesn't have a blog. And I never contacted her. I consoled myself on that last point with the reminder that my pal never contacted me either, but then my pal did. About two weeks ago. Hmmph.

So if you have a blog, you are not my pal. Ditto that if you have heard from your pal. It wasn't me. I didn't send you a care package, or a note, or leave chocolates on your pillow. And you are not getting the latest craze in sock patterns done in thread-like yarn on itty bitty needles.

BUT

You will get a lovely pair of well-executed stockinette stitch socks in my much-coveted Butterscotch Rowan Pure Wool DK that was dyed by me. They will be done on time and in the mail as soon as I get back from camp on August 4. They will arrive accompanied by a nice skein of sock yarn, also dyed by me, a card, and a set of stitch markers.

So I'm not a total loser.

I'm away for a bit, but my shop is stocked with all kinds of things, and you are welcome to browse and even to buy, as long as you don't mind waiting a bit for your item(s) to ship. I just posted two more offerings of the elann.com Cash Tweed. Each is a 100gram skein currently available...until it is not. The last two flew away very quickly.

REDWOOD FOREST:

RIVENDELL:

PS. I got my gold pirate-tooth today, and it feels great!

PS2. I will actually take pictures up at camp this year so that y'all can see how glorious it is.

Stupid Plastic Tooth

2007-07-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

I'm longing for two things these days: autumn, and a new tooth.

Autumn isn't happening for a while, so I'm dreaming about it with dye. This one is called: The Leaves Dream of Autumn. (the leaves aren't alone...)

The tooth is happening on Thursday, so that feels somewhat in reach. Right now I have a stupid plastic tooth instead of one of my upper molars. I hate it. Last week I spent the proverbial about-as-much-fun-as-two-hours-in-the-dentist's-chair two hours.

I brought my iPod since there is only so much classic 1970's music I can stand, and that's all that plays at my dentist's office. At least we can laugh about it since she and I are almost the same age. Depressing Harry Chapin ballad reminds her of depressing Dan Fogelburg ballad, and just as we are laughing at the comparison, the Fogelburg dirge comes on. That really gets us laughing.

If we were laughing, it couldn't have been that bad, right? In some ways not. I like my dentist. I really do. Having suffered a lifetime of severe dental anxiety (with reason), this dentist has redeemed a lot of that for me by being who she is. She has a beautiful new office with comfy chairs and NO shaming, humiliating, or disgusting dental posters on her walls. That alone endeared her to me pretty quickly. And she is kind. And gentle.

So she kindly, gently drilled and grinded my molar for almost two hours last week, without anaesthesia (the tooth is dead anyway). I took my Xanax and listened to my iPod, and I survived. But I left with a temporary plastic tooth that feels like a clunker in my mouth. I can feel the edges of it. It doesn't feel like a tooth at all, and my tongue won't leave it alone. I liked the broken tooth better.

I finished sock one in the hand-dyed and spun yarn I bought at etsy. You can check out the yarn and link to her shop HERE.

And I dyed my second skein of the elann Cash Tweed last night in a colour I'm simply calling Blaze. More dreaming of autumn. I love this colorway. I will definitely be doing a few more like this one. And keeping one for myself while I'm at it.

Man-Boy demonstrates the difference between Cash Tweed before and after dyeing. Hopefully you can also see how much fuller and fluffier it becomes with washing.

If Frankenstein Wore Socks...

2007-07-21T17:46:00.000-07:00

They'd definitely be Lime-Green and Purple stripedy...

Don'tcha think?

At Long Last Blog

2007-07-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

Reasons I have not been blogging:

Can't be bothered
Too damn hot
Too damn lazy
Too many distractions
Too many people in my house (read: kids home for summer holidays)

In other news...

Catbookmom came to visit, and that was FUN! Catbookmom, Lunadog, and plain 'ol Jayne went out for a pub dinner and then back to my house on the HOTTEST DAY EVER. Seriously. It was the hottest day in Vancouver's recorded weather history. Hotter than the gates of hell. Hot.
But we still had a riot.

It was also too hot to take pictures, but I do have two from the day that CBM came and spent an afternoon and evening chez See-Jayne-Knit.

Good pic of CBM....and uh...Jayne having a Forest Gump photo moment.

Ah...that's better. CBM brought a knitting project that she was knitting in yarn dyed by me! My yarn had come back home again. And it was looking very pretty as it Sunray'ed along.

What I'm Knitting

I decided that my sock pal was getting the infamous Butterscotch socks that have set so many knitters to drooling. They are nearly done. I will make the deadline! More on this later.

I am also knitting myself a pair of socks in some lovely and funky hand dyed and spun yarn from a fellow etsian (how Jayne spends her money). The yarn is called creamsicle, and she spun it with little coils peppered in there that give it a fun texture. More on this later.

What I am Dyeing:

I bought some of elann.com's new and limited Cash-Tweed yarn to see how it would dye. Colour choices were very limited by the time I got there, but I still got some useful yarn to play around with. Unless I hit a colorway that I absolutely adore, every batch will be a one of a kind. So if you see something you like, I wouldn't wait.

This is my first effort. I dyed two balls tied together, so the put-up is 100g/392yds, and the yarn bloomed and got much softer with dyeing. I'm calling it Stormy Seas. The colour came out rich and saturated, and that warm coffee brown is really something else (love that). I don't think I will repeat this one, so like I said, if it makes your heart go pitty pat...

A particularly lovely batch of Copper Blaze Kid Mohair:

And a new colorway in Blue Face Leicester that makes my heart go Pitty-Pat! I'm calling it Sun Kissed.

All these are currently in shop with lots of others and a whole lotta stitch marker sets. I didn't know that I would be in the stitch marker biz until I listed a few and they took off. Now it is a fairly large part of what I do. Who knew?

Breakfast of Champions

2007-07-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, I realize that I've been a slack-ass blogger these days. It's just too freakin' hot around here. I think it's finally time to admit that I'm not really a summer person. I love sunshine, but heat makes me cranky.

I used to spend the summer outdoors, getting a great tan and, well, getting a great tan. I think I've probably had my last tan. The last few years I've noticed that I don't tan, I blotch. My skin itches and changes, and I'm thinking this might not be altogether healthy for me. I do love to swim outdoors though, so I'm looking forward to long swims in the lake that is about twenty minutes away from where I live.

In case you haven't heard, there's a Simpsons movie coming out soon. Some 7-11 stores have converted into Kwik-E-Marts to promote the movie. Apparently these are very rare, and the 7-11 a few miles from here is the only one in Canada. Or one of a very few. The story keeps changing. I go there to use the post office sometimes, and last time I went I had to pick up some junk for my kids, who are major Simpsons fanatics. No matter what movie, cultural event, or life issue comes up in casual or even serious conversation, my kids say the same thing: "Oh! There's a Simpsons about that..."

You'd be amazed at the education they've received, courtesy of Homer, Marge, Bart and the gang.

IT CAME AND IT TOOK OVER THE WHOLE HOUSE!!!

This yarn business has taken over my house. Some days, I beat it back with a broom into dim corners and downstairs, where it lurks just waiting for me to turn my back so that it can burst out all over the place again.

It has a whole bedroom to itself, half the kitchen and sometimes more, most of the dining room, part of the living room, and quite often a good deal of the family room.

I bought myself a tool box for my stitch marker supplies. Yup, one of those manly red tool-boxes. I love it. Now I can keep everything for stitch markers in one place instead of in ten. Things have a way of creeping out though...

During the cooler months, I dry my yarn in the room where the furnace is. Things dry in a day or so there. Lately, our furnace never comes on, so I'm drying in the dining room, where it is warm all day and all night.

So Proud I could just Burst!

I love love love this colorway. Haven't been able to get to the lake on account of Hayley's cold, so I've been beating the heat by staying inside and dyeing up all kinds of fun new colorways. This is one of my favorite yarns yet. I'm calling it Borealis.

Not much happening on the knitting front, but I will post a Sockapalooza update tomorrow.

