Fuzzballs

Something happened to my back and I've been in excruciating pain for many days now. It's insane and nothing helps. Supporting my lower back with a pillow when I sit in chairs eases the pain a little. Because of that, B bought me a (rather expensive in my opinion) new chair for my birthday. When I'm using the computer I usually sit in a wooden kitchen chair, this one is a definite improvement.

I meant to post at least once a week but pain has a way of derailing plans. Better late than never, right? For better or worse, I mostly took pictures of some of our cats.


Three boys plus perler beads equals total happiness (or fighting over colors. It's a toss up).


My new chair, complete with Beast.


Eddy. His thirteenth birthday was on the 17th - ten days before mine. He's the only cat we have with a known birthday.


Erasmus James Flattery. Better known as Ras. This picture sums up how weird she is. Perching on small electronics? Totally normal.. right?


Pilot looking like a bobble head. The box my chair came in is wildly popular among all the critters.



Ramses. My old man. He's cross eyed, nearly toothless, and the sweetest cat I've ever known.


Faustus (though we just call him Faust) with a side of Pilot, Surreal, and Calcifer.


Ishtar. Neurotic and beautiful. Because cats are all weird in their own ways.

That's it. Beyond moaning in pain I've been reading books, carding fiber, and milking this "it's almost my birthday" thing for all it's worth (this mostly amounts to having extra coffee). Happy Friday!

Mayhaw Festival

Over the weekend I was at Golden Acres Ranch for their Mayhaw Festival. I was set up in a tent with my yarn and Dervish, my spinning wheel. People came to watch me spin, to learn how to clean raw fleece, to gather information. It was a great deal of fun. Saturday I went by myself. It was overcast and rained occasionally. There was still a pretty good turn out, regardless. I met a great many truly wonderful people.

Saturday it was sunny and beautiful. B and the boys came with me. I'm so grateful for B. He is truly amazing - to spend his birthday chasing our kids around a farm while I share my spinning with others. It seemed that despite the weather there were less people - more kids, but less of a crowd. I still managed to meet many people (a number of whom have recently had sheep sheared and wanted to know what to do next). Busy as I was, I didn't take any pictures. Here are a sprinkling of photographs that B too while he followed the boys around.


I'm told that when they went on the "hay ride" (I didn't see any hay, but you get the idea) this dog (Boo, I think) followed along with the stick. I can't tell you how overjoyed my kids were with this dog. They love our mutt, Cynddl, but he's less than willing to fetch.















This weekend left me wanting, more than ever, to move out of the city and onto some decent land. There were chickens running everywhere, calm farm dogs, bleating goats, sunshine, and open spaces. Despite being glad to be home, I found myself profoundly sad driving back into the city.

Creative ten-year-old.

The Elf's school work for the last four days has been to make three stop-motion videos (he loves these things). One, I said, must tell a story and not involve any violence. This is what he did to satisfy my requirements. I present his retelling of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

I suspect a lot of people who see this are unfamiliar with the character he used. They are mostly from the Halo games. While I do not always approve of the content of the videos that he makes, I must say that he is quite good at creating them.

Wow

Gosh. So. I disappeared.

The short is that we all got the flu. And now, more than a week later, we're all mostly better. We had a good Solstice and tomorrow we'll head to my father's house for the morning.

Now, pictures!

Saturday.

My favorite yarn shop.

My sheepy addition to the shop's yarn masterpiece. I'm hoping to add more. I have grand plans, friends. Grand plans.

A lion I finished this morning for the Imp. Again, I used one of Linda's amazing patterns.

Boys + legos = daily life around here

Other than that I'm working on an armadillo and an odette hoodie. We'll ignore that I've also been watching B play Assassin's Creed 3 for much of the evening. Next up, maybe Halo 3? Yes. We are addicts.

Fiber overload

If I took a picture of the bags of mill ends (that are all totally perfect pieces of roving - I have no idea what Brown Sheep was thinking), you'd be shocked. I have at least six pounds. Mostly white/off white and a pound each of green and black. Mmmmm. Which reminds me that I still haven't finished/shared my beaded art yarn yet. I'll have to get to that this weekend.

At any rate, here's what I've been up to (which is why I suck at responding to emails - I found my zone, sorry!).

I finished my hat. I'm not terribly sure about it, but the Elf tells me that it looks okay on me. Alas, I can't take pictures of my own head very well, so he graciously modeled for me.

