Damn

I had a great blog post ready to be written complete with awesome pictures but now Blogger isn't letting me load any of them!!!

I'm going to knit and watch anime now (maybe not the smartest idea since I have to read subtitles but I can make it work...plus I've seen these episodes about 5 times already).

I'll try and repost tomorrow.

Prep Work

This week I'm been doing a (very) little amount of prepping myself for the opening of my store. I come home and, after turning on the computer and maybe starting some laundry, I put some yarn into soak, mix up dyes, and then start dinner. I don't have all my equipment or acid dyes yet but seeing how long it takes to do everything is putting it all in to perspective. I eat a quick dinner while the yarn finishes soaking then I dye it up and leave it to sit overnight. In the morning while I'm getting ready I rinse and wash the yarn and then hang it to dry. It may seem like a chaotic arrangement but I just might be the right amount of crazy to make it happen.

Here's my latest offerings:

Yellow, orange, red, and burgundy/purple that I'm thinking of calling Shades of Red
and blue, teal, green, and red that I'm not sure what to call.

(Sorry for the crappy, over lit pictures...these were still drying in the bathroom)

I'm so excited about the store opening and I have so many ideas about the format. I'm excited that today was pay day because now I can make some fiber and dye investments :)

It's Been Almost a Week...

...guess I should update the blog. It seems like so much happens in a week and yet I barely have time to slow down and document it.

I spent some time last week experimenting with dye. I tried several different techniques and tried to find the one I want to use almost exclusively (which I think I have, and that's good because my friend AG is pushing me to get my dyeing website up and running!!!).

This color is called School Carpet.
A few weeks ago we had a tornado drill at school and while I was down in the floor covering my head and digging my knees into the scratchy carpet I noticed that the colors in the carpet where quite interesting. This yarn mimics the school carpet with random splashes of teal, purple, rust, and white.

I don't know what to call this yarn yet but it makes me think of Easter on acid.
The true colors are much brighter in real life. I hand painted this skein with a little foam brush (which took FOREVER) without prepping the yarn. Just slapped it on there. Interesting end result. Not sure that I like it but I can't say that I hate it.

The last skein is probably the best.
I randomly choose these three colors by closing my eyes and picking up three bottles of Wilton's. I got black, rust, and burgundy. The best part is that the black turned out really well. After I finished microwaving it I let them all sit overnight and that helped the dye bath to really exhaust (for a more detailed explanation you can check out the Rav post I made here). I can't wait to reskein it and see how it looks then.

There's been knitting too. I went to my parent's house on Sunday to meet my new doggy brother (who I forgot to take pictures of, doh!) and finished this sweater for Warm Woolies.
I like the gull wing cables down the front. I promptly started another sweater for Warm Woolies.
I've also been doing some super secret Christmas knitting but I can't show you that because it's secret. I also discovered that I have more presents to knit than I originally remembered which only ups the ante on whether I will finish in time for the holidays or not. I also bought some more yarn on Sunday from the Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft store near my parent's house but I forgot to take pictures of that. There will need to be another post later this week just to talk about all the things I forgot to mention in this post.

On Saturday I went to a local arts and crafts fair and purchased a couple of things. In addition to some killer handmade soaps (will post a link to the website when I feel motivated to go and dig up the business card with the info on it) I bought my doggy brother, Luke, a bandanna and Penelope got a sachet of catnip. You can't see it in this picture because she's laying on it.
She totally flipped out for the next 20 minutes rolling over it and licking it. You can barely make out the little blue packet as she rolls around.

Now, Where Were We

Let's just start from Friday shall we?

Friday: Surprisingly a rather full social life has kept me rather busy for the last half a week or so. I went to the local high school football game on Friday to see some of my former students and meet up with some friends.
The kids looked good. It was hard to believe that just a year ago these kids were in my classes.
Afterwards went out with N.D. and A.P. and had a very nice time. But alas, no knitting that night.

Saturday: Drove my aunt and grandmother to a shower for one of my second cousins. Had a good time but again no knitting since I was driving a car.

Sunday: Church and then an epic family picture session. We had fun making the photographer laugh at our crazy family antics. Then I went and spent some time with my rents at their house. I took some very pretty pictures in their backyard. The sky was a little overcast giving everything a subdued look.
Grey Boy one of my parent's outside cats. He followed me around for the entire "photo shoot."
Some flowers and ivy on the back deck.
A close up of a very interesting and beautiful flower.
I love the shades of pink in this flower.
Such bright colors.
These last flowers smelled really good and there was a monarch butterfly on the branches that I tried to catch but was too quick for me and flew off.

I did get the chance to start some knitting on Sunday. I'm making another vest for Warm Woolies. It has a cable down the middle. Nothing too crazy. However, you know there might be cause for concern when your non-knitting mother asks you if you have started your Christmas knitting and then tells you you should probably get on that. Then she gives you a coupon for yarn. She's totally right, I do need to get on the Christmas knitting (I started it tonight, btw).

