Wool photos - what do you think??

In the past several people have commented that the colours on the website are very acurate, but there is something missing and the colours seem different when they see them in real life or at a show.

Its the glow factor.
I have been so busy trying to get the colours right, I forgot about the glow.
My genius friend asked why didn't I photograph them outside - DUH - why didn't I think of that???
Afterall they are natural colours and should really be seen in natural light, no scanners, lights or flashes involved.
So here are some I worked on earlier - :-)
These will be in tomorrow's update - which incidently will be late tonight's update as tomorrow I will be zooming up the country to see Susan.

What do you think?

Bloody cold again!

What was I saying the other day?
"I never get ill" - stupid me, why did I open my big mouth.
Have a cold now, yesterday I thought it was major hayfever, today I know its a cold - GRRRRRRRRRR

Still I have major dyeing to do, up to my neck in wholesale.
And I don't want to talk too soon as I am sure I will curse myself, but I think my wholesale dyeing system is working for the first time in ages.
I am slowly realising I need to concentrate on 1 order at a time, rather than do 2 or 3 at the same time.

I always end up getting it wrong and muddling up colours and yarns.
Is so frustrating, last week I had to re-order 2 kgs, 1 of which was no problem, but the second kg had my supplier grubbing around his stock and home trying to find a full kg for me to dye.

THANK YOU LOVELY SUPPLIER - what would I do without you?

His other hat is a really close friend hat and we are off to spend the weekend with him on friday. I'm really, really looking forward to it, spending time with him & F1 and forgetting about all our troubles for a few days.

Just hope I don't give him my cold, where am I going to get my wool from if he's laying in bed full of snot - :-)

P.S - Sarah - if you are reading, am really looking forward to seeing you too, oh and not forgetting Susan the day before.

Energy

Almost full of it, or rather I have a lot more than I have over the past few days.

Yesterday wasn't a good day, childen trauma and the big R looks ever closer, its possible Homer will be full time NDS this time next week. Gives me a slight rising feeling of hysteria, but as long as we have each other blah blah blah

More wholesale, today it makes me feel excited, last week it sent me into a huge panic. Odd how the thought of new orders has a different effect depending what I am going through at the time.

Life hasn't changed, got slightly worse in fact, but I'm copeing or supressing a lot better.

Off to the dye room tra la la la la la la

And more babies

Seems blog writing is contagious, almost the whole family has one now.
Along with Maisy Daisy Mae
Fep now has one -feps travel log
and so does Geinome -The General Moanings of Fred

YUK - Proud Mummy

My Maisy Mae has started blogging again.
Being a writer she should be a lot better at it than me - :-)

Please go and read http://theorderofpies.blogspot.com/
And leave her feedback, she needs encouragement.

Oh and if you scroll down to her "important faces post", the top photos are Homer and me to the left and our 3 babies to the right.

Tired

Tired today, yesterday was a write off, obviously I forgot to take one of my pills on saturday.
I take so many bloody pills just to keep functioning.
I don't often get ill, except for this summer when I had a million colds one after another, blamed it on Geinome as he was home for the summer, but think Rav day and 10
hours in the rain might have helped.
I am so faulty, seconded only by Homer, prescription time involves carrier bags.
But we both lead normal lives and forget about our faulty bits, they are just not important enough to worry about and they don't affect our daily lives.
That is unless you forget to take 1 of the pills - :-)

Will be less tired tomorrow.

Mojo

All my mojo has gone, designing, dyeing and everything else.
I am sure it is due to our ongoing trauma's and am sure it will come back, but don't have time to wait for it. We are going to see Susan next weekend, am really hoping the visit will help and I will come away with rejuvenated mojo.

