This Has Been A FULL Moon!

I have had a very frustrating electronic week.  I will not go into details right this minute.  I think I will take something for the headache and go to bed.  I think a good cozy mystery is what I need more than anything.

I am really, really close to finishing the green scarf.  Yeah!  I have had a little trouble with my aches with the really cold weather we had.  Now that it has warmed and a little bit of sun appeared, I am fine and dandy.  My knitting slowed tremendously, and now I am in catch-up.

I am spinning some bison/silk blend and it is heavenly.  I am still watching my BBC soaps on Netflix, and enjoying them.  Occasionally I turn to Miss Marple to take the edge off reality.

I will catch up with my blog tomorrow.  Just felt I wanted to vent a little bit of my frustration.

It is getting close to my show in April, and I am almost ready for that.  I am nervous about putting my toes in the water again after so many long years ago.  But I am feeling good about this one.

My friends seem to be having so many problems.  Mine seem so small in comparison. 

Oh-Patty found another decomposing vegetable pile behind my neighbor's house.  YUCK!  STINK!  She had to have a bath yesterday.  And I watched her like a hawk for any pancreas problems that she is prone to.  SIGH!

Okay-now I have to go lay down and forget the electronic world-except for my Kindle, of course. 

I'm Green-Are You?

Happy St. Patrick's Day.  I actually seldom think of it any more.  But I am knitting green.  This is some handspun yarn I did last Fall.  It is Polworth, and is very, very squishy.  I love the feel of the wool and it seems that everyone who touches it squeezes it. 

Well, we had two days of Spring with temps way above normal.  It was in the 70's and sunny and wonderful.  I actually was able to start cleaning up the winter mess in some beds and I cut back all the dead seed heads and stems.  Today is cold and windy and rainy.  Gray and dreary!  I know March is still technically wintertime.  It just is wonderful to have the warm days to get out and do yard work.

I finished the two bobbins of yellow wool.  Now to plying.  I guess it is good to work on some not-really-soft wool for a change.  I am spoiled by the merino and other luxury yarns I make.  The yellow is a Romney-cross that is a tiny bit rough.  At least compared to the others.  On its own it is lovely.  I dyed it with marigolds. 

My friend GK just had her gallbladder removed.  I hope this is all she needs to get better now.  She had been vomiting for two weeks when the doctor finally addressed the gallbladder.  The surgeon who consulted slapped her in the hospital because her potassium levels were life-threatening low, and she was dehydrated.  So hopefully she will get better and start feeling normal again.

CJE just went to Santa Fe to visit with friends.  She is feeling less stressed and rejuvenated. 

Patty just woke up.  I had to take her out into the yard to start her day.  It is very windy, cold, and I didn't notice the mist until I took my hat off.  It was damp and I hung it up to dry.  Ugh!  Bring the sun back.

There is a major uproar right now on a pig factory farm being on the Buffalo River.  It is always a concern for the quality of recreational water.  I think the people were able to buy land cheaply in Newton County.  It is not just the pollution to the watershed, it is pollution to the air quality.  I am sure the owners used the "jobs and money to the local people" card. 

Well-on to plying yellow.  Have a good day.  Please don't drink green beer.  YUCK! 

Wandering through March!

Yes, it is March 10.  We are stoically marching on through March.  It has rained two good rains.  Last night we actually had thunder and lightening and wind.  It was lovely.  Thank goodness, Patty has had a hearing deficit for a while.  She does panic when she sees the lightening strike nearby, but I don't think she hears the thunder as much as before. 

It was lovely to dig out the umbrella and push Patty out the door and take a little walk in the soppy ground puddles.  The ground was quite mushy and verging on muddy. 

Spring is popping up in odd places, as it always does in March each year.  My yard originally had been a pasture.  So I don't really have decent grass, and I have a lot of pasture weeds.  Chickweed, henbit, wild onions, plantains, etc. are popping up everywhere.  The teensy-weensy bluets are blooming.  When I bought the house the yard had been mowed carefully to make it appear there was yard. 

One year later I discovered that I don't have a yard, but a pasture.  And in the pasture are pasture daffodils.  They are the kind that were not planted by anyone, but suddenly there they are blooming away.

