Halloween .............all done

I like Halloween, I like giving out the candy, I like to see the kids all dressed up in costume and I like to decorate my yard.

Each year I add a little more. I need to work on some lighting for the grave yard. I have a big illuminated pumpkin that stands by the steps but I forgot to take a picture of it.  I need some bats or skeletons to hang from the veranda, and maybe another pumpkin in front of the window. I have a tiny yard so I am limited as to the amount of stuff I can have but I do like to decorate. I love my big black cat that perches on the veranda railing. A friend made her for me and I thinks she is perfect.

Unfortunately most of the neighbours leave their lights off so we don't get a lot of kids. Tonight I had 31, that's the most I ever had. I had treat bags for 28, good thing I did not snarf down all the back up chocolate. Everyone was in costume and all had a parent to escort them. They all said "thank you" too which I was really impressed with.

What I need to do is hit Winners and Michaels tomorrow and see if they have anything on sale that I can use next year.

Toodles,

Linda

Monday Moment with Minou

Happy Halloween Humans.

Sewing Saturday

Lept out of bed this morning bright and early. Now I could leave you thinking that I started my day eager and happy but that would be a lie. I lept out of bed, seriously cranky because the neighbours damn dog was barking its fool head off at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. I had no reason to be up early and was looking foreward to sleeping in. Not happening, Barky Barkington two doors down took care of that for me. So since I was up I stayed up and got started on my day.

Off to the shops bright and early, got my halloween treats, butter on sale for the Christmas baking and a new mat for the back door. Now I can come into the kitchen and get the door shut without having to step off my mat. Walmart had them on sale so I snagged one. I then came home, cleaned the kitchen, did dishes and got to work on the bumper pads. I just have the ties left to add onto them. For that I need a trip to the fabric store. I wish I could share pictures, but I have been sworn to silence until babe is born so pictures will be provided later.

I got my treat bags made for monday night. I am less likely to gobble them up if they are safely incased in plastic with black spider webs printed all over it. Tomorrow I am going to decorate for Halloween. I should have done it last weekend but it didn't get done. Story of my life, I had other fun things to do last weekend. Also on the agenda is laundry, a trip to the fabric store, tea with the Hostess and maybe working on some Christmas gifts.

So now I am going to sit and knit and watch the eleventy million shows I have stored up on my dvr.

Toodles,

Linda

Random This and That with a Tad of Smugness

Should I get the smugness over with first? OK, I will. I have a new system at work, its the way that I do my daily work. For the third month in a row, (at month end no less), I have left my office with NO loose filing to be put away, NO files to be filed. The only work left on my desk is three files that have paperwork pending. This is unheard of. Just a simple little change and my desk is tidy each and every day. Makes me want to do the drunken monkey dance of joy. I feel all efficient and organized. My Mom is in heaven muttering, "I told her that years ago, if only she would listen."  SO I'm a late bloomer in some things, lets move on, 'kay Mama?????

This and that bullets

• I have once again proved the definition of insanity by confirming that I cannot have Halloween candy in this house this far ahead of Halloween. All I am saying is mini chocolate bars are evil and I have the spine of a jelly fish when it comes to same.
• I have finally started on the puppets again. All that yapping about it has turned into action and I have an almost Panda to prove it. Her name is Persimmon and she is adorable.
• I have started to work on my Christmas gifts and I have started the usual lists needed to accomplish my  gifting goals.
• I have finished the quilt top for the office Christmas raffle. Quilting will begin this weekend.
• I really really really want to drop everything and re do my third spare bedroom, even though I have absolutely no time to do this, too much other stuff that needs to be done but I really really really just want to work on only that.
• I "heart" Almond Milk.

I am done. Not much to say for myself.  I need to get to bed and read my latest Nora Roberts novel., Tomorrow is Thursday, its Friday Eve. Almost No Cook Friday and then the wonder that is the weekend.

Toodles

Linda

Monday Moment with Minou

Dancing with the Stars, Smancing with the Stars!

I know how to shake a tail feather, Baby.

