Archive for the ‘Life’ Category
Update
August 11th, 2010 | 
Author: Haven’t been posting at all to this blog so I thought an update was in order.
I haven’t been able to do much of anything related to fiber work due to health issues – those being my liver and cardiac function. I experience extreme exhaustion in addition to other symptoms so starting on inventory for our Etsy shop or simple knitting just isn’t happening. Hopefully, in the future we’ll be able to reopen and get things moving again.
I did cast on a new item today and will try and document it. Also took advantage of a Knit Picks sale and bought the swift they had on sale for $50, using a $25 gift certificate I received as the winner of a pool on Ravelry – the Bachelorette pool. My very first win after about 2 years of participating in these pools. I’m in a couple of others – Hell’s Kitchen ended tonight. I need to find out the winner and send that persons gift to them. I’m also in the Top Chef DC pool and both of my chefs are still in it to win. It would be amazing to win two pools this year but that most likely won’t happen. 
In addition to the Knit Picks GC, I also received two for Elann.com. Those, combined with the newly earned $50 Elann credit will be nice to have when their sneak peek notices come through and I find myself lusting after new yarns.
Guess that’s it for now. Take care all . . .
Very cool
Sometimes (most times) when bored I sit here and mindlessly click around the web and often find some of the coolest stuff or amazing artists. I figured if there’s ANYONE out there that still may check in with this blog that they might be interested in my findings. . .
Today I came across an Etsy shop for stitch markers and such. The store owner works with polymer clay and her miniatures are totally amazing. The markers would make great little additions to swap gifts! I need to finish browsing her shop to see what I may have missed. So far, I especially love the beef & cheddar sandwiches! Mini Arby’s!
ScaryMerry – stop by and let her know we recommended her lovely work.
Long time. . .
. . . since I’ve updated here. Unfortunately, chronic illness is keeping me down for now. We’re looking into alternative and conventional treatments; hopefully I’ll be back to 100% very soon.
Meanwhile . . . I’m going to post stuff that I find interesting (fiber related and not) online.
Another beautiful Sunday
What an absolutely beautiful sunny day! I love days like this -
I would like to take photos today of hand spun yarns and get them listed for sale. I have an OTT light that shows natural colors and will try to get decent (non-blurry) photos. <talking to self> “Hey dummy – put your damn glasses on before using the camera! What a unique and fabulous idea!”
Daughter darling got a jury summons yesterday. She’s not happy, but will have to deal with it. She doesn’t want to take time off from work to sit at the courthouse. Spoke with my daughter in law yesterday about their new puppy. She seems to really love the little monster even though Eva (puppy) took her down in the street a week or so ago and caused DIL to badly sprain her ankle. Hang in there E & J! She’ll become a great dog once she outgrows the puppy stage.
Blogs
Posting daily is obviously not something I acheive. I can promise to do better but promises are often broken, so I won’t bother. 
November is here and the leaves have been stripped from all of the trees. In the 20’s overnight. C-c-c-cold! Pellet stove going and keeping the entire house warm (small house!). Pellets are way down in price this year from last. No demand. Great for us since we’d rather use pellets for heat than oil. Last price on oil was $2.45 per gallon for us. All we really use it for now is hot water that comes right off of the boiler.
I’m waiting to hear from our son, Erich, to find out if he intends to come up here today to pick up a dog crate that we’re giving him to aid in crate training their new German Shepard puppy, Eva. From her photos she looks like a little darling! Erich says she’s evil – typical puppy!!
Huz goes back to work on night shift today. Sux – but soon he’ll move into his new position at work and he’ll no longer have to work night shifts and will have Friday – Sundays off. We may be able to get back to a normal semblance of life once that happens. Here’s hoping. 
So I’m not really into posting today so I’m gonna cut this short for now. I’m having an ‘achy’ kind of day. Lower back, hips, legs – all the way down to my ankles, I’m sore. Took 1 pain pill earlier and will probably have to pop another shortly. Have to try to get some laundry done, too. <sigh>
October is almost over . . .
Link to recent photos:
We ended up going up a road that was a constant incline – up and up, around a bit and then up some more. Some of the road was shrouded by trees, some of the dense pines in areas made it feel like we were driving through tunnels. Beautiful – I was loving it. Red fox crossed the road and then stopped in a field a few feet from the road to give us a look for disturbing his day. Lots of deer – male & female – I believe its very close to rutting season, so there were lots of them. (Shame that hunting season opens next month. Hate it.) Lots of turkeys and you can no longer tell which are the ones that were hatched earlier in the year. They’ve all grown so much! A couple of HUGE tom turkeys that were strutting themselves around very proudly.
At one point Blace says, ‘umm, better turn around. I was wrong, the bridge isn’t up here.’ Hah! Too bad, told him so and kept driving. Up more … ears popped. Up even more, ears popped three different times before we got to the top. We came to a left turn and he suggested I continue driving straight. Fine with me!
My silly assed man is taking photos. . . through dirty car windows. Yep, Okay Blace! LOL I was stopping the car now and then and getting out to stand to take photos – him complaining, ‘get back in the car, someone may be coming along!’ So what? Who cares? I just shushed him and did whatever.
When we’re very near the top a red truck is coming at us and headed down. Wow! There is life up here; cool! Mind you, beautiful road, well maintained, occasional speed sign, not a damn thing that said DEAD END.
