tap*tap*tap*tap*tap

First up, January's giveaway of a pair of earrings from Written Insight goes to AbsolutGillian! I'll contact via Ravelry. :)

Second up, a repick for December's giveaway is Ilina!  I'll contact via Ravelry as well. 

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I'm making a lot of stitch markers lately.  The January Phatfiber theme is Chinese New Year, and I was able to squeak in this month's samples under the wire.  I received the beads I wanted to use yesterday and shipped out the samples today. I was focused on finishing so I didn't take a picture, but I have the pieces I'll be making for the shop in progress.


6mm widget removable stitch markers in progress, jade and red brass.

I'm actually pretty pleased with this picture. I tweaked the contrast but not the color or white balance, and I think it's pretty good.  Of course, that's partially because I started with this:


I'm still putzing around with trying to take more color accurate pictures and it seems to help to put something pure medium blue into the frame. I suspect the camera registers the blue and no longer feels compelled to compensate so hard in that direction.

That leads me to put my scissors in everything, so if you see them hanging out at the edge of a shot that's why. To whit....


This my anvil for when I make the widget stitch markers. My father is a retired civil engineer and this is a piece he picked up on a job site.  It's a small discarded section of a long threaded steel rod that was cut with a diamond saw.  They're used to draw together items under tension.  It's 1.5in in diameter, weighs a hair over a pound, and is the perfect size for my purposes.  I've used electrical tape to wrap the sides so the rough sides don't damage my beads, but the top where it was cut with a saw is very smooth.  The scissor serves double duty in this shot, adjusting the color as well as providing a sense of scale.


And here it is with my knitting which I put on pause for the stitch marker frenzy.  Six balls of yarn were a bit annoying to move around whenever I had to clear my work surface, so I stuffed everything in the basket. This is one of those times I particularly appreciate center pull balls that can sit neatly stationary while still feeding out the yarn.

OK, hammer back to the anvil time, I need to finish my markers for the shop!

Shop update and a note on prices.

The number of times I have to retake pictures because the color temperature is off is really starting to annoy me. I have to retake some pictures this weekend, while I try to finally get all the skeins I dyed in July listed. This, so I can dye up more this week and then list them. I have a lot to dye up before the Garden State Sheep Breeders festival in September (Sept 11 & 12, in Ringoes, NJ).

Additionally, I wanted to give everyone a heads up that my prices are changing. My yarn costs went up considerably in March and sadly, absorbing the difference has become impossible. So a month from now, on Sept 13, I'm going to raise all my yarn prices 6%. For example, Jackalope and March Hare are both going from $18.80 up to $19.95.

I'll be taking all the yarn to the festival in September and vending there with the old prices. The shop will be empty of yarn for the weekend. Then, all the stock returned to the etsy shop on Sept 13, the Monday, will have the new prices. Meanwhile, I do intend to stock the shop as full as I can before the festival so there will be plenty of selection at the current prices.

Please do ask any questions you may have. It's always an uncomfortable sort of thing to have to raise prices, but I'd rather not spring it on people unannounced. This way, it's like a long sale.


Phatfiber colorways, clockwise from the upper left: Red Desert, lapis lazuli and brass widgets, Agate, and Papyrus.  Image links to the shop.

The theme this month was Africa, and these were some of what I contributed.

A Gulf fundraiser

A bunch of us have donated goodies to a Gulf fundraiser box that Jessie of the Phatfiber box has been coordinating. It's a big, beautiful box of spinning fiber, yarn, gift certificates, cards and stitch markers, a shawl pin, and Jessie has even included a shawlette she designed and knit. Donations should be sent to Audubon.org, each $5 increment counts as an entry in the drawing. For specifics on how to enter the drawing and to take a look at the box contents, visit Gulf superbox!


My contribution is a skein of the Jackalope base in the colorway Butterflyfish. Butterflyfish are mostly tropical reef fish and many have bright coloration. I really love how cheerful this colorway is.



I really recommend taking a look over at the Gulf superbox post. And if you can, please consider donating to Audubon.org.

A video (p3tog combined)

So, someone asked a Combined knitting question over in the Ravelry forums. I put together a quick little video and decided to put it here, too.

I don't know how helpful it will be, but I think of Combined knitting as a constant state of mind, so this will show some of the process I go through when deciding how to work a pattern written for Western oriented stitches. And if you don't know what Combined knitting is, well this will demonstrate that, too.


