It's finally here in all the glory

My sabbatical just started. I'm off work until the first week in July. Woot!
I haven't had much to post about the last few weeks. The weather has been gross here in the Midwest. We lost our power this past Saturday in a wind storm. And the dang furnace had to be turned on a few times because it was so cold. We just never seemed to have more than one sunny day.

All of this left me quite grumpy.

All I could say over the last few weeks was:

It was cloudy today, so I couldn't take any pictures.
I feel grumpy.
I can't wait until my sabbatical.

Boring, huh?

Spinning is coming along great. I went to a teeny Fiber Festival this past weekend and purchased quite a bit of raw wool. I've spun some of it in the grease. But, the big plan is to wash and card it during my time off. I found out I can rent a drum carder from either the Fiber Guild or the Weaver's Guild. So, that's what I'll do with this wool. If I like it, I'll look into purchasing a drum carder.

I have an appointment at the salon for a cut and color tomorrow. Then, I'll set up an appointment to get my tootsies in order using the spa dollars I got at Xmas. CSA starts up Wednesday. The crappy weather is behind us. It's all good.

Because of my grumpiness, I didn't feel much like any complicated knitting. I've got another pair of plain stockinette socks on the needles. And I've cast on for a plain garter scarf using recycled sari silk. I'm knitting it horizontally rather than vertically. Gotta love garter.

I hope to keep you updated on how I spend my time off.

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.

The World's Longest Remodeling Job

We started the remodel for the family room today. It took all of about an hour to pull the carpeting up. And the primer is just about finished. It occurred to me that we haven't done a remodeling job since 2005. That was when we did the second large remodel job on the house. We completely gutted the kitchen and finished up The 20 Year Remodel Job of the "Back Room" in 2005. After that, were burned out on remodeling of any kind. The first large remodel job was in 2003, when we replaced the windows, air conditioner, furnace, and gutted the main bathroom.

I bought this house with my former husband in 1984. I found out I was pregnant with my third child the week we signed our mortgage papers. We had immediately outgrown the home. It was supposed to be a starter home. When we moved in the Back Room was a screened in porch. Because we needed space, we decided to turn it into living space. However, my former husband was great at getting things "Half Done in a Hurry" as my mother would say. He got the walls done, windows put in, and a French door going outside. The walls weren't dry walled or anything. There was window inside the room that used to be part of the outside of the house. No electricity had been run. It was essentially a walled porch. And it stayed that way. I got pregnant the fourth time. And my former husband had trouble holding down a job, so money was always tight. When I would complain about getting the place fixed up, he would say, "When I have the time, I don't have the money. And when I have the money, I don't have the time." So, it sat half done for many, many years until we divorced.
After we got divorced, I had even less money. He was always behind in child support payments. When the kids went to his place for the first weekend, I was lost. I simply did not know what to do with myself. I felt as if someone had chopped off my arms and legs. Having an entire weekend alone, I decided to work on the house with what little extra money I had.
So, I would paint because it was cheap. I felt like I was reclaiming the house as my own place. And it was fun to pick out any color I wanted. It didn't matter what color I picked. There was no one there to disagree with me. So, I painted the walls crazy colors. I had an apple green kitchen, a lavender dining room, and a green living room. If I got bored with the color, I'd paint it a different color. So, the kitchen was painted watermelon and canteloupe. I painted my bedroom blue. And then sunflower yellow. The sky was the limit. One of my friends remarked that she loved to come over to my house because she never knew what color it would be on the inside. If I had some rare extra bucks, I'd pay a handy man to work on the Back Room. First, I took the window out. Then, put in electricity. Finally it was dry walled. That's about all I could afford.
Then, in 2005, we added a ceiling and carpeting and replaced the French Door with a sliding door. The Back Room was done! Or so I thought. While on vacation about a year later, the cats had a spaz and peed all over the carpeting. Plus, the carpet color was too light. It really showed dirt. I tried to get the carpet clean, but it was ruined.

After 24 years, I hope I finally get the job done.

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!

Endless Winter

It's been spitting snow today and the wind is blowing quite hard. I am so sick of this stoopid winter. UGH. We had a fire last night, and I'm going to start it up again momentarily. It's also a good day for French Onion Soup. I've started caramelizing the onions. The soup and the fire make the cold blustery weather bearable.
I've turned the heel and finished the gusset of the second Landscape sock. For all you sock knitters, you know this is the Home Stretch.
Five more weeks to go until my sabbatical begins! Hopefully, I'll have the majority of my knitting projects completed. In addition to knitting, spinning, and felting, I plan on getting this place organized. It will be The Great Purge of '08.
Tomorrow, I take my first wet felting class. I bought a couple of round bars of soap to make felted soap for gifts.
I've got Friday off of this coming week. It's Big Trash Day Eve. I plan on ripping out the carpeting in the family room and dragging it out to the curb.

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.

Tate on Tuesday

Tate came over after work last night and we made Eggplant Parmigiana, Asparagus with Citrus, Parsley and Garlic, and a simple green salad with a vinaigrette. The recipes are from Molto Italiano. It's one of my greatest joys to cook and eat dinner with my kids. She's gotten quite good at cooking too. (She works in a hip restaurant kitchen here in Midtown.) It was fun gabbing and cooking. She indicated that she is now thinking of taking some fashion design classes.
I was wiped out afterward. Probably from staying up way past my bedtime Monday night to watch the NCAA basketball game. (I still can't believe the Jayhawks won.) Plus, Piddles barfed all night long Monday night. I spent most of Tuesday washing towels. Poor thing. She's all better now.
Tonight is Spinning Group. There is an actual Fiber Guild meeting tonight. But, there are always a few renegade spinners who skip the meeting and hang out in the kitchen. That's where I'll be.
Time to pad down the hallway to work.