A Stashing we will go

Wow, I'm in Dallas visiting with my honey who works here more often than at home and every time I come he wants to make sure I don't get bored in the hotel room. (Because, you know, I never get bored at home and there is no way I brought knitting with me.) So we went to Yarn Heaven, then off to The Woolie Ewe, a stop at the Shabby Sheep and one at White Rock Weaving to round out a weekend.





Let's see: I got Mountain Colors fiber at Yarn Heaven, The Woolie Ewe







was having a sale and that would have been dangerous, except for the good sense of DH who said "Hey, that's on sale. Are you sure you don't need some more?" There might have been 30 skeins that made their way to the car. The stop at White Rock Weaving gave me two more shuttles for my weaving looms and two ounces of carbonized bamboo along with 5.1 ounces of potluck roving in the Pumpkin Spice colorway that just called and called to me and a Kundert Spindle that spins like a dream. The last stop was The Shabby Sheep where another 16 skeins went into the car with me. (Really with DH since he was carrying the bag.)
I have been knitting, spinning, fondling yarn and working out since I've been here. (Those pictures are not all of it, but Blogger and I are arguing about pictures right now.)

I was talking to a lady at the Shabby Sheep who just bought an LK150 and doesn't know how to use it. I volunteered to go back on Saturday if her schedule permits and show her the basics.
I go home in a little over a week to an oven that seems to have decided that now is the time to die. I got a call from my son who said, "Hey Mom, the oven element is shooting sparks. Mawmaw (what they call their grandmother) was baking something and it just started." My response was to tell him to turn off the breaker and let it cool down and not cook anything in the oven til I get home. I might have added that there is nothing I can do about it from here. My vote is just to get a new element, but DH says that it might just be time to get a new one. The one we have is 16 years old and has been used heavily in those years. I have been coveting a flat surface stove fro a while, but have refused to buy one because mine works (worked) fine. I just don't replace working appliances. In the past year or so I have had to replace both the washer and dryer, the dishwasher, and the refrigerator. My kitchen is almost new. Ah, well. Life goes on.

a little update

So, it's a lovely day here and I have been enjoying it a lot.
I was sitting here listening to the SpinDoctor podcast since of course I needed more podcasts to listen too and I have just begun to spin on a spindle. Must learn more is my motto. I would love to have several podcasts that I could listen to about spinning like I have for my knitting. Of course, I get a little spinning from the Knitmore Girls and love it. As a matter of fact, Jasmin is the reason I thought about spinning to start with. Now I want to ask her dozens of questions about things spinning related on top of all the other questions that I think of when I'm listening. There are other podcasts that tied the knot tighter in the "You want to spin" rope that first tried to tug at me from reading the Yarn Harlot's blog, but Jasmin managed to make me think "Oh, I wonder if I could do that?". The answer is yes, I can. I can't do it well (yet), but I can spin something that resembles yarn.
On another note, I have the sampler off the loom, but haven't finished the ends so that I can wash it and get pictures of it. I have since put another scarf on the Cricket and it is sitting waiting for my trip to Dallas for some love.
I haven't made a lot of progress on the Einstein for my granddaughter, but there is a little more each day and the scrapghan is moving along slowly as well. Blame the lack of progress on the spindle. I was told that I needed to spend at least 10 minutes a day at it to begin to see progress. I listened and have been spending more than that at it. I have cast on a new pair of socks and a new teddy bear too. I just finished a dishcloth that is the 12th thing on my Mission Possible list for 2010. I'm already thinking about my list for 2011, but I have several things to finish before the end of the year.
In the garden: Yesterday I picked a small basket full of bell peppers. It wasn't all that are on the plants, but I did fill a second gallon size ziplock freezer bag with them. I will have peppers for use in soups and casseroles for the entire winter I hope. The lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage seem to be happy in the garden and are beginning to grow and it's almost time for me to fork up some sweet potatoes. I'm really looking forward to eating those. I love things fresh out of my garden.
Time to get back to the knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, exercising and reading. Nope, housework wasn't on that list. I will do some, but I don't want to talk about it.

