10 On Tuesday

I loved Carole's 10 On Tuesday today.  It is 10 Good Deed I Did This Week.  Some of the deeds I did a week or so ago, but I'll count them because it's important to be kind, ya know?

1.  I rounded up all my purchases at the Farmers Market on Saturday and gave the extra to the farmers.  It's only small change but they were all so appreciative.

2.  I took in the recycle bins for hubby.  Not a big deal, but I wanted to save him the trip.

3.  I let a mom with 3 little ones cut in front of me at the Red Box machine.  I remember what those days were like.

4.  I fed 5 kids at least half the days last week.  You know I have ONE child right?  There is almost always another teenager around (I won't even count her boyfriend because after almost 4 years he is just part of the family) because only-children don't like being "alone".  It's all good though because we love having them around and I always wanted a lot of kids anyway.

5.  I kept my mouth shut.  You know the saying "when you having nothing good to say......".  Yeah, I was quiet.  Trust me - it was difficult.  And it was most charitable.

6.  I loaded up the toilet paper in the ladies room at work.  I also loaded up the paper towels. I hate going in there and seeing the holders empty.

7.  I bought my daughter a new mascara that she wanted.  Buying make-up is one of her "expenses".  I'll keep you clothed and fed, but now that you have a job, you can make yourself beautiful (but she doesn't need make-up for that anyway).

8.  I spun some yarn for a friend who needed it to finish a project she was making for her moms birthday.

9.  I gave a ton of zucchini and tomatoes to the neighbors.  We do this every year.  We give a lot to my parents as well.

10.  I let that cat sleep in my basket full of roving and I didn't even chase her out.

So what have you done to be kind lately?

Weekend Flowers

While walking this past weekend I found such a pretty flower on my path.  I'm sure one of you can tell me what it is because I know nothing of such things...  I simply admire.

I see the same flower when we walk down to the beach near my house.  I love the colors in it.

Kind of inspires me to knit something with that color yarn.

Then we went for a ride to Wickford, which is a seaside town on the other side of the state.  I wanted to take lots of pictures since it's such a neat place (it even has a yarn shop) but the weather turned and we had to leave before we got drenched.  We did stop at this pond on the way home to take pictures of these.

They are Lotus flowers and I had never seen them up close before.  There was an entire pond full of them.

  The flowers were gorgeous! It was hard to get a clear shot with the zoom.

Here's hubby posing with them so you can see how big they really are.  Well, kinda.

Enjoy your day!

This Moment

Nicole and my Dad this past week.  

Linking up with Amanda

Have a great weekend!

Ravellenics

As I have mentioned many times before, I love watching the Olympics.  I started to like it even more when the Yarn Harlot  began her Knitting Olympics years ago.  She decided to only do the Winter Olympics, but Ravelry decided to host the Summer ones as well, and so it has grown.  The object of "our" game was to pick a project, cast it on at the Opening Ceremonies, and finish it by Closing Ceremonies.  And it was to be something that challenged you.  The first time I knit a pair of socks.  Wasn't much of a challenge, so the next time I stepped it up.  I knit a shawl.  That was close, but I needed to live more on the edge.  So I tried a sweater the next go around.  I was able to complete that, but it was close.  This year I decided to do the same thing. And I was going to knit it with the yarn I spun for Tour De Fleece (stash busting at it's best).

As I talked about a couple of weeks ago, I was cutting it close with the amount of fiber I have.  I thought I could make it work.  And then common sense prevailed.  Why am I doing this?  Why am I going to knock myself out knitting this sweater that I may not have enough yarn for?  In the end I will just be frustrated.  So on to Plan B.

I am knitting Color Affection.  It has been in my que for months now.  I picked the yarn, I already bought the pattern.  I am ready to go.  I am happy with my decision.  Tonight I will finish winding the yarn and gather the needles and get ready to start.  Let the games begin!

Yarn Along

It's Wednesday - and Wednesdays are for linking with Ginny to get great reading ideas and some fiber-type inspiration.

Don't y'all die from shock but I am actually reading something, albeit extremely light reading.  I also cast on my Hitchhiker.

Both the reading and the knitting are fairly simple.  The book is about enjoying country living no matter where you reside.  It's about planting a small garden, going to the Farmers Market, keeping cut flowers around the house.  You can pick it up and read it and here and there.  Perfect for me right now.  The same can be said for the knitting.  You can knit a few rows when you get a chance, put it down, and pick it up when you feel like it without worrying where you are in the pattern.  Which is a good thing.  I'll be dropping it on Friday when the Olympics start.  And picking up............. well, we will talk about that tomorrow.

