It Is Open!!

Well I wanted to get my little Etsy store open before the first and I did it!! (early even!) I do not have everything listed, like a few hanks of yarn and the roving that I have not taken pictures of yet. So here it is people. My Store. Hubby came up with the name Barn Yarn. = ) I never would have thought that me, more country girl then city girl, would be living on Long Island NY and dying yarn (and hopefully selling it)

I still have some tweaking to do with the appearance and I am sure some of the descriptions could be better. It probably was not the smartest thing in the world to write up the descriptions while I have a huge head ache (not going to use the m word). It was pretty cool though that when I went and looked after I listed everything people had already looked at some of the yarns. Cool.

A BIG Thank You to everyone with the good thought about Snickers. So far she has been her normal puppy self and I would like to keep it that way.

here she is while we were waiting for the school bus today.

Last night we went to the Met game (yep another one). The seats were behind home plate (about 10 rows behind) love that section. You can order the food and then they bring it to you. No waiting on lines!!! Love it!!!! It was also very cold to me anyway (damn chemo) and we stayed only to the 6th inning.


Carlos Beltran Baby!!!


Here we are. Wow I look pale. Hubby has already gotten some sun so he makes Irish/Dutch skin girl look even paler. Yes I am wearing my Islander scarf. It was 39 when we were going home at 9:15. I am going to miss Shea. Our first date was a Met game almost 8 years ago.

Here is some of the roving that I have that I did not blog about. I am pretty much on the no more yarn and roving until Rhinebeck rule or I will not be able to get much at Rhinebeck.

I bought these 2 kits from Blue Moon Fibers (they make the Socks that Rock yarn) It is 8.5 ozs of superwashed merino top with directions on how to spin it into Socks that Rock yarn. I randomly picked Jail House Rock and Fire on the Mountain.

Jail House Rock


Fire on the Mountain. A little spooky story with this. I received it on my brothers birthday (Happy Birthday) and while I was talking to him on the phone he was getting ready to go fight a forest fire. Upstate (from Long Island) NY, where I am from it has been dry and there is always some idiot who does something stupid that starts a fire. Hopefully the rains that they got yesterday helps enough that they are able to put the fires out.

What a Weekend!!

Ever have one of those weekends were you look forward to work on Monday? Well part of mine was like that. It did not involve any wool - maybe that is part of the reason why it felt horrible. It started friday night. Around 5 I went to take Snickers out for a walk and she didn't want to go?! When we finally got outside all she wanted to do was sit. So I brought her back inside and really started to worry. She could not keep her balance. She kept falling over. I called the vet and was told to come in as soon as possible. I called Hubby, he came home and off we went. Snickers just sat on my lap, there was no puppyness about her. I was getting very worried. The vet ran tests but everything came back normal. The vet thinks that there is a chance that she might have a brain tumor. She was showing the classic signs. Saturday she was pretty much back to herself, with only a few instances of balance problems. Right now we are at the watch and wait stage. If she has a serious episode again she will need x-rays to see if there is anything growing where it is not suppose to be. We have a good vet and he is nice. He took Hubby away from me and told him so I wouldn't be upset in front of everyone and he thought it might be easier to take from Hubby then him.

It is scary. Snick wasn't puking or pooping her brains out and none of the tests showed anything that would indicate poisoning (my in-laws had a problem with a neighbor throwing poison over the fence in an effort to poison their Yorkies years ago) She hadn't got into anything in here that I know of, and there are no signs that she did get into anything. It is just heart breaking really, my shadow is only 5 months old. My fingers are crossed that it was a fluke and will never happen again.

Sunday was a long day but in a good way. Hubby and I took Skywalker and Stepson to a Met game. Mommy got Hubby the tickets for his b-day and the seat were 8 rows behind the Met's dug out!!! Nice.



This was our view of home plate. Here is David Wright Batting.


I also remembered to take a picture of the cascade fixation yarns


In my store news, I have a bunch of yarn ready to go as soon as the sun comes out and I can get pictures. I also have some roving done and hopefully I will have the energy to do some more tonight. Work is really getting in the way of knitting, spinning and now this. It has some nerve huh? =)

It is Friday!!

Drum Roll The Big News Is .......Etsy!! Yep I have my own little virtual store. After much prodding from certain family members cough Hubby cough Mom cough Aunts cough I finally did it. I ordered my yarns,dyes,roving and even some material about 2 weeks ago. Have I received it all? Nope. I did get the yarn and dyes so I have been able to start. I wanted to open today but well I do not think it is a good idea to open with 2 skeins. I am doing some today so I am hoping I will be ready the first. You know how it goes..the best laid plans...yadda yadda.

