Ahh, a clean apartment. . .

Yep, this past weekend my dad and I gutted and cleaned my entire apartment. It's nice having it clean again. i just need to keep it this way for 2 months until I move into the larger condo. The main part of the other condo that I am looking forward to, besides the fact that the dryer works, is the basement. it will become my studio for MacKintosh Yarns. I am going into the business full-time. Yay!

I received my second pair of mannequin feet yesterday and need to start knitting the socks for them. I am knitting up examples of my yarn to be shown at conventions. I am only knitting up one sock per yarn base. I also need to knit up my lace weight yarn and the two worsted yarns that are being shipped to me soon.

Granted I have been knitting quite a bit lately. Below is a random hat I'm knitting out of some of my handspun. I'm still trying to destash.

This is also a destash project, as this yarn has been sitting in my stash for over a year. It is Spunky Eclectic's Super Sport in Mud Season. These are going to boy. I'm going to be knitting him a few pairs this summer, during the destash.

And there has even been some spinning! I dyed this fiber up over the weekend and while trying to braid it, it ripped. Sooo, I figured I might as well spin it up. It is superwash corriedale and it just beautiful!

Ahh spring. . .kind of. . .

Claudia's colors for this month's package for the Wollmeise Sock Club is definitely bright and colorful. But unfortunately, it didn't match the weather outside. It was snowing, yep snowing. I had just gone up to see boy and go see a movie. When we exited the theater, it had begun to snow. =P

Over spring break I went down and visited my brother and his fiance, Alicia, for 5 days. Unfortunately I was sick the entire time and couldn't get pictures. After that, my parents picked me up from O'Hare and we went to the condo. On Saturday my dad and I went downtown to Navy Pier, which was a lot of fun.
Here is a picture of the ballroom at Navy Pier. Lake Michigan was gorgeous!

Picture of part of the skyline. It was such a beautiful, clear day.

Okay, yes, this is a picture of Mac's butt, but I guarantee there is a good reason for it. While I was home, we took Mac to petco for a bath and a trim. Usually we take our dogs to Petsmart, but they don't do that good of a job on Mac when it comes to trimming. So after we took him to Petco and they did an amazing job! No one has ever trimmed his butt this well. It is sooo wonderful!

I have also been working on some very simple projects right now.


New news is that I will be moving into my sister's old condo, which is much larger and nicer. I now get to find a job before I graduate in this area. I hope it won't be that hard. I am meeting up with an advisor who will help me spruce up my resume and help me with my job search. But, I am staying in Iowa, hopefully for a few years until the economy gets better. I mean, Iowa's unemployment is only 4.6%, which is low compared to the rest of the country.

Gotta Love the cold and snow

As you probably know, I love the cold and adore snow. I wish we had gotten the large amounts of snow that went just slightly north of us. My parents and Boy got that and I was slightly disappointed it missed IC. So, plans have been changing quite a bit lately. My Valentine's Day was kind of boring. I watched movies all day. Boy was in upstate NY attending a memorial for his cousin who was killed on the 6th. And we're not going down to visit my brother for spring break, we're probably just gonna go to my parents condo in Chicago. It should be fun though.

I had to stop knitting my shawl because I finished the first skein and hit a snag. . . all of the other skeins I bought were an off white cream colour and not the white of the first skein. I just happened to use the only white skein for the beginning of the project. Soo, I need to go an buy some more of the white before I can continue.
I have been knitting though. I have finished a couple of projects below. I finally finished my dad's hat last night while watching the Oscars. Yay! It's soft, thick and beautiful. I hope it fits!

I also did some destashing and knit a slouch out of some Misti Alpaca Sport Weight yarn that I have had for years! It's a forest green colour and neither pictures show it very well. I have 2 more skeins left I believe and need to figure out what to do with them.

Mac was very reluctant to model it for me, but I managed to get a cute picture!

I also started another slouch based on one that Scarlett Johansson was wearing in a picture I saw. The first one is being knit out of Cascade Eco Wool, same as my first Ailidh hat. I'm hoping to make adjustments with Malabrigo for the second one before I write the pattern down.

Well, I need to finish going through my Marketing notes, because I have an exam in less than 2 hours. Ugh!
There was also an update in the shop on Saturday. Enjoy!

Rain??

Today is a beautiful gloomy Monday. I love two kinds of days, gloomy rainy ones and crisp white snowy ones. I love over cast skies and cooler to cold weather. Those are both ideal to me. The snow is melting and it feels like spring, even though it's only February. Quaint eh?

