Weekend Excursions... And Sock Work

The weekend has passed and sometimes I wonder at how quickly time flies by.  For weeks I have been looking forward to the PCSW spring conference (our themes for this conference were hand made dolls and most had hand weaving or spinning in them somewhere... and the other topic was Poppys. Our challenge was to make a Poppy for each Canadian soldier that died in Afghanistan. There were many but not enough yet and so the Poppy challenge continues...) Here it is Monday and now the conference is over and once again I seem to be realizing how quickly time passes.  I did indeed enjoy the Conference on Saturday.

Teapot and I started out on Friday morning heading into FSJ for dental appointments. (Neither of us needs any work done... woo hoo!) After that we had lunch and then went looking at wee cars and took a couple out for test drives. I really liked the Dodge Caliber and the Jeep Patriot. At this point those are the two that really grabbed me. Still I guess it will be a while before I can buy one of them. We did try out the Chevy  Sonic and I had a look at the new Cruise but neither of them appealed to me since they both have low profiles which is really hard for a person with a steel rod in her back.  It means that every time you try to get into the car you have to duck down and my back does not curve anymore so ducking is not really an option.

After that I headed off to a friend's house where we had a lovely afternoon and evening yaking about spinning. She is also involved with the MSP and so it was cool to see her work. She is finished and was at the time just pressing her 50 hour project which was a lovely hand spun linen table runner, which had been beautifully dyed. Her work was impeccable and made me start to feel a little anxious about my own. But that is always the way I think. In the end generally speaking, our work is all comparable for those of us in the same level. I tend to knit more while she tends to weave more. But both look lovely.

I had a dreadful night on Friday night not getting one blessed wink of sleep... I think I was too wound up about the following day. I certainly had a perfectly comfortable spot to sleep... but still sleep was illusive... I knew sleeplessness would totally screw me up for the next day.... and it did in a way. The next morning saw us up at 4:30 a.m. and on the road by 5:00 a.m. Our conference began at 8:00 a.m. and it was on the Alberta side of the border which meant that we lost an hour. 8:00 a.m. their time was 7:00 a.m. our time.... that's the reason for such an early start. I slept in the car since I'm like the proverbial baby that falls asleep in the car as soon as it starts to move at the best of times but after a night of sleeplessness I was hooped. My poor friend had to do the driving without any input from me. Thanks heavens we had another passenger because she was able to talk to my friend and keep her company while I passed out. I mean how pathetic is that. Still getting on the road so early meant that we were home earlier than expected since the conference ended at 3:30 p.m. their time, which is 2:30 p.m. our time. A three hour drive after the conference, broken by a quick stop in FSJ to get picked up by Teapot, saw me pulling in the driveway here at home at 6:30 p.m. just in time for supper which the Daughters had cooked for Teapot and me. Still the many miles covered over the weekend and the lack of sleep on Friday night did leave me droopy all day yesterday and even today I'm feeling rather lack-lustre. Still I haven't been sitting on my arse doing nothing. I have been knitting.

Speaking of which, the socks... are coming along nicely... I have one sock finished.

Sorry that the picture's colour is so bad... The sock here appears mustard but in actuality is more ecru. I will take a better picture when they are both finished and dyed. I might even get one of the Daughters to model them...

With only the other left to do,  I should be finished the whole project by sometime next week. Tomorrow I will begin the spinning for the second sock. So I am hoping to have my stuff in the mail to my instructor by Monday or Tuesday. That is... if all goes well.

Meanwhile I was reading this morning a little. My reading consisted of two things... I won a door prize this past weekend which happened to be a doll magazine, so that was the first of the two things. the other was a book that the Daughters have been wanting me to read for quite a while. First I had a good perusal the magazine about soft bodied dolls... interesting and while I am not into doll making there are some pretty cool things to look at in there. The other thing that I was reading in The Hunger Games which Hollywood has recently turned into a movie. We had taken the girls to the movie during spring break and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The girls talked me into reading the book and I am glad that I am finally getting a chance to read.  This is interspersed with knitting of course. The reading does give my poor hands a wee break every so often.

I have been debating which colour to dye the socks when they are finished. Blue seems to be the colour that I am mostly leaning toward but somehow it doesn't seem right. The socks have a lovely leaf pattern over the instep, reaching up the ankle and shaft.... so I was thinking green would be better since leaves are green, especially since green seems to be emerging more and more as my favorite colour. (I seem to be leaning more and more toward moss green, but then tomorrow I might prefer purple). I need to be satisfied with the end result... So far I am hoping that the project will fetch me a high mark.

So that's it from here for today. Tomorrow I might not get a chance to write since I will have to go to town again. Tomorrow we get our truck back from the dealership after eight weeks of to-ing and fro-ing and waiting for Ford to get their act straight so that we can have a fixed truck... we now have a rebuilt transmission... and most importantly we have a new engine in it. They have replaced several things around the transmission so what's under the hood is mostly new and hopefully this will solve all problems... I keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.  Wish us luck 'cause I really hate the thought of not having our truck any longer... I'm sick to death of driving the loner which is a terrible old piece of junk and has no step... let me tell you it is not easy for an old lard butt like me to climb into such a vehicle.... Teapot gets a laugh every time I try... the first step is a real douzzy... meanwhile my wrist and back suffer every time I have to pull myself in, so I really want to get our truck back.

Amazing Things

It is very early... well not as early as I thought... it's 6:00 a.m. but I've been awake since 5:00 a.m. I decided that I won't get a chance to do this later in the morning and since I was lying in bed wide awake I thought I might as well get up and come downstairs and write a blog post. First thing I decided to do is take a picture of the mini bag that I finished last night just before going to bed.

