Spinning in the Park 2015

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Spinning the Alpaca

Ok, yesterday was soooo beautiful.  I thought it would be April before I could take my spinning wheel to the park to spin.  I just couldn’t wait to spin some of that luscious Alpaca that I got back from the mill.   And I have to apologize, I forgot in the excitement of getting out to the park, to bring my camera, sigh, so this picture I took after I got home.  I’ll go again and remember to take my camera when we have another nice 60’s day, but it looks like it won’t be this warm for another couple of weeks according to the 10 day forecast.

I like my Baynes wheel, it spins nicely, but the thing that drives me crazy is that sometimes the spool will fall off because the post will get a little loose and not hold the spool in place.  Gonna have to work on that.  I always say that someday when I get rich and good looking (:p) I want one of these custom made hand carved wheels.  (Yeah right :P)  A girl can dream can’t she :).

It’s Alpaca!!!

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Alpaca Roving I’m so excited!!!  I sent the Alpaca fleeces off to the Aroostook Fiber Works mill in Maine last month and it was done by the end of Feb.  I was able to send the rest of the money for the processing on the 3rd of this month and I now have 6 1/2 lbs of Alpaca roving :), a few of the 4 oz bumps are in the picture to the left.  It’s beautiful and very soft.  My daughter purchased the 2 fleeces from Savannah Breeze Alpacas  as my Christmas gift and I love it!!!  (The link is to Savannah Breeze Alpacas’ Ravelry page as she no longer has the farm but still has some fleeces for sale.)

Guess I know what I will be doing with spare time now :P.  I’ll put a picture up after I start spinning this luxurious fiber.

It is warming up outside, in the 40’s this week and maybe into the 50’s by the end of the week, I love Spring!!!  When it warms up to the lower 70’s I’ll be off to the park to spin :).

It’s a Mystery!! And Snow and a Polypay Fleece :)

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lots of snow

Ok I have been very lax on keeping up with stuff going on and I’m going to start with the first thing which was the snow, so here goes.  Yes that last winter storm a few weeks ago gave us a foot of snow.  Pretty coming down but such a mess to drive in for a while.  It melted off the roads and a little on the ground when we had a few days of nice warm up temps in the 20’s and a couple of days in the 30’s,  woot woot.  But it’s been cold again with -temps and today is snowing again.  They say we will get 3 to 6 inches by midnight.  sigh, is it Spring yet?  It is suppose to be back in the teens and 20’s next week, looking forward to that for sure.

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2nd thing that has happened, I went to visit my friend who raises sheep, and she gave me another fleece, how cool is that?  Polypay is a fine fleece and next to the skin soft.  When it warms up a bit, and I can take it outside and be comfortable, I will skirt it and get it ready to send to the fibermill in MO to turn into roving to spin, will probably be a month or so before that happens 🙂  How blessed can a girl be :).

 

Mysterious deliver of this beautiful DMC Merino Woolly yarn

Last thing I wanted to talk about is the Mystery.  I have not ordered any yarn online lately, last thing was last year,  some alpaca for a scarf I was knitting for a friend.  But mysteriously this package with a pattern kit of 11 skeins of DMC Merino wool, called Woolly, and the pattern for two color stranded pillows, arrived at my door step this morning from the DMC company.  I’m like “what?”  I didn’t order anything and I wondered if I maybe won something from a contest, but I didn’t remember entering anything like that.  There was no bill of laden or a congratulations you won something, just the yarn and the pattern wrapped in a beautiful pink paper with the DMC sticker and bubble wrap.  I’m the curious type so I called the DMC company to see if they can figure out why I received this package, I didn’t want to be billed for something I didn’t order.   She checked for a bit while I was on the line with her, but couldn’t figure it out so I gave her the tracking number to see if that would  help, she was going to call me back with information.  I haven’t heard yet.  I will let you know if I hear anything.  I’m VERY curious about this. 😛   The yarn is beautiful and very soft and looks to be a sport weight (it comes in a 50 gram ball with 136 yards per ball and  it’s superwash!!.  I’m thinking it would make wonderful hats and scarves for future projects  :).

*UPDATE*   She called me back and offered to give me a shipping label to return it, but I told her I wasn’t going to send it back until I found out why it came, incase a friend had ordered it and had it sent to me, that would be like buying something and giving it back with no refund.  She had thought maybe they had sent it by error, but I told her since they didnt find me in their system (because I have never ordered on line from their company) that they would not have my name and shipping address in their system and could not have accidentally shipped it to me.  She said she would keep checking.  Anyone want to own up to sending it to me?  😛

BRRRRRR

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Snow Woman!

Snow Woman!

 

Is this not so cute?  My sister made this for me for Christmas.  She promised to put the instructions up on her blog Eat It Anyway.  I’ll keep bugging her until she does cos’ I want to make a pair (snowman and snowwoman) lol.  She has some awesome things under Share It on her blog.    If you haven’t visited her site I would suggest it, she’s very crafty (in a good way :P).

For those of you following the weather here in IA, yes we are VERY cold.  It is -3F outside and if that were all it wouldn’t be too bad but with the wind chill it is about -28F, brrrrr.  It will only continue to get colder as the day goes on.  They closed the schools here today because of the wind chill.  It will be colder tonight at -17F ambient temp so I imagine the wind chill will be in the -30’s to -40’s depending on the wind.  I’m inside where I am safe and warm :).   On a positive note, it will be up to 17 on Saturday  and maybe the low 20’s on Sunday :).

No matter where you live, stay warm today :).

Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

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.

Alpaca Fleeeces!!!!

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Alpaca Fleeces!!

Alpaca Fleeces!!