I have been slowly but surely been working on my wedding shawl.
Details:
Pattern: Shetland Triangle
Yarn: Baby Cashmerino
Color: white
Needle: US 5 24" and 32"

Apparently the orange beanie That I knit a while ago doesn't fit my dad's head properly. Sooo, while I was home over the weekend I picked up some Debbie Bliss Como in grey and a set of US 13 circulars and cast on. The hat is 52 stitches and will be a basic beanie. The yarn is awesome and soft to work with, if only the skeins had more yardage.

Of course this post would not be a proper post unless I had a photo of my beautiful baby boy. He's enjoying the cooler/warmer weather, but not the rain.. This dog hates rain, baths and any other source of water that gets on him, except snow. odd dog.


For spring break I'm going to down to Austin to visit my brother and his fiance for a few days. it should be fun. =) Boy was supposed to come with but he never gave me an answer and I said screw it I'll go alone. Life does go on.

OMG Knitting Stuff!!

Okay, yes, I understand that i REALLY have not been keeping up with my blog or anything fiber or knitting related. So here is a knitting post, omg omg OMG!!!!! Yeah. . . I hadn't been in the mood really to knit anything in the past few months due to stress. Lots and lots of stress.
Below is a new photo of my second Old Shale scarf that i still haven't finished. I am about 3/4s of the way done with it and it's still on the needles. Sigh. I've been dragging it to classes in hopes of finishing it as soon as possible. Also, thank god for movies and knitting while watching them also.

I also started a new pair of socks. Details:
Pattern: Tesserae Sock by Anne Hanson
Yarn: MacKintosh Yarn Mey Seacell Sock Yarn
Colourway: Victoria
Needles: US 1 circular

I also dyed up some sock yarn for my bridesmaids socks. I have 4 pairs to knit. I know all but one bridesmaids shoe size.

Mac has been enjoying the warmer weather. I've been opening the balcony door at times and when he's not out on the balcony, he's usually laying right in front of it feeling the breeze blowing in.

Haha, a few months back I commissioned some yarn to be spun at a mill down in texas. I commissioned sock weight yarn. . . .I received a call, paid and was sent the yarn. i looked at it confused and decided to dye some up to see how much it would bloom. The final product is below. Yeah. . . .thats sock yarn for who, a giant?


I also want to congratulate my friend Anna who is expecting her second child this summer. Grats!!
Also, I rejoined Weight Watchers after five years and lost 3.8 lbs last week. Granted most of what you lose the first week is water weight, but it still means something to me. =)

Still alive and kicking. . .

Don't worry, I'm still here. =) Homework and studying have taken over my life. One more semester until my undergraduate career is over. That is a very sad thought for me. What will i do without college and naps and sleeping and and and and and college!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways, onto what I've been up to. Winter break officially begins tomorrow for me. it started today for boy. Sigh, schmuck. I have the hardest and most stressful final this semester tomorrow at 4:30pm. yay for me. I went up to Cedar Falls and picked boy up today. Mother nature decided that I needed a challenge while retrieving him. It snowed the entire time, yep snow. At first it was dusty snow and then it became wet and thick. It took me 3 something hours to get him. Usually it takes about 2 something. Ugh.

I also knit and finished a pair of house socks. The yarn came from carrie of Funky Carolina. it's part of the handspun club she offered some time ago. I LOVED IT!!! She spun me shetland into a sport weight sock yarn. I couldn't put these down. They are sooo soft!!!

Here is my new ring, which I picked out and have been wearing since it's arrival. It's not official (as in parents don't know?), but I'm planning a 2010 wedding. yeah, okay, let's move on to more fiber stuff. (band is sterling silver, stone is a .47 lilac spinel, ring was handmade on etsy by jewelscurnow) I have a thing for handmade items. =P I'm getting boy a handmade titanium ring. =)

I LEARNED HOW TO RBAID MY FIBERS!!! I know this sounds sad, but it took me for frickin ever to figure out!!!! Now, I'm content. =P

New Camera and a winter wonderland

As part of my Hannukah gifts, I received a brand new Nikon camera. I have never owned a really nice camera before and to be honest I LOVE IT!!!! Below are some photos I took today in the snow. The camera is so much fun and takes wonderful photos! It has 18x optical zoom vr, 10.1 mega-pixels, etc.
Mac entranced by a squirrel in the trees.

A cardinal at the bird feeders 20 feet from me.

Tree in the front yard at least 10 feet from where I was.

Photo of the backyard as the sun was going down.


I love snow!! I hope everyone had a wonderful week off and a great weekend. Yesterday was boy and my first year anniversary! =) He got back to Iowa in one piece, I hope everyone else did also.
And all of my projects and homework is done!!!!! Very very very happy about that one. Thanksgiving break = homework time.

New Website!!

MacYarns.com is now open for business! I hope you guys like the website. i tried to keep it very simple and clean. I love the green in the background.