All day yesterday I worked away at the braid that I used for the handle. This was a braid of my own design that was completed a la Kumi Himo braid style on the Maru Dai. (I'll have to explain this more at some later date... I know I keep talking about it.) I'm really happy with the end results. I decided for lighting reasons to take it out on the deck this morning and take a picture which is not something for the faint of heart. We have been having a return to cooler more early-spring-like-temperatures and to be out on the deck taking pictures at 5 a.m., in nothing more than a nighty, would cause even the heartiest skin to pucker up.... Still it was lovely and refreshing to be out in the morning air and all the more powerful as I stepped through the door just in time to hear the loons on the river calling out.... you never hear them unless you are up early in the morning. Anyway... the bag.... Today I have a dentist's appointment in FSJ and it will be the beginning of a spring odyssey. After I finish with the dentist, I will be dropped off at a friend's place so that I can get a ride out to Saskatoon Lake in Alberta as I am off on spinning and weaving adventures again. The PCSW of Threads Along The Peace fame are having their annual spring conference.  There will be a show and tell and I thought to bring along the bag.... so when I got home from knit night last night, I put my bag togther on my old sewing machine and hand stitched the braided handle on and then turned in for the night at 11:00 p.m. I realize that it was, you know, one of my typical bum rushes again but I am happy with the final project. It is even lined with pretty turquoise print fabric. It is all cotton hand spun. I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out and to be quite honest... I will be sad to have to let it go to the instructors for marking... I would love to use it right away.

Next... I also have been working on knitting those socks of mine.  I don't have much to show you but I will show you what I have so far. 

This is the front of the sock....

This is the back....

And here is the yarn....

So far I am feeling really confident about the whole project. It has taken me 22.5 hours so far. So if I finish the sock in say another 7 or 8 hours one sock will have taken me 30.5 hours. Two socks will take me up to 61 hours which puts me over the 50 hour mark... perfect. Larger than 50 hours but not unreasonably over that. Last year my 150 hour project was 390 hours which was far too much really.

So really a pair of socks and a wee purse are not all that amazing.... so why call this post Amazing Things... well there was that loon which was really amazing.... and I just am feeling a wee bit amazing... maybe because I'm so pleased with myself on my two wee projects.... maybe its just that I'm up early and getting up early on a fine morning always makes me feel amazing.... Anyway I'm off for an amazing cup of tea before I head out on my amazing spinning and weaving jaunts.

I'll be back on Sunday with info on my trip and the summer line up as it is looking at the moment.

Pushing The Envelope...

158 metres on the 158 metres..... you take one down, knit it around... 157 metres on the wall. Actually I am just about to get some lunch here but after that I am going to knit the first rounds on my socks. Yes indeedy! Sock #1 here I come. I was pleased yesterday when I finished spinning and plying that I took a nice 158 metres off the wheel. Three ply lovely 50% cotton, 30% bamboo, and 20% ramie. It was washed and smacked on the log pole holding up our verandah last night and then hung to dry on the rail over night.  I just checked it... nice and dry.

This morning I got up to snow! : ( 2 inches..... but it is now starting to melt and a good thing too. I promptly went back to bed. How bad is that.... I haven't done that now for a couple of weeks. The alpacas look bedraggled and the dogs are running out the door to promptly turn around and look back. The cats are looking at the door suspiciously. Teapot drove to school instead of biking and the Daughters went with him and wore warm jeans instead of shorts. Hopefully this won't last too long. My dreams of Crocuses and Violets I think are a bit premature!

I've been thinking a lot about New York... the city.  I follow the Spindle Princess' blog As The Whorl Turns where she just doesn't write enough... but she does Tweet regularly and her Tweets are on her blog page and I read those daily. She has recently been in New York for work and it reminded me of my trip to the Big Apple many years ago. After high school in one of my many former lives I had the opportunity to fly to New York for a week of staying in a mid town Manhattan hotel (of which I can't remember the name right now) and sight seeing, and shopping. I had a bit of a yin yang relationship with New York. I loved all the shopping and I loved all the sightseeing... but there were aspects of New York that really didn't agree with me. For one, I had a nose bleed every morning that I was there, due to the pollution, which I suppose is normal for any large city. Secondly, I twice had scary situations arise where I thought I might be raped... and ended up not but they kind of scared the bejeepers out of me. Thirdly my mid-ranged priced hotel had terrible plumbing as a result the bathroom tub would leak regularly.... there was water everywhere. Then the hotel was so densely packed that I felt like I was packed in like sardines. Fourthly, the traffic was dreadful. Fifthly you wouldn't catch me traveling anywhere by subway unless I had an armed guard with me. On the up side we walked everywhere and had absolutely no problems finding anything thanks to the grid of Manhattan streets. The artsy fartsy factor was awesome, the bagels divine, and the shopping was like nothing else I had ever experienced. My most memorable day was when I went to the World Trade Towers and experienced the truly diverse population that abounded in that region of New York... it of course made me think doubly hard in 2001 when the Trades came down. I saw all  of the regular things... you know... the Empire State Building... Lady Liberty... The Rockettes.... Saks Fifth Avenue... Macy's... the World Trade Centre... I didn't get up town to Central Park because I just ran out of time but I did go to Wall Street not that there was a whole lot to see there other than a lot of high powered businessmen and high buildings everywhere. Still we were able to get tickets to see the Eurythmics with Annie Lennox front and Centre.... it was really an awesome concert mostly because they were playing in a small rinky dink place and everything was close up and personal. That was back in the 1980s and I was just out of high school only two years before. Little did I know that I would watch the World Trade Towers come down on the first day of school far Daughter #1. While my trip offered me an opportunity to see something I'll never see again and the shopping was unlike anything I've had since, it really gave me an understanding of what a hive must be like. I'm glad I went once... but I wouldn't want to go back.
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Since writing this earlier and getting distracted by a phone call and forgetting to come back to the computer till now, I have been knitting on my socks. Oh they are going to be sweet. I'll try to get a ittle more done on them tomorrow so that I can show pictures here. Right now I have gotten through the main lace pattern once and the other lace pattern has been repeated three times. So far they look great... still, there is a lot to do. I have to repeat the main lace pattern three more times before I begin the heel flap and then turning the heel. At first the lace pattern was hard to figure out and I know I have at least two small mistakes... but then I am not being judged on my knitting... I am being judged on my spinning... I tried looking for the mistakes and you wouldn't notice them unless you ahd a really good eye for these types of things.

