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Fini:



Thank heavens. Onto other projects.
Oh, and I like it. Blocking is a grand and miraculous thing.

And this:



'65.
She'll clean up good.
Mechanically, it's lovely. 38K original miles. Gonna paint her up like a mermaid someday.
A little nervous about driving into the "big city" (Berkeley) tomorrow, but I guess there's no other way to get used to a car except by driving it...



He likes it.

It's going to be 100 degrees today, and I am covered in blankets, drinking hot chamomile and snuggling with a hot water bottle. Yes, I have the flu, and no, I don't care what kind it is. It's just the flu, and it stinks. Period (and yes, I'm on that, too).

Under "normal" circumstances, I would still be chasing after the Little Guy in this condition, but C happens to be here this week and so they are having school together, dipping apple-halves in tempera paint while I moan and groan indoors.

I am a terrible patient. Terrible enough that I went outside with them at first for circle time and then told The Yellow House (normally The Red House, but we only have yellow and green apples growing in the backyard) complete with props. Then I came inside to collapse, but feel too uncomfortable to sleep, so here I am.

The rest of today's plans include working on the header for my new wordpress blog (new logo = SO CUTE). No, I am not leaving LJ, but rather will be directing my domain name to wordpress instead of my website. My actual website is useless and I'm sick of paying for the hosting. I'd rather spend that $15/month on an ad somewheres. When I launch the new set-up, LJ will become friends-only and public entries will be x-posted. Fun! 

Oh hey, lookie what I finished and blocked yesterday:



It's the Whisper Cardigan from Interweave. I will take some real pics when I don't feel mostly dead. It fits perfectly. I don't think I've ever knit anything that fit perfectly, but it's happened. I would like it, except that it took forever (laceweight yarn = UGH) and so I've grown to detest the color and shape of the thing. I'm sure that will wear off as soon as the temperature cools and it's practical to wear a cardigan. I did add a few inches to the bottom since I don't go for that cropped look. I regret not modifying the sleeves to be full-length as I've never understood the 1/2 and 3/4 sleeve styles. I either want sleeves or I don't. Oh, well.

Another project from yesterday:



Walking blocks for the Little Guy...C grabbed some wood that was destined to become kindling and created many hours of fun.

Alright, fading out...let's hope I can teach my felting class on Saturday...

We started "school." 



So what better way to celebrate than to make a school of fish? 



100% wool felt, stuffed with wool, string scraps and a tiny, powerful magnet at the tip. At the end of the Little Guy's fishing pole is a washer...he likes to reel them in by winding the string around the stick. I thought about getting really ridiculous with them by giving them guts and bones and a velcro belly so he could prepare them for supper, but...that's for another day or year, perhaps. Fishing, I'm sure, will become a big part of our life when we live on the river.

3 down, 6 more to go:



In other news, we explored a local library yesterday...definitely something to appreciate about being back here in the Bay for a while...the libraries are bigger than my first apartment and have LOTS OF BOOKS. It was awesome. I have been reading a good deal of history and decided to take a break for some scifi and grabbed Never Let Me Go , The Diamond Age and, of course, some knitting books. The Little Guy found Madlenka, and I love her.

Fresh reading material + fish stitching  + Farmer's Market Day = damn near perfect (missing C...)

Today was one of those days when I really wished I had a "do over" button. Like, maybe I should keep one in my pocket like those emergency call buttons old folks carry in case they take an unfortunate spill.

Sometimes, you're just ready for the end of the day to hurry up and get here so nothing else can go wrong. Yeah.

The morning was fine...pretty good, even. The chiropractor commented on my new muscles. I have been growing them with hula and yoga and feel better x a million compared to recent times as a depressed sloth.

The shift occured mid-morning and then I couldn't stop breaking things. The worst of it was what I started with...the Little Guy's favorite bowl. As in, the only thing he's eaten any bowl-centric meal out of for years now. He was, however, much more concerned with the shard of ceramic that embedded itself in my inner pinky finger than with his shattered yellow bowl. We have decided his favorite color isn't yellow anymore, and that was the end of it for him. My finger situation needed a little more attention than that...the cut is deep and jagged and gross and hurts like Hell. I'm hoping I don't have to wait several days to hold a downward dog, but at least it isn't bleeding through the band-aids anymore.

Then I broke a paint jar full of bright blue expensive German paint, coating the Little Guy's pants leg and new sweater...

