luxe

still sick. really sick, actually. i am making a doctor appointment to-morrow. i really am. i have been really sick for 8 days, so i think it is time. the pharmacist told me to pick up mucinex-dm to get the crud out of my chest and it did seem to get the snot flowing (to put it mildly) although i steal have a gross cough. i also feel really horrible. nauseous and feverish, etc. i am a bit tired of the whole flu thing. i think in the future, i will just stick with the lupus/migraine/chronic fatigue syndrome combo. you know?

i finished the luxe update tonight. i have more things to list but the camera is in the shop, so i need to ask my in-laws if i can borrow theirs in the meantime. this is the 4th time that our fuji finepics has broken, and they are supposed to give you your money back to get a new camera when that happens, so we are waiting for the okay. i went online to look at cameras. i was drooling of the cannon rebel slr/digital, but they are really expensive. when i looked at the sony mavica online it got amazing reviews. i think i would get the 500. they have a nice zoom and you can get different lenses for it, in addition to a fully manual option so you can actually focus it yourself. i think that most digital cameras are made to make sure that you can’t take a bad picture, although most people i know manage to do that anyway. they don’t even center them. drives me insane. insane. and when you take sucko pics like that, you really could just get a relatively cheap camera and it would be fine. my cheap granny’s ideals, living in me. i just find that with taking lots of close-ups of everything, for the shop, of people, animals, nature, with my camera, i can’t pick what it focuses on. it just focuses on the closest thing. so. not cool. i will be sure to keep you posted on what happens with the camera. if best buy doesn’t let us get a new one, i will go apeshit.

we got groceries today and i was jazzed to be out of the house. that is how lame i have been lately. i have a ton of sock yarn to dye and other stuff that needs to get done, so i am hoping that i am up to some work to-morrow. also, i miss spinning. other than the yarn i did yesterday, i think i spun one other time last week. it sucks. i am just not up to doing very much more than knitting. i haven’t been reading or catching up on my blogs, or even doing my own blog. suck.

oh! i almost forgot! i got two sets of metal shelves to organize my dye, etc in the kitchen. i didn’t think jake would be okay with them and was looking for some antique stuff that would work, but he said it was fine, on account of the insane mess that it has become in there. so he was totally fine about it. i got a heavy duty one and then a cheapo one that may stay down there or may end up in the studio. i will take photos once i get it put together. maybe to-morrow.

jake is on night turn so he leaves for work at around 2 pm, i think. so i can actually probably get a bunch of stuff done if i feel up to it this week. i try to hang out with jake when he is home at 4p, usually until he goes to sleep and then i get tired a few hours later, so this might work better. if i feel better.

the knitpicks needles came and they rock! i really really like em. slippery, sharp, the cords are really nice, thin and flexible, i am not sure yet how durable. peeps loves to chew stuff like that, so it is a matter of time. but i really dig them. 3 thumbs up.

i am super out of it. so, i best go.
as always,
warm fuzzies,
n.

first, i must apologize for my brief disappearance. i felt that bad. that is to say, really really crummy. i am still feeling like crap, but not as bad. today, it feels like my fever may be gone, but it is not even 10a yet, so i should keep it quiet.

what have i been doing? well, knitting and watching tv. i haven’t been talking to anyone other than the cats and jake. i finished the first pair of socks for the book and am almost done with the first sock in the next pair. they are knit with a lumpy bumpy acrylic yarn that i had formerly stuck up for, but it is not meant to be a sock of any sort and is squeaky when knit on smaller needles and is really slow going. it looks all deformed, but when i tried on what i had knitted, it actually looked okay. so i guess that is what matters. it does knit up pretty, it just squeaks. it also makes my fingers itchy after a while. i will HAVE to use some handspun when i am done with these projects.

