Strawberry Yogurt Soup

Hello!  I've been busy with house stuff and retaining my sanity.  Much of my time has been spent trying to resolve our current health insurance mess.  We were approved to have OHP, but they still had it on record that we had private insurance, which we lost when my husband got laid off, so I've been having to untangle it.  I wont go into more detail as it is confusing and borning.  I think I'm finally near the end of it!  I'm still fixing doctor appointments though.  My doctor that I just got doesn't take my new insurance so I'm having to switch again, as well as other family appointments.

Good news!  My husband started a new job last week!  It's through a temp agency, but both the agency and the workplace have made my husband feel appreciated and productive.  He's also on day shift!  Hallaluja!  He gets up at 5 a.m. now, instead of 10 a.m.  I'm adjusting my schedule a little bit (I used to get up at 6:30) so I'll be getting up with him.  It's *so nice* to be able to cuddle with him instead of sleeping alone.

I've been doing art on the computer these last few weeks.  I've had several graphic design orders - a few repeat customers came back.  I love hand dyers!  They make such lovely yarn and they like to dress them up with pre-printed labels, which I am happy to make for them.  :D  It's so satisfying to work with other artists! :)

Ooh, I don't think I told you all that we got a fish!  Anna's been wanting fish for quite some time but I didn't have any time or money to invest into an aquarium.  I told her it would have to wait until after Pandora, our ferret, was gone.  She passed a few months ago now and my daughter was having a hard time with it, so I was thinking it would be a really good idea to try to get fish sooner rather than later.  So I started looking at fish books with her and we decided on a betta and a mystery snail.

Then a friend had a betta they were thinking about getting rid of; apparently he killed any tank mates and she didn't like that.  I told her that was funny as we were thinking about getting a betta and a snail.  So we talked about it a bit more and they brought over the whole 5.5 gallon tank a couple days later!  Anna was thrilled!  While I started working on getting everything set back up Anna decided to name him "Soup."  😂  The previous owner told me she'd named him "Strawberry Yogurt" because of his red/white coloring.  So his full name is "Strawberry Yogurt Soup."  Hehe.

I've been working on getting him happy as there were a few things making him upset.  He didn't like the stronger current of the filter so I changed it.  Then he got sick (probably from stress from the move) and there were a lot of nitrates in the water.  I've been doing daily water changes to fix that.  He seems much happier and relaxed than he was when we first got him.  He's settling in nicely.

Note: His fins have healed more since this picture was taken.  I'll post more later. :)

Job Rewards System

The job system I have set up for my kids had grown stale; I would assign points with signatures on the refrigerator and then award prizes out of a box.  Unfortunately, my daughter tried to sneak some of the prizes, so I put them in a cupboard out of reach.  Out of sight, out of mind. :(

I used my husband as a sounding board.  What would work?  Should I hang them on a clothesline?  Should I stick them to the outside of cupboard?  What if I displayed them on the wall a la Chucky Cheese?  (We'd been to two birthday parties last weekend, both were at arcades with prize walls.).  I liked this idea, but where would I put it so that 1) it didn't take so much work I wouldn't upkeep it 2) the kids couldn't sneak things easily and 2) it needs to not look tacky.  This is my home after all!

My exhaustion-induced OCD babbling continued until about 12:30 a.m. when I finally struck upon the idea that I'd go with:  I'd tape poster board to the inside of a cabinet's glass window and affix prizes and coupons to it with mounting puddy!  This particular cabinet is on the side of our TV and isn't used as much as the other side so I wouldn't be blocking anything vital.

Stretched Thin

I've told you before that this is a blog about my life just as much as it is about my art.  My artistic efforts are one segment of my life, and an important one.  Without creating, I wouldn't be me.