One two cha cha cha

Sew Perfect Reno

This is my old sewing table in my favorite room of my house, the craft room  First of all I must say that I constantly use my craft room so it is in a perpetual mess. UFO's all over the dang place.Once in awhile I turn up the music and dive in head first, clean and organize it to within an inch of its life but this does not last long. One or two projects later and its back to messy. I do need to purge the fabric and yarn stashes. They are verging on the hoarders level but that I will do another day. So back to the table reno. This table used to be my kitchen table before I bought this house. It was perfect for the tiny kitchen in my rental house but in the big kitchen here on the homestead it was lost. I did a barter with some puppets and acquired another table that will seat more than two people comfortably and does not look to tiny for the kitchen. I then moved this one into the craft room because I love it and I am not willing to part with it right now (or ever for that matter). My old old sewing table is out in the shed right now. It has folding legs. legs that fold up at the most inopportune times. Gives one a bit of a start when you are working away and suddenly the table drops out from under you.

See the top of my lovely table? My oldest brother, the Historian, put this top on for me. Its a recycled dream, the base and legs were in the basement of a house my family used to live in. They used to butcher meat on it so needless to say the old top needed to be replaced. I jumped up and down and begged my Mom to let me keep the base and legs. I had a plan and the Historian was my partner in crime. The new top is made of old reclaimed hockey sticks. How cool is that??

The Historian scrapped and stained and glued and varnished hockey stick handles until he had a lovely table top. The base and legs got a fresh coat of white paint and I had a perfect table.  Its not totally level but I loved the look of it. It was perfect for my little kitchen and now I am trying to protect it from getting ruined by my mad crafting skills.

This is the fun part of this table, he left the underside untouched, so you can still see the hockey sticks. It makes me smile.

The Banker, who loves to redecorate her house turned her third bedroom into a scrap booking/sewing room and she made herself two work tables from book cases and a pre-finished melamine board bought at a big box home reno store. When I saw her newly finished room I announced that I was totally going to steal  the idea from her. Its a cost friendly, quick fix for my problem. I sold knitted dishcloths to get the cash to get the components for my new table.

The work surface is bigger, the pre-finished board will stand up to my working on it, cutting material, and pinning stuff. The book cases are great storage. I have yet another place to show off my vintage tins and baskets. So here is what the new work surface looks like. I am so happy with the outcome.

Right now I am having a bit of a coffee break and feeling all smug and satisfied with myself. Of course all this self satisfaction is just a blissful cloud of denial because I do not have a pea-picking clue where I am going to store the table that I cannot part with. (Sigh) . I will figure it out, I always do. Right now its in the dining room with a pile of crap on it, cardboard from the bookcase boxes, tools, odds and ends that need to go back where they belong in other rooms of the house not the craft room. Once my coffee is finished I will deliver them to their proper places.

Laundry still needs to be dealt with and those bumper pads will be sewn this weekend. I have a "to do" list that is 27 items long and I have only gone through 14 of them so far. Must get back at it. Some time soon I will have to go and get a desk lamp for my new work table. So much to so, so little time. Yep, happier than a pig in a puddle, that's me!!

Toodles!!

Linda

Another week is nearly over.

Wow not much blogging going on at the homestead this week. Its been a reasonably good week. Tuesday night was spent viewing Footloose, the old school version. Appies, good wine and good friends along with a trip down memory lane made for a very decent evening. The music in that movie just makes me want to dance, that is until I get up and discover that I am no longer as boogie ready as I once was. Crap.

Then on Wednesday night it was Footloose, the new version. Still a good movie and I am not one to look kindly on remakes of my old favorites. I liked the music in the first one better, the new version butchers Holding on for a Hero. IMO its brutal to have to listen to this slow moving, drawn out, painful, pitiful version,  asidefrom that the rest of the movie was good. I could not say which I liked the best but if pushed I would go all old time Kevin Bacon on you.

