So many hobbies!

My new favorite book

Everything you've ever wanted to know about compost and building the perfect compost pile.  It's pretty facinating, actually, all the activity (bacterial, micro- and macrobiotic) that goes on in a composting pile of vegetation.  How many of us knew that there was GOOD bacteria that made life possible?  Think about it, if composting didn't happen, the planet would have suffocated under piles and piles of dead leaves, grass and plants.  I've already picked out my compost bin.  Well, a compost tumbler, actually.  This one.  Assuming that my condo association agrees to let me have one that is.  I will be most irritated if they turn down my request.  I want to put my new rotting guide to use.

My tomato seeds got planted around mid-day Sunday and this morning, the little guys had already sprouted:

Here's a close-up.  Aren't they cute?

  

The new roots have these fuzzy little rootlings on them (I'm sure there's an actual word for these fuzzy things, I just don't know what it is).  They're so fine, at first I thought they'd started to mold but instead, they were just being happy.  This is so much fun, I don't know why more people don't grow their own veggies.  It really isn't difficult.  There are even small varieties of tomatoes and other veggies that are happy growning in a pot on your deck.  And the reward is delicious!

 

Still here

I wasn't idle this past week even though I wasn't blogging about it.  I don't have a tunnel book to show off since I haven't finished it yet.  I'm need to create more sky for the book and I can't figure out how to do what I need using Photoshop Elements.  I'll blame my not blogging last week on the shock of how much the new ink cartridges cost for my color printer.  I nearly had to take out a second mortgage on my condo.  Geez!

 

I'm up to about three and a half bobbins of the Merino/silk/bamboo.  The half-filled bobbin is still on my wheel.

Today I finally planted my tomato seeds.  They're happily enclosed in their little greenhouse and hanging out on a germination mat.  I post a picture once they sprout.

 

Most of today was spent cutting out parts and beginning to put together more spindle boxes.  These are handles, folded, ironed and ready to be stitched.  I have some wonderful free advertising in the spring issue of "Spin-off" that just came out this week.  On page 20, the "Get this!" feature, my boxes are featured at the top left.  I've already gotten three Etsy requests because of this.  I'm absolutely thrilled!  All my extracurricular activities are on hold this week while I sew boxes.  Woot!  

My co-worker is evil!

She got me addicted to Farmville on Facebook.  So, that said, I have joined Facebook so I can play.  HOWEVER, I am ONLY joining to play the game.  I'm not interested in any of the social networking stuff and I never would have joined if not for Farmville.  If you don't play Farmville and you're on Facebook, don't friend me because you will only be disappointed.  I'm not going to upload anything to my page or visit your's*.  If you DO play Farmville, friend away... we can send each other farm gifts.

*I'm not trying to be rude, I just want to be clear about my intentions with Facebook.  I only want to play the game and I'll likely only do it during lunch and breaks at work.  I'm not interested in social networking.  If you want to know what's up with me, send me an email and I'll be happy to chat.

Spun between naps

 

 My work-in-progress this week.  The fiber is from Winterhaven Fiber Farm and it's lovely and soft - 50% Merino / 25% silk / 25% bamboo.  I've got another 8 oz. to spin.

 

The top photo is the truest to the color but this one gives you an idea of just how soft this stuff is.  I'm leaning towards shawl but I have no idea when I'll be able to knit it.

I've commited to selling at the new (this year) Michigan Fiber Fiesta in Greenville, MI on May 15th.  It's about 2.5 hours from where I live.  Between now and then, I need to dig up some motivation (still working of finding meds that actually work) and dye some roving and yarn and sew up some spindle boxes.  This weekend I'm taking this class at Hollander's in Ann Arbor so there won't be any dyeing or sewing this weekend.  Next weekend, however, is looking good.

What are you doing this weekend?

I hate head colds!

Sometimes I can breathe through my nose, sometimes I can't.  Sometimes I can breathe out of the right side, sometimes the left.  Through all of it, my nose is running.  Thank goodness I had a new box of kleenex in reserve.

When I wasn't sleeping the past two days, I was spinning up some gorgeous 50/25/25 Merino/silk/bamboo roving.  Spinning is non-strenuous and perfect for when you're sick and bored of sleeping or watching TV.  I promise pictures later this week.  For now, I'm going to bed since I'm going to work tomorrow.  Maybe I'll be able to breathe through my nose by then.

I've got a cold

And it's kicking my arse.  I made a trip to the grocery store, because of course I was running out of supplies, and when I came home, curled up with Seli and slept for over an hour.  I can't breathe through my nose and as a result, didn't sleep well last night.  Mouth breathing stinks! 

