Prepping for Kid N' Ewe

The second weekend of November, my shop will be participating in the Kid n' Ewe and Llama Too! Fiber Festival down in Boerne Texas.  So, I have already started prepping and making lists.  One of the things that I am doing is changing the way that I label my product.  Before I had a tag dangling from my stuff with all of the info being handwritten.  I am switching to tags that wrap around my skeins and fiber (they will still hang from the bags because what else can they do?) and that are mostly if not all the  way printed from my printer.  While my handwriting is not sloppy in my opinion, tags will be easier to read and more 'professional' looking in the new way.  I will have to photo the difference this evening and show ya'll what I am talking about.

Halloween is approaching and I dyed up some of my Witchy Woman Self Striping and put some fiber on clearance over at The Shop and you can always use the September coupon code in my previous entry to get more off.

September Sale!

Alright, alright, alright!  My shop is off of vacation and I am slowly getting back into the groove of things.  Here's a coupon code, just for the 3 people that read my blog.

Use coupon code SEPTEMBERBLOG at Brazen Stitchery to get $8.00 off of any purchase $30.00 or higher.

And here's a peek at what I dyed and sewed pre surgery.

Meet Blob

So, I have been a little quiet lately.  I went to the doctor a week and a half ago for my annual girl stuff exam.  While Doc was doing the exam he felt a '5-7' cm cyst on one of my ovaries.  I came back a couple of days later for a sonogram to get a closer look at it, and it's more like a 12 cm cyst on my left ovary.  To put this in perspective, that is roughly the size of a newborn babies head.  This thing has to come out surgically and at first he was throwing around scary words like 'hysterectomy' based on my history and current issue.

So, I go home to process exactly what is happening.  I mean, I am MAD at my body!  Why does it keep being all dysfunctional!?  And I am trying to wrap my head around the whole hysterectomy thing.  It felt a lot like cutting off my nose to spite my face.  And this is where my babies grew etc... Anyway, I was a mess I tell you, a mess!

So, on Wednesday I went for a CaT scan, and let me tell you.  There were no cats!  What is up with that!?  I had to drink this truly awful stuff that they put in Crystal Light lemonade.  It's gonna be a long time before I forget that taste.  Guh.  Imagine drinking plastic grocery sacks.  Yep.  That Bad.

So they start the scan and it's going well.  Then they inject me with the iodine and within a minute I am sneezing.  'No worries' says the nurse 'Some people sneeze'.  Then, I started to snot up and itch and I could feel my face puffing up and my eyes getting puffy.  A nice doctor came in and shot me full of benedryl-and it looks like I have an allergy that I can write down on all those doctor forms.  My eyes were blood shot and puffy, my sinus cavity felt like it had cotton shoved in it, and my face looked like I had been in a bar brawl.  And they kept asking if I had been that way when I got there.  Um, how about no!  So, I had to call Ray to come and get me because the benedryl had me down for the count.  We got home and I slept for most of the afternoon.

Friday, I went in for the pre-op appointment and the results to my scan.  And when the doctor asked my how I was doing and coping I cried.  Oh, yes-me, of the hate to cry school, cried.  He looked at the scan and it turns out that based on the scan, everything is healthy other than the mega cyst, that yes, I have named 'Blob'.  So, he sees no medical reason for the hysterectomy.  Basically, he thought I might go mentally unstable if it happened, and you know?  I was scared of that too.

So, the surgery to remove Blob will be on Tuesday, and you know what?  I am much more at peace about it than I was when it involved a hysterectomy.  I am worried and a little scared, but I don't seem to be as freaked out about it.

August Phat Fiber

So, this months Paht Fiber theme is entomology-bugs.  Now, here's the deal.  I freak out anytime the little things get near me.  So I was not looking forward to the google searches and was not feeling particularly inspired by this theme.

Then, I walked out to my car and saw this on my windshield.

 Oh!  The Colors!  So. Very. Pretty.  I did some googling and discovered that it is a Brumelia Borer-a type of beetle.

So, I took those colors and came up with this self striping sock yarn.  It's on my 100% SW  Merino 2 ply base.  This one is definitely on the list for me to dye for myself.  I named it 'Brumelia Bedelia'.

 I had some of this fabric-which I got from a friend, and made small bags to go in the sampler box and in the shop.  I also have a couple of medium sized ones up in the shop.

 I took the Brumelia Borer again and dyed those colors on a base of organic polwarth wool.  This wool is so fabulously squooshy.  This is 'Brumelia Bedelia' as well.

