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Keepin’ On

November 16, 2015 blogtest_2q7z6c Leave a comment

As I mentioned on the AbbyCrafty Facebook Page, I went to my first craft show yesterday. It was a very small and private affair, but it was lots of fun and I even sold some stuff! I set up what I thought was a cute little holiday themed table.

The lip butters were my best sellers. I will definitely be expanding my flavor line as soon as we get moved.

I have snowflake ornaments back there on the tree. I made those early this year, but I’ve never listed them on Etsy. I haven’t had a good place to photograph them. If you’re interested in those, let me know and I’ll get some photos.

I’ve been working on more stockings. I have a set of four commissions I’m working on right now. I got them all started, and now I’m working them all down to the heel first. I have three of them going right now and almost ready to get moving on the fourth. These were so much fun to design and they’re lots of fun to make, too. Here’s a sneak peek:

The color is really saturated in these photos, because I’m snapping them with my cell phone, inside, at night. They’re actually brighter than the photos show. The sparklies don’t show up well, either. The snowflakes and reindeer in the first and last photos have opalescent sparklies and the gold band at the top of the middle one has gold sparklies. That green plaid is turning out to be LOTS of fun to knit up.

We just keep moving on with packing things up. The sellers haven’t finished moving out yet, so we’re going to stick to our plan to move at the end of the month. We’ll probably have to go back once or twice before moving to get keys and set up the rest of the utilities.

Lollypop and I are doing well. We’re 17 weeks and I’m feeling lots of flutters and rolls in there. We’re just cruising along right now and getting things done.

We have lots of errands to run today so we’d better get moving! Have a great week!

Now The Real Fun Begins!

November 9, 2015 blogtest_2q7z6c 2 Comments

So, we closed on our new house on Friday. That means it’s time to really get focused on moving. We’ve been cleaning and purging and packing some, but nothing that remotely resembles close to being ready to go.

The urge to purge has been diminished quite a bit. We bought a house that was bigger than we expected to buy. The garage is huge and has lots of storage space, for better or worse. That means we’re to the point that we’re just chucking everything into boxes and we’ll sort it out at the other end. But we all know how that goes. There are boxes sitting in our garage right now that I moved here from my last house that are still full of the same crap that I moved INTO my last house. Oh well.

Knitting has taken a back seat to packing. I’m sorry to say I won’t be doing any more new stocking orders this year. I don’t even think I’m going to get much personal knitting done for Christmas this year. I do have several stockings to finish up for customers, and I’m going to be working hard to get those done in time for them to be enjoyed. I’ve spent this week’s allotted knitting time designing four stockings for a family that have been really fun to do. I love the designing process and I really enjoy making them so personal for each person.

My main focus for the next few weeks will be packing and moving and knitting the things that have to get done. Hubby’s sweater is on hold for a little bit, even though I’m working on the last piece. He’ll get it by the time he really needs it, though.

Also, I have yet to make Jellybean’s winter sweater for this year. I have the pattern picked out and the yarn is sitting right here. It’s just going to have to wait until after all the Christmas knitting is done. (Unless I can manage to get it done FOR Christmas… that’s a possibility.)

Lollypop and I are just cruising. I’m feeling lots of flutters, and I just love that. With all the craziness, it’s been difficult to bond with this baby, but feeling the movement helps a lot. I’m also starting to get a little bit of a bump, although it’s not noticeable to anyone but me and my blue jeans just yet. Jellybean talks about Lollypop some, too, which is just adorable.

Have a great week, my friends!

Lip Butters Now Available!

October 26, 2015 blogtest_2q7z6c 2 Comments

I have listed three lip butters on my Etsy shop!

First, we have the unflavored lip butter. The base is Shea butter, Avocado oil and Beeswax. The unflavored lip butter has no additional flavorings.

Next is the Pumpkin Spice lip butter. The base is the same as the unflavored, but with added Pumpkin Spice flavoring. This flavor is warm and sweet. It reminds me of a pumpkin cheesecake.

The Pumpkin Spice is so good, even a velociraptor keeps it on hand! (Thanks to Jellybean for sharing his dinosaur toy. 🙂 )

Finally, I have Mint lip butter. The mint flavor is bright and spicy, with hints of both spearmint and peppermint.

As I said last week, it’s the beeswax that makes this product really special. The wax is harvested locally by my Father-in-law from his own hives. His bees are untreated and thriving and the wax is a lovely golden color and has a floral honey aroma all by itself. The wax is filtered but otherwise unaltered.

I must give credit, again, for the photos. The staging was my idea, but he took my idea and made it look great. He is definitely the photographer of us.

