I didn't realize how much time has passed

I am still working on my lilac leaf shawl.spinning for my sweater, working on a sweater called Brunello. I have a small studio in my home now. I basically have been reorganizing and throwing things out. I am down to having 2 kids out of 5 living at home. The 3 that left have far too many personal things left behind. One of my sons got married and got a Siberian husky. I also smashed my right foot. Did I leave anything out?

So I got my operation on March 27th. The swelling in my legs ,stomach and face went down immediately. God is Great! I fit in Dansko shoes! The clogs are wider. I don't look preggars anymore! My post op appt is on Friday April 11th. I am still in pain, but it is all good. I am still spinng the black Shetland and I wove a mohair scarf for my husband the day after the operation. I had warped the loom the day before the operation.

May Thurner Syndrome

So, all these years my leg and swelling problems came from me being born with a little defect. My illiac vein is being crushed by my illiac artery. On the 27th, I am getting a stent put in my pelvis. MTS happens to one in a million people and it is usually a women. That would be me! I finally know that the blood clot came from MTS, not a blood clotting disorder. God is Great! I forgot how to post pics again! 😃 I am still spinning my Shetland, knitting my lilac leaf shawl and knitting my Miami Vice mohair shawl.

Finished!

I finished weaving my scarf this morning! I washed and waulked it. It is still drying. I will post a pic soon enough. With the rest of the warp I will make some fabric to make a matching coat for Algonquin. We are going to look smashing!

Weaving a Plaid Scarf

I put my lace shawl on hold til I finish my scarf which I started in November 2011. I want to wear it for my birthday on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. I will be 53 yrs young. I am thinking about getting a better rigid heddle loom. This one was free and it is a Easy Weaver B by Harrisville Designs. I want to get one that folds. This one I can actually hold in my lap. The models I have been looking at have to be rested on a table and your lap at the same time, but they can be folded for portability with your project still on it. Not that I will be taking it anywhere, but when I get sick and tired of working on it, it won't take up that much space. I gave Ma her merino wool loopy lace scarf on Friday, February 28th. Looks like she loved it, but will she wear it? Last night I took my final pill of Coumadin. Good Riddence! 8 months of ingesting rat poison on purpose. SHEESH! I have a hematologist appt on March 6th and a venous doctor appt on March 11. They will be checking for damages. God is Great!

Spinning Shetland

I started spinning my Shetland fleece for Rhinebeck 2014. The category is Featured Breed. I am using my .46 oz Russian Bog top whorl drop spindle by Golding. It will be 1 ply cobweb. I have 6 batts in black : 2 of 25 gms and 4 of 24 gms. I still have to figure out what to knit with it. My Lilac leaf shawl is coming along nicely. It is a Blueberry tonal color in 50% merino wool / 50% silk laceweight yarn. GORGEOUS! The aim is to knit 10 rows a day. So far, so good!

I was elated!

We went to Pop's home on Sunday and he was out at the diner with Ma and Jimmy. When he got home Pop was wearing the hat and scarf. Oh what Joy! And Jimmy was wearing the cowl I made for Christmas! It is a really great feeling when you see people wearing your gifts. Still stashbusting!

EUREKA! I GOT IT!

I finally posted my first pic after all these years! It was of Pop and his hat and scarf. I thought I would never get it. Here is a pic of Claudius wearing it. Isn't my Angel good looking?

Crochet textured throw

I started Julian's Christmas gift. I made 1 granny block. It is made of 20 crocheted blocks. 10 of them are a basic granny square. 2 strands held together and a size 10 3/4 mm hook. I am using the lion brand sportweight wool blend yarn which I bought years ago at 50 cents a skein. That yarn is never ending! I bought a huge black garbage bag worth. Yep, I bought all of it that day. I did start crocheting on my slipper chair cover also. I am Knitting 4 rows a day on my Plague shawl, 4 more days to go! I love the Winter Olympics!

Cap and Scarf

I finished handsewing Pop's cap this morning. I had to full it 7 times in the washing machine before I was happy with the thickness and size. And I knit him a matching moss stitch scarf. We went to his home today and gave him his gift. I took a pic but still haven't figured out how to post it here. I will only know if he likes the set if he ever wears it outside. I started knitting my Black Plague Shawl again and tomorrow I will continue with my crochet slip cover. It was good to see Mama-San and Pop again.

This year we actually have an old timey winter!

Welcome to the land of snow and shoveling! So the groundhog says we have 6 more weeks of winter. Yay to knitting, spinning, crocheting and eating! I started a new project last night. A hat for my Pop. I have put all other projects on hold for this. can any tell me how to post pics here? I cant seem to figure it out. Back to knitting!

