There is Beauty All Around

I really am not trying to ignore this blog. I feel overwhelmingly busy with the shop and the two older girls home. My parents are coming and how will I ever get the house clean? So anyway, since I haven't been posting I have a lot to talk about and plenty of pictures. This first picture is of my first lace square I turned in to the lace knitter's group for a project they are working on. I only did one square because I wasn't sure if it was o.k. Faina accepted it but I need to go down a needle size for the next ones. I'm a very loose knitter. This was done with Zephyr on size 2.5mm needles. I actually think I'm going down 2 sizes to a 2.0 mm. I'll report when I get the next one finished.

This square was done by another lady in the group - can't recall her name, starts with an A - It's beautiful. She is very prolific and has at least 4 squares done for every meeting. Her knitting is beautiful and even.

Here's Sharon Winsauer with her Pegasus Shawl. She knit this test shawl and I think she's waiting for one other test and then it will be available for sale. I'm sure she used Alpaca With a Twist Fino for this. It is so beautiful. Have I used that word too much yet?

Also from the lace knitters group. This shawl was given by Evelyn Clark - yeah, that one. It uses Estonian Lace patterns for the center and the edging.

Here's a close up view. Beautiful, no?

O.K. not so beautiful. Not the magnets, my photo. These are in my shop for sale. Made by Shannah. She also has these for sale in her Etsy shop so if you want some go check it out. Free shipping!

Also available are these beautiful note cards. Lovely photography and the subject of the photographs are the cutest ever sheep, Llamas, chickens and raccoons. All tied with a pretty ribbon for a really great price. And free shipping.

On to more beauty. this week I got Fancy Kitty products into my shop. If you are a spinner or process wool and love beautiful tools. This is a great company for you. Here are just two examples of the wraps per inch gauges they make. The one with the swirly handle is mine so don;t even think about it. They come in those charming little red velvet bags.

This is an Hourglass Spinner from Fancy Kitty. All the stuff is made from beautiful and exotic woods with fantastic finishes. This particular spinner is from Leopard Wood and Ebony. I need to remember to bring one home today because I think Maggie could spin with this thing very easily.

And finally, a BEAUTIFUL Fancy Kitty Drum Carder. Holy Crap! I can't say any more about it.

Here's an update on my support spindle skein for the COE. There is approximately 1 ounce on there. I want to spin another o.2 ounce to be sure before I wind the skein off and wash it. Hopefully this week. I can't believe I've been doing this skein for 2 months now and I finally got to an ounce. In the mean time I did finish my Navajo Spindle skein. I forgot to take a picture. I did it from English Herdwick. Very rough but it would make a great and long lasting woven rug.

I got a new desk for the shop. Things are slowly coming along and looking like MY shop. I have some pictures in my head but I need to keep going slowly so that the final product is ....beautiful.

Here's the business side of the desk. Plenty of storage and also lovely to look at . See, I've only had it for a few days and it's already got junk all over it.

I also bought these other two pieces. Now I feel like I have a nice little office area where I can do that loathsome paperwork and feel halfway fine about it. Hm, maybe I should put that fleece away.

Here are the skeins for the HGA Learning Exchange. They are all Wensleydale. The black one I carded on the drum carder and spun woolen and the white ones I combed, pulled through the diz and spun worsted. I need to finish the wrap cards and break the plied skeins down into 5 yard lengths for all the participants. It all needs to be at the coordinator's house by June 30th.

We will have the evaluations as well as samples of everyone else's skeins in early September.

How abut this for beautiful. I got it on Ebay from Lithuania. It works too. I just need to put a more suitable drive band on the thing.

Here she is in all her glory. I'm looking for a name so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Pretty soon it will be time to find out if I can go to SOAR. It's taking a long time! I hope I got in. It is really expensive but it will be worth it. I will have a whole week of not having to think about what's for dinner - or even anybody asking me what's for dinner. Just spinning, spinning, spinning.

Holy cow, almost 9AM and I'm still in my jammies and have to leave in an hour. Gotta go and I'll try not to be so neglectful this week.

I got nuthin

Ok. That's not completely true but I'm still sans pictures and all I can think of is my darlin' who just got home from being away for what feels like 10 years. But that's that Pirate movie invading my thoughts again.

That's us. Well, in my dreams I look like that in a dress.

I got a new spinning wheel from ebay.

I have some new stuff coming from Fancy Kitty.

Brittney and I went to the movies and to the Melting Pot on Thursday.

I have been spinning up a storm and started some new socks.

Well, I guess I do have stuff to talk about, but no patience for it right now.

I'm off to listen to some mood music. Gwen Stephani and They Might Be Giants.

What? Aren't they on your mood music list?

I guess it depends on what kind of mood you're talking about. Hee.

Got this from Amy Singer

Three Sheeps To The Wind -- [adjective]: Tastes like fried chicken 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

That one's funny because when Lou was considering having his own business and what to name it I suggested "Tastes Like Chicken". Then it could really be any kind of business and you could change your business without changing it's name. O.K. maybe I'm the only one who thought it was funny - but I still do.

As for this...

Beth Smith -- [noun]: A dance involving little to no clothing 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Hee!

