Wowzers, did it go fast I got this done, A in less than 4 days, and I had to design the patterns, make a million swatches and argue with myself and tear it out a hundred times before I was happy.

I estimate this one will take about 4 - 8 hours to complete for a medium speed knitter. I really enjoyed making it.  Maybe I can talk Beau into trying one when he finishes his dish cloth, since EVERYONE who saw it made a point to be sure I knew that they would really really like to have that for Christmas…

It was sent off with the Mother In Law, who was THRILLED with it. I didn’t have much notice we were getting a visitor, so I haven’t done much of anything, except make this scarf.

So a few reminders, first of all, remember that each time you comment, you are entered in the contest to win a nice prize at the end of the month.

Secondly, I haven’t posted the prize, because I am still working on it, but it will be soon! I’m sorry I got distracted with a scarf, I don’t know how these things happen, but there you go. I was working on the prize, and suddenly for no reason, was knitting a scarf and forgot all about the prize and my promise to post a picture of it. Scarves are wily that way, I suggest going ahead and casting one on now, that way it won’t sneak up and blind side you. This is the first completed pattern in our Panic Attack Christmas Special Issue. Oh, and it used practically NO yarn. I dyed up about 350 yards, and I didn’t even make a good sized hole in the ball. Now what am I going to do with all that blazing red alpaca yarn???? Space dye it with purple of course for the next project.

On other knitting news, our son Dominic who is recently turned 14, shot his big teen age mouth off yesterday.

Me: “You have $20 for your birthday, you should buy a sack of socks, you need some.” (of course I know he won’t, I’m just teasing, sort of like how I tell him we are having squid-liquid for dinner when he asks)

Him: “well, I like wearing the same socks”

Me:”Thats gross! You need more socks.”

Him:” Well, you should just knit all my socks.”

Me: “I have lots of knitting to do for the site, I can’t knit you a dozen socks.”

Him: “Well maybe you should teach me to knit socks, then I could knit my own socks.”( giggle giggle, snicker snicker )

Me: “Ok, smarty pants, I WILL teach you to knit socks. Guess what, you just added a non core class to the ciriculum, knitting.” (remember we home school, how else can a kid in the US learn to knit in school?)

Him: “uh…” (deciding if this is good or horrible, since now he’s in for the long haul)

Me: “One hour, everyday, until you can knit socks for yourself, and everyone else in the family because I don’t have time.” (laughing then silence….)

Him (thinking) “does she really mean that???”

So Dominic learned to knit today, and he did a very good job. I should have taken some pictures, but I didn’t think too. He looked so pleased with himself. He is knitting a hat for William with some lovely yarn given to me by Beth, from the Fiber Frenzy swap. He just really liked it, so I let him have it. sigh, my stash is getting pilliaged in whole new way lately. I’m ok, I can share. Besides, this means I need to shop for more yarn right? I mean it makes sense that I need more since people are depleting it.

So back to Dominic, he learned the long Tail Cast on. It took him about 3 minutes, then he could do it perfectly, although a little tightly. So I then had him transfer the stiches onto a smaller needle, cautioning him to be careful and not loose any. He lost the last two, the beginning ones, so I took it off, and re cast on for him, since he looked sick at having to cast on 60 stitches again.

He knit one row, I had to show him how, twice or maybe 5 times. No struggling, no tense, desperate jabbing with the needle, desperately trying to get it into the front of the stitch.

Him:”Can I stop for a while? My hands hurt.”

Me: “Ok, that’s normal, your hands are doing something new, they will get used to it.”

Him: “It sure is going to take forever to knit this hat.” (glancing sideways, will Mom take the bait?)

Me: “I’ll help you, I’ll knit a few rows for you, here and there, and it will be done in no time.”

