Phat Fiber Giveaway

Jessie, of Phat Fiber, is holding one of her many giveaways! Ann of Color Bug Yarns has given a skein of her green worsted weight yarn, and boy is it pretty! Check out the giveaway here: Color Bug Yarns Giveaway! Believe me, you'll love it!

Car Accident

My Sister-In_law was in a serious car accident late Tuesday afternoon. She was waiting at a red light behind a few other cars. There was space enough for another car between her car and the car behind her and some jerk decided to SPEED into the gap. Well he caused a 5 car accident and my sister-in-law was trapped in her car until help arrived. Her one ankle was dislocated, broken and right above her ankle, her tibia was fractured. Her other ankle is sprained and she has a few bumps and ugly looking bruises. I've been back and forth between home and the hospital along with other family members so she isn't alone and she's coming home tomorrow. We're all upset that this happened but we're thankful that she wasn't hurt worse.


Please share, what was one bad time in your life where you looked through and were able to find the good?

Sorry!

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days! I worked Saturday and then spent the day in NYC on Sunday! It was so much fun, I went with my brother and his fiance. We visit the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to see their Tim Burton exhibit....AMAZING! I absolutely love all of Tim Burton's works, like Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Nightmare Before Christmas, Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street, etc. I have yet to see Alice in Wonderland, I'm afraid to be disappointed since I'm a lifetime fan of Lewis Carrol's book and loved the original Disney film when I was a child. I'm sure it is amazing work though.

I haven't done much crocheting over the weekend like I wanted to, I have to finish up a car seat blanket for my mother's friend. I did get some spinning done with my drop spindle. I'm in love with spinning! I spun two batts from my spoiler in the Merry Unbirthday swap I was in, and a batt from Desert Garden Farms.I love shopping from her store, she has gorgeous batts and gorgeous handspun yarn. Check it out!

For those of you who don't know, batts are folded and rolled up "sheets" of combed fiber. There's a way to pull these into a long strip of fiber that's ready to spin. I'll post pictures later when I get my camera hooked up.

Happy Friday Follow!

Welcome to any and all new followers! I'm Mandii and thanks for stopping by my blog!

Ten Things

Ten things about me:

• I hate heights and falling, but I love roller coasters. The higher and faster they go, the better!
• I get excited over every new episode of The Wonderpets. When you've seen them all multiple times, you'll be praying for new ones!
• I had my older son two months before my 18th birthday, four months before I graduated high school and I fought hard to keep going to school!
• I absolutely love my father's beef stew and my grandmother's goulash, there is no comparison!
• I highly support the handmade movement, indie businesses are sometimes the best.
• I would love to go organic, but I have a hard time convincing my fiance (who earns all the money).
• Never let asthma stop you from doing what you love, I didn't.
• Irish dancing was my favorite way to get in shape, I used to have some sexy legs before I had to stop.
• I love my daily walk to the post office, even if I don't get anything.
• I'm addicted to browsing on Etsy, so many awesome things!

If you do Ten Things, post the link in the comments section!

Bohemia Fibers

For my birthday (April 11) my brother outright asked me what I wanted, figuring I would like a gift card to either AC Moore or Michaels. Well, I've recently joined the handmade movement, and I'd rather buy my craft supplies online if I can help it. I showed him THIS Etsy shop (I've been shopping a lot on Etsy lately) and told him I wanted a drop spindle. I've been itching to try and spin my own yarn after I heard about the therapeutic effects of doing it, just like knitting and crocheting.

My loving brother not only got me a drop spindle, he got me THIS drop spindle, which comes not only with an ounce of undyed top to practice with, it has two beautiful ounces of batts in their Ring of Kerry colorway. Quoted directly from the listing:

"Ring Of Kerry is a fluffy, soft as a cloud batt made from hand carded mixed wools, and dyed in a colorway inspired by the beautiful Ring Of Kerry in Ireland.

We've used ranges of brilliant greens, kerry blues, deep turquoise and seafoam, and sprinkled the batt with peacock glitz. We add in firestar at the very end dyed in a blue colorway to really get this batt sparkly!

This batt is gorgeous and should spin into a myriad of turquoises and greens."

I absolutely love the colors! They do offer a disclaimer with the listing too, for those who expect things to look exactly like the pictures posted:

"Each of our batts are unique, and although we use the same dyes in this particular color way for our wools, all batt color formations will vary when they are carded due to the fact that they're handmade. But they are all gorgeous!

