Author: LDSVenus

An Ollivander’s Wand!!

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Ollivander Wand  Oh My Goodness!!  My son and his spouse went to Disney World and Universal Studio’s to celebrate their birthdays (2 days apart).  I asked if they would bring me a souvenir postcard from Harry Potter World at Universal Studios (I am a huge Harry Potter fan.)  Never in my dizziest daydreams did I anticipate this!  I’m beyond excited!!  My son didn’t know what Harry Potter character it might have been from, but they told him it was a healing wand.  I’m still grinning like a Cheshire cat!  He said they had some of the Butterbeer (for non Harry Potter fans, it is a non alcoholic drink served to the students at Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter Movies, the Butterbeer in the books might have had alcohol in it.)  He said that is was really good, smooth and creamy with a butterscotchy flavor. 🙂

I’m about half finished with my daughter’s hat, I forgot to take a picture to put in my blog, but I will get one when I have it finished, which hopefully should be today or tomorrow.  I really love the Basia pattern, easy and very visual, it is a paid for pattern.

 

Cold Temps and Another Hat

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jan2019snows This is a picture of the back yard of a friends house so you can see all the snow we have had this Jan.  We also got another 2 inches today, that would make about 19 inches this month, sigh.

We also had some pretty low temps the past 3 days.  Tuesday night got down to about 25 below zero Fahrenheit and with wind chills was about 40 to 45 below zero.  Last night we broke a record with a low of -30 below zero and with wind chills it got down to about 55 below zero.  Our daytime temps were in the lower 20’s below zero  and with wind chills close to 40 below (that is in the day time!), On Wed the post office actually closed and said no postal deliveries.  We got up to -1 today!  Tomorrow should be 18 above and by Sunday we should be around 40 above, a heatwave!!!!

Another Basia Hat

The hat my daughter chose for me to knit from the alpaca I hand spun (a fingering weight) for her was the Basia hat, unfortunately it calls for sport weight, so I added my last skein of the polypay yarn (a sport weight) from the last fleece I sent in a couple of years ago.  I died it brown and tho it is much lighter than the alpaca (I knit them together) it is a very pretty marled color.  I think she will be pleased.  She could have used it this week :P, but it will be done hopefully by the week end.

3rd Substantial Snowfall for Winter 2018-2019

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3rd snowfall for winter 2018-2019 We got more snow over night.  The weather station said 5 inches but I think it was more like 4 inches, still it’s added to what we had last Friday into Saturday.  The biggest add on for this one was that yesterday morning was mostly freezing drizzle so we had a thin sheet of ice under the snow that happened later in the evening.  Yeah, slippery roads.  Also forecasted to have substantially below 0 temps on Thursday night (- 20F) and 0 on Friday, so with wind chills that could be very cold, and forecast for more snow Thursday thru next Monday, we will see how well the weather forecasters called it.  Good day (and week end) to stay in and maybe spin or knit :).  Hope everyone is safe and warm.

 

2nd Winter Snow Storm 2018-2019

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2nd Winter Snow Storm 2018-2019 We got our 2nd snow storm of the winter, last Friday overnight into Saturday.  We ended up with about 5 to 6 inches depending on where you took the measurement.  We were spared the ice and freezing rain with the storm, but we did have minus temps over night and with wind chills they said it could get down to -20,  I didn’t check to see what it actually did get down to with the wind chill, it was enough that it was below zero :P.  It was up to 9 today and tonight is suppose to be down to -4.  BRRRR, but on Monday it is suppose to be in the teens and maybe to 30 on Wed, woot woot a heat wave :P.  Looks like more snow on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, doesn’t look like much but the temps by Friday will be back to minus numbers.  Friday ambient temp will be -3 and -10 over night, wind chills will make it feel colder than that.  Looks like Old Man winter is finally here.  Only good thing about that is, we can now start to look forward to SPRING!  Ok, so now I start asking, is it Spring yet?

 

Winter 2018-2019 – First Substantial Snow

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Winter 2018-2019 first substantial snow We have finally received our first substantial snowfall for the 2018-2019 winter season and it’s already into January.  We have a had a few little snow storms this season, but you noticed I didn’t even post a picture they were so minor.  We will probably end up with between 3 and 4 inches.  It started last night sometime (I was a sleep :P) and it is still snowing (about 1:30 pm my time).   I took this picture about 10:00 am. The weather map shows it continuing until sometime after 7:30 pm.  These are tiny flakes so it take a lot to make an inch :P.  I hear the snow plows going over the roads off and on, noisy critters they are. 😛

It’s Finally Spun and is Yarn!!!

