Spin-Out, First Friday, and More B's Eye View

We ended up packing it in Friday from the Smoky Valley Rally. Saturday and Sunday ended up nice, but the rain didn't stop or the sky didn't clear up on Friday. When we were on our way home from Clinton at 11 PM the highway near us was wet. We would have lost all our soaps to the damp. Oh well! Next year!

There is a little street fair each First Friday night of the months in summer, from 6-9PM in Clinton. They have a little antiques district that they rope off so people can wander the street. The shops set out tables, and it is free for anyone to set up a table to sell stuff. There are snow cones and horse-cart rides. This month was slow... there was a local HS graduation and 2 other large, local softball games. But it was a relaxed atmosphere, quite fun.

So we set up a table and dress dummy with our felted stuff and yarns and handbags, and hung out for 3 hours. Friday alsohappened to be Spin Out day, so I threw together an emergency spindle out of a shaft that was down in the supply box, some masking tape as a grommet, and a purple stone whorl I bought online that "accidentally" came to Des' house. We opened one of the batts that Diantha had wrapped up to sell and took turns spinning. Incidentally, I also "dropped" the spindle about 5 times, making not actual chips but chip marks in the side of the lovely stone whorl. Dangit.

I kept asking people who walked by, "See what I am doing? I am turning this sheep wool into yarn!" Then they would stop and feel it, look at it, look at our handspuns, and ask questions. Some of the older people said, "I remember my grandma doing this on a spinning wheel? Is that almost the same thing?" Yes, it is *almost* the same. Drop spindling is not as fast, but useful nonetheless.

The bags you see hanging around behind Des and I in these pics are available in her Etsy Shop.

We got new carded batts and new handspuns listed in Diantha's shop today. Working on my shop tomorrow!

Des, my oldest darling daughter and camera sniper extraordinaire, got this pic of the back of my free Coal Creek Armory shirt. I told her I loved how it fit, because one could hardly see the gun in the small of my back... and momentarily she checked out my reflection in the nearest window, just to see if I were kidding or not. My dh keeps checking my back too... wonder what he thought the term LEGALLY ARMED meant? (At the moment, NOT, but ya never know, LOL)

Beverly (my 2yod) has been at it again with the camera. Well first, here is a pic of her in my newest pair of my trademark purple round glasses. I called this one, "Am I Cool Yet?" You might notice in most of these pictures, that B doesn't wear much clothes. Sometimes it is hot in our house, because we run our air as little as possible. But mostly, she is two, and that is an age where kids take their clothes off.

She took this picture of her daddy, the aging Hippy, who sat down at the edge of her bed to help her, once again, put her clothes back on. Wonder where she gets the not-wearing a shirt thing. hmmm.

Also she had the great idea for this picture. I have to put Richard's contacts in every morning,
and take them out every night, because he has a (hereditary) tremor. Somehow the lid to the eyedrops ended up here. Strange things happen at my house.

I got this pic of her, reading a really good Patricia Cornwell novel. She is either a prodigy, or just doing what she sees Mommy do (a LOT). Can't decide which.


In more wonderful good news, the '82 GS450T Suzuki I own, which has been laid up for 18 months since my *oldest* son flipped it, rides again. Yes, folks, my dearest darling Son in Law (who is too old to be one of my kids), has fixed it. Rewired and all. Somehow my front headlight is missing, so that is a must-do. And I need to renew the plate and change out the oil and filter. Minor inconveniences, at that. I was so thrilled to hear it run and see him take off for a test drive, I nearly cried.

Mama rides again. And is this a fine ride, or what? Yee-haw!

Too, too busy ~and~ LOTSA pics!

Marion wrote about me on Saturday!
Knittingspinningsewingcrocheting: Fun Stuff!!!

Ok, I have gotten not much of anything done for 5 days. My baby Betsy has had intermittent fever and has kept me up all night. Saturday and Sunday my oldest daughter Desiree and her dh Tony were here all day each, because Tony was helping my dh re-route water pipes under the house. What fun! 10 to 12 of us in the house at a time and most of the day Sunday, no water! It was like Little House on the Prairie with all the kids running around.