10 On Tuesday

I started reading a couple of books on eating local food.  I think it's a great idea for so many reasons.  One of the easiest ways to do this is to go to your local Farmers Market.  I have been going to a few local ones so I love Carole's 10 on Tuesday - 10 Great Things About The Farmers Market.


1.  Local grown veggies!  There's nothing like a fresh picked carrot or tomato, or anything that is coming direct from the earth.  
2.  Animals.  The above picture was taken a couple of weeks ago at the Bristol Farmers Market.  There was a presentation on milking goats.  Sometimes they shear sheep, once in a while you can see baby pigs.  
3.  Soap.  I love hand made soap.  We have a lot of great vendors around here too.  The sugar maple oatmeal is one of my favorites!
4.  You can buy local honey.  This is very helpful for allergies.  But it has to be honey that is grown in YOUR town.  
5.  Buying herbs and plants.  The farmers market has some great and different plants than the local nursery lately.
6.  Meeting up with neighbors.  It's amazing how many people actually shop the weekly market!
7.  Worms.  Yup - you can buys worms.  Why you ask?  For your compost pile!  We bought some about 5 years ago and we have so many my husband now sells them.  The soil from that compost is amazing.  
8.  Meeting the local artisans.  Our community has a very large artist community.  And there is some real talent.  The pottery is gorgeous.  There are beautiful paintings and photos.  While they only let 1guest artist per week it is nice to see what they do.
9.  Flowers.  I can't wait to buy some sunflowers!  They are huge.  And I forget to plant them myself each year.
10.  There is a movement to buy more products from the USA instead of those that are imported.  What better way to do it than your local farmers market?

Tour De Fleece Wrap Up

Well I would consider Tour De Fleece 2012 a success.  With the exception of my hands starting to cramp up ocassionally I was pleased with my accomplishment.

I ended up spinning 1 lb., 13 oz.  Just short of 2 pounds.  Not too shabby.  I still have 5 oz. of the blue to spin.  I was going to try and finish it last night but my brains kicked in and reminded me to not abuse my hands.  Especially with the Ravellenics coming at the end of the week.  My brains kicked in again and my plans for it have changed which I will explain in another blog post.  In the meantime I'm going to pick up some knitting, finish that blue, and get ready for the start of the Olympics.

Memories

Back in April when we made the trip to visit my aunt in North Carolina we went through a lot of my grandmother's things.  It was the first time me, my dad, and my aunt had all been together since she had passed away a few years ago.  We went through boxes of pictures.  It was nice to go back in time (even before I was born) to get a sense of what life was like back then.  The problem then comes, "who wants this picture".  Well, there were some that were priceless and we all wanted them.  My aunt is going to scan them so we all have a copy.  Problem solved.

Then we started going through her recipe box.  I love how my grandmother typed every recipe on an index card. We thought about scanning those too, but I just took pictures of each recipe I wanted.

These are for cookies that would take my grandmother all day to make.  Seriously - ALL day.  I guess that's the reason none of us has made them.  And you needed the ravioli pans because they were stuffed just like ravioli.

Some recipes I have never tried before but my dad assures me they are great.

I'm thinking I will make them around Christmas time.  A great way to remember grandma.

Currents

Had to laugh over the weekend when I realized that my favorite nail polish lately matched the fiber I was spinning.



listening - quiet, for a little while longer at least




eating - too early to think about food yet



drinking - iced coffee



wearing - black pants, green shirt



weather -cloudy, but at least it is in the 60's which is 20 degrees cooler than it's been the last few mornings



knitting - nothing really.  Still spinning like it's my job, but I'm enjoying it




reading - other than invoices at work, reading absolutely nothing



wanting - a day at Martha's Vineyard.  Been wanting to go back lately for some reason


needing - transplant my lettuce, bake some zucchini bread, buy new gym shoes, clean out my car, polish my nails,  the list is endless lately


enjoying - not having to fill my gas tank up so much lately.  Now that Nicole drives I use my car a lot less




looking forward - the Olympics start next week and I am so super excited  



wondering - when my allergies are going to settle down.  It's a sneeze-fest every morning.  I didn't even bother to put on make up today.  Scary, I know.

Moving Right Along

It's Wednesday and you know what that means.  Time for sharing what we are reading and knitting with Ginny at Yarn Along.

There has been some knitting.  The sock with them circles got love this week during spare moments.

