I just read in the newspaper that March 20 is “Sweater Day” in honor of the late Fred Roger’s birthday. I found this video on You Tube:

I think if we start knitting now, we can make sweaters for everyone right???

Anyway, I have never been able to embed a You Tube video before. I hope this works as I watched a You Tube video to learn how to embed You Tube videos in Wordpress. Apparently all you have to do is take it out of WYSIWYG editing for any post you wish to embed a video. The catch is that you can not ever go back into that particular post in WYSIWYG or you are doomed.

Today, I cleaned like a maniac!!!! I am so glad that I’m almost done. I am so tired of cleaning, and I’m so ready to get back to dyeing next week. I’ve also been shopping for yarns and fibers on Etsy and other places with an fervor atypical to my normal shopping habits. I think that is due to my own lack of dyeing – I have to fill that void! Plus, how can you resist buying a yarn called Numma Numma Toastyboo? So next week, I shall have lots of goodies to post.

Have a great evening and remember to start knitting your sweaters!!!

I bet you are not surprised that the reason I haven’t been blogging so much is because I’ve been knitting.  I moving along on my TYC and we are still pretty good friends. We’ve still doing each others hair and hanging out at the mall.  I have a few issues with some of TYC’s friends however.  I am not so fond of her needles (don’t tell her I told you, but I think they are a little bit bitchy). Also, her yarn is getting old rather fast — brown and a bit rough.  What a drag.  If I could get her to drop these other friends like old dish rags, we would be much happier.

I took a couple photos, though neither of them are spectatcular. TYC is a great friend unlike Dark Victory, but she is just not as photogenic.

Here she is to date.  I’m on about the 5th row (out of 18) of the cable pattern.  Each row takes quite a bit of time.

Can you see the start of the cables in this next one?

In weather news, the sun is out today!  Thank goodness!!!!!  Yay!!!!!!!

In political news, I brought a book home from the library last week called Barack Obama: Working to Make a Difference.  I strategically placed it in my home to lure a Jr. Agent into reading it.  It did not work.  In a desperate attempt to get them to read it, I have offered up a challenge.  I will give a quiz to whomever reads it and give out monetary prizes for questions answered correctly.   They have all accepted the challenge and some have even taken notes.  I’m going to have my work cut out for me to try to stump them! 

In birthday news, my family gave me a little gift last night.  It is a pin that says “Anyone can be born in a Leap Year.  I was born on Leap Year Day!”

The girls have been crafting up a storm this winter! Although they haven’t taken to knitting or crocheting, 2 of them have developed a fondness for latch hooking. Agent J learned at school during her free period. Her homeroom is with the modern equivalent of the home economics teacher. I not exactly sure what it is called now. I think that she (the teacher) started providing craft opportunities either during indoor recess or X block and Agent J decided to try latch hooking. I think this is great for her fine motor skills and concentration — a very nice thing for them to learn at school. There was one hitch, and of course, it occurred on a Friday afternoon (because all moms love to have sad children get off the bus for that what is supposed to be the easiest of 3 to 6’s for the week). J had been so enthusiastic about latch hooking that we bought her a hook for her very own that was a little nicer than the ones at school. She brought it to school to use, but when she tried to take it home, it was a no-go. Apparently, taking a latch hook home on the bus in one’s back pack is akin to carrying a concealed weapon. This is a very crazy world we live in, don’t you think? Anyway, let’s move on (quickly) to the finished project reports…

Agent J has so far finished 2 12 x 12 latch hook kits! She started with the smile face and then she chose a football for IHA’s office. We still have to figure out how to frame it. Suggestions definitely welcome!

J has also taught Agent B how to latch hook and she is attempting kits in smaller sizes. She has completed the ducky…

Which, I believe, is an 8 x 8. Agent J is currently working on a challenging horse, while B is hooking away on a soccer ball.

What is Agent K doing, you wonder? Well, we have been looking for a craft for her and we found one that she likes at Micheals on Monday. Quilling! She is getting pretty good at it!

Tomorrow we are supposed to have a pretty busy day. I have jury duty and we have tickets to see Grease at the Warner Theater. However, this is the symbol in our weather forecast: .  If you ask me, it doesn’t look too promising.  Did I mention that the tickets are for all 5 of us and they are non-refundable?  Also did I mention that I have jury duty?  I hope they don’t hold court in the snow.  Actually, I have to call at 5:30 to see if I even have to go. Please cross your fingers for me!  Also did I mention that if it doesn’t snow and I have to go to jury duty that I can’t knit there?  I was actually not all that terribly upset to get the letter in the mail as last time I had jury duty I sat and knit all day and practically finished half a sweater. This time I open the pamphlet to see this:

“ARE THERE ANY ITEMS I SHOULD NOT BRING TO COURT?

