Easter Dyes

A week ago Jim said he wanted to do something fun for date night. After he picked me up from work, we went home and dyed Easter eggs. We haven't dyed eggs since we moved here to Virginia and it was kind of a fun thing to do.

When we were finished dying the eggs, Jim wanted to throw the dyes out. I told him he couldn't! I don't know what you do with your left over egg dyes, but at my house wool is found and placed in those lovely liquid solutions.

Jim had picked the vibrant colors on the Paas box and the eggs, plus the wool turned out really nice.

The colors on the back two rows are from the original dye. Didn't they turn out lovely, or they would be if I had taken a picture in the daylight. The three rovings on the front rung are from the second batch. They are not nearly as bright, but I am quite pleased with them and I exhausted all the dye.


Now to see if I can figure out how I want to spin it! Happy knitting and spinning.

Where I've Been

The past two weeks have been spent spending some time with my sons, DILs, daughters and grandsons. I also got the chance to catch up with friends from Idaho Falls and Pocatello. I was able to attend the knitting groups that I had been going to in both locations. It was fun to catch up with everyone, but the best time was had spending time watching the babies play.

BEK is now a year and a half old! I spent five days watching him explore and play. We put puzzles together, put lots of plastic coins in the milk jug, played with cars and blocks, and had lots of snacks together. I will treasure the time I got to spend with him and his little brother, CJK. To be with E and Au was an added bonus.

The next five days were in Pocatello with J-b and K and their little one AEK. AEK is a happy baby and his daddy got him, at one day shy of three months, to stand tall on daddy's hand without holding onto anything. J-b had to have AEK do that then because Grandma had said I stood on my dad's palm at three months old. Both the older boys are turning into quite good young dads!


The second to the last night of my Idaho/Utah trip was spent in the house my mom used to live in in North Ogden. My aunt and uncle now live in the house and we spent Thursday night there. On Friday morning I got to watch the sun come out and shine on Ben Lomond. It has been at least ten years since I watched the sun come up on Ben Lomond and it is still a magnificent view and one I wouldn't get tired of. Although, I liked the view better when the swimming pool was there instead of the new grade school, it's still neat to see how the mountain changes as the sun gets to certain spots.

I also started and finished a sweater for myself while on this trip. I still have to block it and put the buttons on though. Maybe I can get that done this week, if I can stand to take it off. It's cold here now!!!! I also worked on a pair of sock which have been on the needles since about February of last year. I only have the ribbing to finish on the toe up socks that I started for myself after making socks for everyone as gifts at Christmas 2008.

Well off to get things done that weren't done while I was gone. Happy knitting and spinning.

Happy Belated E

I was remiss yesterday in not mentioning that it was "E's" 23rd birthday. I can't believe that that much time has passed since I became a mother. E was a very good child. In fact, I have said on numerous occasions that it was a good thing he was first in the birth-order or I would never have had the others. He isn't perfect, but then none of us are. He has turned into a wonderful young man, husband, and father. I'm glad he's in my life, even if he is 2500 miles away.

Happy Belated E!

And happy birthday to E's uncle Alan. Nineteen years apart to the day. Alan called when I went into labor with E on the 10th and said, "wait until after midnight to have that baby!" Granted, he called at like 11 pm on the 10th. Yes, Alan, I'm glad you're in my life too. But, I am glad that most of the teasing is over with. You're better to live with when your not a teenager!

Happy knitting & spinning.

PS. Just a note, I will be posting pictures of finished projects on Ravelry soon. I know the people they are intended for aren't on there. And no, C you can't cheat and get on there to tell people what they are getting.

Don;t Enjoy the Day Too Much, Something Might Happen

On Wednesday night at knitters, people were talking about going to Great Falls. I thought "C" and I would enjoy that, so I said we would go. When we got to the "meet up" place no one was there who was going. Esther and her husband, David, had already left for Great Falls. So "C" and I headed on up there. We had a mini detour along the way. I took the I-66 instead of I-495, so we had to get off, turn around and retrace our route, taking the right turn instead of the wrong one. Esther and I had a good time sitting out by the visitor's center spinning and talking with the people asking questions. There were a number of people that wanted to know what we were doing and where we got our supplies. It was fun to share what we know!

This Great Falls is nothing like the other falls I am used to, like Yellowstone or the falls in Idaho Falls. "C" did say that the falls at Great Falls did kind of remind him of the Idaho Falls falls. We spent some time watching five kayaks as they played in the water under the falls. That was fun to watch. "C" got some pictures which I should have brought downstairs with me, but I didn't.

