I was reminded today by an e-mail from my friend Linda that it might be more than time to update the blog myself! Thanks to Sairy for doing the guest blog and keeping you all informed. As she said, I came through the surgery well. Everything went as planned although it apparently took a bit longer than expected. The details of the first day are still hazy to me, but from what I’ve gathered from my Mom and HWJF I was in recovery after lunchtime and didn’t get to my room until around 5pm. I shocked everyone that first night by devouring my dinner tray as HWJF and Mom took turns feeding me. This was most shocking considering that during the surgery, despite having a bite plate in I somehow managed to damn near bite the right side of my tongue off. When I woke up I thought I was having an allergic reaction, but no, I just had to be an over achiever in the “stupid surgery tricks” department!

When I went in I was expecting to be released on Wednesday but that somehow turned into Thursday before I even had my surgery. After two days flat on my back and not allowed to move they tried to get me up on Wednesday morning and my blood pressure dropped 50 points. I made it to the door of my room before I nearly blacked out and had to be drug back to my bed on a chair. To make a long story short, I wasn’t released until Friday afternoon. The ride home was tough. They screwed around so long with my release that my pain meds were wearing off as we were driving home so I was in a bit of pain. I didn’t get my meds until a while later because it took our pharmacy a while to prepare them. I’ve never been so happy as I was that night to get a shower, even if I couldn’t do much by myself and Mom had to dry my hair while I was lying in bed.

Since then my improvement has been small but steady. I’m getting less stiff by the day and I’m able to take a couple of short walks each day. I’m eating on my own now although I can’t really fix myself more than some simple things. I’m very lucky that my Mom is staying with me for the week while HWJF goes back to work. I had one day where the side effects of the pain meds were enough that I was very grateful to not be on my own for too long. My stitches come out on Friday and I hope that I’ll gain a lot more flexibility when they are gone. I’ve been able to cut back on the pain medication quite a bit over the last couple of days. The improvements are small but increase daily and I’m really feeling pretty darn good. It’s hard to believe that it was only a week ago that I was still laying in a hospital bed.

Thanks so much again to those of you that have sent cards and e-mails and good wishes. Everything has helped so much!! The balloon in the picture above was given to me by Ina who came to see me while I was still flat in bed. Thanks for the visit Ina! And check out what Nancy sent me:

Isn’t that the cutest thing?! What a great gift for a knitter! Thank you!!

While I didn’t quite get it done before I went into the hospital, I did manage to finish my recovery cowl when I got home:

We had a couple of chilly days around here so it was nice to have when I went out for a walk.

I’ve managed to do some spinning and knitting while I’ve been recovering too, but I think I’ll save that for another day. Thanks again for all the good wishes and I’ll try to post again before we leave for bassoon camp this weekend.

Thanks so much for all the Birthday wishes for Stitches! I think she had a good day. She went from a quiet day:

To a much more fun day pretty quickly!

There’s even a short video.

I spent the rest of the weekend going to visit my old stomping grounds with Sharon and Sairy. Much fun! In the process (and despite a little goof on my part) I also managed to finish these:

Endpaper Mitts

Pattern: Endpaper Mitts by Euny Jang
Yarn: Handspun Merino/Tencel
Needles: Size 1 and 2 addi lace and knitpicks respectively
Knit: 1.30-2.8.2009
Mods: I used a long tail cast on and a stretchy bind off instead of the ones that were recommended in the pattern

This was a really fun knit! The pattern is interesting enough to keep you going without being overly complicated. These really made perfect train knitting since the charts were pretty small and easy to balance on the lap while traveling. I think they worked out perfectly with this handspun too.

There’s nothing quite like working with handspun. Especially your own handspun! There’s just a spring and a life to it that commercial yarn could never replicate. I may be a little bit sorry that I didn’t try out the recommended cast on and bind off, but I think they worked out ok. I think they’ll be a good length for those chilly spring mornings too.

I had hoped for a daylight photo shoot but I got home too late. This is the best I could do.

I still have a bunch of yarn leftover too… about 68 grams of each color.

I think a shorter pair of mitts are in the future, but for now I’m on to trying to finish a certain sweater before next week:

And started another colorwork project. Stay tuned!

P.S. OMG!! My shop got mentioned on Lime ‘n Violet!!

Sometimes, you just never know how the internet will influence your life.

