Finger Spinning on Chop Sticks

Yes!
You read that right. A couple months ago I read about that on a blog. I wish I had saved it so I could link here for you. It looked really neat!! I decided to try it out on the fiber I received this week in the ornament swap. You can see it in the 1st photo from the post below. Here is my progress today. 1/4 of the bag!!!







The label says 100% Wool. It feels like it may have some lama or alpaca in it. At least that is what my face is telling me LOL it itches a little. ;-) The spinning is coming out really nice though! Can't wait to see how much yardage I get out of it :D

I'm Almost Famous

My friend Anona asked if she could name something after me. I said "sure". Here it is at Sonny & Shear. I am "Huggybear" on Ravalry.

Isn't it pretty? Spinning and felting wool. The boys LOVE it. The Karmalicious & Stashmore ones are my new favorites as well. To bad there are only 3 left each of them. :( She does great work. If you spin go get you some before it gone :D

They are growing bigger! Losing fluff, and getting feathers. Here they are snuggling.


One of the Reds tried to jump up on my head... Deven pulled her down and she got her picture taken.


Here are the big mommas taken a look at all the chickies and hoping I drop some baby food.


Yes they are speedy zippy little things now. Flapping their wings all the time! Hmm Where did Nisi, Anona and Vandy go? ;-)


Here is that hand spun I have been working on. It's finally finished! My first 2ply. It varies between worsted and DK. But not drastically. I think its pretty consitant. Flash brightened it up.

It's a New Year

School is started. Everyone is back to work. The chickens are acting like it's Spring and laying 12-15 eggs every 2 days. Not bad for just 10 hens. The dog is still a dork, but we love him anyway ;-) I am spinning some yarn called "Grasshopper Spit" dyed by an online friend from Ravelry. Barrister Lane Fiber You can find some of her stuff at Sonny & Shear now! Very camo-ish. I hope it's thin enough to make it 2-ply. Pictures when I am done :)

I've been dyeing fiber for my etsy shop. The green is a consignment! It's a semi-solid. Much like the blue Deven did that has since sold. He is very proud of that btw :) I have since spent quite a while re-skeining the yarn to give a better representation of the colors. Below is a picture of a couple. I'm not a fan of orange, but the October challenge for my Etsy Team is Fall colorsm and I really LOVE how this came out.


This scarf is a donation for the Special Olympics coming up. The goal is 5000 scarves for the athletes. I'm going to try and have 5 made and mailed by the deadline. I don't knit & crochet as fast as I used to, and I still want to get the boys' things made for Christmas finished.

This was just finished getting spun up. Its the Corriedale Logan dyed for me with koolaid and I steamed. I need to take it off the bobbinand set the twist. It looks like it's about sock/fingering to DK weight as a single ply. It may bloom bigger. We'll see. But I spun it to ply so it's tight.! We'll see. It came out nice though


Here is one of those Christmas presents I was talking about. A reversible hat for the boys. This is one side. I still need to finish the decreases and close the top, so I can start the new color at the brim. When it's done I'll have 2 more to go.

Total Silence

Yesterday was my first day EVER alone in total silence that I can remember. What did I do? you ask....
1. 1 load of laundry
2. spun 4oz. of Corriedale fiber the boys dyed with Koolaid
3. watched 3 old movies on the FOX movie channel
4. talked to Hubby and MomMom on the phone when they called to see if I was "ok" ;)
5. can't forget the fact that I burnt my lunch!

Week in review Wednesday

I'm a day late. ;)
Deven and Logan had testing yesterday and that took up 1/2 the day. They go back to finish tomorrow. Derek wants to go to the High School here. It looks smaller than Jenna's. I think his class would have a total of 65. I graduated with 334! So now I am having to wrack my brain on what he has been learning for the last 3 years. I do not remember a lot. My medicine really did do a number on me memory wise. The kids don't like to discuss it, but when I can get it out of them I was "pretty dang slow". No wonder I thought I was going bonkers when I was coming off it to switch over to Topomax.....But I digress. Derek has to go to the High School and take the 1st 1/2 of the TAKS test tomorrow morning. I'm not worried about him taking tests. It's him writing an essay that bothers me. He just cannot sort his thoughts quick enough. I hope he doesn't freeze on that part. Phillip says he doesn't mind if Derek gets put in the 10th grade instead of the 11th. I think he will be bored to DEATH. But maybe not. High School is different than Middle and Elementary. We'll just wait and see what the tests say.

We got approval to get an appointment for a pediatric psychologist for Logan to get a firm diagnosis on Aspergers and/or any other LD's there may be. Now to find one. The yellow pages aren't being much help. Dr. ofc isn't aloud to make this referral for us, "its a private matter", they said.

I've dyed yarn. 414 grams worth. I was going for camo. It came out green and pink. The dyes split somehow. So instead I have "Briar Rose" soon to be in my store. While Zander was here we dyed 463 grams of Corriedale roving with koolaid. First time ever to dye roving. Koolaid was safest with an 18mo around. AND was first time to steam dye. That was fun. My spinning is getting more consistent and stays around worsted weight.

