September ramblin's

….well, it has now been a month since I last posted – where has the time gone ? So, you ask, what have I been doing with myself since last I surfaced?....to paraphrase a line from Fiddler on the Roof, “…..a little bit of this, a little bit of that…” – the woodshed has not only been completed being built, it is now completely full of stacked and split wood. The Hubster figures that with it being stacked 7 feet high (…um, yeah, arms got real sore trying to lift and stack above my head…also contributing to the too tired/sore to be able to knit for any length of time…), and given the inside dimensions of said woodshed (which began life as an existing concrete bunker/box when we originally bought the property), we probably have close to 15 cords of wood – this includes what we still had left of last year’s split firewood. Normally we go through about 5-to-6 cords per winter – but, last fall we replaced the shingled roof with a metal roof which because of how it went on, resulted in some “air pockets” to help insulate the roof….we figure it may not take as much wood to heat this big ole house…but we will see where it stands come next spring. Hubby is super pleased that we do NOT HAVE to go out to get any trees this winter – if we in our travels over the property need to clean up any broken or wind-blown or otherwise damaged (i.e., beaver) trees, we will just stack the logs behind the shed resulting in well dryed and seasoned wood for future burning…..works for me…lol.

Now, as to the knitting and spinning front…..still working on spinning up my summer dye-pot adventure socks (see post from July for colors), will no doubt get to actually cast on for these during the winter.

The birthday surprise made for some giggles, especially as the story that went with it had to do with cakes sometimes falling flat, and without the appropriate item inside of it, the teapot cozy did look rather flattened.




The first baby giftee (a boy is expected) got a pair of longies, which I paired with a purchased onesie and stuffed with tissue paper. This was also well received.
Baby giftee #2 (a girl is expected) is still being worked on so cannot provide any pix of at this time.




And…, because I really just wanted an excuse to use this phrase…”…..are you ready for some football ?!...”, lol, my sidelines knitting has commenced. My 13yo DD is playing middle school soccer, so the hands stay busy while Maman watches the game (Home games, I can’t get to the Away ones)…and just so you don’t think I have lost it, soccer in Europe is known as football, so, yeah, I am not only watching the kids playing football, I am watching my fave NFL team play FOOTBALL – Go Pats! And, will be adding hockey knitting to the lineup sometime in November as well.

….doing a quick run-down of the projects I have been working wound up being a little more than just a quick one, with all of the above, have been working on finishing up some little projects that have been hanging around for ages: small hand towels, face cloths, some quilting, and several pairs of socks (which I have not been able to round up all of in order to provide a photo, but will leave that to a later date).

So, for now will bid you all a good evening 

...update...sort of, anyway

I really haven’t fallen off the face of the earth tho it seems to be so since I have not updated anything in several weeks. Yes, I have still been spinning, and yes to knitting as well tho precious little of either one.

Allow me to back you up a bit to catch you up (…hmmm…that almost sounds like a Doctor Who and River Song episode…lol). First off, DH just finished building the woodshed considerably later in the season than he wanted it done. Now that it is complete, 13yo and myself have been switching off working with him running the log splitter and once the trailer was full, we would be stacking wood (over 95% of our winter heat is done via woodstove). The benefit of a “covered” storage area for the wood is that we will no longer have to shovel it out and off in order to bring wood into the house (which usually resulted in some thawing and wet floors). Any-who, since we are further behind in the filling of said shed than originally anticipated, any-and-all free time is being used for this purpose.

What does this mean for me? Quite simply, once I get a chance to sit down in the evening I may get a few rows done or spin for maybe 15 minutes before I am nodding off in my chair….to say that not much has been done would be pretty accurate as really the only knitting I have managed is the “work even” and even casting on for two different projects still required more than an evening apiece (too tired to count straight, too tight, etc)…sheesh.

In any case, need to get busy – birthday surprise did get finished in time, and have 2 baby gifties that need to be made real soon…so, for now, will just say that will soon be back on track and should get some pictures up once I do. TTFN …

...it's inevitable...

…something I got to talking about with my mom and sisters recently – got to thinking about this because my ‘baby sister’ just turned 5-0.

Why is it, we look in the mirror and still despite the image it actually shows, we still see ourselves as the invincible-I-can-do-anything 20-to-30-year-old ?...you know the one that has no wrinkles (excuse me…laugh lines ! ), no belly bulge or ‘gravity’ affecting various body parts….How did we miss the change of going from BEING the fun-loving-young-adults to BECOMING The PARENTS OF fun-loving-young-adults ?

Any one else hearing the lyrics to some older popular songs about the seasons turning, or that we would miss this and want it back…?

I look back in time and wonder when did that crown of grey and white begin to rest on my head? I find myself wanting to hold things as they are, to stop that forward momentum of change….

Time is inevitable, it marches on, and with it, so do we march on as well -- perhaps still to the beat of the same drummer we have always marched to, …though perhaps he too drums a little slower….or perhaps it just seems to be moving slower because life continues to go on around us at breakneck speed….

In any case…the first 50 were pretty good years. We learned a lot about ourselves and our place in the world. Here’s to the next 50 little sister, or to use your words, “…onto the next Chapter…..”

....a bump in the road ???

So...anybody think it has been w-a-ay-y too hot lately ? It certainly makes the ambition non-existent.....have tried to get some things done (I really want to make some fresh bread, however, in this heat kneading a batch of dough does not even get considered). About all I have managed to do beyond setting out some washbuckets for cleaning fleece, is getting my dyepot going.

