Sugar Bunny Boulevard

A is for Arin. Again.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Last year I stopped with the letter C on my ABC-along.  Last fall I composed a post explaining about that.  And picking up again.  But I never actually posted it.  Strange, I am.  About some things.

So it's a new year.  And my sister is still Arin.  And that's what I used for my A post last year.  And it's her birthday today - again!  Funny how that happens once a year!  heh

My sister Arin will be visiting us here in Kansas later this month.  We're all excitedly anticipating her visit.  IF YOUR ARE MY SISTER AND YOUR NAME IS ARIN, DON'T READ THIS POST UNTIL AFTER YOUR VISIT NEXT WEEK.

(Letting her browse away from this page if necessary)

We have a lot planned for Arin's visit.  Emeline and Lila Pearl are expecting many cheerful rounds of CandyLand, Memory, Fairy Princess Dress-Up (accessorized complete with wings, wands, and Fairy Princess Jewelry) and Duck Duck Goose.  Maybe Ring Around The Rosies if there's time.  Lila says "Arin is very good at CandyLand."

Who could resist these two?

 

So, now that sister Arin is supposedly gone, there's also the matter of the annual Very Special and Spectacular Handspun and Knit Birthday Gift.  Two years ago, if you remember, was Argosy.  Last year I didn't show what I made but it was a dear little treasure bag, pink and white handspun singles, stranded, and a hand made hammered silver shawl pin that I picked up from Twist, my LYS.  No picture, but I also felt like I could have done better so it didn't bother me not to document the FO.

This year I have quite a lot more fiber in the stash.  And a spinning wheel (or two) of my own.  And a bit of skill.  But one never has too much spinning skill.  Especially when using a fiber that you don't have much experience with.  The more you spin the more you know that every fiber is different and it's impossible to predict how a new fiber will behave.  Good luck getting what you WANT from that fiber the first time through.  And if you have a limited quantity.... ha.  It's a crap shoot.

A few years ago when I received the awesome red stroller as a RAK from a dear friend she also included some fiber that she had acquired and was happy to pass along since she wasn't a spinner and I was only in the infancy of my spinning life at that time (I think I had been spinning for maybe a MONTH at that time).  She gave me some luxury fiber samples that had come from BMFA.  One of the fibers included there was some baby camel - about 25-30g.  I don't remember exactly, and it's odd.... when I started spinning it for this project I didn't weigh it.  I'm a nut.

So the pattern I have picked out is one I've had my eye on for a while to use with a handspun project - strange how we think about patterns for so long and imagine them into existance.  At least I do that.  I've still got my eye on it for some other handspun that I've done a sample skein for but with this fiber I didn't have enough to do a sample skein.  I did a sample skein with other fibers that I was considering, of which I had a greater quantity, but there wasn't enough baby camel to do a sample swatch.  Here's the yarn.  Already balled up because I wasn't thinking "take a picture" when it was still in the skein.  I was aiming for lace weight, lighter than fingering.  What I got ranged from that up to sport, so it averages about fingering.  I also didn't measure the yardage before I started knitting because I thought I would just knit until I ran out of yarn.  I'm afraid it'll be a scarflette.  But a nice one.  I hope.  ha

 

And the pattern.  It is called by the designer "Cinder's Fairy Godmother Scarf" though on Ravelry you can find it listed as Cinderella's Fairy Godmother Scarf (Ravelry Link).  I got the beads at Wal-Mart.  Kind of generic but just the color and effect I wanted for the very neutral colored camel yarn.

I'm praying for this stuff to relax, stretch, and hold a blocking.  But I'm afraid it's got too much loft to hold any blocking for very long and the beads will disappear a bit in the texture.  If nothing else she'll have a nice little neck warmer with cold little beads on it, and I will have a new bit of fiber experience including beading.  There are a LOT of beads on this thing.  A LOT.

In the past few months I've been busy with a few things like soap making (oh so fun!), hosting a Christmas Swap on Ravelry (also so fun!), and cleaning my house (not so fun).  And squeezing in a bit of knitting and spinning and teaching.  I'm looking forward to more yarn dyeing and more of all of the rest and hopefully I can carve out the time to blog about it.

Happy New Year Everyone!  And Happy Birthday to my sister Arin!  :)

XOXOXOXOXOX

Yarn Makes Us Happy!

A few days ago Emeline and Lila Pearl proclaimed "Yarn Makes Us Happy!" so of course I had to grab the camera to see if I could get them to repeat it.  This is how it went....

A Spinner Is Born

Last week on Thursday evening I taught my first spindling class.  There were six students.  All unsure of themselves.  All wondering if it was truly possible to learn.  There was me, unsure of myself and wondering if I was truly capable of teaching other people how to do something that seemed to come very naturally to me.

Suzannah was permitted to come along.  I normally don't let her tag along when I'm teaching a class but it seemed okay this time.  Thursday night is always busy at Twist and I figured she would have someone to talk with since it was SnB night and she could always help wind yarn or might pick up some yarn and needles as she has been known to do when she doesn't bring her own.

