Busy summer.......

It has been a very busy summer so far. Filled with alot of activities..... visiting family, running my children to their activities and of course.... knitting, spinning and working on inventory weekly for the local farmers market where I sell handmade soaps and other product that I handmake.
The past several weeks have been hectic.... we had a sudden family emergency that required me to travel out of town to help out with family. We are home for now.... hoping that I don't have to get involved further. Not the best thing for me as the stress is not good for the health problems I have..... severe asthma and heart problems don't mix well with stress very well.
We did have another out of town visit that was alot of fun..... visited with my parents when my 90 year old grandmother and 2 of my aunts from Georgia were visiting. We had a nice family gathering, lots of fun, food and laughter was shared.... and lots of photos also.
While I was visiting my parents and the family wanted to do other things.... my youngest daughter and I went to a local yarn shop that I have been wanting to visit. The store is located in the Cincinnati area, called Lambikins Hideaway. The owner, Christina was a pleasure to meet and had such a nice visit with her. My daughter and I spent several hours looking at all the yarns, patterns, etc. and had a chance to talk with Christina. I had brought along some of my purses that I have been knitting/felting and was asked to bring them in to see. So... I went out to the van and brought the felted purses, totebags and handspun yarn in. I received such nice compliments on them and that really makes a person feel great to hear such nice things from another person that also knits. I found out that Christina is also learning to spin. We had a great time talking about spinning.
While in this store I ended up choosing a few new yarns to make purses. My daughter and I chose yarn (wool/soy silk blend) so we could knit together and I could teach her a few new knitting skills as she created her own purse. We are enjoying knitting with this yarn. Gorgeous colors (I chose a handpainted hot pink colorway, my daughter chose a light/darker pink colorway) and really nice feel as we are knitting with it. So soft. I also found some really nice novelty yarns that I have plans to include with knitting a few more purses that I will felt. And found several new patterns, a book and new issue of Knitters magazine. The book I bought I plan to make a few sweaters using my handspun wools. Beautiful sweaters with intarsia designs. This store was filled with gorgeous yarns that I must go back and buy more when I get through with a few new projects. They had a nice selection of Noro Kureyon yarn and a few other Noro yarns. I want to buy some Kureyon and some of the silk blend Noro. There are several other handpainted wool yarns that I must have also. I enjoyed getting to know Christina also and look forward to visiting with her again soon when I go back for more yarn.
Christina also gave me some inspiration for creating a wall for storing some of my handspun yarn and also cone yarns. I was going to attach this to a wall but now have decided to make a moveable wall with 2 peg boards attached to wood. I am even thinking of attaching wheels to make this even easier to move without having to remove the pegs and yarns.
Talking about yarn storage..... my husband and a close friend finally got together last weekend and made me 2 really nice, sturdy yarn trees. These will hold 96 cones/skeins of yarn. We are now talking about making smaller, more portable ones for taking to shows to sell my handspun yarns. Cool! I also have given them an idea that I have used years ago for a display I designed and made..... attaching a lazy susan to the base wood so that it will revolve. We may add this to these new yarn trees..... later on. For now.... I am thrilled to atleast have these. Now to make enough yarn to fill them up.
I am busy knitting and spinning. Enjoying the process of learning to spin. I have managed to spin several skeins of yarns so far. About 2 dozen. I am hoping to have a nice selection available to sell at the market soon. And have just recently used some of my first handspun to make a purse for myself. Turned out really nice. I need to stock up on more handpainted wool roving soon. I am working my way through my wool roving stash.... quickly.... and hope not to run out. I have spun several yarns for myself for a few sweaters that I want to knit using some patterns with intarsia designs. I think I have learned.... If I see a handpainted roving that I love..... get more than a few ounces..... get a pound or two so I can make something more than a scarf, hat or other smaller projects. I am finding that once I spin 8 ounces of wool and ply it as a 2 ply..... it may not be enough to make a purse of any size to it. I am spinning what would be considered as possibly heavier than worsted weight once it is plied. Some are bulky weight yarns once plied. Oh well..... with continued practice.... I will get a thinner yarn spun and plied. I do have a few yarns spun/plied that would be enough to make a Sophie purse. I may work on that as my next pattern to see how this works up with my handspun.
I wish I could provide photos here with my blog so anyone that reads this could see all the knitting/spinning projects I am having so much creating. I guess I could upload photos to an online site and provide a link to it. I will have to work on that soon.
Sharon