Fleecy Dreams and Stranger Things

For your spinning pleasure, I present the current fiber selections from The Pick of the Knitter. They are soft and fluffy and ready to be made into something warm and beautiful.

Blue Faced Leiscester "Citrus Splash"

Merino/Tencel " Cherry Cordial"Blue Faced Leiscester "Skye"Merino/ Tencel "Skye"BFL "Aster"Merino/Tencel "Aster"Finn Sheep "Jester"

Merino/ Tencel "Twisted Spinster"BFL "Twisted Spinster"Merino/Tencel "Rainbow Trout"
BFL "Rainbow Trout" (not pictured)
Merino / Silk "Blueberry Squishy"

Merino/Tencel "Primrose"Merino/Tencel "Autumn"
BFL "Autumn" (not pictured)

The Idles of March

Not bloody likely! I finished a custom spinning order this week and thought to take pictures of the process.

First the wool (superfine merino) was soaked to remove the suint, then washed in hot water with detergent to remove the lanolin and filth, then rinsed. After two days of soaking, there were still dry areas of the fleece, which shows how well the suint and lanolin protect the wool from damage and weather. A pain to scour, though.

Next it went out to dry and was also picked over to remove the worst of the dirt and bits of twigs. I combed this fiber to make a worsted yarn, to get out the rest of the bits of dirt, and to use the best parts of the fiber for the finished yarn. Here you can see the way the fiber is loaded on the stationary comb and the sweeping motion the moving comb makes to transfer the fibers from one to the other. This is what opens up and aligns the fibers. I use Valkyrie two pitch combs purchased from Carolina Homespun. When the fiber is all soft and fluffy, it is drawn through a diz to make a sliver. This makes the fiber into one piece of top of a manageable size. This diz was made by my spinning teacher's spinning teacher, Lila Sturges in Vista, CA.The sliver, ready to spin. It is mostly air at this point - soft, fluffy and squooshy.Using a hand spindle to spin the fibers into a singles. You can see how airy the sliver is. Later I took 2 singles and plied them together. This spindle is a Bosworth featherweight in Tulipwood from Journey Wheel. This spindle is available as part of the destashing project. More info below.The finished cop of singles on the spindle. I forgot to take plying pictures as it required two hands, my lap and the ball winder to manage it.

The finished 2 ply yarn! From about 25 gr of raw fiber I was able to make a 17 gr skein of about 48 yards. It is amazingly soft and fluffy, and bright white. I hope the client is as pleased as I am.

Destashing

The destashing project is still on. I have made a flickr folder of the available items. Please email me at sleepingfox16 at yahoo dot com for more information on individual items. The featherweight spindle above is $35.

Fiber, Fiber Everywhere

... and a wheel to spin it! I am happily vendor-ing here at the Association of Southern CA Handweavers convention (link on sidebar). There are lovely things to buy, beautiful clothing items from the fashion show, a gallery full of inspiring art items, and classes, classes, classes.

I have soap for smelling

And fiber for fondling

I will work on getting pictures of the new colorways up here on the blog today. Just drop me a comment if there is anythting that tickles your fancy!

Wolf? What Wolf? Door? What Door?

Howdy all! It has been another fine day in paradise. More or less. I had some good news (check came in!) some bad news (it's the last one!) some good news (there is money in savings to live on!) some bad news (my COBRA is going up!) some good news (I have an interview tomorrow!) and some mediocre news (it is in commission based sales!). I plan on spending the rest of my life on hold with the EDD to find out why my claim is suddenly toast. At the end of the day, disaster has been averted but I will be hustling my buns a little more. On Oreo! On Olive!

Come Smell Soap!
For your soap perusing pleasure, I keep a list of our upcoming events / shows / craft fairs running in the sidebar under "Come Smell Soap!" and I certainly invite one and all to come by and sniff around. The soap. Of course. I will do a little twiddling this evening to make sure everything is up to date. As we add them, I will also start listing our soap and fiber "outlets" in case you can't see us in person. The more, the merrier! Coming up in the near future are: the Riverside Arts Walk this Thursday, the ASCH conference this weekend (although exact details of my participation are still under construction), and KnitNight at Knit N Stitch on Friday. Need a special delivery? Send me an email or a comment and we can chat.

Honest to goodness knitting progress was made on an actual sock last night. I really needed some plain ol' stockinette in-the-round knitting last night, and this particular pair of socks has been on the needles (OTN) for .... a while now. I would like to have them done in time for A/C season here in the southland. However, I had to do some stash tossing in order to find said socks, and was impressed by the amount of yarn that I forgot I had. And knitting needles. And fiber. And a cross stitch pattern, just to mix it up. Which is a segue to.....

Destashing Alert!
I will be having a "stash liquidation" sale in the coming days. I expect there will be books, yarn, patterns, cross stitch kits, drop spindles, fleece, prepared wool and the odd spinning wheel in the offerings. All items will be in new (yarn, fiber) or gently used (spindles, tools) condition.

Well, duckies, I think that is all the knews that is fit to knit. Toodles!

Catching Up

Howdy All! Sorry that posts have been thin on the ground. I have had some motivation issues and didn't want to (leave the house) whine about it. Right now I am back in the world and sending out resumes. Woot! I also made it to another soap show this weekend (3 for 3 weekends) and am desperate to get into the one next weekend.

But sometimes I do get out. A smattering of pictures:

Snowdrops that I thought were toast

Picture of lace from the Winter Lace Conference.

Progress being made on That Scottish Stole. This is the knitted-on border.

Snap on Saturday

I found this unlikely sight in the garden last week. I didn't even know I was expecting!

High Octane

"What Valentine's Candy?"

