What happens when you have tons of designs that you just need to create the patterns for, one ore more designs coming due for publication, and a huge event coming up?

You go into design overload and melt down over yummy chocolate?

OR you kick it into high gear and get things done.

I’m choosing the latter.

LOTS to get done in the next two days (thank goodness for long weekends!). Yarn to be dyed. Orders to be shipped. Orders to fill. Yarn to be wound. Buttons and brooches to be finished.

But first comes first. Time to go pet kitties.

Can you believe it? It’s already time for Stitches West! Wheee!

Stitches West, in case you don’t know, is an incredible weekend of knitting workshops, classes, demonstrations and … the best knitting market you can imagine.

You will hear angels and see sparkly lights as you enter the market.

Seriously.

You may run into a knitting celeb or three. I’m not super excited about meeting celebrities, but I have to admit I was totally excited to meet Ravelry’s Casey, Jessica and Mary-Heather last year. And it’s always so much fun to see my knitting and yarn dyer and designer friends.

Stitches West is Friday through Sunday, February 24th through 26th. And if you’re a student, you’ll get to go to the market preview on Thursday night. You can preorder your tickets online for a discount. Trust me, DO it. It’s no fun waiting in the long long lines for tickets.

So here are five reasons to go to Stitches West this year. Out of a possible eleventy gazillion.

1. The best indie dyed yarn on the West Coast!  I mean, there are more than 1,000 booths and I’d wager that the majority are filled with yarn, both familiar brands and brand new to you brands.  I can’t wait to see it all!
2. Want to see the new Malabrigo or Tosh colorways?  This is the right place to see and touch and pet all the new fibers and colors from some of your favorite yarn companies.
3. Learn a new skill – take a class!
4. Learn how to knit – free classes in all the basics, which is awesome.
5. Oh, and … be sure to visit me!  Phydeaux Designs will be at Stitches West!  I don’t have a booth number yet, but will share it with you as soon as I do.

I’m really excited about participating in Stitches this year. I love the energy, passion and collective obsession for all things fiber. And I can’t wait to see you! You’ll be there, right?

Seems like just last week when I was on a big roll creating buttons and brooches and other jewelry. The truth, however, is that it’s been months. Wow. Life shifted into high gear since July, when (a) we learned something serious was going on with mom’s health, (b) I started the search for fulltime work, and (c) dyeing yarn took most of my little bits of free time. Working with polymer clay fell way, way back on the back burner.

But I’m just finishing up a four day weekend, the first bit of pure time off I’ve had in, well, months. No Christmas orders. No yarn orders. No deadlines of any type. Sigh. It was wonderful. Knitting. Sleeping. Cooking. Taking new photos. And … making buttons and brooches.

In fact, I have a storage container filled with buttons and brooches that just need finishing, like the salmon filigree hearts above (they’ll become brooches). The “finishing” – the sanding, resanding, sanding some more, buffing and polishing – takes time that I’ve just not had. By the time I’ve finished with those hearts above, they will be super glossy and glassy.

I spent most of today working on buttons and brooches.  I have several orders to fill, a soon to be launched new website to load up, and there’s that little thing coming up called Valentine’s Day.  :)  It took me most of the morning to get back into the rhythm.  I made a couple of rookie mistakes, I’ll admit, resulting in relegating two batches to the dumpster (boo).  But I now have pretty stacks of new colors and styles lined up for the next steps in the process.  And my fingers are covered in paint stains, always a sign of button success.

A new year – and website – means new photo styling.  I’ve been stewing over new photos since early Autumn.  I love linen.  I love old lace.  And I absolutely love mercury glass.  Linen I have aplenty.  Thanks to Kathi at 5 Gardenias at Etsy, I now have the loveliest squares of vintage embroidered lace panels and the most beautiful bouquet of mercury glass spikes all wrapped up with a black ribbon.  I was so excited when I saw the glass, I ordered it right away, knowing it was just the little pop of color and texture I’d been looking for.  I think these give my buttons and brooches just the “old world” elegance that I want to convey.

I really am excited about 2012 and am glad that 2011 is behind us.  I have so many super excited things happening with Phydeaux Designs and can’t wait until I can share them with you!

This year has been a huge challenge in so many ways – I couldn’t be happier to usher in a new year! (Even 2012 …)

I worked in an ER/trauma center long enough to never, ever drive on New Year’s Eve, so am happily tucking myself into my cozy bed with two warm kitties, a bowl of roasted tomato soup with sourdough bread (oh so yum!), true grit on instant watch (already so good!), and a new shawl design on my needles (tiny peek above).

Life is good.

A very very happy New Year’s Eve and 2012 to you!  I wish you health, happiness, and much knitting!

I just (finally) upgraded my pre-3G iphone to the new iphone 4S.  In a word, amazing.  With an app for anything.  In fact, I scanned an image today, converting it to PDF, with my iphone.  I know!  How did I ever manage to function without this??

We’re living in a new world and I’m a little slow to join the party, but no less committed to life’s new amenities.

These pretty colorwork gloves are right there in the mix.

Designer Laura Nelkin knits the fingertips of her colorwork gloves using a conducive thread held with a strand of yarn.  Clever girl – now she doesn’t have to take off her gloves to use her iphone or other touchscreen device.

Better yet, you don’t have to, because you can knit a pair for yourself (see the current edition of knitty.com) and you can even order sufficient conducive thread for your project from Laura’s Etsy shop.

Brilliant.  If you decide to knit your own, let me know how it works for you!