frozen tuesday

Today should be cause for celebration....its one of my only days off of work! However I find myself torn between projects. My sister in laws prayer shawl, my mothers socks, my friends repair of a sweater her deceased mother left her, my seamless yoke sweater out of handspuns, or beginning my first PI shawl. I could just spin or shovel snow, or when worse comes to worse do housework. (ugh!) decisions decisions. In the midst of all of those wonderful projects I am stuck. Knowing that at 3:15am my alarm is going to go off and I will once again be in the lovely world of inventory control and shipping & recieving. OY!
I have however finished and have been wearing the lovely chocolate colored pullover I knit outta of nature-spun yarn this past two weeks. It is quite warm and comfy. This is one of the things that keeps me knitting, warm sweaters and socks...lol. Its too late to start a mitten advent calendar out of my leftover sock yarn but I could always start on it for next year....hmmmm....decisions decisions....!!!
Before you think I am hopelessly lost and confused I have one question for you....
How many of you are done with your Christmas gifts?

upcoming holidays

Well WH and I have had one of our 4 Christmas's and it was wonderful. We had our Christmas together a little earlier than usual ..... like last night when I finished working at the store...we had the new e-readers and netbooks come in so we decided to splurge on each other and get one of each. The majority of my morning has been spent on the phone with the internet help desk trying to unleach my 5 neighbors systems and add the two new devices. The remainder of my day will be working on the chocolate pullover, doing two meals worth of dishes and figuring what on earth we are having for dinner....sounds rough I know but seeing as how next week is a complete nightmare for those of us who do internet shipping and inventory for a living.....I can deal with it! I will post again soon, provided my cracked fingers ever stop bleeding.

Reconnected!

WOW!!! It's been a long time hasn't it. We have been traveling and working all summer and most of the fall. We have been to Arizona where I got to enjoy my annual visit with Lynn at Kiwiknits. And all found a lovely shop on our most recent trip to Wisconson where I found Fiddlehead yarns just a block from the DSD (dear step dtr) rental house. Lake Michigan was cold the desert was beautiful and this past Saturday we actually celebrated Christmas with a neighbor who is headed out of town until after New Years. Work is getting hectic with the holiday shipping so I havent had much down time to knit. However I did have the internet and cable reinstalled at the house for the winter so I am back in the land of electronics...lol. I have finished several hats and socks, began some mittens out of a beautiful jeweltone Jitterbug yarn, and am currently working on a crew neck sweater in a stone/chocolate colored Naturespun from Brownsheep. I am loving it more and more as I knit.
As a personal challenge I have decided to knit my way through EZ Knitters workshop between now and next Christmas. So far I am done with the first project, a fairisle hat. Next is a seamless yoke sweater which I am looking forward too!
Other than decorating for Christmas last weekend I have been finishing cleaning out the storage unit and downsizing in the house. I am also excited to have picked up 35# of wool I have processed at the Shepherd's Mill. A couple of 4H demo's were tucked into my summer schedule as well and were very interesting events to participate in.
And now for the grand finale.......wait for it.......I am now the proud owner of a new Majacraft Little Gem 2.......WWWEEEEEEEEE!!!!! I finally have a new wheel. I have been saving and eyeballing models since fall yarn school of 2008. The first week I had it home I spun four pounds of fiber! It is so relaxing to be able to come home after a long hard day of the shipping dock in the cold north wind and snow (yes we have had snow already) and sit in the rocker and spin. It is the highlight of my day most days. I am also happy to be back online and blogging. I have missed it and all of you so very much! Have a great day and enjoy the rest of your week, I will blog again soon!!!

too hot to breathe

What a whirl-wind these past weeks have been! And before I forget add three more funerals, two weddings, and an upcoming baptism to the list of the last blog! It has been eventful. I am however loving the Helloyarn fiber club! I have resorted back to using my drop spindles and attempting to learn how to spin and walk like most other cultures do. The book "Respect the Spindle" has helped. In addition to spinning wool I have recently learned how to spin cotton! Interweave Press has a wonderful DVD out on the subject. Now that my spindle collection is growing I am in need of another tahkli and an ahka. If any of you know of a great source or an independant designer who makes such creatures please email me!
As most of you can tell I don't make it onto ravelry as much as I would like so those of you dealing with my unGodly amount of favorites please bear with me...our local library has a time usage system with the computers and in light of that I have foregone the luxury of adding tags. Bear with me please!
I am not sure what part of the country you all are in but here in the regions of Western KS USA....its been too hot to breathe! 100+ days for weeks at a stretch are arriving as I type. It has been more humid than usual this year making the nights unbearly steamy and not in a good way! At least when I lived on the coast we had a nice ocean breeze....here in the midwest...hot gulf winds fly across the prairie making even the trees and vegetation miserable. Don't even get me started on the stash....lol.
For those of you who have also not noticed I have been on a crochet kick that I just cant seem to break! When my ex thought I would wind up a hooker I don't think crochet is what he meant......his loss..lol. Hope you all have a safe, and cooler summer! My merino and silk await a pattern that is lost in the recesses of my mind but will come out as soon as I pick up the hook....so for now....enjoy life! I have to go pet the stash....it is getting restless!

sweet Jesus!