It has been one heck of a week. When I come out from under my rock, I come OUT. I joined an online social networking site this week and have found some long lost friends. Suddenly I crave updates about everyone ("no phone calls, please"). I want to put my best face forward on the site (much like I try to do on the blog)(no, really) and focus on the happy positive things, but as I read about friends who have grown up, created careers, marriages, kids and everything else I am left feeling inadequate and sad-sad-sad. I feel left out and left behind. Can I grieve for the loss of the images I had of these friends as they were in high school? college? Are they putting their best face forward too?

Anyway.

I have been at the Winter Lace Conference this weekend and am having a good time. A spot opened up in the class I would have wanted to attend and I found myself winding bobbins until 1am last night. The project is well underway and going swimmingly. It is nice to visit with friends, but I was really ready for some quite time at the end of the day. The commute is a killer but worth it to relax with the furry family and bring the rabbit inside (it has been freezing the last few nights). I will take pictures of my lacy progress tomorrow when I have something to show!

I thought I had more, exciting news, but I was apparently deluding myself. Hope you all have a great V-Day / Black Saturday and stay warm and dry.

Soapy Valentine's Day!

The frost and snow from this past weekend nonwithstanding, it is time to announce our seasonal Valentine's Day soap! We have our cute little soapy "conversation hearts" ready in plenty of time for the big day. This year our two scents are Almond (white) and Vanilla-Cinnamon (pink). You can mix and match colors and sayings. The five messages are:

• Love
• Kiss Me
• Hugs
• I'm Yours
• Be Mine

How cute is that? We have made them in our fabulous goat's milk soap, so they make for a soft, creamy, dreamy time in the bath or shower. They are a generous 2 oz each and are $2.50 each (2 for $5)(plus tax) and I can deliver or ship to you.

For more information or to order, please drop me an email at sleepingfox16@yahoo.com or leave a comment on this post. Thank You! And whatever your V-day plans, I hope you have a fun and loving day. You can find me at the Winter Lace Conference in Costa Mesa, enjoying some bobbin lace and offering an excellent selection of soap, lotion and body wash.

Planned Obsolescence

All the pets seem to be running down at the same time. One cat is too skinny, one is too fat, one couldn't pee and exploded. Really. I woke up one morning to a soaking wet bed and soaking wet cat who was unable to move one leg. I changed the sheets, put him on a stack of towels (to much screaming), and he slept for 15 hours. He feels better now, but I hate it when he is sick. One dog has some suspicious lumps and I have had to scoop 3 fish in the last month. AND the rabbit got a piece of something in his eye and looked in a bad way for a day or two. Right now everyone (except skinny cat) is acting fine, but I have worried lo these many years about all the pets getting old and infirm at the same time. Sigh.

In the good news department, my application for extended unemployment was approved *and* I received a totally unexpected check in the mail which will cover my COBRA payment and electric bill for the month. Woot!

The dog(s) and I are still taking our long walks almost every day. I am up to an hour's worth of patience. Any more than that and I get snippy and they get dragged. Today we splurged and walked to the ice cream stand. The other night we wandered a new route through neighborhoods and an owl flew right over us. Today it was a pair of crows (a brace of corbies?).

Knitting progress is being made. I have finished the first skein of yarn on That Scottish Stole, and am dithering about whether to start a new skein or advertise on Ravelry to see if anyone has a partial skein in their stash that I can trade / barter for. In the meantime I have picked up the Mystery Stole 4 project and am halfway through clue 6. Then I put in waste yarn, set it aside, knit clues 1-5 again and then graft the two pieces together. I don't have enough yarn for this project (I wonder if I could dye the leftover gray-green to match the lovely deep blue? It is the same brand of yarn), so it may be going into a holding pattern in a few weeks too.

I made some pretty tasty pizza last night with homemade dough... I need to really practise my dough-smoothing-to-edge-of-pan abilities. I ended up with a 1" thick crust! I have also been making oven-dried tomatoes with the haul from the garden. The bounty just doesn't end. I have peppers, tomatoes, volunteer lettuces, and very happy basil.

Life is good most days... if only I could get up and do all the things that need doing instead of wishing they were done. Some days I start with a lot of energy and then it fades away. Some days I spend the whole day working up the nerve to get going and it is 4 pm before I leave the house. And this is when I am on my meds! It is not that I am lacking for things that need to get done. But tonight I am out and about.

Random Tuesday

Well, I am officially out from under my rock. Martha joined me (and Dozer) on our little hike, I went to quilting class, I made a yarn delivery, and now it is WOW:30. I even picked up my meds and will get back on schedule. Cat food is purchased, I remembered to shop for my 2009 dayplanner (they were sold out), and today is free coffee day at the coffeeshop.

It was especially nice to share my walk with a friend. The weather was beautiful, Dozer was on his best behavior and the time just sped by. No exciting wildlife sightings, but I did finally find my house off in the distance (well, the brown/green smudge of the trees over the house).

Knitting on That Scottish Stole is still progressing, albeit slowly. I am done with the first repeat of the last section. It feels good to make progress and it will feel great to have a finished object!

My homework for quilting is to assemble and attach the first portion of the binding. I will have to call the recipient and tell her to get that ticker-tape parade ready. Then I can work on the next section of my own quilt, and on Thursday it will be time to join The Ladies at The Church.

No Creative Title

Another quiet couple of days... I really need to get back on my meds. I did manage a 3 mile walk with Dozer this afternoon, now we are pooped. It is worth it, however, as all of this eating nothing but potatoes-cereal-bread-pancakes-french toast-rice-spaghetti is having an effect on my midline.

I am sick unto death of "news" about the inauguration. Race apparently did matter in the election (which we all knew but no one would admit), since every.single.news.item for the last 2 weeks has been about the fact that it is a black person being inaugurated. I am so over it.

Laugh Riot

I have been entertained no end by this site for the last several days: Disapproving Rabbits. I am a simple woman with simple needs.

And my dutch rabbit was totally adorable today - he was the centerpiece and one guinea pig was snuggled up on each side, like fat little commas. The outside rabbit just wishes the temperature would go back down below 70.

