I took 20 minutes after supper and finished plying my last bobbin of MVFF cormo. (Last from the Spring 2008 share, that is.)

Of course, looking at the picture, I think it looks a trifle underplied, but that’s okay!

I did pretty well balancing my bobbins, too. This is how much cormo I had left when the first bobbin ran out. Not bad!

Naturally, Chappy was very impressed.

Next? Continuing the theme, here’s the Cormo I got from my FALL share. At least, I think it was Cormo. The bag the braid was in wasn’t labeled, but since the one that had the cormo/kid mohair blend WAS, I’m assuming this braid is it by process of elimination.

I’ve noticed, in the last couple of weeks, that the keyboard on my laptop feels … mushier. It’s never had quite the crisp feel I truly love in a keyboard, but suddenly, it’s less crisp still. So–even though I really have no place to put it–I ordered an external keyboard for it. A slim, Logitech diNovo keyboard that hopefully won’t take up too much room. I have doubts about the fact that if I use an external keyboard, my hands will be nowhere near the touchpad mouse which is going to make computing more difficult, but the deal was too good to pass up. A normally $90 keyboard on sale for $50, but with a $30 rebate available–so all that typing goodness for $20. (Although, hmm, it looks like the rebate might not be eligible after all, since the keyboard won’t arrive until after the deadline. Drat. But–still a good keyboard. Assuming the mouse-thing works okay.)

The fact that I’m trying to get RID of stuff is irrelevant, right?

It doesn’t help that I’m lusting after this nice, basic, 50mm lens (f/1.4) for my camera. Or even this one (f/1.8), though that one I’d have to manually focus. Heck, I’d like this 35mm, too. I keep hearing how amazing prime lenses are, what a joy they are to use, how much sharper the pictures are than with the kit lenses. And, darn it, I want to PLAY!

For that matter, knowing how drastically what spending money I have is about to be curtailed, I feel like going on a spending spree right now, no matter how modest. Right now, while there’s still time. The book-culling process … that painful, heartbreaking weeding out of books that I love … is making me want a Kindle more and more. I’ve been drooling over them at the same time I’m regretfully shaking my head over the price. I’ve been looking at the Apple iTouch, too, which can not only read Kindle books, but can, you know, play music and stuff too.

I can even almost justify the cost of this as a last-hurrah kind of thing because I’ve got about $150 of Amazon gift certificates saved up from a year’s worth of using my credit card … but I’d still feel guilty. (Though, I’m regretting that keyboard already, since I can’t get the rebate after all, and it’s already shipped, so there’s no going back.)

One recent expense I don’t regret?

I just renewed my domain name for AfterHappilyEver.com … the title of my unpublished book that I persist in having faith in. Maintaining the domain name is an act of faith. In fact, while I was renewing it last night, I bought AfterTitanic.com, too, for the exact same reason.

Here are some links for you (because I know how much you enjoy random links).

Ooh–this is very cool. A 1930 newsreel video of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan. Helen Keller is one of my heroes–have you ever read any of her work? Brilliant writer.

Or, how about this 1892 article (yes, it was contemporary for her) about Louisa May Alcott’s writing habits?

Did you know that Dean Koontz has a new book out? But, unlike his usual, this is not a horror story. No, this one is the sweet and lovable story of his dog, Trixie. (Check out this promotional video.) The title is A Big Little Life and it looks wonderful.

Do you ever take pictures of kids? (Or dogs?) Because these tips–and the accompanying, illustrative photos–are fantastic.

One more thing–I had fun setting up my Eye Candy Friday post for tomorrow. So CLEVER, even if I can’t take credit for the cleverness.

• Tags: Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Last Bobbin // 2 Comments »

One more bobbin of singles to spin, then one more skein to ply, and I’ll have spun all the yarn that came in my first MVFF share. You know, my two pounds of Cormo from the Spring 2008 Shearing. The one Mom, Chappy, and I went to the Vineyard to witness.

Half of my Cormo I gave to Jessica to dye for me, in the MVFF colors. It spun up into something between lace- and sport-weight yarn, and I’ve already turned some of it into the Fountain Pen Shawl, which I gave to my sister for her birthday in June.

Well, I finished my first skein in November, and now (I’ve lost track of the yardage), but I now have three complete skeins of natural Cormo, and, as I said, half of the last one is spun into singles. I just need to spin the last bobbin.

Isn’t that a pretty pile of yarn? And, let’s see, I signed up for my first share at the end of 2007. The shearing in April, the arrival of the wool, the excitement of having half of it dyed. The Winter Solstice party last December. Susan’s birthday surprise in April and this year’s Spring shearing. Not to mention the revelry on Ravelry, and the fun this Spring of the Lambcam. I had thought that a share seemed kind of expensive, but … I’ve got to say I think it’s more than worth the money. Just think of all the hours of spinning pleasure is in this pile! And that doesn’t even count the knitting part (or the Fall share, still in my closet).

So, thanks again, Susan for thinking of this whole fiber CSA thing!

On an unrelated note?

How sad that John Hughes died! The man behind Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off … I feel like my high school years just died. And … who else remembers the Brat Pack? Check out this New York Magazine article about the “cool kids” from way back when.

• Tags: Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning, Martha's Vineyard • Permalink:Shares // 3 Comments »

You know the saying, it never rains but it pours?

Chappy finally seemed to be feeling better, and acting a bit more like himself, and then I think I went and accidentally food-poisoned him.

He’s FINE, mind you, so far as his tummy goes, but he DID spend most of the afternoon throwing up in various places around the house. (Great thanks to Chappy’s Grandma for doing all the cleanup while I was at work.)

Here’s the story of my stupidity. It’s not even a long story. As you know, I cook for Chappy, using the Sojourner Farms food mix, and when I was making his supper last night, I realized I didn’t have enough left in the container for breakfast. So, we quickly defrosted the usual package of chicken/package of beef so I could get a batch on the stove as quickly as possible.

There are a couple problems that came up next. First, our microwave is getting older and isn’t that efficient any more, but since we mostly just use it to defrost meat, it’s not that big a deal. Except that the meat came out still half-frozen, but I figured I was going to be cooking it anyway, so just tossed it in the pot with the food mix and the water, and cooked it as usual.

An hour or so later, after my shower, I was making a cup of tea and Mom came into the kitchen. “What is that smell?” “It must be the garbage,” I said. And it was–because as soon as we emptied it, the bad smell was gone.

Except, the pieces I didn’t put together were that the only thing IN the garbage at that point were the two empty meat packages from Chappy’s food.

The SMART thing would have been to put two and two together and realize that, if the packages the meat came in smelled so badly, chances are there was something wrong with the meat.

But, somehow, concerned, loving mother that I am, I still missed it. The cooked food on the stove smelled like it normally did, after all, and I just didn’t THINK. And so, this morning, I fed him the food and went blithely off to work. He was fine when I came home at lunch, too. About 90% himself for the first time since I found that bug bite last week.

Then, the thunderstorms rolled in, and he got nervous. My guess is that that triggered an already iffy stomach and … well, you don’t really need the gory details, do you? Let’s just say his good, wonderful, loving grandma went through a lot of papertowels.

Obviously, I’ve thrown away that batch of food. And the batch I made this evening? I sniffed everything. I cooked it more thoroughly than usual, too, and chopped up the pieces more finely than I usually need to, when I fed him his (small) supper, too. He was just grateful to be getting supper–you know how dogs are. The minute their stomachs feel the least bit better, they’re ready to eat again!

Now, I guess I won’t miss our Pathmark that much any more. Mom found out last week that it’s closing, and she’s been doing her weekly grocery shopping there since it opened, somewhere around 1975.

On a happier note, I finished plying that bobbin of Cormo last night. And, see the little bit on the fresh bobbin on the wheel? That’s all I had left–not bad for almost-equal spinning for my two plies, huh?