i have to get samples done for the sugar boutiquefall line after this, so i will try to use my yarn for lots of that stuff. when jamie emailed me to ask if i would want to work with her again, i was so flattered. she carries such beautiful things at her boutique. i really mean that. can i afford most of it? no. but, gorgeous. really. i would dress like that if i could sew or afford to buy the stuff. she really liked the freeform scarf i gave her and it sold right away, also, i think i may make her an altered version of the shrug i want to make for myself, although i will have to see if she thinks people will buy something that pricey. i wonder if i could make one out of sweater scraps, or even old blanket scraps. that would be much quicker, and the shape is really simple. hm. i have had some jewelry ideas that i need to work on to see if they will even work in the first place.

otherwise, i did a luxe update, and added a bit of stuff to the luxe.etsy.com store. i didn’t email the list members because i am adding a bunch more stuff today. so check it out. enter “freeship” when you check out and you will get…free shipping on orders over 30 buckaroos. i also have a yarn coming up called peter brady….there is one that is more orange and one that has more ecru in it. i am not sure if i love it or hate it. only 2 skeins available. email me if you want it before i list it. fast! free shipping!

what else? here is a single that has a smoky blue yarn dyed by the knigrrl herself, and then i put in stripes of this gorgeous bright blooooo. not yet listed, so let me know if you want it before it goes up for grabs. again, free shipping.

i think i am going to spin a bit today, update the site, work on this damn knitting so i can move on to fun stuff. fun! you got it? also, joann’s has a million coupons only good for today, including a $5 off one, and there is a victorian cookbook that i want to pick up for maddy. speaking of kids…anyone have some book suggestions for a super smart 3 year old chicky? soe of the books that she had just seemed like she didn’t get much out of them and the artwork was blah. if i think it is lame, than a little kid will think so big time. i have been thinking for a while about doing a children’s book. maybe a crafty one? maybe a limited addition one? handmade? dunno. i need to start doing some sketches and whatnot.

jake is on night turn next week, which means he works to-morrow at 4 a until 3 p, and then all next week starting at 3p. he is not a night person, even when he didn’t have to get up so early, never has been, so night turn is total hell on him. the job he had been hoping for didn’t come through, so he has been super bummed out. i think something else will come through. i really do. my psychic abilities don’t work very well with people that are so close to me as he is. he is as close as it gets. he and the cats, i have no sense of what will or won’t happen. with everyone else, i usually do. so.

also, i want to give a shout out to jacey who has had one seriously rotten month and i hope is on the mend. i am hoping that something good will come out of her hard time…i am sure something will. scary things in our lives hopefully make us realize all of the fantastic things in our lives that we take for granted. i will try my best to be grateful everyday. and not in a cheesy televangelist way. you know?

oh, also the store i lurve in savannah told me that they would like as much yarn as i can give them. that is such an amazing store. and the best part is that i absolutely love everything in the store. if i had a store, i would hope it would be half that cool. yay!

my superfly pal, regina ala monster crochet has got some exciting news about have a show. i have a feeling…and ask her, i called this months ago…that she will have a pro-crafting career! who says art school doesn’t pay? who? okay, it might have been me. but still.

ok. up i go! hopefully i will continue to feel moderately okay for the rest of the day. yay for moderately ok! woot woot!
smooooooch!
n.

i want to tell you more, but i feel to crummy to do it. my symptoms change every few hours, at the moment, i have an intensely sore throat, crazy sore, especially when i cough. so i have been really trying not to cough. my nose isn’t running anymore, but my ears are totally plugged up and ache and i can’t hear very well. also, i have a fever. ack!

i didn’t pack orders, spin, clean up (and the house and my studio really really really need it) i didn’t read the new books that i got from knitpicks, along with the new needles, which rock my world, by the way. my only complaint is that the needles aren’t labeled and that the binder they give you looks like a cheap 9 west planner that you might get for free with a purse or a magazine subscription. so i may have to try to find a replacement for that. otherwise, really nice and slippery needles that are shaped like the denise needles with a nice point on them. i switched to these to finish the second sock for shannon’s book and i wish i had them from the start rather than the crystal palace ones. anyway. i also got cat bordhi’s treasury of knitting and the knitted flowers from nicky epstein (sorry for the absence of links, i am feeling like poo, in case i didn’t tell you) and hands on dyeing.

