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.

Hiding In Fear And Trepidation

I went to FSJ today.... just for a quick trip. Teapot was supposed to get his new glasses. That didn't happen as it looks like they won't be ready till next week now. We also thought we would pick up our truck since we called lunch time and everything was going good... yes, once again The stupid truck is in for the same problem that they think they fix but don't. This is the forth time the truck has been in for repairs in less than a month. We were supposed to pick the darn thing up when they were closing... well we didn't get our truck and there's a bit of a story to that. We also took the Daughters with us because since they are on spring break and everyone of their friends are vacationing in some wonderfully beachy resorty place that we would try give them something nice too.... no we did not take them to a tanning salon... and no we did not find a place comparable to a beachy resorty place. We ended up taking them to the movies... we went to see The Hunger Games. The movie started at 3:30 p.m. and we expected to be out in time to go get the truck... and we would have been if the power hadn't gone out and then come back on... so that put us behind by 20 minutes or so.  Which meant by the time we got to the dealership it was closed.... but that was ok because our truck is NOT fixed yet. At least it wasn't out on the lot and usually they park the fixed trucks in the parking lot for pick up... we drove around but it wasn't there... which leaves us wondering why.... not.

Meanwhile, the movie was awesome... I loved it and now really really want to read the books. It is all about a futuristic world where war has been abolished through the implementation of games where each district gives up a boy and girl between the ages of 12 - 18 and they are let loose in a forest to fight to the death till only one person remains standing. Our heroine volunteers after her 12 year old sister is picked in an effort to let her young sister live a little longer. Most of the movie is about the dilemma of humans caught in a setting they they do not want to be in and how they survive. Interesting concept rather like Lord Of The Flies..... and will human goodness win in the end. Our poor heroine spent a great deal of time hiding and waiting for the others to kill each other off but of course there had to be a bit of politics and background machinations involved....

Like our poor heroine I am sitting here thinking of ways that I can hide in fear and trepidation. I stupid-like took on a project that I should have my head examined for. My new loom is sitting in the corner of the living room waiting for a warp.... I should have known at Christmas time when I agreed to the Shadow Weave project that I would be too busy to do this thing.... I loved the idea and I wanted to do it really badly but I have two friggin levels of homework to do and I have been really hard at it. That is my priority.... PRIORITY. Saturday is my day of reckoning.... I am supposed to have the warp on and my first block woven.... I do not. I would like a large hidey hole in which to lie low.  I am going to be killed. In no uncertain terms... dead.... d... e... a... d... dead! I'm even afraid to write that because I know just know that RG is going to be totally disgusted.... I'm scared.... really scared... she reads this... I think I will go turn off my phone... cause I'm really really scared. Even my knees are knocking. Yes I'm totally chicken... maybe I could sleep through Saturday....  So I am writing here today to say good bye to you all before I die a slow and painful death on the looms of my fellow weavers.... Squeak! I'm really a mouse at heart you know.

I'll let you know if I live through it all... I expect I'll be at least told off in style. Good bye my beloved blog followers .... thanks for all your support. I'm heading off to go into hiding....

Avoidance really is the only way out... maybe I should at least warp my loom... arggghhh! Would someone please take pity on me and help me warp my loom..... mwaaaaa...I'm going to diiiiieeeee.....

I'm Baaaaccckk... I Think... Or Am I Thinking

Holy Hell! How did it get to be the 29th? I mean it seems like I was here only yesterday... did I sleep through a day... did I forget to hit publish yesterday and my last post just drifted into internet eternity? No... no sign of a post yesterday..... I know I talked about swimming but that was yesterday... have I grown a beard... did I miss a day.... did I over sleep... seriously oversleep???? I have no idea how the last two days disappeared without my knowing it. I have been spinning... Lincoln and it is the worst damn shit I have ever spun in my life..... sorry for the swear words but honestly it really is horrible. I threw the whole works in the garbage cause it looks like stuff I would have spun ten years ago when I couldn't spin as good as a duck could! I am supposed to spin a 3 tpi 2 ply yarn... OMG... it's bad, just plain bad. 2 tpi and 2.5 tpi... but not 3tpi... I finally spun a 3 tpi today but the darn thing is so over spun that it looks like a cork screw in the skein.... no U there that's for sure. It is the coarsest Lincoln I have ever spun and I'll be honest, the hair from the tail of a horse would be nicer to spin. Yuck... with a capital Y. So now I have used up all of my Lincoln wool. I am relying on a friend to supply me with a wee bit of Lincoln to get me over the hump... honestly if someone had never spun Lincoln before and then spun this, they would never spin Lincoln again.

