Spin Together 2021 Day 6

 At the end of day 6 of Spin Together 2021 I have spun 12 skeins of mostly art yarn for a total of 2,184 contest yards or 1.24090909 miles.   Not a bad week of spinning.  I did not over do. I included plenty of rest time.  The first picture is of the last 5 skeins.  They are smaller because they were spun with one art batt each.   

The next picture is of all 12 skeins together.  It seems hard to imagine that it is 1.24 miles of yarn or 2,184 yards all spun since last Saturday beginning at noon.  If I have the energy I might and that is a very big if,I might spin another skein or 2 of yarn.  The picture below is all the skeins together.  

A Contest

I was out grocery shopping today and ran across a new product. It claimed to be "Homemade" yet the second ingredient was high fructose corn syrup. Because this is such a bad labeling offense, I really should share the name of the company, but I also don't have deep pockets. I will tell you that it is a new summertime treat in the frozen food aisle. Read the labels before you buy. This leads me to the question of who really buys and stocks high fructose corn syrup for your kitchen at home? If this is something that you keep in your kitchen at home, I really want to know why and what you use I for.

Food labeling and mass marketing are so full of hyperbole, it is just as bad as it was in the 1960's. When sun tans were healthy. If you were pale like me, you were considered sickly. We now know that fabulous tan came with a high price, skin cancer and premature aging. When smoking was cool, yet ever spokesman for the product died of lung cancer. When sweet treats replaced fruit in school lunches. Is it even a wonder why, my generation and our kids and grand kids have weight issues. Even the European sewing machine company who's salespeople and management claim that everything they make is made in Europe, but has a label on the bottom of my sewing machine that says it is made in Thailand. I was under the impression that Thailand was an independent nation in southeast Asia and not a European city. Do the marketing firms believe that we are so under educated that all of this is fine?

What are some of the bad labeling offenses that you have seen? There will be a prize of my choice for the funniest one or two. Please feel free to comment.

Life with Eric

I was joking around with Eric this morning about laundry. I told him that I had 7 loads to do this morning and that he will bring me 2 more this afternoon since it is swim day.   I asked him if this was his way of keeping me out of the yarn stores? He smiled.   John said that it was not working out very well.  That left Eric with a look on his face of how can I make more laundry?

For a gift certificate to my etsy shop to the first correct answer. How many loads of laundry do I do in an average week?

Cascade Cleaning

After being up half the night with Eric I still did manage to get a lot of work done today. It was mostly roundabout but it got done. With any luck he will go to his day program tomorrow.

Today was my day for cascade cleaning. You know the type. You start in one area and say I am going to finish this area today, but....one thing leads to another and you have expanded your cleaning range. This afternoon for me it started in the craft room. The box I was working on moved to Eric's room because he wanted company. So there I sorted out a box of mostly makeup. I had the keep pile and the pass it on pile. Well this lead to the bathroom storage area. Where I threw out expired items. Put samples of products that were not quite right for me, along with a lot of eye shadow and lip sticks in the pass it on pile. I found at least a years worth of cotton pads for make up. The shelf's are now in some semblance of order. But the best part is I feel better about the whole process.

I do have a question that I can't seem to find the answer to. Just how long is nail polish good for. After how many years does it have to be tossed or is it considered hazardous waste and needs proper disposal. The first person to answer this question will get a treat sent to them.

Well it is time to go finish making dinner. Yes I did get this written before bed time. Are you amazed?

I am amazed that Lisa W. called me from the park with the answer not even 5 minutes after I posted my blog. Way to go Lisa.

TGIF

Well we made it to Friday in one piece.  John had the day off so I took advantage and went to knitting. I had fun with the girls. You should see all the creative Christmas decorations they are knitting up for their trees. There were baskets, pine cones and miniature sweaters. Me on the other hand a knit 1 purl 2 scarf pattern, it is a very steady pattern that comes out quite nice. Oh I forgot cast on in multiples of 3.

I did get some spinning time in today. I am 2/3 of the way through one of Kathy Withers batts. I did notice that she did not have any listed in her shop, but if you send her a note through her etsy shop she might be able to come up with something just for you.

At dinner, yes I take my knitting when we eat out, I found a very large mistake in the red cowl I was 2/3 of the way done and it was not a recoverable error. Believe me I did try that first before I frogged the whole thing. I had the project re casted before we went home.

