WIP Wednesday: April 29, 2015

DONE!  I finally have the huge wholesale order (which I can reveal is for the Knitcrate subscription service - I'm the featured artist for May!) completed, and boy is THAT a load off my plate!

Sekret Knitting:

• Working on the final repeat of my bonus project sample - that should be off the needles and ready for a photo shoot in the next week so it can be released when the preorders are announced for my Interweave book on Amazon.  
• I haven't touched the Heroines shawl - I want to rerun some numbers and make sure I've actually got written what I'm knitting!
• I also have started swatching/charting for a colorwork project I'm working up in Finullgarn - I'm anxious to actually start knitting that one.  I love colorwork.  

Not much going on in personal knitting right now - I'm still dithering about whether I want to cast on for a pair of Jane's Dancing Stockings for myself......

Or if I want to knit something out of this handspun, like a hat or mittens:

The stashdown KAL I'm hosting over at my group is focusing on socks and the colors yellow and green so either of these would suit, but for whatever reason, I'm having a hard time deciding on a project right now for that.  What would you pick?

Weekending

Trying to get back in the groove of things here, but today, it's cold and snowing/raining outside and all I really want to do is have a nap for about 6 hours.

Yesterday, I got going in the dye room early, worked on the last bits of the huge wholesale order (which I can review details about shortly - but the yarn colorway is Murky Depths shown here)

and after lunch, met up with an awesome gal who is going to do some modeling for me in early May to pick up a few things I needed to finish up the styling looks.  Today, as soon as I'm off the computer here, I'm heading back to the dye studio.  I don't think I've got enough oompf today to finish the dyeing I need to for the wholesale order, but I have one more custom dye from the Denver show I want to finish and I'll get some things skeined.

Tonight, I'll be knitting along on the sample I'm working up for a free pattern giveaway when my book with Interweave launches for preorders (which will also have details revealed shortly for that!).

I've got a chicken in the slow cooker we can have for dinner (and lunches for me this week), and some fresh green beans, which sounds like a nice way to end a cold and rainy Sunday!

WIP Wednesday: April 22, 2015

Whew!  That's pretty much the operative word here 24/7 right now.  I am back from the Interweave Yarn Fest, which was a GREAT show.  Wonderful folks came through my shop, and I had time to chat with one of my editors for the Interweave book, plus Spin-Off magazine editor, Anne Merrow, as well!  I had a ton of sales, and I also picked up some other custom indie design work, which is great!

So just a quick recap and then I really hope I am getting back to normal around here, despite still having the ABQ Fiber Fiesta in a month.   I'm still working on the ongoing wholesale orders list, but I'm just about there with the MONSTER one, and I've got the fiber club for this month done, and just a few more skeins to go for the next Heroines club.

Sekret Knitting:

• I finished up a contract knit for Jen at Spirit Trail Fiberworks that will be featured in her booth at Maryland Sheep and Wool this year, my Fragaria Shawl. Knit from just 1 skein of her Brigantia yarn, it features strawberry lace and basketweave motifs in a semicircular shape.

• On the needles right now, I'm working on a bonus project as a giveaway for anyone who preorders my Interweave book, soon to be up on Amazon.  It'll be a single-skein lace cowl and it's themed around a desert flowering plant. 
• I'm also working on the next Heroines shawl club project and I'm about halfway through that piece - heading into those long final rows.

Personal Knitting:  While I do have a pair of socks on the needles, they aren't getting a lot of knit time right now as you might guess!  Those probably will stay on hold until the summer when things should (finally!) quiet down a bit. 

WIP Wednesday: April 8, 2015

While I haven't been very productive with my knitting recently (since I am finally in the home stretch of the 1200-skein wholesale order and getting ready for Interweave's Yarn Fest in a week), I want to get back on track with posts and have a few things of note to share:

Personal projects:

• Furrow Mittens:  DONE!  These are ready to go into the donation box for Mittens for Akkol.  Fun project and would be a great scrappy pair as well. I knit mine from stash Harrisville Worsted in 3 colors (there's a bit of black in the slip-stitch cuff).

• The Long Dark of Moria socks:  No progress on these, but they are up next to be worked on once the insanity of my current dye room schedule eases up.

Sekret Knitting projects:

• In between my last post and this one, I finished up a pretty summer shawl for Jen at Spirit Trail Fiberworks.  Knit with her Brigantia yarn, it'll make it's debut at Maryland Sheep and Wool in another few weeks. 
• Working on the next Heroines Club shawl - I've had a few false starts with this one, but I think it's on track currently.  This one is my work-knitting-related priority for the short term.

2015 Reading Challenge: Week 13.

Week 13? I think it's week 13 - I'm kind of behind and out of order at this point, but at any rate......

