Etsy and more official news

I have officially opened my etsy shop!!!!!!!! So far, I just have my hand dyed yarns listed, but I have some fiber batts ready to go up there as well. I just got my new digital scale today so I can accurately advertise these now. Hooray! Please stop by and let me know what you think! Isn't it exciting?! I would also like to make another "official" move and announce to the world that my Marm and I are opening a yarn/spinning/knitting shop in late April/early May. We are so thrilled to have this opportunity and since we both have a blog, we want to write about store stuff too. We have decided to merge the three into one big coop blog for her, for me, and for shop goodies! I will post here a few more times, since we are still getting the new blog up and running, but I will eventually be moving to this new address. Thanks to all of my faithful readers, and I hope you will join me over there. It can only be even more fun with my mom contributing as well! :) Hope to see you there, please join us on this adventure! P. S. How do you folks out there in blog land pronounce etsy by the way? I have heard it etsy and I have heard it eetsy...just curious! :)

Update!! Finally!!

First thing's first...please, PLEASE, please forgive my lack of blogging this past month. Time has just gotten away from me and I have been a horrible blogger...so sorry!! Now to catch you up on things- I finished the purple-y socks for Mackenzie, but cannot show you a picture just yet since I have already wrapped them. For those of you who saw the yarn as a work in progress in the last post, however, I will provide the details.

Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks, Winter Eclipse (75% Washable wool, 25% nylon)
Needles: Size 2 harmony circulars
Pattern: Basic toe-up sock, sized down for a child

Since my last post I also started and finished a pair of socks for Mallory and here they are.


The details are:
Yarn: Fiesta colorway, 100% superwash merino by Black Bunny Fibers
Needles: Size 1 circulars (harmony needles...gorgeous!)
Pattern: A child-sized variation (by me) on the toe-up sock by Wendy

I know that Mallory is really going to enjoy these. She kept coming up with excuses to try them on...just for fun of course :) I still have to wrap these and might put them in her stocking. The lucky thing about her being the youngest is that, since she's the smallest, it's so much easier to make things for her! So, thus ends the Christmas list of things I wanted to complete. I can't believe I made it! I have started a pair of socks for my mom, but my tendonitis is acting up again and I have been forced to set them down for a while. I am fathfully blue ice-ing it twice a day, so I expect speedy recovery!! So, here are her socks...toe-up of course.

Now on to other things. I have already gotten to open a couple of gifts for Hanukkah and they have been delightful! One of my gifts was this beautiful yarn. Both fingering weight, 100% superwash merino. It's kind of hard to see, but the one on the left is a blend of purples and greens, Gem Stones by Poppy Flower Fibers . The one on the right is a blend of greens, blues, and purple called Evening Forest. They are both 500 or more yards each! I am using the Evening Forest to make myself the Noro Silk Garden scarf.I saw it worked up at our LYS and fell in love! I think it will look awesome with a handpainted yarn like this.


I have been working on our annual Christmas puzzle and finally finished it. We always have one of Charles Wysocki's paintings and they are wonderful! Anyway, I finally finished this one two pieces short. ARGH! Oh well, I guess that's what I get for buying it at a yard sale, LOL. Fortunately we have 2 others and I have just started one of those. Here's the "before" pic and i will post updates as I progress :)







Ok, now last but not least in my personal news is something rather dramatic.



My sister Aubrey and I went and got a new piercing! We both got one of our Tragus' pierced, and for those of you who might not know...that's the flap of cartilage that you would press on to cover your ear and say "I'm not listening!", lol. I am so pleased with the outcome and it is healing nicely. I would prefer a smaller hoop, but that will have to wait a couple more weeks at least :)





So, there you have it folks. I will be posting the kids latest lapbook soon. It's their Thanksgiving project and it's mighty impressive, even if I do say so myself.

Lapbooking, knitting, and jewelry

First of all, let me apologize for the delay in my posting. Among other things, we have gotten a case of the sniffles, sore throat, coughing thing amongst our family that is not bad enough to do much damage, but enough to make you feel icky all day. I've been loading up on the Emergen-C so hopefully that will help. Well, onto other news, I received my blog contest prize the other day! Isn't it beautiful?! It even came with a wonderful packet of lavender blossoms. It's heavenly! Thanks Carol!! I can't wait to see how it knits up...but I am not touching it until I can actually work up a pair of socks with it. I finished the orange boucle scarf and sent it off to it's Christmas recipient: my sister-in-law :) She and my brother live in Hawaii but are spending all of December in France, so she will be able to use it then. I will have her take a picture of herself modeling it and will post that asap, i promise!



