Comfort Shawl
I finally made my choice and started this shawl today. I decided on something simple and quick, but elegant looking. It’s called High Effect Feather & Fan Shawl. This is for an acquaintance at Church who lost her oldest daughter in a car accident about 6 weeks ago. I hope it will help her to know that others feel her pain and care. I tried to lighten this picture up but it’s a navy color and just very dark. It will show up better (I hope) when I get more knit and have a larger project to take a picture of. I wanted a lighter color but this was the only color I had enough of in this alpaca yarn, which has been discontinued, and I wanted it to be soft and warm.
The Cowboys played the Texans tonight, and did not do well at all. They were very sloppy on the field. Only consolation is that it is still pre-season games. I hope they look much better on the field when the regular season starts.
I’m still knitting on the scarf, but there is no hurry and it’s something I enjoy working on during my lunch hr at work. I am enjoying my new job. It’s very busy and fast paced, but has all the things I enjoy doing. I’m looking forward to being permanently hired and having that financial security that temp jobs just can’t give.
The weather here has been really nice this week. Still a bit warm but much better than last week when I felt like I was going to melt. I much prefer the hot DRY weather out west to the hot HUMID weather in the mid-west. Winter has never been my favorite season, so you can understand that I also prefer the warmer winters out west too :P. I could so be a snow bird :P. But we just have to grow where we are planted.
Tags: Football, Knitting, Life
Dallas Cowboys!!!
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Yep, it’s pre-season again!!!! Dallas won their first game against the Bengals (16 to 7) and lost their 2nd game against the Raiders (17 to 9). They lost against the Raiders in pre-season last year too. :P I didn’t get to see either game tho, I need the NFL channel ;).
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Well I’m doing this from my daughter’s computer because I did the last Micro Soft windows update and now my computer will not boot up. :( It won’t even get to the windows screen, it freezes before it gets that far. So when I get some money saved up, I will take it to a computer place and have them get my data off of the hard drive, and reformat and add the OS back on and then restore my data. Computers can be such a pain, but you almost can’t do anything without them anymore.
I hope everyone is surviving the heat. We have been hot, hot, hot the last several days. Suppose to cool back down starting tonight, thank goodness. I have some pictures of the yarn I finished spinning, plying and am now knitting into a scarf. :) But I will have to wait to do that until I get my computer fixed so I can upload the new pictures. sigh
Oh yeah, I have a temp to perm job that is suppose to start next week either on Monday or Tuesday. It’s at the bank I worked the long term temp for last year :). I’ll be grateful not to have to keep changing jobs, which is sooo stressful.
Tags: Fiber, Football, Knitting, Life, Spinning
Frost in the Trees
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Ok, I’ve lived in IA off and on for 11 years and I don’t remember having fog like we have had for the past several days, tho it did lift today, and I certainly don’t remember fog causing frost in the trees like this. But it is beautiful. I have another picture below. I wish I had had my camera with me this afternoon when I was out and about, because there was a large group of trees in a snowy field and the frost on the branches stood out making a very stark picture against the sky, but oh so beautiful!
Closer view of the Frost on the branches
You can click on the pictures for a larger view. We are having our mid winter thaw, and the temps have been in the 20′s and lower 30′s this last week and so far this week, however it is suppose to be maybe up to 42 this Saturday – woohoo!! The mid winter thaw is almost like an early spring, but it goes away followed by more cold snowy winter until the real spring breaks forth. Come on Spring!!!
Well as you probably already know, the Cowboys did not win their game on Sunday. Actually they didn’t do very well at all. But having said that, I was happy to have them make it to the playoffs this year, it shows that they are starting to get things together, now if they can just keep it together ;P. I’m sure they will have a great year next year. :)
Roc Day Take 2
Roc Day Take 2
Well, it was decided that since the weather ruined our official Roc Day celebration that we would reschedule our spinning celebration to yesterday. I know it’s not really Roc Day, but fun was had by all!! These are the wheels that were there, I took these while we were busy with our pot luck lunch :). The spinner below on the right (and owner of the local spinning shop, R. Rabbits Fiber Studio ,) is enjoying her unoffical Roc Day spinning. ;)
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Roc Day Take 2
It's Llama Yarn!!
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The Llama is FINISHED!! That is what I did at our Roc Day, finished spinning the 2nd spool and plyed and skeined off. I washed it and hung it to dry yesterday afternoon and used my new swift and ball winder this morning to make a center pull ball from one of them. I will wind the other skein and my son will have the Llama yarn he has been patiently (ummmm) waiting for. :)
Next Project
As you can see I’ve already started my next project. I really wanted to spin the Suri Alpaca, but I have a gift project to finish first, then I can spin that Suri. :) This is the Merino Superwash that I dyed with the Wilton purple cake decorating color. The last time I used it I got beautiful shades of lavender and light purple. This time it was light purple, lavender and light blue. Gorgeous colors, but they are so unpredictable, great if you want the excitment of a mystery color, tho’ be prepared to be surprised at the finished colors. :) But before I spin any more of this I need to finish knitting my grand daughter’s blanket. She has been plenty patient and I need to get it done :).