A little more knitting tonight. Two more squares were finished on Teri's Queen size blanket. Just in case you were wondering why the blanket is taking so long to knit;it is being knit on US size seven knitting needles.  So unless I love you as much as I love Teri I will not be making you one on size 7 needles ever. If it were for anyone else but Teri I would have given up on it a long time ago.

Well it is getting late so 1 last quick reminder. the contest is open until November 20 at midnight MST. I have 3 prizes and only 2 entries so far so you chances are very good so far.

A New Contest for a New Shawl Pattern

I have just listed my new pattern called Handspun Sherbet Shawl in my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/skaro964 . So In honor of the release of this pattern, I am having a contest.

The First Prize winner will win a copy of the pattern and enough yarn to make the shawl. Please note that since this shawl is made with hand spun yarn and I bought and used the entire batch of the yarn for this shawl.  This means that your yarn will be a different color.

The second prize winner will win a copy of the pattern and a set of stitch markers.

The third prize winner will win a set of stitch markers.

To enter just leave a comment about the shawl or my new etsy shop which is a little on the bare side now, but more goodies will be going in soon. Please leave a way for me to contact you. I will use a random number generator to pick the winners.

Contest ends November 20, 2011.

Of course if you can't wait to get a hold of the pattern please feel free to use the linky above to get to my shop.. Good luck and have a great weekend.

On Ward and Up Ward

On ward and up ward would have to be today's theme. After a long day yesterday followed by a long night  last night with Eric, John spent the morning with Eric so I could go to knit with the girls. It was a very productive morning. I got to talk and relax. I finished 2 UFOs, both were scarfs. now I just have to tag them and put them in the right charity bags.

I would like to thank the good people at Einsteins on Shannon for making lunch for John and I.  By the way we are also having bagel sandwiches for dinner. A Perfect bagel day. Bagels for breakfast lunch and dinner. Nom nom nom.

After lunch I spent some time working on my latest weaving project. I stop working when I start making mistakes because I just hate unweaving. There has to be a better term than unweaving. Then it was off to the cleaning stage of my day. I was very successful in my humble opinion. 3 baskets of recycles out of the house, all the small trash cans emptied and the kitchen trash filled.

I went through my box of handmade items from my studio and sorted everything out. I have one box that is going to charity with woolen scarfs and hats. All the stitch markers and earrings are sorted out by price and bagged. I went through some of the mess in the craft room and made a first cut.

You will never guess what I found when cleaning today. Well you know the scarf that I started 4 years ago to go with my holiday outfit and never finished. What about the socks that I started when Teri and I went looking at law schools. Turquoise yarn that I bought for Teri a few years ago. Well you might have guessed that I found that bag. I will finish everything in the bag starting with the holiday scarf and then the socks.

The question I have for every one tonight is: will the socks get done before Teri finishes law school. In other words can I finish one pair of socks in 3 1/2 years? This one will have a prize so please send in your answers. The winner will be picked by a random number generator. The prize is yet to be determined but it will be good. The drawing will be on September 26, 2011. By the way please leave a way for me to contact you if you win. 

Kitchen Disasters A New Contest

We have all had kitchen disasters and some of them are very funny. Take the time when I was about 9 and attempting to cook dinner on my own, so I could get a Girl Scout Cooking badge. Well lets just say I was just awful at fractions at the time and when the recipe called for 3/4 cup of cooking sherry, I thought it meant 3 or 4 cups of sherry. Well you can all see where that one went. Sometimes we just burn the food other times we just use the wrong ingredients as a substitute and disaster strikes.

What this contest is about is your most outrageous cooking disasters of all time. Please keep it clean as this is a family blog. The prize will be either a $25.00 gift certificate to my store or a Medium Flat rate box filled to the brim with yarn, your choice. You have until midnight MST on February 28th to submit your kitchen disasters. Please feel free to post a link to this contest in your blog, The more stories the better.

We will have the usual panel of judges. Good luck and lets hear those stories.

What to Knit

Like many other knitters I struggle with what to knit next. There is just so much lovely yarn. So many good causes for those in need. There are projects for family and friends. Of course there is Project Gratitude for our wonderful service members. Also the feeling that if I just come up with the right thing sales in my Art Fire Studio would take off, by the way the link is http://www.tinyurl.com/handmadebysheri . There are also a lot of patterns that I would like to make for myself.