Communing With Nature

A good morning. Dozer and I had a nice walk up the mountain this weekend. And by "up", I mean that we made it about halfway and then had a nice long sit down in the sun. I startled a rabbit, we saw lizards and hawks, got buzzed by hummingbirds and inspected by sparrows. I go sight-seeing and he goes sniff-smelling. I end up seeing more interesting things when I am waiting for him to finish smelling things than when I am walking and looking. Go figure. I should have gotten a picture of him grazing on the new grass... he was truly a "sheep dog" today. It is also good for my self esteem when he chooses to lay next to me instead of trotting at the end of his 15 ft lead. But I also like it when he is confident enough to wander off.

The info about the dairy was in one of the Hawai'i guide books at the condo. You know how words like "goat" and "yarn" jump right out at me. That same day we also went to the winery and to the Maui Cattle Co for lunch. mmmm.

I am thinking of going to see a bargain show of "Quantum of Solace" before it leaves the big screen, and also of spending more time at the local dive bar. It is cheaper to stay home, but maybe if I do something with my face and wear a cute shirt someone will buy me a beer. Some days I really miss being in a relationship and then I come to my senses. Maybe when everything is done off of the knitting "to do" list.

Mem'ries...

I realized the other day that, even though I have been back for 14 months now, I should post some of the rest of the pictures from my trip to Maui. We spent one afternoon at the Surfing Goat Dairy. We went on the evening milking tour and got to bring the goats in from the field, watch them being milked (and help, but only a little), and do a little feeding. It was the best time.

We admired goats...We admired the goat-keeper and they wanted him to hurry up and open the gate, already!
Random children (and grownups, not pictured) flung hay at the newest crop of goat kids...
And that's the end!

Eye Candy Wednesday

The halloween socks are done! Cherry Tree Hill yarn in the colorway "African Grey". Which is, of course, a myster becasue african greys are grey and red birds. I still love the colorway with the black, orange, pink and purple stripes. Very sunset-ty.The Fair Isle mittens I made in December. They actually match the hat I made the week before, which was absent at photo-shoot time. They are nice and cuddly, but it has been far, far too warm to wear them since they were completed. The yarn came from the stash, it was bought with a gift certificate *and* was 70% off, and there is plenty left for matching socks. The gray yarn really looks blue now that they are done.Here is the fancy pants little crow basket that I received for a holiday present from my aunt and uncle in Washington. Not pictured are the cookies that came with it :) This is the third year running I have received a gift with a crow and stars and I must say I truly love all of them.

Here is the 9 patch quilt with white sashing that I have been working off and on this year. When it is done it will be 6 squares by 9 squares. I have run out of white, so it is on hold for the time being.

So I have been keeping busy as you can see. I finished the second third of That Scottish Shawl last night and picked up the stitches for the other side. It was a little challenging but I am well on my way now. I read ahead to the instructions for the knitted on border and started to get a cramp, so I will leave that until the time is right. I have been knitting-monogamous to that project and I have learned two things: if you knit it, it will grow; and geez, these things take a long time!

Tess Interacts

A tesseract is a cube in four dimensions, I learned back in my sci-fi days. Hard to describe, impossible to draw, but a masterwork of things existing in the same space as themselves. So it has gone this week in entertainment-ville.

I rented "Tess" last week on a whim (the 1980 version by Roman Polanski, starring Natassja Kinski) and it was superb. Bang on the people, the land and the garb (I haven't read the book) of Hardys 19th cen Wessex (I have read his other books). I kept thinking, why didn't I see ads for this on the telly? Well, it is because it was made 30 years ago! In fact, Sharon Tate was supposed to be Tess... and we all know what happened to her. Anyway, it was a period film where no influence from the outside world filtered in... timeless.

But that isn't the funny thing. The funny thing is that the next night, when I went to re-watch it, PBS was showing... "Tess of the d'Urbervilles". Their version seems to be in 3 or 4 2-hour parts ("Tess" is 3 hours), and it is shot-for-shot, word-for-word, costume-for-costume, nearly identical to the Polanski version. It is dead uncanny. The only bad bit is only one of the cast is using the correct accent. Either the book only has 29 lines, all of which show up in both versions, or someone was making a miniseries in "tribute" to the film.

Either way, it has been a Hardy-har-har weekend. I feel the urge to pick up "The Return of the Native" again.

Movin' Right Along

This is the second day running that Dozer and I have gone up Mt. Rubidoux. We have been moseying and enjoying ourselves, and today I sat on a comfy rock and just stared at nothing. It is super windy again today, but warm instead of the icy chill of yesterday. It was so nice to hear nothing but the wind rushing through the trees and various windchimes. Voices, car noise, everything was whipped away.

Not much knitting, but I did get out the sewing machine and work on quilt piecing last night while listening to weekend shows on NPR. I need to suck it up and go get more of the sashing material so I can finish it, which should only take a couple evenings' work. I also need to finish hand-quilting the little quilt before it gets any warmer at night!

I think I will spend some time later today raking the 800,000 leaves in the backyard. It would be nice to sit out there with the dogs and the bun and the sun. I have a simple life these days and don't wish for anything more. Yesterday's big accomplishment was making bread and having ice cream with raspberry preserves (highly recommended, by the way).

Home Again, Home Again

Well, we are all done jury-ing. We decided "not guilty" and told the defendant that we would be ticked off if we see her on "Cops" next week. The lesson here - do not be confrontational to your neighbors. If you must be, then install a cctv to watch the yard.

The ladies finished the quilt this morning; I will have to go to Julie's to see how it came out.

Not much to report today - maybe I will take the dogs for a long walk around sunset. It sure is nice and warm today.

I Swear

I finally drew the short (?) straw and am on a jury. It goes a lot slower than "Law & Order", let me tell you. But the coffee is hot, sweet and free and the lunch break was long enough to let me go home and open a package of holiday cookies that came in the mail today *yum* and take Dozer dog for walkies. And who doesn't love $15 / day?

