Wants verses Reality

Today I wanted to have time to take pictures of all the knitted and hand spun projects that I completed this weekend. Well that did not happen.

The reality of the day was I was up slightly before 3 am with Eric. I thought it was just a nightmare that I could not wake him up from to calm him down and put him back to sleep.  It took me a while for me to wake up and determine he needed meds. So meds were given and I was still by his bed until around 4:30 am when I decided that I just must have a cuppa tea.  So I went to the kitchen and made myself a cold glass of iced chai. I just love the Oregon Chai. He was calm enough for me to get some knitting done. When John got up I went back to sleep for a couple of hours and woke just in time to get Eric out the door and get myself ready for the 9 am appointment that I had.

After a late breakfast with more tea I decided that I was going to be utterly useless without some sleep. Looking back on the day I now find it interesting that my nap was the length of time I was up with Eric. Don't you just love those random thoughts? Then some lunch and a little cleaning and before I knew it Eric was home from school. Another random thought, it is almost time for another Goodwill run.

I dug into some nice fluff I got from Kathy, { Kathy's blog }and I just might have enough for a small shawl if I don't ply the yarn other wise if I ply it it will be a nice scarf. It is simply perfect.

Dinner was one of those just grab what ever is in front of the freezer kinda nights. Pictures tomorrow if I get sleep tonight.  Well it is now after 10 pm and I am now a pumpkin so have a great night and enjoy your families.

I buy the Oregon Chai and keep it stocked in the house. I have a cup ever day, hot or iced depending on the weather. I have not received any form of payment for this blog.

A better day

It was a better day today. I got up extra early this morning to make a breakfast of fresh mango, sausages and a potato kugle to share with John.  There was some random surfing and knitting that went on. Then it was off to knit with the girls.

After Knitting I introduce Carolyn to Unique Designs by Kathy. I am going to teach Carolyn how to spin so we went to pick a spindle and some nice roving. If you would like to see some very fun well made yarn please stop by Kathy's shop at 4010 West Palo Seco.  Kathy also has a lot of unique batts.  Kathy's yarn holds up very well. The shawl I knit with her hand spun mohair is going on 5 years old and still in great shape with a lot of wear. Just don't tell Kathy I wash it in Tide on gentle wash and hang it dry. Yes I know it is not recommend for mohair.

The afternoon was spent doing laundry and sending robots off to do various chores around the house. I also managed to ply 3 skeins of yarn. I find a quiet house when I am wide awake the best time to ply. I am also spinning a small sample of Alpaca which is a dream to spin with.

I did manage to get a walk in today. I am now at a 15 minuet mile. Then made a very lazy dinner of left over roast, potato kugle and canned asparagus. Then some more spinning and now it is time to get ready to turn in for the night. So have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Spinning

I have added yet another craft to the long list of crafts I already do. Recently I went to the Withers Ranch where I was fortunate enough to have the very wonderful Kathy Withers teach me to spin. Others have tried over the years but Kathy is a darn good teacher.  This is a picture of the first skein that I spun all by myself.  I know its not much but at least it does look like yarn.

Below is a picture of my progression from right to left of the yarn I have spun over the last 2 weeks. I was even brave enough to ply yarn today but had a slight mishap and the yarn broke in the middle, thus I have 2 skeins instead of 1 skein. Yes I did manage to ply about 370 inches of yarn. I think it 370 sound more impressive the the amount would in yards so I am sticking to it.

This is an unsolicited plug for Kathy's ranch and her classes. Kathy has not asked me to do this and I am not getting paid for this. But I feel there is some stuff that you need to know about Kathy and her ranch.

First of all her company is called Unique Designs by Kathy.  Her e-mail is jmarckathy@aol.com her web site link is http://www.uniquedesignsbykathy.com/6928.html ; there you will find her class schedule,a few of Kathy's one of a kind creations and patterns, store hours, ranch tours, home grown fiber and Kathy's yarn. This is where she will be when she is a various shows., if you can't make it to Tucson any time soon.

Kathy will also be at

Stitches West February 17-20, 2011 Santa Clara, CA Booth 14                              

4th Avenue Spring Street Fair April 1-3, 2011

Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta May 26-29, 2011

Pasadena Bead and Design Show July 28-31, 2011 in the Santa Monica Room

Stitches Midwest August 25-28, 2011 Illinois                                                                                              Patagonia Fall Arts Festival October 7-9, 2011

It is also time to Mark Your calendars for the Tucson Spring Shearing Festival on April 9th from 9 am to 3 pm. It will be at the ranch located at The Withers’ Ranch 4010 W Palo Seco in Tucson. the phone number is
(520) 572-3758/401-6117.

I hope to see you there and that you get a chance to take one of Kathy's classes. If not at least you can check out her on line shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/uniquedesignsbykathy



Things I Dislike

Okay, I am normally a very up beat person; but, I do dislike it when Eric gets sick. What mother does not. So yesterday my day started at 4 am with a boy who did not feel well. Eyrping and 4 loads of laundry were soon to follow. I spent the day with Eric taking care of all his needs and was the official TV channel changer.

I did get a lot of knitting done so I really should not bulk much. I think I got 3 whole repeats done on a green shawl being made with hand spun yarn by Kathy at http://www.uniquedesignsbykathy.com/. I really do love her yarn. I even got to got outside for a little while,while Eric's afternoon aide was here.

I was thinking about Teri also, but since it is finals time I let her make the calls when it is convenient for her. I got a wonderful call while I was outside. It is just so nice to see how well she handles herself. I am just so lucky that she is in my life.

After a full day of feeling yucky and getting a low grade fever I thought that Eric would be tired enough to sleep through the night. Boy was I ever wrong. I finally got Eric to sleep at 4:30 am, did I mention my day normally starts at 5:30 am. After a 24.5 hour day I got an hour of sleep before today started.  After Eric's aide got here this morning I managed to get out and drop food and a check to the annual stuff the Mayflower event hosted by 94.9MixFM. Then I splurged and went to Einsteins to get some bagels and Starbucks for some much needed caffeine.

Nancy and Caroline stopped off after the guild meeting to drop off some yarn goodies. The yarn is just perfect for some scarfs for the shelter ladies that Nancy works with. They did not leave empty handed, I sent some small storage bins with Nancy, but I forgot to give her 2 scarfs for the shelter ladies, sigh, I just get so forgetful when I am tired.

Luckily we both zonked out at the same time from 10 am to 3pm. I think the Venti glass of tea must have worn off around 10 am. I really think Eric was ticked at his body for not letting him sleep longer. He woke up coughing and even managed to get to his yellow zone. I managed to get him back to his green zone. So I just sat there propping him up for a while. Then it was off to grab a bag of knitting to make sure he did not do any funny stuff.

When his afternoon aide got here I did manage to sneak out of the house for a little over an hour for dinner. I just did not want a third bagel meal for the day and leftover fish and chips just did not sound as good as they did last night. So one Mayco's taco later it was time to blog.

I have declared this a very successful day because everyone made it though the day. It is time to say good night as I still have to get the trash out. Enjoy your families and join  me in hoping that Eric has a better night. Enjoy your families and have a wonderful night or day if you are reading this earlier in the day.