So many hobbies!

I haven't forgotten

I have been crazy busy lately which is only part of the reason I haven't been posting.  My home PC has slowed down to an absolutely crawl (remember dial-up?) and between that, my sister and I doing a clean-sweep on my condo and getting ready for the Fiber Expo, no blogging has been happening.  I'm pretty sure, since my virus software is up to date, that my PC isn't infected but beyond that, I don't know how to figure out what's wrong.  Last weekend, my sister stayed with me and we spent three days doing a clean-sweep on my condo.  The three days was supposed to deal with the entire thing but instead, we spent nearly the entire time on the basement alone.  The end result was two loads of recycling, two trips to Salvation Army and 7 bags of garbage.  I got rid of crap I've been carting around since high school.  We're only about a third of the way through the whole process but it won't be until spring that my sis comes back (she lives in Pennsylvania) to help me finish it.  It was such a huge job, there's no way I would have tackled it on my own. 

The prep for Fiber Expo hasn't been going at the speed I would have liked but considering some of the crap I've been dealing with, personal and other, it suppose things aren't too bad.  I'll have 10 spindle boxes finished.  Did I tell you my oven died?  On the day I was planning to dye roving, I go to turn on the oven to bake said roving and nothing happens.  This prompted the purchase of a far too expensive replacement which was only delivered yesterday.  I won't have the roving stock I was hoping for.  I did go through my stash of handspun and pulled out the yarn I'd spun because I loved the roving but did't have plans for.  Most of my handspun I'll never use so why not sell it to someone who will.

I haven't disappeared and as soon as this weekend is over and I figure out my computer problems, I'll be posting more regularly. 

Not productive

This was supposed to be a productive weekend for me.  I took Friday off to dye roving for the Fiber Expo.  I put the roving to soak Thursday night, Friday morning I starting mixing up dye.  All was going well until I tried to turn on the oven.  See, I cook my roving in the oven to set the dye so having a working oven is crucial to the dyeing process.  The stinking oven wouldn't turn on!!  I said a whole lot of words that would make Dad yell at me, practiced avoidance for a while and spun some of the Polwarth/angora then pulled out the phone book and started calling appliance repair places.  By 3:00 I was $35 cheaper with an oven that still didn't work and the knowledge that I HAD TO BUY A NEW ONE!  More bad words were spoken.  So today, not only did I have to shell out way too much money to buy a new stove, but the darn thing is going to take 10 days to be delivered since it was a special order (I have one of those stupid 24" apartment stoves).  Ten days!  I am so not a happy camper.  Pretty much the only good thing from this weekend was this:

 

This is 300 yards of my future hooded scarf:  1 ply of Cormo/silk and 1 ply of Polwarth/angora.   I haven't spun up the second 4 oz. of Polwarth/angora.  I should have spun it before I started plying but I just couldn't wait.  The rest of the spinning and plying won't happen for a while. 

The Cormo, washed and dried.  It's very squishy and soft and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it.  I might put it up in my store. 

I made crockpot corn chowder today.  Just what was the evaporated milk supposed to do 'cause it didn't thicken it at all.  I think of chowders at being thicker, heartier soups.  It was good but the consistency was more soup-like that chowder-like.  Any suggestions?

Note:  When I got up this morning, it had thickened up nicely so I've got my answer. 

Patent?

I just looked into what it would take to get a patent for my spindle boxes.  Yikes!  Legalzoom.com was recommended to me so I checked out their website.  Even discounted, it would cost me $1130 to file for a patent.  Damn!  Owning a patent would be so very cool but there's no way I can toss out more than $1100 for one.  Jeez!  Now I'm all disappointed.

I need to plan better

 

I love my sewing machine.  It's a 30-year-old Singer that doesn't do much beyond button holes and it's perfect for me.  I don't need fancy stitches.  Heck, I've hardly used the zig-zag.  I finally figured out how do machine quilting on it (I think) so I may be using it to quilt my quilts.  First, though, it really needs a check up/tune up.

 

I worked on the configuration of the squares for almost an hour and I couldn't come up with a pattern that didn't have the two oranges kitty-corner to each other.  I've got two different purples, a yellow and a pink square left to put on the back.  If anyone has any suggestions that will get those two oranges away from each other, PLEASE leave me a comment. 

I didn't stop to think how big the quilt would be when it was done and it's going to be much bigger than I thought.  Shows you I'm still a novice at this.  I still need to sew the sashing between each square - it's going to be a bit big for my double bed.  I like the main pattern of a quilt to sit on top of the bed and not hang over the sides.  Since I've already got ideas for three more quilts rolling around in my head, I'll plan better next time. 

Don't worry, I'm not giving up spinning and knitting.  I'm trying to start a new shawl, finally, from the Corriedale I spun a couple months ago and the Merino/Seacell from last month.  I'm trying to knit a shawl that, instead of having a column of double yarn-overs down the middle of the back, has three columns of yarn-overs spaced equally in the shawl.  I haven't had much luck so far but I've been trying to start the shawl after work.  I probably should try again in the middle of the day when the light's good and I'm not tired.

