Have you ever called in Late to work?

I think I have redefined calling in late to work. I was supposed to start my new job at the new company in the new town in the new state the 5th day of the new year, but here it is new years eve and we haven't been able to hire a mover yet. The good news is we are 90% packed in boxes. I did the kitchen today and Hubbins did the tool shed. My BFF M came over and assisted us. We really needed the help and with another person there to keep us motivated we kicked butt two days in a row.

I have not gotten to the halfway point of my latest knitting project. I have about three or four inches to go I might try to finish during Craig Ferguson tonight. Yes once again it's past midnight and I can't sleep. I was out cold oozing Zs about two hour ago. I fell asleep about 8:05 and was woken up by Hubbins about 10:15. Totally didn't make it past the opening credits to NCIS. Hopefully the new life comes with regular sleeping hours.

Well I'll make it short tonight. Maybe I can make that halfway point!!

Is there any way to slow this train down?????

Life is moving too fast. A lot like a run away train. Since once again I stayed up past midnight (Craig Ferguson on the tube as I type) There are six days until I start my new job. No, I have not hired a mover yet. We are still frantically packing. Everything is packed except a pocket of dishes in the kitchen, the bedroom, and the tool shed. We are living in a warehouse. However we built this house so comfortable and with so much character you would think that we hadn't packed a thing.

I hate to break it to Hubbins but it's (one of)our aniversarie(s) If I say " Hey honey guess what day it is?!" he cowers and says "Our anniversary?" Generally not, although the odds are good.

Well today (once I wake up from sleeping ) we finish up the packing. We probably will call up a mover and book them so we will gauge when we will actually be up in Wyoming. Hopefully by the 5th. I need to call the cable company and schedule start of service. I need the Discover Channel by Tuesday the 06th because a new show is starting called "Wreckreation Nation". I also need my Internet- can't not have the Internet.

I am almost half way done with my next knitting project. I still have to take pictures of my last couple of projects like the second pair of Austermann Step socks and the hat I knit for Hubbins... and the mishap with the green Merino socks. I think after I finish this project I might try another pair of gloves. I took out my first pair done with the Hooray for Me pattern by Marnie Mac Lean and they are different from each other -I had accidentally made them with two different colorways. Luckily I have a two matching pair skeins of yarn so I can finish both pair.

Well it's an hour past Ferguson ... time for bed. I have to get up early and start packing again. Hopefully finish. We have to get this show on the road. New Year, new home, new state, new job, new life, new adventures.

Well that's the last Holiday for this year

10 more days until I start my new job in my new city in my new house. I am both excited and terrified. On the crafty side I finally grafted the toe on the socks I started last month and also finished knitting or reknitting the hat for my hubbins. I started my next pair of socks this evening too. I am knitting with Austermann's Step in a denim blue and white with a touch of tan on size US 1 needles. I needed a new knitting project.

For Yule this year Hubbins gave me some really cool multi purpose Welding goggles. I can use them for welding and working with flame as well as a cool steampunk fashion statement. He also gave me the Elizabeth Zimmerman DVD and two knit books. I am a happy camper. These will keep me going through the cold winters.

I start packing again tomorrow. It's the dining room next.

He's in a better place....

I hate that phrase. In this case it's true. Happily he's not dead, just in a better place. I'm talking about my fishy. We figured a 1200+ mile drive in a bucket wasn't a good idea so we found a responsible aquarium store that takes oversized plecos and finds them homes. It apparently is a common occurance. They tend to grow to 24 inches if you let them. My fishy was only 14 inches. I raised him since he was only 2 1/2 inches long. He survived two wildfire evacuations, jumping out of his tank, scraping his nose down to the cartlidge, bubble disease, algae bloom, and a faulty heater that kept inching his water above 85 degrees. He has new friends, a bigger tank and proper Ph as well as lots of people to look at him. As I finish up the last parts of packing up my office I find myself sitting and staring at the empty tank missing the little guy. He cheered me up at work and we have been through a lot together. While some would say he was only a fish, one of those boring algae eaters they didn't know him. He had a personality and perserverance and really cool leopard spots. He would come over and watch TV with me and attach his big sucker to the glass where I was like he wanted his belly scratched. < He used to play with Snail, our extra large yellow snail we purchased originally to keep Oppenheimer my Celestial Eye gold fish company. Oppenheimer and Snail used to play a game of something akin to tag. The fish would nudge the snail and knock him off of the side of the tank and then the snail would in turn launch himself from the side of the tank and bump the fish. After Oppenheimer passed on we put Snail in the tank with Plookey and they continued the game. He had feelings... I remember when Snail passed on he actually was depressed and stayed at Snail's side for a while. He was a good fish... he is still a good fish, in a bigger tank with more friends to play with. I am happy for him but I have a hole in my heart and right now.