Then I got the mail and was feeling vulnerable enough to be taken in for the afternoon by a shady letter from the US Trademark something or other. Later on in the day I realized it wasn't for real, but the thought of having to change my business name and start over with something else made me feel ill.

Then I got a convo that the yarn colors aren't exactly right for a custom-order shawl request and I feel like I should have known how difficult it would be to reproduce something I made two years ago, especially when I have so much else going on. I have to back out of it, which feels like failure, which makes me feel 100% lame. Ugh. Will be better about which customs I accept from now on. ETA: She doesn't mind the colors, after all, thank goodness, but I still don't want to do custom knitting anymore.

I have been inspired when the projects are my own. I wish I'd dyed up about 500 pounds of this:



I love Halloween. This one's called Tricky Tricky.

The boy would like to be a PEGACORN this year. I wonder where we're going to be, and does this mean that I should be a unicorn and C a pegasus? I'd love to get C into some giant, manly wings. Hee.

It's Farmer's Market Day!

Therefore, I will torture myself with an ice cream cone from these amazing people. I am supposed to stay away from pretty much every ingredient in real ice cream, but this stuff is art, man, and well worth the headache. And no, I do not get it in a cup...hand-rolled organic waffle cones with chocolate piped into the tip are my new best friend, itchy throat and all. I long for the day they bring candied cacao-nib back to the market, or the raspberry-lemon verbena. So far, I have not seen the same flavor twice in several weeks of market-going. Oh yeah, and I get some veggies, too.

In other news, I admit it. I like dyeing fiber. I really didn't think it was true, but I've spent quite a few more hours this summer over a hot dyepot than I have at my wheel. At first it started out as a fun swap for a friend...dye up some for her, keep some for myself...try these new dyes while I'm at it...twenty pounds later I'm planning out my next sessions in a notebook. What? 

I was going to take a wee break from the pots, but then I got these amazing locks in the mail from Homestead and, well...there's an Anniversary Party/Sidewalk Sale I'll be vending at this week...oughtn't I to bring some fiber?


Inferno (Merino-X), Eggplant (Corriedale), Merman (Rambouillet)

Yes, so please, if you are an SF Bay Area local, Urban Fauna Studio is celebrating their 1 Year Anniversary! To celebrate, there will be a sidewalk sale, raffle, Make and Take activities aaaaaaaaand...CAKE! So, come for the cake, stay for some needle felting. Oh, and check out these awesome folks:

Tactile Fiber Arts – Tactile offers spinning and felting fibers and yarns hand-dyed with high quality natural dyes. http://www.tactilefiberarts.com/

The Spun Monkey - The Spun Monkey creates handspun yarn and functional felt from humane wools and fibers from small family farms. http://www.thespunmonkey.com/

Buy one item, get the second at 20% off for the UFS Anniversary event!

Kira K – Kira offers patterns with clean lines and intriguing details that are interesting to knit and easy to wear.  http://www.kirakdesigns.com/

Girl On The Rocks – During the day she is a geologist, at night she’s a crafter. Girl on the Rocks offers Clever Stitch Markers, colorful fibers and more! http://www.girlontherocks.etsy.com/

20% off all Girl on the Rocks Fiber and yarn (notions not included)

 Mary Jane's Attic – MaryJane’s Attic sells products and supplies for the fiber artist and enthusiast, such as needle felting kits, hand spinning tools, hand painted fiber, knitting accessories and everything in between! http://www.maryjanesattic.net/

One Day Only 10-30% off all Mary Jane's Attic Yarns

Hope to see you there! 

Some things just shouldn't be taken out of context, or at least, you hope your kid doesn't say them at the park or the grocery store.

The schedule has been as follows: Dye 1 3/4 pounds fiber one day, rinse the next day. Repeat until 40 pounds have been consumed by color. So far my notes on Greener Shades:

*Aqua: boil the shit out of it (very technical, I know). better yet, just use it for mixing colors and never straight up.
*Black: if you've made a stock solution, shake it up well, as it tends to separate. Otherwise, BEST BLACK EVER.
*Get the book. If you don't enjoy taking notes, it's an awesome guide for color blending.
*Every green has been gorgeous. I love this stuff.

Fortunately, today is a rinse day. I'm getting a little burned out and I'm not quite half-way through. But, I need to take advantage of having an actual kitchen while I've got it. There will be an actual kitchen in the Dome, yes, but it may take a few months to really get things set up. With Stitches East and winter shows looming, I have to get as much of the messy stuff taken care of while I'm still here in the Bay.