Some days its been hard to have enough brain power and inspiration to create.  My husband and I have been struggling to keep up.  Not with the Jones', but the bills - the demands of life.  He has his regular job which pays most of the bills, but those bills keep increasing.  (i.e. Rent just increased in the fall.)  He has a creative mind, too, and

In The Bag

It's time for my weekly breakdown of crafting and crazy!  This week has another busy one with several things done in "in the bag"!

30 September, Friday
Last Friday I finished sewing the two bags that I was working on.  I must say that I really like how they turned out.  I had picked up this weird pink and clear button and I was wondering what it would eventually end up with.  It turns out that it was *perfect* for the smaller of the two bags.  The more I look at it, the more I love it. :)  So here they are!  They are both for sale; click the links if you are interested.

 

Mystery Yarn Game

Are you ready for some laughs at your next knit night?  Try out my fiber-themed game!

Catching Up to Date

In my last blog post I was talking about all the crazy things I had going on last year that overwhelmed me.  I left off at the end of August just as I was being buried alive in projects...

I have always loved September.  For me it represents so many new beginnings;  the first day of school, my birthday, it is even Jewish New Year though I've not particular celebrated it that way.  September 2015 was all about just getting through the next step, one little bit of progress over the mountain path, carefully as to not cause an avalanche.

Here's what I worked on month-by month:

September

Searched through lots of pattern books for ideas for my design

Hand knitted socks for my sister

Used Jamberry nail wraps to quit biting my nails

Started knitting socks for my daughter

Started spinning this SAPGAP yarn order

October

Working out pattern details

Finished my daughter's socks

Wrote, tested and published this hat pattern

Started socks for my son

Hand spun and mailed out all this yarn

November

Sewed box bags for a fiber festival

Sewed a special order bag and an new cube-sized bag

Hand spun and hand dyed this yarn

Hand knit this adorable dragon

Started a fund-raiser for my ferret's surgry

Finished writing the pattern, and got it test knit

Sent off my Geek-Swap package

December

Make custom-order slippers

Dyed wool

Sewed more bags

Sewed a different style bag

Designed new fiber graphics

Hand-combed LOTS of wool

Learned a new style of art-yarn

Dyed this wool

Went on vacation to visit my family!

January

Designed something I haven't revealed yet

Hand knit a skirt for my daughter

Made a custom order of two hats

Finished this SAPGAP art-yarn order

Finally finished my son's socks

Got my ferret her life-saving surgery

Started an MKAL for my latest pattern

Whew!  All that was tiring!  That gets us all caught up!  My husband is still on swing shift so I am still 99% a single parent.  However I am going to be careful as to not overload myself to *that* point again.  I am enjoying my freedom of sitting and enjoying an evening of MY choice instead of trying to keep up with that frantic pace.  I still have a lot to get done, but at a much more reasonable pace. :D  I have lots of exciting things to share with you!

The return of peace

Things have indeed been chaotic at my home this summer.  My kids were on top of each other and fighting.  Meanwhile I was trying to push my fiber business off to a start.  I had spinning orders to fulfill, a pattern I wrote, tested, remade, and tested by others, and finally released.  My fiber graphics have become fairly popular and I've sold several orders. Oh, and I've been photo journaling my art projects before bed every night.
 

Today school started again.  I have one kiddo in public school in a special needs class and that is working *wonderfully* for him.  My oldest kiddo I homeschool, and now I'm working on paperwork to get my youngest into preschool.  I hope I can get her in so my oldest and I can get some work done in peace for a few hours.

Recently I've joined in a craft swap hosted by my favorite podcast Knit 1 Geek 2.  I was inspired by my spoilee (the secret person I am spoiling that I will not reveal online) to create yet another knitting pattern.  I am *so* excited about this one but I can't reveal my concept yet.  I can get it done before the deadline if I'm quick, but I would really like it to go through test knitting first if I can.  So, I've pulled in a friend to help me with part of this project and she is just excited as I am!

I can show you a little bit; below are a few swatches I've knit, and above is my stack of research books. :)

Oh, and yesterday, I stuck my toes and spent a little money to promote my latest pattern on Facebook this week.  I'm curious to see how that goes!