I brought my smallest, dullest nonmetallic tatting shuttle and worked on a bit of lace edging I have been chipping away at over the year. I am calling it done; it can be fudged into a circle (and I ran out of bobbin thread). The last time I picked it up, I realized I had forgotten what I was doing, but when I dragged it out last night I cracked open some tatting books and finally remembered how to handle the ball and shuttle method *whew* I also brought my current book, Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais. It is not a great choice for light reading in fits and starts. Tomorrow is all about the late start. I think I will be able to squeeze in 10 minutes to tell the quilting ladies that I can't attend. It stinks, because we were going to finish up the last bit of Christie's quilt and take it off the bars. I was going to get pictures! Oh well, I will ask them to deliver it to Julia so we can put the binding on. Maybe I will even leave them the camera.

PBS has been running episodes of a show on Appalachians (sp?) and I recommend it to everyone. I stopped for the music and stayed for the people, the history and the life. And more music. Maybe this weekend I will work on getting the turntable up and going and paw thru the Bill Monroe records I got from Grandpa's collection.

Sproing!

I think that southern California needs another season: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Sproing, and Winter. Those late-in-the-year rains make for some surprising additions to the garden in December...I had forgotten that there were even bulbs planted there (the gardeners whacked them this spring), but it was a pleasant surprise. I love to look at paperwhites, although I think they smell like ant spray. I think the snowdrops may have gone to the big flower field in the sky, however.

I should have remembered to take a picture of my parrot after our shower. She looked like a drowned rat. It has taken a few days, but she will finally come under the water for her bath. She also tries to "help" brush hair and teeth. Geez.

Progress (but not photo-ing) on That Scottish Stole continues apace. I am nearly done with the second third. Then I flip it around, take out the provisional cast on, knit the third third, and add the border. Each repeat of the end motif takes about 8 hours of hard knitting, leaving me a good 30 knitting hours before the border.

I am slowly emerging from my shell. Dozer and I walked up Mt. Rubidoux the other day and it was fun and pretty. We were up higher than the red-tailed hawks (but I think they were slumming). It is always entertaining to see how people do or do not control their dogs on a walk. No people or loose dogs? He can have 10 feet of lead. People, dogs, bikers, squirrels? He gets 6 inches of lead on the far side of the distraction and we *never* stop walking. Then a pat on the head. Particularly amusing / annoying was the woman with a pit bull who would stop her dog to "soothe" it whenever another dog came up... effectively rewarding it with a rest, pettings, and entertainment.

Anyway, I hope to get out even more soon.

Today's Picks

Coffee Place: The Coffee Depot (Plaza Location) - best employees ever. It's good to be a regular.

Movie: "Tipping the Velvet". Victorian lesbians and oysters. 'Nuff said.

Food Show: "Simply Ming". Do I even look at the food? I do. And it looks great too. Xi xi, Ming!

Appliance: The Breadmaker. Again, why did I wait so long to try it out? That reminds me, I have to buy flour this week.

Errand: Pay Rent.

Adventure: Call in tonight on my jury duty notice. Wheeee!

Peeping Out

I have been happily cocooned up in the house for the last few weeks. Not so happily, I am still 3,600+ emails behind and can't get Yahoo to work on my computer anymore. Fun. There has been some knitting, but not on the "responsible" projects.

Alrighty, time for soup and toast. MMMM.

6-6 Degrees of Separation

Tien started it! Here is what a quick peek through my photo albums came up with. Not thrilling, not death-defying, but just adorable. This is Sunny, one of my two dogs. She is going on 13 nowadays. It just doesn't seem like I have had her for 11 years. I got her from the pound when I moved into my current house in order to be a companion for the dog I already had. I have never figured out what breed she might be... my best guess is a chihuahua / cocker spaniel cross. Then when Sophie was smushed by a car, Sunny and I had to strike up a relationship of our own. She is a sweet dog, too shy, who tries not to upset anyone and usually ends up directly in the middle of everything in the most annoying way. We share that quality. She also enjoys being the dog park police, barking at any dog who is having any fun at all.

Under the Covers

And happy to stay there for quite a bit longer. The other option is going to the local dive bar and getting smashed. And there I won't get any knitting done. Not that I got any knitting done at home anyway.

Sigh.

There are days when the pets are just not the right kind of company. Especially days like today when they were soaking wet. Ugh.

Sitting Pretty

A cat and his balls...Well, it is the dog's ball, really. But Galen seems pretty possessive of it right now. Another beautiful fall day here in River City. Warm, sunny, breezy and dry as all-get-out. I could get used to this...

Washcloth knitting continues. Law & Order watching continues. I have been throwing in some dishwashing and laundry to liven things up, and am generally pretty content at home. Especially since I went to the grocery store. Woman can live on cheerios alone, it seems.

Tonight will bring a trip by the knitting shop, a trip to yoga, and perhaps some soap making and fiber dyeing. Soap makes me happy.

Would You Like...

...to smell some soap? This weekend I was at a craft show in Murrieta. You can see that I had a nice spot and plenty of soap for the masses. On Saturday I even set up the computer and played "White Christmas" for everyone's entertainment. Coupled with kettle corn and good company, it made for a fine day.I recommended that everyone "otter" buy some soap ...And I made sure there were lots of washcloths available to wipe up afterward. This is what I have been doing with my knitting time for the last few weeks. I am knitting like the wind. I can hardly wait for January when I will be all caught up and can go back to work on something complicated and lacy.

Tunnelling

So I was cleaning cages the other day and what did I find? Steve McQueen has been working on a tunnel. Geez. Actually it is a rusted-out area of the bottom of the pen, but it was the first thing I thought of when I saw it. It has since been blocked and his escape thwarted.

