Home again!

Spin in was fabulous as usual. The first day started with a drawing for 3 days stay at the resort for all who ate the lunch buffet in the restaurant at the resort. I arrived just in time for lunch and ate a quick one before unloading the car. Guess who won?!?!?! Our group will have part of next year's stay for FREE for January Spin-in 2011! WooooHoooo! We had a great time spinning, dying, knitting, chatting, drinking wine, acting silly and making new friends.

Stash was enhanced, but pics of the new stuff will have to wait until later.

I have more important news to share... Peyton won full tuition scholarship to Troy University!!!!!! I'm overjoyed and, of course, proud as any mother can be for her accomplishment.

Later in the week i'll update my stash in Ravelry.

For your viewing pleasure, let me show you the new windows and siding that were completed while I was in Destin:

On the road again....

Just can't wait to get on the road again!

Tomorrow is the day! Driving down to Destin for my third January Spin-In for 4 fun filled days with 100+ other spinners :) It will be spinning and fiber heaven! Some of the people attending have been going for over 30 years.

Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures! I'll be taking both wheels this time along with a little bit of fiber just in case I don't see anything I like from the dozen or so vendors that I would like to spin (yeah, right - like THAT will happen).

2 Mitts Finished!

It's hard to take a pic of yourself with the camera timer...

These are pretty awsome mitts... haven't washed and blocked yet, but i've worn them a couple of times!

1 mitt down...

Genius pattern:

One to go!

Long Time No Post!

Happy New Year!

Much has happended around here... the best of which is DH is so much better and back to work! I'm home today because we are getting new windows installed. Getting rid of the old and putting in the new will get us a tax credit of $1500! Whew!!! When they finish with the windows, new siding will be going up. It will be like a new house... the next project will be hardwood floors to replace the terrible carpet and the kitchen floor. Unfortunately, that project is a couple years away.

Here's a pic of one of the guys installing in the living room... window on right is new and he is removing the window on left:

I'm also knitting some mitred mitts from EZ's Almanac - although these are "May's" project in the Almanac, I thought they would work well with this handspun Falkland:

It is soooo squishilishious :) is that a word?

Home

We came home Tuesday night from the hospital. DH suffered a minor stroke with minimal damage. He starts PT today - thank goodness they will come to the house. He has some weakness in his left leg and feels a little off balance when he walks. They believe it was caused by high blood pressure, which he has never been diagnosed before even with regular yearly check-ups. When checking for signs of cause, the cardiologist has found that his aortic valve is leaking... probably due to damage from rheumatic fever he had as a teen. He will eventually have to have this valve replaced, but needs to recover from the stroke first. We have an appointment with his doctor Tuesday and will be researching for a good cardiologist and cardiac surgeon. I'm checking out UAB for this surgery rather than Shelby. I guess you can say that the mild stroke was a stroke of luck... it could have been massive heart failure not knowing that the heart is damaged.

It is good to be home for the holidays....

Holiday in the Hospital

Spent all day and most of the night yesterday at the hospital... my DH had a stroke. He was supposed to go back to work on Monday after being off for 3 months with a severe Crohns flare up. He's having more tests run today - trying to find out why. Please keep us in your prayers.

Holiday goodies

I finished the deer hats for our company holiday dinner... just found out that one of the recipients will not be there, but i'll send to him on Monday before he goes to hunting camp for the holidays :) One is beanie size and one is ski hat size:

I'm going to try to make another before the holiday for a friend... hopefully I can get it finished with all the holiday activities going on!

Last night was the Christmas gathering that the LYS. It was a great time, as always! We play the dirty santa gift game (speaking of which, I have to get 2 more presents for our work game Sunday). I ended up with the book "Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders" after many other gifts were taken away. I believe these patterns will be wonderful for small amounts of handspun, which I consider a "luxury". I also got a book I have been coveting from Rae Jean, "Magnificent Mittens & Socks" by Anna Zilboorg, along with some scottish mincemeat tarts (a funny gift for us Outlander fans).

I told Stacey that it was too bad they didn't have our sizes in the sheepy PJ's we got Rae Jean... she went to another location of Belks and bought me a Christmas present... it was such a great surprise!!! Aren't they cute???!

The stockings were hung...

What can I say... it was sock washing day!