Moving in a forward direction

I have officially packed my first box. It was a box of fiber. There goes one distraction. I am trying to get to my 2nd cabinet of fiber but it's blocked My office is a disaster area. We have decided to photograph our house which we haven't had a chance to since we built it which is really funny when you think about it. And because we are in the process of getting ready to move the house isn't in it's best order. So to make the photographs nice to look at in the future we cleaned each room before photographing it which meant putting boxs of stuff elsewhere. Since the first round of photographs were taken at night and in the low light of the house the photos were fuzzy. Therefore they needed to be taken again in the daylight. That meant all the stuff we moved from room to room ended up in my office/craftroom. This makes packing that room nearly impossible. . I do want that room and the library and the non essentials in the bedroom packed up by this evening. It can be done if I have help. But my hubbins and I seem to be paralized in denial that we need to get our move on. I should have turned cable off completely instead of just downgraded to a lesser plan. Discounted cable, something I will truely miss about the job.

I downgraded the internet speed too. I am going to run a test to see if there is any difference. I don't think there will be until I install the new "N" router. It's supposed to kick the butt of my "G"router.

Ok ....put the computer down and march upstairs young lady and pack up your office!!!

OK....here I go ....no really... here I go......pushin' the publish post button.

To day is the first day of the rest of my life

It's Friday. I am not on vacation nor is it a holiday. It's almost 10:00am and I am not tied to a computer or phone with a curly umbilical doing tech support for the first time in almost a decade. When I walked out of the building last night for the last time I got all the way out of the gate before I started crying. It wasn't tears of relief or joy or sadness or anything really. It was just bundled up emotion that had no place to go. I feel jilted in a way though because I feel like I didn't get to properly say goodbye. The company policy has been for years that when you leave you send out a farewell to the masses. The exception was if you were fired. Then you just were quietly escorted out of the building by security. I left on my own with two weeks notice but because of recent "workforce reduction" efforts I had the bad timing to pick the same week to leave as the "involuntary separation" group and the "early retirement" group so my goodbye didn't get sent. I guess they didn't want to flood the email waves with "junk". So there is a vast majority of people whom I worked with for almost a decade that do not know that I am gone and when they find out I am gone won't know it was not because of the work force reductions!! Whatever!! i am free and I can do what I want (today) because starting tomorrow it's start packing up the house for the big move.

I am trying to talk myself out of having to back up all of the hours of content on my DVRs. I am trying to find if most or all of the programming is available or online. So far except for my TV interview on the local news from 2005 everything seems to be easy. I figure some of the series I have I can either get again at my new house on my new cable company or purchase the media online.

I don't feel like doing much today. Maybe I'll play dress up doll and go through my closet and decide what to keep and what to donate. I should clean the library so that we can take pictures of it before packing it up. Since we finished the house (ha!) we haven't taken any proper photos. We are planning to do that. I figure we can do at least one room a day and several rooms within a day too I can see packing both bathrooms the home theatre and the laundry room all in one day. My office is going to be a nightmare. I have a few evil plans that might make moving it easier and less expensive. If regular stock bookcases with peg adjustable shelves have the same size, spacing and hole setback I can leave the big bookcases and get new ones. Or I can replace them one by one from the Nearest Ikea (Denver).

I plan to finish my Kirchner's stitches on all my unfinished projects and start another pair of socks. I need to be knitting right now. It keeps me grounded, it keeps me sane. Oh yeah... before I pack the paperwork and never see it again. I have to do my sales taxes for my business and find my birth certificate or social security card so I can show up to my new job next month prepared.

To box or not to box that is the question

I like fresh starts but I hate moving. The packing and the boxing and the stacking and the not knowing where anything is.... I don't like it. So here is our big decision. Do we pack it all up? or do we have the moving company pack it all up? Is it better to put the plasma carefully in the car or pay for the $350 box... that's just the box!! I'm thinking box the little stuff have them wrap and carry the big stuff and take heavy stuff and essentials with us. We need a microwave, the hot pot some clothes, the air bed, and bedding and the TVs.

Getting the new cell phone service is proving an adventure. I have to give up my Samsung Instinct. I love my phone but Sprint is not in Wyoming. Anywhere. We are looking at Verizon because they have 3g phones and the biggest coverage in the area. I don't do ATT. It's the cable in me. Now do I go for the Crackberry or the Smart phone. Does my cell phone really need a 5 megapixal camera? Which one can I mobile blog from? Can I update my Etsy account and take PayPal payments on the spot? How about show off my website and online store while at shows and faires?? Podcasting??