Instead of mingling with the happy SnB crowd, she sat in on my class.  After a brief demonstration of how to make your leader, I was through with the spindle I brought for demo purposes.  Suzannah was just itching to try spinning so she picked up my spindle and wool.  She has watched me doing it nearly since I first began spinning, so she was no stranger to the mechanics.  She just hadn't tried it before.

Soon I had a room full of seven people, including Suzannah, proclaiming "Hey, I can do it!" 

Spinning, as I tell most every person that stands still long enough to listen, is the single most satisfying artistic pursuit I have ever attempted.  It brings me happiness that I can hardly describe.

Over the next few days Suzannah finished spinning her fiber, wound it off and plied it on Mothers Day.  A spinner was born and I couldn't be more proud.  She has even asked if she can take a spindle and wool to her dad's house this summer.  I think she really hearts spinning.

Everyone in my house, whether they spin and knit or NOT.... is a yarn sniffer.

The Pink Ribbon Sock Kits are doing well - only 41 remain.  If you're waiting until the last minute, don't wait too long!  If you already got one and you're not sure if you want a second, this is the moment because I probably won't do these kits again.  :)

Take care of every little thing and have a lovely week! XOXOXOXOX

Where Is Spring?

Happy Friday Everyone!  :)

So it's supposed to be Spring.  The season of renewal.  All over blogland people are suffering from the fact that Winter doesn't want to let go.  Spring is trying to come forth and it's having a hard time pushing past the bully that Winter seems to be this year.

Spring appears to be the season when kids who play spring sports (track and baseball and tennis anyone?) are constantly cancelling practices games and meets because of rain - in some cases, snow.  Sheesh.  C'mon already, Spring!  Let's have a bit of tweeting birds and sunshine!  Where can we rustle up some flowers and butterflies?

Actually, just across the street Mr. W's pear tree is blooming - not quite all the way yet but looking oh so pretty and his yard is FULL of daffodils.  My favorite bulb.  I really need to be thinking Spring Flowers when the weather gets chilly this fall!

I nearly froze to death this morning getting a picture of the pear blossoms.

I've been dyeing and spinning a bit of Spring too.  Wanna see?

Sunshine.  This is the first time I've spun sock yarn that I felt really satisfied with.  How long did it take me to get to this point?  Thank goodness I didn't know how long it would take when I started spinning.  I feel like I've been spinning a looooong time and it's been what.... less than two years?  lol  Finally sock yarn that isn't too thick, isn't overtwisted - it's Just Right.  And beautiful.  Sunny and happy.  88 grams.  395 yards.  Not for sale.

New Leaf.  Dyed to sell but couldn't.  I'm keeping this one and dyeing more.  :)

Apple Blossom

I was trying to do a shop update today but the week got away from me and we've been sick, the rain is getting us all down, and really all I've wanted to do is knit.

Emeline loves to use my camera.  Yes, it horrifies me to see her walking around the house with it but she just begs so sweetly and promises not to break or drop it.  She usually sneaks it out of the kitchen but this morning I allowed her to take some pictures.

She actually takes very interesting and Good pictures!  Here's one this morning of me... what else?  Knitting.

I've been doing some secret knitting and guess what.... you won't believe it.  Pattern writing.  I'm writing a sock pattern that will be available as a kit very soon (I'm really hoping first week of May?).  Very exciting.  I have some other secrets - one that I know you'll find out about... another I'm patiently waiting to hear about.  Fun fun fun and it's all about yarn and knitting and fiber.  Yay!

Having the babies around keeps life interesting.  Emeline is, once again, working on potty training.  No diaper now for about three days.  Several accidents and some long awaited successes as well.  Hopefully Lila Pearl won't be far behind!

Everybody have a wonderful Springy weekend - whether you have rain or the coveted Sunshine!

And take good care of every little thing.  :)       XOXOXOXOXOXOX

A Quick Post

Oh Spinning Wheel, how I love thee. 

(2.1oz DK weight wool/silk/glitz blend)

My affair with the borrowed wheel is obvious to the entire family and I can no longer pretend I haven't been lusting for a spinning wheel ever since I began spinning with a spindle.  I was apparently even lying to myself because I never would have guessed that I would fall so completely in love with spinning at the wheel.  I now wonder if I'll ever go back to the spindles.

I'm a fickle fickle spinner.  I'll probably want to spin with any wheel that comes along.  And to my surprise I'm feeling like my first wheel... MY first wheel, will probably be a Louet S10.  I've browsed the internet/Ravelry/eBay/Craigslist and looked at virtually every wheel brand and type including antiques and keep thinking the S10 will be the best thing to have around my little ones.  It's So easy to pop the drive band off the bobbin when I get up from the wheel.... and nearly any time I get up you can bet one of the babies is over there wanting to treadle.  This thing is just so perfect to have around little ones.  When they're a little bigger I think I'll definitely want to collect some vintage wheels because I'm so in love with the Saxony look but I'm really happy with the yarn I'm getting with this S10.

