My ETSY Store is OPEN!

Never Ending Designs is officially open for business!

As previously blogged I have become a fiber spinning fanatic! I'm spinning more than I could possibly knit and decided it was time to share my creativity with the world. I'm also using my store to destash some items that I don't have time to use anymore. I will be adding items on a regular basis... I've got about 20 skeins of yarn already spun and I spin practically on a daily basis.

I've added a mini store to my sidebar here so that you can quickly see what is new. I hope that you will take the time to visit and add me to your favorites so that you can come back often!

You spin me right round baby right round!

I have rekindled a love affair with my Ashford Joy spinning wheel. I don't know what made me put it away but now that it's out, it's out forever! I have been super busy and have some beautiful yarn to prove it. I'm going to a knit & spin night at a local restaurant and it's so inspiring to see what everyone else is doing. Here are some photos of my handspun...

This was hand dyed by me (yay!) I seriously love it. I'm calling it "An Affair to Remember" and my DH is jealous! It was purchased at Marr Haven and was a 60ct Champagne colored merino.


This is merino and mohair. It was a batt and was a dream to spin. This also came from Marr Haven!


This is superwash merino that I got from Jenna. I believe she purchased it from an etsy store. It spun up very well but the ends were cut, like with scissors. Weird.


More merino that was very spin able. More fiber from Marr Haven.


Purchased this through Copperpot Woolies. I was envisioning something very different but I think this is good to. I call it "I Miss the 70's."


This is a small amount of baby alpaca that I mistakenly spun up in the wrong direction. I did a center pull ball and plied from that. I don't recommend it. I'm not entirely sure where this fiber came from. I ended up with two 8oz packages of it. One white and one this color.


This is also from Copperpot Woolies and I love it.


This is from Marr Haven. It was merino and silk and absolutely unbelievable to spin.


I've had this for quite some time. It's Blue Faced Leicester and there is just nothing like it. I basically learned to spin with this and I fell in love. I purchased this a couple of years ago at Friends of Wool.


This is also from Marr Haven. It's more merino! Equally loved.


This is only a part of what I've done. I will post more pics soon. I plan to dye some more roving and I've bought some Cascade 220 that is white in a worsted weight to do some other experimenting. If you don't spin... you should!

Geo caching

I am not an outdoor type of person. Really it's the heat that I don't care for. I love fall and spring when it's cooler and winter has always been my favorite season. Anyway, last year after purchasing a GPS I ran across this website. I thought it sounded interesting so as a family we gave it a try and we've been going strong ever since.

Basically Geo caching is a high tech treasure hunt. You are given a set of coordinates and then you go out and try to find whatever is hidden. It can be as small as a film canister up to the size of an ammo box. Sometimes it's a Virtual Cache where you simple go to a location and answer some questions or take a photo. They are hidden everywhere. Once you start looking for them you will be amazed that you never knew they were there. I will warn you... Geo caching is very addictive! Once you start you will be hooked.

Here are some photos of places that we have visited as a result of our caching...













Whenever we are going somewhere we always look and see what Geo Caches are in the area that we could visit. The kids love it and it gets us out, sometimes even in nature. I'd love to hear from others that like Geo Caching and I wouldn't mind helping anyone that is interested!

Snaps 101

Recently I completed a couple of Baby Surprise Jackets that were designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann. It's this awesome pattern done all in garter stitch, knitted flat and then magically transformed into the most adorable sweater with minimal sewing involved. The pattern calls for buttons and in fact, instructs you to make button holes on BOTH sides of the sweater so that you can place the buttons on the correct size after you know the sex of the baby. (Can you say, Run on sentence?) Anyhoo, I was spending alot of time searching for buttons and struggled with finding ones I liked. I wanted buttons with shanks but the selection was kind of blah. Someone suggested using a small clear button sewn on under a regular button, kind of acting as a shank but still allowing the sweater to be buttoned easily. I liked the idea but I was nervous about the choking hazard that buttons posed. I opted to go with snaps.

I had never used snaps, well I've used them, but I've never "installed" them. I went to my local Joann's. Um, not so easy to pick out snaps. The issue I ran into was that there are quite a few different snaps and most require a specific tool to install. So for me, I picked out 3 different types of snaps and needed three different tools.

This is one of the sweaters that I used buttons on. I chose these particular buttons because they reminded me of the rivets on jeans. They just seems to go well with the colorway.