Of Knitting and Etsy and Mutant Ladybugs

2007-06-28T13:40:00.001-07:00

Of Knitting:

Here is my progress on the Simple Knitted Bodice. I worked on it during the long drive to, and the longer drive from, Hayley's all-day fun day to celebrate the end of Grade-5. I am nearly done the body, and can move onto a sleeve. The pattern called for two skeins of the beaded Rock Star yarn, and it took one whole skein to do the lace section of the body. The second skein is supposed to handle a similar lace section on each sleeve, as well as neckline trim, bottom edge trim, and sleeve edge trim. Wondering about that...I wanted to get the neckline out of the way, but I think I'd better do the sleeves first to see how much of Rock Star is actually leftover for those other jobs. I have to say this top is a thorougly satisfying knit so far, and the Tilli Tomas yarn is some of the nicest I have ever knit. Yesterday I even had some women oohing and aaahing at the field trip when I pulled it out to do a few rows at lunch.

Of Etsy:

One of my fiber colleagues over at Etsy has written a wonderful blog post on what Etsy means to her -- and to many of us. I am in full agreement with Deb of Fearless Fibers. If you are interested in knowing more about the community that is Etsy, and in spreading the word of the site, please read her blog post.

I agree with her comments that Etsy is bigger than my own shop, or hers, it is a vibrant, inspiring community of artisans and buyers. I am impressed over and over with the range and quality of items that are available, and with the artists themselves. Deb makes a gentle appeal to spread the word of Etsy as a site and a community where artisans and buyers deal directly with each other.

For myself, I am grateful to Etsy as a site that allows me to support and be supported by a variety of artists from all over the world. I am grateful for the ethics and philosophy on which the site was founded, and that the administration maintains. I am grateful for the opportunity to work from home in what has become a fully viable and satisfying business. I already do a great deal of my personal and gift shopping through etsy, and I'm sure that will only increase as I become ever more familiar with all that the site offers.

Of Mutant Ladybugs:

I got in a large shipment of funky glass beads for making stitch markers yesterday. The box arrived, and I couldn't wait to dig in. Stuff for fall, stuff for Christmas/winter, more Skully's, all kinds of cool beads, and...Mutant Ladybugs.

The other beads are all fine, but I have no idea what happened to these ladybugs. They are not quite as advertised. They are genuine lampwork, but just who did they trust the blowtorch to? A six-year-old?

When I got over my surprise as, yes, every ladybug in the package is a little bit lunatic, I found the funny. They began to grow on me in about thirty seconds. My kids came home from school and agreed that the ladybugs were endearing. So if you have an off-beat sense of humour and enjoy the wabi-sabi in all things, you might want to adopt a set of mutant ladybugs.

The penguins are pretty cute too...

As Long as I Have My Knitting...

2007-06-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

I can get through anything.

This week has been packed full of events for Hayley's school. More than usual for year end, but I think that's partly because it is her last year at the school before moving on to middle school, and partly because the whole school is closing after this year.

Yesterday, they had a talent show. 25 performers. Two hours. Hayley's piano piece lasted for about 90 seconds of that two hours. I have to admit that a lot of the acts were really cute, and overall it was a fun event. But only because I had my knitting. If I can knit, I can get through anything. A kids' talent show becomes downright delightful, as long as I have my knitting.

Today was a day-long outing to an arcade style "fun" park. The "park" was actually a series of buildings with indoor batting cages, driving ranges, bumper cars, miniature golf, and a zillion arcade games. Hayley and her friends had a blast. The bumper cars were fun, and the whole day was made better...because I had my knitting.

I might have spoken too soon when I said that business was slowing down. Yesterday was a big day, and today was a HUGE day. Maybe everyone's stocking up on projects to work on through the summer.

I'll post another photo of the Simple Knitted Bodice tomorrow. I am almost done the body and have to show it off.

The Knitting Zombie

2007-06-25T17:27:00.001-07:00

I am such a zombie today. I've taken lots of days off over the last week or two, and have been relaxing, knitting, napping. Discovered that I'm tired. Been sleeping most of today.

Business has dropped off over this last week. I think the summer slowdown has begun, so it's good timing to relax more, knit more, get out and swim at the lake. I look forward to having some time to develop new colours and possibly stock up for what will likely be a rush when the fall begins.

Spent quite a bit of time this past weekend working on the Simple Knitted Bodice, so here's a report.

I'm working the pattern called Simple Knitted Bodice that was designed by Stephanie Japel (Glampyre) for the Tilli Tomas silk yarns. You can see/purchase the pattern from Stitch Diva as a PDF download HERE. You can buy the pattern lots of other places, but I wanted it right away.

If you're not familiar with this pattern, there are instructions for both a short sleeved version and a long-sleeved version. You should be able to see pictures of both on that link if you scroll down. I'm making the long sleeved version. I've been in love with this sweater ever since I first saw it at KPixie, but I just couldn't get my head around the cost of the Tilli Tomas yarn.

Let's see...what do knitters like to know... This sweater is knit from the top down. At first, you work back and forth as though it is one piece, until you get to the point of the v-neck in front, and then you join the thing together and work in the round. I use my Lantern Moon ebony circulars in size 7 (4.5mm) for the knitting done in the main colour (Tilli Tomas Pure and Simple in Forest). The pattern says to switch to 3.5mm needles for the lace, but I only went down to 4mm.

The lace is a simple chevron lace stitch worked in a contrasting or detailed yarn. I'm using Tilli Tomas Rock Star in Olive, and it matches the Olive in the Forest variegated perfectly. Rock Star is generously studded with Czech glass beads. And both yarns are super soft and dreamy to knit.

Now that I'm done the lace pattern in the olive, I've switched back to my larger needles and colour A (Forest). I have placed stitch markers to note where dart increases go to shape for the hips.

Libby asked for some details on the yarn. I've taken a picture here of the two types side by each. You should be able to enlarge all photos by clicking on them. Pure and Simple is a single ply 100% silk in a worsted weight. It is one of the nicest yarns I've ever knit. Just a joy, every stitch. The Rock Star is similar: a single ply of spun silk, with a think silk thread that has the beads. The two strands are spun in such a way that the beads do not slide around. A lot of care has gone into this yarn. The beaded yarn has a weight to it that you don't expect, but of course, it's all those beads! I think it will pull the sweater into a nice drape.

In shop news: I got these cool lamp-worked beads from India from another etsy seller, and I've turned the into "We love Gryffindor" stitch markers. They come with a tiny matching satin pouch.

And this is my favorite item in the shop today: Teeny little glass lemons and a lime stitch marker. Hayley took one look at these and had to make herself a choker with one of the lemons. She likes having a crafty mom.

See Jayne Knit!

2007-06-21T19:50:00.001-07:00

Yes, I do actually knit.

Still.

I have to admit that my knitting output dropped off dramatically from about April, when my dyeing adventure really took off. After four years of almost nothing but knitting, it was a relief to be captivated by something else for a change.

And then my knitting mojo went on a long tour of the South of France or somewhere exotic. In any case, it's not telling. Recently, it has been sneaking back. It heard that Tilli was in the house and really wanted to test drive the Simple Knitted Bodice.

And so I knit. For about an hour a day, or so, and the rows are a pleasure. Each stitch is a pleasure. I coaxed that mojo back with silk yarn and ebony needles (the sticks forbidden to Daisy's sharp teeth), and tiny bronze glass stitch markers I raided from my own shop.

SO YOU WANNA DYE?

One or two people have been asking again about how I do this dyeing thing, so here are the links to old blog entries in which I describe my basic method. Maybe you'll be opening up a shop of your own before too long. It's a big market.

A Good Day To Dye
Live And Let Dye

One nitty-gritty point: Very glad to point you in the direction of dyeing, but methods I've developed since these posts as well as my recipes and charms for making certain colorways are like the Colonel's secret recipe. Secret. On the other hand, I don't own colours so go for it -- see what you come up wth!

And as for colours...Some people have asked which colours I use. I use ALL the colours. :)

A Swiftly Tilting Planet

2007-06-19T23:52:00.001-07:00

I know that's the title of a Madeleine L'Engle novel about time travel, but that's about all I know. It seemed to fit the general theme of decor in my dining room these days.

too anti-social to entertain, so the dining room is full of...swifts.

