Feb. 1st

You know who's poppin their head up tomorrow....

It's Groundhog Day tomorrow and though we just had a quick dip in the temperature with -20 degrees for the last three days, I woke up once again to another Chinook... it sounds like there is a gale force wind coming down the valley... almost like there's a train rumbling through my front yard. The temperature has risen over night to +5 degrees... and though it is still black out there I know it is clear because I can see lots of stars shimmering in the sky.

I never really related to Groundhog Day growing up. But now, when the 2nd of February rolls around, I am glad... not so much because there's a groundhog going to get poked and prodded into showing his face whether or not he wants to, but because for me the 1st of February means that the worst of the winter is over.... and because I have to get crazy speedy on the level 4 homework...and because I can cook dinner in the evening by daylight now.

Several things to update on....

1. I did not get the cashmere section done yesterday, though I'm expecting to today... I finished all the written work for the camel down section of homework, and I have the cashmere ready to spin.... for both questions (there's only 2 questions in the cashmere section). Last night, Teapot was stricken with a head cold and sore throat, so in an effort to be kind to me, he decided to snork his way through the night on the couch... so I went to bed long before I was ready to, and so I, in great foresight, took some of my work to bed with me... I ended up sleeping with a baggie of cashmere, some cashmere and wool rolags, a set of hand cards, my level 4 text book, and my notes that I took when I was in the level 4 class. I know this seems weird but I was working until midnight last night and was so tired when I finally put my books away that I didn't have the heart to get up and actually put my books and things somewhere off the bed, so I slept with them!

2. Daughter #1 now has her First Aid ticket. She was away over the weekend with the JCRs to do a First Aid course. It was her first time staying in a hotel without her mother or father being there and she came home completely wiped out.... I think she stayed up too late and watched too much TV (which she doesn't get to do too often)... I'm filled with maternal pride....

3. Hay.... finally we have some. Ten bales for which Teapot is paying today when he meets the farmer in town later this afternoon. We are paying an exorbitant price for it... $75.00 dollars a 1200 lb. bale (last year we paid $45.00 a bale) which includes shipping.  The price is making me think that maybe sheep are not going to be in my future... however, alpacas will remain here on our farm... and I'm not sure what to do with Honeydew. In the meantime the shipper will send it in to us as of Saturday...

4. Thanks to you all  who emailed or left comments on my blog to tell me that you liked my hair cut... I've had tons of comments on it from people who live nearby and a few emails, and one very nice comment on the blog itself... thanks.  It does the ego good.  It's growing on me more and more, especially as I don't have to fiddle with it each morning. I do rise from my bed with a hen's arse on the back of my head though... it's quite funny... but a wet comb makes short work of that!

So there you have it... my news flash for Feb 1st.... (as exciting as it is snork!)... enjoy your Groundhog Day tomorrow as I will be off line tomorrow and away from the computer....

A Walk On A Sunny Winter Day

Don't you just love days like this?.....

Sleeping On The Job

It's beautiful and sunny here today... Which is why I find it strange that I can't seem to keep my eyes open.  I slept like a log last night... 10 hours of uninterupted sleep... I can't remember when that happened last. I never opened my eyes until 10:10 a.m. this morning, so feeling pretty darn good, I jumped out of bed and had a shower. Downstairs a short while later, I decided to read a little on the couch while drinking tea after breakfast.... it was 12:30 next when I opened my eyes after falling asleep while reading... Teapot is absolutely astounded at my ability to doze off after only getting up 45 minutes earlier. It has been a once in a lifetime relaxing Sunday morning... one of the reasons I retired from the church almost a year ago... I think I was burned out at that time and now I'm always ready for this kind of relaxing day. As a matter of fact, I'm still feeling like if I dropped my head back on the back of this chair I could doze off once again.... which is really weird.

Meanwhile I wanted to finish the little sweater that I was doing for my level 4 homework. All I had left to do was to sew on buttons... so I did that just a few minutes ago. And here is the result of all my last few days of work.