As for me, I spent most of the long weekend (still can't get used to not having a regular job) hiding in my room, watching tv and not knitting. There was eating, too. Lots of that. But more or less I was hiding, depressed and grouchy for 4 days. There was a little ray of light that was Saturday's soap show, but it was short lived. Sunday afternoon I decided I was tired of lousing about and did some general tidying. It perked me right up!

Things are better this week. I have been out of the house - knitting even! Today was a soap show in the late morning and yoga work in the afternoon. I am hoping to make soap this evening, or go to quilting, or maybe stay home and knit. I have a backlog of holiday orders to get finished. There are two new Netflix at home, so I will have something to keep me occupied while I knit. I am getting a bit weary of tv (!) and it may be time to cancel the Netflix subscription in the interest of cutting back expenses. I am also thinking about a major craft destash.

So all in all things have been quiet. Sorry for the lack of pictures. The knitting doesn't seem all that exciting in the big picture - just washcloth after washcloth. I did finish the first sleeve of the gray sweater and am churning through the second... but then I ran out of yarn of the correct grist (size). Sigh. More spinning in my future. Luckily I enjoy spinning.

Hope all is well with y'all!

Reading, Not Writing

This weekend was the boutique at Knit N Stitch. Soap sales occurred (thanks!), washcloths were knit, sunburn was avoided, and no nick nacks were acquired. Sunday I had a lazy day at home playing with my new toy (the tv converter box I finally installed) and cooking. Things went great until the headache, nasuea and intestinal distress all hit at the same time (during the pilot of "24" of all things) and I spent the night curled up on the bathroom floor. I felt better (except for the nightmare headache) this morning, but my tum is a little tender. I managed to go to CVS first thing to buy a lot of Tylenol. But enough about me.

I have become enchanted with opinionated blogs. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't, but I am impressed by some people's ability to gish out invective. And dish it out too. I just don't have that many strong opinions, don't want to hurt people's feelings and don't want them to stop liking me, so softspoken and boring I will remain.

Washcloth knitting is continuing - they are popular with soap patrons so I must stay in the sweatshop. I picked up the grey sweater this morning and worked on it a bit.

And Blogger ate the last half hour of this post. Dammit.

Knit knit knit KNIT knit knit

I am still in washcloth heaven. It is a comforting place to be. That said, I managed to put in half a row on the gray sweater (!) and spun 2 oz of yak/silk yesterday. Having no electrics at the house was a real motivator to spend the day at Knit N Stitch. Speaking of which, don't forget to swing by on Friday and Saturday for their Handmade Gifts Boutique and Open House. There will be vendors (soap!) and snacks. They have a new yarn line or two which are quite nice.

The house is real pretty by candlelight. I found all the oil / hurricane lamps and refilled the tealights. I had plenty of light to read and knit by and loved the rustic-ness of carrying around my light source. Except for when I stepped on the dog, who got up after I shifted my weight forward onto him and I fell on my buns. Dogs are slippery. I was in bed with lights out (see what I did there?) by 9:30 which was a pleasant change from 1:30.

This morning I took a cold shower before I realized there was nothing wrong with the water heater. Duh. I saved a lot of water though. Yes, I paid the bill yesterday. Yes, everything will be back on today. Really all I must have electric for is the fridge and the fishtank. Living without a fridge really sucks. I've done it.

But anyway. I am happily at the coffee shop working and blogging. It is a beautiful day, I am clean and dressed, I watered the garden. The bell pepper plant is covered in blossoms - what is up with that? I should start looking for a sale on swiss chard, spinach and broccoli plants for the winter garden. The tomato is still bearing, although the fruits are pretty small. I have fallen wayyyy behind on grooming in that department. They say these 90 degree days will be at an end soon. I like the heat, but geez it is November!

Is it safe to come out yet?

I did nothing Friday and not a whole lot else earlier in the week. It was a sad, annoyed, restive week. Blah. I did eat a vast quantity of off-brand cheerios and spend an embarassingly long time reading the archives of my new favorite blog, Well Done Fillet. I have a burning desire to visit Belfast now.

Today I made soap until the battery in the scale ran out. That is a lot of soap! Plus, I learned that 2 minutes is not the same as 20 seconds and that burnt soap smells revolting. I was glued to the channel 11 coverage of the inferno here in SoCal... I hope the 91 is open again by the time I need to drive on it (tomorrow morning). It totally sucks that so. many. people. have lost their homes (500 in one mobile home park alone), but dudes... if you are going to build them that close together, in the middle of nowhere... And why have people not yet stocked up on that cool gel stuff that you spray on your house? And the last observation: arson isn't funny.

I think I will stay perky for a little while. I hope so, anyway. And don't let me forget to buy dog food before I go home. I forgot cat food earlier in the week and that wasn't pretty.

That Elusive Thing

Some of us don't even get to feel it, share it at all. Why limit the few who find it? 'Nuff said.

Woolies

I managed to get the sun, the camera, the battery, the cord and the computer all together this week and now present the new woolies... all looking for new homes. Drop me a line for quantity and prices.

Convert

Well, I have taken a running leap and jumped on the washcloth bandwagon. I hope they don't ask to see my ticket. After years (years!) of pooh-poohing washcloths and their knitters, I finally made one up, pretty much on a dare. I was nonplussed. Then I used it. I wanted to spend the rest of my life washing my face. So soft! So gently scrubby! So adorable! So little lint! And the Soap Plantation Honey soap did not hurt :) I am now a washcloth knitting machine... at knit night, at craft day, at the shrink, at traffic lights.

I have been selling my soap and fiber heart out the last two weekends, and plan to continue the same for the rest of the year. The new fiber colorways came out *gorgeous* and I have a few left (pictures soon). All the best scents of soap are back in stock and as lovely as always. We offered a new blend - Almond Joy - which is already sold out. However, the new Organic Soap is still in stock. It would make a lovely gift if presented with an organic cotton washcloth (hint hint). Upcoming shows are in the sidebar (as always) and I will work on booking more events as soon as this post is posted.

