Amy’s Babies

This is what has kept me busy for so long

I have been working on some secret projects that got sent to the publisher this weekend!  YAY!!  I locked myself in my design studio (read bedroom) and pounded the keyboard and yarn for hours.  You can see my desk is all covered in swatches and half finished samples.  They aren’t due yet, but I want to get them done as soon as I can.  Some people who have been reading my blog for a while, might be able to figure out what those various pieces are.

 Also this weekend the January Fiber was sent out for the club people!  This month the fiber is BFL and the colorway is London Fog.  Link for those that want to peek.  There will be an announcement about new club openings in a few days, so keep watching this space!

When I haven’t been pulling my hair out over small pieces of yarn, I have been spinning even smaller pieces!  I have been working on spinning up my December fiber from the Spunky Eclectic fiber club and it is nice.  I am 2/3rds done with it and I hope to be able to finish this week.  I will get a picture as soon as it is done.  I also have a new shipment of yarn in, so there should be new yarn in the shop soon too!  It is amazing how many things just get put on hold when you have a looming deadline.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  My project deadline is in about a week, but I want to get it done by this weekend so I can get back to doing some fun projects.  I have been spinning in my free moments, like after I give the kids breakfast and before I have to send them off to school.  I usually get 10-15 minutes of spinning time then.  I have been doing great on my Finishalong/Knit Wars/NaSpiMoMo/2kLace projects.

In my little scraps of time I have been able to spin these yarns in the past couple weeks.

Sonoran Skies from Electric Sheep Fibers in Wool Blend sock weight

Pie for Everyone from Spunky Eclectic laceweight.  I think it is going to become a Pi shawl.

And two worsted weight skeins from some oops fiber that came out too black and white.  I over dyed them in the Anubis (front) and Poison (back) colorways

These skeins have been sitting around not telling me what they wanted to be.  I have them out where I can see them, but they have been stubbornly silent, until today when they jumped up and screamed!

I am going to be using these skeins for some great charity knitting!  Amy, over at Spunky Eclecticis having a great blog contest.  She is collecting hats for The Ship Project.  They will be sent to deployed sailors.   The details can be found here.  The hats have to reach Amy before February 22.  Join in the fun and keep some sailors warm, and win a prize too.

There was a shop update today!  Some of my favorites were

Aquarium Gravel in several different fibers

Fuchsia

and Midnight Run

I sure hope that everybody had a great holiday season!!  I got my Christmas knitting done just in time!  I mean my sister called me to say she was on her way over RIGHT as I was getting ready to cast off her last sock.

The new year brings some excitement to the blog.  I was awarded two awards during the 4th Annual JenLa Knit Blog Awards!  Thanks ladies!!  I am just beyond amazed and so very thankful to be included in your list this year!  Also, my Magnetic Katamari pattern has been nominated for A Bobby Award for Best Free Pattern of 2007!  Thanks again!

I also joined Knit Wars and Finishalong 2008!  It is a great way to get motivated to finish those second socks for my Christmas knitting.  It’s going to be great!  You can finish old UFO’s, clean out that stash of yarn that has been hanging around too long, get some of those projects on your project queue done, and THEN get experience points for doing it!  There are going to be new things added to Knit Wars  in the next couple weeks and I can hardly wait!

 I spent the New Years celebration cutting out fabric for new craft cubes.  I am going to try to get them assembled and up in the shop in the next couple weeks.  The stumbling block is that the kids are home from school this week and my husband has gone back to work, so I am scrambling to find any crafting time this week.  I should be back to full production next week.

Now, for the photos!  I spent this Christmas knitting season knitting socks for my sister.  She loves little ankle socks, so I knit a whole bunch of them from some of those yarn cakes I showed you  a couple weeks ago.  Here is the result of my knitting frenzy

Wool socks

Rebecca Socks

Aquarium Gravel Socks

Around the World socks (more on these later)

Becca has become quite a knitter herself!  She spent New Years Eve with us and stayed to celebrate Indiana Jones Day (we have a silly tradition of watching all the Indiana Jones movies on New Years Day) and while she was here she started a new knitting project.

She is making a hat out of some Electric Sheep sock yarn in the Dove colorway.  She is doubling the yarn to make it big enough and she is picking up new techniques so fast!  I’m so proud!  While she was knitting, Teeny decided she wanted to knit too, so Becca showed her how to knit

Then she got her own needles to work with

She is not a fan of the Paparazzi

*sniffle*  Wait, I think there is something in my eye *sniffle*

I also got a chance to spin December’s Club fiber.  I spun it in a chunky yarn.  It is so squooshy and warm.  I think it might be a hat.