Still no pictues, but today is a beautiful day and I am not working so maybe I will get the camera out and have D help me get a pic or two of my sweaters.
Boy do I have the spinning bug badly. LOL It is such fun to do and really not as hard as I thought it was going to be. The basics are really pretty basic, it is just practice, practice, practice. D has said that he can see a big improvement in my spinning. He watches it go on the bobbin as I spin. TV must really be boring him. Hehehe
My merino/silk is truly a treat to spin. Once I started spinning over the fold it is so easy to make it consistent. I love it. Good thing since I have a pound of pink blend and a pound of purple/grey blend. I have spun just over 4 oz of the pink. I really want to start on the purple but am going to MAKE myself finish the pink first so I can get it plyed and then knit it up.
That's all for now.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
??????
I don't have a great story to tell or any great pics to post. My life is sooooo boring. Oh, well.
I have gotten a spinning wheel since I last posted (2 months and a day ago). It is an Ashford Traveler and it is sooooo purty! I love it. I have spun a bit of Coopworth wool, some llama from my daughter's own llama, and some merino/silk blend. The coopworth was the first that I spun and it is going to be knit into a scarf. It will be a funky scarf but it will be mine.
The llama I am not sure what to make out of it. The first bobbin I spun I just did it the same way as I did the coopworth and it is so silky that I made a right mess of it. It is totally thick and thin and then some very thin. The second bobbin I "spun over the fold" (thanks to TracyKnits telling me about that method) and it is much more even. I will have to ply the bad with the good but that is ok. It is still new spinning so I don't expect it to be great.
But I am learning. The merino/silk I am doing over the fold and it is coming out quite good. I have a pound of a pink blend and a pound of a purple/grey blend. If I spin it fine enough I should have enough of both of them to actually make something. Maybe a shawl or a capelet. We will see.
I really need to get the camera out and take some pictures. I have 2 sweaters, about 4 pair of socks, a baby sweater, and my spinning to post. Maybe this weekend.
I have gotten a spinning wheel since I last posted (2 months and a day ago). It is an Ashford Traveler and it is sooooo purty! I love it. I have spun a bit of Coopworth wool, some llama from my daughter's own llama, and some merino/silk blend. The coopworth was the first that I spun and it is going to be knit into a scarf. It will be a funky scarf but it will be mine.
The llama I am not sure what to make out of it. The first bobbin I spun I just did it the same way as I did the coopworth and it is so silky that I made a right mess of it. It is totally thick and thin and then some very thin. The second bobbin I "spun over the fold" (thanks to TracyKnits telling me about that method) and it is much more even. I will have to ply the bad with the good but that is ok. It is still new spinning so I don't expect it to be great.
But I am learning. The merino/silk I am doing over the fold and it is coming out quite good. I have a pound of a pink blend and a pound of a purple/grey blend. If I spin it fine enough I should have enough of both of them to actually make something. Maybe a shawl or a capelet. We will see.
I really need to get the camera out and take some pictures. I have 2 sweaters, about 4 pair of socks, a baby sweater, and my spinning to post. Maybe this weekend.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Spring is Here, or is it?
The calendar says that it is spring but my thermometer says maybe not. It is 33F today. That is not quite spring like.
I should have pics to post but I just have not taken the time to take the pics. I have a couple three pair of socks and a sweater that I really need to post a picture of . It is my alpaca "Sweater to Love" and I do love it. I would wear it everyday if my family wouldn't look at me strangely.
I have another sweater almost finished. It is "Tailored with a Twist". I made this sweater a while ago and really loved it. I then washed it and felted it. This time I am making it out of Cotton Fleece from Brown Sheep. Hopefully it will fair better. The other was out of a merion, silk, alpaca mix and was just glorious.
Not much else to say until I take some pics.
Everyone enjoy the weekend and hope that spring weather comes soon to match the calendar.
I should have pics to post but I just have not taken the time to take the pics. I have a couple three pair of socks and a sweater that I really need to post a picture of . It is my alpaca "Sweater to Love" and I do love it. I would wear it everyday if my family wouldn't look at me strangely.