Tonight I cleaned the kitchen, noodled on the computer, chatted with Best Friend, worried about why my hair is falling out faster and faster each day, did some mending and tried to tidy the craft room. I have high hopes that I will get the new sewing table installed in here on Saturday, after groceries, laundry and household drudgery (that in truth I enjoy doing). I may go see The First Grader on Saturday night. Sunday is booked with the Banker. We are going to breakfast, the really really big craft show, then lunch and then who know where our whims will take us. Friday night will be spent with the No Cook Friday Group. So the week has rolled by. Bread and butter details fill in the hours and next thing you know the time is gone and its another weekend.




I did make a major score this week, well in my little world it was a score. I got a lovely little vintage fishing creel for 2/3 the original price. I didn't even have to bargain, the man gave me a deal without my even asking.

Isn't it cute?? You can't tell in the photo but the little catch is a tiny fish. The handles on the top are intact and its in really good shape. I will not be using it to keep fish in, I see its future as a little work basket.

I was rather pleased with my self at my find. I have seen them in magazines and now I have one. Have I ever mentions how much of a weakness I have for baskets??

This weekend will also see the making of the bumper pads to match the crib quilt. I have 80% of the top made for the raffle quilt for the office. Its all good. I need to get at the puppets and I am going to get at them one of these days because I am getting sick of hearing myself talk about it. The people that have ordered them will be wanting them sooner than later.

I have a new quilt all planned out in my head for one of the bedrooms upstairs. It will have to wait until after Christmas though. I can't wait to get at it, its going to make a big change in the look of the room.  Well I have wittered on long enough. I am for my bed and my book.

Toodles,

Linda

Monday Moment with Minou

"So where are you going to sit?"

Sunday Lazy Sunday

I mentioned in yesterdays post I was mosaic tiling a plant stand. Well its done today and I have the grout all over me to prove it. So here we go with a before picture. My Dad made this fern stand out of 3/4 inch plywood a long long long time ago. I had not finished high school yet, I may not have started high school yet but I needed a fern stand for my room. Over time its been many colours, its even been antiqued, and I have thought of getting rid several times but I am sentimental and because Dad made it, I kept it.

Yesterday I got some glass tile and took another round out of it, giving it yet another face lift in its old age. I am rather pleased with the out come. I am still polishing off the haze on the tiles from the grout but its coming along nicely.

I have a good chunk of the Christmas raffle quilt top finished. I will probably get it done today. I am not working on the bumper pads. I just don't feel like it today so I am going to give it a miss. Bumper pads are not my favourite thing to make so I have to be in the mood.

I am rather pleased with the fact that I packed up a box of donations for the local charity shop AND I actually delivered it today. I did not leave it sitting around for weeks and weeks until I got sit of tripping over it and finally hauled it away. To be honest I had a couple of things in there I was dithering over, so best to get it gone before I crumbled like a house of cards and fished them out again. I know me and my jelly fish will power.

I will spent the rest of my day sewing a quilt top, making soup and catching up on the things I have taped on the TV, maybe I will sneak in a nap before days end. Nothing unusual about this Sunday. Its quiet and relaxed. I am in the craft room puttering about, the cat is upstairs dozing and all is as it should be at the homestead.

Linda

Catch up

Only worked two days this last week and let me tell you I could get used to a short work week. It was fantastic. Best Friend and her husband Railroader came for a flying visit. They got here on Wednesday night and left again on Friday morning. I took both days off so we could have maximum goofing off time and once they left I did not have to go back to work. They had commitments for Saturday so they left in reasonably good time on Friday. We had breakfast, then it was hugs and goodbyes and off they went.

We didn't do a lot, we talked, we shopped, we ate out. Railroader fixed my downstairs toilet so it now not longer keeps running when you flush. Lord I love it when a handy man comes to visit.:-) It saves me from having to figure out how to fix it myself. I could have but bless him, he did it for me.

