Thursday, May 31, 2007

The good the bad and the ugly.

well, at least that's where I'm at right at this moment.
The day started off all right--good coffee.
Kids were quiet.Played happy.
I actually got to knit on my sock (I haven't actually knit in the day time in weeks, weeeeeeeks)
Then it went downhill.
Hubby came home to get some stuff, I realized it was 12:30 and had yet to have b/fast or anything but coffee--Princess B made a comment, hubby made a comment--which sparked a not nice conversation and I just lost it.
I walked around the yard crying, picking up toys.
Went and had a shower, crying.
the toilet gurgled, it had 2 pieces of TP, I flushed it and the whole thing overflowed.
ALL OVER THE FLOOR. All over the kitchen floor. Leaked down the vent (which for some stupid reason is strategically placed over our dryer in the basement).
Leaked ALL OVER the pile of freshly cleaned, folded laundry.
I cried more.
Ran around trying to find towels to sop up the mess.
Cleaned up the mess, cleaned up the basement.
Cleaned myself up

Ate and entire chocolate bar and now I"m sitting here.

Now that that's over with, let's look at some pretty things:

Blue Roving drying in the sun.

1 Finished Elfine Sock:

Lettuce trying to grow in my garden:


and this one's for my nephew:

Those are the Sea Monkeys that he helped me "grow" on Saturday.

I'm off to a Girls Night Out tonight--desperately needed. First one in ???? a year????

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Eating, kntting, talking, eating and a little knitting

That's what my weekend consisted of.
My sister was up for the holiday weekend (her holiday, not mine)--they opened their trailer and so I got to hang out with my nephew for a while. We did Sea Monkeys, the kids got wet and dirty--it was a good day.
Sunday was a Sk8park Family Fun day that hubby was running, so we went there for a few hours.
Face painting, fun, family, free--(brought to you by the letter F)

Sunday night we had some food and put the baby to bed and then my sister had a crazy idea--we would leave the "boys" behind with Aidan and we'd take the toddlers back to the trailer, put them to bed and stay up late knitting and tea drinking.
The husbands thought it was a good deal (only 1 kid to manage and he was already sleeping)--so we did it.
We ate junk and read magazines and I really only knit 2 rows.
We were tired at 10pm (silly Mommies) but stuck it out until 1 and then talked until 2am!
The kids actually slept in until 8:30am and then we hit the park.

Fun fun fun.
I came home and crashed for a bit and then put another dent in the Elfine socks
(I thought I had taken a picture, but apparently not)

Did a little dyeing between yesterday and today:
"COMING UP ROSES" Superwash Merino Roving (now in the shop)


and "Pink is the New Black" Sock Yarn in Merino/Tencel--my first try with Tencel and it's dreamy. It's so shiny--hard to see here.

Shiny......

I have a bit more to dye and then I'm out of yarn again...but (cue Big Announcement music)
I have a Business Licence!!!
I got one last week and I'm so excited because I can order yarn from big vendors!!
Woohoo!
I just need to fill out my application and send my first big $$$ and I'm all set.
Big stuff

So, now they dye pots, swift and wheel are calling me---I'm off to play before bed.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Spinning spinning spinning

Okay, so I promised some spinning pictures.

I've spun half of the Spunky Eclectic Tahiti roving--into singles.
I'm thinking of trying to knit from the singles just to try that out.

I've finished all of the spring-time Chocobird and am trying to figure out whether to

Navajo ply it or regular ply it.

I finished the spring-time Merino/Tencel sample and did my first Navajo ply:

and closer:


I also started spinning from a batt for my first time:

It's a batt I got from Lime and Violet's Etsy store (which they don't have anymore--they are now at LimenViolet.com and then go to their store.
It's a blend of romney, mohair, merino, domestic, merino/tencel.
I bought it a while ago and just now got to spinning it--totally forgot what it was made of.
I like it--it's different.
There are some curly locks right in there and I think I can tell what the romney is:


So, after this I have a some of the Shetland batts I want to try--maybe make those into some fingerless mitts (not for now, but save it)
And I want to wash my fleece soon.
I smells pretty game-y and I' ve been doing some reading and apparently the lanolin can harden and make the fleece hard to process later.
So, after I get the laundry done today (ha ha, is laundry ever done?) I want to wash the fleece.

That's the spinning update.
The knitting has not been going well lately--hubby even said to me last night--"You haven't been knitting much, what's going on?".
um....