Now, I’ve got some book reviews to write … in between petting my poor little boy, who is sitting RIGHT next to me as another string of thunderstorms rolls overhead.

And, for the record, I’m assuming that if he keeps his supper down and doesn’t get sick again (either vomiting-sick, or just seeming ill), he’ll be fine. If he seems ill again tomorrow, I’ll call the vet. I’m just kicking myself for not realizing what I was doing with that meat yesterday … Mommy Demerits!

• Tags: Chappy, Finished Spinning • Permalink:Mom Demerits // 7 Comments »

Just a little spinning eye candy for you. My MVFF fiber, straight off the skeiner. I’ve since washed it and it’s drying in the bathroom as we speak. It looks like ocean waves, doesn’t it? (Hey, work with me, here.)

And my “Thinking About Fall” yarn came out just lovely. I got this last year at the Garden State Sheep and Fiber Festival from Jessica. It was such a cold day, Mom was wearing this braid of roving around her neck as a scarf … I wonder if she’d like it made into a real scarf, now that it’s yarn?

Sad news about Walter Cronkite, a man whose death is generating lots of well-written and touching tributes, like this one from Roger Ebert. Cronkite was already a legend by the time I was born, but I grew up listening to him give the evening news, and am sad to think he’s gone. I mean, 92 years old. It’s not like it was a tragically short life, but still.

Actually, the tragic, short lives right now are the ones that Susan at the Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm lost this last week. I had known that they lost Agnes to listeriosis, but she posted yesterday how they’d lost more goats, including one of the youngest set of “O” twins born in May. She said that they didn’t know where the bacteria came from, but when the flock on Martha’s Vineyard got sick, along with the flock in the Hudson Valley, the figured out it was from the hay–a bale that had gotten moldy. Talk about heart-breaking! It sounds like the rest of the flock is responding to treatment, but to have lost three animals when she so obviously loves every one of them? So sad.

One more link for you–if you read books at all, of any kind, check out this post from the Bunch of Grapes about the importance of buying books, where you buy them, and what kind you buy. With the ironic “disappearance” of some Kindle books by George Orwell, author of 1984, it’s that much more interesting.

• Tags: Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Spun // 3 Comments »

Yep. That’s a biiiiig bobbin of yarn. And it’s not even full! But still, a lot of yarn. My MVFF cormo, you’ll remember, dyed by Jessica.

For comparison’s sake? Here it is next to the two bobbins that my singles were on. And with my bobbin of “Thinking of Fall” sitting on top.

Please note the two empty bobbins. Yes, you can see the leaders, but do you see how much yarn was left on the left bobbin when the right one emptied?

Not too much. Considering the amount of yardage, I’m pretty happy with this. Maybe 10 yards leftover.

Next step? Skeining and washing. This is going to be pretty!

• Tags: Finished Spinning, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Big Bobbin // 3 Comments »

You’re probably wondering if I do anything OTHER than watch the Lambcam and Chuck these days, right?

Well, yes.

You know, of course, that I finished my afghan the other day. I love it, and my only problem with it is with the ruffly border. It LOOKS great, but makes it almost impossible to fold neatly, so it doesn’t look as lovely draped over my red chair as it really deserves to look. But, well, I can deal with that. (And didn’t I tell you this color was going to be just smashing against my gold-yellow walls?)

My current project … well, there are two. One is to make Chappy some kind of smallish blanket out of the remaining 7 skeins of yarn leftover from the Sylvi afghan. He doesn’t really like having a big blanket in his crate, anyway. He’s had a towel to snuggle with in his crate since he was a puppy–one of this big, bath towels. (Ideal for puppies because they can chew on the ends without causing too much damage, and they’re easy to clean in case of accidents.) On the occasions when I’ve given him a second towel, though–if it’s a particularly cold night, or he’s still damp from a bath–it takes him longer to settle down and get comfy. I think it gets in his way.

This, of course, is one of my main arguments for him as to why he really can’t have my pretty, large afghan for his crate! But, a smaller one, made from the remaining seven skeins? That should be just about right. I’ll probably just cast on 50 stitches and knit in seed stitch until I run out of yarn … although, I wonder if he’d like a border?

My other project is the Fountain Pen Shawl which I just started. Actually, I started it just before Mom and I went dog-sitting at the beginning of the month because I needed a more portable project than the Sylvi Afghan. But then, we were so busy entertaining all the dogs, I never actually had time to sit and knit. (Besides, I only ever knit when I’m socializing or when I’m watching television, and since the only thing we watched while we were away was Friday Night Lights and I was busy petting Silas at the time, knitting wasn’t really an option.) So, basically, I’ve been technically working on this since March, but, really, have only just got going.

The yarn I’m using for it (and this was supposed to be particularly appropriate) is my MVFF Cormo that Jessica dyed for me in the MVFF colors. You know, because I was bringing it back to Martha’s Vineyard to knit. But, well, at least it visited the island, right? And, as always, it is a sheer pleasure knitting with yarn I’ve spun myself. I almost went for a solid lace yarn out of my stash because I think this pattern is gorgeous and variated yarns can draw away some attention, but, well … it’s my handspun. I couldn’t resist.

And the color is really washed out in that picture. I’ll try to do better next time. It looks more like this … because, well, it’s the same stuff:

Actually, it’s kind of interesting. Right now, I’m not only knitting some of that MVFF-colored MVFF Cormo into a shawl, but I have a new skein of the plied yarn, right off the wheel.

AND I have a bobbin being spun of some of the still unspun roving. Which means that at this moment, I still have some of the dyed-but-unspun wool, I have an active bobbin being spun, I have a bobbin of singles that I made on Saturday that’s waiting to be plied, I have a completed skein that just needs to be washed, and I have a ball of yarn being knitted into a shawl … all from the same batch of dyed Cormo.

How cool is that? It’s like the Lifecycle of Roving.

Did you know it’s Liz/Lizzy B’s birthday today? And, to celebrate, she actually wrote a blog post!

I showed you pictures of Baby N being born live on the Lambcam the other night, but did I tell you that Susan said that I get to pick the name? How cool is that, huh? All because I picked up my phone and called them to help them position the camera so all of us in internet-land could view the birth as it happened. The rule is that the name has to be a font, and it has to start with an N. So what did I pick? Nickelodeon.

And yes, of course, I DID watch Chuck last night and it was amazing. The hardest part right now is (1) seeing how great it is and how the writers are completely changing the basis of the entire show and (2) not knowing if it’s coming back to explore that. Not to mention that, much as I am encouraging all of you who haven’t watched to watch … well, is it fair to get you hooked when there’s only one episode left? (That we know of.) I’m drawing comfort from the fact that the sets haven’t been broken down and that there are so many really great articles from professional television watchers raving about the show. It’s not just crazy fans, you know? What I hope is that NBC really does plan to renew it but is riding the wave of incredibly good free publicity. I mean, if they told us now that they were renewing it, we’d all breathe a sigh of relief and shut up, and stop talking about it so much. I mean, you can’t buy this kind of free press, and if I have to pay for a third season by (1) shilling this show to every person I know and (2) living at the very end of my nerve endings until the Fall schedule is announced on May 5th, so be it. I am willing to suffer for two more weeks SO LONG AS THE SHOW COMES BACK!

Oh, and as soon as I’m done here, I’m going to go check out what music was played in last night’s episode, because it was fantastic. It’s really appalling how few of the artists I’ve heard of–especially since so many of them are from the 80s. But this is my main way of expanding my musical horizons these days–by following up on songs played in favorite tv shows. (Hey, it works.)

• Tags: Eye-Candy Friday, Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning, Reading • Permalink:You’re Probably Wondering // 7 Comments »

Family fun. Good food. Plenty of sunshine (even if it was also windy and about 40 degrees).

I even got some spinning done. Please note that I spun these singles on my Journey wheel–the most time we’ve spent together in months. I finished the singles just before we ate dinner at 1:30, and then plied them with my Woolee Winder on my Little Gem and promptly skeined them. This is the Spunky Eclectic “Pie for Everyone” from the monthly fiber club I was in in 2007.