I am having crafting withdrawals. I can't get anywhere with my lace scarf. That thing has been frogged more that the rainforest. I want to start some socks but I have to pack first. If not I will just sit and knit. If I can pack fast enough I can take some knitting time. My last day at work if tomorrow. The end of an era. Once I walk out of there I start a whole new life. After the fray of relocating and learning the new job....life slows down. I see lots of spinning in my future. Lots of knitting and felting and other craftwork. That's because I see lots of snow in my future. Tomorrow the hight is 23 deg and Saturday the high is -4 deg and the low is -17 deg.

Well it's off to bed so I can be rested for my last day at the job. It should be interesting.

Wasted days and Wasted nights

Today was my 4th day off in a row. Here is a list of what I got done during that time. Friday I made an appointment with a moving company who will be here Wednesday morning for an estimate. I put some laundry away and did some grocery shopping. I also picked up an external hard drive to back up my photos on my various computers for safe keeping. Saturday I washed the bed linens and picked up the house and did the dishes and picked up my husband at the airport. Sunday we had a mover over to give us an estimate on moving then went to get a new cell phone for my husband and ended up finding out we need a new cell phone company. Our current company has no presence in our new state. Then we got a new router and our Yule gift to each other (one of those digital photo frames) and then we researched wireless companies in the area. Today I updated my Ravelry user profile and will probably update my online information this evening. Four more days at work and life really goes into overdrive. Time to pack up my life and relocate.

I originally had planned to take this weekend and do my big dying project and get my stuff up on my etsy site. I did however put my etsy site on vacation mode while I get ready for the move.
I think tonight I might take some time and go through my closet and make a donate pile. It will be a big pile. I might make a list of things to do.

I am usually more productive than this.

Life is moving too fast

Since I last posted my life has gone into overdrive. I have a new job that I am starting the first week in January, I am packing up and my husband and I are moving from sunny southern California to snowy wintery Wyoming! I'm going from a handcrafted house that we built to an 1889 Victorian. A town of 14,000 to a town of 4,000. And to answer the question that everyone seems to be asking.... yes there will be a guest room for visitors to sleep over. Glen Oaks Designs is leaving Glen Oaks!!

While my life is packed up in boxes I put my Etsy site on hold. I had been spinning in overdrive and have a banker's box over flowing with yummy scrumptous hand spun yarns. I also have four hand blended batts for my spinners. The batts are Merino/ Silk, Merino/silk/Mohair, Alpaca, Paco Vicuna, silk/ merino/polwarth. I have a collection of a dozen mini balls of blended fiber all spun up and two plied in various blends of silk, Merino, Mohair, Polwarth and Wensleydale. They will be sold as a set and are over a gram of fiber. I also have several larger mini balls with more yardage to them that will be at firesale prices once I get back up and running. The 50/50 Alpaca Mohair is spectacular. I will be posting these up on my ravelry site for any ravelry people interested in a preview. If you want to reserve something let me know. Speaking of which I have two pair of socks I need to put in the finish pile. And I have started a lace scarf that has only been frogged a half dozen times. This evening I frogged it to the cast on... I wasn't happy with a section of it.

I have a moving company coming on Sunday for an estimate, I have another on on Wednesday but after reading the website were people rate moving companies I am thinking of doing one of those "pod-like" you pack things- they drive it. We can put furniture in one, indoor thing in a second and outdoor things in a third. We will be having a huge yard sale with lots of new items some never used and still in their sealed packages ... I have a second breadmaker like that. We will be selling our home theater seating. I will hate to see that go. I spend many an hour with my feet up watching TV and movies knitting and spinning. Ok I don't recline while I spin. I do weave my viking chain while chillin'.

I will be closer to my sister for the time being. We never live close to each other - the fates just don't allow it. Of course this means she'll get that choice job in Chicago now. Our moving there seals that deal. I still will be making my appearance at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show. I can be mostly found at the 2Beadtrueblue show and the Manning House show. I will also be haunting the Rio Grande Catalog in Motion. I am am also making plans to go to a few sheep and wool shows maybe black sheep gathering. Who knows I might even make it back to SOAR.

So right now it's getting ready to get the heck out of Dodge. Actually I am moving closer to Dodge.

