Shop update, Phat Fiber Samples and Market Pictures

Hello!
I don't really have much to say at the moment so I'm just going to post a few important things and some lovely pictures. Not lovely cause they are extraordinarily good but lovely just cause they are pictures.

 (#1) Starting Monday April 12 (yep, that was yesterday) I will be updating the shop. New items will go up all week long so please check  back regularly.

 

 (#2) My samples for the April PhatFiber box was sent out on Monday. (I did double sided business cards for the tag again! Such fun!) Hopefully it will make it to HQ in time to get in the video but in case it isn't I will be in the box!. Full size listings will be available in shop on Friday.

(#3) Market Pictures! I participated in my local Market last Saturday and seemed to draw some good interest. People came by who remembered me from last year. I even had someone ask me if I did lessons! I think in the future I will bring more yarn and less fiber but then I feel like I'm losing an opportunity for someone to learn to spin. It just seems like the primary interest is in the yarn. It's really a hard balance doing shows in person and one I just haven't figured out yet. (Side note- I wasn't selling the sweater or (my son's) hat. They were there as examples of what can be done with handspun. Just thought I should note that since they are in the picture.)

Well, that's it for now!

Come see me at the Market!

We just confirmed today that we will be attending the Wesleyan Market again this year starting April 10, 2010 from 9am - 1pm. Last year was a blast and it was great to meet people who spun or were interested in spinning.


So if you are local, in town or driving through please make plans to stop by and see us (my husband and I) this weekend. If you make a purchase from Froggy Fibers and decide to wish me a happy 30th I will give you a special birthday discount as well.
Thanks!

Join a spinalong with me!

Hey all! I wanted to invite all the spinners out there to come do a spinalong in the Friends of Froggy Ravelry group! We don't have a theme yet and are still working on it so jump on in and voice your opinion. The great part about this spinalong (besides me... bats eyelashes) is it's totally NO PURCHASE NECESSARY!

Sorry for the yelling but its an important point. I like doing spinalongs but I don't always have the money to pony up for one. This spinalong would also work great for if your doing the 2nd Annual Yarn Everyday Challenge! Some ideas so far have been Critters and Assymetry. Please stop by check and check out the others. Let's have a fun, no stress spinalong!

April Phat Fiber, Yarn Everyday Month and 2 Questions

Hello! I have my roving all dyed for the April Phat Fiber sampler! I'm really excited and plan to make sure there are full size listings in the store. (Maybe I should do 2 ounce listings and offer custom requests on the colorways?) So... do you want a peek? It's probably too late now, You've seen the picture.


Now just to divide the roving up and label it. If I have time I may work up some yarn as well.

In other yarn news, Yarn Everyday Month is back. This year I am going to work really hard to get some yarn or fiber work in everyday. Last year I also tried to blog each day but it didnt really work after a few days. This year I can do it though. I have a new (to me) awesome Fricke spinning wheel and just under ten pounds of wool to work with. Plus I have fiber reactive dyes so I can handpaint milk fiber for the store now. I'm really rather excited to be honest.



So, I did a lot of typing on an earlier blog post so I'm trying to keep this one more to the point (and tons lighter!) But I have two questions that I would love assistance with.

1. I plan to sell at the local market again this year. I thought that it would be a good idea to have a few yarns that were multiples for people who don't want to be limited to smaller (70-150 yard) projects.

Currently I am spinning 3 ounce bundles to get the amounts close to the same yardage, aiming for 100 yards/piece. For the three skeins I have done 2 are 74 yds/piece and one in 102 yds before dyeing and setting the twist. I will probably bump it up to 4 ounce bundles so that I know I have 100 yards.

Originally my idea was to provide 3-4 different colorways that had 3 skeins each. Do you think this would be enough? Should I do more than 3 skeins of each color I offer? Would it be better to test the waters with only 2 colorways and have 4-5 skeins of each?


2. I am thinking of moving my blog back to wordpress (froggyfiber.com) because it would give me a better chance to monitor comments and reply. I like talking to everyone but I don't always want to reply back on the post. I really like sending back a personal email. Plus, I'm tired of it just sitting there unused! So, is there anyone knowledgeable about importing posts and themes? I need a cleaner nicer theme for wordpress that is easy to install and change the banner on. Is that too much to ask? (Ha! that was totally rhetorically but if you know, do tell!)


I will be forever indebted to you if you can help with either question. Thanks bunches!

A public admission

Hello My friends! *sighs* Yet again it has been a while since I wrote. Then when I did it was to talk about the death of my poor bunny. So, I am going to write this quick post and then write another post to drown out this one because I really hate to bring people down. (ETA: it's not as short as I thought it would be so feel free to skip it.)

