Don't do a thorough arm workout on days you're working with very tiny needles!  It's good for preventing repetitive stress injuries and awesome for toned arms, but it's wicked difficult to knit with shaky hands. 

Good thing the socks are for me! :)

For the past three weeks, we've been bouncing back and forth between my mom and stepdad's and our house.  They live about 4 hours away, but needed help after my mom's surgery.  

She's doing great and I think we're home for good, now, but GAH.  I feel like I haven't gotten anything done.  i actually did a few more color sketches last night when we got home just so I could feel like I've done something.

Since my shop hasn't been updated in awhile, I may put the socks I'm making for myself (luscious hand-dyed yarn) on hold for a day to knock out my last idea.  When I've got ideas in my head, I tend to lose steam if I don't make some progress on them, and I'm full of ideas.  I've written them all down, but it's not the same.

I'd really like to get 50 items in my etsy shop before the end of the month, but I don't know if that's going to happen.  Guess we'll see!

I've been holding off on buying yarn, recently, in an attempt to work through my stash.  As a result, I've found myself stagnated and avoiding knitting for my shop; new colors and textures are what keeps me going.  It has been pretty productive, this avoidance, because I've been working on projects for me, my family, and finishing up things that have been hanging around for awhile.

But...I know I need to work on building up more stock!  I'm already starting to get a trickle of custom orders for the holidays, and I was dreadfully unprepared last year for my etsy sales.  Breaking down and buying yarn currently isn't in the cards, so I decided to whip out my bag of scraps and pull a couple of skeins of yarn out and see if I could come up with anything that suited my fancy.  My goal was to use up some of my scraps and to use up an idle skein.  

Last night in the HAF critique chat, someone mentioned 'sunset colors' in relation to my orange and pink ribbed socks.  I had about 5 yards of each of those colors in my scrap bag, so I pulled them out on the table and saw that a winey red looked quite nice with them.  I also had about 5 yards of that, so I wound off bobbins and have them paired with a skein of cream yarn.

When I finish the pair of socks I'm working on now (for me!), I'm going to get started.  I'm actually excited about it!  Maybe this'll keep me from splurging on supplies for a tiny bit. :)

I posted awhile ago about knitting some socks for my MIL's birthday.  I finished them last week and presented them to the lovely lady earlier in the week!

I try not to complain often about my aches and pains, but the past few weeks have been pretty rough.  I took a knitting break while we were out of town, but I've been having to take it easy since we've been back, despite my itching to knit like a crazy lady.

I've struggled with arthritis since I was 14, so it's nothing new but it does get the best of me.  As the weather heats up, things always get worse, and my regular regimen of supplements and prescriptions weren't cutting it.  So I did what I always do: go to the doctor and see what's next on the list of things to try.

My doctor prescribed a new (to me) NSAID that's supposed to be pretty good.  Hopefully, it gets me back to knitting freely soon.  I'm a big fan of resistance bands and have barely been able to do the stretches and exercises that really help keep my knees and elbows limber and reduce stiffness.

Arthritis is a pretty common challenge, and it seems like it's most debilitating for people who are active with their hands.  I can't count the number fibery types, jewelers, painters and illustrators, etc. who have to learn new techniques, find new tools, or take long breaks to prevent permanent or long-term pain.  Repetitive stress injuries are also a frequent complaint for those of us who work long hours on our crafts with few breaks and don't pay attention to our bodies.

It's always 'just one more row!' for me, and my body punishes me for it.

I'm dying, here!  We left to visit family, and I got notice today that my alpaca is waiting at the post office for me!  All of this time, I've been waiting and waiting and pining away for it, and it arrives a day after I leave.

Oh the injustice!  Oh the humanity!

My MIL is checking on the house, so I'm going to beg her to go pick it up for me so it doesn't wait too long in the cold, dark, unloving post office. :)

This week, I'm happy to share iKnitQuiltSew with you all!  Sandi is obviously passionate about what she does; and, after flipping through her shop and blog, it's apparent how genuinely caring she is as a person and how much love she puts into her creations.  I've looked at her lovelies before, and I'm always struck by how sweet her shop is and how much fibery talent one person can be blessed with.

I'm particularly enchanted with this little guy:

How could you not love such a charming little face and a well tailored outfit?

As a knitter, I had to pick a pair of her booties.  She has many different styles in traditional and some more wild colors, and I am in awe of her patience!  Whenever I attempt a pair of booties, it's like the world is against me, and I can never get two that look even remotely alike!  Here's a pair of blue, newborn booties that are absolutely perfect.  It doesn't get any sweeter than that.

I encourage you to stop by her shop and her blog.  On her blog, you'll find features from other artists and photo tutorials.

I've posted about a bazillion times about the alpaca yarn I've ordered, but today I'm very excited.  The Bolivian post service update shows that the yarn left the country three days ago.  It's not tracking in the US yet, but it's so nice to see it finally moving along on its journey.

It takes an average of two weeks to arrive, according to them, and it's only been one week.  I'm champing at the bit to get my hands on those lovely little skeins!  Until it arrives, I'll be compulsively running the number through track-trace and the USPS website to see if there's any news on its location.

I've reached an all-time high number of listings in my shop, so I've decided to slow down a bit on my tabi production.  I really want to beef up the number of traditional-toed socks before cool weather sets in, since they did so well last year, despite the limited colors available, and I was pretty stressed in getting them made.  I placed my order for the new yarn last week, so I've got awhile before I'm able to dig in on that.

While I wait, I've decided to work on some of my personal projects.  Things are pretty slow in etsy-land, so I figured it'd be a good thing to take advantage of.  I really want to crank out at least two sweaters before it gets cool, and have about six Chrismukkah stockings that I'd like to finish.

Knitting really causes a special kind of seasonal madness.  In June, the pressure starts to get warm woolies ready for The Season, so orders of wool, alpaca, etc. start arriving.  Thick sweaters, thrummed mittens, and warm slippers start production in the heat of the summer.  If you're not planning or already working by July, a little bit of a panic starts setting in.  By the end of August, you'd better have a nice bit of product stocked up, or the pinch is really on.  

And I'm a willing participant.  Below is the first repeat of the cabled cuff for a lovely, classic stocking.  I plan on making six of these, and I'm getting a head start!

I've been playing ring around the rosie with the supplier who I buy my alpaca yarns from for the past few months, and I finally gave up on Tuesday.  My refund is being processed and I've already placed another order with another supplier.

About a year ago, my favorite tabi yarn supplier dried up and I had a mad scramble to find a new source.  After that, I apparently learned my lesson and have spent a few hours each week keeping tabs on prices, shipping times, etc.  I'm very glad I did because it was much less painful to lose a supplier when I had another two lined up and ready to go.

I originally ordered only three colors (green, blue, black), but I decided to rethink the colors with this second order and I have black, gray, olive, and a lovely, soft lilac on their way.  I'm going to pay back twiddletoes for some of the lilac because I have a few women in my life who will love a pair of socks out of it over the holidays.

So we'll see how this goes.  I've been itching to play with more alpaca, and the brick/rust red that I ordered retail just isn't doing it for me, for some reason.  I'd like to have some blacks, grays, and greens ready for Father's Day.