Deadlines and Adjustments

This working from home thing is going to take some getting used to. I'm used to having my store and charity be side projects so I'm having to train myself to actually block out the majority of my day to work on these things and not other stuff. It's a slow process. Especially since I took on a baby-sitting/nanny job that will run until the end of June. I did manage to spend a day working on updating the shop. I finally have all my products listed.

Including new beauties like Oriental Lilly.

I also photographed over 40 donated pieces of clothing that came for the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project. I'll be taking them with me to Romania next week.

 Some super cute crocheted hats.

 A warm hat and neck warmer.

Cute baby sweater and hat combo.

 Two more boxes to unpack!

And speaking of Romania...I still haven't received my final information packet yet. The one with my plane tickets and packing list. Yeah, that one (I will not freak out...I will not freak out...). I'm praying that everything will work out.

The scarf I have been working on as my contribution to take with me to Romania is also not being as cooperative as I would like.

It's getting to just about the right size but my stitch count is forever off on the first 40 or so rows of the pattern. Right now I'm 4 stitches short. Which is more than slightly maddening. But I'm pressing on. And hoping to have this done by the end of the weekend so I can start working on a matchy-ish hat (it won't have the wavy multi-directional pattern but it will use the same yarn). I think I have a little over half a skein to go until the scarf is finished. Do-able? Yes. Probable? Hmmm....Knitting for tomorrow is mostly out as I will be helping my mom prep for my b-day celebration with family that evening and Saturday is somewhat out with a tubing trip and missions ministry meeting. I can probably manage to squeeze some time in there somewhere for knitting so it just might get done. That is, as long as I can get the right stitch count.

In other news, Penelope got her summer hair cut.

And I need to repaint my nails.

An End is a Beginning

Oh wow, where the heck did May go? Month #5 of 2011 was crazy. I was so busy with a million different things. There were 3 festivals, the end of the school year (and as such, the end of my teaching career), and juggling the start of several new ventures. So it's no wonder that I'm just now able to get back to blogging. However, I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep up the social networking on a more regular basis.

Now that I've ended my career as a teacher what am I going to do? Well, a lot actually.

1. Run Vivid Creation Fibers. That means more festivals and more time to devote to dyeing.

Section of my booth at the Middle Tennessee Fiber Festival.


2. Running the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project. We've been collecting and distributing clothing to orphans for a year and half now. Just since January we've collected 120 items. Currently there are two campaigns going on: a collection of items for me to take and distribute in Romania in July (ending June 25th) and a drive to collect 154 blankets for orphans in Ukraine and Russia (not ending until November). With big campaigns like this running pretty much all year I want to spend more time making sure the word gets out about the charity and logging and tagging donations.

3. Graduate school. I'm set to finish up in December of 2012 and next year I'll start my internship which will be like having a full time job (but not getting paid for it). Since I'm already taking a full load it will be nice to be able to devote more time to assignments instead of just after I finish a full day at work.

4. Personal assistant. Somehow I was lucky enough to swing a gig as a personal assistant for a friend of mine, Jonathan Merritt, who is a faith and culture writer. I clean, I file, I type book edits, I pick up dry cleaning. I pretty much do whatever is needed of me. I really enjoy having such a totally different job thrown into the mix of what I do. And because Jonathan and I have been friends for a few years we have a good working relationship.

In addition to these main four jobs there are other things I do. I'm very involved in my church's orphan care ministry, One.27, and I'm working with the leaders of our women's ministry to start a knitting group. I also baby-sit/nanny for a few families. I'm sure that there will always be a few "other" things that are going on in my life.

And what about the knitting? Mostly I've been making washcloths. Yep, washcloths. For selling, not using or giving away. So, I've been doing "work knitting." I have managed to start a Moderne Log Cabin blanket for some friends of mine who are getting married.

It's a little hard to see the white since it's against a white sheet but the finished blanket will be red, white, and black; a UGA blanket. I've been working on this since last Saturday but I've only gotten 2 squares finished. The wedding, unfortunately for me, is tomorrow (Saturday). They'll be getting a picture and promise that the blanket is on the way. It will be done though. I promised my friend Nick that when he got married he would get a handmade afghan from me. And I plan to make good on that promise. Even if it takes me until October.

I also picked up some new yarn today while I was on vacation in South Carolina.

I'm itching to begin some new projects, mostly hats and scarves, to take with me to Romania. There will probably be some project juggling over the next few weeks. Hopefully I'll keep up the blogging trend so you can follow along in the fun :)

Random Monday

I've got a lot of random thoughts floating around that don't really connect so I'm just going to make a list. Here goes...

