11 Bags of Roving in my spare room...

I've not started dyeing the wool yet, but today I took 255 yards of Merino roving to my mother in laws house and we broke out my dye tray to do some wet set felting in.

OMG, seriously silly fun was had and we've had a bunch of CPSIA compliant childrens product ideas... and evaluating what we have to photograph, gettingsome non kids stuff up and listed and keeping my almost 2 year old out of my mother in law's purse.

More to post later, including some hand painted roving that I'll post for sale as well.

:-)

Raving about Roving

Today was a busy day for my fibershop online, I had run out of supplies for Drop spindles, and had a couple of orders to fill, and had to re-bag some of the fiber I usually enclose with my starter kits. This led to running about from location to location to get a few of the supplies I usually keep on hand, as well as new pads for my hubby's dremel and then getting the kits assembled and shipped out.

Which I'm pleased to say they are out and in the hands of the USPS now... and the customers have new DC's for them as Paypal hasn't increased their postage amounts for orders... boo hiss. I had to buy new postage at the post office substation, as the printed postage from paypal was short. Oops!

Before dinner I managed to unearth the Minivan from the snowbank that our tin roof had caused - completely entombing the front end of the vehicle in the last few storms, and I loaded the kids up to make that post office run, and then after returning to pick up my GPS from my normal car I drive, I picked up my husband too - who's presence delighted the kids to no end. We took the trip out to Twist of Fate in Portland, and I picked up the wool I'd dropped off in August for processing. It is now in my craft room in 9 bags waiting to be spun, or dyed, or broken into little bags to go out with the aforementioned drop spindle kits.

The Merino I had such a hard time getting a hold of from a seller on Etsy last year came back a bit neppy, and the guys had said that the fleece looked like the sheep was stressed. I can believe it, and the seller has dropped off radar and not made any further sales on Etsy since. A big box of Rambouillet which was a Hogget Fleece and increadibly greasy has come back the whitest white and so soft and beautiuful that I can't wait to work with it.

I have some Romney Cross - around 500 yards of it in a nice natural gray that I'm ooohing and ahhing over, it was beautiful to behold, and an amazing light grey that will make warm, yet pretty socks I am sure.

There is also some Tunis to die for - oh goodness, this batch is a much cleaner fleece, with far less VM in it to begin with so the fleece itself is just going to be a joy to work with.

I have a little over a pound of Jacob that I am disappointed in - it was a gamble. The cuts were too short and the fleece was vegetable matter filled even with me re-skirting the fleece after I brought it home. Win some loose some I guess. The Jacob did come back a lovely chocolate brown though, and maybe spinning will help more of the VM work its way out.

My mini van was packed, nearly to the ceiling, and my children were delighted to find that they could squish the bags like pillows. I foresee much acid dying in the near future. (I might even have some roving up on the Etsy shop for sale in the near future as I have so much that it might be worth it to start selling my colorways...)

The farm I get my Tunis and Romney fleeces from is a mile away from the spinnery, and we're going to be waiting for a call as it's lambing season, and while they haven't had any born yet, we've been told we're welcome to come back to see the Lambs once they are born. This has been met with great excitement by my 4 year old daughter who has been asking me every day "are the baby lambs born yet Mommy?"

It's sweet as all get out and amusing as heck.

And wonderful that I get to share this love with my little girl.

and Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee between my pick up in November and what I picked up tonight - I have 11 big bags of roving to play with. Oh I can't wait, and creativity is starting to bubble it's way back forth.

Lessons shared are wonderful

Where'd I go to again? I went back to work from medical leave on the 15th to get cut from work on the 23'rd, and then broke my ankle in 3 places (avulsion fractures) on the 29th. I've been online but kinda meh about posting. I have pretty much been laid up since December 29 and my left ankle and hip are healing from the fall I took but it's a slow process.