By the way... I don't have a good clue why I called this, " Pushing The Envelope"! I wonder if I had something in particular that I was trying to say. Oh well, maybe I'll remember tomorrow.

Maudlin In My Old Age...

I just received a late birthday wish in the form of an e card... it starts out with an dog lying on a rug with unopened birthday gifts all around. One of the birthday gifts pops open and out jump two kittens... the kittens run around wreaking havoc with the dog's gifts and pop his balloons and then the dog runs behind a chair to hide and finally the kittens disappear. The dog goes back into his basket and lies down and you can tell he is starting to miss the hi jinks of the kittens... then he starts to dream of the kittens having fallen asleep in his basket and wakes up to find the two kittens fast asleep at his tail and he settles down and cuddles in with the kittens.... it made me almost cry... it was really sweet. I think cutesy things more and more as I get older make me maudlin which is strange because I thought as you get older you get crustier... shouldn't I be a crusty old bag by now?

I woke yesterday to rain and at times the rain turned to frozen rain and then snow.... but nothing that actually stayed on the ground. All I could think about was wanting to go out into the forest to look for Prairie Crocuses.  I didn't go though because of the rain. This morning I woke to beautiful blue skies with nary a cloud to be seen. The rain of yesterday was nowhere to be seen but it is certainly not forgotten... the grass is turning a beautiful green. It won't be long now that the grass will be full of the purple of Violets and then when they fade there will be the yellow of Dandelions to follow. The Violets and Crocuses are the part that I love (not so much the Dandelions though I don't hate them as some do). The Violets are so tiny that they only are about 1 inch high you can barely notice them until you are walking through them.... the Crocuses grow in the forest only. I have to go looking for them ... and then occasionally I will find an Orchid or two.... and they are so beautiful and fragile... its hard to believe that nature can offer such beauties in such fragile packages and still they survive year after year. With all the Pine Beetle devastation it is hard to believe that the forest can sustain anything on the forest floor. I worry that our forest will soon have the tracks of tractors and heavy equipment as they take out the dead wood... I am not sure I want that but I understand the worry since all that standing deadwood is a fire hazard... still a few more years and all that wood will be on the ground rotting under a bed of vegetation... if we can just hold off with forest fires for a few more years there will be no point in worrying... most of it will be down on the ground giving nutrition to the flowers on the forest floor... offering new homes to the wee mice and voles and squirrels that scurry in the underbrush... yes it is still a fire hazard but not as much.

For days now, the birds have been coming back in droves.  There is an army of Robins around the house... this concerns me as there seems to be more this year than there have been for many years. Teapot has just ordered thirty new strawberry plants which we intend on planting in large boxes above the ground. The last time we planted strawberry plants the Robins stole them as fast as they would ripen... we tried netting them and the voles got them... so this time we will plant them in those boxes that we used to use for the sheep to feed from. I will build a small platform for the boxes  and they will hopefully work to keep the ground animals away. But we will still have to net them to keep that army of Robins away too. If it is not the deer then it is the Robins... pests... they are all pests.... but still I can't begrudge them too much not if I am to enjoy the forest. They are part of the forest too..

Well enough of this maudlin stuff... I am spinning again and seeing good progress on the yarn for the socks. Today I will ply some of it and find out how much yarn I will get from my packages of carded fibre. 100 metres? Fifty metres? I'm not sure how much I will get but hopefully I will get a good amount and be able to start knitting... that way I can give my fingers a little break from spinning every so often and I can knit a little too.  And who knows... I might even get a chance for a wee walk to look for those Crocuses.

Yard Work Etc...

Today is the day that Teapot deemed that the annual yard cleanup should take place. It is a coolish day and slightly overcast so it is a good time to do yard work.

I am busy spinning (I'm actually having a wee break right now) but everyone else is out in the spring air doing what needs to be done. Teapot is raking up all the old hay in an effort to get rid of all the bits that fall out of the wheel barrow as we roll it across to the paddocks. He's burning it and it is making breathing outside very hard to do. Daughter #1 is working on the front of the house picking up an bits of plastic and garbage that has been dragged there by the dogs... or blown in on the wind. Daughter #2 is on the other side of the house doing the same. Only she has all the dogs hanging around her.  I think there is probably a bit of playing with the dogs going on for her too.

Meanwhile I have been spinning away for two days... The sock yarn is coming along.

The colour on this sucks for some reason... it should be white.

Yesterday I took off a small skein and knit it to see what it would look like in a knitted garment. I was quite pleased with the results.

Ah here the colour is a little more realistic.

I think this sock yarn will work just fine.

I have one more picture to show and that is of my cabled yarn...

I had finished this sample some time ago but forgot to include it on the day I posted pics of the snarls and marls... it is a mixed commercial batt with some wool and some cotton and other mystery fibres. Because it is mystery fibres I am trying to decide whether I should send this one as part of my homework or whether I should redo it in a fibre blend that can be calculated. Hmm... this is one I will ponder for a little while I guess... and since I have some time I am not terrifically worried yet.

It is pleasantly quiet here in the house and I have been up and on the go since quite early... 5:30 a.m. to be exact.  I love those early mornings when everyone is still in bed and I come downstairs and Narmie curls up by my feet and if I open a window slightly I can hear the early birds trilling their morning bird song. I would normally enjoy a coffee but these days coffee is not allowed in my world... I have been cut off from that particular pleasure... so now I drink decaf tea.... or a large glass of freshly squeezed O.J. It's still nice... but I do miss that cup of coffee.

Anyway I will end here as I only have more spinning stuff to talk about and that can get mighty boring to those who are not interested in spinning.

See y'all tomorrow.

Socks... Oh My!