Meanwhile the keyboard is working.... so soaping it up and the rinsing with distilled water and cooking it in the oven did not hurt it.... I can't tell you how happy I am to have this keyboard back and working again... the other old one was a misery.

That's the end of my complaints... sort of.... I am having a bit of a down day today... my poor body is in a terrible state. I swam yesterday... and loved it... it truly was lovely in the pool yesterday. Just the right temperature and not too many people. There was a class of octogenarians learning the front crawl (I hope I never have to worry if my boobs are falling down through the leg of my swimsuit like theirs!!! Still it was cool to see the old gals learning to swim... mind you at the rate I'm going I'll never need a personal floatation device cause my boobs will just float and save me from drowning... : }) And... I swam a whole kilometre. 40 lengths... at 25 metres a go. It took me 47 minutes. Today though my body is saying Stop! so I didn't do my usual 20 minutes on the exercise bike. I will try the bike again tomorrow. Still all that swimming felt pretty damn good    but that was yesterday.

Ok something really strange is happening to my mind.... this is not the 29th..... so why is my damn computer saying that it is the 29th..............................................................................................................
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HA HA... very funny Teapot. He changed the date on the computer.... (I'm sure he is trying to secretly make me think I'm losing my mind....) well for a moment he had me going pretty good. I really thought it was the 29th... but no that is tomorrow... I know, because this is not Knit Night. And besides... Mom goes to Crib on Wednesdays and then Dad comes for a visit because he doesn't play crib "with all those biddies"... and he was here today, so that must mena that it is Wednesday... the 28th... right! I also had my Confirmation class... (of one) come this evening and that was supposed to be  a Wednesday appointment. And another reason... Saturday is the 31st... this is only Wednesday... I just have to do the math. But for a moment I actually thought I might be losing my memory... it does run in the family you know... hmm, that explains things eh?!

See ya tomorrow... I'm just going to go have my brain checked.... I need to know if any of my brain cells have left for warmer climes!

What's Happening!?

Ok so our keyboard is still not working. It's better than it was but it is still acting erratically so I am back to typing on this old piece of sh--! Sucks to be me... oh well might as well get over it.

Spinning: 2.5 tpi done on first try though I still have to wash it and that could change me into a blithering idiot in very short order. I'm tired tonight. Felt like throwing the stupid sample at a wall when I saw that there was a cork screw in it but it is near one end and after I wash it if it is ok then the cork screw will get cut off and I'll still have 11 metres... that'll work. But then I'm not thinking straightly tonight. Why am I so tired, you ask? I was talking to birds all afternoon. (yes I do talk to birds... and generally it is a great conversation... even better than some I have with people!) I was outdoors in the bright spring sunshine enjoying a fire on the deck in the fireplace. It was just too awesome to talk about. I finished the embroidery this morning and it looks great... I am now weaving  the back of the purse and should finish that tomorrow. Then I will weave on the inkle loom a little handle... or maybe on the Marudai I will braid a handle but I won't make that decision until I'm finished everything else since I need to know how much fibre I have left.

The Daughters went for a long walk today in the spring sunshine and took the dogs. They left at 12:30 and by 4:00 I was starting to worry about where the heck they were especially since they didn't have a phone with them. I don't normally worry about them much cause they're pretty good at letting us know where they are or not staying away very long... but there have been cougar  sightings lately in the area and that always is a worry. Teapot says I worry too much and while he's probably right it is hard to stop being a mother hen. Teapot eventually went looking for them and with the snow and three dogs with them they were pretty easy to track. By the time they got home they were all just about ready to fall over. I didn't say much .... but they knew I wasn't pleased... I'm glad they're home safe but they had better not go off without their phone again.... or it will be to the moon.... !!!

I'm so tired tonight that I decided to sit and read on the computer for a few minutes before going to bed early instead of working on the tpi sample tonight any more.... tomorrow is another day. Still when I catch up on all my favorite blogs/websites I realize that I have been letting the world pass me by I even forgot St. Patrick's day this year. My leprechaun stayed out of sight this year. Tomorrow our church is having a pancake breakfast and pancake day was three weeks ago... no wonder I'm mixed up. When I finally look up from all this homework that I'm doing, I won't know where I am or what time of year it is.

