Hey!! That's My Ice Cream!!

As I sat at the computer checking my games on Facebook and doing paperwork, I was eating some ice cream. My older cat, Megan, decided to check things out. She jumped up onto me, which she NEVER does. I guess she liked the Turkey Hill Duetto "Apple Caramel" flavor. Luckily, I was finished. Sorry for the messy desk.

Blustery Day Knitting..... Sock Casualty

With the wind blowing and tree limbs whipping on the trees, it's been a good day to just stay inside and knit or spin. I chose to do a little of both. Tomorrow will be spent washing some more fleece again. My room does get a little chilly, so Pat set me up with a portable electric heater to use. I also have a t.v. set up in the room as well. This will be nice to have if I feel like watching something. He is also planning to hang a shelf on the wall for me that is the perfect size to hold all my dry dye bottles.

I need to head back down to the dryer for the last batch of clothes, then it will be time to knit some more.

I did finally have to give up my blue socks. They had a huge hole in one of the heals. I didn't see it until I went to put it on and stuck my finger right through it. I had already tried to darn it once, so that was the end of it. I made them about 4 years ago, so they had a good long life. Now, I need to go stash diving and pick out another skein of blue so I can make another pair. Sounds like a good excuse to me. :)

Another Dye Adventure

Last night was spent dyeing up some more fibers and batts. Here's a couple of pics of them drying on the racks. There's 4 ounces of each fiber. Merino and Masham in the left pic and all the fiber/ batts in the right pic.

Spinning a Purple Cloud

On Sunday, I started spinning a fiber I have fallen in love with. It's from Fibers4Ewe Mill in Putnam, CT. Liz, the owner simply calls it Mill Ends. I call it Purple Clouds. It spins with very little drafting and wants to be a fine laceweight yarn. The sparkle is the perfect touch in the fiber. There is a halo in it as well. I'm not sure what the fiber mix is. Just a bit of this and that. I'll let the pictures speak for the fiber. So far, I managed to spin 2 ounces between Sunday afternoon and Monday afternoon, using my Minstrel wheel. Pictures of the plyed yarn will be posted when I've finished the other 4 ounces.

When Plans Don't Go as You Think

My plans for today were to get up early and start prepping for a dye day in my room. This didn't happen thanks to my hot water tank giving up the fight. Pat went down stairs and found a puddle half way across the boiler room. Thankfully, it didn't go anywhere near the wall for my room. All the bins were safe and dry. Luckily, he caught it right after it let go so more water wasn't going into the tank to leak out. It's also a good thing he can install the new one tonight. I'm also glad it didn't let go when he was in the sling with his shoulder surgeries. We would have simply switched to the boiler's hot water system, which is our back-up.

The plan now is to have a dye day on Monday. I already have some of the colors in mind. Trying to not use my favorites of blues, purples, and pink can be a challenge. Lately, some of the finished products have been really pretty and completely outside of my comfort zone. Warm Earth tones are not my favorite. There has been shades of green, orange, black, brown, and yellow used. And the funny part is I really like how they are all coming out. :)

Since I couldn't do the dyeing today, I did some Navajo plying instead. The "Dark Storm" is finished and awaiting it's bath.

Here is a picture of Tiger on the back of my recliner. I have a bin of yarn on the seat to keep them off, but, Isabella decided it would make a comfy spot to snooze anyway. Tiger felt she needed some grooming and had been washing her face. He stopped just as I went to take the picture. Katy is also snoozing behind Tiger. You can just see Katy's ears and top of her head behind Tiger's back.

Now, I'm going to evict the kitties from my chair so I can get comfortable and knit for a while.

A Few Days of Fiber Fun

Last Thursday I spent part of the day in my dye room creating. I dyed up 7 ounces of a Merino/Silk blend and 8 ounces of Rambouillett fiber. I also dyed a pound of Mohair batts. Here are the pictures of the Merino/Silk pieces. I'm planning to blend the Merino/Silk on my drumcarder since the silk is a bit clumpy. The two colors complement each other so it will make a pretty fiber blend. The Rambouillett braids remind me or roses in a Victorian garden at Dusk so I am naming them "Gothic Roses".

Last Sunday was a cold, clear, sunny day. It also was the first gathering of the Happy Hands Fiber Arts group in North Stonington, CT. This is a social group, made up with people who are getting together to share a love of fiber arts, have fun, and learn from each other. It is not a guild or formal group.

It's very diverse. We had spinners, knitters, crocheters, needlefelters, and one person using hand cards for the first time. There were a few people who raise sheep and offered fiber for sale. I did come home with some lovely light gray Shetland pin drafted roving.

The building is bright, airy, and had lots of windows which allow the natural light to come in. We have a complete kitchen that looks out onto the main room. There is a sitting area with a sofa, chairs, and a t.v. if someone wants to use the sofa instead of sitting on a wooden or folding chair. I think the building is only a few years old. There are no steps to go in, just a flat entrance. When the weather is nice, we can sit outside at the picnic tables, or, in order to stay out of the sun, under the large entrance portico. I can't wait for the next gathering in February.

My Sonata accompanied me to this maiden gathering and I was busy spinning some Falkland fiber from Fibers4Ewe Mill in the colorway called "Desert Storm".

Pizza Party!!

Plans were to make pizza last night. Pat and I got busy doing other things, and it got too late. So, we made it tonight instead.

A couple of weeks ago, we found a gluten free pizza crust mix at Whole Foods that sounded good. You have to make the crust from scratch and let it rise for a while. We made a nice cheese and onion pizza with it. The only problem was the crust came out a bit thicker than Pat liked.

This time, we mixed the crust the same way, but I separated it into two pans. After it has time to rise, I smooshed it out to make two nice thin crusts. We used Classico "Four Cheese" Sauce, Sargento Pizza blend Cheese, and Hormel Pepperoni. Doesn't it look delicious? It really is!!

This is one item I can see making a repeat appearance in my house many times.