Jurors may not bring disruptive or potentially dangerous items into the courthouse.  a disruptive item includes, but is not limited to, the following: a radio, boom box, portable television, compact disc player/recorder, or cassette player/recorder.  Potentially dangerous items include, but are not limited to, pocket knives, and sharp objects such as tools or knitting needles.” from Your Guide to Jury Duty  An Obligation and an Honor by the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch. {bold emphasis added by me}

I wonder what happened in the last four or so years to warrant adding the lowly knitting needle to a list of banned items.  Anyday now, I’m expecting to see knitting needles and latch hooks on an episode of Deadliest Weapons.

So I’m only about 10 rows away from being done with Sleeve Island.  I think I have time for one last papaya daquari  — you know the kind with the cute little umbrella, and I will be setting sail for Yoke Shore.

Have a great 3 to 6 everyone!

Hello and happy weekend! I hope you are all having lovely weekends. The weather here is not so pretty, so I thought I would interject some “sunshine” into an otherwise dreary day. Oh my, I have all the photos edited and compressed and uploaded for this post and I just realized that I don’t have any project stats ready. So, hold on a second while I go get my WIP measuring apparatus and a ruler. Here, while you wait, take a look at the the “before” photo:

OK, I’m back! So here is the info on my finished project:

Sunflower Yarn:

Material: Hand dyed superwash merino roving in the color Sunflower

Plies: 2, and as Spinning Spider Jenny would say, they are just plain ol’ vanilla

WPI: 11-12

Gauge in sample swatch: 4.5 sts/inch on U.S. size 8 needles

Thougts: It was really fun to spin these colors. I loved plying the singles to see which colors would meet up and how they would look together. This yarn came out pretty stripe-y, imagine how stripe-y it would be Navajo 3-plied! I put a lot of twist in this yarn and it is soft and springy – lots of elasticity.

Well, I hope this brief post brought at least a little sunshine to your weekend. I have a lot of just chatty things to write about, but, alas, I also have grocery shopping. So I’m going to try to gather myself together and get out of here. I hope to be back soon though!

Good morning and Happy Valentine’s Day! Guess what??? We pulled our winner for my Valentine Crush Contest! I just want to thank everyone for playing along with me and sharing all your literary crushes. I thought of a few more of mine along the way but I guess I will spare you for now as I’m sure you want to find out the winner! I remembered to do this before Agent B left for school so we could have an impartial name drawer.

I wrote all the entries on slips of paper.

I folded them and put them in a LYS bag. Agent B closed her eyes and pulled a slip.

And the winner is Ragan with her entry of Ponyboy from The Outsiders.

Congratulations Ragan! I’ll send you an e-mail to make arrangements for your prize! I’m still stalking Handgrown Pottery and her stuff is so gorgeous this week. It just keeps getting better and better if that is possible.

Have a great day everyone!

Yesterday, I promised some fibery photos to chase away the blah weather blues and here they are!

I take a lot of photos for each item I post on Etsy. I probably take as many as 20 to 30 in various poses. I do this for 2 reasons. First and foremost, it is because I LOVE taking photos of fiber. I just can’t help myself. Even if I were to decide I was only going to post one or two photos on the Etsy listing to save time, I would not be able to do it. They give me 5 slots per listing and I’m going to fill each of those to the best of my ability. Taking photos of the fiber is one of my favorite parts of selling on Etsy (waiting for the sun to come out so I can take the photos is another story…). Anyway, the second reason is because I want to represent the item as best as I can. I don’t think that one photo can show you the true essence of a roving or skein of yarn. I have a great example of this. Look at these two photos. Do you think they are the same roving?

They actually are. This roving has 2 sides to its story. (It is the same one as the main photo in the mosaic. I’ll be listing it this evening if I ever come up with a good name for it!)

So, we have another one of those non-snow snow days* here AND I’m on sleeve island. I was going to write more about TYC sleeve island, but Sarah beat me to it. We should just start cross posting. Really. It would save time.

Well, have a great day and I hope that wherever you are, your weather is not too horrid.

*Just for the record, the Jr. Agents have been awesome so far. I think it is because I am making absolutely zero effort to encourage any kind of cleaning today either on my part or their part.

With IHA still stuck in Chicago and 5 inches of slush on my driveway, I was very happy when I heard the sounds of snow removal out my door just now. My neighbor came to rescue us! And my parents too, I’m sure!!! Oh joy of all joys!!!!