It may not be obvious to the people that read this blog but I have a condition that millions of people have. For YEARS I really thought I could just make myself work. I felt like I was just being a lazy slack ass. That really deep inside I had all these brilliant (or at least really decent) ideas and all I had to do was make myself do it. Maybe I just needed to be more organized. Perhaps if I learned to structure my day better by scheduling my time I could totally capitalize on the GENIUS that was my brain. (Yes, I do think highly of myself at times.)

Sadly, as I grew up, finished college, married (and adopted my then stepson) I realized that my life wasn't going to work out that way. See, I was constantly switching modes (and stress only made it worse.) I would hear my husband say something and just snap. Sometimes there was a point to it but more often than not I just associated the comment wrongly in my head. I always felt like I was being attacked even when he was being encouraging. I was always tired minus a few good days any given month. Seriously, I was all drama. Of course I managed to keep the main damage at home. However, it was stressful trying to be Ms. Personal at work and that just upped the ante whenever I was home. Eventually it got worse. I knew it was bad when everything my son said grated my nerves, ever thing my husband said grated my nerves and everything I did just sucked, all the time!

So I finally went back to the doctor. I say back because every time I previously went I was doped up on medications that made me feel like crap and gave me extremely poor sleep including vivid and scary dreams. Starting in college I was diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, Anxiety and Bi-polar. Really it shouldn't have been surprising that I would need medication to help with the day to day tasks of life. I can't even begin to count how many times my mom said "It's not fair for everyone to have to tiptoe around you like you are on eggshells." Or better yet, the number of times I was told I was throwing a temper tantrum... so much so one of my sisters wrote the definition and taped it to her door. (We're not talking under the age of ten either.)

So a few years ago I went back to the doctor to seek help. He was just a general practitioner but I felt comfortable with him and described my problems. I also made it very clear that while I was willing to take medicine, I was not willing to be doped up all the time "trying to find" the medicine that was best for me. I was working full time and was the sole income provider so I couldn't miss time from work for crazy side effects.

Well, the first difference was that the doctor said that all my symptoms were classic signs of depression. Depression! Ding Ding Ding! Hell, I can deal with that but why did people keep telling me bi-polar. Did you know if your depressed you have to take different medications then those with Bi-Polar? If your misdiagnosed and take the wrong meds it can have serious side affects. So, after talking through my previous trials and errors we discovered one medicine I had taken in small doses during college that didn't have bad side effects. And it was an antidepressant dammit! All that wasted time on bi-polar meds that were screwing me up and making it hard to navigate the day... harder than before.

Well, I took medicine for the depression for around two years and then I lost my job. My prescription, thankfully, didn't run out for another 6 months. Sadly, I could afford the prescription itself on the unemployment income, but it was the office visit to the doctor that was out of the question. Then we considered the Health Department but unfortunately there was like a 3 month wait on appointments and I just kept thinking I would get a job by then so I could go back to my regular doctor.

That didn't happen and that hasn't happened. So now I am here. Sometimes its a few days and other times its a few weeks. Most of the time it is somewhere in between. I don't know if it was worse before, when I didn't know or if it is worse now that I know it can be better. I can actually fly into a rage and midway through know I'm being irrational and still not be able to stop myself. That hurts. It hurts me and its not fair to my husband or my son.

We finally got up the courage to call the Health Department again and I have an appointment in approximately 2 weeks. I both dread it and look forward to it. I'm just tired right now. I feel lost a lot of the time. What I really want right now is to be in the mental position I was a year ago. True, I was without a job but I was more together than I had been in years. I just want that feeling back.

So don't worry if I don't post for long periods of time. I'm still around just not in the mood for in depth conversations. Hopefully by the end of this month I won't have to worry about that as much though. Seriously, I'm naturally very talkative... so much so, as evidenced by the nature of this post. I've just been feeling painfully honest and needed to get it out. Tonight seemed as good as any but I promise not to write such dark posts in the future. Cross your fingers and wish me luck. Thanks!

Smokey Joe

Our poor bunny passed away sometime between last night and this morning. It was quite sad to see him go as he was a real trooper. Smokey Joe was a Jersey Wooly who came to live with us on July 1, 2007 along with his two sisters Opal and Ladybird. They were all about 4 years old at the time. I 'm sure it was time for him to go but its always hard. Doubly so when you have to break it to your 10 year old son. He will be missed.

Movement

Sometimes brilliant thoughts strike at the least likely moment.
Today, I took my dog out to the yard to do her business as I often do (or as my husband often does... it seems often anyway.) I took a step off the porch and stopped to let her do her thing at which point I immediately noticed the post sunset chill that had crept into the air. Suddenly I was ready to go back inside and quickly. Since Ms. Pepper didn't seem to be ready to do anything I started to pull on her leash and make a motion toward the door. She wasn't ready though and so I stopped. (You can't rush a dog or you'll find yourself in the same spot five minutes later.) Funny thing was that I stopped mid-motion. I had literally just stepped forward to turn and that was how I stopped.