When I got home that night in my post box was a package from tinkiknit. Inside were lots of very nice yarns for me to use for charity knitting. All the blues, the green, the black, and the purples were in the one little box. I'm excited about using them and all I had to pay was shipping!

Monday: Yesterday I had planned to blog about the weekend but I got busy dyeing. Well first I had to finish rewinding an old skein on the swift.
I had a helper. She was very effective.

Yeah I realize that I need a second swift or something to keep the yarn from just lying around on like that. It got tangled several times. I was able to untangle it several times but at the end there was just too many knots. I knew it was getting bad when I kept yelling, "Frick!" at yarn.
There was some carnage.
It turned out lovely none the less.

My new yarn in still drying in my bathroom tonight. I tried some cool new techniques and I'm excited to show them tomorrow when they finish drying completely. I will say that I was able to get a really beautiful deep black which can be really hard to get without professional dyes.
Even up close with the flash you can see the color took really well. More pictures of yarn tomorrow!

Dear Blog,

I'm still here. In fact I wanted to update you tonight; had planned to update. I had pictures to show of new knitting and yarn. But then I got the urge to dye tonight instead. And it took a while because it can be something of a process. I promise that tomorrow I will update you properly. With pictures and everything. A long post that covers what I did this weekend. Until then...

Your pal,
Melissa

Home Improvement

There is a carpentry vein that runs in my family. My grandfather was a bona fide carpenter by trade and has a lovely, dusty, cluttered shop behind my grandparent's house. My aunt is the type of woman who sees a table she likes, goes and buys the lumber, then builds and stains the table herself. I mean she lives in the suburbs and has a miter saw in her garage. How awesome is that? I wish I had the space to build things. I've built a printer stand that I used at my old job and of course my swift but otherwise my projects are limited to drilling holes in the wall. Tonight I decided to take some advice and in the process I got to use a hand drill.

A few days ago when I mentioned I wanted to start dyeing a little more seriously I received a very nice comment from Jo from Celtic Memory Yarns. Jo is something of a celebrity in my eyes. Just take one look at her blog and you'll see why. This woman is talented. And besides all that she lives in Ireland which makes her cooler than your average internet knitting celebrity. Anyways, Jo told me to use the space I had and just go for it. As I was making dinner tonight I was mulling over using the space I had and all the while, glancing around my teeny tiny little kitchen. And then it hit me. I could totally arrange some things to give me more work space. Just like that, it was decided.

Here is the newly claimed long work area. This is actually the longest space in my kitchen at a whopping 4' 4".
This space used to house a crock pot, can opener, cookbooks, a drying rack, and the Dustbuster. It now houses my dyeing supplies. The Dustbuster (as you can see) has been mounted to the wall, thus fulfilling my desire to drill things. Plus I added some nails under the cabinets to drape the cord over (as I was wondering through the house asking myself, "Now where did I put my hammer?" I wondered how many single women my age ask themselves that very question each night. I figure not many).

The cookbooks are now in my decorative "window" that opens into my den (sorry there isn't a picture. The risk of catching the pile of dishes in the sink was too great). The drying rack, crock pot, and can opener got moved to the other side of the sink where the microwave used to be. I also moved my George Forman grill over there just to keep the small appliances together.
This is where the George Forman grill used to live, to the left of the stove on the other side of the kitchen (by other side I mean, literally, 2 feet away. My kitchen is claustrophobia inducing). Now this is where my cereal, sugar, and miscellaneous things still needing a permanent home are hanging out. But those are all small things and can be taken care of easily in the next few days.
Here's where I moved the microwave, right between the stove and the fridge (busted drawer included for atmosphere).
I'm pleased with the space I've gained, if nothing else for the fact that I can now actually put a plate on the counter when serving myself dinner. When I dye I won't be able to make anything too ridiculously long but then again, who has the space for that anyways? Plus it's more space than I used to have (about 2 times as much). I'll mix the dye stock in my sun room which is just adjacent to the kitchen and be able to work to my hearts content in a designated area. Pretty good for a nights work.

7 Random Things About Me

Kate (a.k.a knightlyknitter) had this on her blog a few days ago and invited anyone who wanted to play along to join in. I signed up but have had a lot going on lately so I haven't had the chance until now to present you with...

7 Random Things About Me

1. My most vivid memories are all tied to smells. I can even smell a change in the seasons.
2. I can't sleep if my feet are too hot or my ears are too cold.
3. I have studied Renaissance martial arts and sword fighting.
4. I have 10 piercings (all in my ears) and 2 tattoos. I'm done with the piercings but not the tattoos.
5. The most natural place for me to hold my tongue is against the roof of my mouth which pushes my jaw slightly apart at all times (I don't know if anyone else does this...being my luck this is how everyone holds their jaw but at least it's random).
6. I know how to play 11 different instruments with varying degrees of success.
7. The first time I flew alone was this summer and it was a 18 hour international ordeal.