Grand Opening Week

I did it! I listed some of my yarns and well, there they are all listed at Etsy. I'll be adding more yarn and more little knits every day for a while, so please check back often! Tomorrow I will be listing a couple of skeins of my prize winning yarn. I love it and will save one skein, but I have several and they are just beautiful.

Today I listed the beautiful baby alpaca that I love. It was so fun to spin and has such a beautiful halo.

I also technically had my first sale today. But it was to my sweet motherinlaw, she bought the cute Perfectly Pumpkin. I appreciate her being so supportive, she is like that.

So, I am officially up and running. Check it out: http://www.busyknittinmom.etsy.com

Finally!

I think I finally got the banner problem worked out! Yea Me! It isn't perfect, but it is pretty darn good. I probably will play with it a little, but not too much. Frankly, I am tired of the thing. Now, for real, for sure, my little etsy shop will open over the weekend. I'll announce it, and I will be offering free shipping to open.

So onward to more enjoyable things. Over Labor Day we went to the state fair down in Pueblo. It was very hot and very fun. I loved seeing all the animals, people, rides, arts, food - all of it! The kids loved playing in the fountain since it was so hot. I think next year I will enter some knitting and spinning in the state fair, as well as the county fair again.

Also, the kids and I went to the balloon festival on Sunday. Good thing we didn't wait until Monday, as the balloons were grounded due to the wind. It is so amazing to watch them inflate and take off. And the colors are gorgeous.

We had such a nice time seeing the balloons. One of my favorite traditions, I started taking L several years ago and we would watch from near the park. But the last few years we have actually gone to the park, which isn't nearly as crowded as one would think. After the balloon takes off, many try to "dip" their basket into the lake before going all the way up. And when they do, everyone cheers, it is so cool. Colorful balloons - the child in all of us should still be amazed by the balloons.

Computers

I admit I like the computer. I think it is a great invention, tool, appliance, whatever you want to call it. But right now, I would like to throw my computer across the room and stomp on it like a child having a tantrum.

As many of you know, I am trying to set up and start an etsy shop. I want to sell some of my yarn and other products. Sounds simple, right? Sure, no problem. Making a stupid, stupid banner has turned into a huge annoyance. HUGE! To the point I just asked, no begged, my sister in law for help. See I can make the banner.

Cute, isn't it? A little small in this picture, but apparently still too big for my etsy banner.

I have some beautiful yarn, I am sure somebody right now is saying, I wish I could buy some Pretty Pumpkin yarn. Meanwhile, my poor little Pumpkin yarn is sitting in the dark cedar chest, saying I wish someone could use me. And the two should meet, but there is a banner standing in the way.

Ahhhh! Computers.

From Roving To Wristers

Several months ago I traded some yarn for this beautiful roving from Southern Crosse Fibers in Australia. It was so beautiful. I spun it up, below is a spun single lying on the some of the original roving. I absolutely love the colors. My son, C, did not think the colors were nice, which shows that even though engineering college people think they know everything, they obviously do not.

And after spinning and plying 2 together, I made these cute wristers, also known as fingerless gloves. They have a thumb opening and extend to the first knuckle of the fingers. This is a small sample of what I am hoping to have in my etsy shop on September 1st. I am so excited and nervous to sell my wares. All of those, what if it isn't good enough? What if no one ever buys anything? What if they buy it and hate it? On the other hand, what if it is good enough? What if they buy it and love it and buy more? What if? Since I don't want to wander what if, I'll be finding out after September 1st!

Grandma Alice

On a forum recently the discussion came up about what we remember about our grandmas and things they made and did. I started to think about my grandmothers - both of whom were wonderful women and grandmothers. Today I feel like writing about my Grandma Alice.



My father's mother, Grandma Alice, always made The Best Pumpkin Bread and applesauce. I can still remember eating pumpkin bread in her little kitchen at the little kitchen table. I can see the small refrigerator and oven. I have many of her old recipes, in her handwriting and it is so nice to look at that. I imagine her feeding my father and uncle some of the same things I see on the old 3x5 cards I have.



Here is Grandma Alice as a young girl. She probably knew how to make her awesome applesauce by the time she was this age. Look at that gorgeous naturally blonde hair. She was very pretty as well as nice and patient.



She married my grandfather and had two boys. Until they had to move to nursing care, they lived in the same house their entire married life. I think about all she saw and wonder what she must have thought. I think she must have been a very patient person, my father tells about going on a camping trip and every spot in the car was used. Including keeping the silverware under the front hood! If I remember right they camped for two weeks, visiting different sites.

Anyway, not on the topic of knitting or spinning. But on Grandma Alice, she probably didn't get the respect she deserved from me, she never won awards or "saved the world" but she did a very nice job raising two very nice sons. She did it with love and I miss her.

Dragonfly

This has been quite the crazy week. L started back to school on Tueday. My husband had 2 root canals over 2 days, instead of going to work. Lest you think I am an unsympathetic sort, my husband was told back in April to have this taken care of, and he didn't, so it isn't that surprising he had to have emergency root canals. And I do feel for him, just not as much as I would if this was out of the blue. Listen to your dentist!

On the up side (there is always an upside), I finally got some more pictures taken of the handspun I have been working on. I am calling this Peppermint Twist Treat, it is a 3 ply of merino wool I dyed myself, spun the singles and then thought they would look lovely together. I like it, I imagine it as cute cuffs on a girl's sweater or hat or mittens.

Next we have a 2ply of the baby alpaca I got for my birthday. Love it! It is so soft and wonderful to spin. Really, it spins like butter - no not really, I don't think butter would spin at all and would make a horrible mess, but you know what I mean. Smoooooooth!

Lastly, I did not make this, Mother Nature did. I had nothing to do with the cool dragonfly flirting around while I was taking pics in the backyard recently. But he just had to be photographed. Truly, Mr. Dragonfly missed his calling as a model and instead is just a zippy dragonfly. I am so glad he posed for me though.

Isn't he amazing? He just would not stop zipping at me until I took some pics. Now he has his 15 minutes of fame - lol!

Put On Your Sunglasses!

Put on those sunglasses, we have some very bright yarn below!

Well I warned you I had dyed some fiber bright blue and there it is! Bright blue, and doesn't it look smooth. It is - it is some beautiful blue merino. I am looking forward to spinning, but not sure how I want to spin it. Nor am I sure what I want that would be quite that bright blue. Ideas, anyone?

This yarn is spun from some wool remants I picked up at the Alpaca Show in Denver. I am continuing its name of Mardi Gras. As it is kind of garish, colorful, fun and pretty all at the same time. I even added a few beads in there on crochet thread, then plyed the two together. The results are much better than I thought possible!

And keeping with different themes, I dyed up some more merino into Halloween colors - can you believe Halloween is right around the corner? No, really, it is right there. Peeking at us from around the corner. Depending on your monitor, you can see that front roving is ORANGE. Therefore I am totally seeing a Halloween yarn - orange and black with maybe even a pumpkin or two spun in.

I am about 10 rows away from finishing a pair of handspun, handknit fingerless gloves. I look forward to posting those next with a little surprise.