Archive for the ‘It's a Mom's Life ..’ Category

Just a note that I’m cutting back on production (which wasn’t all that much to begin with lol).  This break will likely last until my youngest is in school.  I just can’t keep up with life and all that goes with it, and a business.

Occasionally I may have one or two new instock things to list.

I can still take in custom orders – I have no yarn available but will have Australian Merino roving to work with.  So if you would like a custom order, it will need to be a your yarn, my dye type of deal.

Yarn dyeing is $2 per oz.  If you want multiple skeins in the end product, the charge is $1 extra for rewinding.  Say you have a huge 12 oz hank you want dyed, and you want it back to you in 3 skeins, that will cost you $3 extra.  Center pull ball winding is always free of charge.

Fiber dyeing is $3 per oz.  It is slightly higher than yarn because of the delicate nature of unspun fibers, it needs much more gentle care than that of yarn.

Your fiber my wheel orders will depend on yardage.  .12 a yard for your fiber.  I have fiber in stock and dyed, you will need to inquire about that though.  Price on my fiber is dependent on fiber type.  All inquiries are welcome.

Turn around time on all custom orders can be anywhere from 2-4 weeks.

**The gallery is now updated!**

Pretty much what I’ve been!

I went on a knitting kick, so haven’t been dyeing at all lately. However I have a couple new colorway ideas, and I need to get dyeing starting tonight. I am attending a craft show this Saturday at Southdown Plantation in Houma, Louisiana. If you can make it, be sure to seek out the Shirley’s (heirloom sewing) booth. I’ll be bringing my goods into my mother’s booth, and my wheel is also coming along. Should be fun!

I’m about to go get some yarn kettle-dyeing, and while that is cooking I’m going to update my galleries – the handspun gallery is really not showcasing my current spinning. Those yarns are older – looser plying and thicker slubby areas. Since that is not so much how I spin anymore, I’m going to take them down and put up my newer works. I’ll keep ya posted!

On the home front, work is still slow for my husband. We are just barely eeking by, but eeking by we are Things will get better for us, and no matter what happens, we will all be ok.

My mother gave us her older glider, and we set it out on the front deck. The weather has been so nice lately that I love to take my knitting and spinning out there! Now if I can only dress it up with some nice potted plants

My son has begun potty training as well! Today he started taking his diaper off every time he peed in it LOL! I just wish he’d figure it out before wetting it, so I could get him on the toilet! But it’s progress, and progress is good. I’m looking forward to being diaper free!

Firstly, our mortgage is now caught up!  And we’re hoping with good budgeting, we’ll be able to manage.  We may be late every month, but hopefully it’s only the one month.

Secondly, we’re going to keep the internet   I was going to let the business go, since I don’t really have any stock left.  I have a small amount of fiber that is undyed, and all of my personal stash.  What I’m hoping to do, is spin it all up, sell it, save the funds to be able to buy new stock.  Here’s hoping it will go well!

In other news, Abby started her first day of kindergarten last Friday.  She goes back tomorrow – Friday was ‘girls only’ and today is ‘boys only’.  And they all go back as normal starting tomorrow.

I’m not sure what happened Friday, but she has just been a wee bit of a nightmare this weekend.  Sassing us, talking back, throwing tantrums, bossing all of us around, just an all out brat.  She was telling me no straight out when she was told to pick up after herself.  She’d get sent to her room until she could calm down and politely apologize, but then it would just start all over again. *sigh*  So finally, at 6:30pm, I sent her to her room for the rest of the night.  She had her dinner in there, and was not allowed out at all.  I also made her get into her bed at 8pm (about an hour early).  It seems to have worked though, she’s been much better today.  I think the real problem is that she got used to being home all the time with Mommy, Daddy & Matthew, and the schedule change just threw her for a loop.

I am in a bit of shock at how well my first stocking on my HC went … it was a huge success!  I’m so grateful to every one of my customers.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Our a/c is fixed!  The first repair guy didn’t know what he was doing apparantly cause it was not the blower that was the problem, but the relay strip/switch.  I finally found my thermometer and it had been 95F in the house!  :faint:  It took from 11:30am to about midnight last night to cool it down to 75.  I also realized I couldn’t really use my sales to help pay for it, as I need to hang onto the money while my customers recieve their goods.  Silly rookie mistake … lol.  Ah well, this way when all is said and done I will have the funds to buy more yarn to dye!

