Nephew's birthday

Oh, I forgot to show you the pictures of my nephew's sweater! It's quite big on him, but he'll grow into it. And you can tell he's quite sleepy in the pictures. Long day for him.

Dog hair pros and cons

I finally started carding and spinning my dog's fur. It's a little easier than I thought, but there are definitely pros and cons to dog fur than wool.

Pros: Dog hair is easy to clean. Not as dirty as sheep.
It is easy to join. It catches fast and easy
It's free! It's my dog and I don't have to pay for it.
It dries fast.

Cons: It sheds like crazy!
It's a little hard to draft
It's clumpy, not like sheep


I really love spinning it. I can't wait to spin up more. The yarn I'm making is turning out great and I will be posting pictures as soon as it's done. I hope to spin dog hair for a other people soon!

Dog fur

Our dog was clipped today and now I have dog fur!!!! I'm in the process of washing it right now. I really hope it spins up nicely. A while back, I bought some fine hand carders for the dog fur so I can card it, so I'm all prepared to spin Cleo's fur. If it doesn't spin on its own I can blend it with wool. There's a lot more fur that I realized, but that's a good thing. It's not as clumpy as I thought it would be and that's a good thing too. I'm sure it'll spin up nicely. Now, I'm just trying to get it where it doesn't smell like dog.

I'm watching CNN and they are saying the rising price of food is caused by Ethanol production.

RME NOW ACCEPTED!!!!

I NOW accept RME (Revolutionary Money Exchange)!!!! A great alternative to PayPal! Are you a seller? Pay no fees! Yay!!!

Craft Fair

I would like to do a craft fair here. There isn't much opportunity for crafty people like myself to display my work in NW Ohio. There's art fairs, but several of them snub their noses at fiber arts. The closest alternative craft fair around is the Detroit Urban Craft Fair, but I would like something close by and run on alterna-crafters terms. Does anyone use the term alterna anymore, or am I showing I'm not hip anymore??? Anyways, I hope to get some interested people and go from there.

I just purchased the first Barbara Walker knitting pattern book from half.com. I opted to purchase the vintage version instead of the new version because I really like vintage books. There's history there in vintage books and it's fun to have an original copy!

My nephew's first birthday is today and his party's on Sunday, so I get to give him his cardigan that I made. I have to remember my camera so I can take pictures of him wearing it! I'm sure it'll be so cute. And the only time in his life where he can wear a bright yellow cabled cardigan....

Swimming

I have a lot of yarn. I really do. I was now looking for my light box to make my Nobu bag and I kept putting skeins in piles and I realized I need to get rid of a lot of yarn. I'm running out of room. Should I do a destash sale? Should I just use it all and make a bunch of afghans? (I have a LOT of acrylic yarn that I can't really do anything else with) One of these days, I'll have to sort through what I want and what I don't want and maybe do a destash sale. I'm buying more and more fiber, I need to make room for that as well. I'm just looking at this pile, trying to find a manageable solution to this problem of little room. See, I didn't say too much yarn :) Well, in the mean time, I'll just have to look at my stash in disbelief of how much yarn I have and how little room.

Fiber Fiend

So, I just bought a ton of fiber on Etsy, and I don't really need it. I bought some more superwash, I bought some bamboo and some cotton roving. I haven't spun cotton and I'm eager to try. I have so much fiber, it's ridiculous! It'll keep me busy for a while! I finished dying the yarn for my Nobu bag (my kitty) and now all I need to do is find a picture to pixelate and turn into a fair isle pattern. A lot like the Corinne Burns bag I have posted on here, but it'll be my cat. Oh, and I'm offering FREE FIRST CLASS SHIPPING from now until May 2, my birthday, so take advantage!

Don't forget to check out my Storque showcase!

Storque

Hey everyone!

I've got a Storque showcase tomorrow, so be sure to check it out!

I've been working on the Off Shoulder Tank from Vogue Knitting and I just ordered some Noro yarn for an item in the Joy book, which has some awesome patterns! I can't wait!

Cabana Tee

I finished the Cabana Tee in this quarter's KnitScene. At first, I wasn't sure, but as I'm looking at the pictures post on Ravelry and here, I really like it and I could see making it again in different color choices. It turned out really well. I'm quite proud :) I made the key hole a little smaller because when I was knitting it, I realized that it was going to be quite deep, so I altered the pattern. The Tropical Fish color worked really well with the design with the Natural color. A nice little top for summer!

Noro Joy

I heart the new Noro book--Joy. I just purchased it today from Royal Yarns because the patterns look frakin amazing! I cannot wait to buy the yarn and start a project! I still need to finish my Cabana Tee. I started making sock yarn yesterday with the pencil roving I bought on Etsy and dyed. I will take pictures of it soon, because it's so pretty.

Etsy shop promotion is going. I'm sending out yarn promos tomorrow to someone in North Carolina who is attending a craft fair there, so I'm excited to get some exposure to a different audience. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for the Detroit Urban Craft Fair application because I really want to be a vendor for that. I went as a patron last year and loved it and now that I sell, I want to be part of that awesomeness! I'll keep you updated.

Outside in Ohio

I really like taking pictures outside. They turn out great! I just listed a new tampon case and the pictures really turned out spectacular! I wish it were sunny every day! We have a great set of deck furniture that worked out great as a prop and it was much better than taking pictures indoors. From now on, I'm going to take pictures of my stuff outside. Now, if I can figure out where these frakin' ants in the house are coming from...

Tampon Cases!!!!!

I added a new item to my Etsy store last night: Tampon Cases!!!! I only have one up, but will be posting more. I made another one last night during the West Wing, but got too late to add to the Etsy website. Plus, I like a little natural lighting when I take pictures. The one I have up now is a long and slender one and the one that's not up yet is a rectangle, so you can put pads in there too. I'm really excited about my new product and hope you will be too!

Shop Promotion

So, I've decided to try and promote the hell out of my shop. I'm trying to become more involved in forums, I even joined an Etsy Team today--EtsyFAST, which is the team for fiber artists. I also want to start a couple teams myself. I just emailed someone looking for promos for a craft fair and I will be giving her some yarn samples to hand out. I'm still looking to do more to promote my shop and I'm getting excited to do so. I think my shop needs work and I think if I post more items and become a better participant on Etsy, they will come. I'm also looking to do craft fairs soon.

New Yarn, Cabana Tee

There's some new yarn on my Etsy page and some new ones coming in the next couple days. I am working on the Cabana Tee from KnitScene and it's turning out great. I am also making a new jumbo bath puff that will be listed soon. Please check my Etsy page, Misfit Yarns.