I finished up The Winter Palace which is about Catherine the Great.  Positives:  I learned more about this Russian ruler than I knew before.  Negatives:  I found this one kind of slow and a bit fragmented. The narrative is told through a young woman who winds up as a maid-of-honor at the Russian court, but her story wound up shadowing the story of Catherine, and about 50% of the book has Catherine only very peripheral to the rest of the story.  I think it could have used more editing.

At any rate, onward to The Fossil Hunter this week.  I had read Remarkable Creatures (a fictious account of the same town of Lyme Regis on the coast of England where many amazing fossils were found in the early 19th century) by Tracy Chevalier last year and enjoyed that very much.  This is the nonfiction version of the same set of facts.  Just a couple of chapters into it, but so far, a very good read - well-written and interesting.

I need to back-track at some point and pick up a volume of short stories - I may find something to fit the bill that I can take with me to read at night in the hotel in Denver in another week when I'm tired and short on attention span!

WEEKS & TOPICS

1. a book with more than 500 pages: Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth. FINISHED.

2. a romance: Katherine by Anya Seton. FINISHED

3. a book that became a movie: The Hours by Michael Cunningham. FINISHED.

4. a book published this year: The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck.

5. a book with a number in the title:  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. FINISHED.

6. a book written by someone under 30: Eragon by Christopher Paolini. FINISHED.

7. a book with nonhuman characters:  The Greyfriar by Susan Griffith.  FINISHED.

8. a funny book: Bossypants by Tina Fey.  FINISHED.

9. a book by a female author: Fever 1793 by Laurie Anderson.  FINISHED.

10. a mystery or thriller:  Séance in Sepia by Michelle Black. FINISHED.

11. a book with a one-word title: East by Edith Pattou.  FINISHED.

12. a book of short stories:  Snow White, Blood Red anthology.

13. a book set in a different country: The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak. FINISHED.

14. a nonfiction book:  The Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling.

15. a popular author's first book: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

16. a book from your favorite author that you haven't read yet: Forests of the Heart by Charles deLint.  FINISHED.

17. a book a friend recommended: Botelo by Alyson Hagy.

18. a Pulitzer-prize winning book: Andersonville by MacKinley Kantor.

19. a book based on a true story: The Wild Princess by Mary Hart Perry.

20. a book at the bottom of your to read list: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J Watson.

21. a book your mom or dad loves: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

22. a book that scares you: The Blackhouse by Peter May.

23. a book more than 100 years old: Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

24. a book based entirely on its cover: Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliot.

25. a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

26. a memoir:  Two Rings by Millie Werber and Eve Keller

27. a book you can finish in a day

28. a book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.

29. a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: Iceland by Betsy Tobin.

30. a book that came out the year you were born: Mary, Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser.

31. a book with bad reviews: Moon People?

32. a trilogy (the first):  Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clarke.

33. a trilogy (the second) Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clarke.

34. a trilogy (the third)  Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clarke.

35. a book from your childhood: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.  FINISHED.

36. a book with a love triangle: Muse by Mary Novak.

37. a book set in the future

38. a book set in high school: The Small Rain by Madeline L’Engle.

39. a book with a color in the title:  A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V. Jones.

40. a book that made/makes you cry

41. a book with magic: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price.

42. a graphic novel

43. a book by an author you've never read before:  My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

44. a book you own but have never read: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro.

45. a book that takes place in your hometown: Magic America by C.E. Medford.

46. a book that was originally written in another language: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

47. a book set during Christmas (or similar holiday): A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas.

48. a book written by an author with your same initials: Silver Lies by Ann Parker.

49. a play

50. a banned book: Beloved by Toni Morrison.

51. a book based on OR turned into a tv show: Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs.

52. a book you started but never finished:  The Heresy of Dr. Dee by Phil Rickman.

Weekending

Whew!  I kind of fell off the edge of the world there this past week.  I had a wonderful show in Dallas/Ft. Worth.  Tons of driving and probably not enough sleep, but it's always a great crowd at the Fiber Fest, and I enjoyed having time to visit with old friends and new ones in my booth.

At home, the puppy wrassling continues.  Lizzie's working hard at figuring out all the rules.  She's not 100% consistent on everything - she is, after all, only 10 weeks today, but she's got the basics on sit, stay, come, no, down and a few others we are working on.  About 5 days after she came home, she wound up with a parasite infection and that made potty-training kind of rough for a few days while we got that treated, but she's on track with that now and we are really happy to say - no accidents in the house or in her kennel at all in the past 10 days.  Woot!

