Time to start anew.

Hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas. I have been very busy with Christmas activities and have not had the time to blog. I am here now and hope to get up to speed. I have been busy making more socks. They are so much fun to make. I found this great sock yarn at Micheals while Christmas shopping. Moda Dea. The colors are great and it knits wonderfully. I have a pair of socks started. One done and the 2nd on the needles. My youngest son, for christmas gave me a skien of Moda Dea Dream in light blue. It is so soft. Another cool thing that I recieved as a gift was Knitting Pattern a day Calander. What a neat gift. It has so many nice patterns in it. I want to try them all. Not just yet, I have a sock to finish and a baby blanket to finish.
If I start anything more I might get confused or lost. I have this thing about having to many projects started at once. I really like to finish one before I start another. It is driving me nuts having to projects going at once now. My poor wheel, I think she feels abandoned. She was placed in the corner for Christmas and she just stares at me all the time. Soon she will be out of the corner. My fleeces from Wooly Knob Fibermill will be ready and I will want to try spinning all that I sent out. I really can't wait.
Well I need to go do some house work so that I can spend sometime with the kids this afternoon with there new board games. I am hoping that the snow that we are getting continues. Everyone here wants to go snowmobiling. It would be nice to have them all gone for a while. That would give me the oppurtunity to research what type of fiber animal that I am going to be getting this spring. See my DH and I purchased a horse for our daughter. The horse comes home in the spring and she is going to need company. I just need to decide what would be the best thing to keep her company. Any one have any ideas? They would be greatly appreciatied.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it Rain

Yeah I know that is not how the song goes but yesterday it snowed like crazy, and now it is pouring rain. Which I suppose is alright seeing that I have been spinning like a wild woman to get this skein done for a woman in Florida who order it for a Christmas present. The weather decreases my desire(not) to go out shopping. It was so nice yesterday to have a cup of tea and to be able to sit at my wheel and just watch the world around me become white. It is just the best thing. Now it is all going to turn to mud.
Last year on days like yesterday I could look out the window, watch the snow come down on my nieghbors sheep will I was spinning some of her wonderful wool. Unfortuantly they are not in that pasture yet.

My progress on the scraf for my mother is coming along nicely. Hopefully I can have that finished this week. Then I think that I can start the baby afgahn for my brother and his wife. It may take me awhile to finish it.

Well I need to go back to plying. Break is over and it is still raining.

Uuuugggggghhhhhhhh

What a week it has been. It started on Sunday night when I realized that the Patches of Berries scarf that I am working on was not right. The diagonal was going in the wrong direction. I ripped out about 12 inches of work. This is to be done for Christmas. So started my week.

I just could not keep track of the days. Monday I made a trip to a tack shop that is an hour away for one of the few gifts that my daughter asked for. She wants the Breyer Horse Hildago. They had just sold the last one, but they could order it. Now it means another trip back there. Tuesday and Wednesday I went christmas shopping. I just can not get in the mood for christmas. What to buy? I have no clue. My oldest is 14, he just wants money. He also has a birthday on the 28th of Dec. So it means I have to come up with a birthday gift too.

I do have some brighter notes though. I sold 2 skiens of yarn to a woman in Florida. One of the skiens needs to be spun but that is not a problem. My wheel has been giving me the evil eye anyway. Ithink she is feeling a little left out. I have been busy knitting and not spinning. I did spend time this morning spinning, so maybe the dirty looks will stop.

I have gotten about 15 inches done on the scarf and everything is going in the right direction. YEAH!!!!!!!
Now if I could just get my fairy godmother to finish my xmas shopping for me, it would be terrific. Well a new week and a new list of things to do. Will I get it all done? Man I hope so.

My newest stash additives 

Socks that I made for my sister for Christmas. 

Knitting in my sleep..........

What a busy 2 weeks I have had. I have been trying to post for the last week and just seems that my computer was not cooperating. I finished my sons other sock. What alot of fun they were to make. I went to a little yarn shop in Greenwich and bought more sock yarn and some yarn for a baby gift and for my Mothers Christmas present. Then I came home and order what I could not find there from the pattern works. More sock yarn, pattern for baby things, Charlottes Web shawl pattern and Patch of Berries scarf pattern. They came on Monday. I have been knitting like crazy. The sock yarn that I bought is done in to socks and I have started the scarf.
With the socks done I was ready to start the scarf. I went through my needles to find the right size, every size under the sun but the one I need. My grandmother had taught me to knit when I was young. I would spend every afternoon after school with her. Well when she died I inherited her needles, but she never need to use size 3 I guess. So I had to go buy a pair. LOL
Now the scarf is started after attempting about 3 times to get it going. I just could not get it to come out right. I was always haveing a extra stitch. Thank goodness I was only a couple rows into the project. With a little peace and quiet I got it going and now it is really pretty. I just hope that I get it done in time for Christmas.
After Christmas it is baby things. My brother and his wife are expecting there first baby in May. So Aunt Lana gets to make baby clothes. They are my favorite things to make. I have some beautiful White Blue Face Liecester that I plan on using. Some of it is spun I need to finish the rest. My wheel keeps giving me dirty looks. I have not spun on it in about a week and it is feeling neglected. I have been knitting like crazy and it seems like I have been doing it in my sleep. Off to make Turkey for my family.

The finished skein. 