Sweater in foreground and behind it is the 10 metre skein and the fibre I used to make it.... and in the far background you can see all of my camel down skeins, blended or not....

Teapot is quite disgusted that my little sweater is so little... he wanted to wear it. : )

So I will spend a few hours sorting my samples and getting the write ups done and putting them in my binder. Later today, I am going to get my Cashmere out and get going on the next section which only has two questions... so if I'm very good I might.... I just might get my three sections done before the end of January yet!

That is if I don't fall asleep again.....

Catch Up On Work

It's been a while since I have blogged about what I am doing. It can be hard to balance this blog with all kinds of information. Some of my readers are family and couldn't care a fig about spinning,weaving and knitting... while others follow this blog for exactly that purpose, then there are others who follow this blog because I farm so I try to write a little about that too. It is hard to find the perfect balance and I know that I'm not even close doing this perfectly, but today I'm going to show you all some pictures and tell you all about what I've been working on.  

 The current question that I am working on for my level 4 of the MSP is a camel down blend question... basically I have to blend camel down with something and make a yarn and then use it to knit or weave or crochet a tiny garment. I decided to blend camel down with silk at a 40/40 blend and then blend in some bison too. So I have 40% Camel down, 40% Silk, 20% Bison. It is very luxurious and soft. I decided that a 3 ply in a worsted technique would be best and I decided to weave it on my tri loom in a continuous thread thereby not breaking a perfectly good yarn. It started out really well and I just love, love, love the yarn.... this picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice.... it is so soft and all the silk really makes it sparkle in the light... this picture just makes it look brown but in actuality it is a combination of silver, (that would be the Bombyx silk),  gold (that would be the camel down), copper, (that would be the copper dyed Tussah silk rovings), and earth (that would be the Bison)... it is gorgeous... even if I do say so myself...

Here are some pictures....

This is the best picture I  could get.... God, it's nice! Just look at that shimmer and then imagine that ten times more and you might be close!

Then I started weaving.

But I realized in very short order that the weaving was not showing the yarn to it's best advantage so I pulled the weaving apart. Considering that it is a 3 ply, (for you non-knitting types, 3-ply yarn works better for knitting because it is a round yarn and looks best in knitted form), I decided that knitting was the best option and so I got to work and cast on 32 stitches and began knitting a man's vest... but really tiny... like for a Teddy Bear.... but I knew after a few rows that I had too many stitches and would run out of yarn before I could finish it... so I raveled it out and began with fewer stitches. It took two more times before I got it right but I have the back of the mini vest done and I have half of the left front done. It is showing the yarn off as I wanted it to... but I will show pictures here later today when I get it finished.

So I have not been idle... these last few days... it took two days to card and blend and spin enough yarn to have the required ten metre skein and enough for the little vest too. 

It doesn't look like I will get the third section done before the end of January but I hate doing a half assed job on stuff and so I wanted to do this question well before I moved on. But if I get this question finished today there's still a chance I can get a little done on the next section before the end of January. We'll see...

Anyway, do stay tuned to see my itty bitty vest.....

Before And After

Before Christmas.... I liked it but very hard to maintain that hair style.... sooo.... I did this last night.

I'm not really sure about this... it's been a few years since I had my hair cut this short... but I've had lots of compliments. I was even told that it took years off me. Hmm... not sure if that was a compliment or not!

A Little Politics

When the daughters were born I was living in North Western Ontario. I was living on a Reservation and the nearest hospital was an hour's drive over treacherous roads. This is considered a mild situation to be in and during spring and summer it really was not much of a concern... but Daughter #1 was born in December and at that time of the year it was a big concern. I also had two previous miscarriages which were also a concern.  I traveled those roads for days before the baby was born always concerned that we would have an accident... and after Daughter #1 was born Teapot traveled those roads so that he could visit me and our new wee baby and to support us both. It was a time that I needed him and his love. His travelling back and forth sometimes in the worst kind of weather worried me no small amount... I was so happy when Daughter #2 was born in May.

