Lost In Spaghetti Land

So this is the week of the gallery show and I'm down to the wire trying to get as much finished as I can. I'm on scarf # 5 and the shawls... huh I doubt it...

The reason for the title.... I love this...

I might not be a grandma   but this is me for sure....

I'll be back in a few days when things settle down... I'm just too busy weaving these days.

Pouff Balls

So we have two fuzzy wabbits. Meet Puff and Cloud...

Daughter#1 is holding Puff and Mrs. B is holding cloud.

The great goofy things are awesome. We are going to be good friends I think, and they love their new digs.  They started bounding around in their new home like it was a palace.... but lets back up and I'll tell you how this all came to transpire.

Mr. and Mrs. B (lets call them) are the leaders of our Junior Canadian Ranger group here in HH and have been for the last 12 years.... (I think they really want to retire now especially since their kids have grown up and are married and are having children of their own.) They opted many years ago for an alternative life style and so they live off grid entirely. One of the things that they decided to do was to make their lives as self reliant as possible.  So raising and eating rabbits (instead of chickens) became one of the ways in which they do that. They have raised all kinds of rabbits from lops to giants to angoras to regular old rabbits. This year they have over 40 wee babies to deal with forget all the bucks and does. (That's what male and female rabbits are called.) About a month ago Mrs. B had a terrible car accident where she fell asleep at the wheel on the way back from Edmonton and rolled her vehicle three times... she walked away with out a scratch but we were all so grateful that she was ok that she had visitors at her house for days afterwards. (*Hey... Google can't spell afterwards!!!) Anyways I happened to be one of her visitors one day and when I got there she was working in the rabbit yard with the rabbits. I gave her a hug and she said she was so glad to be alive and that she was going to put a sign on her steering wheel saying "Have you had your nap today?" While we were standing chatting the rabbits were all bouncing around in their cages quite happily. Right out of the blue, Mrs. B said, "Hey come and look at these rabbits." So we walked over to a cage and there before us were two of the cutest pouffiest rabbits I had seen at their place ever! Mrs. B started talking about these two goofy rabbits that had been born, and that they hadn't had angora rabbits for some time so she was surprised that there were two throw backs to the angora gene pool. Then she said she had one more but she wasn't sure yet if it was going to keep it's angora traits. We chatted about their big feet and their goofy ears which are apparently a throw back to some lops they had a few years ago too. And then Mrs. B. said, "you know maybe you could show the JCRs a little bit about angora bunny fur spinning.  We could get these rabbits down at your place and we could comb them and show them about the fibre. It would be awesome."  I kind of said yeh or maybe or something in the positive and then we went into the house for tea.

It was only after I got home that I started to think about what she had said and I had bunnies running through my head... (far better than counting sheep because they are more quiet!!) That's when I got this brilliant idea.

The Bs have been running a rent a bunny program for years.  Everyone loves to raise a bunny but really once they are past the bunny stage everyone thinks they are a pain to keep as a pet. Really... We tried it once... our dog ate the bunny right before our 5 year old and 4 year old daughters... it wasn't a pretty sight... there was crying and gnashing of teeth and snot all over the place, (mainly on the front of my shirt).  Forget the death throws of the poor wee rabbit after the dog realized that she had done wrong and had dropped the rabbit on the floor. (I'm sure the Daughters will need therapy for that at some point in their lives... maybe its better if they remain repressed!) So the Bs will let a child take a rabbit home with a cage and some food and you can raise it for as long as the child has interest and then when they forget to feed it and are bored with the rabbit the Bs will take it back... slaughter it and eat it and the next year you can get another wee bunny if you want to... it's great really. So with that in mind I decided that the best way to get into raising angora bunnies would be to try out her rent a bunny program and take the two cross angoras and see what comes of it. Now how to tie it with the JCRs was another thing altogether. I mean I could show combing rabbits and spinning rabbit wool but that would interest kids of 12 yrs - 18yrs (most of which are boys) for about a half minute. So I thought about it some more.

Many years ago we had been given a bunny hutch that someone wanted to get rid of for our chickens and ducks... It worked out really good because if we needed to remove the nesting fowl we could put them in the bunny hutch and they and their eggs would be just fine. We used it frequently up until we got rid of our chickens.  It was now that I was thinking about bunnies that I looked out the window one day and noticed the bunny hutch sitting down by the chicken coop, not in use I might add, that I got a brilliant idea about the rabbits.

I love brilliant ideas.

I would enlist the help of the JCRs, to move the bunny hutch to a place more conducive to raising rabbits and teach them about the wool of rabbits and Mr. B could slaughter and skin a couple of rabbits and Teapot could teach them how to snare rabbits and then we could all enjoy a fire in the fire pit and roast some rabbit meat and wieners and drink juice and all that good stuff.... I got right on that and the planning began.

