It all goes together, really. This is from the new Knitty, and I have made one, so now I am making my own pattern, as of course I found a few ways to improve upon this one. I also want to try one with a repeat of 12, I think that would be really cool. The tam, much to my middle girls annoyance, it was too big for her.

She was very unhappy when I told her it was for one of our friend’s girls. All the girls in that family are extremely excited about learning to knit now, because they all fell in love with that hat! So I have gifted them with some nice white yarn, a few spare needles, and a bunch of kool-aid, so they are going to town. Which brings me to ask, if any of you have way to much surplus leftovers, or small skeins, would anyone consider donating it to these four little girls? Money is tight for them, and I shudder to think they will have to use cheap, crappy, acrylic. So I thought, well I can ask and see if anyone would help out and sponser one with a small yarn gift. It can be anything, but worsted weight wool would be easiest for them to work with right now, any color is also fine. Let me know if you might have anything you want rid of. As you know a new knitter can find it difficult to get everything they need all at once, and to top it off, these are just kids, aged 7 - 12. So if you can help us out, let me know. I have given them lots of roving, and they are learning to spin, but they are more interested in knitting at this point, and they are quickly running out. Besides, if you donate some yarn to some of these girls, then you will deserve a reward trip to the yarn store. Just a thought

I have been dyeing up roving. I MEANT to put it all in the shop, while I was getting a little extra traffic from Knitty, but oh well. I got so discusted, I needed a fix, so I took one peice for myself and spun this up, and it is just lovely. I really like the colorway, but I think I will make the color changes a little more obvious, and also a little darker for just a little more contrast, but it is just beautiful as it is. I know it’s pink and purple, but I do have a 3 and 5 year old daughter I would like to point out, both of which are slobbering over this… Really it is lovely. I’m thinking of making a seamless yoke sweater by EZ. This will be for the yoke design, and the body will be light gray. Gray is wonderful for children.

I have also been experimenting with the drum carder and blended batts. I am finally getting the hang of it. I have this pretty little batt for the shop, it has the sparkle stuff added in. I don’t know what brand this sparkle is, but its like Christmas tree tinsel only very tiny. I have white, and green right now, to experiment with. I am contemplating maybe doing a batt of the month club, as those are so popular and fun to do. I need to get some more specialty fibers so that I can make up something really fun for them and then we’ll see what happens.

I also blended some of the sparklie stuff with some turquise roving I had. It is quite lovely. Very shiny and bright. I haven’t spun any yet, I need to try some, but the batts are so pretty that I don’t want to muss them to spin a sample.

Finally God willing, I have finally taken a picture of the learn to spin kits we sell at fiber fairs. We sell these for $7 with 2 ounces of fiber, so it’s a pretty darn good deal if you ask me. We sell them with a variety of colors, and if a customer chooses one, I can usually accommodate their desires. I sell tons of these at festivals, mostly to little kids, who want to try. I give them to kids for less, $5, which covers my cost. So if you order one of these for a child under 14, let me know and I will discount them. I have taught children as young as 4 with great success, and the kids learn it so fast.

Lastly, we went to the local 5 and dime, and low and behold they had knitting needles! for 70% off!!!!!!!! I bought all the double points for myself (I love Susan Bates double points) and Dominic bought himself his own set of straight needles. Nothing fancy, just colorful aluminum needles, but he likes them, and hey, they were like 80 cents each…. I still don’t know why he wants to use straights (I’m a total circular fan) but hey, to each his own right?

But now, about Internet Idiocy. Supposedly, our internet doesn’t work because of excessive cold. (It’s 13 degrees right now) so that doesn’t really explain why it didn’t work in 26 degrees last week. The support policies of the company we use are so stupid as to border on imbecilic. What happened was we had a little trouble with connectivity (remember) and we got that fixed, they told us that if we upgraded to a new modem, that it would improve. So we upgraded (remember that the old modem was working perfectly) and then it wouldn’t work at all. The would NOT downgrade us back to the old modem under any circumstances. So we were basically told that we had to do without internet until a technician gets around to coming out and looking it over. They even tried to charge us for it, but didn’t have a leg to stand on, so we finally pried the fee out of them under the warranty. GRRRR. They have been fortunate enough that Beau has dealt with them thus far, and he is so patient. They better do something, less I unleash fiery red-headed death down upon them. I am getting close to the point of really needing to bite someone’s head off, and really let them know exactly how I feel about their company policies. I’m trying to remain calm.