Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
W.A.W.O.W.
This has been What A Week Of Work thus the W.A.W.O.W. I have been busy all week. I haven't been out through the door. Now you may think that is terrible since the weather has turned milder. You might think its a chance to be lazy but for me it meant a week of catching up on my level 2 homework. I am not caught up, but I am making progress. I am not reading, and I am not watching T.V., (we don't have that anyway), I haven't been wasting my time on the internet. No, indeed, I've been spinning and I have pictures to prove it.
I started out the week with the very good intentions of getting the section of questions on mohair finished but then I got caught in another power outage. I couldn't weigh my blended fibre as I have an electric weigh scales and so I looked through my questions to see what I could work on that didn't require a blend. Ah ha! I found a question regarding needlework. The question said to spin a yarn (wool so no blending) appropriate for needlework and finish a small needlework sampler with your yarn. I began by reading what was considered a good yarn for needlework and decided on duplicating a three ply called Persian. I copied that as best I could in yellow, wine, and blue. I spun a ten yard skein in each colour to include as my samples along with enough to finish the sampler. Then I dug out a needle appropriate for needlework (not all of them are you know... go figure!) and began to investigate which stitches I would be using.
I had taken out a library book some time ago on the stitches used for needlework in which there are over 200. Sheesh! Deciding which stitches to use was not going to be easy. I started in on the stitching and what do you know..... I Iike needlework! I can see how this could become addictive. I am just about finished and as usual I can't wait to show it off.
Meanwhile once the lights came back on there was all the mohair I had been working on lying all over the living room. so in between finishing the yarn for the needlework and actually doing the needlework I have been carding, combing and spinning mohair and mohair blends. I also was trying to get everything that I had done in my book with labels and commentaries and everything that needed to be done to meet the requirements for my homework. I have accomplished a lot I think. Have a look.
This is llama spun and in my book with a 3"x3" sample for a vest.
This is a sample of a knitted shawl in alpaca.
These are yarn samples I have spun this week. The three top ones in wine, blue, and yellow are the samples for the needlework.
This is my needlework sample.
This last sample is a blend of mohair, wool, and silk which I will use for my mohair with texture sample. I can't wait to spin it!
So there you have it.... W.A.W.O.W.
I started out the week with the very good intentions of getting the section of questions on mohair finished but then I got caught in another power outage. I couldn't weigh my blended fibre as I have an electric weigh scales and so I looked through my questions to see what I could work on that didn't require a blend. Ah ha! I found a question regarding needlework. The question said to spin a yarn (wool so no blending) appropriate for needlework and finish a small needlework sampler with your yarn. I began by reading what was considered a good yarn for needlework and decided on duplicating a three ply called Persian. I copied that as best I could in yellow, wine, and blue. I spun a ten yard skein in each colour to include as my samples along with enough to finish the sampler. Then I dug out a needle appropriate for needlework (not all of them are you know... go figure!) and began to investigate which stitches I would be using.
I had taken out a library book some time ago on the stitches used for needlework in which there are over 200. Sheesh! Deciding which stitches to use was not going to be easy. I started in on the stitching and what do you know..... I Iike needlework! I can see how this could become addictive. I am just about finished and as usual I can't wait to show it off.
Meanwhile once the lights came back on there was all the mohair I had been working on lying all over the living room. so in between finishing the yarn for the needlework and actually doing the needlework I have been carding, combing and spinning mohair and mohair blends. I also was trying to get everything that I had done in my book with labels and commentaries and everything that needed to be done to meet the requirements for my homework. I have accomplished a lot I think. Have a look.
This is llama spun and in my book with a 3"x3" sample for a vest.
This is a sample of a knitted shawl in alpaca.
These are yarn samples I have spun this week. The three top ones in wine, blue, and yellow are the samples for the needlework.
This is my needlework sample.
This last sample is a blend of mohair, wool, and silk which I will use for my mohair with texture sample. I can't wait to spin it!