I know that I should not feel guilty for knitting for myself, but I always seem to be the last on my list of projects to start or finish. I would like to know how other people deal with this dilemma. Please leave your comments below. The winner will be picked by a random number generator on October 15, 2010. Oh yes the prize will be some one of a kind stitch markers.

Thank you for your input. I look forward to your solutions. Have a great weekend and enjoy your families.

New Recpie

I was up with Eric until 2:30 am and was up again to start the day at 6 am, a big yuck in my book. Eric managed to spend most of the day sleeping ; but sleep eluded me. I spent the day doing laundry, puttering and knitting. On the knitting front I was too tired to concentrate so I started a hat with the hat pattern I gave everyone yesterday. I made it through the brim and 6 rows into the stripes.

Just before lunch I came up with a brilliant idea, at least I thought so. Iced Moroccan Mint Tea with Boba a kinda of east meets another part of the middle east. Boba are large tapioca balls that are found in the Asian section of some stores or the Vietnamese section of speciality Asian stores.

Make the Moroccan Mint tea as per package directions on the stronger side.

Make the Boba according to package directions. Drain. The link on the side of the page is for the type of Boba I used. The directions were very clear but I only cooked 1/2 cup of dried Boba which is enough for 4 drinks. Some people do use special wide straws but I forgot to pick them up and did just fine anyway.

In a heat proof glass add 1/4 cup of cooked Boba. Fill the glass to the top with ice. Pour the Moroccan Mint Tea over the ice and Boba. Let the ice do it magic and sit back and enjoy. Total prep to serving time less than 15 minutes.

This is not a sweet drink but it is a very refreshing drink. Personally I had almost a full tea pot of this this afternoon. Some Boba will come to the top when the glass is tilted but you will need a spoon to get all the goodness out of the glass.

I would like to remind everyone that Teri and I still have a contest going on. We only have 4 entries so your chances of winning a prize are good. check the past blog entry for all the details.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

A New Contest

I am having a new contest. Teri is very tired of PB&J sandwiches. I need to give Teri lunch suggestions that do not have to be refrigerated. They must also be Dairy Free - milk and milk products. Mayonnaise, chicken and eggs are fine. They must also be fast to make and hold up well. And most of all not drip on her books while she is studying.

The rules are very simple.

1. Follow my blog.

2. Leave a recipe for each entry. Also a way to contact you.

The Prize is a very large over sized Elizabeth Arden tote bag in pink.

You have until midnight Sunday August 22 to submit your entries. The contest will be judged by Teri, myself and whom ever we can rope in to read the recipes.

Good luck and have a great day.

It is Contest Time Again

I took advantage of my virtual day off today by organizing the yarn I dip into on a daily basis. The good news for me is that I have a better Idea of what yarn I have. There is also no yarn in the front hall closet. I thought a big announcement was the right thing for this mile stone of the de-stash process. By the way I also did find a stash of beads with the yarn so more stitch markers and earrings will be added to my shop.


It is contest time again at Handmade~by~Sheri. The good news for you is that I have a full basket of “What was I thinking when I bought this yarn”. The winner will get a full basket of yarn without the basket (I like the basket that I used and it will be less expensive to ship without the basket). There are cottons, wools, blends that include some nylon.  There is no padding under the yarn it is all yarn. Some are in the original skeins and some are wound. It could be all yours if your number is drawn.

It is going to be a little different than last time. So here go the rules of this contest.

1: You must go to http://www.tinyurl.com/handmadebysheri and comment on something you like in my shop. I have made some changes to my shop and I would like to see what is working and what is not. This will count for 1 entry per day. I will be updating my shop with new items as often as I can during the contest.

2: Follow my blog. This will count for 1 entry.

3: Follow me on Twitter for 1 entry. http://www.twitter.com/skaro964

4: Tweet about this contest. This is good for 2 entries per day. This is good for 1 entry per tweet.

5: Blog about this contest or include a link to my blog. This will count as 2 entries.

6: Facebook about this contest. This will count as 1 entry. Just leave a link.

7: Each entry must be logged separately. I will be going to RandomNumber.org to select the contest winner this time.

The contest will end May 18th at midnight Mountain Standard Time. The winner will be notified as soon as possible after that. Good luck and have fun.

New Contest

I am having a new contest.