You probably know me well enough to guess what's next:  Handspun Yarn For Sale.  But not right this second.  The above photos should give you a good idea what to watch for though!  :)

I'm in a bit of a hurry so here are a few random things:

• In the next week some time (after my sister goes home next Monday) I'll be setting up a special blog page for selling Handspun and also Hand Dyed Yarns including PayPal buttons to buy direct from that page without having to email me first to see if the item is still available.
• Shopping has begun for a web host so I can put my blog, store/shopping cart, etc, in its own space.  Hopefully I'll be getting a TaxID# and establishing Sugar Bunny Boulevard as a bona fide business with actual expenses and hopefully income.  A business rather than a personal hobby.  I've been thinking about this for so long but I've been afraid to take the leap - any helpful suggestions, ideas, or information about this kind of venture is welcome.
• I'm excited to show the yarn and buttons for my EPS sweater - developing a class for that.
• During the month of February I'm teaching a Learn to Knit class at the local community college - excited about that!
• I've contacted Maggie's Farm and reserved "at least one entire white fleece".  She reponded and said that it'll be about 10lbs of wool and they're shearing at the end of Feb or 1st Saturday in March.
• When I go for the shearing and pick up my fleece I'm hoping to also have the money to pick up an S10 at the Yarn Barn.  My fingers are crossed, treadling leg/foot limbered up, and dye pots are ready.  I've gotta earn this money somehow so you'll be seeing lots for sale at SBB. 
• I was visiting the Kansas Oil Museum here in El Dorado earlier this week, saw a Wheat Weaving display.... one thing led to another and I'm now planning to do a spinning demonstration at their "Kansas Day" celebration on January 26th!  Cool!  I didn't tell the lady I had only been using a wheel for about three days.  It's okay, I have time to practice spinning and looking at/talking to others at the same time.  heh

Everybody have a super fabulous weekend - my sister arrives tonight and we have a really busy day ahead with swimming lessons and various other family activities going on.

Take good care of every little thing!  :)  XOXOXOXOX

Happy Monday!

WooHoo!  I'm am so very very happy y'all!  :D

First.... You might be wondering how my diet has been going for the past week.  Maybe you're not wondering so you can scroll down if you're just here for the fiber.  heh

This was an amazing week on my diet.  Honestly it's probably the best first week I have ever had on any diet EVER.  I lost 8 pounds in the first week!  I was 212 this morning - Yay!  Much nicer than last week's 220.  The most I ever lost in a first week was probably 4.5 lbs. 

So I kept my food diary every single day.  Well no.  Monday through Friday when it was EASY to keep the food diary... I kept it.  Saturday and Sunday things were just too crazy but I had already gotten a good idea during the week how much I could/should eat and had begun developing a pattern that is pretty easy to follow.

My calorie intake was between 1200-1300 each day, which is well below the 1800 limit that I established for myself but honestly it was difficult to eat much more without exceeding the 40g fat limit.  Reaching 40g of protein was super easy peasy because I like chicken.

My favorite thing to eat this week was chicken salad sandwiches made with sour cream instead of mayo.  Oh my gosh this was GOOD!  I never thought of subbing sour cream for mayo in chicken salad but I saw a recipe using yogurt so I thought I'd try it.  Super YUM!

So I'm more than 10% to my goal!  Yay!  Oh - and I DID get up at 5:00am-ish on Monday and Wednesday last week and again this morning and went to the Y.  I LOVE going super early in the morning like that - I NEVER would have thought I'd enjoy it so much but it's an awesome jump start to my day.  I'm going to bed earlier than I used to so that I can get up that early in the morning, so I'm getting better rest too. 

AND (yes, there's more...) I'm drinking water.  Not the whole 8 glasses each day yet - but 4-5 glasses each day.  It's gotta be helping somehow.

So that's the WLC report for this week.  Wow - I'm happy and feeling really excited about not only seeing a difference on the scale, but hope to feel a difference in the way my clothes are fitting soon!  :)

If you read the last post you know that Saturday was a Special Day... it was my 3yr Blogiversary!  I celebrated in knitterly fashion by getting up early and driving to Wichita for knitting with my KIP group at Panera Bread.  Ohh the joy.  Knitting in good company and having a Panera Quiche.  That's one place I really need to hit for lunch one of these days.

Of course the next item on the agenda was to get in our respective vehicles and move the knitting over to TWIST.  There, again, was more knitting in good company and plenty of chatting with Shelly, customers coming and going, yarn squeezing, pattern browsing... and oh... did I mention that our KIP group organizer Jackie brought her spinning wheel for me to borrow?  What?  I failed to mention that?  How better to celebrate my blogging anniversary than to begin practicing on a spinning wheel?!

   

After a delicious lunch at a French Bakery/Deli down the street from TWIST, I took Jackie's Louet S10 home.  Oh my gosh I've never looked at a spinning wheel to really see how they worked - this was like sight reading music to me.  It came completely naturally.  Learning on the spindle must have prepared me well for drafting (good fiber doesn't hurt!), and apparently all the Q&A that goes on in blogs and comments about spinning problems rubbed off on me for the past three years because it was very obvious how this should work.  I've suddenly had a lot of blanks filled in too.  Ratios... OH!  Single Drive or Double Drive.... OH!  So many things suddenly make complete sense.  This morning I looked up the pdf instructions and realized Jackie was right - it was really easy to catch on to the concept.  So now, of course, I've got my eye out for a wheel of my own.

So that's it... my first yarn on the wheel.  I actually spun this with my spindle and plied it on the wheel.