This past week has been a blur. Okay I will attempt to start at the beginning... On Palm Sunday I married a dear Marine friend of mine and his lovely wife. The next day his Grandfather was life flighted to a regional hospital where this past Monday he died. His daughter (mother of the groom) is a dear friend of mine so she leaned on me for support. The day of her fathers wake her ex-hubby (and neighbor) died from self inflicted injuries. His funeral was yesterday. Today I get a call that one of her dads pall-bearers and her first cousin died in his sleep. Please keep this family in your prayers. For those of you not keep track that is 3 deaths and a wedding in the past two weeks in the same immediate family.
On a deeper personal note, on our block alone that makes 5 babies, and 8 deathes that have either directly or indirectly affected my family in 2 weeks time. As a pastor that is part of the job -- this I understand and am dealing with. However on Mothers day while visiting my mama my dear sister, niece and mother discovered that I know how to knit. I have kept this from them for such a long time I don't know what possessed me to blow it now. As a family of 19 (w/spouses and nephews and nieces) out of my dearly beloved Mothers mouth came the following words: "oh so this year for Christmas is everyone gonna get a pair of socks?" The sheer terror of handling life, two jobs, and a household came into immediate perspective as I heard myself utter these two detestable words...."we'll see"!!! It had to have been the yarn fumes....WH looked at me in disbeleif. All I could think to myself is "sweet Jesus what have you done??????" followed by insanely hysterical internal laughter that made me wonder is there even a stinking 19 weeks left in this year? An eldest daughter I am....wonder woman I am not! (please pray for me too!) What is next? imagining moths twitting around my light fixtures? Last time that occured I took out a ceiling fan fixture with a fly-swatter. Now with an afternoon to myself all I can think of is the dear immortal words of my lovely step-dtr...."what have I done, sweet Jesus, what have I done?" Just remember those tears running down your face are tears of joy! mine...not so much.

still downsizing

Working on what I started with the 100 thing challenge. Hence no home internet therefore I must carry my lazy butt up to the post office to post. Not much of a walk (about a mile round trip two if I hit the post office while out) but still takes planning and effort therefore photos will be iffy until June when the city wide garage sales take place. I was a little discouraged when I approached the storage shed out back of the house...16 more boxes to do....8 of craft books, 4 fabric and patterns, 2 dishes, and 2 rug yarn. I see new rugs in my future and another set of potholders for my sisters. Meanwhile why I am frogging the green gansey...yes you read that right my favorite knit in progress....is going to be reknit into something that actually fits me! My new work schedule is a bit weird so I have no set time to work on projects like I did at my old job. But none the less I am still crocheting and knitting...and lately I have been dyeing! I actually have 8 fleeces to get to the mill by the weekend and then the garage is done! We have also established a semi-small vineyard on our hillscape of a yard...so far we have an arbor and kiwi, elderberry and this weekend raspberry and blackberry bushes--hopefully! Not that exciting to me yet but the fact that WH wants to build me a hobby house is!!!! a little 16x20 chicken coop style hobby house with a porch all my own for just my crafts and hobbies is more than motive enough to continue downsizing so it all fits! Well I am off to the neighbors...she has a knit scarf she needs help fixing stitches on...yarn, needles, color in my hands, homemade food in my belly...yep its gonna be a great day off!!!

what have i done?????!!!

