Decisions with Wool

It's finally spring!  I am very ready to garden.  The weather isn't cooperating and I'm not sure when it finally will.  Although I've started some seeds, they are calling for a possible snowstorm for tomorrow.  We've had a couple warm 50ish degree days popping up here and there but the last couple days it's been in the 30 degree fahrenheit range.  It looks so warm and sunny outside but once you step out it's a very cruel joke.

My daughter's loose leaf lettuce blend.

My two year old daughter helped me get my salad dish all started.  She put in the new potting soil, planted the seeds and helped me cover them.  A couple days later, they have all emerged!  She is really excited about this and talks to the pot daily.  I love this pot.  I got it last year at a local greenhouse called "Farmer Fred's".  It already had the lettuce all grown in it.  The size of the pot is large enough to accommodate a lot of different loose leaf lettuces at once.  It's deep enough for the roots but the pot isn't tall.  I love using it as a patio table centerpiece in the summer. I loved it so much I went back and bought a second for my parents. When we're outside grilling it's so nice to just grab a couple leaves, rinse them off and use them as a topping or a small side salad. Last years lettuce that Farmer Fred's grew was delicious!  I hope I have half as much luck with mine this year. I'll have to share pictures later on when it's out on the table in use (if it makes it that long)

This past week was busy!  Just errand type stuff.  We also had a lot of surprise guests who we haven't seen in a long time.  I had a blast visiting with them all.  I think everyone's trying to break this cabin fever feeling all ready even though the weather hasn't been the greatest.

My unnamed purple thick and thin merino yarn.

I've got the purple whatever merino all spun up.  I haven't done bulky thick and think yarn in a long time.  The wheel I use to make bulky yarn tends to be a bit of a pain to use.  It's nice but quirky.  Plus, I broke it while trying to reach for something up on the wall behind it.  I finally got around to fixing, cleaning and oiling my wheel so I can use it.  It turned out nice once I finished fighting with my wheel.




I've also got the urge to spin more wool.  I just got done doing a ton of lace weight alpaca for my aunt.  I've got a variety of different roving all dyed up and ready to go.  I dyed this up to list in my Etsy shop but it hasn't made it there yet:  

I'm thinking it would be perfect spun up for some fun socks?  I kind of already have it playing out in my head the way I want to ply the colors and match it all up.  We'll see if I can resist and get it listed or if it ends up on my wheel.

I'm also in a conundrum over a peachish colored roving I dyed up.  I recently did my first felted cobweb lace scarf.  I loved how I could manipulate the wool for extra texture.  I think the felted scarves that are all symmetrical with clean edges are pretty but the funky textured ones make my heart go pitter patter.  There's something about them that makes me want to have one in every color for every occasion.  So long story short, I'm thinking about using the peach roving I dyed for a cobweb scarf.  It's such a pretty spring color that will add a nice pop of color to any outfit.

My first cobweb lace scarf.
I think I'm going to keep it.

Peachy wool to be a cobweb scarf?

Too many decisions.  The only thing I want to do is wash up some wool to empty out one bin and fill another back up but it's too cold.  Please hurry 60 degree weather this weekend!

Resurrecting An Old Blog

So I've let my blog go.  Things got busy and over time I honestly forgot I even had one.  When I remembered, I toyed with the idea of working on it again.  It was my last years resolution to work on it.  Never happened.  Same as this.  If I get to publish this then it means I've finally put one foot in front of the other.

Where to start?  Doing a quick reading over old posts brought me laughs.  So much has changed since then.  I felt myself cringing over some of the posts from being so embarrassed of even posting them.  Not that they were horrible but it's like revisiting an old personal diary in a way and then leaving it out.  I contemplated deleting all the old posts but I decided to just keep them there.  To give me a reason to keep up with my blog now that I've found more time so I can see how far I've come and to share that with you!

