A time during which I maintained my blog

See that soup up there? I'll tell you how to make it later on :)

Well here I am, doing a peachy job of maintaining my blog in the new year. What is this... three blog posts since New Years? I seem to do a pretty good job updating my blog when I put my mind to it. That is usually around the start of the year and when something exciting is going on in my life (unless it was 2008 in which case I seemed to have caught blogging fever). That also seems to be the pattern I have in keeping up to date with my far away friends.

It's sad.

I should fix that.

And since talking about blogging isn't nearly as exciting to the reader (or the author) as writing about something deep and introspective, I'll depart from my opening words and embark on a more interesting topic.

The first few days back to the office after an extended vacation (17 days to be exact) are never very easy. Mentally you are ready to head back, but physically, your body is ready for a nap at 11:28AM and then another one after a big, lazy lunch and a movie around 3:21PM. Back in the office, though, you might find yourself in important meetings or water cooler discussions around those times and a nap just doesn't cut it (at least, not in this country). On top of some long, napless days, you go home to a house void of all Christmas cheer. The decorations have been taken down, your baked Christmas goodies are getting stale, and the money you spent on Christmas is being replaced with a strategic plan that involves eating at home, every night, and on a budget.

Things look bleak right about now...

... unless you've found a hidden burst of creativity that you didn't use up preparing for the holidays.

While lounging about this past weekend, I worked very hard to make available some easy to grab activities and tasty, new menus for dinners. If my evenings are filled with new kitchen adventures followed by a game of solitaire with an REAL LIVE deck of cards, perhaps I have something to look forward to (why solitaire? Well, it's mindless... sometimes you need mindless in a day, don't you judge me. And why with a real deck of cards? Because it hurts my eyes less than my phone or computer screen).

Humor me for a minute. I adore cooking. I'm pretty good at it but long days at work coupled with exhausting brain things filling my head all day can lead to cop out meals. These are meals I know how to make without a recipe and that I know will be liked by all parties involved in the noshing process. My go to meals rotate between alfredo sauce on any kind of pasta that suits my fancy that day (sometimes I kick it up a notch and do a cajun chicken alfredo, but it's still alfredo), various types of enchiladas (I can make any freezer mystery meat into a killer pan of those Tex-Mex favorites), curry split pea soup, curry chicken pot pie, mushroom/sausage/pumpkin soup and... well... sometimes spaghetti and sometimes chili (although I'm not a fan of either but they are easy so we eat them). There you have it. If I'm going to cook at home, it's usually one of those things.

This can easily lead to thoughts of budget suicide (i.e., running to Cable Car Pizza for $30 worth of gourmet pizza or heading to China Cafe because it's familiar and they know you are the lady who likes extra sauce with her egg foo young). Foods that used to be tasty and exciting seem, quite honestly, upsetting to the stomach. Changes were inevitable if I was going to be able to maintain some form of a happy home that smells delicious every night.

Thankfully, I'm the proud owner of about 147 food related or recipe filled magazines from the past few years. Between Martha Stewart Living, Every Day Food (also Martha Stewart), and Everyday with Rachel Ray, I surely had a few good recipes to try out. It only took 20 minutes, but I was able to find 2 weeks worth of items to make in just three magazines. I'm happy to report that every single one I've prepared so far have been killer good.

Okay, so I've only made 3 so far, but things are looking up!

Now, all of this to say, I'm thinking that a weekly post to share one or two of my favorite recipes tried over the past week is surely in the cards. To kick things off, I bring you last night's Chicken Tortilla Soup - pictured above. The base recipe is from Everyday Food (the Jan/Feb 2012 issue) but I took a lot of creative liberties when cooking this 'cause that's what I do best.