I actually spelled the word out... and I say it all the time. For a lady who never wears them, I am beginning to feel an affinity for the darn things... I think that I have the bug... I like knitting socks (not wearing them but knitting them). And so it begins... the fifty hour project has been started. I have been busy for two days sampling and deciding on what I would end up with as a good sock yarn. I finally decided on a 50% cotton, 30% bamboo, and 20% ramie blend for my sock yarn. I had thought that less ramie and more bamboo would work but in the end I needed the ramie to give the yarn more strength. A sock yarn should be a hard wearing yarn, something that will stand up to the pounding that the feet will give it. But these are lace summer socks and so they should be cool on the feet and pretty.  The cotton will give them the coolness but cotton alone is just not hard wearing enough for my liking... in came the bamboo. The bamboo added to the cotton makes them much more lustrous but not really all the hardy.... so in came the ramie... and the ramie is good. It make the yarn so strong that breaking it even in the single is difficult. The decision in the end, is a good one. Also, I will dye them some colour that I like but it will have to be pastel. I have darker shades of Procion dye so I will have to really have to tone down those colours to get pastel anything.... just add water.... but it is all a matter of math. The depth of shade will be decided upon later...


Today is a windy day.... but the buds are coming out on the trees. There is a silver to their silhouette that means the grey fluff of pollination will soon be floating on the air. And as the sap begins to rise in the Pine trees we are beginning to see which ones have succumbed to the Pine Beetle infestation this past summer, fall and winter. I can't decide whether or not Dreamer (the horse) likes the wind or not. Every so often she flicks up her tail and goes for a little run around her paddock.  Either she is highly enjoying the wind or she is completely pissed off that it is so windy.  I have rolled up the rugs around the house and brought them out to be hung over the fence for a wash and a dry... but they will need to be washed all over again since they have all been blown down on the ground. (sigh)



Things are drying out quite nicely around the farm. The poop of the paddocks is no longer stinking and is drying out so well that it is disintegrating into the soil.  I will soon be out with my bags of grass seed as I put down the new seed in the bigger summer paddocks before the animals move into them in early May. Clearly the winter is behind us... we may still get days of blowing flurries.... we may still get days of cold rain but clearly the spring is here in all it annual splendor.  Even the birds are confirming this through their cheery songs on the early morning air. I hear them now around 5 a.m. tuning up for their serenade as we are sleeping nightly with the windows open. I just love spring.


I have been making sweet bread all morning and while I was at it,  I have been spinning on those socks as well. Back and forth between kitchen, computer, and wheel I have been moving... but now it is almost 2 p.m. and I started this post at 9 a.m. this morning... it is time to be done with it and at my wheel for real.  No more interruptions as I check the bread maker, and then the rising bread in the pans, and then the oven as I just put two lovely loaves on the cooling racks a few moments ago.  I have always hit the computer for a few more sentences on the way back to the sunroom to spin a little more. It is time to get to my work now and while that seems to imply that I haven't been working... ( I have spun eight rolags this morning which is a lot since I am spinning teeny tiny)... it does mean that I have been severely interrupted and could do a whole lot more. So I am off to spin spin spin....

To Myself.... Some Time

There's a difference between having time to yourself and being all alone. Being all alone means that you are alone... no one around you... not a soul. That kind of aloneness is not always welcome. Having time to yourself means time with no interruptions. It doesn't necessarily mean that there is no one about. It just means that you get lots done. Sometimes you can be alone in a very crowded room and not get any time to yourself. Sometimes you can have not a soul in sight and get nothing done. Sometimes you can get something done and feel very much alone.  But every now and again there comes a moment when all comes together and it is sweet when it happens.... all is quiet, there's not a soul around and you are thinking like an automaton and everything comes together so that suddenly you get lots done.... whether it be thinking up new ideas or actually, physically getting things done... it all comes together and suddenly you are superman.  For me the best part of my day is those first few hours when I am fresh and clear minded and full of vim and vigor. I love this time of year because it coaxes me out of bed to sunshine and birdsong. I watch the alpacas getting up from their night of stiffness in the hay to stretch and face the sun, nibble hay for a while and bump noses together. The dogs are playful chasing each other around the yard and warm tea in my hands steams so nicely waking me up slowly. And best of all, best of all there are blue skies all around me and I am alone.

At the moment it is just a little too early to go out on the deck... There is still frost all around and I am just wearing a simple nightgown. It is certainly too cold to be so exposed. But in a week or two when the night time temperatures don't dip quite so low I will wake and take my tea to the deck... there I will put in a little fire and await the company of my family. But during those moments of solitude, no doubt I will appreciate the world around me and thank heavens that I am here.... it will be a time of pleasurable activity. Maybe I will burn a tile for the ceiling of the sunroom as I sip my tea.... maybe I will spin a little, maybe I will just be alone with my thoughts. Either way that early morning solitude is something for which I feel very grateful. It doesn't mean that I don't love my family... or company for that matter... it just means that I enjoy my own company... and I guess that's not such a bad thing....

Hope you are having a day to remember and enjoy and that you are enjoying a little solitude, if you want it, too.

Trying Times... If We Only Knew The Half Of It

Shadow Weave has been giving me issues. Yesterday I sat down to try weaving on the loom and I needed to tie on to the front beam since I had noticed a couple of weeks ago that there were a couple of crossed threads and when I started to tie on to the front beam I discovered that there was a HUGE mistake with the tension.... and I hadn't even tied on yet. Teapot had been helping me wind on to the back beam... while I was pulling and untangling the fibres at the front of the loom Teapot was winding on the warp on the back and making sure that the newspaper was in between the layers of threads. Only when we got it finished I never thought to check his work... and that was a bad mistake in and of itself. So after that I discovered that Teapot had wound the warp on in such a way that it is not even on the back but thicker in the middle than on the edges...