OMG, about 4 – 5 miles later we get to the end and it’s a mess of old trailers, all occupied, smoke pouring out of stacks from wood stoves, a sign on one of the trailers that said “The Last Resort”, old cars…. we had driven into a time warp, I swear. It was obviously one of the tiny clutches of hillbillies that we’ve all heard live in the Catskills. This is the local legend, anyway…. so the formerly doubtful myth is true! They did have a kind of cul-de-sac that we were able to turn around in, it was best to get out of there quickly. Probably a good thing that it was quite a cold day so there was no one outside.
So, we went back to that left (now a right) turn and it was obvious we were finally heading down this particular mountain. . .
We ended up driving for quite a while – found a lovely little village called Sun Down, a few small covered bridges, not the one we had been searching for, a beautiful stone arch bridge, log cabins that weren’t built from kits, and not a gas station in sight! Not to worry though – even though it’s a pain in the ass, the Kia gets great gas mileage – 35+ per gallon is usual for us.
Blace & I love driving around – we call it our ‘ ABEN-tures’ , just something silly we have always, always done when we decide to drive roads and areas we’ve never been through before. Caesar was very comfy in the back seat, all sprawled out and just hangin’ wif mom & dad. He’s such a good dog – unbelievable how much he’s calmed and become a great addition to our tribe.
Most of this area, including the mountains are part of the National Park Service domain – our property is part of it also, and there are areas that are designated for stopping, fishing, hunting, etc. We stopped at one point so Caesar could have a drink – poured from a bottle from home. He laps it right from the bottle; good dog!
We ended up coming into Liberty NY, where Andrea’s boyfriend lives and decided to head home since it would be dark soon. Instead, we ended up in Forestburgh at the Cliff Lake site which is part of the reservoir that shut the entrie area down after Ike and the other hurricane kicked our asses in 2005. It was finally reopened to the public this year. Lots of the photos with the bare river bed, stones, is Cliff Lake. Caesar and Blace walked all over the place there while I took photos – still wishing that there had been sun so that the photos would be pretty! Even so I guess they came out OK.
When we got back to the house I wish you could have all seen Caesar strut himself back into the house. The girls ganged up on him immediately and had to sniff him all over to see where he’d been. We had a great outing and hope to have another soon. Probably will once Blace’s work schedule slows a bit. He’s working eight days straight this week, 12 hour shifts, will have two days off and then go back to do another eight in a row.
I’m saying goodnight now! :zzz:
Snow in October
There is a second Nor-easter moving into our area this morning. Unusual for snow threats to be issued in mid October. I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised since we had such a cool, dreary summer. There had been reports that we’d have a mild winter here in the northeastern USA, but I doubt that so we’re preparing – having extra pellets delivered soon.
I’ve dyed up a pound of milk protein fiber in the Painted Desert color-way and will rinse and finish that up this morning. I also put wool into six Ball jars, added dyes and popped them all into the oven in a water bath to heat activate the dyes last evening. That all needs to be rinsed and then put on the rack in front of the pellet stove to dry. I hope to be able to start spinning some of it this evening. I’ll be making items for raffles for a charity event that my aunt is helping to organize. I’m thinking of some colorful cool hats for the event. . . maybe one hat in the colors of Poland’s flag. I’ll post photos of the dyed fibers later today.
Summer’s final hurrah
The final day of summer. The day before our darling daughter’s 19th birthday. Another year almost over. Time travels much too quickly! An understatement.
Autumn is my favorite time of year. The scent of leaves in the air, cool nights, beautiful crisp, cool days, the colors of the leaves on the different varieties of trees. Truly amazing.
Once the leaves have all met the ground dreaded anticipation of winter sets in. Muted browns and grays are predominant and dreary. The ground becomes hard with frost and eventually freezes. This is the period of time that slows considerably as dreams of spring seem so far reaching, almost unobtainable.
Winter is the time to spend handling wool and other fibers. Preparing them for spinning or felting. Creating yarns of color that promise change in the dull landscapes. Hope for the new year that will bring color, perfumed air, animal babies, and so much more.
Today I’m organizing my fiber stash in preparation for the coming months. I would like to participate in a couple of local fiber festivals next year – whether offering yarn or dyed spinning mediums, I want to be there. I have enough to keep me busy for the entire winter without having to purchase anything but there is roving available from a particular seller that I would like to buy lots of. I’ve had two lengths and the yarn spun from it is truly amazing. MORE! As soon as we have enough sales on Etsy to allow me to buy at least 10 lengths I’ll be quite pleased.
I would also like to make stuff for family members but spinning seems to get in the way. I just enjoy spinning so much. I have two “Spontaneous Spinning Clouds” from Loop on Etsy and plan to core spin these. I just want to be very sure of the technique before diving into them. Leave it to Steph to come up with another brilliant mix of fibers to spin from.
I have a batt that I created on my carder that I would like to blend one more time. It reminds me of sterling silver. Quite lovely blend of wool, silk, bamboo and angelina. I’ll consult my “Intertwined” book to figure out how this fiber might be spun up.
ciao! 
Posted in Etsy, Life, fiber, spinning | 
Tags: autumn, intertwined, loop, spinning, spinning clouds | 
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