It was a great Blogiversary day and before leaving Twist I also picked up the yarn and buttons for my first EPS (Elizabeth Zimmerman Percentage System) sweater.  Pictures and details about THAT coming soon.

For now it's time to clean house and get ready for my sister to arrive on Thursday night!  Have a lovely week - keep up the dieting and exercising if you're doing it - and I might see you around a little later this week.  I have more spinning and various things to tell about!

Take good care of every little thing!  XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Such A Small Thing

Knitting or crocheting one square is such a small thing.  Two squares is twice as small.  :)

I mentioned a few posts ago how much I enjoy the correspondence that I receive with the afghan mail that comes.  Today was an especially nice day with regard to that correspondence.  Complete strangers are bonded by a similar interest - expressing that they have care and concern for others.

The correspondence that comes with afghan mail is either notes or letters to me, or notes to the families of Greensburg.  I have been thinking a lot about the notes for Greensburg families and what exactly to do with them.  There aren't really that many at this time - possibly not even one for each afghan.  So I thought I could make a smallish (maybe 10-15 sheets of paper) book to be presented with every afghan that includes the following:

• typed messages/sentiments (condensed to several messages per page) from every card/note that is sent for the Greensburg families including images from a few of the cards.  This is mostly because I would want every family or person that receives an afghan to read all of the messages that are sent!  They're all too awesome for everyone not to have a chance to see what they say.
• pages with signatures/notes from each person that helps with the seaming project, obviously photocopied - people couldn't sign 40-50 books or they wouldn't get any seaming done!
• page(s) with the first name and city of each person that sent squares.  Obviously I've been keeping an ongoing list on the blog as packages come in but I've also been keeping a database with this information so I can easily print a list.

The originals of all the above will be made into an album/binder and presented to the City of Greensburg (if they want it) to memorialize this project and the tornado that they'll never forget.  I would guess there are people there who are keeping track of newspaper articles, etc, regarding the tornado and keeping a historical record of the details surrounding the event.

As you might have noticed, I didn't do a blog post yesterday.  Sorry if anyone was disappointed.  We did get mail!  But guess what.  I didn't open it until today.  I'm trying hard not to let the afghan project take over my life (too late, really) so I did a few other things during the babies' nap, like fill bird feeders, put up my hummingbird feeders, and wash the inside and outside of my kitchen windows.  This is not something I have done yet at this house (I know, I'm a terrible person) and it's just incredible how much prettier the world is through clean windows.  :)

And you know what?!  There was NO afghan mail at the church today!!  So I guess I was given a little breather by the USPS.  And I opened yesterday's mail today. 

Today's correspondence included a card for the families of Greensburg that made me stop.  Made me freeze in place for a moment and ponder the greatness of the simple words she wrote.  Jan in Arlington, Virginia, sent a postcard with a Sunshine and Shadow quilt on the front (I think of it as Trip Around The World) and this note written on the back:

Such a small thing - a stranger stitching some squares to be joined by other strangers with squares made by other strangers.

I hope our collective efforts give you physical, emotional and spiritual warmth.  So many of us care what happens to you and yours.

We can't know exactly how you feel, the struggles you have gone through, the struggles still to go.

I hope as you enjoy this blanket, you feel the love and hopes that these strangers stitched together - all for you.

It's a hug from the knitters who can't be there in person and we hope it brings you comfort.

Jan - Arlington, Virginia

Jan's postcard to the families of Greensburg:

I could just cry reading that.  It's the sentiment that I think every single person knitting for, crocheting for, or reading about this project wants to convey to the families in Greensburg.  Jan - you said it so well.  Thank you so very much.

So today we're adding another 57 squares to the total, bringing us to a whopping 1602 squares received (OVER 1600!!!!!  WooHoo!) and 638 needed to reach the 40'ghan goal.  Wow it would be awesome to make more than 40 afghans.  New secret wish = 50.  But really I just don't see how I could "up" the goal again.  More than 40 is awesome no matter how many it might be!

For those of you who have offered to send yarn for seaming, I'll just say that I've contacted some people (just one company so far) in the yarn world and hopefully I'll soon have good news in the way of donated yarn for seaming.  Keep your fingers crossed for me, okay?  :)

Today's (er.... yesterday's) blocks came from the following people:

