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Andrea came up yesterday and helped me out by going to the market and post office. She spent the night and left this morning around 11am. It was so good to have her home, even though it was such a short visit.

Feeling a bit tired so I think its time for a nap -- even though I slept 13 hours last night. *sigh*

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Awakened with a little snoring Luna curled up against me . . . and tachycardia. It was 7:45am. Still having the very rapid heartbeat - I hope it stops soon otherwise this will be a wasted day.

Got a whole lot of "Porthos" done yesterday. I do expect to finish it up this afternoon. Hope so! Andrea called last evening to say that she was coming up to visit, either today or Thursday. Kind of hoping for Thursday when DH is off from work, then we can have dinner together. Anda didn't say if she'd be staying overnight or not. I'll assume not. . . I'd love to have the top ready for her. Also need to get "Currer" steam pressed and assembled.

Robyn sent her address so I have the hat packed up and ready to go with today's mail. I hope that her daughter likes it.

Started designing a pair of gloves yesterday with a twisted rib cuff. I'm using a forest green color and these gloves will be for Helene since that is her favorite hue.

News showing the same old same old. Damn politics! I'll be so glad when this election is over and I hope to never have to see McCain's face again. As for Sarah Palin - I feel that McCain's campaign has a hand up her back and are feeding her all of the stuff she's been spewing. Damn shame; she may have made it big as a shady republican in the future. At this point I truly believe that the Dems will take over in 2009. Of course there IS the ELECTORAL COLLEGE. That, in my opinion, should be abolished and popular vote should be the determining factor in ALL elections. Whoever came up with that system was a blithering idiot -- and probably a freakin' republican.

Screw 'em all! I'm going to retreat to my fiber arts and become oblivious; at least for today. ;-)

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Achy, sore morning. . . just researched Crestor and I'm not sure that I'm having symptoms related to the drug - I think it's just the cooler weather setting in as per usual. Took an extra half of a vicodin and two ibuprofen to get me going. Cool in the house this morning but I'm not going to turn the pellet stove on. Sun will probably be out later and once it starts to hit the house it does warm up quickly in here.

Working on another Norah Gaughan top for Drea - this one is called "Porthos" and I have the back complete, just starting decreases on the front. I'm using a rayon type of yarn in an interesting color blend. Photos soon.

. . . more later

Sunday

Happy Sunday! Another day home alone -- well, except for my little kidz, Caesar, Roo, Jack & Luna. Sitting here enjoying coffee and watching CNN report on oil/gas, the economy and the horrible state of the presidential campaigns. I don't understand that other party. They're all so narrow minded.... only think along one track, refuse to see facts that are put right in front of their faces. THESE are the people that have run this country into the ground over the past eight years - why can't the people of this country see that? Selective brainwashing? I think something is going on - maybe they spike the water in the red parts of the country, I dunno. Voting BLUE here!

Nuff bout that stuff... I have Aella, the taller of the two electric spinners, out and in use. I'm spinning up some brown roving, dyed by CarolLee, that I've blended with fire-star (nylon) in multiple colors that I dyed here at home. Spinning it thin and will ply it when I have all of it finished up. Will it be 2 or 3 ply? Yet to be determined! I'm betting on 2 ply since I have a sock pattern that uses a sock weight yarn and may just work this sparkly stuff up into toe socks for Drea.

Doesn't look like our electric spinners are going to sell any time soon so I figured I may as well put them to use. I was looking through the latest issue of Spin-Off last evening and came across a photo of a flyer with the Delta Orifice. I had heard those mentioned before but didn't know what they might look like. Pretty simple set up. I'm going to show them to hubby to see if he might be able to design something similar. All kinds and thicknesses of wool & fibers could be fed through one of them. Gotta have one!;)

He's also looking into motorizing my drum carder since the interferon will cause issues due to hep C treatment. I probably wouldn't be able to use it as it is - it can be difficult to turn with the handle - so motorizing it would be excellent! I'd get tons of fiber processed.
I finished - well almost - the devil cap for a friend's daughter. I need to put a bit of stuffing into the horns to keep them upright and run loose ends and it'll be complete. I hope to get it in the mail tomorrow if the postal site is working. It was down last week and I couldn't print paid postage. They (USPS) still owe me over $23 for failed prints. I hope they refund soon. Of course, I can put the package in the mailbox with a pre-printed label and send cash to the post office... I guess I'll do that if necessary. Rural area - we have a pretty good relationship with the postal workers since we send so much stuff out week to week, so I know I can trust them if I do have to send cash.

OK - time to have a bit more coffee. . . promised hubby banana bread so I do need to get that made at some point today.

Fleece purchase

I received the fleece from Ohio and it's quite nice! I was a bit concerned because of the low price - I'll definitely look into buying from this seller again. I'll be working on it as time allows to flick the ends open prior to washing. Nice, long staple, too! I can't wait to dye some of the locks up and then try tail spinning with them.

Wool/cotton baby slub - OTRY

One of my favorite yarns ::

CM Shawl!

