Starbucks and Yarn Questionnaire

It’s been so long since I have made any entries here. Trying to keep up with everything lately has been kind of all consuming. So instead of not doing anything, I joined this swap…here are my answers to the questionnaire.

1. Full name: Eleanor Putz aka Ellie
2. Ravelry ID: Crazy4Knitting
3. Email address: ellie@crazy4dyeing.com
4. Blog address (if you have one): eleanormp.wordpress.com
5. Handmade item you desire in the swap (bag, cup cozy, etc.): surprise me!
6. Starbucks item you desire (gift card, mug, beans, etc.): mug or gift card
7. Favorite Starbucks beverage/bean: Tall Mocha Non-Fat No Whip
8. Favorite snack food: popcorn
9. Favorite color(s): red, blue and green
10. Favorite fragrance: lavender
11. What types of things do you like to knit?: mostly socks, and hats
12. Do you spin?: not yet, but it is in my future for sure!
13. Do you dye your own yarn?: yes
14. Favorite yarns: Koigu, Louet and most indie dyers
15. Favorite needles: Harmony wood circulars for sock knitting
16. Do you have any allergies? cats
17. Would you be willing to prepare an angel kit if necessary? yes
18. Do you have any special requests? no
19. Do you have any pets? no
20. Is your home smoking or nonsmoking? non-smoking

 

May is almost gone…

Wow- this month went by too quickly. My son graduated from college, and went off to photograph the college baseball championships. My daughter went on a scholarship study trip to China for three weeks (can’t remember worrying this much since 1st grade- thank goodness her cell phone works there), and we have stayed home!  I have been fighting sock wars and I am almost done with my second sock for my second victim. The pattern was poorly written without enough detail for inexperienced knitters, causing a lot of consternation and many different opinions on what is the right thing to do, including my own. The pair took forever because I had to keep ripping it out, but this pair has gone very quickly since I made all the mistakes before! The color is God-awful ugly though, and I really do hate this Tofutsie yarn. It splits, it is not consistently twisted, has knots and tangles up easily. I feel bad for my next victim with this ugly color coming her way tomorrow.

 

HSKS 5

Come on over and join the new HSKS 5 Swap, if you are a Harry Potter fan. A few spaces are left. Do it!!!

 

Silence is not golden….

I have been silent for far too long. The selling of yarn has slowed to no more than a crawl, not sure why. Launching of my un-Etsy site has not worked out like I had hoped. I guess it has thrown me into a pretty severe funk, even yarn sales on Etsy have shuddered to a halt. I am not sure what to do next. I have hordes of undyed yarn begging for color in my basement, but I am uninspired.

I think I am about to be stiffed by yet another Hogwarts Sock Swap exchange. My first experience was quite a bit less than satisifactory with the only thing exchanged was a couple of mugs with knitting saying on them, and my package “Lost” in the mail. (the package I sent contained all the required elements and quite a bit more) . I even contributed a pair of socks for an abandaned swappee, but no one seemed to care that I was abandoned too. So stupid me, joins the next exchange, and guess what I have received -one ball of yarn- 50g-can’t even make a pair of socks, mail out date was April 18, and I have had no word from my pal. I am very disillusioned with that whole thing.

The HSKS 4 swap went much better mostly because there are very strict rules and I think that is what made it succeed. I will join that one again. I also joined Sock Wars 3- that should be interesting.

And last night we went to see my daughters’s college jazz ensemble play as an opening act for the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and the woman sitting behind me hummed ad nauseum anytime there was no music playing. I wanted to strangle her, until her husband started whistling, and then I wanted to strangle them both together. Yes I know that I am not a nice person.

 

Mostly not knitting related

I’ve somehow gotten out of the habit of blogging lately. I am going to try to rectify that, so here goes.

I had a dream last night about my best friend Cathy, who died at the age of 39 from Crohn’s disease. It’s been close to 18 years since she died, and about that long that we were friends. I miss her so much, although after I married, we weren’t as close as we once were, we really grew to adults from silly teenagers together.

Lately, I seem to have forgotten how to make friends, and maybe that’s why I dreamed of her last night. Other than my husband, who has been a constant in my life for coming up on 25 years next month, people seem to flitter in and out of my life like butterflies, landing for brief moments at a time, never lingering long in one place. Maybe it’s just that I am getting older, and I am nostalgic for my twenties, when having fun was all that mattered. I have a job that requires working from home, with only phone contact with people. My knitting is pretty solitary, and my dyeing business is as well. Our kids are at school, and beginning that journey that distances them from their parents (as it should) to be on their own in the world, just as I did. I don’t know what it is really, just feeling so unsettled, lonely and can’t really put my finger on why. I am one of those people who always puts on a happy front to the world, the kind of person, others tell their troubles to, always solving problems, so it seems especially frustrating to have some of my own, and not be able to put my finger on how to fix it.