My very favorite so far:



I'm plotting a whole series of tropical birds, and this Toucan is the first that was successful.
Before this one, I tried for a  flamingo, but it came out more like cooked shrimp shells...the pink was too peachy...should have been blue-y. Also, a proper flamingo should have some black in it, but I worried that it would spin up a little muddy. So, yeah, I ended up with shrimp, which is not really a bad thing:


She Sells Shrimp Shells By the Seashore. 250 yards, dk weight.

I'm rather addicted to fine spinning these days, which doesn't help me get the production done that I need for a show like Stitches. The falklands seems to lend itself really well to smooth, fine yarns, so who am I to argue? Oh, well. I'd rather have a smaller pile of lovely traditionally spun yarns to sell than a giant pile of uninspired bulky. I'm sure I'll switch gears again before too long.

Random: Entrance Solutions = doors? doormats? red carpets? archways? drawbridges? 

C is leaving today, and I realize that I desperately need to bring a sense of order to our temporary life in the Bay Area. We don't know how long he'll be up north this time, or whether or not he will be bringing us back with him the next time. Perhaps there will be another couple rounds of this, and as much as I can hope not, I have to prepare for it.

The summer has been slipping away with a lack of rhythm that makes me restless. I pine for the life we'll have when we're all together and have to try too hard to enjoy what I have here in the meantime. I complain about culture shock and feeling trapped when I should be thankful that I even have a roof over my head. Instead of telling myself to stop being such a sniveling, morose little creep, I'm going to make a list.

*Find some new haunts the little guy and I can explore by bike.

*Take at least one afternoon to myself every week. By myself. There are grandparents here, and I must use them.

*Create a production schedule that is actually doable, rather than one that leaves me feeling inadequate.

*Find more creative ways to deal with my food allergies so I'm not hungry all the time or eating things that make me feel like shit.

*Finish all the half-done projects that have all worked their way out of the pile of moving boxes.

*Make good on all my swaps, custom orders and the Meme gifts from way back (hope I can find that post and all the addresses!)

I could add to my list all day, but a small person is requesting my undivided and, well...I don't give it to him often enough.

There was a jam session:



and this song was born:

A man pooped in his oven
and ate it for dinner.

Then a dragon came by
and farted fire on his house.

Not sure it's going to be his first hit, but he does rock the bass guitar.
(eta: the critter on the left wrote that song, not my very mature bro-in-law who would never utter such silliness. ahem.)

Oh, and I've been dyeing stuff:

I got another email today about hemp tissue paper...for the longest time I couldn't figure out why I was getting so many emails about where to find this stuff until I realized that I mention it's usage instead of tree-based papers in my packaging somewhere on my website. Apparently, it's getting more difficult to come by and the company I originally purchased it from (who sold me five reams at a good price instead of one) is no longer in business.

Time to take that page down, anyway. In fact, I'm leaning towards discontinuing with my web hosting service and switching my domain to a Typepad or linking it directly to Wordpress. I need to cross-post to one of those website/blog combo kind of things, but I know next to nothing about them...Anyone have any thoughts?

In other news, after all the fruit that was picked, dried, sold and eaten fresh, there are still many beautiful pears looking forward to becoming pie:



They keep my mind off the blueberries I'm not picking.

( More Garden! )
The stress of the constant limbo we find ourselves in is exhausting, but we find small ways to celebrate, the little guy and I:



We light a candle for bedtime story every night...it was time to make a new one for August. I love opening up the package of beeswax sheets...they smell sooooo good. Anyway, we just finished up the plouts, there are deep purple grapes ripening and purple morning glories everywhere...and the lad's favorite color (right now) is purple, so it seemed the logical choice for this month.

More purple awaits me in the dyepots. I had fun making up stock solutions for this afternoon's dye adventures and will have some fibers up in the shop soon!



Happy Wednesday!

We've been missing our New England friends.
So we play with crayons:


I made the crayon case for our cross-country trip from some wool felt and embroidery thread. The last few weeks we've been using the beeswax crayons to make rubbings of  leaves in grandma and grandpa's backyard. Then we send them to VT friends who may not have a fig tree or bamboo growing near them.

.....................................................................................

I'm pretty sure I'm going up with the little guy to visit C at the farm this weekend.
I know I will want to stay there.
Being separated by 6 1/2 hours drive, I might as well have stayed in New England to enjoy berry-picking season. I WANNA BLUEBERRY. And then I wanna make blueberry ice cream out of it. And then I wanna make blueberry pie. And muffins. And smoothies. And waffles And syrup for the waffles.

