2 Springs

The only thing better than one gorgeous Spring, is 2 gorgeous Springs which I had this year.
The dogwoods in NC were really awesome and I would have taken lots of pictures . The problem was that I was usually driving down the road at 70 mph and it is really, really hard to get a good picture that way.

Speaking of roads...one of my favorite ones is Hwy 64 in NC which runs between Asheboro and the Raleigh area. It's a very pleasant drive, good road and the scenery is so peaceful. Just south of Asheboro is Seagrove which I discovered this trip. I had read about it but never been able to stop before now. Talk about pottery heaven!!! There are at least 100 potters in the area and I only had time to visit 10 of them but did manage to load up the car with some interesting items. Some will be gifts if I can bear to part with them. Still thinking about that. I love my friends but this stuff is really great. Functional pottery in blues are a weakness with me. Still looking for the perfect squatty teapot but I'll find it one day. I have a vision in my head of exactly what it will look like. I'm enjoying the search and it has certainly led to other wonderful things.

Southeast Fiber Forum was lots of fun, particularly getting to visit with Dan and Cheryl. I chickened out on staying at the rental house on the side of a mountain. I have discovered that I am a flat lander and really don't enjoy driving on narrow roads that go up , around, and have sharp turns with big drop offs. That sort of driving does terrible things to my insides.

As a result of this, I ended up staying at a motel in the valley which welcomed dogs. There was about 3/4 of an acre for the dogs to wander (although I never did take them off leash). Behind the property was a wonderful fast moving stream which several mallard ducks were enjoying. It was too funny watching them paddle upstream and not move from where they were.

Allie and Conner thought the water in the stream was nectar and they almost fell in several times trying to get a drink without getting their feet wet. Shelties are very fussy about getting their feet wet sometimes and Allie is worse than most. At one point she was almost standing on her nose with her rear up in the air hanging over the edge of the stream. Naturally, I didn't have my camera with me then either. On the plus side, I did manage to resist the urge to give her a shove just to see what would happen.

The class on entrelac knitting at SFFA was great fun. Very relaxed and entertaining to knit. I am still working on finishing my bag but it is an enjoyable knit. The instructor, Lorie Helms, was great and I look forward to taking another class from her in the future.

The next thing on my list is getting another cell phone which has GPS. I got lost twice on this trip--silly mistakes but it took time to get back on track of where I was supposed to be. Also managed to leave the a/c charger for my cell phone in the motel room which of course they don't have. Seems it is now hard to get them for the phone I have so if I want to charge my phone, I can do it while driving around. SIGH.

Great to be back home but the weather in NC was wonderful and I miss the coolness already.

Oh, I purchased some merino/seacell fiber and also some dyed bombyx silk all of which is in the blue / lavendar color range, of course. Had to buy some fiber to put around the pottery.

Moebius or mobius - It's all fun!

I don't care how you spell it, knitting a moebius using Cat Bordhi's method is just plain fun! I started knitting one yesterday using a DK weight cabled cotton. I am knitting on 47" Addi needles , size 9.

The youtube video is extremely helpful in getting started even though I also have her book on the topic. I have knit a moebius before and although it was fun, the beginning few rows were very hard on the hands and I never did fully understand why the whole thing worked. Cat's method is so much better and easier to understand.

I should finish this moebius today, even though I will probably stir the dust and round up the bunnies in the house since spinners are coming over tonight.


Speaking of dust bunnies... I am seriously wondering if you could needle felt them since most of it is hair from my Shelties. How cool would that be to have a needle felted dust bunny by the front door. Do you suppose it would scare people away or make them feel comfortable? Must give this some more thought.

In the meantime, I'm going to cast on for the next moebius since I have another circular needle just like the one I am using. Don't ask me how that happened. I have no idea and didn't discover it until I organized the needles yesterday. My thinking is that if I have 2 moebius going at the same time it won't look as if I bought the second needle because I couldn't remember what I had in the stash at home. I bought it because I "needed" the second one. different matter altogether. HA! I'll post pictures later.

I'm thunking!

I have a couple of knitting projects I am "thunking" about but so far no action on any of them. Every get where you have ideas buzzing around in your head but can't quite settle on which one to tackle first? That's where I am at the moment.

I want to do a mobius cowl. I want to do a regular cowl. I need to make a couple of baby gifts. I absolutely must finish the afghan for J that I have been knitting on forever. We won't discuss what the house looks like. Sigh.

So, what am I doing? I am sorting knitting needles---again! I really do think they jump out of their ziplock bags all by themselves while I sleep. Then they race madly around the house finding the absolute best hiding places they can. They also tend to remain very, very quiet when I am looking for them. I wonder if I could train the Shelties to find my hiding knitting needles? Bet I could hire them out if I was able to train them. Surely I am not the only knitter who has this problem.

Happily ranting

It is sunny out today with a slight breeze, which, unfortunately, carries a lot of pollen with it. Therefore, I have elected to stay inside and rant.

In case you haven't noticed recently, people no longer make right or left turns, they make right or left angles. Lately the front bumper of my car has been in jeopardy several times and I have been well behind the line! Is it a trend of "I own the road" or simply a lack of good driving techniques? I don't know but I do know it is annoying. If you are in front of one of these angle drivers and you try to make a left turn, you can feel as if you are running a race to get to the street before they cut in front of you.