I have another sweater almost finished. It is "Tailored with a Twist". I made this sweater a while ago and really loved it. I then washed it and felted it. This time I am making it out of Cotton Fleece from Brown Sheep. Hopefully it will fair better. The other was out of a merion, silk, alpaca mix and was just glorious.
Not much else to say until I take some pics.
Everyone enjoy the weekend and hope that spring weather comes soon to match the calendar.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
No electricity, oh my...
We live out in the country and along with the joys of living out here goes the risk that the electric company comes out here last to fix it.
Wednesday morning around 3:20 a.m. our power went out. D was watching tv at the time and he said that when the power went it was like hundreds of blue flashes around the countryside. We just snuggled down under the covers and waited for morning to come and with it probably power. Well, morning came but the power did not.
Since it was exceedingly cold (down in the teens) we called our kids and D's mom to tell them to come up here. We have a fireplace that we had just put gas logs into so we had heat. By 10 a.m. they were all up here along with their dogs.
We had 2 miniature dachshunds, an English Bulldog, hubby's shepherd/Saint Bernard mix, my St. Bernard, and my 4 cats. Amazingly they all got along really well. For the most part my cats all stayed upstairs away from the strange dogs.
Friday G remembered Crit. I went out to the office to bring him in. He was fine but he had evidently been so cold he had not run on his wheel. He made up for lost time as soon as he got a little warmed up. I finally had to put him in the living room to give us all a break from his wheel. Poor fella.
The outdoors was really beautiful but a lot of damage was done to our trees. I have a Maple in my front yard that I planted when my son was a baby. I have babied that tree, splintted it back together, argued with D that he could not cut it down. Well, I think he has now won the argument. The top and a large limb off of the side came down from the ice.
The voice in the video is me, the background one is my SIL. The video was taken from my front porch. It was really snowing hard and trees were falling in the woods like crazy. It was really kind or surreal.
Luckily with all the extras here it is a good thing that we have a large house. But now that they are all gone the house seems so empty. I am feeling kind of let down. I will get over it but for the evening I am going to be down and dumpy.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Silly Little Crit
I forgot to tell about Crit going missing. Crit is my RoboHamster.
The week of Christmas while we were in VA my daughter called me and asked if Crit had died. I told her not that I was aware of. I had just cleaned his cage on Sat and he was fine then. She said that he was not in his cage now. Since he had not died and I had not disposed of him she and her brother started a systematic search of the offices. (I had to take Crit out to the office since D's dog had decided that Crit belonged to her and would snap at the cats when they would get near his cage.)
I talked to G later in the day and they had not found him yet. I told her to put his cage down on the floor and open the door and maybe he would just find his way back by himself. She did as I asked.
The next day when we talked she said that he had been to the cage as the food that they had put out for him was gone. I laughed and said well that isn't working. They left the cage that way for a few days and each morning the food was gone and so was Crit.
Finally, G decided to take the top off of the cage and make a ramp up to it. Sure enough the next morning Crit was back safe and sound in his cage.
We figure that what happened was when I cleaned the cage and put his wheel back on I got it crowded over to the side and the bars were spread apart enough for him to slip through. He is just a little squirt and he could, and probably did, get out that way. I am glad that he is back. I enjoy watching him when I am in my office. Also, now that it is cold he will let me stroke his belly. I still cannot pick him up, but we are making progress.
The week of Christmas while we were in VA my daughter called me and asked if Crit had died. I told her not that I was aware of. I had just cleaned his cage on Sat and he was fine then. She said that he was not in his cage now. Since he had not died and I had not disposed of him she and her brother started a systematic search of the offices. (I had to take Crit out to the office since D's dog had decided that Crit belonged to her and would snap at the cats when they would get near his cage.)
I talked to G later in the day and they had not found him yet. I told her to put his cage down on the floor and open the door and maybe he would just find his way back by himself. She did as I asked.