The pattern itself calls for button holes that are made by doing YO, K2tog. Instead of doing that I substituted 2 purl stitches. They didn't change my stitch count and left no holes but by doing them on both sides of the sweater I was able to easily place my snaps. If you need to see a close up of any of these photos you can simply click on them.





These are the parts of the snap that will be on the public side of the sweater. This is the top of the snap, the bottom part of the snap, and two interchangeable pieces that fit into the clear plastic holder.



The set of tools come with instructions that not so helpfully label the snap parts a,b,c and d. It then labels the interchangeable tools A,B,C and D. The clear plastic "holder" is labeled F. It took me a few minutes to figure out what was what.

This is a picture of tool A installed into tool F. This is the piece that will hold your snap front. The smooth part that is on the public side of the sweater.



This is a picture of tool B installed into tool F. They both fit in well, if not snug. I had to use a something to push them back out... I used a fork;-)



Below is snap part 'a' sitting on tool A in tool F. It's somewhat comical, don't be scared! This part in simply sitting in the mold.



Now you can see snap part 'b' attached to tool B. This is actually fitted on. It has some room to wiggle and I tried to center it as much as possible because I'm a perfectionist.



The most important thing to keep in mind at this point is that the public side of this snap is on the bottom of tool F. You MUST place your fabric on top of the tool with the front facing downward. That means that you will be looking at the back of your work while installing your snaps. Take a minute to double and triple check at this point. Don't rush and be careful on EACH of your snaps. Remember the two purl stitches that I used instead of making a button hole? I placed the shaft of the snap in between those two stitches. If you look very closely you can see the shaft.



Here you can see tool F closed down over my fabric. Again, take your time and make sure you are working on the correct side. There is NO GOING BACK with these snaps!



Working on a hard and durable surface, wearing safety glasses (you only have two eyes), strike the surface of tool F a couple of times with fairly good force. When you open up tool F the front part of the snap will be free but you may need to work the back side loose.



Now we move onto the back portion of the snap. This is the part of the snap that is the receptacle of the snap, so to speak. These are the parts and tools that I used. For this we are using tool F along with tools C & D and snap parts c & d.



This is tool D nested into tool F. This piece has a clear rubberized ring around it that will actually hold snap part d in place.



Here we have tool C.



This is tool D with snap part d placed into it.



At this point you will need to place your fabric on snap part d. Again you are using those purl stitches for guidance. In this photo you can easily see the shaft of snap part d. You will have the right side of the fabric face up for this part. If you take a minute to look at the way you want your sweater to close this should make sense.



Snap part 'c' will be placed on top of your fabric over the shaft of snap part 'd'.



You will then lower tool F down, nesting tool C to snap part 'c'.



Once again you will be striking tool F... safety glasses and firm surface warnings given.



Ta-Da! Here are the snaps as shown from the front of my Baby Surprise Jacket!



Now here are some things to consider...

1. I used Mini Anorak Snaps (15/32") along with the appropriate tool.
2. I believe these snaps to be permanent.
3. The snaps will be tight at first. I'm sure they will loosen up over time. Because I'm just not that patient I used a piece of wax paper. I closed my snaps with the wax paper in between a couple of times. It really helped.
4. I don't think that the snaps should be opened by simply yanking on the sweater. You will still want to ease them open. All you need to do once they are loose is to use the tip of your finger between the snaps and they should pop open fairly easy.

So there you have it. I hope that this tutorial will help someone to jump into the world of snaps. I'm here to help if you have other questions. I will be posting another tutorial on a different type of snap soon so keep checking in!

What have I been working on????

This year has been full of knitting. In fact, so much knitting that I am doing little else. I seem to knit every free second that I have. These are some of the projects that I have completed this year...

These are my Fetchings.
Quick easy knit:-)


Another Booga Bag!
Have made several, love them all!!!


Found this pattern on Ravelry!


I've made 5 of these Baby Surprise Jackets in a month, totally addictive! Pattern available in The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmermann.










On the next two jackets I used snaps instead of buttons. Loved the results!

My First Real Sweater!!!!!

Ok, I've done an Einstein Coat and I've finished some of my DH's sweaters but this is MY very first sweater. I am especially happy with this one because...

#1. I knit from stash yarn:-)
#2. It was virtually seemless!
#3. I did Kitchener Stitch and didn't have a panic attack.
#4. I only had to redo my neck cast-off once.
#5. Even though my guage didn't match my swatch it still fit.