What was I talking about? 
Oh, yeah...the farm. If we go up, I will just want to stay there with C and live happily ever after...and I would totally just camp there until we had the funds for our dome, but I have commissions and new wholesale and it's already time to prepare for the holiday show season and STITCHES (yikes). I cannot set up studio in a camping tent, and I'm hoping my wooly efforts will get us closer to being together, which I would love to make happen before the end of the summer (rapidly approaching...eeeeeeek!).

My other option for the weekend is to stay here and let C come down for a week, which would save me the pain of saying hello and then goodbye-for-who-knows-how-long to the woods and the river and the farm, which will make me immeasurably sad. I don't function well in the suburban landscape. I have two more days to decide. I just miss him, damnit. And I miss water that doesn't have chlorine in it and I miss tromping through damp woods.

So, a shameless plug: I have been updating Etsy with oodles of Monkey Mitt Kits and felt. Every penny goes in the dome jar! Spread the word. We need to be a family again, ASAP!



Oh, and in other news:

ME: Can I make a little banner to put over the door that says, "Welcome to our Dome-icile?"
C: Ummm...NO.

I'm so going to do it, anyway. Tell me that ain't some funny shit.

A couple weeks ago we tried the Merry Go Round:



This about sums up how he felt about it:



But, then, yesterday, we tried THIS:



Oh, HELL YES.

Children + tools + paint + freedom to do whatever they want with it all = LOVE.
They don't just give out the tools for nothin', though. One must earn 'em:



Seriously, watch out for Mr. Dangerous.
Anyway, grab a tool and then...build stuff! Something small, or add on to something big:



There are structures, houses, boats, all over the place, mostly built by kids! There are also slides, a zip line and some pretty serious rope nets to climb in/on/around.

Recycled water-dispenser bottle drums!:



My dude, workin' it:





So, yeah. Merry Go Rounds are scary. Give my boy a saw.

( No Tools on the Boat! )

Okay, so everyone is off doing Summer things. Fine, that's fine.

Instead of wishing it all away for everyone else while I pine for the beginning of my new enchanted life by the river, I will post these stolen photos:



Kim and I goofing off with yarn.



Eling, myself and Kim, ready to pack it in.
Stolen from Jamie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maryjanesattic/

Knit. Read. Bed.

The internets are SLOW. So, I'm going to over-post to compensate for the lack of posts available for me to read.

Guess what? The Avett Brothers are playing in Arcata on September 1st and I have no idea whether or not I'll be moved up there yet. Good grief, I certainly hope so. CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS separation nonsense. Nonsense!

Oh, and AND, Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 at the Mississippi on October something. Oh, hell yes, I will drive me to Portland to see this show. I will drive me anywhere for some Robyn. More appropriately, I will take the train. YES.

I just applied to Craftland. Very funny, isn't it, that I made this grand decision not to be a yarn factory and now I have a million ideas and a fatty boost to my creative drive? And yes, I will probably apply to Baz Biz SF and Crafty Wonderland (Portland). Hmmm...maybe Crafty Wonderland in October to offset cost of going up to see Robyn? Hmmmmm! 
Shows! Ha! What a joke I thought I was done with them. I love them! 

Yeah, well anyway, I think I just needed to declare that I wasn't going to listen to anymore suggestions on what I should "mass" produce (this being a very relative term) and the Universe gave me my mojo back. I adore spinning again. It's nice.

Oh, and, MEGA-POSTING TO ETSY going on here! Every day at least three items...I have a couple weeks worth of updating like that plus new stuff being made all the time. And UFS has things and Wooldancer and Knit or Dye has things. Help! This girl needs a dome! And for that I need MONEY, so I leave you with this:

Unfinished projects.



In a box.



A little early. Or late? 



From my great-grandparent's steamer trunk. Not sure which family member played with crochet cotton, but there are many intricate doilies and finished projects I did not bring home with me. The unfinished goodies, however, I have plans for.

Happy Wednesday!

...there are PEARS.



Many pears:



That's one table...the rest are spread out over the hearth and in a basket, and oh, there are plenty more on the tree. Pear butter, here we come! C's mom already sold several pounds to a neighbor via Craig's List and that very same neighbor saw my tub of yarn and bought two skeins (thank you, Amy!!). Three cheers for laziness, as I had planned to be out on a bike ride with the li'l guy. Actually, it's not all laziness. The small person ate entirely too much fruit over the last few days and kinda needs to stay close to home today unless I want to bring lots of spare clothing. Yep. There are grapes ripe on the vine and baskets of pluots so temptation to gorge himself has been great.

