Angry Birds Club

The craze of Angry Birds continues to spread throughout the world, and I'm adding to it. Yay! Welcome to the LMS Studio Arts Angry Birds Batt-acular & Yarn-aganza!

5 spaces available

smooth & semi-smooth batts
various fibers

2.5-3 ounces

5 spaces available
various diameters & fiber content including, but not limited to MCN Sock, Polwarth/Silk DK, and Superwash Merino Worsted
4 ounces







Spaces will be available on Tuesday, May 15th at 8 PM (Central).

WIP Wednesdays: Starry Night Shawl

Last week I came upon a terrible realization. The Braided Slouch in progress was not the right size. It was way way too big. So, I had to pull it out to start over. The yarn sits lonely in a ball now until after this new project is completed. It's a shawl called In The Pink, but with a wonderful twist. About two years ago I bought 3 skeins of Jackleope from Light Brown Hare in her colorway Starry Night.

Lk. Geneva Peace Pod

On Thursday nights at the Lake Geneva Caribou Coffee my church gets together to knit for charity. Previously we knitted hats for local children that were without. Our leader then stumbled upon the women4women knitting4peace organization. Here is what we and they do: 

"Our members knit, crochet, and weave as an outward and visible sign of our real work: knitting together the global Beloved Community. As we knit/crochet/weave, we pray in languages and traditions that are as varied as the colors of the rainbow. We pray for each other; we pray for the recipients of the items we create; and we pray for hope, healing and peace in our world. We do our work one stitch at a time ... one day at a time ... stitch after stitch and day after day. The tangible items we create are personally delivered to women, teens, children, and infants in local and global areas of conflict. Our items include: 

• Peace Shawls for women   
• Peace Pals (boy & girl dolls) for children & youth 
• Scarves4Peace for children & teens
• Peace Caps for children & teens 
• Blankets of Peace for families" 

Together our small group is working to uplift the spirits of our fellow beings. Currently we are working on Peace Pals and Scarves4Peace for children.


If you would like to join our peace pod, please, come a meeting at 7PM on Thursday in the Lake Geneva Caribou Coffee. You can keep informed through our Ravelry Group as well. If you would like more information about knitting4peace please visit their website.

WIP Wednesday

Here are my two projects:

This is the shawl for the Charity KAL.

My Bailey stitch markers. That little guy is always with me.

This is Holly Priestley's Braided Slouch Hat. 

I'm testing it out before making a chemo cap for charity.

Check out more WIP's at Tami's Blog.

Look & Feel

First let's take a look as to what my wallpaper has changed to this week.

Weekly Wallpaper Change

So we've finished with Squirrel McFatty!

From this,

to this!!

Naughty Medication

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's been a fun week of a whole lot of not sleep. One of my medications is excellent at producing insomnia and unusual dreams. Isn't it fantastic? I don't think I've had one decent nights sleep in a week or so. Unfortunately it makes waking up to get Stephanie ready for school a pain. There is never enough sleep, yet when it is bedtime I'm not tired. ::sigh::

After doing much research, I've come to realize it is a reaction to Diclofenac. Apparently this is one of those rare side effects, 1% to 10% of people reported having these side effects. Last week I had a giant headache, which the Pharmacist told me, Diclofenac would take care of it. Nope, it's a side effect of the Cyclobenzapr and Diclofenac. However, I can take a dose of Tylenol as needed if the headache does come back. That is great to know. I wonder if Tylenol PM will work for the insomnia? One can only hope.

All of this insomnia has not affected spinning or knitting. I'm almost finished plying a five ounce Superwash Merino braid from Cloudlover called Meadow. It's turning out rather nicely. It barber poles a lot in the single, but when it's plied you don't notice it as much. Fiber Lady has become my source for bamboo roving. It's really some neat stuff. I spun up some of her Hibiscus colorway over the weekend as well as some Creatively Dyed Seawool in Iris. Uncle Glen's socks are coming along rather well. I put the cuff on a large circular needle, this way I can use the Magic Loop technique. It leaves me free to begin the next sock with DPNs (Working toe up socks). Depending on what kind of dress code Walmart has will determine what color yarn I will be spinning for a cowl and headband for my sister. She is a cake decorator for them, and is constantly in the freezers. Laurie is also one of many people that are always cold. She picked up that trait from our mother.

Have a good week!

"I'm five...I'm fine."

"Amy, why are you counting?" - Doctor
"No, I'm not." - Amy
"You just said, five." - Doctor
"No, I didn't." - Amy
"Yes, you did." - River

The winner of our last giveaway is (cue drum roll or current Dr. Who theme) Pixelated Mushroom. To the victor goes the spoils. Spoils being that sheepishly cute sheep pen, delightful dragon stitch markers and small sampler of handspun yarn. Congratulations!

For our next giveaway, stay tuned. You won't want to miss it. I hope to have it ready by mid August.