Help me get organized. I would like your best suggestions for getting organized. We will have a 3 judge panel. Just leave you comment and you can win 4 skeins of yarn from my stash, it will be a natural fibre or $20 to spend at http://www.tinyurl.com/handmadebysheri my Art Fire studio. Each suggestion will be good for 1 entry into the contest. multiple entries are allowed. I have 6 weeks till Teri gets home and want to show some progress in zenning.

So lets get those suggestion coming in. You have till Saturday, November 7th midnight MST.

Thank you in advance for your input.

Enjoy your families and have a nice day.

Destash Progress Report

Well dear reader I have made some progress in getting the stash yarn from my garage. I have knit at least a couple of dozen hats most for charity, although I did manage to sell 2, and at least 2 dozen scarfs all for charity. I don't send them all to the same places but when asked and I feel its a good cause I send things along.

The process is going slower than I thought it would be, with Eric being sick so much and have a lot of really long nights I have not done as many projects as I had hoped would be done by now.

Today I took 2 partial boxes in the house and combined them, that allowed me to move a box of purse yarn into the house. With more drawer space open in the roll aways I fill with yarn I was able to bring in the giant zip-lock bag.

That leaves me with a paltry 7 large storage bins of yarn in the garage.

I have noticed that strangest thing though the more I declutter and get things out of the house the more organized I am becoming. But I would not let the professional organizer worry over this, I still have a long way to go. We have been in this house for 15 years and I am a born pack rat, just ask my mom she still has at least 1 box in her garage from a move in 1965 that has yet to be unpacked. I started zenning the house a little over a year ago, it is a slow process but it is getting done. For those of you who are not familiar with the term zenning, it is simply a fancy word for decluttering.

When Teri gets home for winter break I will let her give an unbiased opinion in a guest column of how the progress is going. Teri is a very strong advocate for a clean and orderly house, she must get that from her dad. She is very good about getting rid of things and will drop almost anything to do a Goodwill run or a Bookman's run.

In honor of today's achievement I will be having another contest. Just give me your best decluttering tip and Again I will have a 3 person panel to judge the contest. The prize will be something from my stash that will help me decluter and give you an new project.

Have a good afternoon and enjoy your families.

Wednesday - The Most Wonderful Day

For a day that started of achy and grouchy it turned into the most wonderful day. I got a tweet very early in the morning from Melissa at http://www.NeoKnits@blogspot.com That through a random number generator,I had won a free copy of the Bliss Shawlette. What a wonderful pattern. I can not wait for the projects in my basket to get finished so I can start the new pattern. Please take a minute to stop by Melissa's blog and check out her wonderful patterns. These patterns are wonderful, they would make a great addition to your knitting line up or if you are a local yarn shop owner, these pattern will cause the yarn and patterns to fly out of your doors.

The next delight came in the mail from http://PhatFibres@Blogspot.com I had won one of her many contests featuring independent fiber artists. The yarn came from A shop on esty called my 8 kids It is a super wash yarn called Blue Monday. The coloring is simply wonderful. It was well over 100 degrees and humid due to the season, but the yarn is so soft and cuddly that it stayed on my shoulder all afternoon. I would like to know her secret to being a mom of 8, running an on-line studio and dyeing such beautiful yarn and fiber. I personally have trouble keeping up with 2 kids. By the way the yarn is back on my shoulder. I think it is going to have to be a shawl. I am in love with this yarn.

I was so happy with all this it almost did not matter that on day 1 of my 12 day sale of 10% off everything in the shop I did not have one sale. Everything in my shop will be 10% off till July 26 at 11:59 p.m. There is a link on the side of my blog to my Art Fire Studio.

I also did more deep cleaning yesterday, I hope that by next week that the dinning room will finally be cleared of all the junk that got moved in during construction. It would have been done by now, except that I am in a zenning mood and am de-cluttering the house. I have another Bookmans and Goodwill run for Teri to do. I will really miss her help when she goes off to law school.

Speaking of Teri going off to law school , she has bought the most wonderful sheet set for her dorm room. She has really learned about household things like sheets even if she did not let on.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Help Teri

My daughter Teri has entered a photo contest to help earn some money for law school.

Teri needs as many votes as possible, please click on this link and vote for her picture. http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?qsi=14790195. Please feel free to pass this link to your e-mail or twitter list, you can vote more than once a day.

Thanks for all your help.