Again, where to start.  So much has changed!  I've got a new laptop that I've been bad at transferring files to.  My passion for fiber arts is still as strong as ever and my little hobby corner has turned into having my own studio room so to speak.  I love it.  Everything where it's supposed to be in one place.  I can easily transition from spinning to felting to dyeing.  No more digging in drawers for packing tape and a pen!

Here in PA the weather has been so cold.  This time last year we were already mowing the lawn.  The grass isn't even close to turning green yet.  I have the gardening bug like crazy!  I've bought some seed starting soil and my seeds already so I'm hoping to start them indoors soon.  I find myself daydreaming of the warmer weather and missing wearing dresses because they're my most favorite hot weather attire.  I need a couple of new ones but I wanted to share this one I've come across.  It is one of the most beautiful dresses I've ever seen.  I would wear it every single day!  Sadly it's not even close to my size!

*Sigh*  If it was only my size!

 Isn't it beautiful!? I would wear it 24/7.  Grilling, gardening, cleaning, grocery shopping, going out. It's from a team mates shop and I've been eyeing it for a long time.  Knowing I will never ever get down to the size needed to wear it anytime soon I thought I would at least share it because it is so beautiful.  Her shop is pretty amazing.  For instance there's also this suit.  It's a  Yves St Laurent Le Smoking Suit.  It's in amazing condition with an unbeatable price tag.  I can only imagine the high she had when she found it.  It would be like finding treasure.

Seriously, how cool is this?

Her Etsy shop can be found here:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/Catbooks1940s?ref=l2-shop-info-name .  If you happen to buy that dress, I feel it's blog worthy.  I would really read a blog that had anything to do with this dress.  Not kidding.

Warmer weather also means sheering time and fiber washing time.  I have some bags of raw fiber I've acquired over the colder months that I'm itching to see how they turn out.  Right now they're sealed tight in bags and then placed in totes until I can get to them.  Every time I walk into my room I see them taunting me.  I've got a couple different colored natural wools and some alpaca.  I'll admit I'm somewhat of an alpaca fiber hoarder and I really need to start using up some of it before it takes over.  

Merino, angelina, alpaca, silk and corriedale rolags

In the meantime, I've been keeping myself busy wit a blending board I got almost a year ago.  I haven't had a chance to use it so much until lately.  I like that I can use up all my smaller bits of leftover fiber I've dyed without the expense of a drum carder.  It's really relaxing to use it while watching TV or listening to music.

Merino, corriedale alpaca, silk, firestar, angelina, angora and milkweed fluff rolags

I've spun up both these sets of rolags already.  I've got the green/orange ones listed in my shop (caption is clickable if you're curious of the result) and I hope to get the other ones listed.  I love the bumpy woolen yarn these rolags make.  I also love that I have another option to use my leftover fiber rather than just felting.  

Well, I need to get some stuff done so I guess I'll leave you with that.  Hopefully by the next time I blog I'll have a good part of my seeds started and not completely grown and harvested!   ;D

*Sigh*  That wasn't so hard.  Now that I've got this checked off my to do list, I feel better.

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!

Dying to Dye In This Heat

Top:  Gray Alpaca in Dye pot.
Bottom:  Alpaca All Dyed.

Merino In dye pot.
A little bit of dye spillover into pot.

This past Friday I finally ordered some new dyes I was itching to try out.  However, the weather has been extremely brutal (especially on pregnant ladies) and running a stove in my kitchen was the last thing I wanted to do.  Luckily since they were ordered and I opted to have them sent first class mail it meant chances are they would take a while to come in.  This spared my family of the added heat from my excitement and impatience.  Imagine my surprise when I found them in my mailbox on Monday!  An added bonus is that by Monday the heat finally broke and we were welcomed with on and off thunder showers throughout the day.  A perfect day to play with dye.  I grabbed some gray alpaca roving that I had an abundance of and some superwash merino and went to town.  As I assembled my materials, I realized I was out of saran wrap.  Bummer!  I really wanted to try out some progression dyeing on my merino and I felt hand painting it would be the easiest.  Then it finally it me, d'oh!  Why not do immersion dyeing similar to canning.  To my surprise, it worked great.  Next time I'll need to use larger canning jars.  Notice the white splotches from the fiber being crammed into the smaller jars?