I have become completely batty with cabin fever - so as I can balance a bit of weight on my ankle, Thursday is the usual spinning night, and there's a new fiber shop close by hosting their own spinning night. I had to go. Really. You know - the right leg needed the excercise and isn't broken anywhere - can't let the muscle's atrophy...

Their hours for the spin in? 6-7:30PM.

Yeah - that's much earlier than Tara, Wendy (sometimes) and I meet - and as Tara works out until 6:30 with a trainer, well she's not likely to meet there. I don't mind starting there and moving down the road to Starbucks afterward - which is what I did on Thursday this week.

So I have to say this group of women are just a pleasure to spend time with, and I had no idea that there were that many spinners locally...

Initially the plan was that they were meeting only once a month there - but when I mentioned that next week I'd be at Starbucks and anyone who wished was welcome to join me.

They then decided they want to meet weekly too, and will be doing it at the yarn shop. I will probably start there and at closing move down to Starbucks to get my Cappucino fix.

I hobbled in there late with my crutches and my HitchHiker spnning wheel, and introduced my self. These women a pleasure to spend time with. I recieved the highest praise that I have were gotten in a long time when I was spinning some Targhee Top from a woman in her seventies who was hand carding each lock of wool before spinning it.

She told me she was excited to meet me as she felt she had so much to learn from me. I of course was gobsmacked as she's got a beautiful wheel and hand cards/prepares the wool she uses one lock at a time and she spins beautifully - and I had thought she had years of experience on me as she'd been talking about doing demos... when I started mentioning that I'd potentially navajo ply it, she actually said I was so far advanced in skills from her. I was a lot surprised by that, and I told her I was just going on two years of spinning... and I didn't consider my self an expert at all - I was just fortunate to have a large stash of different fibers and a couple of wheels to play with it on. Her comment was "it isn't about age, or time spent - it's what you've done with that time." Hee hee - yep and this woman thinks she has nothing to teach me? Just think about the words she said. That's a life lesson shared right there.

Anyhow - the yarn above was from the fiber swap I was in this summer. It's the aforementioned Targhee and I hadn't realized how well I'd gotten along with my HitchHiker wheel until I saw just how consistent and not overspun those singles are. I'm very pleased with the quality of my work with it of late.

I will be skeining the Targhee in singles, washing it, thwacking the hell out of it and then I'll see if I need to put it through more by plying it. If I can I want to leave it as a single, as the colorway is just beautiful and the spin is consistent. Targhee is an amazing fiber, like Tunis it can be worn against the skin by any age and it's really a lovely springy fiber with a lot of memory and it's not a big one for pilling.

I have a lot of roving coming from the mill at the end of the month and I may leave it undyed when I spin it if the CPSIA doesn't make some major changes... or I can market as "While soft enough to be used for a Baby or child under 12, the CPSIA of 2008 does not allow me to sell this in any modified/processed form (as in acid dying) for child use."

Can I just say I hate that law? Can you just see the WAHM's that are going to have to start marketing their products in this way "It's a size 0 diaper for those adults who have incontinence problems with a 10 inch waist and a 14 inch rise (The measure between your bellybutton and spin around your crotch.)" Either way - by the end of this month I will have about 26 prewashed pounds of fiber I dropped off at the mill in August to pick up and go to work on. I'd say about a good third of that is Tunis.

I got out a little more today (thank god for large doses of Advil) when I picked up my four year old from Mamaws (she overnights on Thursday nights) and we did a little shopping. I leaned on to the cart for dear life, and she was my little helper where she could be. As we went through pretty much the last of the ice melt salt for our walk way with this last storm and we're supposed to get another six inches of snow tomorrow, we needed to get more ice melt and I didn't want to get a little bag. I found 50# of it at Ocean State Job Lot, and had help getting it in the cart, out the door, into the car, and of course out of the car by my wonderful husband.