I am watching the forsythias carefully from now on.  They are the forecasters that tell me that it is time to rejoice.  It is over.  We will still have cool days and evenings until May.  When the forsythias are blooming, winter is over.

One of our weaving guild members died last fall.  Her sisters are trying to sort through her studio and mountains of stuff.  Several guild members have helped them along the way.  Yesterday they held a sidewalk sale for the weaving guild members prior to our meeting.  It was astonishing how many bags of yarn there were.  I am seriously trying to limit mine, and it hurts to see how her stuff was sorted and pawed through.  I know Sally would have wanted us to do just what we were doing.  We honor her by taking good care of her things.

I am on the second bobbin of yellow yarn.  I have switched today to watching Miss Marple.  It isn't something I have to think too much about.  She is so clever with her logical observations.  I love to watch the actress knit.  She has an interesting style of holding the right hand needle.

I am knitting a beautiful scarf with the green Polworth wool I spun. The pattern is in the book One Skein Wonders.  The pattern is easy and I don't have to think too much. I am also knitting on a pair of fingerless mitts-just plain and simple-no pattern on the mitts.  The yarn is enough interest with the dyes.

I guess that catches me up to date.  It has been cloudy, windy, and chilly all day.  By week's end we are supposed to be 70 degrees!  Unfortunately, it is time for me to clean up the winter debris out of the flower beds and do some weed control early.  So my short reprieve from the yard is coming to an end early.  I like working out in the yard.  For some reason, I never can see an end to it.  It goes on and on and on.

Enjoy the winds of March.  It blows out the old staleness and brings in the freshness.

Interesting Factoid!

 I made a big ole blunder on my website.  I sold a pair of socks twice.  After sorting out that mess, I actually ended up with an order for two pairs of socks to be made.  So I cast on the blue ones Monday, January 28.  Four weeks and two days later, both pairs done.  The striped pair are fancy-pants socks with a zig-zag rib that I had to pay attention to and use a counter.  Of course, I am well aware that I would have starved to death if I relied on knitting socks for a living.  I am sure whatever knitting ancestor that lives in my house would scoff at my complaints.  But my hands are tired, and I am not knitting a sock for a while.

My other weird thing are these lovely merino skeins.  I finished them, washed and blocked, and put a photo on Facebook.  They are now winging their way to a new home.  A friend saw them and bought them within minutes of my putting their photo online.  I didn't get to love on them very much.

Nothing else of note.  We have had two very wet, sloppy snows in eight days time.  Nothing all winter, and wham!  here's your winter precip all at once.  I truly am not complaining about anything wet that falls from the skies.  We need the rain and moisture however we get it. 

I did get a burst of planting-itis during the warm spell we had.  I bought some seed potatoes, and I coveted the packets of spinach and lettuce.  I swooned over the packets of summer flowers.  Luckily I can remember that I have seed, and that we are still in drought.

This week has been the usual 30's and windy.  Normal gray skies.  It keeps me inside to do the work I need to do here.

Now that my commission is completed I have to get organized and plan for the show in April.  I want to increase my inventory quite a bit.  I have been spinning every day, but not a lot to show for that.  I am spinning some pretty rough Romney that I dyed with marigolds.  It is neon yellow-at least a very bright yellow.  The wool is neppy and so it has lumps in places.  I can't pull everything out as I go.

I have been watching a BBC show called Monarch of the Glen.  It is a wonderful series that played for four years, yet not here in America.  I love it.  The actors are wonderful, I like the storyline, and it keeps me spinning while I watch.

So move over February-here comes March.  It seems strange to think that two months have already passed in this year. 

Have a good weekend.  Enjoy the sunshine when we do get it.

That Beats All!

Just as I finished the previous post, I got up to plug in the batteries.  I looked out and it is snowing! 

It Must Be Time!

Time for the Snow Tire and Daffodil Festival!  It has been really warm and windy, and now the new front is supposed to bring a mixture of rain, sleet, freezing rain, ice, and who knows what.  I worry about ice on power lines more than anything else.  I do need to recharge two of my batteries before then.  Isn't this crazy.

Blogger is again not letting me upload photos.  I wish they would get their s__ together. 

I finished one pair of the commissioned socks, and I am on the heel of the second sock on the second pair.  I want these to be DONE!  I am so over the sock business.  I am dreadfully behind in my inventory for the fiber show in April.  Oh, well.