5 cups chicken broth (I bought a box which had 4 and made a 5th out of bouillon and the hot water I poached the chicken in, I'm sure this made it better)
10 chicken tenders
most of a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes (no salt added)
tablespoon of tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
chili powder (a lot... I didn't measure)
corn tortillas
olive oil
salt
pepper
avocado
cilantro
lime wedges
Mexican or Spanish rice of your choice (I make my own with white rice, a can of rotel, salt and cumin)
Shredded Mexican cheese (or cotija if you have cooler grocery stores than I do)

Poach the chicken until done, shred when cool enough to touch with out cursing
Heat oven to 350, cut desired amount of tortillas into strips (I used 3 for 2 bowls of soup), toss with a bit of olive oil (enough to coat very lightly), season with salt and chili powder, then spread on baking sheet and cook until crisp - turning once.
Cook your rice however you want to cook it (boxed rices comes with their own instructions, I don't need to put them here)
Cook garlic in a large soup pot with some olive oil until fragrant (a few minutes)
Add diced tomatoes in juice, tomato paste and chili powder (however much you want) and cook until liquid is almost gone.
Add all chicken broth.
Bring to a boil, salt and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, DON'T FORGET ABOUT YOUR TORTILLA STRIPS (burning them is sad)

Place a scoop of rice in each bowl
top with some shredded chicken
top with a sprinkle of shredded cheese
slice avocado and set on top of the cheese
pour some of the soup into the bowl
top with cilantro and tortilla strips
then squeeze the heck out of a lime wedge over the top of the soup (you'll thank me later)

don't throw away the squeezed lime... put that bad boy down in some water, or tea, and pretend you're in Mexico. Better yet, make a margarita and dream of beach side restaurants in Cozumel. I did.

Serves 4 - don't be a pig, save the leftovers for lunch, unless you're starving. In that case, go ahead and be a pig.

Enjoy!

A Day Spent Indoors

The view from my window today was a wet one. It rained most of the day only letting up long enough for me to steal away to grab some groceries. I had planned to work on my back patio to get it ready for spring and summer cookouts, but instead I sat on the couch and knit on my next project.

I'm knitting this.

Remember, in my last post, when I mentioned that I would knit my first shrug in the next couple of months? Well, I'm actually sticking to that statement. It's my first "grown up" project. It's an actual garment AND it has lace work in it. Wow, I know, I'm shocked too. After 5 attempts to get through the ribbing (I do ribbing all of the time, so I'm not sure what my hang up was) I finally got to the lace pattern and it's been smooth sailing since. However, the combination of small yarn and small needles have left my hands cramped up about halfway through the project. So I'll call it a night for now. Perhaps I'll finish it before the work week starts.

The rest of the story

And finally I present to you my new carding station. The empty drafting table from the previous post has finally been inhabited with fiber, tools, buttons, jars, ribbon, a scale, and my drum carder. The world is happy again and you all can go on about your business.

I haven't used it for carding yet, just for labeling my new yarn for the Farmer's Market. I'm waiting on a few goodies to get here in the mail and then I'm carding up 7 sets of Woolyhands Batt Club batts for April. I love my theme idea and hope it plays out in real life like I see it in my head. If not, I'll do something else - that's the joy of creating.

In case you lurk in social media world and have noticed I'd been MIA lately, it's because of this - ARTOSPHERE. I've been working on scheduling the Chamber Music Series and the film series. It's been a beast of a project but I think we're almost done with the hard part and then I can sit back and enjoy my hard work. While I didn't select or book the artists for this series, this was the furthest into programming I've worked so far in my career. I scoped out spaces, chose the schedule, arranged the concert times, will help design how the concerts look to the patrons, arranged the description/artist bio sheet that our Marketing team will use to promote this project and other small things that all add up to a BEAST of a project. I'm very, very proud of it.

I should be, it's a big deal for me! Hopefully it will be a big deal for Walton Arts Center, too.

What Makes a Home?

I recently overheard someone talking about my house and my decorating style by saying "Erin really makes it feel like a home in here" (this person doesn't live here nor is their sole purpose in life to say things that make me feel good). Since hearing that, I've walked around my house looking to see what it is I do to make it feel like a home.

Is it shelves full of books?

Walls covered in family pictures?

Art created by my siblings on display?