Before I take my daughter to dance tomorrow morning I think I'll sprinkle some of the ice melt (calcium chloride) on the drive way. Based on a website I found tonight I think that 50# bag will last a long time for us. "For Calcium chloride, it usually takes only two to four ounces per square yard to effective undercut bonded ice and snow"

We picked up some snacks and juice while we were out as well. I still have a fairly well stocked pantry and I had just had enough being on my feet, so I called it a night and we grabbed fast food on the way home. Our driveway sucks and after offloading everything from the car I moved the car to park it where it won't be snow plowed in. I slid our hill into a tree. I don't think there is damage to the bumper, and my aforementioned wonderful husband helped me get it straightened out so I could eventually get the car up the hill the right way and into my parking spot. You can bet that the driveway gets the ice melter tomorrow. With another six inches of snow on the way? Yeah I think so....

I will be spinning more on the HitchHiker for a while I think - due to my left ankle being in the state it's in. I was told it will take about 6 weeks to heal as long as I take good care of it and for the most part I really have. I am looking forward to working with my Kiwi again one of these days though. The poor thing has been awfully abandoned of late.

Keeping Busy

Good Grief. It's been too long since I have posted here. Warning - for some reason Blogger is putting spaces inbetween paragraphs that are HUGE.

From 12-18-2008

As mentioned previously I pretty much kicked off a spinners circle with Sunshyn689 as she attempts to learn how to use my Ashford Kiwi.

While she's busy with Beaky, I spin on my MerlinTree Roadbug. Every Thursday (with exception to holidays and we seem to be managing to pick up a Friday before or aft to balance it out) we have been meeting at the local Starbucks here in Bristol and we've been spinning.

Looking to get her own wheel in April at the CT Sheep and Wool Festival, she's been getting practice using Beaky and has been bit by the spinning bug pretty hard. She likes the MerlinTree Conversion, so I expect that Dave will have another happy customer that will be sending him business along the way as she becomes a more experienced spinner.

From 12-18-2008

She's been working with some pencil roving as she gets the hang of it (OMG she picked up plying and her finished yarns are so nicely balanced,) and I've been slogging through some pink Merino that I dyed using Cushing's "Wood Rose" acid dye... it's rather pretty, and when spun up it's not quite the Pepto Pink it had been. Tonight I emptied the bobbins of it I had and winding the singles onto my ball winder I have set them aside to get stale before I ply them up. I'm really hoping Santa brings me a Jumbo flyer for my Roadbug, as it's what I've really asked for and had hoped to be able to get for myself earlier this fall.

In late November, Tessa (my four year old) and I picked up the Tunis and Southdown Roving from the mill that we'd dropped off after buying from a local shepard in late spring, and getting a tour of the farm. We'll be dying that soon enough and I will be bringing that on Thursday evenings too before ya know it.

I'm really pleased with how the fiber turned out and would definitely recommend Twist of Fate Spinnery, however with the cavaet that this MicroMill has a very long wait to get your fiber back. The stuff we dropped off in early June took until November 20 to be ready. Hopefully my order to pick up in January won't be delayed like the previous order. So if you are in CT and want to throw your money in a local direction for wool processing and have the luxury of waiting the long wait - the roving they process is beautiful. Not terribly expensive for processing either - I paid 6.50 a pound, pre-washed weight. The only difference I might do in the future is that I may do a pre-wash first so I'm not paying as much due to the lanolin, suint and dirt that gets washed out.

We have had another gal joining us for our Thursday nights on an intermittent basis - she's a rather nice gal and spins on a Kromski Sonata. Hopefully she'll be back, as it's nice having multiple wheels going and seeing the faces of the other patrons of Starbucks as they realize what we're doing.

From 12-18-2008

I finished spinning some lovely Angora Bunneh/Cormo Wool this evening, and took that off the bobbin too. This basket full of singles is just waiting to be put together to be plied - and I think that the Bunneh/Cormo blend may be plied against some lovely maroon silk I still have to spin up. I may just ply on the fly as I spin it and see how that turns out. The WoodRose will be plied against it's self as. The Bunneh/Cormo is the glaringly white ball in the top row there...

