Stupid car

For all my Saturday Knitting buddies. Husband is changing the power steering pump on my SUV today. Its been making horrible noises for months now. Leaking fluid and all that. So.. won't be there. I will miss you!

I'm in LOVE

I fell in love with this pattern from Magknits as soon as I saw it. Fighting with the bead needles I have at the moment but I'm going to Michaels tomorrow to find something that will work better. Urge to scream!!
I'll post pictures as soon as I have one finished. I think getting the beads on the thread is going to be the hard part..lol.
UPDATE: Got the needles, more beads and more thread. I tried really hard not to over shop seed beads. Looking at a variety pack I bought makes me want to get the bead loom out again.
UPDATE 2: I spent Saturday playing with the pattern and wondered why it looked loose. Having trouble keeping the beads from traveling into the next stitch. Then late that night I read blogs of people who have made this bracelet. One specifically was complaining about the size of the needles and thats when I realized. It wasn't 0 (2.0)I was supposed to be using but 0000 (1.25). Where the heck do I find those? I've never seen anything smaller then 0. Wait maybe I have.. at Village yarn and tea!! But, then I thought... Maybe.. I can use the pins I use to make my Spinning wheel threading hooks! We shall see if that works better. I really must want this bracelet BAD!!

Boys and Their Toys

Mr. Bill (my husband) and our youngest son, Marshall with their cougars (1999 and 1967). Ain't they a pair...........

What? Am I awake? I did WHAT??!!

Ginger has talked me into joining her and Emma at the Knitting Expo down by the Airport. I haven't been to a REAL fiber fair. I was hesitant but finally said ,"ok. What time? WHAT??" I didn't sleep most of the night. Didn't realize I'd be so excited!!
Its 7am (7 freaking AM) on a quiet Saturday morning. I'm awake..Really. If I tell you we hit the place like a pack of Ferrets.. does that conjure up a picture? OMG.. I was so restrained!! 3 bags of Roving in different pastelish colorings and some silk hankies in a colorway called Peacock.
This is a picture of the back of Emma's car..left Emma's pile.. Ginger's pile and mine.
Oh .. we didn't just hit the knitting Expo. Oh no, More madness occured! Emma found..on Craigs list.. an advertisement for a Cascade warehouse Sale. Can we say.. WHEEE HAAA! Whole bags of yarn for the price of 2 skeins. WHOLE BAGS!!! They are all laying on the bed in my spare bedroom. I have such an urge to unbag everything and lay in the middle of all of it. Happy happy.
We took our spoils by Village Yarn and Tea to show off and Terri was there. She has self published a beautiful book on Selbu mittens. I knitted a couple pairs and expected to get 1 or maybe 2 free books because of my work. But, NO, she hands me 5. Ya'll know what your getting for Christmas .. right? Hee hee
This is a pic of Eryka (my grand-daughter) wearing a modern adaptation of one of Terri's patterns.

You know your getting Old When:

You go to the grocery store. Your right foot feels odd but then it does sometimes. Get the food..check out and as you walk to the car you look down and realize.. You have 2 totally different shoes on!! Not even the same color! AND, no one else noticed either!

I should make Bill his own Blog

Bill wanted to show everyone both the spindles he made. The one with the dark (black walnut) handle is "MINE"! He's been having so much fun making them. Not being a spinner himself he's been relying on what I say and what he reads. I also have about 8 spindles for him to compare against. These are the same weight or less of my favorite spindle which is kinda large. Its hard to get perspective. The Lathe is NOT a huge machine.. its called a Midi Lathe because its a fraction of the normal size. He used wood from tree limbs from our yard.. Maple and Cherry. The Black Walnut was from a small piece of wood his friend Lynn Weekly gave him YEARS ago. Lynn was/is a very special guy. We lost track of him after his back surgery. He went on the road in his motorhome. I hope he's enjoying life like he always did. I sure appreciate the beautiful piece of wood he gave us. If for some reason he sees this "CALL" damn it!

