Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas, Knitting, and Spinning

It was the usual quiet, low key Christmas here at my house.  The reindeer decorated the front yard again and the big tree was in the window.  This year found white and red velvet ribbons with green and red shatterproof ornaments decorating my tree. The topper was just one each of the two ribbons made into a couple of bows.  No kitty attacks or sitting in the tree events happened, so I think the "kids" are ready for me to use my regular ornaments next year.  They are all glass, crystal, or ceramic. 

The meal was simple:  Baked Ziti, Roast Pork, mashed potatoes, veggies, garlic bread sticks, apple pie and coffee. 

Santa, (a/k/a Pat) gave me some nice gifts too.  He had told me to order a set of the Deluxe Blocking Wires from Inspinknity a few weeks ago.  I'm planning to try them out today or tomorrow to block my latest knit shawl.  He also gave me money for my weaving lessons, and toward my knit guild's retreat in 2012.  I gave him a new computer desk.  :)

Knitting:  Multnomah is finished.  I ran out of my handspun, but had just enough of a yarn I had dyed to finish the shawl.  I did do extra repeats to finish up all the yarn and make the shawl a bit bigger.  No pics yet.  It's the blocking project I mentioned above.  The picture below is the handspun I used.


Now, I'm back to the yoke of my never ending sweater a/k/a Sort of a "Ditto".  I currently have no socks on the needles.  This will be remedied Sunday when I cast on for the new Through The Loops Mystery Sock KAL.

 Spinning:  I'm into the last two ounces of eight of "Cornflower" which is a Fibers4Ewe blend I purchased at the Fiber Festival of New England in November.  I've been having pain issues with my feet so haven't spun for long spurts this month.  This is resulting in less ounces getting finished. 


I'm including a picture of the Baby Surprise Sweater set I made for my newest little cousin.  I decided to send it before he couldn't fit it. The hat and booties are super stretchy too.I made it in the 6 month size so he should be o.k. for a while.  He's just 3 months old now.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, peaceful holiday today.  Mine was quiet as usual.  I don't know why, but, I don't feel like eating after I do all the food prep and cooking.  My dear husband, Pat, helped with it all today so it much easier.  Plus, I made less items and smaller quantities of some things.  There still was plenty of left overs from 3 people and an 11.5 pound turkey.

In my knitting progress, I've managed to finish my second  Breaking Hearts sock, and am currently working on my languishing, woefully deserted Ditto sweater. I've made so many modifications to this pattern, it's very loosely based on the original pattern now.

In my spinning progress, I've finished the FatCatKnits Dead of Night fiber. 

A couple weeks ago found me at Eneri Knits Friday knit group.  I came home with 2 braids of Frabjous Fibers in Chromatophia Red.  This fiber is so far from my usual color choices but it spoke to me.  I plan to spin it using the fractal method.

I've managed to spin about 3 of 4 ounces of some lovely Polwarth fiber from Cloudlover.  It's for the Knit Girllls SAL/KAL.  Originally, I wanted a fingering weight single, but, the yarn told me otherwise.  It chose to be a lace weight single which means I will be Navajo plying it to maintain the colors.  Here's a picture of the fiber.  I had already pulled a piece off before I remembered to take the picture.  It's called "Haunted Vineyard" and the colors are perfect for that name.

I'm going to spin a bit when I finish writing this. I hope to ply it this weekend. Knitting starts December 1.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Busy, Busy, Busy; Visiting the Fiber Festival of New England

It's been a busy month of knitting, spinning, and other stuff.  My needles have been clicking away.  My "Mystic Midsummer Wreath Shawl" was finished at the beginning of October.  Here it is blocking.










One of the podcasts I enjoy watching is Knitabulls.  Diane had a KAL for the "Dancing Batty Shawl" for October.










I've also been knitting on a pair of "Breaking Hearts" socks.  The first sock is finished and the second is ready for it's heel flap. 


My Minstrel wheel has been busy with the CJ Kopec "Lily Pond" fiber.  I finished all 8 ounces the other night as a Navajo ply.  I didn't figure out the yardage yet.  Last night found me starting some FatCatKnits in a lovely Mohair/Wool/Nylon in the "Dead of Night" color.  