It's Fall and I'm busy

It feels like Fall here. At least it feels like Fall for those of us in the southern U.S. I woke up this morning to temperatures in the mid 50's. Yes! The a c is off for now. I'm a big believer in turning it off if we can do without it.
Over the weekend we planted lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli in the garden. The sweet potatoes are trying to take over one bed and the bell peppers are still producing. I will chop up the extra bell pepper and put it in the freezer for winter use. I also found three volunteer tomato plants in the garden. All the others had died and been pulled up so these were a surprise. I will leave them in the garden as long as possible and then I will see about putting them in pots on the back porch or in the house if I can find room.

This morning I plied my very first yarn. It's not a big skein and it isn't going to have anyone clamoring to buy it, but I made it.












I've begun an Einstein coat for one of my granddaughters,














a ten stitch blanket out of leftover sock yarn just because I can,














and a crocheted scrapghan to use up some odds and ends of yarn and make something useful too.


I also have a half completed teddy bear that I"m going to be sending off to someone who is going to Haiti to help with recovery. I need to finish sewing him up and stuffing him and he needs a face still. I don't have any pictures of him yet. I'm waiting until I get him stuffed. He doesn't want to be seen in his current condition.
I'm still working on my weaving. Right now I have a sampler on the Cricket. It's a turquoise and white color work sampler. I'm loving the way these colors go together, but really, doesn't everything "go" with white?

I'm back on my getting healthier bandwagon. I joined MyFitnessPal.com and I'm trying to remember to log my food and exercise. Hmmm, how many calories does blogging use? Not enough, I'm sure.
Off to have some lunch now. Happy Fall everyone.

Knitting and Weaving and Gardening, Oh my

So I looked back and realized that I hadn't posted since the end of August. Wow. What have I been doing? First, I need to apologize. I was looking over the blog and realized that I had comments that I have never responded to. I never think to look back to see if there was a comment and so I never respond. for that I apologize and I will try to do better.
I have been playing in my garden. The tomatoes are done. The cucumbers and cantaloupes have died out. There are sweet potato vines all over one bed. I sure hope they're producing potatoes under there. The bell peppers are still going gangbusters. I have over two gallons chopped and frozen. I'll use them this winter when prices are beyond me. Have you seen the price of them even now? Yikes!

I've been knitting. I do a lot of hand knitting when I can't be in my little room that my husband calls my office and I would like to call my fiber studio. I'd call it that if there was enough room to have everything set up the way I'd like. Mobile homes (or manufactured homes as they are now known) are not known for having an excess of room. Ours is a 16 x 80 and has four bedrooms. Three of those are in use as bedrooms and the other one is my space. It's about 8 foot x 9 foot. I have a desk, three knitting machines and two looms to go in there. That's not counting my storage cabinets for the fiber for my fiber habit. I still don't have it organized in a way that I like.

So on to the knitting ... I knit a wedding afghan on my Bond USM. There are five panels. Two have the names of the people getting married, one has the wedding date, and two are a contrasting (ha ha, contrast with white) color with cables running down the length. It took a while to do as the names and date are done in seed stitch. The recipients said that they loved it. I hope so.

I have also finished a pair of fingerless mitts for a friend for Christmas and the Landscape Shawl (on my Mission Possible list) is complete. The shawl still needs blocking, but the ends are woven in and that's half the battle. It took just over three skeins of the four I had for it out of Colinette Jitterbug. I don't know yet how it will wear, but the yarn was lovely to work with. I only have a dishcloth to finish to complete my list for Mission Possible 2010. There is a pair of socks on needles for my granddaughter. They aren't on any list but hers.

I've been weaving scarves out of a cone of yarn that has been in my stash for about six years now. They are (so far) just a plain tabby weave in a deep grey boucle type yarn that I love the color of, but none of my knitting machines liked it at all. All three tried to eat it and so nothing got made from it. Now it's being used. I have more yarn that will get used on the loom because it doesn't get along with the machines that it was bought for.

I wish someone would now talk me off the ledge I'm standing on. I want to try spindle spinning. I also want a floor or table loom, but that's more expensive than a spindle so I'm not about to jump off that ledge yet. Why do I want to spin with a spindle? Not a clue except that it looks like fun and would be a way for me to make my fiber habit more encompassing than it already is. Do I need to spin? Probably not. I can buy yarn and I know that I can buy yarn that looks a lot better than my beginning attempts at spinning could produce. Someone on one of the boards that I frequent said that it's not a new hobby; it's just an extension of the one I already have...fiber. I think I'm going with that. I don't know if I will like it or be good at it, but I'm going to try it. On the upside, spindles don't take up a lot of room. Wish me luck.

