Project Details:Clean up my yarn room because I thought I had misplaced a bit of roving I was working on and needed it in order to finish this project so that I could move on to the next project, the one I 'really' wanted to spin. I couldn't find it in the mess that was my office/guest/yarn room but I knew it was in there, somewhere.
I know it's not just me, but why is it that every time I need to do something I'm required to do 5 other things in order for that one thing to happen? sigh. Yet things needed to be moved, and in order to move them other things had to be moved, and then cleaned under...well, we all know how it goes. Ultimately the kitchen floor gets swept and washed and it's not even part of the plan. It's magical, really.
I eventually finished de-cluttering my yarn room. I can now actually spin and knit in here again. While I watch dvds! All good. Rather, mostly good.
Bad? No roving found. Curious, since this is the only place in the house it could possibly be and I know this because of those 5 other things I had to do first, which included looking into every basket and drawer I touched in hopes that the wayward roving would show itself and save me from all this housework. But no.
Plan 2: Weigh it. Pull out the yarn scale (which I can now find) and, deducting for the 1.9 ounce spool and throwing on the little swatches I had knit up and found in one of those baskets I looked through, I have 4.8 ounces. It’s all there. How could that happen? Since it didn't even fill up one spool I was sure there must be more. But chaining, while giving it that cushy feel, plus the added bonus of clear color runs instead of 2-ply heathering, decreases by a third the total yardage. Had I known I would be chaining, I would have purchased more. But that would have required forethought and planning. Yardage wise, 260 yards is not enough for a pair of socks, my original plan for this roving and the reason for chaining the single in the first place. There would have been enough, had I just 2-plyed it, as 4.8 ounces is adequate for socks and I would have ended with about 400 yards.
Plan III: I could knit it double and make a hat for Dulaan. Rabbitch sez I have too much free time and I could knit for charity instead of making doll clothes. In my defence, my doll clothes phase was pre-Dulaan and back then I never knit for charity. I prefered donations of dollars, as I always felt the charity could spend those dollars better than I. Post-Dulaan, however, I have come to realize that along with my dollars a nice warm hat and mittens could go a long way in making some kids day.
I'm not too old to learn, I'm simply old. Just saying.Awhile back I went through a phase. I needed to dress my dolls. By an accidental stroke of luck, I still have my very first doll, Ann-Marie. Her hair is matted and she has a ding in her nose, but she's not bad for 50 (mas o menos.) I made the sample sweater from the book on knitting guernseys. It fit Ann-Marie just fine, so I knit her a little denim skirt to go with.
I received my own American Girl doll for The Holidays a few years ago and Clair got a felted jacket and hat. Marti knit the little socks.
Also for Clair, a top-down v-neck sweater using the same wonderful pattern by Karen Alfke, Unpattern #6 Top-Down Sweater, that I've used for knitting sweaters for myself.
Then there were these little onesies, using leftover Shetland and tiny buttons. Cuter than cute on Boyd's Rabbits but unfortunately I've given the Rabbits away, in their own little onesie, of course. These two I had to keep, just to remind myself that I can knit small.
And finally, my baby doll.
She's not quite as old as Ann-Marie but she's never going to have a chink out of her nose, either. (Rubber vs plastic.)
Using left over yarn for Wee Folk clothes, priceless.I know, it's late for Pumpkin News. Halloween is over. Thanksgiving is over. The November Floods are over. But still, there is Pumpkin News which hasn't been covered and I think it needs to be. Covered. Like this Tree. With Pumpkins.
This Pumpkin Tree is on the road going into (or out of) Snohomish. Clearly someone close to The Tree decided it was time to have some pumpkin fun by throwing pumpkins at it! I wonder if it was just the family or did they invite their friends to join in the Pumpkin Fun?
The flooding in the Snohomish Valley was severe last month. This is farm land, from which the water is now receding. 
From up here is doesn't look so bad, but close up ~ oh man. The pumpkin fields flooded and left pumpkins on the sides of the raised road that curves through the valley.
There was still a pumpkin in the field,
We come once a month for the NwRSA spin-in (for Area 2010) at the local library, and one of the reasons we drive to Snohomish by this route is to stop at our favorite vegetable stand for local produce and honey. Oh, and the spicy pickles. But not on this day. It just wasn't an option.
The Nursery was underwater.
Next Spring this field will be full of vegetables again, or sod or strawberries. Today, it's a pretty scene and a lay-over for geese on their way South for the Winter.
Into this:
Bobbin #2
And then this!
Ta Daaaaa!
It started out normally enough, a bit of sleetishness coming through in late afternoon. We usually get a bit of hale now and then in Seattle. Not so much where I am, down at sea level below a ginormous hill, but there it was, and all I could say was "eeeeewwwww! Maybe it won't stick...ya think?"
Later that very day. NO LET UP. Not good.
This morning I heard on TV that the fools who lived in Portland but still went to the Seahawks game last night are still on the road. Nine hours later. Some people left their cars on the highways. Some stayed over in local hotels. One woman from Florida spent the night in a 24-hour Walgreens. Hmmm, cozy!