Now I could go on and on and on but I won't. I think part of the reason I've not really wanted to do sweaters was the time commitment. I tend to get sidetracked and lose interest in long projects. I made this one for my son so it was relatively small. I started it on a Wednesday night and finished in the next Tuesday evening. Less than a week and I am now my son's hero! Problem is that I'm afraid to let him wear it. He tends to unravel hats that I make for him:-( I guess I made it to be worn but it's like my baby and I'm having a hard time letting go.

This is a pattern that came out of the book The Sweater Workshop and I will knit this again. The cool thing about this pattern is the lack of actual pattern. I can do whatever I want designwise.

Here are some photos of my sweater throughout the process...









Let me know what you all think. I'm curious as to whether other knitters out there would block this sweater or not. Have a great night!

Sweater Sampler!!!

Yes, it's true! I've completed my Sweater Sampler from The Sweater Workshop.





Upon completion I immediately fell in love with it. It's so awesome. I'd like to wear it but can't figure out a way. I tried it on as a legging and it not work so well. I still need to find two buttons for it to truely be complete but that doesn't diminish my love. My favorite parts were the icord cast-off, initialed hem and the afterthought pocket.







OMG, how frightening to cut a stitch and begin unraveling to make this perfect little pocket. It took me at least 30 minutes just to find the nerve. As for my brain fart yesterday on the lace cast-off. DUH! Common sence should have told me that a YO2 is simply two yarn overs. I think the written directions were what was throwing me off. The text basically tells you how to do a single YO. My excuse? Well, in my defence I was sick (and tired) and aparently brain dead. I actually figured it out in a dream... that's where I work out a lot of knitting issues. Being a self-taught knitter with a deep stubborn streak (read: won't ask for help) I sometimes stummble but I never fail to get going again!

I know I sound like a broken record (or should I say a skipping cd or maybe a corrupted iPod) but you really should try this sampler. This is a great project and will build your confidence in ways that you will not believe. Go ahead, go out and get a copy... I'll wait;-)

I'm back, yet again!

It's been a long time once again. I've been on a knitting/spinning hiatus but I'm back, baby! Currently working on way too many projects. I've actaully knitted 8 pairs of Felted Clogs using a Fiber Trends pattern. I have 7 pairs felted but need to do the last pair. They have all been done this month. I had no intention of doing so many but one thing led to another and the rest is knitting history. For those of you that have not knitted this pattern, the slippers start out HUGE and then felt down to a normal size. It's not a difficult pattern but you do have to pay attention, something that is not always easy to do.





Other projects that I am working on include a Sweater Sampler from Jacqueline Fee's book The Sweater Workshop. I've learned so much from this project. I'm almost done with my sampler but having issues with the lace cast off edging. I'm not sure how to do the YO2's. I'm currently mulling it over and will try again tonight. I am home sick today so heavy duty knitting is a little hard to fathom.





I'm also working on a prayer shawl for my Aunt, a lacy corset,



an Einstein Coat for Mitchell and I need to pull out Lindy's sweater and see where I am with that. I would love to find time to spin but I need to take this one thing at a time. I can become scattered or I can go totally OCD. Either way it isn't the best situation.

I visited ThreadBear on the 18th with my DH. I love that shop. When we walked in we were recognized even though we hadn't been there since March of 2005. Not only did they remember us but they even remembered what we had been working on. Now it is possible that they simply looked us up in the computer or maybe they have some sort of cool facial recognition software program but I'm going to call is awesome customer service. On top of that, this week we received a card in the mail. It was from our friends at ThreadBear and it contained a nice little gift certificate! Isn't that sweet? I'll say it again, I love ThreadBear! Even without the gift certificate I would love you guys!!! Thanks for being the best:-)

So, have you heard of Ravelry?? I've recently joined and I love it. It helps to keep me organized and motivated. You can find me here if you are interested!

Until we meet again!

Hello again!

I know it's been forever since I have posted. Wow, time have flown. I can't even begin to catch you up... in a nutshell, life happened. I've been enjoying yet another new hobby and I thought I would share it with you all. These are some of my favorite shots, let me know what you think!

Confusion

This past week has been crazy. The most significant event was a Funeral that I attended on Monday. Who's funeral, you ask? Well... that is a long story. You see, the woman who was laid to rest was technically my Grandmother, Alice. I say technically because I didn't really know her. We actually met for the first time when I was 18. That was literally 1/2 a lifetime ago.

I maybe saw her one other time in these last 18 years. I think the only reason I wanted to meet her to begin with was that I had lost my Grandfather the year before. I felt like I had this other set of grandparents out there and I was missing out. The only problem with meeting her was that she wanted me to meet my "father" as well.

