I need to complete 7 rows each day to get caught up by a week from Friday. Clue 5 will be released then, so if I can get caught up that would make the whole thing a lot more fun. Of course I got some lovely yarn from my dear friend Heidi in Norway. MAN is this yarn nice, sock yarn. Just when Yarn Harlot solved all my ladder problems. Coincidence? I think not. SO it is possible I could get distracted… I have to say, if you haven’t read her book “Knitting Rules” stop everything, go find a copy right now and read it. You will not be sorry.

On a personal note, William had his very first cupcake. He enjoyed it quite a bit as you can see. He picked up all the frosting off the top first, and crammed that into his mouth. It was a mess to say the least.

The biggest news, is that the girls’ got Popcorn for their Birthdays,

It doesn’t get better than that for a third and fifth birthday. Everyone is thrilled.

Sheesh, I just don’t really want to, but I did release an Extra Extra article, nothing spectacular, dishcloths. These are really neat though, they are wonderful to use, and are pretty cheap to make, depending on the yarn you use. And FAST! tee hee. Here is the basketweave pattern, very simple, aimed at beginners.

The diagonal lines dishcloth is probably my favorite, it makes an interesting diagonal rib effect. I love the variegated and hand-painted yarns. I am intrigued by the surprise factor of what it will look like when finished.  A beginner can also tackle this one.

The lacy one is a great way to try out a new lace pattern or technique. I finally got a hold of charts by just knitting one repeat of a bunch of charts to get the hang of how they work. Now I wish I had made them into dish cloths, at least I can use them. The other thing here, is that these puppies give you instant gratification. They only take from 30 minutes to a few hours to make.  This one has a few new stitches for a beginner, but is still within reach with a good technique book.

In other news, I am almost finished with Clue 1 on the Mystery Stole. I will not post a picture until I finish a clue. I want to, but I’m making myself wait.

So I have a few fun things to finish up, then you will get to read and enjoy them, but I am still slacking at this point. I have an idea knocking around my skull, but I hate to do it, because I just did the Chalel veil, but I suspect it will bug me until I do it. Not much point in ruining the surprise but it is lace, and uses entrelac. Two of my favorites, but will it work? That is the question. Test knitters can sign up now. tee hee.

I am wanting to make up a really nice sock pattern as well, one that would work well for lots of different stitch patterns. So I am thinking about that. Often at night I dream about knitting, in fact I get some of my best ideas then. Odd isn’t it? I am one of those people who wakes from a sound sleep with a loud EUREKA! I figured it out. My sub-conscious mind is much smarter then the other one apparently.

As always, suggestions are welcome, and Issue three will be begun in earnest on Monday.

Well, issue two is published, but not without several considerable obstacles.  We had no interent connection for the two days previous.  I spent a lot of time, trying to fix the problem, and finally had to go to where Beau works to borrow a connection there.  That would have been all fine and good, excepting that for some reason, I couldn’t connect there either.  So after much struggling, Beau finally finished what he was doing, and I uploaded everything via a jump drive.

So the point is, that things probably aren’t ideal.  Normally, I would have had the last two days, to edit, check and recheck everything.  I didn’t get that time, so if anyone sees a problem, or something that is unclear, PLEASE email me.  The address is  allena at spindleandwheel dot com.

So, now I get to take a little bit of a break, catch up on some laundry before it totally consumes the house, and also catch up on some other chores.  I think I’ll bake some bread, as a reward, maybe I’ll even post my reicipe, which btw is not healthy or anything, but tastes spectacular and is perfect in every way.   You guys can let me know, if anyone is interested, I could share.

So next issue is due to publish Sept 15, and I have about half of it planned, but the other half is up in the air.  This is a great time to tell me about something you want to read about, or something cool you learned.  It will be a much better issue than this one, or so I think.  I have some really cool and unusual ideas for several of the articles.  I also have the Sheep 2 Chic project, which I HOPE to have completed by then, but that next part may just be about spinning the yarn.  I just don’t know yet.  I will say that there will be at least one thing in issue three that probably 99% of spinners have never heard of, and WOW is it neat.  I wanted to put it in this issue, but  I couldn’t pull the information and research together fast enough.  So if you have any ideas, now is the time, seize the day and all that.

I am pretty happy with this issue, and pretty tired.  I hope y’all like it.

Be sure and sign up for the fiber frenzy, if you don’t your going to have to see all the fun we are having, and your going to feel left out.  You don’t want to see others having fun without you do you?  Think about it.

Oh boy, I have to start with a short fit today. Our site is kind of hosed up and it’s all because somebody had to nag us about updating a utility we use on the back end. Well ok, its a free utility and I am grateful, but the update wasn’t ready, and it has caused some problems in the blog and site, so bear with us.  I and my husband are software developers, so we can be a little harder on folks. Do NOT nag people everyday to update when your update makes all sorts of problems appear and the old one worked just FINE! There I said it. Not everyone wants to be bossed around and told what to do with their site and when to do it and how to do it and on what schedule to do it. I prefer to do it when I’m darned good and ready, and that’s not usually until it’s been around long enough to mess up other people’s blogs, and thus get fixed. hmpf!

So I now have completed all the feature articles, and uploaded the pictures. All that is left is my three patterns, and the shawl. I bet you wish you knew what they were huh? I’m not telling, you’ll have to see for yourself. I don’t want to be the only one waiting for issue two breathless, lol. So I am getting some pictures taken of the shawl and three other patterns I made for your enjoyment, and I even talked my crocheting wiz sis into making some of those hookie thingie patterns for you. Thanks Renee!

So I am ahead of schedule, and not sure how that happened, but I think it was because of Yarn Harlot, and Mystery Stole 3. I was a little peeved when I read on Yarn Harlots blog that she joined, and all the arguments of the person who coerced her into joining made. It was really the “Everyone will be having fun without you” and also the “Knitting is fun” comments that got me sucked in. SO I joined despite it being a BAD idea, and managed to turn it into a GOOD idea. Here’s how: I decided I wanted to get caught up, (sorry the group is closed for this one, I signed up at the very last minute) and Clue 2 had already posted (so 150 rows or so). So I made a list of work, and when it was completed I get to knit on MS3. I am on row 60ish. It is beautiful, and I will get a picture for you to see soon. I hope to be caught up to the others by next Friday, clue 4.
Anyway, this leads me to another idea. Maybe this would be a good way to get ufos turned into fos? You MAY start another project, but you may not knit on it, until you have done say 10 or 15 rows on that other thing you are sick of. I used to do this when painting, work on my “hot” painting only after punching my time-clock in on the old boring one. It works, try it out.

Sorry there’s no pictures or anything, have to get back to work.

Issue 2 will be posted sometime on July 15.  We hope we have another great issue lined up, and it’s all coming together.

We have tried to listen, and write some articles that have been requested by you the readers.  We have several patterns for this issue, submitted by readers, and a few by us as well.  We hope as submissions increase, that we will have more patterns and projects to offer, and we can broaden the scope of the magazine.

I hadn’t posted in a while (been busy writing and taking pictures) so I thought I would post a quick update.  All is going well, if a bit slower than I would prefer, and we should be all set to publish on the 15th.