On the way home from Great Falls, I got a call from ES. He and "A-b" had had a roll-over. He said that and then his phone went dead. I didn't know whether they were ok or not. I couldn't get him and neither could "C". ES called about half an hour later to say they really were ok and it was their car that had rolled-over. ES had over corrected! He says "A-b" will need some stitches on his forehead and in his hand. ES is just shook up and his elbow hurts. Thank goodness they are ok. There was all kinds of thoughts going through my head when I couldn't get ES on the phone.

I have pictures to show of FOs. Although one is still drying and I only have a "blocking" pictures. Should have photos tomorrow or Wednesday morning before leaving for IF for "J-b" and "K's" wedding on Saturday and "A-g" and "G's" sealing on Thursday.

Happy knitting & spinning and tell someone close you love them!

There is Progress

The stress is getting to the highest limit. ES says it won't get done in time. I say it will, when we can move things out to see the progress. The trailer is here and we can start moving things tomorrow. This is the moving room yesterday evening and the second picture is from just a few minutes ago. We have people coming in the morning to do some painting for us. And along with that we have to rip the carpet up tomorrow so the new carpet can be laid on Tuesday.

There is getting to the point that we don't have everything available that we need, because it has been packed. And NO we are not buying something new to do the job. We are doing an awful lot of borrowing. There is also a-l-o-t of garbage to haul to the dump. I am getting to the point of saying, 'just get rid of it!'

It was hard at church today to say good-bye to my nursery kids. And to a lot of the parents. I know we will be back in the area for visits, but it is not the same as living here.

My niece, Steph, married Brock yesterday, so I did take time to relax and enjoy the family who were in town. It's not often that we have the majority of the family together.

As Mom, Aunt G, and I left the reception last night, I took time to enjoy the sunset. Isn't it gorgeous?

This will be the last post from this computer in IF. The next time I post it will be in our new location in VA. At least a post with pictures. I might sneak a picture-less post from my sister's, half-way through the drive across country.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Baby Addition

Master "B" was born this morning! Mom and baby are doing well. So is my son, the dad. "E" couldn't be happier. "B" is a sweet little baby and all I want to do is hold him! He's so tiny, only weighing in at 6 lbs., 19 inches long. I'm glad he made his appearance before I left and headed back East.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Spinners Saturday

I have to show the latest in the baby sweaters. This one is going to my boss's new grandson. I really like how it turned out. I used a little over one skein of Lion Brand Wool-ease and most of a skein of Knitpicks sock yarn. The colors worked so well together that I am half-tempted to use the same yarn to make a sweater for the new grand-baby due in July. If I find just the right pattern, I might just do it.


The spinners group met today. It was good to go chat, eat and see what everyone is doing. I am amazed at how accomplished our group is. See the blue sock at the left side of the picture? Carol is showing us how she darns. She passed the sock around when the darning was completed and everyone was examining it. You couldn't hardly see where she had been working!

I have been busy knitting on my silk challenge. The first repeat is done and I am almost finished with the second repeat. I like how it is working up. I think this project will be one that will be worn and worn. At least, I hope that will be the case.

I also started a new spinning project. I am working on two pounds of fiber from the Copper Moose which I ordered in January 2007. I ordered this fiber after reading about it on the Knitter's Review. I am anxious to see how it will turn out. It is called "Confetti" and has a cream base with multi-colored bits throughout.

After spinners I took M down to live with her mother for a while. She thinks she can get a better job in SLC and there is more public transport there than there is here. She doesn't have the money to buy a car and neither do ES and I, with the move and everything. I think she will be happy there. There is a lot more to do and she will be closer to her twin, A-g.

If I hurry, I might have time to work on my challenge before I really get tired and need to go to sleep.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Happy Birthday J-b

The internet wasn't working last night, because of the snow, so I missed my regular post. It snowed just enough to make everything covered and slick. Really its about one and a half inches. Everyone in this house hold is getting a little tired of snow, except for M, and that okay because she missed one winter when she went to Bolivia and she can make that up now. But even she says its too cold.

I have "startitis" and I'm really, really trying not to start anything until I get a few things finished up. Although last night I measured how much yardage I have for the silk challenge fiber and then wound it up into a ball. This is my next project! I have another hat for Michelle to finish up and a baby sweater for my boss's new grandson to sew up and then the silk challenge can be on it's way. I only have six weeks to complete the silk project.

Today is J-b's birthday! The second of my sons is now into his 20's. It's hard to believe that my children are growing up so fast. This is J-b with his Aunt Beth taken in 2007, sorry I don't remember which month. He has grown into a handsome young man, in my opinion. He will be home in just about five weeks and I am excited to have him here, if even for a little while.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Onions!

