Good Friends Good Food

I taught my friend Carolyn how to spin at Friday Fun Knitters today. I can officially say how jealous I am of her. After just 1 1/2 hours of spinning her yarn looked like mine did after a couple of weeks. I on the other hand manage to spin and ply one sample that arrived in my Phat Fiber sample box with out a tag, the yarn was yummy green with blue flecks if any Phaties know what it is please let me know.

We did go out to lunch and the company was great and the food was good. The only thing bad about lunch was I got a call from the school nurse saying that Eric had a seizure in class and was running a fever. Well that call broke up lunch while I went to retrieve the above mentioned boy. Well that broke our streak of 15 straight days of school. The fever has broken as of  now and he seems not to have lasting effects from the seizure today. But I have declared it a lay low weekend anyway. I have yarn, fibre and my 2 guys, who could ask for anything more? Well...maybe Teri.. but school comes first and I am quite happy with everything she has done this semester.

I hope everyone had a great earth day. Well I think it is time to say good night and enjoy your families.

Stepping It Up a Notch

This morning was the knitting guild meeting and somehow I managed to irk a lot of people.  No I don't think it was the kosher for passover snacks and pre packaged utensils it. Maybe it was because I brought some stitch markers to sell, nope I did not sell a one. Was it that I was wore the nice pin that Candy made for me when I could not manage to knit with double pointed needles, I don't think so. Was it my noticeable loss of inches, maybe. Was it that I tried to give a link to Yumiko Alexander's web site and scarf pattern. I had also tried to mention that the Friday fun Knitters and I have already managed to donate 2 1/2 boxes of hand made items already, probably. Here is the link and if you have not made one just give it a try and send it to the address on the pattern.  http://dandoh.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-march-11-2011-japan-suffered.html 

There was a nice lunch with Nancy and Darlene. There is nothing like good food and good friends. I did manage to bring home lunch for John, he said that the hot soup hit the spot.  Then it was catching up on Nova's with John while spinning. When Eric came home he "helped" with the paperwork, bills and filling. I think he just wanted to hang out with me.

For my walk today I decided to try a pair of Earth Shoes, they were great on the down hill and flat straights but going up hill I slowed my pace down and could still feel the burn. If I am not walking well tomorrow it is because I stepped it up to fast.

Well it is time to go move my car before the pack rats attack and get dinner on the table. Have a Good night and enjoy your families. By the way I ask everyone to wish my mom a belated Happy Birthday, being that I am a bad daughter and forgot. Sorry Mom. Happy Birthday very belatedly from your very forgetful daughter.

Reaping Dividends

I have started trying to find time to exercise every day. It is all part of my trying to be good to my self personal campaign. Aside from getting down to a 15 minute mile, to clarify the starting point was about a 30 minute mile. So now I have to walk 2 miles to get my 30 minutes in. Same time double the distance. In my humble opinion not a bad start.

The dividends started really coming this morning when I got dressed for the day. I either needed to be 6 inches taller, buy much taller shoes or dig into my closet for smaller pants. I of course choose the smaller pants. Here I am go through my closet like a teenage girl trying to find something that looks nice.

Another dividend that I noticed is that I have more energy. Which means more things are getting done around the house. Today was not one of those days however since I was up until  a little after midnight with Eric and started my day at 5:45 am. So goes my life with Eric. I did manage to get him out the door for the 13th straight day of school, for which I am very grateful to the powers that be.

I did manage to ply 1 small skein of alpaca this morning while we were waiting for the bus and then proceeded to start spinning another bit of Moreno wool. I spent a lot of time spinning and did even manage to get a nap, baking and a little cleaning in today.

Well it is time to go hook up a hungry boy for the night. So have a great evening and enjoy your families.

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.

Happy Holidays

I would like to start by wishing everyone a Happy Holiday no matter which holiday you celebrate this week. May you enjoy your families and enjoy the fact that we have all made it to this season.

That being said, I am a little melancholy this year. As you know Eric has had a lot of tough health issues this year, which have left me exhausted. I can report on the good side that Eric has slept 5 yes count em 5 nights in a row. Yes miracles still do happen. With just the 2 of us eating tonight I will not be preparing the huge festival meal. First I don't have the energy and second we can not eat that much. I have instead spent the last few days really cleaning and there is a large visible difference. Today I even let roomba have the run of most of the house, he did a good job but did not have enough juice to make it back to his docking station. I would also like to say that roomba still does not like Eric's hoyer lift. I also gave scooba a work out and plan to do so again tomorrow in another part of the house.

With all that being said I still prefer huge holiday gatherings and the formality of the the order of the holidays. It is my hope that when our daughter finishes grad school we will again be able to have nice family holiday dinners. It really does not matter the location as long as we are together. Well I have to go put the finishing touches on dinner.

Happy Holidays to All and to all a very festive meal.

It has Been a Week

It has been a week since I last blogged. In the interim Eric made it to school 5 days in a row. I got a whole lot of cleaning and knitting done. And yes it being Saturday I made another charity run of hand knit items.

This was more than my knitting this time. I had a full box and a bag from my Friday knitting group the Friday Fun Knitters and a full box of items I had hand knit. These were all destined for Japan. They were delivered to Yumiko Alexander of DanDoh who was doing a trunk show at Grandma's Spinning Wheel on Tanque Verde. I was also able to have a nice chat with Yumiko, she is always so delightful to talk to. I can't wait for Yumiko's next book to be published.

If you would like to help in this effort here is a link to Yumiko's blog: http://dandoh.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-march-11-2011-japan-suffered.html
The pattern is quite easy. I made 6 of these scarfs last week. I also included some hats. Please tag your hand knit items with the yarn content and write a short note of encouragement.  They survivors have a long road ahead of them and they need all the help and love we can send. You may also send hand crocheted items. The address of where to send your finished pieces is on the scarf pattern sheet.

I think it is time to start working on Teri's blanket again. so I will be rearranging things to get that endeavor underway tomorrow. I only have about 15 square feet left to knit, so I hope to get it done before I loose my blanket mojo again. I have only manage to get 10 square feet done so far. It is by far the largest project I have undertaken since I started knitting. And NO you may not have a queen size blanket as this will be the last large blanket for a while.

I did manage to get some spinning done tonight, but I am saving plying for when I am a bit more awake and have a little more patience. As we are going into a holiday week may you all enjoy your holiday celebrations with your families.

Saturday in Tucson

Need less to say my day did not go as planed. But I did manage to drop off a bag of hand knit items at a charity event before I came home. I have lots of skeins of freshly spun yarn hanging in the garage waiting to dry. Think back on my, plan a cold rainy day was not the best day to do the final processing of the yarn, so it will take a bit longer to dry.

A lot of random knitting went on but nothing was finished. A lot of progress was made on a lot of projects. I kinda of envy those who can work a project from start to finish without picking up another project. I am not that type of person so I have random knitting projects placed where ever I tend to spend time in the house. I even have my emergency knitting kit in my car. After all I never know when knitting will come in handy.

Some plying and spinning also went on. I definitely need to practice my plying to get a better technique down but since plying is a relatively new activity I suspect it will take some time to learn.

It was a very cold and rainy day here I think the high was around 48 and it rained all day. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the rain and we are at a rain deficient but some things just cant be done in the rain. Such as taking pictures of some of my newer projects.

Well it is getting late here and tomorrow is going to be a very long and busy day. So enjoy your families and have a great weekend.