No Black Friday shopping for me...

I have never nor will I ever head to a Mall to shop on the day after Thanksgiving.  I may have slipped out once to go to the grocery store for milk a couple of years ago but that was it!  I spent the day knitting, spinning and took a wee little nap, listened to it rain and rain and rain....  Walked on the treadmill while following the Hobbits to Isengard...some of my favorite lines from LOTR:

"They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard"
"The sky is red, blood has been spilled this night"
"This forest is old, very old"
"We ride north..huh!"
"They run as if they very whips of their masters were behind them"
"Tricksey little Hobbitses..gollum gollum"

Anyway I digress and you get the idea...there are many more lines that I love but I don't want to scare anyone with my LOTR nerdiness.

Knitting needle whiskers

Oh what fun we had...

...in the Cove at room6 on Saturday!!  We debuted our yarn and kits in Megan's beautiful shop in Deep Cove and had such a good time interacting with the customers, drinking tea and eating cookies, demonstrating spinning and best of all selling some yarn and kits.  Thank you to our friends and family who came to support us, and to Megan and her lovely helpers who made the day a delight.

One of my favorite shops ever!

The sisters in action

I finished my Deep Cove Cowl this morning and while it isn't knit from our own Emerald Lotus yarn it is still very soft and lovely.  It is knit from Tosh DK in the Plaid Blanket color way and I doubt that it will languish in my scarf drawer at all this winter.  Very warm and cozy.

And lastly a view of Deep Cove as the sun peaked out from a rainy morning - sigh - it is such a beautiful area, I never tire of it's changing moods.

A new kidney and lots of yarn!

First off...I am so excited to report that the man has a new (used) kidney...donated to him by his good friend Stephen.  Both are doing very well, the man only after suffering some major setbacks and complications.  But 6 weeks later he is on the mend, getting stronger and feeling the joy of the gift of renewed life from a dear friend.

taken pre-transplant at Mt. Rainier

Next, sister Kate and I are getting ready for two upcoming events featuring our Emerald Lotus Fiberarts yarns, patterns, kits and woven shawls.  Coming up on the 15th of November is the Mill Creek Lions Club Holiday Craft Bazaar, we are so excited!  It should be festive and fun for us.  Next up is the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of November where we will have our yarns and kits at Room6 in Deep Cove, Vancouver BC.  We've both been dyeing and creating for weeks now and are ready for our debut.

I finally put the polishing touches on my new pattern, Copper Creek Cowl...It is up for sale on Ravelry and  Etsy in our Emerald Lotus Fiberarts online shop.

Copper Creek Cowl

Life is good even if the weather isn't...lol!

Wet wool...

When The Mr. comes home these days he sniffs the air in the house and dejectedly exclaims, "Oh, you are cooking wool again".  I think he will be very surprised to walk in the door sometime soon and smell the delicious aroma of pot roast instead of wet wool.  But I'm a very busy woman and wool is my game now.  He totally understands and it is a joke between us.  But a pot roast would be nice!

Next time I post there will be a pot roast in amongst the wool.

Such busy days...

With the inception of Emerald Lotus Fiberarts with my sister Kate, we have become busier than we ever thought.  Which is a very good thing.  Our Saturday Market booth in August was a success and so much fun...many friends came out to support us again and we met new knitter friend as well.

Melissa and Kate

Now we have another even more exciting venture with Room 6 in Deep Cove, North Vancouver coming October 18th and 19th.  Megan will be featuring our hand dyed yarns, kits and patterns and we couldn't be more giddy with happiness.  We will be there too so if you find yourself in the area on those dates come in to see us!

Kate and I have been working hard on new patterns and yarns:

Copper Creek Cowl

Ripple Wave Fingerless Mitts

We have a new line of tonal kettle dyed worsted, DK and lace weight yarns to pair with our patterns or purchase by themselves.  The Copper Creek Cowl pattern is in the works...I knit the one above and sister Kate is test knitting another one now, as soon as she is finished and finds no errors I will finalize it and put it up for sale in our Etsy shop.  The Ripple Wave Fingerless Mitts pattern is already on Etsy and  on Ravelry.

Then...we just heard that we have a booth in the Mill Creek Lions Club Holiday Bazaar!  Yippee and yikes!  We are having to shift into high gear for sure now!

The best news I'm saving for last.  After many months of testing, the Mr. is receiving a kidney transplant donation from his dear friend.  They are as close a match as siblings which is amazing.  The generosity and selflessness of his friend is remarkable and humbling.  I tear up lots these days.  The big day is September 29...we are nervous, excited and everything in-between.

Mr. D

So busy is good, makes the time fly by...before we know it Mr. D will have a new kidney which is the best thing of all.

...and now it is September

Work work work!  And having too much fun doing it.  Since my sister Kate, aka Knitter Gal, and I started our small business Emerald Lotus Fiberarts we have done 2 farmers markets in my town of Edmonds, sold on Etsy and are coming up with new ideas everyday.  We had an exciting last few days up in Vancouver BC where Kate lives...planning and developing an adventure in fiber in Deep Cove.   We.Are.So.Excited.  We can't reveal much now but in the newer future we will be able to reveal all.

So here are some things we have been working on:

Handspun baby hat kits

Little skeins for mitt kits

Long color change hand dyed handspun

Fingering weight hand dyed sock yarn

In addition to all of this fiber-y goodness, Kate is heading off to Italy for a couple of weeks with her husband and my husband who is on dialysis has a good friend who is donating a kidney to him!!  Really, could things get any more crazy around here?  The end of September will be Very Interesting.

Spring?! Sheesh it's August Melissa!

...And thus I've neglected the blog that hardly anyone reads anyway..lol,  least of all me, ha!  In keeping with that theme I guess I will provide an update for me myself and I, and the one or two others out there is the blogosphere who might stumble across this post.

My sister and I are fulfilling our adult life long dream of having a business together...and as she so eloquently wrote in her blog, "but we haven’t lived in the same city since we were kids and we haven’t lived in the same country for 25 years, so that was kind of a stumbling block."   So, not ones to let a little thing like location bother us we forged ahead with our dream and thus was born 
Emerald Lotus Fiberarts.  Emerald for me since I live in the Seattle area and it is known as the Emerald City, and Lotus for Kate who lives in Vancouver which is also known as Lotusland.  Fiberarts because that is what we are doing.  

We are dyeing our own yarns, spinning our roving, weaving, creating patterns and coming up with ideas to entice people to crave our items and purchase them.

Sneak peak of what Kate has been working on….

Kate's cupcakes and mitt pattern

...And what I've been working on...

My hand dyed sock yarn

My sock yarn 'Heather Lake' in action with one of Kate's shawlette patterns I'm her test knitter

We are busy bee's getting ready for our next Edmonds Saturday Market Day on August 30th.  We have an Etsy shop as well that is on hiatus for the summer and will be back up in September.  You can also visit us on our Facebook page as well for updates.

Thats all for now...pretty good post huh?