Hey, the Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm finally got its first baby goat of the year. (Lambcam has been on baby-watch since 3/26.) Little baby Arno. So, so cute!

• Tags: Family, Finished Spinning, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Easter Sunday // 4 Comments »

As promised, here’s me in my Briar Rose sweater. (And, hmm, the t-shirt color doesn’t look as good with the yarn as I thought it did when I got dressed this  morning!)

Some more yarn pictures. This cormo–especially the undyed skein–is so light and airy, I keep worrying it’s going to float away!

And then, my afghan.

I started to lay it down to show you how big it’s getting, and…

My helper came in.

Wasn’t it nice of him to come and provide the picture with something for scale?

Now. First, I laid down my orange throw blanket on the floor, and then my in-progress afghan on top, for comparison’s sake. The orange blanket is good size for me, after all. Dad thinks it’s too small, but he’s 6′2″ so he’s got an extra foot of body length to cover up with a blanket.

What I’m thinking of doing–instead of putting two side panels alongside the main one–is just adding a wide, cabled border around the four sides. By the time I’m done knitting this part, adding a border that’s, say, 8″ around should make this just about the same size as that orange blanket.

And I think I found the perfect cable for it, too.

There’s just one problem.

Chappy says it belongs to him, now!

Oh–do you know anybody with a yarn shop? Read (and point them to) this fabulous post of advice for LYS-owners. Really GREAT tips on how to get, keep, satisfy customers–some of which is obvious, but some of which I’ve never heard before. Seriously. Most of you readers are knitters and you probably know a yarn shop … send them that link. It’s pure gold!

• Tags: Finished Knitting, Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:As Modelled By // 11 Comments »

Working on the 2-yards per turn of my skeiner, those two skeins of yarn from yesterday come out to just about 736 yards.

About 314 yards of the white.

About 422 yards of the dyed yarn.

Don’t they look pretty together?

Now, they just need a hot, relaxing bath after all this stress. They’re both a little tense, but really lovely.

Of course, the MVFF color ends up being a little “pastel” for my tastes. I wonder if I could find a really good, dark gray yarn of similar weight, because that would make for some gorgeous color-work!

You’ll be pleased to know that my legs ARE working today. I know that I was relieved! Now, if only I could get my lungs on board and have them start behaving themselves.

Oh, and I’ve got my orange Briar Rose sweater blocking, so a modelled shot shouldn’t be far away!

This is so sad. The squeaky-toy sneaker that Chappy has in our bedroom? The one that was Katy’s before him and got handed down and has been the only toy he’s allowed to have upstairs (other than a Nylabone) since he was a puppy? Suddenly, about 10 minutes ago, it’s squeak stopped working. (Darn, and after only 8 years? They just don’t make toys the way they used to.) It hasn’t stopped him playing with it, though. In fact, he seems determined to make it WORK. (“Wait, I’ll fix it!”)

Hey–any tips on a good tutorial on how to take a cable pattern and convert it into a corner for, I don’t know, an afghan, maybe? Like, say, if someone wanted to knit a cabled border onto the edges of an afghan and around the edges? Purely hypothetical, of course!

• Tags: Finished Spinning, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:736 // 4 Comments »

Okay, maybe not literally, but you know those four bobbins of singles I told you about?

They are singles no more!

What you see here is the two empty bobbins, the two left with some singles (since I never can manage to have things come out even), and my hat with the next bobbin’s worth of yarn ready to spin AND the two bobbins of plied yarn.

One is the original, undyed white Cormo (from MVFF), and the other is from the Cormo that Jessica dyed for me in the MVFF colors. Isn’t it pretty?

I have NO idea of the yardage, but I can tell you it took hours to ply it all.

I did the plying on my Lendrum … a wheel that doesn’t get used all that often these days, and I now remember why. It’s a lot harder to treadle than my Majacraft Little Gem, and a lot noisier (especially with the Woolee Winder clicking away as it moves back and forth).

Even though I took several breaks, I can feel this in my legs … they are going to be TIRED tomorrow. You know, considering that they’re tired right now (grin).

Now, Marcia had left instructions on rewinding my Majacraft bobbins onto my Lendrum bobbins to free up the Majacraft ones, but by the time I saw that, I’d already started plying the first batch and my Lendrum was busy. And after the reminder of how obstinate it can get about treadling, I figured I didn’t want to have to treadle those singles through any more than I absolutely had to, hence plying the second bobbin-full.

What do the rest of you do? Do any of you re-wind your bobbins of singles? It certainly seems like a handy thing to do!

Oh, and while I was NOT sitting in front of my spinning wheel, treadling my heart out? I baked banana bread, and made pot roast (using beef, carmelized onions, and leftover coffee from breakfast). I blocked my Briar Rose sweater (finally). I also found a little time to read, but did NOT get Chappy the haircut he so badly needs. Nor did I get any work done at the computer.

But … that yarn sure came out pretty, don’t you think?

I think I’ll wait to wind it into skeins until at least tomorrow, though…

• Tags: Finished Spinning, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:I Think my Legs are Going to Fall Off // 16 Comments »

How pretty is this, huh? Remember my 2 lbs of Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm Cormo? This is the first 4 oz, all spun up. About 240 yds, and so, so pretty. I mean, really pretty. The cormo is wonderfully fluffy and clean, and a beautiful creamy color. This is right off my skein-winder, and it’s drip-drying in the bathroom right now.

The challenging part? When I plied it, I didn’t get quite enough twist in it, but since I really didn’t decide that until I was halfway through the skein, I decided that I would finish the bobbin at the rate I was going, and then would re-ply a second time to add a little more twist. The problem? When I took the bobbin off the wheel, my Little Gem’s brake band broke.

So … first question. For those of you with spinning wheels (preferably Majacraft), what do you use for your brake band? Right now, I’ve got a length of leftover Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy doing its best, but who knows how long that will last? But, back to the story.

Well, I wanted to get this done, so what I decided to do was (gasp) use my Lendrum. My poor Lendrum hasn’t been used in, oh, about two years … since I got my Little Gem. So you can imagine its delight at getting to spin its wheel again. And it wasn’t until after I finished that that I tried to come up with another brake band for my Gem. Really, both wheels are happy, I think.

The tricky part is going to be … when I do the next bobbin, um, I really want the twist to match from skein to skein, so getting them the same with just one pass (I hope) might be a little more challenging.

Because, have I said how beautiful this yarn is, and how delighted I am with the way it feels and looks?

Okay–now, in other news, Chappy had a rough day.

I don’t just mean because of the lawn guys outside, blowing away autumn leaves for something like six hours. And, you know, a self-respecting watch dog simply must keep an eye on them … no matter how he feels.

Because … at 12:00, I come back to my desk and find a voicemail from Mom. An urgent, “Call me.” So I do, and she’s all worried–Chappy’s not putting any weight on his back left leg, and is panting like he’s in pain, I think you should call the vet.

So, I do, and the first appointment is 2:00. I make the appointment, call Mom, and “Can’t you get anything earlier? Now he’s throwing up, and he’s drooling a LOT.” Okay–I call the vet back, and they still don’t have any earlier appointments, but if it’s an emergency, they can get one of the vets to hold off leaving for lunch while we come over. Did he eat anything suspicious? Is his leg sore? I, of course, can’t answer these questions–I’m still at work! But then I remember that I can do a conference call, so I call home, get Mom on the phone with the vet, and she’s worried, so we all decide that yes, I’ll hurry home, get Chappy, and get him to the vet. I run and tell my boss and that I don’t know if I’ll be back after lunch or not, shut my computer down, and hurry home.

