Wheel and Spindle

Yesterday I spun a lot of the brown alpaca. I'm hoping to finishing stuffing this bobbin full soon and then finish a different fiber I had previously started before doing more brown alpaca on the wheel.

I have also been spinning some on my spindle, especially if my back is already sore from the wheel (or dishes or anything else).  I can sit back on the couch and still get some spinning in and feel productive. 

Tour de Fleece 2015

Tour de Fleece 2015 runs from July 4th through July 26th (the same days as the Tour de France race).  They spin, and we spin - see how that works?

This year has been a little more special.  As I prepared to work on my spinning every day for almost a month, my family noticed.  My husband pulled out an old spindle he had given up on and passed on to me and decided to try again.  While helping him get started, my girls found their old spindles (they were in with my tools but each had an initial on them) and some random white roving.  We had a small trip to Webs the day before starting, and my son (who doesn't spin yet) bought some yarn to practice his knitting.

It is hot and humid, and they are still playing video games and spending hours reading books... but fiber is all around the house (actually, it is, the white roving they chose tends to get wispy and stick to things!) and it is pretty nice to see spindles in use before bedtime!  The big question is what will happen when that small bag of roving is gone...

Happy Star Wars Day!

My traditional repost from years past:

*update for this year* Tomato is not wearing his T-shirt today, but instead is decorating his potato car for the potato derby tonight at church!  We are also making deserts for that event, but not star wars themed....  and we have a new link for you! Piano Guys!

Happy Star Wars day to you all! May the Fourth be with you always! :)

I'm not quite sure how we will celebrate (aside from Little Tomato wearing his star wars shirt - he thinks it's really cool that it has a darth vader helmet on the front - and back!)

There will probably be game playing (lego starwars and lego clonewars) and perhaps some movie watching, and I'm almost positive we'll be playing my kids favorite you-tube song. Although I don't think the festivities will continue into food (I'm just not big on decorated cupcakes - I do like puns though, anyone got anything normal I can make that can pun its way into star wars territory?) we'll try to have a day without any fear, anger, or hate and with ewoks lots of singing and you can sing along.


Let us know how you celebrate this fun day!

Music stuck in my head

Songs that got stuck in my head on the drive home last night...

Next To Me

I'm Yours

Catch My Breath

Like any of them?  What's stuck in your head?

Ten on Tuesday: Valentine's Day

10 Fun Ways to Celebrate Valentine's Day:

1. Give a gift

2. Make cards (especially with kids, or with good tools - not necessarily both at the same time)

3. Decorate cookies

4. Preform a service

5. Do an anonymous service

6. Decorate the house in pinks and reds and sparkles (which I don't do!)

7.  Give a hug

8. Give a kiss

9. Tell someone you love them

10. ...and of course, I wouldn't say no to breakfast in bed!

Let's just pretend...

Let's just pretend those last three months didn't happen...

or rather, that they did happen, and got posted about, and life moves on! (I obviously can't do a good job posting regularly right now, I'll work on posting randomly for now, and work on regularly later!)

When I last left you I mentioned I had finished a sweater for my oldest daughter.

Since then I have made at least 4 baby shower gifts:

I learned a new technique for ragrugs and made a little trivet...

and I also finished spinning some yarn.

Each of these may or may not get a post of their own soon.

Sweater Done

The sweater is now done!

I finished the needed baby shower gifts on Thursday and was able to finish the sweater for 'Lily' this afternoon - I put it off so long and it only took an evening and another day (of on and off work).

Pictures on Monday!

...and now I'm back

Now that October is done and it's November, I'll hopefully be back here again!  The month was good, the month was fun, but I'm so glad the month is done!!

Just for as a treat for you - you can check out these fun Pink Martini songs!

I'll be back


And Then You're Gone





...and as we go into November, let's set the pace a bit slower?  Okay with everyone?


Splendor in the Grass

Over the Valley

Just keep swimming!

Somehow, not entering my ten on tuesday post ahead of time made it so I didn't get my other posts up either.  Yesterday was a bit busy, and it ended with my mending a pair of my husband's pants just the day before he needed them... I'm also working on the baby gifts and the contest sweater.  Yesterday was also my weekly trip to the library, so now I have to make a decision - do i finish the book I'm almost done with (424/485 pages read) or do I start the new Rick Riordan, or the new JK Rowling book...  both of which are available to me *right now*. 

