Recap

So from the looks of things, my psychic link to the blog is STILL not functioning. That would explain the lack of 'real' posts verses all my obviously imaginary ones during the past month... sigh.

Well, I hope you all had a great holiday, we had a lovely one here.

Our first Gingerbread construction project ever. I think we did ok, considering the frosting hardens faster than crazy glue-!

What do you get the Pixie who has everything? Silk People (or in this case, styrofoam heads).
I worried a bit about what to get Glenna for christmas. I mean, I knew what her favorite colors were & all, but there isn't a fiber she hasn't tried or a spindle I could get her... and so I went the tricksie path instead. Asked her what fiber in my stash was the nicest. Since I had no cashmere roving anywhere about, she opted that the silk was the nicest. As I started pulling out silk, I found some silk bells/caps. "Caps?" She says, suddenly paying a ton more attention... ("ah-hah, says I...") And so I started babbling about a dye project request for someone else who's colors I didn't know, and the technical aspects of dyeing silk etc, and got her involved & making helpful suggestions cuz she loves her some silk... Finally asked her for color suggestions, feigned busy doing other projects and let her go at it on the silk.
Oh I checked on her now & then with a few tips & pointers, but this dye job was all hers. When she was finished, we pronounced it pretty good and she felt safe that she wasn't going to be fired for ruining the silk. Liked it pretty well, in fact. And so after it was steamed & rinsed, I turned it over to her as her Christmas present. I am so teh subtle. I'm pretty sure she didn't know it was hers... at least, she lets me think I got away with it ;-) (I would like to point out that the color inspiration was my tea-cup/mug. Hand thrown pottery from an artist in Portland OR I got several years ago. Those for the record, are Miss Pixie's favorite colors on record.)

Stand by for photo onslaught:

I think we did a pretty good job of matching colors and she did an excellent job of painting them!

Let's see, what else has been going on. Well, we made some soap. Ok, we made a LOT of soap. Ok, we made more than 240 bars of soap. Sheep's milk & Lanolin.

And just for the record? If you work at a hardware or plumbing supply store and someone calls looking for Lye, please verify the spelling.

1. We are not looking for Lime for the garden. I'm fairly certain that a 25lb bag for $4.75 is not granular LYE, it's granular L I M E, trust me.
2. No, lye is not illegal.
3. No, it is not going to 'damage the environment' or single-handidly destroy the earth or the ozone if I use it.
4. Yes, they still use it for things other than decomposing a body in a 55 gallon drum (??)
5. No, you do not have to report a purchase of Lye to any authority, and I can purchase it at any age.
6. Yes, people still make soap at home.

Moving on.


One word: Bacon! No, it's not breakfast time (not here anyways). There's this group of people out there (you know who you are) who for some reason (best not thought about), want Bacon yarn. Not bacon FLAVORED yarn (the majority anyways), but color/theme. And they've been clammoring for this for some time now. There would not be distracted, no "Look! Something Shiney! Over there!" ploy seemed to work on this mob. Heaven help me, I began thinking about bacon themed yarn. Now mind you, this is not the final product but I think I'm getting close to it.
Let's see, what else? Oh I know, Gift Certificates! Those are new! They're on the home page, and you can get $10.00, $20.00 or $50.00 and they do not require the recipient to use paypal to cash it in. You purchase the amount you want, and I get the details from you in a confirmation email. You can even do anonymous gifts for folks, which comes in handy for knitting group gift swaps etc.


The only other note of interest aroud here, is that the 15th of January is the last day to sign up for the 2009 TsockFlock Sock Club and get a free skein of yarn your choice of colorway as a bonus. Sign-ups will continue after that, but you'll miss out on the free skein. There has been talk of a drawing for a skein from the names of the late-comers after that, but do you really want to miss out on the guaranteed yarn? 6 kits, a visit from the yarn fairy AND a free 400 yard skein in your favorite colorway from the website? Basically a $20.00 bonus... hmm. Not to mention the other goodies. Tempus Fugit, my friend. Tick Tock. First kit goes out in February, and the database o' names doth fill quickly.