Harry lives!

Ever have one of those just plain fun days? Today was one of those really extra special times . I went to a Quidditch match between LSU and the Texas Aggies. Great time! Five of us from the knitting group went having learned about it from Ravelry.

So we ate a late lunch, knitted and watched some great Quidditch. Kudos to all who play and survive. Great spectator sport between watching what's going on on the playing field and looking for the snitch. The funniest part was when the snitch opted for the lake in order not to be caught but between the ducks and the water lillies it may not have been the best tactical decision. The LSU seeker managed to finally get the snitch despite having his head put under water for an instant.

I learned that wooden brooms are better than plastic brooms as they don't break as easily but on the other hand, if something is going to connect with some part of my anatomy, I'd just as soon it broke. However, the players don't see it that way and they prefer the wooden brooms.

If you hear of a Quidditch match near you, I encourage you to go. It is a fast paced game which is not gentle and requires quite a bit of athletic ability on the part of the teams. If you are not familiar with Quidditch then immediately read all the Harry Potter books and then go see a game. It's worth the trip.

I am still knitting on the enterlac tote bag but should finish within the next day or so and can then felt it. Feel like I have been knitting on it for a long time but it is just a week. I am enjoying working with the Knit Picks yarn and will definitely use more of it in the future.

I'll get a picture before it is felted and then another one after the felting.

The weeds in the garden are calling.

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.