Falling Fast but Having Fun Doing it!

Well, you know, I am a sucker for gorgeous wood products. I like the way they look, I like the way they feel, and maybe someday, I'll buy a lathe of my own and learn how to do something like this:This is a Goncalo Alves Spindle, which I purchased from Janet at The Wheel Thing. Her on line service is the best out there, in my opinion. The spindle is ordered early Friday morning and wham, bam it's on the doorstep on Saturday! I've been having fun spinning some Black Bunny roving, that you can see it sitting on. Yeah, I still have the turkish spindle going, and the two wheels. . . I think I have a problem!

My mermaid socks, suck! They don't fit so this is the state they are in at the moment. This is just my son's comforter that they are laying on, the sun was streaming in his room, so I thought it was the best place for a camera shot. I kinda love the way the red is just so RED!

Anyway, I digress, as usual, since I was pretty UPset about the mermaid socks, I went ahead and cast on for the Jaywalker socks:



Toe up Version in Lorna's Laces color Motherload. I am doing these with 2.5mm two circular needles. That ensures that they will actually fit when I am done! And, yeah, I still have the Antique Lace going, and the Kai - June version, going and the Elektra Vest going. . . I think I have another problem!


Can't end without showing off all the hard work we (and that's a loose we, as it is mainly being done by Chris and Caryn!) have been doing with the barn and pasture:

This shot is trying to show how far back the pasture goes and the fact that all the poles are now set: (This is the western neighbor's side of the land, and the people we board Blazer at right now.)

This is a shot from the side of the barn looking down the row of planked poles on our eastern neighbor's side.


Just a better shot??


Isn't it looking wonderful?

Beautiful Weather and My Sister is Here!!

Yeah! My sister is here from MD, and yes, she lives right on the Montgomery County line where the annual MSWF is held every year! I used to go out every year and basically go crazy on fiber and or yarn. I'm green with envy that she gets to stroll on up there anytime she wants, and I can't get up to her house anymore due to my job. (I'm the only accountant at Kiriu that prepares all the financial reporting for the company. I guess the job does have to come first.)

Anyway, we went to the Haus of Yarn in Nashville. I really like this yarn shop and prefer it over the other big shop in Nashville. I found lots of cool stuff, but restrained myself as much as possible. I found this at the shop, and I ask you, is this not a cool way to advertise? Yeah, that's an emery board and it's got all sorts of yarn on one side and this on the other! I just think it's too damn cool!


And I found this really cool new to me yarn: Jitterbug by Colinette in Charcoal - this stuff is to die for and I can't wait to start my next pair of socks


- speaking of current socks, here are my Mermaid sock(s) in progress: I took them off the magic loop to do the heel and now I just kept going - I think I am liking ML less and less and the two circulars more and more. What do you all do?


And we are a knitting family, here are my sister's in progress: These are an elongated rib with Opal yarn - an older color I gave her at Christmas time.

Don't you just love a sister that knits?!

Another Week Gone By -

Well, ya'll another week has flown by! We had some fabulous company this week from Chris's brother Jeff and his wife Carol and their youngest son, Erik! It was Spring Break in MI and they came south to the North Carolina area - Ashville, specifically to do the touristy stuff. Biltmore Estate and the winery and all the gorgeous site seeing over there. So, it was wonderful to see them as we don't make it up north as much as we probably should!

Here's the birthday boy in a very, very rare shot of sitting down! This man never sits still, never.


I've been major busy as you all know, with month end closing and yearly budgets, and auditors and now finally year end! It's all finished and I'm surprised to still be alive, but there it is! Yeah! Done! Tout Fini! So, to celebrate, I have done nothing but spin and ply up some yarn yesterday - well, that's not entirely true, I baked a Cherry Pie for Chris for his birthday too, but here is the yarn so far:

Remember Blue Jean Lady?


That's the jumbo plying bobbin for Majacraft and it's very cool to get your 2 full single bobbins plied off to one bobbin! It has an odd scraping sound to it that makes me nuts, but the end result is worth the noise. I may need to oil it or try to see if there is something in the bobbin itself. I don't know -

Anyway here is the two ply yarn:



I think it's really pretty, and I have to say this is forcing me to go into different areas as I am not combing this but carding, and the result is a bit more lumpy than I normally go -

And I have gotten to the heel on the Mermaid Socks:


The instructions in this book are kind of funky, so I am waiting to sit down and get it together before proceeding with these. That means no tv, or ipod and no wine for anyone who may be wondering!

I have decided to sell my Majacraft 3-Bobbin Lazy Kate. It is practically brand new, so I am not going to simply give it away. $75 with the three boilable bobbins or $50 without, this does not include shipping. So, if you want it let me know!

57 Holes and Counting -

No, I'm not talking about lace here either. I'm talking about post holes to fence in the pasture we are growing for the horse. . . we have 83 posts, and this is some of the progress:



It's been a real challenge to get through some of these, Chris keeps talking about "the pan" we keep hitting the pan. Well, whatever the heck it is, one thing is for sure: it's like rock! We have been working on this since about 4:00 pm on Friday. This shows about 30 along the front side of the pasture, can you see that speck of blue in the upper left corner? That's the barn, that we are working on too. We now have gone up the side to the barn on both sides to make a paddock area, and we are working our way backwards to the back property line. All the posts are set and level too! How 'bout that?

It's been freakin' cold here this weekend, too. I am pretty sure I lost the buds I would have gotten on my azalea's and one of the trees is looking pretty lame too. I think I was looking pretty lame yesterday myself. That darn "pan" was killing me too! But here are a couple of flower shots I got before the weather turned on us all:

Crabapple:


And Dogwood:


Ok so for the fiber front this weekend, there has been very little action. I have gotten this far on my Antique Lace:

And here is a close up with a different pillow for contrast:




Mel told me there were revisions to the pattern, so like a good knitter I went out and got those. In actuality though, my pattern was up to date. So, I lucked out! When I can actually sit down with it and knit it's been really fun and the Lady Godiva is definitely some good fiber crack, let me tell ya! Ok, so I'm off to make Easter dinner now - I hope you all are having a good holiday!

April Fool's Day -

Yes, and I am one of the fools that had to work this morning for inventory! So, this is going to be short as I am now a little behind at home -

I got it in my head to do some dyeing last weekend, and here are some of those results. The roving in the roaster with pink, blue and green dye:

Here is the BFL drying on the drying rack in my room- I am so very pleased with the way this turned out!

And here is the Romney-Corriedale cross fleece in the remaining dye bath.



I've already started combing this fleece and it's looking like it will be really pretty when it's spun up! It was a lot of fun to dye, and I am thinking about my next project, however, I really need to get a handle on the amount of works in progress I have going!

I bought this for the Anitque Lace wrap I showed you all last time. It is Lady Godivia in Ivory and it is gorgeous, and apparently the picture is huge, I keep trying to scale these down, but not having much success this morning! This is not a great shot, but my kitchen is a bit dark, as I missed the morning sun, since I was at WORK.