Cleaning up/cleaning out, and a little contest

It's getting colder here and I've got the urge to finally go through my stash. We had to move it all out of the studio so some work could be done two winters ago. By the time the work was finished, it was just too nice to spend more time inside than necessary so I put off the organizing. And then I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, had surgery, buried my favorite brother, ran away for the holidays, had radiation therapy and viola! it was spring again.

In the process of organizing, I found some acrylic yarn leftover from projects or abandoned and forgotten. I don't have grandkids, the nieces/nephews are raising their own kids, the grandnieces/grandnephews are teenagers so there's no knitting of acrylic kids' things. I don't make afghans and don't know anyone who does. So I'm shipping a box (a BIG box!) of yarn to my SIL's SIL in Connecticut. I know Heidi will put the yarn to good use, she's just a whiz at crocheting the cutest stuff. Without a pattern! She's incredible and I know the yarn will have a happy home.

I also found some books that are duplicates. How did I forget I had these books and go forward with buying a second copy? I dunno. Maybe my library is too big or I'm suffering from the post-menopausal stupids. Either way, yinz reap the benefits. I'm going to think up several challenges or games and give a book as prize. We'll start with Compendium of Finishing Techniques, Naomi McEneely (Interweave Press, 2003), original price was $29.95, spiral bound. Apparently, folks think it's valuable as Amazon has used copies listed for $29.98 and new ones for <gasp> $116.40!! This isn't a duplicate copy but I thought I'd need it and so bought it. Turns out, I have all that information in other books I own so it's just taking up space on the bookshelf.

What do you need to do? I want more Likes on my Facebook page. I want to hit 200 Likes. Go to the page, click the Like button, and PM me with your name. On October 31, I'll put all the names in a hat and let one of the neighborhood Trick-or-Treaters pull a name on Halloween night. Once I get in touch via return PM and have your mailing addy, I'll ship the book to you for your enjoyment. No worries, I'm not building a mailing list from this (unless you WANT to be added to a mailing list, in which case just let me know).

Here's a quick pic of the cover and Contents page. My apologies if it's not large enough, but you should be able to click on the photo to enlarge it. Leave a comment if you think I need to elaborate on the contents and I'll be happy to type them out if necessary.

A new item up for sale--knitting kits with my own handspun yarn and my designs!

Breaking News!

I've just loaded my first two knitting kits in the Etsy shop. Last week I finally got the Three Rivers Kerchief pattern test-knit and posted on the site, today I'm adding my handspun yarn to the pattern so you can easily combine the right yarn with the pattern.

I have plans to continue with simple yet fun kits, adding my Elemental Earwarmer and Elemental Mitts (this is the pattern that appeared in the most recent Yarnmaker magazine) designs paired with appropriate yarn. If you have a color preference and I have the fiber, let me know and I can spin up something just for you in any of the three designs.

Yes, that's the same yarn in both designs; one was shot in a light box and the other was shot outdoors. I never noticed the difference until just now.

And the reason these kits haven't been listed until now? The garden is making me nuts. In addition to a ton of tomatoes (spaghetti sauce, chili, tomato soup and 8 qts in the freezer and there's still a peck of them left) and red raspberries, I have had 7 Cushaw pumpkins. Gave one to the neighbor, three more aren't quite mature and I'm not sure if I can use them, one has grown on top of the black raspberry bird netting and I need Husbeast to reach it. The biggest one is reachable but the vine is still alive so it's not ready to pick yet. This baby is HUGE, will probably make at least four pies.

That's a section of newspaper it's sitting on and almost totally obscuring!

That's the news from Chez Feisty. I'm heading for the coffee pot, I need fuel to continue the To Do List.