Meanwhile, C is up in Trinity County in temps that will be near 110F today. He is doing serious outdoor manual labor on a neighboring farm involving trenching and plumbing and so he has to wake early to get a good start before the heat becomes unbearable. In the afternoons, he jumps in the river. I guess it's not so bad to be down here where it's somewhere between 80 and 90F each day, but I sure would prefer a river to the community pool.

Oh, and working backwards as promised, the weekend before Renegade was an awesome spinning workshop led by Jacey Boggs of Insubordiknit at Knit One One in Berkeley, CA. Yes, I participated in the video and had learned most of the techniques before, but there is nothing like being in a room full of enthusiastic people bouncing all kinds of creative energy off each other. I loved the workshop and the fabulous people I met and I would do it again and again and again. Jacey is wicked-talented and hilarious and come on, people...she wore her Yarn Bowl Hat:



There was laughter and silliness galore, and of course, a whole lotta this:



There's a Flickr set here for the rest: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thespunmonkey/sets/72157621640065513/

And for you locals or potential Bay Area visitors, Knit One One is a great space offering wonderful classes and events, including a craft sale every 4th Saturday of the month.

Alright...I'm gettin' OUTSIDE.

It's just easier that way, sometimes.

But then I have this back-log of awesome things I should have been blogging about all along and have no idea where to start. Usually it makes sense to start at the beginning. Well, boo convention, and besides, I haven't been uploading my pictures in that order. So, I'll start with the most recent thing and work my way back.

Renegade!

I had a lot of this on my table:



And a crap ton of scarves:



As usual, more people than I can count asked about Rhoda's dress and IT'S STILL NOT FOR SALE. Damnit, I look good in that dress, too! Needless to say, I need to make a pattern for it and go into a whole new biz.

At least she sold some scarves and put in her share of the work, rather than just standing around looking pretty in what I used to think was just a simple, yet nicely cut, run-of-the-mill white dress, maybe kinda boring but nice with jeans. If only I felt comfortable dying cotton this sucker would be black and I would wear it more than Rhoda does. SORRY, this is going way tangential. The real point here is that I LOVE GRIDWALL. I borrowed it from my Sis, and it made such a sweet way to display the Tangled scarves and some of the fancier yarns. I now want gridwall all over my non-existent studio.

Slight progress on that, but more later. This is about Renegade.

It was lovely to hang out with Kim-X...please check out her bunnies!
Mostly we sold a little, and knit a LOT (btw, I think the Whisper Cardigan is from Hell. The deepest, most fiery pit of Hell), met some awesome people and maybe wished that the show was Saturday-only. Sunday was much less busy in our little world, and I wanted to be curled up with C on his last day down here in the Bay for a while. Fort Mason Festival Pavilion was GIGANTIC and it was completely filled with vendors. There were well over 200 booths, which means around 300 vendors, I'm guessin'. In my opinion, it was overwhelming as a shopper and I didn't even get around to seeing everyone there, and I had plenty of time away from my booth to explore. I left with a Spincycle pattern, but only drooled over their fantastic yarns. Oh, and a dress from Texture, blue plaid hemp/cotton...too big but it was deeply discounted and it will be a nice project for learning how to take things in. Oh oh, and some manly yarn from Traveling Rhinos so that I can maybe knit C a hat he likes this time. I had some to/from BART adventures with Blas and Jamie (thanks, guys!) of Urban Fauna Studio and will be scheduling some felting and possibly spinning workshops at their shop in SF in the next few weeks while I'm still down here.

So, it was good...a little overwhelming, but good. In fact, I might eat my words and actually apply for BBB SF. I just might. Ha!

There are more pics at my Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thespunmonkey/sets/72157621793317408/

Btw: selling spinning/felting fiber? Good last-minute decision.

Leftovers slowly going up on Etsy.

Next post: Weekend of July 11/12. Spin workshop with Jacey! Also, beach adventures and train rides, OH MY!

It's been so overwhelming, I don't even know where to start.

A week ago, the journey home began with a bus ride to Boston, a bus only narrowly caught by jaywalking across a wide, busy road with several small children and gigantic luggage. I traveled with only one of the small children, my own, and he was quite enamored of bus travel and made things much easier than I could have hoped. A little confusion and lack of communication on my part made for some fruitless runnings-around on Sarah (sarahcoyne ) and Megan's (suncloudedover ) parts (sorry!!!!!), as Alison (wonderlandq ) found me lickety-split and we blew right on outta that bus station right quick, beating Sarah to her casa by about an hour and a half. OOPS! I missed Megan entirely. Boo on that bit.