Collections of things here and there?

I couldn't place my finger on one single thing and it dawned on me... I'm like my mom. If there is one way to describe her decorating style, I would say it was "comfortable/eclectic". She didn't hone in one style but rather combined a mish-mash of things that all just worked together. While I don't see my mom's house when I walk into my small home, I do see her influence. I have pottery from the 70s mixed with pottery from the 40s. My napkins don't match but are all floral. I have a very modern rug mixed with a table and lamp styled after the 20s. All of these things wouldn't go together in concept, but they all just work.

My latest addition to my home was the lamp and table in the picture above. They came from my mom's house and when I stuck them in my car (carefully, mind you) I had no idea what I was going to do with them, I just knew I wanted them. I've loved that lamp since my mom brought it home when I was in high school and that table was just quirky enough for me to lust after. I brought them home and set them in my dining room. I pretended they weren't there, in the middle of a room they didn't belong in, while I searched out their perfect location. When that location wasn't found right away, I tried to ignore them while going on about my business, but they sat there, calling after me. "Erin... find us a place... we want to help you make this space a home". It wasn't until hours later when I was sitting on the couch when I realized that they would have a space in my living room. Furniture was shifted and then moved again and finally, the table and lamp sat center stage. They were perfect in their new spot.

I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to put a lamp in my living room. Instantly that room hugs anyone who enters. Perhaps it was the room that was waiting on the right lamp to come along. Thankfully my mom bought that lamp 13 years ago - little did she know it was perfect for this house.

Stash Busting

Let me go ahead and admit I have somewhat of an issue. When it comes to spinning fiber, I have no monetary control. I can't give my money away fast enough. The highlight of my day is often finding a big, squishy envelope in my mail box. Those packages fill my heart with fibery warmth and fill my spinning bobbins with lush, lovely yarn.

Typically this doesn't bother me. I have mad skills (typically I'm more modest about myself) when it comes to selling yarn and fiber and I'm able to end each week with a profit even when I've been let loose on a fiber shopping spree. However, lately the fiber has been stacking up and stacking up. I blame this entirely on the fact that there isn't a need for a large farmers market in this area during the winter. It's a tragedy really and as you see, it's not my fault. I don't have a place to go unload my yarn every Saturday so while I keep spinning, the fiber keeps piling up.

Even though I take no blame for the current condition of my fiber stash and the current sad state of my PayPal account, I will do my best to fix both sides of the issue. I found a group on Ravelry challenging each other to spin 10 yarns before buying any more fiber. It seems I run with a large crowd when it comes to fiber purchases. There is a boat load of addicts just like me. Thankfully, that large crowd of fiberholics also provided a good support group. Many times this week I've almost strayed and purchased some locks here, a batt there, a braid of top over in that place... but alas, I have been strong. I have many other on my side cheering me on.

I've spun 7 yarns so far. There are plied yarns, singles, crazy art yarns, corespun yarns, corespun on wire yarns, and yarns that have no category. I can't seem to find the dent I've made in my stash yet, but I know it's there. Hopefully when I get to 10 I'll have a hole on my bookshelf large enough to have a good reason to go buy more fiber to fill it.

HEY - don't look at me like that. Turn around, look at your bead/fabric/paper/whateverelseyoucanthinkof stash and then admit to yourself that we all have a craft supply hoarding issue.

Uh huh... that's what I thought.

Now don't you feel bad for looking at me like that?

Some say...

Some say that the difference between and rut and a grave is the depth. I heard this at work earlier this week and maybe I'm just not grasping it, but I'm left with a huge, cartoon question mark over my head when I think on this. Is saying that a rut is basically a grave suppose to motivate me to hoist myself out of the rut and find a new path? Is saying that suppose to make my rut feel full of doom? Is saying that making any sense to any of you?

Yeah, it didn't make sense to me either.