The blended odds and ends 

The finished project

I finished spinning the odds and ends the other day but was just to sick to take off the bobbin. Today was a good day for that though. With it so cold I was in the mood to wrap it on the nitty noddy. I love to spin but there are just some things that I would rather not do. That is one of them. It is like making a sweater, I love the knitting part it is the sewing it together that I don't like.
I recieved in the mail the other day the Blue Faced Leicester that I had ordered from the Cooper Moose. OHHHH it is so soft. BFL has become one of my favorite things to spin. Now to decide what I want to spin next. The choices are almost endless. Time to go start another project. Maybe it will be a Christmas present. HA HA.
Keep spinning.

Believe it or not it fits!!!!!!!!! 

It looks huge

Well the cold weather has finally hit and given me a cold in the process. Since I was feeling under the weather, I dug out one of my unfinished projects that I started during the summer. I promised my oldest son that I would make him a pair of socks for snowmobiling this winter. I finished the first one last night. He wears a size 13 shoe and he is only 14.

Blending the odds and ends

I finally finished the stuff that I promised Melissa for the craft show that she is doing today. She was a little nervous that she would not have enough stuff for the 12ft. table that the needed to fill. I offered to make some things for her to take.
It was so windy yesterday and with the kids home, I thought what a good day to pop in a movie and do some blending. I had almost 4 ounces of variagated green mohair locks, 2 ounces of green merino and silk blend, some lt grey alpaca, white mohair and tort colored angora. I decided to blend them all together. I had purchased a Louet Roving carder over the summer and had not really had a chance to use it. Life just got so busy. So I went to work ..... Started with the green mohair locks then I started blending that with everything else. I ended up with the top and bottom full of a large shoe box( the kind that work boots come in). That took me all afternoon. By then it had gotten so windy that the power went out. Well I guess that supper will have to wait and I started spinning. WOW it spins nice. It is a light in color but I think that it will be really soft. I will have to take some picts. When I can get more batteries for my camera. The kids seem to like them.
That is it for now. I need to go do the dishes from last night.

Done at the Maize

Sorry that it has been a while since I have written anything. It seems like alately all I have been doing is running. Running my oldest son to work, my daughter to riding lessons, and all over the place for my DH.
I finished my fiber education that I was doing at the corn maize on Thursday. I had so much fun. The kids for the most part we good. I learned alot by doing it. The Alpaca that they have there on the farm is great. She is very tolerant of the kids and having everyone pet her. I have learned alot about them as well. The best part is that I have been invited to come back next year to do some more. Guess what I will be doing this winter?? More research!!!
When I went to Rhinebeck, I purchased dark grey Alpaca roving. Some how I managed to get it spun and made into a scarf. The scarf was a gift for Kate. She and her husband run the corn maize. Now this was the brillant move, I wrapped it and was half way to there house when I realized that I should have taken a picture of it. Good one Lana. I do have more so I will just have to get to work and start another. I did promise my oldest son that I would finish his socks first though.
I do need to start thinking of Christmas presents. So little time and no ideas. I have been really good. My goal every year is to make everyone some thing for Christmas. I usually make it to even if it is just an ornament.
Till next time.

The pictures are up

Hi, I did it!!! I managed to get the pictures up from the weekend. What a fun time we had.
I spent Wednesday morning teaching 100 first graders about fiber and where it comes from. They got to use a CD drop spindle. Some of them where quite good at, some had a hard time grasping the concept. I can't blame them any there. I had and still do have a hard time with it.
Tomorrow I get to do it all over again.
Anticipation is mounting. Melissa and I are off the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival. This weekend. We have been waiting and saving for this for a year. We have a great time. This year we are taking some friends along. Hopefully we will get them addicted as much as we are. We have been getting our list of things that we want to get and look for together for weeks. I am hoping to bring home more fiber. Yes, you know you can never have enough. The more I bring home the more it irritates DH. I did sell a skein of yarn so I am progressing. He can't say too much. I will talk to you after the weekend and let you know how the shopping trip makes out.
Until next time. Remember to keep the roving flowing.

Our first dying project. 

Our display. 

My son and fellow 4H club member spinning and enjoying theday 

Spinning with the kids at Maize Quest

I had been asked several weeks ago to do a spinning demonstration this weekend at the local corn maze. I enrolled the help of my friend Melissa and her daughter Hannah. Also my 4H group. What alot of fun. Melissa and I set our tables. We skeins and felted things and beaded jewelery but what we had the most fun with was the dye pots.
We had been esperimenting alittle with dyeing. I had done koolaide and she had done some with food coloring. This time we had each bought some natural dyes from Adams Family Farm in Wilimington. She purchased Bazilwood and I Logwood. The colors were unbelievable. Some of them we rinsed in an amonnia bath at the end. We are hoping to do some more today with the same amount of success that we had yesterday. The best part is it is not work we get to play at what we love all day. If we have one child or adult go home and persue there interest in fiber arts then the day was even better.
Time to get some more stuff ready for today. Have a great day.
Lana

New to blogging

I am finally going to make my blog. I have enjoyed reading them for a while. I am not all that computer savue. But here goes nothing.
This day has been very hectic, not unlike the week. I have been attempting to get things together for our spinning demonstration at the local corn maze for the Columbus day weekend. It just seems that every thing that I attempt to to gets interupted or put on the side and then left undone.
I am looking forward to spending the weekend doing the thing that I love the most, spinning and doing alot of fiber activties and hopefully getting some one else involved in spinning. My 4H group will be there off and on during the weekend giving demonstrations with the drop spindles that they made, We will also be doing some weaving and dying. That is what I am most anxious about. It is something that Melissa and I have just touched on a bit . We have not done a whole lot of it. But we shall see. I will post pictures of our weekend for all to see.