January 2009

Today was productive! I took photos and listed all of the knitting needles that my award-winning glass artist mother made (well… it was my idea).

This is only a small cross section of the amazingness that is listed at my shop.

I’ve been making a serious effort to exercise more. No one wants to be weak and flabby, right?? Anyway, I just want to say that my arms are SO SORE I can’t even knit. How’s that for sad?

It has occurred to me that although I talk about my kitties quite a lot, I haven’t ever posted pictures.

Aww, look at that face.
This is Casey, the Super Large Cat. She is five years old, and apparently a Norwegian Forest Cat?? We weren’t previously aware of this, so she was immediately put on a diet when we adopted her. I guess she’s supposed to be this large. Oops.
She is so cute, cause even though she has a huge, fifteen pound body, she has a tiny little meow.

Patches is my favorite kitty (don’t tell Casey). She is nine years old, and by far the most cuddly cat I’ve ever met. She is so lovey- every night she sleeps curled up on my pillow next to my head. I don’t mind.

We’ve only had them a few months, but they have already totally made themselves at home. Its like they grew up with us.

On a side note: I am watching the inauguration right now, and I just want to say that I love Aretha Franklin’s hat. I want one. And also, I can’t imagine how cold those string players’ hands are right now. Brrr.

Today I woke up to a wonderfully tidy apartment, courtesy of my favorite husband:

(Look at this old picture. I like how you can’t see my eyes. I’m so glad that my glasses are different now!)

He had the day off yesterday, and spent it doing dishes and folding laundry and et cetera.  How nice

The past few days I have spun only one skein of yarn- but I have been doing quite a bit of beading.  I even have some plans for sewing in my near future- hopefully the JoAnn’s that’s being built will hurry up and open!

It is 100% Merino (of course), 128 yards, heavy worsted weight.
Not necessarily my favorite color (though I do love green), but it is probably my favorite… texture? Weight? so far. Mmhm.

I have also made quite a few stitch markers. Stitch markers are one of those things that I really enjoy making because I like sparkly little beads, I always need them… but it never occurs to me to make them. I’ve made two sets of each type- I’ll have to figure out which one to keep for myself:

Iridescent violet faceted glass beads strung on nylon coated stainless steel wire. Fits up to a US size 12 needle.

Green freshwater pearls, also strung on nylon coated stainless steel wire. Also fits up to a US size 12 needle. I LOVE this color.

These might be my favorite. Smokey gray faceted glass beads with turquoise seed beads. Looped onto stainless steel jump rings. Fits up to a US size 12 needle.

I have also gotten business cards! Yeah! I love them:

It hasn’t exactly been a productive week. Every time I carve out a block of time to do some spinning, it gets filled with something “more important”. Psh. What could be more important than fiber? A paying job? Getting a new car battery? Church?

Anyway, this is what I’ve got so far:

This yarn is one of my favorite colorways- but since I spun half on my wheel and half on my drop spindle, it kind of turned out crappy. I don’t quite have the hang of my spindle yet. So I’m keeping it for myself.

Next is how my first attempt at kettle dyeing didn’t exactly work out:

I mean, it looks okay, but not at all how I wanted it.

Then we have the green. I already spun about half of it, but I didn’t get pictures yet. I really like how it’s turning out.

This one is actually three separate pieces of roving dyed in violet, indigo, and blue. Yes, the last three colors of the rainbow. I think I might make them into one whole yarn, but we have yet to see.

Well, as you may have heard, temperatures here in the midwest are at record lows. Apparently this morning was one degree too warm to set the cold record here. There comes a point, though, where the number doesn’t matter anymore- cold is just cold. According to NPR, we haven’t had more than a 24 hour period of time stay below zero for over ten years. Bleh.

So, the weather has taken a toll on my car. The past three days I had to get a jump for it in the morning. However, a short drive would charge it right up again… until yesterday, when I drove to Chippewa (which is what, 20 miles?), and my car wouldn’t start, even with a jump! Even with my battery hooked up to another car for ten minutes! Thank God it finally started, and I immediately drove to the nearest place I could buy a new battery. $80 later, and my car starts easily on the first try . Although I’m not thrilled about spending the money, it is good to have peace of mind.

Okay, so I am experimenting with wordpress. Unfortunately, I can’t get the iWeb blogging feature to do what I want it to do (i.e. post pictures, enable comments, etc.) so I am trying this.

I don’t really want to post all of my old posts here, but you can see the pictures on my flickr.

Back to yarny business.

Yesterday I learned how to use a loom at the Yellow Dog. I pretty much fell in love, so I plan on acquiring one ASAP. I used Kureyon sock yarn (I forget what colorway), since I hated it for knitting- but it turned out ridiculously beautiful.

I can’t wait to weave with my handspun!

Speaking of handspun, I got a drop spindle yesterday. I’ve never used one before, and I thought I never would, but I like how convenient it is. I’m not great at using it yet, but its a start.