Milk Days 2010!

This past weekend was Milk Days, Illinois's longest running festival. I've been going for the past 20 years and if you've never been, you're missing out! It's held the first weekend in June (Friday-Sunday). This year I did the abbreviated version and only celebrated on Saturday, but my-oh-my! was it a full day!

I kicked it off by running the 10k at 8am (keep in mind I haven't run at ALL this summer). I definitely didn't win any awards, but the girls did. They ran in the kids' 50m dash. Isabelle won 2nd place...


And Olivia won 3rd!


After that it was time to eat! I had pasta salad, all sorts of fruits and veggies and crackers. Yum!


My dad kicked back with a Guinness after doing the 10k.


Then it was time for the parade.


Isabelle met Batman and a really tall guy.


They scored lots of candy!


They even shared some with me.


After that we watched a movie (I fell asleep) and then it was time for the nightlife!

It started off pretty slowly, but once the karaoke started it got AWESOME!

And Emily and I looked pretty fabulous!

There was lots of beer...

And dancing...

Even with random drunk strangers...

After hitting up every bar in town, 2 a.m. rolled around and it was time to wrap things up. Nathaniel crushed cans in his sadness that Milk Days was coming to an end.

But don't worry, there's always next year!

Hodge Podge of Early Summer

I have been a bad blogger lately! This is going to be a little bit of a hodge podge of things from the past few months, but I promise to be more timely after this.

First off, we have my lovely swap package I received back in March. It was a cooking related swap and I got an awesome vegan cookbook, some local tea and jam, a pretty flower pin and sky blue yarn.
Next was Earth Day! I celebrated with my friend and the girls I used to babysit. We went to the park to enjoy nature and brought along our "Bag-O-Fun!": kites, chalk, bubbles, frisbees, everything necessary for a fun day in the sun. And a bag of jelly beans to fuel us! Weeeee!

We made chalk pictures of Earth and left some eco-oriented graffiti.
I taught my mom's cat how to walk on a leash. Mr. Scruffs loves his walkies!
Here is a picture of the garden path:
My dad replaced the tiles on the screened porch and ma got a new table, which the kitties love. My dad took off half his fingernail putting the floor down, but I won't put up a picture of that.
My dad knows a lady who raises alpacas and they have all this yarn piling up. They offered to pay me to knit things for them. I chose payment in yarn. The more I knit, the more I get! Here is a hat I made in a day.



Fun times!

Daily Dose of Fiber!

I went to the Fold today to get more fiber for my Etsy shop and I couldn't help but pick up a little bit of yarn for myself. I got some lace weight for a shawl. I've never used lace weight or really knit lace so it should be fun! And I got some crazy sock yarn. Check it out!

Crazy Zauberball
Alpaca Lace


And I also got a new book on knitwear design. The Knitwear Design Workshop: A Comprehensive Guide to Handknits by Shirley Paden. It looks pretty good so far. Hopefully I can add some designs to my shop before too long!

And here is a picture of one of my mom's cats looking out my studio window. Hurray for Spring!

The Roving Ewe!

Woo! I finally got my Etsy site up and running! I put a link to it on the side of my blog here. It's called The Roving Ewe!
I don't know if non-spinners will really get the name so I'll explain. Here is what the dictionary has to say:

roving adjective or noun

1 : not restricted as to location or area of concern

2 : inclined to ramble or stray

3: a slightly twisted roll or strand of textile fibers

And a Ewe is a sheep!

Roving is what I sell and sheep (well, wool really) is what it's made from! I thought it was clever and funny. It's even better with the mascot:

So tell all your fiber friends and watch out for updates! I'll be adding stitch markers soon and I'll be expanding into vegan roving as well as hand dyed yarns by the end of next month. Exciting!

Artsy Fartsy

I've been working on my portfolio lately and trying to get it online. I don't have a website yet since I want to wait until I amass more work and can take it in to get professionally photographed. But I thought I'd stick some up just to show people. I took the photos myself so the quality isn't great, but you get the idea.

Gossip:Oil on canvas, 2010.


A Christmas (or birthday?) gift for my dad one year. They're tiny little drawings of his old velvetine rabbit.


Graphite on paper, 2008. 4"x4".

Eye Candy

Here are a few projects I finished recently (or, as in the case of Ma's X-mas Mitts, not-so-recently). Enjoy!

Mama's X-Mas Mitts:
Bird embroidery I made during National Needlework Month (February). It's going to be a pillow for my bedroom:
I finished my Rivendell sock! Not the best picture, but it's the best I can do for now.
This is just a mindless project I'm working on now. I couldn't decide what else to knit. It's the Celtic Cable Neckwarmer.
And this is a sketch I drew last night. It's a French Bulldog my friend used to dog-sit. Meet Munchie!

Year to DAZZLE!

My friend and I have been referring to this year as our year to DAZZLE! So I have decided to take a giant leap of faith.

As you may already know, my boyfriend and I broke up before Christmas, but due to our financial situation, we had continued to live together. It was confusing and weird to live like that, and so about a week ago I quit my job and made the temporary move to my parents' house. All I brought was about a week's worth of clothes and most of my art supplies. I've decided to dedicate the month of March (and maybe a little beyond) to making art and working on my portfolio. I'm signing up to be a substitute teacher to see how I like teaching. I'm just following my heart and doing what feels right from now on. This is going to be a time of self-discovery and renewal. My year to DAZZLE!

Here is a picture of my humble sunroom studio:

And totally unrelated is a yarn swap package I sent out to my lucky swap partner:


Complete with handmade sheep buttons:


And I hope my blogs to come are full of art and creations. :)