stocking at wonderful world for my first time on the 2nd at 8pm. woohoo! here's a peek at a few things that are ready to go, and there's still 1-2 more things in the works. ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS to those celebrating in a few days! our holiday is going to be filled with food, presents, and family. and a little batik wax i'm sure, while i have the opportunity when dh is home to help wrangle the kids. :) everyone have a great week and be safe!

working on now:
spotted box samples
andrea - car (or treeforg or lizard) shirt and coordinating yarn
-- car design chosen, yarn tbd, need to work out size, style, colors this week
kayleigh's shirt - working on extras
sarah - 2 blue/black jolly roger shirts, first color dyed
-- batiking tomorrow! dyeing this week

and after that:
terra - contacted to work out details
alison - contacted to work out details
jennifer - fairy or butterfly shirt (tbd) - contacted to work out details
steph - yarn tbd
janet
carina
julia
kim
heather
sophie
debi - postponing till spring/summer
melanie - custom shirt(s) - passing?

after this it's onto spotted box goodies, some instock, and still a few more customs to at least start on before the new year. but here's the eye candy -- pretty pictures of what was wrapped up and shipped off this week. i love how everything turned out and hope the recipients are thrilled with them!

"last leaves" on BFL -- around 11oz of yarn for this custom!


"just a pear" set -- batiked, dyed and painted shirt, plus coordinating BFL

it's been a rough week of working on customs, with multiple do-overs when things didn't come out quite as planned. i think i'm over the hump now and everything is finally coming together.

stuff for carm... a redux of one of my favorite sets -- just a pear. here's the yarn hanging to dry (no i still haven't setup a good wintertime drying arrangement, so it's hanging on a few plant hooks in front of the patio doors right now, lol) and below it is the batiked shirt awaiting a swim in the dyebath



and this is a failed attempt at recreating my "last leaves" colorway. funny thing is i actually took notes when dyeing this colorway the first time (one of the few i had)... but they apparently sucked! so i've been playing and tweaking and redoing this yarn. this round lacked some saturation and contrast, and i handpainted it while the kids were hovering so i rushed too much and the colors are not nearly as smooth as i like them. alas, i'm sure i'll be selling it at one of the congos before long at a reduced price -- no sense letting it sit unused!


and finally, here are the previous versions of the pear shirt meant for carm. the first was too dark, the second was just a stupid dyeing error by me (note to self: pay closer attention to whether i grabbed the acid or procion green dye next time). both shirts are lovely, just not a good match for the original set. more stuff to stock at some future date... or keep for dd to wear! i haven't decided yet. ;)

hmm, those pics will have to come later, the upload tool has not been working for me so i'm giving up. and my wax might actually be fully melted now so it's time to get back to the saltmine!

super-quickie jic anyone is looking for updates. i've fallen behind on emails for those next on the list but WILL be contacting you this week to see if you'd like to proceed with your custom(s) or wait till after the holiday craziness (or at least i know it's a little crazy here). carm, your yarn is dyed and steaming right now, your do-over shirt is batiked and will be dyed tomorrow. gen, we've already touched base today but the yarn feels like it will be dry tomorrow -- i'll reskein and send a photo probably in the morning. can ship in the afternoon if we connect in time, otherwise the yarn will go out in tuesday's mail (so long as it looks good to you!). up next is batiking andrea's shirt and dyeing the yarn (i should have plenty of corrie!). also batiking sarah shirts and working on my super-secret (okay, not really) spotted box samples. and kayleigh's poor babydoll dress still needs to get painted, omigosh! you've been SO patient waiting for this custom, i owe you like 3 more shirts in thanks. i might post a few pics tomorrow of a few in-the-works things.

okay, i think that's it for tonight, time to hit the hay and cross my fingers the kids sleep till at least 7:30am so i'm not walking into walls from the get-go tomorrow. anything less than 6 hours of sleep and i just want to crawl into a hole these days.

here's the list starting after the new year, so i don't forget. because if i don't write it down that is exactly what i'll manage to do i'm sure. sleep deprivation has not made me a smarter person, that's for sure.

janet
carina
julia
kim
heather
sophie

okay, phew... i feel better now. :)

gosh i feel like a train that's been derailed over here. i managed to get little done this past week unfortunately so now i need to catch up. it's amazing what preparing for hosting a birthday party can do to my schedule (jasper's party was saturday, his actual birthday is tomorrow -- my goofy boy is 4 years old!). problem being i do most of my work in the kitchen and dining room and those are pretty important areas to have clean and usable for a party! ...and then dh's side of the family didn't end up making the trek up due to potentially bad weather for the drive back, so it was just my parents who ended up coming. all that prep, stress, money on cake and enough food to feed at least 15 people, and so on... such a waste of effort!

anyway, enough ranting about that sore topic, onto custom updates:

working on now:
kayleigh's shirt - dyeing done, painting jolly roger in flag on babydoll top
-- painting tonight or tomorrow, shipping next week
carmela - pear shirt and matching yarn
-- re-batiking shirt tomorrow (next size up, smaller pear, lighter green), then need to dye shirt and yarn, paint shirt
sarah - 2 blue/black jolly roger shirts, first color dyed
-- batiking tomorrow! dyeing this week
andrea - car (or treeforg or lizard) shirt and coordinating yarn
-- car design chosen, yarn tbd, need to work out size, style, colors this week

and also working on some goodies for the january spotted box ;)

and after that:
terra - contacting this week to work out details
alison - contacting this week to work out details
jennifer - fairy or butterfly shirt (tbd) - contacting this week to work out details
steph - yarn tbd
debi - swap yarn tbd
melanie - custom shirt(s) - passing?

just a little spam for a sad cause -- there are a bunch of charity auctions taking place beginning december 7th at 8pm eastern at http://hyenacart.com/something/ to benefit a family that just lost their 3 young children to a tragic fire in their home. i batiked a shirt, and then decided i wanted to do more so also dyed 7oz of yarn to coordinate, and am offering the set up with the 100% of the proceeds being donated. there are tons of other custom and semi-custom slots for just about everything... woolies, toys, diapers, soaps, bags, banners, and so on... please c'mon out and help us give the family one less thing to worry about in their time of mourning this gutwrenching loss.

pretty pictures, as promised. :) they always look very washed out to me in the blog, but if you click on the photos you can view larger, more true-to-color/saturation versions.

"beach pebbles" on peace fleece worsted (for michelle)


"berry blast with a slice of lemon" on BFL aran (for leanne)


"neapolitan" on peruvian fingering (for liz)

a custom update! (i know you're so thrilled you can hardly contain your excitement)
pretty pictures coming tomorrow if the yarn all dries :)

in progress:
michelle's custom yarn - beach pebbles on peace fleece
-- drying! shipping this coming week
dye leanne's yarn - berry blast with a slice of lemon, 7-8oz bfl
-- drying! shipping this coming week
liz - neopolitan sock yarn
-- drying! will bring to mmg wednesday evening
kayleigh's shirt - dyeing done, painting jolly roger in flag on babydoll top
-- painting this weekend, shipping next week
carmela - pear shirt and matching yarn
-- shirt is batiked, need to dye shirt and yarn, paint shirt
andrea - shirt (car? otherwise lizard or treefrog) and yarn tbd
-- sent design ideas for shirt!

and after that:
melanie - custom shirt(s) - passing?
sarah - 2 blue/black jolly roger shirts, first color dyed
terra - contacting this week to work out details
alison - contacting this week to work out details
jennifer - fairy or butterfly shirt (tbd) - contacting this week to work out details
steph - yarn tbd
debi - swap yarn tbd