Almost forgot! I finally finished the Catskill Mountain Shawl # 1! ... behind all of my test knitters. Shame on me! I'm going to put it to soak today and dye it tomorrow. Once it's blocked & photos are taken I can finally publish the pattern for sale. I'm thinking of offering a discount, if there is any interest, on the price of the pattern if a knit-a-long might be formed. I hope that people might have interest in this worsted weight shawl that is circular with a split to the middle - totally wrap around.

I have the next CMS on needles and have started patterning. This one will be a half circle... the next one may be triangular.

Update update update... STUFF!

I did purchase the fleece mentioned in the post below. Just waiting on it to arrive. If it's half as clean as the Cormo I started working on I'll consider myself extremely fortunate.

I spread a sheet on the kitchen table and FINALLY opened up the Cormo fleece. Other than the tips, this stuff is so darn clean and gorgeous. I took some and flicked out the ends and put it in a mesh bag. Took another couple of handfuls and left it 'as is' and put that in a second bag and washed & rinsed both bags. Of course the flicked stuff is perfect and so white! The other is pretty darn nice, too, but I will be flicking all of the ends open prior to washing. I'm going to grab the flicked/washed wool and spin it today to see how much grease might be left in it since I only did one wash. I didn't want to totally get rid of all of the lanolin - I think I pretty much succeeded. Blace would like me to flick some and then dye it prior to washing to see dye results with grease. Sounds like a plan so I'll probably do so this week.

RE: Jelly Yarn. I heard from the Jelly Yarn people regarding my post about using it as drive belts for our spinners. Wonderfully nice email!! Of course this boosted my interest in their product more so and I went exploring their site. I believe that I'm going to purchase their finer weight jelly yarn to make something for Andrea (daughter). Andrea likes really funky, cool stuff and with her new job at her very favorite clothing store I know she'll want to wear unusual items as per her typical style. I'm thinking vest, or something along that line. Maybe with some glass beads -- or better yet -- pony beads! Andrea is nuts about neon colored plastic pony beads, and the glow in the dark versions. I bet the jelly yarn would work up well with those, too!

Hard to believe our baby is going to be 18 years old on the 22nd. It's difficult not having her here at home, too. Blace & I both miss her, sometimes to the point of distraction. Granted, there were times when she made us crazy but I miss her rantings about the government, gas prices, food prices, and the dogs. I also miss watching her fav TV shows with her - Top Model, Project Runway, Tabitha whatserface Salon Makeover, Jeopardy... Damn! We haven't seen her in almost 2 weeks now since she's living with a friends family to make her jobs more accessible. Lately I've been somewhat sorry about moving so far up into the boonies/mountains. We didn't think that far in advance 8 years ago when we bought this house. We did realize a couple of years ago that when Andrea got out of high school we'd have issues with her working & college... we bought the Suzuki last year so she'd have something to drive but didn't anticipate gas being so obscenely expensive that she'd not want to commute and would ultimately find a place to stay. *sigh* I miss my baby! Can ya tell? :)

Spent the past few days carding batts with leftover bits of wool from my last dyeing adventure. I have some pretty stuff here! I also received a recent order of glizty stuff and was able to do my test knitter, Patricia's batt up this morning. I loaded that batt with EVERYTHING! Merino, Romney, mohair, angelina fiber, bamboo, tencel, and crystalina. Patricia seems to like the same types of stuff that I do for spinning so I hope she'll be happy to receive it. I'll ship it out to her on Monday.

Ahhh... spinning! I have a bit of roving from Rowen left to finish up into a single today and then I really need to finish the Novelty & Art Yarn challenge from August with the stuff I received from Melanie in Australia. I'm way overdue on posting finished photos, must get on the ball and get things caught up! I then have to take photos of the September challenge ingredients that I received from Fabienne in Germany this past week. I still have no idea how I'm going to approach that challenge but I'm sure something will come to me.

Also have to test the yarn yardage counter set-up that Blace rigged for me by running the July Earth batt yarn through it. I also need to photograph that finished yarn and post photos prior to using it -- I already have a project chosen for it and have it queued #1 with Ravelry. Have to press and seam the Norah Gaughan "Curren" that I finished two weeks ago. The millifiore buttons arrived a few days ago for it and that should provide incentive to complete the sweater.

Didn't plan on this to get so long ... ramble on! Time to get moving.

Over all -- I have too much to do and am not sure where to begin.

Fleece

I contacted someone advertising Border Leicester fleece for sale - 5lbs for $20. Seems like a good deal, the sheep was blanketed, some grease in the tips. The seller contacted me and as soon as shipping charges are figured out I'll complete the purchase. It'll be coming from Ohio.

I've read up on this wool and it seems to be suitable for outerwear garments. I wonder if after I get it picked through if I'll have enough to spin up for a short coat?!? I'm already visualizing colorways and spinning ideas for it!

I still have all of that (7lbs) Cormo to process! I've been hesitant to wash it because it's just so beautiful and I love the feel of the lanolin on my hands. Must be brave. I think that I'll grab some today and get it washed up to see how it goes - now that I type this I'm almost anxious to spin it. :)

I spun up one full batt of wool from Rowen of the "Fiber Swap Club" on Ravelry last night and love the way it came out. I rolled the batt length-wise, twisted it up a bit and drafted it out. I have the second batt drafted the same and ready to start.