• Kate - South Natick, MA (2nd package from you Kate?!)
• Marry - St. Andrews, SCOTTLAND, UK (WooHoo! - lovely note and beautiful squares - thank you Marry!)
• Anonymous - SINGAPORE!  (2nd package from this anonymous person!  THANK YOU!)
• Jan - Arlington, VA
• Lori - Petoskey, MI (Lori, have you been reading Lynne's blog?  Hmm? Thank you for the sweet surprise!)
• Barb - Harrisburg, PA
• Jen - Austin, TX
• Maureen - Barrington, NH
• Debbie - Justin, TX
• Suzanne - Seattle, WA (4th... 5th.... how many have you sent now Suzanne!?  A bunch!!)
• Jean - Winona, MN
• JoAnn - Mount Pearl, NL, CANADA!!!  People - I spent two days completely stumped about the abbreviation "NL" in Canada.  I was trying SO HARD not to have to look at a map to find it!  And then I finally broke down - I got out the atlas.  Uhhh... where?  Huh?  What?  What the heck? I searched.... I looked.  There's no NL in Canada.  But wait... oh yes, there is.  Hanging out in the middle of the frigid sea where they surely use cats and yarn for insulating their homes.... is Newfoundland and Laborador!!!  Y'all, this lady lives on a teeny peninsula on a very smallish island on the east coast of Canada where it's nearly the arctic circle and makes Kelly in New Brunswick look like she has tropical weather!!  JoAnn sent a hilarious letter with her four sweetly knit little squares.  She states that she measured wrong (you're not the only one JoAnn!) so her squares came out very small - more like 6" square rather than the requested 8"!!  She suggested they could be made into CAT BLANKETS because surely there are homeless cats in the wee villiage of Greensburg, Kansas.  hehe  Have no fear JoAnn, your squares will be used and loved.  Possibly by cats and surely by their people.  :) 

Guess what y'all!?  I've been knitting.  Yep, knitting.  For the Spun Stitches knitalong.  I haven't put up a button or a link.  I haven't posted on their blog!  But I've been doing it because I was so inspired - by.... yes, their lovely buttons which I have not put in the sidebar yet.  Can you believe it?  Anyway, here's proof.

   

I can hardly believe it but I have knit all the yarn but the last two skeins in the photo above.  Those two were spun and the first skein plied when I was at Estes Park so that's pretty special to me.  When I look at this lumpy blob in my lap I wonder what I was thinking when I spun the yarn so crazy.  This was a great look with the Argosy scarf... but this shawl?  The jury is still out but I'm really thinking it's perfect for its intended purpose.  The next time you see this shawl it'll be finished and hopefully blocked.  I'll tell you then why I had to make it and who it's for.  :)

Last but not least, did you know that today is Dale's birthday?  Dale is the husband of one of my favorite blogging friends, Carole.  A lot of you know (of) them.  I enjoy getting to know the families of my blog friends (husbands, children, pets, gardens, communities) so it's very nice that Carole shares a lot of her time with Dale and tells us all about it.  When the girls saw the video of Dale singing on Carole's blog they wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday too!

Everybody have a great rest of your week and I'll be back with another afghan update!  I might take Wednesday off for an administrative maintenance day for the afghan project.  I have some emails to write (to "people in the yarn world") and also need to get current with the data entry.  Maybe I'll have the map updated too!  Yay! (don't worry - you haven't even seen the map yet - I've never been current with it yet!)  Have a Happy Week!  :)

Oh Macro, How I Loved Thee

Hello hello!  The evening is dark and quiet (getting on toward night now) and all you can hear is the computer grinding away and the washing machine running.  Babies are asleep and things are winding down.

As promised I have a bit of spinning to show off.  I'll start by saying that I am still not 100% satisfied with our camera choice.  One very good thing is that the girl helping me when I bought it (at Wal Mart) said that they have a 30day return policy.  If I try it out and don't like it, bring it back in the box, etc, and I can exchange for something else.  I've pretty much concluded that I will never EVER be able to take the very very close-up macro photos with this camera that I was able to take with my older camera.  Awesome macro is an incredibly important feature to me in our picture taking life.  Without a good macro feature I won't be able to get the very closeup pictures of etches on Jeff's glass pieces that he sells on ebay.  And my gosh, it's a form of entertainment for me!  Seriously.  This camera won't take macro pictures any closer than 15cm (6").  That's just not good enough.  I need more like a 5cm range.  I think that's what the old camera was.  OTHER pictures are awesome with this camera.  Nice color, blah blah blah.  I just really need a better macro feature.

SO!  I have pictures of spinning, but not closer than 15cm!  Ugh!  As I said, this bit of spinning is to make a shawl for the Spun Stitches knitalong.  The shawl pattern I hope to make is a faroese shawl called the Comfort Shawl, a free pattern issued when you subscribe to the Interweave "Knitting Daily" newsletter.  It has a garter stitch border about 2" wide with some simple lace just above the border, and the rest is stockinette.  I think this will be a good simple pattern for showing off the wild and crazy sampler-style spinning I'm doing.  I am combining so many things in this spinning because..... because why not?  Because I can!  Because it's my spinning and I am having FUN with it.  Hopefully I won't start hating it when I get to the knitting part.  This will definitely knit up with a stripey effect because of the way the colors and fibers are arranged.

There are six skeins finished so far.  The purple you see is a wool blend which I think has some mohair and possibly "angelina" or some shiny fiber mixed into it.  The third skein from the left has wensleydale locks and also llama fiber in it.  The next to last skein on the right is mostly Fleece Artist merino - gorgeous color transitions through browns and rose/berry colors.  The skein on the far right was really fun - it has a fiber blend of baby camel and tussah silk.  Mmmm.... that baby camel is a very fine micron that is similar to cashmere and yak.  You can already see the bloom just from handling it.  The camel/silk blend is soft beyond description!!  I have quite a lot more of that fiber blend and now that I've experimented with it a little I'm looking forward to using it for something special!

