Radio Silence

First, I have to apologize. I knew I needed to write a good comprehensive post regarding the first two fibers from the fleece study.

Ok, I guess I'm going to attempt to give you the same format for each type of fleece so far. Up until now, I have used the same scouring method for each fleece. I'm actually washing each sample (each about an ounce) inside the basket from my salad spinner. That keeps too much fiber from going down the drain in the sink, plus I can just drop it into the spinner, spin as much water out as possible, and they're dry in a flash.

First I kind of pull the wool apart because in my head (a scary place) soaking it if its a little bit clumpy, the soap and water don't get to the center of the clumps. When I scour, I use the hottest water I can get from the tap (and ours is pretty hot since we don't have wee ones going into bathtubs who can't adjust their own water temp), I pour in a big fat dose of original Dawn hand dishwashing detergent, then when the sink is full, I set the basket in the water and sometimes I gently just press it below the water line, sometimes I let it sink in on its own. I soak for about 30 minutes (sometimes little more, sometimes a little less, you know how it is) and I repeat this process one or two MORE times. A lot depends on how dirty the water is after each soak. I DO NOT AGITATE EVER. Here's the thing, wool has little bitty scales on it, and the heat opens them up, so when the fiber gets cold fast, those little scaley bits close up on others and they hold the fibers together. If you remember that, you can remember that also, agitating them will make the hang up on eachother and grab when they cool off. When you're washing a fleece, this is usually a bad thing.

Ok, then when I'm satisfied that the water is coming pretty much clean, I go ahead and fill the sink again with hot water that has no soap in it, lower the basket and let it soak again, but usually only for 10 minutes or so. Then I spin, pull apart again and lay out on a towel to dry.

So, on to the spinning part!

Black Welsh Mountain

Prep: Scoured
Staple Length: 2" approx
Combing/Carding: Ashford fine drum carder - I considered spinning it from the lock, but wussed out and made one pass through the drum carder. I wouldn't recommend that as it left a lot of fibers in it because it's so coarse.
Drafting Style: Short Draw
Type of prep: Woollen (batts rolled into rolags)
Plying: Navajo
% of weight lost from washing/short cuts etc: forgot to weigh before duh

End result: 20 yards of bulky three ply
Very coarse, but lofty
almost sparkly from shiny, coarse fibers.
I would compare it to Corriedale, but coarser and no neps that i noticed.

Final: Wouldn't spin again. In my mind only good for a rug or something of that type.


While drying

After spinning.


California Red

Prep: Scoured
Staple Length: 3" approx
Combing/Carding: Ashford fine drum carder. Run through three times in an attempt to line up the fibers for worsted spinning
Drafting Style: Short Draw
Type of prep: Worsted
Plying: S plied
% of weight lost from washing/short cuts etc: forgot to weigh before duh

End result: 58 yards of DK weight
Softness compares to Shetland I have spun in the past
some reddish guard hairs that aren't very coarse that i kept in.


Final: I enjoyed spinning it. Not soft enough for next to skin, but cardigan/outerwear.

Pre-Wash

Post-Wash (Drying)

All spun up!

Now, if you don't listen to the Podcast, you probably won't know what the heck this is about.

One of our listeners saw me post on a board that I would like The Fleece Study for Christmas, and she had one marinating in her stash for about seven months. She sent me a Private message, and offered to send it to me if I would talk about what I learned on the podcast (and we are using this blog as a place for me to post my huge long posts regarding the Fleece Study. I'll be doing two fibers at a time, and I have two more all done, but not gonna post here until we have a chance to record about them.

Thank you SOOOOOOOOO much to ToadyJoe who graciously donated this Fleece Study. I hope it helps a lot of people learn more about processing their own fibers. I have something in the works to send to her as a thank you too ;)

Oh, and if anyone is worried, the info is not copywritten in the workbook you get, and I contacted the developer of the Fleece Study, Jackie Bland for her "OK' for us to discuss it on the podcast. She gave it the green light and gave us some tips on selecting a fleece. I'll share 'em later!

The Good, The Bad, and The Christmas Story

The good is that we are done shopping, planning, wrapping, cooking (well except for brunch tomorrow), shoveling, salting the driveway, eating Christmas Eve feast.

The bad is that my sister from Chicago hasn't made it here yet due to weather. It won't be a mimosa Christmas brunch without her.