Last Saturday and Sunday was spent with some of my favorite fiber pals at the Second Annual Fiber Festival of New England.  I missed the first one last year due to medical issues so I was really looking forward to this one.  There was a stop at WEBS and their bead store on the way. 

We chose to make it into a girl's weekend and stayed at the Sheraton in Springfield, MA Saturday night. 

Here's a picture of all my fiber goodies except for the two fleece I brought to Fibers4Ewe booth for processing. 




Tuesday found me dropping off 24 pounds of mostly washed fleece/fiber at Fibers4Ewe for processing.  I was going to wait and bring half of it up when my other two fleece were ready for pick up, but decided to just get it up there now instead.

Friday, October 07, 2011

Whirring Bobbins, Flying Needles, Fiber Prizes

It's been a few weeks since I posted.  My wheels have been busy, as have my needles. I finished the August and September Stash Buster fibers as well as a couple others.  My latest one was from Fibernymph Dye Works on Etsy.  The BFL/Silk blend spun and plied like butter. It arrived at my house on the last Thursday of September and just begged to be spun immediately.  Usually I try to put the new stuff away and work with some of the older stash stuff first.  Not this time.  Since that Saturday was the monthly spin in at my friend Sue's shop, that's the fiber I took with me.  The entire braid was spun and plied by late Saturday night.  I just couldn't wait to see how the yarn came out.  I forgot to take a picture of the braid before starting it, but here is a picture of the last part and the yarn before it's bath. 

 









The Mystic Midsummer Wreath Shawl has had some issues.  It was definitely knitter error, not pattern.  I did a decrease stitch wrong over and over through sixty rows of lace. I used an extra stitch every time.  This made me short several stitches for the last section.  Obviously, this resulted in a major tinking event.  Of course, I hadn't bothered to put a lifeline in which would have made ripping back sooooo much easier.  The shawl has survived, and all sixty plus rows are now back in place.  I'm two rows away from starting the last part before the edging.  My goal is to finish it before October 13th so I can bring it to my knitting guild meeting.

In August, I took a break after casting on the above mentioned shawl to participate in a sock mystery KAL, hosted by Jen Hansen who is "Knitting Like Crazy" on Ravelry.  I want to thank podcaster Sarah of "Rainlover Knits" for introducing me Jen's patterns. The sock pattern was a fun knit.  I hadn't planned to enter for the contest part of it since I'm a slow poke knitter.  You only had to have one sock done by the end date of September 2.  Since I had finished the first sock, I took a picture, and posted it.  I have finished the second sock since. They are knit from some Merino/Silk yarn I dyed last year.

 








To my surprise I won one of the prizes!  And what a terrific prize it is ~ a project bag, pattern and skein of Socks That Rock yarn!  The yarn is a Rare Gems skein and I don't know the colorway, but I love it.











Now, October is here with it's own KALs.  I want to knit a shawl called "Dancing Batty", a pair of Halloween socks in a skein of my DkKnits yarn "Salem Spirits" and weave a scarf to match the socks with the second skein of that yarn.  I don't know if I'll get the last item done. This is a picture of the socks and scarf yarn. 




Sunday, September 18, 2011

Are We Craft People or Gardeners An Unknown Threat?

Recently, I've read a couple articles that singles out crafters, especially knitters, makers of cupcakes, people who sew, and gardeners.  The first one was regarding "strong women" and tried to say if you are a crafter or love baking or creating items, you are not strong.  I don't know about you, but I know some pretty strong people who do these things.  I'm not just talking physically, but mentally and emotionally as well.

Tonight's article was regarding a teacher who has a garden, worm bins, and keeps bees in Memphis, TN.  He is teaching a handful of his students about these things.  Here's the link to the article.  There's a link to pictures of his property within the article. This man is being fined and ordered to dismantle his garden, and other items because a few neighbors complained, and consider him a "public nuisance". 

 When I was a kid, we always has a big garden.  The neighbors all had them as well.  My grandmother and mom canned a lot.  Sadly, I didn't have an interest then and never learned.  We also had lots of fruit trees and a huge grapevine.  The grapes were made into wine when my grandfather was alive.  Dad wasn't into making it.  I hate to think I would be "breaking the law" if I still had the garden, trees, and vines.

What is wrong with this world when creating and growing things you love and enjoy doing is punishable by law and open to ridicule?  We live in a sad society where plastic wrap, commercially made items takes precedence over natural, fresh home grown or items created by hand.  By attempting to force people to give up these things, we are losing so much.