Right now I have begun (again) Mackenzie's socks. It's wonderful to be knitting socks once more. I am finally able to do some knitting without the wrist brace and its so freeing! I still have at least 2 pairs to do after I finish these so I am really trying to get after it. I am doing these toe up once again and it's going well so far. It looks a lot like blue in this picture but there's also quite a bit of purple in this yarn. Purple is her favorite color and she adores this yarn. Fortunately, her feet aren't very long at all for a girl her age. She wears a size 2 1/2 and she's 12.


Now I know I mentioned this a couple of posts ago, but the littles and I got their Halloween lapbook done by Halloween! I promised pictures for those of you who don't know what a lapbook is, so here you go!

Here is the front of one of them. As you can see, they go all out with the decoration and stickers :) Now there are 4 pages in this particular book to accomodate all the things we made to go inside.









Here's the first 2 pages. There is a recipe for English Soul Cake, a Halloween timeline pop-up book, Halloween Symbols and their meanings, and a recipe for Mexican Bread of the Dead :)











The last 2 pages have a map with details of how people around the world celebrate Halloween differently, a book of pumpkin facts, a pouch with their favorite candies written inside, and last (but of course not least, lol) a skeleton put together with brads.

So, there you have it...a lapbook! The are so many really great things about lapbooks:

-The kids remember what they are learning because it's integrated into a craft project

-The information is broken down into manageable chunks to make several different little books

-They are able to have a wonderful time decorating and expressing their creativity

-They return to the books they have made time and time again, cementing the knowledge they have gained.

-They have something that they can show off proudly to Daddy or company about what they have learned.




Bailey got a bath today, and she's getting so pretty and fluffy. She will be one year old on the 15th and they say that a sheltie's coat will continue to get filled out until they are about 18 months old.

I'm stuck on the computer lately playing a new game. It's Luxor 3, and I bought it as an early Christmas gift for my mom, but I have gotten addicted to it too. You have to try it, but be warned! It's too much fun!! :)


I have been thinking pretty seriously about trying to make money off of what has previously been a hobby of mine; jewelry making. Here's one of the sets I have made so far. I am still looking into all the legal stuff and I would really like to be able to sell online, but it would be nice to have some that I could sell for consignment maybe. Anyway, I have a few things already made but I am not wanting to think about it all going forward until after the holidays. What do you guys think? I have pictures of some of my other things here.

Well, this has been a very long post, but I had quite a few things to catch up on :) Have a great weekend everybody!

Argh Matey!!

Well, the wrist brace is off and I am on my way back to normal life...hopefully :) I haven't actually started knitting again, but we're closer! It's difficult to replace knitting in your life. I was totally unprepared for it! What do you do when you would normally be knitting?! I have gotten some reading done, but I am mostly just worrying over the Christmas gifts that aren't getting done as Christmas creeps ever closer. I have gotten a lot completed in anticipation of the holidays, at least compared to last year, lol. I still have my knitting bag out of sight, but I can feel my strength returning and my project ambition is as high as ever.

On a more exciting note, I won a contest! I never win contests, and I am so thrilled at the prize...yarn! I was over at Carol's blog and she had a contest where you could guess the number of days until she received a job offer that she accepted. So, I guessed 49 and I was right! :) Here's the post and there is a picture of the yarn. I chose the purple-y one (sorry Suzanne!) and can't wait to make some socks with it! Isn't it gorgeous?!



I was at Wal-Mart the other day and couldn't resist this dog costume for Bailey. Isn't she adorably piratey?! She lost the hat immediately after this photo, but she contentedly left the little dress on all day.










I am loving this weather, aren't you? It's finally raining, and it's finally fall! Well, the kids and I are going to make a lapbook for Halloween so I had better hurry up and print it out, cut it out, and do that with them :) Will post pics of that when we have actually completed it.

New yarn, again!

I wasn't necessarily planning on this, but I bought more sock yarn yesterday! I guess June and Cat (Girls from my knitting group) are starting to rub off on me :) Anyway, we headed off to our LYS (Local Yarn Store for those of you non-knitters out there) last night and I ended up with the most beautiful sock yarn. It's ONline Supersocke #830 and if you look at this picture, you can see the awesome pattern it makes (it's the top one on the left). I can't find a picture of the other one so I will just have to post pics as I progress. I was intending to buy some yarn for the socks that I am making for my sister Aubrey (she's 21), but they had an actual sock knitted up with a different colorway of this same brand, and I fell in love! Darn that effective marketing strategy stuff! So, now I have a pair of socks in the knitting queue for Aubrey and myself...what am I to do?! Aubrey is anxious for her socks and I am anxious to work with some new yarn so I will be doing hers next!