The Christmas Story: This is a story which is probably funnier if you know the parties involved. I will say that it is mostly concurrent with my recollection, except that I actually do remember getting the word "no" out right before my ex BIL opened the bathroom door, but unfortunately, nothing more. The word "no" was not sufficient to stop said opening of the bathroom door, and no description in the world can possibly convey the absolute hilarity of my Grandma trying to get up, then sitting back down over and over while we all just kind of gaped impossibly with nothing constructive to do. Did I mention that my family has an evil streak a mile wide? Oh, I didn't have to? Cool.

In fact, said sister called me today nd the following conversation ensued:

Sister: I have a Christmas present for you (giggling)

Me: What now on the phone?

Sister: Yes, I left it on my blog and it's just for you.

Me: oh ok I'll go there now, hang on.

Then she kept talking while I paid the minorest amount of attention I could get away with and read at the same time. When I got to the second to the last paragraph, I just busted out laughing so hard. We were both crying with laughter on the phone and sometimes roaring with it too.

Oh, the humanity.

Thanks, dear sister. I hope your drive here tomorrow is very uneventful. And I'll have the mimosas ready.


P.S. I know I owe a post about my first two fleece study fibers and never fear, it IS coming. I have just been super busy with the holiday and carding BFL and knitting and having a good time.

P.P.S. The fibers for next week are Clun Forest and Columbia.

Not very Christmasy

Tomorrow I'm going to do my first post on the Fleece Study. Come on back and see for some spinning love. For today:

Which creature of the night are you? Your Result: Ghost Life has beat you into a mere shadow, and you have little to gain or lose in the world. Quiet and introspective until roused, when you become a scarier, poltergeistier thing.
Incubus/Succubus
Vampire
Sorceror
Cthulu Spawn
Demon
Werewolf
Which creature of the night are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

How to taunt your sister. . .

Happy Christmas. We had our big baking day on Sunday. I was worn out, but we are now buried in cookies. Tonight we have a Christmas choir concert for number 4, but tomorrow night we'll bring some cookies to neighbors.

Last night was our knitting group holiday party. It was Great! We had an ornament exchange too. I'll have a picture of my ornament soon!

Better Late. . .

Than never. Friday, when number five came home from school, I asked him if he would mind modeling something for me. Then i reminded him of last winter when he modeled the same item, in a different colorway, for me. He was fine with it. That kid is game to help out and he is a ham!

He put it on and said he was going to try to be serious to counteract the girliness of the item.



Mission accomplished I'd say. He had a terrible time keeping a straight face.

That was my last Christmas knitting so it is very nice to have it all done and ready to go!

My dad is dong well. An MRI showed a stroke last week, and he will definitely be undergoing either angioplasty or a bypass in two to three weeks. He has recovered from the stroke enough (and made such a fuss) that they let him go to the hospital. I saw him yesterday. He seemed pretty normal. i guess time will tell how this plays out, but the two branches of his carotid are 90% and 40% blocked, so they can't wait too long to fix that.

Thanks again for the well wishes and messages of support. They mean a lot!

WTF Friday returns

I belong to our local Freecycle chapter. You can google Freecycle if you don't know what it is.

I posted a plant stand this morning. The Chief's brother sent a beautiful refinished walnut one home with him, so I replaced one that I already had. Anyway, I posted this:

Offer: Plant Stand on the Northside

This pine plant stand also has a lower shelf and is rustic style.


Fairly straightforward right? Well I got this reply:

Does it hold a plant on the top of it. I have a Christmas Catcus that needs a stand. Thanks

Ti





Ummmmmmmmmmmm WTF? What else would a plant stand do? They don't do a soft shoe or sing Christmas Carold for pete's sake. I'm giving it to someone else just because I'm not sure she is smart enough to take care of a Christmas Cactus, and believe me, it's not hard. I have a whole bunch.

Happy Friday! Oh and I forgot to get the kid to wear the ice queen for a photo, so maybe tomorrow or even tonight. Sorry!

Hello, I am a knitting fool

My first colorwork project has magically (well not magically, but unexplainedly) gotten a big whole in it, so I knit a new hat for the boy. It's the Lion Brand Cashmere blend yarn. Oh yeah, my kid wears Koigu socks and cashmere hats LOL. He is the coolest though.

Yeah, he's photogehnic, that's right, baby.

I also finished the Ice Queen, but i don't have a photo yet.

But the biggest news of alllllllllllll!!!!!

I finished the sleeves on Basic Black. I didnt pin it for real, but just sort of making sure it was going to fit into the hole. I'll probably have to redo the button band because it's rolling on the neck, but we'll see. That means I'm nearly done! (and can start planning the next sweater which is funnnnnn)


I also cast on for Abby from fall Knitty. I'm using handspun merino that I blended with firestar. How fun is that? I'm finally getting a cowl!