So there you have it.... W.A.W.O.W.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Crude, Rude and Socially Unacceptable
Please excuse the crude, rude and socially unacceptable vocabulary used in the previous post. My excuse is that I was in this state....
Actually this pic was taken a few years ago and I can't drink wine any more since I have developed my most inconvenient allergy to alcohol. I would have liked to have been in that state however, I was more in this state.....
Actually this pic was taken a few years ago and I can't drink wine any more since I have developed my most inconvenient allergy to alcohol. I would have liked to have been in that state however, I was more in this state.....
Monday, January 26, 2009
In The Dark
We lost the power today. Late afternoon came and Hubby and the Daughters came home from school. I went out to help Hubby feed the animals and when I came back in the lights were out. Those of you who live in a city or at least a town where water is supplied by the powers that be, won't understand that when your water comes from a cistern that means that you can't use the sh-t-er. So for a few hours you turn red, and squeeze your legs together in the hopes that you won't be the first to leave a deposit that just won't go away. Worse still, once there has been a deposit you really don't want to be the next to have to lift the toilet seat and have to smell the deposit while you add to it. Cisterns mean pumps, pumps mean electricity, electricity means power, no power no flushing. Yuck!
Another negative is that when the power goes off in the winter there is no way to cook in this house. We don't even have a propane barbeque on which we can heat something. Hubby did go out and brave the cold and warm some IMPs on a Coleman stove. Thank God for Mr. Coleman. We as Canadian Rangers leaders have on hand at any given time enough food to keep us through any state of emergency for a week. IMPs are the army's way of feeding soldiers in the field. IMP stands for Individual Meal Packet. These are not the worst thing in life to have to expose yourself to and some of the meals are downright tolerable, but to have to live on them for any length of time is to put yourself through meal monotony. They all have a packaged taste that ruins any other effect that might make them good. They also have a bad effect in that the amount of dietary fibre is just not sufficient to do the job. Not to mention the amount of calories that are meant to enable a soldier to live in strenuous conditions and would pile on the weight for any average joe. A week of IMPs and you wouldn't be able to walk because you would be stuck in the chair since your a-- would be permanently jammed into it from the extra unnecessary fat added. For tonight when the power was off though, IMPs meant full tummies on a cold night.
Speaking of cold.... losing the power here means putting on sweaters and praying that the power comes on again before the pipes freeze. I was just starting to feel chilled when the power came on and the furnace blasted into life again. I can safely say I breathed a sigh of relief.
Also, losing the power means Hubby or I have to take the girls to my parents place for showers so that in the morning they don't look and feel fousty. (Fousty is a Newfy term which you will just have to look up). Tonight Hubby was cajoled into doing that, which meant he had to sit with his in-laws for a period of time. This can or cannot be good depending on whether he is enlisted to fix something. Fixing things irritates Hubby no matter who asks.
All I know is, losing the power is an opportunity to take pleasure in knowing that next year when the renovations are complete and we have a wood stove that heats, cooks, lights, and gives joy to those who need to use the facilities, we won't have to rely on IMPs to take away the need.
Another negative is that when the power goes off in the winter there is no way to cook in this house. We don't even have a propane barbeque on which we can heat something. Hubby did go out and brave the cold and warm some IMPs on a Coleman stove. Thank God for Mr. Coleman. We as Canadian Rangers leaders have on hand at any given time enough food to keep us through any state of emergency for a week. IMPs are the army's way of feeding soldiers in the field. IMP stands for Individual Meal Packet. These are not the worst thing in life to have to expose yourself to and some of the meals are downright tolerable, but to have to live on them for any length of time is to put yourself through meal monotony. They all have a packaged taste that ruins any other effect that might make them good. They also have a bad effect in that the amount of dietary fibre is just not sufficient to do the job. Not to mention the amount of calories that are meant to enable a soldier to live in strenuous conditions and would pile on the weight for any average joe. A week of IMPs and you wouldn't be able to walk because you would be stuck in the chair since your a-- would be permanently jammed into it from the extra unnecessary fat added. For tonight when the power was off though, IMPs meant full tummies on a cold night.