All around me, I am hearing about the state of maternal health in Canada. I think about my situation when I was at the age where birth giving was part of life, and I think about the people who are coming out of even more remote places and I wonder how they do it. Yesterday, I was listening to the CBC radio and they were interviewing a family from Fort Nelson, which is about a 6 hour drive from a hospital that can deliver babies, and I didn't realize how difficult for them it is.  Here are young women who are having to leave their community, all of their friends and family, their complete support system and staying in hotels sometimes for weeks with their other children while their husbands continue to work at home.... or not.... as the case may be, while they wait from their due date till the time their child is born. It is a time of stress and anguish and it can't be good for the fetus. I keep thinking that there has to be a way that a non profit organization can set up a program whereby families who need to, can stay in cabins or hostels, that are set up to make the birthing experience a much less stressful event on the whole family. You know... like a Ronald McDonald house for pregnant women.

 This morning I got up and read the news and I find that our dear boy (I say that tongue in cheek), Steven Harper is at the G8 spouting on about maternal health and pledging a whole pile of money to that end.... Hmm.... I wonder where all that money is going to go... will we get our own house in order before we go raging off to save the world? He's had a year to fix the problems at home since the last G8 when maternal health was a topic of discussion and I'm not seeing a whole lot of difference.... Wouldn't it be nice if we could have mid-wives in those communities that are remote and need it... and for more high risk pregnancies, it would be nice to see something done for the mom's who need to be near a hospital... so where's all that help that our government is promising... it seems once again that our government has a whole lot of empty words in their mouths.

But then that's just my opinion...

What do you think?....

Dawn Is Creeping Up The Sky

It's only when I get up in the morning, and I'm sitting here, and I happen to glance out the window and realize that the sky is starting to get light long before Teapot and the girls go out the door, that I realize too that January is almost over. Normally January drifts by in a lazy turn of days, but for some reason this January flew past so quickly that now I'm sitting here trying to figure out where it went. Blazing by in a flurry of days, this month has left me gasping in an effort to finish the first three sections of my level 4 books. That was my goal... I haven't reached it... but I'm close, so we will see if this can be accomplished. I haven't looked at section three yet, since I'm still finishing the last question in section two. I should have that finished today. Then I will do the required reading before embarking on the next section. I just have to remember steady on... I guess.

Teapot and Daughter #2 are leaving for school. This is exam week.  Daughter #2 has two exams today and will be finished after that. Daughter #1 had her first exam yesterday, her second will be tomorrow and then her last one will be on Thursday. It is a very easy week though there is lots of studying going on.

As Teapot leaves the driveway there is a little green sky on the horizon... I know that sounds kind of weird because if I were to describe the sky, I would say that it is lime green on the horizon, then yellow fading out to a greyish yellow with darker grey clouds drifting passively by, then a soft baby blue changing into a medium blue and then darkening as you go west where it is still quite a dark blue with a half moon shining as it sinks towards the opposite horizon. It is quite lovely and I'd take a picture but Teapot seems to have taken his camera with him this morning since I can't find it in all the usual places. (Definitely time to get one of my own.)

It has not sunken below zero degrees for days now and all through the night you can hear the water dripping from the roof of the house. I do believe that we will get more snow before winter's grip has loosened, but it is nice to have this mid-winter reprieve. I have been walking out every day lately which is so nice after a month of cold temperatures and bitter winds. I would walk down through the forest... my forest, but there is deep snow in there and even though the ski-doos have the trails compacted it is still quite treacherous to walk there.  I miss the woods. So I walk the road here in an effort to hear the birds and see the deer, and hear the squirrels chirping on a beautiful winter day.... but I am looking forward to a walk through the woods again and smell the rich brown earthy scents that call me out there.

The sky is quite light now and I must get back to my work... I hope your mid-winter day is as fine as mine.

I'm off to spin some camel/silk/bison blend yarn.... and dream of that Lopi sweater.... will I or won't I????