Yeah a little heavy on the firestar maybe. I like the sparklies!

Photo of Ice Queen and Snowdrop lace socks tomorrow.

As promised

Ok, and AWAY WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I'm doing the second bind-off for this Ice Queen. This is my third Ice Queen, and I still don't have one of my very own. Is that wrong or what? and that bind off, people, THAT BIND OFF! What a pain in my butt. (In the photo, that's my little applesauce container thing that i use to hold my beads and beading wire while I'm working on a project.



I also have been working on the SOTSIII again. You know how they look like Ramen noodles until you block.



Well SOTSIII is no exception to that rule.

I've also been spinninggggggggggggggggggggggg yay. I'm working on that creepy alpaca that looked like Barbarella's grody hair fall. I'l have a photo in a day or two. I did take one, but it really just looked like poop, literally.

See yas!

Poley's Story

Colin (who's blog I read quite regularly) asked if Poley is a Pom or a German Spitz. The short answer is "I wish I knew". Find the long answer below:

Just over four years ago, the dog I had before Poley needed to be put down. She had liver problems and had been on pulse therapy with a steroid to try to help her keep her weight up, but finally she just gave out. It was really awful for me. She had been with me for years, through the birth of my son, my divorce, and so much more.

About 8 or 9 months later, I started to feel the absence of a little buddy and started to look for a dog. I had decided on either a Japanese Chin, or a Pomeranian, and was looking around for the right guy or girl.

At the company I worked for, they had a very large cyber bulletin board, and someone on it was looking for a home for her "pomeranian". She said she felt it didn't get enough attention, so she was looking for the right home. I knew I wasn't going to be breeding, just a companion for me and number 5, so i wasn't terribly stressed about pedigree. I was a lot more interested in personality, training, etc. She lived quite near The Chief's work, so I arranged with his old owner to have an overnight visit to see if he would work for us. After one night, i called her to tell her that I wanted one more night to make up my mind. It's hard to tell because they spend some time exploring and he did hike several times, but I thought it was just Lily's old scent bothering him.

My son was pretty much in love and wanted to keep him, and I called her to get the papers she claimed to have and his vet records, but she never answered another call from me. Good thing I was keeping him, or what would I have done? She claimed he was a pure breed pom, with regular vet visits etc, but I do doubt her a bit now. He was very poorly socialized, didn't stop hiking without retraining and a wee neuter and was extremely aggressive. The Chief and i hypothesize that he was rarely out of his kennel. We've had to work with him very hard to teach him to be the nice boy he is now (well, the chief worked hard). We named him Napolean because he was so aggressive, and has that fluffy butt that reminds me a little bit of those white jodhpurish pants worn back then. He really is a very good boy now, but occasionally does go back and try to reassert himself as the boss of the house.

I'm not convinced he's a full breed pom, as he is quite a bit bigger than the standard, his muzzle seems quite a bit longer and his nose and eyeliner is not as black as it should be, so I dunno!

Also, to answer Donna, I have never spun his fur, but his undercoat is like angora.

Oh yeah, and he has a wee buddy that John had before we were married who is a papered pom, who was a stud before we got him (the breeders were good friends of ours, but they had a bad accident and stopped breeding). Prince wears diapers because he has an anxiety tinkle problem. I make his diapers out of hand towels that get lined with papers. Somebody has to take care of these two hot messes! (it's me)


Poley sleeping.

Princey looking really afraid of the bobbin of singles I put next to him.

Poley trying to camouflage himself into the couch

Prince's face and Poley's butt

Poley playing computer games with Daddy.

Hey I'll have some actual knitting photos tomorrow. I'm working on some Christmas knitting.

Update on my dad too: He quite suddenly stopped being able to speak and is wobbling (not exactly shaking). He is still bleeding internally, though as of yet, they haven't found where, he will be undergoing angioplasty as soon as they can get his blood counts up, which is tough since they still don't know where the other bleeding is (obviously). The Chief saw him yesterday on his way home from Ohio and said it rattled him a bit. He is very frustrated with the speech problem. He has had two Cat Scans that show not damage in his brain, no stroke or aneurism, so we are hopeful that the restoration of full blood flow to his brain will take care of this, but it's pretty upsetting and scary. If you pray, please say a word for him, if you don't, please keep a good thought. Thanks for the very kind thoughts and words. They really are appreciated and I know that "the blog" doesn't produce them, people who come and visit do, so thank you so much.