Marie's Spindle

Some of you have met my friend Marie. She is the neighbors daughter who came to the door at the age of 2 and asked if Marshall could play. I should mention that we had 4 in of snow and the only thing she was wearing were shoes. They were always best friends and she grew up here as much as she did at her moms. They climbed the trees in our yard. Marie and I spent alot of time together when she got older. I even homeschooled her for a year. She and I learned to spin together. She lives in California now.. she joined the Marines. She emailed me the other day and ask if I could get her a spindle and some roving. She missed spinning.
Well, I didn't wanna get her just any spindle. I thought if Bill (known as Mr. Bill to all the kids) could make her a spindle it would be MUCH more special. She loved to tease him and he her. I think he misses the Sassy girl who would steal his socks right off his feet and call him Dad (much to her mom and my confusion..lol) He thought about the spindle for a week and started it yesterday. His very first attempt. Its made out of wood from our big old maple tree and the Royal Anne cherry tree (that is now gone). Both trees that she and Marsh climbed. As I recall she liked to sit in the Maple tree. So, I'm hoping it will be one of her favorite things. I think "Mr. Bill" wanted it to be extra special.. turned out pretty, didn't it? It weighs about 2.25 oz. A comfortable size for someone who spins worsted weight/chunky yarn. Hope she loves it!!

Surprises in the Mail

Now, many have heard about my fleece failures of last year. I received 2 free fleeces and sent them out to Dawn's Custom carding be cleaned/carded etc only to have one be .. ewww *shudder*..buggy and the other was to long for the carder and then got lost in the mail!! I've done alot of business with Dawn and know others who have done ALOT more. So, I understood that these things happen. It wasn't her fault!!

WELL, today I received, out of NOWHERE, a box with the most beautiful grey/tan roving from Dawn. A, gee I'm sorry the Post Office f..... up gift. This is so SWEET of her. She deserves to be acknowledged for her thoughfulness.

Presents from Afar

Rebecca is so good to me! She wasn't even my Exchange partner. Both of our people pooped out on us. So we decided to exchange with each other.

SEE what she sent me today!

Purple Pimp yarn and the softest natural..I may do fairisle mitts this time. And, the chocolates, bless her heart, are sugarless! She also sent the cutest stickers..I love stickers almost as much as beads. Oh, and a St. Pattys day card that really fit me! My husband got a kick out of it. Sorry it got buried in the picture.

Speaking of beads... I made 25 more beads for Village Yarn and Tea. They are making wonderful use of them. Hopefully these will last them awhile. They are going threw them amazingly fast! I'm flattered that people like them that much. In all the years I've done ceramics and Pottery, beads were not something I spent to much time on. Funny thats whats selling now.
For some reason I can't fathom I bought $100 of cutesy beads ..lil glass butterflys, latte cups, tea cups, lady bugs and penguins and teapot findings. We'll see what I come up with. I'm thinking either stitch markers or bracelets. Either would be cute.. or..ahem.. BOTH.

Obligatory Post

I know.. I know.. I haven't said anything in ages. I'm knitting on one of Victoria's necklaces with one of My beads. I guess I should make ONE being I made 44 beads for VY&T. Thats been alot of fun. I didn't get any pictures because either my camera isn't working or husband can't take decent pictures of the beads.. to much glare off the glazes. This time I used some bright gold on them. Very fancy.
I also Spun up 2 lbs of Bubblegum pink roving. It made 9 skeins..not sure on the yardage. Was never any good at figuring that stuff. Next to spin is the shiny hot pink that Terri brought me back from Blacksheep last summer. Its gorgeous!!
Seems all I do lately is go knitting and stay home. I'm getting so boring.
Now its raining again.. so I'm stuck cleaning.. knitting.. spinning.. and playing Final Fantasy XI..sigh

Marshall's new place

The last place had some health issues. Rusty tap water. We fixed that with a filter and bottled water. Not that big of an issue. But,when he first moved in we noticed a dark spot on the ceiling..like it had leaked once upon a time. The day we looked at it, it had RAINED non stop for weeks and the spot wasn't even damp. So, we figured it had been properly fixed. But, during the windstorms we had in December 2006 it started leaking ,again! Two months later after a ton of complaints they still had not fixed it. Woah, they gave him a bucket..how nice. (sic) I'm so glad he got outa there.