My last day at work is Friday the 19th. That will be culture shock on multi levels. I have worked for the same company for a decade most of which from home. Now it's a new company and I'm going into work every day in an office and interacting with people and wearing clothes. Not that I did tech support naked because I didn't. I just didn't wear things that matched or that I'd wear out of the house. Not even to do gardening. I have been shopping. I highly recommend the LLBean lambs wool cardie. It's like a hug. I needed a hug so I got 3. The new office is not a high trafic office but jeeze recently I haven't really been around humans for almost 6 weeks since my hubbins has been up there already finding us a place to live and working his job. I even use the self check out line at the grocery store. I really don't interact with others. It will be what I call the "raised by wolves" syndrom. Me getting used to being a person interacting with other people. I think most of my job is self motivated and just getting things done. I work very well like that. And no more having to talk people into doing things they don't want to. No more getting yelled at just because the economy is in the twalette (spelled toilet) No more mandatory overtime because two people want to beat each other up. The down side is I just qualified for four weeks of vacation... I'm back down to 12 days. An upside is we are near about 5 spectacular locations where we have a timeshare. I can see weekend vacations will be more fun or is the popular term "funner"?

Well it's 3 am AGAIN!! I really need to stop doing this and go to sleep at a decent hour. I sleep better with Hubbins around. He should be here in 17 hours.

Knitting Therapy

I'm knitting again. Same 'ol same 'ol. It's been keeping me sane. I tried doing some wire work. I couldn't get it to do what I wanted it to. I spent a few days uploading to my ravelry page. Geeze that's addicting. I actually spent an evening photographing my stash. On one hand it was fun. On the other hand it's embarrassing. I was taking pictures of YARN. I still have to post my hand spun assortment. That's going to take some time. I was discussing with a customer today the fact that people in low tech crafts like knitting and crochet and spinning and all that use the high tech information superhighway to discuss their low tech hobbies. It's cool!

I was toying with working on Thanksgiving but the idea of having a day off over ruled. The Job is turning into a job so I cherish my off time. My world is a little upside down right now. The worse things get the better off I will be, but if they get better instead of worse then that would be bad. I guess that explains a lot.

The fish is doing much better. While I was at SOAR he had decided to jump out of his tank and flop around on the floor. He's big enough that my husband heard the thumping and rescued him and put him back. He was a little torn up but OK. A few days later his food got lodged behind some driftwood in his tank and he wore a spot on the end of his nose off. It was down to the cartilage and very scary. We started giving him some wound treatment in his water and he started to develop these bubble like blisters. I did some research on the condition and found that it was deadly and needed to be treated ASAP. So we did what the websites recommended and removed plants and supped up the bubbler to aerate the water and he's healing fine. His fat belly is all better, the wounds on his tail are gone and his nose is almost back to normal. In a few more weeks he'll be 100%. I raised him from a 2 1/2 inch fishy who survived two fire evacuations, algae bloom and now this. He's about 14 inches now. His tail fin is bigger now than he was when I got him.

My sister blogged about me.. I blogged right back at her. There we go again with the information superhighway.

I'm going to sign off I want to knit a few more rows before casting on some Z's. I haven't been sleeping well. Maybe I should try felting some Z's. I'd count sheep but I would be ogling fleeces instead of resting.

My Secret Plan for World Domination

If I told you it wouldn't be secret. However you will know it when it happens because you will start seeing my name everywhere and I won't be the only person typing it.

I carded 50 grams of a lovely Merino/ Tussah blend in a shimmering green this past weekend then spun it up into a lovely yarn. This upcoming weekend, if I can find that colorful blend I got in the grab bag at soar, I'm going to spin it up in a wolf style yarn and maybe throw in some Wensleydale locks and a spit or two of leftovers. It will be a true novelty yarn. I have been redesigning the popular Wrap & Roll jewelery designs that have become popular in the fiber crowds and am planning my own version that I think will take the concept up a notch. I need some new cutting edge stuff for Tucson which is coming up fast in 12 weeks and counting. Last year I had my trinket jewelery. I have some enamel demons to exercise and I will be rocking the viking chain. I want to do some PMC focal beads and maybe some charms.

Ok I've told you too much. No really! You know how superstitious I am! That and it's 1:30am and I need to be up tomorrow for work. I really need to drag my @$$ out of the house tomorrow after work and go grocery shopping and send off a FedEx package.

Well time to cast some zzzz

And Then There Were Two

I finished my latest pair of socks and am wearing them. I even broke out my Birkenstocks today to show them off. I still have a fun filled evening planned. I am going to break out the drum carder and blend some Polwarth and Bison down and spin up some yummy warm yarn to knit a hat form my hubby. I am pretty good with hats. I can usually do one in a day or two. It should be fun. I need to start spinning again. I need to make jewelry. I need more hours in the day. On the other hand since I got back from Pennsylvania I have actually been sleeping. I'm still tired but I have been sleeping.