Big Ego Much?

Poley thinks he's the gift of the century.


He is a good dog though now. It sure did take a lot of training.

We're having our knitting group holiday party tomorrow. I've been cleaning a bit. I hadn't caught up with the house from Thanksgiving weekend yet, so I'm getting as much done as I can. We're having snacks, an ornament exchange and watching the holiday movie Love, Actually while knitting or spinning.

My dad went into the hospital this morning. I don't know a lot more than that yet. I don't think I've processed that yet. Sometimes I can be slow to process.

The lace train has pulled into the station. I am back working on SOTSIII. Come back and see a photo tomorrow!

Dear Blog,

You are fricken awesome. Sometimes I wish you were anonymous so I could vent even more things (I know. Hard to believe there's more huh?), but all-in-all, you are pretty sweet.

It's cool how when i am feeling like crap about Santa being dead, you magically offer comments from people that cheer me up. Keep up the good work on that. It reminds me to comment more on the blogs I visit. I guess I am a lurker a lot of the time.

Sorry about the cursing. I thought about giving it up earlier this week, then I remembered that my mom teaches some of her patients to curse to help them release some of their inside angst. I'm going with that excuse for not giving it up.

I think the coolest part about you is that I've gotten to know people from other countries even. Sometimes I wish they were my neighbors so I could stop over and have a cup of coffee in the morning and talk to the about knitting. As it is, my neighbors are useless on this level. Can you believe that? It's not cool.

Love you!

Trish aka Bams

Oh and i finished some stuff.

BIL, Tom's hunting socks.

Socks for mom. They're knit from Cascade Handpainted sockyarn. The pattern is the no-fuss toe-up Fleegle socks.

Finished one of the fingerless gloves with the skull/crossbones. I can't tell you how much I absolutely hate knitting fingers. I seem to hate it more the more I do instead of less. Weird huh?


See yas later!

Taps for Santa

My son doesn't believe in Santa anymore. Last year his stepmother bought a gift for his stepsister in front of him and then put a Santa tag on it and he figured it out.

I've tried so hard to preserve Santa and true to his heritage, he stayed partially in denial up until now. Every time the subject came up, I played up on my ineptness and said "seriously do you think I could do all that by myself? Don't be crazy" and he bought it.

I'm really sad about it this year. I know it was a miracle he made it so long, but there are no more kids who believe in Santa and I'll never get to have more kids so it's over.

Conspicuously Absent

Yes, I do realize, the my knitting blog is oddly devoid of actual knitting content late. Never fear, I have stuff on the way. The first sleeve of my handspun Basic Black, a pair of socks for one of The Chief's brothers, and a pair of socks for my mom. All quite near completion and then I am going to finish SOTSIII. I love it, but I think I had a lace break or something. For over a year, I had a lace project going at all times, and I think it was just time for a time out.

The lace and I were "on a break".

Until that stuff is done and photoed, I do have some food pics for you. We went to MIL's last weekend for an early Thanksgiving dinner. This year she had it on Saturday prior to Thanksgiving in order to give those of us who are attending numerous get togethers a chance to make it to her house. Sadly, nobody got drunk and did anything crazy (even me). (See the tequila story from last March's family wedding, or perhaps I chose to leave that story for the family).

Anywho, she requested that we bring a Thanksgiving crowd pleaser that I've been known to make. It's a double chocolate, pumpkin cheesecake. I got it from the November issue of Woman's Day a few years ago. Why don't they call it Womans'? That's always bothered me. It's confusing, or Womens'? or some crap like that. Anyway, here it is next to my fave coffee cup. We were joking that the huge cup of coffee and the entire cheesecake would make the perfect breakfast.


It did turn out perfect too.

But Saturday morning, we decided to make bagels. We've done it before, but they turned out so pretty, we took a picture. It's not hard at all, and man were they YUMMY!



You see? This bitch IS domesticated, or domestic, or whatever. . . .

If you're American, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving, if not, I wish you a very happy weekend!

We're Havin a Heat Waveeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

No, seriously. This is why I love snow. This is the view looking to the left standing in our front yard.



Click to Embiggen and enjoy.

And this is looking up from the driveway



gorgeous right?

Well I had to drive down to bring some items to be shipped to the mailbox. It is way slippery out there, but so pretty it's inspiring.

Hope you're all staying warm and dry.

