Mmmm...Alpaca

The lure of the spinning wheel finally grabbed me. Last night and this morning I spun up some more of the mahogany alpaca I've been sporadically spinning for the past few months. I'm not all the way done (I still have a full 3 oz bat left) but I had three full bobbins when I went to bed last night.

So, this morning I decanted most of what was on the bobbins into a lovely 3-ply. Oh, it is so lovely, so soft and silky and aplaca-y. ;-) It wasn't light enough this morning to take a good picture, but I will get one (or a few). It looks and feels like it will knit up at a heavy worsted to chunky weight, which is perfect. I think I will make a shawl out of it, light and lacey, as a Christmas present for someone. I know my mom wears those autumny colors, which this rich brown would go with very nicely. Hmmm...

The last couple of days have been cold and snowy, even though nothing stuck. Well, it is cold today, too, but oh, so sunny and cheerful! We got lots of snow on the mountains.

Speaking of weather - back at the beginning of November we had a nice rainstorm overnight, and this is what it looked like the next morning:


and this is what I wrote in a spiritual diary I've been keeping:

November 8, 2006

Our God is an Awesome God! This morning we had some rain, and then the most glorious rainbow! You could see each color individually it was so vivid and was complete, stretching from the hills directly west all the way to Stead. At one point it was even a partial double. Then on my way to work the clouds had cleared away enough to show the waning moon, which was balanced right at the apex of the rainbow. I so wish I’d had a camera with me.
But even without a camera, that is not something I will forget for a long time. Each and every time I see a rainbow I am reminded of God’s promise to Noah in Genesis – that He will never completely destroy the Earth or its people again. That’s a promise that extends to our lives also. God will always do what is best for our lives and those around us if we walk in His way and follow Him.

May the Lord bless you always!

One Word Only

I saw this on a couple of other blogs I read. Please feel free to copy and paste to do it for yourself. This is me descibed in one word sentences:

one.word.only.
1.Yourself: Content
2.Your boyfriend/girlfriend(spouse): n/a
3.Your hair: Black
4.Your mother: Friend
5.Your father: Healing
6.Your favorite item: Yarn
7.Your dream last night: Traveling
8.Your favorite drink: Tea
9.Your dream car: Jeep
10.The room you are in: Open
11.Your ex: Lonely
12.Your fear: Lonley
13.What you want to be in 10 years? Married
14.Who you hung out with last night? Cats
15.What You're Not: Foolish
16.Muffins: Blueberry
17.One of your wish list items: Patterns
18.Time: Midday
19.The last thing you did: Work
20.What you are wearing: Turtleneck
21.Your favorite weather: Spring
22.Your favorite book: Bible
23.The last thing you ate: Chocolate
24.Your life: Busy
25.Your mood: Relaxed
26.Your best friend: Jessica
27.What are you thinking about right now? Christmas
28.Your car: Honda
29.What are you doing at the moment? This
30.Your summer: Full
31.Your relationship status: Looking
32.What is on your TV? Nothing
33.What is the weather like? Snowing
34. When is the last time you laughed? Earlier

Interesting, huh?

Pictures Like I Promised

This post is going to be mostly pictures, some stuff I've done, some I'm working on, and maybe just because...

This is a log cabin blanket I made for a co-workers new baby. I made it out of Blue Sky Alpaca's Cotton. You can't see it in this picture, but I sewed a flannel lining on the other side. It was so soft and comfy, I wanted on for myself.

To the left here is some handspun I did about 3 or 4 months ago. The color part is the same fiber (a luscious merino/angora/silk blend) hand dyed by a friend down in SoCal. The brown is local merino from a ram named Oreo, and the skein on the left is plyed with tussah silk. I really like both effects, and I think I will use the brown for a pair of luxurious socks! ;-)

This hat I knit up from some hand dyed Blue-Faced Leicester. Not quite mernio, this wool is still very fine and the way I spun it ended up with a nice loft. So the hat is light, but very warm.

The two scarves below are not handspun, but still very nice yarns. The striped one on the left is knit from Lang Yarns Mille Colori (see link in post#1) and the pink one is out of GGH Relax, a soft alpaca blend boucle yarn.