My next happy rant is about politicians who run for an office, lose and immediately run for the next available office which is not similar to the previous office. What this shouts to me is "I'm looking for a cushy job with lots of benefits / power where I don't have to do a lot of honest work." Why do people run for one office right after the other? I personally don't think it is from any altruistic motives but rather a desire for the taxpayer to foot the bill. Maybe I'm mistaken but I'm afraid I'm not.

Rant number 3, 652 concerns doing business with companies who have 800 numbers, employees who are not authorized to make decisions, tell you they will talk to a supervisor and call you back, and, oh surprise, never call you back. Let me talk to the darn supervisor myself and save us all some time and headaches.

Ok, I feel better and am going to knit on the cotton afghan for my son that I have been working on for months. Knitting is soothing when it is going right. I am also listening to "The Last Lion" by William Manchester which I love. Winston Churchill was a fascinating man. Bet he would have run over those angle drivers.

January Spin-in

Ok, my blog has been majorly neglected. No excuse except that I have been kniting like crazy to actually get things finished. Novel concept!

Christmas was wonderful and very, very restful. J and I were somewhat rushed when Christmas arrived 2 days after we landed in FL but relaxing after that. This year everyone had a flying pig and there were some major pig wars while trying to open presents.

Going back to FL less than a month later almost felt like I hadn't left. Spin-in was great and met lots of new people as well as seeing friends who have been there for years, and years, and years.

I did manage to bring home lots of dyed, ready to spin wool and also some silk. I'm not sure what possessed me as the last thing I need is more fiber, but it followed me home anyway. It must have been all the fiber in the air. I inhaled it and was lost. I'll post some pictures when the sinus infection has cleared up. Yuck! Pictures of the fiber, not the sinus infection.

I also bought a Trindle which is a spindle made by a physics teacher. It weighs 7 grams and spins like a dream. This could become my favorite spindle. Gale of Gale's Art was selling them and they are wonderful!!!!

Too many ideas OR Where did I put that yarn?

I have about 3 or 4 projects floating around in my head right now. The problem is putting the project and the yarn together with the needles. I just sorted my knitting needles--AGAIN--and hopefully the knitting elves will stay away and they can remain in order for the next few days.

Naturally, I don't have exactly the right needles or yarn for the projects I want to do. Thus the huge frustration level that is occurring. I really do think that sometimes it would just be easier to be the type of person who is focused on one craft and doesn't enjoy doing 500 different things.

I have put all of my major knitting patterns and books that I use a lot in one very large tote bag so I can find them when I need them. The needles are now sorted by size in plastic zip bags and in another tote bag. I have all my commercial wool yarn in a large clear plastic container. So far so good wouldn't you think? Then there's the rest of the fiber stash. ...on shelves, in plastic containers, in drawers, and probably some stored under the bed but I refuse to look there as the dust bunnies reside there and they are getting somewhat aggressive when disturbed.

I know where the big bin of silk fiber to be spun is because I stumble over it regularly. It won't fit in any of the closets and I can find it in the middle of the room where it is currently located. All the cotton fiber is out in the "workroom" and there it will remain until I make a dent in the spun cotton.

So project # 1 is a moebius scarf using some of my handspun cotton. I am actually going to, GASP, sample a swatch so I can buy the correct size needle that I need for the project. This is so difficult as I just love to jump right into things and sampling really is at odds with my basic nature. It will be worth it, it will be worth it, it will be....... Did I mention that I hate to sample?

Thankfully I have Catherine Coulter's TAILSPIN to listen do which should help me get through this step.

Thanksgiving???

No, it really can't be almost Thanksgiving again. I'm not ready. Not that the universe seems to care about that or take my considerations into account but more notice would be a good thing.

I need to find a calendar that has a fake Thanksgiving and Christmas on it. They should arrive about 1 month before they actually get here so I would have a nice cushion to finishing making and ordering presents. The problem with that is that I would know it was fake and would still procrastinate. SIGH. Give me a week or a year, it's all going to get done in that last week.

The roof is finally fixed and beautiful once again after the hurricane. The fence is back in place and the only things remaining on the extra to do list are the ceilings in the 2 bedrooms which need to be repainted. The problem is the regular to do list. It never seems to stop growing. The flower beds need to be prepared for winter, the bath tubs need to be recaulked, and the windows need a serious cleaning.

Take the mail for instance. It arrives here with great regularity. I appreciate my postman who is wonderful but wouldn't it be great to have a post office filter for spam mail? It could be intercepted and shredded before it ever gets here. The post office would make money, the organization would have the satisfaction of sending it out, and best of all, I wouldn't have to deal with it.If I ever find political candidates who don't send 5,000 flyers or make annoying telephone calls, I seriously think I may support them. Wouldn't you vote for them?

Knitting: I have made 2 Dumpling Bags (pattern by Sharon Dreifuss in Fall 2008 Interweave Knits). Love the pattern . Interesting enough to keep you from being bored but you can still take it along and visit while you knit without totally losing your place. I should have paid a bit more attention when they were in the washing machine since they are slightly smaller than intended but I am pleased with them anyway. When they are dry I'll post a picture.

I think the next thing on the list is to remember to be ever so grateful that I have all these things that need doing and people to do them with if needed.