Instead, I am trying to be good and help the kids finish their work, help get the house ready for family guests, and be there early Saturday morning to clean our church building (we rotate who helps with that and it's my turn again).  I will knit and read and watch some fun shows at some point.  Hopefully sometime over this month my treading of water will turn into a gold medal finish!

Ten on Tuesday:today

There was no Ten on Tuesday topic that went out for this week, so instead, you get ten things I did today: (disclaimer, tuesday is usually a crazy day, this list is not at all inclusive)

1. Ate half a bagel with cream cheese and raspberry jam for breakfast

2. Wiped down the kitchen and swept the main floor before co-op

3. Made sure one of the girls made the pb&j for the three kids today (I ate leftovers)

4. Listened to Noel read two fun stories

5. Facilitated a game of animal sound charades

6. Carefully lifted a kid into my garage through a window since the door was stuck, eventually figured out how and fixed the door

7. Listened to a report about Ocelots

8. Played 9 games of Spot it! Kindergarten style...

9. Started a batch of dough for bread

10. Put together two pots of eggplant beef stew

Sweater Progress

I had a little more knitting time over the weekend and I now have one sleeve finished and the second sleeve is half done.  Lily has enjoyed watching all of the guesses come in for when her sweater will be done and has tried to do a couple of extra chores so I have more time to finish it!  She's cheering on the early guesses, but life goes on and I can only knit during some of its activities! 

Fiction Friday: The Peach Keeper

The Peach Keeper, by Sarah Addison Allen, is a book I recently finished.  It was an interesting, easy read.  It's a story of Willa, who is a descendant of the wealthy town foundering family, who then lost their fortune.  It's a story of Paxton, a currently wealthy woman who went to school with Willa.  And it's a story of their grandmothers, who were best friends at one point, and maybe still are.  It's a little strange and although I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone, I did find two quotes in it that hit me:

Happiness is a risk.  If you're not a little scared, then you're not doing it right. (p238)

Fate never promises to tell you everything up front.  You aren't always shown the path in life you're supposed to take.  But, if there was one thing she'd learned in the past few weeks, it was that sometimes, when you're really lucky, you meet someone with a map. (p242)

Have a great weekend!

Barter

I am working on, along with the sweater and the baby shower gifts, two quick dish cloths!  It's part of a barter with another family and should be done by the end of the week!  Anyone able to tell me when life will slow down a bit?  :)

Tour de Fleece

Tour de Fleece is an event that happens every year. Although I never officially participate I do try to spin during it. It occurs at the same time as the Tour de France and the goal is to spin and challenge yourself while watching the race. I don't watch the racing, but I did manage to spin all but one of the days I think. I tried to spin for at least 30 minutes and most days did more than that.


 I finished this grey superwash that I've been working on forever.  Most of it was done prior to this year's event, but I finally got it done!

The left most skein is blue and purple silk that I got as dyed hankies.  They did look like a pile of fibery handkerchiefs, which I took and spun on a little spindle.  Once again, this has been going on forever, and it is now done. 

The middle skein is something I bought back at my first MA sheep and wool (the same year as the grey yarn above).

The skein on the right is a black bunny fibers colorway that I got several years ago as a present from my husband.

Then, since I had finished up so much that I had been working on for a long time I started something kindof new.  I took three colors of different fiber I had gotten while part of the Southern Cross Fibre Club and I am mixing them all up.  I started it during the Tour de Fleece and then, once that was done I didn't touch my wheel for over a month.  I recently sat and spun some more on that and can't wait for it to be done.  That full bobbin is about 2/3 of the total fiber, so I am on the down hill part of this yarn!

Don't forget to check Monday's post and enter the contest!

Ten on Tuesday: Pizza Toppings

Ten Favorite Pizza Toppings:

1. Sauce

2. Cheese

3. Pepperoni

4. Ham
 
5. Pineapple

6. Peppers

7. BBQ chicken

8. Basil

9. Feta

10. Mushrooms


Of course, not all of this on any one pizza....