I'm at the heel so it should go fairly quick now.  Just knitting in the round.  All good to me.

Reading - the only reading lately is me reading the scale to see how many more pounds I have to spin of this stuff.

I'm down to about a pound left to spin.  The tour is officially over this Sunday.  I'm fairly confident I can do it.  As long as my hands hold out.  I start getting a dull pain in my right index finger that says "OK - you're done for a while, or suffer the consequences later".  Later is the next day when I'm so sore I can't even type. I have been trying to spin it kind of "fine".  Let's back track - this fiber was given to me by my friend who sold me her wheel.  She had already spun  up about 9 oz. and gave that to me as well.  However, she spins very fine.  About a fingering weight even.  I actually spun this TOO fine.

Can you imagine how much fun it will be to knit an entire sweater in sock yarn?  Yeah - it's not thrilling me either. I'm going a little heavier the next 4 bobbins and see what we have.  Even scarier - this is the yarn I'm using for my Ravellincs project.  You can see where this is going can't you?  I have a plan B.  Just in case.

Ten on Tuesday

I loved Carole's 10 on Tuesday today so I am joining along!  It's 10 Everyday Things That Make You Happy.  


1.  Knitting.  Did you really think it wasn't going to make the list?  Yeah - I do it everyday.
2.  Drinking out of my Tervis Tumbler.  I got this not knowing what a great insulated cup it was and apparently they are quite popular.  It keeps your drink cold (or warm) for hours.  Worth every penny.
3.  Reading my friends blogs.  I love seeing what everyone is up to.
4.  Yes - my IPhone makes me happy.  I'm not apologizing.  It's wonderful and it's at my side all the time.
5.  Talking to my parents.  I speak to either my mom or dad every single day.  The older I get the more I appreciate them.
6.  Snuggling with my daughter.  Although she may be almost 17 my little snugglebunny still loves her mama.
7.  Talking to my friends on Plurk.  It's so cool to keep in touch with everybody (mostly knitting friends) during the day when I get small snippets of time.
8.  Taking pictures.  Some days it's only an IPhone shot, but I post on Instagram almost daily.
9.  Having a clean sink.  No - I'm not a neat freak.  I'm quite the opposite.  However, having my kitchen sink clean just makes me smile.  And I make sure it's done everyday.
10.  Laughing with my hubby.  His sense of humor is one of the things that made me fall in love with him.

Summer Goal Check

Let's take a look and see if I am meeting any of my summer goals.  I usually just make a list and forget about it, so the fact that I actually remembered that I had a list - score one for me.  It's all about the little victories right?

1. Knit Evenstar.  A big yes to that.  I am on chart 2.  I don't think I will finish it by the end of the summer because it takes severe concentration.  So it's done in little bits here and there.  Totally loving it though.

2.  Go hiking.  Nope.  Not once.  I had great goals of going to the gym and running on the treadmill and getting into great shape.  Only problem is that I needed a reality check.  I am extremely overweight.  I have abused my body for 40 plus years.  I had to run through a battery of tests before the Dr. would even let me take walks due to my high blood pressure.    The process is slower than I want but  I am taking baby steps.  And it feels good.  I can't reverse all I have done in a couple of months.  But as long as there is forward progress it's a good thing.

3.  Go to the gym - see #2.

4.  Have a yard sale.  I started the process of purging stuff I don't want.  I have it in different bins.  I am thinking the yard sale will happen in the fall, so I think we are doing good.

5.  Warp my loom.  See picture above.  Details to follow this week.

6.  Read.  I am doing it!

7.  Research the "later in life" career options.  Yes!  I have a few projects I am working on.  Will share at a later date.

8.  Eat more local food.  This has been easier due to the opening of local market a block away.  It is awesome.

9.  Give up soda.  Eh - definitely have cut way back.  My favorite drink is ice water with lemon.  I also stocked up on Mio, crystal lite, etc.. for some variety.  But water is good old stand by.  I grab a coke when I feel like I need a little boost.

10.  Enjoy the summer.  100% YES.  I have done more spinning, knitting, reading, going to the movies, and just enjoying time with the family.

So far summer has been a win

Focus!

Growing up I was the kind of kid that teachers loved.  I would do my assignments, my homework, I loved to read, and overall I did well.  I could focus on the task at hand and forge ahead.  I shudder to think what kind of student I would be now, as it seems I have adult onset ADD.  I have the attention span of a gnat.  I'll have piles on my desk at work and go from one to the other as I think of things that are more important than what I am currently doing.  That carries into my knitting and spinning.

