Rising from the Ashes

Hi Everyone!

I know it's been a long long time since I last posted, and I apologize. My life has been very busy and hectic. I'm just going to give a brief overview of how things have been going and then move on to my intentions for this blog going forward.

As a lot of you know, I started a yarn dyeing business last year called Great Lakes Hand Dyed. It's been a fun year of a lot of meeting new people and travelling while selling yarn. It isn't my full time gig yet, but hopefully someday I'll get there.

I've actually been going to school for Medical Coding so that I can get a promotion at my full time job. That has been going slowly and I can't wait for it to me done.

Now to get on to my intentions for this blog. Lately I've been focused on 2 things other than school and work. That's being organized in my knitting and crocheting life and weight loss. I've been struggling with both of these topics for a long time so my intention for this blog is to share my successes, triumphs and downfalls and to share with you what I've learned about these topics. Currently I'm trying to finish up my many WIPs (works in progress) and trying to use up a lot of my deep stash that's lingering in my yarn room. I'd like to be able to use that room more than I am now but I need to get a lot of the yarn out of there.

As for weight loss, I have a lot of weight to lose. I'm probably not going to see my goal weight until at least next year. The problem I have anymore is I just keep running out of time. I don't feel like I have enough time to work out. I don't get home from school until 9:30-10pm generally 4 days a week and I'm just having a hard time fitting it all in. I see a trainer once a week and he keeps me motivated but I'm just struggling with finding the time to work out more.

There is my quick update. I hope to find you all quite well! Take care for now!

Lots of knitting and crocheting :)

Hello all. First I'd like to express how incredible stressed out I am at the moment.  My car broke down again and I had to put all the wedding money into fixing it. AHHHHHHH I feel like crap like this always gets in my way!! Ok so now that I've gotten that out of the way let's get on with the actual content. If you are interested in buying some things that I've made please check out my Etsy shop that has a widget on the right side of this blog. All money from the Etsy will be going to paying for the wedding. If you would like to custom order something, please shoot me an email.


I'd like to tell you about an Etsy shop that I found and REALLY like their products. I bought some beautiful blue faced lester in a wonderful colorway. It reminds me of the Rainbow Fish book from when I was a kid. You can find this seller at ArtemisArtemis. It took only a week to get to Ohio all the way from New Zealand. Please check this shop out because her products are really quality.

I've been working on a Mizzle out of the yarn that I purchased from ArtemisArtemis and it's turning out really nice. It's really hard to get a nice picture of though. Pictures will come when I'm finished with it.

That's really all I have for right now so I hope everyone takes care :)
Liz

Yay 20th post :)

Good morning everyone. Though I'd give you a quick update on the knitting and crocheting. I have no FOs and I'm horribly behind on the 52 pair plunge. I think this week we were supposed to have something like 6 pairs done and I'm done even finished with 3. I'll catch up after my elbow heals up and this wedding is overwith.
I think I'm going to make my own facinator/birdcage veil for the reception. I've found some tutorials online and if I do wind up making it I will share a brief description of the process. I'm almost done with the 2nd shawl (I was supposed to have that done last month, whoops). I need to start busting my butt on that. I'm also considering starting a business after the wedding madness and Christmas madness is over. I'd like to start a yarn dying company and I think I have a pretty unique niche to fill, though I think all yarn lovers will enjoy the product.
I'm also thinking of doing a giveaway after all the wedding madness is overwith. I'm going to have a TON of this Knit Picks Gloss in the Fiesta colorway left over from the wedding and I don't think I'm ever going to want to look at this color again after making 4 shawls with it. I have an idea that it's going to be a charity kal/cal (knit along/crochet along for those playing at home) for my favorite charity. For those of you who don't know I'm a huge animal lover so keep that in mind. More details to come on that in November.
Hope you are all doing well!
Liz

Yay an FO

Hi everyone. I just wanted to pop in to give a quick update. I have an FO :D

You may recall this is a basic toe up socks made from See Jayne Knits Yarns Superwash Merino in the Fishy Wishy in a Dishy coloway. WOHOO :) 

I'm going to be casting on the Ashokan Shawl with Knit Picks Telemark in the Grass colorway. I need to get a long enough needle first though.