Sarah heard some bedtime story and the little guy crashed out hard on the Deadly Daybed while we had the best dessert ever, which consisted of handmade ice cream, strawberry-rhubarb sauce and crushed dark-chocolatey/salty cookies. Seriously, it was so good. I'd try to recreate it here, but the strawberries aren't the same and the rhubarb here is ridiculous.

Anyway, the flight was uneventful but exhausting, and I've spent this entire week just settling into our latest state of limbo.

We're at my in-laws in the East Bay Area, and for several weeks, possibly a couple months, C will be up and down between here and the farm up in northern CA...the farm job is going to be awesome, but we need to get our shelter figured out. Right now, the plan is to build a platform and set one of these on it.
The little guy and I need to stay behind down here until something is set up. The only setback is that it's going to be a while before C is paid and we're not sure how we're going to purchase the actual structure. I'm confident we'll figure it out, though.

I avoided getting in touch with anyone since we've been here so I could process and absorb my new surroundings. Sure, it's all familiar...it's not like we've been gone twenty or thirty years, but still...it's very different from the life I'd gotten used to...flying in over brown, dry hills instead of lush, green mountains made my heart heavy...we hiked today and it felt like we're suddenly in a different hemisphere entirely. Bristle thistles and crunching grass, air that is dry and crisp...tell me that it's summer here.

Moving on, there has been a decision made through all this transition...this being that it's time to retire The Spun Monkey in it's current incarnation. I will still be producing yarn, and I will retain my Etsy shop...probably not my website, but the domain will link to Etsy...maybe just x-post to a wordpress blog that links to everything...but I cannot be a yarn factory any longer. Stick a fork in me. I can't keep staying up until 2am to meet the quota I set for myself so that I have enough for shows, consignment and my own shop. I have a child and a husband and will also be integrating myself into a cooperative farming scenario. I will still be spinning and creating art, but it will no longer be during hours when I should really be sleeping. And normal hours means less productivity. However, this also means that my time with my art will be precious and more fulfilling because I will be exploring what I want to rather than what I feel I should be working on in order to sell product, meaning: more complex pieces, fine art and mixed media works and varied mediums. This shouldn't be disappointing to anyone, as it should make my shop more interesting to follow and incorporate more of my passions as it evolves. Fiber and yarns will always be there, but I need to branch out creatively or I will burn out.

That's all I've got for now.

Yes, plural.

Random Number Generator says: Amanda and Lisa (#'s 9 and 10) should send their mailing addresses to: thespunmonkey@gmail.com.

I'm not sure what the second tester skein looks like yet...much tamer than the bright pink/orange. If either of you feel really strongly that bright is your thing, let me know or I will just flip a coin.


In other news, today we had sunshine, and lots of it.

I used my birthday coupon at the salon and chose extensions rather than a dye job, and couldn't be happier with the results.

I took my last trip to Delectable Mountain Cloth and scored some beautiful vintage lace for my feltwork. I will miss this shop with my whole heart, but they can send me chiffon samples from afar. Jan gifted me a lovely piece of linen I will use to experiment with mushroom dyes as part of a new little project growing in my mind. And, of course, one cannot visit this shop without procuring some amazing buttons. Pics tomorrow.

Met up with friends and my kiddo at the New England Youth Theatre, where a production of Stuart Little was happening out on the lawn. I was really impressed...the kids were riveted, even mine...talented folks who were totally adorable in a non-obnoxious way plus informal setting where I can crunch carrots dipped in sunflower seed butter = very nice afternoon.

And then a bunch of other stuff made me late for the drawing. Sorry!

Anyway, did I show you these?:


Apple Skin


Algae

Now I did. And it's late. Good night.

WoW!
Thanks so much for all the interest...I will draw a name at 9-ish this evening and post a winner. Or how about two!
First come, first serve is so boring. I'm glad there will be some suspense involved. Yay! 

Here is a preview of kits that will be available at Renegade SF:



I'm getting excited...I think I will have quite a nice bit of stock, and there are still two solid crafting weeks before the show once I get to CA next week. There will be felt galore, and some new mixed media pieces that I haven't talked about yet as well as a mountain of handspun and knitting kits.

I'll be back with a post about my tablemate, the amazing Kim-X