Charity Knitting

Let's just see here. I finished one booty for the PCAP charity, and cast on a second. This is a charity that helps substance addicted pregnant moms get clean and hopefully be better moms. I figure if they're involved in a program like that, well heck that's something I want to support. Can you imagine how many parents people in the world there are that just shouldn't be having babies? How many people who just care more about themselves, their next drink or whatever, than about their babies? Too many.

What I hear is that a lot of these babies will need everything, and heck it's just one booty, but it's a start! If you want to participate, we have a thread in our Ravelry group for the High Fiber Diet Podcast. You don't have to join the group to participate. Come on in and join the fun!

Let's See Some Hustle!

Ok so lots of you are going to be like Wha Wha??

Deer hunting season (rifle season at least)opens this weekens in Michigan and the Chief will be hunting with No. 3 (14 yrs old). It's supposed to snow, which is good for a hunter. It makes it much easier to see what's moving in the woods against a white carpet. Anywho, the Chief mentioned that he would like a taller pair of wool socks for hunting this year, so I got to spinning. I pulled some chocolate brown Shetland out of my stash. (You see? It totally pays to have stash on hand) and got to spinning.

On Sunday, I finished the singles, and then did the plying. I ended up with somewhere between 500 and 600 yds of fingering weight, two play sock yarn. It's not super exciting, but I can say that I think my spinning is getting better. I have one sock done now, but I'm only going to show you a little piece until I have them both ready. Cross your fingers that i can get them done before they take off Friday afternoon for hunting.

Pink Ribbon Socks

Are done! I will probably just keep them here and give them my sis at Thanksgiving



I am still working on the sleeves for the handspun sweater, spinning up a new, chocolate brown sock yarn for the Chief and knitting up a pair of Cascade handpaint sock yarns for my mom. Oh and we've had our first and second fires in the fireplace for the fall. I love those! I edited the 10th episode of the podcast sitting in front of the fireplace and it was wonderful! I'm uploading it now, so if you're interested you can click THIS

I hope you are all having wonderful weekends!

I have stuff going but I'm Too lazy to take photos

I don't mind being a bitchslap. There's a bit of a cool factor associated don't you think? I have gotten SO MUCH done this week it's insane. All the credit goes to caffeine.

I'll have some pictures tomorrow

I want ice cream really bad but so far I haven't caved.

I raked up a ton (and I srsly do mean a TON) of leaves this week.

Today I brought the boy lunch and while I was driving to the Mexican place where I ordered Tamales for him, There was a truck with one of those cherry picker things. It was on the side of the road and the picker was extended up towards a phone (or electricity pole, but I think phone) and somehow, it was tipped halfway over and the picker thing was completely mangled. Plus there were a whole bunch of guys in hardhats just standing around staring with their arms crossed. It really completed the dipshit picture. I came very close to going home to get my camera, but I was afraid they'd have a toe truck there to fix it by the time I got back. That would totally be my luck.

Holiday shopping will commence directly.

I totally love that I can find the old seasons of Gilmore Girls online. I'm watching Season 1. Yay.

I voted and walked five miles and THIS IS THE THANKS I GET

It's true, Muthas. No wonder my mom always says she's afraid of me, or I'm mean or something. I don't have a small penis though.

Your result for The Personality Defect Test...

Bitch-Slap

You are 43% Rational, 29% Extroverted, 57% Brutal, and 29% Arrogant.

You are the Bitch-Slap, the hallmark response of any abusive husband! You are more intuitive than others, focusing more on feelings than rational explanations, and you are also probably very brutual because you care more about yourself than the well-being of others. As all nagging wives know, brutality combined with emotion often leads to BITCH-SLAPPING, which is why you are called "The Bitch Slap". (That and because I find it amusing to accuse people of pummeling female dogs.) Your humility probably stems from insecurity, if anything, because people fond of slapping the shit out of someone in place of rational discussion are usually not humble in the way Jesus was humble. Possible sources of insecurity? A small penis, a small bank account, a small intelligence...gee, when you say "small" a lot, it stops sounding like a real word! Not only that, but you are also rather introverted, and any tendencies towards brutality you possess may also result from the fact that you bottle up your emotions and don't show them to others until you explode in rage like some sort of shaken soda can. Take it from me, it is much more rewarding to bottle beer over emotions. You can't get wasted on emotions. Aside from all my talk (and it's a lot of talk) you are probably not a VIOLENT person, just someone who is rather selfish and who makes decisions based upon emotional motives. At any rate, being a bitch-slap does not necessarily mean you will abuse your spouse (your body odor is no doubt abuse enough); it only means you are rather intuitive, uncaring toward others, brutal, introverted, and possibly insecure.