I was sad to see them go. I always am when company leaves. Someone once asked me why, when I live alone, do I have such a hard time when company leaves. I am not sure. Is it because I am reminded how empty the house is, do I miss having someone to talk to and do stuff with? Could it be that the older I get the more lonely I feel? Probably a combo of all those things. It fades, the sadness does not linger overly long, the emptiness shrinks, the bread and butter details of normal life take over and I settle back down to what is ordinary and usual. Me and the cat rattlin' round the homestead.

So they left and the house echoed with an empty sound that not even the artificial sound generated by the TV can stomp down, I decided that I needed a treat. I took myself to the second hand stores.  Found a few things and by noon I was ready to face going home and getting back at the business of doing what needs to be done. I got a lovely milk glass pedestal cake stand, after I promised I would not buy any more milk glass. I also go a nice big yellow Pyrex mixing bowl and a cute little wooden Halloween decoration. The rest is not really worth mentioning, its just bits and pieces. I did however get Christmas presents for two people on my list. I am so excited. I love to find things I know people will like, for a really bargain price.

I finished the top secret baby quilt, I did dishes, went to the ballet with E. I love the ballet. I love the dancing. It astounds me at how strong they are, how effortless it looks, the fluidity and ease of movement has my jaw hanging open and I am pea green with envy. I can't imaging someone throwing me around the place like I was a feather. I cannot wrap my head around how that would feel. There has to be pain involved and yet you would never know it. I am even more boggled as time goes on and my own mobility is slowly decreasing and more and more painful each day. This two shall be addressed soon. I am a work in progress remember.

Today I FINALLY got the hazardous waste off my back step and to the depot. Our City only has only one each year and I missed last years. I have had paint cans and mystery stuff plunked on my back step forever and now its GONE!! I am so happy. I even scrapped the cardboard box it was sitting in, off the step and into the dumpster. After an hour at the depot. (with only one or two a year there is always a really big line-up to dump stuff) I came home, did a butt load of laundry, turned my hand to a little house work, boxed up some donations for the local charity shop and did some mosaic tiling on a plant stand I have had for years. No pictures because I need to go get some more tile, I ran out. Crap. I will go tomorrow and get enough to finish. Pictures later.

I am managing to stick to my "bring stuff in, then stuff has to go" out rule. I bought stuff yesterday and so I needed to find some things to get rid of. It keeps me from ending up on an episode of hoarders. Tonight I am going to work on the raffle quilt for our office. I promised to make them one for the Christmas raffle. I have some of it started and now I can get at it and maybe make most of the top before bedtime.  Tomorrow I will make the bumper pads for the crib quilt I finished today. I am also going to finish the plant stand tomorrow.

I may even put out the Halloween decorations tomorrow. I may leave it to next weekend I will see how the day goes. There is soup that needs to be made for next week's lunches sometime in the day. Right now I need to go and make supper. Comfort food from my childhood, Tuna Fish and Rice. Its rice (Duh!!) with a can of cream of mushroom soup and tuna fish poured over it. Mom used to make it and I still do once in a while. Its my substitute for someone else's Mac and Cheese.

Toodles,

Linda

Doing Everything Else But

I have company coming on Wednesday night, Best Friend and her Hubby are coming for a visit. I have a box of tomatoes that need to be processed and put in the freezer before they turn on me, spawn fruit flies and I go batshit crazy trying to get rid of those nasty annoying little critters. I have a litter box that sadly needs attention. I have mending to do for a friend. So what am I doing? I am reading blogs, watching the new Rosie show and blogging on my own blog. What am I thinking??? Not to mention that I have to watch Dancing With the Stars results show. I really wonder about myself sometimes.

I am amazed at how I can ignore the things that have to be done. I can leave it to the last minute and then totally panic, do the flight of the bumblebees and somehow it gets done. I will be bitching and swearing of course but it will get done. Best Friend will not notice what is done and what is not. She is one of those wonderful people who could care less what you house looks like, she has come to visit you. I care, although at this moment one could never tell that.

I need to get off this thing and get the night gowns fixed. If I do nothing else this evening I have to do that. I promised Miss Miles that I would do them for her Grandma.

Okay okay I'm going...............sheesh.