The first one (above) is Mama. She was my shiny new swift of eaons ago (April). Looking a bit worn, a bit weary, a bit dilapidated, much like her owner. Notice the re-ties in orange yarn where the jute wore out? Notice the hockey tape shoring up her axle to her base? She creaks and squeaks and leans to one side. Well, you would too, if you had run the miles she has. I'm not going to do the math, but somebody tell me: how many miles is it approximately if you average 300yds per skein, being wound on once, off once, and on once (total of three times through the swift) and multiply that by about three hundred skeins. That's a hell of a lot more yarn than most people's swifts see in a liftetime. So we'll cut her some slack.

Fearing she was on her last, um, legs, I bought....BIG MAMA:

Gee, I thought I had a big swift until this monster arrived. I bought BIG MAMA from elann on Friday, so naturally she showed up this morning. (sheesh!) The hot new thing in town. But she was friendly to little mama, so I'm a' gonna keep her. (And no, Benne, that is NOT toilet paper in the background).

Then we have Mama's Little Helper:

I love this swift. It's cheap and light and spins very freely. And it has a little crank handle on top. I bought this one a few weeks ago, and it has cut my swift-labour in half. Now for re-skeining, I put the damp skein on Little Mama, and attach the loose end to the Helper, and wind away. You should see how fast it goes, and all in one step. Paid for itself in a day or two.

Colin is off from school now, and he has to earn money for a school trip to Orlando Florida next year (lucky duck). So, he's indentured to service, I mean working for me, winding yarn from balls and off cones into skeins. This afternoon we had all three going at once. Whee!

Daisy's Turn to Blog

2007-06-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!

That big hand that feeds me has been dyeing up a storm lately, and the whole house smells like sheep. I thought a sheep was attacking me yesterday 'cuz my mom smelled like sheep instead of like hand, and I wouldn't come out.

She's been playing with those sticks that she won't let me chew, even though they look like great chew toys, all black and shiny like that. And she's playing with that string that I can't sniff or sit on.

But I did get to have some apples this morning, and I got a clean cage and lots of seeds. And I did get to write the blog, so I guess I can't complain too much.

eep!

Taking a Break From Blogging For a Week

2007-06-13T00:32:00.001-07:00

I need a week off from blogging. Need to spend some more time here:

Be well...and I'll be back next week.

Your Yarn Dollars At Work

2007-06-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

Thank you very much for all the Anniversary wishes. I enjoyed reading those. Doug and I went out for dinner, a movie (Waitress -- very cute and heartwarming), and dessert.

You might hate me when you're done reading this post, and I wouldn't blame you. I'd hate me too.

I get a lot of questions about how it works around here. Well, dyed yarn sells...

And I pack it up and mail it out. I usually have a lot of packages to ship on Monday. Orders that come in between Friday and Sunday go out on Monday, and it seems I get a lot of orders between Friday and Sunday. This is last week's weekend batch. This week's was huge as I had a sale on Saturday.

Mail out means income in, so for the first few months, I have used a lot of it to build up a large to-dye-stash. That stack of stacks is about 2/3 of what I have on hand to dye. Yes, that is a lot of yarn.

Where do I buy my yarn? People ask. Everywhere! I buy it from a lot of different local and internet yarn retailers in the US and Canada. Whenever someone posts a good sale or close-out deal on quality yarns, I get in there and buy a lot. I have a wonderful whole-sale arrangement with Wool2Dye4, an online shop in the US, and I buy Trekking Superwash Sock yarn in bulk from the UK. I buy from independent farm operations, basically any place that offers a product I will enjoy dyeing, and that knitters will enjoy knitting.

Yarn-to-dye-stash gets converted into dyed-stash and listed on Etsy. Many yarns do not make it into those bins. They go straight from the drying rack to the mailer pack, and out the door.

I get asked variations on this question: What's it like to own all those amazing dyed yarns? Or: What's it like to have that stash in your house? Or: How can you part with all those yarns?

The answer: I used to work at a bank, where I handled thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars a day. The money was no temptation since it did not feel real. It felt like Monopoly money to me, and so does the yarn. The yarn in stash for dyeing and the yarn I dye and send out do not feel like "my" yarn, and I keep them in a separate room and bins from my personal stash. Unless I take one of them for myself, they do not feel like they are mine, and I do not feel a sense of loss as they go. I love the idea that others will get to own them and knit with them.

But the money that comes into my account from all these sales, now THAT feels like mine. And it's a really cool feeling because I haven't earned my own money for nearly ten years. This job has been a regular paying event around here, and I am loving it. The money goes into my Paypal account, and I use it from there to buy more yarn for dyeing. I transfer cash into our bank account to pay off my start-up costs for launching this business. And, we do need to pay off a car as well as re-build a fence and put a new roof on our house over this next year. It feels good to be able to contribute towards those expenses too. I just gave Doug his birthday present a month and a half early, and I paid for it myself. A very cool feeling.

And...(and this is the part that might make you hate me). I buy myself amazing treats that I wouldn't have bought before. It all comes out of Paypal without ever touching our regular family finances. To me, it feels like barter. I dye yarn and "trade" it for all sorts of other wonderful things. The things I buy from etsy, and treat yarn purchases. Like this:

Yes, that really is four skeins of Tilli Thomas Pure and Simple Silk in a colorway called Forest.

And yes, that really is two skeins of Tilli Thomas Rock Star in Olive

Don't they look amazing together? Little knits had a sale on TT, and I've had my eye on that Simple Knitted Bodice by Stitch Diva for the longest time. I don't have as much knitting time as I used to have, so I figure I'll make it count by making something extra special. This stuff is sooooooo dreamy.

Saturday Sale at See Jayne Knit Yarns

2007-06-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

Having a wee sale over at my Etsy shop!

I don't have sales often because I think they should be special events, so here's the deal. All through today I will post yarns that I would like to move out, at reduced prices. It will be a collection of one-of's, yarns that have hung around too long, and some de-stash. All sale yarns will be available until Sunday June 10 at 12:00 noon NY/Etsy time (9:00 am Pacific/Vancouver time). I will unlist any unsold items at that time.

If you would like to make more than one purchase, then wait to pay until you are all done. Convo me, and I will send you an updated invoice with corrected shipping total.

I will include some little extra item in each order. Larger orders...larger items. Surprise!

Happy 21st Anniversary To: SeeJayne and Mr KnitYarns

2007-06-07T10:44:00.001-07:00

I used to scrapbook...

I met Doug in November of 1984, at a church I had just started attending, and we started dating on March 1, 1985.

Things that attracted me to him:
He told a hilarious and convoluted story about how he loves llamas because his parents were missionaries to Peru. They weren't, but I believed every word of it.

He asked me to dance at a New Year's party. I'm not sure anyone had asked me to dance up to that point.

He knew every single Monty Python sketch, many of them by heart, including one that is my favorite and that no one else ever seems to have heard of.

He brought me chocolate from Ghirardhelli Square in San Francisco, and I kissed his cheek and told him he was sweet. He asked me out about a week later.

Time it took us from our first date to decide to get married: One Week
Time it took us to get engaged (officially): Three months
He was 19 years old; I was twenty.

Our first date: He showed up at my door wearing an electric blue sparkly tie and with a rose in his teeth. We walked all over Vancouver, ate snacks in about five different places, and went to see the movie: The Gods Must Be Crazy.

He told me he loved me about a week later when we were out walking at the West Vancouver Sea Wall. I noticed he had put his hand down on a piling covered with tar as he said it. The conversation went something like this:

Doug: You know I love you.
Me: You just put your hand in tar.

We got married a year after we announced our engagement. A very 1980's wedding with five bridesmaids in dusty rose dresses. We called them "The Clones." I hate dusty rose.

Doug looked very dashing in his black tail coat. I wore a wedding dress that I had sewn myself and adapted from a Vogue pattern. I had two weird dreams in the week before our wedding. In one of them, I dreamt that when I arrived to marry Doug, my mom had beat me to it (!!). In the second one, I dreamt that as I walked down the aisle, huge pieces of my wedding dress fell off onto the floor until the whole thing just fell apart.