However, I will admit, I've been in a rut lately. A color rut. When buying wool, I tend to gravitate towards the same colors (usually warmer colors) and that translates all too well over to my carding tendencies. This would be all fine and dandy if I were only spinning and carding fibers for me, but let me be the first to tell you, spinning yarn for myself doesn't bring in the Benjamins. So, in order to add more colors to my shop pallet, I'm left forcing myself to buy something blue, or dye something purple, or card something with black in it. YES, I said forcing. I have to step away from my eyes and let the little spinning devil on my should tell me "perhaps someone would like a yarn with blue and purple... perhaps someone would pay you enough money for some new shoes if you'd spin that blue and green fiber... perhaps you need to snap out of your love for warmer colors and GET WITH IT".

Yes, this is the conversation that goes on inside my head every time I reach for red or orange or yellow. Crazy? Maybe.

Tonight started out no differently than any other night. I found myself standing in front of my tower of wool, scanning over colors and textures trying to find just...the...right...ones. Red? No. I've already done red. Orange? No. I've already done orange. Yellow? Heck no, I've already done yellow. I was at a loss. I just couldn't reach for the cooler colors without first considering the warmer tones. So what did I do? I pulled all of the colors down. Every blasted bit of color I had and I started carding. Some colors were omitted out of fear (some color combinations are better left to the imagination), some colors were resting at the bottom of the pile and were overlooked. But the colors that did make it on to the carder are breathtaking. Warm mingled with cool which all blended fabulously with a huge smack of sparkle 'cause I like it that way.

I'm happy. Sometimes the best way to get out of a rut is to just throw caution to the wind and see what happens.

Step away from the plying head.

I have to admit a dirty little secret. It's bad. You might want to cover the ears of younger children. Okay, and the ears of a few elderly folks. I'm quite ashamed to admit this to all of you... but here goes -

I can't stop plying.

I used to be crazy for batts. I loved separating them out by color (almost in an OCD way) so spin up stripey singles. I love the drape of a single, I loved knitting with singles, and I adored the color changes. During my stocking up of batts, I purchased roving/combed top here and there but spun that up as singles also. Occasionally I'd sneak a plied (with itself) yarn in there, but not often. If I did ply, it was usually big, slubby yarns on thread.

Then a knit a long on Ravelry caught my attention. The pattern was called "Toasts" and people were using their plied yarns spun from Funky Carolina wool. I was mesmerized by the way the plied yarns knit up. The colors were undefined yet defined, all at the same time. They were organic, a kaleidoscope of colors, and I had to try them myself. I spun up some plied yarn, knit up the toasts, and fell in love.

Since the "Toasts" project in November, I've really only been spinning plied yarns. Okay, I lie, I spun a singles last week, but other than that, I've been plying.

It's shameful, really, the amount of plying I do. Poor fluffy, lovely, colorful batts. They sit, unused, waiting to be spun. Soon, my friends, soon. But for right now, I ply.

Well Hello

Yes, I do manage to finish a big project every now and then. These little fingerless gloves might look small, but this was a very big project for me. I picked out roving from my stash, spun it up specifically with these in mind, set the yarn, waited for it to dry, waited some more, got distracted by a couple of craft shows and things like that, and then I finally knit them up into Toasts. Okay, so they aren't exactly Toasts or even Toasties. They are a combination of sorts - knit with a thumb hole instead of a half thumb thing that I thought looked a bit off.

So there you have it. Aside from being superwoman most of the time, I do find the time to finish a knitting project when I put my mind to it. Now, off to spin more yarn because these are addictive.

Afternoon

There was something about the way the sun shone into the windows today that created a sort of calm on the west side of the house. The beams of light that were cast across my office and fiber studio warmed me to my toes. It was the perfect afternoon after spending the morning at the Farmer's Market (freezing, I might add). It's days like this that really should never end. The leaves falling outside my windows are vibrant shades of gold, orange and red. The call of autumn birds provided a nice background to the sounds of autumn. The Schmoo cat napped on the corner of the guest bed while flecks of dust playfully floated in the sunlight. The scene left me feeling completely at peace with things... everything.