Linda

P.S. I have managed to do 7 things on my list of 10 things that have to be done before my company arrives. I do not feel like such a slacker now. :-)

Monday Moment with.................Muffins?

Minou is still recovering from over indulging in tuna fish yesterday and does not feel photo worthy. You know how us girls don't like our picture being taken when we are all bloated and stuff. So she has declined to make her regular Monday appearance and has retired to the upper floors to  rest and return to her usual elegant self. In place of her exalted personage I give you.............Muffins

Pumpkin muffins to be exact, made by my own fair hand with a honkin' big dollop of cream cheese icing on top. I had to snap the picture quickly because they are right out of the oven and within seconds of me taking this picture the icing slid off both muffins. :-) I am not a patient person. The two things that are extraordinary about these muffins are that I actually got up and made them first thing, something I do not usually do and that they have only two ingredients.( Could be why I made them). A spice cake mix and a can of pumpkin puree. Mix together, bake at 350 for 20 minutes. The recipe makes a dozen and they are very good. The icing is not needed but any excuse for cream cheese is good with me. Add a pot of tea and one of my favorite piggy mugs and you have a really good Thanksgiving day breakfast. I think the next time I make them I will make mini muffins, that would be fun.

So I have only managed to make muffins, mess up the kitchen and get dressed so far today. Its nearly noon. Sigh. It was good to sleep in this morning though. This afternoon I have things to do. The rain barrels need to be emptied and put in the shed. The recycle needs to be hauled to the bin before I can no longer get in and out of my back porch. I have to cover the A/C unit before I am doing it knee deep in snow. Then I plan to spend the rest of the day quilting the baby quilt top I stitched up yesterday. Oh yeah I need to clean that kitchen and make another batch of laundry soap.

The last batch I made was in late June. I have enough still to do another wash day and I figure that it costs about $3.50 a batch. It works well enough. I have to spray my clothes but I had to spray stains with any laundry soap I have ever used. I have found an earth friendly stain spray that seems to do the trick. I could probably eliminate that with a little presoaking scrubbing action on my part but I usually forget, so I rely on the spray.  Now that I know I can get coconut oil in town here, my next plan is to try making hand soap. I have found a recipe that looks reasonably easy onto the internet so I am going to give it a whirl. :-) The laundry soap has no harsh chemicals in it and it is so easy to make.

Its raining here today, a typical overcast, gloomy fall day. I don't mind though. Its a good day to snuggle in and quilt. Must get the chores done first, or do I have to??????????? :-)

Linda

Thanksgiving

It has been a lovely weekend. My back is doing better thanks to ibuprofen being ingested by the handful. I still don't want to do anything too excessive like rake the leaves or clean out the shed but I have managed to get some things done, and I am grateful for that.

I spent most of today doing laundry and sewing the top for a crib quilt. I have the top finished and I can start quilting it after supper. I can't give any details because its a gender specific quilt and I am sworn to silence. The parents are keeping it secret so I cannot let out a peep about it. Its very cute and be sure that pictures will be shown once babe makes an appearance.

I did lots of laundry this weekend. All the cleaning rags, all the grocery bags, my clothes, blankets, towels. All are freshly cleaned an back where they belong. Dishes have been washed and the kitchen floor go mopped. All the while I was doing this I was thinking about Thanksgiving and being thankful. I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a house I love, a job I don't mind doing, food in the fridge, I can pay my bills, I have a wonderful circle of friends and I have the time to do all the crafts I love to do and the promise of learning how to do even more. There are a million more things, far too many to list here but all in all its a good life and I am thankful for it.

I miss timed dinner. I shall be dining like the rich people tonight. Turkey will be done around 8:00. I got sewing and totally forgot to get the dang thing into the oven. Oh well, its only for me so if I don't eat until late its fine. The menu tonight is turkey, hash brown casserole, green beans, stuffing and cranberry pecan pie. Not bad, if I do say so myself. Right now the house smells warmly of roasting turkey. Its a good homey smell. I also have a nice bottle of red to crack open for supper, thanks to one of those good friends of mine. Minou dined earlier on her special thanksgiving supper and like any other self respecting little gluten she is upstairs sleeping off the effects of over eating. Its her favourite treat. so on special days she gets a tin of real tuna fish.

