Hard Work & Straight Hair

So despite the initial discomfort of the keratin treatment, it was a ROARING success. I had never been so happy to wash my hair in all my life, and when I did wash it my hair dried practically straight! It was amazing. I almost cried. Which might seem a little sad but anyone with curly hair that 'fros up if you walk through the bathroom too soon after someone else takes a shower will understand where I'm coming from. The highlight of my day today was driving home for lunch in the blinding heat. It was freezing in my office today, and while normally I would have shied away from the heat and humidity I just pumped the music, opened with windows, soaked up the warmth, and let the wind muss my hair. Because I could.

It was about the only bright spot in the day. This has been a heck of a week and not in the good way. Work is becoming increasingly stressful and then I've been coming home and working my buttski off to prepare for my show this weekend.

That's right! First official MollyGirl show this Sunday! 10-5 in Veterans' Park in Westwood, NJ! Come!

And that's my pitch lol. I'm really looking forward to it - I'll have a whole new display thing by then. I hope. My father is making it for me from something I drew on an envelope, so I have no idea what it'll really look like in the end. I thought I was well set... and then found a whole mess of things that needed labels still. I spent the last three days labeling everything from stitch markers to shawls to skeins. And now I am labeled out. I think everything is labeled and ready to go, and truth be told, whatever isn't is staying home. I need a wee bit of time to relax.

I want to get some more work done on my Mal Worsted scrapghan and maybe do some spinning. I just ordered some fun fun batts (which I wasn't supposed to do but I did anyway) so I should probably try and make a little room for them before they get here. Right? Granny squares ho!

Itchy Itchy Itchy!

I'm so excited that my first pattern release has gone over so well! The positive feedback is very heartening. I have the chunky version of the pattern ready for release, so that will probably come out sometime next week.

The rest of the week wasn't fun, but workweeks rarely are these days. The only thing of real significance that happened is that on Thursday I got a significant portion of my hair cut off and splurged on a keratin treatment. I was skeptical as I always am of things that cost upwards of $200 but I feel better after getting it. I've heard enough first-hand positive feedback that I have some hope of not being fuzzyheaded (literally) all summer long. And for sure my hair has NEVER been this flat. One of my co-workers told me I looked like Cher, my hair was so pin straight. I actually don't like the way it looks at all right now, but that's because it was flat ironed so thoroughly. It won't look like this when I do it myself, thankfully.

The whole process took about 4 hours altogether and I'm currently in the "DON'T TOUCH IT" phase. I'm not supposed to put it back, clip it, tuck it behind my ears, or anything else that might put a dink in it. It wasn't a problem yesterday really at all. I always managed to catch myself putting it behind my ears before it was a problem. But today I'm feeling distinctly grimey. This is part of the reason I stopped flat ironing my hair  - it always felt greasy WAY faster than a simple blow-dry. My head is itchy like crazy now, though, and if I wasn't under orders I'd be in the shower at this very moment. I have to wait until tomorrow after 8 though... I'll make it, I know. I'm just going to be itchy until then.

At least I have a Karma Yarn Swap KA swap to look forward to tonight. I also plan to play some Sim City as soon as I can wean Boyfriend off his computer. And I spin. Must keep... hands... busy....

River Deep, Mountain High - A Cowl

Well, it's looking like it'll be another zinger of a week; the AC going out in the office for several hours on a 90-degree day isn't ever a good omen. But still, we must smile & carry on, yes? I finished not one but BOTH of my Mad May projects today. Both my biffle's hat and my shawl are happily blocking. I'll post pictures when they're dry, they're both pretty awesome. I'm particularly pleased with the shawl. I'm hoping to get that written out and test knit at some point. =D

In that vein I decided, for no special reason, to release my first pattern today! Woohoo! It's not a complicated pattern, but a classic one that works for pretty much every yarn. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on my own FO's and now you can make your own! Head on over to Ravelry to download River Deep, Mountain High now!

A Weekend Retreat

I didn't have a stellar week. I wrote a few really angry posts about my job, but my better judgement kicked in and I published none of them.

A weekend retreat was definitely in order though, and Boyfriend & I spent the night at my parents' lake cabin. Waking up among the trees surrounded by birdsong... it's very zen.

I used to hate it up here. We got this place when I was... 12 or 13? I hated it because it meant I would be disconnected from all of my friends,  and while there were other kids here there weren't a whole lot that were my age and the ones that were had no interest in being my friend. Now though, as an adult and with the addition of things like internet access, laptops, cell phones, etc. I'm very happy to be here. Away from things. Nothing pressing on me, no apartment begging to be cleaned or kitty asking why he can't have supper at 3 pm. It's very pleasant and as much as I hated it when I was younger I'm enjoying it now.

We're having some friends come up for the day later, they should be here in about an hour. But for now it's just us. Boyfriend is reading, I'm knitting, and there's some music coming through the windows from my computer. Birdies singing and the trees just being green & pretty. Yay.

Like A Proud Momma

I launched! Wooo! It was exhausting and exciting and there were some hiccoughs along the way but I did it, it's done, and I celebrated with many beers.

It was nice to be out with people. It's something I've really missed since college: being just out, in a bar, even if you don't know anyone there. I really have to make a concerted effort to do that more, especially now that I'm done rebranding and hopefully the bulk of my prep work for that won't need to be repeated, just maintained.