Yesterday was JCR rabbit day at our house and so it went...

Daughter #1 and I watching the JCRs and Teapot moving the rabbit hutch to its new location.

Setting the hutch on it's new stand.

Puff (dark grey) and Cloud (light grey) as of this morning having their breakfast.

I didn't get pictures of them slaughtering the rabbits (two rabbits not Puff and Cloud but two unnamed short haired rabbits were slaughtered.)  And I didn't get pics of them learning how to set snares. I'm not sure I'd post pics of the rabbits being slaughtered and skinned anyway.... too gross.

Afterwards we all roasted wienies and rabbit pieces on the fire and it went really well. We also learned how to make a wienie microwave out of a chunk of wood. (This was really cool since it cooked wienies evenly and in seconds.  I'll have to show you all that sometime. Very cool.

So our rabbit day went off without a hitch... and even the weather co-operated.

And now I have a ready supply of angora.... how great is that?!

More On The Shopping Spree

So Teapot and I headed into FSJ to do some errands and Teapot had an appointment. I was getting groceries and buying somethings at Wal Mart for Pops and Daughter#1, and Teapot had a dental appointment and was to take our truck for an alignment. We have been having issues with our truck since back in the summer when there developed a nasty sound in the front passenger side front end.  We thought that it might be the tires since the tire on that side was wearing really badly and unevenly. The morning was spent doing what had to be done and then Teapot had an appointment at 1 to get the truck dealt with. He left me a Wal Mart and headed off to his appointment. I ticked away buying a variety of things and then my cell rang and Teapot was on his way to pick me up... That was quick I thought.

It turned out that the mechanics wouldn't bother with a wheel alignment on our vehicle since the tie rods were needing replacing, the ball joints were shot, the brake looked like crap after 212,000 klicks and we were facing a $3000.00 bill. Ouch! So we had a choice... drop a bunch of money into the old truck and we still had a timing chain that needed replacing, or go look at new ones.  We decided to go and have a look at what the dealerships were offering since we hadn't seriously looked at vehicles for ages (except last year at one point I thought we might be able to get me a little car) and had no idea what they were asking for new trucks.  We headed for the Dodge dealership first since that is what we have now.  However, we quickly found out that they don't even make the truck that we currently have which is a Dodge Dakota. (I personally think they are shooting themselves in the foot since the Dodge Dakota would appeal to a clientele that want a truck but don't really need a big one. But that's just me.) There obviously wasn't a whole lot of interest in us from the salespeople so we moved on to the Ford dealership.  On the way there Teapot told me this story...

"I went into (insert business name here) to get the alignment and while I was waiting I was sitting in their waiting area... they had a really comfy leather couch.... and along came this old geezer with a walking cane with four prongs on the bottom. He had to be about 80 yrs old.  He sits down and gets all comfortable and the mechanic came along and says, "Sir there's someone in your vehicle and they have to move because our insurance won't cover people while we are working on your vehicle."


The old guy says, "Oh that's my wife. Just tell her to come on in and wait in here with me."


So a few minutes later this old lady in a chintz dress (Teapot only just yesterday found out what chintz is....) comes in and is impressed with the comfortable waiting area. She sits down next to the old guy, and I go back to watching TV and reading a magazine sporadically. After a few minutes I start to hear snoring and I look over at the man and his wife and the two of them are out cold. I guess they were used to have an afternoon nap!"

I looked at Teapot and I said, "I hope that we are like that when we are in our eighties. : )"

Anyway, by the time Teapot finished his story and we had a little laugh, we were at the Ford dealership. We got out and started looking around. Oh my God! The prices on trucks are through the roof and we had to figure out what we were going to do! But this very nice salesman helped. We told him what we could afford in a monthly payment and he wouldn't let us go until he had a truck for us. It is second hand but only has 55,000 kilometres on it, lightly used with one owner and in really good shape.

We loved it right away.  And let me tell you... they must have needed to make their quota of sales because we got a really good deal. $6000.00 less than their marked price. I can't complain about that.

By the time we had the deal worked out, Teapot and I still had to go get groceries and it was already 6:30 p.m.  We walked out of the dealership... and started to argue over who was going to drive the new truck and who was going to drive the old truck. Teapot won. Believe it or not we were both fighting to drive the old one. The Old Momma looked so forlorn in the parking lot and we felt so bad for it. Our Old Momma has been a good truck and over the years we have had very little expense with repairs etc.... Neither of us can say anything bad about our good old truck. Now we have to sell her for parts and we are trying to decide what to do about the two new (two weeks old) tires that are on the front... should we take them off and put old tires on and sell the new tires separately.