I'm pretty sure that twenty-one years ago, neither one of us knew what the hell we were doing, but we were very good friends, and we wanted to be together.

We still do.

Luv Ya, Big-Guy!

Anarchist Meme

2007-06-03T09:48:00.001-07:00

I've been tagged, I think it might be three times now, for this seven things meme. I've become an anarchist when it comes to meme's. I dont follow the rules, and most of the time I don't do them, and I don't tag.

But I will tell the seven things, not that you don't already know eleventy-seven things about me.

Seven Odd-Lesser-Known-Things About Yours Truly:

1. I like to pester my kids. I sit on my son Colin and block his view of the TV when he's watching a hockey game. Yesterday, I tried on a scary bathing suit, and I "innocently" invited my daughter Hayley in for an opinion (knowing I would get a shocked reaction), and she did not disappoint me. I think my kids love this behavior, but I'm not sure. It never stops me though.

2. On the pester-my-kids topic, I know a lot of different names for BARF. Last year, Hayley and I were on a ferris wheel, and we saw a large pink puke-pile on the ground below. Hayley was grossed out, but every time our car was up high enough to see it, I'd rattle off a few more versions until she was laughing and coming up with her own.

3. Apparently I have the tendency to laugh (sometimes inappropriately) at the strangest things.

4. I love to smell wool when it is wet, warm, and fresh from the Eucalan bath after I've dyed it. I will sort of bury my face in there and inhale deeply. Unless there is silk in the blend. Wet hot silk smells like crotch.

5. I don't like reading the news until it becomes history.

6. I have a terrible sense of direction; North is always directly in front of me. Or else I'm a narcissist. Not sure which.

7. There are books, movies and songs (many of them embarrassing) that I never get tired of and can read, watch and listen to over and over. Not in a row, just when I am in certain moods.

Treats and All Good Things: Part II

2007-06-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd fill this post with all sorts of eye candy that has been bringing me great pleasure this week. I know I have been quiet lately, quiet with blogging, with visiting blogs, with emails and the like. In case you are worried that I have been working my ass off, I haven't. Last weekend, sales were brisk, but I got them out into the mail on Monday, and things have been quieter since.

This little lovely is the clematis that is blooming in my neglected back yard this week. I love that it blooms without my help. When I saw it a few days ago, I knew I had to try to capture those colours in a yarn. See!

Daisy's perky little face always brings joy to my heart.

These are my RufusandRoxy beads I blogged about last week. I love them. I have become quite a collector of her beads. These are the ones I've ordered over the last month. I plan to make earrings, necklaces, gifts for me and for others. If I can part with them.

This is a big batch I ordered on a special deal. She has a lot of orphan beads, and she sold me a big handful. I want to use them as promos for special yarn orders, deals and sales. Haven't quite worked it out yet (or if I can part with them). Some would make lovely, and very special, stitch markers. Others match my yarns so well that I'm thinking chokers. If you simply must have some of these beads for yourself, then you can shop HERE.

And then there is the yarny eye candy that has come in this past week. On the left is Heartache, that amazing handspun with the teeny heart beads that I blogged about a while back. In the middle, Pink Zebra. This is a yarn I traded for with SunnysideEllen. And on the right is the first installment of my Insubordiknit Yarn Club yarn. Jacey is such a goddess with the handspun, and she has a funky blog too.

This stuff is just too cool. It is soft and cuddly, and the most unusual and fun yarn. The colour here looks a bit more brown than it is. The true colour is more olive. And yes, it has these cool fluffs of worn denim, and those squishy lime green worm-like things running through it. The yarn is called Scrapworm, spun with merino, silk noils, and denim fluff.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am a genuine hermit. A recluse. Anti-social...with lapses. The last two weeks have involved more socializing than I normally do in months. It was all good, just a whole lot more than I normally do in such a compressed time frame. I met Rabbitch; I got together with a friend for half a day; I even took my mom out for lunch. Doug and I went out to watch a movie with a couple we know and love. Church. A whole lotta emails. And errands, errands, errands. Trips to the therapist, the doctor, the pharmacy. Colin's award night at school, and no, I will not be putting a bumper sticker on my car about my son, the honor roll student (with distinction).

I think I might just curl up in my shell and not come out for a week.

Treats...and All Good Things: Part I

2007-05-30T23:19:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to be a shameless bid for yet more gifts. Just my way of saying thanks for all the kindness that surrounds me at times.

This is the best coffee mug I have ever owned. It is perfectly smooth on the outside and on the inside and all around the rim. It is the perfect size and shape, big enough for a decent cup of coffee, and just right for cradling in two hands. And...it's the perfect colour. Check that out: it matches my coffee so well, you almost can't tell where the coffee ends and the mug begins.

The mug came to me in a brown paper package all tied up with strings...these are a few of my favorite things. It came to me as a gift, all gift-wrapped and with a funky card and everything. It came accompanied by coffee, and beautiful glass rain drops to hang in my window and be colorful while I work on dyeing yarn. And, get this, the gift came to me from a lovely woman who buys my yarn. She pays me a lot of her hard-earned money for yarn, and then she sends me a gift. (!!!). I've been drinking my coffee out of this mug and feeling grateful for about a week now.

This was unexpected too. I arranged a swap with a friend. Yarn for me to dye and sell, in exchange for yarn that I am to dye and send back to her. Now don't y'all jump on the bandwagon. This was pretty special yarn we're talking about. So the yarn arrives, and along with it, a batch of KnitPicks Gloss in Pumpkin. A big thanks to two troublemakers who know exactly who they are: Culprit-A, who destashed to Culprit-B, who sent it on to me. Thanks ladies!

Way back, oh what is it now -- Two? Three? months ago when I first started dyeing, I was in the process of selling off some of my stash. When I was packing a box to ship off to one stash-buyer, I chucked in a skein of one of my early hand-dyes as a wee surprise-y for her. A few weeks later, I received a beautiful hand-made thank you card, along with some more amazing hand-made cards for me to use, and this sweet bracelet. All made with loving care by the recipient of my yarn. The bracelet fits perfectly, and I love to wear it.

There have been other things: notes of encouragement, and emails, comments here, and messages through etsy. There are times when I feel bathed in kindness. Thanks to all of you!

Help! I'm Drowning in Sales

2007-05-28T18:26:00.001-07:00

I guess this is not a bad problem to have...

I really did intend to post a new blog entry here, oh a few days ago, yesterday, today, but business has been booming all weekend.

So I've been responding to emails, labeling, packaging, addressing, napping, responding to emails, dyeing, labeling, packaging, listing, unlisting, responding to emails, napping, going to church, napping, responding to emails, packaging, labeling...

Hopefully all my American pals will go back to work tomorrow, and I'll have a day of P and Q.

Not that I'm complaining. Sure, come and buy me out.

I figured that I had been a good girl in getting my work done and making a bunch of sales, so I ordered a custom silver ring to be made. The seller is such a nice woman. I might have to get a pendant too...

See the ring HERE. I think it is sooo beautiful. And the pendant I want is THIS ONE. Read her description of what she is thinking about when making the pendant. Perfect, eh?

Playground Nicknames and Rabbitchy Goodness

2007-05-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

I'm calling this colorway: FISHY WISHY IN A DISHY

Believe it or not, that was my nickname at school from Kindergarten to Grade-3. I'm not sure anyone knew my real name. My family nickname, practically from birth, was Minnow. The members of my family are not consistent on the theories of that name's origin, so I guess it remains a mystery why I ended up with a name that my mother sometimes still uses. Thanks to my older sisters and their friends, at school I was called Fishy Wishy in a Dishy.

Now that I am all grown up and well recovered from the trauma of having such a ridiculous nickname, I can get my own back by making money from the name. It reminds of how in the book A Prayer For Owen Meany (John Irving), John's cousin Hester -- Hester the Molester -- finally gets revenge on her nickname by naming her very succesful punk rock band with it.