In the center skein:  gray is wensleydale locks - quite a fuzzy halo with that fiber because it's so CURLY!; white is wool from Jan's sheep Tootles; reddish brown is llama - a very smooth hairy fiber similar to mohair but much softer.

I've really been excited about this spinning as an experiment with different fibers.  The spinning is fun but wow, I'm really looking forward to the knitting!!  My only concern is that I might not like how the color changes look when they're knit up in this pattern.  I don't know.  I need to stop saying that because I'm really not worried that I won't like it.  My BIGGER concern is getting gauge with this faroese pattern.  It calls for what I think is a sport or possibly DK weight yarn.  I'm close with my spinning.  But the pattern calls for size US10 knitting needles.  THAT makes no sense at all to me based on the pattern photo.  It doesn't look like it's loosely knit.  Maybe it's a pattern error???  Surely not after this long.

Daily Square Report:

People - I am constantly amazed by this project and the people who are contributing.  As of yesterday we needed just 12 squares to hit the "1000 squares received" mark.  Since the project started, Tuesday has been a slow day with the mail but I was still hopeful.  Today I only had two packages at the church, and one came in the mail at home (Hi Lana!).  So I wasn't in any big hurry to open the packages... I ate a slow lunch, worked on laundry, etc.  I'm TRYING to get a long list of things done before leaving home for a few days and three packages was just what I needed to keep my focus on housework.  So finally I decided to get these packages opened so that I could get pictures taken before it got too dark.

Today's three packages..... three.  THREE.  Three packages brought us 92 squares.  92!!!!!  Can you BELIEVE THAT??  This isn't someone pulling a box of squares out of Granny's Attic.  These are three knitters.  Devoting their time and energy and thoughts and prayers and caring to families in Greensburg, Kansas.  Everyday people like you and me.  I usually don't tell how many squares a certain individual sends because one square is as important as a hundred squares.... but I just have to say - Lana sent 54 squares in her box.  It takes 56 to make an afghan y'all.  Can you believe that she sent 54 squares??  My gosh.  If I had thought I could make 56 squares in any amount of time I might have stayed quiet and knit this one afghan all by myself and never told anyone about it and never started the whole project at ALL!!  Our total square received is now over 1000!  We have received 1080 squares!  Only 40 more squares (less than 1 blanket worth!) and we'll be at the half way point.  Can we get a WooHoo!?!?

   

I generally don't tell how many squares a certain individual has made because I don't want to minimize how many ANYONE has made!  But since I told how many Lana made, I'll tell you that Eleanor also sent 35 squares.  This really just boggles my mind when I think that a project I'm talking about has caused so many people to do something so awesome.  It's not me doing this.  The people of Greensburg really didn't do it either I guess.  This honestly is not. my. project.  It's your project.  Every one who makes a square.  It's my 10 year old daughter's project.  And 92yo Ruth's project.  It's more than making squares for people who lost their homes.  I love knowing so many people want to help others when they're suffering from a loss.  The response to this whole thing has overwhelmed me.

Today's squares came from the following people:

Elizabeth - Lebanon, IN
Eleanor - Wayland, NY
Lana - Springfield, MO

Bless your hearts.  Every single one of you, for telling your friends and writing about this project on your blogs and telling your knitting groups and Yahoo groups and for knitting one square or 54 squares.  Thank you SO MUCH, everyone!

Have a wonderful rest of your week!  I guess most of you won't read this until Wednesday - only a few more days until Estes!!!  Yay!!!  :)

Make Time For Sanity Savers

Even though this will officially post on Friday, this is really my Thursday post cause it's not quite midnight here yet!  And it's CRAZY LONG!!! 

Whewwww.  Can I take a breath? 

I always yap about how busy busy busy I am but then I feel guilty because some of my busy time is spent knitting and spinning!  How could I be soooo busy if I have time to knit and spin?  It's my Sanity Saver y'all.  Knitting is nice.  And is very relaxing.  However, spinning is my ultimate sanity saver.

Let's see what Laura has been up to?  It's not all afghan squares around here.  I'm making time for my Sanity Saver activities in addition to my Afghan Project Manager job and Mommy job.  That's why I'm not posting at a reasonable hour.  I did try to post earlier but things kept getting in the way.  This afternoon during the babies nap I opened the afghan mail right away, made a few notes.... took tons of pictures, and then just as I was about to sit down and compose a post the telephone rang.  It was Ruth from church - 92 years old.  She had questions about the afghan project and was in the mood to chat.  Who am I to put a blog post before the need to know Ruth better?  So I chatted away the rest of the babies nap time with Ruth.  Then tonight just as I was about to start a blog post Jeff called to say he was coming home.  I looked around and said "oh no, I guess I should clean up a bit."  It really makes me cranky to do house work when I'd rather be doing a blog post or knitting or spinning.  *sigh*  Thankfully the cleaning was done by the time he got home.  And here I am now. 

How about some pictures of what I've been knitting and spinning??