I thought they would dry faster hanging here rather than in the cold laundry room.

On another note, I'm going to have the best gag gift at the company's Holiday Dinner this year ... the famous fornicating deer hat:

Started today with some green peruvian wool and orange cascade wool - for the boss to wear next time he goes hunting with the boys :)

Travel Time Knitting

I'm getting ready to wind yarn for car travel knitting. The knitting time could be anywhere from 2 1/2 hours to 5 hours depending on traffic tomorrow heading to the SEC championship game in Atlanta. Yes, i'm married to a huge Alabama football fan... not just Alabama, but football in general... we are on the ticket list that is so huge that once you get off the list, you can't get back on. Hubby is excited to see his team play (even though he graduated from a different college) and i'm excited to have several hours of knitting time. Socks are my project of choice for traveling and i'm about to wind this handspun yarn to cast on when I finish the socks that are currently in progress (also on handspun).

You see, i'm trying to get ready for the "sock it to me" January Spin-in held in Destin next month. Nothing like waiting until the month before to knit some socks with my handspun! This is the "juniper" colorway of Louet's wool/bamboo/nylon top. It spun up very nice, but I don't think i'll buy bamboo fiber again to spin. It flies everywhere! I'm happy with the finished yarn though... and maybe I'll change my mind about spinning it again when I have some finished socks :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Thanksgiving holiday means time for family, fun, food, football and FIBER! Of course, hubby would put football first in the lineup since the big rivalry game is all anyone thinks about that lives in Alabama.

I have a finished object to show... another (yes, the fourth) Selbu Modern. This one is made extra slouchy especially for Peyton, in Troy University colors (she'll be going there next fall). Specs: Knitpicks Gloss yarn knit on size 3 needles, ribbing knit on size 1.5:

Also, there is new handspun yarn:

Cloverleaf Farms Merino/Silk 4 oz roving purchased last year at SAFF in the colorway "Craisen", true 3 ply, 372 yards, spun long-draw on Adelaide and plied on Fred:

Gale's Art Alpaca Silk 2 oz purchased at Sheep to Shawl, navajo plied, 157 yards, spun from the fold:

That's it for today!

A little bit of stash enhancement

After attending the Patsy Z workshop at Freehaven Farm, I bought some of Freehaven's mohair to experiment blending with some fleece that I've had for a while. I'm hoping to come up with a great blend for sweater knitting. These mohair locks are from her yearlings named "Nep" and "Noil". What wonder names for fiber animals! They are ohhhh sooo shiny!

Next up is a bag of wool/mohair/bamboo top that I believe will spin into the perfect sock yarn. The colors are lovely. After I get the singles plied that are taking up bobbin space, I think this will be next in the spinning line.

Picking a pattern

I'm obsessed with picking a pattern for this Jacob handspun. I have 285 yards at 14 wpi, 3 ply... and am on the search for what to knit. Jacob is not the softest wool... this roving/top purchased at MS&W from Flying Fibers was the softest of this breed I've ever felt. I'm thinking maybe some mittens or hand warmers or a hat or ..... I don't know!

Spinning has been happening so much so that I need to get another plastic bin in order to clean the yarn off the coffee table and in one of the kitchen bar stools. I know that hubby would be thrilled to have some of the living room space back :)

There is a FULL crockpot of chili simmering for the football day. I wish DD liked chili... I think it would open up her sinus cavities that are suffering with a bad cold.

What makes a weekend great?

Spending the weekend with a nationally known instructor, 13 other spinners, on a fiber farm with plenty of fiber critters makes for a great weekend! I came home with lots of new tips for spinning on a double-drive wheel, some fiber and a cherry/walnut kundert spindle. I'd definitely take another class with Patsy Z. Not only was she knowledgeable about all the different types of wheels, she had some funny stories to tell.

Picture proof :) Yes, we were in a barn for instruction. A BIG barn!

How the hell do they get all those horns in one bucket?

What a friendly smile, although, he or she wouldn't get toooo close.

This one didn't want to miss out on the attention! You could even pet, but watch out for the horns!

I wanted to get a group pic, but most had already left the building... Here's the last of the group with Patsy Z in the middle, Caron (owner of the farm) on the right.