I am also spinning along on the merino I got from HandHeld.  It is gorgeous stuff.  I am almost finished with the second skein's singles.  Then plying, then DONE!

I have had a minor little bug, and my head is full of fluid.  I mope around from room to room, but I am not sick enough to go to bed.  If I am in the front room, I knit.  If I am in this room, I spin.  I did lie down a little while yesterday and read my good book. 

It is really dark outside.  I hate the waiting part of a storm of any kind.  There is a frenzy at the bird feeder that is a telling sign that weather is moving in.

Not a whole lot going on.  It is that time of year where the anticipation is more exciting than the actual weather.  It isn't Spring yet, but soon.  We have had a bit of rain, which bodes well for us.  We are still in drought, but hopefully we will have a wet Spring to help out.  I am debating about planting Spring greens-lettuce and spinach.  I have seed potatoes, but not yet on that. 

Noodles has really been hunting lately, but so far he hasn't brought any kill into the house.  Today he is curled up in bed.  I bet his leg aches.  Mine does. 

Stay safe.  I am going to plug in some batteries and line things up just in case.

It's Winter Again!

I hate to complain, but it is winter again.  Yesterday I was sitting out on the deck in short-sleeves and knitting.  Today I am bundled in my wool and staying indoors.  The front came in from the North and brought bitter wind with it.  I know I shouldn't complain with all the messy weather everyone else is getting.

We were supposed to get snow this week, but it never made it to my yard.  Tonight is a chance of some more, but I am of the opinion of "Wait and see."

In the meantime I have spun the most luscious merino that I bought at my LYS, HandHeld Knitting.  I bought two different rovings to combine into a "painterly" skein.  I divided them into halves, and the first half is on the blocker as we speak.  I will get a pic as soon as I can.  I still have to spin the second half, but I am on it.  It is sitting in the chair in front of the spinning wheel.

I have put all knitting aside to complete two pairs of socks that were commissioned by a friend of R and H.  I am thrilled to have turned the heel on sockie 2 of the blue pair, and I am going slowly on the second brown striped pair.  I am so ready for this to be done.  I have lots of knitting to do, and this has put me behind on that.

I will be a vendor at a show in Missouri in April, and I have to get moving on my inventory.  That is why I am behind in the knitting.  I am doing fairly well on the handspun yarn part, but still need more variety.  I decided last night to spin some white skeins (bare naked) and not have all dyed skeins.  I don't know if people will like them, but I think probably it will give more choices.  I can always dye them later if they don't sell.

I am getting a little bit nervous about going on the "road" again.  It has been many years since I did that.  Then I was a production weaver and sometimes spinner.  Now I am so not into production work and I am primarily a spinner.  I will only do "one of a kind" work now.  No more production work.

I also am not going to become someone's personal knitter.  I am only doing these socks because of her friendship with the kids.  I did my friend G's vest because he is a close friend and he appreciates my work.  He has a lot of my hand knit stuff, and he takes care of it.

I have had a little stomach bug this week, and that has been a bit of unpleasantness.  I have only been two places to get it-the grocery store or the weaving guild meeting.  So I have been close to home this week and not going out.  I still have occasional queasiness in the stomach, and I eat crackers to get over it.

I read there is a new virus now in Great Britain.  Great!  Keep telling me about all these new viruses!

I did make a batch of scones this week, so I have them in the freezer now.  I really like this recipe that my friend C gave me.  It is easy, fast, and delicious.  I put cranberries in it.  Yummy!

I have finally made a decision to start baking bread again.  I may not make the best in the world in the beginning, but eventually I will get back to what I used to do.  It is part of my decision to know the ingredients in my food.  I have lots of stuff I have saved over the years, including my baking stone.  It will all be good!

So here I sit in my studio with the soft hum of the heater going and Patty snoring in her chair. The wind chimes are tinkling outside in the wind.  It is time to turn on Netflix and start spinning. 

It will soon be time for Spring.  I think we are just anxious to get going, and the poor plants don't know what to do here.  The skunks are moving around quite a bit now, and I have seen hawks dancing together in the air.

Soon March will be here and we will actually be anxious to get warm again.   Have a good weekend!