Where … I walk in the door and get greeted by a happy, tail-wagging Chappy. Sure, his back leg looks a little stiff as he leapt off his pillow to come running to the door, but he’s happy. His eyes are sparkling, he’s jumping up to say hello, he’s just delighted. Well, of course, I get that reaction every time I walk into a room (grin), so I try to calm him down–it could just be adrenalin, and I don’t want him to hurt himself any further. But, no … even after the “Mommy’s home” excitement dies down, he seem, well, like Chappy. Favoring his back leg a little, maybe, but more like it’s stiff than because it’s HURT.

So, right away, I call the vet and tell them that I don’t think we need that emergency visit. I’m not sure if they charge extra for that or not, but well, there’s no reason–with Chappy prancing around looking all happy and healthy–that the vet can’t go eat his lunch. We’ll just take that 2:00 appointment instead … Oh, it’s been taken? Okay, 2:30. I eat my lunch, give Chappy a few extra hugs, and head back to the office for at least one more hour of work … Except, really, he seems FINE. And, why pay for the vet visit if he’s perfectly healthy? Don’t get me wrong–he’s totally worth it–but, well, if it’s not necessary, um … why? So, we cancelled that, too.

All the while, both my parents are saying, “He really seemed sick an hour ago.” “I’ve never seen him drool like that before.” As if I wouldn’t believe them, that they were making it up (grin). But they are GOOD grandparents. Not only did they clean up the floor, but they both sat (or crouched) next to him as he curled up on his pillow in the kitchen, and massaged his leg for him. Wasn’t that nice of them? If his Mommy wasn’t there to make him feel better, at least his grandparents did an excellent job of pinch-hitting, huh? (Or, you know, so they claim.)

For the record, since I’ve been home from work, Chappy seems perfectly healthy. Once or twice, when he’s first gotten up after sleeping, that back leg has seemed just a little stiff–just like my right shoulder is stiff on some mornings when I wake up. We even pulled out the heating pad, just in case it helped. I mean, hey, it made us feel better!

• Tags: Chappy, Finished Spinning, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:False Alarm // 10 Comments »

So, first, I finished spinning my “Floral Camisole” yarn that I started the other day. And yes, I know, I only finished bobbin #1 and started bobbin #2 two days ago.

But, I was anxious.

  Because I had this pretty stuff waiting for me.

That’s four ounces of cormo, people. Isn’t it pretty?

And I’ve only just begun to spin it. It occurs to me that it’s been YEARS since I spun naturally colored fiber. I learned on undyed fiber, back in 2004 when I was figuring out this spinning thing. I’ve spun a little baby camel which was undyed, but mostly? Dyed fiber.

It’s actually kind of refreshing, spinning that pretty, natural stuff. It’s really a lovely color, not quite white, more like cream. And my hat full of fiber keeps making me think of whipped cream. I might be longing for some color by the time I get through this first pound of fiber (I probably will be), but still! I just hope I have enough yarn from 1 lb to make a cabled sweater, because that’s definitely what I want this to be.

And, the second pound? I was thinking about asking Jessica to dye it for me. Half undyed, half dyed–sounds reasonable to me! And certainly one pound is plenty for a basic sweater for me … it’s the yarn-eating cables that makes me just a little nervous about doing a 50/50 split. But, hey! What can you do?

Okay, so I’ve mentioned the tv show Chuck, and how much I love it, right?

Well, season two starts tonight, and after reading the review in this morning’s paper, I’m more excited than ever.  I know it’s in a tough time slot (Monday at 8:00 on NBC), but I’m telling you folks, this is a FUN, delightful show. Even if you’re watching Dancing with the Stars or the Big Bang Theory (which I also love), or one of the other shows, you owe it to yourself to record Chuck to watch it later. It is definitely my favorite show of last season. And, how can you resist a review that raves:

What’s the opposite of the sophomore slump? The sophmore surge? Sophomore surprise? Whatever you want to call it, “Chuck” is experiencing it — big-time. An amusing enough diversion during a brief pre-strike run last fall, it’s found a higher gear at the start of season two. All the entertaining pieces that didn’t quite click with one another are now working in harmony, and there may not be a show on television that makes me happier right now.

Also–such a relief–my copy of the Yarn Harlot’s latest book has finally been shipped! (You heard me whining about not having it the other day, right?)

• Tags: Finished Spinning, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Spinning // 6 Comments »

So, I went to Jessica’s yesterday for some spinning and socializing. I even finally (finally!) finished the batch of spinning I started several years ago.

Well, okay, it wasn’t years, but it WAS months. As in, April. But, anyway, I treadled away for about two hours while we all chatted and laughed and had fun and finished just as we all took a break for food about 3:00. And, well, something didn’t agree with me. I finally left Jessica’s at 4:30 and felt pretty much sick most of the drive home (not nauseated, but, um, lower than that, if you take my meaning. You don’t really want me to be more graphic, right?)

So, I got home about about 5:00 and my parents were out to dinner, and I managed to get my wheel, and my big knitting bag to the door and opened it, and turned to turn off the alarm. Except, I wasn’t really concentrating on anything other than getting in the door and to the bathroom and so my fingers stumbled on the keypad with the wrong number. And then I tried again, but it didn’t take the number that time, either. I dropped everything to the floor to try a third time, and by now the “beep beep beep” is getting faster because my allotted minute is almost up and then ….

WOW! That thing is loud. Ear-piercingly, mind-numbingly LOUD. Really, really, obnoxiously LOUD. And obnoxious. And LOUD.

Now, at this point, all I really want to do is get to the bathroom. Poor Chappy is bracing his paws in the hallway with his eyes wide, trying to figure out why his house is making this awful noise, and I CAN’T GET IT TO STOP. And then Chappy started to bark this awful, high-pitched, terrified bark, like he was screaming, “Make it stop! Make it stop!” (Which, really, is exactly what he was saying, I’m sure. I know I was.) But that didn’t help matters, either–my little boy was in distress!

I don’t usually fall apart in minor crises like this, but I wasn’t really at my best last night, and finally, I just grabbed the phone and went out the back door with Chappy so we could hear ourselves think. I thought I heard the phone ring–and the alarm company IS supposed to call–but when I answered it, there was no dial tone. That’s actually happened a couple times this week, so I don’t know if it was a fluke or if the alarm somehow interrupted the phone signal, but so that didn’t work. I made another dash into the kitchen to try to get the alarm to turn OFF, but still no luck, and by now I’m thinking the police could be on their way. So I headed to the front door and reached for Chappy’s leash … and looked down … he had dashed out the front door on his own and was almost to the driveway, he was so frantic to get AWAY from the awful noise.

Meanwhile, I still really needed to go to the bathroom, and the noise is making me just as frantic as Chappy, and, darn it, I can’t stand there all night, waiting for the police to get there or the alarm company to call and turn the thing OFF. So I tried one more time at the number pad and … blessed silence.

I apologized to Chappy, and would normally have immediately sat down to soothe my poor, frantic dog, but … no, I really had to go to the bathroom. And why hadn’t the alarm company called? And, when were the police going to come? So I tried to be as, um, quick as possible, and then went to sit with Chappy in the dining room, watching for the police car I was sure must be on its way since I hadn’t heard from the alarm company. Well, poor Chappy was still shaking and practically climbed on top of me for comforting, and I was apologizing to him for scaring him so much. I’ve NEVER heard him bark like that. If the noise was so godawful for my ears, I can only imagine how much it hurt his more sensitive ears. And that made me feel even worse.

But, because of my, um, abdomen issues, I couldn’t sit with him for more than a few minutes, so I figured I’d carry my wheel upstairs. Of course, he followed me up and wasn’t watching where he was going and ended up hitting his head on the bottom of the wheel at the top of the stairs. (Neither of us was at our best just then.) I glanced at the phone as I put the spinning wheel down and … red, blinking light. That means there’s a voicemail message. (The downstairs phones don’t tell you when there’s voicemail–no help at all.) So, I call in and, yep, there’s a message from the alarm company, telling me to call a certain number and quote a 10-digit long “report number.”