As for me, I'll continue to knit, crochet, spin, weave, make stained glass, cook, and even grow some veggies in pots in my yard for as long as I can.  Shame on the people who don't like it.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011


A New Fiber Tool & Project Progress

My dear husband is right.  Craigslist can be a dangerous, addictive site.  He has been perusing the site often and found several items, of interest to him, which he thinks were good deals.  I, too, enjoy checking the site out.  Arts and Crafts is my favorite category, of course. 

Last month, I saw a spinning wheel, but hesitated to contact the seller.  I lost out on the opportunity of buying it.  Pat told me not to hesitate next time if I see something I liked. 

This past Sunday found me glancing at the listings for looms and wheels.  There was one ad in particular that caught my eye.  We contacted the seller and the item was still available.  So, we hopped in the car, and drove to Milton, MA.

I'm now the happy owner of a Toika Leena table loom with stand.  It's 4 harness, has string heddles, is intact, and just needed to be cleaned up.  Since the harnesses were not properly attached, I need to do a bit of research to set it up correctly. 


My Mystic Midsummer Wreath Shawl has seen a bit of love in between my Mystery Sock by Jen Hansen.  I had to re-start the sock after I tried on the leg portion.  It would have been too tight to fit over my heel/instep.  Now, I'm knitting the larger size and it fits well after trying this one on.

The August Project Stash Buster fiber is spinning along.  I've got about 2 ounces left to spin and can then start the plying.  This coming Saturday is the monthly spin in at RI Handspun, and I plan to work on that while there.  If I have time, I want to spin some of my natural colored fiber before starting the September fiber.

With a tropical storm or hurricane arriving in my area on Sunday, I need to finish clearing the yard and batten down the hatches, so I will say good bye for now.  If you are in the line of the storm, please stay safe. If you are told to evacuate, please do so.  It's not worth losing a life to stay in your home if it's too dangerous.  Hugs and prayers for everyone's safekeeping.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A Busy Fiber Filled Month

I finally took pictures of the rest of my knitting and spinning items which were part of The Knit Girllls 5K Stash Dash 2011.  Besides the Evenstar Shawl, the re-constructed Dragon Scale Shawl, and Flutter-By Socks, I knit a sweater for my soon to arrive little cousin.  I'll talk more about that after I send it to his mommy and he's born.  I will say it came out cute.  I did send a picture of the yarn and buttons to my cousin to make sure she liked them, so I can post that here.   I was concerned about the little bit of pink, but she was fine with it since the yarn is mostly gold, orange, and a bit of purple.  The lion buttons match perfectly. Everyone I asked said the yarn is fine for a boy.


The rest of my Stash Dash was spinning.  The previously mentioned "Carnival Glass", "Honey Cinnamon", "Lavander Vanilla" Alpaca, and DyakCraft a/k/a Grafton Fibers "May 2009" club batt all counted toward the yardage.Also spun up were 8 ounces each of Crown Mountain Corridale in "Ishkur" and "Mea Culpa" and "Jezebelle" from CJKopec.  My total yardage was 6287.5 !! 

All the spinning also counted toward my Spin Your Stash Equinox total.  My goal was to spin 5 pounds from Spring to Autumn Equinox.  I'm currently at 81.5 ounces and have 8 ounces in process on my Sonata which will be added soon. Four ounces of that counts for my August Project Stash Buster.  I need to get busy and get that spun since I only have 15 days left in the month.

Here's a mosaic of my Stash Dash items.  I've included a picture of the current August fiber as well since it was started during SD, even though I didn't count the yardage in the total.  I've got about a half bobbin full. 

My current knitting is another shawl.  I finally cast on and started my Mystic Midsummer Wreath Shawl by Anna Dalvi.  There is a skein of yarn waiting woefully on my desk with it's needles.  It's for a pair of socks from a Mystery Sock KAL.  Clue 3 will be out soon and I haven't even started yet.  I keep saying I'm starting but just haven't found the time.  Bad, bad, bad on my part.  Here's a picture of the yarn I'm using for the MMW Shawl.  It's the same yarn and color the designer used.  I just fell in love with it and decided to do the same one:

Sunday, July 17, 2011

More Blocked Items

After Evenstar was finished, I decided to take advantage of my mats being  set up on the deck and blocked a couple more items.

