Author: LDSVenus

Knitting for Fall

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2 Sweaters for Fall

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I got a request to knit sweaters.  Believe it or not from a 6 year old!!!  And her 4 year old brother did not want to be left out, lol.  The multi color sweater is for the oldest, note I chose different more pastel colors than the sweater on the pattern shows (on the left).  The yarn for the sweater on the right is not shown in the picture because our “new” JoAnn’s store (YEA!! we got a bigger JoAnn’s store) was out of the blue the 4 year old picked out ;).  It’s a beautiful royal blue in the same yarn.  I do use acrylic yarn for children so the upkeep is more in line with a busy working mom :).  I will be starting those very soon, because the 6 year old will be keeping track of how far along “her” sweater is. She reminded me that it was starting to get cold, LOL.

At the moment I’m trying to finish plying the teal singles I have on the Baynes spinning wheel (crosses her fingers that the band will hold fast) and then begin spinning the Polypay roving that I had processed from the lamb’s fleece a friend gave me.  I think her daughter is also keeping track of how far along I am for her scarf.  LOL  I better be getting my bottom end in gear!!!! 😛  I will knit on the 2 children’s sweaters while I spin (tho not exactly at the same time :P).  Sometimes I feel more like knitting and sometimes I feel more like spinning, nice to have two projects going so I can do what I want when I feel like it.  🙂

The end of summer and fall here has been so wonderful and cool.  I know winter is coming, but I will try to make a few “warmer” memories to get me through those very cold dreary winter months here in IA, that seem to go on forever, while I anticipate the beautiful green spring again :).

Remembering 9/11

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In Memory of 9/11

This picture is on the side of a tractor trailer truck that has made it’s rounds around the United States. Although the master mind behind the attacks was eliminated last year from participating in any more aggressive acts against our country, there are those whom he lead who still want to hurt us, may we never forget this horrendous act of aggression on our soil so that we might always be free.

As we remember the 11th year since this heinous attack was perpetrated, may we take a moment to remember all those who died on this day 11 years ago and thank those who helped in the aftermath. I would like to salute those heroes on flight 93, and all those who, on that day, willingly and unselfishly sacrificed their lives to save the lives of others. I also salute those in our armed services who have given their lives and those who continue to fight, selflessly putting their own lives in jeopardy to protect us and others from terrorism. They are all heroes to me and I will never forget.

Bison Scarf Finished :)

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Bison little lace scarf

A friend of mine has a friend with a Bison herd (American Buffalo).  She asked me if I could make something nice for her friend from the down that her bison shed every spring, and I agreed to do so.  She collected the down and sent me about 7 ozs or so, which included the weight of the mud and dirt, and I sent it off to a fiber mill to be dehaired and processed into roving or fluff so I could spin it and knit a scarf for her.  I have used this fiber mill before and they do a lovely job of processing, and anyone familiar with the fiber mills know there is always a wait because they are very busy.   Unfortunately a misunderstanding occurred in understanding the processing I had requested and they blended and spun it into yarn.  Because bison is such a short fiber the mill blends with with another fine fiber (merino) for spinning it into yarn.  The yarn is beautiful, so their work is still impeccable, but my friend’s friend wanted pure bison fiber for the scarf.  The box I got back had a beautiful skein of sport weight blended bison yarn (I would have spun it a little lighter into a heavy sock weight), some left over roving (which is very soft and wonderful) and the hair that came from the dehairing.  Tho I know there is weight lost during the washing process, I didn’t realize how much was lost in the dehairing process as I’ve never had a fiber that required it before so that was a learning process for me, but it was still enough for a nice scarf a little less long than I had intended.  I got the finished scarf, used my Little Lace Cast’s Paw scarf pattern, off in the mail on Tuesday and she should get the scarf and left over fibers today. 🙂  I hope she will be pleased with the results even if it wasn’t quite what she had wanted.  There is always next year.  Oh the fiber mill was very apologetic, they had just hired a new employee who was still learning what to do with the orders.  All is forgiven, their work is very nice.

Hmmm, the depths of deep space seems to have eaten my last post which was about football season and my beloved Cowboys, maybe WordPress doesn’t like the Cowboys, hmmm, gonna sneak it back in here anyway.  😛  GO COWBOYS!!!

4th of July – Happy Independance Day!!!

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Happy Birthday to my country!!!!!  May we remember why the our founding fathers came here and may we always work hard to keep her free.

I encourage you to check out this movie called Monumental.  I watched it on INSP on cable couple of days ago (the website said it was in the theaters and on TV mid year) and was very impressed, every thing was documented and it was well thought out.  It reminds us  of what this country was founded on and why.

Vacation post 3 of 3

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The Dance of the Mountain Gods

We went to the Inn of the Mountain Gods, the Mescalero Apache Tribe casino, for lunch.  It is in the mountains by Ruidoso.  They had this beautiful bronze statue (on the left) in front of the casino/restaurant.  It is called “The Dance of the Mountain Gods”.  Inside I took a picture of a showcase they had with the apparel the Mescalero Apache Warrior  typically wore back in the day, see below.  I had to lighten it up quite a bit because I took it inside, I hope you can see it well enough.