I spun some green bits out of my Batt Crazies, along with some bits and nepps that I collected out of the dryer when I felted some sweaters, and dyed various shades of red (talk about recycling! to make the weirdest lumpy yarn. I only got 19 yards. sigh! But then I plied it with some Red eyelash and attached little frosty plastic mini Christmas ornaments that look like candies. I am calling it Trip To Candyland, and I think I will knit it as an accent band in an otherwise green or deep red hat.


I have been trying to catch up with some quilt swaps I have been in. And Des and I spent part of Saturday and a lot of Sunday spinning. She dove feet first into my Batt Crazies and helped me spin the rest of them. I just love this yarn! The pic is left to right: The one Des spun on her own, the one we spun together, and the first one, that I spun alone. Gorgeous, gorgeous. Soft as a feather too.
I am going to knit a Moebius wrap with them, probably after Christmas if I can muster up enough Self-Control to keep to my gift list and keep my hands off this yarn. LoL.

Then she got a black merino/blue bamboo batt of 3 oz and spun that whole thing up. You can see she did a great job. Boy she took right to this spindling thing.

Today I got two GORGEOUS spindles in the mail from Marion (link to her Saturday blog above). One is pictured with Des' black and blue yarn. On the other, you can see that I already started spinning something. I had in mind to ply this red, green, and yellow yarn with a gold thread and call it Holly's Jollies, but I think I am spinning it too fine. If I can get a little thicker I might. Unless I change my mind and call it Cinco De Decembre!

Alas, I only got ONE yarn done today to list on etsy. I am so sorry to people who are waiting for something new to appear in my shop! I had hoped to get 2 or 3 done. But we are retiling a countertop in my kitchen, so that is a mess. And my elderly MIL and my oldest BIL will be here tomorrow from NJ for a visit. Since I am already "fat" in their book, (OMG when we were there to visit in June she must have told me 6 times how much I have LET MYSELF GO since Betsy was born last year!) I didn't want to be a "fat SLOB" too... so we have been cleaning.

The ONE skein I did do, when I went to reskein it to mix the colors, the last 100 yards or so got tangled and I spent an hour and a half untangling it. OY! Took up the time I could have used to do 2 more skeins anyway!

So this yarn is the Dolly for Sue from the Island of Misfit Toys from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. According to any info I could find on the 'net, Dolly isn't there because she is truly a misfit, mostly King Moonracer the Lion brought her there just because nobody loves her anymore. Boo-hoo! Well I hope someone will LOVE her yarn! LOL!

More Yarn-y Yarns

Ok, Ok, I have been absent a couple days. I have been just swamped with orders. Well for a new shop, I think I am swamped. I have sold 18 skeins of yarn in a week. If I want a day off for "Shabat" that is 3 a day. Really I am unwinding sweaters and dyeing the yarns at just about that rate. Fortunately I did put in my shop announcement that I am mailing 2 days a week... good since I can use after-dinner time to prepare packets for shipping.

I am also behind in some other obligations... I have swaps that need returning to people and I am supposed to be in a block swap for quilting, that is due in 2 weeks. Need to get sewing.

I am knitting at just about every opportunity, including keeping a project in the bathroom, one in my walking bag and bringing one to bed. I can at least work on it until B is done nursing to sleep. She is SO not ready to wean yet.

I am also just about hooked on this spindling. The yarn I was working on the other day, that was so disappointingly mousy brown, turned out pretty nice actually, with a lot more navy in it and some nice red for interest. I have just enough of it to make a skiband or some other small project. Mittens for my 8 yos or something. Pic up there on the right...


And over on the left, you see the first hank of Crazy Batt. Wooo hooooo!! Is this one a wild ride! I bought the most awesome, random-fiber-and-stuff batts from WildThyme Yarns on etsy, and I am absolutely in love with them. As a matter of fact I bought 4 originally and went back and bought 2 more. Now I think I might have to go back and buy some more!! When I am done with this funky, colorful yarn I am going to knit myself a shrug.