Contest winner is.........Karen G. Your prize is.....any one thing from my shop (when I have stuff in it of course)

Anyway, the kiddies and I have been off this week (meaning little time to do what I want to do) we went to Ikea to get a new couch since well the kiddies broke the other one with their cannon ball practices. My kiddies can be sneaky when they want to be. I do not remember being as sneaky as they can be so lets blame Hubby for their sneakiness. =) Love Ya Hubby =)

I also got to go to my RA dr and I was showed how to inject myself. Hold it like a dart and basically throw it into my leg like a dart!! Ha Ha. I had already picked up the needles and liquid chemo. When she told that the needles were 25 gauge needle the first thing I thought of was knitting gauge. It was surreal to see this needle just sitting in my leg. Good news is that I only felt the alcohol burn. So next Friday will be my turn. Right now I am saying I can do myself. Hopefully I will be able too. =)

My Mom and Aunt R came for a visit on Wednesday and Aunt R was a real sweetheart and watched the kiddies while I took Mom to the yarn store. Guess what people she now has a stash!! Wahahaha! Everything is going according to my plans! She bought more sock yarn and some mohair yarn to make a stole (or wrap as she says). She turned 1 heel and started gusset decreases. I also tried to get my Aunt R back into crocheting. I am still working on her (but she did leave with a pattern book) =)

Yes I did leave with some yarn. 3 balls of Cascade Fixation. It is sock yarn so it doesn't count as stash. I also have no pictures of it. Next time.

Well the kiddies are being quiet and you know what that means... they are up to something. Gotta go.

I might have a problem....and a contest.

Might. A box arrived on saturday and well I kinda forgot I ordered stuff From the Loopy Ewe. This of course means that my yarn/roving budget is now in the red. Ooops. At least it was not a huge order. = )
(Can I use chemo brain as an excuse?)

I bought a Loopy Water bottle. To combat the chemo I have been drinking a ton of water (helps fight the side effects) and well I do reuse water bottles but they can really be cleaned and then they get icky so I bought a nice one.

and it is such a pretty red too!

I have apparently broke my no new yarn buying too. Panda Cotton. It is 59% bamboo 25% cotton and 16% elastic nylon. I guess I was thinking summer socks. The color is Faded Jeans. It is a new yarn to me, so we shall see how I like it.


I also bought roving (what a big surprise!) This is Lone Star Arts Neapolitan. 2 - 4oz braids. Reminds me of summer and Birthday parties.

I only took a picture of one. 100% superwashed Merino

Lastly is Lorna's Laces Shepherd wool top in Devon. Much prettier in person. I couldn't get the color right. 100% superwashed merino. There are 2 - 5oz bundles. (again only one in the picture)

it is blue in real life

I really like the Loopy Ewe. The service is great,and shipping is fast. They also always add a little something to each order. This time it was a Loopy sock kit. Directions and enough yarn to make a little sock. So cute! I am thinking Christmas ornament.


Oh Look at what new toy Hubby bought for me. (Yes I am spoiled, very much so - just don't let him know. He is spoiled too - trust me)

(wow my sunset cow is dusty!!)
It is an iPod Touch!! I LOVE IT!!!!!! I had the original shuffle (the one that looks like a pack of gum) and used it all the time. Almost 4 years later it is time for an upgrade. Plus that little speaker system plays the music as well as my big stereo did (before it bit the dust) It also holds pictures, movies, surfs the web via WiFi, pda and emails. Seriously it is a mini computer.

No knitting yet, just getting stuff ready for my big thing. Any guesses? You can't guess Jill (since well you know) =) Anyone guess correctly wins something. If more then one correct guess I will randomly pick a winner (meaning names into a hat and one of the kiddies picks a name) Not sure what the prize will be yet but I can almost promise it will be from a sheep =) Lets put the deadline friday at noon. =)

Pretty stuff

These pretty things came in the mail yesterday. More roving from Enchanted Knolls Farms. Their stuff is very pretty and they are also eco-friendly. I like to support places like that.


This is Raven. Superwashed merino wool mixed with purple sari silk and sparkly stuff.


This one is Araucuna. Superwashed black merino with green sari silk and sparkly stuff.

I am thinking of spinning each one then plying them together.