1. I did the Inman Park Festival in Atlanta this weekend. It turned out to be a pretty good show for a non-fiber focused event. I was the only yarnie there. But I got to meet a lot of cool people. The girl in the booth across from me actually majored in fiber arts in college and had moved into glass design. We had a cool conversation about dyeing and fiber. It's a small world, after all.

This was my first festival that was totally outdoors and my first with a canopy. My dad bought it as an early birthday present for me and I couldn't be happier! It worked great. We were shaded and protected and professional looking. Thanks Papa! You're the best :)

2. I got to watch the weirdest and coolest parade ever at the festival.

The Seed and Feed Marching Abominable. They've got a cult following in the city. They even had a PBS special made about them.

A precision attache case team. Bet you didn't know these existed.

The Atlanta School had some of their students dress up in steam punk. This picture isn't the greatest but I just think it's awesome that there were all these 13 and 14 year olds in steam punk get up.

Bagpipers.

"William" and "Kate" made an appearance.

Box Heros. Basically there are superheros made out of boxes. Really, really well done.

The Atlanta Roller Girls one of our local roller derby teams (Can I just say I love roller derby team names? And the names the girls give themselves. I have my roller derby name picked out but I'm not telling in case you try and steal it :)).

The Bridesmaid Brigade which featured girls wearing their bridesmaid dresses.

A guy on this bike thingy. You know, just because every parade needs one...

And, yes, a record breaking Gnome March. Didn't gnome they had these? Neither did I. But let it be gnome that they were out in force. Enough gnome puns...

3. For some reason I feel like avoiding grad school this week.

4. There are 20 more days of work left until I'm unofficially self-employed (I will be officially self-employed in August).

5. I finally updated the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages blog. For the first time ever I had some problems where the site was not recognizing a page. Finally got it fixed.

6. I really need to update my shop stock. But I haven't the energy. Must do this tomorrow.

7. My friend Jenn informed me this weekend that I don't eat or sleep enough. I'm beginning to agree with her.

8. I saved 27% on my grocery bill today. I'm no master couponer but I got enough breakfast foods (yogurt and cereal) to last me at least a month, some cleaning supplies for .99, health and beauty items for less than $5, salad, and organic dishwashing detergent. The most expensive stuff? The canned cat food and cat treats. Why do I have such a picky cat? I can't buy anything cheap because she won't eat it. All in all I think I did pretty good. If I can get it to 50% I'll be elated.

9. My friend Jenn (another Jenn) did a blog post about the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project. It's such and awesome and lovely article! Many thanks to Jenn for featuring me. I love her and her family dearly, especially her two boys :)

10. I'm tired. And yet I have the strong urge to clean my apartment. Instead I'm going to take a bath and work on my grad school reading. Because nothing says "relaxing" like reading the standards for administering psychological assessments.

Achievements

Exactly one week ago today I had surgery to remove my tonsils and adenoids, fix my deviated septum, clear my sinuses, and remove some polyps from my sinus cavities. Everything I have managed to do since that time has been chalked up as a major achievement since pretty much every day since then something has been hurting, irritating me, or not doing the job I think it should be doing (I'm looking at you pain medications). Here, in no particular order are some things I've done that I feel are press worthy:

1. I took a shower. On Tuesday but still. I took a shower.

2. I ate chicken nuggets. 10 in all. Over a period of three days.

3. I did not pass out. Not when they took out my tubes (which were three inches long with butterfly wings on the sides). Not when I had to leave the office after taking out my tubes. Not when I hadn't eaten anything in two days except medicine and Powerade. Not yet.

4. I finished a blanket.

It's just a little one made from scraps of my hand dyed yarn but I like it and I think it will be lovely and warm once it's blocked out.

5. I made some booties.

Again, nothing big and huge but right now I can't really handle big and huge.

6. I worked almost a full repeat on my Red Dragon socks.

I never understood what pregnant women meant by not being able to knit because it makes them queasy. Now, I totally get it.

7. I started a pattern. It will be for a set of items with a chevron theme to them. A hat with a chevron band, mittens with a chevron design on the back and a multi-directional chevron scarf. I did that one at 2 in the morning so I really think I should get a prize for it or something. I'm telling you about it because I want to be held accountable for actually finishing the pattern. I want to offer it as part of the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project's Game, Set, Match! campaign where we are collected matching hats and other knitted items for orphans. So, if you don't see updates about the chevron set in a few days start asking questions.