I’ve been reading Cookie’s blog for a while now. I can’t really remember how I found her. If you don’t read her blog, you really should. She’s funny, smart, witty, cranky and oh yeah, she knits rather well too. Cookie has helped me out with SOS two (or is it three?!?) years running at this point. She’s been a caring ear more than once and although we only know each other via the internet, I would certainly call her a friend.

A couple of months back Cookie knit several amazing Swallowtail shawls. I’ve always wanted to knit one of these. I even gave it a go once, but it just didn’t work out. It’s such a pretty pattern, and there’s just something about the name that speaks to me. I somehow relayed this desire to Cookie and she did an amazing thing.

She said she’d knit me one.

I was really taken aback by her offer. Obviously, I know the kind of work and skill that would go into knitting a shawl like this. And the fact that someone that in some ways hardly knows me would do that for me? Well, I got down right verklempt!! And asked several times if she was sure. She assured me she was.

I got it in my head that I wanted it to be handspun and larger than the usual pattern. So I spun a heavier yarn. I also seemed to have the perfect fiber in my stash. I had actually started spinning it for the shop, but when I didn’t finish it on time it suddenly dawned on me that it would be a perfect fit for this project. The wool was purchased from my friend Val who raises her own spinner’s flock here in NJ. The sheep that the fiber came from was named Angel. Somehow, the wing reference just seemed to work.

So I finished my yarn and I sent it off to California for Cookie to knit with. Would you believe it was her first time getting to work with handspun? I think she did an amazing job. I got seriously verklempt again when I opened the return package a short time ago.

You might think this is the end of the story, but it’s not. This baby is destined for the dyepot. I’ve got big plans for a try at a new-to-me technique. I hope that I can do Cookie’s beautiful work justice.

Thank you so much my friend! I really hope you like what comes next.

I totally don’t know how it’s Friday already. I’m completely crosseyed and I have no idea how the last week has so completely gotten away from. Ok. That’s not entirely true, but geez! Someone put the breaks on please!

Last Saturday (yes I need to go back that far) was a lovely day of fiber and friends at my house. No pics of course but I wish I had taken some when I led everyone to the basement for a little fiber acquisition (aka the raiding of my inventory). It looked like a rummage sale in my basement. Seriously. I don’t have people to my house to spin so I can sell them stuff, but they always seem to be very interested in the fiber. I certainly don’t mind!

Sunday HWJF had lessons to teach and a concert down around our old stomping grounds so I got to spend the day hanging out with Sharon and Sairy. And I got to meet Cartman! Look at what a good puppy he was while his mommy did some spinning!

He may sound like a pig when he’s checking you out but he’s the sweetest dog I’ve met in a long time! Thanks for the great day Sharon!

Monday began four very long days of training at work. Very. Long. All day. Torturous. So long that I went to Starbucks 6 times this week. That’s just crazy for me. The norm is once or twice a month. Crazy. At least I had something to look forward to Monday night. I got to see my Sabres kick some Devil ass in a 2-0 win! Live and in person! I hadn’t seen my boys play in person since sometime around 2000 I think. HWJF says I must have “Sabre-dar” too because the 5 other Sabres fans in the arena all seemed to be in our section! It was great fun yelling “Let’s go BUFFALO” over the cheers of the Devils fans and embarrassing my Dad thoroughly with the shenanigans of his hockey crazed daughter.

After a late night Monday we were up before 6am Tuesday to vote. It was my first time using an actual voting machine since I’ve been able to vote. I’ve always been in school and using an absentee ballot. We got Chinese takeout that evening and stayed up to watch Obama’s speech. Many tears of joy were shed. I knew I needed sleep, but there was no way I was going to bed before I saw him celebrate. I have hope for the first time in 8 years and I’m proud to be an American again. It’s a good feeling. I hope he can deliver and keep things positive as he takes office. I don’t envy him trying to clean this mess up.

Thursday night found me finally done with training and staying in NYC to hang with the Plurk/spin/knit crew. Much, much fun! I was tired and briefly thought about heading home, but I’m so glad I stayed. And I got to infect enable help a new spinner! We all know how I love that.

What I thought would be a restful night turned into an evening of coughing for HWJF. Not. Fun. I was less than sympathetic (sorry honey!) and I’m definitely feeling the lack of sleep today. But I have a four day weekend coming up pretty darn soon. It could definitely be worse.