The threads in the middle are NOT supposed to be shorter than the ones on either side.... this is what lead me to realize the problem... It means another full day of work just to get it to the point where I can weave. I'm growling just thinking about it.

this means that the tensions will suck worse and worse as I go along. So tomorrow I will have to spend the day trying to sort it out... by myself. : (

Meanwhile I haven't spun much for two days. Today my two dear friend came out from FSJ to have lunch with me and spend the day spinning and chatting about our yarns. By the time we had gone through our books (one of them is working on her MSP too and the other did some of the MSP courses but never went further) and going through all the things that we've been doing over the last few months, there was little or no time for spinning.  We also had to make a quick trip to the Thrift store here in HH looking for a roll of wallpaper that I am told will fix my tension issue on the loom.Not sure how that will work but I guess I will be head down and arse up tomorrow on that...

Meantime I am starting to work on the spinning composition for my 50 hour project which if you will recall is a pair of lace socks that look like this...

My blend will be 50% cotton, 40% bamboo, and 10% ramie. The cotton is lovely and soft, the bamboo has a little lustre and the ramie adds strength. I am looking forward to working on this project. I love these wee babies and maybe just maybe I might part with them as a Christmas gift.

In other areas of spinning I have pictures of the woollen and point of contact yarn. The pic of the woollen yarn just doesn't come close to showing how beautiful the yarn actually is... it is the softest... most sumptuous glorious fleece. Softer even I think than merino.

The yarn on the left the greyier one is the woollen spun yarn that I am so in love with. The other one is the same kind of fleece but a slightly browner and coarser fleece.  They are both Icelandic fleeces (type of sheep) and both are nice but the one on the left is just wow!

So let's see... here's the spiral...

The core is spun in Lyocel and the spiral single is spun in wool (Northern Lights) and it is spun thick and thin.

This flake yarn is two singles in Tussah silk plied together and I dropped in a flake of silk waste every so often.

If you look closely at this you can just see the little snarls of twisted single coming out of the yarn... this was a very poopy yarn to spin... it didn't want to work at all and eventually when I did get it to work it still sucks... what anyone would want with this is beyond me!

This is a marl yarn which is a fancy way of saying that it is a rag yarn... that means that it is one single one colour and the other single another colour.

This is my very strange designer yarn... It is cabled ramie and cotton blended and then tufts of cotton dropped into the cable as it is twisting.

So that's it... I have the fifty hour project left. and tomorrow begins the very hard work of getting it started. I will be spinning the first single for a 3 ply yarn. Very fine.... very fine.... not sure about the t.p.i. yet. We'll see.

Meanwhile the two friends that came today helped me once again celebrate my birthday.... a lovely kerosene lamp like the ones of old used in the bedroom... it's tiny and has a lovely spinning wheel. Then I was also given a very cool spindle bag and a cute little wooden box that has a magnetized top... it will be perfect for holding little things like pins and needles.... or maybe a ring or something equally small. (The wood smells really nice... it must have been rubbed with bee's wax.) I am a very lucky gal to have been given such thoughtful gifts. Or maybe my little box can hold the beaded spinny things for my Trindle Spindle... I have several sets of beads that would fit in that box just nicely.... but that Trindle spindle is a story for another day.

Teapot and Daughter #1 have gone to their regular monthly JCR meeting. Daughter #2 is just reading (her usual past time....). she is pleased with herself tonight as she has written a story for her grade 9 Language Arts class and received full marks for her efforts. As a matter of a fact she even received 5 extra bonus points for writing and passing in her plot outline. She has talent in the writing area and writes stories that even grab my interest.

Speaking of stories that grab my interest... I am reading a book that I got for Easter which is called Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant.  It is the story of Santa Catarina which is a fictional nunnery located in Ferrara Italy in the 1500s. The story is one of women who are sent to the nunnery after being deemed unmarriageable in the eyes of their families whether it be because of deformities or because they are second daughters and there is not enough money for their dowry. It is a startling reminder of how lucky we are to live in an age when women have rights under the law. the women of that time had no choice but to make good on an almost unbearable situation. They find a certain type of freedom within the walls of the nunnery even though they are subject to strict discipline and forced poverty. So far, I am enjoying it very well.

Anyway, I will end here... as I have tried to get this posted several times today and I kept losing it or the phone would ring or the kids would distract me or the pictures were not clear enough... you know... stuff kept happening to take me away from what I was trying to do.  I'll end here since right at the moment it's looking like if I hit publish it might actually get done!

Birthday Pleasures

I have been given the most epic spinning/knitting/weaving bag. For my Birthday.  Teapot took me shopping today and neither of us knew what I wanted for my birthday. I had been thinking about a folding directors chair... you know the one that CT sells and that are made of nylon and nice sturdy steal frame and don't bucket your butt. But I couldn't find one that I really liked. They were all too low for spinning which is the most important reason for buying the darn thing. I mean when I do summer jaunts with the wheel in tow I really want a nice perch for the bum. But the perfect height though is not so easy to find.  But while looking for the right chair Teapot and I came across an epic bag,... a perfect bag... the bag of my dreams... and it's not really a bag. It is a tool box/bag. Remember the tool box that carpenters of old would carry. They were wooden with a handle. Well DeWalt makes one that has an aluminum handle and is made out of nylon and let me tell you there are enough little pockets and pouches to stow any spinning or knitting gadget you could ever want to use. I can even see using it for carrying around my pin looms. Perfect.

It has a super strong handle and I can't wait to use it.... and to CJ... mine beats out that Lee Valley one you have!!! (But I'm not competing eh!) Meanwhile I was also given money towards my new loom. I have wanted a new floor loom for ever... I mean a brand spankin' new loom... one right off the assembly line. I have the loom of my dreams picked out. It is a LeClerc Compact eight harness... and it's not cheap... not like the sucker I have now. We are talking $2000.00 smackeroos. So I have started a loom fund. Dear old Pops is holding said cash until suck time as I have the required amount. I have one tenth so far. Then best of all... when I got home this evening waiting for me was a clean house. The Daughters got home from school and washed and scrubbed and swept and mopped... the house was spick and span. And on top of that they got me a iTunes card so that I can now download more tunes that I like. I need some new tunes so that I will do tomorrow. All in all a lovely day spent with my hubby and no work not even spinning for level 5... or 3 for that matter...

