A Non Stop Day

Today was a busy day. I finally got to meet up with the girls for knitting. I only have 6 inches to go on the second half of the never ending poncho. I did not finish the laundry, but will throw a load on before bed. I listed 1 more skein of yarn in my etsy shop. Last but not least, I got the last spot for a yarn tasting tomorrow night at Grandma's Spinning Wheel. I have never been to one before.

The things I learned today is that unlike my Louet spinning wheel, the Ashford Traveler must be oiled before each use or it wont work. It wont spin worth a dam and makes wonky yarn.  It took me an hour to figure this out. Also when taking pictures there is a very sweet spot of natural light in the dining room in the late afternoon that lasts about 15 to 20 minutes. Pictures taken during this time frame come out perfect. I also found out that the word scrumming has many meanings and as it pertains to knitting is also called free form knitting. It is also some kind of computer platform, but that is way above my pay grade.

My advice for today is that if there is a question you really don't want to or should not answer, just return with a question along the same lines and the person usually answers back and then it dawns on them that they just answered their own question. Try it some time and let me know how it works for you.

Well its time to start some more laundry. Then call it a day.

An Uphill Climb

Today started out less than perfect for me. I did not sleep well. I also found a baby tarantula ( about the size of a silver dollar) in the bathroom at around 2am. I did manage to get him outside without waking the house. Although I think he was more happy in the house than outside. The question that still remains is how the heck did that little guy get all the way to the middle of the house? After that I found it hard to get back to sleep. So I woke up with a pre-migraine. I took my Tylenol and caffeine with breakfast. Around lunch time things started clicking for me.

After lunch I got the grocery shopping done. I also noticed something at the check out line today. When I save money with coupons the cashier usually says you saved x amount of money today. Today was different, I approached the $100 mark in savings with coupons. I did not even get to the 40% off mark. There were a lot of buy one get one free along with a few high value coupons. The cashier just looked at it and handed it to me. Then there was just enough time to put the frozen food away and pick up Eric from his program.

I added another 1 1/2 inches to the never ending poncho, I did make it to the second half of the second piece so that went well.  I also listed a few audio books on e-bay. Then went on to start stocking my Etsy shop Handmade~by~Sheri . John has mentioned that I have a little to much hand spun yarn hanging around and a lot of finished items. So it is time to zen the house a little. To that end I listed 13 items today with more to come in the next few days. To help things move I have added a coupon code for 50% off all items in the shop. Just use the code: "Husband" at check out. It will apply to your entire purchase through August 25, 2013. Please feel free to share the sale with all your friends. There is no limit on the amount of coupons that can be used. One coupon applies to the whole transaction.  The more that leaves the house the happier my guys will be, yes even Eric.

I almost forgot to mention that I have a new Face book page just for Handmade~by~Sheri where I will put all the shop updates. Just type in Handmade~by~Sheri in the search field. I would like to get to 50 followers of the shop by the end of the month, can you help me make that goal?

Well I think that it is time to call it a night.

A Busy Sunday

Today was a very busy day with laundry and cleaning.  I got tired of laundry after 2 loads so I get to start Monday with 3 loads.  The dishwasher was emptied before breakfast so we would not mix dirty dishes in with the clean one.  

I spent 45 minutes playing with the new to me Ashford Traveler. In that time I managed to spin 3 single ply bobbins. Work up a decent sweat, the double treadle is so much different than the single treadle in terms of a workout.  I also found with the Ashford the I must get my peddling up to speed before I tap the bobbins to start the spinning.  The bobbins ate so darn small that they fill up after just 15 minutes.  I wish that I had the 4th bobbin for this wheel, because I can spin a little longer  

I think the yarn spun from today will be woven into a purse that I will line and embellish.

I also discovered a new combo of alpaca and silk for a wonderful spin. The fiber is just so calming.  Since it is jet black I will need full sunlight to spin it. 

A great Day

All in all things went pretty well today.  Eric is feeling better. The laundry is caught up, but please don't tell Eric. It did not take long to do a quick pick up.  I even got out to do so shopping this afternoon.  

The best part of shopping was having a coupon for just about everything in my basket.  The guy behind was grumbling about the coupons, but his jaw dropped when the cashier said that I saved $11.00 in coupons.  That did not include the extra 5% off for using the stores credit card.  My Ganga of the shopping trip was 5 bottles of Tide on sale for $4.47 ( the regular price is $6.99) with coupons of $4.00 off the 5 bottles.  For a savings of over $16.00. It might seem like buying that much laundry  detergent is hoarding, but I do an avarage of 21 loads a week, more when Eric is sick, so each bottle lasts about a week and a half.   The savings did not end there. I needed to go to Joann's for some supplies for a class next week. I had a 40% off 1 item coupon and a very gracious lady ahead of me in line shared a 15% off the total purchase coupon.  So that brought my total cost to &20.00.  That brings the cost per student to a little more tha a $1.00 per student with some supplies left over.  

I thought I screw up dinner. I bought salami instead of pepperoni for the pizza. You really do have to try salami on pizza, it was great.  Well I have a few more things to do before bed tonight.  

Eric is Home Sick

Eric got sick just before bed time last night with he wild eyrps. So it was a long night and day today.  I did take time for myself to go on a short walk before John went about his day.  

I also made considerable progress on a poncho today, I managed to knit almost a full skein of yarn on to the 2 inches I already had.  I tried the old spinning wheel but I was just to tired to work on lace weight yarn. I also finished spinning and piling the 1st of 4 skeins I started a few days ago on the drop spindle.  Pictures to follow when I am awake. 

I would also like to thank the Library of Congress for the talking book program.  The books and magazines broke up the day nicely.       

As for now I will try some sleep as I am beyond tired. 

BBD

Today was a typical bbd for me so I took a mommies version of a day off. I slept in until 7:15am. I had a late breakfast and took time to read the paper.  I conquered  my some of my short to do list and did 6 loads of laundry.  I also managed to get a nap in.  

John figured out that I gave him the wrong manual for the Ashton Traveler Spinning wheel that I got at a thrift store.  Once he had the right manual it took less than 30 minutes to get it running.  This wheel has scotch tension on it.  I find the tension thing a little tricky after learning on a Louet wheel. I will play with it a while before I make up my mind on its fate.  

Just before bed Eric got a little eyrpy so I will be on Eric duty tomorrow.  Don't worry I have plenty of yarn, fluff and Caffeine.  Well here is hoping for a quiet night.  

Busy but Good

I had a busy day today that included teaching my 1 st weaving class to special needs high school students.  I would like to say that they did a great too.  Some responded to explaining that every stitch was either up or down and the next row was just the opposite.  A few got into a one two rhythm. Where the high stitch is always number one and goes down.  The low stitch is always number 2 and always  gets priced up.  I also descovered that thicked chunky yarn is the best for those hands.  They will Finish them next week. 

I also attempted to find cranberry sauce with no HFCs in the middle of July. No luck there, but I did manage to find frozen cranberry's in the freezer section and made my own.  I was so tired that I forgot to reduce the homemade simple syrup before I added the cranberries so we landed up with cranberry jam.  It still tasted good. 

To end the blog I will post today's spinning.  The roving is from cloud lover fiber.