So starts his journey into knitting. He seems very pleased that I would teach him. No I admit that he’s asked a couple of times for me to show him, but didn’t seem very serious, so I didn’t think much of it. What started out as joking and teasing each other, turned into a nice Mother - Son interaction, that will continue until he can knit socks LOL. It’s written in the school books, now he has to do it, which is handy considering he may hate knitting tomorrow.
It kind of reminds me of when he learned to read. (He was in a Montessori school then). He came home and started reading the newspaper aloud. We were shocked, and dumbfounded, he’de only been in school for a few weeks. Finally Beau stuttered out “When did you learn to read???” He said “Oh I’ve always known how..” I do believe the little brat ahem, I mean sweet little angel will knit better than us sooner than we think. He’s so good at stuff it amazes me. You know what’s REALLY cool, he does Math fast, and in his head. So soon in the future I can say

Me:”Dominic, I have 7.75 stiches per inch, and I need to have a 34 inch width, oh, and my pattern repeat should be 18 stitches plus two, how many stitches should I cast on?” And the answer will just fall into my lap, and I can forget about figuring all that junk for myself HEE HEE HEE HA HA HA…. And best of all, I can write it in the book, and it counts as school work.  I’m liking this Boy who knits for school work, think of the possibilities.. I could assign him my grafting and sewing on of borders.   Or hey, I could have him cast on and off for me, since I have trouble counting things.  I could let him do the 15 inches of plain stockinette stitch.  I could even let him knit the second sock that I don’t want to do myself.  This idea has some real possibilities LOL.  Actually, I will probably not really do any of these things, but it sure is fun to think about, and it takes my mind off the fact that now there will be another pair of hands in my stash.

On the major plus side, if the light hearted attitude continues, maybe he’ll get interested in spinning again.  He lost interest after the sheep/mineral oil incident of 06.  This might just get him back to spinning, and playing with the sheep.

Sorry about the lack of posts guys, Williams 1st Birthday was Saturday, and my Mother in Law decided to come at the last minute.  She hasn’t been out to visit in two years, so I have tried to focus on that as much as I can.  Here are a few pictures from the party.

William, loved the new truck, given by my lifelong friend Liz and her family.  They all enjoy it and it was the perfect, and most loved gift received I think.

The cake was enjoied by the birthday boy, and he had his first taste of chocolate.  He was done, and ready to get out by this point, so he was alternating from happy to mad.

Now, you know me, and so instead of party favors and games, we dyed wool, for all 12 kids.  It was a huge hit and all the children had a fun time.

This little one really enjoied dyeing the wool, and she got really excited.  I should have thought to photo the results because they were really beautiful.  I am always amazed how lovely the dye jobs are when kids get busy.

Finally, back to spindle and wheel business.  I decided that for November, we will have a special Holiday Issue, full of last minute gifts.  That’s it, no articles, no features, just quick and fun little projects that make good gifts, so email me right away if you have a pattern posted on your blog, or something of your own design.  We will take almost anything, if there are pictures to go along with it, and it works.  So let me know, this is a great time to get involved.

So the top triangle, is the beginning of my entrelac shawl.  I am not finished with the design, but I am getting close, I like it.  This will be for the base triangles.

The second is a pattern for the Holiday Exclusive hee hee.  It is very simple and knits up very fast, yet looks quite lovely.  I knitted one strand of fingering alpaca yarn with one strand of laceweight silk/wool blend for a slightly mottled effect.  I am now knitting up the lace edging, and refining that for the finished scarf.  It will be knit only with the lace weight silk/wool yarn and should be lovely.  I’m in a bit of a hurry, because I want to send it along with my Mother In Law.  She has expressed much interest in it, as has everyone else who has seen it :)  My sister also hinted aroud quite a bit, that she wanted it.  LOL so I guess it’s a hit.

I will finish up my contest winner package once my company leaves, I apologize, but I can’t exactly get out to finish it all up until she leaves on Wed.  So be patient with me guys!

There’s no doubt about it, I need to get cracking.

So I like to throw out to the blog readers any requests, or ideas they might have.  I think I have Eye on The Industry, but I need a Fiber Spotlight topic.  I’ve done Shetland, Alpaca, and soysilk.  SO I guess maybe it’s time to do a synthetic?  Or maybe a cellulose, like flax or cotton.  What would you guys like to read about?

I am still pondering what products I would like to review, and I need to get some knitting done, really bad!  I’ve been playing wood shop so much that I haven’t gotten Sheep To Chic or the entrelac shawl done.  I need to work on those, perhaps tommorrow I will put a few hours aside for it.