Well I don't feel like I've been home much since last weekend--and with the dyeing, drying, re-skeining, picking knots out of skeins, processing orders, son not really napping--there hasn't been much time for knitting.
I actually sat down last night for the first time and finished one pattern repeat.
So, I'm past the heel and just starting to go up the leg.

That's about it for me, for now.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Excuse me while I show my inner geek.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY STAR WARS:
Actually I had no idea that it was today--but it just so happens I dyed Star Wars yarn in my shop last week:

My creation

Some have been purchased (you can see them in the "sold items' section of the shop.
I <3 Star Wars

*GRRRR Blogger has eaten half this post about 3 times*

Here is some roving I dyed by special request for a 4-H felting night.
I used food colouring for some:

I'm a nerd so I hung them "ROYGBIV".
Actually the red on the left as well as the bright blue, brown and black were mostly acid dyes.
I couldn't get a real red--hence the pink, with food colouring. Ditto for the blue.
The brown was okay, but pale--so I helped it.
I'm happy--it was fun and fast.

I also dyed some more roving by special request:

Neapolitan and some "ChickswithSticks" in Purple/Orange.

Okay, blogger is going nuts and keeps deleting sentences that I write.
I have spinning pictures to show, maybe tomorrow.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

I've been tagged:

The rules: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged need to write on their own blog those 7 facts as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven other people and list their names on your blog. Then you leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

Um, I'm not sure I will be able to find someone who hasn't been tagged--so I'm going to play
"Tired Mommy Tag" and you can tag yourselves (My sister and I invented it--you just stand next to another tired mommy keep your finger on each others shoulders and say "you're it" until one of you gets tired of the game--this game was brought to you by my son who refused to sleep while at my sisters--staying up FROM 11pm-3:30am and then getting up at 6am)

1. When walking up the stairs I almost always "have" to end with my left foot. It's a little bit OCD, left over from when I was a kid (I didn't actually have OCD, just weird things). I had all the stairs in my house, school and church mapped out so I knew which foot to start with.

2. I can't say the word "Coyote". No seriously--if I hear someone say it and I try a few times I can do it--but otherwise it comes out as Coy-oy-tee. I had a hard time with the "Coyote Ugly"move which plays on TV every once in a while--hubby walks in, asks what I'm watching and I can't tell him.

3. Ann-Marie is my middle name but this is the name I go by. My Mom and sister are the same.
On my Health Card it says "Judith" and so I always get called "Judy" and don't pay attention when they call my name because it's not really my name--it happened yesterday.

4. I skipped half of Kindergarten because I was reading books. The Teacher was concerned about me b/c I was always sitting by myself in the reading corner--until my Mom showed her I actually could read books.

5. I can say the Alphabet backwards really fast. (like about 5 seconds fast). My sister and I learned it in a song and we sang the song so much that it stuck in my head.

6. I am left handed but do everything else right--baseball, golf, knitting, guitar.

7. I can tie a cherry stem into a knot with my tongue. Saw it on TV once and thought it didn't' seem hard--it's not really.

This has been more of a "weird" fact list--but whatever.

If you want to be tagged, just leave me a comment.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Where have I been? What have I been doing?

It feels like I haven't been here in forever. It's just since Sunday, but we've been doing so much that month feels like it has been gone.

I have about 100 pictures that we've taken since I last posted.
No. Seriously.

There's a lot of sheep pictures, some fun Birthday party pictures and yarn pictures.

Sunday, we went to visit friends of ours who are starting to raise some sheep.
The mom's had babies at Christmas time and we hadn't gone to see them when they were wee--and then they got 2 more--Shetlands (yeah, spinning)

Here they all are in the field--the Brown ones are the Shetland and the others are a cross
Rambouillet and Rideau-Arcott (I think).

Princess B really liked them until they sniffer her--then I think she thought they were a bit big. They were so cute, and friendly and watching them jump was so cute!
This family also raises chickens which roam around their property sometimes--A had fun trying to catch the "buck bucks!!!"



The next day was a Shearing Day at a local Shetland farm. The same family we visited on Sunday were there for their 4-H club, as it was their big fundraiser day.
What fun!

Fields and fields of Shetland sheep. Shearing, watching people "skirt" the fleece, food, fun, friends (okay enough alliteration)


This is a small section of the field--picture about 200 sheep running around--and little 2 y/old boy trying to catch them.