I’m sitting here thinking, “Oh, man, I really should write a blog entry.” Only thing is, I really have nothing to write about. The more important thing I should be doing is taking a shower and getting ready to go grocery shopping. No, wait, actually the MOST important thing I should be doing is spending some time with Agent B before she goes to school this morning. Sigh…

So a couple of just random things, and then I really will take a shower and hang out with Agent B a bit. First, don’t forget to enter my blog contest!!! It is not too late. Click here for details! Second, IHA* is on his way to Chicago. He is coming home tonight, but the weather is not so promising. Just the perfect formula for putting me on edge for the day. Sigh again…

Last night’s book club book was about Girl in Hyacinth Blue. I really liked it. It seemed to have mixed reviews with the book club members though. It certainly wasn’t fast paced, but it was lovely and thought provoking. Comparing this book to the Forest Lover, I think I liked the Forest Lover a bit better. I do like Susan Vreeland’s writing style and Sarah mentioned another book of hers that is is supposed to be good. One more for my reading queue! This reminds me that LFG had sent me the link to Shelfari which is a site much like Library Thing. I uploaded my books, but haven’t explored much. I did notice they have a placed called “Books I want to read” which looks rather promising though I bet if I start queuing up there, it would be much longer than my Ravelry queue and the weight on my shoulders may just keep me in bed for a few minutes longer each day. Yet, another sigh…

Well, I hope you are all having excellent days and your weather is not too atrocious. Maybe I’ll have a chance later to today to post some lovely fibery photos to take your minds off the winter cold.

* Warning a bit of PDA here — I just want to send IHA some hugs and kisses for setting the coffee maker for me before he left at 5:00 a.m. I got up and was standing in front of the coffee maker sighing because it was cold and and empty and all of a sudden, it springs to life and starts brewing! I heart you too, sweetie!

I’ll admit it, I’m a stalker. I used to stalk famous knitwear designers, but more recently I’ve discovered the joys of stalking Etsy artists.

I’ve alluded a few times in my entries recently to my new favorite Etsy shop and a piece from this shop is even going to be the prize for my blog contest. Last night, my first order arrived.  It is fantastic — everything is just like I thought it would be and better, so I think it is time for the dramatic reveal!

You may want to check to see if your Paypal account is in good standing before you click on over as I recommend that if you see something you like, don’t just stick it in your cart, but buy it and buy it fast. I can’t tell you how many things I have put in my cart only to have someone else buy them first!

So, drum roll please … the shop is Handgrown Pottery by Leesa Brinkley.

I came across her one day when I was playing with Pounce. I saw her pottery, and I thought it would be perfect for remembering my One Little Word. I convo’d her to see if she would do a special order and as you can see from my photos, she did. I love my new cherish bowls!

Agent K loves these little bowls too – the cute little package arrived before I was home from work last night and she was chomping at the bit for me to open it. There was a lot of oohhhing and aahhing as we unpacked the pieces. Our favorite is this one:

Please excuse my photos today, my colors are slightly off due to the gloom in the atmophere (believe me, I much prefer the huskies to the glooom). When you go to Handgrown Pottery, you will see that her photos are much nicer… When I decide where these bowls will live, I will try to get a photo of one “in the wild.”

Here is a photo of everything in my order:

So besides being having great pottery and great communication, Leeza also has good prices, fast shipping, and cute packaging. Also, the little cherish stone was a surprise in my order!

So what do you think? Do you like them?

Well, I better go get ready to see Agent K cheer today. She only has a few games left and I’ve only been to one so far. Agent B is home from school today, but my mom is going to come down and stay with her so I can get out. Once again, have a great day and don’t forget, there is still plenty of time to enter my blog contest!

“Bam!”  Spinning and scrapbooking collide!  “You got scrapbooking supplies on my yarn!” “No, you got yarn on my scrapbooking supplies!”  Well, I guess they are just two great crafts that go great together!

Sarah recently asked what I do with leftover yarn on my spinning bobbins. I showed her how to Andean ply what remains to get as much yarn as you can from your spun singles, but here is something else that I do with leftovers – I turn them into “ribbon.”  I make a thicker yarn by turning leftovers into yarn with multiplies of plies and then use it as ribbon on gifts or to tie around some of the Etsy packages that I send out.  I think it would also be good for hair ties for little girls too and of course, embellishment on scrapbooking projects.

Here is one that I recently made starting with one green single, one pink single, and some paper flowers from Prima Marketing:

I had some leftover green singles on a bobbin and I spun some pink to match (both singles starting out spun in the clockwise direction).  I strung some coordinating paper flowers on the green single as it had been hanging out longer and was deadened and not twisty anymore.  I put the 2  bobbins on my lazy Kate and plied them together counterclockwise with extra twist every so often letting a flower go into the yarn.  Then I wound the 2 ply off the bobbin onto my hand to Andean ply it back together spinning clockwise this time with extra twist into a 4 ply.  I repeated it once again plying back counterclockwise to make a balanced yarn with a final ply tally of 8. Since this yarn has paper flowers and I’m just using it as ribbon for wrapping packages, I did not set the twist or anything like that.

There are so many different ways to spin up multi-plied yarn and so many different flowers and other embellishments to add, that there is no end to what you can come up with!

I actually have another post to write a little later, I do wish the sun would come out as this is NOT good photo-taking weather.  The sky does seem to be lightening up a little bit.  Mavbe there is some hope? Anyway, just in case I don’t get back again today, have a great one!