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!

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.