And speaking of my husband, I just have to tell you. (Warning: This is gonna get a little sappy.) He’s been so incredibly supportive and encouraging. He’s offered constructive suggestions on ways to improve the product or process. He’s great to bounce ideas off of, he’ll give me his honest opinion. He’s taken the kiddo out on Saturday mornings to give me time to get some of these batches together. He’s even helped me get shrink wrap on tubes. He’s helpful, and kind, and even though we’re all stressed with so many changes in our lives, he’s still the calm in the storm. He’s a great cook, an awesome father and the best husband. It’s true we have a little bump to get over, what with the new house, new baby and selling this house, but I’m excited for the next chapter in our lives.

Like a Little Bee

October 22, 2015 blogtest_2q7z6c 6 Comments

We’ve been so busy busy busy lately, but I think we’re about to get a little break for a few weeks.

We made our offer on the house and it was accepted, then we proposed our repairs, and that was accepted. The appraisal was good, our loan has been approved and we’re ready to go. Closing date is the 6th and we get possession 15 days after that. Right before Thanksgiving. Phew. I’m looking at the timeline, and looking at the still-mostly-unpacked state of our current house and it’s all a little overwhelming.

We’ve been traveling so much lately that I’m really behind in stuff that needs to be done. Stocking orders, laundry, vacuuming, grocery shopping… that sort of thing. So I’ve been spending this week just catching up on that stuff (except the vacuuming. I haven’t had a good chance to do that yet.)

I’ve started more sorting and clearing out today and hopefully we’ll make it!

Part of our traveling was our annual anniversary trip to Fall Creek Falls. We absolutely love this place. So much so, that we got married there. Since I was pregnant with Jellybean on our first anniversary, we’ve taken him with us every year. We’ve talked about letting the grandparents keep him for a night, but honestly, I enjoy having him there with us. We’ll see about next year, when there’s two of them!

We always take a big, long hike on the day of our anniversary and this year, we did 5.5 miles. Jellybean walked at least 2.5 miles of that all by himself. Of course those miles were slower, but he really had fun on the unpaved, craggy path. He likes to climb and jump and that was just perfect for him. He even went across the swinging bridge twice!

He was pointing out and saying all the letters. (Yes, that sign has been misspelled for years.)

The overnight lows were in the 50s, so the water was VERY cold. I still think he would have jumped in if we’d let him.

This is how you ride when you’re two and you’ve walked as much as you can.

We all had a good time.

I have a new product to introduce to you. I’ve been playing around with lip balms and lotion bars. I will have these available in the shop within the week:

This lip butter is made with shea butter, avocado oil and beeswax. It is soft, moisturizing and truly luxurious. The unscented/unflavored has a slight hint of honey smell, thanks to the beeswax, but has no artificial flavorings added. I do have plans for other flavors, currently pumpkin spice, strawberry, mint and pineapple tangerine. They will be $3.00 each and available in tubes, pots or slide tins.

Now, let me tell you about my secret ingredient. The beeswax comes from my Father-in-law. He has several beehives and the bees are his current favorite hobby. The bees gather nectar on wildflowers, fruit trees, grape vines, and the vegetable garden. His bees are NOT treated and the wax looks, feels and smells just so good.

The pumpkin spice flavor is up next, after I filter more wax. That has to be done when everyone else is out of the house, so I’m not tripping over the kiddo. My next chance for that will be the weekend, so hopefully I can have that and the unflavored lip butters up in the shop early next week.

Have a great weekend!

A Wee Little Announcement

October 12, 2015 blogtest_2q7z6c 4 Comments

Shopping for a house in a town two hours away is really exhausting. I’ve made a trip there every week for the last three weeks, but the ball is rolling.

I’ve been working away on hubby’s sweater as I have the chance. I have both sleeves done, now, and I’ve started the back, so I’m about a third of the way through. I’m very pleased with the progress of that.

There’s more big news that I can share with you, my friends. This is one of the very few times I will post a picture of my little man on my blog, but this time is worth it:

That’s right! We’re going to have baby #2 late April/early May. In keeping with the candy theme, Jellybean’s little sibling is nicknamed Lollypop.

I’m gearing up for the second trimester, and I’m getting my energy back and feeling the nesting coming on. Perfect timing! And I get to nest a whole new house!

So, yeah, this is on top of everything else going on, but we’ll just get all the hard stuff out of the way all at once, right? HAHA HAHAHAHA

Ahem. Sorry about that.

Have a great week, friends. I’m going to go get some rest. 🙂

Monday’s Update (Late) on a Tuesday

October 6, 2015 blogtest_2q7z6c 2 Comments

This is getting to be a habit, isn’t it?