The next day when we talked she said that he had been to the cage as the food that they had put out for him was gone. I laughed and said well that isn't working. They left the cage that way for a few days and each morning the food was gone and so was Crit.
Finally, G decided to take the top off of the cage and make a ramp up to it. Sure enough the next morning Crit was back safe and sound in his cage.
We figure that what happened was when I cleaned the cage and put his wheel back on I got it crowded over to the side and the bars were spread apart enough for him to slip through. He is just a little squirt and he could, and probably did, get out that way. I am glad that he is back. I enjoy watching him when I am in my office. Also, now that it is cold he will let me stroke his belly. I still cannot pick him up, but we are making progress.
About two weeks ago when it was freezing cold outside I saw my cat Velcro at the slider and I thought immediately that "Oh, no, it has started to rain again." Then I looked closer and realized that he was not wet from the rain but he had apparently fallen into the pool ( we had closed the pool as far as taking the pump, etc off but we had not gotten around to putting the winter cover on). I got him inside, got a towel and rubbed him down vigorously. I went out to the office to tell Dale what had happened and that we had to get the pool covered. I came back over to the house and began to rub Belly (Velcro's nickname) down with another towel. He was shivering so I wrapped him in a fleece blanket and sat down to hold him. He was shaking so hard he was making me shake. I was about to call the vet when the shivering started to subside. I continued to hold him for a while longer. He is fine now and did not even get a cold of the sniffles from his escapade. The pool is now covered so I don't have to worry about any more of my babies falling in. Bell was so lucky because he fell in near the skimmer so he had something to get a hold of to pull himself out and also because I was at home and in the family room when he came to the slider. If either of those had not been so I am sure he would have frozen to death. I figure he used up 3 or 4 of his 9 lives on that one.
I have no pics to show. I have been really slow knitting here lately. I am working on a sweater that is really taking some time to do. It will be months before it is done, I am afraid. I will try to take some in progress pics this week and post them.
The pattern is called "Cardigan to Love" #LW1660-WM0312 designed by Lynda Cyr and can be found free at http://www.coatsandclark.com/.
I am knitting it in a sport weight alpaca so it is going to be a lot lacier and looser knit than the picture. So I am making it in a larger size to make it fit. I did a swatch this time (OH! MY!) and got the gauge I needed. I hope I did not mess up in my thinking. So far it looks as if it will be fine.
I made the sleeves wrist length as I just can't handle 3/4 length sleeves for winter and being made out of alpaca it is going to be a winter sweater. I have both sleeves knit and about 4 inches of the body. I am really loving it.
More later.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Belated Merry Christmas and Early Happy New Year.
I hope everyone had a very nice Christmas. I did. I was at home and had my kids and family around me.
I love Christmas, the reason for it, the family gathering, all the wonderful food, the decorating, the songs and movies, just all of it.
I used to start playing Christmas carols in Aug and start my holiday cookie baking in Sept. I would bake dozens of cookies of all kinds. Then the kids grew up, D developed hypoglycemia, and I just don't need the calories so I have all but stopped baking for Christmas. This year I baked a couple of "packages" of store cookies. I really cheated. Oh, well.
D and I are back here in VA. We will be here all week so the kids are on duty at home taking care of things.
My son called this morning to see if my cell phone was working because theirs were not working back in Ohio. Then my daughter called to see if Crit the RoboHamster had died. He is not in his cage. Nope, he had not died as of yesterday. Guess they are now tearing the office apart trying to find him. I hope they do. Crit is a little cutie and so soft to pet.
It is almost time to go on my daily "food forage" to get dinner tonight. I think I will fix pork chops for dinner tonight. I also think I will try Shake-N-Bake on them. Hope it turns out ok. D's Grandma always used to use Shake-N-Bake. Grandma also always would unthaw things for dinner. I'll fix a baked potato. a veggie, and a biscuit for us. I'll see what "package" cookies they have to bake. Hey, I don't have a mixer down here to make my own (that is my excuse and I am sticking to it LOL).