I also made my first Etsy Treasury. It's full of fibery goodness from other Phatfiber contributors: Kubla Khan. It was fun but time consuming. I can really see getting sucked into making Treasuries.

A Hammer and a Box

 First up, a reminder!  Today is the last day to enter in on the Ice Cream Social giveaway.  Free ice cream, what's not to like?

Secondly, I bought a new hammer. I decided to upgrade my stitch marker making tools and retire the hammer I've been using. It's a serious upgrade, too.  Before and After.
 
That would be a dollar store hammer on the left, that I had to pound nails into because the head wanted to fly off every time I used it. Yes, I used a dollar store hammer. What can I say? It served me faithfully all these months.  Meanwhile the new hammer has 4 interchangeable heads and is much heavier and smoother. I haven't tried it out yet, but I think it's a good change.

Thirdly, I received my July Phatfiber box yesterday and I have pictures of course!  July's theme is Seaweed, Ships and Scallywags.  Arr thar mateys, thar be hidden treasure in this here jump break!

Melting

First a reminder!  Today is the last day to comment for the July 1 giveaway! I'm giving away some lovely Urbbody products, you know you want 'em!

Meanwhile, it is hot. It is ridiculously hot. I have to give the rabbit outside ice bottles three times a day so he doesn't overheat.  He's hiding in his little house cuddled up to a cold water bottle.  For some reason, the cats have insisted on staying outside, however, and we're treated to melted cats draped over all the available cool surfaces.

Bergil and Banquo defying sense and staying outside in the stunning heat.

The last few days have been taken up with preparing my Phatfiber samples.  July and August were mailed out today.  Sending 2mos at a time is more than a 50% savings in priority shipping, and that alone makes it worthwhile. They should get there in plenty of time for box drop.

July samples shown in colorways Sea Wrack and Long Walk, Jackrabbit base.

And it's Wednesday, which means it's my day to cook.  I refuse to heat up the house by turning on the stove, so I'm getting creative with leftovers. Especially after picking up a chocolate bar I left in my office and it squished. 

An early Midsummer Night's Dream

It's not yet midsummer, but this month's theme for the June Phatfiber box has arrived right in the middle of some mid-summerly heat and humidity.

Before I get into the glories of the box, however, here's a picture of a visitor to our carport this afternoon.  I don't know why it was in the middle of our carport instead of wandering amongst the trees.

It looks like a luna moth caterpillar to me. I put it in the ground cover out of the way and hopefully it's made its way safely to wherever it was going.

Now, on to the box!  Lots of beautiful and large! samples this month.

This was the great "program" Jessie sent in the box to hold the cards and such.

Pictures of the box contents and shop links after the jump.

Updating in the actual month the yarn was dyed! (And a sale)

Shocking! :P

These are the colorways I've started listing tonight.  All from this month, they fall mostly into two themes.  I will finish listing them some time tonight:

Clicking the image will take you to the shop. It's all Three Hares except Nebula, which is Arctic Hare.

Colonial Day and Kobol were colorways thought up for the BSG FPB group on Ravelry.  Sea Wrack is an old favorite on a new base, and Nebula is another one I've done before.
 
Titania, Bottom, and Peasblossom are my June Phatfiber contribution:


Also, I'm having a sale right now.  The particulars and coupon code after the jump.

It's box day!

It's also Wednesday, which means it's my day to cook so it's going to be a two post day.  But before I run off to ready packages for the mail, have a PhatFiber Box!


This month's theme was Blossoms and Bark.

More pictures and links within.

Victory!

Of a sort. 100 samples boxed up and ready to send. They may not make it in time for the video this month, but they should be in plenty of time for box day. That's 50 for May and 50 for June.


May's miniskein samples: Hickory, Banana Cream Pie, and Common Violet

Normally I do 60 per month, but I didn't like how small the miniskeins were getting. Cutting down the total number per month lets me make them just a little bit more substantial, while cutting down on costs and work overall. My samples are expensive and time consuming to put together. There are 3 skeins of yarn pulled for the miniskeins, as well as part skeins of each of my different bases for the small twists that get attached to the card. Then there's the cards themselves which I print out, spray with sealant, cut in half, and then cut and fold. It's generally 2-3 days of solid work to get it all done.