So what projects have I been working on through all this? Mostly that-thing-I-can’t-show-you-yet. What I will tell you is that it has to be knit on straight needles and they are totally killing me. It’s almost done but it’s going into time out for a bit to let my hands recover. I had a little time to kill before meeting the Plurkies yesterday so I went into the closest LYS to my office. And sadly discovered they will be closing at the end of the year. I’ve been jonesing for a stockinette sock project, so I picked up some Claudia Handpaint (which I’ve, believe it or not, never knit with) and a set of needles and started a sock.

The crappy iPhone photo does not do the colors justice. Just sayin’.

And when I’m not home working on spinning orders for the shop I’ve been continuing to work on this:

The sudden infatuation with the spindles is not over. Not by a long shot.

Weekend plans? Number 1: SLEEP! After that, mostly shop stuff. I plan to add more to the store this weekend and I’m working out plans for the fiber club and another big project which I hope to tell you about soon. Watch this space!

Have a great weekend!

No really. I do. Who could ask for better friends than people who would leave their house before dawn, freeze their little bippies off, hang around all day, talk to the public and give free spinning lessons and go home covered in dirt at the end of it all for free? Certainly not me because that’s what happened this weekend!

The Garden State Sheep Breeders festival was definitely a success in my book and none of it could have happened without the amazing assistance of Kim, Sharon, Sairy, Cheeky, Kristy and HWJF.

HWJF and I packed everything up on Friday night and arrived with two cars at the festival around 7:15am Saturday morning. The sun was just up and holy cow was it COLD. We set to work setting things up and were quickly joined by Sharon, Kim and Cheeky. Many hands definitely make light work and before I knew it we were set up and ready for business. HWJF was nice enough to take some pictures for me and it was a good thing he did or I might not have any at all!

We somehow didn’t manage to get Cheeky in the shot.

I got many complements on the display throughout the course of the festival which I took as a major complement considering the only thing I purchased to create my display was two C clamps and those were bought with a gift card! Hooray for found objects and borrowing! It was nice to hear the ooohs and ahhhs over the colors and the fibers. That’s unfortunately something you just don’t get with an online shop.

If you want some even better shots of the festival, head on over to Deb’s post. She got some great pics which include her Mom wearing one of my rovings in a “no spinning necessary” way that I just loved!!

Eklectica’s spindles were a huge seller throughout the weekend. I was so happy to be able to offer them for sale in my booth. They made a perfect pairing with the fiber and I do believe there are a few new spinners out there now because of them. Sharon and Sairy each bought one and Cheeky got to help them along with their spinning a bit. Yes people, I’m enabling my friends just as much as my customers these days and I loved every min. of it!

I learned so much about so many things this weekend, both related to selling my wares as well as spinning and people and relationships. Cheeky and I had never met in person before Saturday and now I feel like I’ve known her for years! Her experience was absolutely instrumental in my success and I couldn’t possibly thank her enough. And then what did she do? Not only did she buy up a bunch of my fiber herself, she also gifted me this:

I had been debating buying some of this from a vendor a couple of booths down from me (I bought some lovely soap from him last year) and when I wasn’t looking Cheeky bought it for me! Thanks again Cheeky! I’m so glad we were able to get to know each other more this weekend!

A couple of times during the weekend people came up to say hello because they recognized me from the blog or were in SOS. I feel terrible that I can’t remember all your names (I found Susan on Ravelry this morning though! Hi!), but thanks so much for saying hello! Considering the state of the world these days, it definitely made me feel wonderful that you would have the courage to do that. You made my day!

Another highlight was a younger girl who is so obviously infected with the fiber bug that her enthusiasm just lit up the place. First, she and her Mom bought some fiber. Then they came back for a spindle but they didn’t have the cash (”Mom, don’t you have money in the car?!”) so I set it aside for them to buy through etsy, then the girl came back happily waving cash. Then she ran off again only to return to ask me to help her getting started. When I related this story to HWJF later and told him that I could see the flash of fiber love in her eyes, he said something about knowing what that looks like. Later in the day Sharon and Sairy saw her happily spinning away. Another one hooked! Yay!

The final highlight? On the way home as we discussed the goings on of the weekend HWJF told me that if I was to do something like this again, he’d be taking the whole weekend off to be there with me because he wants to and that he’s really looking forward to Rhinebeck. Maybe it was this bug I can’t seem to kick or the exhaustion, but tears of joy were shed.

There were so many other moments this weekend that I could go on forever. My only regret was that I wasn’t quite feeling myself because of this damn cold that is still hanging on, but I couldn’t have been happier with the results of the show both in sales and in the people I met and the friendships that were formed or grew. I really can’t thank those of you that helped me enough!! You are all amazing!! I’m definitely looking forward to doing this again next year if I can and I may even investigate other opportunities to do some vending.

