quiet morning

It has been a quiet morning of carding fiber.  I have been spinning a bit each day.  I have a sweater I wish to make but I need the yarn.  Actually, I need to work with a bit of carding and spinning every day because I have so much fiber but the sweater is a nice piece of lagniappe.  I enjoy the spinning, especially in my current work environment.  Lots of change.  Possibility of layoffs.  Basic life.

I clipped a few flowers today.  I have not dug in a bed again but maybe tomorrow.  The vegetables are coming up well and soon my salads will be made with my home grown greens.  So exciting!

losing myself in spinning

It has been an intense week at work so far.  Lots of meetings.  Lot of fixing other people's work.  Lots of my own work.  I am glad it is Wednesday.  All I have really wanted to do when I get home is sit.  Sit and spin.

I put an audiobook on and spin.  Right now I am listening to the Phyrne Fischer mysteries by Kerry Greenwood.  She also writes a series of mysteries about a baker.  The last time I checked, I had read all of those.  The Phyrne Fischer novels are light but not usually a figure it out by the second chapter.  Not like Midsomer Murders either where in twenty seasons I think I may have got close three times.  Change of Inspector has made my guessing better.

When my Beloved is done making knives for the day, I sit next to him with my drop spindle right now and spin.  We watch syfy shows.  The drop spindle is at the speed I am ready for by that time. 

I am hoping to card more of the green fiber in the top picture so I can spin more.  I have a sweater I wish to make with it.  There is a black wool I wish to spin too so I can make a sweater with that as well.  It does slow down the yarn purchase when you have to make the yarn for the sweaters you wish to make! 

The meditation that happens while I spin sure helps getting through the week this has been. 

long week

It has been a long week.  I strained my hamstring somehow yesterday which is making my bicycle riding interesting.  I got a ride to work and I walked home in the rain.  I needed the movement and the meditation of walking.  I think I have found one of the more efficient ways home though, so this may happen again.

I got home and I sat with my spinning wheel.  I am not sure Koda Bear really wants a blue scarf but I have blue fiber to spin.  I have not had a chance to sit and spin for awhile.  There has just been too much going.  I find Friday afternoon can be one of the quietest afternoons of the week so I took full advantage of the quiet.  I did not get much spinning done.  But some.  And I got a chance to listen to the audio book I am "reading."  That is always nice.

Mr B. posted this on the book of faces today.  Almost twenty years ago.  I have a feeling something was going on since I was wearing makeup.  A competition?  Even then, I wore makeup very rarely.  Usually there had to be for a purpose.  I am told I have not changed much but I do like the thicker bangs in these pictures.  I am pondering the cutting of hairs this weekend.

just carding away

I have spent a lot of time this week preparing fiber.  The fleece i washed?  I am carding and spinning it.  I am actually working on a bit of a few, some from Taos, some from North Carolina.  I am finding that changing which fleece I am working with lets me stay a little bit more focused.

Though, I think I would just like very large mugs of tea and quiet.  One of my co-workers today told me work gets in the way of my life.  Miss L is right!  Life is always interesting.

More carding and spinning going on tonight.  With tea and a bit of quilting going on.  I am seriously thinking of putting the soundtrack to 180 Degrees South on and just being mellow to it.  Boys are off on motorbikes and supposedly bringing me back a half a macaroon.  My bet is that it will be in little bits when it gets here!  

Tea.  Fabric.  Fiber.  Maybe I will even leave the house for an onion and the purchase of makings for adult beverages.  I would actually bet against that currently!

SAFF 2014

We went off to SAFF this last weekend.  And, the klutz that I am, I fell off my bicycle on the way to work the morning we left.  The fall turned into a dive since I really did not wish to be tangled in my bicycle and preferred to land on grass then cement.  I reinjured my ribs and sternum that I injured in a skating accident years ago.  My whole torso and right shoulder are still hurting.  But I did not push my shoulder out again.  That is something!  Fifteen hours of driving on way is interesting when you really do not wish to sit up straight.

I forgot the camera to take pictures of North Carolina and SAFF.  I can say that being able to get out of Texas and enjoy the beauty of autumn in the Blue Ridge Mountains is very special.  Having the chance to go to SAFF as well is just another caveat.  See all those bags?  Sheep and alpaca fiber!  I am trying out different breeds to see what I like so we may have an idea of what we would like to care for some day. 

SAFF actually has a few animals.  My Beloved fell for this sweet little Icelandic ewe who was for sale.  I kept telling him that sheep were herd animals and we would need at least three.  Our Texas yard is not big enough for three sheep even though he would be more then willing to take the sheep for walks around the neighborhood. 

I told this tale to our neighbors.  Our neighbor J tried to figure out how you would get a sheep from North Carolina to Houston in a Subaru.  There was no question about the sheep, just logistics.  Our neighbors rock!  I did have a co-worker mention that the sheep could be a gateway animal so there would be much more livestock in my life! 

I do have a strange reality.

One of my favorite growers and dyers was there.  Since so much of the other fiber needs cleaning I started here with my carding.

And the spinning has started.

I am actually working on a sweater for the Small Mister.  I was trying to get it done for his birthday in November but I am using the last bits of yarn.  The problem is I think I am not going to have enough.  Some of this spinning is going to go straight into that sweater.  Since it is stripes, some of the other spinning I have been doing is going into that as well.  That is what you will get when you start making all your own yarn.

Maybe I can get a few more friends to go with me in 2015 or 2016.  Not just the instigator.  But my Beloved is plotting the making of a metal spinning wheel.  He was thinking about maybe using some motobike parts.  He has some of the other boys plotting with him so I will have to see what comes out of the shop.