Monday, March 12, 2012

Been A Long Time, Been A Long Time...

Our little Leah!
Okay now that I've got that song stuck in your head (and if it isn't - it just might be now), I'm ready to share a post!  It really has been a long time but with good reason.  I was pregnant which I had announced in an older posting.  Well I don't know about any of other pregnant women but with each pregnancy I became more tired.  I feel like this last pregnancy I had slept almost the entire time.  Taking care of a husband who works twelve hour swing shifts, a tween, and two toddlers had proven that it could get the best of me.  In order to get something accomplished I had to cut out my blog and I scaled back the momentum I had going in my Etsy shop.  It worked and we all got through it.  By December our little girl (yes, finally A GIRL) had greeted us safe and sound.  Another labor that went so fast I didn't they didn't have time to give me anything for the pain.  I'm not going to complain though, I was just happy the doctor made it to deliver her in time.

Aren't they just beautiful? 
Now that I'm finally getting some sort of a routine going, I felt it was safe enough to start blogging again.  We all know how routines go.  As soon as you find one you're comfortable with - it changes up again.  I've got my fingers crossed!  Lately I've even found time to cook real dinners and bake!  Yes, BAKE!  Anyone that knows me knows I can cook.  In fact I consider myself quite a decent cook.  Baking is another story.  Usually anything I bake will come out tasting really good but the presentation is awful.  Especially if it comes from a box.  Chocolate chip cookies from scratch usually come out decent.  If I have to use already made batter, forget it.  I don't know if it's because I pay more attention when I'm making it from scratch.  Check out these moon pies I made the other day.  My husband brought home the box kit so I felt obligated to make them.  The cookies are uneven, the icing is a mess.  The sprinkles are everywhere.  In all honesty though, by the time I got to the sprinkles I quit trying and opted for "easy".  I figured if I rolled these pies in the sprinkles, the icing wold get everywhere and the sprinkles would just stick to the icing that came off.  So, I literally just threw the sprinkles at the pies.  They stuck, it worked.



"Victoria" bfl wool waiting for dye to be set
"Victoria" all spun up and waiting to be listed 
The merino that is currently on my wheel
I've been able to start dyeing again!  I haven't done any large dye pot batches yet, just small batches here and there.  I had a pretty productive dye day a couple days ago.  Most of it was corriedale for felting that had to be done up.  I tossed in about four ounces of merino into the session to use up the rest of the dye I had made up.  I actually like the color combos.  It's on my wheel right now and I plan on turning it into a two ply yarn to enhance all the different colors it has by having the plies contrast against each other.  I have a bunch of more merino I would like to get dyed up and set aside as I'm in the market for a new wheel!  I am so stinkin' excited.  I like the wheel I have now but it came unfinished when I got it.  In my excitement to use it and learn to spin, I never finished it or tended to it the way I should have.  So now it needs some tlc if I want to keep it for many years to come.  Also it's great for novelty yarns and thicker art yarns but I would like something a little more steadier for medium to fine yarns.  I'm still searching on exactly which wheel I want and where I want to buy it from.  I know I would like a double treadle but I don't know if I would miss it if I got a single.  I  would like it to have scotch tension since my current wheel is set up for both already and I like the way my medium type yarns come out when I use it.  Yep, that's all I got.  Would love to hear any input on any wheels that any of you reading this might have.  I don't want to jump into anything and I'm hoping to take the next two weeks to make up my mind.  Whether I can wait that long is another story.
My dye day wools

Well, I need to go get something productive done before the kids get up from nap.  Laundry and dishes, here I come!