The Party is Not Over!

Well, this wasn't a Christmas present, but I am so in love with her that I have to show you how wonderful this wheel is! Please ignore the background football game, it was actually very dark in the living room when I took this shot, and didn't even notice the game on TV (and that was a Christmas present to Chris and myself). So, here she is all put together and oiled twice, by moi!


This is a shot of merino that I was spinning, and it spun like a hot knife going through "butta". I have never set up or seen a wheel set up for double drive, and I had a few questions for the Spinning List over on Yahoo Groups, but as you can see, I got it!



More merino, aren't these colors gorgeous? I am trying to decide if I should try to Navajo ply to try to maintain color runs, or to simply wind off and ply from two toilet paper rolls:



The party continues here, as we gear up for Caryn's 17th birthday next Friday! Can't tell you what she's getting as that would ruin her surprise! In the meantime, Chris is continuing to work on the barn, (we had 7 tons of rock delivered and the kids and Chris spread out while I was at work) I am trying to pull down all the Christmas ornaments and get my house back in order before Tuesday, when it's back to the real workday (inventory) for me.

Where are you Christmas?

That song happens to be on the radio at the moment, and truthfully it feels very apropos, it has been very warm here in Kentucky, the grass is still green, the neighbors were actually mowing yesterday! And we were painting:


The girls were out riding and next thing you know, here comes Caryn riding at full tilt with a runaway horse in front of her. . . good gosh, you know my heart went up into my throat, the husband threw down the paint roller, and I ran into the fields to find her friend. Well all is well, Whit is ok, (probably major sore today, though) and was only thrown from the horse. My daughter saved the horse from running into the road and got her corralled back into the pen.

Inside the house the stockings were hung:






















but not at the fireplace as we normally use the fireplace! They have their own place of honor at the front door - these were made the first years we moved to Kentucky, in counted cross stitch, before my love of knitting and spinning overtook my love of the framed needle works - (counted cross stitch, needle points, and counted needlepoint, etc.)

And can you believe this:


I have been trying for at least 10 years to get my Christmas cactus to bloom!! Yeah!! (Yeah, I have plant issues, if you are remembering my Jade Plant, which is still alive, btw!)

On the spinning front, I think I temporarily lost my mind! Well, sort of. I sold my Ashford Joy and the Woolee Winder that I bought to go with her. She was a fabulous wheel, but I never truly "loved" her. Does that make any sense? I have coveted the Jensen's Tina II for years. . . then, wham bam, I found Betty Robert's wheels -




OMG how, how, how can you not love them? Oh, man the dilemmas I have! So, I'm going to order one of those. . . oh but Angela says "June, you really need to check out the Tina II" and she describes her in just the way I have been thinking about her. . .Oh what to do??

Well, I ended up ordering the Tina II - the man on the phone says it's a four month wait, Darn it all day! Ok, next day: I remember there is a website that states they keep one or two in stock! But, do they still have one? Gosh, it's Christmas time after all! Well, they did! So, I sucked it up and bought it even though they made you pay shipping. What's $55 compared to four months?!


Now, I am feeling incredibly selfish for doing this at this time of year, but I am justifying it in the way of the husband, and kiddos are all done, and I am not entirely sure my Joy would have sold so quickly if it wasn't Christmas time. . .

A little progress was made this week. . .

Yeah! I got all of one mitten completed and almost 3/4 of the way on the second mitten. Almost done, then to the thumbs. That shouldn't take any time at all. This yarn has been a little hard on the hands since I am making the mittens in Noro on size 7 needles, it is probably just me, as I am not really used to working with double points anymore. I don't know what possessed me to buy them, but they are nice: CP bamboo in 6 inch lengths.

Have I told you guys how hard it is to get a picture without my cat in it?? He is a hound when it comes to yarn, so as soon as I take out my knitting - wham! There he is. . .
Think he's going to walk away with that ball of yarn?? Did I tell you I had to re-wind the ball that was purchased to make the color go the right way in this ball? What a darn pain.

Nope, Mommy said NO! Ok, then I'll just sit here on the hearth, hey, why isn't it warm right now?




Chris went to Colorado and back for work this week, he was disappointed in the surrounding views. We thought it would be a little more picturesque, but it turns out all he could see was flat ground. He described it like being on a ship (he used to be in the Coast Guard, 16 years before his knee gave out and we had to retire, we where going for the 20 don'tcha know.) and all you can see is water, but in this case flat ground.

He did a little work on the barn, he got the rake trim up and it's really is looking good. I think it's been really cold here, and I am amazed that he can get anything done! (We had lows of 17 degrees the past couple of days, thank the Lord for fire places!)





I've been spinning up the red lace and trying not to start anything new. I currently have at least five things in the basket next to my couch: BBS, Hyrna, Rosebud Shawl, Mermaid Socks, and Mary Ella from Knitty! Good Grief! So, my plan at the moment is to finish three out of five before I am allowed to make one more purchase!

I am thinking it's going to get really busy around here until the holidays are over. Bryan comes home next week (yeah!) and the holiday hustle and bustle. . . you know I went and bought one item at the mall yesterday. It took 45 minutes to get in and out of the parking lot and 5 minutes to make my purchase. Oh yeah, I love this time of year. . . bah humbug! All that to say, that if I think I am going to take a mini vacation from blogging until the new year. (Maybe.) So, don't worry if I'm not out here the next couple of weeks!

Happiest of Holidays to all my cyber friends!

The Continuous Christmas Present Search . . .

You know, every year it's the same thing. . . what do you want for Christmas? Well, darlin's I have to say that I have everything a sane person could want or need. So, what do you say to that question? Then there are the kids, that are not really kids anymore, but young adults. One lives away from us nine months out of the year now, and is not the world's great communicator, besides those strikes against him, he is male. So, what might he want?? I have no clue. Oh, he will eventually make me a list with all of three things on it, 10 days before the holiday, then I will run like a banshee to fullfill his wishes. . . something wrong with this picture, I think.

Then there is my daughter, to whom I could buy the world, as she is still here in the house and always makes her wishes known! (A bit more like me I think!) So, we went off in search of her Christmas gift yesterday, this is not a surprise, as she had to pick it out, as it had to fit her. Here is her new saddle for trail riding on her red roan pony, otherwise known as Blazer.



I've been working on my Mom's Christmas presents, the scarf is done (she likes very short scarves, so don't think this is a mistake!) And, I apologize for my lousy pictures, I don't have the same talent that my sister does!



and I am up to the thumb on mitten #one. I brought this with me to work on in the car on the way to the tack shop, and lo and behold, the fourth needle was at home at my seat. Ok then, I had my Elektra vest with me and worked on that. But, no new pics of that, as I am out of time! No new pics of the barn, as it's too darn cold and we need warmth to paint!




Good luck with the shopping be it for Christmas or Hanukkah.