Disjointed

There are bunches of unrelated tidbits to talk about today. First, here's Betty demonstrating the weaver's cross to me in class. I got a little befuddled and she was happy to redemonstrate - again - the correct hand position to avoid snarly tangles.
I have the reed threaded and now to the heddles. I'm doing a rosepath design with unmercerized cotton and if I can get the heddles threaded this week I'll have a picture to show.

Maggie in her "sleeping goggles." Makes me giggle every time she says it. She actually sleeps with them on, too. Hilarious!Here's another Maggie picture from yesterday. Check out those crazy teeth! The one that looks a little discolored in the front was loose yesterday and she spent hours eating things and wiggling it. Those extra teeth in the back are obviously in the wrong spot but the dentist said not to worry, they would move into the correct spot as soon as the front teeth fall out. One fell out this morning so now she's working on the next one.

Last night we went to Pirates of the Caribbean - 10 PM show. Here are the big girls in front of the movie poster.
And Brittney with some enthusiastic movie goers.

It was a pretty good movie. Very entertaining. The ending wasn't what I wanted to happen but I wasn't the writer...

Today I'm exhausted. The show is 2 hours and 45 minutes long. So we were leaving the theater at 1 AM. You're talking about a girl who sits down in Jammies by 8 PM most nights. I'm old. The party girl who used to be in me is gone.

Here I'm home. Should be cleaning. My parents are coming in the middle of June so i should be getting the house straight. Instead I keep reading my old Spin Off magazines and came across a couple of past Wild Fibers. I really want to spin. Unfortunately the wheel, Schacht Reeves Saxony, I want to use is at the shop as a floor model. It really is mine. I bought it retail last year. It was worth every penny.

One more thing. Check this out. My friend Carolyn is a really good artist and is working on getting her work out there. This is just one painting for now but I'm sure there'll be more sheep soon.

Chocolate Sheep Dingleberries

So, I was over checking out Chocolate Sheep - I go there because of the dieting and the word Chocolate and she's funny. Anyhoo. She was talking about searches which have led people to her blog. Cracked me up. I went to see what searches were leading people to my blog.


Things like Russian Spindles, Three Sheeps Blog, Spinning Wool.


Nothing funny.


I was looking for something silly to write about.


I'm tired.


I need a vacation from thinking about serious things.


Help me people!

Here's a cute picture to distract you from my gloominess.

Next, I was checking out my favorite Black Cat. She was talking about being FOR something rather than being AGAINST something. Then she took me over to see Mimi .

When I'm not so tired I'm going to get my own globe. Remind me later about June 6th. I'm a really bad rememberer.

Lots of spinning and knitting going on just no pictures.

My Breeds study class started on Saturday. I was a mess. Knots in my stomach for days before. I mean, these people are paying me $80.00 to teach them something. What if I couldn't do it? What if they knew more than me? So I made sure I was pretty generous with the fleece samples and made them each a little notebook for their samples so that in case I sucked then at least they'd have STUFF.

Then the class started and people started asking me questions - and here's the surprising part - I knew the answers! Quite the confidence builder. Now don't get me wrong. I'll be nervous next month, too. Just not for 3 days. Maybe only 2.

Caution: Blatant Self Promotion

There's a new fiber festival in town. Well, not yet. It'll be in town in October. I'm teaching a beginning spinning class twice on Saturday. I'm very excited. I think they are still looking for a few more teachers and also more vendors so if you are interested contact them.

Also, check out the website for my newsletter. There's a little sale happening on Memorial Day.
I'm squeaking it in under the wire because all of the Schacht prices are going up on June 1st.
If you're interested, let me know. I can get any Schacht Wheels or Looms shipped to you at no charge for freight and I'll give you the store sale and mail you anything you need.

In which fiber stuff is compared to life.

So I'm starting this post with my favorite zoo animal. We went to the Detroit Zoo on Friday. We like to go a couple of times every year. Now, when I was standing at the wall looking at this beautiful animal I saw clumps of bison fiber all over the ground. Do you think if I contacted the zoo and promised to make a donation they would collect the fiber for me?

If not, it's ok. I got a shipment of Buffalo Gold fiber on Thursday. It's lovely stuff that I tried out on Saturday at spinner's flock. It's very short and you have to spin it like cashmere but it is soooooooo soft.

Detroit has a kangaroo exhibit that you can walk through. No fences. These are the boys.

The wild animals that live at my house posing here in front of the seals' home.

Prairie dogs wouldn't come close .

Here are three of them. Chelsea was in Colorado for a couple of days.

This is the view in the back seat of the car on the way home. The zoo really takes it out of you. Lou likes to call it carpolepsy - you know, like narcolepsy, only in the car. Brittney has had it since birth. Maggie and Ryan don't suffer from as serious a condition but are still affected. HEE.

After we got home from the zoo I went out to get a manicure and get some groceries. Ryan decided to give himself a manicure too.

Brittney will now be putting her nail polish up after she uses it. Although, I must say that he didn't do a bad job.