Tomorrow I will be working though since I will be entertaining some of my friends on Wednesday who are coming here to enjoy some spinning and show and tell... I haven't had a chance to enjoy them for a while.

I am off to bed... all is quiet and it seems that evening is the new computer time. Hey by the way, I think I finally have this darn thing working again.... I am not posting from the phone and I do not have to use the iPhone as a wireless device to connect to the internet... we think we have the bug fixed... let's keep our fingers crossed.  Meanwhile the truck is at the dealership and evidently the cam phasers are rally screwed... this means that they will be pulling the engine apart again and may mean that after 6 weeks we might get a new engine.... I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one too.

Ok now I really am off to bed... since I've been up since 4 a.m.  I think I'm tired... but then maybe I'm too tired to really know!

Late Into The Night

It's been a busy few days that's for sure. With Teapot gone with Daughter #1 for another JCR outing it left Daughter #2 and I to pick up the slack. In addition I have been working on the level 5 homework and have made great inroads. As a matter of a fact all I have left to spin is the fibre for the fifty hour project. I still have a few write ups to do but even there I am coming along.  As a matter of a fact I just finished all the t.p.i. write ups and glad to have it done. I was so pleased this afternoon when I finished the last sample. It looked like yuck but met all the requirements so it's done and over with. Some of these novelty yarns are for the birds literally. I can't see what on earth people see in some of them. I worked for two days before I got a satisfactory Snarl yarn.... it is also known as a eyelash yarn... but in the end when I got it done it hung right and looks alright... still I have no clue why anyone in their right mind would want to spin a yarn of this nature.... crap that's what I say. Then I had to design a yarn with cellulose fibre and honestly I think that's for the birds too. Mine is a cabled yarn (that's a four ply yarn that been spun and plied and then respun....  for you non-spinner types) and my cabled yarn is also a flake yarn with tufts of cotton dropped into it between the two two plies.... clear as mud right... anyway it too looks like no one in their right mind would want to knit with it.... I guess you could frame it and call it art. I think it's junk.

Tomorrow Teapot and I are heading into FSJ to once again take the truck back for more repairs... the whole damn truck seems to be falling apart. this time they are replacing one of the pistons and the cam phasers.... ??? whatever the hell that is! I think they should replace the whole f-ing engine... sorry for the cursing but honestly the whole truck would make anyone swear....

I decided to go this time because it is my birthday and I figured that Teapot could afford to buy me lunch and a birthday gift.... the big 47 hits.... jeese it feels like I should be turning 30.... and then some days I feel like I should be turning 92! Yesterday I had to go to a meeting at the church... yes I've been roped in again... to a lesser degree though. While at the meeting I was presented with a chocolate cake with berries over the top... lovely and tasty. Then my dear friend gave me a gift and inside peeping out of the top of the gift bag was a new friend....

I've decided to give the wee guy a name.... he is Mr. Tummly.... George to be exact. Mr. George Tummly.... meet the world. He will be taking a seat of honour on the deck this summer. And I am hoping to add others to the deckor (get it... ha ha... deckor/decor) I have fallen in love with these little gaffers after watching the Disney movie Gnomeo and Juliet.

It's getting late and all are in bed for long ago and I should be heading there too. So I will sign off here and head to bed with a promise of pictures of spirals, flakes, snarls and marls, and cables and tufts.... etc... maybe not tomorrow though as I will be celebrating making it through another year.... cause at this point I'm glad to say that I can still do that !

Oh Dear... What A Waste

You would think that I would be ecstatic about now. I should be saying that I'm over the moon cause all I have left is the fifty hour project. But that's not the way of it at all. I woke up this morning to spring snow. After weeks of lovely sunshine it was hard to get motivated. I headed off into town (that would be the town of HH)and proceeded to get groceries after letting Teapot and the girls off at the school. By the time I got home it was after 11 a.m. I put the groceries away and put the kettle on for a cup of tea. Soon I was sitting in the recliner in the sunroom with the radio softly making background noise. There by my chair was the book I had been given for Easter. I had only read the first chapter in the last week and so it really hadn't grabbed my interest much yet. I picked it up and began to read where I had left off. Next thing you know my tea was cold and it was 2:30 p.m. And I needed to go pick up Teapot and the girls. After we got home it was a mad dash to get Teapot out the door again. Daughter #1 and her father are off to camp Sagitawa for the weekend. I spun one single for the snarly yarn but I still wasn't feeling motivated. So I picked up my book once again, fully intending to spin after supper. That never happened. So now it is bed time... And the light at the end of the tunnel hasn't gotten any bigger. My own damn fault, I know. I blame it on the snow. I think I'll read a little more.. Before I turn out the light. Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant... Very good... So good in fact it helped me to forget spinning today... Too bad it didn't help me forget the snow. Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

OMG There's The Light!!!

I just finished the second last question in level 5. This has been a really really productive day. I just have to spin a Snarl yarn... just the sound of if makes me want to get snarly. My spiral yarn came off quite nicely... but it did take five samples to get one I was satisfied with. The flake yarn came together perfectly first try.... but considering how flakey I am that doesn't surprise me. Then I did the marl yarn which turns out to be nothing more than a barber pole... easy. Then I just spun the two singles for my designer cellulose yarn... I and doing a marly flakey celulose yarn in cotton and bamboo for that.... odd I know but then it is a designer yarn.... it's supposed to be odd. I am so glad to be at the end... just a few write ups over the weekend and then the fifty hour project.... I could work all next week and be done in no time at all.... woo hoo!

My new scales just arrived since my weigh scales for my yarn have been giving me trouble since the dog knocked them over and they hit the floor with a resounding crash... that was back during the winter. Sometimes when I order scales through the mail I feel sort of odd you know like I'm some kind of drug dealer... if people only knew that my precision scales are for weighing wool.... snork... it's rather funny the thought that I might be weighing anything else.... of course I'm weighing wool.