My Dragon Scale Shawl was finished two years ago ~ sort of.  I had a major mishap with twenty rows of lace.  Those rows had to be frogged and re-knit twice to correct the problem.  I hated the shawl at that point, so I just did the six rows of garter stitch edging, bound off, and tossed it in a bag in my bedroom.  A couple months ago, I decided it wasn't fair to leave it like that.  I took it out, pulled out the edging, added two more repeats and re-knit the edging.  I'm much happier with it now and love it again. 

I had also used the same yarn to make a pair of socks to sort of match the dragon theme.  Shur'Tugal was a fun pattern to knit.  Here they are blocking.


Last Sunday was a beautiful day so we decided to take a ride.  We took the Lincoln.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Blocking My Evenstar Shawl

I'm doing a little happy dance over here.  I took advantage of a lovely warm day and blocked my finished Evenstar Shawl.  It was a bit of a challenge since I didn't have quite enough space on the eight 2 x 2 foot squares.  I need one more, but it worked out in the end.  I just blocked the two last spots after the rest was done.

Here's a picture of it while it was still pinned out on the deck.  The breeze was flipping the end mats up, so I had to weight them down a bit. 


Tonight is my knitting guild meeting and I'm planning to bring it for show and tell.  :)

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Fair Fun, Tour de Fleece Spinning, Downpours!

Friday was a rainy day with random thunderstorms in the morning and afternoon.  I was a little worried since I was doing a spinning/fiber demo with Happy Hands at the annual North Stonington Fair in CT during the afternoon and evening.  My wishing for the weather to clear seemed to be working as I packed the car and headed out.  Sadly, I guess I didn't wish hard enough.  We had downpours off and on the whole time we were in the Sheep Barn.  One of the worst cloudbursts/downpours was when it was time to pack up and go home.  I said a quick good night, grabbed my wheel I had covered with a big black trash bag, and made a mad dash when there was a lull in the storm. It started to downpour and I was still soaked by the time I got the wheel in the back seat.  Driving home was a bit of a challenge, but the rain tapered off about half way home. 

Saturday was a beautiful, warm day and we had lots of people coming through the barn. I even got to be a judge with Sandi for the Lead Line competition. 

Here's a picture of the bobbin after Saturday's spinning.  It was empty on Friday when I got there.  I still have about half the braid to do.  If I had spun this my regular thickness, I probably would have finished the braid.  I also got a little spindling in but don't have a picture of that yet.  The skein of yarn is the first 4 ounce braid which was finished Thursday evening at home.  It's 424 yards of Navajo ply. I'm quite happy with my Tour de Fleece progress so far.












Evenstar has 3 repeats left and the grafting of the two edges and then will be finished. I can't wait to soak and block this. My next project is to try to finish the "sweater that never ends" a/k/a my version of Ditto. The poor sweater has been two years in the making. Although, if you read my blog, you already know it was actually almost finished and semi-frogged due to sizing issues.

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Happy July 4th..... On Your Mark, Get Set, Spin!!

Tour de Fleece 2011 started this past Saturday, July 2.  It runs until Sunday, July 24th.  I'm participating but have a limited goal.  I joined 4 teams.  No trying to spin as much of a whole fleece as I can in 22 days this year.  Since I'm part of Corgi Hill Farm's team, I have to spin her fiber.  I had a hard time picking one from the stash, but the final choice was "Carnival Glass".  There's 8 ounces in my stash.  I'm not sure if I'll finish it all because it's coming out so fine.  The colors just pop out at you and the shine is gorgeous.  It's a Merino/Bamboo/Silk blend and spins like thinly poured melted butter.  ♥



Here's a picture of the 2 braids and three days of spinning.  I still have 1.45 ounces of braid one to spin. There was  little Wensleydale batt bite included with these and I plan to spin that on one of my spindles.  I need serious spindle practice time so I can improve that ability.

Both these fiber projects will be coming to North Stonington Fair in Connecticut with me this week. Happy Hands Fiber Arts is doing the fiber arts demo in the sheep barn on Thursday and Friday evening from 4:30 until 9p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to about 4 p.m. If you are in the area stop by and say hi.