Now is a great time to think about submitting an article.  I have taken several that were just blog posts!  The writer fleashed them out just a bit, and voila!  So think about what you’ve got, and let me know if you have something fibery that you might be willing to share.

On other news, I am STILL waiting to hear from Knitty, which isn’t surprising really, but still killing me.  I hate waiting.  I am in my goodness refraining from emailing to bug them about it.  I guess if they hated it they would have known right off.  I have issues with rejection, and besides I would be really happy to post it to S&W so I have a double whammy of the waiting game.  I hate waiting.

Tomorrow, I should have enough information to post a picture of Nikki’s prize.  I wanted to find out what colors she likes and that sort of thing.  I do have several things already picked out to send though, and well, lets just say, that saying goodbye won’t be easy, but I will survive it.

Drum carding, rug making, and silk, beautiful marvelous silk.  I’ve been playing with the regualar kind and also soy silk.

The next issue is due to publish on the 15th.  We have sort of scaled back a little, I’m just one person, and I’m tired.  Still we have put together some really interesting stuff, and I think you will all be pleased.

Here’s a sneak peek…

Ok, so it isn’t spinning, but it IS fiber arts, and I had a blast making it.  This might be all my Christmas gifts this year.  I can complete one in a couple of evenings.  That is IF someone would put the scissors down where I can reach them instead of 4 feet away…

I have also been playing with the new drum carder, made by Fancy Kitty.  They also make a whiz bang spindle, crochet hooks, nostepinnes and more.  I LOVE this guy… Ron Anderson is just the nicest feller you could ever want to meet.  He’s already high on my “Nice people I know” list.  Check it out www.fancykitty.com

The carders are georgeous! What suprises me is that they are also extremly high quality, and a reasonable price.  I love the little spinner, I’m going to have one someday…  The carder will be reviewed in the next issue, along with some other models he makes, and his other equipment.  I am very impressed with this company though, they are really great!!! I had a problem, and I have to say, when they say guaranteed… they MEAN it.  Over all I am VERY VERY pleased.

So I have been blending soy silk and merino into bats for the shop, trying to figure out what people would like to buy to help pay for supplies for the projects and labor on the site.  Anyway, it was really fun and lookie what I got now!!!

So pretty, bombyx (sp?) silk in purple and creamy white merino.  Very pretty, I would like to try more colors in the mix, but I would need to be dyeing first, and I don’t have time.

This one is lovely too, and I am pretty sweet on it.  Luckily, if I sell it I can make more, otherwise y’all might be outta luck.

So I have four of each made up, and I am very pleased with them.  The batts are super lofty and purty!  I like this one, and I may have to just spin some up for my other secret pal or something.

Well, back to work…

PS, I am starting a little contest, each time you comment, you will be entered in a drawing for some nice prizes.  We will draw a name randomly each month….  Only one comment per post counts lol.

I have begun a new project for the site.  I don’t want to give it all away, but you can see the yarn I have prepared and dyed for the next project.

This is Fino lace weight yarn. 70% alpaca and 30% silk.  I hand dyed it these colors, to match each other.  I love the colors and the yarn too!  It is a slightly heavy lace weight, somewhere right around 18 wpi.  I find these the easiest to work with, but they can be difficult to find.  So I am beginning swatches for the next lace project.

On other news, I have cleaned out my “craft” space and turned it into a full blown studio area for my fiber stuff which is quickly overunning the whole house.  Next issue will feature an article on maximizing your space and smart storage solutions.

I have taken better pictures for the shopping cart.  Apparently I tripped at the finish line.  So I have listened to all the advice and suggestions, and hopefully things will be selling a little now that I have done a better job.  One concern that was raised was that the pictures weren’t very good.  I was trying to just show the roving color as best I can, but it lacked appeal.  So I have snapped some hand painted to see if the interest will be higher there.

I am also looking to speak to people in the area about ordering koolaid.  Should be fun.   I am also looking and building a solar oven for dyeing outside heh heh.  I’m glad my hubby is in on this or he would be going insane by now.