Anyway maybe I’ll feel a little better with that off my chest.

I have been knitting though- almost finished with another pair of socks to test out a new base yarn (it’s so plumpy) that comes in 115 g skeins that are 380 yards. It seemed so small to me, but I’ve all but finished the Nutkin pattern and have about 20g left over, so I guess I can sell the yardage with a good conscience. Two other pairs in the works, both pairs down to the heel are almost done. I finally figured out the right way to SSSP, after watching a YouTube video about 10 times. One of the pairs is my own design to send out to my sock club (consists all of 4 members) with the summer yarn. I’ve got the Spring yarn ready to go, and the plan  for Summer yarn solidified yesterday ( not literally)
Ellie in a blue funk today

 

Way too long

I can’t beleive it has been over a month since I have written. Life has been very busy to say the least. The dyeing business has been super busy, we took a vacation to Jamaica, the kids have been home from school for a few weekends, Katie is going to China and we had to go to a meeting about that. Dan is going to a Sports Photography Seminar during Spring break, and just left after a whirlwind afternoon of getting him some new professional-ish clothing, and making him an ultra suede bag for one of his long lenses. He left super impressed with his Mom, and I can’t help but feel good about that! I am getting ready to do some well needed cleaning in my sewing room, it has virtually exploded with all the things I have been doing lately and the chaos is out of control! Lots of knitting has been going on at least sock wise, and I shall post some new pics later.

 

Pair 4 for January

Here they are. I’ve been finished for at least a week, but didn’t get a picture until today. The pattern is cross-hatch lace from More Sensational Socks. Except with a short row heel.

Koigu yarn colorway P444

 

Crap

So today, I got my first issue of Interweave Knits- a Christmas gift from my daughter. You would think that would make me happy but what I pulled out of the mailbox was a ripped front cover and that was all..with a little red stamp on the address label that says “Received in damaged condition” . It was kind of funny in a demented kind of way -the ultimate understatement. Honestly how does stuff like this happen? So that makes me very happy that I decided to start shipping my yarn in a ziplock bags inside a tyvek envelope, after reading about insurance and loss on Ravelry this week. I am now a victim so I will do everything to prevent it happening to my customers.

I’ve been subsumed by the HSKS4 swap. It is a secret swap and I am blogging in character. I can’t keep up with two blogs so hence my silence here. I have finished 4 pairs of socks this month and I’ve started on another..the famed Monkeys. I tried to resist making them since it seems too be the most popular according to Ravelry, and try as I might I hate going along with the crowd, but I relented, and I am liking them.

 

January Socks

I’ve finished three pairs of socks so far, the oldest were begun last March or so, when I wanted a very simple pattern to work on, well, it was so simple that it got to be a little boring, and I was dismayed with the different hue of the second sock (purchased before I got the dyeing bug), so my motivation waned a bit. They are very warm and fluffy and very yellow! The pattern is Bubble Wrap Socks.

The second pair is my California Dreamin’ Clog Socks, my very own pattern available here.
The color and yarn is from my own dye pot.

And last but not least, I dyed up this funky Russian yarn, a merino and alpaca blend with a very loose twist. To my surprise and delight, they turned into very, very soft socks! The pattern is Tessalating Lace Socks by Kat Hanes.

I call them my Easter Egg Socks.I call them my Easter Egg Socks.

 

Dyeing Up a Storm

I’ve been crazed with dyeing the last few days. Today I spent reskeining and getting ready to take photos of about 25 new skeins of yarn. I hope to be able to get all the photos ready to upload to my shop in the next day or so.

I’ve all but finished the socks that I made with the weird Russian yarn. I should finish them tomorrow, and I’ll post some new photos.

I also joined the new SAM5 KAL, and I’m offering a discount to the other members in my shop., so it’s a good thing I’ve got lots of new yarn to add.

I am going to start a baby sweater, my niece just brought home her new adopted baby, and I need to get busy with that sweater. This is the second baby that they have been given, but the birth mother of the first baby changed her mind three times, and finally after a month they had to give the baby back- I had just packed up the cute little hat that I made to send when that happened. It doesn’t seem right to send that to the new baby, so something new will be made! Her name is Phoebe Grace-isn’t that a beautiful name.