So, He's moved, again! Hopefully, this will be the last time for awhile. The complex seems more a community then any of the places any of us have lived. The staff all live in the complex. We even noticed that people don't seem to move out much just move apts. Better floor plans more rooms or better views. They have 2 pools and nicely kept grounds.

The Picture of (Punk butt) Angel is for Cynthia and Charles, who gave Marshall the cat last year when she was a kitten, so they can see how she has gown.

She didn't quite know what to think of a fireplace.
The picture of her close to the fire is a camera angle thing. She's really not so close as to singe her whiskers. Picture was taken before it got really hot. He did say, she decided that laying out in front was a much better idea.

Wow, My Maiden name is :

HowManyOfMe.com

There is: 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Buttons and Hooks

See what my husband made on his Lathe!! I needed a large button for a felted bag I made. The biggest one is the one I'll use for that and the smaller one will go on a sweater..I think.

I've been making Spinning wheel threading hooks so he thought he'd try his hand at making handles for them. Aren't they Pretty?

Just when you thought Spring was here.

I was so admiring my neighbors Crocus. Mine are under a tree and take a little longer to open.
I get a call from Jerico (my oldest son) saying, "I'd take you to lunch but it seems to be snowing!" HUH?? Grrr. It sure is pretty tho' and we went to lunch anyway. I'm not afraid of a little snow.
When I woke up this morning there is more then a little..lol. About 4 inches. The kid in me says "Whooo hoooo!!" No, the kid isn't dead yet!



Got a new book. Lots of cute ideas. I was surprised that it was knitted felt that had to be cut. But, there are several patterns I love so I may try knitting up some wool on my Bond knitter to felt.

Beads.. beads..beads

Really hard to take pictures of these but here are some of the Spinning Wheel Threading hooks I've been making and 1 of the pottery beads I've been making for Village Yarn and Tea.



Terri Shea's new book is coming out soon. Can't wait to see it! I actually made mittens for this book. They were not as hard as they look and extremely beautiful. First time I saw them I burst into tears because they were just so overwhelmingly beautiful!!
I love the cover....thats her charming daughter Heather...and her dining table and cat. He's very fond of wool.

My Valentine Presents

I received some beautiful flowers and a sweet card from my husband. BUT, I also received the package from my Epal Sascha who lives in Australia. I really look forward to getting the boxes from her. Besides the Licorice she always includes, she always sends the neatest made gifts and Roving/yarn. This year she sent both. I'll try to get pictures.. My camera doesn't love me anymore so I have to use Bills.
She sent me a few ounces of roving in a fuschia/blue/purple colorway called sassperilla. Some GORGEOUS boucle yarn in a black/purple/green colorway. Felted clogs with (must be) triple thick sole. Felted balls for my kitties...which Mystic fished out of the corners with her paws before I had a chance to give them to her. And, a felted Head warmer..for one of the grandkids..tho it fits me and I'm tempted to keep it. Looks like bart Simpsons hair..or a crown thas seen better days. Which is giving me ideas to make crowns with jewels on them for the kids.
I also finished 2 commissions for Village yarn and tea. Handmade beads for Victoria and another batch of Threading hooks. Again.. Pictures when I can. Running the beads threw the kiln one more time this morning.
Also been knitting more fingerless mitts out of the dark blue/orange that I spun.
Rebecca got her present around Valentines day with the finished Fraternal mitts that look really nice.

Happy Valentine's Day

Marshall's new ride

Upgraded

It made me a bit nervous but I finally hit the Blogger upgrade button. So far I don't see any difference.

I'm an Empress..I thought I was a Princess.. who are you?

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.