Now, onto the legwarmers! I am almost done and so happy about it! I tried them on Mallory last night while she was asleep because she is a very sound sleeper. It worked like a charm! Why haven't I done this with every "secret" project before this?! I think I have about 2 more inches to go, then on to the ribbing, then I am done! I know she will love these and wear them out so I want to make them long enough to last for awhile. I am going to make the ribbing long enough to fold down as well. I will be finishing these today *fingers crossed*, so you should be seeing them completed and modeled by some child very soon!

Last night, my mom bought a quilt pattern to make me as a Christmas gift and I am so excited about it! It's so cute, and I love it. You have to go see it here. I love the little turtles and it will look so perfect on my bed. Isn't my mom the greatest?!

Poor Bailey, all this blogging
really wears a girl out! ;)

New yarn and unschooling/child-directed learning

First things first...new yarn!! Isn't it all gorgeous?! As some of you may have read, I mentioned in my last post that I was struggling with trying to find sock yarn for the many sock recipients at my house. A wonderful, gracious friend from our knitting group supplied me with this wonderful bounty of sock yarn! My mom and I went to visit June yesterday and had a wonderful time. We knitted and talked spinning and yarn for a couple of hours. Is there anything better?! It almost made up for us missing knitting group at B&N this week. Ladies, we missed you all so much!The only problem I am facing now is, I want all this great yarn for myself! LOL You will be seeing projects from this yarn very soon I am sure.

Speaking of which, I am motoring along with my legwarmers, trying to be able to use some pretty yarn for another project. I know it's not very appreciative of me, but I am tired of this
plain blue yarn...Anyway, I worked on these all last night during a movie (Errol Flynn's Robin Hood) and I think I have made some headway.
It feels like I am getting nowhere on this project after doing a couple of pairs of socks! After discovering that the ribbing at the top of these was too big, I was despairing of ever getting them to fit right...Lo and behold, my mom came to my rescue in suggesting that I just make the existing ribbing be at the bottom instead. What a great idea! I don't know why, but it had never even entered my mind...As you cans see, I am still working on my thinking-out-of-the-box skills :)

So, onto the non-knitting part of my life (is there such a thing? LOL), we have been busy with our homeschooling activities this week. We went with our history club to Greenville, KY on a field trip to learn about coal mining. We had a good time, and I think the littles all learned a lot.
As you may already know, our homeschooling style runs toward unschooling. If you don't know what unschooling is, here's a brief description- Unschooling is really child-directed learning in which the child follows their own interests, learning what they are interested in! We direct the interests of our littles, but we don't put age limits or grade limits on them...basically allowing them to focus on anything they want. It's so amazing how this works, because you would assume that children would naturally shy away from educational activities but the opposite is actually true! We have them picking up their math workbooks all by themselves, they play with the
globe, they quiz each other on math facts or music notes all on their own. In short, they learn what they need to, but on their own timetable, when they have a desire to learn it- therefore, they remember what they learn. It's not traditional, but it works for us and I love it. I wanted to share this great example of a project that Kelsey (9 yrs.) did while "playing" :) We try to make all the resources available for them to use, then let them use them at will. It's amazing how much a child learns while they are having fun! I have another blog that has resources for unschooling that we have found including websites, books, movies, etc. I am slowly adding to it as I come across things that we use and enjoy. Anyway, that's a part of our lives that you are now a part of! :)


I have to share this adorable picture of my mom's chihuahua, Bisou...he happens to be in Bailey's bed and it's way too big for him! LOL Isn't he the cutest?!

Juggling three knitting projects!

Compared to my mom, I feel pretty pathetic now. Here she is, managing her household (upside-down though it may be right now), working on her knitting projects, blogging, AND making the meals. So, here I am...back in blogland once more. I have been faithfully working on my knitting lately, and they are really moving right along! I finally got my order from Ram Wools and it was so exciting! I got Patons Kroy Jacquard self patterning.


So, I am using the brown/blue/cream yarn for a pair of knee socks for Levi, and I will be using the red for a pair for Kelsey. We bought Sock Wizard software and I used it to generate my pattern. It's so great!

I am knitting these socks 2 at a time on circular needles and I love doing that. It really prevents those one-sock-blues :)






I am also in the middle of my stole, I really hope I will have enough yarn to finish it to the length I want. I am looking for about 5 1/2 feet so we'll see! I am keeping my fingers crossed, and will keep updating online.