Mish Mash

I should have known that as soon as I started wool socks and wool mitts that it would get hot again. I took pictures this morning but have to charge the camera battery before I upload them. It is always something!

Martha from knitting brought back a fox tea cosy and a sheep (black of course) wine cosy from Scotland. The website for the artist is here and her work is just spectacular. I don't read Finnish, but I sent an email in English asking about US distributors. Maybe we will get lucky.

Francesca finished her cashmere sweater and it is gorgeous. If I rememer right, she held 3 strands of laceweight together. It gives me hope that I can make something similar someday.

I am still working on the Halloween socks - number one is most of the way through the leg. It is a nice quick stockinette "plain vanilla" sock. I started a pair of mitts last night (I don't know if they will be gloves, mittens, or fingerless mitts) in some leftover sock yarn. It is loud but wears like iron, being a wool/mohair/nylon blend (Schaeffer "Anne"). I am trying out some new needles - DPNs in Ebony from Blue Ridge. They are brand new and Knit N Stitch and I love them beyond reason. They are very pointy, slightly flexible (unlike birch) but not too flexible (all my bamboo ones make smiley faces now) and super smooth (also unlike bamboo, which splinters), but not as slippery as metal ones. The 5 1/2 inch length is perfect - 6 rubs on my palms and 5 is just too short for me. At the moment the only drawback is that I am knitting with black yarn on black needles, but that is user error!

I made it to yoga this morning and am about to go into a workshop on using Iyengar wall ropes. It might be beyond my ken, but the instructor says I should give it a whirl.

Back in the World

Presenting the Tea Towels! They are all woven with a handspun weft, using 100% cotton. These are the final 4 and each one is unique. They are all preshrunk and measure around 8" x 30". $25 each or two for $45. Please email for availability to sleepingfox16 at yahoo dot com. Teapot not included :) White with Blue Twill Border

Pink Twill

Green Stripe

Blue Stripe.

Today I joined "The Ladies" at quiliting and we got Christie's quilt up and running. I need to learn how to do the actual quilting before I can help, but I did finish pinning my little "Elements" quilt together along the stitching lines so I can machine quilt it. I also found sashing and backing fabric for the two 9 patch quilts that are in progress.

I have been knitting along on the Halloween socks and am well into the leg of sock 1. All other knitting is still languishing, but I look at it affectionately. The Halloween socks have the advantage of being plain stockinette, which makes them good travel / therapist appointment knitting.

Spinning continues on the gray cormo. I have been using it to practice my long draw / semi woolen technique. Since the Millie has a delta orifice, I have to use one hand as the "point" of the spindle and the other does the drafting. It makes more sense when you see it. It is time to pluck Olive (the angora bunny) again. He finally looks like a properly fuzzy bun - no big mats or areas which are half grown next to areas which are plucked bare. I had better get on it before it gets any colder, so his winter coat can grow in.

Steve McQueen is still the chubbiest mouse in town. He knows that if he puts all 4 feet on my hand he gets taken out, and then we have a nice little snuggle. One day he got to run around in the bathtub.

That's all the news that is fit to print! I updated the schedule and the blogroll over in the sidebar. Be sure to check it out!

House Arrest

I got up yesterday at 7 to the sounds of a sledgehammer on concrete. The neighbor is having her walkway replaced. This is fine. The concrete truck blocking me in my driveway until 2 was not so fine. While I waited to leave the house I pieced a whole slew of 9 patches for my quilt (and discovered I need to buy more fabric for the sashing) and listened to many people rant on NPR. I really like piecing squares and sewing straight lines. It goes so much faster than spinning and weaving! In the afternoon, the other neighbor took her turn blocking my car in, so I had to walk to the yoga studio to run an errand. The dogs made the trip with me and enjoyed it thoroughly.

I am also re-sleying the loom for a dimity pattern (in white). I finished another tea towel and realized I was totally ready to see what was on the cloth beam. 9 towels were edged, washed, dried and readied for sale on Thursday. Two are already off to a new home (Scott, I held yours back, not to worry). As there is still warp on the loom and I received my new Handwoven the other day, I am rethreading /resleying for something new - a pattern with texture in the warp pattern. It is a pain in the ass (PIA) but I suppose it is good practice for something.

Las Vegas Faire was fun, but I always forget how much damn work it is to work for 30 hours in 3 days, plus the 10 hour drive. The parrow show guy has motivated me to play with the birds more, I didn't pick up anything or anybody contagious, and I earned about half my rent money for next month. Wheee!

Knitting is lacadaisical: the halloween socks are my waiting-for-the-train knitting; the stripey socks (which have gone through about 20 name changes) are for knitting in the shop; the Preppy scarf is ambling along; MS4 is still on clue 4 (although I did work on it last night); Mirepoix is still on hold due to the sleeve issue. I haven't started many new things, but am not finishing anything very fast.

All in all, things are quiet here at the homestead and I am not feeling sad or lonely.

Smothering in Wool

Today I was moseying around the house and said - There is a box. I bet it has wool in it. I wonder what it is. My pretties, it was an entire sheep that I forgot about. A finewool fleece ("Jamocha") I had processed by Morro Fleece Works and split into light and dark sections. I don't even remember how long ago that was. It is a lovely fleece and I am glad it has floated to the top of the pile. But I think I may have plenty of wool now. I think I will be spinning tonight at Knit Night instead of knitting.

Things have improved since yesterday, which was just a down day. Today is happy and perky and lovely; almost-crisp and cool. Back at my alma mater (Smith) it was Mountain Day - a free day in the fall where we could enjoy one of the last perfect fall days. One year I went with Etta and her geology class and climbed Mt. Monadanoc in Vermont. That is the fun thing about going to school back east - it is easy to visit other states on a lark. I went back once to visit a friend in MA and ended up driving to New Hampshire before I found a drugstore / grocery.