I'm calling the colorway "shipwreck" - I know it isn't very original. But as I was dyeing the yarn I thought of tossing waves, dark clouds, lightning, the falling masts of ancient ships. It just stuck. So there it is. Ravelry notes are here.

These are some of my mill ends. I was feeling phoenix-like. Out of nowhere I had energy and motivation. A drive to create. My husband would call it a fey mood (if you've ever played Dwarf Fortress, you'll be laughing now).

This is my attempt to recreate the shipwreck colorway. It's pretty darn close, too. I wonder what it will look like once it's spun. I can't wait to compare it to the leftover yarn from my hat.

I'm still waiting on replacement needles for my shawl. This weekend I aim to spin. And maybe sew some wee hats for gnomes I've been neglecting (sorry, Laura!).

Weekending - part two

Sunday we went to two farms - food not animal. The kids had a different kind of fun. We were all pretty worn out, though. I bought some rosemary infused honey from the first farm and wildflower honey from the second.


First we went to Turkey Hill Farm. The Elf amazed me by getting close to the beekeeper when she had the honey bees out (he's been terrified of bees for years). We saw surly geese - the boys were not amused.

After a stop for lunch we went to Orchard Pond Organics. The boys ran like crazy and B marveled at the okra plants (poor Northern boy that he is).

Every day since had felt like a Sunday. B is home for the week and it's flashing by so much quicker than I'd like. I haven't been spending much time at the computer, hence my lateness in posting. I missed Nicole's crafting on post and I'm not likely to get my act together before the end of the night for Ginny's yarn along. Ah well. Tomorrow I hope to share some more pictures of our week - the boys playing and the crafting that has kept me from the computer.

Weekending - part one

This has been the busiest weekend in a long time. Wow. But this post will only be about Saturday. B was in charge of the camera all weekend and there are just so very many pictures to choose from.

Saturday morning was the "yard sale" at my favorite local yarn store. I scored enough wool for a sweater for the littles, some pretty wool for longies for the shop, and some miscellaneous stuff that was too well priced to pass up.

After that we headed to Golden Acres ranch for the first day of the annual New Leaf Market Farm Tour. Oh man, it was so much fun.

We saw chickens, goats, sheep, guineas, and lots and lots of people. I met an amazing woman who spins and knits. Bought a fleece from her (the highlight of my day) and have plans to buy some more. The kids ran free and were comfortable around all of the animals (though the Beast was very startled by the rooster crowing).

And now I give you picture overload.

Later I'll post about Sunday and then another with all the goodies we brought home!

*blink*

You knew it was coming.

A second light saber.

Thank you everyone for your comments on my last light saber. Without the awesome pattern I followed, it would have been a mess. Details here.

Appa is coming along. I still have a lot of sewing to do for his feet, but at least he has a head. His head/back arrow will be added last.

Ah, yarn! More of the black/white/red stuff - a single and a two-ply. The pastel yarn is my first attempt at intentional (and consistent) thick-and-thin. It was more difficult than I like to admit. The final fuzzy yarn is the alpaca/llama hybrid that I spent a week washing. I couldn't managed to card, hackle, or otherwise wrangle it into behaving. So I spun it in clumps. I think it worked out really well. I'd like to ply it with something - with luck I'll have enough for an upcoming sheep doll. Yes, a sheep knit from a llama.

And as I'm sure you're all tired of hearing: Don't forget to enter the giveaway to win some of my handspun yarn!

Week/ending.

I have been very absent. The heat, the fleece, the boys. Yes. Absent from this space, perhaps.

Here's what I've been up to:

These are the plied version of the two singles I had spun the last time I posted. Everyone says they look like cotton candy - which is really not where I meant to go with it.

I'm going to have a giveaway for this hank of handspun. There isn't a great deal of it, but it might make a nice trim or.. cozy for something. I don't know. I'll weigh it and measure it tonight and post it tomorrow.

A pig! He's only got the one arm. Today I'll start his leg (before I run out of yarn). Poor pig, but he's already been quite loved by my youngest.

This is how I spent all weekend. B and I watched Downton Abbey while I endlessly crocheted bits of Appa. It's hard to see but there's his head (which I cannot finish until I buy larger eyes), 18 toe pads, six foot pads, six *under foot pad* pads, 18 toes, two ears, two horns. Ugh. I think that's it so far.

Boys + Legos = Bliss. Well, and a mess. But that's obvious, right?

This is my latest love/hate relationship. A friend lent me a hackle. I'm learning. Slowly. After impaling my finger (okay, cutting it enough to necessitate a bandage), I think I may have figured it out.