The last month in general

Ok, so I haven't been blogging much lately. There's reasons for this. I mentioned that at the beginning of last month I had the weekend from hell. I wound up having to go to court a few times to get that weekend settled, but it's all taken care of now.

My mom was planning on adopting 4 little girls from TX into her family. They were Shelly (7), Susan (5), Mary (3), and Rose-Marie (9 weeks). On the day they were to be flying up to meet their new mommy for the first time, the got on a plane, and thought they were starting a new life. Instead their chartered flight went down, and they got to rejoin their birth families. It was a hard blow for my whole family, and so I haven't been up to writing very much lately.

I'm sure you all heard of the bridge collapse here in the Twin Cities. That kinda shook me up, because we had been stuck in traffic on it not 15 minutes before it went down. Scary.

On another note, I have good news health wise. I finally have the diagnosis I've been trying to get for the last 4 years. I have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition characterized by widespread pain in your muscles, ligaments and tendons, as well as fatigue and multiple tender points. All it took was a doctor to actually listen to my history and look at the tests that said everything was normal and decide it wasn't just in my head.

More good news, I have my website up and running. I feel so happy. There's not a great amount of stock up right now, but give me a few more days and there will be. I've got yarns drying right now.

Happy Weekdays!

SP 11 questions

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Love silk and alpaca and wool and cotton. Acrylic is ok, but not up there. I like using new fibers and yarns, like soy and bamboo

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? whatever is handy. Except the Options, they are in their case and there they will stay

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? A long time ago (to me anyway) over 10 years now, and advanced

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? nope, but if you ask I can tell you things I covet

5. What's your favorite scent? my baby boy when he's fresh from the bath. Nothing really heavy. Clean natural scents

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Chocolate, the darker the better

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? Spin, dye, tat, crochet, weave, cook, sew

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) Anything but rap and gospel. And yes

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? Greens and blues. No pinks unless a dusky rose, and please, no yellows or oranges.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Hubby and son, no critters

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes, yes, yes, HELL NO!

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Lace anything

13. What are you knitting right now? Lace shawl and a bunch of other things

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? yes

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? circular, and metal

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? nope, and nope

17. How old is your oldest UFO? 26, but I love him and he'll never be done. :) (hubby)

18. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween

19. Is there anything that you collect? Stuffed critters, rubber ducks, yarn, craft stuff, and odd friends

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? No subscriptions and I'd love to get my grubby paws on the Barbra Walker books.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? Can't think of any

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? nope, and I wear a size 7.5 US shoe in womens. I can always measure the feet if needed

23. When is your birthday? 10/6/19??

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?

Yeah, well.....

Ok, so the tour isn't doing all that great anymore. Not for lack of trying or wanting to, but because my dingbat hubby sprained and maybe tore a muscle in my shoulder. *sniff*. Meanie. So I have all this wool (and soy, and silk) that I can't do anything with. Except look at, and dye up. And for the record, when I said my goal was to spin all my fiber (not that I'll make it now) I ment all that was for me, and not what I was dying for the store.

Yes, store. I'm starting up a craft business. Website soon to be up, I just have to add some more products to the site, and get someone to host it. It's called Tangled Web FiberArts and soon there will be a real site there, promise. I'm gonna get working on that as soon as my camera stops transfering pictures of the rovings to the computer. I'll be offering hand dyed and hand spun yarns, in a bunch of different fibers.

Off to code. :)

Tour De Fleece

Well, the tour is going good, already done with the white that I have, and am about to start the pastels. Silk is for when i have to go places, so it's great for the doctors, and bus rides. Not to mention that the lady in court was interested in what I was going.

Oh poop

We just found out that my sister-in-law (the only one I can really stand from that family) is being sent to Iraq in December. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, and hope that she comes home safely. Her name is Bekah and she's 20 in the Air Force.

In other news, I'll be doing the Tour De Fleece this year, using my new wheel, I plan to spin up every bit of roving I have in the house. About 2.5 pounds in total, with natural, pale pink and pale green, and a lovely dark green. Until the wheel gets here I'll be using my spindle with 1.5 ounces of silk caps. Woohoo!!

My new baby

I'm gonna have a new baby soon. It'll weight a little over 8 pounds, and have white and black skin. Parts of it will move, and twirl in a circle whenever I step on it. Yes, I'm talking about a spinning wheel. I just bought a Babe's Production double treadle spinning wheel and I'll be bugging the leasing office everyday about if my package has arrived yet. I would have asked them today, but since I just purchased it today, I doubt that it would be here. I tried to talk J into driving to WI to go and get it, with the phrase of "It's just a 4 hour drive, it's not that far." He laughed, because I always tell him driving 3 hours to see the in-laws is about 2 hours and 59 minutes too long. Oh well.

Damn it, I want my wheel already!

The good, the bad, and the fuzzy

Ok, so the weekend from hell. You want to know more, email me. All I can say is it blew the big one!

Than good stuff happened. All day I've known I had a package down at the rental office (since our mail boxes are tiny they leave them there) but didn't have the time to go and get it. Had to go to the bank and run around downtown Minneapolis. Than we went to the Yarnery and wandered around in there. Never been there before. Wound up getting a few things. Some Misty Lace Apalca in a beautiful denim blue, a skein of Debbie Bliss's Pure Silk (cause I deserve it after the weekend), and some sock yarn aptly named Smooshy. Plus the pattern to make socks (never tried it before) and some DP's.

Than I got home and got me my box. And what a box!!! It's from my Secret Pal, and what made me laugh is my Secret Pal is the person I was spoiling! My first one dropped out and so I got a new one. BJ, you a wonderful partner. I'll be posting pictures later tonight, I have to unpack the camera first. But there's 5 skeins of 1824 cotton yarn, in a lovely blue color, the same yarn I had been thinking about buying today! And 2 skeins of a beautiful fawn colored alpaca, so soft! And 2 skeins of Crystal Palace's Panda Cotton, so pretty and green. Scott won't give me one of them. A big skein of some superwash wool in blues and purples, so I'm gonna make myself some socks too. Not only is that soft and cuddly, but it's hand dyed by BJ herself! Bwt, go check out her Etsy.com store. More Alpaca to follow, 5 skeins of either a heavy lace or a fingering weight in a dark heathered blue. The labels are in Spanish (or whatever they speak in Peru, I used to know) but it's oooohhhhhh so soft. That's it on the fiber side, but not it in a long shot. Some wonderful lemon tea, which I can't wait to try iced. Pretty blue stationary and post-it notes saying to be reasonable and do it my way (so true). Cute little buttons that I can use on Scott's sweater I'm making him, they are train cars, and a yummy smelling cinnamon candle. A book to read to Scott about a day in Maine, and something that I think even trumps the wonderus yarns. A 75% cocoa bar of chocolate from Droste and a 85% cocoa bar from Lindt. I think J thought I was gonna share with him, til I told him I was still mad at him and there wasn't a chance in hell. Maybe in a day or 2 I'll share.

Thanks again BJ!!!