Speaking of cold.... losing the power here means putting on sweaters and praying that the power comes on again before the pipes freeze. I was just starting to feel chilled when the power came on and the furnace blasted into life again. I can safely say I breathed a sigh of relief.
Also, losing the power means Hubby or I have to take the girls to my parents place for showers so that in the morning they don't look and feel fousty. (Fousty is a Newfy term which you will just have to look up). Tonight Hubby was cajoled into doing that, which meant he had to sit with his in-laws for a period of time. This can or cannot be good depending on whether he is enlisted to fix something. Fixing things irritates Hubby no matter who asks.
All I know is, losing the power is an opportunity to take pleasure in knowing that next year when the renovations are complete and we have a wood stove that heats, cooks, lights, and gives joy to those who need to use the facilities, we won't have to rely on IMPs to take away the need.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Meandering Mind
I'm sitting here after a very busy and tiring day, (I spent the day cleaning my house... no small feat let me assure you) and I am listening to some music in an effort to relax. My mind keeps wandering to different topics and ideas. It is actually quite relaxing to listen to music and to let your mind wander all over the place. You are in for a very weird experience since I thought that it might be cool to just write about what ever pops into my mind.
I am listening to Since You've Been Gone by Theory Of A Deadman..... seriously depressing words.... lovely music. Wonderful harmonizing. I can't believe that there is more modern music that I actually like. Most of the music these days has warbling girls who can't sing for beans. They warble all over the place and you have to wonder who actually told them that they could sing.
Hubby and I like to listen to Randy Bachman on Vinyl Cafe on CBC radio on Saturday nights. He usually has good music and gives you a lot of information that you would likely never know, unless you did a lot of research. A few months ago I sent an email and they actually read it out loud.
Hubby keeps distracting me by talking to me and here I am trying to write this and listen to my music and then he keeps talking to me which means I have to pull the head phones out of my ears and he tells me something interesting that Randy just said on the radio which means I'm not getting to listen a whole lot to my music.
My living room looks nice again and I changed the furniture around.... I figure I might as well change the furniture if I am going to have to pull out the furniture to vaccuum under it anyway. A change is as good as a rest they say and I tend to agree. The fact is that the woolies from spinning so much this week was starting to get away from me. The whole house had dust bunnies that were growling when you passed them... they were starting to escape the dark corners and chase us around. Scarey!
I know when the dust bunnies get out of hand that I have been remiss in my housewifely duties. Hubby doesn't see dirt and the kids know that if they complain they will be enlisted to help, so they tend to keep quiet too. I know when they do start to complain that I have really gone too long with out vaccuuming and dusting.
Duff is the culprit. She is so hairy and big and when she sheds hair its just nasty. Tootsie is a non-shedding dog and I like that. Do yourself a fovour and if you get a dog get one that doesn't shed.
I have never been the kind of person who puts housework at the front of priorities.... it is something that gets done when I have no choice but to be swallowed alive by nuclear dust bunnies or the kitchen floor can't support any more sticky stuff. I know that maybe the house needs some attention when there is a shower of stuff that comes down off the steps when someone walks down over them. When the logs in our house start to look grey instead of golden then it is time to vaccuum them too. There are just too many better things to spend my time on. You know. Family, spinning, friends, knitting, strangers, weaving, dogs, felting, farm, writing, spining, spinning and spinning some more. There's just not enough time to sweat the dust and dirt.... I try to get over it and clean when it gets out of hand. I figure I only have 70 odd or 80 odd years to live and I'm not going to spend any more time cleaning than necessary.
Well I had better go to bed and sleep because I need a clear mind for the Church AGM tomorrow...
Does your mind meander too?
I am listening to Since You've Been Gone by Theory Of A Deadman..... seriously depressing words.... lovely music. Wonderful harmonizing. I can't believe that there is more modern music that I actually like. Most of the music these days has warbling girls who can't sing for beans. They warble all over the place and you have to wonder who actually told them that they could sing.