As soon as this damn tachycardia that I've been experiencing since crawling out of bed stops I'll get started on one thing or the other. I've been sitting here since 11:30am, doing pretty much nothing, sweating and feeling light headed. The methods recommended for stopping the rapid heart rates just aren't doing the trick. When I experience this I can't do a thing because exhaustion sets in immediately and I become short of breath and shaky. Sucks! I'll give doc a call tomorrow and try to get an appointment ASAP. I think its time for cardiac meds in addition to all of the others that I take. *sigh*

Eve

Hubby finally shortened the treadle on Eve - he had built a new foot pedal for her and the old treadle was about an inch or two too long to work with the new pedal. It's been quite some time since I've worked with this wheel because I've been testing/using all of the new electric ones that he has been building.

I put a 'jelly yarn' drive belt on her tonight - had been using cotton and a poly belt combination with some issues - and the jelly belt works like a charm! Great stuff, this so called yarn. We're also using it on the electrics. Very strong, limited stretching, no thinning that we've seen as of yet. $10 a skein, 65 yards, I'm going to have to get more to keep on hand.

So, I got out some swap batts and started spinning. I didn't realize how much I missed using this wheel! I drafted the next batt and will start again in the morning. :)

Aitheria

Our electric spinner has made it's debut on Etsy. Yay!

Aitheria - Electric Spinner video on YouTube

Another dye day

Got all of the new pots scrubbed up and I'm going to dye the remainder of the wool bells that I purchased from Sheep Shed. I've formed my dye base formula and will follow it from here on so that I can replicate colors. Bout time! So far all roving and batts have been OOAK.

I need to establish colorways that will be always available. Wish I could replicate the "Spill the Wine" roving that I did a couple of months ago. Who knows - I may be able to do so in the future.

Today I'm going to mix mordants and soak the wool for a bit in those prior to dyeing. Yesterday I mixed the bases up, put them in bottles - about 6 oz. of each, and topped them off with water. Nice colors, but I want some that are more vibrant so we'll see how todays experiment works out.

I noticed lots of mohair in some of the stuff I dyed yesterday. I actually kind of like it! Also found that I'm missing a large bag of 'grab bag wool' and will have to find where I stashed it so I can get it all colored up. ;) I want to use all of it up before I order more. Of course I still have over 4lbs of Romney and over 6lbs of Cormo to wash and dye... I might wash up some of the Romney today. It maintains its locks so well and they dye up quite nicely, too.

OK - time to get at it!!

Swaps, dyeing, spinning, etc...

I received my swapee's name today and I hope that some of the stuff that I've already chosen to send presents a challenge for her. This woman spins the most amazing yarns out of virtually everything and anything. I remember one of her spins in particular that just blew me away. Of course I don't recall the name of it but will try to find the photo on Ravelry today. Her last spin was awe inspiring. She actually used a broomstick as a spindle to do the spinning because the swap contents wouldn't fit through the orifice of her wheel.

Got all the wool soaking last night and will commence dyeing it today. I'm going to be true to the mountains and use colors found here in natural settings. I think that I'll be using six colors today. One being brown - but I don't like the actual result of this particular brown dye so I'm going to add red to one blend and ocher to another.

As for my spinning - still waiting for hubby to finish up whatever he was doing to #2 electric yesterday. I want to use that for plying... dammit! I have so much yardage on the jumbo bobbin it would take forever for me to ply on the regular wheel. Maybe it'll be good to go later on.

...

New batts to be added to our Etsy shop

I have some pretty blends that I'll be adding to the Etsy shop --- probably tomorrow (Sunday, Aug 10). These may be some of the last offerings on Etsy. The web site is close to being published. Lots of configuring has been completed on the database, accounts set up with UPS, USPS, and PayPal linking in place.

The electric spinner will be photographed for preview. I'm going to use the latest concept tomorrow to ply a large amount of yarn. This will allow us to see how easy turning the motor will be. No more crossed belts/bands! The only issue we're still pushing along on is what to use as a belt. We have polyurethane stuff, cotton wicking, cotton yarns, hemp, and another product coming our way. So far -- seems it may need to be a combination of cotton and the poly stuff. I may end up braiding belts and then stitching the cotton ends together to get a smooth join.

OK - time for photos (below) and then I'm off to soak massive amounts of wool in preparation for dyeing tomorrow. We've made decisions on our signature colors and that's what I'll be working with.

OH! Almost forgot... we hit this flea market shop today - walked in and immediately thought, holy shit! Look at this freakin' mess! Wall to wall to ceiling to floor of every kind of throw away stuff imaginable. These people stock this shop with everything they can get their hands on! In the very last (very crowded, messy, isle) I found 4 - 18/10 stainless steel stock pots... a bit spotted and stained but nothing that a steel wool pad and some Dawn won't take care of. Only one of the pots had a lid. They wanted $12 per pot - I got all 4 for $25. Good deal! Now, for the photos::::