Naturally, something was stuck in my desk drawer so that I couldn’t get to a piece of paper to write down the number. But eventually, I did, and dialed the 800-number with shaking fingers, gave our special passcode, and was told that, since the alarm had been cancelled soon enough, the police had NOT been dispatched. Which was a relief. I would have felt terrible about their making the trip for my own stupidity, but also, I really needed to spend some serious time in the bathroom and didn’t have the time to wait for them. Not to mention that my mother would have been frantic if she had gotten home and found a police car in the driveway!

So, at least that was something. All in all, I had a great day until about 3:30, a still nice but not so great from then until 5:00, and then all hell broke loose.

And, yes, even though I didn’t eat anything last night, Chappy got some extra supper AND an extra-good biscuit last night. He deserved it!

At least I have a beautiful skein of yarn to show for it. I don’t know the yardage, though. Dad walked in the room and started talking to me while I was winding it onto the skein winder–I was at 103 rotations at that point, but then lost count. “But, you were reading,” he said in self-defense. “Yeah, but I can count and read at the same time.” He just went away, shaking his head. You’d think after all these years he’d be used to the fact that I really can read and do all sorts of things at the same time!

• Tags: Finished Spinning, Friends, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:From Fun to Terror // 8 Comments »

So, last night I finished plying the leftover blue singles. That’s a fair amount of extra, pure-blue yarn, wouldn’t you say? I don’t know what I’ll do with it yet, but it’s definitely going to grow up to be an accent of some kind to that cardigan.

And, do you see how evenly my blue roving was divided?

I only have this much left on my woolee winder bobbin–you can see the leader yarn though the spaces. Even if the merino and corriedale singles didn’t end up having the same number of yards, at least I worked it out nice and evenly anyway. (And, really, I would rather have had extra of the blue than extra of the navy.)

Now all I have to do is wind both of these off onto the yarn skeiner. It’s so satisfying, having all the yarn for this sweater done! (Well, okay, still the skeining, washing, drying, but that part’s easy.)

Oh! And, finally, I have an answer to what that big hole in the shopping center downtown is for. I found the website of the leasing company and found this.

The layout and designer art for what it’s going to look like. That big hole? It’s a drive-through window. Just what every shopping center needs in the middle, right? I find it interesting that there’s going to be a parking lot in the back, too, although that opens onto a one-way road, so it wouldn’t exactly be amenable to people trying to find parking spaces if it’s particularly busy! Anyway, I’m glad to know what that will be–it’s been bugging me. And, just what we need … another Walgreens. They just built a brand-new one not two miles down the road….

Hey, would you believe, I went to the bookstore with Mom after work–she desperately wanted this book, Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon–And the Journey of a Generation, and they just got it in today, so I drove her over when I got off work. That’s not the unbelievable part. The unbelievable part is that I went to a bookstore and didn’t buy anything. (Cough) Maybe I’m getting sick?

• Tags: Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:More Blue // 9 Comments »

The other day, Elvis showed his skills at cleaning out peanut butter containers. Now, Chappy’s nose isn’t long enough to reach the bottom of a PB jar, but he wouldn’t want you to think that he doesn’t take recycling seriously.

First, there’s the milk carton. I’ve mentioned before that, once empty of milk, they make excellent toys. We rinse them, let them dry, and then I put his morning vitamin in it, set it on the rug in the middle of the hallway (while he Sits on the rug by the door) and then give him the go ahead and he charges down the hallway to tackle it. After which it becomes one of his favorite toys–the vitamin makes a fun rattle (before it finally falls out), the handle gives him something handy to carry it with, it crunches nicely into a shape he can fit in his mouth, and it skitters so nicely across the floor that it’s great fun to chase. Great invention, those milk cartons.

And then there are the cream cheese containers. We prefer our cream cheese to be easily spreadable and so get ours in these bright, pink plastic containers. Of course, once they’re empty, they need to be recycled, but all those sticky bits of cream cheese need to be cleaned out first. So, again, Chappy helps out. I put his vitamin in here, too (because why not make vitamins fun?). Since cream cheese–even tiny amounts–on an empty stomach sometimes makes him spit up on the floor, I usually add some kibble, too. (You know that he doesn’t normally eat kibble–I make my own food for my boy–but it is handy to have around for toys and emergencies. We use Innova brand. In case you were wondering.)

Anyway, once the cream cheese container is ready to go, with its lid back on, Chappy goes and sits in the corner of the kitchen. I haven’t taught him to close his eyes, but from this spot, he can’t see anything but the kitchen cabinets, so it’s close enough. And while he’s sitting….

…I hide the container. This is getting harder and harder because by now, he knows where all the possible downstairs hiding places are.

As soon as he gets permission, though, off he goes. He almost always follows the same route, trotting through each room with his nose busily trying to find the container. The better hiding places can keep him searching for 5-10 minutes…

…but usually he finds it fairly quickly–on the first or second lap around the house.

Then, the fun part–getting it open so he can get in to all the yummy, creamy, crunchy goodness inside. (If you look really carefully, you can see him licking his lips in this picture.)

I did try to get a picture of him happily cleaning out the inside, but he’d nudged it under the dining room table by then and that kind of made anything like a decent camera angle impossible. He’s really good at getting inside these, though. He lays the container on its side and then uses his nose to press the sides, near the lid, to break the seal. No wasting time trying to pull the lid off from the top, oh no. This way, the lid will pop off on its own and out pours a delectable pile of cream cheese-flavored kibble. Mmmm.

In other recycling, I’m trying a new recipe today. I’ve had this Oatmeal Cake recipe for about 18 years now, but in the current issue of Cooks Illustrated, they have an updated version–including putting it under the broiler to carmelize the topping. I don’t know if I’m going to like it more than the other one–I mean, we’ve been together for quite some time–but it seemed worth a shot. Besides, I’ve never broiled a cake before….

The verdict? Very tasty, as all the C.I. recipes almost always are. But do I like it better than the recipe I’ve been using for the last couple of decades? Well … I don’t know that I’d go that far! The crispy, broiled texture on the top sure is tasty, though.

I have some other leftovers to recycle, too. Some leftover singles of that pretty, pretty blue roving. Which is great. I’ll ply these together and then have some accent yarn to go with my sweater. I don’t know how much (yet), or what I’ll do with it, but . . . yum!

Because, of course, bobbin #2 is done! It just needs to be skeined, washed, and dried and it will be ready to go. Since the first bobbin had something like 500 yds, though, I’m thinking that I’ve got a little time to play with, here. No rush.

Because, yes, my knitting bag is no longer empty. Phew!

• Tags: Baking, Chappy, Family, Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Recycling // 9 Comments »

More pretty yarn pictures for you because it’s not like I’ve got any KNITTING to show you.

Although, I’m taking it as a good sign that this ball of yarn is trying to get into the knitting bag.

That’s just short of 500 yards of yarn, I believe. (Assuming I’ve remembered correctly that my Yarn Skeiner at its widest point is two yards–something I could easily calculate by putting a piece of yarn around it and measuring but which I rarely think of unless I’m sitting down at the opposite side of the room. And also assuming that I counted correctly and that there were, in fact, 247-248 rotations.) And bobbin #2 should have pretty much the same amount.

I’m going to knit a swatch tonight, so I have an idea of what kind of gauge I’m going to get. Or supposedly going to get.

Then I need to find a pattern. I think this yarn wants–wants badly–to be a cardigan. Something comfy, casual, and good with jeans. Now, I can go through my Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns and piece together a pattern to match my (alleged) gauge, but I thought I’d ask you folks first … Can you name a good, casual cardigan pattern that you think would suit this yarn?

It’s got to be simple because of the marled nature of the yarn–it would just take away from any lace or cables or texture stitches (although some around the edges would be okay). Gauge-wise, the yarn-weight is just about fingering weight. It would make perfectly nice socks if I were so inclined (and wanted lots of them). But, of course, my gauge will be off-the -charts loose, so that’s something to keep in mind, too.