i watched tv and worked on the sock all day long. no phone, no nothing. i have no voice and i can’t hear so it isn’t much fun, if you know what i mean. i watched some of the shows on tivo, including blade the series from spike tv, which is enjoyable. additionally, the head vampire is really cute. he reminds me of a delicate british version of jake. the new project runway started and this time it appears that most of the people are pretty experienced. they had an update on the old castmates which was pretty enjoyable.

i had insane nightmares involving someone i don’t talk to anymore. really really creepy and scary. in the dream, i had been lured into a bad situation, as usual, horror movie bad, and was pregnant and attempting not to get myself killed. it was odd.

off for more decaf. my throat is killing me. that and these creepy cepacol throat strips are what i am living on. and mint chip ice cream. and aleve for my fever.

better things to-morrow. i will probably go see the doctor.

i would smooch ya but i don’t want to get you sick.
xo,
n.

ok, i will keep this brief because i am absolutely exhausted. zzzzzzzzz. i lost my voice, my throat is killing me, my ears are all plugged up and i can’t sleep. i hate it. hate it.

in other news, iowa was nice. i wouldn’t want to live there, it is a very conservative place, but it seems nice. we got to see the twins who were sleeping or crying almost every time we saw them and maddy who is so adorable and so so smart. i got her an adorable handmade black cat rag doll with a dress on and knitted her a tube dress. she kept asking me why the cat wasn’t wearing panties. she is using the potty these days, so i guess she is into panties. who isn’t? goofball. when pee hits her potty it cheers and sings songs and lights up i think. jake just loved her and so do i. so sweet. jakie said that if he could be guaranteed a daughter like her he would have one in a second.

i worked on socks for shannon’s sock book. i have the first sock of the first pair almost done. i am going to send them to heather without the toe grafter for her to do it so i don’t make them look like crap because they will be in the book. i am no good at toes. i also have to make a pair of slipper socky things out of lion homespun, which is a bit tricky. i already attempted a super bulky sock out of that stuff and whilst it didn’t work, it actually knitted up really pretty. nice gradation. that is all i have been knitting, to say the least. i am actually to the point that on the decreases on a sock, i don’t need to use a counter or even pay that much attention. i know where they need to be. not that it is so hard. but i am excited that i am getting decent with it. here are my toeless socks in action. so comfy and they stay put even though they are mostly cotton…

i ordered the knitpicks needles, in addition, i ordered some of the long cables and some of their other stuff because that stuff was cheapo. maddy loved my sheep tapemeasure, you guys know the one, she was really into how you pulled his tail and could measure stuff and then pushed his middle and it went back in, so i gave it to her. now i don’t have one. well, i do, but where? dunno. i need to stop and pick up a new one. they have some at joann’s that have dogs and stuff on them that are .75 that might be fun to make into something more fun, even to modpodge it. hm. regardless, i need to get a new one.

while we were in iowa, the special olympics were there. apparently, one of the papers published some info on places to go and how to get around for the people visiting for the SO and they called it ames for dummies and obviously got a lot of criticism for it and pulled it. that is the article about it. hard to believe that no one caught that, eh?

my studio looks like a fiber bomb exploded in there. it is incredibly messy from the crazy couple of weeks i had and i need to tidy it in order to be able to work in there. it drives me utterly crazy. so messy. i also promised jake that i would clean my part of the closet, his part is immaculate, as usual. i am going to just give clothes to the thrift store. i don’t wear most of them and am so fat that most of them don’t fit me anyway. did i mention i am exhausted and sick?

well, here are some stinky linkys that you may enjoy…

one piece of art a week for a year. i like the one with the plant in it. hmmmm….

gorgeous crafty stuff and more this was a participant in a postcared swap i was in, although i didn’t get hers yet, i am really excited to. so sunny and adorable.

what kind of genius are you?

adorably lambikins patern

my mom had bought an insane amount of wei eaststuff from home shopping and gave it to me, unopened, that is how much she had, and my skin feels so nice. there is a mask in there that is sooooo nice. it isn’t like a clay mask, it is a mineral mask i think, and it really pulls the crap out of your skin. two thumbs up. my mom and i are both skin care suckers. i love that stuff.

a few pics? ok.