I have a lot of pressure to get each issue published, and now, it’s crunch time again. So I have next week to get the feature articles nailed down and finished up. Not to big of a deal, but I don’t deal with stress well. I’m working on doing better. Issue 2 was better than issue 1 so perhaps this one will go even easier.

A little juicy sneak peek for my readers. I am doing two articles on a new fiber, and I’m betting at least 95% or more of you haven’t tried it. I’m really excited about this one, it is really a great story. I will probably be doing something about drum carders, as I will be purchasing one shortly. Also looking at some patterns that have been submitted, and some articles focusing on history of spinning and fiber arts. As we progress, we learn what people really like, and what they aren’t so interested in.  Let us know, if you have something you’de like to see, or don’t like.

It seems that people really like the projects, and also the fiber spotlight, because they like to learn about the animals. So we may introduce something about the actual animal, and then a separate article about the fiber. Talking about the breed or species of animal is enjoyable, and has proved to be of great interest, but for clarity the articles would get a little long, so perhaps we will be breaking that into two articles this issue. That way we can still discuss all the aspects of the fiber in Fiber Spotlight, and then discuss the animal in some new article. That would give me the space to post more pictures, and information about the animal and it’s habits. I learned this with the Alpacas, because really they are extraordinary animals. They have a rich and interesting history, and also are a very unique animal in their breeding and birthing process. So this would allow me to discuss more of these aspects of the animal in question at greater lengths without having a behemoth article that took several visits to read.

We are also working on some other exciting things that should prove to be interesting and good for the readers. One thing we want to look into are permanent ads, because the Google ads are really not working out for us. We aren’t making much with them, and I’m not thrilled with the ads that are placed. Some of them are irrelevant, and then the few others are often the same on each page. So our profit off those is highly irregular and not that great. It was a great place to start, but I think it’s time to move on.

I am amazed at the amount of “business” stuff I have to do, be involved in and learn about. This whole thing has been one huge learning curve. I’m keeping up, and things are progressing very nicely. We owe that to the support of our readers, who have posted links, joined the fiber frenzy and registered.

Things have been slow this month, but I think that’s primarily due to the season.  Nobody much thinks about knitting and spinning when it’s like the Sahara outside.  Here in Missouri, it’s in the 90s and up.  For many of you that doesn’t seem so bad.  Picture yourself breathing through a sponge and it gets more clear.  It’s so humid that the air feels like mist sometimes.  Hard to breath, and feels so much hotter.  A few summers ago, my neice Rebecca came to visit us from Arizona.  I told her she should stay in from 1 to 3 because it was so hot, and she laughed at me.  (I’m thinking, ok, you’ll see)  Poor kid came in and thought she was dieing.  She couldn’t breathe.  Apparently you grow the gills slowly by living her for many years, because she had a really hard time with breathing.  Humidity does a lot, and it makes this time of year miserable here in the midwest.  There is a tradition here, called “hay beer”.  When you make hay, you bring a load in, then have a beer.  It sounds crazy, but for some reason it really helps you take the heat.  People don’t get drunk, they just drink a beer, then some water, and go on back to the field.  I’m thinking that the alcohol thins the blood so that they can tolerate the heat better.  It’s an interesting phenomenon though, and is an “essential” to many hay makers.

So, I’m chillin in the house, and only venturing out to pet the sheep and give them scratches at night.  I do wet down parts of the lawn for them to lay on, it seems to help.  Poor things.  One of our rams flops over on his side and from a distance he looks dead.  He also plays in the water bowl.  I thought it was odd, that they were going through water so fast.  But then I filled it up today, and went back in a few minutes to take a fleece sample to show a friend, and he was sopping wet.  I guess it cools him off.  Maybe I’ll give him a bath heh heh.

One other funny thing.  We have chickens and the other day one of them was sitting on a lamb, asleep.  I ran for the camera, but of course she jumped off.  Friends don’t let friends poop on friends?  Ah well, missed that one.  I have the best pictures though, I have one of a hen carefully reading a spin off mag.  Need to send them that one, to hilarious.  I also have a picture of the same hen dressed up in a feather boa and a silver “necklace”.  The girls had dressed her up, it was so funny.  Life is just grand, here in the Ozarks…

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.