I have not bought yarn for myself in a while (over a month here people) but I am definitely on a roving binge. So I guess I am making my own yarn.

There is something I have been working on over here in Qutecowgirl land and I am really getting nervous. I am almost ready to start. Only 3 people know about it. I think it is strange that I am nervous about this. I usually just dive right into something, so why am I worried? Even if it totally goes done in flames, it would not be that bad. Anyway when I have everything set I will make the big announcement.

=)

Spring is here!!

Yeah I think spring is finally here (knock on wood) I am sitting outside (in the shade of course) listening to the birds chirp, watching Buddah and Snickers run around. It is 75, sunny and a nice light breeze. Ahh this is the life. = )

I still can not talk about the secret project. There was a delay in the giving so hopefully sometime this weekend I can blog about it. I am so happy about how it turned out that I just want to tell everyone about it.

In non knitting news, do not worry fiber fun will be coming, I am offically off Prednisone. Yeah!! Happy Happy Joy Joy. Now maybe I can lose some of this steroid weight (we are talking 35 pounds - I was on it for a year) and my mood swing have already seem to be gone. My chemo was upped and depending on how I react to the side effects (think morning sickness but no baby to look forward too) I may have to move to injections. Yeah Fun!!

Okay onto fibery goodness!



This is Chocolate Liquor from Loop (gotta love Etsy) 100% bamboo. Yep I am going to try bamboo again (not on chemo this time)



This is black alpaca and wool pencil roving (also from Loop) that I was going to ply with Poison (green and purple) but when I spun it up and test plied it I didn't like the results. So I plied it onto itself.

I do not have my book so I do not have how many yards but it is around 200, worsted weight 2 ply.

So I thought of an idea. I plied Poison with black size 10 crochet cotton. Perfect.




This is what I am currently spinning. It is from Rhinebeck. I am having problems with it though. It felted in places. The roving has just sat in storage. I do not know what I am going to do. I still have 98% of it left.

I did finish something. I made baby socks and a hat for a really sweet co-worker that is having a boy in June.

(sorry about pic quality - I used my phone)
She loved it and is also the type of person to appreciate it too. (BTW I dyed the yarn)

Oh and another sign that spring is here

Baseball season has started. Skywalker's first game was last night. He looked so grown up on the field. He was nervous batting but did well. They are starting them on the t's to get them back in the swing. Oh and another thing, he is on the Yankees. We are huge Mets fans and I never thought I would see the day that Hubby would be wearing a Yankee hat (He is one of the coaches) But it all for the kids. Have a great season Skywalker.

=)

Lots of things to catch up.

Last time I was going over my WIP list (16 plus 2 sewing). Well this weekend I actually found time (with t-ball starting and Hubby taking Skywalker (Yep our son has discovered Star Wars) to the Met game) to finish some of them.
I sewed on the handles to that bag from a few posts ago (forgot to take picture, my bad). I also finished the Secret Project. I ran into a big problem, like ran out of yarn close to the finish, but found a solution that worked great. Of course I can't really show you what I mean since well it still needs to be secret a few more days. I also weaved in the dreaded ends on the pinwheel sweater and even added the clasp!
Buddah loves it!


(yes it is blurry, but I loved the shot)

The dreaded ends

of course this does not show how high the pile is =)

My Mommy came for a visit on saturday and I showed the woman who showed me how to knit over 25 years ago how to knit socks!

Oh how I wished she lived closer. We could knit together. Really I am very happy she is knitting again. She remembered to knit and purl, so really showing her how to knit socks is very easy. Next visit is heel flap and turning the heel!
(oh and not to brag or anything she is using yarn that I dyed = ) )

My Darling Stepson (really he is the best stepson a stepmom could ask for) and I played with one of those hemp friendship bracelet kits I had laying around. The book showed all these different patterns that I remember doing with lanyard in summer camp. Who else remembers making key chains and friendship bracelets for hours? I showed him the staircase. We had a lot of fun and I gave him the rest of the kit to keep.


sniff sniff he will be a teenager next year!

Lastly for this post, I dug out my sock blocker keychain and followed the directions on how to make a sock for it.

Yeah I knit tightly.

Next time: fiber, hand spun yarn and maybe secret project?

Oh and Bellatrix is frogged. I wished I could have taken a picture of Darling Stepson's face as he watched. Priceless.

=)

Spring WIP Cleaning

I have noticed around Blogland that some knitters (and other crafters) have been doing a sort of cleaning out of their WIPs (works in progress) and deciding to either finish, frog or trash their WIPs. Now I have done this a few times in the past but it has been a long while since the last one so I figured if I blogged about it it would make more real and I could not just push it aside.