Hogwarts Sock Swap  First up - progress shot of Hufflepuff socks in my own hand dyed yarn - dreamy merino/silk blend sock yarn.  Delish.  Just a few inches into the 2nd sock now but it's really a quick knit.  The deadline for mailing isn't until early July so I'm good.  I'll be including a few other goodies in the package as part of the swap - Hufflepuff House colored stitch markers (obviously yellow/black) and sock knitting needles.  I need to check and see if there were any other requirements - I don't think so.  I might make a little sock knitting tote in Hufflepuff colors to send along as well.  It's AMAZING to see the socks and accessories and Harry Potter-esque detail that some people are putting into their packages!!!  I haven't read the books so I don't know as much detail about the nature of the different houses and apparently MANY other details that the movies skip over.  I sure hope my pal likes these socks!  I'm using the RPM pattern from MagKnits. 

Next up in the knitting category.... ohhh... I have really worried that maybe I shouldn't show this.  It was a complete and utter series of moments that brought me to this place.  WEAK MOMENTS.  Weak Moment #1 was when I received two skeins of beautiful laceweight alpaca/silk from my sweet friend Carole.  Just because she loves me.  Isn't that so sweet??  The yarn was a pretty and bright pink red and yellow colorway called "Happy Dance".  Surely Carole thought of me when she sent the yarn because I've been so completely overjoyed about the progress of Rebuilding Greensburg - Block by Block!  Weak Moment #2 was when I thought I would love to cast on for something with this yarn immediately.  I thought and thought about what to make!  Then I looked at the yarn and wondered what I would look like covered with pink red and yellow.  The idea scared me just a little bit.  Socks, yes.  A shawl.... not so sure.  I also thought "maybe this is why Carole so generously sent me this yarn?  Maybe she couldn't see herself covered with a pink and red and yellow shawl?"  Hmmmm.....  Weak Moment #3 involved some blue dye.  And a lot more thinking.  I soaked the yarn.  My husband saw it and thought I had dyed some new yarn to sell and complimented the colorway!  He was APPALLED when I told him I was considering overdyeing the yarn that Carole sent me.  That didn't stop me.  My daughter Katie was equally shocked when she heard of the plan.  That didn't stop me.  I forged on despite the guilt they tried to shroud me with because my curiosity as a yarn dyer could not be quelled.

This..... became This.
 

After a hot bath with some Sapphire dye, Happy Dance is now more of a Waltz.  And I like it.  And it's becoming a laceweight Argosy Wrap.  What do you think?  Do you think Carole is actually reading or maybe just skimming for afghan info?  We can only hope because I'm about to faint knowing that she's going to find out I overdyed the yarn she sent.  The colors came out like plum, dark purple/violet, and various shades of green/teal.

I'm thinking this will be the Summer of the Shawl around the Bunny Hutch in my knitting life.  Not only am I working on the above wrap, I have also joined up with the Spun Stitches Knitalong (couldn't resist - have you seen their BUTTONS?).  The idea is to spin yarn enough for a shawl, and then knit said shawl.  That's a whole HECK of a lot of yarn, huh?  Especially when you're spinning with a spindle.  But that's okay.  Cause I'm making time for my Sanity Savers and this is a big one.  Something that adds interest to the spinning is color and using good fiber.  This project is combining both of those pleasures.  I haven't made a final decision about the shawl pattern - still need to check some info on the pattern I'm thinking of.  But here's a peek at the fiber and first skein of yarn.

 

The fiber was all gifted to me by friends.  The left and center were birthday gifts from Kelly.  I have the most of the purple wool on the left so the shawl will be mostly that color.  The white wool on the right was sent by my dear friend Jan in Oklahoma.  It's wool from her own sheep, Tootles.  It's the softest sweetest stuff on Earth.  And it drafts and spins like a DREAM.  If this is what your reward is for keeping a sheep (coated), it's worth the effort.  Thank you girls both so much for such beautiful fiber gifts - I'm thinking of you both so much as I spin and plan to make a shawl from the yarn.  :)

Enough about this stuff.  How about some afghan news???  If you're still with me, that is.  Sorry for the crazy long posts lately!!

Daily Square Report:

Today we received nine more squares and yet another surprise in addition to the surprise I mentioned in Wednesday's post!!!  The surprise of getting squares every day is nice but these extra surprises really knock my socks off!

First - yesterday's surprise!  Florence of Manville, NJ emailed to let me know this was coming but I didn't really know what to expect.  Florence sent an already completed crochet lap-ghan for some lucky family or individual in Greensburg!!  Isn't that awesome!?  And what a fun surprise it was to receive.  Before their nap this afternoon I told the girls that I wanted to take their picture outside holding this blanket.  They happily complied since that meant putting off nap time just a little longer.  hehe

As I've already said, as soon as the babies went down for their nap I opened today's afghan mail, did my record keeping stuff (counting), and took a bunch of pictures.  Today's surprise in the mail was from an anonymous knitter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  This person sent three GORGEOUS hand knit winter hats and attached very nice notes to each one and sent me a note as well explaining how it came to be that she was sending them.

The twist happened in this story when the babies got up from their naps.  I had planned on writing the blog post before they got up but then, you know.... phone call from 92yo Ruth and I ran out of time.  I had put the green hat by the computer so I could remember what it said on the tag about how the people of Louisiana had been helped after Hurricane Katrina so she was happy to have the opportunity to help someone else in similar need. 