Oh, and what happened to the silly Fishy-Wishy? Well, in May of Grade-3, my family moved from Regina to North Vancouver. The first day I went to school, my alcoholic teacher introduced me to the class as: We have a new student here today. Her name is Jayne. At that moment, the class clown, a large boy named Scott, leapt to his feet, pounded his chest, and let out a blood-curdling Tarzan yell. Until I changed schools again in Grade-8, my school nickname was...Tarzan.

Yesterday I got to meet Rabbitch!!

We met for coffee, and you can imagine two knitter/dyer women talking at high speed for about an hour and a half, trying to squeeze in as much life, family, kids, husbands, health, knitting, dyeing, and silly yarn tales as can reasonably be done. Oh yeah, and we'd never met before. She's not very nice. I'm supposed to keep her secret identity as a nice person secret. She's really a total Rab-bitch!

And looky what I got! Uber-funky Rabbitchy yarn, and a Rabbitchy wash-cloth. Actual knitting, oh my! After coffee she came over and fondled yarn for a while before going home for much-needed sleep. I think a skein of my yarn followed her home like an eager puppy.

Rabbitch has just opened up an online yarn shop based from her blog. We want her to be able to quit her day job (that is actually an all-night job), so go and buy her beautiful yarn HERE.

Is it just me, or do these stitch markers look like Marvin the Martian?

You broke my cosmic space detonator.

Feels Like Monday

2007-05-22T08:57:00.001-07:00

And that's how I feel about that.

I know it's Tuesday, but it was a long weekend, and yesterday was a holiday. Today feels like Monday, and I woke up to two very distressing local news stories on the radio. The kind that make you want to stay in bed, pull the covers up over your head, and pretend there isn't a world out there. That, and my every-three-weeks-period showed up right on schedule. Welcome to middle age.

Ever since the etsy meet on Saturday, I've wanted to introduce you to a wonderful artist over at etsy, and a Vancouver chick, like me. Her shop name is cindyg's quirks of art. Cindy's art is beautiful, and so is she, a beautiful, friendly woman who is a delight to meet. Cindy makes art collages that evoke strong feelings when you look at them. I had to buy this piece because it spoke directly to my soul.

It's called: She Loved Even Harder. When I saw this piece in Cindy's shop, I had to have it. That face and those eyes make me feel like I am looking at the face of the eleven-year-old that is still very much alive inside me. Not to sound too weird about this, but SHE had to have it.

You can't guess from looking at this piece that it is only 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches in size. Cindy packs a lot of talent into her small pieces called ACEO's (Artist Cards Editions and Originals). They are very reasonably priced and a great way to collect original art. A lot of artists at etsy sell miniatures, and it is amazing what they can express in such a small form.

Cindy's bigger pieces are amazing too. I have my eye on this piece. I love it! Please go and admire the rest of Cindy's work at her shop HERE.

Finally, I really enjoyed all the responses and discussion that went on with yesterday's post. A big hello to all the people who have come out of hiding recently to comment. It's great to have so many voices in the conversation. Every one of you has something to add to the experience here, and quite often y'all make my day.

Now if I can just get it into my head that it's Tuesday, I can pretend that this week skipped Monday altogether. Whee!

PS. I'm editing this post to add something quick and cool. I just arranged a trade with another yarn dyer at etsy. I am getting THIS. She is getting THIS. We are both excited about a cool trade.

The woman I traded with has just posted a three month/three skein sock club membership. I think it's a great deal for three skeins of sock yarn, shipping and surprise goodies. Her yarn looks terrific, so ya might want to check it out. You can see the sock club offering HERE.

Etsy Shenanigans

2007-05-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

I get to meet some etsians today!! Yippee!!!

There are a bunch of etsy sellers in the Vancouver area, and we've arranged to meet for coffee and, well to MEET. This afternoon. I'm so excited. I've chatted with several of these women (yeah, women only) in the forums, and there are some real personalities in the bunch, so this should be fun. As for me, I'll be my usual bland self.

I keep forgetting to mention -- but there is a tradition at etsy that is called SNS: Saturday Night Special. It starts at 6:00pm/etsy/NY time (3:00 my time) and ends at 6:00am on Sunday/etsy/NY time.

How do you find out what is on sale? Well...in the forums, near the bottom of the page is a section called Promotions/Critiques. One of the threads, and you might have to hunt a bit, will have a list of all the sellers who are offering deals on Saturday night. There are some great deals to be had, and it is fun too.

I've offered Saturday Night Specials the last two weeks, and it has been fun and good for business. The first week, I sent hand-made earrings and necklaces along with each order. Last week, I had a sale of all my "Good,Bad,Ugly" yarn that wasn't quite up to snuff. It all went.

This week, I am sending along goodie-loot bags with each order. Small loot bags for orders under 50.00, and bigger goodie bags for orders of 50.00 or over (before shipping charges). The bigger goodie bags are going to contain little loot plus a free ball of Noro Kureyon.

Little loot will be things like yarn samples, stitch markers, small jewelry items, other little goodies. It's all fun.

Just thought I'd letcha know!

Happy weekend!!

Frankenstein on the Rampage!

2007-05-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

I can't stop laughing. I had the idea for this hat/yarn/marketing project weeks ago. It came to me while I was having a Shiatsu massage. Seems I get my best ideas either while in the shower, or while having a Shiatsu. Must be something about feeling relaxed and letting my mind wander.

In my mind, I could picture this acid green yarn with deep blue/purple contrasts. I could see it knitted up into a hat, and of course I would call it Frankenstein. Next thing, I saw these skull beads for sale at etsy, and today it all came together. The yarn, the hat (finished about an hour ago), the beads, the description. I have to share it here because, for some reason, I can't stop laughing. It just strikes me funny.

You can check out the full listing at etsy, if you want to see all the pix etc. But here is a snippet of the description:

Frankenstein has lost his favorite knitted hat. You know, the one that went perfectly with his acid green complexion and Johnny-Cash-Black Hair. He's pretty grumpy and I heard he was on the rampage looking for it. If he comes beating down my door for it, I'll be ready. Will you?

Oh, and by the way, Frankenstein's hat is the first totally finished item I've knitted in aeons.

I've Become a Bead Stalker

2007-05-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

There's this great little shop at etsy called rufusandroxy. The artist makes the most beautiful lampwork glass beads, and her shop is very popular. Every day she lists new beads, and they get snapped up but quick. It's a bit like elann on a Monday morning. I am usually late to the party, but I still manage to snag amazing beads. I have gotten into the habit of checking out that shop every day. I have to see what's new and what has sold. I've ordered beads several times, so I think I may be a bit addicted to this shop and those glorious beads.

Besides the high level of craftsmanship and professional and friendly customer service, I think what attracts me to the shop and the beads is that so many of them are in the colours that I love to dye on yarn. If you ever buy yarn from me, and you want to find just the right beads to go with, head on over to RufusandRoxy (named for the owner's two cats). Oh...and check out the little beauties I snatched up super quick, before anyone else could get their mitts on 'em: HERE.

I bought my first yarn from etsy yesterday. Well, technically it was my second yarn purchase since I bought some undyed yarn for my business last week. But I think that yarn doesn't count. As nice as it is, it is business supply. Yesterday, I bought my first yarn for my own knitting pleasure. It's a gorgeous skein of hand-spun/hand-dyed with teeny little heart beads just sprinkled all through it. I wish I had it in my hot little hands already, but here's a pic so you can see why I was in such a hurry to grab it the day it was listed: YUMMO!

Oh, and Amy QOY, if you're reading this post, just pretend you didn't see no beads or no stinkin' yarn, cuz I'm sure you WON'T be interested. LOL!

I've made terrific progress on the Sunray, and I will post photos and report on that other blog tomorrow. If I can get over my intimidation. I mean, shit! Every time I pop in there for a glance, I see like TEN THOUSAND new finished shawls all boasting all over the place.

And maybe, just maybe, I'll have a hat to post tomorrow. An actual finished item.

The Mailbox is my Friend

2007-05-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

Bleahhhhhhhgghhh...Mother's Day...Bleahhhhhggghhhhh!!!

It's over, and look who showed up in the mail today to help me celebrate that fact: It's my MONSTER Hat Kit. Yippeee!!!

