Sunday Morning Rant

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to sit and think much less write. Today I’m finally able to just get back to where I want to be. 

So sitting here in the quiet while my family sleeps in, I find a cup of coffee got my thoughts spinning. Here we are already about halfway through March 2015 and what has happened? I have seen crazy winter weather here in Texas, lost someone close, and been taking on too many extra things that pull me away from where I need to be most. I think it’s time to rethink my plans and priorities for 2015.

So, what is it and where is it that I need to be? I need to spend quality time with my family as they are what’s most important to me. My youngest needs her mom and though my first born is off in college she needs me too. I need to learn to say no to things so I’m not stretched too thin and easily irritated when it comes to my family. I need to help my husband see that spending time interacting with us is more important than long days and late nights at the office. These days go by too fast and I don’t want to miss anymore of them. 

And that means what? Well, like everyone in this country we are facing financial hardship due to lost income directly related to the new healthcare laws that took effect the first of this year. This mean we have less to try to pay our bills than we had last year and enough less that I now have to make up the difference. All our credit lines have been maxed trying to keep this at bay but it’s no use as it just makes it worse. So now I’m faced with trying to get back into the job market to stabilize our family income. 

Now I will have to use my knitting to destress and find weekend time to dye so that my creativity isn’t stifled by the weekly grind of a full time job. Hopefully I can get my spinning wheel working again so that I can have the relaxing pleasure of turning fiber into yarn. 

Now that my rant is over, I’ll move on to happier things. I have been working on knitting a pair of stripey socks and I finished a cowl out of handspun. Next on the agenda is to work on my sweater, make a small one for Baby K and finish the handmade a for my upcoming swaps.  I will take pictures of the items not involved in swaps and get them posted tomorrow. 

Now it’s time for me to head back working on updating my résumé and preparing a meal for my family.

Til next time

~>K<~

Where did the time go?

Well, here it is, January 26th already so how did we come to be at the end of the first month of 2015?

I began this year travelling as I visited my parents in Colorado. When I got home I prepared for my first fiber fest of the year, the Yellow Rose Fiber Fiesta in Seguin. It seemed a bit slow between the weather and the fact that this year it was in January where it has normally been in April. I was still very happy to take part in it and look forward to coming back in 2016 when it returns to it’s normal time of year. During Yellow Rose I met some neat people. I bought some yarn from Undead Yarns and knit up these wonderful mitts over the weekend to help keep my hands warm.

After coming home from Yellow Rose, I did more travel as I took a road trip with Hubby to deliver Baby K to Nana in Kentucky for a brief visit. That was a long weekend but we had a good time and will be returning shortly to bring Baby K home again.

So what have I been doing this past week? Trying to catch up on housework, developing my website and begin dyeing again. It seems like it’d be easier without a little oneunderfoot but I miss her and that makes it hard to concentrate as I’m wondering about what she’s up to at Nana’s. I have accomplished getting my website up and running so now I’m online at http://www.theBarbedDragon.com.

 

The dyeing is a bit slower but I am done with the pre-orders from the Iron Dyers December challenge. Now to let them finish drying and mailed out by the end of the week.

The other new thing in my life is Jamberry. I love all the designs and having cute nails. I love them so much that I decided to becoming a consultant. 

So now that January is almost gone, I’m finally settling down and will be working to get to a regular schedule. I’m crocheting a baby blanket, knitting a cowl and a sweater, and finally getting some of my pattern notes together so I can present you with some of my concepts.

Stay tuned for some fun happenings this year.

~>K<~

Thanksgiving Wishes

Wanted to reach out and wish everyone a happy holiday.

My Thanksgiving plans changed this year and put me a bit out of sorts. Due to Baby K’s dance studio’s performance of the Nutcracker happening on Saturday and Sunday immediately following Thanksgiving we were not able to go visit my mother this year. In addition to losing out on time with my parents and siblings, my oldest, E, wasn’t able to come home from college. I was looking forward to my MIL visiting and then there were car and finance issues that came up on Monday so she wasn’t able to come either.

It’s been a very quiet day with just Hubby and Baby K. Football watching and I did a little of the classic food fare. I cooked the smallest ham I could find (9.61 lbs), made dressing from a box and green bean casserole. I indulged and purchased a ready to eat
pumpkin pie.

I’m thankful that everyone is safe and for the quiet. Problem is it just feels like any other day with slightly more food. I didn’t realize how sad it made me to miss the time with my family until I started writing.

I am happy with my new manicure for Thanksgiving.

I also did Baby K’s toes in just the turkeys.

On a happier note, I’ve been fighting shorter sun light time to get my yarn and fiber photographed for the shop and I’m happy to announce that all items will be added into the shop by noon tomorrow. That’s not all. I’m having a Black Friday sale and you will be able to save 30% off everything in the shop through midnight Monday!

~>K<~

Settling back in

Well, it’s been crazy around here. I just got back from Kid N Ewe in Boerne over the weekend.

I decided I needed a day off so I did nothing but be Mom yesterday. This was more taxing than I thought as Baby K was sick. We ended up snuggled in my bed all day watching movies.

I had a great show and am always amazed by the turn out. Thanks to all the fans that stopped by the booth. Brazen Stitchery and I will be at Yellow Rose in January and look forward to seeing you there.

Now I need to get a routine established so I can fit in all the hats I wear. Between now and Thanksgiving I’m focusing on my family and getting my home in order. December 1st I’ll be back to dyeing and prepping for the next show.

Hope y’all had a great weekend. Here’s to a good week ahead.

Til next time,
~>K<~

Frazzled Friday

My best made plans for regular posting have been totally derailed. I am dropping in to give a brief update before running off again. I am hopeful that November will bring about an opportunity to get into a better routine for home, blogging and my shop.