I'm off... I'm going to finish that cellulose fibre yarn which will take all of twenty minutes to ply and then I will be dealing with snarls.

: \ This is my snarly face!

Yep... I finally can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

All Kinds Of Alternatives

"With cells and computers and iPads and laptops in this house some damn thing must work!" I said to Teapot in frustration. So the dear boy told me that there were alternatives. I could hook up his laptop to my cell phone if I wanted internet which really made me happy because on a laptop I can write here and actually have the return key recognized. That means paragraphs are recognized and poetry doesn't just run all together and it means being able to fix my spelling mistakes. It also means that I can include pictures! This makes me very happy. Still I will be glad when we get our computer running again. With Teapot needing his laptop at school it means working on the blog when it's convenient for him.... which can be slightly irritating.

So what has been going on around here since the fiasco of computer irritability?  Well, to begin with March break has come and gone and so has Easter. Spring is here with a Shazam! The crows are around here picking through the hay stack looking for the perfect piece that will coax the female to come hither if you know what I mean. The alpaca poo is drying out which is always a good thing since when it dries out the smell is not quite so potent. I am now waiting for the first robin to show itself because to me that is the sign that the ground has thawed and the worms are moving... a great sign that spring is fully on the move. There are still patches of snow in the shady places but that is it.... nary a bit to be seen anywhere else.

Meanwhile level 5 homework is progressing satisfactorily... I spent most of Easter week spinning t.p.i. questions

There they are in all their glory.

2.5 t.p.i.

3 t.p.i. in Lincoln

5 t.p.i. in silk

6 t.p.i. in medium wool

7 t.p.i. in cotton

8 t.p.i. in my choice of fibre and I chose merino wool.

10 t.p.i. in merino

I'm almost finished except for a few snarls, marls, flakes, and write ups and of course that 50 hour project.... but I'm hoping to that by Monday I will be working on the 50 hour project with everything else behind me. My goal: to finish level 5 by the end of April.... then I need to focus on what's left of level 3. And surprisingly that's been coming along too. I have been working on the t.p.i. questions for that too... so once that's behind me the worst is over. I look forward to getting 12 t.p.i. done and 15 t.p.i. done. These still look like sh-- well you get my drift.

Teapot has finished our taxes so that is one nasty spring job behind us. Next thing we have to work on is our alpacas. They will be sheared, trimmed, and given shots the first week of May, then they will be allowed back out on spring pasture.... I'm sure they will be happy to eat grass again after so many months of hay but at least it was good hay this year.

So that's it from this small farm in the North. I am off to get laundry ready to go to my mother's and father since the pump in the washer finally died completely and it leaks all over the place. There's been nothing funny to talk about for such a while now... except that Teapot tells me that I was laughing in my sleep last night. I did sort of vaguely recall waking up and thinking that something I had been dreaming about was hilarious.... but for the life of me I can't remember what in the heck it was.... still there's something vaguely humorous about umbrellas this morning.... but it's all so surreal... honestly I don't know what that was about.

The sun is out and my spinning wheel awaits... i'm off so I will wish you a wonderful day.... a wonderful spring day.... see ya

Here There And Everywhere

So I'm sitting here waiting for the water to warm up in the hot water heater. I have friends coming today for a day of spinning and taking no doubt! Sue and Debbie are coming and Carol who is my HH spinning buddy. March/Easter break is over and things get back to normal around here only chaos is the new normal around here. Finally the dealership called to say that they had fixed the truck yesterday. Teapot drove in to get it. Now it is worse than it ever was! So this is it. The riot act gets read today with threats of lawyers! Meanwhile the washer leaks like a sieve and Daughter #2 went out of here this morning in her sister's jeans because hers were all dirty. It's her own fault because most of her jeans are crumpled in a heap on the floor of her room. They could have been taken to Mom's and washed there if she had managed to put them in the laundry basket! Silly girl. Car won't work... Washer won't work... And computer is on the fritz. Meanwhile the sunroom is littered with Icelandic fleece as I try to spin a satisfactory woollen yarn. I hope the water is warm by now because if it's not then that means the hot water tank didn't run out due to too many showers, it means that that' on the fritz too!

An Ode To The Earless Bunny

When children play and search for that symbol of life, The oval of new life, And mother nature reminds us of all things green and growing, of new life and new love, and hope eternal, Then we too return to our roots of youth. Oh happy Easter, when earless bunnies shall prevail, Oh joy divine, This sunlit day when all pleasure is in the brightness and charm of earth's slow rotation toward light, Is not this day the best day of all? Happy Easter to one and all! May your ham be cooked well and your turkeys be tasty and through it all you remember how lucky we are to live in this great world of warm winds and spring-like brightness... And if you are one of the unlucky ones that is enjoying the last vestiges of winter may your pain be of short duration. I'm off to enjoy the ears of my bunny... And I might even brush out the real one.... ; )

I'd Rather Be.... Not Spinning!!!

