Destashing

All of this yarn has never been knit, still have ball bands, were stored in plastic tubs, and come from a non-smoking home. I do have cats, however. If you are interested in any of these yarns, please email me at craftylilly AT gmail DOT com. I only accept Paypal, and will quote you the final total after I figure out the shipping costs to your home.

Lot #1 - Hemp Yarns

5 skeins of Elizabeth Lavold Hempathy in color 06 - $22 plus shipping GONE

2 skeins of Elizabeth Lavold Hempathy in color 07 - $9 plus shipping

Lot #3 - 2 skeins of Lionbrand Cashmere Blend in Red

Price - $8 plus shipping

Destashing!

All of this yarn has never been knit, still have ball bands, were stored in plastic tubs, and come from a non-smoking home. I do have cats, however. If you are interested in any of these yarns, please email me at craftylilly AT gmail DOT com. I only accept Paypal, and will quote you the final total after I figure out the shipping costs to your home. Lot #2 - Large skein of "Wonderful Worsted" from Alujzia New Meadows yarn This is a lovely handpainted worsted weight 100% wool yarn. The colorway name is Plum Perfect and is a lovely mix of purples, magenta, and blue. This is an 8oz skein and is approx. 450 yards. Price: $20 plus shipping

Packing up and moving!

Yep, the feed problems have been the straw that broke the camel's back. The blog and I are moving! Come check us out at http://craftylilly.typepad.com/yarnandbeads . I'm trying to figure out how to export all of my blogger posts to typepad. So far I've figured out how to move the most recent 50 posts. If anyone has any advice on how to move over the rest, let me know. Please. I'm begging you. Until then, this blog will archive the posts I can't figure out how to move. So please update your links and subs! See you over at my new home!

Hanging in

We're hanging in here at Chez Craftylilly. Ashe, the family, and I really appreciate all the well wishes and healthy kitty vibes. Ashe came home yesterday after being hospitalized for three days. He has a kidney infection on top of his already failing kidneys, so things weren't, aren't, good. He's very happy to be home, and the other cats are happy to have him back. Basically we are hoping to manage his kidney disease to keep him comfortable through diet and hydration through something called subcutaneous hydration. Our vet told us that his next crisis will be his last, so we're just hoping to have at least another 6 months with him. His sister, Wiji, also has kidney disease, so we're managing her diet too. I'm hoping that she won't have a crisis, but will just gradually have less and less kidney function so that when her crisis happens, it'll be her only and her last. We're very sad about this, but at least we get to have some time with them, and they'll be comfortable as we now know how to best handle their disease. There's been some other things going on here too. Nothing as dire as our cat's health, but still stressful as decisions are being made as SWB's speech therapy and schooling next year, as well as schooling decisions for PQL. All in all it makes for a lot. Add in the fact that May and June are the absolute worst months for our family in terms of birthdays, anniversaries, and other family celebrations. We'll make it through though. One day at a time, right? In postive fiber news, I dyed up my dye-o-rama swap pal's yarn. I used Knitpicks color your own and Wilton's Cake dyes in brown, burgundy, and teal. I like how it turned out. The colors of the yarn are fairly true in the picture. I'll be working on my PS Yarn swap yarn next week. I've got two different green Kool-Aid flavors, and an interesting green food coloring I'm planning on playing with. I'm also working on the front neck sections of Rogue. I'm hoping to have this done by the end of the month. I'm also working on the Simply Lovely Lace Socks from IK. I have other projects I'd like to work on, but with our current family circumstances, I'm keeping it simple. I've been reading everyone's blogs, but not commenting much. I am reading though! I hope to get back to all of your who've left comments or sent me such supportive emails. Hug and kiss your pets and your families!

Any prayers would be appreciated

I will be writing a proper blog entry this weekend, but for right now, I need thoughts and prayers for my furbaby, Ashe. My poor Ashe is in kidney failure. The vet thinks we can pull him out of this crisis and through management perhaps have another year or two with him. His sister, Wiji also has kidney disease, but is not in failure. Ashe and Wiji are the first pets RM and I adopted together. We got them through a rescue organization when they were 9 months old. They were practically feral, having grown up on the streets. They've turned into very loving cats although we've had our share of health problems and a lot of socialization issues. I'm just hoping to pull Ashe through this and enjoy another year or two with them both.

When King Henry VIII proposes...

Look on with suspicion. It's up!

The News

Sorry, I just couldn't think of a wittier post title. Right, the big news.... On Monday take a little trip over to The Anticraft. I have a little surprise that you'll find there! I'm very excited! Sure, it's not knitting, but it is my other passion, beading. If you have worked with beads, or want to, now you can with my little project! Let me know what you think! I have also finished Knitty's Nautie. I think she's a cutie. Her name is Julsey. I used some leftover Lamb's Pride in medieval red and medium gray. I picked out the simple white buttons for eyes. Overall, this was a pretty fast knit. I knit her in about a week. I think I misread a couple of the directions, specifically for how to do the spiral, but it works. Now, I'm on the hunt for more toy patterns as I bought a ginormous bag of polyfiberfill and need toys to stuff them with. I wish I had a copy of Jess Hutchinson's toy book. Project Specs: Pattern: Nautie by Beth Skwarecki Yarn: Lamb's Pride in medium gray and medieval red Needles: Size 4 DPNs, aluminum Susan Bates ones I think. Mods: I made some inadvertant ones, such as working the spiral slightly differently. I also picked up stitches around the shell to make the face instead of knitting them separately. I think I'll just change colors next time to make it even easier. I also only made 7 tentacles instead of 8. I couldn't figure out where to place an 8th one where it would look normal. What I learned: I like making toys. I'm already madly searching for my next toy pattern. Also, don't you think this pattern could be modified to make a snail? I'm thinking yes... Julsey says, "Yo."

Wrapping up Project Spectrum April

Well, yellow and orange, it's been fun. You colors really know how to party. I know you sensed that your time here in Project Spectrum was coming to a close. How do I know this? Well, when I added a little bit of our next guest color, green, into my beading project along with you, orange, things got a little heated. You assured me everything would be fine. You and green look absolutely fabulous together in the tubular netting design. Your fiery and cheery nature really warmed up cool green. We ran into problems though, didn't we? I made two of these tubular netting components meaning to add the boro bead that you look so fabulous in. What happened then, orange? The design didn't hang together. Cutting my losses, I made you into a bracelet, and I think you and green look divine now. I guess I should take this as a lesson. Sometimes the best results are gained through an accident. Maybe you don't have it in for me. (You better not, as I'm knitting Rogue with you, Orange.) Maybe you and green just had better ideas. By the way, since my necklace idea didn't work, I have a second bracelet just like this one. If anyone is interested in it and wears, or knows someone who needs a gift who wears, a 7 inch bracelet, let me know. I'd be up for a swap. A quick knitting update is in order. I've divided Roge into a front and back. I'm allowing myself the month of May to finish her. Rogue will be ready in time for the heat of the summer! Ugh. We've finally had some gorgeous weather here. I'm thinking it's time to start thinking about summer knits. Also, Nautie is coming along quite well. Her face is a dark red, which I think looks really great with the medium gray shell. I'm heading to JoAnn's to look for buttons for her eyes today. I'm also itching to start some socks again. We'll see what will happen with that. I've got some big news too! I'll share more in a couple of days. Trust me, it's good stuff.