Well I need to go fold the last of the laundry, get the hash brown casserole into the oven and find the corkscrew so I don't have to bite the cork out of the wine.:-)

Happy Thanksgiving one and all.

Linda

This and That

Finally finally finally I got my hair done. I am shampooed, cut, coloured and it feels fabulous. It was far too long between do's. My grey roots were running amok to say the least. I love the smell of my hair after a trip to the salon. It smells extra yummy. I am very happy with everything which is fabulous because I tried out a new stylist. A nerve wracking experience as every woman knows.

I pulled a muscle in my back and I have spent the day moving very slowly anyplace I had to go. I am hoping it gets over itself for the weekend. I have things that I should be doing seeing as I am going to be home for the weekend. Three days to fill and if I can't move much I am going to feel even more sorry for myself.

Ok that's not totally true, I am not feeling sorry for myself. Well maybe a little bit. Don't get me wrong, I have a good life and 99% of the time I am rather content to bobble along on my own. I have wonderful friends, and thanks to The Carpenter and Busy I am not left to fight over a can of tuna fish with the cat on most of the high holidays. Now I am going to say this without blame and I do not want ANYONE to feel like I am trying to make anyone feel even a smidge guilty because NO ONE is obligated to tend to my happiness 24/7, that is my job.  That being said, there are times when I feel a little sorry for myself because I am alone. I do not expect an invitation for everything. Everyone I know is entitled to do as they please, go where they please, when they please. They all have families of their own for heaven's sake and are entitled to time with them with out extra baggage. I am eternally grateful for being as included as I am in the lives of everyone I know but on the other hand I am allowed to have a little pity party once in a while. I am only feeling this way because of my back. If it was fine I would be looking forward to three days to get some stuff done. All of which requires my back to be in good shape. Sigh. Three days of back pain is not going to make me happy and "not happy" me tends to slide into "oh poor me" mode and then it just gets ugly. Miss Crankypants arrives on the scene. Ok, I am not going to do this, I am going to snap out of it and make the best of my time off.

Moving on. Last night was book club. I love book club evenings, these women are so funny, smart, articulate and diverse. Its interesting, and we are a good group. Its opened me up to new friendships, wonderful new books I would never have experienced on my own and some really good food. Over time I am getting to know more and more about these ladies and their stories. Its all so interesting. Book club is something I really look foreward to.

Tomorrow night is No Cook Friday, another thing I look foreward to each week. Its better than therapy. We always end up laughing our heads off and that is the best medicine for anything that has pissed you off over the week. It relaxes me and lets the crap that has built up over the week, slip away. I hate to miss it.
I will have to miss it the following Friday as I am off to the ballet.

I need to get off the computer, pop some advil and get to bed. I have an new hairdo to show off tomorrow, winning lottery tickets to by and supper to go out to. No self pity allowed!!

Linda

Monday Moment with Minou

Hmm this weaving stuff doesn't look that hard. 

Yard Work Finally Got Did

Seems that if I yap about something long enough I will finally get at it and do it. Today at long last I did some yard work. The front yard is almost ready for winter. As I am sitting here I remember that I forgot to dump the water barrel. I can do that later. I am tired right now. My yard is not very big but I am in such sad shape that two and half hours of raking, digging, cutting and hauling and I am done in.

So here is what I did today, some before and afters for your viewing pleasure. The front yard of the homestead before:

Hairy scary, out of control lilac bushes and lots of dead leaves

More dead leaves all over the sidewalk.

Eleventy million dead leaves all over the front yard. Love those big old trees in the summer for the shade but not so much when they drop their leaves all over the lawn. Out came the rake, the snippers, the garden weasel, the shovel and the broom . Fast foreward two and a half hours and it looks like this.