And finally. I went to the Okemos lace knitting group last Monday. I took my Russian Support Spindles along for a quick lesson from Faina. It was a good lesson and I took the dyed mohair locks I bought last summer in Pennsylvania.

If you compare the little bit of yarn in the first picture with the cop here, you can see that I am improving.

I started out with a wooden bowl that I got with these spindles from Galina. I switched to this little pottery dipping bowl from a kitchen store. The wood of the spindle spins a lot better in the glazed surface.

So here's the lesson that I've learned from Faina and from my practice. The fibers need to be well prepared. Even if you comb them in advance, when you go to use them you should pull them through the comb again. Good prep is key to fine spinning. ( I knew that from the wheel and other spindles but it's always good to hear it again.)

For longer fibers it's best to spin from the fold. You also can't hold the fibers too tight. As soon as you tighten your grip you get a thicker yarn. You have to trust your light touch and your preparation.

If you feel like you need a couple more fibers or a few less fibers a light roll of the thumb or a tiny change in your hand angle makes a great difference and will change the course of the thread back to where you want it.

I've been feeling a little philosophical lately and here is my comparison of spindle spinning to life.

Raising kids, like spinning, takes some finesse. Preparation is key. Preparation of yourself by having a sense of humor, understanding the differences between things of eternal significance and the stuff that really doesn't matter, finding things that help you relax when things seem to be getting too much.

Good preparation of your kids is also key. By that I mean preparation for life. You teach them values. You teach them how to be kind. You teach them about all of the things which are important for them to be happy and healthy in this life and also all of the things of eternal significance - see above.

In spinning a light touch is necessary. You get a better and faster spin of the spindle if you are just touching the very tip and not grabbing way down on the shaft.

You also don't want to be squeezing the life out of the fibers because they never behave the way you'd like.

If you do find yourself squeezing too tightly and you get an unruly area you can always stop and go back. Remove some of the twist and stretch the fibers past each other. If you do it right, you can't even see the spot where the mistake happened.

In raising kids a light touch is also necessary. When they are young you want to take time with them so that they understand that the rules are only there for their safety. You want to stay calm when the milk spills but be prepared to be a little rough if they are headed for the road into oncoming traffic.

When they are older you need an even lighter touch. They are breaking away. My instinct is always to tighten my grip but then the unruliness sets in. It's difficult to do. When too many fibers seem to be sliding past my fingers I instinctively grasp them more tightly.

When my older children seem to be out of my control, my instinct is to try to control them more and things always get worse. But - and here's the happy part - you can always stop and back up. Do a little back twisting and soon the little glitch is gone and not remembered.

The life of a mother of adult children can be very scary. They are beyond your control. Sometimes they haven't gotten to the point of seeking your counsel. You can just sit back and watch and feel helpless until they find their own way. There is always the hope that they'll need you again and trust that your guidance is again for their own safety, just like when they were little. And, looking back on my life, I can see the transition in myself from little miss independence to asking again for my mother's guidance and truly knowing that she could help.

I look forward to this with my own girls.

My dad recently told me that it will get easier when they are 35. 14 years to go.

WooHoo!

I have passed the 30 pound mark!!!!!!!!!! Less than 20 to go to goal.

I have a few other things to write about but I need to prepare some things first - like pictures. Be back soon.

Your Inner Color is Purple

Your Personality: You're a dreamer and visionary. You believe you were put on this earth to do something great. You in Love: You're very passionate but often too busy for love. You need a partner who sees your vision and adopts it as their own. Your Career: You need a job that helps you make a difference. You have a bright future as a guru, politician, teacher, or musician.

What's Your Inner Color?

Eggscuse Me

These are the eggs that I'm not sharing. Shannah gave them to me. They came from her very own chickens. They have beautiful shells. They are a little smaller than the eggs I get at the grocery store but ...

Look at the color of those yolks. These eggs are lower in fat and cholesterol than everyday eggs. These eggs come from happy chickens. If you don't believe me go over to her blog and check the chickens out. They are all smiley and free rangey.

And here's Shannah herself at Fiber Free For All on Tuesday night. We had a great time.

She brought her mom, Ina, along. Ina hadn't had her wheel out in a long, long time and so she needed a little refreshing of her technique but by the time the night was over she was back in the saddle.

Even Brittney came. She brought her weavette but didn't want to try and remember how to use it again since she hadn't touched it since December. So, I briefly showed her how to needle felt and she started making a cute little trinket box. Each side of the box is a different color. When she finishes it I'll be sure a post a picture.

That's Rita there behind Brittney. She was pretty quiet most of the evening because she was swatching and casting on for her next lace project. I forgot to take a picture of the feather and fan scarf she knit from the Margaret Stove Merino yarn. She came to my beginning lace class and I am so proud.

All of those pictures are from my weaving class. I didn't weave any of them. The top one is a huck lace sampler in cotton from Judy. Next are some log cabin place mats in Linen also from Judy. Jeanie is modeling her beautiful shawl. The pattern is from a recent issue of Handwoven magazine and she wove it in mercerized cotton. Finally, a table runner from Gloria woven in Gems Merino.

I just took my Huck Lace sampler off of the loom today. I forgot to take a picture. Next I'll be warping for Rose Path.