I'm working on transferring the Tipsy Sheep Blog from Blogger to Wordpress, which allows for more customization and direct integration into the website, but it's kind of complicated. If you have http://tipsysheepyarn.blogspot.com bookmarked, please change it to http://tipsysheepyarn.com/blog - that's where we live now :) 

It will probably take a few days for me to get this place looking right, so please bear with me. In Internet years, I'm really old.

This blog is going to remain open for a while, but all updates will happen over at the new one on the main site. And if you notice weirdness with older posts that have been transferred to WordPress, please let me know, as not everything transfers correctly.

First tutorial is up!

Well, it's more of an introduction than a true tutorial, but you need to understand these basics and safety guidelines if you want to make pretty yarn.

Check it out at the website!

I'm sorry it's not a video tutorial. This kind of information is much easier to deliver in written form (plus I looked REALLY WEIRD when I tried to film it).

Pretty Rickey Previews!

I'm still only halfway done winding the second kilo (curse you, fragile wrist!) but I just couldn't wait any longer to show off Pretty Rickey. This is one of my favorite colorways so far, and not just because I'm obsessed with the color peach and managed to mix very nearly my favorite shade for this yarn.

Seriously, I have several nail polishes, lipsticks, scarves, blouses, and dresses all in this color, and it was the main color for all the flowers of my wedding earlier this year. I <3 peach!

Click ahead to see previews!

Holy crap!

Knit and Tonic just did a post about Tipsy Sheep! I had contacted Wendy, the awesome person who runs it, several weeks ago and sent her a ball of Mint Julep and yay, she liked it! I can't imagine a better cross-promotion than TSY and Knit and Tonic... it's just such a good match.  If you haven't checked out her blog, please do - her work is absolutely gorgeous and she tells the best stories.

State of Sheep: my wrist hurts :(

I went to the doctor last Friday (thank you to my wonderful neighbor for driving me, because it snowed that morning and I was woefully unequipped to drive on icy roads) and he's got some ideas of what's wrong but nothing definitive.  My original surgeon hadn't sent him my records yet, but based on a physical exam, he thinks the tendon is just angry.  I do indeed have a bone cyst, but without my original x-rays it's hard to determine if it's new and the source of my pain, or if it's been there a while and the pain is from something else.There's also a chance that the internal sutures from the first surgery (which you can actually see and feel) might be part of the problem, but he is understandably hesitant to go back in and mess with them.  He's recommended steroid treatment, first through iontophoresis and then through straight injection if that doesn't help. I go in this afternoon for my second round of iontophoresis and to get a new splint to wear while resting.

I was really hoping for a Terminator-style bionic replacement, but the steroid patch has blinking lights so I guess that's close enough.

Pretty Rickey is all dyed and half of it is wound into skeins. Winding is SUPER painful, even with my bitchin' new ball winder (post on that coming soon) so I can only do a little bit at a time. Tequila Sunrise will go forward as planned, but there may be a slight delay in starting TSP3: RotS after Part Deux is finished. I'm hoping to get the power base for the ball winder and replace my manual swift with an automatic one, which will reduce the amount of work my poor wrist has to do, but they're very expensive so it will have to wait... unless you guys want to Kickstarter a Tipsy Sheep Expansion or something.

Vote for colors for TSP3:RotS

(I just love that acronym.)

This is the official announcement: Tipsy Sheep Part 3: Return of the Sheep IS ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!

It seems like most of you want this round of yarns to be worsted weight, so that's what we're going for. I've found a yarn that's just awesome - a superwash 100% merino that's about 218 yards per 100 grams. It's soft and springy and I just want to rub my face on it, so hopefully you will too.

Prices and schedule will follow shortly, but for now, I need your help picking out which cocktails will serve as the inspiration for these yarns. I've found, oh, about a million that look like they could work, so please help me narrow them down!

Ditchhiker - medium blue, light and lime greens, and a smidge of orange and peach.
2xT - deep twilight blue, reddish purple, cactus green, and a splash of burgundy
Night Black - a smooth gradient of blue-black, twillight blue, apple green, and burgundy
Blueberry Alias - shades of purple from deep indigo to lavender, with a pop of lime green
Fruit Tingle - a smooth gradient from deep blue to reddish purple
Grasshopper - deep mint green, a softer bluish creme-de-menth green, white, and a hint of chocolate
Badminton - juniper berry blue, twilight blue, melon green, and a splash of lemon yellow
Japanese Slipper - lemon yellow, melon green, bright orange, and a pop of bright cherry red
Purple Blossom - juniper berry blue, shades of soft purple,  and a hint of lime

I know that's a lot of choices, but I wanted to give a bit of variety here. Some of these colorways would be much darker than the ones I've made so far (particularly 2xT, Night Black, and Fruit Tingle), so bear that in mind. You may also notice that there is virtually no pink in any of these - it was recently pointed out to me how many colorways in parts 1 and 2 had pink them, and I don't want anybody out there to drown in pink!

You can select as many options as you like from the list below, but I'd prefer if you picked just your top 4...

survey tool

This poll will remain open for a few weeks, so please pass this post around!

And the Yarnie goes to...

Congratulations to Sarah Lynn Ross, the winner of the random design-your-own-socktails giveaway!  I've sent you a message on Facebook so you can put me to work :)