Shetland wool

Been spinning some Shetland Wool Top purchased from Jamieson & Smith. The wool still smells sheepy - which is a good thing, since I missed the sheepy smells from SAFF! This was spun using the 19.1 ratio on Adelaide. I plied this morning and the 3-ply yarn has been washed and hanging in the laundry room to dry. It is beautiful! I'm thinking possibly sport-weight. I'm not sure what i'll knit with it - maybe a tam or some socks. I might even dye part of it! Still have more and want to spin the rest very fine. It will have to wait as we are headed down to Troy to watch a football game and see what football season will be like for our future Trojan :)

2 Little Monkeys...

Finally, I have pictures of the 2 pair of monkey socks I recently completed. The rainbow pair is made with Jojoland Melody and the other is made with a wool/mohair blend yarn that was purchased on our Blue Ridge Parkway vacation in June from one of the several yarn shop destinations we found with the help of the GPS.

I registered for a real spinning lesson to take place next weekend at Freehaven Farm in Simpsonville, SC. Patsy Z is the instructor - I hear good things about her from Sandra. Looking forward to learning new things :) Since I missed out on SAFF, i'm so looking forward to visiting with the fiber animals!

Love the weekends...

Thanks to all who have expressed good wishes. We're trying to get back to some kind of normal routine around here. Hubby is recovering well from his surgery ... the gruesome staples fit right in with the Halloween season :) These will come out Tuesday.

We went to Pelham's homecoming game Friday night. The parking spot was the good score for the night. We lost to Hoover as expected, but unexectedly made the last spot for the playoffs!

Remember back in May when Stacey and I went to MS&W Festival? We both came back with the goal to get a dream wheel... that goal has been met as Stacey received delivery of her wheel this week! We took the wheels to the LYS on Saturday for a spin. She got the wheel in ash to better match her other light color wheels. Here's some pics of our Schacht-Reeves 30" Saxonies made with the flyer on the right (front view and back view):


Aren't they lovely?!?! Our hubs might get jealous of all the love and attention our wheels are getting :)


Saturday night was Pelham's homecoming dance. We met up with the kids to take pics at one of Peyton's friends house. Peyton has the brightest dress of the group! I love this pic of Peyton laughing...





Her BF is standing right behind her with the white shirt and red tie. They all went to supper at Kobe before the dance.


Now I'm off to spin some shetland on the lovely wheel that I polished last night with some woodbeams. She glows....

Twists progress delayed

I've been away for a while taking care of hubby who came home from his project in Arkansas due to medical issues. He's had two hospital stays, one surgery and will be starting treatments for Crohn's disease week after next. Today has been a good day... we're hoping for more good days.

Knitting progess on the sweater has been put on hold. Small, portable projects are the thing for doctors offices and the hospital. Two pair of Monkey socks finished, one beret and working on a pair of gloves. Pictures to come later.

Sadly, the SAFF trip for me has been postponed until next year. I hope my fiber buds have a great time!

Twist Progress

The sleeves only have a few more rows to go...

The body is ready for dividing for sleeves:

Potato Leek Soup with a serving of finger

Peyton and I recently went to see Julie & Julia and immediately after the movie went to the bookstore to buy the cookbook. We decided we'd try a recipe out of the book maybe once a week or so - let's face it, she's not available many nights with colorguard practice, work, homework and the social life of a senior in high school. Last night we tried Potato Leek soup. Peyton and I both had knives ready, she chopping potatos and me attempting to slice leeks... first slice I not only sliced into the leek, but into my left forefinger (on the top) down to the bone. The henkel knives we have are wickedly sharp... I almost fainted. Wrapped it up tightly with a clean kitchen towel and sat back on the sofa while Peyton finished up the chopping to start simmering the veggies. She then went to the store and bought me some butterfly bandage clips. There is not much meat on top of the finger, and I really didn't want to spend the night in the emergency room to see if it needed stitching with all the sick people. The first thing that came to my mind was I won't be able to knit!!! It still hurts, and no, I can't knit - of course I tried. I hold my yarn over the left forefinger when I knit. I tried holding over my middle finger, but it's clumsy. It's hard to type because it still hurts like hell.

The soup tastes good, though :) We added additional potatos (seemed too runny/watery)... and then, of course, we had to add extra heavy whipping cream. The soup was a success although we decided next time to try substituting some chicken stock for some of the water.