For those of you that couldn’t make it and are jonesing for a fiber fix, never fear! As soon as I recover a bit and get myself organized I’ll be posting plenty of new items in the shop. Stay tuned and I’ll let you know what goes up here.

In the meantime, bring on Rhinebeck!!!!

There’s been another couple of days of work. First, thanks to those of you who have checked out the shop offerings for the month and/or left kind complements. Much appreciated!

There was another fibery gathering at my place this Saturday. It went *so* fast I feel like I hardly had a second to talk to anyone! Of course, part of that might have been my slow pace as my back has decided that dyeing about 15 lbs. of fiber in only a few days might not be a great idea. *sigh* Anne was kind enough to work on me and that sure helped, but it’s definitely been a wake up call that there need to be some changes in my physical fitness. Oye.

Anyway, the best picture I got was of everyone fearing the cutting of the deserts (and let me tell you, there was some seriously amazing stuff brought this time around)!

Too funny. There was drum carding and spinning (and first spinning lessons!) and knitting and food and laughter and… well… you get the idea. If you want to see more, you *must* check out Chris and Deb’s blogs. They have some great pics!

I also went to a NJ Fiber Fanatics spin in on Sunday. No pics from that one either, but it was at the Howell Living History Farm and was quite a nice day. HWJF came along and we were quite happy to be out of Bergen County and out in the fresh air for a few hours.

In the meantime, I realized that I have not yet shown you my next SOS sock and the first one is nearly done!

The pattern is Berlin Muster. The yarn is koigu that’s been marinating in the stash for a while, waiting for just the right thing. I started these right around the same time as the Bad Ass Nanners, but the call of the nanner was too great to resist.

This is definitely, as the pattern warns, *not* a mindless knit. It’s a 16 row repeat that doesn’t seem to follow much of a logical progression, at least not that I can figure out. Despite that, I love them and I’m happy to be back at knitting them. If you decide to try it, I highly recommend ignoring the written directions and just following the chart. The English translation leaves a little bit to be desired and I found I struggled a lot less with the chart.

I should also mention, as I forgot to with the nanners, that I finally purchased a couple of the knitpicks options fixed circulars and I’m using one set for this sock. I like them for the most part, although I feel like this particular size could have a slightly better point. I didn’t have that problem with the pair I used on the nanners though. Ideally, if I could take the points on my addi lace, the needle finish and the cable from the knitpicks and put them together, I would have my perfect needle.

Ya gotta have dreams I guess.

It’s hard to believe how much time flies around these parts lately. It seems like just about the time I catch up in one thing I’m about to be buried in a new week. I still haven’t figure out how I got this busy!

Anyway, the spin in Friday night was a ton of fun. I managed to remember I had my camera with me long enough to get a pic of the setup before we got started.

There was definitely a wide range of equipment represented! Especially after everyone showed up.

There were some of the usual suspects and some new faces which made for a great evening. Being close to the sheep to make it all the more “real” to the passersby was nice. There was also a family with some baby bunnies which nearly melted me into a puddle of mush with their insane cuteness. Did I get a picture? Of course not!

The one thing that I always love when I do public spinning is how amazed and transfixed people are by it. I always think it’s kind of funny, but then I think back to when I started spinning and *everything* about it seemed like magic. Total magic. I still find it pretty magical, just in a different way now. And I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at the reaction. After all, we are so far removed from this process in our modern lives that many of them have never given a second thought to where their clothing comes from. And I wonder how many will actually make the connection.

I went home a bit lighter that night too. I decided to bring the rovings I had dyed for the shop with me, just to see what the reaction might be. The reaction was that I got wiped out! Thanks for the purchases ladies!! Here’s some of what you *won’t* be seeing in the shop in the next update (although I am going to attempt to reproduce most of these if I can):

If you click over to flickr you can see close ups and the names of each of these if you’re interested.

In the meantime, I took stock of my week one spinning for the Tour de Fleece:

Starting top left: Merino/nylon I dyed which I (so far) hate spinning.
Top right: Some local NJ wool from a sheep named Red. Teeswater/Tunis/Dorset cross. (I actually finished a second bobbin of this yesterday)
Bottom left: BFL I dyed for sock yarn for the shop.
Bottom right: An angora/polworth blend given to me as a birthday present from Chris. (Most of that was spun Friday night)

Not bad for a week. I definitely see some serious plying in my future.