This next picture is my very first weaving project. It is wove out of a silver and lavender tencel. It is a diamond twill, the cloth pattern set forth in the book "Mastering Weave Structures." I just wove enough to have a stole length wrap, and cut the ends to leave enough for fringe. I then ran it through the sewing machine a couple time on each end where the cloth ends to it didn't unravel or get loose. I have gotten so many compliments on it when ever I've worn it.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend. Happy Christmas shopping!

Almost Thanksgiving

Two more days to Thanksgiving! I can hardly wait. I love stuffing and yams and cranberry and pumpkin un-pie! (For those not my Mom, Dad, or me - un-pie is just the filling.) Unfortunately, all those carbs just aren't good for you. "But it tastes so good!" your mouth waters as you smell the food baking. Of course, this close to Thanksgiving means that Christmas is only 32 days away! (No, no, no you cry.) Well, according to retail industry, Christmas is already here.

It is truly unfortunate that in the retail sector, Christmas comes earlier and earlier. Pretty soon the 4th of July will have just passed and suddeny - its Christmas! A couple of my friends - Leah and Kelly - and I went to the Chirstmas tree lighting downtown over the weekend. I actually heard a lot of people commenting on the fact that it's not even Thanksgiving yet. My sentiments exactly. Let's celebrate Thanksgiving first, give thanks to the Father for His blessings, then celebrate the birth of our Lord.

Anyway, enough about my "celebrate holidays as they come" rant. I am actually pleased with my gift making progress. I finished the last of the hats I was making, so that just leaves:

2 scarves
1 stocking
1 vest
2 afghans (both are 1/2 done)

Not so much, just need to use every free moment I have to knit (or crochet) as the case may be. All the hats and scarves I made for my friends at church I can't wait to give to them. I love seeing the look on friends and family faces as they open the gifts and see what I made specially for them.

I have a feeling the closer the deadline looms I am going to want to do other things, such as spin or weave. I feel myself galncing more and more at my wheel, where the alpaca I've been spinning sporadically for the last few months is calling me to finish it - a lovely mahogany 3-ply yarn. No, must resist, must buckle down. There will be plenty of time in January to do all that, including finishing a couple of sweaters for myself that are down to the collars or sleeves to finish. (Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Hannah!)

I am really looking forward to the up-coming weekend! This year I get both Thursday and Friday off, I am so excited. In Nevada, the day following is a legal holiday, and thanks to my wonderful boss, Janet, we get it as a paid holiday! :-) Thursday I am driving myself and my brother, Andrew, over to Susanville. We are going fairly early in the morning, so as to have the rest of the day to relax. Then Friday, I am meeting my good friend Jessica. I haven't seen her, well, for almost a year. The last time I saw her was last Christmas. We keep in comtact throughout the year, but we still have some catching up to do. She doesn't know about my friend Dave! ;-)

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!

New Weaving Project

So yesterday I wasn't feeling all that good, and I stayed home from my day job. (My kitties loved it - having all that attention.) But later in the afternoon I got restless. I had the hankering for something other than knitting, but not something strenuous.

Now, on the 8th of December I have some friends coming over for a "Ladies Night Out" through the church. Most of the people coming haven't been to my place before, but have heard about the weaving and the spinning and the yarn. So I expect there to be a quite a few ladies coming, if only to see the stash - both yarn and fiber. Danielle has told me she really wants to see how I weave so I know I need to get a project at least on the loom and started before the 8th. So I figured I would get started measuring out the warp.

My friend Alison back in August had had a stash reduction sale (gasp! I know, she shocked everyone - but she thought she was moving and didn't want to have to pack up all of it (and there was a lot!)) Anyway, she bequeathed unto me a hand-made warping mill (for free) that she hadn't used for a long, long time. It needed to be dusted and cleaned and sanded in a few spots (still needs the sanding) but was in okay shape, enough for my needs. Which having never had a warping board or mill before, by itself was the "needs". So yesterday I pulled it out for the first time since moving and tried to figure it out.

Well, no wonder Alison didn't use it. The pegs on the bottom are on the wrong side of the bottom bar. They should be facing the same way as the top pegs to facilitate the correct warping cross. As you can imagine I was somewhat stumped and had to mess around with it for a bit before finding a solution that would work. It's not perfect but I found a crossing warp that would work and would allow me to get approximate even ends. (I do have to trim a little on the bottom so the ends are even.) But this is so much faster than the way I measured out my first project (end by end) and I got 200 ends in the beige measured and cut.