Spring is definitely here and tomorrow is swimming day. I'll be heading off with my seniors group for our last swim for the year. April1st the pool is closing for three months for updates on the chlorine equipment.... : ( sad face... but then in 7 more weeks our pool here in HH will be opening for the summer. We have the greatest pool.... and all the better for being an outdoor pool... really it's awesome. I look forward to it.... anyway I just yawned enough to split my head apart... I guess I better toddle off to bed... see ya tomorrow. 

How To Cook Your Computer 101

So I knew something was up when I tried to type here yesterday and all I got was.. 3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333
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I wasn't sure what was wrong but knew it had to be something to do with the cup of tea that I tipped all over the keyboard. For now I am using an ancient keyboard from our old computer and it is a monster to use. ThespacebarsucksandIendupwritingsentenceslikethis. Meanwhile the other keyboard is in the oven. Yes you read that right! It was hooped anyway so Teapot went online to fine information on how to clean a keyboard. It told us to run it under water with a little bit of soap. Then rinse with distilled water and heat oven to 150 degrees. When the oven is heated then turn the heat off and put the keyboard in for an hour then remove it from the oven and place is a dry place with a fan blowing on it for 24 hours. It should be ready later today... and I'll be glad if it works cause this thing is dreadful.

In case you couldn't figure it out... that's why I haven't been here for a few days.

This morning I woke up after a really good night's sleep at 6:30 a.m. I decided to get up right away since I was wide awake and didn't want to wake Teapot. By 7:30 I was getting hungry. I decided to make breakfast and take it to the still sleeping Teapot. Half way through making breakfast he came downstairs since the rich brown smells of food cooking awoke him and his stomach. We had home made hash browns with lots of pepper, fried tomatoes (I wish they had been green), fried mushrooms in worchestershire, and a little bit of bacon. With melon and orange juice on the side, all food groups were met. I'm now having tea at the computer... tempting fate once again.

Sorry the picture is not clearer. I couldn't take a better one since we had eaten the food by the time I discovered that the picture sucked. : )

Progress is being made on the front of homework. I have completed another sample for my level 5 homework and I am working on another. I thought I would put a few pictures here this morning to show some of the samples that I have been working on....

This picture shows my knitted sample for the level 3 question for a yarn appropriate for a baby's layette. I love cotton on a baby and especially this colourful yarn that I spun for level 5 dye samples. At the time when I was spinning I actually spun enough extra so that I could make something not thinking that I could use it for this question. So I get to kill two birds with one stone.

This yarn is the yarn that I designed by using the picture of Noah's Ark (see previous post). There is the blue of one single that is in the sky of the Noah's Ark pic. Then the other single is brown linsey woolsey because of Noah's ark and all the grasses that Noah must have had to use on the ark for all the animals. Then I used little bits of cotton to represent the rainbow. And of course this pic does not do it justice. The blue is a combination of blue wool and turquoise bamboo.... and looks really pretty close up. Same for the brown... it is a combination of flax and rust coloured wool.

I love Northern Lights from Louet... I can spin a perfect 1 tpi woolen yarn from it if I don't draft... it gives me one tpi by default.

This is my cabled yarn for level 5.  It needs some fooling around with because it is not quite balanced and it hasn't been washed so it will just need a little more twist.

Then I got mad at my tapestry... and decided it was taking too long so I pulled it all apart and decided to do this instead.It will be a little purse when I'm finished. But so far it is looking great I think. I'm pleased that it is turning out as I had imagined the tapestry would. I will make a strap in Kumihimo braid if I have enough cotton. And I will show pictures when I get it finished.

The cold winter temperatures and the dreadful snow of last week seems to have passed and we are into more  spring-like temperatures. I love it. I am just waiting for the snow to melt from the deck again so that I can go out and enjoy the deck again. It won't be long if the temperatures stay high. Everyone is saying that the snow pack in the mountains is higher than normal so we will have good moisture... at least for the early part of the summer. Teapot and the girls started their March break on Friday. Teapot got up to another day of snow after two solid weeks of precipitation. He was so disgusted that he went to work like this.