A horrible scare for my doggy!

Oh man! Algonquin threw up like crazy Friday evening into Saturday morning. Saturday morning he was so bloated he looked preggers. He had the shakes, fever, his tonque was hanging out. He couldn't sit, lie down, anything because he was in so much pain. He has never been sick a day in his life. And now he was on his death bed. I made him homemade Pedialyte. Homemade Pedialyte: Take notes: 1 quart of boiled or bottled water, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Heat the salt and sugar in 1 cp of water til dissolved. Then add the other 3 cups of water. Wah-la! pedialyte! Give 1/4 cup every hour. He drank a whole quart in 24 hrs And I fed him homemade chicken broth. Do not use that chicken stock from the store or bullion cubes. Too much salt! Remember there is salt in the pedialyte Homemade chicken broth: 4 drumsticks and 1.5 quarts of water. Low rolling boil until the meat falls off the bone. No type of seasonings what so ever. I gave him this in 1/4 cp servings too. Minuscule amounts won't make them throw up. He arose better today. He is not shivering, not vomiting, his fever hasn't come back today. He isn't getting any solids til tomorrow. On a good note, I started organizing my Ravelry pages and I started a new shawl out of my Handspun from a dark brown mini Shetland named Batman. The name of the shawl you ask? The Black Plague. How befitting for the situation! MUAHhahahaha!

Such a busy weekend!

Well, I finished purging what I could from my bedroom. I gave Julio the weekend to work on his things, he didn't. So this whole week Claudius has no school and we are going thru Julio's things.😜 I have 4 rows and the bind off left to Claudius' shawl. I cast on for a pair of Norwegian fulled mittens for Julio. I found in my purging a hot pink acrylic stole which I will use for the base of Edie's slipper chair. I also found a recycled sari silk sweater which I made a long time ago and forgot about. I remembered that I only had a small amount so I made it top down with short sleeves. It fitted Edie perfectly and matched her plum pants. She wore it to her outing today. I went to church today and went to the small groups connection afterwards. Looks like I am going to join the Spiritual gifts group. It is on Tuesdays at 10 am. This group does sound quite interesting. I never did bake my bread and now I want an apple cobbler too. KNIT ON!

Purging the Bedroom

I spent hours today torturing myself. I threw out 4 bags of crap and then some. I still haven't finished but I am getting there. I also found some treasure. Julio's lost college graduation ring! It was on the floor by his computer desk / rat nest buried under some old papers. I was able to knit 4 rows of Claudius' shawl today, just 12 more rows and the bind off left. Then I can start knitting Julian's garter afghan.

Ugh I loathe shoveling snow!

On a good note, I knitted and finished a cowl with some blueberry colored Handspun on size 13 needles. I am going to work on Claudius' shawl and my red sequined cowl. I haven't done any fleece prepping. Death and snowstorms get in the way of life sometimes. I want to bake some honey cornbread tomorrow so I can make some chocolate honey cornbread pudding for Friday. Let's see what happens! I didn't receive my homework for my class on Friday yet. It is either lost or they gave up on me. I have to make a comment on the fulled mittens I made: the Norwegians knew what they were doing. My hands never got cold, never felt the wind and didn't get wet. I wore my red ones and Claudius wore his. I think we need to buy some stock in Swiss Miss too!

Snow day stash busting and corned beef

Yesterday during the snow storm, in between shoveling, I crocheted using my Handspun. I got part of an Advent calendar scarf done, got up to day 13. I am up to a 4th color now, cream with bling. I found some pink and blue Handspun and used the whole thing to make a crochet Calm cowl and finish it. My small weekly commercial yarn crochet projects have become bigger handspun crochet projects. I am putting these up for sale in Etsy in September. The commercial yarn things go to the consignment shop in September. Sunday, Jan 19th, my little sister Annie showed up in the evening with a frozen block of corned beef. She thought I had given to her and was returning it because she was never going to cook it. After she left I checked it out because I knew I never gave her corned beef. It had a sell by date of 6/12/10! And was bought at Met Foods in the Bronx. This was my mother's corned beef! I looked up how long a cured piece of corned beef which has been cryovac sealed lasts when it is in a deep freeze on the Internet on the FDA site. It lasts years! As long as it was well sealed it would have no mold( throw it out), and no freezer burn( throw it out). It looked and smelled fine as it was defrosting in the fridge and I started cooking it at 11am Monday. I boiled it with beer and water. When I took it out of its boiling water at 3pm to let it set, my little sister showed up with her husband Big Rudy. It was the best piece of prehistoric corned beef we all ever had! Thank you Mama-San!

