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What do these do things possibly have in common? Aside from the norm..nothing....unless you happen to be spinning Alpaca.
Yes, folks, I stupidly decided that the ball of grey alpaca I've had for years would be the perfect compliment ply to the oatmeal generic wool that was just finished being spun.
I don't know if it's the dryness in the air or a forgetful memory, but the last time I spun alpaca (over a year ago?) I'll be danged if I remember it being soooo fly-away. Yikes! I'm talking hair everywhere, including all over my clothes, up my nose and down my throat.
Hence, all day yesterday and all last night, I was coughing, hacking, cackkking.....like a cat trying to bring up a hairball. I felt little annoying wisps all over my face, in my eyes, on my arms, even though nothing was visible.
Well, I don't want to throw the alpaca away! That would be crazy talk. It's so silky, so smooth, such a beautiful grey. And I know how it can transform a so-so yarn into something luxurious when it's plied with even a generic wool. So what's a spinner to do?.........Surgical masks!!
So I went over to the storage house and dug out 3 masks. It's gotta work, right? I'm going to try it today. If it doesn't, and I'm still coughing up hair balls tonight, then I might consider ditching the fiber. And that would break my heart. Because.....there's 4 ounces of white alpaca in the storage bin waiting to be spun.....at another time. Maybe in a couple of years. When the memory of the hair ball causing, fly-away fiber is very, very distant.
I just hope I don't try to sip my coffee while forgetting the mask is on my face!
We made it through the storm over the weekend. Much of it in anticipation. Forecasted for Sunday....morning.....afternoon......late afternoon......night......depending on what tv station we watched, at what time of the day. Well, it finally came in about noon, with a fury, and ended about 7 pm. Total about 8".
Son and grandbunny were supposed to come up for the weekend, but I called him Friday, asked if he heard about the coming storm, explained the timeline to him, and he decided to stay home. Why is it that grown kids do not listen to weather reports?? Never. I already had the meals planned, food defrosting, for his visit. I like to send him home with food. So the Chicken Chow Mein is in the freezer, after 2 meals; and the spaghetti and meatballs are also in the freezer, after 2 meals. It was a win/win situation.
Anywho, I am almost finished with the back of the wine colored vest. Right side is done; just have the left side to do. The pattern calls for knitting 3 pieces separately. I hate seaming. I knit the whole thing together on circulars.
I am trying....trying.....to get up the energy to clean house today. BH will be outside most of the day taking care of business. I absolutely hate house cleaning. It's a waste of time and energy (I keep reminding him). But I can't stand the very visible layers of dust all over everything.
My daughter just called at 7:15 am to tell me she received a bill from the clinic she frequents. She never receives bills. She is disabled, on SSI and is covered by Medicare and MNCare. So a phone call to the clinic is in order today to find out what the hell this is all about.
You know....if I were to get paid for my secretarial, doctor, nurse and advocate services.....
I am almost finished spinning the oatmeal colored batt. I'm about ready to puke. There is so much veggie matter that needs to be picked out every couple of rotations that I can barely force myself to get it done. Can't wait to get on to the Shetland roving (to be plied with the oatmeal). Hopefully no veg matter and things will spin along smoothly.
I've also been having a hell of a time with the wheel. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Enough to drive you nuts. I have oiled and oiled and oiled. Seems like every hour. The crank, the footman, the treadle board pins, the flyer. Where the hell is it coming from??!! And I love this wheel - Ashford Traveler.
Then it occured to me......is it the drive band? Could it be the drive band? How can it be the drive band....it seems taut enough. Ehhh..what can it hurt.....I'll change the drive band (cotton twine). Viola!!!! I guess it was stretched out more than it felt or looked. No squeaking! Hurray! I'm a happy spinner again. Except. for. the. godawful. veg matter. in. the. fiber. Which is almost finished.
Anywho, I better get my rear in gear. Get the damn housework done. Phone calls to be made. Bills to pay tomorrow. More spinning. More knitting. Because Friday......Friday......is Casino Day, Baby!!
Yep. That's how I've been feeling these past couple of weeks. Winter. Is there anywhere the temp is always 75, no cooler, no warmer, all 4 seasons? That would probably be "Heaven", right? And we're not there yet!
Anywho, trying....trying....to do things. Baked 4 loaves of wheat bread yesterday; got 2 loaves of Italian bread rising; will make a good dinner tonight. We've had chili 3 nights this past week. Although Sunday I made chicken wings....with pizza (store bought) and cheese and crackers. Tuesday it was leftover wings, shrimp cocktail, cheese/crackers/pepperoni. Fill in the other nights with.....chili.