My "father" walked away from my mom before I was even born. I didn't know about him till I was in my early teens. My mom did meet a man right after I was born and she married him 4 months later. They've been married ever since and that is who I consider my dad. In some ways I am closer to my dad than my mom. Don't get me wrong, we've had our differences and the teen years were a nightmare. Today I consider him a friend.

I did stay in contact with my biological father for a while after meeting him back then. I don't remember a lot about it now. Their family was always excited about finding me, the long lost daughter/granddaughter/niece. It never felt right. It just didn't fit. The end came when I became pregnant with my oldest DS. My "father" was thrilled that he was going to be a "grandfather." That was the end for me. I just couldn't live with it. How could a man that was never a father become a grandfather to my child? It didn't seem fair to the man that had raised me as if I were his very own.

So fast forward to Monday. I've not really seen or heard from anyone in the family for 15 years. I'm debating whether I should even go to the funeral. I'm scared and nervous and literally sick to my stomach trying to make this decision. My dad was going to go with me but at the last minute decided not to. He didn't feel it was his place and I understand that. He thought I should go but if I didn't that was okay too. He would stand by my decision and support me. I'm not sure what I did to deserve him but I know that I am truly blessed!

I went, of course. There are some funerals that you just know you will someday regret not attending and this would most likely be one of them. I arrived at the very last minute and went straight to the back of the room. Just from the funeral standpoint it was hard. I have been through so many funerals lately and still struggle with depression because of it. Not to mention that in the last 20 years, the funeral home that I went to has not changed one iota. They still have the exact same furniture, the same everything. Then there's that smell. Anyway, I digress.

I received a lot of comfort from the funeral. Not only comfort from the pain I felt that day but comfort from the extreme pain that I still carried from the last funeral I attended. I think I was in a better place that day and more open to receive the message. When Alice's son spoke, I learned more about her in 10 minutes than I had ever known. It was a good thing.

After the funeral there would be a graveside service. I had not intended to go but decided at the last minute to. At this point no one knew who I was. I also didn't think that my "father" was there. It felt safe. I went to the cemetery and probably would have just walked away but my "uncle" came up to me and asked who I was. Now I know I could have lied or maybe not really answered but I did. The response was overwhelming. The phrase, "out of the frying pan and into the fire" comes to mind. There was no turning back now.

I was probably okay until my "aunt" came up and asked if my "father" had spoken to me. I said, "No, but that's okay, he doesn't have to." I got the feeling that she is the type of person that you don't say "NO" to. Now, just her asking that question was enough to make me burst into tears.

My emotions drive me crazy some times. I'm happy... I cry, I'm sad... I cry, I'm angry... I cry, I hate crying but it's my blanket response to just about anything. The only thing I have ever found that helped with that was Prozac, but that's another post for another day.

Seeing my "father" like that was so awkward. It was like meeting a stranger but being expected to love that stranger. Neither of us were comfortable. What do you say? You say those polite generalities that you would say to a stranger. You ask, " So, how have you been?" Obviously he isn't great... he just buried his mother who had had a massive stroke a couple of weeks before. The only thing that saved us was getting to his car. His wife was there, a very sweet woman, and his sons... my brothers. That was the best part of this entire day. Seeing my brothers.

What you may not be able to pick up on as I'm writing out this ridiculously long story is that I feel guilty. I have massive guilt over this whole situation. Back in '89 I let this family into my life and then one day decided that it didn't work for me. My brothers were 10 & 5 when I met them and I shut them out too. I've lived all these years with this in the back of my mind, always haunting me. I feel like I did this terrible thing that I can never change. The biggest question today is... now what?

I ended up spending 1 to 2 hours with this family. It was overwhelming, still awkward at times but comfortable all at the same time. My brothers were great. I saw my boys in them and even myself. They did some family pictures and wanted me to join in but I just couldn't do it. It wasn't right. It would have felt like a lie. I think I was afraid that by joining in I would be saying that I wanted to be a part of that family. Honestly, I don't know what I want.

These last couple of days all I can think about is what I want to do. I have kids that don't know anything about this. As far as they are concerned, my dad is there grandfather. Can you even begin to explain something like this to 6 year olds. My husband is struggling with it as well. I feel like this is my decision but it's not. This is a decision that I need to work through with my husband. I know that I don't need another dad. How do you tell someone they can be in your life but only "this much?" Do I even have control of this?

I know that writing this out on my blog seems crazy but it does help. I feel like I'm talking with an old friend. I don't know that anyone actually reads this other than Kimberly so it also feels safe to share. Judge me if you want. There is nothing that you can think of me that I haven't already thought of myself. Thanks for listening.