D and I will be here for New Years so I have to come up with something special for Wed evening. Some easy to prepare snacks. I told D to ask the project manager if he wanted to eat with us Wed evening since he will be away from his wife and he and Dale have become good friends. This is the 3rd job that they have worked together on.
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a great 2009. God Bless.
I love Christmas, the reason for it, the family gathering, all the wonderful food, the decorating, the songs and movies, just all of it.
I used to start playing Christmas carols in Aug and start my holiday cookie baking in Sept. I would bake dozens of cookies of all kinds. Then the kids grew up, D developed hypoglycemia, and I just don't need the calories so I have all but stopped baking for Christmas. This year I baked a couple of "packages" of store cookies. I really cheated. Oh, well.
D and I are back here in VA. We will be here all week so the kids are on duty at home taking care of things.
My son called this morning to see if my cell phone was working because theirs were not working back in Ohio. Then my daughter called to see if Crit the RoboHamster had died. He is not in his cage. Nope, he had not died as of yesterday. Guess they are now tearing the office apart trying to find him. I hope they do. Crit is a little cutie and so soft to pet.
It is almost time to go on my daily "food forage" to get dinner tonight. I think I will fix pork chops for dinner tonight. I also think I will try Shake-N-Bake on them. Hope it turns out ok. D's Grandma always used to use Shake-N-Bake. Grandma also always would unthaw things for dinner. I'll fix a baked potato. a veggie, and a biscuit for us. I'll see what "package" cookies they have to bake. Hey, I don't have a mixer down here to make my own (that is my excuse and I am sticking to it LOL).
D and I will be here for New Years so I have to come up with something special for Wed evening. Some easy to prepare snacks. I told D to ask the project manager if he wanted to eat with us Wed evening since he will be away from his wife and he and Dale have become good friends. This is the 3rd job that they have worked together on.
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a great 2009. God Bless.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Going home...
Yesterday we made the trip back down here to VA thinking that we would be here until Christmas Eve, then have to turn around and come back down here Christmas night. Well, they didn't get some kind of dig permit so we get to go home in the morning and don't have to be back for him to work Friday. Hooray!!!
Now I should be packing up everything to leave in the morning but I am not. I will get it done. I am the one who does all of the packing and usually I even pack it into the van. I seem to be able to pack in more than D can. I have the knack I guess.
Now I will be home for Christmas Eve and can get things ready to take to my MIL's and have time to get everything done at home. Thinking that I might not be home until late Christmas Eve I did make sure that all packages were wrapped and the cleaners will be there tomorrow or Wed so I am pretty much set.
Back in the spring or summer (not sure exactly when) I had a crown put on. I don't know what is wrong but boy is it hurting now. I can not bite down on anything with that side of my mouth and have to be very careful biting down on the other side also. I called my dentist but he cannot see me until Jan 5. I don't know if I can stand it that long. I am on the cancellation list though. I will have to call again tomorrow and let them know that I will be home this week but not next week.
Well, I best be getting busy starting to pack things up to go home in the morning. Woohoo!!
Merry Christmas to everyone.
Now I should be packing up everything to leave in the morning but I am not. I will get it done. I am the one who does all of the packing and usually I even pack it into the van. I seem to be able to pack in more than D can. I have the knack I guess.
Now I will be home for Christmas Eve and can get things ready to take to my MIL's and have time to get everything done at home. Thinking that I might not be home until late Christmas Eve I did make sure that all packages were wrapped and the cleaners will be there tomorrow or Wed so I am pretty much set.
Back in the spring or summer (not sure exactly when) I had a crown put on. I don't know what is wrong but boy is it hurting now. I can not bite down on anything with that side of my mouth and have to be very careful biting down on the other side also. I called my dentist but he cannot see me until Jan 5. I don't know if I can stand it that long. I am on the cancellation list though. I will have to call again tomorrow and let them know that I will be home this week but not next week.
Well, I best be getting busy starting to pack things up to go home in the morning. Woohoo!!
Merry Christmas to everyone.
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