Me & maddy

so, as you may have guessed, we are in iowa visiting the rellies. this is my adorable niece, maddy. more photos of her twin baby brothers to follow. i knitted her a pointy pixie hat with an i-cord on top and took this quick snap of her with my phone. isn’t technology grand?

i didn’t grow up with any relatives around other than my parents and brothers, and she is lucky to have both sets of grandparents around as well as aunts and uncles that visit often. i would like to make sure that she knows that i think she rocks. i am sure you all know that i am not terribly into kids, but she is really cute and really smart, too. she really is. she was checking out my tattoos on my arms, the first she had ever seen. i have waterlillies and goldfish and she was checking them out and telling me that they were pretty. wide-eyed.

i read her a book before bed and she told me “i love you, goodnight” multiple times afterwards, and was told by my brother that she does that every night. i was flattered that she did it with me.

in yarn news, i got the order out, stressing out about it until the very last moment, thinking that the yarns weren’t good enough, blah blah blah. so.

in other yarn news, i checked out the local yarn stores here. one was an old lady yarn store that smelled like overripe fruit and had flourescent lights. so.

another one sold all kinds of expensive crap (other than yarn) which was thrown together, had flourescent lighting and had gorgeous, expensive ironstone yarns and other novelty yarns predominantly strewn about amongst the bedazzled clothes, etc. in the back, there was a yarn section but it was pretty much nothing but novelty stuff. cheapo walmart yarns (not that i don’t ever use cheapo yarns) mixed with noro silk garden. at random. i have never seen a store like that. if you had a project bigger than a purse hat or scarf, you would be shit out of luck unless you wanted to knit a sweater out of fun fur. so strange. it was like the women that owned the place didn’t actually know how to knit. i hope i don’t seem like a yarn snob, but it was just really really odd. needless to say, i didn’t feel the need to even bother showing any of my stuff at either of these stores. if i wouldn’t shop there, i wouldn’t make my yarns live there.

there is a gorgeous yarn store called the village knitwit (i couldn’t find a website) that was the shop i would hang out in. it is attached to a coffee shop/gelato shop that makes it’s own waffle cones, so the yarn shop smells incredible. they have a full line of noro, tons of books, crystal palace and tons of southwest trading company yarns, nashua, latern moon, you name it, they have it. it is really light and airy and gorgeous. they had some other handspun stuff, as well, although nothing like mine. i talked to the one owner, who was super friendly and left some nice sized sample skeins for her, although i forgot to bring sock yarn samples. ah well. what can ya do? nothing. my yarn would be happy there. also, when i left, there was a guy sitting and knitting in the front, i think one of the owners, and that is always nice to see.

i am working on 2 sock patterns and the accompanying socks for shannon’s lion brand book. the sportweight pair is going slower than i had imagined and is this deep purple, like grimace from mcdonalds that is not very fun to knit with. the yarn is nice, actually. just the color is a bit boring. i have the attention span of a fly. i am about to turn the heel, so i need to make sure to write down what i do. i am going to order the new knitpicks needles tonight after using denise to knit wool socks. not cool. also, about the airplane and knitting needles, they don’t care. in fact, you can take scissors as long as the actual blade is no more than 4 inches. so that is good to know, eh? i wonder if the needles will be backordered? so off i go to order them.

smooochies,
n.

Maddie

ok. so, got the order done, for the most part. i am unhappy with it some of the skeins. not much i can do. i told the woman that if she didn’t like anyone of the skeins i would exchange them. i have had no time to take photos of the more than 50 skeins, not including stuff i still owe her, have had no time to dye. shannon finally was able to order a ton of superwash for me, so i cannot wait to dye that when i get back. she is the bestest. evah. i feel insane.