There was just something about the sun shining into the windows.

It inspired me to card up and label 54 mini batts of fiber for the November Phat Fiber Box. That is a powerful thing as I usually dread the labeling part and put that off until the absolute, last minute. But today was different. Today I'm left proud of my samples, completely happy with the outcome, and looking forward to shipping them off to Phat Fiber Headquarters.

There was just something about that sun shining through the window into the mounds of fiber (seen above). You can't even help but feel comfortable just looking at it.

A Finished Object

Remember that yarn I gushed over a while back (see here if you don't), well, I finally found a project worthy of this yarn. I looked and looked for something I'd wear... a lot. I love hats, but don't often wear them as I find myself trying to keep my hair looking nice for work. So a hat was out. Mittens or fingerless gloves were the same way... I like them but don't wear them enough. I wanted this yarn to get knit into something I'd grab almost everyday on my way to work. Well, almost every cold day.

I found a pattern on Ravelry for a "Wham Bam Thank You Lamb" cowl. It was a free pattern, always a plus, I could do it in one evening, again, a plus, and it used chunky yarn, not only a plus but a requirement. I read over the pattern, cast on my stitches and a little over an hour later I had the masterpiece you see above (please excuse my old DMB concert t-shirt, I don't dress up for knitting hour in front of my tv). I'm so excited with how it turned out and with how it features my yarn.

And for all of you shoppers out there at the Fayetteville Farmers Market who pick up skein after skein of yarn and ask "what do you do with 100 yards of yarn" well, this is one project.

Things that go bump in the night

A few posts ago I announced that I'd be hosing my first SAL (spin-a-long) for Woolyhands. The turnout has been great and I can't wait until the spooky batts make it to their new homes and the creations get posted to my Flickr group. The add ins are a lot of fun and these colors just scream halloween. I thought I'd give you all a sneak preview of each batt and the description that went along with it. They are listed in order from top to bottom in the picture above.

“The Count’s Revenge”

It’s been a year since you escaped the dark woods slightly shaken but unharmed. You’ve almost put that trip to the mountains of Transylvania out of your mind. However, that rustle you hear outside your bedroom window on the darkest of nights is not caused by the breeze, rest assured, The Count is out for his revenge and waits patiently for sleep to fall upon you.

“Witches’ Brew”

You spy a light in the woods, a gathering of voices so screechy they send chills down your spine… “eye of newt… the blood of a frog”? What’s that smell coming from the gathering? Is that brew they are creating meant for you? You try to scream and run away, but you realize, they had expected you’d do that and the spell has already begun…

“Ghostly Whisper”
We’ve all heard it, late a night, a sound from behind you… a whisper of something so chilling, yet from an unfamiliar voice… looking around you hope it came from someone in the room and you realize, as a chill creeps down your spin, that you are alone.

Where did that Ghostly Whisper come from?

“HOBGOBLIN”

Something startles you from your sleep and you wake up to a pitch black room. Not even the dim light from a distant moon lights your view enough to see what caused your rising. Another bump in the night sends a shiver creeping down your spine and you remember a legend you heard as a child about hobgoblins that find homes under your bed and you pull your covers closer…

So Organized

My mom had a wooden architect table at her house that she used for beading. I loved it since she found it at a garage sale and it was one of those pieces that you wished you would have spied first so you could have claimed it.

My siblings and I have started the daunting process to figure out what we want to keep of hers and what we'd love to keep, but don't have room for. That table is on my list. No one else has mentioned it yet and I'm really crossing my fingers hard that no one does. I think it would be the perfect table to use in my wool studio as a carding station. It's the perfect height and it is sturdy enough not to walk around the room as I card wool like my current table (a folding table from Sam's Club that I use for Farmers Market) does.

Before I cant even beg my siblings to let me have it, I needed to make sure it would even fit in the space. So this afternoon was "Project: Make Room for the Table". As you can see by the before photo: and after photo: the table will fit perfectly and it really cleans up the space to add another piece of furniture to the mix. Funny how that happens.

