SAFF was incredible.  Of course I totally forgot my camera so I didn’t actually get any pics of the event itself, but by god I took pics of all my loot (and the GORGEOUS scenery on the drive there and back), and holy fuck did I ever make out like a damn bandit.

I had a good time and lots of people commented on my hair.  It also helped fellow Ravelers from LSG (Lazy, Stupid and Godless for you non-fiber people) find me easily.  I met a lot of new people and we had a really great time.  There were Ravelers there from the Atlanta area (since it was an Atlanta yarn shop that rented out the whole inn for the weekend) so I got to meet them and, holy shit, talk about nice, funny, just all around great people.  I had an awesome time and one wonderful woman not only called her mom who lives in this area and is an active fiber person to get yarn store recommendations, she also gave me her mom’s phone number so I can call her to ask her about a few other fiber-related happenings in the area.  Astoundingly nice people and I was thrilled to meet them.

I also passed out business cards right and left, which not only have a typo on them, but also have the wrong email address on them.  I fail at entrepreneurship.  That’s ok, my Etsy shop address is on there.

I managed to stay 200.00 under budget though and the entire trip can be written off as a business expense, so fuck yeah.

Why is this post tagged ‘husband’?  Because that fabulous asshole of mine not only gave me a generous budget, but also honestly admired my purchases and petted and appreciated and for all of that and a million other things, I love that man to pieces, and that’s why.

It’s happy crazy funtime around here lately, kids.

First, I’ve been spinning and knitting like a bat out of hell lately. I dyed this with Paas egg dye tablets and it’s spinning up really pretty. Pastels, which are so not my thing, but I’ll probably ply and knit socks out of it anyhow.

I’m also working on socks for Mom. It’s her Mother’s Day present. I let her pick the yarn and the pattern and they’re coming along nicely. I have about twice as much done as the photo shows. I need to get a new photo.

The yarn is Plymouth Happy Feet and the pattern is from Charlene Schurch’s More Sensational Socks. The stitch pattern is the Stansfield 14 from that book. I’m knitting them on 2’s.

I’ve also got a surprisingly hopping little business going on Etsy. I started making and selling snag-free stitch markers for knitters, but most specifically for sock knitters. We need us some tiny st markers, so I made a bunch and they’re selling well as is my sock yarn, surprisingly. I’m selling there to earn money for SAFF. I have a room booked through Knitch for the whole weekend. I’m sending in my registration to take Schurch’s Sock Options class. How awesome to meet the woman herself. I will be all fangrrl and ask her to sign my book, yes I will. Kelly is going with me, so that’ll be fun. We’ve asked to room together. Knitch rented out the entire Inn for the weekend, so it’ll be nothing but fiber folks running around high on wool fumes all weekend.

Since SAFF is still months away I’ve taken this month’s profit and sunk it back in for more supplies so I can have more stock and make more money. I plan on having a hellafun time at SAFF and spending recklessly without guilt.

We also had some nature visits lately. First I caught a huge garter snake in the backyard. I took him in so he could stink all over Jat. Then we let him go. We also had a pair of cardinals build a nest right next to the front porch. I got pictures of the baby right after he hatched.

I cut a small hole in my porch screen so I could stick my camera lens through it and get some decent photos. Lot of fucking good it did. Turns out it doesn’t matter. I went out there to check on him yesterday and he was gone

I ended up picking up my nephews at the bus stop on their last day of school Friday. Poor Ben, he was sobbing like his little heart was breaking. I asked him what was wrong and he said, through sobs, “I’m going to miss my teacher and my friends and I don’t want school to end!” We made it a little better with lemonade on the way home, though. I’m still shocked at how small he is. When I see him from a distance I always wonder, “Who is that 5 year old with no supervision??” It takes me a few seconds to realize it’s my 7 year old nephew. How sad.

In my studio class we’re doing digital ink and paint.  It’s a lot of fun, I’m using the hell out of my graphics tablet (about time) and having fun.  It’s probably fun because I have good equipment on a good computer and I’ve been fucking around with digital art for over a decade now so I already know a ton of tricks.  We’re developing a character.  I kind of like my little guy.  We’ve only just started adding color, so that part looks like shit.