I’ve spent lots and lots of time adulting this week. Things just gotta get done, ya know? The craziness of preparing to move plus trying to find a new house plus getting this one ready to sell (we can’t find any handy people who want to bid our job!) plus keep up with all the normal stuff we need to do (for some crazy reason, my family still wants dinner. Every night!)

Take all that and add in a toddler who’s dropping naps (woe is me!) and it’s a struggle to get anything done.

I’ve instituted a daily quiet time for the toddler, which will allow me too get something done, and I’m using my MDO time to pack and sort through all our stuff. Which only leaves bedtime for knitting. The plus side is that we can put jellybean to bed early when he doesn’t nap and he usually doesn’t have an issue with that.

I’ve been focusing on my husband’s sweater for the last week or so. I’ve finished one sleeve and made good progress on the second. The pattern is easy and predictable, so after the first repeat, I didn’t need to look at the chart anymore.

This sweater is constructed differently than my cardigan. My cardigan was knit all in one piece with no seams. This sweater is knit with the front, back and sleeves being separate pieces.

Patterns always start with instructions for the back, then the front, then sleeves. I started with the sleeves, though. I do have a reason! The sleeves start out at the cuff, and are only 54 cast on stitches rather than 120-something. I used the first sleeve as a gauge swatch, so I sorta cheated. Turns out I hit the gauge right on the money so there was no need to rip out. Always a good thing.

When I started the second sleeve, though, I realized I forgot to change one of the needles after the cuff. (The ribbed cuffs are usually knit with a needle one or two sizes smaller than the body.) So I knitted the entire sleeve with an 8 on the wrong side and a 9 on the right side. Oops.

I’m not really sure if that will have a huge effect on the overall fabric, but just to be on the safe side, I forgot to do it again on the second sleeve.

I have a few stockings that are washed, blocked and ready for details and personalizing. Two are for the shop and the other two are claimed. One of these nights, I’ll take a break from the sweater and get them finished up.

I have plans to offer some luxurious lip butters and lotion bars in my shop this fall, too. My father-in-law keeps bees, so I have an awesome local source for untreated beeswax. I’m very excited about this!

Tomorrow we’ll be looking at more houses. Wish us luck that we find one we like! Have a great week!

P.S. I wrote this entire post on my phone, since I’ve been to busy to sit down at the computer. I hope the mistakes are few and forgivable. 🙂

Slow News Day

September 28, 2015 blogtest_2q7z6c 2 Comments

I’ve been doing way too much adulting this week.

Most of my free time this week has been taken up with contacting handymen, realtors and bankers. You see, we’re planning a move that has been a desire for several years, but several life events have happened that makes now the right time to go.

So, I’ve had to be an adult and take care of some very important things this week. I don’t like that very much. I’d much rather use my free time to knit and sew, but we all gotta do what we gotta do. 🙂

Anyway, this whole thing will be good for us, once we’re through it, but it is definitely stressful right now.

I have used some of my toddler sleeping time to knit, mostly in the evenings. I’m finishing up my third stocking of the season – the one for my friend Ashley that I’m not sure about the color. I’m going to get them all washed and blocked and then I can finalize the details.

I’ve not made any more progress on the lion costume, although Jellybean asks about it. I might take one MDO day this week and work on that.

I am still working on the spinning challenge occasionally. I think I don’t really enjoy spinning as much as I want to and I’m considering destashing my fiber and spindles. I just really want to be using my free time to knit, not spin, so the tools for spinning are just taking up space. I’ll try to finish up the 4oz I’ve got going now, but I think that’ll be it for me.

Only one photo for you today. And it’s not fiber related at all. We had to have some septic work done on Monday. (YAY, she said sarcastically) Jellybean loves big machines and he was glued to the window watching the backhoe dig up our back yard. Not so fun for our bank account, but great entertainment for a toddler!

As we progress more toward the packing and moving part, things may get slow around here. I hope you’ll forgive a few missed posts. Hopefully we’ll have this all done before the end of the year and I’ll be back in the swing of things!

Have a great week!

Oh No!

September 22, 2015 blogtest_2q7z6c Leave a comment

I totally missed a post yesterday!

I’ve had a bad case of disorganization this week. I do most of my knitting while Jellybean is asleep. My little knitting nest is downstairs on the opposite side of the house, so I don’t make a lot of noise to wake him up. I also knit in the evenings while Hubby and I watch TV. Neither of us likes me to be up and moving around while we’re trying to watch something, so I can’t dig around in my yarn bins in the evening. During the MDO time, I’m usually busy doing housework or other stuff that I can’t do when Jellybean is home.

So I’ve managed to find myself with a project to start, but all the yarn for it put away twice this week. I’ve sat and watched tv – without knitting – twice. That’s unheard of.