I wish I'd get the same bug about cleaning as I do about organizing my crafty areas.

Halloween Spin-a-Long

Raise your hand if you like Halloween?

And raise your hand if you like spinning wool?

Now raise your hand if you are a fan of a good, old fashion SAL (Spin-a-Long)???

I'm sure many of you have your hand up if not for all of these, at least for one of these. I have started my very first SAL over at Woolyhands. This Halloween themed spin-a-long will feature some goolishly fun batts in a mix of fibers with some spooky add ins for those who love to spin art yarns. I've had so much fun carding up some various batts and I can't wait to send them out to the participants at the end of this month.

If you've never participated in an SAL, now is your chance. Don't know what an SAL is? Well, you're in luck because I'll let you in on the secret. SALs (or spin-a-longs) are just a chance for a bunch of spinners to all spin either the same batt or a selection of themed batts (which mine will be) into yarn and show them off in a forum of some sort. The fun part about mine is that everyone who posts a finished yarn over at my Flickr group will be entered into a drawing for some surprise spinning fibers. This couldn't be more fun!

I've been wanting to do this for a few months. I participated in an SAL over the summer and absolutely had a blast. Now that I've had a bit of time to devote to my piles of wool, I decided it was time to host this. I just can't wait to see what people spin up with their Woolyhands Halloween Spin-a-Long Batts!

Plumbing - just add it to my resume

Living in old houses comes with advantages and disadvantages. I could list advantages all day (claw foot tubs, high floor boards, built in telephone shelves, doors with skeleton key holes, etc) but in turn, I could also list disadvantages all day (hot spots in the summer, cold spots in the winter, cracked windows, scary electrical outlets, scary basement furnaces, etc).

My washing machine was replaced last week as the old one was doing some crazy things. However, with the replacement came a fountain of water every time the thing would drain. Water would spew out all over as the drain wasn't draining. It was fun for a few loads, but the charm quickly wore off.

A call to my landlord ended with me being quite upset. A clogged drain was apparently my fault and it would be up to me to call a plumber to come fix it. I'm pretty sure that I had only been washing clothes (mostly cotton) since moving here and unless the cat was taking a bath in the washing machine, I couldn't figure out why my drain was all of a sudden clogged. I am also not sure why the landlord didn't want to take a look at it since it started immediately after having a new machine installed. Many, many things confuse me about the landlords in Arkansas, I'll add this to my list.

I'll be darned if I have to pay a plumber to show me his backside while bending over to fix the drain, so I decided to add plumber to the list of things I dabble in for fun and I headed to the basement with a flashlight and untwisted wire hanger. After digging around in the drain for about 10 minutes, I had pulled out a good pile of rusted metal shards and bits of sandy clumps. No hair, no fuzz, no folded up notes that had been left in pockets (not even any money - darn).

Now, I'm hard pressed to say that my laundry created rusted, metal shards and clumps of sand in the washing machine drain. As you can see by the picture above, those drains are old and skanky - I think they did it to themselves. Shall I bill my landlord?

Wish List

There was much discussion going on between some Fiberistas on Twitter yesterday about spinning wheels. One of my favorite fiberistas, Cloudlover, made a big announcement that she just purchased a Lendrum DT complete (DT stands for double treadle and complete means it comes with all of the fabu stuff you need for big HUGE bobbins of art yarn).

Normally I just congratulate the fiber artist on their new baby and am done with it. However, this announcement came one day after a fairly frustrating evening of trying to get a bulky, plied yarn spun up. It almost ended with my throwing my wheel out of my house into my front yard. Don't get me wrong, I love my spinning wheel, but I'm thinking it's just not cut out for the HUMONGOUS art yarns that I would love to do more of... and would do more of if I didn't lose hair over the whole ordeal.

So, now I have something to save up for. I must also own a Lendrum DT complete. I'm not sure how long it will take me to save up for it... I do have to restock my merino supply soon, but after that I'll save up for a new wheel.