We watched a couple of sheep being sheared until Princess B says "Mommy this is boring can we go?"
I told her it wasn't boring, but if she had seen enough we could go see some other animals.
A LOVED the sheep:

So I moved on to something fun for Mommy

So then I watched them skirt the fleece and happened to ask a woman beside me (who was buying 10) if she processed them herself. She says "I own a mill".
I had been hearing about a mill that was about an hour from me, for about 5 months--and there she is (in the pink). So, the friend who owns the sheep and another friends who have Angora goats had a chit chat, took her card and are planning a road trip to see her mill (yeah!!)

And.
And.
And.
I bought a fleece!
I had asked about prices and had decided that it was a bit much for me to undertake since I don't have carders or anything and have not processed fleece before.
I bought a couple of
batts and just happened to ask 1 more time about the price, finding out it was half of what I thought--I bought one.
So I now have a 3 pound Shetland fleece named Marley.

I found a great link here that might help me get over my fear of washing it. I might also just get some dog combs/brushes to start.

Oh, and then--also on Monday we went to a Birthday party for a 3 y/old friend of ours.
It was a "Cars" theme, and A is in love with Cars, so we had a blast.
More good food, good friend and good times.

"This marathon post has been brought to you by caffeine"
--I think I'll sign off now.
I think I'm caught up--next p
ost I will show you the series of yarn that I just dyed for the shop. Click the linky link and to see my shop for yourself too!!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Notes from a scattered brain.

Navajo plying= hard
Dyeing=fun and addictive
Re-skeining said dyed yarn=not so fun
Picking knots out of re-skeined yarn=less fun

Sushi for lunch=good
Seeing sheep this afternoon=WAY fun
Shearing day tomorrow=so much fun.

This post=boring

No wonder I've lost a subscriber.

okay, so i started navajo plying last night with some of the Romney singles i had left.
It is hard.
I think I know HOW to do it-but it's not working.
I've watched the little video on joyofspinning.com so many times but still I can't figure it out.
Anyone?
I know that I'm continually making loops and twisting at the same time, but the yarn doesn't want to make new loops--it keeps catching and making big lumps in the yarn.
Oh well-it takes practice, something I'm not good at.
I've dyed up a bunch of yarn for a little series, but since I've had more inspiration I need to dye some more before I post them.
I've snuck 2 into the shop--one sold almost instantly (yeah!) and once I got the international shipping thing figured out, I sold 3 more.

I bought some frozen sushi at the store the other day (just to try it) and for some reason Princess B has been asking for 2 days if she could have it--so I indulged her.
She liked it, until it fell apart and she realized there was something green in it (avocado)--but for a first timer--eating 2 pieces of sushi is a big deal!

We are going this afternoon to visit the friend who has sheep at her house. She's had 2 older sheep for a bit, they had lambs and we hadn't yet gone to see them--and now they have Shetlands.
This will be fun
Plus there is a big shearing day tomorrow and I hope to go and see some sheep, look at fleece and just hang out with the kids.

Right now, I'm back to skeining and plying (and eating too many chocolate covered espresso beans!)

Friday, May 18, 2007

Oh I do have stuff to say!

Totally forgot to post about my roving that became yarn!!!
Kittygrrlz bought 2 of my rovings (the chickswithsticks and the L&V) and spun them up for her store.
She left me a cute little note--telling me she wanted to spin up the fibre before she posted Etsy feedback because she wanted to include a picture of the roving spun up!
You can see her yarn here, here and here.

Fun!

I am going to be putting some new yarns up in the store tomorrow.
I snuck one in tonight (one I've dyed before) but there will be new ones and I'm excited.
I've been wanting to dye some of these for a while--and this week the inspiration hit me.

I've finished spinning up the Pippi roving and hope to learn to Navajo ply tonight. Hubby left his laptop home so I can watch the video from JoyofHandspinning to figure out how to do it.

Well, the kid are sleeping, the house is quiet and I'm off to spin, and dye and watch some season finale's.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Boring

Okay, so my blogging has been really boring lately.
Maybe it's because the change in the weather has lead me outside and not inside knitting, spinning or dyeing.
Maybe.
Maybe there has just been so much going on that to sit down and write it would either take too long or seem too jumbled.