Last night I sewed on the buttons of this sweater I made, nearly a year ago, for this little guy:
Spencer and Grandma Laurel. The sweater has been knit and waiting for Spencer's dad and mom to let me know where they were living or come to our house. Well today was the day that Spencer got his sweater. The good part: it will still fit him! Dad and Mom made it to our house to participate in a b-i-g family dinner. It was quite a fun afternoon, but I'm glad that stress is over.

After people left this afternoon, I went into the backyard to see how the tulip and daffodils were coming along. I was surprised to see that I have some volunteer onions coming up from last years planting. Granted the garden, what there is of it, is next to the cement of the foundation of the garage so gets quite warm. There are weeds and grass growing in my garden spot as well, but for the next day or two they will be ignored. In the front yard I still have some snow. It is still where there is not much in the way of sunlight and it melts a little each day as it gets warmer, or if I rake/shovel the snow out into the sunlight.

I gave four of my house plants away this evening. I sent them home to live with A-g and her husband, G. G likes plants and will take care of them very well, as long as A-g doesn't touch them, so he says. I know ES will be glad to know I don't have to move quite so many plants.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Window Galaxy

These are the kind of pictures you get when you wake up at 4:45 am and there is a lot of frost on the bedroom window. Hopefully, you can click on the picture and make it bigger. Then you can see that the speckles around the moon look like some kind of galaxy. It was a very pretty night with a full moon and I couldn't resist taking a picture, even if it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted.


This picture shows it's been really cold here the past few nights. All of the windows in the sun-room have some kind of frost on them. This window reminds me of the trees in the forest, dense and full. Ok, don't think about the transformer above the frost trees, I know that's not in a forest.

Can you tell, I don't have any knitting content. And I have only sat at the spinning wheel for a total of 20 minutes yesterday morning while contemplating frost trees. And that's with the Hitchiker underneath the computer desk. Not much interest until after the wedding Saturday evening. I am still working on the sock and have even done a couple of rows on the felt clogs. Just not enough progress to warrant a new picture.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Too Cold

Not much has gotten done in the knitting and spinning field today or yesterday. Today we have vehicles that won't start! The temperature last night was -17(f) and I don't think it got higher than 15(f) today, but the sun was shining. This evening has been spent trying to get the cars going. We need running cars for everything that is happening the rest of the week and the weekend.

E and Au are getting married on Saturday. This means wedding plans have taken over. E needs his car to be running so they can get all their stuff done. So much to do, not enough time and energy to do it. We are having a small wedding and reception on Saturday evening and as the groom's mom, I am in charge of the backdrop, flowers, and probably a cake. Au's mom is doing the food and table decorations. E and Au chose who they will have marrying them and where it is happening. Now if everything comes together smoothly!


I just wanted to leave you with a different picture of the skein from Sunday. This has a better representation of what the true colors are. I like this picture better than Sunday's. Au says she really likes the colors and she is not a purple or pink person. She would really like something from this yarn, but I think I have a project in mind for it and so she will have to wait.

Happy knitting & spinning.

White Christmas

It had been a number of years since we have had a white Christmas. Thanks to the snow we had on Monday, this is what we woke up to on Christmas morning. On Monday all the kids that were here went to Freeman park and snowboarded down the little hill there. They had lots of fun and were completely soaked.

Monday night when we did our traditional drive around look at Christmas lights, the roads were pretty slick and slushy. They don't have regular snow plows here. They use graters and push the snow to the center of the street and then come around with some sort of vehicle that picks up the snow and puts it in a dump truck. The lights were pretty and well worth the hour and a half we spent looking at them.
This is the mess that was in the sun-room after everyone was done opening presents. I didn't get pictures of everyone and their "hauls", but I don't think anyone was disappointed. Everyone liked their fingerless mitts, thank goodness. There were a few complaints because the traditional pj pants weren't in the packages. I just wasn't up to sewing them this year. It was the first time in 17 years that I didn't make pjs. There was also one complaint about not getting a hat. As I told J-g, it wasn't on her list, but I could still make her one. I have all the materials to do so.
As you can tell by the expression on E's face. Christmas went over very well. I always feel such relief when everything has been wrapped and given. Now onto other projects. More fingerless mitts to start with. ES's dad and step-mom are coming tomorrow and I need to finish her mitts. Then finish Mr. Greenjeans, only one more repeat on the body and then onto the sleeves. Plus two or three baby sweaters before the end of January, thank goodness they go quickly. So many projects to look forward to in the new year.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Mitts for Christmas are done

The last pair to be gifted have just been washed and set to dry. That makes eleven pair as Christmas gifts. I have a few more pair I would like to make to give away, but I am not stressing them for about a month. I figure as long as I get them to them before winter is over I'm doing okay.