Hubby and I like to listen to Randy Bachman on Vinyl Cafe on CBC radio on Saturday nights. He usually has good music and gives you a lot of information that you would likely never know, unless you did a lot of research. A few months ago I sent an email and they actually read it out loud.
Hubby keeps distracting me by talking to me and here I am trying to write this and listen to my music and then he keeps talking to me which means I have to pull the head phones out of my ears and he tells me something interesting that Randy just said on the radio which means I'm not getting to listen a whole lot to my music.
My living room looks nice again and I changed the furniture around.... I figure I might as well change the furniture if I am going to have to pull out the furniture to vaccuum under it anyway. A change is as good as a rest they say and I tend to agree. The fact is that the woolies from spinning so much this week was starting to get away from me. The whole house had dust bunnies that were growling when you passed them... they were starting to escape the dark corners and chase us around. Scarey!
I know when the dust bunnies get out of hand that I have been remiss in my housewifely duties. Hubby doesn't see dirt and the kids know that if they complain they will be enlisted to help, so they tend to keep quiet too. I know when they do start to complain that I have really gone too long with out vaccuuming and dusting.
Duff is the culprit. She is so hairy and big and when she sheds hair its just nasty. Tootsie is a non-shedding dog and I like that. Do yourself a fovour and if you get a dog get one that doesn't shed.
I have never been the kind of person who puts housework at the front of priorities.... it is something that gets done when I have no choice but to be swallowed alive by nuclear dust bunnies or the kitchen floor can't support any more sticky stuff. I know that maybe the house needs some attention when there is a shower of stuff that comes down off the steps when someone walks down over them. When the logs in our house start to look grey instead of golden then it is time to vaccuum them too. There are just too many better things to spend my time on. You know. Family, spinning, friends, knitting, strangers, weaving, dogs, felting, farm, writing, spining, spinning and spinning some more. There's just not enough time to sweat the dust and dirt.... I try to get over it and clean when it gets out of hand. I figure I only have 70 odd or 80 odd years to live and I'm not going to spend any more time cleaning than necessary.
Well I had better go to bed and sleep because I need a clear mind for the Church AGM tomorrow...
Does your mind meander too?
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Trials Of A Wannabe Master
It warmed up... that's my excuse for not writing here for a while. I hauled new hay in for the animals. I hauled water. I shoveled pathways. I caught up on outside things to do. Then it started to get colder and it started to snow and that's when I panicked. With thoughts of spring in my mind the previous week, and knowing how much the cold temps have made me want spring in a terrible way, I knew I had better get started working on my level 2 homework while the cold temps kept me housebound. I haven't even let myself knit. All because it warmed up to a balmy plus 7 degrees.
The one thing that I have noticed about my spinning this week is that I can't spin for beans. Grist is certainly an issue. (That's the thickness of the singles for you lay people.) Not one of my skeins meets my idea of good spinning. But it is going off to the instructor anyway, I don't have time to fool with it to make it perfect. I know that I am not going to get the great mark that I did last year but I had hoped that it would be better than just ok. Thing is I have left it too long to be finicky about it now. It is almost February. Being so relaxed for so long has made me definitely notice that my spinning has deteriorated over the months.
I have a problem.... because it is almost February and I have a trip in Feb as well as a trip in April, I know I am down to the wire on this homework. There is no time to lose. If I do one section a week every week (except the ones I am away) I will finish my homework in June. This is not good. I would like to have my homework finished before that so that I could have a month of reprieve before I am back at it again. Arrrggghhh!
Well, if I'm going to finish a section today I had better get back at it. WAAAAAAGGHHH! I suck as a master spinner. : {
The one thing that I have noticed about my spinning this week is that I can't spin for beans. Grist is certainly an issue. (That's the thickness of the singles for you lay people.) Not one of my skeins meets my idea of good spinning. But it is going off to the instructor anyway, I don't have time to fool with it to make it perfect. I know that I am not going to get the great mark that I did last year but I had hoped that it would be better than just ok. Thing is I have left it too long to be finicky about it now. It is almost February. Being so relaxed for so long has made me definitely notice that my spinning has deteriorated over the months.