Jacey, over at Insubordiknit.com spins up these amazing skeins of hand-painted yarn. she hand-felts the little monster patches and kits it up with a funky label and instructions for two versions of the hat. She has a whole lotta the little suckers that have sold in the past. Every monster face is a mini work of art.

I got my hat kit in a trade. Jacey got two skeins of handpainted sock yarn from me, and I got this funky kit. There are definite perks to this job.

These hand-made pewter beads showed up in the mail too. I ordered them from MamacitaBeads at etsy. I love all of them, but especially the tiny church pendant.

Thanks for all the great suggestions for sock patterns for my sock-pal's socks. I decided to go with this book by Charlotte Schurch. I've heard so many good things about it, and I had a look at the pix online and was sold right away. I haven't decided on a pattern yet, but there are several that are in the running.

A great deal of mail goes out and comes in around here. I buy up a lot of yarn for dyeing, and it shows up in box after box after box. It goes out again in smaller boxes and bubble mailers. Every now and then, I throw something for myself into the order. Like this Sea Wool by Fleece Artist. The colorway is Rainforest, and it is a delight for the senses.

Introducing...Austin Peacock!

2007-05-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

Yeah, Baby!!

Treasures In The Mail

2007-05-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

Look what came in the mail yesterday!

Pretty little package done up in fancy tissue and ribbon:

Oh, yay! It's the notion bags I ordered from Ity-Bity Bags over at Etsy.

The little bags are so cute, and she has so many to choose from. I think these will be perfect for all kinds of things, but I plan to use mine as knitting notions bags. And as gifts. If I can part with any of them.

The bags are well made. Each one is lined in a different fabric than the outside fabric. The appliques are super cute. Not only did she package them up really nicely, but she included a bunch of bonus-gifties in my order. Hayley immediately claimed the stickers and the pretty beaded necklace.

I visited the Ity-Bity Bags shop today to thank the seller for such a lovely product. Then I beetled over to her shop to snag three more pouches. Have a look for yourself. The shop is ItyBityBags.

God's Gift to Peahens

2007-05-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you very much for your kind comments on my last post.

Do any of you remember playing Trivial Pursuit? My friends and I used to play quite a lot of it in the mid-80's when it had just come out and was so popular. I can be a bit of a dolt, and one time playing the game, I got the question:

What does a Peacock mate with?

I don't know. I was a bit stunned at the question. "You mean...what parts??" I asked. My friends have NEVER let me forget it. I'm pretty sure it came up at my wedding too.

A potential Etsy client emailed me a beautiful photograph of a close-up shot of a peacock's tail feather. She asked if I could do something with the teals, greens, blues and super deep blue-purple colour of that dark circle in the feather. I think I've come pretty close here.

The yarn is still damp in these photos, and it hasn't been re-skeined yet. The yarn is my fab Trekking sock yarn from the UK. Very nice to dye and to work with. I can already understand why that yarn is so popular.

I've also done up some skeins in this colorway in the luxury merino/alpaca/silk DK. They are rinsing now, and look great.

I need some name suggestions. I've been enjoying unusual, funky or tongue-in-cheek yarn names. I could call it:

Strut Your Stuff
Peahen's Delight

or....??? Suggestions are always welcome.

Warning: Personal Content

2007-05-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

I was washing up the dishes just now and reflecting on a few things. Suddenly I had the urge to write, so here I am.

I was thinking about how I go to see my therapist on Friday and what we might talk about.

1. How unbelievably angry I felt a few days ago at being treated rudely by the stylist who was supposed to cut my hair that day. Not my usual stylist, so I left and came back on another day when my favorite woman was in.

2. How unbelievably angry I felt this week that a well-meaning person's ignorance cost me 20.00 that I can't get back. I know it's not the money that makes me mad; there's something else at the heart of it. Having to pay the consequence for someone else's action? Now there's a theme in my life.

3. How panicky and upset I felt last week in church. Our pastor spoke on anger, and at the beginning of his sermon, he played a sound clip of Alec Baldwin abusing his eleven-year-old daughter Ireland over her cell phone. I understand this item has been a major news-cycle hit for the last few weeks. When I heard his voice and his words, I was instantly transported back into my three-year-old, five-year-old, fifteen-year-old (you get the picture) self. Me standing helpless and terrified while my dad screamed such things into my face, often with threatening gestures, and even with terrifying physical roughness.

4. And, I reflected at the kitchen sink, it is That time of year. What time of year? The time of year when my body knows that something terrible is going to happen soon, and there is nothing I can do to stop it. Every year for the past five years, since I started working on all the crap in my head, I have this awful recurring body memory that starts about three weeks before Mother's Day. Somewhere in the April 20's my body feels tight, tense, and packed with fear about the thing that will go wrong. The thing went wrong 28 years ago, but try telling my body that. My body remembers, and every year it reminds me that I was the last person to see my 18-year-old sister alive, about two or three weeks before Mother's Day, and that on May 14 -- Mother's Day -- she hung herself.

I was standing at the sink, thinking about these things, thinking about how much more I know about myself now than I did five years ago. How I know what these feelings mean. I know that they won't kill me, and they don't have to send me into a dark depression for the next three weeks. I just need to notice them, acknowledge and feel them, and experience them for what they are.

It still feels like crap, and I am NOT an every-cloud-has-a-silver-lining kind of person. Life is sometimes shitty. And it can be full of joy. Both things are true, and I try hard not to forget that. Life is full of mystery.

At the sink, I was aware of how gloriously sunny and beautiful it is outside today. A good day for a walk, and I want to get my chores done, so that I can go out in total freedom. I thought about how great it is that I get to work as an artist. How great that I am this far along on my journey of discovery, and I'm not trapped in the old terror and panic attacks. How nice it was to have lunch yesterday with a long-time dear friend.

I want to laugh and cry at the same time.

Mmm...Eye Candy

2007-05-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

Meet: Strawberry Pocky (you know biscuits 'n strawberry frosting?). Yummo!

Rusty Nail: soft enough to step on.

Sorry to be cryptic, but not going to comment on this. Those of you in the know, know where to look for all the details.

And...(much jumping up and down with glee), my package from the UK came today. Uber-quickly, since I expected it to take WEEKS, and it took DAYS. Guess what was in the package??? Nope! Not toilet paper. Fifteen skeins of beautiful undyed Trekking Sock Yarn. Yup!! Can't wait to play around with some of that.

Sockapalooza 4: Getting the Lead Out

2007-05-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

I first realized that the Sockapalooza-4 database must be up and running when a friendly knitter showed up at my Etsy store to buy a skein of yarn for her sock pal. And what a sweetheart she was. She chose such a lovely skein. Lucky sock pal.

Even so, I was buried up to my eyeballs in yarn dyeing, mailing, and the regular sludge of life, and it was days before I checked the database for information on my pal. Turns out my pal has feet almost the same size as mine (that will help), and has left all the details totally up to me.

Here's the yarn I've chosen for my pal:

Yesterday I dyed up two skeins of the super-yummy Blue Face Leicester 2-ply Sport in this colorway called Twilight. One for my sock pal, and one for my shop. I like this choice for my sock pal because it is colorful without being loud, and the yarn should show off the stitches of the sock nicely too. The bonus for me is that I get to knit the super-yummy BFL sock yarn. Why should everyone else have all the fun??

Now I need your help. Yes, that's right: Your Help. I have knitted quite a few socks now, using everything from chunky to super fine sock yarn. I have always knitted them totally plain, and I like it that way. But I want something different for my sock pal. No lace. I don't want anything frilly and froofy. I like to knit socks from the cuff down, with heel flaps, and regular toe shaping. I'm looking for pattern ideas for nice stitchwork that will be fun for me to knit -- and to show off the yarn I've chosen. I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions on this.

This morning I went out to the chiropractor. He hurt me, but he made me feel better too. Divine pain. When I got home, it was like Christmas. Packages on my doorstep. Packages in my mail box. Look at 'em all!!