I managed to knit two swatches from the newly dyed sock yarn this weekend but haven't blocked them yet.  I'll try and get to that today.  The rest of the weekend, I slept, watched movies and read back-to-the-land books, dreaming about my future homestead.  I don't really want to homestead for real but the though of having a big garden and chickens makes me smile.  Mmm, free-range eggs.  I have this book on my wish list at Amazon so I can get an idea of what it takes to raise your own pork.  (I've got the Storey guide on raising sheep.)  If I can't find someone to do the butchering for me though, it's not going to happen.  I'm too much of a city person with a soft heart to be able to do it myself.  If I had to do it myself, I'd be a vegetarian who ate eggs.  I can't even bait my own hook anymore.  Geez, I rescue stranded worms off the sidewalk when things start to dry out.  Yeah, I'm a softy.  Anyway, does anyone know if local butchers actually do butchering and not just sell meat?  At least in Michigan.

I'm listening to the radio and there's a commercial for some doctor who does plastic surgery.  I hate those commercials.  He sounds so slimey.  He's all "Oh, I love Michigan.  It's home now."  <gag!>  It's creepy. 

I'm going to lay down now and try and take a nap.  Maybe my sinuses will drain down to the side on the pillow so I can at least breathe out of one nostril.  Such a simple dream but it's important to me.

Three more possibilities

The one on the bottom is a keeper.  The jury's still out on the other two.  Once I knit them up, I'll be able to see if what I thought would look good really does.

It was 60F today.  There wasn't any sun but the warm temps were glorious.  The snow is almost gone and my bulbs are coming up.  Unfortunately, a big clump of daffodils is coming up right in the middle of where I'll be putting my veggie garden.  I'll have to do some moving and hope the bulbs don't die.  Speaking of veggies - or more technically, fruit - I'll be starting my tomato seeds this weekend.  I went winter crazy and ordered two more varieties: one for slicing and canning and one for eating like popcorn.  I want to can tomatoes late summer so I wanted a canning tomato to combine with the paste tomatoes.  Not to mention my perennial summer favorite, the toasted tomato sandwich.  Three kinds of tomatoes.  Yikes!

More from Sunday

 

Here are the last 3 skeins dyed on Sunday.  Beautiful!  I played with the leftover dyes tonight and I've got 3 skeins steaming as I type.  All three are potential new colorways.  We shall see.

Much to tell

I had my Friday night buddies over today for a little dyeing party.  I remember the blast I had when I took a dyeing class a couple of years ago so I know how much fun they had.  Besides, they told me.  Here's a part of what we did:

 

This was my first time doing a group dyeing.  I gave us 4 hours and thought we'd get 3 skeins of yarn dyed.  This was really optimistic on my part.  We spent over an hour skeining up the yarn they brought and waiting for them to decide on their colorways, then more time letting the yarn soak and waiting for me to mix up the dyes.  Next time, when we meet Friday night, we'll skein and decide on their colors.  The dyeing day will be Saturday instead of Sunday, giving us stress-free overflow time if we need it, and giving me time to mix up the dyes before they arrive.

The one on the bottom is a colorway I'm working on.  It's the yarn translation of my Chocolate Hearts roving.  My thought is to come up with 5 initial colorways for yarn, of which I already have three.  If the girls come up with a colorway that really rings my bell, I've told them, if they let me have it, I'll name it after them.  They seemed to like the idea.

 

I ended up with about 300 yards of approximately fingering weight yarn.  Not enough yarn to knit a pair of socks but I've got an idea that I'm working on. 

 

I realized today that I haven't spun very much since the last Maryland Sheep and Wool.  If I want to enter the skein contest, I'd better get to spinning.  I think this one may be good enough to enter.

And finally, Seli snoozing on her favorite spot:

Full bobbins

 

After I started filling the first bobbin, I weighed off 2 ounces of roving to spin onto the second bobbin.  As you can see from the second bobbin (the one on the left), there's a lot more on it than on bobbin #1.  This tells me there wasn't a full 4 ounces of roving when I started.  Disappointing.  Especially since I planned on knitting socks from this yarn.  Four ounces is barely enough to knit a pair of socks.  Less than that will require augmenting with another yarn.  Darn!  I can't even request more roving from Twisted Fiber Art as she has discontinued this colorway.

I decided today that I needed a break from knitting socks.  (Of course, then I realized I needed simple socks to knit at work and at Knit Night.)  Even though I don't seem to wear them, I have the urge to knit a shawl, or shawls.  Here are the top 5 candidates (sorry, most of these are Ravelry links):

1. The "Faraway, So Close" shawl.  Here's another link.  I'll most likely spin the yarn for this one.
2. "Moonlight Sonata" shawl.
3. "La La's Simple Shawl."
4. The "Agatha" shawl.
5. The "Aestlight" shawl.  I'm leaning toward the larger size as opposed to the neck wrap.

The "Faraway, So Close" shawl is leading the running so far.  It looks like it'll be a lot of fun to knit.  Probably my no-distractions-sitting-on-the-couch knitting.  I haven't had one of those projects since I knitted the lace scarf for my niece last Christmas.  I've been collecting books on tape, which along with the radio, is the only distraction I can have and not royally screw up the pattern.  Of course, I have to spin the yarn first. 

Have a good weekend, my peeps!