Am I knitting???

Yes, I am! Thought I would do a quick post on the subject of knitting. I mean, this is, afterall a fiber blog, right? I've been working on several things in my absence and I will share one of them with you today.



This is Joshua in his Einstein Coat! It's an awesome pattern from Sally Melville in her Knit Stich book. As you might have guessed, Joshua's favorite color is orange. This was knit in Brown Sheep Bulky and was super quick to knit up. My only problem was the sleeves. If I read the pattern right it makes the sleeves way too tight. Chances are I screwed up. I'm currently working on another one in green for Mitchell so I will make adjustments.

Taking STEPS to get HEALTHY

Today's subject follows along with the what I've learned while I've been away. It's taken me a LONG, long time but I've finally decided that my health is important. I've also figured out that I got to do the work to see the results. Now don't get me wrong. I've always known what I needed to do. I've researched it, I've bought equipment, read books, thought it through, formulated a plan and then... sat down on the couch and watched TV. I've even started watching The Biggest Loser on NBC for motivation. What did I do while watching? Sit on the couch and munch on junk. Here I am with tears in my eyes, feeling their pain but still not able to get up and DO anything.

I'll be honest, I was beginning to feel like it was too late. You know, the damage is already done, what difference can it make at this point. Last week my dad even told me that the only way I was going to lose weight was if I had surgery. Not exactly motivating. I let myself completely fall apart over it. Didn't help that I was totally PMSing. So, what did I do? Well, I turned to my best friend, who, by the way is my husband:-)

We discussed the situation. My way of dealing with any situation is usually humor and sarcasm. I joke that my DH and I are the 2k version of Dan and Rosanne Connor. Somehow when I can make everyone laugh with me it helps. Anyway, we had watched an episode of Oprah that had Dr. Oz on it. We had also Tivo'd a Discovery Health Special with Dr. Oz and we decided that maybe it was time to do this... together. The question was where do you start? I mean when you aren't doing anything it's hard to know what to do.

I'm only a week and a half into my LIFESTYLE CHANGE but I feel better. We didn't go crazy and try to make drastic overnight changes but we are taking it day by day. The big thing that we did was go out and get pedometers. We chose the pedometers that were on the Oprah special because they were highly rated and you could carry them in your pocket or even a purse. I've had problems in the past with pedometers that have to be worn on the waist for the obvious fact that my waist is missing. The only place locally that we could find them was at CVS Pharmacy. Not exactly local but we didn't want to wait to order it online. I don't know about you but any hesitation usually result in no action being taken. You probably want to know what kind we got, right???? It's the Omron Walking Style Pedometer HJ-112. If my opinion matters I highly recommend it!

I've been wearing my pedometer all day since we got them. Well, that's not true. I didn't wear in Sunday at all. I didn't even get dressed that day. Obviously I need to work on that. Anyhoo, I'm working on adding steps into my day. For health they say you should have 6,000 steps a day. For weight loss your should have 10,000. It was kind of scary to see how few steps I actually took. Actually it was eye-opening.

There are countless ways to add steps to your day and I'm doing better. The best way is do actually take the time to go on a walk. Now, I am a big girl. I don't see myself as huge but I probably am. I'm 5'3" and when I started this I weighed 255 pounds. It's considered morbidly obese. There really isn't a way to sugarcoat it. My biological grandmother has diabetes and just suffered a massive stroke on Saturday. My Grandmother that passed away last year also had diabetes and other heart related issues. I'm not in a good place physically at all. For me to get out and walk is hard. I have a lot of pain and to be honest I'm probably self-conscious. Why I care what people think I couldn't tell you.

So anyway, I could go on and on about this. My point is that I figured out a way to get more steps into my life and after these last few days I got up the nerve to get out in my neighborhood and walk. I actually walked the whole subdivision and though I can't tell you how far that is I can share my results...


Now this shows my aerobic steps that I have accumulated today. I had already done 40 minutes of walking at home before this. I'll tell you my secret to walking at home without a treadmill another day.


This is my actual total, so far, for today. Not bad for the time of day. My goal for the whole day is 10,000!!!

I'm very happy with what I'm doing. I've lost 2.5 pounds so far and feel 100% better. I still need to work on my eating habits but it's a great start. The most awesome result is that I'm seeing a much quicker recovery from physical activity. I'll take it day by day and hopefully when winter is over I'll emerge a different, healthier person. Wish me luck!