So let's do a progress reports:
Elfine socks are going along smoothly--I'm at the heel of the first sock.
I was going along nicely last night when some of the silver foil (??) started to come off my needle.
It left a rough patch that I think caught the yarn.
The yarn had a snag/tear in 1 ply (grrr)
Then I was trying to master the wrap and turn short row (which is not the usual technique I use) and kept getting holes--so I frogged it.
Then I was leaving it for the night, got the ball caught on my foot and ended up dragging the sock/yarn across the kitchen.
What a mess.
That's how I knew it was time for bed.
THe socks are fine today though--already finished the heel in my normal short-row style.

RIbbi-Cardi--haven't touched it in more than a month. I'm thinking that now since it's May--it might be time to leave it until fall.
We'll see.

I've joined Ravelry.
I got an invite early last week and have been checkign it out multiple times daily.
The early beta testers had invites, but I think that has passed.
If you haven't checked it out--add your name to the list.
You might have to wait a couple of weeks (they did have 3,000 people on the list at one time) but it's well worth the wait.
It's the brain child of a blogger Frecklegirl Jess and her husband Casey--and is basically a place where you can show off your knits, enter your yarn stash, needles owned etc etc etc.
You can get ideas for new projects, see what others have done with yarn that you own.
It's linked to Flickr, so it's super easy to drag and drop pictures in.
So. Much. Fun.
Oh, and one of my pictures is being used to FEATURE a pattern.

This is the Child's Cotton Hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
It was a gift for Baby Mary our Pastors daughter.

What else do I have going on (*runs off to check Ravelry*)--oh yes.
Embossed Leaves sock--last sock is also at the heel, but I took out the needle to do the Elfine, since I only own 1 US1 circular.

Garden--not much going on since hubby used ALL the topsoil we bought to patch a little section of grass. 10 bags--not kidding.

Dyeing--JUST got some blanks and I have a whole series in my brain that I want to do, just need some time/energy/inspiration to do it.
*Usually I dye at night when hubby is at work and the kids are sleeping and I've had too much caffeine and chocolate and stay up way too late listening to podcasts*
But that hasn't happened yet.

So....I'll just keep on keeping on until something happens (a sock is finished or some yarn is dyed) and then I'll have pretty pictures to share

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Toronto Spiders--Press Release

"On Sunday, May 27, the Toronto Spiders will take up the International Wool Challenge (Back to Back Competition) for the fourth consecutive year. This competition, involving teams around the world, requires that a sheep be shorn and the fleece spun, plied, and knitted into a sweater (according to a standard pattern) in one day.
After two years at the Ontario Handspinning Seminar and a year at Toronto's Riverdale Farm, this year the Toronto Spiders will be at the Pickering Museum in Greenwood, as part of their Opening Day. The team is made up of Wannietta Prescod (the Fastest Knitter in North America in 2005 & 2006), Barbara Aikman, Julia Lee, Judy Pergau, Denise Powell, Karen Richens, and Lorraine Smith of Spinners Quarterly. Our shearer is Bob Comfort, and Joan Kass and Judy Findlay will be our timekeepers and educators. We look forward to having lots of interest and support from passers-by. Like all Back to Back Challenges, we will be raising money for cancer research.
We will be attempting to beat our Canadian record time of 6 hours, 51 minutes, and 15 seconds, so hope to finish some time between 4 and 5 p.m.
If you are in the neighbourhood, please do drop by and wave, say "Hey y'all", but don't expect us to stop what we're doing to chat with you until the sweater is done!"

This is something I would love to see.
Last year I got to "meet" the ram that donated the fleece that won this competition. It was from Rosehaven Farms which is a local LYS.
If I can make it, I'd love to go--but I thought I would post this for anyone in the Toronto area.
Go, support the spinners. It's for a great cause!

Would you do me a favour?

If you are reading this, can you click the little link-y link Google adsense thingy above this post?
I'm trying to figure out whether it's worth it, to have it on the site--and/or whether it actually gives relevant knitting ads.
(Once last week it gave a link to a "black only" singles website).....um...yeah.

Thanks!!!

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Here I am

I'm at my sisters.
Having a great time--visiting for my nephew's b-day.

I had 2 packages waiting for me from Wool2Dye4 (go check them out, Sheila is AWESOME)

and today I got my Knitpicks order and some stuff from "Smoosh" at Etsy.


She had some items in her sale section and a few of them came home with me.

It's funny--I visit my sister and I get mail here!

Yarn-y, fibre-y, books and spinning stuff.

Yeah!