I'll have to try to get a better pic of these but all pics were taken with my camera phone this evening. The top left is my bubblegum pink silk. Yeah - the one that I am not too sure what I'm doing with.

From 12-18-2008

I also got to start spinning some rolag's I got in a fiber swap this summer. It's an interesting combination of colors and I'll just have to wait and see what the finished yarn turns out as... but the combinations are definately making me wonder what the person who carded them up was thinking, after all Neon Green and Magenta as a color combination haven't been seen together since the 1980's.

From 12-18-2008

The Creme Orange thread from the previous picture is meant to be plied against the finished yarn there at left on the bobbin. Part of the swap goodies... At present the rolag's are spinning up rather slubby (this means big lumps in the yarn on occasion), and it's not inclined to be a thin yarn, unlike the Bunneh/Cormo. I think that the name of the finished yarn from this fiber swap may just be "Laupered" or "Girls just wanna have fun." To the left is the single right now. To put it mildly it's a colorful visual experience.

The Fiber Swap also Yielded a drop spindle, but I've not been able to use it as such yet...

From 12-18-2008

I just can't figure out a spindle without a hook.

Both wheels were brought in out of the car due to the extreme cold and Winter Storm "Austin" that we're due to get. I usually end up bringing them in the next morning after spinning the night before, but I don't want to have to do that in the morning. I need to find the oil and take care of some squeaks on Beaky, and as I will be working from home tomorrow (the drive in to work is not one to make in this weather.) If I am lucky I will get some more spinning done during lunch time.

I'm looking forward to it, and glad I won't be risking being stuck in traffic for hours, as I expect that the worst of it will be in the afternoon. I have set towels down in front of the bottom of our front door and really need to get to making a door snake. One of these days I guess... ok - it's late, my daughter wants snuggles and I am getting tired, so it's time to wrap it up.

Where have I been?

I've had some medical issues I've been focusing on of late, and as a result I've not even been spinning. More's the loss there as spinning is something that helps me deal with stress.

I had hoped to do multiple craft shows this season, but that doesn't appear to be happening. I'm resigned to this fact, and rolling with it. In the interim, I'm working on getting my Etsy store re-stocked with what I have on hand, and will be running a sale as I have more roving to pick up from the mill this week. If you've bought yarn from me before, keep an eye out, as I'm going to be offering some deals as the pocket money just isn't there to pick up what I dropped off, and I keep my commitments.

I got to pick back up teaching tonight. Sunshyn689 and I met at Starbucks - where I transferred the full cop on the drop spindle to bobbin and she tried drafting roving to spin. She's getting the concept, but the implimentation is kinda rough, so she went back to the pencil roving and had much better luck. I'll be splitting down what she spun into two even bobbins worth and next week she gets to learn to ply. It was rather nice, and while she spun on Beaky, I got to work on the pepto pink roving I've got plans on turning into a pair of leg warmers for Tessa.

We'll be there weekly, and I'm going to make a point of trying to scare up other spinners to come there on Thursday nights. The kids go to Grandma's on Thursday's so I know I have the evening free to do this. I need more time with other adults. My husband is a wonderful man, but I really don't get enough adult interaction, and given I'm off work for health reasons right now, I should be probably looking into outlets for such interaction.

In the mean time - as I am on leave, I forsee more spinning and dying in my future. I am looking forward to that. Time to recover - physically and more.

Strategy Couponing, Spinning and Grace's passing

Strategy Couponing
Based on a friend’s experiences with cutting her grocery bill to next to nothing (in fact this week she didn’t have to buy anything) I got a membership over at the Grocery Game. Finances are a little snug this week, and I need to get the most I can for my $, and short of going to Aldi (which is an option I have no problem with) I am in need of spending less than 100.00 on groceries for the four of us for the week.