In other news:

• The injections to my shoulder are helping! Yay! I was able to spin for a half hour without pain. Hooray, hooray, hooray! Friday, they will take x-rays of my neck and we will determine whether it's back to work.
• As far as knitting goes, I've finished the first sleeve of Isabella's sweater and turning the heel on Uncle Glen's first sock. My first bit of knitting for today is going to be the gauge swatch for the Lady Sunshine Cardigan. 
• Peter made me breakfast in bed. He makes an awesome Dutch Pancake with warm cinnamon apple sauce. Oh yeah, I am in heaven. 
• In the wee hours of the morning I figured out how to better mix my dyes. However, it requires more and larger storage containers. That issue has been fixed. Ace Hardware carries Ball 1/2 gallon Wide Mouthed canning jars. I now have 12 of these puppies. 

Collaboration UPdate

It's an update because things are moving upward and onward! Today the lovely and amazing Holly P. sent me an awesome convo on etsy. It's pictures of the much awaited and not so debated collaboration project of Triumph.

For those of you who don't remember what Triumph is here is a picture of that delicious Polwarth yarn. :D It's a navajo-plied worsted weight yarn. When knitted it's truly an amazing bit of work. The pattern Holly is creating is truly divine and shows every little flair of color. You can get updates straight from her blog, too.


The next project has been creating a sampler pack of handspun yarn for Dale of The Light Brown Hare. She is promoting her shop via blog give-aways. This month she has a coupon for a free Ben & Jerry's pint. How awesome is that now summer has finally decided to make an appearance, take off her coat and stay a while? Soon she'll be giving away my sampler pack. Here is a sneak peak of that sampler:

Every hank is of DK weight and approximately 40 yards. I'd love to spoil the surprise as to the fiber content, but that's the fun of a sampler pack. However, the full sampler pack includes these three hanks, three buttons, 10 random bags of tea and a pattern.


I hope this leaves you salivating for more. Just think after this give-away has finished some of these kits will be available in the shop. :) With July coming up I want to assure everyone that there will be something coming. That something...let's just say a major handspun yarn update is in order. I've dwelved into the mistifying art of scrap inclusions and came up head first into the realm of awesomness. These enchanted art yarns are seductive and full of the fun you need in the dog days of summer.


Let the creative juices keep on flowing!

This week...

in the world of this fiber crazy has been amazing.

First of all, the greatest thing in the last 49 years of Chicago Blackhawk Hockey came to us on Wednesday. They won Lord Stanley's Cup in overtime, 4 to 3. It was such a strange moment because no one knew what happened at first. We couldn't tell whether the puck was soaked up or hit the back of the net until Kaner started stripping and hopping like the little bunny that could down the ice. It caught everyone by surprise except Kane. That was amazing. Peter broke out the Tony Esposito wine. He did that in honor of Niemi being the first Finnish goalie to win the Stanely Cup. I have my own honoring of the Hawks and Niemi, thanks to Coolclimates on Etsy. We did a trade of fiber. Two of the batts I recieved were

Bjork Homogenic and Finland. Hopefully there is enough of both to make hats out of each batt.

To compensate for all the alcohol I've been drinking the tea service was broken out. Most of the time it's been Stash's Fusion Green & White Tea. It is one of my favorites, but this Jasmine Blossom Green Tea Natalie from Cloudlover sent me is my all time favorite. Today we're drinking Twinings Prince of Wales.

A couple days ago I finished knitting my Harvest Moon Cowl. It looks great don't you think. :) Right now it needs some blocking, but it still looks awesome! In the same time I took on a new project, pattern development. Some time ago I was approached by another yarnie about helping out with her next blog give-away. The project bundle has been finalized, but I want to include a pattern with it. It'd be a very small project with some smaller hanks of my handspun. Also, I'm in a collaboration with a pattern mistress. You'll see when it comes to fruition. Last night I started working on a pattern from the same pattern mistress. It is her Long-eared Cabled Beanie. It's the first picture in the latest installment of Photos Friday. The yarn is handspun from BFL wool named Hebrides. It is turning out great and will be the best St. Patrick's Day hat ever! Along with the beanie I've slowly been working on Uncle Glen's socks. Socks are not my passion, but it's a good project.

The weather has been very inconsistent. The rain is nice, but the humidity it brings has not been so kind. Earlier there were tornadoes south of us, Peoria. Had it not been a night the Blackhawks played, we would have been storm chasing. We have a group of people that want to go with us next time there is a Moderate risk. (http://spc.noaa.gov) That's the site meteorologists use to figure out where to chase storms. First of all, we need something with more power than my little Chevy Cavelier, the hamster-mobile. A 4 by 4 would be nice to take out that way. Second, if we do take my hamster-mobile there are a few things that need to be worked on before we go. Lastly, I would want someone to have a portable internet connection. Wireless is one thing, but a connection where ever we go for a mobile doppler would be very very helpful. It would make me feel a bit safer than going at it blindly or by look and feel.

Today, I updated the look of this blog. It was just something that needed to be done. The blank stuff needed to be switched around. It needed some flair! Hope you enjoy it.

:)