And if you are wondering if I'm going to sell my other wheel - I'm not sure yet. It was my first wheel and I really like it for almost every yarn I do... just not for super bulky, heavy, art yarns. Oh, and if you are wondering if I'm going to sell my other, other wheel (the super duper Craigslist find) I doubt it... unless I need that money for the new wheel... then I might be persuaded to part with it. I just can't be a three wheel lady, that sounds a bit crazy.

Big Return... I hope

I do believe I am done watching tv and am ready to get back to making things. I've been carding wool like it's going out of style for the past few days and have come up with quite a few new lovelies. However, I'm running out of room to store them all - SO - as a welcome back to crafting event for Woolyhands, I'm offering a free surprise batt with every batt or roving purchase. That means, if you purchase three braids of roving, you get three surprise batts. See my shop for details.

I'm not sure how long this special will last... I suppose until I'm tired making surprise batts!

I'm a bit in disbelief that July is very close to being over. As much as I love what summer brings (longer days, tomatoes, other veggies, herbs) I'm not so sure I'm a huge fan of the heat. However, It seems like summer just began the other day and it worries me that time is flying by like it is. I want things to slow down, I want to just relax and enjoy. Instead of trying to figure out where in the heck last week went. Perhaps I need to take some vacation days from work and actually go somewhere. Suggestions anyone? And be realistic, I live in NWArkansas and would need to get there by car.

Well, my drum carder is calling my name so I'm off to play with wool.

It's a SALE!

The Etsy Supply Street Team (ESST) is hosting this year's Etsy YART Sale. I participated last year when it was brand new. I'm glad it's being done again because it worked out quite well for me and I hope for the people that scored some killer bargains from me.

The sale will start tomorrow (Wednesday) and go through Sunday evening at 12PM Central or whenever I wake up on Monday and turn off the sale. I'll have YART Sale sections in both Idyllhands and Woolyhands and also be sending a free gifty with each purchase. I might do some other "one day" sales throughout the week - we'll see how I feel.

Oh, there are some other Arkansas artists participating for those of you who like to shop local. You can view the list of participants here: AREtsy Blog.

So come on down and do some shopping - I promise you'll save some BIG dollar signs.

I blame Hobbledehoy

During the holiday season of 2007, I noticed a shop on Etsy selling the most BEAUTIFUL bits of wool. That was the first time I laid eyes on the batts that Hobbledehoy creates. I didn't spin yet but wanted to learn, so I asked for a drop spindle for Christmas.

In January I purchased Drunken Sailor - my first Hobbledehoy batt. It was the beginning of a fiber addiction. I held on to that batt for days, weeks months and then a year. That batt was my first fiber love - I had to hold on to it for something special. I had to wait until I knew EXACTLY what it wanted to be.

Last night, it spoke to me. It wanted to be a super chunky, way funky, plied yarn. So out it came, I spun it up pretty thick (for my standards) and plied the heck out of it. I fell in love with it all over again. I don't know what it is going to be yet, but that will come to me... in time.

A New Toy

If I seem preoccupied for the next few days, it's because I brought home a new baby yesterday. While browsing through Craigslist, I found a spinning wheel for sale. After some research and lots of help from people on Ravelry, I found it was a Mathieson wheel from New Zealand. It came over to NWArkansas by way of Ebay a few years ago, and lucky me, the owner just never got into spinning.

So now it's mine.

I did some work on it last night, spun some yarn, gave it lots of hugs, and I absolutely love it. It spins VERY well and although it won't hold as much yarn as my other wheel, I'll still get a lot of use out of it. I already have this skein of yarn to show off - spun up from some luscious fiber from Hobbledehoy.

Not the Big Stink

Is it possible to think that washing wool could be my next fiber addiction? I started out last night with foul smelling, bland looking wool and this evening, fabulous, gorgeous wool that smells quite nice (I pick out the good soaps). I keep fondling it - it's so smooth... so soft... so wonderful!

Oh, and this comes from Icelandic Sheep raised locally at Bloomin' Acres Farm.