  

My cube at work.  I put together the Wall of Art to keep from going insane.  There are a few of my rubber stamped pieces; post cards from vacations, art exhibits, Art Fair, and beading conventions; photographs; and page-a-day calendars.  I change out the picture on my monitor regularly, also in an effort to stay sane.  Each January, I spend the money to get a cool wall calendar.  This year's is a drop spindle calendar.  And yes, I'm a Dew addict. 

Plans change

At first, I was going to just buy a new iron because I didn't know how to rewire a plug.  A new iron would cost me about $20-$30.  Then, I decided to rewire the old iron and googled replacing a plug.  It looked really easy.  So, tonight after work, I headed to Lowe's to buy a new plug.  I asked a couple of the Lowe's guys where to find new plugs which lead to why I needed one.  They both decided that the symptoms of the bad plug were really a bad iron.  Bummer.  A new plug would only cost about $5.  Plus, I was actually rather excited about learning a new skill.  I like feeling self-sufficient and learning new things is fun.  Sadly, I ended up at Meijer to purchase my second Sunbeam iron.  (In case you're interested, I bought this one.)

It takes all kinds

Riding home on the bus today, there was a kid in the back of the bus, laying across 3 seats, his upper half, including his head, covered up by his coat and he was just singing away, probably listening to his iPod.  He had to know there were other people on the bus but he clearly didn't care.  It was rather refreshing.

Work continues on the quilt and the second 4 ounces of the Merino/Seacell.  Sorry, no pictures.  I promise to do better.

Great!

Apprently, when I'm listening to my iPod and just mouthing the words, I'm still making enough noise that my co-working commented that I was singing.  I used to sing in a former incarnation so with some songs (this time it was Simon & Garfunkel), I can't stand to just listen.  I need to sing, too.  Mouthing the words seemed like a good, I'm-at-work alternative.  I guess not.  Great.

Create = Life

Crafting and creating is my life.  Seriously.  I'm a total art geek.  I fall asleep faster and sleep better when I'm thinking about a project after I get in bed; I'm happiest when I'm working on a project, especially if it's one I'm really geeked about; I'm much more likely to spend my money on art and craft supplies than I am on clothes (I bought new work shirts only because I wore them out... literally... I put my thumb through the sleeve because the fabric had become so thin); I love color and lots of it - beads, fabric, yarn, dyes, ink, glass - it's all good... very good; probably a third of the art in my house was made by me - stained glass lamp and windows, linoleum block prints and collagraphs, books, quilts; my greatest joy comes from making something beautiful from a handful of pieces; if I could figure out how to live off of making art, I would, in a heart beat (anyone got any ideas, please let me know). 

 

The first 4 ounces of Merino/Seacell all spun up.  Spinning with a short forward-draw takes a lot longer than spinning long-draw.  A LOT longer.  Sheesh!  I'd really like to have the second 4 ounces spun by the end of the weekend but I don't think that's going to happen.  Seli has a vet appointment Saturday morning and I'm going back for more blueberries Sunday morning.  I have a new project I'm not ready to reveal yet that I'll likely be obsessing on this weekend so spinning will probably wait.  God, I love new projects!  I'm waiting for the mailman to deliver some supplies before I can start.  I love mail order almost as much as I love new projects.  The internet is my friend.

Shawl progress

 

I finished the body of the shawl this morning (woke up early, couldn't go back to sleep).  I think you can see from the picture how the short rows shape the shawl.  The yarn tail is at the bottom point of the shawl.  I've started working on the border/ruffle which involved making two stitches in the space between each short row.  That's a lot of stitches.  I'm a little obsessed with this shawl because it's so fun to knit - and I'm very happy with how the yarn turned out - so I expect to get a good bit of the border done this weekend... after the canning and freezing of the cherries.

My birthday is in a month and I've started planning my week-long birthday celebration.  One of my coworkers, Monika, said she didn't get the whole 7-day celebration thing.  Personally, I don't know why more people don't do it, too.  It's a perfect excuse to do and buy fun things for yourself.  None of them need to be expensive (although they certainly can be) just special or out of the ordinary.  For example:  going to Borders, buying yourself a paperback and a fancy cup of coffee and giving yourself permission to sit for an afternoon and read.  Or going to the grocery store and buying a pineapple or a papaya or some other item that you normally don't buy because they're too expensive.  It's basically giving yourself permission to treat yourself.  You do know that you deserve it, right? 

I've been thinking

Off and on I've been thinking of whether or not I should keep up my blog.  I've been dealing with some personal issues lately and I feel sometimes like I haven't been keeping up my side of the blogging bargin.  I feel like I've been boring and not very productive.  Not productive = no blog fodder = boring blog.   But when I think of the friends I now have because of my blog, I know I'd miss all of you too much if I gave it up.  So I'll keep blogging for a while longer and I thank all of you for your friendship.  It means more to me than you know.

I have a new toy:  an Ann Grout spindle.

 

It's a bottom-whorl spindle with a ceramic whorl.  It spins like a dream and for a nice long time.  My only complaint is I really could use a notch on the side to run the singles through but other than that, I love it.  It's very different from my other spindles. 

 

I'm spinning some gorgeous Polwarth that I'm in love with.  My singles are a little too fine for the weight of this spindle but I'm enjoying it too much to switch to another one.

(Hey, Yen, Ann Grout is a potter at State College, PA.  We should go visit her the next time I come to visit.)