March Madness

I have to say, I'm not much of a sports fan, but when your team is in playoff for the NCAA tournament, I do watch a bit of basketball. Go Orange!

Lately, when I'm not watching basketball, I've been watching old episodes of twin peaks online http://www.mahalo.com/Watch_Twin_Peaks_Online. I remember this show and how creepy it was from the 80's, but I never saw the end, or I don't remember seeing all of it. It is good to bring back the old days.

I was amazed at how much tv is now online, before I moved to the new house in SYR, I thought I had to have cable in order to have anything to watch. But, really all I ended up watching was network tv and HGTV shows. How many house hunters can one girl watch anyway? So, now that I'm moved and I don't have cable, I don't miss it at all. Some nights, like tonight (Wednesday) tv stinks, but I can always find an episode of something on line to watch, or get a movie from hulu.

I think living frugally is beginning to settle on me. Now if I could get the food bills down. I was reading this frugal moms blog about margarine over butter and why she gets margarine. Is margarine that much cheaper that it makes that much of a difference? I buy butter, for me it is like decent yarn, you get what you pay for and butter is worth the sacrifice in my household anyway. I'll give up oreos and orange juice first.

Forgot my knitting

I can't believe it, since I moved to Syracuse in July, I have been traveling back to my home in Eastern NY every weekend, plus traveling all over the US for work. So, this weekend, when I am inches away from finishing up the Vanda sweater from the summer 08, Knitter magazine.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vanda

It has been a pretty easy knit, and I have been finishing up the sleeves all week in anticipation of doing the neck this weekend, and getting the damn thing finished. I don't know where my mind is. So, as I didn't have anything else to do, I had to cast on a new pair of socks.

This was a yarn blank that was a gift from my yarn wholesaler last summer. It is Blue-faced Leicester in one of those flat pieces you dye and then knit from. i thought these were all two strands, but apparently not, this one is just one. I dyed it with cochineal and logwood purple, and really like the colors I got. It is nice to save some yarns out for yourself and not feel too guilty about it!

I have new yarns up on ETSY, so go take a look. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5055805

Back from beyond

Well, back anyway. The fall travel has ended at long last, I returned from Buenos Aires with no yarn to show for it. it amazes me that I was given the opportunity to travel to South America again and I missed the chance to get great yarn at fabulous prices. True, i did get yarn last time I was in BA, but this time I promised myself I would make it Scalabrini Ortiz (we were only 10 blocks away in the hotel) and get yarn.

Well, that didn't happen, but I did get to see two different sides of the Argentine health care system.
One was a bit scary, like the emergency room gurney in the photo below, with another patient next it- (a real lack of privacy here). Best part was, the hospital was only going to ask for a 8 peso donation for 2 xrays, an ambulance ride, all of the blood tests and the doctors visits. We donated quite a lot more.
The otherhospital was outrageously overpriced, but very clean and lovely ($5000 US for an overnight inpatient stay- US not pesos, so I would have been over 15000 pesos!) I had two students who had medical emergencies when we were there, so as the leader I had to go along.
For a bit, it looked like I wasn't going to make it home for Christmas, but then finally things worked out and we all made it home safe and sound.

Tomorrow I go back to work after begin off for 9 days, the longest time I have been home since I had Nate in 1999. I got some work done, including sone new yarns to go on Etsy.

For those of you who have asked, yes, I am still dyeing yarn. But, the majority of that yarn is being sent to Cherry Tree Hill Yarn who buys it wholesale and resells it to her customers, some shops here in the US, some online retailers in the US and in Europe. I stopped the Etsy store when my travel schedule and work life made it impossible for me to consistitently fill orders and mail packages on time. (This fall I was on the road two to three weeks at a stretch). So while I could dye yarn when home for a few days, I couldn't get photos and posts done)

So, we are now in the spring and I hope to devote myself again to posting and selling yarns through the etsy store.

I've also been toying with the idea of a natural dyes podcast. It is really amazing how many questions I get via email about dyeing with natural dyes. So, I thought it would be a good way to help teach other people about this great creative way to get new, unique colors and blends of colors.