I've signed up for some business development and sales classes. This hopefully will give me some focus and direction. Not that I don't have focus and direction but more is better. In fact right now I am going to change direction and focus on making some Polwarth/ Bison blend fiber bats.

Really... I haven't been slacking!

I know I promised live reports from SOAR but I had no idea I would be so busy!! That is one jam-packed week!I learned a ton and brought back two sheep worth of goodies and will be putting new items upon Etsy soon. I will probably de-stash some fiber and I will be dye some yarn and roving soon. But don't think all I've been doing is sitting around fondeling my fibers I am midway through a new pair of socks. They may be interupted by a hat for my husband. I am currently pondering the possibilities for fiber blends to create to maximize warmth and durability. I'm already planning on sending him out with the monkey paws. He'll be spending a few weeks in the mountains working. It may not feel like it down here in Southern California but it's fall in some parts of the country. I have pictures to prove it!! My sister said they had two feet of snow last week in Wyoming. Luckily it was just after they left for their trip down here in the sunshine.

SOAR was a blast. It you're a fiber geek it's like a who's who of spinning, knitting, weaving and other wooly pursuits. I made some new friends and some new business contacts and plan to go again although it might not be until 2010. SOAR is going to be in Taos New Mexico. I have a timeshare there which makes accomodations free. Plus it's driving distance - no airplanes!! That makes the whole thing affordable.

Well it's late and I'm tired. I'll leave you with some pictures of my hand spun hand knit stuff and my new sock(commercial sock yarn) that should tide you over for a few days.

I finally made it!!

After more than a decade of spinning I finally did it. I made it to S.O.A.R.. I have been spinning since the early 90's and have read Spin-Off magazine for longer. Every year I would read about their Autumn Retreat and dream of going myself. I almost made it last year but finances and not being able to get the time off of work kept me away. One of the other years I had a chance to go it was going on Halloween. I don't miss Halloween. This has been my first chance to go and possibly my only chance so here I am !!

The trip out to Pennsylvania was nice. My BFF M and I flew out cross country changed planes in Philly and hopped the puddle jumper to Scranton where we rented a car and drove to the Poconos and found our hotel which is about 15 minutes from where S.O.A.R. is being held. The first night was a little rocky. I won't go into gore details . I must say I was surprised at the layout of the Wilkes Barre Airport. The rental car pickup was so close to the baggage claim I left M to fish for he luggage while I rented the car and still made it over to the luggage claim in time to snatch my bag . That's convenience. The drive down wasn't bad. It sure is pretty around here.

Today we went exploring a few little towns around here. We found a fabulous fruit stand where they have wonderful apples, banana bread and pumpkin bread. We also had lunch at a local brew pub. If you ever find yourself out in Tannersville PA be sure to stop by the Barley Creek Pub and order a Chicken Mcshea!!

Tomorrow is our first day of workshops. I am looking forward to seeing everyone. I will take lots of pictures and post them for everyone to see. If I get some free time (which I might) I will post some new things on the Etsy site. A few items have fallen off of the page and need to be replaced. Thursday we are going to find some LYS and LBS. Why not check out what the locals do.

Lastly Oh My God the fall color is breath taking!!! I'll try to capture it on digital but I don't think it will ever be as beautiful as it is right now.

Here They Are

Well here are my newly knitted socks.  They are actually the same size they just havn't been blocked yet.  

That was close.

I knitted and knitted and wouldn't mention to anyone what my project was.  I hinted on my last entry and this is what it got me.  I knitted peacefully until about 1:00am went to bed and the next morning knit two rows and found a catastrophic mistake that had me ripping our several rows.  The more I tried to fix it the worse it got.  I would not be beat by my knitting and carefully ripped and re knitted the piece.  Finished and  started the other half.  It had it's drama but I finished before Letterman tonight and am wearing a cute pair of hand spun hand knit socks.  In lovely deep forest green single ply Merino wool. I will post pictures  of them tomorrow.  I already took the snapshots but have to find my new card reader.  

I start my next project tomorrow.  I have chosen my pattern but need to select (or spin) the yarn.  I have two projects to complete and two weeks to complete them.  The race is on.

Superstitious

Superstitious? I admit it. I'm a firm believer in Murphy's Law. It's not a theory it's THE LAW. Saying that I am not going to show you my latest project because I am far enough along that if I had to frog it I would be devastated. So you will just have to wait until I finish but it looks like I am on schedule.