Not really a fun Mother's Day activity, but Mom wanted to help. :P

I made crepes for dessert in appreciation. Stuffed with strawberries macerated in a bit of sugar and some Grand Marnier, and a bit of sour cream/plain yogurt. Very tasty even if my crepe batter was being cranky.

Of course, I didn't finish the scarf I was knitting, but I can do that tomorrow. Then to get cracking on getting the yarn that those samples represent listed and the new graphics prepared, etc. Busy busy busy, but at least I can forgo the sample rush for June!

Wind wind wind print print print

I'm completely off schedule due to the great zombie invasion. But I managed to dye up some yarn yesterday and I'm pretty satisfied with the new offerings. Today and the weekend is all about getting my samples for May's Phatfiber box ready, since I'm a week behind schedule. I'm also trying to get 2mos done instead of just one. We'll see how sleep deprived I am by the end of it.


Left to Right: Colonial Day; Kobol; Titania; Peasblossom; Bottom

Given that I have a scarf to finish knitting by Sunday, I'm a little frazzled.

Meanwhile, Etsy appears to be back to functioning. *crosses fingers* It was messed up for days for people in the Northeast US, not even counting how many of the hacks that I rely on being broken. But it appears to be working again. Which means after I get this lot of samples done, I really need to get my April yarn up in the shop.

Boxen!

A tale of two boxes!

After waiting in much anticipation, I received my Phatfiber Unbirthday Swap package today, and it was well worth the wait!  It's a fantastic selection of delightful things and I cracked up repeatedly when I opened it. It's not just what I wanted, it's also charming and full of character. Oh, what am I saying, I should just show off the haul:

click for even bigger

The first thing that met my eyes was the little trash can, and I had to laugh. It's got a little black "trash" bag in it that's filled to the brim with all sorts of crispy crunchy snack foods liberally covered in chocolate. It's brilliant and I love the tin. I can just imagine using it to store things, perhaps yarn scraps, once I'm done with the candy.  I've been on a chocolate kick lately, so I imagine it will be emptied faster than usual for me.

Ponderings

I'm sitting here waiting for my turn in the kitchen since it's my turn to cook (chicken braised with tomatoes and onions and some herbs, I think, and pasta, and some sort of green veg). And since I can't get anything significant done in the next 20min, I thought I'd blog. (:P)

First, I wanted to flash a picture of what keeps growing. Namely my in progress Widgets. I assemble them and then they languish like that for a while until I get around to hammering them.

It's never done. *facepalm* I assemble a whole bunch and then realize I've not done the ones I need for the next month and then pull out more beads and and and. Yeah.

And then I wanted to muse a bit on how the Phatfiber Box has morphed from what I expected of it. Namely, I thought that the samples were the thing, you know? The bits of fiber or yarn in hand. But it turns out that the pictures are the thing. There's more to it than that, but I'm just going to talk about a general trend, here.

Oy vey is mir, my samples they are sent

I really have to get better at working on my Phatfiber samples in a timely fashion. It always becomes one of those races to the finish where I have not enough sleep and too much caffeine. This is even with my mother's considerable help in assembling the things.

One would think that having them done a week in advance is more than early enough, but I know to my sorrow that the USPS's "2-3 days" is just a best case scenario. So, today was the absolute latest to get April's samples into the mail so they have a reasonable certainty of arriving in time for the video.

This is perhaps why it's laughable that I hope to get two months done next time. I'm really hoping to switch over to sending two sets of samples every other month. It saves on shipping and the craziness is half as often. ... Well, we'll see.

The theme for April is All Creatures Great and Small, so I sent 12 Widget stitch markers with my yarn samples. The yarn sample colorway is Tigers, which I have dyed up in the 6oz and the 4oz sizes. I sent some samples in each and labeled as such because the dye interval is different between the two due to the skein size.

A 5g sample of Jackrabbit in the Tigers colorway, from a 4oz skein.

Then, because I had time, I pulled together my Phatfiber Unbirthday Swap package. To anyone who might be following along from the PF Rav group, this post will totally give away who isn't getting my box, but since not that many people read this blog, I figure it's safe enough.

Now that it's safely on its way, I do have some thoughts about this swap as a swap. For anyone not interested, there's a picture further down of the actual contents.