It's all a bit wham-bam-thank-you-mam if you ask me.  Yesterday morning I was going to town to buy socks, earphones, a lamp, and a lamp shade, and some groceries. I came home with a truck!

OMG how did that happen?!!! (I'm still getting used to the idea that I am not going to get a car for myself now...  : \

Oh well, Teapot did promise me I could buy a floor loom. And I know just the one I want.....

Heh, heh, heh.... he didn't see that coming!

Shopping Spree

OMG :-0

We bought a new truck.

Now I just have to figure out how I can afford it!

Pet Breath... Always A Surprise

If you have a weak stomach do not read further.

I love my pets and I have plenty of them but every now and again I feel like sending them all to the moon.

This morning I let the rabble out as per usual... later I let them all back in for their morning meal, cat food in the cat dishes... dog food in the dog food dishes. Of course it was all nutty as the dogs ate the cat food right away and the cats ate nothing as they turned up their noses at the dog food.  So I let the dogs back out and put new cat food down for the cats so that they could eat in peace.  It was while the dogs were out and I was busy getting breakfast for Teapot and the Daughters that I heard Teapot bang on the window and tell the dogs to stop digging. (They have been digging in the garden of late.)

I finished getting breakfast and let the dogs back in, since by now, the cats were finished with their food. I sat down in my chair to enjoy a peaceful cup of tea and while I was sitting there Narmin came over and wanted to get up on my lap.  I was fine with that and picked the little guy up since having a dog on my lap while drinking tea is always a pleasure. (Not!) That's when he breathed in my face and I got the distinct whiff of cat poo.... : (

The buggers had been out have a good old time digging up cat nuggets... and eating them!!!

As one of my spinning and weaving buddies has been known to say, " Oh yeah. My dogs eat cat nuggets all the time... they are like a little protein package for them..."

Disgusting....

I have days when I believe I could totally do without pets....

Setting Up A Loom Bites (Notice I Used The Correct Spelling)

Yesterday was a fiasco once I got started beaming the warp.  I ended up with the hugest tangle. It was a complete mess. It took me three hours to untangle the mess and I never got weaving until 3:30 p.m. As a result I was weaving well into the evening. And I'm still not finished. It is a good thing that I put on such a long warp because I AM NOT A WEAVER and I now have a scarf that is five inches on the beginning end and three inches on the  end I am working on.... so I am going to keep weaving at three inches (I hope) and eventually I will have enough for a muffler type of scarf... at least that is my new plan.

As a Weaver I suck violently!

With The Gallery Show Looming.... No Pun Intended...

With my guild's gallery show looming in the next week, I'm once again down to the wire trying to get stuff done.  (After the show is up and running it is back to the level 5 homework!  That will be on the 7th of October.... yeah!)  I have been weaving on pin looms left right and centre.

This is the beginning of a tri-loom shawl... in pink.... I am trying to use up as much pink as I can just to get rid of it.... I'm starting to feel the need to barf with all this pink on the go.

Yesterday I started putting one project together. I am making a scarf with silk warp and a silk/merino weft that I spun a few years ago.

All the ends need to be darned in yet... I'll show this when I get it finished.

So far it is looking really nice but I still have four more squares to attach and then I have to crochet an edge. Yesterday I was crocheting so much that my poor hands had to be soaked in hot water this morning to get them working.  So today I decided to put that scarf aside for a day and work on a mixed warp scarf or two on my loom.  I just finished stringing the warp and I think I have enough warp for two scarves.  It is a combination of weird and wonderful fibres that I found in my stash.

I tried to get the best picture I could but the light sucks this morning...

...so here is a picture of the fibre I am using... except I don't have the ribbon that I also used in the warp. It's glitzy and looks awesome... only I ran out and didn't have any to put in this picture.

This is a picture of my rigid heddle loom and the warp going on. The living room was quite busy this morning.

I'm about to have some lunch and finish beaming the warp on to the loom and then I will be weaving all afternoon.  I also have another mixed warp scarf that I want to weave and that will be tomorrow's job.

The blue is a merino yarn that I spun two years ago. The pink is the same stuff that's going into the shawl in the previous picture. The pink stuff is alpaca. And the shaggy weird stuff is something I picked up at a garage sale... nylon and other weird stuff... (I have some god-awful orange stuff like it too... not sure if I can figure out how to use that stuff.)  Then I have a green shawl on another pin loom too. But there's a lot of work left on that one so I'm not sure I'll get that one done.  That is next week's project.  I have to have it ready for Wednesday or Thursday next week... we'll see.

Time is a wasting... thought I'd just give a little update... see you soon..... I'm off to eat some lunch and weave.