I’ve mentioned my weird gauge issues a couple times this post. Can you think why? Well, yes, because as I’ve mentioned many times before, my personal knitting gauge is beyond bizarre in terms of looseness. But also … you may have noticed that you haven’t seen a finished, modelled picture of the Flutter-Sleeve cardi? Um, yeah. It doesn’t fit particularly well.

Surprisingly, the width of it is really quite good–knitting the entire sweater on size 1 needles definitely helped–but the length. Obviously my row gauge was way off from my swatch (as usual). It’s not truly terrible except … the placement of the button holes, which should be just under the bust, are at my stomach–not particularly flattering.

All is not lost. I just need to think of something … Sewing closed the buttonholes I’ve got and doing after-thought buttons for better placement is one option. Removing the buttonbands all together and making newer, shorter ones and then stretching them to fit (thereby making the length of the front opening shorter) is another. I’ve even played with the idea of running yarn or ribbon along the top and back to gather everything in a little to make the front fall where it should. I haven’t given up, and darn it, I’m GOING to figure something out because this sweater is lovely. But in the meantime, well, all I can say is that gauge swatches LIE. Especially to me. (You remember Autumn Rose, Celtic Icon, Union Square Market Pullover, Celtic Dreams…. Really, I don’t know why I bother with swatches at all!)

And, sheesh, I really need to come up with a knitting method that pulls my gauge back to somewhere in the ballpark of normal people. It would be so refreshing to knit with a needle larger than a US size 4 for a change….

But–don’t forget–any ideas about a good pattern for this yarn?

• Tags: Finished Spinning, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:…And Balled // 11 Comments »

There you go. One, finished bobbin of plied yarn, posing with the two bobbins of singles that will make up the second bobbin of plied yarn . . . any day now, once, um, I’ve started plying it.

I finished the plying last night just before bed and wound it off into a skein at lunchtime (since it was raining and therefore not walking weather anyway). Besides, I only have one plying bobbin for my Majacraft and needed to free it up to be able to do the second half. This skein, meanwhile, is drip-drying in the bathroom as we speak.

As you can see, it was an April-Showers kind of day. It more or less drizzled for most of the day, though the sun is out now. (You know, now that it’s too late to get Chappy out for a walk.)

Mom gave Dad and I a scare at lunch-time. She was trying a diet drink today (one of those meal-substitute drinks) and had an allergic reaction–though we don’t know to what, exactly. But the right side of her tongue swelled, and the gums on the right side of her mouth, and the whole, right side of her head felt odd. It was a gradual thing, though, that developed over an hour after she drank it, and started to subside after she took a Claritin. But, how weird is that? We’ve looked over the ingredient list and can’t find anything that looks like something she’d be allergic to, but clearly, something in there did not agree with her. Is it common for an allergic reaction to only affect the right side like that?

Otherwise–it’s been a fairly normal Tuesday. Although, my knitting bag is still empty. I’m thinking that this blue yarn of mine wants to be a cardigan, though, and maybe, once that first skein is dry, I’ll do something about it . . .

Oh, and I got distracted for a good half hour tonight, watching Victor Borge videos on YouTube. Do you remember him? Not only was he a fabulous pianist, he had a wonderful sense of humor, and I adored watching him.  The bit with the page-turning is hilarious. And I always loved his Phonetic Punctuation and Inflationary Language. But really, it’s just the sheer fun he brings to his acts that was so fantastic.

Here are a couple of internet April Fool’s jokes for you: Think Geek has some, er, interesting items for sale. (Love the lock at the bottom.) And Google’s new project sounds challenging. Flying penguins, anyone?

• Tags: Family, Finished Spinning, General • Permalink:Spun // 15 Comments »

You know, it occurs to me that I haven’t shown you any finished pictures of my Snow Squall singles since I washed them.

The color, again, was from Spunky Eclectic, and the fiber is Icelandic wool. I can’t tell you how much I adore this color–gray wool with blue and green dye. But I do kind of wish it were a softer wool.

Still . . . here it is. Something like 430 yds of laceweight Icelandic in an absolutely wonderful color . . . the only problem now is to figure out what to DO with it. It’s a little scratchy for a wool shawl. Although, of course, my Pi-are-Square shawl was Icelandic singles…. although I don’t remember that being quite so scratchy. Any suggestions?

In the meantime, my Flutter-Sleeved Cardi is moving along nicely. The back is completely done and I’m just through the short-rows section of one front. Unusually for me, I’m knitting the fronts separately. I figure the entire pattern is spelled out by number of rows, so the likelihood of all the pieces ending up the same size seems pretty good. The color isn’t great here, though–the green looks very grayish, but, well, what else is new? (grin)

And . . . darn!

Well, I wish I’d known this yesterday. Not only was March Fourth the only day on the calendar that is a complete sentence (which, of course, I posted about three years ago when this blog was new), but it was also National Grammar Day. Who knew? (I mean, other than Sharon at Daily Writing Tips, which is where I saw it.)

And . . . could this be true? Could Friday Night Lights be coming back for a third season? Oh, I don’t want to get my hopes up!

Now, Chappy’s looking at his toy, so I should go . . . or maybe he’s looking at his crate, which seems like an even better idea, since I’m rather tired myself….

• Tags: Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Snow Singles // 9 Comments »

Well, I finally got around to winding my Snow Squall singles onto my skein winder, though I haven’t yet summoned up the courage to take them off and see how twisty they are. They took 218 rotations of the winder, I believe it’s a 72″ circumference at its widest point, so that’s 436 yards (398 yds)–plenty for something like a lace shawl, if I felt so inclined, although I think it’s going to be too itchy, really, for lace. The picture doesn’t capture the green in the yarn very well, either, which is a shame. I just loved this colorway, but have my doubts about the usefulness of the yarn. Because, again, it seems kind of itchy, although maybe washing it will soften it a bit. Maybe? The recap, for those who haven’t been playing along: this is 4 oz of Icelandic singles in the Spunky Eclectic “Snow Squall” colorway, which is not only beautiful, but apparently comes with magical powers.

Otherwise? Pretty quiet day today. I started spinning bobbin #2 of those blue merino singles. Did some reading (would you believe I’m on book #3 of the month already?). Went for a walk with Mom, Dad, and Chappy. Did some basic dusting and some laundry, but … nothing particularly productive.

Chappy, really, was just glad to have me home. He gave me SUCH a greeting when I got home yesterday, and Mom and Dad said that he basically sat on his chair all day yesterday–not interested in playing (though they tried) and basically didn’t do anything all day except help Dad out with a few snacking emergencies. He obviously was not happy that I was gone most of the day, and while he really does have to accept this kind of thing once in a while, well, it wasn’t exactly onerous to spend all of today with him.

Oh, and here’s a link for the book-lovers among you–30 of the most creative bookcases. Now, I think most of these are fabulous to look at, some are downright beautiful, some are wonderfully creative, but . . . Here’s my thing. I have almost 3000 books spread out over something like 12 overflowing bookcases plus additional closets and storage boxes. When I see clever, creative, whimsical, aesthetic bookcases like these, I admire them at the same time I’m thinking, “But, that’s wasting so much SPACE!” (Not to mention that the odd angles of some of them have to be murder on the book spines.) You can tell that these are usually designed by people who consider a large book collection to be, oh, maybe 100 books.

Really, though, the Freshome site is entertaining to browse through. (A faucet that lets you know if the water is hot or cold? Wall tatoos? Corner picture frames? All very nifty stuff.)

• Tags: Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Spinning Sunday // 9 Comments »

So remember a week or so ago, when I “caused” snow squalls by spinning my Spunky Eclectic Snow Squall Roving? Well, I finished spinning it last night . . . all more or less lace-weight singles.

But I really don’t think you can blame me for this, because it was in the forecast long before I sat down at my spinning wheel last night.