Sweater for Lily (and a contest)

I'm almost caught up with everything that happened during my vacation - just a couple more posts - but today I thought I'd tell you what I've been working on lately.  My oldest daughter is now 10 1/2.  She doesn't request many knit projects.  I think this is partly because she also knows how to knit, and partly because she is just content with what she has.  At the end of the summer she asked if I could use the yarn she had chosen at two different festivals and make her a sweater.

Since these two skeins were each a pair of adult socks worth of yarn  I didn't think there would be enough.  Luckily I had other sock yarn that would coordinate in color. 

I started about August 21st.  I have now finished the body and most of one sleeve.  Once the sleeves are done I will still need to do the collar and the button (zipper?) band.  There might be some patch pockets - or there might not.  She was hoping it would be done earlier this month - it obviously wasn't.  I am working on it, but I also know 5 pregnant women  - and I usually knit or crochet something for baby showers (3 of the 5 are before the end of Nov). 

So, here's the contest.  When do you think her sweater will be done.  The person with the closet guess (completely done - all ends woven in, pockets attached if we choose to add them, zipper sewn or buttons on, etc) will win a prize. It doesn't matter if your guess is before or after the finished time, the winner will just be the one closest.

All guesses must be placed in the comments of this post.  The prize will either be a skein of handspun (if the winner is crafty), or one small project (bulky hat, dishcloth, etc - if the winner is not crafty)

Guesses can be placed here any time this week.  Comments made after Saturday Sept 29th will not be entered into the contest.  Anyone (family/friends/strangers) is welcome to enter. 

There is one other way to enter the contest - if you send someone else here and they mention you when they enter you can have a bonus entry!

Fiction Friday: The Blue Castle

I was reading through some of the threads on the Ravelry Forum.  I don't remember if it was the Homeschooling Group or the Simple Living group or the Selfish Knitting Group, but one of them was talking about their favorite books.  Someone mentioned an L.M. Montgomery book I had never read.  I, of course, immediately requested it.  I grew up rereading Anne so many times and loving it.  I also own the Emily series, and several of her other short story books.  The new book was The Blue Castle.


It is about an older women (she 29 and not married) who, due to some new knowledge, decides to not be a door mat to her family any more.  She decides to live life on her terms, and it is a wonderfully cute story.  It is, perhaps, not a surprising thriller, but a fun read.

What authors did you like to read as a kid/teen?

Quadrangle

We went to the local museums.  There are 5 museums surrounding the main city library - normally we go to three of four of them, but during this visit we only went to two of them, and a building of sticks that was on the green between them!


The first museum was the Natural History Museum (normally referred to as the Science Museum. They had a cool castle Lego exhibit going on...

We then walked outside to see the stick structure..

And then we walked back across the street to the Springfield History Museum were we made the kids look at a couple of things before they got to flee to the game room...

Stanley Park

Also during our vacation in August we went to Stanley Park in Westfield. The kids played on the playground for a while, and then we had a picnic lunch before going on a little walk....

We were telling the kids that we used to go on dates to this park and walk around. I don't know if they had ever thought about us dating before.

They did enjoy looking at the water and woods and all the animals there. 

We even walked up to the rose garden and walked around. There was a big map of the United States off to the side and the kids had fun running from state to state as I called them off. 

We could hear thunder in the distance and the sky was pretty grey. The kids were starting to freak out, but we walked slowly back to the car and even took some fun family shots on the way. We drove out and it barely started to rain as we got onto the road.

Ten on Tuesday: Weekend

Ten things I love to do on the Weekend:

1. Sleep in (at least sometimes!)

2. Help others in the family cook

3. Knit and watch movies

4. Sit on the couch with my sweet husband while we both read

5. Go on Adventures with the family

6. Watch a marathon of movies (LoTR, SW, SG-1, ST - bonus to anyone who recognizes all of those)

7. Go on a bike ride

8. Have all our schoolwork done so I don't have to ruin anyone's weekend!

9. Go to church (especially when I do an assignment that week!)

10. Eat bagels and a chocolate covered cannoli with my sweetie