Now, I'm off to take another nap because I've been up for a total of 20 minutes and I'm exhausted.

Biggest News

So, the time has finally come to break my biggest news yet! Drum roll please!

As many of you may know I have been an educator for the past 6 years. First in the middle school band setting and then in 1st grade general education. I love kids and I'm a pretty good teacher but the work is stressful and there's always more to teaching than just teaching. Then in November of 2008 I launched Vivid Creation Fibers. At first VCF was pretty small and I mostly just carried stuff online but then it began to expand and I started selling at a local yarn shop and doing festivals. And in 2010 I started the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project. I thought the charity would just be a little Ravelry group for me and maybe a few people who stumbled upon it but in less than a year we had over 100 members. Most recently, in October of 2010 I started grad school full time. So for the past 8 months I've been working full time, going to school full time, running an expanding independent dye company, and organizing an international charity. To say I've been busy is an understatement. It didn't really surprise me all that much when I began to wonder about some of the commitments I'd made and began to reassess where my priorities were. Which has lead me to make a decision.

At the end of this school year (first part of June) I will be leaving my full time teaching gig to focus on my company, the charity, and grad school.

I'm super excited but also a bit nervous, as anyone would be I suppose, about stepping out on my own. This opportunity will allow me to focus more on traveling and doing festivals (I think I'm already signed up for 8 this year) and on getting 501(c)3 status for EEROP. Plus I won't have to worry about staying up late and trying to type up an assignment for class just hours before it's due. I'm hoping and praying that Vivid Creation Fibers will really take off so I don't have to get a part time job but that is still a possibility. Right now I have lots of friends who are willing to utilize my baby-sitting skills and I'm also not above cleaning a house or two for some cash so maybe I can get enough of those side jobs to make it work. We'll see. A lot of it is left up to faith but I truly believe I'm doing what I'm called to. This month has already been really good to VCF and to EEROP and it's not even half over yet!

I appreciate all the support that you as my readers have given me and I look forward to being able to keep in touch and network with you even more in the upcoming months. Until then it's a countdown to June!

A picture of me at the Southeastern Animal and Fiber Festival (SAFF) last year. So ready to start the festival circuit this year!

Getting it Together

With all this wonderful weather we've been having in the South (sorry Midwestern readers) I've begun to think about festival season. My first fiber festival of 2011 will be next month. Which means I need to start getting ready. More booties to knit! More washcloths to make! More yarn to dye! More swatches to knit!

Hawaiian Hibiscus

First I had/have to finish up some things...

Cross the seed stitch mittens off the list.

I love the puffy way these turned out. I think I might be heading out of mitten territory though. I don't know if I can make any more thumbs and still find enjoyment in them.

I've moved on to something bigger.

A blanket for my cousin R. J. who is due to arrive in late April. Once I finish up with this it's on to more swatching!

Things I Love

I had originally planned to post this on Valentine's Day and then I had planned to post it last night but life kind of got in the way. Instead of moping about how it sucks to be single on Valentine's Day and how Hallmark can bite my butt, I thought I'd share some things I'm in love with right now. Oh, and I really don't hate being single on Valentine's Day (it's an excuse to eat lots of chocolate and watch crappy movies) and I most certainly don't want anyone to bite my butt. Just sayin'.

1. Grad school
Sure it takes hours of time to read all the material and do the postings each week and yes, occasionally the text is super dry and not very exciting but I love it! I love learning about how people think. I love learning how to help people stop thinking incorrectly. I can't wait to be out there helping people for real.

2. My charity
I love seeing the donations as they roll in. I love reading the thank you notes about the children we are helping. I love getting mittens like these (from Marcy):

I love knowing I'm doing some good in the world. It makes me want to go knit something really warm.

3. My company
I love that I get to play with color. I love knitting up swatches and seeing how the colors play together. I love seeing customers happy with their purchases.

4. The weather
It's been about 64 degrees F (18 Celsius) all week. I'm sitting on my porch enjoying the late afternoon sunshine right now. After record setting snowfalls this winter I'm glad to have a little spring.

5. Bing energy drinks
They fuel me.

6. Knitting
Duh. This is a given but I felt bad leaving it off the list.

I hope that you had a lovely Valentine's Day and that you're experiencing a little bit of spring wherever you are too.

Must. Make. Mittens.

I have been taken by a strange desire to knit mittens and mittens only lately. I'm sure this has nothing to do with Mitten Madness. Or the fact that I can churn out a pair of basic mittens in two evenings. I finished the cabled fingerless mittens two weeks ago while watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for class.