Still, we’re not complaining, because Chappy finally had some snow to play in again. Knee-deep in snow–just the way he likes to be! My office was open this morning, so I trekked through the snow–slid a bit on the roads, but didn’t have any real trouble (love that AWD Volvo!)–and made it on time, but the office was pretty much a ghost-town. About half the people who should have been there were there, and we closed at 11:45. Woohoo! (An especial “woohoo” when you consider that I basically had nothing to do all morning and was bored stiff.) When I walked in the door, Chappy was RIGHT THERE, saying (I swear), “Yay, you’re home. Let’s go play!” I’m lucky he let me eat my lunch first.

We went out back around 2:00 and played with his Flying Squirrel toy for about half an hour, even though by then things had changed over to light rain . . . but we didn’t let that stop us!

I mean, look how happy he looks, all covered in snow…. (I love the cheesy smile, too–with his eyes closed, yet–like he’s just savoring the moment.)

And, if you can’t see it clearly, you’ll note that he’s doing his sheep impression. (Maybe he’s enjoying the new lamb photos too much?) If he hadn’t been wearing his coat, he would have had these little snow balls all over.

The only way to get all that snow and ice out of his fur is by melting it with warm water, which essentially means a bath . . . he says it’s not a fun way to end all that fun romping, but considering I was out in the snow and rain with him AND he gets to sleep on the bed tonight, I don’t think complaining is really fair, do you?

All in all, we’ve gotten about 6″ of snow from this storm. About 4″ of that (that’s 10 cm) came overnight and the steady, all-day snow was so fine, it only added a couple more inches on top of it. It’s hovering right around 32 degrees right now (aka 0 cm), so any precipitation that comes down at this point can kind of go either way in terms of rain or snow, and I don’t think it’s done yet.

Oh, and this is an encouraging sign. I’ll be printing out my book this weekend, though I’m trying not to get my hopes up. Could use some good news, though….

• Tags: Family, Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Happily // 14 Comments »

Okay, first, the good news–I found the yarn in the dyelot I needed! Flying Fingers yarn shop in Tarrytown. The only unfortunate part is I didn’t see my e-mail until after 11:00 last night and they’re closed, now, until January 4th. But, who cares?  Of course, I’d already given up and placed an order at Infinite Yarns because Anne had been so helpful. I sent her an e-mail at around 11:30 last night asking if it was possible to cancel it, because I really don’t need 8 skeins of the stuff, but no complaints if I can’t. It’s my own fault for (1) giving up too soon and (2) being a little too eager to support a helpful shop owner. I’d rather not have spent the extra $35 just now, if I can’t cancel it, but, well . . . it is beautiful yarn, right?

Now, I was away from the computer all day yesterday for a perfectly good reason. My best friend is home visiting from California, and we always make a point of getting together . . . and it usually turns into an all-day thing, and whoever could complain about that? She got down to my house a little before 1:00, and we chatted and opened Christmas presents for a while.

Her present? Well, I gave her a combo Christmas/birthday gift, since her 40th birthday is just a few weeks away. It was a bit of a wrench to part with, I admit, but so worth while. Not only was she very touched, but it looks fabulous on her. (You’ll remember that, on me, it looked huge and out of proportion, even after I tried reblocking it to be smaller.) Obviously, it was meant for her.

And, I know she’ll take good care of it, too. I did love that yarn, though–but at least I still have its first-cousin Peacock Stole to keep me company.

After we opened presents, we decided that we were hungry but that we wanted to go to the movie. So, we headed into the kitchen to look at movie times in the newspaper, and tried to find one we wanted to see that would give us enough time to grab lunch first.

She was really hungry, though, and said that, “I could really just go for a big tub of popcorn.”

Well! I’m always happy to oblige! I turned around, picked this up and plopped it down on the newspaper. “Here you go.”

Because, yes, it’s a huge tub of Popcorn Factory popcorn, courtesy of my aunt. It arrived on Friday . . . great timing, huh?

We ended up eating chicken salad that I very quickly threw together, and then went to see Charlie Wilson’s War, which we both enjoyed. Because, well, how can you not like Tom Hanks? And his chemistry with Phillip Seymour Hoffman was fabulous–their scenes were just great. Really, the whole thing was good. Funny, yet thought-provoking. It’s just a pity that “we blew the end-game” quote at the end was so very true.

Anyway, after the movie, we decided we weren’t really hungry enough for supper, so we came back to the house for some pumpkin pie and to give Chappy his supper. Except, we’d barely gotten our coats hung up when the phone rang. It was Mom–she, Dad, my sister, and my niece were on their way home from New York (they had Christmas-present tickets to see Curtains)–and would we like to meet them at Wendy’s for supper? Well, um, okay. I fed Chappy and we all kind of stood around for a few minutes, and then, back in the car. (You know, considering how much I dislike Wendy’s I sure have eaten there a lot lately! That’s at least three times in the last few months, whereas before this summer, it had been years.)

Here’s a look at my pretty, new yarn.

Yes, it’s a little over-plied. But since I had planned on this being sock yarn, I’m okay with that–it would just wear really well.

Although, I’ve been thinking that maybe it would like to be something other than socks. Like lace.

To recap, this is the Socks that Rock superwash merino roving I bought at Rhinebeck in 2006 from the Fold. 9.25 ounces, in the Carbon colorway.

It took me a full week to ply it all. And it’s got three plies. I didn’t check the w.p.i before I skeined it, but going by little Spinner’s Rule, it’s between 24-28 w.p.i. and it’s a fairly consistent size.

Really, I’m quite proud of it.

(Oh, and it’s not quite as blue as it’s photographing . . . It’s got more yellow and purple and really not much blue at all . . . go figure.)

I hope you’re all enjoying the end of your year . . . only a day and a half left of 2007!

• Tags: Finished Spinning, Friends, General • Permalink:Popcorn, Anyone? // 10 Comments »

Well, you learn something new every day.

Like, today I discovered that I can read and count at the same time.

Because, yes, as you can see, my Will Taylor skeiner came today and I think I’m in love. I don’t even care that there was no packing slip of any kind so that I’m not entirely sure what I was actually charged for it, or that I never did hear from the shop, or that I don’t even know if it’s one of the types of wood I requested. Because it works just beautifully.

To recap, my Majacraft wheel skeiner and I have had issues because the pegs refuse to stay straight when there’s any tension on the yarn at all, but I really liked the vertical turning. My Knitting Notions swift and I have had issues solely because I do all my fiber stuff in my bedroom, which means it’s got to sit on the floor. And while that’s fine when you’re winding yarn OFF, the kneeling plus bending over the swift to rotate it to wind yarn ON is fatiguing. If I were only using it as a swift, or if I had a convenient table, we’d get on famously. It rotates nicely, is beautiful, and even stores easily . . . I just wish it were vertical rather than horizontal.

So far, on our brief acquaintance, the Will Taylor skeiner is perfect. Vertical rotation. Silky-smooth, too, once I put a little oil where the bars cross. Nice, sturdy arms to gather the yarn. A nice, chunky, rounded, easy-on-the-hand knob to turn with. Even a nice height for sitting on the floor and winding (although maybe next time I’ll pull over a pillow for a little extra height). Really, I should have just gotten this one in the first place! I think we’re going to be very happy together.

Yes, I know. I said this about the other two when they first arrived also. But that monster bobbin of yarn there took 369 rotations to wind off, and except for my shoulders complaining a bit, it was just as easy to do the last 10 as it was the first 10. That NEVER happened with any of the other skein-winding tools I’ve tried, except maybe the niddy-noddy. If this could get through that huge bobbin of yarn this easily, I feel reasonably confident in saying that we’re going to be good friends.