In other news, we may be moving to Virginia. Jat is interviewing for a cushy fucking job up there in a couple of weeks. We’d have to buy a house, who the fuck would rent to us with all these animals other than my own mom? No one! We’d have to MOVE ALL OUR SHIT! That is an overwhelming proposition to consider. I’d be moving all 12 animals up there myself. That is also a daunting thought. I’m a ‘go with the flow see where life leads you’ kind of person, so I’m open to the possibility, but I don’t want to go. Everything I know is here. I’ve lived here practically my entire life, all my friends are here. Friends I’ve had since high school for fuck’s sake! My knitting/spinning groups are here, I have a happy knitting home not 5 minutes from my house. I’d have to start over with everything. I’d have to find a new internist who understands PCOS. A new stylist! Ack! Oh fuck, I’m going to have to ask my colorist to come with me though. It took me a while to find her and I don’t want to lose her. Shit, the same could be said for my stylist. Goddamnit.

But, stepping out of one’s comfort zone is how one grows as a person, or some shit. I know it’s good for me to expand my horizons, but that doesn’t mean I have to sing and dance through the process.

So I finally sold that goddamned torch and that boro glass.  Finally.  I ended up getting a grand for it all, tools, glass, videos, torch, regs, etc.  Not great, not terrible, but the important thing is that it’s finally out of my house.  Of course Paypal is being a real bitch.  Apparently even though I’ve been a customer in good standing for over 8 years now the fact that I accepted a large transaction makes me suspicious, so they’ve reversed the transaction until the buyer says yes, she really did mean to send me a thousand bucks.  Ridiculous.  I’m not worried about being scammed.  I know where she works and she is a very nice person and she’s local.  I just wish Paypal would get their shit together.  They IMMEDIATELY assumed I was a criminal and the transaction was bad.  Seriously, they had it reversed probably before she even made it out of the neighborhood.  Bastards.  I hope I don’t have to get nasty with a bunch of useless fucks at PayPal.  I’m resourceful and I have a lot of free time.  The Paypal execs probably wouldn’t love a phone call from me on the hour every hour until this is resolved.  I could make their lives a living hell and will if they don’t get me my goddamned money.  The fun will begin later this after noon when I start with the useless customer service number.  Then I’ll start playing detective and ferretting out the phone numbers and email addresses of execs in the company.  If that doesn’t work I’ll start making this shit viral and calling every media outlet that’ll listen.   I will transform magically into the customer from hell, the one the entire company knows about and dreads hearing from.  I’ll be THAT bitch.

What really pisses me off about this whole thing is that I want to buy a spinning wheel and other accessories with this cash.  The wheel I want has a 2 week production time and so I’m already going to have to wait on it, but I can’t even order it since I don’t have my money, which is already going to take a week to show up in my checking account and that’s AFTER Paypal decides to stop flicking their dicks around in wonderment and actually pay attention to what the fuck’s going on.

I am inordinately insulted to be treated like this by a company who I have an excellent history with.  I will not be using Paypal ever again after this.

Yeah, so spinning.  I wasn’t really interested in it much, it seemed like a nice distraction, but not much else.  I did buy a drop spindle and some roving and it sat around the house for about a year before I finally decided to pick it up and try.  I signed up for a drop spindle class at my LYS and I am HOOKED.  I’ve been spinning so much yarn with that thing it’s ridiculous.  I need a wheel because I can’t spin fast enough on the spindle and after standing and spinning for 4 or more hours my back and feet are killing me.   Which is really too bad because spinning is an incredibly Zen activity.  I am in love here.  The woman who taught the class told me she could tell as soon as I walked in that I was ‘one of us’.  She said she knew I had it in my DNA or something like she did.  I can believe it.  I am overwhelmed by the possibilities of spinning my own sock yarn.  I have two skeins here of some really uneven, over/under spun/plied yarn that I spun up on the drop spindle out of soysilk.  It’s gorgeous and I think the two skeins will become a hat for me.  The colors are to die for.

I got another amazing package from my Knitty SP - two skeins of this lovely purple alpaca that I think is going to be a scarf for me since it’s so soft and warm and gorgeous and a whole slew of other stuff I’m too tired and uncaffienated to recall.

Oh, there’s more, I’m sure, but I need more coffee.  One of these days I’ll actually upload the pics off my camera so you can see all this great shit I keep talking about.

I hope everyone’s VD was the non-itchy kind.