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.