Anybody need some yarn?

I've been dyeing yarn, but not putting it in my Etsy shop.  It's been going on consignment to Cozy where it is selling well!  Who wouldn't buy scrumptious yarn if it's right there in front of them? Exactly.  Unlike the interwebs where one is reduced to choosing by descriptive words and well-lit pictures, seeing a yarn in person brings in all one's senses into play.  It's much harder to resist in person.

Here's a sample of some of my "regular" dyeing that is soon leaving my abode.  This is 100% superwash Blue Faced Leicester in DK weight.  There are 246 yards per hank.



More bags have been knit and felted and are waiting on their zipper insertion. I'm taking the little buggers with me next time.  Shortening a zipper is no big deal, but why do it if it's not absolutely necessary?



There are twenty skeins of yarn out on the patio drying at this very moment.  They are all merino (none superwash) and are a departure from my regular dyeing method.  I'm pleased with the results and will post pictures once they are dry.

I'm hoping my new printer gets here so I'm not making 20 handmade labels for yarn.  My handwriting has gotten crappy due to lack of use and I hate inflicting it on others!

Events

Fast approaching is the 2011 Autumn Yarn Crawl. I have been invited to sell my fiber goods at Cozy in Durham for the event on Sunday, October 9. I've been spinning and dyeing up a storm and I have plenty more to do in the upcoming week or so. Everything in the Etsy shop is going too. Here's some of the new fiber.



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I'm looking forward to hanging out with lots of other fiber lovers again, it's been a while! My wheel and hand spindle will be coming along to demo. Be there or be square!

Cozy yarn sale

This is belated, sorry about that, but Cozy's Annual Yarn Sale was a smashing success! I knew it would make all the difference if people could actually touch the yarn and see the colors up close. I dyed 32 skeins specifically for the sale and only came home with ten of those - not too shabby! Plus the knitter and Cozette love was well worth the effort.

One of the Cozettes, Lisa, has a blog and did a post with some pictures. The most amazing thing was the line of ten or twelve women waiting outside before the sale started. I was tucked back in the "personal care" section and a whoosh of women went to the back where the yarn is - a few with LISTS of what they wanted to grab. I met lots of great knitters, was totally impressed by the mellowness of the Cozettes in the midst of fiber lust-filled customers, and have found a few of them on Ravelry (I love that).

Yesterday I took a day trip, after two soccer games in the morning, to the Rising Meadow Farm's Sixth Annual Farm Fest. I got to chat with Mary Ann Pagano of Three Water's Farm. Mary Ann taught me to spin and I bought my first wheel from her. In addition to beautiful fibers in several forms, she also makes goat's milk soap -
I bought ten bars as handmade soap is a weakness of mine. I also stopped in at the booth by Gate City Yarns and bought a featherweight Bosworth spindle. Under the same tent I found Iseespots Farm and bought a nice nostepinne and a maxi Bosworth - I know, that was pretty indulgent!



I also bought four "truffles" of moorit roving from Rising Meadow Farm. There were six different colors and it was hard to choose only two. Each truffle is 2 oz a piece.



The food was also good. There were lamb and grass-fed beef offerings, drinks to benefit the local Girl Scouts ( a glass of cider, lemonade, or bottled water at $1 each)! Given that drinks are usually the thing that kill me at events I was flabbergasted and went back for some muscadine cider!

The stove has been on almost all day and thanks to the breeze, many of the rovings (superwash merino) are almost dry. One of the local knitters happened to notice some of my roving that had been spun into a lovely single by Mama Blue. Heart was one of my favorite rovings. This is what it looked like before it was gorgeously spun:



For some strange reason I was plagued by an inability to sleep well all week. I'm hoping cooler weather this week will help that situation.

MIddle school, lots of yarn, new smalls

The first week of middle school was kind of rough. Granted, we had an experience (as a family) a few years ago that rocked us to the core of our being and transition continues to bring it to the surface. One of the boys has been terrified every day of school while the other has been nervous, but dealing in a very brave way (this is EXACTLY the opposite of kindergarten, just for the record). There have been tears every morning, nightmares each night, a boy in my bed around five literally shaking with fear, and the horrid realities of motherhood: the ones where you are the hard ass. It's a hard one to balance, the mom of kindness and support and the mom of you-just-have-to-suck-it-up-cause-it's-life. I hate it.

For the past five years I've had a week off at work and my children have been in school. While that means I've made 140 mile round trip drives for each of those five weeks, it also means I've had time to myself while my kids are in school. This year the boys had their last week of vacation while I was off. I still had to drive 140 miles that week for school trips (Chicky's been back in school since mid-July), and since I hurt my ankle we couldn't do anything really fun, but it was nice spending time with the boys alone. I haven't gotten to do that since Chicky was born!

After a really crappy day at work and the middle school transition sadness I came home to find a box on my front stoop from my very dear friend Sarah. She and I have NEVER met in person, but we met through Ravelry and send messages as often as we can. We send boxes to each other every so often and when I opened mine, here's what I found:



Let me just say that it is almost scary how well this woman knows me! Favorite colors, favorite weaknesses, and humor right up my alley! Her box absolutely made my day! The rovings are stunning as usual, and that is no small compliment. I've bought rovings that look good on-line but are dull and a mere shadow of their pictured selves when seen up-close and in person. The superwash Blue-Faced Leicester looks like fun to spin and the brilliant colors will shine through - I can't wait!

Before back-to-school week I dyed a lot of yarn and am still re-skeining it - I don't like buying skeins and having them tangled and I would hate someone cussing me while they try and make a center-pull ball. I have 22 done and ten more to go! All the yarn is headed for Cozy on September 7. Here's a sneak peak at some of the yarn.



At work we've begun a new session with new children and getting to know them is a great joy and emotional sacrifice. In order to get to know small children you need to build trust with them, which typically means letting them be sad for as long as they need to and comforting them so they realize that you are able/willing to do that for them. The good part is that when they are not sad getting to know them it is incredibly fun. Emotionally it can take a toll and my children know from being in my class while it was happening, as well as talking about it with me during each new session, that it can be physically exhausting as well. Since I haven't gotten much sleep this week from my own boys' anxiety, I'm hoping the next three nights will give me some time/space to rejuvenate and be have some fun on Monday with my children and be ready for other people's again on Tuesday.

I'm barely awake and would love to go read The Sotry of Edgar Sawtelle but I think If I did manage to keep my eyes open, I'd never remember what I had "read"!

Here's to good sleep and better dreams!