Wilma

Ok, I'm back everybody!  Sorry for the cliffhanger.  Well, maybe I'm not sorry exactly but I'm glad you're back.  :P

I left off talking about Tour de Fleece!  I had set myself up with several ideas going in:

• stash busting
• trying new things
• washing, picking out vegetable matter, and flick-combing to prepare a bunch of my raw wool for spinning
• Play with dyeing!  
• two SAPGAP trades, one again with the same person I did before, this time with a Merino/Cormo cross and if I finished that I would start up on some alpaca/silk roving from the next SAPGAP trade.

I started off on the wrong foot.  I intended to start with the Merino/Cormo fleece but the carder machine I was using broke down.  So I had to try to get back out to my local yarn store to rent the big machine.  That didn't happen until about a week into TdF.

Let me take a moment to tell you about this fleece.  It's amazing.  Its the softest that I have spun to date and oh-so-squooshy!  If that wasn't a word before, it is now.  This is the seconds (it's not even the best stuff off this sheep!) from a sheep named Wilma.  There is something special spinning from fiber from a named sheep.  I can feel the love that went into the care for the animal.  I hope Wilma is happy with how I've been spinning her fiber because I feel that she is now my animal friend.

The first skein I just went for it.  I tried spinning long-draw as finely as I could make this fleece work with me - and it took forever.  Spinning and plying all day for 3-4 days (I forget exactly now but it was the aforementioned "forever").  I knew I would never finish before my August 1 due date.  I shared  pictures (the ones below actually) with the person who owns the fleece and she liked it but felt it was too thin.  So I set it aside to add to my share and moved on.

624 yards, 100 grams; 23 wraps per inch

Next I tried spinning short-draw and making it a bit thicker and fluffier.  It worked perfectly.  I hit right in the 17 wraps per inch range which is fingering weight.  This style of drafting also allowed the yarn to be even sqooshier.  It'll make lovely baby clothes, as she said that's what she wants to do with the yarn.

Unfortunately after I finished this skein I got side tracked by life.  My kiddos and home needed tending to.  Always going on about the "I need clean clothes," and "I'm hungry," and some such.  Then my 14  year old wanted a birthday party.  Ugh.  I just want to spin!  lol

So then I got back to it and got two more 100g skeins done and two singles for another skein as Tour de Fleece came to a close.  The next day I plied the two together and washed & set all the yarn to date.  At this moment I have to finish spinning this last single, ply the fourth skein, wash, set, dry this last skein and then I can mail them home. :)  I'm cutting it close and its making me nervous.  I know she'll be okay if it's a day or two late but I like things to be on time.

Here's a purdy picture I took of her yarn modeling my yarn bands I've put up for sale.

So I probably should tell you about these yarn bands.  I made these up for my first SAPGAP order and since then I've updated them.  Two days I found out that my rent is going up so I had the brilliant idea of selling custom yarn bands & tags.  So, I fixed them up a bit more, made a second page for small skein tags and put them in my online shop.  They'll make your yarn and roving look more professional and at a measly $5 they'll pay for themselves in no time.  Take a look! 

Tour de Fleece results:

• stash busting  Got some stash spun!
• trying new things  Tried new things!  Spinning from the lock and new fiber.
• washing, picking out vegetable matter, and flick-combing to prepare a bunch of my raw wool for spinning  Eh, not nearly as much done as I wanted.
• Play with dyeing!  Nope, nothing got dyed. :(
• two SAPGAP trades, one again with the same person I did before, this time with a Merino/Cormo cross and if I finished that I would start up on some alpaca/silk roving from the next SAPGAP trade.  Didn't get the first one done but I'm okay with the progress I made.

My project Moleskin with TdF numbers

In closing today I'll flash this pretty picture at you.  This is everything I spun and plied during Tour de Fleece.  Again, the dates for those who forgot was July 4 - 26th.