Progress reports:
Embossed Leaves sock is coming along--I'm through the heel and just need to finish up the second sock. (Pardon the hideous picture, hard to take an in progress picture of yourself)

I took the needle out though, so I could cast on for something else:

Elfine socks from Amelia at Autoscopia. It's using the Fleece Artist sock yarn that I bought the day Aidan fell and I needed some "yarn therapy". I think it's the "Mahogany" colourway--but hard to know since Fleece Artist doesn't tend to label their ball bands. Grrrr.
I like this sock.
Actually I love this sock!
The picture above does not do the yarn justice. It's the most gorgeous colourway.
Reds and browns and deep rusty yellow--which doesn't sound too nice, but it's just yummy.
This is a "warm" version of the colour and it's pretty accurate.

So, hopefully this weekend there will be knitting, tea drinking, Law and Order watching, gabbing, eating--wash, rinse, repeat.
Yeah!!!

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

I have the best husband ever

Not only did he order Knitting books from my wish list--he arranged to have a friend watch the kids for the morning so I could have some quiet knitting/spinning and have a sushi lunch with him!
(Note: he doesn't like sushi)
He even made me the coolest card ever which hinted at my gifts:


So, in the picture, the Yarn Harlot is holding a book and I am holding a book.
Only, in the original picture we are holding each others socks.
Photoshop--amazing.

So, 2 knitting books are in the mail and should arrive today.
The house is quiet (which is freaking me out because I've never had that before)
and I'm going to get to eat sushi for lunch!!!
Woohoo.
So, in honour of that--I'm going to start a new sock.
I'm off to wind yarn.

Na na na na na na na na

(with apologies to the Beatles)

"You say it's your:


It's my Birthday to yeah"

Okay, yes, it's my birthday.
I just had to tell you a funny story about Princess B.
She is obsessed with birthdays--wants her Birthday every week.
She actually cried on the way home from the post office on Monday b/c the "Post office ladies" didn't give her a present and she wanted one.
So, I was telling her the other day that it was going to be Mommy's birthday.
She got all excited and said"OH--I can get you a Spinning Fridge".
So she proceeds to tell me that she wants to get me a fridge for my spinning wheel, and when you open it up--it's full of yarn.
That sounds just about perfect!!!


Happy Day to you all.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

OOOOOH prizes

Go here:
mothers-day-120-pix-wide.jpg

Win stuff.

Friday, May 04, 2007

That 70's Yard


That's what my yard looks like right now
this is some fabric that I got for free from Freecycle.
If you haven't heard of it, go here and sign up.
It's a cool way to get rid of things and get some cool stuff too. I've given couches, chairs, clothes etc etc and received a sandbox, fabric, the gorgeous couch/chairs/coffee table that I've blogged before.
Anyways, I got this stuff on Tuesday--just a random grab bag of fabric.
I want to learn to sew, want to practice quilting techniques but there is no way I"m going out to buy beautiful fabric only to wreck it.
So, I decided to practice with this stuff.
I was told there was some pink stuff in the mix, perfect to make "pretties" for Princess B.
Guess which one she picked:

The orangey-est, most polyester-y, weirdest fabric of the lot (except for the brown shaggy furry stuff, but let's not go there).
I think it might be cool. But it also might melt to her skin when it's hot.

I think I might try to use some of the other fabrics and hobble together a skirt. (I had a cute little DIY skirt bookmarked but now cant' find it....curse you Firefox)
OOOH I found it here:


There is a pretty pink mixed one:

And some plain white, so well see.

For the knitting content:


The Embossed Leaves sock has been resurrected.
I started this last fall--got the first one done and then lost patience with all the knots in the yarn. I did wind it on the swift, but there were snarls in the skein and it kept getting tangled.
Also, I didn't have a nice circular needle (mine was too short).
This project had sat in time out for way to long.
I started this on Monday-got the cuff done, had to rip it back. Got 8 rows into the chart, made a mistake, had to rip it back.
So, this is 2 nights worth of knitting....
and.....I love it.
I can't wait to finish it.

My little seedlings that we planted on Monday or Tuesday are doing well:

81 little pots filled with flowers, veggies and herbs.
Some look like they've already outgrown the peat pots--but I'm not sure they are ready to stay outside yet.

Fun.
Well, I'm off to knit knit knit while little man sleeps.
I have a friend coming over to hang out tonight so: Movies, food, fun!!!

Have a great weekend.