That's about all that's going on right now. I haven't had the brain power to make a new pattern lately. Maybe after the wedding. Also please make sure you check out my podcast, the No Idle Hands Podcast available on  iTunes. You can find the shownotes here.

Take care everyone!!

No Idle Hands Indeed

Hi Everyone! Hope all is well. Three months until the big day. I'm SOOO EXCITED!! Anywho on to knitting.
I've been working on the Cabletini Socks but Red Heart Heart and Sole with Aloe in the Sunrise Tequila colorway. You can see the project page here. I've also been working on the Luna Shawl in Knit Picks Gloss in the Fiesta colorway. I'm not showing that off until the wedding though. I've also been working on a pair of vanilla toe up socks in this yarn. I haven't put up a project page yet but here's a preview:

I've also been working on some items to sell in my Etsy shop that I don't have picture of yet. I will be having a photo session with a friend tomorrow and putting them up. All money from the Etsy shop is going to fund out honeymoon. After careful budgeting we have not been able to save enough money to go on a honeymoon and I really think it's important that we go on one. Please considering checking back to the Etsy shop on Sunday to view the items for sale. Right now I only have a baby blanket up but there will be more items shortly.
Also please consider checking in to the podcast I started a few weeks ago. It's called No Idle Hands and it is available on iTunes or at noidlehandspodcast.podbean.com. The shownotes can be found at noidlehandspodcast.blogspot.com.
Thanks everyone and take care,
Liz

Podcast

Hello all! As you may or may not know I am a huge fan of knitting podcasts. I listen to them all day, every day. So as a result, I have decided to make a No Idle Hands Podcast. You can find me on iTunes as No Idle Hands and the show notes will be posted here. Hope you enjoy it as I know I enjoyed making the first episode.
In other news, I am working on what I'm calling the Cheerful Rainbow Popsicle Socks using a vanilla toe up sock recipe. They're made from Knit Picks Felici in the Rainbow colorway. I have the first sock done and I'm finished with the provisional cast on for the second one.

I'm still working on the Swallowtail Shawl and that's really all I've been working on for the last couple days. I did have some major yarn acquisition yesterday. Jo Anne's was having a sock yarn clearance and I bought about 10 balls of sock yarn for like $22. Yay!!
Well that's all I have, take care everyone!!

Another Update

Hello all!
First I'd like to thank you for the kind comments on my patterns. Not too much thought went into those but they all turned out quite nicely. Please add me on Ravelry if you haven't already, my user name is MissKatPegasus. So let's get down to what I've been knitting.

For mother's day I made my mom the Holden Shawlette (yes I made another Holden Shawlette). And yet again it turned out beautifully.

I finished that while I was on the most stressful vacation in the world.

First it started with this:

And it ended in having almost everything on my brakes replace to the tune of about $650. Being stranded in Tennessee with no brakes was not the best feeling in the world but I made it back to our fair city in one piece thankfully.

This is what I saw while I was adventuring Tennessee:

The Chatanooga Art Museum. It was closed but it was still beautiful from the outside.

This horse is made out of metal even though it looks like drift wood. Pretty neat, huh?

I think this boat is a restaurant. It was really cool to watch.

I have one other FO I'll be sharing with you today. I'm proud to announce that I have successfully knit my first pair of socks!! I used the Lisa's Basic Toe Up Socks pattern and I could not be happier with them. They are knit in Paton's Kroy Socks in the Sailor Stripes colorway. The best part is it only took about a week to make them. I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm actually considering joining the 52 pair plunge next year.

One WIP I've been slowly working on is the Twist caridigan, which I have affectionately renamed the Pretzel Sweater. I'm making it out of Knit Picks WOTA in the Indigo Heaher colorway. Here's a small bit of what the yarn and pattern looks like.

I'll do just a quick update on the wedding (this will not be anything close to a wedding blog so don't get your hopes up). We're less than 4 months away from the big day. I've finished the first of four shawls that I'm knitting for the wedding. The first shawl is the Seascape Stole. I knit it in Knit Picks Gloss in the Fiesta colorway. I don't think I'll be posting pictures of the shawls until after the wedding when I do a recap just because I want there to be some kind of semi-suprise factor sort of like what the wedding dress looks like.

Well tootles for now and TTFN!!