Finished!

WOW !!!!!!! Ahem, I now return to my regularly scheduled programming . . . er, life . . . although my Hedwig project will sort of be part of a new HP-inspired project and I'll soon be reading Books 1-7 in order (usually I just read the newest one over).

4:36 am

All is answered.

HP

Our copy arrived on the doorstep, not by owl, at 10:10 this morning. We'd been faked out just 15 minutes earlier by Witnesses but fortunately DH checked the eye hole first. I got through about 3-1/2 chapters before I had to leave for J's jewelry party. I've gotten a little farther since being home. I'll probably stay up for another 5 or 6 hours tonight reading it. Don't know if I'll finish tomorrow or not. So far, pretty good, although Margi's not so sure.

Things are looking up

Whew, kind of a tough reentry to the non-vacation. But I've had a good peek at Book 7, read the first 2 chapters, and finished spinning the Wensleydale singles while watching Doctor Who. My Tour has been mixed; I didn't got as much spinning done on vacation as I hoped. I did get a lot done on Not-Hedwig. Pictures and more soon, I hope.

Fiber Fiend

Hi Cindy!

I gather that you are home from the Northwest. Good weather I hope?

As you can see I finished spinning and plying the roving I've been working on the last 2 weeks. I really like it. They have 4 more of the same color so I may have to pick up another one so that I can make something from them, maybe a scarf for my mom. I also bought a hand painted silk roving that I may have to work on next week.

Last night I used the Ashford Joy again. I like it quite a bit and am leaning towards it. I also like the Ashford Traveler and Kromski Minstral. The Joy does have the advantage of being easy to pack up to put away or take along. Tempe Yarn and Fiber has a spinning group the first Thursday of each month and it would be fun to go spin with them. DH actually said last weekend that he might like to try it out once I get one. Should be interesting to see how that works out.

We have a new nickname for the Spinnin' Kitten. She is now the Fiber Fiend (note the glazed eyeball). I think I wrote earlier about her nabbing a bit of raw fleece last week. When we got home from work yesterday we found that she'd figured out how to get into 2 of my lock down places for yarn and knitting. She had opened the magnetic latch on the entertainment center where I sometimes put the sock for short periods. She had also moved and got the lid off the plastic storage bin where the living room projects reside. She had my sock strewn into the back bedroom, DH's prayer shawl (all 1 inch of it) pulled out and another ball of sock yarn pulled from it's bag and the ball band shredded. At least we got home before she chewed any of the yarn to bits. DH jokes that I could lock it away in a closet and she'd be on eBay to buy a lock picking set just to get at it.

We are patiently awaiting a certain arrival tomorrow. According to the UPS website it is in town and has been scanned for delivery. We betting when it will actually arrive. I'm going to a jewelry party my friend J is hosting so it will probably come while I'm gone. DH is likely to snap it up and read it first. I'll have to sneak it when he's not looking and get a few pages in. No clues about what happens until we both finish.

I talked to my friend L yesterday. Although they think she's only a month along she says she's already showing. She thinks she could be farther along. Or she's got A's problem and will have twins on the way. She's not thrilled about that idea. I'll see her tomorrow at J's party.

Guess I'd better get going. I don't think we're getting a storm tonight although last night it didn't hit until about 10 pm. We about lost the fence and the power did go out for a minute or two. The rain would be nice but we don't need the wind and dust.

More later, A

Rain!

Hi Cindy!

Although the monsoon hasn't officially arrived (need 3 consecutive days with average dew points of 55 or above), we had our first dust storm and rain of the season. It is still raining after well over an hour. The dust arrived first, shortly after 8 pm, and then the lightening, thunder and rain rolled in about half an hour later. The picture makes it look a little more dramatic than it really is but it is still pretty cool. Actually the picture looks more like snow than rain but that's just the flash reflecting off all the drops, either that or we're being invaded by thousands of ghost-spheres. Take note of the fence. Hopefully in the next week or two it will be gone and replaced with lots of grey block.

Spinning class last week was interesting. Barb, the instructor, brought us little goody sacks of other things to spin. The first was a little bit of silk that she dyed with kool-aid. It turned out quite pretty. I got it pretty consistent. She insisted we try spinning it from the fold and it worked pretty well. I'm looking forward to buying some of the bombyx top to spin but probably not until the last class next week. Of course I'll be the only one there that week since the other two are on vacation then so maybe this week will be the last class.