I thought these were going to be too small but they actually fit me quite well.

And they're warm because they're 100% wool. The pattern is the Mock Cable Wristers from 60 Quick Knits.

Saturday I started a pair of plain mittens using the No Swatch, No Gauge Mittens for Kids pattern by Jean Gifford. I finished them up on Sunday, soaked them Sunday night, and they have been drying since earlier this morning.

This is really a pattern I can get on board with. You use whatever yarn you have and whatever needles you need to make a dense fabric. The resulting mittens are great for charity since they are guaranteed to fit someone. The yarn is some Classic Wool in the colorway Bird of Paradise. I will probably use this pattern as a template for designing some patterned mittens or for game knitting.

Since I finished the classic mittens I had to start a new pair of course.

This is some of the left over yarn from the No Swatch mittens. I'm making some more fingerless gloves. This is using a game knitting technique.

When a predetermined action happens in the show you are watching you wrap the next stitch and turn. The whole mitt ends up being made from short rows. I must say that I'm really loving the game knitting ebook that I bought. I would highly recommend it. It's given me lots of ideas for knitting projects and since I watch t.v. while I knit it's a great way to incorporate the two.

I guess that I have done some other knitting besides mittens. I'm still working on my Red Dragon socks. I'm past the heel turn but I don't have a progress picture to show for it. I also finished the pink sweater.

I think it's adorable. This isn't for anyone, it's actually for sale in my shop. I plan on adding a few more baby things and washcloths over the next few weeks. For now though I have mittens to knit...

I Have Thumbs!

Ok, so I've always had thumbs (both of them, thankfully) but now my mittens do as well! In the span of a week my charity mittens went from this:

To this:

Yay! One set of mittens for Mitten Madness complete! Of course that means I had to start another pair. I decided to do some game knitting fingerless mittens/ninja gloves. I started with this:

And ended with these:
"Front"

 "Back"

 Me modeling one.

Game knitting is a lot like a drinking game. You watch a show or movie and whenever a much expected action or line is performed you change the way you're knitting. The game knitting booklet that I purchased has a bunch of base designs like these mitts and a few hats and scarves and such to choose from. The real fun is the various ways you can mix up your knitting. I chose to change the ribbing pattern on these as I watched Family Guy every night. It was pretty fun and definitely quick knitting. Next I want to try a short row hat. In addition to making a lot of knits for charity I've also been working on my Wyvern socks which I decided long ago to name the Red Dragon Socks.

Started with these:

And now have these:

Which look almost exactly the same. I never said I was quickly knitting on these. Just a few more inches and I'll be ready for the short row heel. I know I've done a short row heel but I don't do it very often so I can never remember the particulars of how to do them. At least I still have a little time to look up the directions!

Tonight I'm dyeing some yarn for the store. The online store will probably go down for a few days but while I get the new yarn photographed and listed but it will be back shortly. I had a major problem last night with my skein winder, 3 cones of sock yarn, and a my digital scale so that's set the release of my sock yarns back a little bit but they will be coming! In the meantime please follow the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project on Twitter and learn about all the cool things we have coming up :)

Finishing Up

There are lots of things that seem to be coming to a close around here. Most notably is my time in this (old) apartment. I move on Saturday which means this week is for running around throwing still unpacked items into boxes in the most organized manner possible before the moving truck pulls up. I can barely walk through any room now as they all have at least one open box waiting to be filled. I'm also slightly concerned about the amount of boxes in the living room vs. the weight load of the living room floor. We may be nearing capacity and I fear many of my worldly possessions may end up in my downstairs neighbor's apartment if I add anything else to the stack.

Also coming to an end is the Summer Mystery KAL via Wool-Aid. I finished the hat portion

and started the first mitten.

The next to last clue came out today and the last clue will come out this Friday. I love mystery KALs and have been trying to stretch my (sadly defunct) design legs by thinking up a mystery KAL for EEROP members. I must say that I love how the hat in this KAL came out. I didn't take gauge and I'm not entirely sure I used the right sized needles but I actually really like the slightly slouchy look that I managed to get. I plan on making this set of hat and mittens again with the reverse color scheme. This is a great quick knit!

The final thing that I'm finishing up (at least for the next few weeks) is dyeing. I packed up the last of

my dye stuffs today and they won't be out for at least the next week. But I did post three new lace weight yarns that I had previously dyed up in the store today.

Lemondrop

Midnight

and Frosted Raspberries.

Since today has been about packing and working and generally getting lots accomplished I'm going to spend the rest of the evening relaxing with some knitting. I think I'm entitled :)