This weekend there will be cooking.....son and grandbunny are coming to visit. I like to send him home with cooked food.
Saturday morning our cable went out. All stations. BH says "call the cable company". I say "it's Saturday. They're not open; it'll just be a recorded message. Ok. I'll try". Well......lo and behold......after the initial "office hours are Monday thru Friday from 8 am to 5 pm" it said "if this is an emergency, leave your name and number. An afterhours tech will contact you shortly".
Well....hell Yeah! it's an emergency!! It's "Super Bowl" weekend! So I left the pertinent information. Sure enough, 15 minutes later the tech calls. He will be out our way in an hour. By 2 pm, all was right with the world..we have cable; our Sunday is saved!
Monday, 6 am.....no cable. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Call again. They will send a tech. I should tell you now....the problem is not with us, but with the main junction box at the fork in the road, about 1/4 mile from us. Just so ya don't think...we're being careless.....with our cable line.
Not so good. No cable all day or night. No cable Tuesday morning. Called again at 8:15 am. "What's going on with cable?" I ask the guy who answered the phone. "Why? Is it out?" (jerk!) "Yes! Since yesterday.....all day!...." "I'll let the tech know and they'll get to it". Jerk.
So, by late that afternoon, we had cable. The tech stopped by to tell us about cable lines freezing, shrinking, breaking....yada, yada, yada. Thank you!
Wednesday morning.....no cable. Aaarrrggghhh!!! Is this some kind of "Dish" conspiracy??!! Ahh, but this time the tech stops over and tells us the city snow plow hit the junction box!! He'll have it fixed shortly. And he did. God bless you. Then....in the afternoon....there were 3 short glitches when the cable went out. Came back on within seconds. Cable tech stops over again.....asks if we're ok (cable-wise)......because......the city snow plow....hit......you guessed it!......the junction box......again.
And this is our life in a small town.
Now I don't want you thinking that we are total couch potatoes....with 417 cable channels. No. No. No. It's a small, rinky-dink, only-one-in-town cable company. And we elected some years ago to go for the "Basic" cable package (read: cheap). We get 11...yes...11 stations. Because we're in the "boonies", an antenna will not do. However, last year, son with bunny hooked us up with ROKU. If you don't know it, you should look it up. Anyway, we get our Netflix streamed to the tv through ROKU. You need an internet connection. We have internet through......you guessed it again!.....the cable company. No cable. No internet. No ROKU. No tv. Period.
And now, a totally different topic. Here are some pics. The first is the vest recently completed -- completely! Knitted of the copper/navy/red/brown. I'm really happy with how it turned out.
This picture shows the true color of the yarn. It is more brown than orange-y. The buttons were bought years ago, I think in a big tin with a million others, from an auction. They're gold metal with a stamped design on the top.
This is the same vest pattern on the needles. It's wine colored with grey heather tones. You can see the cables more noticeably.
And as soon as I learn how to use my new camera...and fix the color of photos.....or get good closeups that aren't all smeared......there're more pics I'd like to post.
Stay warm.....stay cozy!
So I finished the vest last week. The copper/navy/red/brown yarn. Knitted just the way the pattern was intended. It turned out beautiful! I love it. Why didn't I follow this pattern before instead of just using the stitch count and my own patterning?? Who knows.
However, there was a little glitch when it was all done. Isn't there always? After finished the side/neck banding, the vest looks all bunched up on the front panels edging. What the hell..... Well, maybe it'll all block out straight. Yeah. It'll be ok.
The more I look at it over the next few days, my inner knitter is telling me there is something wrong....."don't wash and block it", it keeps saying. Ok, ok.
Ahhhh, then it hits me. Of course it's all bunched up!!! I made the damn thing 2" longer than the pattern said (I do not like garments that end at the waist!) You dumbbell!!
So.....rip out the binding. Extra stitches need to be added. How many extra stitches??? How many extra rows did I knit? Working on the math....yeah; yeah; that sounds about right. I can always fudge it. Did that. Looks better. Take a chance. Washed the vest, spun it in the washing machine, blocked it over the clothes rack. Ta Daaa......beautiful!! I even found great buttons (which an extra buttonhole had to be made to accomodate the extra stitches) and sewed them on as soon as the vest was dry. It is now neatly folded and stored away. But I will be taking pictures of it to post here as soon as........
the blue sweater has been fixed. This sweater was finished sometime in the Fall. I wanted a zippered front for this one. The zipper went in easy-peasy. Looks great!! Uh-oh......wait a minute.....why is one side higher than the other at the neck??? What the hell! How could that happen? It was knitted in one piece?! And, upon trying it on, the sleeves are waaayyy too long (of course, this is always a downfall of mine....sleeves always a bit too long). But these are waaayyyy..........so they'll have to be ripped out...shortened.....and the cuffs knitted again.
