Spinning

Wedding Pictures

/ LDSVenus / 2 Comments

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Daughter's Wedding

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I promised pictures of my daughter’s wedding.  She finally got them and here were my favorites.  She waited several years, saving for this and it went flawlessly.    They are both very happy.

My daughter’s youngest two children are 2 years and 1 week apart.  They had their birthday party together last week end.  Her daughter (now 4 years old), loves movies.  She was easy to shop for, I got her Kung Fu Panda (one of my favorites). 🙂  Her son (now 2 years old) loves music.  Music plays and he dances, so I found an alligator that sings and moves as it sings.  He loved it when I gave it to him and then I showed him it would move and sing.  He backed up and was moving to the music but would not hold it again.  When it quit singing I showed him how to push the foot to make it sing again.  When it was time to push it again, he would not, he grabbed my arm and made me push it again.  I was laughing because he loved it but was afraid of it because it moved!!  He’s fine with it now, wish I had gotten a video of that for when he gets older. 🙂 Little ones can be so funny.

I’ve found two patterns to chose from for the shawl I want to knit.  The High Effect Feather & Fan Shawl or to make a shawl from the Concert Scarf in Alison Jeppson Hyde’s Wrapped in Comfort.  I’ll try to make a choice by the end of this coming week.  I’ll have to spin some more baby Alpaca because I only have one skein spun and I’ll need probably at least 3 skeins.  But first I need to finish the pastel blue and lavender wool that I have on my spinning wheel.  I’ll try to work on that this week, it has a special purpose and I need to finish it.

I hosted a friend in my home this week who’s daughter needed surgery for an ovarian cyst.  It was really good to see her (she lives in another state).  She’s always been there for me and I’m glad I could repay some of her kindnesses to me.  Still it’s always good to get back to the regular routine.  It makes me realize that I have come to like living alone (or perhaps it’s just a comfortable routine), something I didn’t ever think I would want.  It would seem that some of the curves life throws at you find some permanence in your life.

Ebbs and Flows

/ LDSVenus / 2 Comments

My grand daughter

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This last week end, my daughter had her wedding reception.  She got married on the April 15th (hoping it would take the sting out tax time?) in Las Vegas and had the reception here.  The picture is my youngest son’s daughter.  He lives in state but about 4 hrs away so I don’t get to see him or my grand daughter very often.   But I got to see her and him as we celebrated his sister’s wedding.   I promise to post a picture of the wedding as soon as I get one ;P.

While my daughter celebrates wedded bliss, my son is going through a divorce and this sweet little girl is caught in the middle with the divorce and custody upheaval.  She wants to spend more time with her daddy but in IA the dad has little say in what happens in custody cases and unless it is pre agreed, full custody usually goes to the mother with the dad getting every other week end.  My personal feelings are that in all states there needs to be automatic joint custody for the sake of the child unless there is found to be abuse.  A child needs equal access to both parents.   But no matter what happens we just need to patiently get through the hard stuff. 

I’m still working at my long term temp job.  It is a fun job and I actually enjoy going in every day. 🙂  I hope I can find a permanent job that I will enjoy as much.  Working temp jobs is a bit stressful because you never know, when that one is done, how long it will be before the next job and if it will be something you will enjoy or not. 

I am doing a little knitting on my lunch hr, the rest of my life has been a zoo lately and I haven’t gotten much done on the spinning or knitting front.  But I plan on spinning some today so I can relax.  I think I will take my spinning wheel out on the balconey and enjoy this cooler spring weather today. 🙂  Hope all of my friends haven’t been hit too hard by this crazy spring weather that has been churning up all those storms.

Officially Spring in Iowa

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I thought because most of the pictures I had taken were of snow this last winter that I would show you that Iowa really does have spring, it just seems forever to get here!  The leaves are starting to come forth and the robins have been here for a couple of weeks now.  But I know it’s really spring because the Magnolia buds are starting to bloom!  I don’t have a picture of that because I don’t have one close to my yard and I didn’t have my camera with me when I saw one yesterday.  We got pretty warm a week  & 1/2 ago, then late last week it got cold again, freezing at night again.  That is typical here tho, I can’t really depend on the warmer weather to stay until May. 🙂

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Spinning wilton dyed superwash merino

I have been spinning slowly on the wilton dyed superwash merino.  I’ve been busy with a temp job (which should last until mid May), my car wasn’t drivable for a couple of months and I had to rely on others to get around for errands, getting to and from work, church, etc, I caught a cold from my grandson 2 weeks ago and tho I am feeling better there is still the coughing thing going on (a wonderful repercussion from my asthma).  I’m gearing up for the spring cleaning in the house and (now how many excuses have I listed? :P).  Anyway, I’ve started spinning on it again, and it really is lovely.  I wonder what it will look like when I have enough to ply. 