My new shoes arrived. I love my Vibrum Five Fingers. They are comfortable and freaky cool! They are my new spinning shoes. My good friend who has a pair told me the hardest part was placing the pinkie toe. I am a little different. If the toe is like a thumb then my "index toe" is the uncooperative toe. But I inherited my mother's feet. She had what s describes as having a "Roman toe" where the index toe is longer than all of the rest. I have that . Which is funny because my Roman Celtic background is on my father's side.

Well just had to update you on my progress. I am progressing. I think I am going to bed early tonight so I can get up early and do dishes and knit my socks off..... socks? did I say socks?

The twist is setting as we speak

I finished spinning the green Merino about 11:00pm and promptly put it in the wash to set the twist and is now in the drying cabinet getting ready to become socks tomorrow.

Between knitting socks I will be spinning alpaca in white, fawn and black. If I can get myself out of the house I can pick up the brown alpaca which I have a project waiting to be done.

So there you go I am sort of actually keeping up with my evil plan for fiber domination. It's almost 1:30 so it's time for bed whether or not I'm ready. Tomorrow my new shoes arrive and I will have to take a picture of them ... they are so weird- just like me!

Ready ...Set....Spin!!

Just a short note tonight. It's 6:15 pm I'm off work and about to cook dinner and I plan to be spinning all evening from about 6:30 to probably knowing me about 1:00am. My goal is to be in bed by midnight but when does that ever happen? I spin to night, wash the yarn to set the twist and hang it in the dryer cabinet to dry over night. Tomorrow I plan to start knitting socks and a hat and a scarf. If I spin all of my fiber tonight I might take a break and test out my caplet pattern with the corriedale- the same stuff my mitties are made of.

I feel like I'm staring down the barrel of a water pistol. Having fun but dreading the potential soaking!

I need to do some chores tonight too like pick up the mail and make sure there is water in the water fountain. Can't let that baby run dry! Well I have 10 minutes now to cook dinner do my chores and start spinning. I'll check back later at the end of the night to give you an update. Maybe post some more goodies on Etsy. I am so far behind but people seem to like to look at my stuff. Nobodies buying but I'll keep blaming the economy for a while.

When I'm not working

A few years ago I was planning out my Halloween costume and I put the idea in my head I needed a creepy weird head dress. My husband suggested using the Gothic plastic fencing for one of those Halloween displays they have every year at the craft store. We looked and looked and couldn't find one we liked so the search went on. This year as soon as the Halloween decorations hit the store shelves, I ran out to the craft store and took one look at the fencing and got inspired. And so the Halloween tiara was made. It is hand crafted out of sterling silver. I am thinking of adding some jewels to it like tiny faceted beads. Kind of like dew drops on a spiderweb. I'd photograph it on but it blends in with my silver hair. It's very light and delicate and makes me feel like a pretty pretty princess or the queen of the spinners. Whatever it makes me smile.

I finished one of my several projects I am making for S.O.A.R. well not really finished but they are knitted and felted. I still need to embellish. I can't quite decide on vines and flowers or acorns and oak leaves. Saying that, there is a large number of people rolling their eyes and shaking their heads who already know the answer. Until they get prettied up i refer to my fingerless gloves as "monkey paws".

This week has to be the hat and scarf week which leaves me the sock week before my trip. Wish me luck. I have a lot of spinning to do before I can start to knit... unless I make a matching hat and and scarf. That's a concept no one's ever thought of.

After I get back from S.O.A.R. I am gearing up for a major jewelry make-a- thon. I have been designing some very interesting pieces and plan to re-work some of my older pieces.

Lastly, now that I have my Halloween tiara I've started my next fun piece: Steampunk goggles. Think well worn bomber jacket brown leather and brass rivets. What is Steampunk? Stay tuned I will post MY Steampunk quiz. You may be a Steampunk too.

The first step to success is starting

Okay, I'll never make it as a motivational speaker.  After signing off last night I got inspired to map out my next four weeks of projects.  After all knitting a hat, scarf, mittens and at least one pair of socks for a busy person like me in four weeks is crazy. And to top it off all of it has to be on hand spun yarn? That's just crazy talk. Especially when you consider the scarf I want to knit is of mohair!  So I mapped it out.  I can knit a hat in a day or day plus, I can knit a mitten a day so a pair in a weekend.  Socks are about the same maybe a pair in three days if I buckle  down and knit. But what about the mohair?  