I was in the bedroom changing Lila's diaper when Emeline found the hat and exclaimed, "WOW, a HAT!!  This is a pretty hat!"  She put the hat on and ran to the bedroom to show me that she was wearing it.  I told her "Emeline, please take that off, it's not your hat."  She said, "It's mine."  You can imagine the argument discussion that followed.  The crying and upset was very dramatic but I somehow convinced her that she could not keep the hat.  She then headed for the front door and INSISTED that I get the camera and take her picture wearing the hat on the front porch in the swing.  She started out rather cheery.... but then I reminded her that it was not her hat and she had to let me have it back.  I think her expression (and residual tears) says it all.

Don't all children look adorable when they wear hats that are twenty sizes too big?

And the squares.  Yesterday's 57 plus today's 9 mean we have received a total of 890 squares and still need 230 to reach our minimum goal.  Hooray!  In the comments on Wednesday's post Katherine suggested that I set a new goal just because it's so fun and motivating to have a goal!  Well then.  I guess we'll do that.  I think I agree with her.  I thought today about what might be a stretch... we have, oh... more than 45 days of knitting to go.  We're very near to reaching our minimum goal of 20 afghans.  I casually mentioned 2000 squares a few posts ago.  So how about we double the goal to 40 afghans(!) and set it for 1120 x 2 = 2240 squares!?  Think it's reachable??  Maybe I'm crazy.  Maybe it's too high.  Maybe it's too low??  I guess the days ahead will tell us.  Honestly it's a mystery at this point and I LOVE watching it unfold before our eyes!

In a combined list, yesterday and today's squares came from the following people:

Joanne - Saginaw, MI (2nd package!)
Barbara - Papillion, NE (2nd package!)
Florence - Manville, NJ (squares + crochet lap-ghan!!)
Tracy - Greenwood, MO (2nd package!)
Juanita - El Dorado, KS
Laura - Dadeville, AL
Vicki & Carin - Algonia, IA (mother/daughter team!)
FB - Stafford, VA
Laura - Los Banos, CA
Connie - Santa Rosa, CA
Carrie - Brunswick, ME
Jean - Hollis Center, ME
Sharilyn - Fairport, NY
Mary - Chicago, IL
Anonymous - Baton Rouge, LA (3 awesomely squishy beautiful hats!)

Thank you ALL for your sending your squares and these other thoughtful items.  Thank you ALL for your generous time spent knitting and crocheting and for sending thoughtful notes to the families who will receive the afghans. 

I bumped into the lady at church this morning who is working hard searching to find just the right family for our church to "adopt" and help out with rebuilding in Greensburg.  She was bursting at the seams with excitement about the news she had for Pastor Wade.  Hopefully we'll have more information very soon about this family and we can find out if they have children (she didn't know), as well as other possible needs.  She told me a little about her effort to find "just the right family" over the past month.  It's difficult to imagine what someone goes through when a tragedy has happened such as this.  She thought they had found just the right family and then the mother decided that she would not be staying in Greensburg and is buying a house in another community.  It's still a very recent trauma that families are recovering from in many different ways.  Emotional recovery is huge - especially for the family who decided to move away.  They had young children (and one with special needs) who went through the terror of this tornado destroying their home and they are having a lot of difficulties with the limitations that the community holds for them at this time.  Searching for just the right family to adopt is an emotional rollercoaster as well, because this woman from church is looking for someone to help and is hearing tragic stories and trying to offer hope to everyone she meets as she continues her search.  Hopefully we've found just the right family now and will be ready to help move on to the next step of recovery for them.  I'll let you know when I hear more about it.

Everybody TAKE CARE and have a beautiful Friday!  I'll be posting the usual Eye Candy Friday and afghan report later in the day.  XOXOX 

Eye Candy Friday

Welcome to Friday Everybody!  It's a good day.  :)

Visit Purly's blog to view a list of other Eye Candy Friday participants!

Eye Candy Friday this week is about new birth.  Remember the baby birds in my plant on the porch last summer?  Well, even though the plant is now DEAD, those purple martins are nesting in it again this spring.  We had four eggs this year and four babies.  So precious.  I did show Emeline these precious little babies and she said "Awwwwwwwww... babies."  I think they hatched just a few days ago but when I took this picture just a few minutes ago they were moving around and opening their mouth and trying to open their eyes in the bright sun.  They grow so fast.

I'm also feeling like a new mother about the spinning I have completed.  It's quints!  hehe  Five little skeins - 105 grams of new unwashed undyed 3-ply yarn - the epitome of yarn purity.  This will be beautiful when it's washed but I will probably also be dyeing it right away.  I feel like I'm putting a tattoo on a new baby here.  I really was choked up when I lined these up last night and gave them a squeeze.  I'm very very emotional about my spinning for some reason.  I hope this is normal.  :)

We have a busy day planned - walking to the post office this morning and then yarn dyeing when the babies go down for a nap.  The big kids are visiting with their dad and will be back Sunday so hopefully we'll find some Mommy and Daddy time somewhere this weekend.  I'll wrap this up with some pictures that I hoped would be the star of today's post but turned out a little disappointing due to poor light.  I employed the newly cleaned window sill to display the flowers the Emeline picked in the yard yesterday evening for her Daddy.

Have a great weekend!  :)