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I have my car back again!  A friend and his wife, from my church, helped me get the steering rack and brakes fixed.  He said it still needs axels (they are ok for a while so we will do that this fall before winter comes) and the carborator needs a kit to rebuild it and he’s going to find a new handle for my passenger side front door (don’t even ask how that got broken – don’t want to embarrass one of my sons because he really is such a sweetie :P), and it needs a tune up, and the  jets for the windshield wiper fluid have never allowed fluid to come out, but it’s getting fixed little by little, the more important things first and hopefully all by the fall.  It’s just so nice to have it back and drivable and be independant again!!!!

It’s Done! It’s Done! & Spring is almost here!!

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Afghan Done! (click on picture for larger image)

 

 .I finished my grand-daughter’s  afghan!!  It was taken from the Triple Chevron Lace shawl pattern at knitting on the net and adjusted to be an afghan.  She is pretty happy as you can see from the picture.  She was glad to finally have it after waiting for about a year :P.  She said it was very soft and way cool :).

She spent the day with me today because she was out of school and I wasn’t working today.  We walked about 1/2 mile to go to McDonalds for lunch (because my car is too scary to drive :P).  We also baked chocolate chip cookies.  Yummy :).  She helped me move my sewing machine and sewing table into the spare bedroom since my son decided to stay close to where his daughter is (he lives on the other side of the state from me).  So I now have my sewing/craft room, still have stuff to do to make it a functional room tho, but the important stuff is in there :).

I will now work on finishing spinning that hand dyed superwash merino roving, that had been calling to me and I’ve had to give the cold shoulder to until I finished the afghan.  Now I won’t ignore it anymore :).   There is a pattern for some slippers I’d like to knit up for my youngest grand-children, but I have to wait until I get the yarn for it.  I need acrylic yarn for them.  My daughter doesn’t appreciate specialized care for their things, because she works full time and says she doesn’t have the time to fuss over hand washing things they will abuse anyway :P.

Oh Yeah, I know it isn’t really spring yet, but it’s March and we have been in the 40’s here this week and I’m soooooo happy!!! So to me it is SPRING!!  Makes me want to go out and start a garden :).

More Fog Frost

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More Fog Frost!

Close up of fog frost on a tree

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We had a fog advisory today until noon.  It created fog frost in the trees again, and these are the pictures I took. 

The one on the right is a close up (you can click on both pictures for enlarged pictures.)  The frost in the trees like that is really strikingly beautiful.  It makes the end of the branches look like they are made of glass.  But I’m thankful it’s Feburary and that Spring is right around the corner (it’s a longer block here to round the corner of than the south and the west tho, but soon.)  🙂
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Maybe it’s the economy and having to post and give from your blog, but I was surprised that I only have one person to give a PIF gift to.  Remember you will not have to give one to me,  just post and give to 3 people who sign up on your blog for your PIF.  I have room for two more if anyone is interested.  Please do it soon tho so it will be easier to leave a post about it, as I will be putting my security safeguards back up soon because I’m tired of clearing out the spam that my security program takes care of.  I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t counting anyone’s real post as a spam.   Once you post and I accept it, it’s much easier to post.
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Well, I will be looking for another source for the handmade soaps I love to use, as Autumnoak has some health issues and the soap was taking alot out of her because of the time she was putting into it to make sure she had everything just right for her customers.  She is still selling her beautiful handspun yarns to help with the medical costs.  Spinning is always peaceful and restful.  If you love knitting with handspun and you don’t spin (or even if you spin) please visit her etsy site (click on her name above) and look at her beautiful handspun yarns.
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Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day. 🙂

Pay It Forward

/ LDSVenus / 2 Comments

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Ok it’s time to do this again.

PAY IT FORWARD!!

Very cool idea I’ve participated in in the past, and I couldn’t resist the idea of starting another one. I signed up on L’s Fiber Adventures blog site and she is signing up on mine so we can get the ball rolling.

The guidelines: “I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise!”

The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog and link to my blog as where you signed up.

“Want to participate? Be one of the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post and make the same promise on your own blog.

Not So Random Acts of Kindness, and 365 days to do it in!!! What a cool idea!

So, here goes! If you’re interested in participating, just be one of the first three people to post that you would like to PIF! You dont have to be a knitter, you can hand craft – crochet, weave, sew, stamping up cards, anything that is “your thing”.

Roc Day Take 2 & Llama is Finished & tada ….. the Cowboys Rocked the Eagles again!

/ LDSVenus / 2 Comments

Roc Day Take 2

Roc Day Take 2

Well, it was decided that since the weather ruined our official Roc Day celebration that we would reschedule our spinning celebration to yesterday.  I know it’s not really Roc Day, but fun was had by all!!  These are the wheels that were there, I took these while we were busy with our pot luck lunch :).  The spinner below on the right (and owner of the local spinning shop, R. Rabbits Fiber Studio ,) is enjoying her unoffical Roc Day spinning.  😉  

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Roc Day Take 2

It's Llama Yarn!!

