It's been a LONG time

It’s just been too cold and cloudy to post. I wasn’t able to take any pics due to the natural light situation. Crappers.

I’ve taken the first two wet felting classes, and the third is this weekend. We’re supposed to make a purse. It should be a blast. Here are some of the things I have made:

It's hard to get a good shot of the scarf. Dang.

I’m about done with the Snow Squall socks. I’ve recently been validated regarding my preference to make SIMPLE socks. Knitting has been going slow for me; perhaps it is this icky weather that has got me down. I dunno.

The mitts are too large for me. I have one completed and the other almost done. Though I will give them to my son, Dustin, it’s always harder to knit for someone else. Especially for one that loses the things you make. So, these are at a stand-still.

And, I’ve been spinning.

Less like barf and more like yarn, eh?

I found out that the space that the renegade spinners meet might start to charge. This means that they will either break up or find a new place. Boy, I hope it’s the latter. Meeting with the renegade spinners has been a great help to me. I will be sad if my Glorious Night will no longer be.

I posted a response to Dave Daniels' Cabin Cove. I’ve pretty much been a wiener when posting comments on blogs. But, he actually responded to me and had some fabulous suggestions on becoming a better spinner. His work is phenomenal. I was quite honored to have a blog STAR respond to me. Thank you, David.

I have really been loving the Kylie Kwong cook book. Everything we have made has been spot on. We went to the Asian Grocer and got some more supplies. And, I finally found the Indian grocer nearby. Curries are next.

My sabbatical is less than three weeks away. Oh--Caitlin got a job! So, that is good. She has to have a job in her field to stay in BC.

Here Comes the Rain Again

It's raining cats and dogs right now.

Unfortunately, I have a puppy that doesn't have sense enough to come in from the rain. It even hailed for a few short minutes, and she ran all over the yard trying to catch the hail pieces like they were popcorn falling from the sky. I'll probably be washing and drying dog towels all weekend long. Now when any hail falls, she runs to the door and can't wait to get out. Silly puppy.

I had a wonderful Glorious Night. I started out with a nice long bath, stopped off at the library to pick up some reserved books, and then had soup and salad at Whole Foods. I got my first bundle of fiber from PJ. It's hand-dyed merino. I'm a little worried about starting up with nicer fiber. I just don't want to waste it. But, I'm so sick and tired of spinning with undyed wool.

One of the gals brought me a beginning spinning video to watch. And there was a new woman that brought llama fiber to sell. I bought two sandwich size bags for 75 cents each. Another woman had made these adorable felted cows using sticks from her yard as the legs and then felted wool bodies and head. Then, she added all of this great needle felting. Another woman had completed a Baby Surprise Jacket, but she used the waist band, button band and collar of a toddler's jeans jacket. She had made oddball yarn to use for it. It was really cute. I guess the majority of the women are gearing up for a guild sale of some sort.

Strangely enough, Sam went to the doctor two weeks ago for a complete physical. This is just not like him. He explained that he hadn't had one since he was in high school. Considering he will be 40 next year, I think it's about time. The company I work for sponsors a free all-inclusive blood screening every other year, and his last one was horrible. So, maybe he just wanted to know what was going on. On his follow-up visit this week, he was prescribed high blood pressure medication and advised to get his cholesterol down or he would have to be put on medication for that as well. All of this means lighter cooking. We've been having a lot of Asian foods, fish and tofu. And, that's fine with me, I could easily be a vegetarian.

I've finished the Landscape socks. I fiddled around trying to use a new method for grafting this morning. I have never been quite satisfied with my results. But, this new method was a PITA , and I went back to using my tried-and-true instructions from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd.

I've got about 6 inches done on the second Snow Squall sock. I've been feeling kind of "meh" about my knitting lately. Perhaps it's having to finish up things and there is none of that initial excitement like when you are working on a new project. To remedy this, I cast on for the fingerless garter mitts from Weekend Knitting. They go really quick. I am using Visions Artisan Yarn that I bought at Cottage Fiber. It's a celery green color. If I get to be better at spinning, I would like to make these out of my hand spun someday.

Tomorrow, we will pull this gawd awful carpeting up out of the family room. Then, the painting begins!

Glorious Night

Wednesday Spinning Night needs to be renamed Glorious Night. I was ready to go about an hour early last night, so decided to grab a bite at Whole Foods beforehand. I picked up a salad and a small cup of cream of asparagus soup. It was lovely. They had a different type of salad dressing there that was just delightful! It is Wild Thymes Meyer Lemon Salad Refresher. I know I've said I've sworn off bottled dressings, but this was light and refreshing. So, I bought some!

Then, it was off to the spinning group. This was the monthly meeting for the KC Fiber Guild, so some gals attended that. Then, a whole bunch of women joined in afterwards. There were lots of spinners and one woman brought a drum carder. And, the shepherd brought her lamb.

My spinning is getting a bit more consistent. I even got a few remarks that I was doing much better. I found out that PJ from Cottage Fiber has a Fiber Club, so I signed up for that. I'm getting pretty sick of spinning the uncolored roving.

I got the Chinese and Indian Cook books in the mail yesterday. Yippee.

I'm up to the heel flap on the Landscape socks. I love this sock yarn. The colors are so pretty.

Tonight, we are having roasted cauliflower with soy-ginger sauce and scallions, roasted salmon, and a simple green salad with the new dressing.

When I drove home from work today, it was blinding sunny AND raining at the same time. Big alligator tears were plopping on the windshield. There was a little boy in the passenger seat in the car in front of me leaning his head out the window trying to catch the drops in his mouth. Spring is in the air.