I have my TDF goal and I'm plugging along.  I know what I'm knitting for Ravellenics, I'm still working on my Evenstar (although not steadily because it requires FOCUS) and I even have a pair of socks on the needles.  Not bad.  After watching Ashley and Dora over at A Spinners Whirled Podcast I saw the Hitchhiker Scarves they had knitted.  Now I have seen these scarves all over Ravelry and didn't give them much thought because I'm not a huge fan of the garter stitch.  However, they knit theirs in handspun rainbow colors and I gotta tell ya - they look awesome!  I thought about knitting one with my Parachute yarn that I just finished but it's even too bright for that (I think that yarn is destined to become socks). Then I remembered a sock in progress that I haven't worked on in years.

I started it with excitement but for some reason I just wasn't feeling it when I got to the heel.  I think part of the reason was that it is a 1 ply (Zauerball Sock) and I know darn well that I will wear through that heel after 5 wears.  I loved the way the colors blended though.

So I'm thinking this will become a Hitchhiker soon.  So I think my sock is visiting the frog pond shortly and I will TRY to wait to cast this on until my socks are done.  I just need to focus.

Currents

listening - the fan humming




eating - nothing yet but there is a blueberry muffin waiting for me (made with the blueberries off our bush - how cool is that?)


drinking - orange juice



wearing - grey capris and black t shirt


weather - total beach weather - sunny without a cloud in the sky


knitting - picked up the Circle Sock last night simply because my hand is starting to get sore from all the spinning I have done




reading - still got those Shades of Grey pages turning.  Book 2



wanting - my head ache to go away.  It's not awful but you know it's there.  Blah


needing - to get a pedicure. These feet need some attention.  I opted for the manicure this week though because I figured a good hand massage was in order from all the spinning I have been doing


enjoying - spinning down my stash.  It has felt like a huge accomplishment




looking forward - the weekend is almost here.  Not sure what the plans are yet other than a visit from friends on Saturday



wondering - what goodies they are selling at the new organic farm stand that just opened up.  I have been in a hurry to get home every night this week so I haven't been able to check it out

Yarn Along

I wasn't sure if I was even going to link to Yarn Along today.  Reading is non-existent lately unless you want to include Ravelry and Plurk.  I haven't really knit anything.  Oh wait - that's not true.  I did complete the first chart on Evenstar, but it essentially looks the same so taking a picture of that would be boring.  I have been making yarn, so I guess that counts right?  Here's the progress thanks to Tour de Fleece.

The two pretty sparkly batts were spun and plied.

I think this is destined to make it on my loom.  A scarf?  I can imagine it dressing up a plain black shirt somehow.

It wasn't my favorite fiber to spin because of the inconsistency (which is how it's meant to turn out) but I like the bright colors!



This is the one I am in LOVE with.

I bought two identical braids of dyed roving.  It was a gradient and I wanted to spin it that way.  I spun each four ounce on different bobbins then plied them together.  The colors matched up perfectly.  I love it when a plan comes together.

Are you seeing my lettuce growing?  Yeah - I figured I'd do a little garden update too (not really - the lighting was good on the deck and the lettuce happened to be there).  This yarn will definitely become a shawl.  Pattern to be determined at some point.  Onto the next fiber.........

So This Is The Plan

I have been loving Tour de Fleece.  I have spun and plied 9 oz and I have another 8 oz to ply tonight.  That will put my Tour total at 1 pound 1 oz.  I spun most of my new fiber and decided it was time to dig in the stash and get some spinning done there.  There is still 2 more new fibers I want to spin for the Tour, but I want to spin some stash first.  If I get the stash done, then my reward will be the new fiber.

This all got me thinking to the Knitting Olympics (I've lost track of what we are allowed to call it, so for my purposes it's still the KO).  I still hadn't decided what to knit.  The last Olympics I completed a sweater.  I certainly have enough yarn/fiber for that.  So let's go for it!  I got my Raglanify app so that is the pattern I will use.  The fiber:

What is it?  I can't really tell you.  You see, when I bought my Kromski Polonaise wheel from my friend Pat this was the fiber she had been spinning on it.  She was sweet enough to give it to me.  It was bought from Touch of Twist and his bumps are usually a blend of romney and bfl.  I have 1 pound 13 oz.  Sounds promising, but the fact is I think I will have just enough fiber for the sweater.  I will have to spin it thinner than I usually do.  Pat spun 8 oz. and had given it to me.