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Finished rolag skein Oh my gosh this was on my wheel for a little over a year!  But—it’s finished!!  The problem besides procrastination and a broken hand was the Baynes spinning wheel (no longer in production,  I included a link so you can see what it looks like, mine looks like the one on the left.)  The screw that holds one of the posts on the Mother of All (spinning term for part of the wheel), that helps hold the spool holder on, won’t tighten down and comes loose and the spool holder with the spool of singles (or plied yarn) occasionally falls off.  Ugh, very annoying.  So I will need to get some wood putty and fill in the screw hole and then screw the screw back in so it will tighten up properly (tho honestly for a second when I was spinning, I considered gluing it down :P).  Another problem is that this wheel will  not hold 4 ozs of spun yarn so I was only able to spin 3.25 oz, and I had a very full bobbin of plied yarn.  Once the bobbin gets full on this wheel it is hard for it to take the yarn in anymore, so I have to watch how full the bobbin is.  I finished with 312 yards at 16 wpi (wraps per inch – for my non spinning friends – tells me how thick or thin the yarn ended up being – a light sport weight in this example (that is what my chart says), however I have seen charts that call 16 wpi a fingering – tho if it is, it’s a heavy fingering wt.)  Any spinners reading that would like to weigh in on that and if there is a definitive chart?

I will go back to working on the practice roving I have on the Rick Reeves wheel now, so I can figure out the double band drive and how to adjust it to find my sweet spot for spinning, at least I know the spool won’t fall off that one :P.

Both Hats are Done

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These hats are now washed and blocked and ready to give as a gift.  They are soft and squishy, however, because this yarn (see 2 blogs down), even tho it is 100% acrylic,  will require a little bit of special care.  It can be washed in the washing machine on gentle and cold water but, it can’t go in the dryer, it must be laid flat to dry, and they took a full day and night to dry (maybe because of the weather or because they are so thick), would be less time I’m sure if you put a fan on it during the day.  That might be a problem for people who aren’t familiar with knitwear care.  So I will reserve this yarn for family and friends who are knit worthy :P.  The friend, who these were made for, is knit worthy, but because she is a busy nurse I hope this won’t be a pain for her.  Her babies will be warm tho :).

Now to work on a hat for my daughter out of some hand spun alpaca.

Merry Christmas – 2018

/ LDSVenus

christbirth

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.

15 And it came to pass, the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. (St. Luke 2:8-16)

May you and your families have a very blessed Christmas Day.

Baby 2X2 Hats

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I have a friend who had a baby girl about 2 months ago so I decided now that my hand was better to make her a simple baby hat (my hand still tires easily and gets nerve pain when I over do, but it’s slowly getting better.) I certainly can’t leave her 3 year old brother without a hat, so after finishing the 2X2 rib hat from 5 Easy Pieces – Knit Newborn Hats (Circular), (free pattern on Ravelry) for her daughter, I started one for her son.  I choose the 2X2 rib because it’s, easy (to knit and on my hand) and soft and squishy.  I used a size 6 for the newborn size (the pattern called for a size 7, I knit loosely so I  usually go down a needle size to get gauge)  and used the size 7 for the 3 year old’s hat and added 12 stitches.  I will also add length so it will cover his ears :).  **There use to be a way to magnify the pictures on Word Press but I can’t find it anymore, so even tho you can’t see the yarn very well, it’s Yarn Bee (from Hobby Lobby) Soft and Sleek, the pink is pink stripe and the blue is Denim Blues.  It is very soft stuff and knits nicely.  I believe Hobby Lobby is having a yarn sale in the store this week (Monday Dec 24th – Saturday Dec 29 2018) for 30% off.  Incentive to buy some more :P.

I am still working on the spinning.  I finished that rolag and weighed the bobbins with the singles and first one is a little heavier so I decided to get another of the rolags to spin (that will leave 3 left) and put 2/3 of the rolag on the lighter bobbin and the rest on the other bobbin, hopefully that will balance it out.  We will see.

Tomorrow will be baking day, rolls for Christmas dinner on Tuesday :).

**Update:  I discovered that if you choose the pictures side by side choice that you can click on them on the blog and they will enlarge in a separate window, however if you chose the single pictures they will not.  So there you go.