I need more Marr Haven, but unfortunately Barb at MH says she doesn’t anticipate having any more natural colored yarn in stock again   I am ordering a little bit of the lighter grey and heather to try out, to see if it works ok wih the colorways.  I am thinking it will, as I found the natural doesn’t take the dye vibrantly, but results in softer, more muted colors.  In addition to getting more Rambo stock (I love that nickname for the yarn!) I’m planning on placing orders for organic merino and stitch marker supplies.  I am tentalively planning on stocking the 25th of every month.  I may go sooner, depending on how the kids let me work

After I publish this post, I’m going to add a new page to the blog, with videos.  The two I made have been well-recieved and I’ve been asked to make more .. so more it is   Please request what you would like to see.  In addition to the plying one, I also made a wash n’ whack video, which you can see here.  It is a .wmv file, which plays with a Windows Media Player.

Or the birthday of a five year old anyway

In about 8 hours time, my little girl, my firstborn, will be five years old.  It’s so hard to believe.  It seems like she was just a baby, crawling, taking her first steps, turning into the little one we dubbed ‘Crabby Abby’, starting pre-k and learning manners and how to interact socially.  She is such a good little girl.  She has her tantrums, and her stubborn little attitude, but she is so good about listening and doing what we ask of her.  She has such a great laugh, and loves to tell you how much she loves you.  She has grown in leaps and bounds, and I woulnd’t have her any other way.

Newbie

Growing ....

I love my new baby brother

Five

My friend Shannon threatned to break all my knitting needles if I didn’t post a new update.  Apparantly a week of nothing new is too long to go between posts. :p

I’ve been working on a fairy doll as a present for Abby’s birthday, which is, ah, NEXT WEEK.  OMG.  It’s all too fast, man.  Too fast.  She is turning five.

I have a bit more done on this now, a leg, and the hair.  I haven’t worked on it anymore than that, because yesterday I spent all day dyeing 3 lbs of yarn!  That was a lot of work!  Today I’m re-skeining, and hope to get a few lbs of roving dyed.

I also finished plying up the first half of the Nurturing Threads swap.

Ah, I guess I need to get back to re-skeining — but I’ll leave you with a picture of what is happening behind me right now

Not much … I haven’t been doing much of anything for the past week.  I wish this laziness would go away!

Yesterday I managed to start working in my craft room* – just rearranging a tad and organizing.  Adding art … I’m really loving being in here now.  I’ve collected things over the years, and they never really had a place.  The knick-knacks just didn’t fit in anywhere else in the house so they got put away.

*Note: I’m not sure what to call this room anymore.  It used to be the sewing room, and I still call it that out of habit.  But I don’t sew anymore ….

Yesterday I came across Amy Brown’s website, where I bought several open edition prints from, way back before I had children.  Suddenly I remembered all those long forgotton items!  I had 3 prints stashed away, and an ornament I bought with my $30 inheiratance from my grandfather.  Yes, $30.  I didn’t know him well, but I still needed something special to remember him and that was it.

Last year I bought a sheepy yarn bag from Down 2 Earth Diapers.  I just loved it so much, yet I knew it would be toy more than anything else.

And then there are all the art projects from Abby.  I have my favorites that I keep, and they were just kind of lying around the house.

Well no more!

First off, Happy Mom day to all my mommas out there!  We undertake the hardest and most rewarding jobs in the world and we deserve a day of recognitiion.

On that note, I don’t expect any recognition.  I’ve learned that my husband thinks it better to wait until I ask if he will ever acknowledge the holiday.   He seems to have finally come around though, as he woke me up this morning with a kiss and a Happy Mother’s Day.  Then we headed out to lunch, where  I informed him that I had taken my gift into my own hands and bought 8 oz of fiber from Selah, so he didn’t need to buy anything for me.

We wound up at Lowe’s for some PVC pipe I needed to make a longer niddy noddy, and he bought me a Magnolia tree!  (Our yard is in desperate need of landscaping)

Now if only he would have cleaned the house, it would have been perfect!   But I suppose he really did need to mow the yard … All together it was a nice day – the best holiday/birthday I’ve had that was for me in a long time.

I hope all you other mom’s had equally great days!