She spins thinner than I do, so this will be a bit of a challenge.  I love the color and I should hopefully start spinning it tonight!

So the tour continues, I do some stash busting, I have my KO project planned out and in the end I should have a pretty sweater.  As long as all goes according to plan...  But hey, what could go wrong?

Raglanify

I stumbled upon the coolest app this weekend.

In short, you knit a swatch with the yarn you want to use to knit your sweater.  Measure the swatch.  You then enter information into the app.

It asks some more info and it will give you the pattern.  You can then email the pattern to yourself and start knitting.  I think this is great especially for hand spun yarn.

You can check it out for yourself.  For $.99 it's worth a try.  I plan on using it to make a sweater for the Ravelry Olympics (or whatever the hell we are calling it these days).

Miscellaneous Friday

It's weird to think that it's Friday.  Having a day off in the middle of the week totally messed up my internal day clock.  I have so many random things happening.  I'll just list them.

1.  Nicole leaves today to go down the Jersey shore with my parents for four days.  She will get to see her NY cousins that she misses and I'm sure they will have a great time.  I will enjoy some quiet time and hope to get some things done.  Like:

Spinning more of this batt for Tour de Fleece.

2.  I want to finish  the first chart on my Evenstar.  It's starting to actually look like something.

3.  I need to make some progress on my Circle Socks too.  I'm needing to have mindless sock knitting at my disposal and the Circles make me have to follow a pattern.  Maybe I can finish at least one this weekend.

4.  I want to weave a bath mat with all this cotton I have in my stash.  While I have no grand illusions that I will actually warp the loom, I want to at least pick out which colors I want to use so it's ready to go when I do get the chance.

5.  I need to dig through the fiber stash to see whats next for the Tour.  I have spun a few of my newer fibers but I want to put a dent in the old stash as well.  I don't even remember what the heck I have anymore.

6.  My lettuce is growing (round 2).  Let's hope it survives.

7.  The petunias are doing well. They remind me of my grandmother.

8. We picked blueberries from the back yard.  I should have enough by the weekend to at least make some muffins.  They taste so good!

9.  I really have some cleaning up to do but no desire whatsoever to do it.  It's summer time!

That's enough random things......  Have a great weekend!

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July everyone!  Hope all of you in the USA had a wonderful holiday.  My favorite part of the holiday is always the fireworks.  We are fortunate enough to live in a great spot where we can see the large fireworks displays from 4 different towns.  Our neighbors are also nice enough to put on pretty elaborate displays themselves so there were sights to behold all around us.  We even had a couple of our own.

It's finally legal in RI to sell and light fireworks.

They can't be the kind that shoot high up in the sky.

But they still make some noise and man are they bright!!

Nicole and her friends had a BLAST.

Touring

My goal for Tour de Fleece was to spin 15 minutes a day.  I have far surpassed that goal so far.  I spent a good deal of this past weekend spinning (we won't discuss how clean my house is though).  My first spin was my Loop Batt called Parachute.  If you jumped out of a plane you would most certainly be spotted wearing anything in this yarn.

I chain plied it and although it's not as consistent as I would like it will work.  I have not soaked it yet.  It hangs real nice already. 

I'm pretty pleased with myself.  I got 423 yards out of 5 oz.  My remaining question..

What am I going to do with this awfully bright and cheerful yarn?  I may just leave it on my coffee table and admire the colors.

Currents and Gratitude

listening - silence - what a beautiful thing!




eating - still too early to eat


drinking - iced coffee



wearing - grey shorts and black top


weather - sunny and perfect


knitting - Eventstar and Circle Socks




reading - catching up on magazines



wanting - to twitch my nose and have this huge overwhelming project be done at work that has been sucking the life out of me


needing - to be steadfast and complete the life sucking project this week


enjoying - going to the movies with the kids (well, young adults since some of them are getting close to 20 years old now- but they will always be kids to me).  We saw 21 Jump Street at the $2 theater last week and then saw Ted this past weekend.  Ted - hysterical, but certainly not for little kids!




looking forward - finishing up navajo plying my loop batt tonight.  I started plying last night it got too late and my eyes couldn't focus by 12:30 AM



wondering - what I'm going to spin next


thankful - do you see that picture above?  Do you see BLUE berries?  I have finally grown my own blueberries and the birds have not gotten them!  Who is more excited than me right now?


appreciating - old friends.  I visited with one last week and just got the sweetest email from another