I had a blast opening them all up. Several fun things I ordered from Etsy shops, and a box of undyed lace-weight yarn I scored by trading some of my hand-dyed. And a box of Misti Alpaca laceweight, also for dyeing. My favorite of the Etsy items is the black leather bound journal. The book was made entirely by hand by a gifted artist in Nova Scotia. She tears her own creamy smooth paper, hand stitches it into a strong binding, and finishes it all off with a beautiful leather cover. You can view her journals and other hand-bound books at her etsy shop Here. I love journals, and I do write my little heart out in them. When this one gets close to full, I'm going back for another one.

OK, One Hint...Just One!

2007-05-03T17:09:00.000-07:00

But that's all you're getting until she gets home to Lisa. Lisa knitted Kiri with some Kool-Aid dyed yarn, and found she was unhappy with the colour. The original colour is shown in pinky/flesh colour in what Lisa called the "Little Ball Of Fugly." It wasn't that bad, as you can see in the before photos in my last post.

Lisa found she couldn't quite finish the edge of Kiri, so she mailed the shawl to Auntie Grace for knitting therapy. Grace finished Kiri and sent her to me for a dye job.

Gotta tell you folks, that dyeing someone else's beautifully hand-knit shawl is a nail-biter. And not only that, but the pinkish Kool-aid colour she arrived in, is one of the more difficult to over-dye successfully. I experimented on the LB o'F until I felt I had the right idea of what to do.

Now Kiri is blocked and drying on my family room floor. I can't tell you how beautiful she is. Lisa's knitting is spectacular, as is Grace's edging. You can see the wonderful stitchwork in the teeny sample I've posted here. Lisa's original colour gives the whole shawl a warm undertone, and makes the over-dye dance. This photo does not really do justice to the shawl or to the final colour. I can say that the colour is soft and subtle, and oh so smoothly variegated.

Hopefully Lisa will give us a big eyeful when Kiri gets home. If not, I'll post all my pix.

Guess Who Came To Town?

2007-05-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

Do you recognize this shawl?

How about now?

Yes that's right! It's Kiri, on her grand tour of North America. She's come for a dye job -- all the way from Alaska, by way of New Jersey.

She's a pretty one already.

The Good, The Bad, and Whazzat??

2007-05-03T00:06:00.000-07:00

The Good:
There have been some new visitors and some really interesting comments here lately. Check out the comments on the post called: Isn't It Ironic.

Amazing Handmaiden Sea Silk yarn I bought from Joan a while back. I keep it close by so I can see its loveliness and pet it from time to time.

Amazing Handmaiden Sea Silk yarn poses next to a yarn I dyed this past week. It is Misti Alpaca Baby Alpaca Lace Weight. I bought it in off-white and must have had these colours on my mind, 'cuz look what happened!

The Bad:
My teeth are breaking, and I need a bunch (more) dental work.

Maybe the Canucks won't make it to the next round. But this headline made me think of Benne (which is good). I wonder why...

It rained and was pissy and wintery all day today. Can you see the rain? Can you see the wilted Canucks flag on our car?

The Funny:

Benne thought this was toilet paper:

Loud laughter over here when I read that comment.

And Now For Something Completely Different:
I'm not going to give any hints. This is the coolest thing ever. You'll just have to go see for yourself.

Spring at the Inlet

2007-04-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

I went for a beautiful walk yesterday. The weather was perfect, warm enough for a short-sleeved tee, but cool enough that I didn't get hot.

The scenery was perfect too...

A very peaceful time.

If you like this kind of thing, then you really must check out Benne's brand new blog. Benne is a duck-whisperer, and she writes with grace and humour about her feathered friends. I am so excited that she has started up a blog to share her stories and her wisdom. Please visit her HERE. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Isn't It Ironic?

2007-04-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

No pix for this post, but I'm going out for a walk on this beautiful sunny day, and I'll bring a bit of it back to share with you all later.

This is so weird, bizarre, cool, mind-boggling:

Etsy is a big place. People come from all over the world. I have posted that I am from the Vancouver area, and the other day I received an email from a fellow-Canadian. She asked if perhaps my shipping charges to Canada could be reduced because she lived in Port Moody.

I laughed out loud.

"How about free shipping?" I asked her in my reply, "I live in Port Moody too."

Turns out, and you're not going to believe this, but not only does she live in my immediate neighbourhood, our kids are in the same class at school.

!!!!!!!!!

We haven't met, but she visited my blog and saw my little smiling face and recognized me from walking my daughter to school.

Amaaaaaaazing but true.

I have one that is even better than that, but I'll save it for another time. :)

Help! I Want My Blog Back!

2007-04-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

And my knitting...and parts of my life...

Well, it only makes sense that I've spent most of my waking hours over at etsy this week, but it's not going to stay that way.

I want to blog, and I want to knit, and I don't want to spend all my time on the computer.

I can keep up with dyeing and mailing and the other details of running an online shop. but I can't do it in two places at the same time. Can't be done. Not by this woman at least.

So here's the scoop: I've moved the business to etsy. If you want to buy my yarn, please go and buy it over there. I've had a great week. Etsy is so easy. I list the yarn, and I mail the yarn, and they take care of everything else. If you click on my shop, you'll see that it has been greatly simplified, and the etsy link is there. You can still email me for special orders, but everything else is at etsy. Don't be scared. Etsy is fun. You'll like it. I promise. :)

My new true love (don't tell Doug): This came in the mail yesterday and guess what it is???? Well, can you guess??

This...well, these...are two 1-kilo cones of Blue Face Leicester 2-ply Sportweight.

Sock knitters, you can start drooling now.

This stuff is amaaaaaazing. It's soft and strong at the same time. It has luster and great twist. It has body (or is that wine) and substance. And it dyes like a dream. Oh, I am going to have fun with this. Two kilos. That's a whole lotta socks.

I was in a spring fling kinda mood last night, and I had to get my hands and some dye onto some of that BFL. The outcome: LemonLime.

This one's called: Jeans And A T-Shirt

The one at the top of the page is: Mexican Blanket. And you know where you can find these if you want 'em.

I've had some good suggestions from blog readers this week. I am hoping to install some flicker boxes over on the side with pix of my yarn and sold yarn. I know I'm well over 100 skeins sold since opening up here in March, but I don't have a firm total on that until I update my records.

And I want to get back to the business of knitting. Sockapalooza has sent out the invites, and so has Lisa -- for the elann shawl'along. I'm going to knit!

Help, I've Been Sucked Into The Etsy Vortex!!

2007-04-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

And I think I might have left my knitting-mojo there.

No kidding, etsy is a fun place to hang out. I have my shop up and running, and things have been going great. Even with serious technical difficulties, I have already made eight sales, and one of those was a custom order. People come and check out your wares, and if they like your shop, they leave you a heart. Gotta admit, it's fun to check and see who "hearts" my shop. But even better is when I follow the link back to the person's other favorites and find all kinds of things I love too.

Yesterday, I did a little shopping...Wanna see what I bought????

Okay, I bought THIS, and THIS, and THIS, and THIS!

Bet you were expecting yarn. Oh, there is a lot of that too, and it is all very tempting, but I'm staying away from it for now. Tooooo dangerous.

I did work on my Butterscotch sock for a bit last night. Doug and I rented The Lost Room. We watched it on the Sci-Fi network when it aired, and we really enjoyed it. So this week we rented the DVD and watched it again. I think it was even better the second time around.

I knit the heel flap, turned the heel, and picked up the instep stitches. That's not bad I guess.

And I did some dyeing yesterday. I've posted two new yarns in the blog shop.

Happy Knitting!!

The Happy Wanderer

2007-04-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

Not a lot of knitting going on around here lately. I have a big basket o'chaos in my family room. There are several layers of recently started projects that get my attention for about five minutes at a time.

Here's a funky hat I'm knitting in Project Spectrum Pink. I really like the yarn. I bought it at Birkelands, my new favorite LYS.

So what have I been doing?

