thank you secret pal!

On Saturday I got an awesome package of goodies from my secret pal. I love everything in it! There were 2 skeins and 2 balls of alpaca yarn - can you believe this is my FIRST alpaca yarn??!! I didn't know what I was missing; it is soooo soft. The blue is hand painted. And there's a cute travel-theme tape measure - in honor of my upcoming trip, right? very nice! Plus some air freshener, lip aid, and hand creme. thank you SP!!

My baby - Scout

Here's my gorgeous girl, Scout! She is our second black lab. She was supposed to be a fancy-shmancy show dog (she has quite the pedigree) but because she has some white hair on her legs and muzzle (called brindle), she became available for us! She is very loving, has the run of the house all the time, and sleeps in her own twin bed in my son's bedroom :-)

Guess who she's named after.

coffee swap 2 questions

1. Whole bean or ground? either is fine but prefer whole bean so I can grind it
2. Fully-loaded or decaf? extremely fully loaded
3. Regular or flavored? regular, love roasts
4. How do you drink your coffee? hot and black
5. Favorite coffee ever? I love it all as long as it's good coffee and not weak or watery
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? any good coffee, i.e. not maxwells
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? pastries!!! donuts!! sweet breads, muffins, YUM
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? for a treat I do occasionally get a latte preferably NOT from starbucks. We have 2 Java Jive indies near us that have drivethrough. Oh and in the winter a friend and I will get peppermint mochas during a girls night out of shopping.
9. Yarn/fiber you love? pretty much anything. love cotton or cotton blends. prefer weight lt. worsted or below (hot in NC)
10. Yarn/fiber you hate? acrylic, not too crazy about hairy mohair
11. What's on your needles? socks, cardigan for arwen
12. Favorite colors? love red, browns, greens, love any non-kelly green, denim color, I like lots of colors
13. Allergies? nope
14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest? I cannot wait to go on vacation. I need a break! I'm off to an artists workshop with Kim English instructor in Ruiodoso NM - meeting a good friend there and we're staying at the artist retreat which is a cool adobe house next to a mountain stream. It'll be the first time I've painted from live models - oil painting. I'm actually kind of nervous since I haven't done much figurative work at all. I might just set up my own still life and paint that! I can paint a bowl and a pear!!

joining knitters' coffee swap

round 2 of the knitters' coffee swap has begun!

New Mexico here I come (again)

For the past three years I've attended an artists' workshop at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. The workshop is with Ann Templeton and we paint outside all day long. It's an amazing experience. The retreat is rather remote and very rustic - it's almost like camping. I've met some great friends there. Here's a picture of some of us (I'm on the far right).

I'm on may way there for a fourth time in May07.

Also, on the knitting front, I've joined the sockapalooza4 sock swap. Can't wait for it to begin!

ideas for new tvyarn colorways?

This weekend I think I'll try out some new colorways for the tvyarn line in whiteoakstudio. Maybe some oranges/reds, yellows, and violet/purple. And there's a new navy bluish color that I've been wanting to try out.

If YOU have any ideas for colorways for your favorite tv show or movie, leave me a comment and I may just try it out!!

Jana @ whiteoakstudio

whew!!

Well I've opened my etsy shop. I wasn't quite ready but decided to just jump in and figure things out as I went along. It's going pretty smoothly. I'm offering special freebies to SecretPal10 members and the 52PairPlunge KAL. Should be lots of fun! I have one more colorway to post, hopefully tomorrow. From then on I will send an announcement to my http://groups.google.com/group/whiteoakstudio whenever I post new items and colorways. Come join the fun!

STEP AWAY FROM THE YARN

step away from the yarn
Originally uploaded by whiteoakstudio.

Do you ever get so enamoured of yarn that you think someone should force you to leave it alone? I do. I hear someone using a bullhorn shouting "STEP AWAY FROM THE YARN."

I have mountains of yarn almost ready to sell. Just have to neaten the skeins and take photos. What fun!

Color Swap March - from Sonya

Look at the goodies I got from Sonya in the March Color Swap. My Mom is modeling the goods, along with her dog Charlie. Aren't they cute? Sonya spoiled me with:
- an awesome felted vase, which I will use to hold my knitting needles. See her blog for the whole story.
- the book "Socks, Socks, Socks", has gorgeous pictures and patterns
- 2 balls wildfoote sock yarn
- neat ball of bamboo yarn
- green tote
- beautiful, reversible green knit-tote. Just the right size for sock knitting.
THANK YOU SONYA!

First SP10 Contest for Robin's Group

When I joined SP10 I didn't know we'd have fun contests! I'm in Robin's group and our assignment is to answer this

Please post (on your blog) about your favorite yarn and your least favorite yarn (if you have one!) What have you made with it? Tell us about your experiences!

Hmm...this is a hard one. My favorite yarn is usually the one I'm knitting with at the time. Really. We all put so much time and effort into our knitting crafting that I hope we all love the yarn we are using. So, that said, I'd say my favorite yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I'm using it for Cardigan for Arwen (almost finished) and simply love working with this yarn. It's soft, great stitch definition, and slight sheen.

Least favorite? 2 years ago I made 7 scarves for Christmas presents - out of eyelash yarn. At the time it was fun but.. I think I don't need to knit with that yarn anymore :-)

knitted, felted tote

Here's a tote I made for my Mom - I used the wonderful Baby's Got a Brand New Big Bag pattern but I made it a bit smaller. The yarn is Knit Picks "Wool of the Andes".