I should probably tell a little about what I'm doing. My project is going to be towels (probably 2, maybe three as my warp is 3 yrds long) in a simple twill. Beige and peach 1" blocks will alternate both in warp and weft. I'm not sure who they are going to be for, maybe an anniversary present for my brother, maybe for my friend Jessica and her hubby Mark. We'll see. Sometimes I start a project without knowing who it's for, and most of the time it'll come to me when the project is almost done.

It's kind of another grey day again today, but I am looking forward to this evening. As it is Thursday, I will be going to the small Bible study I have joined. I made a pumpkin pound cake into a loaf last night that I will take. I ate all of the small loaf I had made for myself, it is so good. I also made some french toast souffle that I baked up this morning. That tasted ok, but not as I had imagined. I think I used too much bread. Will rectify that next time I make it. Might make a great dish for Chirstmas morning breakfast for Andrew, Dad, and I. I'll have to get with Mom on that.

Thanksgiving is exactly a week away! That means that Christmas is only 38 days away! I'll leave you with that comforting thought! :-)

Grey Day

Well, it's kind of a grey rainy day today. One of those days you just want to stay home in front of the fire and knit (or spin - which I haven't done a lot of lately.)

And I have a lot of gorgeous fiber I want to spin up. My friend Allison brought back a boat load of vividly dyed roving pieces from SOAR that she let Jeanie and I divy up between us. I picked out the grass green, sun yellow, and bright blue that I think would look great together in either a singles or 2-ply. There were also smaller pieces of lavender, pinks, and greys that I could do a bit of needle-felting with.

But before I start any new projects, I HAVE to finish Chirstmas presents. I'm getting a good start! I actually finished 2 things last night (wow!) and started another hat. (I am making hats and scarves for all the people in my small Bible study that meets Thursday nights) (I hope they don't read this before Chirstmas). Once I finish with those I have a stocking for my littlest cousin that I promised my aunt would be ready last Christmas (oops!). She was understanding, with all the stuff that happened this last year. It's 3/4 of the way done, I just have to finish the heel and toe, then seam it up and tuck in all the ends.

So that leaves:

4 hats
2 scarves
1 stocking
2 afghans
1 vest

to finish for Christmas presents. Almost there! Actually, written out like this, it looks do-able. A couple of days ago I was freaking out, thinking I wasn't going to make it. Ah, but the end is in sight, there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

Yeah!! :-)

That's it for today. Tomorrow I hope to have pictures up. Cheers!

Very First Post

Well, I now have my very own blog! And I can say whatever pops into my fiber- oriented brain! Well, that's not entirely true. I also would like to post pictures of some of my recent projects, including some Christmas presents in process. I know my family will read this, so I have to be careful what I say so they won't twig to that fact that a cetain project is for them. :-)

Speaking of Christmas - boy, am I going to be busy! Every Friday until the Friday before Christmas, I have something going on! The next Friday is another Messiah rehersal (my brother and I are singing in a production of Handel's Messiah, a beuatiful oratorio that perfectly captures the Reason for the Season!) Then, Thanksgiving, for which I am so glad I get Friday off also. Then another rehersal and then the performance on the 1st and 2nd. The Friday after that is Ladies Night In for the ladies in my Sunday School group. And finally the following Friday is my day jobs Holiday Party! Ring in the Season!

On top of that I have presents to finish, choir practice and the small Bible study I am involved with. Whew, I am looking forwar to January already. How sad is that! Actually, I really enjoy the Christmas season, making and giving handmade presents. It is so personal, and most everybody enjoys what they get.

Right now I am working on an easy stitch pattern (out of Stitchonary 1) I adapted to a scarf. I started it last night and it's almost done. I should finish it tonight. Of course using Addi Turbos helps make it knit fast, but also the yarn. A beautiful self-striping yarn called Mille Colori (seen here) by Lang Yarns. I picked it up at my LYS, Jimmy Beans Wool. Only two balls, on a US 9 needle. I shoudl have a picture of it tomorrow. Cheers!