This morning I got up an hour early rifled through my fiber stash and found my"been waiting for a good excuse"  bag of mohair locks.  I also grabbed my flicker and headed downstairs for breakfast. After a hearty meal of scrambled eggs, toast, fruit and a glass of milk I sat down and started combing through the locks and making a wonderous cloud of mohair.  I grabbed a spinning wheel (my Kromski Sonata) and started spinning.  I tried very hard to make it look like the commercial mohair yarn I had originally purchased for this project.  I am very pleaded.  I had half of my bobbin filled by the time I had to sign on to the phones for work.  By the end of the evening I had two bobbins filled and ready to set twist.  I'm going to knitty noddy them into skeins tomorrow morning and rinse them and let them dry in the drying cabinet and after work I am going to cast this project on.  If I knit this weekend I might have it done by Tuesday.  I'm thinking of spinning up some single ply alpaca form the gloves and maybe make the hat matching.  I am torn between a stocking had and a beret.  Times like this I wish I still had that gun metal gray romney fleece I lost in the fire.  That would have matched my hair.  

So we have progress.  Now it's time to cast on some z's  . 

Insert pictures of cute amphibious creatures

If you haven't notices the lack of photos of the progress of my fingerless gloves then here is the explanation. I couldn't decide on which picture of a cute amphibious creature to put in it's place. It was a hidden dropped stitch that triggered the first round of "frogging". It was followed by two or three more rounds and now that I am a couple of rows short of finished I here the call of the frog again. Never fear I can and will finish my pair of fingerless gloves. I will finish at least one pair of socks a hat, and a scarf. I will. I am even looking at shoes to go with my socks. Although I have finally decided to commit to a pair of Vibrum Five Finger, I can spin just like barefoot.  

This weekend is the Renaissance Garb workshop/barbeque.  I have to make my language handouts still and figure out if I need more tables.  I have one for my sewing maching one for cutting and one for ironing. There might be at least one other sewing machine. 

 It's the start of our entertaining season.  The home brew is done.  We are actually calculating if we need to brew another batch before All Hallow Eve.  It's very drinkable and I don't like beer so that's saying something.  You couldn't get any fresher hops.  We had to stop the brewing process to go out in the yard and pick hops.  It's better than the last batch we brewed.  The apple pie is mellowing and we have the shopping list for BevMo. 

I promise more jewelry on Etsy and pictures of the workshop.  Monday I think all I am going to do is knit.  Saying that I will probably have a spinning student show up.  I think I have enough needles to start all of my projects and have them running simultaneously.  That would be a hoot.  It would keep the goal in front of me and maybe keep me on track.  Or freak me out with the amount of work I have to do.   There are only 30 days till S.O.A.R.   I think it's time to sign off and cast on. 

progress

So for about 40 minutes before bed, and about 40 minutes before work and intermittantly between 7 and 11 while watching TV, cooking dinner doing dishes and all of that I worked on my first fingerless glove in a set. This is how far I got. I'm not a speed knitter. But I am pleased with my progress.

I had a request from a co-worker to get some of my wirework up on etsy. I'll have to work on that this weekend. I need to photo and make up descriptions for them. That's the hardest part of posting items on the net, those darn descriptions.

Well just a short note tonight to show progress on my fingerless gloves. I think I'm half way done which makes it about a quarter of the way done. Woo hoo! A nice useful quick project. I'm thinking hat or scarf next. I might have to start the first of the socks soon. They may take a while.

Enjoy!

Sale Sale Sale

Ok I announced the August Sale. It's 10% off Trinket pieces and sets. No comments about only having one of them posted yet but there will be more. Lots more. If you look at the pic in the top banner you will see just a few of them glistening in the sunlight. I have to take photos of more of them. Actually I can take photos I just can't upload them from my camera at the moment. My card reader isn't reading my memory cards and my other computers don't have readers. I have an external reader but since I've had my computer with a card reader I haven't needed it so I need to find it now. Good luck. You'd think with 9 computers in the house there would be one with a working card reader!!!!

It's my sister's birthday today. She's older.

I started the fingerless gloves. The photo above photo is from my cell phone. Sorry about the quality and the lighting but I live in a cave. I know it's only two rows but I do sleep on occasion.

I'm thinking I'm going to plan a party for February of next year for the big digital switch over. It's going to be interesting for all of those cheap hotel/motels that don't have satellite or cable. I think it will be fun to see what happens when they pull the plug on analog. I worked Y2K. That was uneventful. My day job is technical support it was a big thing. They let us bring our spouses to work as it was New Years Eve and gave us sparkling cider in plastic champagne glasses. As everyone knows nothing happened. When the government changed the date for daylight savings time that was and continues to be a disaster.