Evenstar is almost off the needles.  I have 50 of the 56 edging repeats done as of last night.  Oooo!  the anticipation of having that finished!  I can't wait to block it with my interlocking boards.  The plan is to lay it out on the deck on a sunny day and have it dry super fast.

Today was busy with doctor appointments for me.  The eye doctor one went well.  Although, I need glasses for reading and doing the fine stuff like knitting lace.  :(  Hey, as I told some online friends, at least it's not bifocals or even trifocals.  :)

The other appointment was meh.  I got my diabetes meds tweaked and found out I've been taking my iron supplement too early in the day.  It conflicts with my thyroid med.  This explains why my butt has been dragging lately.  I've had no energy and just want to sleep a lot.  Now I've adjusted the schedule, I'm hoping for an energy burst to happen in a couple days.

That's if for me for now.  Enjoy the rest of the week if you are on vacation.  Stay cool in the heat. 


Sunday, June 19, 2011

A Dye Day With Fiber Friends, Spinning & Knitting Progress

Last Sunday was spent with my Happy Hands Fiber Friends at our monthly get together.  This time, we had a dye day.  Dave and Sue generously offered the use of their garage for this.  I forgot to bring my camera so have no pictures.  :( 

It was a cool, comfortable day with lots of experimenting and playing with colors.  Liz, from Fibers4Ewe, did a demo about cellulose dyes and then some of us attempted yarn/fiber dyeing with them.  I did a purple/blue with red/pink colors on some Bamboo/Wool yarn.  The result is quite different from using acid dyes. 

We also used primary colors, mixed from acid dyes, and created our own colors for other items.  Sandi had brought a couple pre-mixed colors as well.  I dyed up some Masham fiber and some of Mr. Attitude's locks.  The locks came out quite interesting since they were naturally shades of gray and white. The color in the picture isn't exactly correct.  The orange seems to be over powering the other colors.  The end result reminds me of Autumn leaves.











In between dyeing, some of us were spinning, knitting, or just chatting.  There was lots of terrific food available from the pot luck lunch/barbecue we had as well.  It was terrific to see everyone again.  A surprise visitor was Liz from Maine who I hadn't seen in a couple years. 

As for knitting progress, I've finished my Flutter By socks.  I really like how they came out.  I have enough yarn to use with a similar color to make another pair of socks later. 


My Evenstar Shawl has seen a good amount of love lately.  As of about an hour ago, I am starting repeat 30.  I'm over half finished with the edging and am looking forward to a completed shawl soon. I've got another mystery shawl to knit, but am forcing myself to finish this one first.  Here's the yarn for knitandknag's Mystic Midsummer Wreath Shawl KAL which started a couple days ago. 


On the spinning front, I finished the DyakCraft a/k/a Grafton Fibers Club January 2009 batt.  I'm quite happy with the results.  I plan to spin the second batt some time during Tour de Fleece which starts in a couple weeks.  I still need to finish the last bit of "Honey Cinnamon" that has been hanging out on my Sonata wheel for a month.  Hmmm. I think I'll got do that now. 

I also forgot to post the picture of my May Project Stash Buster yarn, and the Silver Sun Alpaca's "Lavander Vanilla" batts I had spun up. 

 








O.K. It's time for me to spin for a bit and then get back to that edging.  My goal is to get at least two more repeats done today. 

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Socks and Shawl Knitting, Spindle and Wheel Spinning

There hasn't been much happening around here in the fiber endeavors.  My Flutter-by Socks were restarted for the third time.  These were my March Stash Buster Socks that never happened.  I didn't like the way the pattern looked in my first yarn.  I had to give my current yarn a soak to remove some residual dye I was getting on my hands.  Now, it's knitting up beautifully. Since I don't like tall socks, I decided to do two and a half repeats of the pattern. I'm also using another handknit sock to judge length as well.  The only other alteration I made was to do a plain stockinette foot.  Lala of TheKnitGirllls video-cast mentioned the possibility of the "butterfly" floats getting caught in her shoes and I agree with this.  I also tend to like stockinette or less patterning on the foot part of my socks since I have very sensitive feet thanks to my Diabetes. The plan is to get most, if not all, of the foot finished tonight.