All I really want to do is lay on my sofa and run around the ruins of post apocalyptic Washington DC with a flamer thrower and mini gun shooting super mutants and enclave soldiers.
Not that I am obsessed or anything - :-)

I share this with my baby boy - Geinome, who is a games nerd.
Its our fault, we turned him into a games nerd.
Back in 1992 we bought a Mega Drive, our friends had one and Homer used to spend late nights playing Sonic with Tim. We couldn't afford it and made up some lie for my parents as to how we paid for it, probably by credit card, but couldn't admit that or we would have been shouted at.
Geinome was 2 and this was the turning point of his life, once he was old enough to start playing he stopped doing everything else and this is all he has done since.
Not that he did much before hand, except destroy things, he was never interested in sports much to the disappointment of Homer.
School was a struggle, so was his foundation course of IT practitioner, but hes where he should be now.
He's 19 and at Bolton University studying computer games design and lives games day and night. The rest of the world still passes him by, but we share a very special bond, often based on which game we are both playing.
And one day he will make a living designing games and be very very rich and able to do nothing else.
I am hoping he will design me a game, he knows what I like to play, but there are quite a few years to wait, just hope it isn't as long as it has taken Final Fantasy 13 to be developed.

In the meantime I will struggle with my mojo and force myself not to turn the PS3 on

Oh and..

To all my other wool world friends
Wool supplier, dye supplier, fellow designers
You will get your very own post another day - :-)

Bankruptcy

No - I'm not going bankrupt but it caught your attention - :-)
I want your attention because I have important things to say or at least they are important to me.
And this post is relelvant.

When the recession hit this time last year I thought I would being going to go bankrupt and that NDS would no longer exist. I couldn't imagine that I would be able to fight the recession and win, especailly as so many huge companies were falling.
I also believed all my competitors would disappear with me, how could any of us hope to survive.

But yet here we still are a year later, I know we are all struggling and all still fighting and that makes me very proud to be a Indie Dyer.
My competitors are my social life and my friends, I don't know all of them, but I know all quite a lot.

Yesterday I stupidly got into a fight on Ravelry, someone offered advice about natural dyeing that was totally wrong, I couldn't help myself.
The number of disagrees kept goin up and up and then Debbie stepped in, she said wonderful things and a little bit later Helen joined in and said the same.
Thanks girls :-) you made me realise what an amazing support group we all are for each other.

I know we don't admit our struggles to each other as we have to keep up brave faces, but underneath we are fighting for our businesses lifes every day.
I do share everything with my bestest friend Jen without her I don't know what I would do - Thanks Jen

But I also want to say thanks to Sarah and Joy for some fantastic drunken evenings when we laughed and moaned and then drank again.

And to Jon for being such a sweetie and sharing the rain or rather sharing poor wet Roy.

Ant to Eirwen for just being Eirwen

And also thanks for taking the time to stop and chat to Dee, Nat, Gemma Debbie
I know you are all out there fighting too.

To everyone I have mentioned and everyone I have not mentioned, we will survive this recession and post strike and will still be dyeing pretty wool at the end of it.

Right enough soppy stuff, I am off to dye wool that will knock your socks off and I will achieve wool world domination and you will crown me queen at the end of it - ROTFL

And being open

Just when there is real signs that our economy is recovering, along comes the Royal Mail post workers strike.

I would like to say....

Dear Postal Strike Strikers

I understand you have very good reasons for striking, but have just limped my way through the recession and now your strike will cripple me and all my competitors. Please find another way to resolve this or our customers will be yarnless and very very unhappy.

Many Thanks
Queenie

I feel this needs saying and know most (probably all) of my competitors feel the same.

P.S - If you are on Ravelry, you may notice I have already said this in one of my groups

Karma - maybe??

Even though I was only planning 1 blog post a day, I had to share this.
Maybe karma is real.

About an hour ago the post lady arrived, odd as I thought they were all on strike, however she brought me 2 parcels.
My new wellies, so I will stop sliding around in the dye room and there is now less chance I will fall over and break my neck.
And a Clara Parkes book from a US publisher.
I didn't order a book, so had no idea why I had been sent it.
BUT on page 114 there is a Cat Bordhi pattern using my Dazzle sock yarn!!!
Clara Parkes, Cat Bordhi & Dazzle sock all in the same place - WOW

Here is the link to it on US Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Knitters-Book-Wool-Ultimate-Understanding/dp/030735217X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256214429&sr=8-1

UK Amazon says it hasn't been published yet, but I know different
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Knitters-Book-Wool-Clara-Parkes/dp/030735217X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256218702&sr=8-1

Cat food pie

I woke up this morning after dreaming all Homer fed me was cat food pie.