Also in the sack was a sample of wool she also kool-aid dyed, some undyed silk cut for blending and a bit of flax. I'll probably try the flax this week to see how it goes. She also gave us a small bag of unwashed brown fleece that had come from a sheep she used to have. I cleaned it last night and it is drying. I need to buy or borrow cards from the store and get it into a useful form. Margi found it drying overnight and attacked a bit of it. Kelly found it in the middle of the kitchen floor. I think she might have tried to eat some and then puked it up too. I heard some one yakking in the middle of the night and found a pile that looked suspiciously fleece colored.

Two classes ago a bought some heather colored rambouilette. I think I mentioned it in my quick post before vacation. I have worked on spinning it the last two classes. Here are my two weeks worth plus what's left of the roving. The upper right is the first night's spinning (whole class) wound on the niddy noddy. The bottom center is the bit from last class done after the silk. I'm not sure why I wound it into a ball instead of digging out the niddy noddy. I've wound both into center pull balls although I didn't take a picture here. I'd like to get it all spun before class ends as well as get it plied.

I meant to write this entry on Saturday, or even yesterday, but I spent all weekend recovering from food poisoning. I was actually coming down with it Friday night when I wrote the last entry. All I'll say is beware of frozen pizzas with spinach on top. There was no meat so it had to be tainted spinach.

I got word Friday morning from my friend L that she is going to have a baby. As I mentioned the other day her daughter is about the same age as your DS so there will be quite an age difference. I've found patterns for a really cute bunny hat and a pair bunny booties. If she just found out it means I've got several months to get stuff done. And hopefully it will only be 1 baby, not the multiples like last year.

Are you ready for Harry Potter? I finished HBP Saturday and I'm now anxious for the next one. We had talked about going to a release party Friday night but DH is doing a retreat Saturday and he starts at 5:30 am. I guess I'll just have to wait for Amazon to deliver it.

Off to knit on my sock before bed. Looking forward to hearing about your trip! A

Hollywood, pt 2

Hi Cindy!

Hope the vacation is going well. This week has flown by although some of the minutes were actually quite slow. Not much knitting this week. I've been trying to re-read HP:HBP in prep of the new one coming out next week. I also watched Goblet of Fire the other night, it's been a while since I've seen it.

Here are a couple of pictures your DS will like. They are located at Cabazon, CA, about 15 minutes west of the Palm Springs exit. They are in a narrow pass that, as you can see in the pictures, is quite windy. Just east of these guys is where the giant wind farms start.




Let's see, I think I said I'd write about yarn stores in LA. I actually only got to visit one in West Hollywood on Melrose. It is the Knit Cafe. It was a nice little place, rather high-end. I probably would have bought something there but I had DH trailing along. Nothing like a spouse to dampen your yarn buying excursion. They had a nice little selection of yarns. They even had the brightly colored cotton yarn I bought in your store for GMIL's hat. Afterwards we walked down the street to the Bodhi Tree Bookstore. DH wanted to look at the zen books.

On Sunday afternoon we also walked around in Hollywood looking for Black Sheep Knittery on Yucca near Vine but couldn't find it. It looks like they're not open on Sunday anyways so it was no problem.

Sunday morning while DH was at the zendo I went to the Farmers' Market to drink coffee and knit. While there I noticed the pinkie on my right hand was bruised. It is hard to see in the picture but it was definitely bruised. It made knitting a little sore. I'm not quite sure how I did this but I think it was yarn induced. I don't do the thing with lacing the yarn back and forth over the fingers of my right hand. I just look it around the pointer and then hold the tails with the pinkie. I think I must have been holding too tight and almost strangled the little finger. It hurt on the way home too but has healed by now.

While heading to the Farmer's Market after dropping DH off, I notice a rather scuzy pond next to the road behind an iron fence. It took me until I was almost past it to realize it was the La Brea Tar Pits, not just an algae covered puddle. I would have liked to visit but we didn't go back by there. Something for the next trip, one of many.

I guess I should close this up and head to bed. DH has been asleep for at least 2 hours. Tomorrow or sometime this weekend I'll post about spinning class. And I've got to dig out baby patterns again, my friend L called this morning to say she's expecting. Her DD is about a month older than you DS so it's been a while for her.

Take care, A

Hollywood, pt 1

Hi Cindy!