I am downsizing again. One because our lil house is too small. This on the eve of the comment from WH stating "honey what if I built you a lil cabin like storage shed for your hobbies". I must have lit up light a roman candle...due to the fact that earlier that morning I decided on paper to start the 100 Thing Challenge. I don't start it until April 1 but for those of you who don't know what it is either google it or here it is in a nutshell.....learning to live with 100 personal possessions or less for a year or longer. Thankfully this doesn't include shared or household neccesities like the bed, couch, or silverware. Those are grouped differently. My wardrobe will take a small hit...I am not a big clothes or shoe horse. And thankfully my knitting needles count as a group of one. WH has made me a deal that he would build it if I would decide on one or two hobbies...he is leaning toward my writing and colored pencil portraits. I am leaning toward photography and writing. Eitherway I am allowing myself an additional 10 hobby list on which I am including
10 projects (not 10 items) so I am limiting myself to certain yarns in my stash and the rest must go. This thankfully does not count my patterns because they fall in the one library allowance according to the plan. (whew!!) I am however confining myself to two bookshelves. Oy! this is gonna be a long couple of weeks just getting down to 100 things so I can start the challenge. That and one kicka** yard sale!!! I will give you a decent heads up so you can all attend. At this point WH and I are looking at late April or early May. I will have some quilting supplies, maybe leathercraft and scrapbooking along with dyeing and general household items listed. This is a maybe list and certain people have dibbs already on some supplies. I will try to list the items in here or send out flyers for those of you interested please email me or leave your contact info in the comments. Thank you! Now onward to the dresser and the dreaded t-shirt and sock collection....(insert "jaws" theme song here--sigh!)
ps....Great! my sis just called and wants some new potholders....(sniffle and whimpers) That will fall under the gift heading on the challenge! So maybe this wont be too bad! Hmmmmm!!!!

Grango socks!

Not a big lizard lover until I got ahold of this yarn!!! Mind you even though my first born was called gecko for years. (more nicknames came along).A set of socks in 3 1/2-4days that is a new record for me!! whew-who! And behold they match!!! (ohhhh ahhhh!).

productive weekend

Had awesome weather and awesome friends over this weekend. My friend Mallory stopped in and we knit on Friday until we woke WH up...lol. He kept falling asleep in his rocker...need I say more? Made a little progress on the blue sweater and began an ankle sock out of Opal sock yarn in the lizard colorway using the Yarn Harlots basic sock pattern only I got near the end of the kitchner stitch and four things happened. 1) I dropped a stitch too soon.(breath deep). 2) After picking up said dropped stitch I twisted it.(sigh) 3) Went to tighten said stitch and broke it.(whimper) and 4) tried it on only to realize it was way too long. (hysterical insane laughter). I tore it out a fifth time clear back to 20st instead of 16 and gathered all together and taadah a sock that fits nicely. (granted and extra hour outta my weekend but hey maybe I should've got the hint the first time...."well i sent a car, boat and a helicopter"--LOLOLOL!!!) I may be slow but I eventually get the hint! Thanks for not striking me dead with lightening or drowning me. (sigh!).

crazy head of mine--no proof needed but here ya go!

since my adventures yesterday and finishing the peach sock earlier today I have just started crocheting with no pattern and look what happened. I understand how knit socks are built and the percentages and the basics of crochet and knitting but poof!! I just looked down at my hands and waaaalllla a purple silky wool sock in 3 hours. I swear somedays I scare myself....poor WH!!!

another one bites the dust!

finally finished the peachy socks! And spent yesterday outside dyeing a few things. There are four of the photos that were a pound of corriedale from yarn school that I had originally dyed yellow and pink that I overdyed in 4oz balls. One was done with chartreuse, one in turquiose, one in deep orange and the last (my personal favorite) chestnut. I also did about 800yds of merino. Tonight I have plans to finish the blue sleeve on the last sweater I have been doing. Then its down to just one thing on needles, one on the hook and two in the repair basket...must be slippin in my old age..lol!!

hope this is good enough

here ya go!!! the first one is a garter stitch ultra alpaca...number two is a pattern called fairhope but I crocheted it instead of knit it in rowans lima third is the blue cascade heathers and is crocheted in single rib thru back loop and done vertically, and the last one is a cascade 220 color that escapes me but the bottom was a knit cowl in k6rows, p6rows, until 20" long I just turned in on its side added a lil single crochet and tada!!! hope this helps! oh and just in case it gets added on this post I have started a queen anne scarf and another baby jacket and am winging them as I go...lol. (WH says flap those wings birdbrain flap those wings!!! do ya think he would be offended if I laid out birdseed on his dinner plate tonight?)

winter projects

it has been too long since my last post. forgive me....this year however I have taken on a bit of a challenge and I AM WINNING!!! So far this year I have completed a sweater a week....yes you read that right a sweater a week....before you give up on me entirely realize that only one of these is knit the other 3 are crochet.My challenge is to complete 6 sweaters by June and 6 pairs of socks by Christmas. This is all in an effort to destash my cupboards and downsize. The sweaters have made such a dent that I now have all my yarn (except my handspun)in one cupboard. Meanwhile I have also crocheted two baby blankets for the herd of 12 lil girls (and one boy) headed to our extended friends and family between now and August. I will try to get photos posted tomorrow if the weather (-35) permits internet connection. Hope your knitting is going well. Let me know what you have been up too! Oh and to let you all know WH is cancer free!!! whew-who! Thank you for the prayers!!!