Now cat food pie isn't what you are thinking, its the cheapest of cheap meat pies that you can buy.
Back in the days when my babies were small we ate a lot of cat food pie as we couldn't really afford to eat and it was very very cheap.
The babies called it cat food pie, but amazingly ate it, which is more than I did.
I also fed them ultra cheap nasty burgers as a Saturday treat, just before the BSE crisis and so far fingers crossed they have all survived.
I fed them food I wouldn't eat now, not because I wanted to but because I had to, apart from the cat food pie and BSE burgers we lived on lentil roast and bean casserole (that was particularly nasty), I could make a tin of tuna last 2 days and managed to cook mince dishes with about 10 gms of mince, lots of veggies and an oxo cube.
Because of this I hate cooking.

And sorry babies for making you eat this stuff, but know you understand especially Dais and Mark, don't think you have gone through the cat food pie route yet, but that's only because Mark is a vegetarian.

Homer does all the cooking now, because he loves it, he came home on Tuesday after our hell day, I felt too shaky too eat and suggested baked potato's, but he insisted on cooking, he said cooking was a comfort to him.
When he cooks he has to have the proper ingredients, rather than make do and will happily spend a whole day cooking.
This year for my birthday he made Thai that was better than a real Thai.
And for his birthday he and Jen spent the wholeday cooking Indian, all I managed to do was buy a cake and decorate it with sugar pigs.
My idea of cooking - :-)

Friends & Family

Yesterday was the worst day in the history of the universe.
I would be a gibbering wreck if it hadn't been for my friends and family.

Firstly to my 2 friends

One of you talked me through the day and made me laugh and sent me links to help solve some of the problems. You also sent me a present that I will return to you in a different form. I couldn't have done it without you, am much calmer today - mainly because I'm exhausted - too much gin, too much LOTR and too little sleep.
Thank you for always being there, thank you for caring and you know I will and have been there for you too forever and ever and ever XXXXXXXXXXXXX

And to my other friend

Thank you for being calm and collected, you might not realise but over the last couple of days just talking to you about other stuff has helped.
And you had a lucky escape last night after the gin consumption Homer had a very cunning plan. It involves you and he having big things to do, kind of world dominationy type things, you nearly had a phone call from burbling Homer, would have been very confusing and not making much sense. I didn't make much sense to me, but I was under the influence of gin too - :-) XXXXXXXXXXXXX

And on to my family who went through hell with us yesterday too.
I know 3 of you were really suffering with your own woes, but hopefully 1 of you will start to cure his own problems and the other 2 will get the help they need.

I LOVE YOU ALL - even the 2 I didn't give birth too, I know one of you would shuffle your feet and look the other way if I told you, so have said it here so you don't have to be embarrased.

My family are close and I mean really close.
I think the kids all had a happy loving childhood, I remember 1 blissful summer somewhere around mid early teens we shared a summer going to the beach everyday and just being together, the sun always shone and there were hearts and flowers.
The next year they were older and the magic was gone.
But as they have got older and left home it is back again, in a different way.
When they all come home (plus the 2 extras who have been sucked into the Perkins tribe) and they all like to be home, together we live in a kind of bubble. We don't really do anything except be together, laugh, love and play games. Its very intense and exhausting and takes me and Homer days to recover when they all go again.

We e-mail each other in a group e-mail that goes backwards and forwards all day, yesterday there must have been about 20 or 30.

2 quotes were quoted, think they are both relevant, don't forget them.
The first 1 is partly to blame for the exhaustion, as we had to sit up till 1 am to watch the film so we could watch the quote at the very end - stupid saddo us.


Quoted by Homer

"It's like in the great stories Mr Frodo, the ones that really mattered, full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? how could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?
But in the end it is only a passing thing.. the shadow, even darkness, must pass... the new day will come, and when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer..... those are the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why....
But I think Mr Frodo I do understand, I know now, folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back but only they didn't, they kept going because they were holding on to something - what are we holding on to Sam? - that there is some good in this world Mr Frodo and its worth fighting for"

Quoted by Feppy

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...
And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...
If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.
And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

Misery & Bridget

Today has started as the worse day ever, but it could get worse.

I can't let myself give in to misery, otherwise I would curl up in a ball and sleep like the dormouse in Alice in Wonderland.
I can't cope with sympathy because that would make me feel sorry for myself and I have important Dye Studio business to do.

