O.M.G!

Wow. Summer. Busy. Super busy. Wow.

Summer vacation started one week and one day ago. I think I've lived 4 lifetimes since then. I'm going to borrow a trick from my bloggy pal Adrienne and give short updates.

~I have done very little actual knitting. Not nearly as much as I wanted.

~My wheel came back from being turned into a double treadle. The flier was missing. I still cannot spin. Dang.

~The Boy is on the local swim team this year. He keeps getting DQ'd by some crazy judges who need to get a life. Yes, I'm bitter. That's my baby!

~I want/need to buy a new car this Summer, but I don't want a new car payment. Heh.

~My 20th HS reunion is next month. Dang. Really?

~I am addicted to this swap group on Ravelry. My favorite is the "Yarn for Fiber" board. Yum!

~Took a dyeing class with Karida from Neighborhood Fiber last weekend. Made some yummy yarn. Two sock colorways, and one larger batch that will be for a shawl.

~The shawl quantity is being knit up into a prayer shawl for a co-worker. That's going to be more praying than I've done in about 4-5 years!

~My sister has introduced us to Geocaching. Similar to Letterboxing (which we tried last Summer, briefly). We are WAAAAAYYYY to into it!

~I have way more planned for the summer than we will be able to get to.

~I just want to knit, knit, knit, and spin, spin, spin!

That's all for now. I'll give pics of the yarn I dyed in that class later, promise!

:O)

AWOL Once Again!

Wow! It's been over a month since I've blogged! Not for lack of material, but rather, lack of TIME!!

Here's a quick captioned post to update those who may be wondering! As I tell my students, the stuff with a picture and a caption around it is probably the important stuff!! LOL.

Just before Sheep and Wool, I got a chance to visit a spinning friend's house where we helped with skirting fleeces after her sheep were shorn. Great fun, very educational, and I came home with this (that I was willing to process on my own) half fleece:

Just before hitting the bathtub.

And nice and clean after! The yellow bits, despite The Boy's thoughts, are NOT pee, they are sunburn. I have a slightly yellow fiber once it's prepped and spun, but it's oh-so soft.

Hence, there's been lots of fleece cleaning. Turns out, I lurrrrrve me the smell of sheep-y wool! It's all lanolin smelling and scrumptious (well, except for the bits that still have poo attached!!) I've been washing it in small batches, so that I get the smell every so often. I think I'm addicted! Strange, huh?

I also had one of these:

Don't look too closely at the candles. Nothing to see here, folks, nothing to see here!!

And for those of you who DARED to look that closely, I'll quote a movie character and just say "And I STILL look good! Hmpf!" :O)



I participated in an Indie Dyer swap through Ravelry. I can't wait to spin up that yak/merino blend from A Verb For Keeping Warm (that's the green fluff at the top of the shot). Thanks, Liz!!

Since my beloved Hitchhiker is still with Dave, getting tricked out - I mean DOUBLE TREADLED, I've been knitting more than in recent weeks. My mother, sister, and I are knitting the Mandarin Collar Jacket from the cover of this Summer's Vogue Knitting. I'm using Cotton Fleece, so I'm really, really in love with this project, despite all the times I have to K3tog!
The sock is what I'm working on at The Boy's swim practices (well, actually we've had ONE so far - the other three this week have gotten rained out!).

And finally, The Boy had his annual violin recital. Ask me how many different variations there are for playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a violin???? My favorite is the "Huckleberry" style, but he did "Mississippi Hot Dog" for the recital. Thank GOD he switches to a new song next year!!!

And that's it for this time!

:O)