So lets begin! Here are all the WIPs I could find. (I really think it is all of them too)


A bib that I was going to be a set for a set of twins (that are now almost 1) The momma left early because of complications and no one was sure if they would make it so I stopped knitting. All it needs is a fastener. I think I could finish this. =)


Secret project - I have run into a little problem. I ran out of yarn just short of binding off. My solution may work so fingers crossed.


Milkmaid Noro - Almost to the heel on the first sock. I have not really had time to knit on this since I need the chart when I knit so I need peaceful time, which there has not been much of lately. I want to finish these socks.


Pinwheel Sweater for Buddah - The knitting is done. I just have to weave in all of the ends!!!!! Since it has been sitting this way for a long time (months people!!!!) can you tell I really do not like weaving in a gazillon ends. Must finish!!


MS3 a.k.a. Swan Lake - Love the yarn, love the pattern. RA got in the way last summer and I was unable to knit much of it. I am thinking this is clue one. I do not know what to do.


Adamas Shawl - I am using yarn I purchased in Rhinebeck and I like the pattern and the yarn. It got pushed to the side. I want to finish it



Mini Jesse's Flames - This is for my son and it was suppose to be for last christmas. It got lost in the shuffle and craziness of knitting for christmas.


I have no idea what these were suppose to be. Any Ideas?


I made this from the Happy Hooker book. It just needs lining.



Top down Cardi for Drama Girl (my oldest girl) The one sleeve is almost done then I need to do the other sleeve then the body. Another sweater that got pushed to the side by christmas knitting.


This was suppose to be Hubby's gift for christmas 2 christmases ago. I was on a tight budget and I had to used Red Heart Acrylic. The colors are perfect. I just need a few more inches for the back of the pillow. It is also my first colorwork project.
I want to finish it for my Superman.


Black bag for my Aunt I. This is the second go around (first one was frogged) This will get finished.


Current bag knitting. Scroll sock (almost done with the first sock) and another washcloth (number 4) Most likely both will get done



Bellatrix socks - I think this will get frogged. My eyes are having a hard time with the blackness. I am also not liking the fit either.



Mystic Light - I haven't touched it since clue one. I haven't had the time. I want to finish it, I am loving it.

So there you go 16 WIPs. How long do you think it will take to finish the ones I want to? I really do not want this many WIPs laying around so I guess I need to work on some of them.

=)

Happy Monday!!

Yeah right sure Happy monday? Here is to trying the whole positive thinking thing. (I just do not think it works on mondays)
The past few days seemed to really fly by. I woke up friday with the tell tale signs of a sinus infection, called the dr, got a triple booked appointment and congratulations I have a sinus infection and a ear infections. Ugh! Saturday morning I was due for blood work. So at 6:30 am I was there on an empty stomach (and still feeling the side effects of my weekly chemo) with a person who must love torturing people. She took 7 vials!!!! and with each one she had to move the needle around to find my blood. Now I have had ALOT of blood taken and IVs in my lifetime (probably more then some people have in their entire lives) and sometimes my veins like to be difficult be yikes!! I do not like sitting there feeling like I am going to puke my brains out while she keeps moving the needle around. Just a little vent, my normal vampire, i mean blood taker person (I am not even going to attempt to spell the correct term) does not work that early. Next time I will not try to beat the rush and get there extra early for that. Hubby had to get stuck too so this time we got to go together. He has pretty purple marks from his vampire.

The rest of saturday is a blur (darn chemo brain). Sunday Hubby was working all day. :( I did manage to get some spinning done.

This yarn was spun from roving Rhinebeck. $5 for 2oz ball. Now I had no clue about spinning yet. I had just bought my hand spinner and bought roving that I liked with out really thinking.


52 yards of DK weight. !00% merino

I plied up the bamboo.


66 yards of well it goes from fingering to bulky. 100% bamboo from Loop

After I was done with those two I kept looking at the Femme I had sitting there. I wanted to try Navajo plying(think big crochet chains twisted - so it is 3 ply) but I guess you could say scared to. I took my time spinning the Femme and I didn't mess it up. I had some samples of roving around so I spun them up and practiced Navajo plying. Then I sat down, took a deep breathe and plied Femme ( all 600+ yards)



I got 203 yards of fingering/sport weight. 80% merino 20% silk.

Now I have to get moving on that secret project.

= )