So today I will try and think of things that make me happy.
My car makes me happy.

And I found this on Wikipedia, so maybe its not true.

"The design credo Mazda has used across the three generations of the MX5's development was the phrase Jinba ittai (人馬一体)

Jinba ittai (人馬一体?, rider (jin) and horse (ba) as one (ittai)).
This comes the Japanese concept where the rider and horse must be as one in order for the rider to effectively deploy his weapons in battle.
This is the inspiration for the Mazda MX5

I don't care if its not true as I love the concept, being an avid history and mythology buff little things like this make my world a better place.
And its how I think of my car, it fits around me like a glove and together we can tackle the world or at least escape from it.

I also found this
Photos of this
and website of this
http://bridgetthemidget.co.uk/

This is exactly what I want to do with the Zoom one day, I can just see me and Homer zooming through Afghanistan (a place I would love to go to, but maybe not in this life).

Incidently the photo of the Zoom was taken in Switzerland 2 years ago when we had our last holiday, where we took it over the Alps like Michael Caine in the "Italian Job". So maybe we have already done the Swiss leg of the world tour.

Photos of happy things (almost)

These things or rather 2 of them make me happy, I have talked about them on Twitter, but never shared the photos and as I need to not dwell on my problems and be positive here they are

Number 1 (happy) - My Van

We used to have a family car, but as our family left home we didn't really need it. But Homer wanted to keep it, guess it made him feel like a proper boy instead of NDS minion.

Then one day in August the Volvo got very very ill and needed £1500 of emergency surgery.

Sooo I managed to persuade Homer it was pointless buying another car when NDS spent so much money on hiring vans every year.

We got it the morning of set up for I Knit and immediately drove to London, or rather I did, I hate driving in London, it makes me hysterical being hemed in all the time.

I like a nice open road where I can put my foot down and pretend I'm an F1 driver.

But when it came to the point of driver swap I couldn't find anywhere to pull in, so drove all the way to Westminster.

And loved it - I was "Very Powerful Van Woman", Homer was a gibbering wreck, getting hysterical about buses around Parliment Square.

I still have no concept of how big it is behind me, but love it and now only need to do a 2 point shuffle to get it in the drive.

I am "Seriously Powerful Van Woman" - have wool will travel

Number 2 (happy) - Feppy's 23rd Birthday Cake.

My biggest baby was 23 last week.

How did that happen? how did I get this old?

I really don't know, but I don't feel it, no idea how old I feel, in fact I don't think I feel an age, its only numbers and I don't understand them so will ignore all of it.

Feppy is now the age I was when I had her, shes not ready to have a baby, still hasn't worked out what she's doing in life except manically painting and torturing to her mad Russian boyfriend - who incidently deserves to be tortured, even though he can be a sweet heart and would hate me for saying so.

As she doesn't really want a baby, but is still mine, I made her a special cake, which needs no commentary.

Number 3 (not sure) - Elizabeth

Homer made me a wonderful knitted cabled cowl, and as cowls are something I have wanted to design thought I would make one too.

His is sophisticated and elegant, mine is a ruff, I look like a very lumpy flower fairy in wellies.

Don't know what to write

I have decided I need to make more effort to write my blog, I read several others and love to know what people are up to.
Twitter is the problem, its so easy to write 1 sentance rather than paragraphs and can be done in between other things, rather than sitting down and having to write sense.

But I know how nosy I am and feel really guilty about not sharing, trouble is its saturday morning, I'm at work dyeing madder and don't have any idea what to write.

I could recap with everything I have been doing since July, but do you really want that??

Maybe instead of planning my posts I should just write the jumbled rubbish in my head, in fact treat it as another place I can talk to myself just like twitter.
If you answer thats fine, if not I will still carry on chuntering to myself - don't you think chunter is just the best word in the world??

Its beginning to get cold here, still have the office door open all day, but am beginning to need to wear a cardi or maybe shut the door. When the kids came home last weekend they were complaining how cold it was up north, guess I have never lived up north so have no idea what cold really means - am a soft southerner.

And a tired one and need to stir madder and make tea and finish over the top half finished cowl that I am wearing. Not even sure I like it myself, but it is warm, quick to make and only takes 1 skein.