Flat Out

Flat out is Newfy for not having time for anything.  And that has been what the last few days have been all about. I'm supposed to be working on spinning this morning... hopefully the last for the 150 hour project... we'll see! It' is coming along nicely though and it feels divine. I am looking forward to wearing it.

As for life and death... was talking to a lady who knows lots about alpacas and she thinks we should breed Mishka again this year but wait until August... we are thinking about it.

Meanwhile there's a kitty that is making it very hard not to love him.... yes him.

(we thought it was a her but more and more there seems to be other thing there. He sleeps in our hand and I have a picture to prove it.

Sorry the picture is so bad... I hate my new camera... it's not really all that good!

Meanwhile the slutty mother is already trying to prowl around for another kick at the can. She will be spayed as soon as the little one is weaned.

The ankle is not as swollen and I'm seeing improvement which really relieves me since I was worried that some of the swelling was heart related... but no... as the ankle feels better the swelling is not as bad. Obviously I hurt it.... I just can't remember doing it!! (Does that mean that I'm getting old.. or have I burnt out one brain cell too many with all the drugs I've taken over the years... hmmm!)

I've started walking again and I never realized that walking just 1 km each day could make me so stiff.  I can hardly sit down on my butt since it is what is stiff. Ouch! But I am determined to walk some every day.
 
So for now I am off to spin card and knit.... and maybe do a write up or two.

It's a beautiful sunny day.... maybe I'll spin out doors... hope you're having a nice day too.

Life And Death

Mishka (our pregnant alpaca) aborted her baby this morning. The fetus had not been growing for some time from the looks of the birth sack.  It was completely formed about the size of a very small lamb, but that was all... I would say that it stopped growing about late February or March. There it lay on the hay for us to find this morning. Mishka seems ok. Honeydew was standing sentinel over the dead fetus... so sad.

We will wait till next summer and then we will try her again... She will need time to heal.

Life and death seems so normal when you live on a farm. Animals come and animals go. While we have a terrible sense of loss when something dies, it is strange that the butchering process does not seem to bother us (alpacas are not included in this butchering process.. just sheep). It is almost as if our hearts harden against the ones we know must die for meat. Yet, there is such joy all around when babies are born healthy. As they grow, we pick the ones that will go on to become adults and those that must pay for the others in the form of meat that we can sell. I am not sure how we do it but there is a sense of resignation when something is chosen to be slaughtered for meat. But these two things are so vastly different from when something dies of natural causes... there is such a sense of loss... as if a good friend just died.

I think, the miracle of birth brings us closer to the sublime.... to God maybe.

While death just brings us closer to ourselves.

Slap Happy

Me (as I'm getting into the shower): Does this vast expanse of soft smooth skin get you all excited?  Do you want to touch it's velvety smoothness?

Mosquito (sitting on the screen outside the bathroom window): Buzzz.. buzzz.. buzzz buzz buzz.

Me (to mosquitos): ha ha ha ha ha..... sucka!

Teapot (from bedroom): You're weird!

Me: Slap! Sh-t... one bit me! Look there's mosquitoes in here!

Teapot: Serves you right for taunting them...

Me: (sigh) Where's the Afterbite!

Are You Back Again?

Sheesh.... your life must be more boring than mine. You can't get enough of my going on and on about spinning for the MSP at Olds...

If you're waiting for me to say something smart or sassy or even worth while.... forget it... I'm all out of cool things to say... for that matter I really have never had anything worth saying. Verbal diarrhea, yep... that's what spews from my mouth. And my brain... dead... it's dead. Just plain dead.

For heaven's sake go watch Seinfeld reruns.... anything is better than this mindless poo.

See ya tomorrow.... right?!

Fiasco... With Level 4

Well, I knew my dye samples were going to be different from the ones I did at the Blueberry... I am using different yarn with different stuff in it. But I do have to say that I was very disappointed in the results that I got yesterday. As a result I am changing my mind and doing something different for the 150 hour project. But it will be awesome. Wait and see. It's not that the dye results are bad it's just that the dye results did not give me the delicate colours that I required for the pattern that I was using, and that was the fault of the cashmere I think since the cashmere is slightly grey which turned the colours a lot more sallow than I expected. I'll be honest... I felt like throwing it all down and by bedtime last night I was in a panic.  I did go to sleep but by 3 a.m. I was wide awake again thinking what the hell am I going to do now.  I thought of shawl patterns and then it hit me... the perfect pattern for the yarn colours that I have.....

And that's all I am saying right now. Will I need an extension... I still don't want to admit to it but probably.

So today.... knit and spin and card some more... I can't say more than that since I need to work.

See ya....

Huh???

It's when I hear a new term in a subject that I think I'm pretty proficient, that I realize just how little I know.

What the hey is lever knitting... ???

Maybe I should get serious about getting certified in knitting after I finish with the spinning.

No really... I'm serious... anybody reading this that knows what lever knitting is... leave a comment if it's you... please and thank you.

Olds

It is June 6th and Olds is looming... (no pun intended ladies)!  I'm looking forward to it but I have to say that I am going to have to do some shopping.  I am hopelessly in bad shape for clothes.  I bought two tops recently and I have two old ones from last summer which are covered in pills... and then I have a pink top (puke, barf, ugh... blah)! I have two skirts one of which I discovered has a hole in it... from where the fabric is so thin that it has started to give way in the wash. I have another skirt that is ok. I have one pair of culottes that are ok and another which are fit for the garbage... that's it. That's all I own in summer clothing. The rest is jeans and sweaters. My closet over the last few years has gotten pathetically small. So yesterday I ordered some clothes from Added Touch and shoes from L. L. Bean... and then I remembered that there is a postal strike, so the likelihood of getting it before I head out for Olds is highly unlikely. This morning I got up and picked out $300.00 worth of new clothes with Olds in my heart. Two new tiered skirts, a pair of linen pants, two tee-shirts and a 3/4 sleeve frousy looking top thing. Now I have to order it and I'm having a hard time actually picking up the phone a dialing because ordering $300.00 worth of clothes doesn't really fit in with the budget right now. But as my Grandmother always said, "Well you can't black your ass and go naked... can ya!" (She had some great sayings!)

I just took another 250 metres of yarn off my spinning wheel and it looks lovely. I just have to wash it and then skein it into 50 metre skeins and then I can start dyeing. I still have lots of fibre left to spin. But I'm feeling more relaxed now that I've decided to ask for an extension... I won't need a very long one maybe a few weeks when I get back from Olds. My new goal is to have it ready before the dyeing retreat in July. As for the dyeing retreat... the emails have gone out and people are starting to make their plans... July 22nd, 23rd, and 24th are the dates for the retreat... if you want to join us let me know. You know how to get in touch. Just follow the link to the side there where it says contact me...

For this year's dye retreat I am going to do some nature dyeing if all goes well...

Anyway, you can see the way things are starting to go... planning for Olds and planning for when I get back. Gotta love Olds....