I am sitting here so po'd with spinning at this moment that I have decided that I need a real break from it... By real I mean more than a few minutes. I have been spinning all day today and all day yesterday trying to get an illusive 12 t.p.i. skein of yarn and I am getting nowhere fast. I break it midway through plying it...this is a big no no! I get 10 t.p.i. Or 9 t.p.i. But not 12 t.p.i. and I am certainly NOT having fun! I have to say that I really hate these high t.p.i. yarns. I keep wondering who in their right mind would want a yarn that has such high twist. I will give it one more try tonight. If I get it, great! If not, then I will set it aside for now and stick with level 5 homework. I have been trying to get this yarn with silk so I will try with cotton and see if that is any better. Actually I was just thinking that I enjoyed sweeping dirt on the floor from the dog's paws better than spinning right now. You know it's bad when! *I'm using this little star to signify a new paragraph since yesterday's try at making paragraphs with Daughter #2's iPad was an abysmal failure. *Easter is going quietly this year with dinner at Mom and Pop's house tomorrow. Teapot has been finishing some panelling in the bathroom upstairs and after try #4 of spinning a 12 t.p.i. I decided a nice walk in the spring air was a necessity. Out I went into the beautiful sunshine with my ever faithful companion Narmie... and the kitten who went for a walk too. She is now in heat... Another f-ing cat with blinking pregnancy issues! Once again we are caught in the cycle of kittens. But I'm determined to get them aborted if I have to. It's off to the veterinarian on the 16th. A great birthday gift to me. Payday and a day waiting for the kitten to get her ovaries removed... But at least I can go shopping while I wait. Hmmm... maybe a cat at the vet's won't be so bad after all. *I have been listening to CBC radio and find that the budget cuts to CBC are horrible. Still, sometimes I wonder if CBc has diversified too much. Maybe we could do without CBC 2 and just have CBC 1 radio and the T.V. Station. Would that not solve some of the problem? Meanwhile Harper is cutting funding to libraries across the country and the first thing cut is free Internet access to those who need it...and who needs it most? Well... I would say that it is the poor.... those who cannot access the Internet from home. Then there is the roll back to 67 for the Old Age Pension. I'm now not going to get a cent until I'm 67. Sucks to be me! And if I was truly relying on it I sure would be really ticked. But then I might not have to worry about it if I pop off early! Anyway CBC radio was interesting for the most part though I thought the stupid program about obsessive behavior was odd especially when they interviewed the guy who thought that all food fell into one of two categories. one category was dirty food and the other was.. You got it...clean food. An example of clean food was a squished hamburger and sushi. Peanut butter came into the category of dirty food! That was enough for me.... I turned of the radio but not before hearing the interview about the fellow who had a pencil sharpening business. he obsessed about beautifully sharpened pencils... Like they are art... Ok that was weird too. So now I'm listening to world music on my iPhone. Lovely. *I hope your Easter is full of flowers, chocolate,and hugs... 'cause what's life without a few hugs?

Writing From My Daughter's iPad

Ok this works a whole lot better than trying to type from my phone. I will have to borrow her iPad and then save my pennies and buy one for myself. I definitely like this darn wee thing. It is great. I wonder if blogger will recognize paragraphs from this thing! Ish all give it a try. OK so this is a new paragraph. I won't know if this works until I post because I can put the paragraph in in the draft but then when I hit post the paragraphs disappear. Still, if I can make this work it would be great. Now I think I will try posting a picture from this thing. Ok, I can't figure that thing out! That was just plain weird. Maybe I will have to get someone to help me figure that out. I like this little thing though. It's really sharp! Tell me what you think.... And let me know what is your technology thingy that you like best. Meanwhile I'm off to spin a 12 t.p.i. See ya...

Virus(cont.)

By the way... When I post from my phone I for some reason can't do paragraphs. And May near the end of the previous post should have been capitalized. And sorry I won't be responding to comments until I get my computer fixed!!!

Virus

The reason we got a Mac computer was mainly because they're pretty good at keeping viruses at bay. But about a week or maybe two ago you will remember that our keyboard started giving trouble... well now the whole thing is on the fritz. So I am typing this on my phone 'cause I can't access the Internet from our main computer. I hate typing from my phone! The keyboard is so small and I can't always fix my mistakes (and there are plenty of those!). So I hope you will forgive my mistakes today and put it down to rather large digits and a wee small type pad. I know I promised photos but I'm not that good!! I haven't figured out how to put photos on this blog from my phone. I have been working like a daemon. It's been head down and arse up for days. I had a warp to put on my loom and when I got it finished a few days passed before I was able to weave. But Wednesday I tried a few throws of my shuttle and discovered a mistake in the threading. Argh! So yesterday I had to pull out 93 threads and rethread them. They are not finished but I will try to finish them today. So with all the leaning over the loom it really has been head down and arse up! I think Teapot is starting to think I have a different face... that of my butt! Perhaps I should paint a happy face on the seat of my pants.... or borrow the mother-in-law's shorts! In addition to the warp for the loom I have been spinning. Lots! Teapot and the girls have been enjoying mid- term break but I have hardly been out through the door. I have all t.p.i. samples done for level 5 and two left for level 3. I will try to finish those today. I sure hope so because I would like to take the rest of Easter and enjoy it! I am slowly getting though the questions for level 5. After the t.p.i. section is done, I have eight more questions to do. I am hoping to have them done by my birthday on the sixteenth... then two weeks to complete the fifty hour project and level 5 will be going in the mail for marking. Then I will spend may concentrating on level 3. And it will be head down and arse up again! Now... I am going to post this. I hope it doesn't disappear into cyberspace. Here goes...

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry.... I Have Been Writing.. Really I Have

Head down, arse up. Head down, arse up. Head down, arse up..... that's what it has been like here for the last few days. We are still getting jerked around by the Ford Dealership....

Weaving is not happening though I do have the warp on the loom and I've been spinning t.p.i. samples... there will be pictures tomorrow if I can swing it at all.

Company has been swinging through the doors regularly and between sweeping mud up after the cats, dogs and husband/kids, I think I might just add a broom to my feet so that when I walk I'm sweeping too. Mud is everywhere and permeates all parts of the house. Nightly, I have to shake out the top blanket of our bed, over the rail of the balcony upstairs because the dogs have jumped up on the bed with their messy toes. God, I'm sick of it.  Today it is raining and that means that the ground will thaw and the snow water will drain into the ground and maybe, miracle of miracles, the mud will disappear.

I have been writing though, just not on this blog.... you can read here.... to see what's happening and what I've been writing about.

I'm off to spin another t.p.i. sample.... there's a light at the end of the tunnel for level 5... I can see it now... And level 3???  Well, that train's still in the tunnel in the dark... but if I can just get level 5 done then maybe there will be progress there too...

See ya... with photos soon.