By The Wayside

Recently in my life I realized that I have neglected things. I seem to be good at that overall. Nothing criminal or anything. (My child is perfectly safe, ya know.) However my crafting suffers. Honestly I've always had tons of ideas in my head that never get produced. Sometimes, that's just because I do not have the skills to move forward with the idea. (Seriously, I'm that annoying person who can always come up with another way something could be done or how it could be done better. At least in theory.)

However, for the better part of 6 months or so I feel like I've been completely craft stagnant. I know that there are a lot of reasons for this happening. For example: we are in the process of the eventual move. This move was sprung on us 2 months before the Christmas holiday and pitched as something that we would have to do by year end. Now, 6 months and counting later we are still here and waiting to move. (There is good and bad that happened in between that explains this but it is a really long story.) In addition to (or possibly because of) all the drama , it seems my depression has kicked it up a notch. *sighs* Old faithful friend depression.

So that sorta brings me to here. I've totally become lost. Sometime during this period I announced that I was going to place Froggy Fibers on "hobby status." Meaning, I would create and update as I could. Problem is that this is not what I really want. Next problem is I'm in a long term crafting funk. (And having all my crafting items packed up does not help.) So please excuse me for being off the beaten path and probably slightly off kilter. I don't blog like I want to, even though I enjoy sitting down to post things. I also don't craft like I need to at the moment. These things have become tedious and painful to do mentally and so they never get done physically. I don't know when I will cross the bridge and coast to the other side of this. That's the hard part. The easy part is... well I'm not sure there is an easy part yet.

Wow, what a crappy way to end a post. Since I couldn't come up with pleasant words I will end with a friendly photo.

Good thoughts to everyone, no matter your place in life!

Learning New Skills

The old girl is back. I never quite got the hang of my machine when it was new. In fact, it sat lifeless and unused in a box more often than it saw the light of day. However, when I got a part time job working at a craft store I just knew that was going to change. Here is the picture I took on my phone while working on my very first completed sewing project.
It's great putting Ms. Kitty to use for a change. (I think I'll come up with a different name for her though.) I made 2 more by the end of the weekend as well. I'm quite excited about learning a new skill and hope to have more to show for it in the future. It might even help revive my blog posting. Well.... Maybe. I'm not looking for miracles. I'm just excited.

Good things are coming soon...

Until then take a look at some Etsy banners from the early days.

These were lovingly made by my husband with tons of cute sayings. The banner has come a long way since then but I still adore these.
Which one is your favorite?

Until next time, 

Froggy

Evening Guest

Yesterday after dinner the family and I got out of the house. Getting out of the house is just a fancy way of saying we bummed around at a couple of local stores due to the fact that we were bored at home. It was about 7pm when the journey started and about 8:30 pm when it ended. It was an abrupt ending with a small bit of a fuss with the boy. Sad.

Then we were home and the dog must be fed. After the dog is feed it is inevitable that she must go out. So out she went on her leash to the front yard. On the way back in I glanced at my potted plants on the porch. (Oh the story of trying to grow tomatoes in a back room. Trying only to find out there wasn't enough light and forcing you to stick them on the porch late in the summer.... oh the story.) Glancing away from the pots to open the door my eye spotted something in the dim porch light. 

Oh my, it looks like we have a temporary guest and we didn't even know it.

I wondered were the holes in the dirt were coming from. Silly me, I thought it was the neighborhood cats. Nope, not so. It was just a fellow froggy.

Just a quickie....

Is that how you even spell quickie? 

So, I don't have any pictures to go with this post at the moment but I felt I needed to write something. I think it is because I am so enamored of the new layout I keep checking back to the blog just to look. Silly me.

Mostly, I am sort of doing informal brainstorming ideas for my little fiber world. Things in the bigger world may have just taken a turn for bad again, but nothing that can't be handled. We will definitely manage. So, I turn to my fiber world for a little bit and it both calms me and makes me scared and nervous and excitable. Hard emotions to have all at once. Since my job should slow down some (basically go from 40 hr/wk store set up to 15-20 hr/wk store's open) I really want to create a bit of a schedule for Froggy Fibers.
So here is my current thought. I will try to make and create yarns and fibers between working and attempt to list every other week. I once tried every week and that wasn't good for me. Naturally I can work out listing new things about once a month but that isn't good for business. So let's try the in between.
Only time will tell they say.

New News!

Almost two months since I posted! Wow time flies. So here is a quick update on the most recent fiber news.

Tour De Fleece yarn - handpainted roving made into 2ply

 Froggy Fibers has ended participation in the local market. Sadly, I believe we were no longer a good match. I'll miss my Saturdays there. However, due to a "miscommunication" with the organizers we were unable to attend in June. We were advised they were at full capacity. So apparently there was no regard for a regular vendor who advised them of our attendance at the end of the previous market and emailed prior to the deadline for June. Well..... lesson learned. No matter how good things seem, it is bound to come to an end.

  Also, for those who look forward to my Phat Fiber samples..I'm going to miss this month. The good news in this is that my reason is taking on a new part time job starting mid-June. My new job schedule was almost 40hrs for the last 3 weeks. However, once the store opens (this Friday!) my hours will drop closer to a normal part time schedule. Which means we should be back on track for the August box. =D

Other occurrences on the fun side of things is that I choose to try to participate in the Tour De Fleece again on Ravelry. I joined back up with fellow fiberistas from last year (previously Rawfish's Ravelry forum now all grown up into LaiGrai.)I haven't been 100% successful  but since the July 3rd start I've spun 3-4 days. I even have pics... just not uploaded to Flickr yet. Which means... lucky you blog friends! You get first peek at my recent yarns including the one above.

 spun pumpkinhaus batt and froggy hand painted roving

more handpainted froggy roving to be plyed with white (maybe)

Always end on a good note! (It's going to be my new blogging motto... I just came up with it and decided that when I wrote it. Serendipity is a wonderful thing.)

and there goes May...

I've been in and out of a little funk this month so not many... *ahem* any, posts from me. I did still manage to attend my local market and drew tons of attention even though there were no sales. I also got back in touch with an old work friend. Well, I would call her a work friend but I guess these things are always so iffy when you lose your job.
Anyway, outside of the market the only other thing I've managed this month was contributing to the Phat Fiber Sampler. I sent a mix of 27 yarn and fiber samples in and slipped in just by the skin of my teeth so to speak. I didn't get my market set up photos this time but I did get the Phat Fiber samples before boxing them up to go.

 Hopefully I'm back on the upswing and will be posting here more. Until then.....

Surprise!

I'm having a surprise sale starting NOW everything is 25% off. Money refunded via PayPal after payment clears. Tell me you saw it on my blog. (disc. does not  include shipping, can not be combined, etc)
Good through May 2, 2010

Shop Froggy Fibers 
 

Phat Froggy Fibers Giveaway!

If you've ever wanted to get your hands on some Froggy Fibers then now is your chance. Just pop on over to the Phat Fiber blog where you can be entered into the giveaway.

All you have to do is post what your  favorite item is in my shop. Just go to this post and you will be entered into a chance to win 2 oz of Froggy Fibers Red Eyed Tree Frog Roving.  What's better than free when it comes to good, quality fibers!

Store update and Policy Change

Just wanted to let you know that lots of new things have been added to the store throughout the week. More fiber and more yarn for you at Froggy Fibers.

I also wanted to send a quick note for those who are not signed up for the Froggy Fibers Newsletter that there is a new policy going into effect on May1st regarding renewing items in the store. After this date no yarn or fiber product will be renewed so if you want something in the store it is best to go ahead and purchase it.

Thank you for viewing and purchasing from my store.