spinning too fast

as i sit here in my bed (yes i finally got the nasty cold hubby and the boy just got over) i reflect on how life is just spinning too fast for me. i can't seem to keep up it and feel a bit lost and confused. i can't seem to get everything done-i can't even update my blog regularly or keep up with reading blogs i enjoy. projects left unfinished- i seem to barely manage the daily essential chores-schooling, feeding the family, laundry, chicken care and some cleaning-if you can call it that. it never was one of my strong points. i am approaching another birthday and i'm realizing that i'm closer to 50 than i am 40-a sense of panic fills me. i know i'm not "old" but i can't help feeling a bit uptight that i'm not gonna do everything i want or need to. time seems to slip thru my fingers-and my "to do" list gets longer. i feel overwhelmed that i'm not finishing fiber projects, books are left halfway read and the dragon still only knows 2 commands. sigh. sigh. heavy sigh....... ick-enough of this reflecting!!!


yes, life keeps happening. my baby turned 12 recently. seems like yesterday i looked like i swallowed a basketball whole-i sure loved being pregnant.

having your baby growing inside you is the most amazing and wonderful experience. the actual birth for me was another story-for those of you that have not given birth-think about that basketball swallowed whole and now you gotta get it out. i still miss breast feeding and changing diapers!!!

remember the fuchsia and brown fiber from the previous post? well, i did manage to spin and ply it. i'm not usually a fuchsia gurl but i'm liking this. i had the perfect shawlette picked out for this yarn but i only ended up with 230 yards and i need 270 yards for the project-any ideas?

before the holiday craze i started this capelet:

i've wanted to knit this for years-it's from the book wrap style. of course i'm doing it in another color.....my favorite swampy green-the yarn is more yellowy green in real life.

i've started the lace section and had my sites set on finishing it for STITCHES. not sure if that is going to happen as the 25th is quickly approaching and i have to get the courier done before i leave.

a few weeks ago rowan, birdsong, lucie, rhodi and i had a wonderful dye workshop at willow springs with sara lamb. she is teaching us to make our own dye formula books. we had such a blast and were so engrossed in our work that we forgot to take pictures. i managed to snap a few shots at the end when we were putting our color cards together. this will be an ongoing project for us. here is lucie, rowan and birdsong arranging yarn color samples in order.

here's our days effort of mixing dyes and putting them on cards with their dye formulas. when the project is completed we will each have a large book full of colors and their formulas!!!

sniffle, snot, i really need to be napping so i will leave you with a picture of my fantastic baking ability-i made heart shaped brownies for the boys.

what can i say.....love is not perfect.

hark the harold!

it's a warm day here at wooly's house thanks to Harold our propane guy. "the" propane guy. hank hill would be proud of him. you see, our driveway is not the easiest for a gas truck. harold has to back the truck down a steep curvy gravel drive in order to get back up it. UPS won't come down-they leave things at the top. but harold....he's my hero as he comes down-even in the rain. i was worried we'd run out during the storm and i hate being cold!!

here he is-in action! go harold!! but the chickens were not happy with his loud truck so close to their home- they were desperately trying to get out!

he could only back in so far today because of the mud. luckily he has a long hose. minds out of the gutter- JEEZ!

been busy on the fiber side of life. i did finish carey's holiday mitts-which became belated b-day gifts. thanks to my "fiber gals" for assistance in understanding the pattern! free pattern here for you ravelers.

carey is pretending to be a hand model. i knit them out of washable merino-18 year old guys are not to hip with the "handwash" scene.

been making fingerless mitts for little people-great for using up little balls of left over yarn. these traveled all the way to sadie in louisiana. brothere max got some too but alas no pic. i hand-dyed the yarn. washable merino as well! another great free pattern here.

here's how my "everyday vest" is coming along. my first one is getting pretty ratty looking and i've been wanting another. my friend anne in minnesota sent me this wonderful yarn for xmas. i'm almost done.

i'm also going to be doing some stash reduction this year. so i also started the "icelandic star" sweater in the current interweave knits with some merino frappe i had in my closet. love the pattern so far as it is seamless.

the yarn is so light and fluffy-very cloud like. soft as hell too! merino-yum!!!! the colors look better in real life-as there is a sage green by the blue that you can't see very well in the photo. the dark diamonds are not black but dark green.

i'm finally being able to spin as my back is finally better(knock on wood!) and i'm challenging myself to spin everyday-even if it is just for 10 minutes. i dyed this BFL (blue faced leicester)
and wish i had dyed more!!! i just love the crimp of BFL-reminds me of my crimping iron from the 80's. here's my bucket-o fiber.

all spun and plied. maybe i have enough for a cowl?

i already started a new spinning project. a while back i tried to dye some merino really ugly to see what would happen when i spun it. i dyed it fushia, rust, and for some strange reason there are bits of pale lilac-almost silver that i did not add but mysteriously appeared after steaming.

it is actually spinning up really cool. it's funny how sometimes gorgeous rovings don't look that great spun up and ugly ones turn out cool. i will post picture when i finish.

time for some poirot. i think i'll turn on the heat:)

Carey's 18

Carey, i met you when you were just three years old. you came into my life and changed it in the most wonderful ways! and with a blink of an eye you have turned 18. how in the world did this happen? seems like just yesterday you were calling me "girlfriend stephanie", telling stories and wearing a tail.