There is no new knitting progress to report. Everything is in limbo. I did print clue 5 for the Mystery Stole, but I have not even started clue 4 yet. It will happen eventually. There are only 6 clues, so maybe I am extending the lace love subconciously. *snrk* I will make an effort to photograph the fleece picking process before I pack up the box to Wooly Knob, and to take some painfully boring spinning progress photos.

Let's Just Pile it All On, Shall We?

Well. It is one of those days. Mercury is Retrograde (will Oct 15th ever get here?), the Moon is void-of-course for the rest of today and most of tomorrow. Everything I have touched this week has picked today to fall to pieces. Sigh. I am really ready to hide under the covers, but on Tuesday I pretty much used up my allotment of laziness for the week. I was on a rocky road ice cream drip this morning, which did help a little.

Knitting on MS4 is suspended until I cease to be an idiot or until I make an offering to the YO fairy. Every time I end a lace row, I realize that I have lost at least one yarnover... somewhere. It should not take an hour to knit 116 stitches. I have been doodling along on the "Preppy" scarf. That is the one that is burgundy, navy and hunter was nameless the last time I posted about it. It makes good mindless knitting.

I kind of feel like I should be storing acorns for the winter. I have a credit at Wooly Knob and some fleeces that need processing, so I will send them off and get them back in the spring (or maybe next week), and getting wool in the mail is just as delightful to me as finding a long lost acorn is to Mr. Squirrel.

OH! The alpaca scarf made it to the mystery destination and the recipient is pleased. Whew.

Freezing Summer Days

It might be time to go back home - I can tell because the a/c in buildings is making my fingers umbjh. Numb. It has been hot and humid this week, but in general I think it might be time to go in the closet and fluff up my down duvet for the winter. Not quite yet, though. The bunnies still need frozen water bottles in the afternoon and the mouse has taken to sleeping outside his hut. It must be too well insulated in there.

Not a lot of knitting progress to report - about 4 rows on MS4 (and I am still not on clue 4). I doodled around with some leftover sock yarn in an effort to use it up, but was not pleased with the 2 or 3 things I tried. Ho Hum.

I have been feeling fine, but you all forgot to remind me that I am not allowed to watch "Sex and the City" yet... I was in tears by the middle of the episode last night. I can't stand to listen to them talk about relationship woes (and joys). Seperately (but related) I realized last week that what I want, what I have been waiting for - without even realizing it - is an apology from Mr. Fixit. I know I am not going to get it but I feel a bit better for identifying the thorn.

No big achievements this weekend and no big plans next week... but next weekend is the first of the yoga teacher training program. Wheee!

The Day After

Well, I think the interview went fine. It was with a placement agency (temp company), so who knows what will be in my future. I think I conviced my "account executive" to come to yoga though

The baristina at the coffeeshop is wearing a Megatokyo tee shirt today and was floored that I recognized it. That's me, spreading the love.

Delivery of the Southwest Sweater was successfully accomplished last night! I was rewarded by getting to play with 4 6-week old siamese kittens. They were adorable. None of my cats came to me that young, so it was interesting. Although now that I think of it I fostered 3 kittens about that age for a while about 8 years ago. I have Freddy Mercury all picked out and to take home, but I need Mandy approval. And I should probably not mess with the pet equilibrium that I have right now.

Now that the sweater is done, I have the urge to knit (finish) one (or two) for myself. The button salesman came to Knit N Stitch and now I want to find a cardigan pattern to make. I was wandering around Ravelry and I am sure I will find one somewhere :) I will have to get spinning for the yarn.

I printed Clue 4 for the Mystery Stole 4 project, but am still only halfway through Clue 3. The beads are off the charts for the moment, but lace part of the pattern just got very detailed and it requires my full attention. Last night I only knit one row because I spent an hour chasing down one missing stitch (I dropped a YO, but I found it eventually). I still don't know what it is, but I adore the color, the yarn and the pattern so far.

It is a sunny day, I had some breakfast, I checked in the yoga class - my favorite part of my work there - and said Good Morning to everyone, and got a coffee at the Depot. This afternoon I have lace class and tonight I am taking myself out on a date to the Bluegrass Night at the (big) Coffee Depot downtown.

I have been putting a little effort and energy into my spritual practice again this week and it has made me pretty happy and confident. It could be the placebo effect, but I will take it!

Ironing Day

I have an interview this afternoon. It is with a temp company, so I am not sure how it will all turn out. My friend put things in perspective - worst case, I get interviewing practice; best case I find a happy job at a good price.

Holding Steady

Today was a lovely day. I got up early, cooked and went to the knitting store on time. My student was a fantastically quick study and she was spinning away within an hour. Then I did some puttering, some working, some WOW playing, some more knitting, some yogaing and now some coffeeshopping with a raspberry scone and some white flower tea. This is the life.

Hot Feet! Hot Feet!

Just for you I trekked outside to the car and retrieved the camera, although I suppose it is really for me so that you don't stop loving me :) It managed to migrate out of the laptop bag and into the knitting bag.

Here is the Alpaca scarf in all its squishy glory:

And here is how much yarn was left over after I worked in the ends:I think that might be a knitting record. I know it is a personal best. The scarf is short, but very, very warm and very, very squishy. I just loved to pat it. It is now in a box winging its way to a mystery location. *bwahahah*

Here is the new scarf. It is actually longer than this now, and coming along nicely. I made it a little narrower than the alpaca one, so I should get more length (I also had 77 more yards in this skein). I spun the colors in little "puffs" in order by color, so it is making stripes that are more or less orderly. The colors are burgundy, hunter green and navy blue which were all the rage a few years ago when I was in college. I feel like there is a good name for this scarf right on the tip of my tongue, but it just won't come out. Yuppie? Trendy? Smithie? New Englandy? Help is appreciated.

That is all the knitting news that is fit to print. My only big adventures today were returning my overdue library books and paying the overdue light and gas bills.