The first dye-bath used the purple tablets and the blue ones (easter-egg dye tablets, I stocked up after the holiday). As always happens, depending on how much lanolin may still have been present on the fleece, the fiber does not take up the dye at the same rate...and sometimes too, the dye "breaks" so you find yourself with surprises once it is rinsed and dried. Well, no surprise here then because it did 'break' resulting in a deep pinkish-purple edging into royal purple and aqua going to a bright turqoise.....see:




And, since the dye had not exhausted, figured I could go ahead and dye another batch, so put in another 12-16 ounces of fiber in the crock (no new tablets)...this time I got the aqua shades.

And the dye is still not exhausted, so mixed in red tablets. Now I have a lovely shade of deep pinkish purple.

Still working this one….added green tablets, hoping to come up with a nice shade of brown. Ummm, no…but did get a lovely deep olive green/bronze out of it.

Ok…still seems to be some life left, so threw in the rest of the tablets (yellow and orange, I believe)…..This time I got what resembled dry grass (?hay) yellow/green. And with that, I considered this experiment DONE. Here is a pix of my lineup:



So, now the job will be to get enough of each color spun to do what I need….and at the moment, the old brain cells are working their way around possibly plying the white with either the grass or the aqua, and using a two-ply of the brighter tones for the entrelac bands (and since I like my socks on the shorter side, 3 bands will be sufficient). But, that will need to wait a bit, but in the meanwhile, only the Shadow knows…..lol



Other than the above, have gotten some done on the Special Birthday surprise (I need to finish it as it will be presented next week). Have also been working my way thru the TestKnitting shawl (Cirque); have fallen woefully behind in my Scarf o’Year project, cast on for yet another pair of socks (yes, I know, still several in the works, but they are at a stage that evening/end-of-day-tiredness is not the best of time to be working on them so they are temporarily in a holding pattern).

..until the next time !

…and so…what have I been up to of late? On first glance, it appears to be not much of anything. With that being said, the summer muggies arrived and with it, ambition/energy to do much of anything at all went by the wayside. This has resulted in only a few buckets of fleece being put to soak in soapy water and rinsed, then leaving the rack sitting on the monkey-bars to dry – this morning only marked the second such batch that was brought into the house. Yes, it is dry; no, it is not quite spin-ready yet. The monkey-bars sits at the back end of the yard, under a pine tree – handles of fiber get shaken and pulled apart to lose their accumulations of dust granules, pine needles, and the occasional beetle that wandered in to check it out and got stuck in the fiber. So, AC has been running quite a bit, and once I sit down to watch TV at night, I am either working on something that does not require a lot of thought/counting of stitches/anything more than simple stitch patterning, or, after placing the old newspaper sheet at my feet to catch all the bits, I start in on picking the fleece apart/loose, a few handfuls at a time. Then pick up the spindle and spin away. Repeat from ‘picking…”

And just so you don’t think I am slacking…the fiber is from 6 sheep that average anywhere 6-12 pounds of raw fiber apiece – my wash buckets will only hold about 1 to 1.5 pounds each (depends how grubby the raw stuff is), and with only doing three of these at a time…..yeah, it takes a while to wash all of this, so expect to find notations on ‘washing’ – this will continue until the weather makes it not a good idea to be outside doing so any more (of course, this will also mean that the balance of this year’s fleece that doesn’t get washed before getting stored in the garage for the winter, will be in some of the early spring/summer wash buckets).

So, you may ask….what did I get accomplished, if anything, this week? In looking over my notes of what I have worked on (I have a notebook that I list how much time I spend on any fiber projects)….this week as previously noted, was not an overly ambitious one. Yes, fiber got washed. Yes, spinning did take place (the PinkLavender roving is completely spun). Yes, knitting did take place (working on a Test knitting project). On top of that, I have founds lots more, make that LOTS MORE, projects of various kinds that I would like to make (socks, shawls, and sweaters too!), so only time will tell which of the many will actually transfer from my queue to actual WIP…

…gotta run….lunchtime ends far too quickly for my usual verbosity…… So, will just leave you with a close-up shot of some of the spinning that I have been working on...just a little something to pass the time away while dreaming about all the wonderful items in my queue....

...such a week it has been....

...So, now comes the time of updating my progress, such as it has been. First, let me preface this by saying it has been rather hot, or "HHH" (hot/hazy/humid) here for the past week -- the last thing I want in my lap when I am feeling sticky is sticky raw fleece...for that matter, a lap-full of a knitting project isn't always that desirable either, but it is either I have something to keep my hands and brain focused, or the heat just frazzles me and I end up catnapping in my chair....hmmm...not very restful nap or hot/sweaty palms......

That being said, have been busy when I wasn't working/cooking/cleaning. With the Tour de Fleece running concurrent to the Tour de France, have been trying to get as much spinning time in as I could (including time spent prepping fleece in wash buckets, etc).


The assorted small batts/rovings are being worked on in between washing and spindling of Dorset fiber (which will eventually have some in a dye pot....I have visions of perhaps an entrelac cuff in assorted colors later this year). I have also completely spun the bag of "Mystery Roving" (a mix of alpaca, suffolk, angora rabbit, and mohair), with yardage that I believe will do for a pair of socks


Have been plugging away at the Sky Scarf (apologies, no pix yet), as well as the SecretSurprise pressie. And, I went and added another project to my list, TestKnitting....here is where I stand as of Sunday morning, 07102011:



...and there you have it....the coffee bucket only holds a portion of the Dorset (I have at least a case-of-paper sized box full of freshly washed fiber (with at least ten times that amount stored in the attic from previous years), so have plenty to keep me busy ...lol. Oh, and before I forget.....the previously mentioned projects that were completed...here is my Robin (still unblocked)



and my green alpaca socks:

Lights !!

....and just so you know I am still here.....while waiting for the show to begin, sat on the hillside watching this



(while spinning of course), and once it got too dark to see what I was working on, the main event commenced



and




Hope that those who celebrate it, had a very safe and happy Fourth of July