The grocery game site provides strategies on effective couponing and how to stock pile things when you have the extra coupons for them. Put it this way – folks in the Gulf who are members of this site made it through without worrying about having enough food when they were let back home because they had stocked freezers that were so well stocked that a couple of bags of ice to fill the space was all that was needed to keep the frozen stuffs going when they were without power and when no one else in the area had milk and bread, they did. (along with other sundries as well – they weren’t hurting at all.)

I’ve always been a believer in a well stocked pantry, a byproduct I am sure of my early childhood in Backwoods Michigan, where you needed to be prepared to be snowed in for days at a time, and getting out in winter might not be as easy as you hoped as the nearest paved road was at least 4 miles away. My Mom had a seriously stocked pantry and her brilliance in that manner kept us fed in the middle of several blizzards. My Dad was a small engine mechanic and I remember several winter days he’d not be driving in to work but instead taking a snow mobile or his old Jeep Willys. There’s still a story about cream puffs that circulates amongst our family, and those delicious treats would not have been possible for that blizzardy day without my mom’s well stocked pantry. So – using coupons and the grocery game I’m hoping to be able to build up an impressive pantry my self, and do it on a shoestring. ‘cause again – this month is snug on money.

If you are interested in checking out the website that gives those strategies and weekly reports let me know. I get free weeks of use for referrals and it’s worth spending the money on it for sign ups. It’s far better doing it this way than trying to figure out on your own what you’re going to buy with the weekly coupons. What I like is that the site follows trends and you don’t use all the coupons you have weekly – saving them for use when they alert you to a sale they have tracked as coming up within a 12 week period. Seriously, unless you are beyond anal retentive there is no way without this site that you’d know when the store you go to regularly has specials on stuff you may not need today but will tomorrow or the next month…

I also don’t mind getting the papers I’m getting so I can get those coupon inserts. I want to move up to the north Shore of Boston in the next few years (Probably after CR is born IF we have him or her – yes we have initials for a third baby’s name, and CR is just the girl initials) and I want to really get familiar with the region, so getting the Boston Globe along with the Hartford Courant works for me.

Spinning
I’ve been spinning that wood-rose merino roving I promised Tess. It’s on my Road Bug (the model of the spinning wheel made by The Merlin Tree – now called “Road Bug” where they used to call it a “Hitch Hiker.” The difference between the two models? No cut out hand with a thumb up like the Douglas Adams novels, and about a pound less in weight. I really raised eyebrows when spinning during Tess’ dance class. If I have to wait for an hour for her there (they ask parents to be there for the littles so they can help them go to the bathroom) then I can get a jump on her yarn for the her shrug and leg warmers. I have a ton of yarn in center pull balls set aside for plying, or skeining, but I just haven’t done it yet.

Grace passed on Saturday afternoon.
I have a funeral tomorrow late afternoon, and the day off for it, so I may get some spinning done during the morning and early afternoon. I also have to figure out what I’m dressing the kids in and if it’s even appropriate to take Tess to the viewing – it’s open casket. I’m iffy. She is my Brother in Law’s mother, and I’m just not sure as while I love Joe and Angel, his mother was one of those people you have to watch your children around as they have no brain/mouth filter. A very sweet woman, her views were acceptable abut 30 - 40 years ago, but these days not so very PC... The morning currently includes shopping, putting up meals in a ready to cook manner for a week or two (including a casserole for Joe and Angel) and figureing out if the kids are going what I'm dressing them in. Happy Cinderella Princess dresses aren't exactly the appropriate attire, nor is the favorite Tshirt of "what happens at Grandma's, stays at Grandma's"

Tess has been asking about Grace’s death. “Can she go get her nails done when she wants now? Is she able to drive again now that she’s in the Summerlands? Do they have golf carts in the Summerlands?” She pretty much has been taught that what we call the Summerlands, other people might call Heaven or Valhalla… and that while Grace’s body is stuck here and going to be cremated it’s only her body, that what made her Grace is now in the Summerlands and she’s very happy.