 

I went with my daughter yesterday to get my Christmas present.  She had asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I told her a fleece :).  She said really?  HAHA, oh yeah!!!!  So she said she would buy me one, of course that meant that I had to go with her to pick it out :).  An acquaintance of mine, through Ravelry (a wonderful place for fiber enthusiasts, knitters, crocheters, etc), had an Alpaca farm that she and her husband had recently sold and they then moved into the town right next to mine ;).  I had been talking to her about buying one of the fleeces she still had after the sale of her Alpaca farm.  When my daughter offered to buy me one of the fleeces I was OH YEAH!!  So off we went to look at the many fleeces she had.   I picked a light fawn blanket that is sooooo soft, an older cria (Alpaca baby) if I remember correctly.  My daughter fell in love with a brown fleece so of course we had to get that too, so I came away with 2 fleeces :), a total of about 8 lbs of Alpaca fleece.  I’m excited to send them off to have processed into roving to spin and then knit.   Both fleeces are soft but I can hardly stop touching the fawn fleece, it’s like a buttery cloud in my hands. WOOT WOOT, how lucky am I to have a daughter willing to spend money on a fleece for my Christmas present :).

Raggedy Ann

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My sister called today and among our regular chit chat we started talking about the Raggedy Ann dolls my mom and grandmother made for us.  Ah the memories, I told her the one I have was one that our grandmother had made for me one year when she asked me what I would like for Christmas and I told her that I would like her to make me a Raggedy Ann doll.  She had made me one when I was much younger and of course it went the way of all things that little kids have, sigh.  I am so glad she agreed to make me another one.  She passed away in 1988 and it is so nice to have something that she made me.  I don’t have one that my mom made, but my sister has one that mom made her.  The difference is the one my mom made had embroidered a little heart on it with the words I love you in the heart.  My grandmother sewed well but I don’t think it was her favorite thing to do.  My mom sewed but it wasn’t her favorite thing to do when she was young because she was very into sports and band in high school so she learned her sewing skills after getting married, when it was more fun :P.

I’m working on a sympathy shawl until I get the yarn I need for the Little Lace Daisy Scarf I’ll be making for my friend’s wife.  The scarf won’t take very long then I will get back to the sympathy shawl.

2 Scarves Finished :)

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Horseshoe Cable Scarf finishedJacobs Ladder Scarf finished

Ok, these two wool scarves are finished.  The pattern called, on the Jacob’s Ladder (to the right), to start in the middle and work down on both sides, but I hate having to pick up stitches, seems like an un-necessary step to me (maybe because I’m a lazy knitter? :P), so I started at one end and after the full middle part when I started the other side of the scarf, I just reversed the cables.  Worked out well :).  I know that is not possible on all patterns, but on the items where I can (like cables) I prefer not to have to mess with a special cast on that I can unravel and to pick up stitches.  Just my preference, other knitters don’t mind :).

I chose to do the same thing on the Horseshoe scarf (to the left) because I wanted the cable to both be coming up the same way and not having it upside down on the other side.  so in the middle I just reversed the cable and it gave an added dimension to the middle of the scarf, which if you enlarge the picture by clicking on it, you can see at the top of the scarf).  I will give these to the missionaries on Sunday.  I’m sure they will be well used.

I can’t start the other set of scarves I need to make for Christmas until I get paid next week as I will have to buy the yarn since I do not have time to spin.  I will go with Alpaca instead of wool since they are paying for the scarves and I’m sure they will be pleased with the extreme softness that fiber will have next to the skin.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you enjoy the Christmas season.

Jacob’s Ladder Seaman’s Scarf

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Jacob's Ladder Seaman's Scarf

Horseshoe Cabled ScarfI have been working on the scarves.  I finished the first one, the Jacob’s Ladder Seaman’s Scarf, shown on the left.  It was a fun knit (this picture was taken before blocking).  I am working on the scarf showing on the right.  I decided since the missionary I’m knitting this for didn’t want a seaman’s style scarf that I would do a different pattern and chose the horseshoe cable stitch from this scarf.  I love knitting cable designs, they are interesting to knit and visually appealing. 🙂

 

Wall DecorationMy best friend in high school sent this to me.  Her mother passed away this year but had been working on the things she always puts into a Christmas Craft Fair every year.  Her mom had chosen the fabric and cut it out but didn’t get a chance to put it together.  My friend decided she would like me to have it, so she finished it.  How wonderful it is to have something from her and her mom.  It is a very lovely wall décor piece and the sentimental value is priceless.  Her mother was a wonderful lady who had many talents and was quick to share them.  She will be missed.

 

First Real Snow for 1214

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First Real Snow - November 2014

Yes we got some snow, not nearly as much as MN and other places, but about 1 & 1/2 inches.  We got a dusting of snow a few days ago but yesterday evening came our first real snow of the winter season.  I know it’s still fall per the calendar, but in IA this is the start of a long, cold winter.  I was told the Farmer’s Almanac said it would be a crazy winter season this year.  Guess we will see what that brings.

I’m working on 4  scarves that were requested at the last minute.  I’ll post pictures of them as I finish them.  For 3 of them I’ll be using the pattern Jacobs Ladder , the link  is to the designer who like me allows people to knit her patterns for free :).  The last one (tho’ I won’t be necessarily knitting them in that order) will be another of my new design  little lace daisy scarf.  Guess I will be busy for the next few weeks, knitting and being grateful that I have a warm place to live and a skill to keep me busy during the cold winter months.

Oh yeah, the Cowboys are doing pretty well this season.  Unfortunately they play mostly on Sunday and I don’t watch football on Sunday, but I watch the NFL channel the next day to see the highlights :).  I’ll just keep rooting for them, as a loyal fan :).