You were six when Liam joined our family. You wanted a little brother so badly! what a wonderful big brother you have been from the very beginning!



Liam is very lucky!

You've always had the most beautiful smile! and still do!


i've watched you grow and change thru the years and my heart goes out to you as you cross this threshold into adulthood. Be brave and true to yourself. life isn't easy Carey, but it is a story.....your story. live it well. don't ever forget: we LOVE you and are ALWAYS here for you!
p.s. don't forget to brush!

Happy Birthday Carey!

welcome 2010

we had a grand daytime new years eve gathering at rowan's studio. us gals gathered for a productive day of picking, spinning, carding, knitting and of course eating. i was very excited to finally do something with my over felted dyed fleeces that have just been taking up space in my closet. in fact, this fiber is so old it comes from the days when i used to process the dirty fleeces myself! trust me-that was a long time ago!!!

rowan had an ancient torture device called a picker that worked wonders on my clumps of felted fiber! this is one bad ass machine! leather gloves are a must!

check out those sharp nails! oops! better get my gloves on!

the top part swings back and forth like a pendulum. couldn't help but have poe-esque visions. thank god my boobs don't hang THAT low!
the picked fiber just fall out of the picker in the back.


look at all the fluffy cloud like fiber----ready for use! much better than pillow stuffing as i had planned.

looks like a maxfield parish sky! now i could have spun it from the puffs but i really wanted to try out rowan's electric carder! yeeha! the machine of my dreams!

this carder rocks more than homebrew! i got about 8oz. of dreamy ready to spin batts!

impressive. here are rowan, lucie and birdsong gathered around the woodstove. rhodi is busy using the carder at this moment-got a great(hahahahaha) picture but i think i will save it for black mail purposes. we got a lot done with much laughter. ended our afternoon with a new year's count down-pretending we lived in norway.

back at the homestead we had another gift opening forenza(is that a word? sounds cool) belated holiday gifts are the best. anne and my mom know what i like and always send me fiber!!!(they haven't seen my closet-heheheh! shhhhh!) i will post more photos later-but i already started a vest from some yarn that anne sent:

it will be a quick knit as it's knitted on size #10 needles. this is rowan chunky colourscape-yum!

thank you mom and anne!! Happy new year everyone-i hope 2010 is all that you wish and hope it to be!!!

i hope you ate your black eyed peas! i made a crock pot version with home grown greens-the addition of 3 whole cloves really made them yummy!

all is merry!

Well, the holidays are are almost over. i'm always a bit relieved once xmas passes. We had a very nice holiday-simple, quiet and peaceful. only a tiny bit of teenaged angst but we won't go into that.

I am spending the rest of school break trying to finish up holiday knitting projects-ugh! i'm such a procrastinator!!! here's the immediate family gifts:

green heavy duty boot socks for hubby, black fingerless mittens for carey(this pattern is driving me nuts!!!! if anyone has done ysolda's garter stitch mitts with success please contact me asap before i run screaming into the forest!) the little wine cork elf sporting the hand knit outfit is for raena my little bonus daughter next door! i actually finished liam's felted boots(slippers) and they FIT! some of you may remember last years slipper tragedy. this year i used lopi icelandic yarn and they sure resembled Sasquatch feet after felting.

i had to give them a hair cut. when i finished cutting i really wanted to needle felt some cool designs on them but liam is my plain and simple guy-no way was that going to be pleasing to him! here's a closer look. note-please ignore messy house.


On solstice we made deviled eggs out of the little banty eggs-they were too cute! note the awesome plate i got for a buck at my favorite junk shop!

in all the busyness of the holidays i forgot to show you the awesome bag i bought myself at the mendocino craft fair. marzel makes these awesome totes from old feed bags!!!! is that not an awesome bag? it's my new knitting bag!

on the garden front: despite all the crazy weather-the bok choy did not freeze and my two kale varieties are thriving.

the garlic is growing.

and liam's italian parsley came back to life.

i leave you with a sky picture liam took. till next time...........

advice from a snowman

Be a Jolly Happy Soul

Spend Time Outdoors

Stay Cool

It's Okay To Be a Little Bottom Heavy

Avoid Meltdowns

Be Well-rounded

Live Well, Life is Short


By Ilan Shamir

merry christmas everyone!

traditions!

our family celebrates the winter solstice this time of year. over the years our family has adopted new traditions and kept some old ones that hubby and i grew up with.

we have a solstice tree that we cut from our woods-we pick from trees that need to be thinned out so other trees can grow better.

i love the leprechaun ornament my mom sent us last year.

today we built our solstice cave to honor the return of the sun(or the rebirth of the sun) we have a baby sun and earth mother- we also fill the cave with our totem animals and other creatures that speak to us.

at dusk we light the candles, have a bonfire and listen to holiday tunes.

you probably can't see everything but there are owls, fox, a bear, a dog, a reindeer, a nightingale, and a dragon-to name a few. oh yes, and the solstice mermaid:

the boys always enjoy the cave building.

sometimes we have a party or gathering but this year we weren't up to it and decided to just have family time instead.

another tradition- the mitten puzzle-done every year with much enthusiasm. liam did most of it this year in record time!

as usual i'm knitting up a storm and won't have everything done in time so there will be many knitting IOUs. whatever you celebrate this time of year i hope your days are full of laughter, love and contentment. spend time with and enjoy one another! happy holidays!