Hope you get a chance to read this before you head off to the wild west. I mailed you a post card but it won't get there for a few days, it didn't get picked up until noon today.

We had a great time in Hollywood over the weekend and the concert was incredible. Here is a link to an archive where you can stream the entire concert.

Guess what else was going on while we were there. Here's a clue. We did not see it nor did we wait around for all the hoopla. It was too hot and we ended up walking around. We ate lunch (and most of our other meals) at the Hollywood and Highland Mall right next door and anytime a tour bus would pull up the crowd would cheer like it was actually some star showing up. They'd had the street blocked off since early morning. We went by at 8:30 on the way to the LA zendo for DH and they were already laying out red carpet and setting up the blockade. I guess they did a foot and wand imprint too. We took this picture about an hour or two after all festivities were over and the movie was under way. There were still tons of people milling around. Here's what it looked like at around 1 pm, about 3 hours to go. The stands were all filled as was the sidewalk.

So the Decemberists' concert at the Hollywood Bowl was incredible. The opening bands were Band of Horses (good) and Andrew Bird (incredible). We had awesome box seats, about 6 box sets back from the pool seats and pretty near the middle of the stage. We shared the box with 2 other couples, one from LA and the other from AZ too. They'd been to the same shows we'd been to: Marquee Theater in Tempe and Rialto in Tucson. We got there about 2 hours before the show with our cooler of wine, cheese and sushi and had a picnic in the box before the others showed up. I even knit for quite a while.

The highlight of the evening had to be between the opening acts when we spotted first Chris Funk (guitarist) and then Jenny Conlee (keyboards & accordianista) visiting a nearby box (friends, family?). DH was able to get out of the box and get both of them to sign the show poster I had bought shortly before. He said they were both very gracious about signing and a little surprised we'd drive from Phoenix for the concert.

Well, that's about all for now. I'm sure I could run on more about the fun we had but I'll save that for another time. Have a good time on your trip and I look forward to hearing all about it. I think tomorrow I'll talk about my knitting injury and the yarn store I got to visit (briefly, thanks to DH-never take a husband into a yarn store). Have a good flight! A

What a fiber-loving family packs for vacation

In carry-on: Interweave Felts and knitscene magazine, a mini-loom from Schacht to work on with DS

In checked bag: not Hedwig (still same size as in pic from previous post), Schacht 1.1 oz. spindle, undyed silk caps

I thought about bringing the 2 silk spinning articles (here's one, and the other) from the Winter 05 Knitty but I usually bring too much stuff . . .

Cindy

Le Tour begins!

Hi Alene! My Tour had a good beginning. I spun some more of the cream and light brown wools. While I was working on my wheel, I kept looking at the bobbin of multi-color experimental singles I spun earlier and decided to ply it with sewing thread. It varies a lot in thickness and is a lot greener than the picture shows. I'm really happy with it even though some off the sections are so thin (oops) that I'll have to cut them out and double them for knitting. It's from a fiber grab bag I got online and also some Rainbow Fleece Farm dyed locks I carded myself. Cindy

p.s. it's been beastly hot here also and humid of course.

Good Morning!

I thought I'd sneak in a quick post before we finish packing and head west. Maybe a sock (or pair) will have to have it's picture taken in interesting places. (Hollywood Sign, Griffith Park Observatory, Walk of Fame-any name suggestions?).

Class last night went pretty well. I used and Ashford Traveller. It is pretty nice. I think I still like the Joy the best. The Kromski Minstral was pretty nice too. Next week I want to try the Rose and maybe the Joy again to confirm how I like it. The only one I haven't really liked is the Louet Victoria. In class we're having problems with the plastic guides staying in place. They're not sure if it is the plastic that is bad or if the wood has dried out in the Arizona heat.

There are only 3 of us in class this time and it runs for another 4 weeks. I'm going to finish off the Dyed Rhammboulette (sp? I'm too lazy to go check) and the ply it. I got about half of the chunk done last night. It was going pretty good.

DH is done so I'd best get going. More when I get a chance to post, A

I swear, it jumped into my bag

What's this???!? Has Hedwig turned into a tropical bird?? Alas, sometimes my one project at a time plan (more on that one of these days) doesn't always happen. Ms. H, Fearless Yarn Leader at LYS, suggested I make one small sock as a store sample of this new yarn (Farmhouse Yarns Bo Peep sock yarn) and keep the rest of the yarn. Natch, the deal was sealed immediately. I'm doing a toe-up sock from a chart pattern in the Summer issue of IK. Notice the 2 circs waiting in the wings; I borrowed dpns from the misc. needle cup at work to start there and switched this morn to circs.