And sorry about that body odor remark if you really are insecure. I promise that you smell like roses. Being fertilized by cow shit.

To put it less negatively:

1. You are more INTUITIVE than rational.

2. You are more INTROVERTED than extroverted.

3. You are more BRUTAL than gentle.

4. You are more HUMBLE than arrogant.

Compatibility:

Your exact opposite is the Braggart.

Other personalities you would probably get along with are the Schoolyard Bully, the Class Clown, and the Brute.

*

*

If you scored near fifty percent for a certain trait (42%-58%), you could very well go either way. For example, someone with 42% Extroversion is slightly leaning towards being an introvert, but is close enough to being an extrovert to be classified that way as well. Below is a list of the other personality types so that you can determine which other possible categories you may fill if you scored near fifty percent for certain traits.

The other personality types:

The Emo Kid: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Starving Artist: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Bitch-Slap: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Brute: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Hippie: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Televangelist: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Schoolyard Bully: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Class Clown: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Robot: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Haughty Intellectual: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Spiteful Loner: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Sociopath: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

The Hand-Raiser: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble.

The Braggart: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant.

The Capitalist Pig: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble.

The Smartass: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

Be sure to take my Sublime Philosophical Crap Test if you are interested in taking a slightly more intellectual test that has just as many insane ramblings as this one does!

About Saint_Gasoline

I am a self-proclaimed pseudo-intellectual who loves dashes. I enjoy science, philosophy, and fart jokes and water balloons, not necessarily in that order. I spend 95% of my time online, and the other 5% of my time in the bathroom, longing to get back on the computer. If, God forbid, you somehow find me amusing instead of crass and annoying, be sure to check out my blog and my webcomic at SaintGasoline.com.

Take The Personality Defect Test at HelloQuizzy

Certified Knitter's Kid? Or Ass Kisser? You Make the Call

So this weekend, our kids had to do Christmas lists. They never get all of it, but it helps us shop. In the past few years, we have done nearly all of our shopping in one night. We have a "method" you see.

Anyway, No. 5 worked on his list, but he also keeps a wishlist up on Amazon for family that doesn't live close. It works pretty well. I went ahead and scanned his list and circled the important entry

If you can't see it, it says "a pair of soft green alpaca socks: I think I spelled alpaca wrong but that is my best guess"

What a HOOT! He used to have a pair of green alpaca socks but they got too small and apparently he's missing them. Either that, or he knows how much it means to me to have my family ask for knitting. I have knitted too much stuff for people who just don't wear it ya know?

ok and let's see. I'm about halfway down the heel flap for the Pink Ribbon Socks. What a freakin cool pattern! The proceeds for this pattern go to the Susan B. Coleman foundation for breast cancer research. I know October (BC awareness month) is over, but it's a good cause anyway.

I'll post a photo in a day or two when I have the first sock completed. and now i'm off to clean the kitchen (eww)

Killer Mini-Dog ON THE LOOSE!

A second before this was taken, The Chief and the Polester were looking at eachother almost nose to nose and it was sooooooo cute. I tried to get it, but apparently Poley had excess Carbon Dioxide to get rid of.



Makes me laugh

Anywho, I didn't spin all weekend, but I did pick my next spin. (I might slip in one alpaca batt first as I really am dying to try a little bit of the blonde that's processed, but that won't take much time at all). Here's The Chief's next sweater:

This is the corner of the family room. Ignore my postal scale and the blankie.

I'm on the gusset of the second Froot Loop! yay me


And on top of that! I finished the fronts and the button band on my handspun sweater! I had a heck of a time trying to unroll it enough for a photo. You know how roley they can be until you get the sleeves on, but I'm very satisfied with how it's coming out and I like it a lot. I really do look forward to dyeing it though. I think i've settled on a dark aquaish, peacock color. I've never dyed a finished garment before, so I'm a little bit nervous.

And They Said it Would Never Last . .

Yesterday, the Chief and I marked out two year anniversary. It has just flown by. It doesn't even feel like six months; isn't that weird?

So here's the story. The Chief and I were dating, and I decided it was time for me to sell my starter house and move to a better school district. Long story short; we ended up picking out a house and buying it together in the same district his two youngest kids live in. I guess he figured we'd be gettin' married huh? We weren't engaged, and I moved in with no. 5. We just didn't feel like moving in together without being married was the example we wanted to give the kids, but i digress! About three months after I moved in, he proposed. (of course I answered with a romantic "Are you sure?") LOL duh of course he was.

