PS Progress

EEEEK!!!!

So there is officially less than a month left until Christmas. Take off time for shipping any gifts that need to be shipped...and there is only 3 weeks left!

I had last week off from work. I got snowflakes done. That's it. Snowflakes. Now granted, those are on my list of gifts, but that only covers my co-workers for the Christmas party on Dec. 8th. I thought I would have all sorts of time to crochet last week. But no. I ended up having to work a half-day on Monday, because my boss "forgot" I was going to be off, and needed me to schedule appointments for him for this week for our next big project. So I did that. Then I took my car in for repairs that were needed due to a traffic altercation my daughter was in (ggrrrrr...she is ok...but I didn't need this right now...guess that is why they are called accidents and not on-purposes). By the time I got done with all of that...it was 5:00 and I had to go work at my second job. I didn't take time off from that, it's part-time, a couple of hours here and there, how bad could it be? So...I was home at 9:00. One day of vacation chalked up. Tuesday wasn't much better. Wednesday was spent cleaning the house getting ready for any guests that decided to come to dinner. Thursday was cooking and eating and cleaning up again and football. Lots of foottball. I hate football. What happened to Sunday being football day? Now it is on every freakin' night of the week it seems. But I digress...Friday was running around doing errands, battling shopping crowds, etc. You get the idea. A week off just isn't enough time. My To-Do list...hardly a thing got done on it...and I'm not talking my crochet list, just my general list.

On a brighter note, I no longer have more people in ahead of me than I do behind me in line on the Ravelry wait list:
You are #56419 on the list.
3713 people are ahead of you in line.
5748 people are behind you in line.
84% of the list has been invited so far
I am hoping I get the invite when I am off for the Christmas break so I have time to get acquainted with the site. I'm excited to see what it's all about.

I sold my most recent batch of threads on eBay. Still not what I was hoping for, so next batch is at "Buy it Now" pricing. I had some new bidders though, so I am generating some interest, and the feedback I have received so far has been good, with requests to keep dyeing. I have a batch soaking now, so might be able to dye it tonight if I get home at a decent time. Hoping to have about 4 of each colorway to put up, so about 40 balls. Not bad, if I can get it done! I might miss bowling tomorrow just to get it done.

Between Meals Centerpiece doily

I didn't even realize this is the doily that is my background! When I set up my blog page, I was looking for something crochet related, liked this one, and snapped it up...don't even know from where now. Then, today on the 'Ville, rascalsmom posted a pic of her finished one, and I recognized it immediately. The one on my background looks like it had some extra work done on it by putting some scallop-y looking things between the points though, that I would love to figure out. I was so excited, and then to find out that it is a FREE pattern...I was in doily pattern heaven! I found it, and saved it to my pattern folder on my computer to work on after the holidays. If I start on it now, then everyone will get gift certificates for Christmas for sure!!!

Not sure how much crocheting I will get done today and tomorrow, but hoping to get a bunch done after Thursday. I have been working on snowflakes each night while I watch tv, but I am not going to get nearly as many finished as I had hoped.

I am off to go do more cleaning before tomorrow. I had to take a break. I just feel so overwhelmed and like I will not have everything done in time. Of course, getting online doesn't help.

Up on the auction block

Update: I did better this time around as far as the bidding went! All 3 sets were sent off to Ohio this morning. I also received my first feedback as a seller for the first group I sold! Now...if I get some housework done, I can dye another batch of thread!

Since I like to use colorways combined with solids in my doilies, and it is not always easy to match the colors with stuff in the stores, I thought it would be a good idea to make coordinating solids using the same colors of dye. For a first run, I thought they turned out pretty good. Still some fine tuning to do, but if there is a good response I will do more that way.

Off to hit the shower and head into work. Only 4 more days left, then I am off for a week...YIPPPEEEEEEEE!!!!

Busy Weekend

I had a very productive 4-day weekend. I dyed my thread, I finished Mom's present, I learned more about blogging, worked on Ebay descriptions for my new listings I hope to put up in the next couple of days, I spent time with my kids, I made home cooked meals...I am beat, but in a good way!

I didn't get my house cleaned. Not expecting anyone, so not gonna worry too much about that. If I should have any drop-in visitors (not likely), they are just gonna have to overlook the dust. They came to see me, not my housekeeping abilities...right?

So now I have a week of work to "look forward to", then a week off. I'm loving it! I'm already starting my mental list of things I want to do during my week off. Need to transfer it to paper soon or I am going to forget stuff, or put it on here, since I seem to be hanging out on Blogger so much lately.

PAY IT FORWARD

I participated in the PAY IT FORWARD on Crafty Christina's Blog.

The way it works: I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog for this post. You don't have to be a regular commenter or even a blogger member, as long as you can get me your address by e-mail.

I don't know what you will be getting yet, LOL, but as the rules state, you will receive it within 365 days. Most likely it will be sooner than that...like after the Christmas rush.