Now on to the fun stuff and leaving the confessions behind…

So what have I been up to? I got to join in a fun Zombie Apocalypse swap and was inspired to crochet a cute Zombie Sheep.

I have been knitting away on 2 MKAL projects, a scarf and a cowl, that I got behind on so I can post pictures as soon as I get them. I also opted to join another MKAL through Rowan yarns and though the first 3 weeks of clues have been put out I have yet to cast on a single stitch.

I have been working on dyeing some new colorways and am finally reaching some results that I like. Now I have to name them.

Finally, I am working on the last sleeve of Baby K’s ballet wrap and then I will go back to my sweater. (The only picture I could find was my cast on and the yarn. I will add the final picture next week.)

Lastly, The Barbed Dragon is joining with Brazen Stitchery at the upcoming Kid ‘N Ewe Fiber Fest in Boerne, TX, November 7-9. We would love to have you come visit us. I will also be renewing my efforts to participate in the Phat Fiber monthly boxes starting December at the latest. I have been invited to join a dyer challenge for the month of December so stay tuned for more information about that.

Keep crafting til next time,

~>K<~

Dragon’s Breath Drawstring Bag

by TheBarbedDragon http://ift.tt/1vS8BGH

Dragon’s Breath Drawstring Bag

by TheBarbedDragon http://ift.tt/1rUVuNu

Week of Fiber-y Fun

Ok, I have a few moments to share what has been happening over the past week. There has been so much going on it’s been hard to keep up.

First, last weekend I ran away to the Fiberholic’s Retreat. We had a wonderful weekend at the Brazos House in Glen Rose. I learned so many new things and got to visit with some amazing women. It was a nice weekend that helped recharge my mind. I learned to weave on a tri-loom and produced a nice 4 color alpaca cowl on Saturday evening. I had so much fun with it that I purchased a small tri-loom to bring home.

In addition to the cowl, I learned the crocodile stitch in crochet. I can barely wait to finish the scarf. It will look great on my little one.

I also had the pleasure of playing with a drum carder and creating several batts. I made one in shades of yellow and then did some small gradient batts so I can make a nice gradient yarn.

I also took my inkle loom and learned tablet weaving. I got to use 10 cards and create a beautiful diamond design on one side and an X design on the reverse. I think I’m addicted to weaving now. It seems almost magical.

Have you heard of Kumihimo? I hadn’t until I got the list of classes. I did a little research and found it is a style of braiding. They had a class but it conflicted with the tri-loom class which I decided to take instead. So I got the opportunity to learn this from one of the ladies. It is a fun quick technique and you can use beads and various threads or yarns to get different results.

So that was my fiber-filled weekend. The rest of the week was filled with school for the little one, crazy co-op science and dance. Baby K is in her dance studio’s production of the Nutcracker again this year. So in addition to our normal class day she had practice on Saturday for 2 of her 3 roles. I look forward to seeing how she had improved this year.

I will start spinning for Spinzilla tomorrow. I am excited and can barely wait to see how much I can get done in a week. I will also be preparing for my shop trunk show at Jacob’s Reward Farm on Friday and Saturday during the DFW Yarn Crawl. If you happen to be in the Dallas, Texas area swing by and say hi.

Now back to work preparing for my tutoring students and then to clearing bobbins and end the evening with some knitting to finish up my 2 current MKAL.

Until next time,

~>K<~

Finishline Friday

Well it’s Friday again. I would love to show you some finished knits but that didn’t happen this week.

So what did happen this week? Well, we had meet the teacher Tuesday morning for a new Co-op. I’ll be teaching 3rd-5th grade homeschool students in science. I get to work with 5 kids and get them to love science. On Thursday, I got to go to court for an accident that was mishandled. Fun morning sitting there four an hour and a half. Think the stress caused me to end the day with a headache.

So not much knitting or spinning time this week. Did manage to get 4oz spun into a single.

Worked some on a hat I had to restart Saturday. I’m hoping to finish by tomorrow.

Started on a new 4oz braid of merino today. I love the color but am reminded yet again how much I dislike spinning merino.

Guess that’s all the craziness for this week. I am also preparing for Blackland Prairie Artisan Fiber Festival in two weeks. If your in the Denison, Texas area come see me. I’ll be in the M.A.F.I.A. booth.

Til next time,
~>K<~

Spinzilla: How much fiber do I need?

On this Whirling Wednesday, I am contemplating my upcoming spinning endeavors. I chose to join Spinzilla this year and started gathering my fiber. When I ran across this post, it reminded me that we are all at different levels in our spinning so what is good for me might not be good for you.

This article also gives a little information on Spinzilla as well as ways to determine fiber needs based on projects.

I will be spinning for yardage so I am starting this week to see how much I can spin in one hour each day for a week. I’ll post pictures later today of the yarns I made during the Tour de Fleece challenge.

Til then,
~>K<~

Kate Larson Textiles

Welcome! I’m excited to have been invited to join the Spinzilla blog tour. The purpose behind the Spinzilla competition during Spinning and Weaving Week, Oct 6‒12, is not only to learn more about handspinning, but to learn more by doing. When it comes to craft, theory is only truly useful when applied—when skills are honed through practice. Spinzilla urges us to make more time in our busy schedules to grab our spindles or sit down to our wheels and get spinning.

Soils are beautiful. By Bos, AB & JH Kauffman, CC-BY-SA-3.0

Much of the way I approach textiles is framed by my background in agronomy. I studied soil chemistry at university, and while it might not seem that clay minerals have much to do with handspun sweaters, the spirit of their study is similar. We can take the measure of a soil in many ways: by studying the available…

View original post 999 more words