Tour De Fleece

This year I decided that I should participate in the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry. It's this fun challenge that takes place each year during the Tour De France. I figured that if I can do the Everyday Yarn Challenge back in April then this should be a breeze. There are even built in break days. Originally I was going to join the rookies team but a fellow fiberista named Rawfish has a Ravelry group that got together and became team "Tour de Fish." Its a nautical theme galore. See I even have a temporary avatar made courtesy of Laila of Rawfish. =D


So far my progress is well... pitiful. I have barely spun anything at all. I did finish a navajo plied yarn from some hand painted roving that I just had to spin.


So that is what I have to show for my July 5th spinning. July 4th saw BBQ, Beer and Friends and I just didnt sit still long enough to do any spinning. I did start some beautiful purple merino/silk blend on July 6th and worked some more on it today but my progress is still so terribly slow. I am so embarrased. To top all this off, I will be participating at the local college's Market selling my goods this Saturday and have a job interview on Friday. So much to do, so much to think about, so much worry about.... ahhhh! *Whew* just needed to scream a little. Hopefully I can get back on track with Tour de Fleece, ace my interview, and score big at the Market. With everything going on my First July update was delayed but I hope to have a small update by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest. Until then... lots of fiber-y love to all!

Photo Tutorial - Wool Washing

I made the decision to place the wool washing tutorial on my own domain as opposed to blogger. (Makes it easier to locate and link to in the future)

It can be easily accessed here: Photo Tutorial - Wool Washing

If there are any questions regarding the process feel free to contact me via the comment box.

Customer Creations - Easy123

The other day I received the best type of message on Etsy that a seller could hope for. Michele from Easy123 had purchased some yarn called "Parakeet" from which she made a beautiful scarf.
Just look at it!










Michele has lots of great items in her store so be sure to check them out!

Fiber Samples

I have the absolute best husband in the world. I don't care what anyone else says. =D Today he helped me place cards on my Phat Fiber samples. I was having a little difficulty because of some tenderness in my wrist. (Perhaps this is a sign I am over using it.) So he offered to staple the cards to my baggies for me. Yea husband!


This of course comes after he played photographer yesterday. My samples are raw wool and I didn't want to direct people to just any random wool cleaning page. It's not a superiority thing, its just because I needed a short link for the back of the business card. So he took photos and I will be writing a detailed photo tutorial for those who received the wool so they can spin or felt with it. (To be posted in the next 2-4 days.)


I also added simple instructions direct to the back of the business card. Unfortunately, I missed the editing mistake so I have extra words on it. *hangs head in shame* All together I sent 30 samples of raw cheviot wool. I'm not real sure how well raw wool is received but I guess we'll see.



Try to forgive my error in communication. It's been ages since I got that degree. (Okay, about 7 years... =P)

Repurposing Old Handspun

I have been working on this project for a few months now. This isn't a time constraint issue as I am unemployed at the moment. The issue was that due to the number of stitches my hand was falling asleep or going numb before I could get through just one row. Since I had the corrective surgery I picked up this project and suffered none of the same aliments. Yea for progress.
Okay, to be honest, I haven't progressed that far since the surgery but I am looking forwards to getting finished with this project. I love red and I believe this will make an awesome scarf. I'm not sure how long it will end up because of I am knitting it lengthwise to create long rows.

I started out with these handspun yarns:




This is actually just three yarns since I split the 2 ply and blended yarn to go on either side of the solid red. All of the yarns were made from commercial merino wool dyed, you guessed it, red. The blended yarn is made up of the wool plus tussah silk plus some soy silk (I believe, its been a little while) that was hand carded prior to spinning.

Here is the scarf so far:



Here is close up:


I'm going to have to give myself a deadline if I want to get this done. I'm convinced that without a job I have lost a lot of structure in my life. This is sad though because you shouldn't have to rely on outside factors to provide your daily structure. Certainly, if they impose limits on you then you have to take that into consideration but when those factors are not there you should still have a sense of structure. Or so I would think. So, its June 7th. I think I can safely say that I can have this finished by July 1st. Cool, now I have set a deadline... call me on it July 2nd! ;P

ALL FIXED... kinda.

So I don't want to bore anyone with the details of getting stitches pulled out after carpal tunnel surgery. I will say... yes, you can feel them being removed... and it stings!
However, since I didn't bore you with those details, I will instead gross you out with up close images of the surgeried area. Is that a word, no... well pretend it is.

Here is a how my wrist look immediately after having the stitch removed. (Well, after we got home....) That my friend is the extent of the cleaning they did. Apparently those moist towelettes you get at the chicken wing joint is cleaning enough err... just add alcohol.








This is how my hand looks now that I have been able to wash it (first time since the surgery) and let it air dry.






I have to go back in 4 weeks to make sure the tenderness has gone away and that I will not have to do any physical therapy. Until then all I have to do is use it like normal typing, knitting, sewing etc as long as I don't lift anything over 1b and massage the area at the crook of the hand to relieve swelling.
So... I guess that's it. I promise not to have anymore gross out photos of scars in the future. Mostly cause I don't plan to have anymore.

Look at my scars, I'm really really brave!

Isn't that generally what warriors consider marks of pride? Well, I don't know what type of scar I will have but I thought I would show off the initial battle damage.



I had surgery to correct carpal tunnel syndrome in my right wrist. I am predominantly right handed, used the mouse with my right hand and regularly used a ten key calculator at my former place of employment. Due to all the factors, regardless of being laid off, my former employer is responsible for my pain (and suffering.. but that's another story and they actually aren't responsible for the mental suffering but sometimes I think they should be... =P)

So, after months and months of waiting to find out what can be done to correct this.... the workers comp people finally approved my surgery.
Typing is tiresome because I am back to pecking the way I did before I had two corporate, manual entry style jobs. Also, the problem with this blogging is that I tend to go with stream of thought and my hands can't keep up. Well, I always thought quicker than my fingers can type but this is almost painful. (Thank goodness times two for spell check.) Here is a side ways view of my arm. I'll have to keep this short... maybe stick to Twitter for a few days, I dunno. Luckily, the percentage of improvement is high statistically and once the initial pain goes away I should be able to do just about everything I normally do even with the bandage wrapping still on. I mean everything from knitting to crocheting to sewing. Okay, I can't dye any since my wrist can't get wet but its only a few days till I can. Wish me lots of patience that I don't try to over extend my wrist/hand the next couple of days. Once I'm healed though.. watch out, I'm taking this hand for a workout. (Get yer minds outta the gutter!)