The only thing you have to do in return is PAY IT FORWARD by making the same promise on your blog/site. Come on and join. This will be fun if you love getting nice things in the mail.

smartsmiley.com

Preliminary Results Are In!

<=====Front Drying







Back Drying==========v

I finished washing and rinsing the thread I dyed. So far so good. I'm not sure if the ones that I made to coordinate will do so, need to wait until it dries completely before I can tell for sure. Overall, I am pleased with the results. The colors are more vibrant than I expected. In my mind I was hoping for lighter shades. I will have to keep experimenting. I have so much fun doing this!

I also sold my first 4 colorways on Ebay. I have now made my first Ebay transaction as a seller! One person bid on all 4, and while they went for much less than I had hoped, I have to start somewhere. The buyer is doing the Happy Dance I am sure! She got each cake of thread for .99! I know I'd be doing the Happy Dance if I were her! I am still doing the Happy Dance for selling them. I was starting to think no one wanted them, so I was pleased. Hopefully when I list the next batch they will do a little better, and I will build from there. My little threads will be on their way to Anchorage, Alaska first thing Monday morning!

Dyeing!

So I dyed 5 colorways last night. Didn't take but a couple of hours this time. Will be able to rinse those Saturday night. We had fun mixing the primary color kit that I bought and ended up with blue, peach, purple, green, yellow, red, orange and pink to dye with. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

This morning I was up bright and early to dye the second batch I had soaked in soda ash overnight with a different process. I used some of my new colors from the kit I bought on Ebay. Gonna see how it turns out. I made a large colorway using 4 colors, then made 3 coordinating solid colors to match it from the same batch of dye. I'm excited to see how it comes together. I want to do more now, but I have to prep some more before I can by winding it on my swift. Since that takes a bit of time, I probably won't get any more actual dyeing done until next weekend. I do have the week of Thanksgiving off, so if I prep enough, I can be a dyeing fool!

No work?

I have today and tomorrow off from my "real" job. At first, I was thinking

...oooOOO(Lots of time to crochet!) <====sad attempt at thought bubble

but now it has turned into

...oooOOO(after I clean out my car, get my emissions and the tags for my car, go to the store, clean the kitchen up a bit so I can do some dyeing, swift some thread, I can crochet!)

Not nearly as exciting. All those things you think you will do on days off that are leisurely somehow get trumped by necessary things that need to be done so you can enjoy the fun things. Vicious cycle.

Tomorrow I am hoping that DD and I can go to a craft fair for a little while and see all the creativeness of others. I enjoy that so much. It's always nice to see what others enjoy doing and the ingenuity some have. I have to refrain from thinking "I can do that!" because my list of crocheting is long enough that I shouldn't (yes, I said shouldn't) add to it with other stuff.

I won't be working on my lunch afghan, obvioulsy, since I am not at work. And my list of things to do on my weekend off is growing so much that I'm not sure 4 days is enough time to do everything on my list. I do have to work at some point at my second job for a couple hours each day, but I have let whoever is listening know that I will NOT be there Saturday or Sunday. After this weekend, I have a week of work, then I have the WHOLE week of Thanksgiving off! Yippeeeee!!! I was going to bring lunch afghan home with me during this week to work on, but if I do that, then the list of gifts I need to work on won't get done, so it will have to stay at work that week too.

But I know, know matter how long my list of things to do gets, I always manage to get crocheting in.

No dyeing after all

We didn't get to dye. I ran out of time to get it ready to soak, so I am going to finish that over the next couple of nights, and soak it Wednesday, so we can try on Thursday.

I did put some of the thread I dyed back in July up for auction on Ebay to see how it will go. I did that on Saturday, but as of right now, I still don't have any hits. I've been told to be patient. I'm trying.
smartsmiley.com

On a good note, I am on the edging for Mom's Christmas present! I had to stop last night because my hand was getting tired. I figured if I kept pushing on, then I would probably pay for it later by either being in too much pain to crochet for a couple of days, or making a mistake that I would have to go back and fix. Once I get the edging done, I can move on to the smaller projects and hopefully get some of that list taken care of.

Dyeing Thread on Sunday

smartsmiley.com

My daughter and I are going to do some thread dyeing on Sunday. We are going to experiment some and have a lot of fun with color mixing. We are hoping it goes well and we will be able to put it up for auction on ebay to see what the response is. We are excited and hope it goes well. She is hoping to find something to do from home that will allow her to be at home during the last months of her pregnancy as well as after the baby is born. Hopefully we can generate some excitement over the next few months over our dyed thread that it can support her better than being a server at a local restaurant.

Of course, this will cut into crocheting time, and Christmas just keeps on getting closer and closer. I'll have to work on my other projects over the next few nights so I don't feel to bad about neglecting them come Sunday.