Garret – blissfully unaware. He’s not been aware of so many passings in his short life unlike his sister. I wish I had his innocence.

Teh Sick
Gaelon's down with a nasty cold, Garret and Tessa appear to have it as well and I have a killer sinus headache with sneezes that won't stop today, and wish nothing more than to be able to crawl back in bed. That’s not happening however, and I have a meeting with someone shortly about messed up time reporting that I submitted. This messup? It was all based on the direction of my boss of course thank you…

TehMilitary
My brother is being called up to go to Afganistan in April. Time to learn about the geography where he'll be at and to start working on knitting black wool socks for him I think.

The tale of the busy body neighbor

I have a handicapped husband who is Mr Mom to our almost 4 year old and 19month old. He's amazing with the kids, and while he'll never be the kind to be able to do yard work or go running with the dog, he's a phenomenal daddy, and happy with his job being the care and nurture of our kidlets.

Me? I come from a long line of type A women who were the primary provider. It's my paradigm, my reality from childhood on - Most of the women in my family fit this archetype and we're good with it.

This seems to completely blow the mind of our neighbor woman. So I don't have a perfectly manicured lawn and my porch needs a coat of paint. I'm OK with that as long as I have my awesome hubby and kiddos. Oh and a spinning wheel or two of course.

I've been getting ready for a yard sale at my Mother In Law's, and have been putting things out on my porch so I can load them up in the van and take them over for the neighborhood wide sale on the 5th of October.

Today however most everything on the porch was freecycled.

A letter came from the town today, complaining about the mess on the porch. Eh? Last year this time she called Animal Control on us to say I was starving my dog. I wasn't... that didn't change her from making the report however. The ACO said our Brittany was a great example of her breed, and looked very healthy - all things her Vet had backed up as well. He verified that it was her who had complained, so I think it's got to be her again complaining about the clutter on my porch.

Seriously however - how does a tent, bookshelves, a sealed 4 pack of Tiki Torches, a windowbox planter, an Excersaucer, a Walker and a play kitchen translate into garbage? I don't get it and I'm not going to worry about it. The Tent and Tiki's are already gone, the Saucer and Walker will go tomorrow or be taken to my MIL's and the shelves and play kitchen will go to my MIL's as well or be carted to the dump. Even in the rain that we're supposed to be getting.

The neighbor woman is elderly. She's lonely. She really freaks out over Mr. Mom who doesn't do yard work and opts to be primary caregiver of our two kids while I work.

She has issues, I get it. But seriously - when I hang roving from the porch on hangers it is not trash, it is processed wool that I've dyed that I am going to spin.

The upside is of course I will have my porch ready to decorate for Halloween a little earlier this year than I did last year. As the skull with dancing flowers finally gave up the ghost, I'll need to find something else to sit in the cauldron and frighten the unsuspecting with.

If I weren't the nice kind I'd likely prank the old bat up the hill, but instead I'll hang back and simply accept that she has already done everything to herself that she can to be this way and I'll hope that somehow she learns to love herself and not be so cranky to the neighbors.

Beware of small children prepping for their own chop shop

Last night I finished off the first run of some handspun Merino, I'll have a lot more handspun in my Etsy store soon btw, as well as cleared off several bobbins into center pull balls so I can ply, measure, steam, re-skein, and set aside to determine if I stock the etsy store or put them aside for the craft fair season ahead. I have some lovely Cormo (OBSCENELY SOFT and LOFTY WOOL) and Angora (Bunny) blend that I'm half through spinning. It's snowy white, and I think I'm going to leave it that way. This stuff is going to make someone an awesome scarf I think. Just not sure if that someone will be me or not. Seriously, it's blindingly white and so soft my daughter has been caught snuggling the bobbin.