Time Flies

I can't believe it's August already and I haven't posted in over a month. Really though, my life isn't all that interesting to anyone else. I'm not consistently funny or insightful and I don't consistently have the kind of trouble that makes people gasp. That said, I have been busy with my life and my crafts.

I got pictures of the first table runner. My daughter liked it. The beading took what felt like forever. I think it was worth it though.
I have finished the weaving on the second table runner. It has the exact same warp on it. I just changed the predominant weft color. It makes an interesting difference. I just need to decide on the finishing for it. I think I'm going to bead it too only not in the same pattern.


I'm making considerable progress on the Landscape Shawl. I have begun the last pattern on it and it's moving right along. I work on it in the evening while watching tv mostly.
I'm working on a series of scarves on my Cricket loom. I've had this yarn for a while now. The original plan was to use it on one of my knitting machines. It's just too loopy for that. This first scarf is done on a 10 dent heddle and the warp and the weft are the same yarn. There were some issues with it, but it was do-able. I have another on now with this weft and a 3/2 cotton warp on an 8-dent heddle. The cotton is working better, but the other yarn might work well on the 8 dent too. I'll try that next and see. I find the first one lovely off the loom and need to get a picture of it finished.

I finished a pair of fingerless mitts for a friend for Christmas. This is a picture of them before they were finished. That's one gift that I don't have to think about later.
I have another project underway. Actually on my Bond machine. It was feeling very lonely up on it's shelf. I'll get pictures of that project later. Right now the white yarn on the machine against the white wall just doesn't make for very good photos.
In other news, the garden is still coming along. I think the tomatoes are about done, but the bell peppers are looking lovely. The cantaloupes are producing, but the bugs are getting them before they are ripe enough for human consumption. I hate to use pesticides and haven't figured out how to keep them away long enough for us to get some of the fruit. If it keeps up, I will pull the plants out and they will just be done for the season. I'm trying to decide what to start next for my fall crops. It's still a little too warm (okay it's hot) for lettuce. We're still in the mid 90's or higher and will be for a while yet. Today we are having a cool front. It's only supposed to be 95 and only about 70% humidity. It was nice this morning. About 76 on the back porch and I just wanted to stay out there for the day. It won't last.
Well, off to get some work done. Hopefully it won't be another month before I post.

A beautiful summer day

It's a beautiful summer day in south MS. (Don't look at the beach. That will just depress you.) It's hot, the laundry is on the line and almost dry, the little garden plot is producing lovely vegetables, the grass is growing and there are clouds building in the west. Now realistically, it's not as hot as it could be or as hot as it will be before the summer is over or really as hot as it already has been. I didn't really feel like I was melting as soon as I went out the door so it's almost a cold snap, but it's about 90 on my back porch. There is a breeze blowing and that helps. We've been over 100 already this year and I expect we will be again.
When I went to hang the laundry out this morning I found a partially constructed bird's nest in the clothespin bag. The sparrows and I already had a talk about this, but just like when my kids were teenagers I guess they didn't listen. I disposed of the nesting materials. Now this wasn't the only nest on my back porch. They had raised baby sparrows in a nest on the back porch already. No pictures as the birds are faster than my camera. I have since learned that there were four babies when they flew the nest while I was gone to Dallas.
I picked a cantaloupe from the garden yesterday and cut it a while ago. The amazing part is that I didn't eat the whole thing. I see tomatoes and peppers that need to be picked and there are more blossoms on the cucumber and cantaloupe vines. The potato vines (sweet and white) are growing so I expect to have potatoes in a couple of months. I can't wait for my home grown sweet potatoes to go with the turkey at Thanksgiving. Yum!
I have finished the weaving portion of the table runner and am now beading the fringe. It's a slow process because I am slow and need frequent breaks. During those breaks I have finished the Dishcloth Baby Blanket that was on my Mission Possible list;