Mon-duh

This weekend (well, yesterday) I knit a scarf out of that fluffy alpaca yarn I made a few weeks ago. There were 200 yards and I worked it up in a "mistake rib" pattern. It came out very handsomely, and I will have absolutely no yarn left over after I weave in the 2" yarn ends at the start and finish points. It is a little bit short, and I should not have widened it after all, but it is warm and soft and will make a nice neck warmer. I put the finished scarf in the car. I put the camera in the car. I put the laptop in the car. And yet, at no point have I taken a picture of the scarf to upload.

That is about the extent of my knitting progress this weekend. Actually, that is the extent of all my activities on Sunday. Just me, the scarf and "The Two Towers". The scarf came out so well that I think I will make another out of the blue / green / burgundy wool I spun up about the same time as the gray. Now I know why people "gift knit"; to get rid of the yarn that they don't want for themselves, but will find a good home elsewhere.

I am still on a "finishing" kick -- I need to block Mandy's sweater, make a decision on the sleeves for the "Mirepoix Bodice", finish spinning the gray wool for the "Aud" sweater (betcha thought I forgot about that one!) and I will be pretty well caught up on the sweaters-in-progress. Maybe I will delve back into stole-land afterward.

About yesterday's mini post: I figured out how to log into the blog from my cell phone. I can make a title and give it tags, but there is nowhere at all to write the body of the post. Sigh. I was able to approve comments, so keep 'em coming!

phoney

Superwoman

Mandy's sweater is done, done, done. 'Nuff said.Here is the finished yarn from the Red Fish roving I was working on last week. It is chain (Navajo) plied to keep the colors in some semblance of order. It is a 50 / 50 Merino and silk blend, and I got 277 yards from 4oz. (There is a better link to Redfish / the Weaver's Cottage here.)

Coming up soon on the parade of roving is this merino / soysilk blend from Louet (which I purchased from The Dizzy Ewe). It comes out as a rainbow if I chain ply it... I just have to decide how long I want the repeats to be. I have 8 oz... maybe enough for a tank top?When I was at Knit N Stitch yesterday (for 20 minutes, to seam the sweater), a man called about his sheep's fleece. Today I wandered by and met these fine fellows (fellines?) They are mystery sheep (I suspect the dark one is a suffolk and she is 9 months old), but very cute. The little lamb is just a couple weeks old and is a ram. The white mystery sheep is his mother and the one who was shorn. It is actually a darn nice finewool fleece. They were very friendly (well, not the lamb) and quite soft (well, not the lamb).

I have been making progress on the MS4 project. Here it is completed through the end of clue 2. I am about halfway through clue 3 and I am beginning to think the lacy things in the center are seahorses. On the other hand, I still don't even know which way is up. One of the Mystery Stoles (#2) was a geometric pattern, so this may end up being "nothing" at all. I still love it with a burning passion.

I am also working on the Mirepoix bodice. I am nearly done with the sleeves (working 2 on one circ) but am having a size issue... the sleeve cap is already at the recommended length and I have 10 rows to go to get the right number of stitches to cast off. Sigh.

Things perked up around Friday afternoon and I have been more or less chipper since. I have heard from several people that last week was just full of molasses. And Mercury doesn't even go retrograde until next Wednesday. SIGH.

Bring Chocolate

It never feels like I have been away long, and then I look at the date of the last post. Yikes! I have been keeping somewhat busy in the meantime...

Mandy's sweater needs only the second half of the second sleeve seamed in. I tried it on the other day and my head fit through the proper opening, so that is a huge relief. Everybody pray for a cold spell so she can wear it! There is one skein of the yarn left over, so I might be talked into making a matching hat, but no one should hold their breath. It might go on the "for sale" area of Ravelry.

I took pictures yesterday of the finished Red Fish yarn and the MS4 project, but managed to leave the camera in my knitting bag, so no pictures on today's post. Tomorrow for sure. I am done through clue 2. Clue 3 will be released in the morning. Today I actually picked up and worked on the Mirepoix bodice project that has been in a holding pattern. Since I am so close to done with the purple sweater, I am rewarding myself with work on a sweater for me. OOOH, that link is to a knit-a-long. I will have to join!

While I was looking for some stash wool to spin on the wheel (now that the Red Fish roving is done), I found some dyed BFL that was gifted to me but is not a colorway that I would have picked out. I decided to spin it anyway (maybe I could re-gift the yarn) when I realized this would be a good yarn with which to practice my long-draw technique. So I watched "Born Into Brothels" and argued with the roving. By the end, we were reaching a truce. I think if I keep practicing, I will keep getting better. Funny how that happens.

Lucky the Mouse is still doing well. I feed him by hand to keep him tame - it works for the guinea pigs and the rabbit. In fact, they go a little nuts if I walk past or open the fridge without giving them something. I have to watch my fingers when I give them banana. They go, well, bananas. They drew the line at mushrooms, though.

Even though I am putting together a happy post, I have been feeling rather low these last few days. My cooking-cleaning-laundry-gardening phase seems to have ebbed away and I am left with restlessness mixed with lack of motivation. The only useful things are that I am still making it to all my appointments / committments (the ones that don't slip my mind, at least) and working on projects in progress, not starting new ones (except for spinning through the stash, but that is ongoing and keeps me from buying new yarn). I have been getting up late and getting started with my workday late (such as it is) and feeling like I am slogging through mud at the same time. I have also been sad about lost relationsips and such... but am not willing to go looking for another one. When we were in resting pose at yoga last night I imagined meeting someone new and immediately felt anxious. Heart pounding, can't breathe, freaking out and running away anxious. So I backed off that little exercise.

I am sure that I will be on an upswing soon, but it would be nice to know when. It was about this same time last year that things started to fall apart mentally, emotionally, and ultimately relationship-ly with Mr. Fixit, so I don't know if the season change is what makes me sad, or what. I love fall, so it was (is) particulary odd that I have felt so unbalanced at this time for the last 2 years.

I will keep knitting.