This is a great pattern. Fun and a quick knit.

book questions

I found this questionaire off the SP10 website in this member's blog http://hooknneedle.livejournal.com/ Since I haven't written about books before - and I'm a big reader - thought this would be a good post.

In the list of books below, bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole, put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of.
1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
6. The Two Towers (Tolkein)
7. The Return of the King (Tolkein)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery)
*9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
+17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
*18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkein)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
+25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
*36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
*37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
*38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
*40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
*43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
+45. Bible
+46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
49. The Promise (Chaim Potok)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
*53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice)
*65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
*72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
*76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
*79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
*81. Not Wanted On the Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphe DuMaurier)
*84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Cold Mountain (Frazier)
87. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
*89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
*90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
*91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

My knitted purse has arrived!

For the knitted purse swap II Chrissie (from Singapore) was my secret pal. She made me a wonderful purse that I've just received. Take a look here for a picture. Jana

My Dye Studio

My dye studio
Originally uploaded by whiteoakstudio.

Here is one area of my dye studio - I have a wonderful view of our enormous white oak out of my window, thus the name White Oak Studio. Hopefully the next photo you see will show it more organized and fully stocked with supplies! I put in several orders today and have one more large one to do with a new supplier.

The drying area is to the left of the photo, and I can also take the yarn out the door (to the left) when the weather is dry and warm.

Click here to view some of the colorways I am designing.

March Color Swap - Green

For the March colorswap I'm sending to Chris whose blog is www.mama-murphy.blogspot.com and I'm receiving from Sonya - www.intheskeinofthings.blogspot.com

I love green so this will be a fun swap! And we're really having wonderful spring weather here in NC already, so I'm in the mood for springtime colors.

yarn dyeing success!

yarn0307 004
Originally uploaded by whiteoakstudio.

Spent the week working on dyeing every night. I'm surprised I had that much time available... I doubt that will happen often! For the most part, I expect to spend the weekends on it.

gifts for me

On Saturday morning, I discovered a box on my porch, just for me! Cheryl is my February Color Swap 2007 pal and she really spoiled me! This month's theme is Brown and Tan and here's what she sent me:

- 2 skeins Lorna's Laces shepherd sock yarn in a blue/tan colorway, so soft!
- 2 balls Regia sock yarn, grey tweed, gorgeous
- 3 balls Daletta sock yarn, tan
- Hershey's kisses lipgloss and keychain - :-)
- Milk chocolate bar (gone already)
- a cute brown monkey stuffed animal
- Milk chocolate Lindor truffles YUM!
- interesting, DELUXE needle holder from KnitCare
- Circle of Friends sock pattern
- clover needles and holder
- Eucalan woolwash
- brown measuring spoons

Isn't my treasure wonderful? Thank you Cheryl!

Yosemite

This photo is from Oct 2005 when our family was fortunate enough to visit Yosemite for a few days. We love to hike and ride bike on our travels. It's a great way to get up close and personal with nature. I took this photo of my son and husband.

Secret Pal 10 Questionaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I love cotton/wool blends and have started to use smaller and smaller guage yarn. I haven't tried wool/tencel yet but would like to. It's hot here in NC and heavy wool it too warm. I've been craving sock yarn lately. I have stopped liking fuzzy/novelty yarns.
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? They are disorganized - in my knitting basket.
3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I'd say I'm intermediate, but there is not much that I won't try if I get interested.
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yes, amazon under "white oak studio"
5. What's your favorite scent? oh, I love so many. Right now I love sandalwood, citrus, eucalyptus. I love soaps, lotions, candles...
6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? yes, I love hot tamales and junior mints. Tootsie rolls, milky way, and on and on... you really can't go wrong here
7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? No I don't spin - I dye fabric and create art quilts (fabric collages). I make jewelry and polymer clay beads and buttons.
8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I can play mp3s but still like getting regular cds. I love country music and jazz right now. Celtic is great and other new age is good for yoga background.
9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? I love color - strong, bold and lots of it. Red is my fave. Love lime and avocado greens. Love unusual, interesting color combinations. Don't like pastels.
10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I live with my husband of 26 years and my 12 year old son. And our beloved black lab. I work fulltime as a computer scientist/software developer.
11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Not so much since it's warm here in NC. I do love vests and summer knits, even sleeveless. And socks.
12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Sweaters, socks
13. What are you knitting right now? Socks
14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Sure
15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Bamboo, circ
16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Just ordered a swift.
17. How old is your oldest UFO? 20 years. I started a sweater in 1986 when I was living in Germany. Can't bear to part with the yarn or the pattern which is in German.
18. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween, because of the autumn weather and it's 2 days before my birthday.
19. Is there anything that you collect? Yarn. In general, have too much stuff in my house already so try to buy things that can be used up.
20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? No knit mag subscrip yet, but buy all the Interweave so I should subscribe. Would love multi-color koigu sock yarn. Colinette looks great too. Love all debbie bliss yarns. Would love a sock book, don't have one yet.
21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? knitting two socks at the same time on one circular needle!!
22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Uh, not sure how to measure since I'm fairly new to sock knitting. I wear ladies' size 9 or 9.5 Will have to figure out how to measure. I have a high instep.
23. When is your birthday? Nov 2, 1959 - I'm still 47!!!

Color swap goodie bag is in the mail

Whew - I packed my Color Swap goodie bag for my swap partner and it's in the mail. It was fun, except that finding brown and tan items was too challenging to me. Next month is green and that will be even more fun.