Among other things, I've been wandering around blogland. There is no particular method to my madness; I just wander where the links take me. Sometimes I follow new commenters on my blog back to their sites and then follow some of their links or comments down the rabbit trails of blogdom. Other times, I look at the link lists of new and interesting blogs I've found and see where those go. Yesterday, the lines were all down at etsy for hours and hours. Hundreds of etsy buyers and sellers were chatting up a storm over at the etsy blog, so I invited some of 'em back here for a visit and a mini yarn contest. I have really been enjoying seeing what else is going on in blogland and meeting some new people.

Here are a few fun things to check out:

Go and visit Alyson's Blog. Alyson has knitted the most amazing stocking (leg stocking, not Christmas stocking). You will goggle with disbelief. I don't know how she is going to get the second one made, but I'm going to be watching for it. Alyson has also posted a link to an online yarn shop with some irresistable deals on Malabrigo (7.00), Tilli Tomas (30% off), and Lorna's Laces (various excellent deals). I visited and was sorely tempted. Oh, and Congrats to Alyson, who won my wee etsy contest. I will be sending her a free skein of worsted.

Another fun blog to visit is Rabbitch's site. Rabbitch has fun cartoons and great links. She has a wicked sense of humour too. She is in process of filling up a window display over at Birkelands with her hand-dyed yarns and knitting/spinning accessories, and I'll get to visit these things in person! I can't wait to see what she's made.

Rabbitch's site led me to Jacey at Insubordiknit. Jacey runs a blog and a shop. I've mentioned her before, and you'll be hearing about her again. She has a great sense of humour, and her yarns are amazing! I have a swap going with Jacey, and I am sooooo excited. I'm sending her out some sock yarn, and she is sending me....Well, you'll just have to wait and see. More on this later.

These are just a few of the fun sites I've found. I'll report on others in other posts.

Etsy is fun, or at least it was until it went down for hours and hours and hours. They're doing some major renos over there, and when the site went back up, it was really limping. I'm avoiding the place for now, but once it's working again, I'll introduce you to some fun sites and people over there.

I wish I could claim this beautiful knitting as my own, but alas it was done by another knitter. Karen/Lunadog bought this yarn from me to knit a shawl for a charity auction. Yesterday, she came by to pick up her skein of prize yarn from my draw last month, and she brought the work in progress to show me. The shawl is amaaaazing. Karen is an excellent knitter, and the yarn looks and feels beautiful in this pattern.

Karen is knitting her shawl with four skeins of the 100% Mercerized wool worsted in Twilight. She's using the pattern that CatBookMom recommended in her blog a while back. It's a free Lion Brand pattern that does not look so hot in the LB pictures, but that is really a lovely shawl. Check out CBM's blog post on this shawl HERE.

Finally...and true to my word, I have posted three new sock yarns to my shop here at the blog. You can check them out over yonder. I'll move them over to etsy in a day or so.

Hope everyone is getting more knitting done than I am!

Happy Sunday!

2007-04-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

Daisy says: Hi everybody! Mom is busy knitting, so she said I could post today. Now I'm going to do my favorite thing and sleep alllllllllll day. eep!

The Learning Curve Goes Up and Up and Up

2007-04-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

News and Announcements for See Jayne Knit Yarns:

The dyeing business is going well. I believe that I have passed my personal trial period of seeing if this is something I enjoy doing enough to pursue it on a regular basis. The reaction I've had from knitters tells me that I am on the right track with the work I'm doing. I have invested in a wonderful variety of yarns to dye, with exciting new packages continuing to arrive at my house. I've ordered Blue-Faced Leicester sock yarn, and I can't wait for it to get here!

As I've learned each new thing I've had to learn, I've made changes to my blog, my shop link, and to my routines. For those of you who follow my doings here closely, you've probably noticed that I'm constantly tweaking things.

And I'm going to tweak some more. These are the changes you might want to know about:

I have opened an Etsy shop. I got it set up yesterday and listed a number of my yarns there. The interest is high, and I have already sold the three skeins of Green Tea Sock Yarn that had been listed here. Ope! There goes the Blood Orange Sock Yarn while I sit here typing. I welcome you to visit my etsy shop and to shop there if you like. You can visit my etsy shop HERE.

I will continue to sell yarn from my blog shop. I will continue to do both as long as it is working out. If one venue turns out to be significantly more convenient/successful than the other in the long run, I may move all my business to that one venue, whether it turns out to be here or at Etsy. It's all a big experiment after all.

I have listed my SALE YARNS over at Etsy at the original prices, except for the two skeins of mohair, which I reduced in price at Etsy. I will reduce the mohair here to match the Etsy price, and if you buy it here from the blog, you can also receive the discount until/unless the mohair sells at Etsy first.

Evicting Ladder Lace:
I have decided that Ladder Lace does not really fit my profile of dyeing all-natural animal fibers. I returned five bags of Ladder Lace to Elann this week. All currently dyed Ladder Lace is now 5.00/skein, and I will be moving it over to Etsy on Monday.

For the Customer Appreciation Event this month, I am offering either four skeins of Ladder Lace (my last four as yet undyed) or One Skein of Sock Yarn from in-stock sock yarn. This month's event ends on May 8. See shop for details.

The prices at Etsy will be the same as here at the blog, but there are a few advantages to you to shop at the blog:

It is easier to deal with custom orders here. That seems to be the majority of my business here at the blog so far anyway.

You get in on Customer-Appreciation draws and contests here only.

I will list yarns at discount prices from time to time here only.

I will list new yarns (if I have any) here first on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday Mornings -- in order to give my friends here the first look at them. This is not meant to put pressure on you in any way. After a day or so, I will list the new yarns at Etsy also.

Please feel welcome to browse and shop at either location, or not. I value the blogging relationship more than the sales relationship.

As always, I value your comments and feedback. If I've missed something important, or you have helpful suggestions, please do let me know.

The skein of mohair at the top of the post is Copper Penny
The next photo is of Melons Love Sunshine (four stitch markers and a gift charm)
The third photo is of Just For You gift charms

All three items are new listings here -- and at Etsy. I did this because I have two of each item. On Monday morning I will list some new sock yarns here.

Project Spectrum Eye Candy

2007-04-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

Project Spectrum colours for April/May are: Yellow, Pink, and Green

Yellow: A very dear friend dropped in on me yesterday. She brought me this beauty that she had made herself in chef-training. We had to eat it, of course, but it broke my heart to cut it up.

Pink: I went to a favorite wool/yarn store today and could not leave without buying this. It is Rio De La Plata hand spun, kettle dyed Uruguayan wool. I saw it and felt it and saw a vision of a cute winter hat (that I'll have to knit in April or May, of course). And then it stuck to my hands and wouldn't let go, so I had to buy it.

No, I did not dye this one myself, and no, you cannot buy it.

Green: I know, I know, I've posted this photo before. But I love it, and to me, it is an example of the perfect green. I'm not tired of it, so here it is again in all its glory.

Yes, I did hand-dye these, and yes, you can buy them. :) But you'd better hurry up 'cuz I'm starting to waffle.

Wren Is Starting To Sing

2007-04-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

Like many knitters out there in blogland, I am working on Berroco's Wren Cardi. Like many knitters out there in blogland, I am finding Wren to be something of a (boring) knit. If you object to the word boring, you can insert: dull, tedious, mindless, unmotivating, repetetive. Whichever.

In an effort to motivate myself to finish, I put together what I have so far. I steam blocked the pieces, did a three-needle bind off on the left shoulder, and sewed up the left side and sleeve. Then I tried her on.

Oh my! She's a lovely top and she's going to fit like a charm. The top photo is inside the house; the next one is outdoors. The outdoor shot shows the colour better.

I love the shaping and fitting details of this top, and I really love the way it's turning out in the Filatura Di Crosa Adhoc Sandalo.

I particularly love the little ribbed sleeves. Stole that idea from Blue Sky Cropped Cardi. The ribbing makes the sleeves fit snug without any pooching.

The only other mod I've made so far is that I did the sleeves/front in the smallest size, and the back in the the next smallest size, but with a few more decreases through the waist. This was in an effort to get a 34" bust.

I also do not plan to knit the shawl collar. I love the neckline just the way it is. I'm planning to do a very minimal finish on the opening edge.

Now I just have to knit the right front, and she will be nearly done! Can't wait!!!