All of our batts start with wools dyed with professional acid based dyes for fade resistant deep intense colors.
Please note that the dyes are set with natural white vinegar as a mordant to the dye and you may notice a slight scent from the dye process. This will wash out of your finished product."

Once you order, it's a couple of days before this is shipping, since they make the spindle after it's been ordered. Once I received it, I was as giddy as a schoolgirl opening the package. After reading the instructions (and watching a video on YouTube since I'm more of a visual learner) I began spinning. Like all beginners my yarn was lumpy and bumpy but I thoroughly enjoyed myself! The spindle is gorgeous in real life and handles so easily, like it knew what to do already!




Doesn't it look lovely? It's so smooth and the grain is lovely. If you're planning to learn to spin, know someone who wants to spin, or are just looking for another bottom whorl drop spindle, just go to Bohemia Fibers. I wasn't disappointed and neither will you be!

Friday Follow

Welcome to my Friday Follow! Please, stick around, I'll have some nice posts this month!

Sarah Brown Design

I recently made an order from Sarah Brown Designs on Etsy, for a skein of her Bloodlust series yarn in the colorway Foreplay. The yarn is gorgeous and I only wish I could keep the skein! It is being sent to my swap recipient on Ravelry. In the meantime, let me tell you about the skein.

It is 420 yards of hand-dyed 3-ply superwash merino fingering weight yarn, perfect for socks or a lace project. The colors look gorgeous, in red, a sort of dark rose, and a lovely shade of pink, with bits of a creamy pink showing through as well. I can't stop myself from petting the skein every chance I get, it's so soft.

Miss Brown also includes a free set of 5 stitchmarkers with every skein of yarn purchased, and they aren't of poor quality either. The set of stitchmarkers she sent matched the skein of yarn, the beads a dark rosy color. The wire is clipped so it won't catch on your projects and they're so gorgeous to look at that I wouldn't want to take them off a project!

I must say, I really do love this yarn and will hopefully be purchasing some from Sarah Brown Designs in the future to knit for myself. Go check out her Etsy shop, you won't be disappointed!

Car Seat Blanket

I started a car seat blanket the other day for my mom to bring to a baby shower in less than two weeks. I figured out the foundationless half-double crochet! It took me a few tries but I must say, even though it does take a little longer and a little more concentration to use it, I prefer it to making a chain. I'll get better at in eventually.


I'm in a Merry Unbirthday swap over on Ravelry, and my swap partner really likes hand-dyed yarns. I'd love to get her a bunch but unfortunately I have to stay close to the minimum amount for the swap. I did get her a skein of really pretty yarn (which I want to keep for myself) and the seller sent a pack of knitting stitchmarkers with it. I also got her this really pretty tea wallet which I will put some packs of Peppermint Tea in, since it's really good for stomachaches. I'm also handsewing her a pretty little bag to keep a sock or armwarmer project in.

Tag Jr-Review of my own accord

This blog was originally started to post about what I've been doing fiber-wise. However, back in February for his second birthday, we bought my older son a Tag Junior so he could take an interest in reading. I didn't open it until recently, I kept forgetting to buy batteries for it but finally I did.

Let me tell you, the Tag Junior has helped immensely with the older one. He has lately been bringing books for me to read to him while I've been busy with the baby. Tag Junior now lets him listen to the books we buy for it without me having to read it to him.

The Tag Junior (for ages 2-4) hooks up to your computer by a USB cable so you can download up to 5 different books onto the reader, and you can change which books the reader holds. We currently have 4 different books for the reader which includes the book it came with. On your computer, you can personalize the reader to say your child's name, and if Leapfrog doesn't have your child's name on file, it gives you a list of nicknames you can choose from, like Baby, Buddy or Princess. You can also see what 5 books are on your reader and what books are in your library.

Each book that Leapfrog has for the Tag Junior focuses on different skills. The book the reader comes with, If I Were..., focuses on colors, animals and rhyming. Other books focus on vocabulary, sounds, rhythm and others.

My older son loves the fact that his TAG reader greets him when he turns it on, and is always using it! I definitely recommend getting this for the toddlers in your life!


The writer of this blog was not compensated in any way by LeapFrog, nor was she asked to write a positive review. The writer wrote this of her own accord so others could see how helpful the TAG Junior reader is.

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This policy is valid from 06 April 2010


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