I'm not much of a sock knitter, I have to confess. I'm hard on my socks, I'm a loose knitter, I'm not wild about dpns, and I like bigger needles for a variety of reasons. I've only made a few in all my years of knitting. I didn't understand the craze until I found The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook by Lynne Vogel. Wow, what creativity! Will Cindy now be photographing socks everywhere out in the world . . . stay tuned, I haven't a clue.

Hi Cindy!

Hope your Fourth was a good one. We had a guy out to give us an estimate on the new fence. Something about 30 years of sun, hot and termites causes a wood fence to give up the ghost. Fortunately my grandmother had an insurance policy that she left to the 12 grandchildren. My portion won't quite cover the fence but it mostly does. Pool Party as soon as the fence is complete! Everyone is invited! Ted's bringing the drinks! (And yes, he likes the taste of the dark stuff; it's called Moose Drool.)

So, what is hotter than 115 and no humidity (4%)? Try 117 with 15% humidity. Yay. Yesterday there was not a cloud in the sky. Today little wispy ones were around early and the tell-tale signs of monsoon storms forming in the eastern skies. Of course we won't get any of those for a few days yet.

Let's see, I promise some fibery goodness the other night didn't I? Tuesday night I dropped DH off at the zendo and then went to check out my 2 favorite fiber stores, Tempe Yarn and Fiber and Fiber Factory. Both have move locations in the last 2 months. Neither one very far but they are in new digs.

I went to Tempe Yarn first. There I got another skein of the tofootsie that I made MIL's socks from, same color. I figure I have enough left from her socks that I can make myself a pair of socks, just a little longer. I also got a bat of fiber in a green and brown mix. It reminds me of the desert. Margi had to check it out right away. It got 2 paws up.

Afterwards I went by Fiber Factory to pay for my new class. Beginning Spinning 1.5 starts tonight, in about an hour and a quarter so I can't dawdle on this too much. I didn't buy any fiber or yarn there although I did get the Spring 2007 Spin-Off. Something to read on the way to LA. I will probably buy something tonight since I have the class discount and need a project to start on. Mmmmm, wonder what it will be? Might have to wait till next week to find out.

In May I bought a sweater at Goodwill with the plans of ripping it out and dyeing it. For a dollar or so I figured I could torture it and experiment. Margi had other ideas. I did start ripping it out last night but it is pretty difficult. I think (hope?) it's mohair and everything sticks to itself. If I ever get it frogged I'm going to kool-aid dye it. Then we'll see. Maybe just a cat bed.

Well, we're off to LA in the morning. I'll take plenty of pictures to share. And I'm planning on checking out at least 1 yarn shop, probably the one on Melrose. Have a good trip next week if I don't talk to you first! A

Happy Birthday Abigail

Hi Cindy!

Happy Fourth of July (an hour and a half early here)!

Because we never know exactly when the cat's birthdays are we designate a day. Teddy's is March first, same as DH's Grandma, Margi is on DH's birthday (01/23) and July 4 is Abigail's.

She isn't a big fan of having her picture taken. Usually she acts like the camera is stealing her soul. This year she is 10, just 4 months younger than her brother Teddy. We know they have the same mom but we're pretty sure they have the same dad too. Their mom was a skinny, short-haired torty and they both have longer hair. They even look quite a bit alike and have the same longish hair and furry feet. Of course Abby is about half Teddy's size. She is pretty needy and we joke that she has "abandonment issues". We were not planning on bringing her when we moved (she wasn't our cat) but no one else was feeding her so we felt responsible for her. Seven years later she's still hanging around. She's the only one of the three that still has her front claws and she goes out freely although she sticks pretty close to the patio. She's not the character that Teddy and Margi are but she's got her own charm.

Tomorrow, more fiber related news (hint: beginning spinning 1.5 is a go)

Happy 4th! Hope you have good fireworks!
A

At Late Night Knitting last Friday . . .

Me: Wow, it's 9:05!

Ms. L : Is that past your bedtime?

Me: I'm usually in my pajamas now.

Knowing that Ms. L's pajamas are far more likely to see 9:05 a.m. than p.m., we had a good laugh about it and then bought some yarn.