Merino Hanging to dry

Merino Dry and Braided

Another accomplishment on my weekend to do list:  I finally got my upgrade that I ordered (and received last Feb./Mar.) onto my Blue Bonnet wheel.  This upgrade now allows me to use my wheel as a double tension or a scotch tension with only having to change out the whorl and smack on the correct belt.  What should have taken maybe an hour or so project took about five hours.  No lie!  It wasn't the installing of the upgrade that was the problem.  It was finding all the correct tools as I needed them.  Instead of assembling everything I would need ahead of time, I waited until I came to the step that I needed to use them.  I would have to drop what I was doing, go on a manhunt (anyone who has seen my husbands garage or the organization of his tools would feel sympathy) and come back and have to fix any adjustments the kids made to my wheel while I was gone.  All the kids were cranky as we were feeling the effects of the continuous days of excessive heat.  They had been lacking in naps since their rooms were too hot.  They had decided it was more fun to play in the A.C. rooms that were offered as napping alternatives.

 I was beaming when I finally finished it.  I tweaked the settings and spun my first roving on it.  I am ecstatic that I can now do lace weight yarns!  My double tension set up was perfect for art or bulky yarns leaving my options limited.  Now it does about everything and in about half the time!

Rhubarb Pie

Late Night Stroll

I also got the unnamed superwash merino spun up.  It was aptly named Rhubarb Pie because, frankly, it reminded me of rhubarb pie.  I decided to enter it in my Blue Bonnet's summer SAL challenge through Ravelry.  I dyed up about 8 oz of it, this picture shows one of the skeins.  I also dyed and spun up a little over 4 oz of alpaca that I named "A Late Night Stroll" that I entered as well.  We were allowed up to three entries but with me wanting to hone up on my upgraded wheel and play with my dyes I know that's all I will have time for.

Husbands (at least mine) don't understand these little deadlines we put on ourselves.  They are very important to us.  When these are going on that means all cleaning is on hold.  Dinners will be quick made portions.  Phone calls will neither be answered nor returned right away.  The fact that your favorite clothes aren't clean are of no importance to me.  We need groceries?  Best go down to the basement and see what goodies are in the chest freezer.  It's really not that he doesn't care, or doesn't support.  It's more of a "Are you feeling okay?  You've got me worried." Obviously he cannot understand the excitement those of us can get over these simple things.  I also get, "I think you need to get out of the house for a bit.  Even if it's just for a ride".  Then I have to try to compose myself from showing what I'm really thinking:  "No!  Please!  That means I will have to leave all my "work" and get nothing done!?".  If my face showed how I really felt it would cause him extreme worry.  Somewhere on the lines of I think you should see professional help worry.  To avoid all that my usual response is, "Eh.  That's okay.  It's such a pain in the butt to load the kids in the car just for a ride.  If you think of something else we could all do though, I'm all ears". It works as a great save every time.  It promises me at least another two hours to wrap up whatever I was finishing. I admit getting away is healthy.  It gets me away from this stuff and out enjoying time with my family.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Berry Picking!

Today's Blueberries!

Today has been quite a refreshing day thus far.  The weather here in PA has been hot and humid for a while so it was nice to see a warm sunny day without so much humidity.  My husband was off work today so we had a chance to get the kids out for a bit and play.  I took my two year old with me and darted out to the backyard to check out our blueberry bushes.  I was surprised to see so many ripe already.  I grabbed a bowl and a cup and we started picking.  The cup was a "distractor" for my two year old, Danny.  This way I could put some in his cup to eat without him wanting the majority in the bowl that would inevitably end up on the ground.  Between my kids and I we picked almost three full pints which amazed me for this time of year.  There's still tons waiting to ripen so it looks like we will be able to make lots of jellies, muffins and wine this year!  I wish we had blackberries here in our yard.  They grow rampant everywhere else but when we go elsewhere on walks to pick them we usually don't yield enough to warrant saving.  They usually get eaten by the time we get home.  It's a bummer.  I would love some blackberry jelly and wine.  Something to invest in I guess.