I will be sort of hit or miss on blog posts for the next 20 days or so - I'm trying to get ready to head off to the Interweave Yarn Fest in Colorado on the 16th of April, so I'm frantically dyeing and skeining and labelling.  (And working on a few other things to boot right now that are all on mid-April deadlines.)  I hope to be back to normal blogging after that!

2015 Reading Challenge: Week 11

This week, I finished up the week 11 book, East.  A big thank-you to Laura, who recommended it.  I wholeheartedly enjoyed this book, which is a retelling of the East of the Sun, West of the Moon fairy tale (and one of my all-time favorites).  I wish I had grown up with this book - it's technically young adult, but I think carries itself with so many good things, it's a great read no matter what.  You can see my review over on Goodreads.

I need to scout around and see if I can find a copy of Snow White, Blood Red for my short-story collection, but if not, I'm 99% sure I've got something else I can put in it's place here.  It's not available via Kindle, but I might be able to get it thru the library.  In the meantime, I'm starting on The Winter Palace for this week's read.

WEEKS & TOPICS

1. a book with more than 500 pages: Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth. FINISHED.

2. a romance: Katherine by Anya Seton. FINISHED

3. a book that became a movie: The Hours by Michael Cunningham. FINISHED.

4. a book published this year: The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck.

5. a book with a number in the title:  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. FINISHED.

6. a book written by someone under 30: Eragon by Christopher Paolini. FINISHED.

7. a book with nonhuman characters:  The Greyfriar by Susan Griffith.  FINISHED.

8. a funny book: Bossypants by Tina Fey.  FINISHED.

9. a book by a female author: Fever 1793 by Laurie Anderson.  FINISHED.

10. a mystery or thriller:  Séance in Sepia by Michelle Black. FINISHED.

11. a book with a one-word title: East by Edith Pattou.  FINISHED.

12. a book of short stories:  Snow White, Blood Red anthology.

13. a book set in a different country: The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak.

14. a nonfiction book:  The Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling.

15. a popular author's first book: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

16. a book from your favorite author that you haven't read yet: Forests of the Heart by Charles deLint.  FINISHED.

17. a book a friend recommended: Botelo by Alyson Hagy.

18. a Pulitzer-prize winning book: Andersonville by MacKinley Kantor.

19. a book based on a true story: The Wild Princess by Mary Hart Perry.

20. a book at the bottom of your to read list: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J Watson.

21. a book your mom or dad loves: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

22. a book that scares you: The Blackhouse by Peter May.

23. a book more than 100 years old: Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

24. a book based entirely on its cover: Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliot.

25. a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

26. a memoir:  Two Rings by Millie Werber and Eve Keller

27. a book you can finish in a day

28. a book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.

29. a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: Iceland by Betsy Tobin.

30. a book that came out the year you were born: Mary, Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser.

31. a book with bad reviews: Moon People?

32. a trilogy (the first):  Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clarke.

33. a trilogy (the second) Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clarke.

34. a trilogy (the third)  Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clarke.

35. a book from your childhood: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.  FINISHED.

36. a book with a love triangle: Muse by Mary Novak.

37. a book set in the future

38. a book set in high school: The Small Rain by Madeline L’Engle.

39. a book with a color in the title:  A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V. Jones.

40. a book that made/makes you cry

41. a book with magic: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price.

42. a graphic novel

43. a book by an author you've never read before:  My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

44. a book you own but have never read: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro.

45. a book that takes place in your hometown: Magic America by C.E. Medford.

46. a book that was originally written in another language: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

47. a book set during Christmas (or similar holiday): A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas.

48. a book written by an author with your same initials: Silver Lies by Ann Parker.

49. a play

50. a banned book: Beloved by Toni Morrison.

51. a book based on OR turned into a tv show: Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs.

52. a book you started but never finished:  The Heresy of Dr. Dee by Phil Rickman.

Spinning Friday: March 13, 2015.

This week has completely gone out the window for pretty much everything at my end.  Between the new puppy (who is doing great, but she's also 7 weeks old) and getting ready for the DFW Fiber Fest, I haven't done much of anything else.

Before Miss Lizzie arrived tho, I did get my second bobbin of singles spun of the BFL I've been working on.

I have started plying but have a ways to go before this done.  Hoping I can sneak in a little non-work time before I leave for Dallas on Wednesday to finish this up!

And... just because.... a cute puppy photo.

2015 Reading Challenge: Week 10

I've had very little time to read this past week - lots of dye studio tasks I'm working on right now.  I did start East, recommended to me by a bookish friend, and am thoroughly enjoying it.  (It's a retelling of the East of the Sun, West of the Moon fairy tale and it's brilliantly done.)  Hoping to get a little more reading time this week while puppy-sitting the new little one for D in the afternoons - but we'll see how that plan goes.....

WEEKS & TOPICS

1. a book with more than 500 pages: Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth. FINISHED.

