The Painted Sheep Swag Shop

Its finally here!  Many, many people have been asking to buy Painted Sheep logo t-shirts, bags and other products.   The day has finally come – today I launch The Painted Sheep Swag Shop.  Its my Cafe Press store filled to the brim with all things Painted Sheep.  There’s t-shirts in sizes ranging from baby to adult and a wide variety of styles.  You’ll also find tote bags, in my favorite style of canvas carry all — perfect for your knitting and spinning project (with your Painted Sheep yarn or fiber, of course).  There’s also lots of other assorted “stuff” – euro style stickers, buttons, magnets, mouse pads, even wall clocks, if you’re so inclined.  Personally, I intend to outfit my office in Painted Sheep gear!

Its all here – go, check it out and have fun!  I certainly did!

Saturday Sky – 4th of July

The day has started with clear blue skies and not a cloud in sight.  Rumor has it that the end of monsoon season has finally come.  Horray!  Happy 4th of July!

I’m off for the next couple of days to spend time with my favorite little girl.  Before I leave, I’m hoping to finish up a long-awaited project for The Painted Sheep.  Keep an eye here for a big announcement – hopefully later this morning

Eye Candy Friday

Asiatic Lily- Peach Pixie

Daylily – Pardon Me

Daylily – Happy Returns

Hydrangea – a promise of what’s to come.  Its loaded with blossoms this year.

Daylily – Pandora’s Box

This morning, for the first time in many, I woke up to sunshine.  What a gift, especially on a day off!  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get outside during the best of the weather.  I did manage to grab 5 whole minutes late this morning to play with my new camera in the garden – just before we got yet another thunderstorm.  All of the shots above were taken with my macro lens.  I love this thing!  I am going to have a great time with it.  Imagine what it will do for my yarn shots?  Woot!  More play time, with my new tripod too, later this weekend.

Happy Friday!

W.I.P. Wednesday – July 1

Wow – had a moment of pause when putting the date in.  Where did June go???  July 1, a Wednesday, which means its time for some Work In Progress.

I had a fair amount of knitting time this week.  Life is settling into a pleasant routine.  Divorce “stuff” continues, in a highly amusing sort of way at this point.  Definitely feeling less stressed than I have been in a while.  My evenings have a quietness about them – dinner, dishes, a little laundry or housekeeping and then I park it to watch some TV and knit for a bit.  I am reminded once again that I love living alone.  Its all good.

We continue to have rainy, humid days, though cooler than normal, which means that Allegoro and a sock are the perfect projects.   I managed to add a good inch to Allegoro this week, mainly on my flights.  I also started a pair of Luxor socks The yarn is Silkie Socks that Rock in Titania.  The pattern is simple and quite addictive.  This is the perfect little project right now.

I’d like to go back to working on Blankie, but the weather is definitely keeping me from it.  Who wants to knit something heavy when its so sticky?  Not me.

My goal for the week is to get to the heel on the Luxor sock and to add at least an inch to Allegoro. We’ll see how much knitting time the long weekend brings.  I have very little planned and a to do list as long as my arm.  My studio is now only 3/4 of the way trashed – my attempt at cleaning last night was thwarted by the weather – it was too hot in there to be productive.  There’s cleaning to do, yarn that I would love to dye, a wholesale order to put together and the reality that I committed to babysitting a certain little girl this weekend (my first overnight – eek!).  And there’s this: That would be the new “portable photo studio” set up that I just got from thinkgeek.com (box bag included for scale, kit included the light box, lights and a mini tripod, random background junk was not included – that’s all mine).  Its fabulous – once I add a back drop and a tripod that holds my camera, I will finally have the real photo set up I have needed from day one.  I really want to play with this and with my new camera.  The weather is supposed to improve (not putting a lot of stock in that), so I hope to get outside with the camera too.  As for the knitting, we’ll see.  If nothing else, there will be great pictures of my lack of progress next week

Have a great Wednesday!

Ten on Tuesday

another fun one – though I sort of hate to ‘fess up to what I really do in my downtime – I’d so prefer that you think I’m always watching MSNBC or listening to NPR…

10 Guilty Pleasures on TV

1. E! News
2. The Daily Ten – also on E!  This trash is admittedly, the way I like to unwind after work.  Followed of course by Keith Olbermann – have to recharge the brain cells after that.
3. Desperate Housewives – what’s not to love?
4. Dr. 90210 (when is this coming back, btw?)
5. The Girls Next Door – This one actually makes me a little bit sick – this is Hugh Hefner, after all.  It is, however, very funny – they are all just so dumb.
6. Jon and Kate Plus 8
7. Lifetime movies – occasionally, I do indulge
8. Access Hollywood – see #1 and 2
9. E! True Hollywood Story
10. When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, Steele Magnolias, etc, etc, etc – flip through the channels and find a chick flick I’ve seen a hundred times and its all over – I get sucked right in.

So there it is.  It could be worse, right?  I could have just admitted to watching O’Reilly

Etsy Returns

Finally, The Painted Sheep’s Etsy Shop is back up and running.  My inventory of fiber in particular is low but there’s still a nice assortment of BFL rovings, yarns and patterns.  Lots of stuff to choose from!

Now that the shop is back up, its on to the next project – unearthing my dye studio!  Its pretty well trashed from packing it up for RI.  I plan to give it a thorough cleaning out this week, take some pictures of my new stuff and then plan for some serious dye days this summer.

A bit of normalcy and routine feels like its starting to come back around here.  Yesterday’s day at the Farmer’s Market helped.  My day started my favorite way – coffee, newspaper and some knitting.  I cast on a pair of Luxor socks in the Silky STR (in place of the Knee High to a Grasshopper socks).  Then it was off to the Market for my long awaited Shroom (that would be an egg sandwich with fresh sauteed mushrooms and fabulous dill sauce from Lizzy’s Curbside Cuisine), fresh fruits and veggies and more knitting time.  I even signed up to volunteer at the Market this summer, part of the Friends of the Market program.  I then moved on to the kitchen – those fresh veggies turned into a wonderful pasta dish, garlic bread (FYI – the master recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day makes the best garlic bread) with strawberry shortcake for dessert.  It felt like summer is finally here!  Yum!  The day ended with more knitting.  It was a perfectly pleasant, normal summer Sunday and it was wonderful.

With more days like yesterday, I feel ready to start looking ahead.  I know summer will fly by – the Fiber Twist and fall festivals will be here before we know it.  Time to hit the dye studio!  I have a few things planned for this summer – a special project that will bring something new and unique to my offerings, new colorways and finally finishing up the line of t-shirts and bags.  Lots to do!  I’m looking forward to the fun it will bring.

I’m off to work – hoping to sneak in a couple of rows on my Luxor socks first…