Ravelry

I finally got my Ravelry invite. It took about three months to get it. I spent way too much time last night uploading pictures and info. into it. You can get to my page on there (if you are already a member) by scrolling down and clicking on the button to the right on my blog. It's a pretty cool knitting/crochet resource. I can't wait to spend more time exploring on there. If you haven't joined Ravelry, you can join in with the rest of us knitaholics by requesting an invite. Please do, it's fun!

Injuries and Marketing Gimmicks

Sometimes the dumbest things lead to injuries. Yesterday, doing the "grab the basics" thing at the grocery store, I managed to somehow lift a bag of groceries wrong. It wasn't even "that" heavy, just heavy enough to do damage to my shoulder. All day today, I've had pain at the oddest moments. It doesn't happen every time I move, just sometimes and I can't figure out why. I really hope it's not a rotator cuff injury. I really don't feel like getting an operation. I'm crossing my fingers that it's only going to be a pulled/strained muscle. I'm actually scared to try to knit or spin tonight. I don't want any repetitive motion stuff to make it worse. I'll skip tonight and see how things feel tomorrow.

Anyhoo, I was reading a blog today (Unusual Business Ideas That Work) that mentions a business that falls into the "why didn't I think of that?" category. This company gets these little old ladies to knit socks for people on demand. Now anyone can knit socks on demand (as a matter of fact, send me money and I'll knit you a pair), but not everyone can just come up with a cute gimmick like this one. The Grannies are shown on the site and you can read up on each one too. You pick out the yarn colors, tell them your size, send them money and it's off to the races. What a great marketing idea. Here's the site: Your Grandma's Socks

Spinning and Fiber!

I was a spinnin' fool this weekend. I couldn't put it down!

Here's the results of my spinning so far:

The skein in the middle is the first thing that I ever spun and it is by far the most consistent and best quality of all of them. The one with orange was done next and was intended to be a novelty yarn. My teacher had to make me do thick and thin and add little bits of stuff into it. It really went against the grain to do this too. The others have all been practice.

I haven't been able to equal the success of the first one. I'm having trouble drawing as I spin. I can draw first and then spin, but I can't seem to do both at the same time yet. I'll get there, I know, but I want to be there now! Patience is not my strong suit.

I only made it through about 1o rows on the shawlette. Too busy gossiping and chasing the 22 mo. old.

I did get to go to a real live country fair this weekend. There were a whole 20 booths (including food), Terrier races (of all things) and there was a sheep show. I went up and asked one of the owners what he did with all the wool from his sheep. You won't believe what he answered, "I just throw it all in the trash." Fiber fanatics pay good money for this stuff and he just throws it in the trash!

Well, we passed a sheep farm on the way there and back, but didn't stop. My dad went today and got two big bags of fleece for me. I'll have to clean and card it, but it'll be free! He asked the owners what they did with their show sheep's wool and their answer? We just throw it in the gully. ?!!! What's with these people? Don't they know about this industry? They're missing out on a money making opportunity! Not to mention, loads of fun. Jeez!