The Weather Outside is Still Frightful! 100+ Degrees Everyday and No Rain In Sight!

But inside it's so delightful! Got my dh to finally put the air conditioning up a bit (one whole degree) but it has made a huge difference in my life! I normally freeze and I know it is due to my sedentary nature, I work as an accountant and my hobbies are knitting and spinning! Not a whole lot a dancing being done there! But dancing was being done when I finally uploaded the Office 2004 for Mac's on this baby. Now I have a good e-mail program and I may possibly be able to find Money for it too. . . oh, I will dance on the roof top!

Got a few things done this week, I finished the B4 Bag, and since it came out like poo, I have decided not to add the buttons and to do this one more time - my first row of bobbles didn't really bobble out and it really looks crappy. I just can't give this to someone as a gift, it would embarrass the heck out of me:

See the dark holes where there should be nice big bobbles like up top? Darn it! Well, I am sure I have more yarn to do this again. And speaking of more yarn, look at the swatch I made for Beadwork, by Jade Starmore:


And this is another view:
I am getting approximately 8.5" to the inch on 3.25 mm needles using Merino Bamboo sock yarn no less. I love the shine and the stitch definition, I wanted to dye this light blue, but the yarn came out a very definite denim color which is not at all what I was looking for, so, I decided to stay put with the cream.

Mr. Fix It got my wheel to run without the chatter, although all possibilities were not tested, as we ended up changing the whorl, and all lubricants were wiped off the bobbin and shaft. The chatter stopped, so, I was happy and finished up spinning bobbin #1 of BloodyGuts - It really needs a prettier name though! Here is the bobbin:

So, I've decided to give one of the denim skeins away to the person that comes up with the best name for this color! I will let my very literary daughter, Caryn make all final decisions so that the judging will be totally neutral!

Here is a picture of two of the denim skeins (only one will be given away, though) this is superwash merino bamboo (60% Merino, 30% Bamboo and 10% Nylon), 400 yards in a skein.


PS: Do you like the change in template? I was thinking it was getting hard to read on the other one - See ya! June

As The Wheel Spins - More Romney!

I've been spinning this weekend. Any time it's a little stressful the wheels can always be counted on! Bryan is moving back to Lexington this weekend, and it's always a little sad to see him go. We are a very close family, and I hate to see the children leave the nest, I guess.

So, I finished up spinning the last of Georgia and man did I ever have to stuff this bobbin to get it all on! Look:

Ok it's a bit fuzzy, I tried to get too close I guess. Then I changed out the bobbin and started spinning up the Romney Corriedale that I have been combing, when it isn't over 75 degrees outside that is!
This is the stuff that my sister in law, Carol, just couldn't stand the sight of in the roaster pan dyeing up. She says it looked like blood and guts to her! My friend, Karen, said basically the same thing! So, it must be true and I decided not to put that photo back up for your viewing pleasure. . . lol. So anyway this is the nests getting spun up:


I am working with the Mabel Ross Essentials of Handspinning guide to try to make sure I am getting the same sized yarn as I was getting spinning up Georgia:

I personally couldn't be more pleased with the way this is turning out so far!

The only problem I am having right now is the fact that the bobbin and flyer mechanism is making a chattering noise and I can't figure it out! I have oiled it and oiled it. I keep fussing with the tensioning screw . . . I can't seem to get it to stop and it's driving me crazy! Any suggestions are welcome as I am at the end of my knowledge on this one! I'm going to try to take it apart one more time and see what I can see. . .

The Power of the Internet -

I "met" the most amazing lace knitter this week over here on Susan's blog - I've been interested in the Icelandic Lace Shawl that the Daily Knitter is/was supporting and I have been perusing the internet to find the "right" yarn. Well, procrastination is sometimes a good thing, look at the original and then take a look at Fleegle's blog. You have to keep in mind that the average temperature this past week has been hovering at the 100 degree Fahrenheit mark - so, I ordered some of the lace weight Susan is working with - in color 106 though . . . Susan's is color 103. I ordered 6 200 meter balls, so I actually I don't think I ordered enough, but the whole thing was a bit intimiating, so the yarn can always be used for a Sivia Harding design!

The next cool thing that happened via the internet was this morning I listened all five parts of working with a drum carder by "rexenne" this morning, and granted the very first one was a bit over the top, but it got my "ADD" in gear and I worked with my carder this afternoon and this was the results: PS: Don't forget that I am now a iMac person and still can't figure out how to make these pictures smaller!! So just a note of warning!

Do you remember Lady Blue Jeans: (Is that the right name? Hhmm, getting old, don't remember right now.) This is one of the batts I made last time I was attempting to use the drum carder:

Now this is how it looked today:

Then I thought I would try some blending: these colors are in my placemats in the kitchen, how's that for figuring out color combinations? I never would have put olive with aqua, but it works -


Blending in progress:

Isn't it pretty? I took this off and messed up the rolag, had to card it one more time (damn it) and so this is my end result:


So how many of you guys have a burnishing tool for your carder and if you don't have one what do you use? Well, I used one of my ashford handcards, and with results like this, I will probably continue to use them this way!!

No news is good news?

Well guys - I have nothing, nadda, niltch to report on the knitting or spinning front that you haven't all seen or heard before.

I am have washed up the end of the Snowberry fleece and it is currently drying on the drying rack. I am almost to the end of the B4 Bag.



I am still working on my BeadWork swatch in Merino Bamboo, boy, you should of seen the flack I got about using a bamboo yarn on the BW yahoo group. I still think this will work since it has 60% Merino 10% Nylon and 30% Bamboo in it. They all seem to think it will stretch out unbelievably. I don't think they saw the word "blend" in my post and just ran with it.


I am sitting here playing with my new iMac and until the credit card is paid off, there won't be any new yarn or fiber purchases in my near future! I like it so far, but my e-mail is different and I am still searching for a good checkbook utility to use - so any suggestions are welcome.



As a side note, I am struggling with iMac and Blogger, so the pictures are probably huge. The doggies were playing with Caryn and a stick . . . just look at those faces! What's not to love?