Another Year

Another year has com and gone and the next is only a day away.

I have to say that I am not sad to see this year go. I have had a lot of stagnant time over the last 4-5 years, but this last year moved far too fast, and has included enough change to make my head spin.

In 2010 our family sold our home, and moved to a new town. We made it through having our 6 year old daughter break her leg during our move. We survived a very complicated pregnancy, the birth of a second daughter and the loss of a third. We experienced buying another home (much more involved than last time on account of the present damaged economy) and moved a second time. Finally, we have made it through the holiday season and juggling the time spent with the multiple branches of our family. 2010 is finally done, and I couldn't be happier about it.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm not grateful for the blessings that have come with all this change, because I'm am. Still, I'm glad that it's time for things to calm down for a while.

Today, I'm looking forward to 2011 and, like a lot of people, I am welcoming change with my resolutions in hand. Some of my resolutions for 2011 are...

1. Stop putting my body and health on the back burner and give it the attention and love it so desperately needs.

2. Organize my home the way I'd really like to (even if it means spending some money to do it).

3. SPIN DOWN MY STASH (yeah, I know. It probably wont happen, but I'm putting it here anyway.)

4. Spend a lot of time knitting throughout the year for Christmas next year.

5. Take on the huge project of overhauling both of the girls' rooms.

6. Plant and tend a vegetable garden this spring and summer.

7. Spend more time reading.

These aren't all of the changes I'd like to see, but for now the list will do. I'm feeling optimistic that most of them are possible, then again, I usually am at the start of it.

I'm going to spend the last day of 2010 catching up on my housework, organizing for my taxes and baking a cake (today is my husband's birthday). I hope everyone has a great New Year's!

Next Update Dec. 16th

The next shop update will be on Thursday, Dec. 16th at 6:00 (pacific time).

This weekend I was under the weather (I'm thinking it was some sort of food poisoning -ugh!) and I haven't got as much fiber done as I was hoping to by this point. Though, I did manage to get some beautiful sock yarns dyed up, and I will continue working on fibers for the update. By the time Thursday rolls around, I'm sure there will be plenty.

See you then!

A Love and Hate Relationship

Since I reopened the shop at the beginning of last month, I've had a lot of ups and downs with re-learning how to dye using different techniques.

In the past I almost always hand-painted my rovings and this time around I'm using a form of immersion dyeing. Learning the immersion dyeing has been a frustrating experience for me. It can be very unpredictable, which can be both good and bad. When it turns out bad, it feels like a waste of time and fiber. But when it turns out good, the results can be magical.

This week I'm starting to feel like I'm getting a little bit better at predicting what will come out of the dye pots as I'm putting things in (I can't tell you how happy this makes me). This new confidence is pushing me to work a little harder and explore more with the colors I use (which means I should be having another biggish update soon).

I'm still working on knitting the second of my knotty gloves. I was almost finished with the cabled part of the wrist and then I made a very stupid mistake, which ended up with me frogging the whole thing.

The spinning is going slow as well. I've been spinning everyday, but haven't made much progress since the single I'm spinning is as fine as frog hair. It's been a long time since I spun a true lace weight yarn. I want very much to get it finished, but I'm already groaning inwardly at the thought of plying and skeining this one (my back and shoulders are going to be sore by the time I'm done).

As soon as I figure out when I'm having the next big update I'll announce it here.