I also haven’t had much progress on my spinning. I’m finding it not as much fun as I thought I would when I started the challenge. It’s fine to spin, but I enjoy knitting so much more, and with my limited time available, I choose to knit more often.

That being said, I have made a little bit of progress on my spinning. This was week two of the challenge. I spun half of the fiber and then wound it off onto the toilet paper roll to wait for plying.

Week 3, I spun about 20 grams, which is less than an ounce. Still, it’s more than nothing, so I’m still eligible for prizes in the challenge. 🙂

I’ve made progress on the lion costume, too. The body is done and the hood is going well, so far.

I was so dreading sewing with that furry fabric. I expected it to be thick and messy and hard to deal with. I did take the cut pieces outside to shake out all the fur, but sewing with it has been a breeze. I’m excited for Jellybean to be a lion at Halloween.

The knitting I have been able to do has been stockings. My sweet friend Ashley recently had another baby boy so I am making his stocking to coordinate with the other three I made.

The new baby’s stocking will have two snowflakes on it to be similar to Fenner’s but just slightly different.

I started the new stocking on Saturday, but I’m fairly certain I picked the wrong white. I started the stocking with white, but my notes say I actually used a cream color instead. I will finish the white stocking anyway and put it in the Etsy shop when it’s done.

And that’s pretty much it for this week. It doesn’t seem like much, but I sure am tired!

Have a great week!

What a Busy Week!

September 14, 2015 blogtest_2q7z6c 4 Comments

I feel like we’ve been run ragged this week and it’s not over yet. Jellybean is back in his Mother’s Day Out program, he started on Thursday, and he’s doing well so far.

We’ve had an unusually social weekend, but the weather was awesome for it. I can feel fall in the air and I love it. I got to take my sweater out for a test run in the cool weather. It’s so soft and cozy and it never got itchy unless I was standing directly in the sun. I can’t tell you how much I love it, there just aren’t words.

I’m still on the knitting hangover from making such a large project, but I’ve got some good things on the horizon. I decided to redo Jellybean’s stocking, so I’ve been working on that. I made him a snowman originally, then I designed the train stocking. He does like snowman, but trains are a bigger deal, so how could I not?

It took me a while to get back in the groove of doing colorwork. I think I ripped out and started over at least three times. But I hit my stride on the fourth try and I’m almost done.

I’m planning two more sweaters before the end of the year. One is Jellybean’s annual winter sweater. He didn’t much like wearing the one I made last year (boo hoo) and I think it’s because it was 100% wool. this year, I went for a wool and acrylic blend that feels so soft on the ball, maybe he’ll be more willing to wear this one.

The second is a sweater for my hubby. I picked out several patterns that a) I thought he’d like and b) I wouldn’t mind knitting. Out of that list, he chose the 2900 Pullover by Jennifer Owens. I’ve got the yarn ordered for it, and I’m really excited to make that one.

RAVELRY_Homestead_2900_medium — 2900 Pullover

Lastly in knitting news, I’ve got a few commission stockings on the list, if you’re interested in one, please let me know soon!

I do want to show you another hobby I’ve been working on. I’ve joined a spinning challenge so I’ve been spending a few minutes each day making some yarn.

I’ve had the fiber for years, but I recently rejoined a group on ravelry that’s hosting the challenge. I even bought a new spindle for the challenge. I’m enjoying it, so far.

My plan is to spin all of this into two singles that use half the fiber, then ply them together for a two-ply yarn that I’m expecting to be worsted weight or so. I think the final product should look neat.

And because I don’t have enough going on, I am making Jellybean’s Halloween costume. He said he wanted to be a lion, so we picked out a pattern and I bought all the fabric and supplies together. Now he says he wants an alligator costume, but he’s ok with a lion. If this turns out to be as easy as I think it might, I’ll see about making an alligator, too.

That’s about it in my little world. We’re all busy, but well and I hope you are, too.

Secret Scarf – FREE Pattern!

September 7, 2015 blogtest_2q7z6c Leave a comment

It’s Labor Day! After laboring on the sweater, I have to tell you that I’m a little bit burned out on knitting. I’ve been working on some small things, but I haven’t quite gotten the drive and determination to work on anything big yet. So, in honor of both labor and laziness, I am cheating on my blog post this week and recycling an oldie.

This pattern has been available for a few years, but I’ve never highlighted it on this blog.

Inspired by the Yarn Harlot’s One Row Handspun Scarf but worked on the bias. The pattern includes both written and charted instructions.

This pattern is quick and easy, making it a great last-minute gift idea. The pattern is available for free on Ravelry – Secret Scarf.