Hi all…

I know I’ve been missing in action and this blog has become insanely boring.

I’ll do my best to fix that if you do your best to comment when I post.

Honestly though - I’ve been transitioning to a new job and whatnot, so hang in there and I’ll be back to posting soon.

I currently use a pair of hand carders to prepare my fiber for spinning.  Basically, I switch between sessions of combing my fibers (wool or alpaca or home-grown angora) and actually spinning.

Theoretically a drum carder could allow me to prepare more fiber at a time, saving me some time in the preparation stage.  It could also potentially blend my fibers more evenly than when I do it by hand.

Now mind you, a drum carder is more expensive than hand carders - it averages somewhere around $400 give or take for a simple manually driven drum carder. It’d be an investment.  Since I’m still sort of a beginner when it comes to spinning and preparing my fibers for spinning, I’ve thus far only used hand carders.

I’m kind of considering maybe getting a drum carder.  I dunno though. I’m not sure I spin enough, often enough, to justify the investment in the more expensive piece of equipment. The potential has me curious though and I’m fairly tempted.

Maybe I’ll consider waiting and getting it as a birthday or Christmas gift…

I did it! I spun, plied and set in the twist for my very first skein of yarn - it is ready to be wound into a ball and knitted or crocheted into a project. W00t!

This is 50% cormo wool - 50% English angora from Sam-wise, 2-ply, fine-fingering weight yarn.

It’s not pure white, since Sam-wise is a creme buck and not one of my REWs. It’s rather a very soft ecru with hints of his creme coloring. In fact, here’s a cuteness pic of him:

As always with my pics, click to see the larger version of the image.

For the past couple of years since we first bought the house, I was pretty focused on gardens of edibles: veggies, fruit, herbs…

This year, I’ve expanded the range of the plants around the house from edibles to beauty that feeds the heart. Pretty flowers, gorgeous blooms and wonderful scents that fill the air.

There’s the pretty columbine and the late blooming, snowy white tulips…

And the pretty dogwood that isn’t white flowered or hot pink flowered - but just the perfect cream with soft pink tips that I love….

And of course, the many irises that Hel and her family brought to me for my housewarming that have grown in beautifully.  It was a joke at the time because Hel had deliberately brought me over a hundred various bulbs and irises to plant, figuring I’d never plant them all. But I did, I really did.

Then there’s the Queen of the Night that Rich and Vickie gave us five or six years ago as a small leaf cutting. It finally grew large enough to flower, and boy was it worth the wait.  Pale pink with a snowy white center and a scent that filled the air in all its night-blooming glory.

As if that weren’t enough, my step-grandmother gifted me with this lovely red variant of the Queen of the Night that produces these vibrant flowers as well… 

Click on any of the thumbnails to embiggen.

Truly, I’m loving the gardens this year. I’ve also discovered the wonder of dahlias and am trying to grow several varieties.  I’ve got two types of peonies that I’m also hoping to grow - one a tree variety and another a very unusual color variation. And of course, there’s the six new types of roses that arrived this spring and that I’m growing in pots until we can decide where to put them.

Well, my first experience of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was very positive.

Ok, I seriously didn’t expect the approximately 40,000 people in attendance on Saturday.  So we heard. It certainly seemed like there were that many people there, that’s for sure. Without Laura and Jeff I would have been quite lost.  Happily Alexd00 was kind enough to accompany me when hubby bailed at the last minute due to work obligations. Alexd00 and Jeff kept each other entertained as Laura and I scampered about reveling in all of the fiber and yarns, herbs for dyeing and generally cute warm fuzzy animals.

Alpacas are absolutely adorable by the way.  I purchased one baby alpaca fleece and one pound of adult fleece as well. Both were super soft, with good crimp for better elasticity in the eventual yarn and had a soft white to creamy buff color that would compliment my Sam’s angora wool perfectly. My plan? To blend the two for uber soft, luxurious yarn.

I also picked up a nice mohair in a peachy orange color I’ve never seen in stores yet.

