Dave’s not here…

He's HERE!

It’s that time of year again…

When the Sheep, Wool and Fiber Festivals begin.  And each year I hmmm and haaawww about purchasing raw fleece, but then I always bag out.  Because, well to be honest because of this.  I just know that I just don't want to go there, and it's just so not worth the savings to have to deal with sheep crap thank you very much.

So I guess that answers that question once and for all.  Thank you Purl Jam for clearing that up for us.

So, now I'm only hmming about whether or not to go down to the Connecticut Wool, Sheep and Fiber Festival on Saturday… maybe for a couple of hours anyway.  Anybody else going?

I finished knitting the Embossed Leaves late last night – tonight I will block and take pics to post later.  They are black so It's probably going to be hard to 'see' the pattern.

I cannot believe it but right now…  hold on to yourself…

I have NOTHING on my needles.

This is very scary.

Day of Silence

This morning my daughter went off to school with her cards that she made for todays Day of Silence.

Day of Silence

Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I

am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth

movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay,

bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My

deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by

harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe

that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting

these injustices. Think about the voices you are not

hearing today.

What are you going to do to end the silence?

 

Of course the fact that she was wearing MIME MAKE-UP – made it rather hilarious too.

But I do support her in this endeavor.

Apparently this is the 10th year of this 'protest' of a day of silence to support the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight students.

According to the website this "is a student-led day of action where those who support making anti-LGBT bullying and harassment unacceptable in schools participate in events to recognize and protest the discrimination and harassment—in effect, the silencing—experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students and their allies."

It's times like this when I smile because she does these things occasionally that help me know I've at least had some influence on her.  I guess dragging her off to anti-war marches at a young age, did teach her to stand up and be counted for what you believe in.

YOU GO GIRL!

Oh and I will see you all at the Java Room in Chelmsford tonight!

Traveling and Yarn Shops

I was researching yarn and fiber shops in the San Diego area (only 10 more days til I'm on my way) and I found this awesome website that I had to share.  Mapped Yarn Shops in the US You just insert the location and it pops up all the known yarn stores in that area.  I think we need a Palm Pilot version.  You can add any shops that might be missing too.

I usually don't plot yarn shops around my vacations, at least I didn't until the past few years.  Imagine my delight last year, when I realized Halcyon was in Bath, Maine!  And we camp every year on Hermit Island which is really close by.  Since then I make it a habit to at least scan the area I'll be to see what's available.

But since I'm visiting one of my dearest friends who I hooked on yarn taught to knit last year when she visited and who is more than ready to move beyond the basic scarf at this point and who I am sure I can persuade without much ado to visit a few of the local treats while I'm visiting.

According to the above map there are approximately 16 yarn shops in the area.  I better start thinking about a bigger suitcase, just in case.

Today is my little sister's birthday.  Today she hit's the big FIVE-O too.  I was 2 1/2 when she was born and although I don't remember much, I do remember not being particularly happy about the whole thing.  I still believe I was meant to be the only child.  Although we still have our occasional sibling bouts, I can honestly say she's a best friend and I'm sure happy that I have a sister….   my brother on the other hand (actually I'm kinda glad to have him too).

I remember her 3rd birthday, it happened to snow that day, and since my birthday is in January, I had her totally convinced that it only snows in January, so it HAD to be my birthday and that all the presents were mine.  She was not happy and neither was my mother if I remember completely.

So Happy Fiftieth Birthday Sis!   I'm glad to have a sister like you.  Oh and yes, I did get her an evil birthday card… something about milestone birthdays and not being able to find one for the year she turned into Mom…

On the Knitting front:

Last night I turned the heel on the black socks – I'm doing them cuff down for a change and I know I said I would never do the kitchener stitch again… I think I have a plan to keep this promise!  Talk someone else into doing it for me!  (Jena don't read this part – ok?)

I'm off to get some birthday cake.

Checking in

What a lovely weekend…  I accomplished a few things, like getting all the debris and leaves out of the backyard.  The daylilies are getting big and my iris are coming up nicely too.

I frogged the black socks I was knitting and started a new pair, Embossed Leaves Socks from Interweave Knits, Winter 2005.  They won't fit me, too small, so I don't know who I will be bestowing these on, maybe my niece for her birthday.

I love the pattern, but it's not one that will easily be up-sized with an additional pattern repeat, But I think I have an idea so the next pair I can increase in size for me!

DD went to the Dresden Dolls concert on Friday night, she had left before I got home from work and didn't get home until after midnight.  Imagine my surprise when she came in and I noticed that she had not only dressed like Amanda Palmer, but that she had also removed her eyebrows to do the tribal thing Amanda does over her (also) missing eyebrows.  Who knew I was supposed to burst out laughing.  But you have to admit seeing your dark haired child with no eyebrows has to be pretty funny.