And it hit me.



How do you get anywhere? By placing one foot in front of the other.

What's so funny about this? Nothing.

So why are you telling me this dog goes poopy story?
It's because of what I learned (or realized or better yet remembered) in that moment. It's because movement is about taking one step and placing it in front of the other. That is such a hard concept sometimes but it is so very literal. I deal with this issue a lot right now. Whether it's dealing with family, friends, unemployment, "being froggy fibers" or even handling my issues with depression. I have to learn when to move. And it's hard. I mean really hard. Some issues are harder than others even.

When do you move forward? When do you stop? How do you change directions? I don't know the answer for me so I'm certainly not going to pretend that I can tell anyone else. I just know that it was a very light-bulb moment for me. As I stand there frozen one foot forward, arms mid-swing waiting for my dog to go. I realized that the only way I'm going to see some change in my life, in my online store, in my job/career choice is to start putting one foot in front of the other and create the movement I need. Sure, there will be bumps in the road that will set me back a few paces. But when they do, I'm going to make sure that I turn around and face those steps head on. Because even if I have to retrace some steps, once I turn around those steps are in front of me again. Now I will have the experience of having walked that path before and I can put one foot in front of the other and decide what my movement will be. I will know that a few steps back down a path I've already tread doesn't mean I lose control of what road I will take in the future.

See, I'll be thirty next month. I have my whole life ahead of me. Sometimes that seems like such a weight, sometimes a relief, sometimes like I am just really, really old and have accomplished nothing. Tonight, when I go to bed, I'll wonder how something as simple as taking the dog out to go poop can bring about inspiration. (Yes, there I said poop!) I'll probably giggle a little too. Cause, you know, I'm sooooo mature.

******

On a related note, not 5 minutes after having this epiphany I found myself reading Tingling Towards Progress over on Make & Meaning. It's good reads... even if it has to do with feet. Talking as someone who only likes to see feet on the floor and no where near me, it's kinda odd the inspiration they can prompt.

On the flip side

Sometimes I get amazed by the little things. Silly as it sounds, just the other day I was thinking about how cool business cards can be. Very multipurpose. You can get SO MUCH on the back of them.


For instance, I did my PhatFiber sample cards and added this info to the back. So if your front is catchy and creative enough, you have the back that could be filled with loads of useful info. I wouldn't do this all the time but its a great trick and reduces paper use too.

Baby Belle has rung!

Completely corny title I know. I just have to announce that my first sweater has been finished. No more knitting, no binding off, no weaving in ends. Woohoo! And now, introducing my little ladybug (that's what I would call a baby wearing this)...


Also, my fascination with sweaters is done too. It was great fun and a learning experiment but I'm not sure how much I want to do it again. I certainly don't want to make a full sized one, even if I had my eye on the Handspun Babydoll Tunic SAL/KAL on Ravelry. Maybe the feeling will subside and I will have another go. For the moment, I am quite happy.

Low Cost Tips from the Lilypad #4

Today, a quick and easy tip for any messy medium.

Over the last 6 months or so after washing clothes I have discovered towels that have aged beyond repair. Mostly towels with multiple small wholes and large tears. So instead of throwing them out I decided to put them to good use.



The first thing I did was use the towels to soak up water. Since I live in a small house I often dyed my wool and leave it hanging on a wooden laundry rack. However, no matter how much you try the wool will drip water and the last thing you need is water puddles on the floor. Then later I got a bit smarter in my old recycled towel use. Now, whenever I sort my fiber I will often lay out old towels to pick the fiber over. Since I do small scale picking I can grab my bundle(s) and sit in front of the TV while working. Mostly I'm listening to what's on the TV but it keeps me entertained and focused. This also makes for easy for cleaning up all the fiddly veggie matter and dirt that falls out. Just ball up the towel and shake it out outside (or over the outside trash can.)


Try using old towels as a drop cloth for painting sessions or clay work. Keep the water in check when wet felting and keep the sticky guck (for lack of a proper term) in check when working with papier-mâché. Finally, don't forget kids craft time. It's always better if they decide to decorate the towels then the tables or the walls!



Do you know a great low cost crafty tip? Something you want to share to make crafting easier without breaking the pocketbook? Please email me at adminat...froggyfiberdot...com (using all the necessary email symbols and removing the periods) and I will add it as a post on the blog. Be sure to give me a link to your blog or store so you can get credit. If I get enough I will start posting a new one each week or biweekly.