Finally, and quite importantly, Laura led me to THE best vendor of my day.  My pooch, Kaiser, literally ate my drop spindle as well as three months worth of spinning work with 100% Sam-wise cream colored angora yarn. So I was on a mission to replace my drop spindle.  Thus far, I hadn’t seen any that I liked as well as the original until Laura took me to the Golding vendor.  Precision made, beatifully carved and fashioned with lovely metal-work - these drop spindles were so well balanced and had such a long spinning time it felt as if I could spin joyfully forever.  They were pricey, no doubt about it, but each one was a work of art and so beautiful they could be displayed in a collector’s cabinet without hesitation.

I purchased my chosen drop spindle and went happily through the rest of my day.

In fact, here’s a pic of my l00t all together including pics of the naked alpacas my fleeces came from:

 Clicky the thumbnail to em-biggen, course.

You know, I’ve been listening to Laura chat about eventually learning to dye yarn.  Ami and I have talked about Kool Aid being a pretty decent dye.

Hubby says I need to add on to my hobbies like I need a hole in the head.

But when I see a post like this:

http://spindyeknit.com/2008/04/the-color-of-amaryllis/

That just seems like nifty fun! Especially since I have several amaryllis plants amongst the rest of my roses, irises, day lillies, asiatic lillies, hydrangea and other such flowers.  Plus, I know my currants, black berries, raspberries, cherries and herbs could all be interesting too.  I just don’t know enough about dyeing to start and I don’t spin enough yet to dye my own hanks of angora or angora blends from Sam or Gally’s or Pippin’s wool.  Trust me, I’ve got enough wool - I just haven’t had time to spin it up yet and I make sure to give Laura the majority of the pure white wool that comes from Gally or Pippin.

Ah well - I guess this will have to sit on the back burner until I’ve got more spinning done.  I reallly need to learn to spin a bit faster.

Joe is a young guy that has things together. He’s got a good job and the beginnings of a solid career.  He’s living on his own paycheck and owns his own car. He just bought his first home. He’s a hard worker and a good friend. He’s a big guy who works out regularly and sports hefty musculature.  And like many strong men, he’s got a soft heart.

Joe has what I like to call Knight in Shining Armor syndrome.

He falls for the girls who need rescue, the girls who have been treated badly and been betrayed, the girls who have been hurt and need someone to show them that there is kindness and warmth in the world.  He wraps them in his strength and promises to protect them. He treats them the way a girl should be treated and showers them in affection and generousity. He has a knack for thinking up incredibly romantic surprises and dream dates. He gives them unwavering dedication and doesn’t let his eyes stray. He’s there for them in every way.

Invariably, they eventually get confused and dump him for the crappy ex or the shifty eyed guy they met at a bar and go back to being treated badly by some jerk, leaving Joe broken hearted.

Seriously, Joe is an incredible guy. Someday he’ll find the right girl - who is probably not in need of rescuing but can shelter his big heart with her own soul.  He’ll be happy.  But for now, he’s moping around my office with big sad puppy eyes moaning about how his new home is all cold and lonely and empty without a girlfriend to share it with.

So my next happy dance is for Joe as a combination housewarming and birthday gift.  Something to wrap him in the warmth of friendship until he finds the right girl…or at least dates a nice girl. He’s young, I figure there’ll be quite some time yet.

Chelsea is testing it out for him and looks quite comfy by the way. Joe’s new living room is white walled with beige carpet and a turqouise accent wall. He’s got a sage couch in there that looks gray - so I figured the couch could do with an accent throw. However, the blankie is sufficient to cover a twin size bed or keep a big guy warmm as he naps on a couch.

The throw is made of Lion Brand Homespun in Regency. Click on the pic for a full size image as usual.

I made the Last Minute Knitted Gifts soft drawstring pouch for my best friend’s birthday and gifted it to her this past Saturday while we were in Seattle for a birthday bash weekend with our friend Alexd00 (who was also celebrating his birthday).

I made it using Caron Simply Soft in Mint Green and stuffed it full of her favorite chocolates.