Ok enough about work I have to be there again in 8 hours so it's time to sign off for the night. Never fear I'll probably get a few more rows in on the gloves before I hit the hey.

Lots more to come!

Well there is actual inventory for sale on my etsy site and there is more to come. I promise to upload more hand spun yarn and lots more jewelry. I will be revamping my Trinkets section and I think my August sale will be on the Trinket sets.

Now that this website is good for a couple of days I can get back to crafting. I plan to start my new fingerless gloves tomorrow. I had started them with some of the Milk Chocolate Alpaca. It's very soft. I will probably finish them later this year but I have been wanting to make a pair from of some of my elderstash. I ran across the first wool i ever spun on a wheel. It's a lovely red merino that is between sock yarn and lace weight. It's very fine. I can whip a pair out in a weekend. It takes about a day a glove however work has been very busy so they will be more than likely finished on my day off. Uh.. what day off this weekend is the Bead and Design Show.

Added to my drawing board is to spin up some ultra fine baby alpaca in about a lace weight to knit up as a lacy shrug for my holiday outfit. I found the perfect dress but it's sleeveless and I don't do sleeveless. Speaking of baby Alpaca, I will be uploading to etsy this weekend 100 yards of two tone baby alpaca yarn. This stuff is so yummy you'll want to knit yourself a hooded onesie and hibernate for the winter. It's a hug made of critter!!

Lastly on my project list is my halloween tiara. It's five panels of sterling silver wirework and if it turns out half as cool as it started out to be I might make two and post one on the etsy site. It's definitly a limited edition item.

Ok off to bed time to unwind.

It's about time to be gettin' knittin'

Fall is upon us in a few months. I will be going to Spin-Off Magazine's Autumn Retreat (S.O.A.R.) this year in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania I'm thinking they won't be having the warm Santa Ana winds that we have in Southern California. I can use a new pair of fingerless gloves, a few pair of hand spun, hand knit, socks maybe a hat possibly a scarf. In six weeks? Yeah right! We'll see. I'm good under pressure.

I realize I'm a week behind on the website too. I'm still trying to decide what this month's special will be. I want at least a dozen items up for sale in the store today or at least by tomorrow. I have a few new items that aren't even photographed yet I want to get out there. I'm really digging the artful knitting tool kits I've put together. They come with a tape measure, yarn needle, stitch markers, row counter, tip protectors and a needle gauge. They are all OOAK and would make lovely birthday, anniversary, Christmas, back to school or congratulations on finishing your first knitted project gift.

Well I can move Viking chain off my drawing board. I have been playing with several techniques and it's fun and easy. There will be some examples for sale soon. It's really quite lovely - kind of like naalbinding with wire.

I've had a request to have a Renaissance Garb workshop so we will hold one. It will be on a Sunday in September. It's for people who need either help making, designing, or tuning up on their renaissance faire garb or just craft moral support. It is fun to group craft. The exact date to be announced but if you are interested email me at workshops@glenoaksdesigns.com. Limited space available.

I can sleep now.

The blog is up. The Etsy site is up. The website is up. Both Etsy and the blog are linked to the website. I can sleep now. I also finished an item for the etsy. I haven't photographed it yet but I actually finished craft a project! The house is clean and the laundry is done. Wow, what a feeling of accomplishment.

It's going to be a really hard week at The Job. We are changing over to a new phone system and we are expecting chaos. So much so that they are having volunteers to work a graveyard shift to see how it works. I of course volunteered. It's part of an evil plan which I won't go into but it's sweet.

Well one more website test and it's beddie-bye time. Here it goes... does the blog link update?

Welcome to the Grand Opening of Glen Oaks Designs

I hope you book mark my site and visit often for your fashion accessory and fiber art needs. I wanted to create a place to come to keep up with what I'm working on, as well as announcments for sales, workshops and other news. What better way than a blog? For instance for the month of July all earrings are 15% off. There is a wide selection of styles for every occasion and budget.

My Kromski's been spinning like a ferris wheel at an amusement park putting out some lovely yarn. I am also working on crafter's toolkits. So far I have plans for a knitter's toolkit, a spinner's toolkit, and possibly a sewer's toolkit. I plan to launch these in September, just in time for the start of the holiday season. I am looking forward to the Pasadena Bead and Design show. I hope to have a couple of bold new pieces to show off. I got a lot of compliments at the Tucson show in Feburary on my Trinket necklace (available at my Etsy storefront). I'm a little bummed that the Fabulous Santa Monica Fiber Fest was cancelled. I had been looking forward to spending the day there. The up-side is I don't have to divide my attention between the two.