It was June- are you sure it was June?

The last time I posted was wayyyyy back in June- I really don't think it has been that long. But since it took me twenty minutes to convince Google I was who I said I was and remember my freaking password, maybe it has been since June.

Well, I did it, moved to Syracuse. I have my own apartment, my own space for the stash and my own tv to watch and enjoy. Things are going.... not great, not bad but going. It is really weird to be away from home every night. It's like when I traveled a lot when doing sales, you are away in a hotel and everything is surreal. You hear about the issues at home but are helpless to do anything about them.


I also thought I would have soooooo much time for knitting. Well, I do have more time for knitting, I just don't have much ambition to get any done. I did notice last week when things got cooler for a few days I really worked diligently on a sweater I'm making.

This was going to be called Rhinebeck and I dyed the yarn hoping to make some Fall leaf colors, dark rich oranges, and reds with some yellows and browns added in. Well It is more of a tomato orange with some great reds. I like it, but with much of my natural dyeing, the results can be unpredictable. It has a ruffled edge and I may rename it something else after the A fine fleece book came out and has a nicer pattern named Rhinebeck - a great book by the way, I was quite inspired after reading it. Not enough tobegin spinning again, but they say winters are long in Syracuse.

I'm hoping as the weather gets cooler, my knitting mojo returns. Otherwise, I have to force myself to get motivated. Next week I start traveling for work, so in the space of three weeks I hit
Toronto, Boston, Washington dc, NYC, Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle then home for the weekend, then Houston, Atlanta, Miami, home again then , Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, followed up with a quick trip to Dallas for a conference.
I have to figure out what knitting to bring with me, lots of socks I think. It will be a good time to burn thru some of the sock yarn stash that has built up.

Speaking of sock yarn, I have a pile of yarn waiting to be labeled and sent to Cherry Tree Hill. My yarn is now being carried by Yarnmarket as well! Whoo-hoo- this is a great part time job, when you are lonely for home and have no money to spend so have to stay home. Don't worry, itlooks much neater when it is twisted into skeins and labelled. Thanks to my big sister Eileen who came last week and learned how to dye yarn to help me keep up.
I've had to send my regrets to Rhinebeck for this year, I just can't get anymore dyeing done in time. With my planned travel, I am home, in Albany or Syracuse only 10 days between next Saturday and when Rhinebeck starts.

If anyone is looking for cones of undyed yarn, let me know, I have bamboo/merino sock yarn, sport weight, lace weight and some worsted weight I can sell for cheap. Not much merino superwash left, there are some severe shortages of that going arounf this year.

Talk to you soon,

L

my yarn is in the UK!

I've been doing quite a lot of dyeing lately. Since I met Cheryl from Cherry Tree Hill she has certainly kept my busy. 50 skeins went out last week, an additional dozen this week. and look my yarn is now being sold in the UK at The Wooly Workshop.

That plus the impending move to Syracuse life has been busy- but I found a new home, and how many knitters can say they rented an apartment, just so the stash could have its own bedroom!

I went to my mecca last week- IKEA, and was overwhelmed. I've wanted to go to Ikea ever since I heard about them during mu undergrad nearly 20 years ago. I spent quite a bit of money and really didn't buy too much furniture.

Took it- moving news and more!

Well, I took the job at SU, and now the whole world knows. We announced it to the classes today, and it is really gratifying to have everyone say such nice things about me.

In other really exciting news, I met Cheryl Potter of Cherry Tree Hill Yarns at MA Sheep and Wool and she is going to sell some of my yarn under the Ancient Threads Farm name. It feels like things are really taking off. So, I bought myself an electric skeiner and a whole new shipment of base yarn!

We sold quite a bit at MA, so I need to get the etsy shop updated again. Now to take the photos and do the loading of the yarn!

Now to get that done, find an apartment in Syracuse and get some new furniture while trying to clean up my job at Albany- oh the fun never stops!

more Syracuse news

No- I haven't accepted the job yet- but I found out that Syracuse has an MFA in fiber arts http://vpa.syr.edu/index.cfm/page/graduate-fiber-gallery


and I get free tuition! How can I say no to that?