After a taking care of a troublesome honeysuckle bush that was growing out of the middle of one of the blueberry bushes I decided I best scout around the rest of the yard and see what needed attention.  I have an extreme love of gardening (especially edibles), but being pregnant the past three years has provided me slim opportunity to really get my hands dirty.  I giggled to myself as I got to my grapevines and noticed one side of my grapevines had spilled over and were visiting all through my peach tree.  The other side was frolicking inside and out of a neighboring apple tree.  At least everything looks good. I had to share this picture as I thought it was quite cute.  I find awe in the way a plant can just dig itself wherever it really wants to be. Maybe I'll get the chance to prune the grapevines this winter?  Highly unlikely.

Nameless Superwash Extrafine Merino

The "nameless" merino started on the bobbin

Recently finished yarns ready to list.

Trying to spend more "me" time on the spinning when I get a chance.  Now that this tiredness is over I'm amazed at what I can get done and still have time to enjoy doing what I want to do.  The kids are loving the fact I can play with them longer before I want to nap.  I was even able to get a couple skeins of yarn finished and off the wheel.  They got their photo shoot this morning.  I'm hoping to get them listed on the Etsy shop sometime on Friday.  Right now I'm working with some superwash merino I hand dyed myself.  I approach most of my dyeing pretty carefree.  I have an idea of colors I want to work with but I try not to constrict myself into anything particular that way I'm not disappointed  if it doesn't work out exactly the way I want it to.  I liked the way the colors came out in this one.  I thought it looked even neater when spun up.  I imagine I'm going to make this into a two ply so I'm already thinking of how it's going to look when all plied together.  I'm actually rather excited!

Oh, I almost forgot!  I started up a Facebook page a couple days ago for the shop.  Trying to get things on it here and there in my spare time.  I mostly wanted to set it up to connect with other crafters and share tips and such as well as quick shop updates.  Yesterday I was able to get an album up to show step by step of turning old t-shirts and plastic bags into upcycled yarn.  If you're on Facebook, feel free to add us.  You'll find it under Davenport Groves (of course!).

With all that being said, I guess I will leave you with a short blog.  The kids are napping and I have to finish up special shipment for a special person (thank you a million times over!). Plus, I don't have to worry about making dinner tonight.  The boys said they have that under control.  How wonderful is that?  It doesn't happen too often so I'm looking forward to getting some stuff cleaned and enjoying the rest of the day.  Wishing everyone else a wonderful day as well!

I Promise I Didn't Go Into Hiding, At Least Intentionally

Well, after a long hiatus of my blog and twitter posting, I'm back. The lack of posting was for good reason, which I will get into later. I didn't intentionally mean to leave any kind of cliffhanger with my last blog either.  For that, I apologize.  I did write the blog and saved the draft but was in a different sort of mood when I went to post it.  It was very cathartic to type out but I guess it was something I wasn't ready to post, yet.  For that I apologize a million times over and I am sure I will share eventually.  For now I promise no more cliffhangers without solid intentions to deliver promptly.

As for the hiatus, the demands of the kids have been crazy.  With my husband's crazy work schedule, an 11 year old, a toddler and a newborn it was impossible for me to find a routine. Especially with the newborn changing to a crawling/almost walking nine month old and the toddler hitting the terrible two's.  On top of that our house was "gifted" many small illnesses that everyone couldn't help consecutively sharing.  The biggest reason for the hiatus is we found out we were expecting...again. Just when I thought I was on top of this routine thingy. I couldn't figure out why I was so tired and sleepy all the time.  All I wanted to do was nap and I never felt rested.