The boys were watching the college bowl games with me, as I finished the last pair of mitts. They didn't last too long! They have both been asleep for about an hour and a half.


The Christmas tree is lit. The presents are all purchased and wrapped. ES is doing the Christmas dinner shopping for us. So things are just about ready here. This will be our last Christmas in this house and I will enjoy the season here as I have the past few years. We will have six of the children here and phone calls from the other two.

R and C are already complaining about having to wait until A-b gets here to open gifts. They will get to open the stuff from their dad and step-mom without waiting for A-b, so that will have to last them until about 2 pm Christmas day. Oh the joys of having a blended family!

I am ready to move on in my knitting. Some UFOs need to be finished and it's only two weeks until the next sock class. I also want to make a couple of baby sweaters for friends with new babies. Oh, so many projects in mind. Well, off to see if I can get more done tonight.

Happy knitting & spinning.

Welcome to the "Nut House" TG

This has been the highlight of this past week. The wedding of A-g and TG. The wedding took place on Friday evening in American Fork. The drive down wasn't too bad until we hit stop and go traffic in Ogden and then the HOV lane was stop and go in Salt Lake. We ended up being a half an hour late. Thankfully, the bride and groom waited until we got there to start the wedding.

E's girlfriend told him she knew where he got his aggressive driving from now. I didn't think I was that bad!! I was just in a hurry, because we left about 15 minutes later than I wanted to.

I welcomed TG into the "nut house". We are a crazy, weird bunch of family. But we all get along for the most part. Boys will be boys occasionally which makes it rowdy sometimes with knock-out, drag-out fights.

The other fun part about this past weekend was the "Sock of the Month" class which started on Saturday. We are working on a Fiber Trend pattern, the Railroad Rib sock. I thought I was doing fairly well and getting gauge, but decided after a few inches that it just wouldn't work!
I frogged the socks and started again. They are much better now and will fit one of the older, bigger boys quite well.

The socks are working up fairly quickly, I think because of the two row repeat for the ribbing. I ripped them out about 3 pm yesterday afternoon and haven't worked on them yet today. I'm about half way done with the cuff on the left sock, so I'm hoping to get to eight inches tonight before finally falling into bed.

My Greenjeans sweater was also frogged and restarted. I didn't mark the numbers for the size I was doing, so got my count off! Now the numbers are all mark throughout the whole pattern and the sweater is working up fairly quickly, again.

Happy knitting and spinning.

Just knitting along

There isn't much new going on around here. I am working at least two rows per day on the shawl. It is progressing slowly. I haven't sat down at the wheel except for twice this week.

Where has all my time gone? Since "R" had his accident almost two weeks ago, our family has spent numerous visits to the "Doc". "R" with the accident, the next day with "ES" for bronchitis, two days later for "ES" when he still wasn't feeling better (then it was pneumonia), four days later it was "ES" and "C" ("ES" for a check on his oxygen levels and "C" for a sinus infection), two days later is was "ES" and "R" ("ES" for oxygen levels again and "R" for strep throat). It has been a really long week or two!

I am looking forward to the weekend, although I have to work on Sunday. I am hoping to get some knitting and spinning projects finished.

New to this Blogging Thing

So, I've thought and thought about blogs. I read lots and lots of blogs. But, this is entirely new, to be writing in a blog. All the messages I get from others say, "this is just an on-line journal for whatever you want." My "want" is to write about my fiber experiences.

As is the name of the blog, this is an account of my adventures with fiber. I have been a knitter for 30-some-odd years, learning in my pre-teen years. I have been a spinner for almost 20 years and that has been my grounding wire throughout my boys growing up, a divorce, the stresses of daily life, and a new marriage with accompanying children and "new" problems.

I haven't yet learned how to put the pictures on here, so that you can see what I am working on. But I will learn how to do that and learn how to "link" to other sites.

A little about who I like to spin and knit for. There is ES (Eternal Spouse), my boys: E, J1, R & C. ES kids: M, A1, J2 & A2. They range in age from 21 years old to 11 years old (mine are in the middle). I have m-a-n-y extended family member who I also like to make things for.

I have four spinning wheels. There is the Ashford Traditional (this is my very first wheel), then the Ashford Scholar (this is the wheel, until just recently, that has been used the most), #3 is the Lendrum (I call her Dolly, because she reminds my of the workhorse my grandparents had on their farm while I was growning up) and last in the purchase order is: the Hitchiker. The Hitchiker is my take everywhere wheel now. There is always a project going on each of the wheels. Some take longer to get completed, but the wheels all get used.

Well, hopefully I haven't bored you to tears. Thanks for joining me. Keep knitting!