2. a romance: Katherine by Anya Seton. FINISHED

3. a book that became a movie: The Hours by Michael Cunningham. FINISHED.

4. a book published this year: The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck.

5. a book with a number in the title:  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. FINISHED.

6. a book written by someone under 30: Eragon by Christopher Paolini. FINISHED.

7. a book with nonhuman characters:  The Greyfriar by Susan Griffith.  FINISHED.

8. a funny book: Bossypants by Tina Fey.  FINISHED.

9. a book by a female author: Fever 1793 by Laurie Anderson.  FINISHED.

10. a mystery or thriller:  Séance in Sepia by Michelle Black. FINISHED.

11. a book with a one-word title: East by Edith Pattou

12. a book of short stories:  Snow White, Blood Red anthology.

13. a book set in a different country: The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak.

14. a nonfiction book:  The Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling.

15. a popular author's first book: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

16. a book from your favorite author that you haven't read yet: Forests of the Heart by Charles deLint.  FINISHED.

17. a book a friend recommended: Botelo by Alyson Hagy.

18. a Pulitzer-prize winning book: Andersonville by MacKinley Kantor.

19. a book based on a true story: The Wild Princess by Mary Hart Perry.

20. a book at the bottom of your to read list: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J Watson.

21. a book your mom or dad loves: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

22. a book that scares you: The Blackhouse by Peter May.

23. a book more than 100 years old: Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

24. a book based entirely on its cover: Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliot.

25. a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

26. a memoir:  Two Rings by Millie Werber and Eve Keller

27. a book you can finish in a day

28. a book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.

29. a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: Iceland by Betsy Tobin.

30. a book that came out the year you were born: Mary, Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser.

31. a book with bad reviews: Moon People?

32. a trilogy (the first):  Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clarke.

33. a trilogy (the second) Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clarke.

34. a trilogy (the third)  Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clarke.

35. a book from your childhood: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.  FINISHED.

36. a book with a love triangle: Muse by Mary Novak.

37. a book set in the future

38. a book set in high school: The Small Rain by Madeline L’Engle.

39. a book with a color in the title:  A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V. Jones.

40. a book that made/makes you cry

41. a book with magic: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price.

42. a graphic novel

43. a book by an author you've never read before:  My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

44. a book you own but have never read: The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro.

45. a book that takes place in your hometown: Magic America by C.E. Medford.

46. a book that was originally written in another language: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

47. a book set during Christmas (or similar holiday): A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas.

48. a book written by an author with your same initials: Silver Lies by Ann Parker.

49. a play

50. a banned book: Beloved by Toni Morrison.

51. a book based on OR turned into a tv show: Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs.

52. a book you started but never finished:  The Heresy of Dr. Dee by Phil Rickman.

Weekending

Whew!  This didn't feel much like a weekend this week.  I wound up working on some freelance copywriting work I do occasionally Friday and Saturday, interspersing that with a ton of dyeing in the studio, plus a photo shoot on Saturday.  While I was working away, D drove to the NW corner of Colorado (about 8 hrs of driving each way) Friday and Saturday to pick up his new puppy.

Here's Lizzie!

She's (obviously) very cute, but even tho she's only 7 weeks, D picked out a pretty strong personality! She's been trying to boss the two older dogs around, and she's absolutely fearless.  Figured out steps already after one hesitant trial and then she was off to the races.  We are getting her into the groove of the schedule here - and D's going to take some time to stay at home the next few mornings and get her onto an established routine.  She's already been pretty good about trying to learn things - she's already figured out her name and she'll come bounding over when she's called.  We are working on the potty-training and keeping her from trying to nip or jump up.  She's been 100% on not having accidents in her crate already - D got up mid-night with her last night and she went right out, found her bathroom spot, and came back in and went back to sleep without just a few token whines - nothing serious.  (OMG - when we brought Rowan home, after the first night when she was exhausted, we had several weeks - WEEKS! - of the screams of the damned coming from her every night, for hours and hours.  Fun times.)

Today while D is on puppy duty, I'm going to run out and pick her up a few other chew toys and things to entertain her.  She's already very fond of her stuffed duck - but it's good to give them some options too.

Spinning Friday: March 6, 2015

This week, I was in the mood for a relatively quick spin - I dove back into my Spin The Bin 2015 project and pulled out a braid of blue-faced Leicester from Two If By Hand.

I'm spinning this up into (hopefully) a DK-weight, 2-ply yarn.  I've got the first bobbin of singles finished and the second one started.

I'm really trying to stick to finding 15 minutes to myself to do a bit of spinning each day - I am so busy right now with show prep and other things that I find myself not making any relaxation time for me, and you know what they say about all work and no play.....