‘Net-less

Comcast / Xfinity has been out of service in our area for a few days now and the recorded message says to expect 40+ more hours of outage. I’ve got a hinky connection at the moment with a mobile broadband device, but it’s rather like being on dial-up, so I’m keeping my internet forays brief. I do have a smartphone, so I’m not totallly cut off – but watching movies on the wee screen is not much fun. We are so deprived. (or is that depraved?)

In the interim, I’ve been mucking about the house cooking and baking, sweeping and dusting, making soap and spinning. Knit a small project yesterday, a bandana cowl that is soft and scrumptious – it’s mystery yarn from the stash, feels (and acts) like wool and knit up beautifully in warm copper tones.

I bought yarn for a few more projects (and before you give me a bad time about buying yarn, just shut it. I had yarn money tucked away for the Seattle-to-Portland Yarn Train event, but that was cancelled on account of the snowmageddon that rolled through the west coast. They were planned purchases, and there are projects lined up for the new yarn, and I stayed within my budget. So there. *insert raspberry noise here*)

And the spinning – I finished a bobbin of merino wool, 4 ounces to be exact, spun nice and thin. It will be plied with a merino/silk blend that I just started on. The color of this single is somewhere in the mauve family, but with a touch more purple. I still don’t have a real camera, so the phone pic will have to suffice.

There’s a beef stew in the crockpot for dinner, and I am considering doing a bit of quilting (bought a new thimble yesterday, to replace the one that has gone missing – probably stolen by the kitten) while watching Firefly episodes. I may not be able to watch Netflix, but I have Firefly on DVD so all is not lost.  I’ve spent a lot of time at home the past week but have not made much of a dent in the housework; I’m starting to think I’m not very fond of housework.  Baking, yes – we’ve been enjoying an array of nummies – but the dusting, not so much. Any volunteers?

Nose + grindstone

Time is accelerating and I’m losing my ability to keep up.

Knitting: have a stealth project going, finished up several Christmas gifts (blocked and everything!), knit a hat that is too large to fit anyone I know but is a perfectly nice wool hat and will likely go to the first extra-large-headed person I run across even if that happens to be a complete stranger on the street because there is no sense frogging a perfectly nice wool hat even if it is on the big side, have made good progress on a gift for a small person but ran out of yarn for it, and need to tally up my gift knits to see whom else I may need to knit for. Or not knit for, as the case may be.

Shopping: did some. Have greatly scaled back my purchases over the years and I try to do handmade gifts, but there are always ‘things’ that need to be purchased and so I’ve done a bit of that. Probably ought to get a couple more ‘things’, and definitely need to re-purchase an item that was never received though the carrier says they delivered.

Work: buried to my ears in it. It’s our fiscal year-end, plus the IRS is paying us a visit next week and this just adds up to a whole lot of extra work for me.

Soap: lovely wholesale account has requested a new soap, which makes me happy happy happy. I love the opportunity to create a new scent blend. Now, to find the time to do it…

Sewing: have several projects cut out (meant to be Christmas gifts) and ready to put together, just need to spend some time (ha!) out in the sewing room.

Family: is hungry, as there is very little food in the house aside from rice (which we have an unusually large amount of, in several varieties). No meat, no bread, no milk, no fruits or veggies – but we have twenty pounds of rice. And maybe a couple cans of beans. Need to find time (and money) to go to the grocery store so the kids do not develop scurvy. Or rickets.

 

Long weekends

I must say, I could get used to four-day weekends. Thursday was full of family and food, Friday was a fun day of soap sales at my first open house, and Saturday so far is mostly for knitting and watching Breaking Bad episodes on Netflix. I do need to go out and tidy up my soap room a bit, and get out for a walk this afternoon – but for now, I have my slippers on and a cup of tea at hand.

On the knitting front: I’ve been plugging away on my wooly rib warmer but am running out of wool… I have pulled a darker brown from my stash and the upper back will just be a different color than the front, nothing I can do about that. I’ll call it a Design Element. Or a Happy Accident a la Bob Ross.

On the home front: we know that winter has truly set in when Snickerdoodle starts to brood over the heat registers.

Speaking of cats, I’m still not certain we should put up a Christmas tree this year… The kitten continues to be a chewer and all-around pesky hooligan that is prone to psychotic freak-outs that involve gymnastics on her cat tree and wind sprints across the wood floors. Earlier I was making eggs and watching her contortions on the cat tree, I turned away for thirty seconds and when I looked back she had raced across the room and grabbed my knitting. A Christmas tree just sounds like too much of a temptation. Wonder if the kids would be disappointed if we skipped it?

Brief and random

It’s raining the proverbial cats and dogs out there and it’s a holiday week. Hooray! I’m looking forward to having four days off with very little to do – aside from eating copious amounts of turkey tomorrow and hosting an open house soap sale on Friday. I foresee lots of knitting and movie-watching and maybe a bit of sewing.  Oooh, maybe I’ll finish spinning up the wool/mohair I got for my birthday!

In other news: I learned a new word yesterday: spatchcocking. It’s not as naughty as it appears – go ahead and Google it. I’m going to have to give it a try soon.

And: I have to reiterate how great it is to work next to the Pike Place Market. While the throngs of tourists annoy me with their sidewalk-clogging ways, it is awesome to have such ready access to fresh produce, meats, and seafood. Last night I picked up a couple of rainbow trout for dinner and they were mmmmm-delicious with a light breading and pan-fried.

I’ll leave you with this little bit of cuteness:

Four new soaps to share

I snapped quick photos with my phone; real photos will be taken later with the light box to post on my website – but for now, these aren’t too bad.

(Rice Flour and Shea, swirled with red kaolin clay.)

(Rosemary Mint, with green clay and ground rosemary)

(Inner Goddess, with ground chamomile. Not quite this dark in person.)

(In The Pink, with ground almonds, honey, pink clay, and goat’s milk.)

Soap!

Winter is a very slow time for my soap business, but now is when I start ramping up for summer craft shows / street fairs. I need to do a bit of cleaning and organizing, but I did get several batches poured yesterday. These are photos of two, right after pouring into the molds.

Soaps on sale!

It’s the perfect time of year for an Inventory Reduction Sale — now through February 12th use coupon code InvRedSale and get 15% off your total order from my site: RainDance Soaps. Some items have very limited quantities, so don’t wait too long!

Craft show bound

Today I am prepping for a craft show – making lotions, applying labels, packing soap, making signs… Somehow I always put this off to the last possible minute and today is no exception. I love the bustle and variety of items at craft shows and am looking forward to this weekend! For those of you in the area, come check us out. We’re at Country Village, in Bothell, this Friday and Saturday.

Chick’n Coop Crafts