 The thought of having three under three sent us into complete panic mode.  We are feeling extremely blessed and grateful (I have always wanted four children) but quite overwhelemed.  Each stage the children reach we get one of those "can we still keep up with this and have another one" fears. Each time we couldn't prevent a boo-boo or would find crayon mysteriously on the wall it would escalate.  Now the panic has pretty much settled and the excitement has started to set in more.  After having all these boys, it would be nice to have a little girl.  I do have a strong feeling it's a little girl.  I'm not sure if my feelings are correct or in the back of my mind I'm wondering what the odds would be of it being ANOTHER boy.  Trust me, I would be just as excited for a healthy boy.  In a couple weeks time I should know!  I usually find out the sex.  It's still a surprise to me and I can rest assured being a little more prepared.

As far as the spinning, knitting and crocheting goes I have been busy on my downtime!  I have a lot ready to go list in the shop but I'm having a hard time with picture taking anymore.  We don't get very good natural lighting in the house.  I have a tot who loves to be outside and once he's outside it is impossible to get him back in.  So unless I've got everything squared away inside to spend my whole rest of the day outside, I can't get pictures done.  Lately I've set everything needing pictures in a separate area so I can utilize time better and  take a bunch of different things all at once.

Benjamin Green Studio Combs with prime alpaca.
(Notice my redneck spice cap diz?)

Lately I have been taking in a lot more raw wool and fleeces.  After my first Ebay purchase of raw wool, I realized I had been had.  All of my other purchases were no where close to the horror or that first shipment. Since I don't own anything to align the fibers with and a tight budget to do so, I researched the best product for my desired results.  I knew a carding machine was out of the question.  Especially not knowing if I would actually like working with raw wool.  That pretty much left hand combs and hand carders.  I tend to like working with combed wool better than carded wool.  I prefer more of a worsted over a woolen when working with yarn so that's what I wanted to make.  On Etsy I found a beautiful hand comb set through Benjamin Green Studios.  I loved the looks and design of the set and the price was in my budget.  I've been using them for a couple months now and I absolutely love them!  If you're looking for a really fine hand comb, these may not be for you but they hold up to the toughest of wool I have.  Very strong and durable and they look pretty too.  I'm extremely satisfied with the job they do.  He has even provided a youtube video with instructions.  At the time I was unaware that diz's even existed and realized I needed one so I came across a witty idea of using the caps on the little supermarket spice canisters.  For now, they work fine.  My husband is right now in the process of designing a couple and making them for me.  Thanks to the confidence these combs have given me, I have too much raw wool and alpaca fleece now waiting to be washed and combed.  The jacob's wool I mentioned in a previous post wound up under the tree for birds.  I am content to know that I did not give up on it, it's just that it was complete unworkable garbage.

Speaking of garbage, mine needs taken out.  Dinner needs started, floors need swept, yadda yadda.  Hoping everyone is enjoying their evening!

Bobble Yarn and a Blah Blog

Part of the backyard...much different
than normal snow pictured here

After shoveling out from a little over two feet of snow, we're now going to be swimming in mud.  It was nice to listen to the rain last night while I was in bed.  I just don't feel like dealing with the consequences of the quick melting snow mixed with the current steady rain.  On top of it, I am not awake.  So I will start by apologizing about my post and it's lack of wit.  After many concurrent nights of little sleep I feel like a zombie.  Some is of my own doing but mostly it's the kiddo's impecable timing.  I know if I don't get a post out this morning, I don't know the next chance I will be able to.

It's been busy around here to say the least!  Was getting low on supplies so I found some great deals and restocked.  I love when you can find quality fiber at a really good price.  Especially if it's for a customer because then I can share the cost savings with them.  Right now we've got alpaca out the ears.  We're due in for some more of our basics but I'm trying to stock everything in superwash as well.  I normally don't work in it because as a knitter and a crocheter, I like my yarn to be versatile.  I like knowing I can felt something if I wish to do so.  I apply the same thing with gardening.  When I am going to buy a plant, it has to have more than just pretty flowers.  It has to be edible, make a dried arrangement, have herbal qualities or something on that line.  I preferr anything I can use for my home-made wine.