It sparkles, I'll give it that.
Today, bright and sunny and more snow predicted for tomorrow. oh yea. Bring on the spinning and the knitting and the movies. I'm not going anywhere soon. I do not do snow. If I wanted snow, I'd live in the frickin' mountains. With High Lander.
Never end your vacation with a fiber-buying spree. We thought 3 days of fiber and classes would be enough, but we were sadly underestimating our ability to hang with our fellow spinners, so the bitter end came all too soon. Last June, at the beginning of our one week vacation, Peggy and I traveled from Seattle to Oroville, WA, home of Betty Roberts "The Spinning Wheel Lady", a trip of approximately 6 hours, depending on u-turns and weather. It was hot. Very. With mosquitoes. We picked up Peggy's new wheel, took a couple of short spinning lessons with Betty, had dinner with the charming Perry and Hilary Blackler, cousins-in-law who have been in that valley for generations. We stayed over-night with them in their 100 year old farm house and left the next morning for Portland. Peggy and I drove to Portland two days prior to Black Sheep Gathering, to visit with my son, TJ, and his darling wife, Shelley, for a couple of days.
We rummaged through a couple of local yarn stores, one of which was conveniently located next to a very nice lunch spot. We also braved the Portland Traffic (how can it be worse than Seattle? I don't know, but it was) to drive to Forest Grove for a visit with Michele of Toots LeBlanc & Co.
Because I was looking for yarn with which to spin for socks and believed that it would all be gone by the time I reached Black Sheep (I won't make that mistake again) I purchased 6oz of Grey Romney/Perendale Sliver, never having spun with that type before and fully trusting that it will work well for socks. We'll see, won't we?
Early early early Friday morning we left Portland for Eugene, arriving within minutes of our ETA. It's good traveling with another woman. We are in total agreement on when, where, what and how and U-turns are counted and cherished. Peggy invented a car game we call 'Snug 'Em', which we played the entire trip and still enjoy when we're together in a car. (It's not the same when one is alone ~ not nearly so funny.)
and one without:
Peggy made up a wonderful pattern and, using Avalanche Yarn from Ryan, whipped out six of these cuties while we were away for a long knitting weekend. wow! My hero. Peggy gave Ryan the pattern, so maybe she'll post it... 
Sweet Honey Mustard.A raptor came into our back yard yesterday, hauling a headless seagull. He's not as big as a bald eagle, and he has orange-ish short pants on his legs. His body is mainly brown. My camera didn't handle the distance very well ~ he's probably 30' away and my zoom didn't go that far. After a short google, I found this, a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. This could be a juvenile.
He heard us turn on the water in the house (I had to have tea!) and moved his feast to a bramble of blackberries and next time I looked he was gone, and so was that seagull. All that's left is a bunch of white tufts of feathers under the tree.
soooooo much, so I catch them and throw The Little Bastards out. It's easy.
1:
Make a cone from waste paper to fit the opening of a glass or jar and be sure there is a very small opening at the pointy end of the cone ~ big enough to let The Little Bastards in but so small that they can't really find the way out. Tape the cone to seal it.
B:
Put a piece of banana in the glass/jar. A Small Piece. It's the odor, not the size that attracts The Little Bastards. Note: Don't have any other fruit in the area. Put all other fruit in the frig and dump the garbage. Leave just the one food source for The Little Bastards.
III:
Tape the cone to the glass/jar and put the trap in the kitchen (or the location of most of The Little Bastards.)
4:
Take the glass outside to empty. Replace banana and re-tape the cone to the glass. Place trap in good local and repeat as often as needed to clear your home/office/car of The Little Bastards.
Another note: Once you catch The Little Bastards, don't save them. They reproduce at an amazing rate and the resulting wormycrawlyness is even grosser than The Original Little Bastards. eewwwwww. Throw The Bastards Out. Often.
And here it is spun up into about 600 yards
A couple of lovely marino/mohair colorways from Dicentra.But that's not important now. The funnest thing ever is finding a new 'yearn' shop, and hooo-boy, how exciting is THAT! It's called The Artful Ewe, is owned and operated by Heidi Parra out of her home in Kingston, WA. Kingston, for those of you from elsewhere, is a ferry ride across Elliott Bay/Puget Sound from Seattle. Five minutes out of town and there's Heidi, thanking you for calling ahead and welcoming you into her home because THAT is the studio, the shop, where the 'yearn' is. I fell in love with her and her fiber. She uses Mother MacKenzie's Miracle Dyes, sold everywhere through Judith MacKenzie McCuin, the famous dye/spinning/weaving/textile expert/teacher. Judith and Heidi will be sharing a booth at the Madrona Fiber Arts event in January, so if you're there you'll be seeing Heidi's wonderful stuff. In the meantime, here's some photos of her studio and some of the fiber I bought:
It was extremely difficult to choose but then I saw this colorway and wham! It's a superwash merino/alpaca blend and I won't tell you how ridiculously priced it was because I want to see more of it at Madrona in January. Come. It'll be fun! Registration for classes is open as of today and there are some good ones. Or come just for the market. It's going to be FABULOUS!