 

 

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It was a fun trip and it was very good to see my dad. 🙂
Last of the 3 posts, dang blog.
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Vacation post 2 of 3

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New Mexico Scenery

This first picture is the typical desert scenery and below is rolling hills/farmland.  New Mexico has a variety of landscapes, from desert all the way to mountains.  It is a beautiful state, tho if you are from the midwest, east or south, you will miss all the green grass and rain.  New Mexico is a dry state but when it rains the vegetation that is there blooms overnight. It’s very pretty to see.

 

 

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I miss this scenery, even tho where I live is beautifully green.

 

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Vacation post 1 of 3

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Roswell Walmart

I went to New Mexico to see my dad.  As you can see, in Roswell, they play up the “Roswell Incident”.  Of course my mom, who was raised in Roswell, always told me that there were no aliens.  My dad said they use to send up weather balloons to test the air for radiation because it was the “cold war” and they were making sure that the country in eastern Europe we were having the cold war with wasn’t testing their nuclear capability.  I personally believe my parents, but you can believe what you want. 🙂   Yes they even have their city lights on the main street down town decorated.  Some people even travel to Roswell to get married because like Las Vegas there is no waiting period.  So if you want to elope, come on down 😛 (I’d call ahead to make sure that is still the case tho’).

 

Downtown Roswell

 

My blog is giving me hissy fits so I am going to have to do this blog in 3 different posts to get all the pictures in.

 

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Memorial Day 2012

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Memorial 2012

For those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom!

I want to thank all those who are now serving or have served, in any of the branches of the Armed Services, for your love of freedom and for being willing to serve your country.  I give a special reverence to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, their lives, for what they loved, a free and safe country.  May we honor them in all we do and may we always keep this country free and safe.

Late Spring Spinning in the Park

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Spinning in the Park

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Well, last week was just beautiful, cool, a bit breezy and perfect!!  So I chose to spend a little time in the park, close to where I live, spinning :).  A man and 3 women stopped to say hello and ask about what I was doing.  I really should do this more often this summer, especially before it gets “toooo hot”  ;).  As you can tell I am spinning this teal super-wash merino on my Baynes Spinning Wheel. 🙂
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I am almost done with the 2nd skein of yarn, I have been lazy with my time and should have finished this already.  My goal is to finish it tomorrow and get it in the mail on Tuesday, so my friend will have it by the end of the week.  When I get a picture of how she is doing with the shawl, I will post it. 🙂
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Thor

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Thor is doing so much better on his meds.  I have been able to go down on his steroid (it is slowly being  decreased to the lowest it can be and still have it keep his diarrhea at bay.)  He’s happy and playful and not grinding his teeth, so I can tell he is feeling much better. 🙂   He’s an awesome little companion.

Brag Book

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Brag Book front cover

Brag book inside shot

I went to another craft get together this month.  I chose to make this brag book.  I’m sending this one to my sister, but don’t tell her, she doesn’t know yet.  She became a grandmother and she is so excited!!!  So I figured this little brag book would be just the thing. 🙂

It was easy to make, but if you need the instructions I will let her tell you on her blog because she loves to pick things apart and show how they are made. 🙂  There are 6 double sided photo holders in this brag book so you can fit 12 almost 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 photos in it.  I had to cut the patterned paper just a tiny bit smaller than 3 1/2 by 2 1/2.  You can get the photo holders either wide or tall.  I chose the wide because I could get all the ribbon on the top that I wanted :).

I finished going through the fleece and picking out all the vm (vegetable matter), you know the straw, little twigs, weed seeds etc – getting it ready to pack up and mail to the fiber mill tomorrow.  They will be processing around the 15th, then I should get it back about 4 to 6 weeks later.  I will post a picture of the roving when I get it back.  I thought there might only be about 2 lbs, but I am wondering now if there is maybe 3 lbs.  It will all get spun up anyway. :).

I had to take Thor to the vet on Friday.  He’s had some IBS problems and was in some distress.  The vet put him on some antibiotics to see if that would help but they also put him on a steroid, because that had helped the last time – the last round of antibiotics were in case it was ulcers, but she said it probably wasn’t, it was more than likely IBS and the steroid would help, the antibiotic is a just in case thing.  He’ll be on a higher dose of steroids for 2 weeks and then we start weaning him down to the lowest level we can get that keeps the diarrhea away.  She said all in all he’s in pretty good health for a ferret his age.  His blood sugar was borderline low, but the steroid will also help with that.  She also said his potassium is also borderline low, so he will be happy to get his piece of banana everyday back again :), if I notice any muscle weakness, the vet said I will have to put him on potassium of some kind.  I’m just glad he’s feeling better and happy again ;).