The only problem … (I hear you shouting, “I knew it!”) … was that after the first 20 or so rotations, I was getting bored and needed a distraction from my arms and shoulders, who were complaining about all this work. So, since I only needed one arm at a time, I held a book in my other hand. (Does this surprise anyone at all?) But I did want to count rotations, even though I haven’t even measured them yet to see what the yardage equivalent is. For a moment, there was concern that this wasn’t going to work, but then . . . it did. I can read and count evenly-spaced turns of a wheel at the same time. Oh, and the book? Non-fiction, since I’m still experiencing a find-appealing-fiction drought. Lynne Truss’s Talk to the Hand, which is informative and entertaining.

It’s wonderful to finally see the yarn off its bobbin, too. I think I’m going to be very happy with it, even though it’s possible it’s over-plied. It’s soaking in a hot sink of water at the moment, so I won’t know until after I’ve lovingly abused it a bit how balanced it will be, but right now? Balanced is NOT the word I’d use to describe it.

Curly and bouncy work, though.

I know it will relax after it’s had its hot bath, so we’ll see later on how balanced it is or is not . . . for now, though, I’m admiring the colors and how even the spinning is. At some point I’ll pull out a dime or something so you have a scale comparison, but for three-ply yarn? I’m really very pleased.

And, having curly hair myself, how can I really complain about an exuberance of energy?

Now, regarding my yarn quest of the other day. I decided that it was unlikely that I was going to find the dyelot of that yarn, and also decided that I’d rather have enough yarn here rather than wait until someone may or may not pipe up that they have it and don’t want it any more. So I ordered four skeins from the yarn shop that was most helpful. I sent e-mail pleas to a number of them the other day, and while I heard back from several who were nice enough to check for me, Anne at Infinite Yarns was the only one who went the extra step and offered to let me send her a sample of my yarn so she could check to see how close her dyelot was to mine. I decided that I was going to work on the principle that the dyelots are likely fairly consistent and plan on merging in the new one at strategically-placed locations on the sleeves when I get there, just in case there IS a difference. But in the meantime, I’ll have all the yarn I need HERE where I can lay my hands on it.

And, you know, I DID say that I planned on selling on my Knitting Notions swift if I liked the Will Taylor one. So . . . anyone want it? Blog-readers get first dibs!

• Tags: Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Something New // 2 Comments »

Phew!

Look at that massive bobbin of yarn. It’s huge. And I can’t believe how many nights it took me to finish plying this–a week’s worth of treadling. I started plying it a week ago yesterday, took one night off, but otherwise, averaged an hour or so a sitting. I’ve never had a bobbin that took THIS long to ply (grin).

Now, seriously, I have to figure out how to get it off the bobbin.

I talked about my options the other day, and I even pulled out my Majacraft skein winder, but . . . three rotations in and it was causing trouble. Obviously, there’s no way I would get all of this would off properly. I can’t face trying to do this on my horizontal swift/skeiner because my shoulder aches just thinking about it (and still, trying to keep it level so everything winds on properly is HARD). And the niddy noddy? Even if my shoulder and I were up to this many yards of rotations (shudder), I don’t think I’d be able to get it all to fit anyway.

Um. As much as I want to fondle this properly, it might be sitting on the bobbin for a while.

Oh, but I’m very proud of myself as to how even I got my three bobbins of singles. One ran out, and the other two are reasonably close to the end AND, even better, look like they have about equal amounts of singles left, so I’m going to ply them together one of these days on a spindle, just to see how they look.

Now, I’ve got a bad headache, my shoulder is stiff, I’m starting to wheeze a little from whatever’s going on in my sinuses, and I’m still so, so tired . . . and I can tell you already that tomorrow’s going to be a busy day. Crazy at work, I already know, but also, I have to come home and bathe Chappy, bake at least two pies, finish making my cranberry-apple sauce, cook Chappy’s food, and somewhere in there, collapse in preparation of a busy, but hopefully Thank-Ful Thanksgiving.

In other words, I really need to go lie down, or something. (grin).

• Tags: Finished Spinning, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Pre-Tired // 9 Comments »

Well, it’s time.

Remember the really expensive roving I bought from the Fold at Rhinebeck? Well, I figured it was time I finally spun it up.

So, the first thing I did was break it into 9 roughly even pieces and spread them out on the floor to decide how to subdivide. . . .

Which is when my helper came over to make sure that the wool was sufficiently soft and of the quality his Mom deserves. His verdict? “Comfy.”

(Gee, thanks, honey, now would you please get off Mommy’s most expensive roving?)

Once it passed the Chappy test, I divided the roving into thirds.

I put two of them aside for now, and then rolled one of them into little fiber “roses.” I split each length of roving into smaller strips–absolutely necessary because the roving had been so compacted–and then rolled each one around my fingers and piled them into my hat.

And, yeah, I don’t know why, exactly, I use an old straw hat for this, but then, why not? It looks nice enough sitting on my stool by my wheel, waiting . . . Sure, a basket with a handle might be more practical . . . or something with a lid, so it would be easier to travel with it, but . . . the hat works!

The colors of this roving . . . which is the Carbon color . . . are just lovely. Subtle. Greys, yellows, purples, taupes, hints of blue . . . And how is it spinning up?

Beautifully. Considering how extremely compacted the roving was (not to mention how difficult it was to tear it into strips), this drafts beautifully. And it is spinning up super fine. I still think it was ridiculously expensive ($46.25 for 9.25 ounces) . . . 19 microns or not, for hand-dyed, superfine merino, I still don’t see any similar roving online for anything like that much money per ounce.

However, I am nothing if not fair, and I will say that the quality of the roving is excellent. I mean–look how evenly that’s spinning! It’s just lovely to work with.

The plan is that this will be spun into a 3-ply yarn, presumably for socks, unless something else more wonderful comes to mind once the yarn is done and I have some idea what the yardage is. There’s no way I’m going to get all of this onto a regular bobbin, though, when it comes time to ply. Which is a shame, because I’d rather ply with a Woolee Winder than not. I actually kind of like spinning multi-color rovings without because I like to see the color progression in “stripes” on the bobbin, but for plying? Oh, it makes life soooooo much easier. I wonder why they don’t make plying-size woolee winders? (Good question–I just sent them an email asking.) I wonder if it would be worth ordering a plying head for my Little Gem?

One last picture of that Celebrations Shetland. It was sitting on my dresser this morning as I was getting dressed, and I just happened to glance in the mirror . . . yep. I took this picture IN the mirror. It was reflecting back the lit-side of the skein, and the rest of the room looked dark . . . I just thought that lighting was fabulous. And the neatest part? I was able (in another picture, but I won’t bore you) (too much) to zoom in to get more of a closeup but without needing to use the Macro feature, because the mirror added extra “distance” for the camera lens. Cool, huh?

Hope everyone’s having as good a Monday as is reasonably possible. I’m still looking for the right pattern for that Sublime yarn of mine (though there are possibilities).

And, Harry Potter fans? Take a look at this fan-art picture from last Christmas. I don’t, as a rule, follow fan-art or fan-fiction, but Marta’s work is just wonderful, and this picture is just delightful. (This other Christmas picture is funny–love the slippers–and Awwww. I’m really looking forward to what she does for Book 7.

• Tags: Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Time // 19 Comments »

I knew in my heart that I was fooling myself yesterday. That yarn was too under-plied. And since it was otherwise so satisfactory . . . I mean, it’s not like I hated spinning it, or was truly disappointed in the colors . . .

. . . So, really, there was no choice.

I owed it to myself and to the wool to run it through the wheel again.

It was just so obviously the right thing to do.

This was my first time spinning with Shetland wool. It’s hanging in the bathroom now, having had it’s hot bath and thwacking. I’m surprised at how fluffy it feels. I wasn’t expecting that! I guess it’s happy now, too.

Edited to add: I just had to add this–I mentioned at supper that I’d run that yarn through the wheel again, and Mom asked what “under-plied” meant. I explained that when I twisted the two plies together, I didn’t add enough twist. Then Dad said, “So then, it’s only implied?”

Which, actually, is a perfect description, don’t you think?

• Tags: Finished Spinning, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Right Thing to Do // 18 Comments »