Some of the mill end roving

As I think about it, all this restocking reminds me of when I first started spinning.  I couldn't keep any fiber.  I went through it all and wondered how people could "forget" about some roving here or there that they had in their stash.  I always kept a mental note of exactly what type of fibers I had and the amount in ounces I had.  Last week while rummaging though my fibers for an idea to put on my wheel, I came across some mill end wool roving that was perfect for what I wanted to do.  I completely forgot I had it and there was a perfect amount for playing with.  I've always liked certain art yarns as long as they were practical.  I love the texture and look of bobble yarn and have never attempted to spin any myself even though I've gone over and over in my head the steps that had to be done to make it.  So, I spun some up.  It was a lot more tedious than I expected, but it still wasn't so bad.  It came out pretty decent.  Nothing I would put in my shop (at least not at this point, yet) but I would definately use it in a project.  Thinking about possibly felting some...just to see how it would look.  At this moment I have black and white zebra striped bobbles on my wheel but I have already gotten bored of it.  It's a lot of manual 

First bobbin of bobble yarn.  See,

still needs a little more work.

work.  Sometimes the bobbles are too big and you have to manually feed them into your wheel.  Sometimes you are constantly doing this to avoid over twisting where you are working.  Sometimes it needs to be fed back through and the plies loosened.  If you use that method then it needs to be fed back through again to tighten again.  My favorite part of it was making the thick and thin singles.  It was very relaxing to let the wheel take over and not work against the fiber.  I imagine I will be pulling the rest off my bobbins and storing it for another time to play with.  I have some other work I need to do.



BFL right off the wheel.



My first self designed sock.
Needs improvements.



I've gotten a couple skeins off my wheel and hope to have listed in my shop some time tomorrow.  Right now the twist is being set.  I enjoyed the way the colors came out and it's a larger batch than I normally do at once.  I think it was somewhere over 320 yards between the skeins.  Once the twist is set and they're all dry they'll get to go through their own little personal photo shoot.  I've got a couple other things knitted that I haven't bothered doing photos for either, so we'll see.  I've been itching to do a project for myself.  I did the socks, I am generally pleased with them.  I took the knowledge from all my sock attempts and combined it into this sock I made.  It's awaiting a mate but I'm not really feeling up to it.  While out shopping last weekend Zeke picked out some yarn as he mentioned he wanted socks for himself.  Not feeling that one either.  The other day I heard about Ravelry's Mystery 220 group.  Basically, each week you are given a set of knitting pattern instructions.  You do the instructions and by the end of the month you have a wonderful knitted piece.  Each piece will usually not contain more than 220 yards so it's perfect for all the stash yarns I have sitting around.  For me, it's a no-brainer.  I can't sit and ponder at the picture and decide if I would really wear/use it.  I don't have much time to ever do anything for myself so when I am looking for something to make myself I find I spend more time searching for the right pattern than it would to take me to even knit it.  This way I have no choice, I just do it!  I started the March KAL.  As my piece developes, I have an idea of what our little item will turn out to be.  Don't worry, I won't spoil it for those who are not as far or haven't had a chance to check out the group out yet.  Very tickeled to see how it all plays out!

On that note, I am staring at my carpets and noticing how they are in a severe need of cleaning.  The boys have done a great job at making a collage out of mystery stains.  Even if my closest relative/friend were to stop in right now, I'd be mortified.  When my house looks like this, it always seems to be the time we get a bunch of unexpected company.  I guess I had better clean the evidence!

In closing, I'm debating on sharing a very personal post in reference to the upcomming St. Patrick's Day weekend.  As I ponder it more and more, I think I just may.  If you're interested, check back in around this weekend and I just may have it up.  Until then, I hope everyone is keeping warm and that your projects are coming together beautifully!

Also, spell checker does not seem to be working today so I will apologize for all my errors that have slipped my personal corrections.