Today was Birthday Party day for one of my daughters to go to, so I dropped the boys off at my sister's for an afternoon of unadulterated X Box and the girls and I ran around. I got 3 nice conservative short-sleeve plaid shirts for Richie at Jacques Penné for less than $5 each. And while I was spending money, got some Sculpey or the like, a soap dispenser for my kitchen, and a pair of deep plum brushed- denim jeans for me. Which will go great with a T and that shrug I'm gonna knit.

The "A Christmas Story" yarns are up. Sold some so quick I had to make new ones of them. I had goods in TWO Etsy treasuries this week, too! Stop by and see me, even if only to say Hey!

New Yarns, New Yarns, New Yarn

Wow, this has been a yarny day. I sold 10 skeins of yarn and a felted eyeglass pouch since Saturday. It brought me down to like 5 or 6 skeins left in my shop! So with a sense of urgency, I went thru my sold items and relisted anything I had more of. And, I started putting up my A Christmas Story series of yarns.

I just love the classic movie A Christmas Story! This year is its 25th anniversary. You can look up trivia, see the restored house, and buy memorabilia at http://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/. I am not affiliated but it is a lot of fun.

So here I am, I have like 7 hand dyed yarns ready and about 4 more in my head. I list 6 of them and sell 3 of them within 2 hours. The customer says she might get more of them but wants to wait and see what else I put up in the next couple days. I have Ralphie's Bunny Suit, Randy's Snow Suit, Dad Has Cursing Down to An Art, Fah-Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra and some more. Tonight I am too tired to list more, and want to get pics in the morning for natural light. So impatient needlers everywhere will just have to wait.

I started spinning another batt. The good ladies on Spindlers advised me to spin something that wasn't merino, because it is so soft and slippery. So I bought this gorgeous batt called Shenandoah and started to spin it. So far I am able to draft it better and the spinning is going quickly, I did about half the batt in about 1/2 hour last night.

But so far I don't like it! It just looks mousy brown to me. Some people are fans of brown... my dh likes it, says it is very calming (imagine my dh needing calm). But I am a Color person, and this yarn isn't turning me on at all. Not to mention that it isn't as soft. I could make Richie a pair of slippers I suppose, his feet aren't very sensitive and he likes BROWN. LoL.

First time in a week I didn't take any cold meds, vit. C or aspirin. Now my throat is sore and I am tired. So I think I will go prop up on the bed with some pointy sticks and string, and call it almost a night. Ecclesiastes 5:12, The sleep of a laboring man is sweet...

Stop by my Etsy shop and see the A Christmas Story yarns before they all disappear, ok?

A Moving Blob

So what does a person do, who can barely breathe and therefore has no energy? Well I am not spindling today, and not unwinding yarn, both of which call for a more upright posture.

I am taking it easy by sitting on the couch like a blob, with my trusty Dell beside me, and folding the 5 loads of laundry that were in the living room awaiting me this morning, and the 3 more I did during the course of the day.

And, I am "letting" (let's just leave it at that) my 13yod, 10yod, 16yos, and almost-8 yos "change" their rooms. My eldest dd gave the girls a queen-size bed. They had a twin-over-full bunk but the 10yo said she thought she was allergic to the mattress. So in comes the queen size, which turns into a 3-day room-cleaning. The bunk bed parts come into the living room.

Then 16 yos says, hey, Josiah and I could put the bunk bed in our room... so out come 2 antique metal twin frames and their mattresses, into the living room. Fill laundry baskets with shoes, stuffed animals, shoes, toys, clothes (wasn't I using those baskets?). Fill 3 trash cans with broken toys, junk, more junk. Move dresser. Find a home for the dumbbell weights. Trip to Megamart for underbed storage. Put the hulking bed together, cover mattresses with bed bags.

All the while stirring up every air pollutant known to man. my keyboard in the setting sun looks like it snowed today, in the house. Maybe I should add antihistamine to the shopping list. Hopefully pretty soon my living room will look like a place one could live, too.

Let everything be done decently, and in order. 1 Corinthians 14:40