Ok, YES!!! The Cowboys beat the Eagles again (played them three times this year and beat them all three times and the Eagles are no slouches!!) They not only won their division the week before last when they beat the Eagles, but this week’s win against the Eagles won a wild card slot for the playoffs. Now this Sunday they play the Vikings, that should be an interesting match up. I’ll be recording that to watch on Monday night :P. The Cowboys have finally started to work together as a team and what a year they’ve had!!! :) Now they just need to work on those penalties! :P
Tags: Cowboys, Fiber, Llama, Spinning
Still More Snow
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Well mother nature has certainly been busy this winter. According to the weatherman, we got about 4.5 inches of snow over night and expect anywhere from 1 to 3 more inches today. But at least it was 12 above today!!! It’s been in the single digits and below zero ambient temps lately. Supose to be only around 3 to 6 above ambient temps for the next two days and I know that means minus temps with windchills. Sigh, I’ll ask again, is it spring yet?
Swift & Ball Winder Set Up
My sister, for Christmas, sent me an Amazon.com certificate. I went to amazon and looked and hemmed and hawed and finally made up my mind (hard to spend unexpected money when you’ve been on a budget for so long :P) and decided to get a swift! I had a ball winder but had wanted a swift for several years but could never talk myself into spending the money on one. So I decided to treat myself and it came today!! It really is a nice one, sturdy and seems to move well. I’ll give it a workout when I get that Llama skeined off so I can wind it into a ball for my son. :)
I intended to spend Roc day today spinning with my local spinning group to celebrate the new year. However the weather wasn’t co-operating and I did not want to take my wheel out in this. If you would like to know more about Roc Day you can check this wikapedia link or this Florida link.
Well the Cowboys beat the Eagles 24 to 0 last Sunday (tho I didn’t get to record the game to watch because it wasn’t on cable) and won their division. They get to play them yet again this Saturday evening for a wild card slot. It’s always an interesting game between Dallas and Philadelphia – cos’ they are not the best of friends ;P. I will get to watch it this time :). GO COWBOYS!!!!
Tags: Cowboys, Football, Snow, Spinning
Old Man Winter - 2009
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This was what we received from the blizzard that hit the midwest last week. We got rain and freezing rain (mostly just rain) until the end and then we got about 4 inches of snow. Much less than other area’s who received 2 or more feet. Snow on the ground and covering the branches in the trees is such a pretty and peaceful sight, until you have to go out side and deal with it, and besides that it’s cold, brrrrr. :P
The “Boys” are doing well. They beat the Saints week-end before last, and their old arch rivals the Redskins, this last week-end. They will face another newer arch rival this week-end, the Eagles. If the Cowboys win they will win their division. Woohoo! They’ve had a decent year this year :). I hope they win, but even if they don’t they’ve had an exciting year.
I’m spinning more Llama for my son, I have one spool filled and am working on the 2nd spool. When it’s full I can ply and hopefully will have enough for 2 more skeins. Incase my grand daughter is reading, I am also knitting on your blanket, it’s cosy to sit on the couch and knit in the evening.
Thor, my awesome ferret, is finally finished sheding his summer coat and has a wonderfully soft and warm winter coat. He’s fluffy and beautiful, and I have much less ferret fur to vacum up :P.
My Church is having a New Year’s Eve party Thursday evening. I will be glad to usher out the old and ring in the new, it’s just been one of those kinds of years, so I’m definately ready for the new and hoping for a better New Year.
Wishing all a peaceful and wonderful New Year!
Tags: Cowboys, ferrets, Knitting, New Years, Spinning, Winter
Dallas Cowboys!!!
Woohoo!!! Pre-season football has started!!! Dallas plays their first game this coming Friday night. Since I babysit for 3 of my grand children on Friday nights, I’ll be training my 3 year old grand daughter to be a football fan, (don’t tell her dad I will teach her to root for the Dallas Cowboys, he’s a Bears fan)! :P The oldest one (11 years old) isn’t interested, waited to long to indoctrinate her :P, and the youngest (1 year old) will be in bed by then ;P. So it’s Mady and me watching the Cowboys on Friday night :).
**UPDATE** Oh goodness, I missed Dallas’s first game which was on 8-13, where they lost to my 2nd favorite team, the Oakland Raiders. I can’t believe I missed their first game, sigh.
click on picture for larger image
I’m spinning the baby Alpaca (called a Cria) roving, that I bought at a fiber festival in TN last year, on my Ashford Traveler. This roving is sooooo soft, I can hardly wait to handle the yarn and knit it into a capelet. I’m not sure if the 6 ounces I have will be enough to do a shawl, I’ll see what the yardage is after I have finished spinning it all, it should be a heavy baby weight or light sport weight. If I think I have enough, I might do a shawl instead. The jury is out on what I really want tho. :) I have plenty of time yet to make a decision.
Hand dyed superwash merino roving
This is some of the white superwash merino that I bought some time back. I dyed it with Wilton icing dye. I used the purple, and it broke into different shades of light purple, lavender and light blue. It’s actually a little bit more pastel than it looks in the picture, quite pretty. The last time I used the Wilton purple it was just different shades of purple and lavender. You just never know what you are going to get with the Wilton dyes, but they are fun to play with. This should be interesting to spin. :)
Tags: Fiber, Football, Spinning
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