My Evenstar shawl did see a tiny bit of love.  Two more repeats of the border have been completed.  That's 16 of 57.  At this rate it may be done for late summer.  lol

I had some fiber on my DyakCraft spindle for a while which I finished spinning yesterday.  I decided to ply it on my wheel just to get it finished.  Spindle spinning is not my strong point and seems to take me forever.  The tendency is for me to spin thin, but I think my spindles are made for thicker yarn and it keeps wanting to break.  Towards the end of the small bump, I had a good rhythm going and accomplish quite a bit.  I just need to really set aside some time every day and do the 10 minutes spin time to get better at it. 

Over on the wheels, the first four ounces of "Autumn Rainbow" Polwarth from CJKopec is finished.  I have four ounces left to spin and plan to try a different technique with that. 

Last Wednesday evening was spent with some spinning ladies  in Tiverton.  I decided to spin some more of  the "Honey Cinnamon" from Wintechog Hill Farms and now I need to finish the last ounce of the first bobbin.  It's coming out such a pretty color with pops of others shades in it.  Maybe I can finish that last ounce before knitting tonight.

Tiger is back to his old self and showing no residual problems.  Pooh is no longer on "nursemaid" duty.  It was cute to see him hovering over the cat and checking on him.  He was like a "Papa" keeping watch over his sick child. 

Monday, May 09, 2011

Spending The Day With Fiber Pals.....A Sick Kitty

Firstly, let me wish all the moms a belated Happy Mother's Day. 

I spent it with some of my Happy Hands friends at our monthly gathering.

My Project Stash Buster fiber for May, "Autumn Rainbow" in Polwarth by CJKopec, (top picture) was started.  But, first, I decided to spin some of my friend Sandi's latest special blend (bottom picture).  It's Baby Coopworth, Cria Alpaca, Angora Bunny, and a touch of Firestar.  The processing and blending was done by Fibers4Ewe Mill in Putnam.  It drafts with little effort and spins like a dream.  After spinning the Rambouillett and Shetland at lace weight, and the "Stormy Seas" at a fingering, I decided to spin both these a bit thicker.

We had a tough weekend with my cat Tiger.  He started throwing up on Friday night.  We called and got him into the vet on Saturday morning.  After an exam and an x-ray, the doctor determined he just had an upset tummy.  We spent two more days of watching and trying to get him to drink and eat.  Today was the breakthrough with him eating and drinking a little bit on his own.  He also finally went to the bathroom.  Tonight, he was sitting in the window watching the activity and birds.  Now, he's sleeping.  I'm glad he feels better and is on the mend.

Saturday, May 07, 2011

CT Sheep & Wool 2011 Stash Enhancement, Meeting Jadee

Last Saturday was the annual CT S&W festival.  The weather was wonderful.  The day was sunshine filled with a nice breeze, and not too hot or cool.  It was perfect for walking around the festival.  My husband, Pat, came with me and did all the driving.  We set out with the coolers packed with salads, grilled chicken, cheese sticks, and sodas, chips in the bag, and the GPS plugged in.  

I didn't really buy very much.  My first stop was the fleece barn. My plan was to buy a Polypay fleece, and maybe one or two other items that caught my fancy. 

Well, I did get my fleece, but Pat bought me a couple of items.  He helped me "stuff a bag" of alpaca, (left pic) and bought me some Fibers4Ewe sparkly fiber to spin (right pic).  That's all I came home with.  I did look at a lot, but nothing else really called to me this time.










One of the best parts of the festival was meeting Jadee, the host of Twisted Strandss Podcast.  She is just as nice in person as she is in the videos.  I also got to meet her cousin Bridgit. 

Even though fiber arts are not one of my husband's hobbies, I think he enjoyed the day.  I know he liked watching the sheep dogs herding the sheep.

After riding home, I decided to finish plying my April Stash Buster Fiber.  I got the first 4 ounces done just under the wire for the month.  The second 4 ounces are also finished.  There's a total of 991 yards, 2 ply from the 8 ounces. 


My Corgi Hill Farm "Stormy Sea" is spun and one skein is plied with the total being 350 yards of 2 ply.  Skein 2 is getting plied tonight. The flash is a bit bright on the close up picture.  I was trying to capture the sparkle from the glitz.

 








And here's a couple of pictures of my Megan kitty.  She has commandeered my quilt and wooden rocker as her "kitty bed".  It's a good thing it was a Walmart special purchase and not an expensive one.  At least I got to keep the tote bag it came in.  lol.