 This one was an experiment.  I had a colorway in the shop that did not sell at all.  It was a bright yellow and hot green.  I took it and put it in a dyepot with a light bright blue and got this cool skein.  I called it 'Grasshopper Munchies' to go with the Phat Theme of the month.

I am really looking forward to September-Rainbows!  I already have a couple of established colorways that I will dye up and send in.  I'm thinking my Rockin' Rainbow and Candy Rainbow color ways, plus a little something new.

Golden Girls Is To Star Trek as Doctor Oz is to Doctor Who

So, I was over at my moms today helping her with something when she mentions that she has heard great things about a new BBC TV show called Broadchurch.  I went on her DVR and set up the recordings for her-and while I was there I noticed that she had 79(YES, 79) episodes of The Golden Girls and 35 episodes of Doctor Oz on her recorded section.  I laughed at her and ribbed her about it.

But then, as I was driving to the pool not too much later, I thought, oh Man!  When my kids are approaching middle ages, they will come over to my house and help me by recording a new show on some new fangled recording device, and they will see 100 episodes covering most of the Star Trek shows, and all of the Doctor Who's.  They will be all 'Mahm! Seriously!  Are you really gonna watch all these?'.

Ramble On

My get up and go seems to have come back.  I actually have been reclaiming the house and keeping the kitchen clean.  I figure as long as I have a clean kitchen and clean clothes, everything else will fall in line.

What have I been up to?

Well, Tuesday, I scrubbed the kitchen thoroughly and have actually maintained it all week!  I also made a lot of bread and bread like items so that I could use up a gallon of milk that I got on clearance.  I still have 2 dough balls, english muffins, and banana bread in the freezer.  So score one for a high functioning week.  Wednesday I woke up and blah blah blah hormones made it feel like I had morning sickness(no, there is not a baby in there, I promise) and it was a pretty wretched morning.  I ended up taking a short 20 minute nap and was able to pull it together enough to be able to go over to a friends house so that the boys could swim.  Thursday, woke up dizzy again, it passed and I went about my normal day-while maintaining the kitchen.  And I tried baking potatoes in the crockpot!

To bake potatoes in a crockpot:
You will need:
-Potatoes
-Foil
-Oil
-Salt
-A crockpot

Wash your potatoes, then poke them with a knife or fork.  Then, rub them down with oil and salt, cover with foil, and put in your crockpot.  Turn on high for 4-5.  Mine were pretty big, so I let them go the full time and they were thoroughly cooked and everything that is delicious about a baked potato.

Friday, woke up dizzy again, shook it off, and my friend M and I did the house clean swap.  I just wanted help with dusting and floors this time, so my house was done in an hour.  Then, after she left, I found the floor in the office.  Saturday, woke up dizzy, couldn't shake it of-kept coming and going all day, worked on our bedroom because it was one step away from a hoarders episode and then went over to a friends house so the boys could play.  Then, when I got home, we went to see Despicable Me 2 and it was super cute and fun.  I recommend it for the chicken alone.  Chicken humor is so much funnier when you know chickens.

Then today, I got up at 4:43 and couldn't fall back asleep-so I tackled the boys desk-goodbye giant pile of paper, mowed the lawn, and did assorted yard work all completed by 8.  I have been cleaning the coffee pot today too.  It has a whang to it that is not very delicious to me.  I took the boys out for breakie, went to target, came home and have been doing assorted chores all afternoon.  And now, I am writing this rambling blog post.

So, if you've read this far you deserve a cookie.  Go getcha one, okay?

July Give Away!

Hey, ya'll!  It's time, I think for a giveaway on my blog.  I WAS doing these on Facebook, but it was really difficult to contact the winners if they weren't already in my personal friends list.

So-this, my inaugural blog give away is for one of my more popular color ways.

Northman-this color way is inspired by the Eric Northman character in the Sookie Stackhouse universe.  Whether you prefer Book Eric or Show Eric, or wouldn't mind either one, this skein is dark and broody.  Just like a Vampire SHOULD be.

It's on my 2 ply sock base, 400 yd of 80% SW Merino, 20% Nylon.  You'll be able to get a shawlette or an adult pair of socks from this skein.

What do you need to do to qualify for this skein?  Go to Brazen Stitchery and check the shop out.  Then come back to THIS blog post and leave a comment about one thing that you like from the shop.

I will do the drawing on August 12, 2013.