i woke up with an insane headache, due to too much spinning and nightmares, as usual. (sort of like heavy drinkers, but with fiber) got going, had coffee, after barfing due to worry, although i don’t feel so tense. i think. hm. maybe i do. got to spinning. with beads and drama and string breaking and restringing. fortunately jake went with jason to see superman and did not hear the bad sounds coming out of my studio. we ate dinner. i hadn’t really eaten yet all day. dry cereal. anyway, i didn’t do a good job holding my dinner. had a super bad migraine and had to sleep for a bit. was then so tired that i couldn’t do anything. got back up around 7, spun, etc, until about 2:30, did a paypal invoice which kept timing me out, bastard. i am now seeing double. haven’t showered yet today. i thtink. i mean since two days ago, now, because it is today already. i just need to send out the order as soon as i get the paypal invoice paid for. i can help with bills a bit? what? jake won’t know what to do with himself.

i have so much i want to say, but i am falling asleep and will likely be ashamed of my irrational writing. it was super nice to see jason, despite my frantic/groggy demeanor. we miss ya! we really do.

gabe has a blog for his paintings and drawerings that you should check out, and buy stuff from because he is one of my favorite peeps and a good friend…why? well, for one, on short notice, he said he could watch the cats for me. and that is awesome! amy is super busy with school and such so she wasn’t able to swing it. too much driving around for no good reason. so go and buy stuff from gabe! he does custom stuff, as well, and cards and all sorts of stuff. and he has cheeeeeeeaaaap prices.

i will be taking loads of great photos of my niece and nephews and family whilst we are in iowa. additionally, i scoped out what yarn/fiber stores are out there and plan to stop by with some samples, etc. i assume i will be visiting now and then, so maybe i could set something up to pay my way, although my mum did help us with part of the tickets.

oh, also, i plan to blog whilst i am away, i am even considering the blogging by cellphone so you can hear my childlike voice. i can sing you songs. and you will run screaming, with blood coming out of your ears. or love it. i make up excellent songs. that only have one word, usually. that way, i can focus on the repetitive melody. yay for you!

ok, i must get a drink. a shower. and go the hell to sleep. it is 3:30a. i am sooooo tired. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. do i need to shower? underpants are so overrated.

oh, also, i have been too busy to do laundry, or anything for our house other than the occasional meal or scoop the poop box…jake did my laundry for me. i said i would do it and it was all done. he is insanely sweet and loving and hot, too. really. he really is. so cute.

oh, tell me what of my knitting stuff can go on the airplane so i know…please!
xoxoxoxoxo
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
n.

ask me what i got done today. what did i get done? nothing. jake did work on the car (sparkplugs, etc) what a manly man. jesus. and cute, too. anyway, in the meantime, i got dressed and showered to go get a bit of groceries and go to joann’s to get the mesh scarf thing which i planned to weave miscellaneous yarns into. a quick project. so we were leaving and jake’s parents came by with the dog to say hi. we finally got going and then i went to jojo’s got what i needed, including some different sized circle punches for punching out fabric for stringing for yarns. i thought it would be cool. additionally, i saw some japanese artist and another one that i cannot recall at the mo who had made necklaces and jewelry out of stacked circles of felt strung which looked amazing. i didn’t want to do it that way but i really liked the idea to use for other things. so i will let you know how the punching out fabric with the little things. i will return them if not. anyone with suggestions for punching out small (dime sized and maybe 3/16 inch) circles out of felt and other fabrics, feel free to drop a comment.

we went to giant eagle and got barbeque fixins and a bit of food, we are leaving in the middle of the week to visit my folks and jake is off of work this week so we need not much food. i got halvah. mmmmmm. i got a yellow fin tuna steak and jake got a nice salmon filet to grill to-morrow. we have been all about grilling on our $10 charcoal grill. yum.