I have about an inch of ribbing left to do to complete another pair of socks for the hubby; I cast on for the Landscape Shawl and have three hats ready for seaming for our church's homeless mission as well as a scrap afghan.
It's hot now, but it won't be and I need to think ahead to keep people warm when winter comes. I can't keep everyone warm and fed, but if I do my little bit and someone else does theirs then there will be less hunger and less people cold in my community. I have to believe that every little bit helps. I've also started another scrap afghan. This one will be crocheted and reminds me of my son's favorite afghan from when he was growing up. He still says it was cozy and made him feel loved. Isn't that what our needlework is for?
I really want a Kindle. I have the Kindle app on my iPod and love it, but the pages are small and I spend a lot of time turning "pages" on it. A bigger screen would help. I like having a collection of books with me and having them when I get stuck in a waiting situation. I don't do well when I feel like I'm wasting time. Now that doesn't mean that I can't just sit on my back porch and watch the world go by; it just means that I like to choose my idle time and I like to be comfortable when I am idle.
While I was in Dallas we went to the Stockyards in Fort Worth. I went to the Spice and Tea Exchange. I got three kinds of tea: a vanilla, a chocolate, and almond cookie. I also got some ground chipolte pepper and some dried minced garlic. It all smells so good and since they don't use any fillers you don't have to use as much to get the flavor you want.

June already?

I can't believe it's June already. For those of us on the Gulf Coast that means the start of another hurricane season. That very real concern is complicated this year by the oil spill in the gulf. What happens if we have a storm? How much more environmental damage will there be? The oil spill by itself is horrendous to those of us who live here and get to be concerned about not only a way of life, but about how this will affect the environment for years to come. The threat of a storm on top of that is somewhat mind-boggling. How far would a storm wash the oil ashore? How far in to the bays and estuaries? How far up the rivers? How many species will be affected? How far reaching will this be at the end of the day? How many years will it take to recover (for the people and for the plants and animals)?
On to another subject that is less traumatic. My garden is producing. The lettuce is gone and that is not surprising since it is in the 90's with a lovely high humidity and heat indexes at the century mark. Much fun is to be had when mowing the grass in this weather. I'm getting tomatoes and cucumbers on an almost daily basis right now. The peppers aren't doing as well this year so far. I don't know how much longer the broccoli will continue to produce, but for now I am still getting some. On the other hand, the cauliflower was a bust this year. I have sweet potatoes in and cannot wait to have some from my very own garden this fall. I plan to put out some regular potatoes in the next few days. I should have done it already, but I have been a little busy. I bought what I thought was a squash plant. Imagine my surprise when instead of crookneck squash little cantaloupes started showing up. I love cantaloupe so this is not a tragedy, but I will miss the squash. There is only so much room in my raised bed gardens and I will have to deal with the produce that I do have.
As for my crafty life, I have finished The Everlasting Blanket. Eight hundred forty seven squares later it is laying across the end of my bed where I can admire it daily. It fits my double bed nicely and I cannot get a picture of it all, but did take a halfway decent shot of it just after ends were woven and trimmed and it got spread across the bed.

The Christmas table runner is still in progress and is about 70 inches long on the loom right now. I think I have about 36 inches or so to go. The picture was from a month ago and it was only at 37 inches at that point. There is much progress on it.

All of the ends will need trimming and weaving in at the end of the project after it gets a good wash to set things. I'm looking forward to it being complete, because I have several more ideas in my head for the loom and it's next project.
I also completed the Scraps No More Afghan. I'm sorry to say that I still have scraps of worsted weight yarn left in the stash. To combat that issue, I have started a crocheted afghan to (hopefully) use up the rest of the current batch.
Is it frightening that I am seriously considering starting another sock yarn blanket? DH has asked for one to go in our camper and I'm really thinking about it. I do know if I do it that it will be another long-term project and something that I work on between other projects. I enjoyed seeing the first one come together.
I am over halfway through my Mission Possible 2010 list. I still need to complete the Landscape Shawl (not started yet), the Dishcloth Baby Blanket (about 1/3 complete), another 2 or 3 hats for MT25 to make the listed goal (I have the yarn for another 7 I think), and a dishcloth that I have not begun. That's not bad for the beginning of June. I have over 6 months to complete those last few things. I have a list of another 6 things that is the beginning of the next crafty to do list.
As far as my personal health goals go, I am still exercising on a fairly regular schedule and still trying to watch what I eat. It's hard for me sometimes, but I know it will be worth it in the end. I want a treadmill, but won't buy one right now. the one that I want is more than I want to pay right now so will stick with the Leslie Sansone walking videos. I love those things. I can pretty much do them anywhere that I have a dvd player and I don't need extra equipment. I work up a good sweat and when I do a new one, I can feel the muscles talking to me the next day.
Off to have some lunch and maybe get a picture of the Scraps No More afghan while the sun is shining.