I have a problem.... because it is almost February and I have a trip in Feb as well as a trip in April, I know I am down to the wire on this homework. There is no time to lose. If I do one section a week every week (except the ones I am away) I will finish my homework in June. This is not good. I would like to have my homework finished before that so that I could have a month of reprieve before I am back at it again. Arrrggghhh!
Well, if I'm going to finish a section today I had better get back at it. WAAAAAAGGHHH! I suck as a master spinner. : {
Saturday, January 17, 2009
I Just Can't Help It! Hmmmm!
I had to go to the wool shop today. This is not a safe thing to do for me. I actually went because the wool store that I frequent is also a beading store and I needed supplies to make stitch markers. I am getting a parcel ready for a friend in Newfoundland. I thought I would include some nifty stitch markers made with semi prescious beads. Problem is that when I went in to the store the balls of yarn nicely displayed at the back of the store called to me and so I couldn't help but go have a look. Hmmmm!
I knew that time was of the essence as Hubby and the girls were sitting in the truck waiting outside the store in the vehicle. I had told them that I would only be a few minutes and I would be right back. Hmmmm!
No one was looking so I grabbed two balls of sock yarn that is self-striping and took it to the cash register along with my beading needs and paid for it without a second glance. I snuck into the truck with my purchases camoflauged beneath my arm so that Hubby would not ask what was in the bag so bulky besides beading supplies. Hmmmm!
I haven't looked into the bag yet because someone might ask unnecessary questions. Problem is that I really am not sure what I bought. I grabbed it so quickly that I didn't really look. I know it was among the sock yarn. I know it was pastel. I know it had the word 'wool' on it, other than that I really don't know what I bought. Hmmmm!
I know that I had better not look because I have a few more rows on another project (next post or the one after I will show you). If I look now I may get distracted from the other project that I have been trying to finish for ages..... I'll want to start my new socks. I know that the wool I purchased will be good with the Leyburn sock pattern (check out Yarn Harlot's blog, Jan 13, 2009 post). Hmmmm!
Ok..... I just can't wait to look.......
75% superwash
25% polyamid (what's that?)
blue, yellow, orange,
green, purple, (interesting)
I hope this works! Hmmmm!
Ok, forget that other project for now. Hmmmm!
True confessions of a compulsive sock knitter.... Hmmmm!
I knew that time was of the essence as Hubby and the girls were sitting in the truck waiting outside the store in the vehicle. I had told them that I would only be a few minutes and I would be right back. Hmmmm!
No one was looking so I grabbed two balls of sock yarn that is self-striping and took it to the cash register along with my beading needs and paid for it without a second glance. I snuck into the truck with my purchases camoflauged beneath my arm so that Hubby would not ask what was in the bag so bulky besides beading supplies. Hmmmm!
I haven't looked into the bag yet because someone might ask unnecessary questions. Problem is that I really am not sure what I bought. I grabbed it so quickly that I didn't really look. I know it was among the sock yarn. I know it was pastel. I know it had the word 'wool' on it, other than that I really don't know what I bought. Hmmmm!
I know that I had better not look because I have a few more rows on another project (next post or the one after I will show you). If I look now I may get distracted from the other project that I have been trying to finish for ages..... I'll want to start my new socks. I know that the wool I purchased will be good with the Leyburn sock pattern (check out Yarn Harlot's blog, Jan 13, 2009 post). Hmmmm!
Ok..... I just can't wait to look.......
75% superwash
25% polyamid (what's that?)
blue, yellow, orange,
green, purple, (interesting)
I hope this works! Hmmmm!
Ok, forget that other project for now. Hmmmm!
True confessions of a compulsive sock knitter.... Hmmmm!
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