When we decided to plan our wedding, we just thought we would get married in our house. My mom is a minister so she would perform the ceremony, but we didn't want people to get all dressed up and bring presents and stuff. We just invited our friends and family over for an open house, and when they got there: SURPRISE! It's a wedding. It was fun. We had a lot of champagne and fun and tons of food.

As long as I was married to the Chief at the end of the day, I wouldn't have cared if anything went wrong.

Here we are with our officiant (my mom) two years ago on our wedding day. (and no i'm not wearing red, although maybe I should have)



I'd do it all over again in a second! Love you, babe!

Hey!

I finished the back of my first handspun sweater. Can you believe it? It looks totally boring.

I'm going to dye it when it's done, or possibly in pieces before I sew it up (of course with some yarn for seaming. I thought it might be easier to dye in pieces, but maybe no? Don't you just love how I "wing it"?



About 1/4 of the way up, you can see where I changed skeins, but it's not a color change (like it sort of looks in the photo) but one skein was a bit thicker on the end that connected to the last skein, so the fabric is a bit different (run on sentence yeah whatever). I think once it's dyed and blocked out, it won't be noticeable. Fingers crossed and all that.

I also finished one Froot Loop sock. I'll take a pic of that tomorrow ;)

The True Axis of Evil

Lives in my house. It's our dogs. Forget North Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan, it's here. We have three dogs:

Abby - aka Hoover (as she sucks up her food the moment it drops out of the measuring cup) nearly 13, chocolate lab, deaf, incontinent, gettin' crochety, near chronic ear infections. (belonged to the Chief before we combined households)
Napoleon aka Poley - approx 5 yr old blonde pomeranian that I adopted. He was aggressive and completely unsocialized. Oh yeah, and he loved to pee on everything he could. Now epileptic, but otherwise after a lot of training, he has become a pretty good dog. (belonged to me prior to combining households)
Princey - aka Prince Evil - Approx 5 also, wee little white pomeranian. He has sired 11 litters and was retired from breeding a few years ago by a good friend of the Chief and subsequently adopted by said Chief. Prince pees anytime someone he perceives as "alpha" touches him. (Or if the Chief who he sees as Alpha AND Omega even talks to him). Prince wears diapers I've made from hand towels to keep him from weeing all over the house. Poor guy can't help it, but ick.

I don't have a pic of Ab right now, but here's the boys. Please excuse Poley's tocks in your face.



Oh and I took a pic of Beaudalaires

Purdy right?

Some Spinning and an Overdue Tagging

I finished one bobbin of the Shetland I've been working on (to be followed up by alpaca as soon as it's finished, of course). It was dyed blue, green, and yellow. I decided to Navajo ply it as I was hoping to achieve a worsted weight yarn. Dividing the 8 ounces I have into three equal amounts, I have the singles spun up. The first bobbin has been plied and has had a day or two to rest. Here it is!

I don't have a plan for it, Maybe somebody has a good suggestion for what to do with approx 330 yrds of worsted weight yarn?

I also carded up a batt the other day. I used to have this red, silk, chinese style dress (which doesn't fit anymore, and even though I hope I will be that size again, I will just get a new one ;). The Chief helped me unravel some of the silk and I added it to a black corriedale bat. More than anything, it was really just an experiment. I'll show you when it's spun up!



Busy busy!

Also, I was tagged awhile ago by DK (the designer of The Secret of the Stole III which incidentally is turning out absolutely gorgeous!) I am supposed to state 7 odd or strange facts about myself. There's just so many, how to narrow it down?

1. When I was a kid, I loved to drink straight dill pickle juice. I don't do it anymore, but maybe I was some weirdo kind of vitamin deficient or something?

2. I love Vincent Price movies. The cheesier and worse the special effects are, the better. If you add Peter Lorrie, it's a shoe-in.

3. I have loved the movie Gone With the Wind since I was about 4, and was horrified to find out that we WERE the Yankees when I was in first grade. "Yankees in Georgia! How did they ever get in?!"

4. I didn't finish my Bachelor's Degree, nor do I have any desire to, although I may someday. I absolutely HATE to write papers because I tend to be too succinct. The person reading it is the professor. It just doesn't make sense that I have to explain EVERYTHING to the person leading the class!

5. In middle school band, I was in the percussion section, so I've played all types of drums and xylophone, bell instruments as well as piano.