Well, I finally got the nerve to start ripping out the collar, got to the point that needs to come down a few rows on the one side, put all the stitches back on the circular needle. And now it waits....until I have the patience and the brain stimuli to figure out how to fudge those 8 stitches that managed to get much longer than the other neckline stitches! But I'm almost there.....I'm getting visions of exactly how to tackle this. I've almost got it. By the weekend, I'm sure it'll be done.
The sleeves will be easy because they were worked bottom-up, and the cuff is a contrasting color to the body. So....just rip out the cuffs; rip the main color back to the length needed, and re-knit the cuffs. Viola!!
Just in case.......I will be taking that container of fudge out of the freezer. For extra energy and brain food.
Because.....there is another vest on the needles right now. And I will be counting rows for the extra stitches!
So I was checking the blogs yesterday afternoon. Advertisements were popping up above the headers. Whaaattt???? Closed out; logged in; closed out; logged in.....etc. Then I noticed it seemed to be happening only on "blogger.com" sites. Except for Yahoo main page. It happened there too. Not only ads on Blogger, but certain lines in my latest post were in a different color and underlined! I didn't do all that!
Now what the hell is going on?! I noticed a teeny, tiny little box under the advertisement that said "ad is not part of this web". Hmmm.....so I clicked on it. Some kind of box opened with 3 or 4 headings. Clicking on one at a time, I could see what sites were enabled and which were disabled.
Lo and behold, there was something called "commercial ads" or some such nonsense, and it was "enabled". How the hell did that happen??!! Checked all my precautions. Pop-Up blocker is activated; Firewall is active; all notifications are active.
Anywho, I "disabled" the bugger. And that seemed to take care of the problem. No more ads popping up. How aggravating that was. >:(
So, just wanted to let everyone aware in case it's happening to you. I HATE it when things like that happen....gives me the willies.....am I being hacked??!!
Stay safe out there!
So, I'm perusing the internet yesterday afternoon. All of a sudden it occurs to me, I ordered some items from a fiber store.....a month ago.....and have not received them yet. Now, in their defense, the items were on backorder. And I wasn't in a rush to receive them. So when I checked the status, it said the order was being processed. It was being processed since last week! I'll make a phone call.
However, the store banner advertised white Shetland roving on sale for $14.00 a pound! But I digress. Passed that over, went to the phone and called customer service. Explained the situation to the gal; she will call the supplier and see what the deal is; she will call me back.
And she did. The supplier says these items have been discontinued; the store will not be receiving anymore. She was very, very apologetic. Not only will she cancel the order, she will give me 200 extra bonus points!
This company gives you bonus points for purchases, writing reviews on products, or just "liking" an item on FB. 100 points = $1.00 off your bill.
I now have 400 points. And if I purchase the roving, I will receive another 330 points. The only problem is.....the points are only good for 30 days, if I remember correctly. But that's a problem that can be easily rectified.
Enter BH.
ME: "hey, they're cancelling my order and giving me 200 extra bonus points. I now have 400....that's $4.00 off my bill. AND...guess what.....they have roving on sale for $14.00 a pound!! OMG!! That's like almost 88 cents an ounce!!"
BH: "you better get some. The price isn't going to go down, ya know. How much does wool cost you at the festivals?"
ME: "the cheapest was $1.25 an ounce for BFL at the Lake Elmo fair; it's usually $2 - $3.00".
BH: "See....you better order 5 pounds."
ME: "no...4. 4 pounds is all I need. I just ordered 4 pounds of roving in November". I won't live that long to spin up all the wool I have. I'm going to have to buy another storage tote."
BH: "I'd buy the wool now. How many pounds do you have...50?"
ME: "Ehhhh.....pretty close. I just know I won't live that long".
BH: "Buy it....5 pounds."
ME: "HEY!! I wonder if I could use one of the gift cards?? That would be great!! I'll ask the gal when she calls back."
In the meantime, there is a mad scurry to dig out the gift card from my purse. The gal calls back. I ask about the card. "Yes, you can use that. If there's a problem on the internet, call and place the order over the phone".