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The Llama is FINISHED!!  That is what I did at our Roc Day, finished spinning the 2nd spool and plyed and skeined off.  I washed it and hung it to dry yesterday afternoon and used my new swift and ball winder this morning to make a center pull ball from one of them.  I will wind the other skein and my son will have the Llama yarn he has been patiently (ummmm) waiting for. 🙂  

Next Project

As you can see I’ve already started my next project.  I really wanted to spin the Suri Alpaca, but I have a gift project to finish first, then I can spin that Suri. 🙂  This is the Merino Superwash that I dyed with the Wilton purple cake decorating color.  The last time I used it I got beautiful shades of lavender and light purple.  This time it was light purple, lavender and light blue.  Gorgeous colors, but they are so unpredictable, great if you want the excitment of a mystery color, tho’ be prepared to be surprised at the finished colors. 🙂  But before I spin any more of this I need to finish knitting my grand daughter’s blanket.  She has been plenty patient and I need to get it done :). 

Ok, YES!!! The Cowboys beat the Eagles again (played them three times this year and beat them all three times and the Eagles are no slouches!!)  They not only won their division the week before last when they beat the Eagles, but this week’s win against the Eagles won a wild card slot for the playoffs.  Now this Sunday they play the Vikings, that should be an interesting match up.  I’ll be recording that to watch on Monday night :P.  The Cowboys have finally started to work together as a team and what a year they’ve had!!! 🙂  Now they just need to work on those penalties! 😛

Still More Snow & a Swift – Happy Roc Day!

/ LDSVenus

Still More Snow

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Well mother nature has certainly been busy this winter.  According to the weatherman, we got about 4.5 inches of snow over night and expect anywhere from 1 to 3 more inches today.  But at least it was 12 above today!!!  It’s been in the single digits and below zero ambient temps lately.  Supose to be only around 3 to 6 above ambient temps for the next two days and I know that means minus temps with windchills.  Sigh, I’ll ask again, is it spring yet?

Swift & Ball Winder Set Up

 

My sister, for Christmas, sent me an Amazon.com certificate.  I went to amazon and looked and hemmed and hawed and finally made up my mind (hard to spend unexpected money when you’ve been on a budget for so long :P) and decided to get a swift!  I had a ball winder but had wanted a swift for several years but could never talk myself into spending the money on one.  So I decided to treat myself and it came today!!  It really is a nice one, sturdy and seems to move well.  I’ll give it a workout when I get that Llama skeined off so I can wind it into a ball for my son. 🙂

I intended to spend Roc day today spinning with my local spinning group to celebrate the new year.  However the weather wasn’t co-operating and I did not want to take my wheel out in this.   If you would like to know more about Roc Day you can check this wikapedia link or this Florida link. 

Well the Cowboys beat the Eagles 24 to 0 last Sunday (tho I didn’t get to record the game to watch because it wasn’t on cable) and won their division.   They get to play them yet again this Saturday evening for a wild card slot.  It’s always an interesting game between Dallas and Philadelphia – cos’ they are not the best of friends ;P.  I will get to watch it this time :).  GO COWBOYS!!!!

Happy New Year – 2010

/ LDSVenus / 1 Comment

Granddaughter's Afghan/Blanket

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I hope this will be a wonderful New Year for all my friends and family.

Just to show that I really am working on this blanket I decided to put a picture of it’s progress.  It takes approximately 1 skein for each completed pattern (18 rows), yes I am on the 6th skein of yarn.  I have 5 more after this one so I am a little more than half way done.  To be honest I needed at least 3 more skiens, however I have not been successful in finding any.  That is what happens when you make something with discontinued yarn. 😛

I have about 1/2 of a spool to go on the spinning for the 2nd spool of Llama to be done and then I can ply.  You can guess which one will get done first ;P.  Sorry Jade.

A Few Last Things for 2009

/ LDSVenus

Old Man Winter - 2009

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This was what we received from the blizzard that hit the midwest last week.  We got rain and freezing rain (mostly just rain) until the end and then we got about 4 inches of snow.  Much less than other area’s who received 2 or more feet.  Snow on the ground and covering the branches in the trees is such a pretty and peaceful sight, until you have to go out side and deal with it, and besides that it’s cold, brrrrr. 😛

The “Boys” are doing well.  They beat the Saints week-end before last, and their old arch rivals the Redskins, this last week-end.  They will face another newer arch rival this week-end, the Eagles.  If  the Cowboys win they will win their division.  Woohoo!  They’ve had a decent year this year :).  I hope they win, but even if they don’t they’ve had an exciting year.

I’m spinning more Llama for my son, I have one spool filled and am working on the 2nd spool.  When it’s full I can ply and hopefully will have enough for 2 more skeins.  Incase my grand daughter is reading, I am also knitting on your blanket, it’s cosy to sit on the couch and knit in the evening.

Thor, my awesome ferret, is finally finished sheding his summer coat and has a wonderfully soft and warm winter coat.  He’s fluffy and beautiful, and I have much less ferret fur to vacum up :P.

My Church is having a New Year’s Eve party Thursday evening.  I will be glad to usher out the old and ring in the new,  it’s just been one of those kinds of years, so I’m definately ready for the new and hoping for a better New Year. 

Wishing all a peaceful and wonderful New Year!