spinning

September, already.

September 3, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

I finished a thing! Autumn has been calling to me, and I have been suddenly feeling in need of warm wool in my hands in preparation for the season. I ended up starting this Stormy Sky shawl in July – on my birthday, in fact – and that urge for warm wooly goodness has only grown since.

The yarn is handspun, which Ravelry tells me I purchased back in 2010 and it looks like I spun in 2011. It’s a lovely, drapey blend of wool and seacell from Fiber Optic that I remember really enjoying spinning up. At the time, it was just too lovely to use and I was SO excited to get such a large amount of yardage off the fiber. These days I find myself trying to be more mindful of using what I have, and decided it was time to pull this lovely yarn out of storage and to use. Aside from the fiber itself being lovely, it was actually pretty wonderful to use this yarn and compare my past spinning to my skills now and be able to really see/feel the difference practice makes. I actually have enough yarn, I believe, to make a second one. The pattern was easy enough to remember and makes such a lovely shawl that it might just have to become a holiday gift knit, as it’s something I can manage to work on when I’m entirely overwhelmed with homework for my college classes.

A little August break (and things I forgot to post)

August 5, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

Is it just me, or did it feel like July flew by?! Summer was FULL for me, between work and motherhood and taking two college classes and the Mr’s new 2nd shift work schedule. So. Full. Today, however, is the first day that I feel like I can really breathe and relax. There’s no assignment deadlines staring me down or tests to study for, so it’s a peaceful few weeks in my future and I fully intend on soaking up all the crafting and baking and canning time… as soon as I can decide what, exactly, I want to do.

Things that happened recently that I’ve failed to post (in no particular order):

Shortly after my birthday, we bought a fire ring thing so we could have campfires and s’mores at home. It is, by far, my most favorite purchase of the summer. I even hosted a “crappy dinner party” with pizza and s’mores and a bunch of my friends and it was so perfect – kids running around everywhere having fun, adults enjoying good company and beverages… I really should do that more often!
We also bought a blueberry bush. I have long-term plans to redo the backyard and move the raised garden beds, so we planted it in a corner where we won’t have to worry about moving it when those plans begin. The Little Mr basically ate all of my raspberries, so I figured a small blueberry patch would be good, too, and maybe between the two I’d get enough berries to make SOME sort of jam!
The garden is in full swing – we have peppers that are bigger than my hand, and tomatoes are finally ripening. It is excellent timing that my classes are over for a few weeks so I have time available to make some salsa with the tomatoes!
Despite all of the class work, I have managed to make time to craft at least a little bit here and there. I spun some yarn for Tour de Fleece even though I didn’t officially participate in the event, and started making a Goldilocks and the Three Bears stuffies for a new grandbaby that is on the way in the family.

He’s fitting in nicely

June 9, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

This cat. So much love for this little guy! We’re all adjusting to having a cat in the house. The dog, when she was still with us, was always at our heels and never so mischievous as Buttercup. My potted plants are taking a beating already, which is a bit frustrating. I’m not sure what the point was in buying specific “cat” toys when he seems pretty content to play with all of the kid’s toys. But he’s such a snuggler, getting on my lap and purring away while I read.

He’s slowly becoming more of the kid’s buddy. And I’m encouraging him to be more involved in his care since he’s the one that Buttercup bonded with initially. So he came with me when I took him to the vet for a check-up to make sure he’s healthy, and then he picked him up yesterday with daddy after Buttercup had his surgery to neuter him (I am, after all, a responsible pet parent). He feeds him in the morning (if he gets up when I get up), and I make sure he feeds him at night. They like to sit and look out the windows together, and earlier this morning (pictured) he snoozed on the table while the Little Mr played games on my phone.

I’ve had one or two incidences where Buttercup found my yarn, but so far I’ve been able to knit and spin without much trouble from him. But, all in all, he’s been a really good addition to our house!

Sun and spinning

May 13, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

Mother’s Day. A whole mix of emotions usually floods me today, stemming from years of being an unappreciated stepmom. This year feels… different, not necessarily good or bad. Just, neutral. Which I suppose is an improvement, at least.

The day has been pretty typical. Breakfast, grocery store trip, and just generally hanging out. I bought the new Peter Rabbit movie (since I do love Peter Rabbit, after all), and we snuggled up on the couch this morning and watched it while I knit on a sock. I’m obsessed with the cottage Bea lives in. Obsessed.

Today was still motherhood duty, of course. I had tried to spend some time in my craft room doing some organizing and general tidying up. I bought a peg board from Ikea, attempting to get some things off surfaces to look less cluttered (nevermind that I really need to just realize that my life is forever different with a kid and I should just give up the majority of what I have because I’ll never get around to it again). But, of course, the kid had other plans. A few meltdowns later, we ended up snuggled in my bed trying to get a nap in. Then we spent some time outside, me spinning on my wheel and him spraying water everywhere (“washing” the garage, the car, making muddy puddles in the grass, etc). It was SO nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy the weather and spin.

The fiber I’m spinning is just okay – a bit felted and hard to spin and not what I would consider soft, so I’m just winging it and letting the yarn be what it wants to be. I don’t even remember who dyed it, what the fiber is, etc. It’ has been in my stash for a while, though. I’m thinking a 3-ply for some handspun mitts, most likely, because I can’t see this yarn being anything next to the more sensitive skin areas like my neck.

Spring spinning

May 4, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

Hi friends! How are you all? I didn’t realize that it has been since December since I’ve posted. We’ve been busy, and I’ve stayed occupied, but I just haven’t thought to write much I guess. I just completed a college class this week, the first of trying to finish my degree, so that has occupied much of my mind. They are accelerated classes, so we are cramming in a whole semester of classes into 6-7 weeks. I’m on a month-long break before I jump back into more classes in June so I am trying to cram in as much “fun” in as I can before I go back to being consumed by studying.

So far, I’ve finished spinning up some yarn I’ve had on the wheel for a while. It is a lovely merino/rose/stellina blend that started off so very bright and overly glittery-looking and has mellowed upon plying. I wasn’t sure I’d like it even after plying but now I’m so absolutely in love with it. I only need time to knit it up into something, though I’d have to decide what to make out if it, first!

The munchkin is sick today, with yet another ear infection, so we’ve hung out and relaxed and just spent time together. I feel like he needed more mommy time than anything with having that class for the last 7 weeks. Despite him feeling ill, he still wants to play and be outside, so we took some time before the rain came in to pick a batch of violets from the yard for some more jelly. I haven’t made jelly in so long that my pantry is depleted! Can you believe that?! Me. With a bare, jelly-free pantry. So it is perfect timing to get more made. The farmer’s market starts next week, too, and I can’t wait to see what all goodies I can find there, too. I can’t wait for fresh strawberries for jam, and peaches from the Peach Truck!

Overall I feel like nearly everything is in a pretty good place right now. Life isn’t perfect, but I feel very much like I’m in a better place at the moment with making progress on my education goals, having a job that actually encourages me to stay home with my sick kid and not make me feel bad about it, etc.