The shirt would blind ya I think.... he  made that a good twenty years ago when I was sewing a lot and he wanted to make a really loud outfit.... he succeeded...there used to be orange surfer shorts to go with it... it was really nasty... but I convinced him that the pants should go in the garbage (actually I think they might have made their way into the garbage without his knowing!)

But now that it is 10 a.m. and the sun has finally burned off the fog it is time to go and do some work... hopefully there will be no more glitches with the computer and I will be here more regularly. See ya soon... I hope.

That Was The Plan

Yesterday was a bit of a bust.... I did try to get work done but really didn't manage anything until later in the day at which time Teapot announced that he was going to FSJ to pick up the truck from the dealership again. I got the brilliant idea that after selling our couch over the weekend I would go with him so that we could drop by The Brick and pick up the first installment on our furniture for the sunroom. This proved a bust too since the dealership gave us back our truck alright and even said that it was fixed... and we thought so too... that is until we got half way home. That's when we discovered that the transmission is still bucking when it goes into overdrive at about 62 kph. We have had the truck in to be fixed three times now and we can safely say that we are no further ahead than we were when we started. You can safely say that it will be the last Ford truck or Ford anything we buy since this is the second time that we bought Ford and were severely disappointed. It seems Ford sells nothing but lemons. Sucks to be us. Teapot will have to call again to let them know that the problem has not been fixed and something needs to be done.

Anyway, after we got to the Brick we decided against the apple green chair of our desires since it was not as comfortable as hoped. Instead we bought this one.... only in red....

It reclines... and is soooo comfortable.  I had a chance to really look around the store and I saw many things that I want.... I love furniture shopping. I wish for a whole lot of money so that I could go shopping and buy tons of stuff.... mind you I only have a wee house....so maybe lots of furniture is not such a good idea.

Meanwhile the level 5 homework is yes coming along... I did manage another sample yesterday... this time I have finished my 1 tpi question. I spun a 2 1/2 tpi but it wasn't consistent enough so I will give that a try again today. I started spinning another sample. It is my "design a yarn based on a picture. I am using turquiose bamboo and blue merino for one single... and rusty brown corriedale and flax for the other single and I will be dropping in a rainbow of bits of cotton and it is based on this picture...

I first saw the picture at the Blueberry retreat. It was an astounding 4ft by 6ft mosaic that the kids last summer must have put together to hang on the wall of the dining area... it was very eye catching and so I took a picture of it.... that night while I was lying in bed it suddenly dawned on me that I could design my yarn around that picture.  I will be carrying on with this today and trying to get some more of the bookwork caught up. So you see there is some progress... on all fronts.

Meanwhile Shadow Weave has been barking at my heels for weeks. I had joined the intermediary weaving group of our guild this year and they decided to do a Shadow Weave project.  I agreed to join in which I am now regretting... I might as well be honest. It's not that I don't want to join the people who are doing this project.... it's not that don't like the project... it has to do with the fact that I am short on time. I want to work on my two levels and I am feeling pressure on this project. It's not just put a warp on and weave... it is edges and perfect sizing and getting it right. So I am not as sure that I am going to enjoy it especially when every time I sit down to work on it, I am feeling guilty about not getting my homework for the levels done. Still it did force me to get my loom finally and fully put together and it is now in a place that is easy to get at and I can work freely. So I might try stringing the warp today and at least threading the reed.

Right now there are big flakes of snow falling.  I'm actually kind of glad about that since this has been a very dry winter and the snow will help make the ground a little wetter as spring comes along. Pop said that he passed by a construction site yesterday and the soil that they were digging out for the foundations was very dry and dusty. It is not a good sign. Still, yesterday an the way to FSJ I noticed that the water in the river is very high. when I mentioned this to Teapot he said that I guess all the Hydro people who work at the dam which controls the water levels are saying that the water is extremely high in the reservoir and there is a huge snow pack in the mountains... they are fearful of problems later in the spring when the runoff really begins. So they are running the water high right now. Evidently they will be running the water high all summer. This means that canoeing will be good for those shy of rolling waves but not so good for those who like the rolling waves. It certainly will be hard to find good camping places along the river. But then this is out of my control and so I will not worry about it at all.

And on that note I had better go get some work done since the day is passing and I don't want to wake tomorrow thinking that WAS the plan...