…and I forgot to take a picture of it.

Hopefully I can get her to take a pic for me or bring it over so that I can take a pic. Ah well, she liked it…

Here’s my Montego Bay Scarf, a breezy simple pattern from Interweave Knits done in Handmaiden Sea Silk (70% silk, 30% Seacell - a derivative of seaweed) in the Glacier colorway. I knit with size 8 straight bamboo needles.

It was a simple pattern, not so mindnumbing as nothing but stockinette stitch but just mindless enough to be able to knit while watching movies or in the waiting room.  I could pretty much put it down at any time and be able to find where I was when I picked the project back up again. the pattern includes a 6″ fringe on each end of the scarf but I left them off since I’m not big into fringes. I think it looks nice without the fringe anyway.

The yarn is insanely luxurious.  The silk felt marvelous sliding through the fingers  and and the scarf feels light thrown about the shoulders. It’s a great spring/summer scarf.  I think the SeaCell aspect is nifty cool as well - it’s supposed to seep nutrients as you wear it that are very good for the skin.  It’s kind of odd and quirky in concept, but the yarn is oh so yummy.

Yes, it’s just the beginning of March - but for those of you who grow peppers and tomatoes, you might want to get started with seeds indoors if you live in the sameZone as I do.  Me? I started my seeds a week or two ago, at leasts the ones that have a long germination time and require a long time to develop solid root systems for transplant.

• Thai Hot Peppers - Bird type: these are some of the hottest peppers you can grow.  They are absolutely essential to authentic Thai cooking and I always have them on hand.
• Thai Hot Peppers - F1 Hybrid tpye: also pretty hot, a little bigger with good flavor.
• Thai Eggplants: small, round eggplants that are mostly white.  Slightly sweet, tasty raw and absolutely awesome in curries.
• Golden Sweet Bell Peppers: so yummy raw, beautiful in the garden and great with salads or with sausage and peppers.
• Baby Bell Golden Peppers: Very similar, but itty bitty tiny. Supposedly perfect to stuff with some cheese or savory filling and pop in the mouth.
• Tomatoes - Juliet Grape Tomato type: Super sweet grape toomatoes that my guys love.  Really prolific producer too.
• Tomatoes - Whopper Tomato type: perfect size to slice up and layer in sandwiches.  MY guys love those for flavor and they also end up perfect when sliced and served with fresh buffalo mozzarella, a little extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil.
• Tomatoes - Tangerine type: these tomatoes are a first for me, orange and supposedly tangy sweet. I thought it would be interesting to try them.
• Cucumbers: we’re trying a psace saving bush variety since hubby likes cucumbers in his salad.
• Winter Bon bon Squash: a really nice meaty squash that tastes great boiled, baked or steamed.
• Amy Melon: a light green melon that is light and wonderfully sweet.

The garden will of course have directly sowed sugar snap peas and pak boong, but neither of those need seed starting indoors. Also, the herb garden is slotted for 4 types of basil (Thai Siam, Thai Holy, Italian Sweet and Lemon), parsley, dill, sage and rosemary.  I might try thyme if I see it at one of the farm stands this spring.

The rose garden has gone through a major change though.  Instead of raised beds, I’m going to grow my roses in a container garden on the deck.  This is because we do plan to move in the next year to two years and I didn’t want to shock my roses when I took them with us.  So into containers they will go instead of into raised bed and I’ll be planting sunflowers out in the wonderful raised bed hubby built me last fall. In preparation, hubby is taking me to the gardening store today to select matching pots and pick up the appropriate potting soil. My roses will be arriving on March 24 and I want to have everything ready for them.

Additionally, the potted plants we have indoors have been getting tender loving care.  Daddy let aphids take over the kaffir limes downstairs under grow lights - so I need to trim them, wash each of them individually and spray them with a protective spray. He thinks it’s a waste of time - but I’m not willing to wait the additional month or two until it’s safe to put them outside.

Spring is definitely on its way and we’ve got the seeds started and potting supplies to be ready for it!