Lilacs got a hair cut and although its hard to tell the flower bed down the sidewalk got worked up with the garden weasel. That big lumpy looking thing is not a rock its a lump of dirt.

Side walk has been swept clean, except for the leaves that continued to fall while I worked like a nut job to get them picked up.

Yard raked, flower beds worked, new soil added and I am done for now. I still have a couple of autumn decorations to put out. I got out the scarecrow and once I am done blogging I am going to nip upstairs and get out the wreath and the autumn sign. Mother Nature is still spitting down dead leaves but its ok. the majority are bagged and ready for the compost bin. I will rake again before the snow flies.

I do know that I will never again not plant flowers. My yard looked like crap this year and I don't like that. I love  flowers and next year darn it, there will be colour in my yard. Its not going to look like an abandoned house, like it did this year.

The laundry is calling

Linda

I feel spinny today

Today was one of my favorite types of day. I got to spend the day or at least a good part of the day spinning. ON MY VERY OWN SPINNING WHEEL, which has sat unused for so long. I did not manage to make anything yet, that will come with practice. Well to be honest I did make a lot of over spun lumpy yarn but with practice I know I will eventually produce actual yarn. 

I knew I was in the presence of a kindred spirit, when I walked in the front door of P's century old farm house and saw this

(Like I will not be making one of these for my house in the near future!! )

First of all we got to meet some of the llamas on P's farm, they have a herd of 23. Some are babies and they are so cute. After getting acquainted with the fiber factories we headed indoors where we got right to it. We washed dirty sheep fleece. We learned how to dry it, then how to card it, and then we got to spinning. Yes it was sheep fleece, she had it given to her, we used a little of the llama fiber but mostly we were working with sheep.

We had three spinning wheels, mine is the little ugly sister one on the right side. It works but it is not the sort I wanted when I went looking to buy one. I wanted that one in the middle but B snapped it up before I got to it.  To me its more of what I think a spinning wheel should look like. Maybe I will start to save my pennies and I will get to buy another one once I get to actually know what I am doing. The fancy pants one at the front of the picture belongs to our teacher.  I like that it has a wool winder attached to the wheel. 

We sat in her burnt pumpkin coloured kitchen and spun and spun, cursed, laughed, started over, fumbled, ripped wool off the spools, took breaks and started again. We drank coffee and nattered the day away. 

I knew this before I started that it would take time. Spinning is like any hand craft, you need practice and it will come. You do it over and over until you find your groove and then you are off to the races. I was getting it at the end but then my knee and leg got all uppity and started to chirp away at me with a "listen lady we are not used to this sort of work out so if you expect to sleep tonight, knock it off". I loves me some sleep, I reluctantly quit spinning and picked up my knitting needles.

While I knit dishcloths, B gave P a weaving lesson. They dressed the loom and got her started on a sampler project. OH IT WAS SUCH A FUN DAY. I so enjoy this sort of thing because when you get together with like minded women its awesome. There is an energy and a creative force that is hard to define but it always sends me home full of ideas and determination to get creating.  I want to spin, I want to get my loom out and weave rag rugs for everyone I know, I want to quilt, I want to knit, I want to make puppets. I want to dye wool with kool-aid. I need to calm  down and  focus!!! I am so happy right now, I could pee!!

P gave me an entire sheep fleece, unwashed, poop included :-) so I will really get to start from scratch. I already have a llama fleece, unwashed, that I am saving for when I actually know what I am doing. I now know how to wash both types without felting the fiber.  I have lots to practice on in the mean time. Thanks to my boss and the fact that she used to raise sheep. I got the last of her rovings when she gave them up.  I am thinking I know what I am going to be doing after Christmas this year. This new fleece will be bagged and hung in the shed until its needed.

For now I will work on my dish cloth order (10 of them no less) for this evening. Tomorrow is yard work,  (no matter what), then Busy's table runner. Laundry, dishes and finding the kitchen table under the massive pile of crap that has obliterated it over the week will be fit in there as well.

Toodles!!

Linda