Here is a mosaic of some of the products in the shop right now. Lots of new colourways!!

I am currently working on another Old Shale Scarf in Woodland Sock Yarn in the colourway Jasmine. The sock below is probably going to my dad, with a mate of course. The yarn is Paton's Kroy Sock. I hope I have enough yarn, these new skeins only have 166 yards, which sucks.

The leaves are all falling and the trees are becoming bare. I love autumn and winter, so the transition is gorgeous to me. The weather is also turning colder now. It's supposed to snow Saturday. Yay snow!!!

Here is a picture of a sunny (70 degree) day on the way back to my moped after my production class. Pretty eh?


Update: Boy and I are talking. You see, love was never the problem with us, an online game is, among some other things. We'll see what happens. When we're good, we're really good, when we fight, we really fight. Unfortunately he's going home for Thanksgiving, his mom jumped right on it and bought plane tickets the moment she heard we broke up. Yeah, bitch. Anyways, I still need to fix my door. Luckily the jam is perfectly fine.

New Yarn Bases!

Sooo, a couple days ago I received a box from Canada. In the box were four new yarn bases for MacKintosh Yarns. One is an 80/10/10 SW Merino/Cashmere/Nylon sport weight, one is 70/30 SW Merino/Seacell fingering, new chubby sock and a new sw merino called Mey. These are gorgeous yarns that will be put up tomorrow in my shop update. I am also ordering a fingering weight version of the cashmere blend. So Soft!

I have been making a lot of progress on my Faiye Twist Socks. I'm actually almost done. I just need to finish both cuffs to the height I want. Isn't the colour gorgeous? Two skeins will be put up in tomorrow's update. =)

Here is a skein of the 80/10/10 cashmere blend I dyed up the other day. This colourway is Mahogany. beautiful isn't it?

Also here is Moroccan Market wound into a hank. This is such a beautiful colourway. I can't wait to dye the new bases in this. =)

Here is lastnight's dying.  There are 15 skeins there. I'm hoping to dye up some more tonight for tomorrow's update. =)

And I will end with a picture of mac, just because it's Mac.  He's loving this cooler weather and so am I. I LOVE wearing my handknit items. Plus right now is the perfect time, except at night when I'm riding my moped and freezing. . . 

It snowed!!!

This has been a crazy weekend. I went home to study for my redo of my finance midterm exam. The weather is changing quickly. It has been very windy and brisk the past few days and tonight it snowed here in Iowa City. SNOWED!!
I got some knitting done. I finished my Old Shale Scarf yesterday. This made me happy, considering that I actually need to wear it now. The yarn used is MamaBlue Troika Sock in Little Wing. The only disappointing thing about the yarn is that there are small red specks throughout and it looks odd.
Here is it dry, it blocked out to 71 inches long and 8.5 inches wide. (the pic below, it is folded over itself)

Here it is blocking on the guest bed downstairs. Lots of pins!

I also started a pair of socks for myself. The pattern is just my twist sock pattern that I used for my high ocTang Hazel Knits socks. The yarn being used is my MacKintosh Yarns Celtic Sock Yarn in Faiye.

Below is also a new colourway I will be offering (one of many). It is called Moroccan Market.

In other news, thank you for the nice messages when I was feeling down.  Boy and I are trying to work things out and restructure our relationship. The main time we fight is when we're apart, so yeah. LoL. Have a great week!

More yarn pictures coming soon. =) 

Hanging on. . .

My sanity is hanging on by a thread. Lately I've been depressed, not wanting to get out of bed or do anything. Not a great thing when I've suffered from depression in the past and it almost ruined my life. I'm also constantly crying over things. I seriously need this horrible feeling to go away. My relationship is also hanging on by a thread. I try and try and try and I feel empty, used, and thrown out at times. Kind of like right now. This really needs to turn around or I'm going to lose my mind.
I get to retake my finance midterm next Monday, thankfully. I was gone on the day of the review due to Yom Kippur and was excused. But I didn't really receive any notes about the review until Tuesday, the day before the exam. So, my professor is allowing me to take it again.
This image from a few days ago looks how I feel right now.

I have been doing some knitting here and there. Right now I'm really working on a Old Shale Scarf in Mamablue's troika sock in Little Wing. Yes, it's kind of soft and I like it, but I think the colour is horrible for socks. I think it's better for a scarf.

Here's a close-up of the pattern.

I also have 3 new colourways to put up and one of them is below. it's all Faiye (well, new and improved Faiye that is). it's one of my old colourways and I spruced it up to my liking.


I also took 5 large bags of yarn to Crazy Girl Yarns in Coralville to destash. It was a long time coming. I feel better after that.
Have a great week! <3 <3