Project number three is an afghan for a friend of mine. I have been forbidden to post pictures of it online, but you can see it by clicking here. It getting pretty big and I have discovered the joys and perils of knitting something so large and warm. On a cool evening it's great, but in the heat of the day it's not so great :)

I have gotten the photo book that I ordered from Shutterfly. It's 20 pages of Bailey pictures and I love how it turned out! It would normally have been about $30 and after getting this one, I would do it again! It's bound just like a really hardcover book and the pictures look great!

I am off to continue working on one of my three WIP's. Wish me luck!

Update on knitting projects & remodeling

Sorry that it's been so long since I have posted, we have been hopping over here at the Thornton Household. My uncle came up from Arkansas to work on some remodeling we wanted done in our house. It's going to be great when it's all done, but in the meantime it just makes a huge mess! I have been working on my stole as often as I can invent an excuse to sit down and grab it :) I have had to frog it 3 times, but I finally got the hang of this lace pattern and now it's flying along. I will be posting pictures soon, when I get enough done to actually give you an idea of what it's supposed to look like (and when I can find the camera amidst everything). I got some yarn the other day in Nashville for my rogue hoodie pattern and I can't wait to start that! Of course, now that I am already (selfishly) working on something for me, I think it will be awhile before I start it. I found out last night that my little ballerina sister wants some leg warmers for Christmas. She wants them thigh-high in that classic ballet pink color. I don't think it will be too difficult (especially since she's a short little thing), and I know she will love them. She also wants a wrap around sweater in that same pink, so I think I will put some other colorful project between those two. You can only take so much pink at once, lol. I am still waiting on my self-patterning sock yarn from Ram Wools and I am really looking forward to making socks out of that! I've never done anything with that kind of yarn and it's so exciting!

Knitting through time and space

There has been a warp in the time-space continuum of my knitting universe. Is there a penalty for bumping knitting projects up in your queue 3, 4, or 5 places? :) I sincerely hope not because, as you are about to read, I would be in big trouble!

You know that purple Shapely Tank that I was working on? I decided that I was displeased with it and not even enjoying working on it anymore so...out it went! So, then I thought, I will start working on that pair of socks for Levi. As I am knitting along happily on the gauge, I was talking to Levi about what he would want in a pair of homemade socks. Turns out he wanted something colorful with stripes, of course- something I have none of! I then decided to go online and I ordered enough yarn to make 4 different pairs of socks: 2 skeins each of the 4 different colors of Kroy Jacquard (Patons) from Ram Wools. While I am waiting for that order to arrive, I think to myself, I will start that hooded sweater pattern that's in my queue! I have been wanting to do that for so long now and I got really excited about it. I bought some purple yarn from a store in Cincinnati recently just for this pattern, so I begin to whip up the gauge. About this time, I thought to look at the pattern and check the yardage requirements-I have 1200 yards...the pattern calls for 1500!! ARGH!

SOOOO...The only thing left on my queue that I could do (without going to buy new yarn) is a stole :) And, I couldn't possible be without a knitting project right now! I could never show my face in polite society again! ;) So I have now taken that same yarn that was intended for the hoodie and am making myself a stole. I knew I would get to that stole, but I didn't know it would be this soon! I took a pattern for a scarf from the Little Box of Scarves by Melissa Matthay and Sheryl Thies. I chose the fern lace wrap pattern and am making it about 3 times as wide as the scarf pattern. I am 2 rows into the pattern and it is turning out very beautifully.

I also bought some yarn today to work on that lap afghan. So, I will be doing those at the same time, I think I will take the afghan to knitting night at B&N because I am planning on doing it plain garter stitch. That will be so easy! No interruptions from chatting!

As far as my spinning, I think I will use that merino for a scarf for myself. I have chosen one, but I might see something I like better between now and then. Who knows, that might not be too far away! :)

I have found a blog that has inspired me to add SEVERAL more things to my knitting queue. I don't even know if anyone needs these items, but who cares! You have to go check out Brooklyn Tweed- Especially if you are a fan of Elizabeth Zimmerman. I am just in awe of all his completed projects and have to have a Tomten Jacket just like his! My mom introduced me to EZ's patterns and we both love her. We went to knitting camp in 2002 and fell in love with her daughter, Meg Swansen, as well.

The myth of the center-pull ball

I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have successfully found the end of yarn in the center of the center-pull ball. ARGH! I always end up pulling out about 15 yards before stumbling upon that elusive end. Would someone please tell me that I am not alone here?! It's a great concept in theory...this pretty little ball of yarn, but evil lurks beneath that fluffy exterior. Be warned!