Sunday was drab a dreary.  DD was again gone and had stayed over with a friend on Saturday night.  So I was able to actually make a dent on cleaning out closets and dressers and actually putting a dent into cleaning out my bedroom.  I just turning on the chick flick channel and watched Sleeping In Seattle, Stepmom (it always makes me cry) and Pretty Woman while working on my room.  I'm planning on painting it, putting down new floors, getting new furniture and creating my personal sanctuary up there.  It will also have a deadbolt lock on the door to keep you-know-who out.

I've decided to get rid of the queen bed and get a double (heck it's only me) this way I'll have room for a nice upolstered chair to sit and knit and relax it.  Heavenly.

Dresden Dolls Follow-up

I really meant to post this awhile ago.

Remember when my DD convinced me to take her to a Dresden Doll video shoot?

Well they posted some stills on their website with pics of me and DD.

Go here - look in the 3rd row down, 3rd and 4th photos to the left.  I'm in the lower right hand corner wearing one of my beautiful handknit scarves of course, and DD is one row behind me and to the right with the red/black hair.

Today is the day DYE-O-RAMA sign up

Ok lets try this again… I finished entry for today, pushed the publish button and off it went it the blackhole of bloggespheres.

Today is the day to sign up for Scout's  and you better do it soon! 

As I was saying to a new member of our Snb-NH knitting group, Socks are crack for knitters.  You just cannot knit one pair. I even admitted to owning two pairs (yes I know that's FOUR!) Addi Turbo #1 circulars.  So yes that means I can actually be knitting FOUR socks at the same time.  I just love the toe-up and will never do the Kitchener Stitch again if I don't have too.

So since I joined the Dye-O-Rama, this of course means that I need to order some yarn to dye.  Since others, (ESPECIALLY DAVE!) seem to be having such wonderful results with the Knitpicks Dye-It-Yourself sock yarn, I decided to order a *few* skeins.  Well, you know I need to practice, then there is the insurance skein, then there is the what-if-I-want-to-keep this one, and the angel skein (in case someone craps out of the swap), oh and the might-as-well-round-it-up-to-an-even-number… well you get the idea.

Of course I was able to justify this because I just ordered a bunch of Dharma Trading dyes through the Yarncoop.

So of course since I had my credit card out and someone else sent me a link to a Discount Yarn Sale Online Store, and they had Henry's Attic Alpaca Lace in their BARGIN BIN! 

Looks like I'll be planning a dye day in the very near future. 

I just want to thank all the enablers that I've met online recently, and I hope that the links that I've added here today pass that favor on to you.  It's a sickness I know and the meetings on Wednesdays, and Sundays, don't seem to be helping at all.

Meme’s and a contest

Ok, here's a contest…

Name 5 places other than your house or a knitting store where you have knit…

Post your list on your blog & put a link to it in the comments of this entry. Whomever has the most original place as picked by my DB will get a little knitting gift packages from me. We'll pick a winner on Friday, April 21.

Here's my list..
1) on a plane

2) at a campsite

3) on the beach

4) in my car (not in traffic but endlessly waiting for my child to finish music lessons, come out of a movie, etc.)

5) on the subway

And another meme stolen from here

Go to Wikipedia and look up your birth day (excluding the year). List three deaths, two to three births, and three neat facts in your journal, including the year.

January 16th

Births:

1901 – Frank Zamboni, inventor of the Zamboni machine
1933 – Susan Sontag, American writer and activist
1950 – Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer

Deaths:

1815 – Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Horatio Nelson
1936 – Albert Fish, American serial killer (executed) (b. 1870)
1942 – Carole Lombard, American actress (b. 1908)

Events:

1547 – Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
1777 – Vermont declares its independence from New York.
1968 – Youth International Party (Yippies) is founded.
1991 – Gulf War: United States begins bombing Iraq for the first time.

Spinning Projects

Now that I have the digital camera back we have photos to share!  Here are some of the projects I've been working on while spinning all that merino for the wrap.  Although the merino was a dream to spin, I just needed a break. Not to mention this other fiber was just calling to me and taunting me.

This is the yummy llama down.  This has to be the lushest fiber I have spun to date.  I got this at SPA weekend from West Mountain Farms .  Out of the 4 ounces I was able to spin about 400 yards.  It is just so soft, I cannot wait to get some more of this! 

This is the cinnamon alpaca I got off ebay and sent to the guys at Wooly Knob for processessing.  I got back beautiful rolls of roving that is so wonderful to spin.  I have another half a bobbin spun and quite a few more bumps of roving. This will make a lovely shawl I think.  I just love the color.

Photos!

Back shot of the Yoga Wrap

 

Really bad photo of me, but good of the wrap

Socks from Knitpicks.com

 Darling Daughter – after 30 tries of trying to get a decent photo and having her behave like her typical bratty self… this is a good as it gets