Went to NY sheep and wool at Rhinebeck on Sat. the 17th, and had a blast! Went with a friend and her daughter, and saw lots and lots of fiber, and bought a fleece and a half as well as several ounces of other fibers. Checked to see how my skeins I entered into the handspun competition had done, and found that out of seven skeins entered into six categories, I had seven ribbons! Hooray! So I decided that my shops should have a sale to celebrate (www.dragonmaille.etsy.com and Dragonmaille Designs on www.spindiesfiber.com). I also got myself a new domain name, [link]. I'm planning dragon-themed fibers and yarns to come, once I figure out what colors I want to dye.

So, seems to me that my journal should be updated at least every six months or so, if not sooner. You'd think unemployed would mean less busy, but that is not the case! Frankly, seems that I'm more busy, if anything. However, some really good opportunities have come up, and I've been able to keep up with my spinning, at least, if not my jewelry. Though I am starting to combine the two, and have a couple of examples for sale in my Etsy shop, [link].

Gonna try to post some more stuff soon--if I sit down the kids usually take this as a cue to clamber onto my lap. Love the attention, but sure doesn't make it easy to get stuff done. ^_^

Well, here's hoping the new year goes a bit better than the old. I lost my job last fall due to the failing economy, so I'm looking forward to the opportunities God has in store for me. I also get more time with my kids, a nice side benefit since they grow up so very quickly. Unfortunately, it also means we're much more budgeted....

Things to be thankful for as the new year starts? Family. Friends. Stashes of fiber, yarn, and tea! Being on a tight budget doesn't seem to hit so hard when you have all of these!

For some reason, October is the month that seems to have major events happen--some good, some bad, some very bad. We had the anniversaries of my wedding, Divine Bird's wedding, and the two year anniversary of my brother-in-law's death all within three days of each other.

Then we had Rhinebeck, also known as the New York Sheep and Wool Festival. I won four ribbons(!) on skeins I entered into the handspun competition, one of which was first place(!!) in it's division. Yay! Another good thing happening!

Then the good event was followed (very quickly, mind you, lest I bask in success for too long) by an event I will currently classify as bad, though I haven't decided yet how bad it really was. It may end up being a good thing in the long run, but it certainly has upended things for me here, and I still feel rather in shock and out of sorts about it. Not gonna say what it was yet, as some of my dA buddies don't know yet (I think, though they may figure it out....) and I wanna tell them in person first.

Well, things have been busy but fruitful--thouh not always in the way I expect. Haven't gotten much spinning done (thought I would), but I did sell my first skein of handspun yarn, and some more of my jewelry (yay! I can fund my habit!), and now I am doing the newsletter for my spinning guild. I'm looking forward to it, I just hope I can get plenty of articles to fill up some of the space. I think it'll be a lot of fun--it's been a while since I've worked on anything like this. We finally have a kitchen back--cooked in the new kitchen for the first time tonight (microwaving doesn't count). It's soooo nice to have a good kitchen finally. I may even have to cook more. More meaning just about any cooking at all. I am definitely not the cook in the family. Not that my husband is around to cook dinner anymore....

Hopefully I can get some pictures taken of the stuff I have worked on, since I did do some spinning and some more jewelry since my last post. Now that the baby is extremely mobile, it's hard to get anything done that she can't get her fingers on, but maybe I can convince my husband to occupy her for a while this weekend....