Will do!! And on to the website's "shopping cart". Order is done. Check the card. Uh-oh. "Register your card before making an online purchase". Crap.
Put the website on hold....go to the web for the card; fill out all the info; done. Back to the "shopping cart". Finish the order.....yes, 5 pounds of white Shetland roving, minus the $4.00 bonus, select the cheapest shipping rate....$5.00!! Click "submit order" and......"Bob's your uncle"....it's done.
BH: "Did you order it? How many pounds? Good, good. You deserve it." (A little back and forth here between us, me saying he already lets me get anything I want; I really didn't need to order more wool; the gift card was for both of us to use, I feel guilty.)
And he insisting....."after all you've been through these past 20 years...you deserve anything you want!"
The deed is done. He's a hopeless mark enabler. And I hope he never discovers "Fiber ReHab"!!
Now I have to go find a tote to empty out.
So, New's Years went ok. Son and fiance came up, bringing granddaughter with them on Saturday. We had tons of food, good meals, lots of snacks. We played a new game granddaughter gave us for Christmas...."Deer in the Headlights". A lot of fun; lots of laughs.
Celebrated New Year's on Sunday because they were leaving for home Monday.
They left about 1:30pm. We cleaned up a bit and.......took a nap!! Holy crap! I feel like we were running a B&B for the past week. I'm seriously getting too old for this. BH agreed with me that next year, we will make the rounds. Leave for the Cities super early in the a.m, spend some time at their home, have anyone who wants to, meet us there; have lunch, open gifts, have some laughs and then.......head back home. All in one day.
We did this for about 4 years after daughter moved here from Washington state. Mainly because the grandkids were so young, we thought it important that they enjoy Christmas Day with all their toys rather than being uprooted for the 3 hour drive up north, most likely staying for a day or 2, not being able to play with their toys for all that time! Cruel and unusual treatment!
But then we got tired of the quick turn-around, the 6 hour round trip drive.
But I think we're now tired of the grocery expense, people not showing up with no communication, people showing up hours or a day later than planned, helter-skelter sleeping arrangements, and tons of (did I mention?) expensive groceries either going in the freezer, being thrown out, or BH and I eating gobs of snack foods every night just to get rid of them. Not to mention the 20#s I will pack on that I really, really shouldn't.
Anywho, Wednesday I decided we've had enough "joy" for one season....it's time to undress the house and put everything back to normal. And so we started. Finished up Thursday, did a bit of housecleaning through on Friday and some laundry. Saturday we went to daughter's and undressed her apartment. Good thing we did. She told us she had a nagging sore throat. By Saturday night, she called to say she was running a temp of 102, ached all over, had a pounding headache and was horribly congested.
So I gave her my "Dr. Mom" advice and told her to "call me in the morning". Which she did. Fever is maintaining at 100 degrees, headache is just a slight nag, just achy and still congested. So I checked with her today and will do the same tomorrow.....and the next day.....and the next day till she's just about over everything.
I got back to knitting the day after Christmas. Working on the vest. Got both sides done; will start the back probably today. I like it! Except for the armhole bindings and the front binding that yet need to be done. I don't like bindings.
And even though every piece of furniture is back in its natural place, I have not uncovered and set up the spinning wheel yet. The basket of fiber is sitting next to my chair. No wheel. Maybe later this week I'll get back to it.
I did remember this morning that I have about 15 bobbins of spun yarn that has yet to be skeined and washed! How I forgot about them, I'll never know! Yikes....that'll take a couple days.
And I'm seriously thinking of setting up the sewing machine again (all had to be taken down and put away so the spare bedroom could be....a.....spare.....bedroom again. For the guests. Why the sewing machine? Because we were shopping Saturday for essentials....because we got a couple of "mucho dinero" gift cards that were burning holes in our pockets.....and I need pot holders. I mean, one of them you have to fold in half to grab a hot pan, because there's a big hole in the middle. God help you if you forget about that hole! Trust me. I've experienced it.
However, upon perusing the "kitchen linens" aisle, I found nothing to my liking. No. No. Royal blue will not do. No. I don't use oven mitts....therefore, a set of 2 oven mitts I do not need. And, no thank you, but I do think $3.00 for a pair of very thin, lightweight, small pot holders is a bit over priced. Ehhhh....I think I'll make my own, is what I told BH.
So I best get at it. Because, not only do I need pot holders, but there's a pair of his favorite pajama bottoms that need the waistband elastic replaced. They've been folded up and hidden in the closet since....the first week in December. Of 2012, smartypants. I heard that!