She's been told Santa thinks that the spinning wheel she wants is too much / too big for a 4 year old, but that if she tries out a Babes Pinkie at Rhinebeck, does well enough with it, and really wants it - we can tell Santa that we can contract that out so his elves don't have to worry about spinning wheel manufacture... really she thinks that elves need to make wood and cloth toys only and everything else he has major toy companies to make. Elves are in Management at Matell and Fisher Price ya know, but they don't like working with plastic because its not "creative"

Out of the mouths of babes - I swear, I don't remember being this precocious. I know I used big words and got beaten up in kindergarden for it, but I don't remember being that sharp a kiddo.

For those of you familiar with what Scotch tensioning, I just want to say we're on spring set number 9 for my kiwi, and I've finally gone to a tensioning similar to what Schacht uses with the option of being able to remove the Tensioning band completely when the wheel is not in use.

Garret has completely gone bonkers and removing the drive band, the flyer assembly, bobbins, onboard kate spindles and anything else removable from my Kiwi is NOT enough. No - I had to make it so the Scotch Tensioning was removable as well.

I have a box of springs I bought from the hardware store as the springs have been victim to his little creative exploration / destruction as well, and it's enough to have me want to hang Beaky from the wall out of the way when not using her - even though on the whole I already store the wheel far up out of reach. I'm not sure how far is far enough for my kids these days though. And they do love to treadle the wheel when I'm not using it to spin. Last night as I was finishing off some yarn, Tessa wanted to treadle and help spin. It really didn't take much to make sure she was going the right way for the current twist I was putting in the yarn, and she had fun.

I am sanding down the Kiwi this weekend and going to give it another coating of Danish oil afterwards. Someone took an inkpen to the treadles, and now knows if she ever does that again Santa won't bring her a spinning wheel of her own until she's a teen-ager.

My PVC Swift - which is freestanding on a 3 foot PVC pole is often used for a 'microphone' stand by both kids. I chuckle as well that's annoying, it's not the end of the earth, and it shows imagination. I'm just still at a loss for what the ScotchTensioning knob is in thier imagination.

It's going to be oddly quiet tonight. Tessa is staying overnight at my inlaws, and on those nights (unless he's napped late in the afternoon) I can get Garret to bed early. If so then my plan is to card up some fiber I dyed last week, dye some more for a custom order, and get some more spinning done. Tess slept next to me last night and snuggled tight... knowing she's going to be at the inlaws for the next 36 hours I just cuddled her for all I could. As much as my kids drive me off the edge sometimes - they are the best thing that ever happened to me and I thank the PTB's for their very existance. Even if they do manage to strip my wheel bare quicker than a chop shop can a stolen Beemer in LA.

Busy day, Busy night

The day flew at Initech and before I knew it, I was back home.

I knew when I came home tonight that I needed to strip my bed as my daughter had spilled her juice and then had an accident while sitting upstairs working on homeschooling programs on the computer (laptop on the bed) so when I came home from work I washed the bedding, fed the family, then finally got into some of the roving that came in on Monday.

I now have half a pound of buttercup yellow that I'm going to run through the carder once it's dry to make sure it's blended into a lovely consistent enough shade of yellow - the first of a custom order... I refreshed the jug of dye solution before going upstairs and will finish dying the pound to be all buttercup yellow before I start on the greens and red that are all in the order. I might start soaking the remaining wool in that pound if I can get the Diva to go to bed. She's good at fighting going to sleep. That is if I am not so tired I just want to sleep m'self...

So I have half a pound of fiber draining in a colander in my sink right now. If Tess will go to sleep for me I'll get that laid out to dry as tomorrow is supposed to be a perfect day for it, and then I'll start on more of the roving for the custom order. If I don't do it tonight, it will be the last thing I do before I leave for work in the morning. My Mailman is vastly entertained by all the dyed roving on my porch I tell you.