We had a wonderful weekend around these parts, but boy was crawling out of bed tough this morning. Luckily I didn’t have to go to work (but don’t worry, I’ll be paying for that on Saturday). I hit the dyepots pretty hard on the 4th as expected.

Some of these have already been reserved, but most will be in the next shop update. Stay tuned!

We also had a little BBQ on Sunday which I believe was a great success. We had several worlds of friends coming together, which made me a little nervous at first but seemed to work out wonderfully.

There were work friends and college friends…

And spinning friends and family…

My folks finally got to meet their grandbunny for the first time (and my Dad kept asking things like “Where’s the saddle?!” and “Where’s her pocket watch?!?”)

Sandy pretty much looked how I felt when it was all done…

But it was definitely a great time and I’m glad so many people could make it. We’re hoping it will become a yearly tradition.

Today is a day of rest for me. Rest and spinning since a certain event started this weekend.

I can’t let team plurk down!!

Especially when you have great folks to share them with! I was lucky enough to get to enjoy the company of two fibery groups this weekend. I went to an NJFiberFanatics Spin In on Friday evening and had a lovely time. Camnesia unfortunately struck on that one, so no pictures. But I was lucky enough to pick up two pounds of new fiber from the same NJ shepherdess that I got the Khalu fiber from in this post. This time I picked up Mocha and Red and I’ve already started spinning Mocha.

This is a Tesswater/Merino/Shetland cross. Lovely to spin! The shetland in it just screams for a thinner yarn than Khalu did, so that is what I’m spinning.

On Saturday I had the good fortune to share a hot and steamy afternoon indoors, hiding in the AC with Kim (standing), Sharon, Jody, Kristy and Anne (from left to right).

We had all good intentions to go knit in public at the local park, but the humid hot weather kept us all inside. Except for me, everyone was knitting somewhere other than home at least! I got to finish up the BFL I had started on Friday night.

Another lovely bump from Cloverleaf Farms. Spun on the ladybug. I love that wheel!

Sunday we got to give my Dad his Father’s Day present in person.

A new BBQ! It worked pretty well too.

And during the course of the weekend I got to show off a new FO:

Wire bracelet

Pattern: Not really any pattern. Inspired by this podcast.
Yarn: If you want to call it that was 26 gauge wire.
Needles: size 4 metal straights
Beads: Some clay beads I had in the bead stash
Knit: 6/9-6/11/2008

This was a fun little diversion when the weather was too darn hot to think about a bunch of wool in my lap, and a quick little project to boot! I’d been wanting to give this a try for a while, but this had been my first opportunity. The supplies are very simple: needles, beads, wire and some sort of clasp.

The stitch pattern is basically all purls. Once you learn to manipulate the wire it’s really not too hard to do. My only complaint was that the wire I was using was a bit stiff for what I wanted to do and it got to be a little rough on the hands after a while. I would only knit about 4 rows at a time before I had to give myself a rest. Otherwise I probably could have done this in an afternoon.

These beads were really probably way too big for what I was doing too. HWJF said it looks Kitchy, but I think it’s kind of fun!

I’ve already purchased more wire in a lighter gauge and some more beads to play with. I’ve got big plans for this, if only there were more hours in the day!

Bloglines is being a pain today. Maybe this will make it update?!?

Only because I can’t think of a better way to deal with what I want to blog today!

Thanks for the comments on yesterday’s post. Y’all may be amused to know that it was all part of a great conspiracy, hatched at last week’s Modern Yarn SnB, with cohorts Ina, Kim, Risa and Deb participating fully. There *are* knit blog conspiracies! Who knew?!?

Y’all also may want to check out this article about our favorite hobby. I guess I’m a kitty mom so that must count!

In knitting news, I have half an FO:

If it wasn’t for the fact that I actually do want to *wear* these for their intended purpose they would make an excellent cat toy as is.

I’m using Cherry Tree Hill Supersock solids for these by the way. (Sorry to take so long to answer that question Jeannie!)

So glove one down, glove two yet to be cast on. I’ve been too busy playing with my new toy:

One for me, one for the boy. An early I am still in my twenties even if it isn’t for much longer birthday present to myself (that I shall be paying off for quite some time to come, but I digress).

I’m also truckin’ away on the latest sock:

Not bad for a camera phone pic eh?

Finally, see this fiber that I dyed a while back?

Risa made my day by blogging a hat that she made from yarn spun from that fiber! How cool is that?!?