Of course Phillip is on call. Good news is they have a new guy now so in a couple months he gets to share ;)

I wish Summer was over already!

Grasshoppers are killing the garden. Not that it was putting much food out anyway ;)
It's hot!
I like it cooler... like Spring and Fall.
The water tank has dried up practically. We're in a drought...Guess it's a good thing I didn't have fish put in it lol So we have a plastic bin up by the house for the goats to get water from. This weekend we go to the feed store to get a real water tub for them.


Did I mention I have a chicken addicted to dry cat food? I caught her the other day. She makes a b-line for the porch every morning to see if the cat has food in her bowl. She goes nuts. You can't just make get off the porch either... you have to pick her up and remove her to another part of the yard! She tried to eat the dogs food last night. He just kept sticking his butt in her face haha. When his bowl was empty he walked away. Poor poor Honey, nothing left for to have. You would think we starved her the way she acts with the cat food. Amazing.


On a side note I finished my first 2 ply handspun yarn on the spinning wheel. My friends tell me it looks like "art yarn". Phillip and the kids say "no way!". I think I have enough to make a warm funky hat. If not I can use the purple single ply I made as a 1st try to finish it off with.

What's happening today?

For starters I used the air horn to get the boys up this morning haha
Really.... I did! They hate it too. They told me it was "totally unnecessary"
I figure if they would have gotten up on time I wouldn't have had to use it :)

After two months, we got the call to come pick up the plates to the new car today.

My first handspun yarn is hanging in the shower setting it's twist.

I've reskeined 3 hanks of yarn for my Esty 2 more to go. Then I need to take pictures so I can list them for sale. Then I want to reskein some of the ones that are for sale and redo pictures. I think with the new way, they are prettier, and give a better representation of the yarn. I have one listing up that is the new way. It just needs a couple more pictures.

Anona gave me some beautiful wool roving she dyed. I would like to get prepped and start spinning on. Many shades of purple.

I've let the 3 white guineas out of the brooding area, and now they are hiding from me! I can't find them. They are "hopefully" under the truck or in a bush. I can't hear their trill.

We lost one of the newest chicks. It drowned in the last rainstorm. Grandma was right when she said they were so dumb they could drown in a tsp of water. haha. It was pretty windy and may have gotten separated from Goldie (momma hen) . She has 2 chicks left.

I finished a sock at lunch. The boys dyed the yarn for me with kool aid when we first moved here. I need to start the mate to it soon. It's really neat looking. But I won't ever do the pattern again as I am doing it now. I am in a knitting challenge where you use microgauge. 10 stitches or more per inch. That is killing me & my hands (we won't tell Phillip ;)). I have been able to keep gauge. Yay. Normal gauge doesn't bother me, but this micro gauge UGH! The way around it is to knit is short stints.

A while back I started a project for Aunt Shirley. Perfect yarn/perfect pattern. Hah! the yarn was pooling in a way that you couldn't see the pattern at all. So that got frogged. I found a new pattern. Hopefully it will turn out better. (crosses fingers). I'm not saying what it is yet. But it is in Summer 2006 Interweave Knits You'll just have to guess ;)

Time to go do the boring stuff like laundry and make sure Derek loaded the dishwasher. So I can do the fun stuff

It's here!!!

This is a Kromski Polanaise. Isn't it beautiful?! I love it. Phillip put it together for me. I watched the video and came back to tell him what to do and he had already done it! He had "the picture" LOL I chose the Mahogony finish. That purple you see on the bobbin is the same stuff from my spindle. It took FOREVER, but I untangled the mess. I think I am spinning to thickly. I want thin! But that is the excitement talking. Supposedly I can do many thicknesses on this wonderful machine.


And in all honesty I suck at spinning right now. I have broken the leader thread SO many times last night. then the bobbin wouldn't wind. The roving would just spin tighter and tighter and snap! The leader breaks again. It's set on double drive. The video says I can have scotch drive but it didn't say how. My friend "Anonaesq" on Ravelry sent me to Pacific Wool and Fiber for instructions so I can set it up. Hopefully it will make things a little easier. I also ordered a spinning book. It's just not here yet. Too bad I don't know anyone close by that can say "Hey! you did that wrong, do it this way."


Here is what I did get done last night

Tangly Mess

This is my yarn mess....
It started out great! Then one side fell apart and the other squiggeled up on itself ugh! And so it sits. Maybe I should have had 3 spindles.... yea... 3... hmm seriously It might have made it easier to control than the balls rolling when I didn't want them too :( How am I going to untangle it!? Can it even be salvage to "do over"?

Spindle Spinning

It's not the spinning wheel I am in search of, but that ok, since I don't know what kind of spinning wheel I want. But I am spinning yarn! I bought a spindle w/ fiber and I can't believe how quick and easy I learned. I do give all the credit to my friend in the KYS group on Ravelry though. I have been listening ;) I spun up half my fiber last night. It's really pretty. Now I need to get the yarn off the spindle and spin the rest so I can ply them together and have my first "homespun" yarn. Fun!