I finally have had some time to knit. I hadn't knit a stitch in about a week, which was both terrible and scary, but I needed to make sure I had everything done. I got four repeats of my Mad May shawl done, and if I keep going at two a day I should finish in time.

Now all I can think about is a nap. I feel like I didn't sleep (even though I slept like a rock, courtesy of a melatonin) and even coffee isn't helping. Wah.

The Big Day Has Arrived!!

Finally, after months of deliberation and hard work, I'm ready to unveil my big news. I've spent months and hundreds of hours working on this, thinking, deliberating, brainstorming, doodling, daydreaming, and writing. And the news is... As of today, May 11, Yarn Monkey Productions is officially closed.

I came up with the Monkey when I was a senior in high school. It was cute, fun, & silly, and represented well what I was all about at the time. It was just a weekend thing, a justification for the crazy amount of yarn I bought and things I was knitting, an excuse to learn new skills, to experiment, to expand my horizons. Eventually, I took on other skills like dyeing and spinning and was able to really expand as my vision for what this company could be grew.

The past couple of years though I've become discontent.  I want more - more from my craft, more for my business, more of this in my life. The end goal  - a brick-and-mortar business - has morphed over time as I thought more and more about what I really wanted, what I could see myself doing for the rest of my life,  I came to realize that in this grand picture of where I'm headed there was no room for Yarn Monkey as a brand.  I needed something new.

This something is what I've been spending the overwhelming majority of my waking moments on. I've been eating, sleeping, breathing, dreaming about rebranding my business for months. And now I get to share it with everyone!

I'd like to introduce you to MollyGirl, where fiber rocks!

As you may or may not know, my background is in the music industry. I worked at a number of New York City venues all through college in all sorts of capacities. I love live music - few things bring people together like a live show. And while it might be less mainstream, the fiber arts bring people together too, in very similar ways. In my mind these two art forms aren't disparate in the slightest; they simply haven't been brought together yet. 

Right now, MollyGirl is still small. Our internet shop will be packed full of yarn, handknits, accessories, and who knows what else. I plan on doing as many shows as possible, and eventually (hopefully) I'll be able to take this on full time. That's the immediate goal.

The long term goal is greater - a physical place where people can come together. There will be yarn, fiber, tea, and music. There will be songs and knits and community.  The fiber arts have historically revolved around social gatherings - why not now? I don't know when or where or exactly how this place will come into being.  Knitting shop + coffee house + small music venue...  It might sound crazy, but in my mind, it's beautiful.

So YMP isn't really gone. It's just stepped aside and made way for a new leading lady. Hopefully by the time you're reading this I've changed YMP listings over to their new MollyGirl names. All the things you loved in YMP's shop have simply relocated over to the new MollyGirl shop. They might not all be up just yet, but I'm working on it, I promise. Yarns & colors have new names,  but they're the same great products. We'll also shortly be releasing patterns on Ravelry and starting our fabulous kickoff raffle so you should head on over to Facebook and get involved in that. We've launched our new website too, and we'll be announcing shows as soon as we get them confirmed.

I'm SO EXCITED to FINALLY be sharing this all with you! We have a whole new look but everything is as you've come to expect - high quality at an awesome price. This has been such a labor of love, and I'm looking forward to continuing to expand my fibery horizons with you!

Much love,

Angela

Change's Gonna Come...

Tomorrow! I get to make my announcement tomorrow! I'm so excited!

Mostly I'm excited to be able to (theoretically) be able to get backt to my crafting. I haven't knit in... a week? About? I finished my tweedy leafy shawly thing on Monday. So not quite a week. But still. I'm going through some serious withdrawal. I just didn't have ay time! it was frustrating, but I perservered and everything I think is ready to go tomorrow. I think. I'm going to have to check my checklist for the billionth time. And then tomorrow night I will drink beer with friends and get to be social for pretty much the first time in months. Yayyyy!

I don't really have anything else to say, other than that's what I've been doing and where I've been. I'm looking forward to being able to relax into a more normal schedule after tomorrow if nothing else. I like schedules and being in a general rhythm.  Thank you for bearing with me through all this - it's going to be great, you'll see.

Another Day & The Start of Mad May

Oh Mad May... I'm not going to go all out the way I did with Mal March, mostly because I have WAY too much going on, but I'm going to try and get at least one project done.  I CO'd a shawl of my own design yesterday, though I'm working on another similar project already. I'm most of the way through that one, so I figure one repeat of one then one repeat  of the other, back & forth, I'll get them both finished in due time and I won't get too bored with either one.

Had a good powwow yesterday with my parents over dinner. My father is going to try and build me an excellent new display for all the shows I'm trying to book, so I'm excited about that, and Boyfriend & I are going to scope out new table display items and tablecloths this evening, among other things. I feel sort of bad, like it's all about me right now because I'm just so focused that business is most of what I talk about at the moment.  I don't want to stop until I make some progress though, and Boyfriend is being very patient and supportive.  He's planning on having the boys over for games this weekend, so that'll be good. It also means I can get some work done in peace and someone will feed me.  We're also going garage-sale-ing on Saturday, so that should be fun. I like an adventure. Maybe we can hit some geocaches too... Hmmm.... Adventuresss.....