I'm going to blow through this huge box of roving in no time flat I think. Working with the Professional Acid Dyes vs the Food Coloring Acid dyes has been a definate experience. I've not gotten into the Jaquard dies - I'm still working with the Cushing's, but I really like how well they dissolve and how little I have to do to get them ready to work with.

I got some of the Merino I worked on over the weekend rolled up and set aside for future spinning and my upcoming fiber swaps. I'm trying to get as much ready for the upcoming craft faire season as possible, I'm trying to go as much with my own spun vs what I did last year of a combo of hand and machine spun and all dyed by me...

A hilight of the evening was Tess' reaction when I got out the other wheel for her (PC, My Hitchhiker) and I told her she could spin. We picked out some red pencil roving, and she tried. Oh how she tried. She has gotten to the point where she's good with a double treadle, and a single treadle isn't going to do it for her. Tomorrow we'll swap over as I want to try to finish a couple of small bobbins I have waiting anyhow, and then we'll see how she does. The biggest problem I have when spinning is keeping little hands out of the way - as Garret wants in on it too.

Gaelon says he can see the day when the house is overtaken by spinning wheels. This makes our daughter smile, a lot. Her mother too...

My best friend's wedding reception is this weekend. I'm taking Friday off as a PTO from Initech and plan on spending it dying roving, spinning, and getting ready to go to Salem overnight on Saturday. My hubby has only been up there once, so we'll be doing a lot of the touristy things - including going up towards the Salem Willows on Sunday, as well as seeing if we can get into Winter Island as well - considering camping there next season when Garret's a little less likely to just toodle off into the ocean on his own (like his sister - I swear they are utterly fearless.)

ok - the Diva has been out cold for a while, and I am getting tired so the fiber gets to go outside tomorrow morning and I'm going to sleep tonight.

Sweet dreams to all who are reading this late at night.

Into the Dyepot!

From Tessa's first Day at Dance School

Monday my daughter had her first day of Dance School.

Talk about mommy shock. She was more than happy to have me leave her while she learned, pranced, tippety tapped, and tumbled...

The day also included discovering that at 3750 miles I do not have to get my car serviced (wait to 5K now,) so I ran laundry and of course before we left for her first day with Miss Tammy, I pulled the following shades out of the dye pot:

Wood Rose 8oz
Green/Purple 8oz
Moss Green
Sunrise Yellow
Varigated Butterscotch 4 oz
Cherry Red 4 oz
Bubblegum Sherbert Mohair Locks - 2oz

I also explained to my mail man what the heck all that stuff was hanging off the porch. He had no clue what roving was, and spinning was a foreign concept to him. He wondered why I was getting "Art Supplies - Wool" shipped internationally. Ha. :-) See you're never too old to learn!

On the wheel right now I have some white Corriedale, on the bobbin I have some Cormo/Angora, Baby Bluez, and candycorn. The last two are Merino and Merino blend.

Tonight I need to take new pics of everything in stock plus the new things I want to stock tomorrow at my Etsy store. I have an Advertising slot for Thurs... and I need the store brought up to snuff.

Tomorrow night I will set out to mordant the following shades - no nifty title to the roving yet:
Red
Dark Green
Light Green
Yellow
Orange

These are for a custom order for a baby blanket. Hopefully she likes the shades I generate out of my dye pot - its going to be one of a kind however, and for that baby I can't think of anything better ;-)

I also have to get my fiber swap out to SweatPeaFibers over on Ravelry. I think I have enough lovely stuff dyed up to surprise the heck out of her. (pleasantly so I hope, I hope.) I've still not heard from my August swap partner, and hope that the fiber made it to Singapore fine. She's not updated on Ravelry or her blog lately, so it's hard to tell.

And on top of that I have two small ones who have discovered that with their tiny little table and chair set they can use the chairs and treadle Beaky while I'm at work. They both want to learn to spin so much and still Tessa is asking for her own wheel for her birthday. I think Rhinebeck this year may have us on a search for a DT Pinkie. Anyone out there know of a vendor who'll have one to demo?