6. I went to State Honors Choir in Ninth grade with a ladies trio. Dang that was a lot of work and getting up early on Saturdays

7. Besides yarncrafts, I also have a huge craft stash in my laundry room that contains stuff for scrapbooking, rubber stamping, embossing, sewing, embroidering, papercrafts, oil painting, water color painting, acrylics and probably more stuff I can't think of right now. I was once told by my Stepdaughter that I had enough "stuff to start a station" which we assume is a school thing where you stop at different locations in the room and make a craft. It's true too.

I finally did it! Sorry it took me so long, DK!

Well it's not the first time I've Heard it.

You are The Devil

Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession

The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.

Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major arcana, the Devil is not really "Satan" at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires. This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Yarncon!

Ok, I don't know what my deal is, but finally I have a few photos of Yarncon.


Here is my sister with the handspun yarn I bought her. It's her hostess gift for having me for the weekend. Believe me, she deserves it. She cooked and drove me all over and we had fun.

Colin from the blogroll over there -----------> mentioned in a comment that she looks like Shirley Maclaine. I haven't really thought of it before, but she does, let me stress, look like a YOUNG Shirley. She sings better though. Here's the weirdness that is my life: My mom looks like Shirley Jones. so I'm surrounded by Shirley lookalikes.

Here she is knitting a scarf. that's right, I've turned her to the dark side.

Barbarella was here

I have tons to tell you, but I'm going to spread it out over a few days.

First, when i got back from Yarncon, I found out I was SOLD OUT of blue Hawaiian on Etsy. here's the truth of it all, I've been feeling like I must not be cut out to dye yarn for sale. The main reason is that I have three options as I see it, sell in shops (but I can't make enough profit for it to be worth it if I sell it wholesale), sell at fiber festivals (which isn't really feasible with the family and gas prices and the operating capital I have at the moment, or sell online (and frankly I wasn't selling much). I don't have the personality to sell myself in person anyway. I wish I did, but alas, newp.

If I hadn't sold that order, I think I would have given up quite soon. Maybe I still will. Who knows huh? Anywho, since I did sell out, and I had a great big jug of that blue base mixed up, I dyed up a few more skeins to put on as well as some more Angler's Cocktail (which I've totally been meaning to do). I tell ya what, it gave me a boost.

I've been carding up the alpaca that has been washed and dried. Tell me that doesn't look like Barbarella dropped by and lost some of her grody 60's hairpiece.

Kinda creepy huh? and way to go if you knew who Barbarella was without having to look it up. You're cool.

Last for today, My sister got a bunny. I promised the Chief I would not fuss for one of my own. To be quite honest. I have more on my hands to take care of than I really need anyway. One of these dogs has to wear a diaper because he has a nervous peepee problem. Here's a photo of the bunny and my sister too.


Isn't that just a cute bunny face?

More stuff soon, photos of Yarncon, turning my sister to the darkside and likely much more! yay!

Where I reveal the true nature of my insanity

Dude, when I'm tired, I am just an unstable, crazy bitch! My weekend trip to Chicago was lovely, Yarncon was lovely. I met Franklin Habit people and he was SO NICE!! My sister's new Holland Lop bunny is lovely, and I am tired!

I'm getting awfully tired of the election. I'm not going to go on about my own political agenda here, because, hey this is a KNITTING BLOG. I don't want to go to a knitting blog and read about people's political agendas. I want to read about (hey here's an idea) KNITTING, YOU JACKASSES. I am fine with the odd funny story about work, family, whatever.

American politics is really a big study in hypocrisy anyway isn't it? Food for thought. I have an opinion, I know who I'm voting for and more importantly, I know WHY because I have paid attention, done research and watched the debates attentively.

I hope you vote. Whether you agree with my own pick or not, you should be heard.

Visit back, I'll have photos and more info on yarncon! Oh and if you listen to the podcast, we won't be uploading until Thursday and it's my fault. I'm wiped out and don't really feel up to recording today. I was going to just do it anyway, but Coggie graciously let me beg off until Wednesday.

New Socks

I finished the handspun socks on Friday. I love them.



Also recorded episode 6 yesterday (been uploaded to thehighfiberdiet.mypodcast.com) and sent off my donation skein for the SAM6 blog group. Yay!

Also I found out this about me:
Who knew?

You are most like: You are Purple
You are vibrant and strong, and often associated with royalty. Your power may cause other a little discomfort at time, but only because they are weaker than you.
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You are Purple