butter came over and to my dismay, he has been super bummed out and so broke that he has been eating nothing but noodles and peanut butter. when he was eating a hebrew national hot dog, i think he was in heaven. the cheeseburger off of the grill put him over the edge. poor guy. the mint chip icecream was too much for him. then, we roasted marshmallows over the grill before the coals died altogether. it was nice. chatting on the front porch, picking through the tunis fiber i got in the mail the other day and eating roasted marshmallows. does it get better? super laid back. butter is spending the night so maybe we will make the sweet potato pancakes in the morning…

i have been working on the woven scarf thing, i will take photos, i swear. i am up to my eyeballs in yarn and fiber that needs to be finished, so bear with me. i thought it would take less time to make, but it took for-damn-ever. jesus. it may be interesting when it is done. i am trying to figure out other ways to weave handspun into a scarf or garments for the boutique. i really need to learn to sew. or something.

ok. i am itchy from bug bites/picking fiber. everyone one my spinning list seemed to have had lice problems with their fleeces, so now i am paranoid, although this fiber was washed. paranoia will destroy ya….

xoxo,
n.

firstly, let me kick off this post by letting those kind souls who loyally read my blog and send me love that i am totally fine. some arsehole with the strange yet popular name “anonymous” posted a comment on a post that i deleted because, well, it was boring, saying “who the fuck cares?” i changed my options to be able to moderate comments, but at that moment, i just deleted the whole post to ditch the comment. although before that happened, some awesome people came to my defense. how sweet! anyway, if you think my blog is boring, that is fine, just leave. if i am so boring, why did you even just read that? man, you must be reaaaaallly boring! anyway, it really didn’t hurt my feelings, i have had much worse hurled at me from people whose opinions actually mean something to me, so, there.

i have been spinning my ass off (not really my ass, it is still there and very noticeable) but i have been still trying to get this order filled and doing things with beads to spin in, etc, etc, etc. i keep forgetting to take photos. and i have a large pile of stuff to add to the luxe store, as well. i will do it. we are going out of town to visit my folks in iowa for a few days next week and i feel like it is a bad time with all the stuff i have to do.

i ordered a couple of pounds of tunis fleece (washed) from ebay which i haven’t opened yet, having no time to mess with it. i hope it is nice. i guess we will see. i am trying to use different things than i usually use, although after using crazy batts all the time, the superwash merino top was really nice to have a nice mindless spin. you know? watch a movie, spin.

what movie? well, i watched “the white countess”…a merchant/ivory joint, and i do love those fellas…really really good movie. what else? today i finished watching “the good thief” with nick nolte and that was amazing. it is a heist movie and really clever, really likable characters. in fact, i wish it was a series. i liked it that much. i just went to imdb.com to see what else he has done, and end of the affair, one of my favorite movies ever, he did that. and loads more. i will have to put them on my queue on netflix. i will keep you posted.

i got the new knitscene, which is just enjoyable to look at. i also got the vintage styles for today from lion brand whilst looking for a particular shrug pattern that i had seen on finola hughes, then saw it in knitpicks and bought this book, which sucks, really. i have the original book that it came from from lion brand and i am going to take the book back. i think 22 bucks for one pattern is a bit steep. so. anyway, i plan to knit it from my own handspun. i need to dye some stuff for it. silk would be really nice. hmmmm…

other books? well, as you guys know, one of my good friends has an aunt named amy butler…yeah, that amy butler. and she is super nice and well…anyway, amy got her new book from the library for me, found style which is just gorgeous. really unusual ideas with really unique pieces. in the end, they even tell you their favorite places to go thrifting or antiquing or fleatiquing. i will be forced to buy it, just to have it. two thumbs up!

i had a dream about someone that i have had a rift with for a while. in this dream i made amends with her and for some reason i saw her in a different light and saw her as being vulnerable and delicate. when i woke up, i thought that i should email her and make up, but i didn’t, i thought that she would think i was a freak. i tend to be a bit psychic, if i think something will happen, it usually does. i have dreams about things that happen, although i don’t understand exactly what is going on…anyway, i just found out that she is in the hospital and i wish i would have emailed when i thought about, although, maybe it wouldn’t matter to her anyway. i hope she will be 100% okay and be able to get rid of all the useless crap in her life and have all the good stuff she can handle. nuff said.

ok. off to hang with the hubster. we sat outside and chatted for a couple of hours in the gorgeous summer night. yum. what could be better than me, jake and a cool summer night.

smoooooooooooochies!
n.