I am tired!

I couldn't sleep last night. I got up early and went to the 10:30am service. While I was at church I saw that there was a women's meeting at 2:15pm. I went home at 12 and got back to church at 2:15. The topic was "Girl Talk" single women vs. married women. The single women are happy to be single, the married women are happy to be married. It is all good. I worked on Claudius' shawl. I kind of lost my knitting mojo. I will prevail!

A Death in the Family

My husband's little sister, Doris, passed away today. May she Rest In Peace. Today I only worked on my Advent Scarf. I am up to the 2nd Granny square which is day #8 of the sampler. I need to watch another episode of Tudor Monastery Farm to get in the mood.

Long Day!

Well I didn't go to my first class, instead I finished my mohair cardigan which had been languishing in my room for 2 years. I wore it to Vogue Knitting Live to my Andean Accents class. I really enjoyed the class and I almost finished knitting the bracelet. Maybe I will get the chance to finish it tomorrow. I am thinking of incorporating this method in my Handspun sweater. The Living Prayer class was wonderful, God will heal us!

Slipcover bottom is done!

I started crocheting the seat back yesterday while I was watching Tudor Monastery Christmas! They made a wonderful meat stuffed bread ,which I will be making for Thanksgiving this year. Today I saw Tudor Monastery farm episode 2 and I hand picked my silver mohair at the same time. Ain't I talented?! And since I got Christmas in my heart all throughout the year, I started a crochet Advent scarf in my Handspun yarn. It will go from fuschia and lilac yarn to pink, lilac and natural colored yarn,to natural colored yarn. The scarf will end when it looks long enough. That might be at the end of the 12th day. I did the first 3 patterns today. I knitted on the shawl and now I will continue with the slipcover. Tomorrow will be frenzied for me. I have 3 different classes to go to. A bible study class on the book of Matthew, an Andean accents knitting class at Vogue knitting Live and a Living prayer class. God give me strength! Btw, I got a cute little check from the consignment shop. Yay!

Purging the Tabor

Sheesh! I am still going thru my things and threw out a whole bag of miscellaneous crap that was in my chest of drawers. On a happy note, I am now working on the seat back of the slip cover. I didn't get to spin today, but that is o.k. Cuz I saw a Tudor monastery farming episode on YouTube by the BBC. Season 1, episode 1. Quite interesting. I also cooked some delicious chicken had some Razzy berry and jalapeño jam on it. Lordy, I outdid my self as usual! Thank you Jesus and thank you Jylin for giving me such a delicious Christmas gift. I did work on Claudius' shawl will watching the program. I am still with my on target with my purging program!😁

Crocheting a slipcover for my Slipper Chair

I found 8-12" dc granny squares and the matching yarn last night. I crocheted the 4 turquoise ones together and started adding an edging to it. It is going to be all done in acrylic and acrylic blends. It will look the technicolor rainbow! I am not buying any more yarn! The other 4 squares are Handspun yarn. Those will be for Edie's chair. I was going to make her a blanket a few years ago! LOL I have been knitting 4 rows of Claudius' shawl every day. I will go a few days over my personal deadline. That is fine with me as long as I keep stash busting! So I have quite a few number of items ready to be needle felted. 2 scarves which were actually felted, the rest of the items were actually fulled. Red mittens, purple mittens, aqua slippers, 3 tablet covers and some notion cases. I think I will enter a pair of the mittens at the Rhinebeck festival 2014. I was able to finish spinning my 100 gms of California red/ mohair fiber. I went to a Newcomers Dinner at Church this evening. God is Good!

On a roll!

I just finished fulling a pair of slippers 3 times and last night I cast on a Cupido Cowl for myself. I spent 1 hour this morning separating all my yarn into categories of crochet to sell, Knit Christmas gifts, and just for me. I flicked my California Red and picked my mohair. Then I drum carded and started spinning on my Hansencrafts E-spinner. Thank you beloved husband, Gagi and Edie!

STASHDOWN 2014

Wow it has been a long time! Here are my fiber goals for the year: 1) 1 small project a week in crochet. (52 projects) 2) a knitted shawl/ blanket/ afghan every 3 months. I started the first one in October 21, 2013. Must be finished by January 21, 2014. Feather and fan shawl for Claudius. Cast on dates: project #2 January 22- end date April 22 Project #3 April 23 - end date July 23 Project #4 July 24 - end date October 25,2014 3) working on a California Red fleece and a mohair fleece to make myself a sweater to wear to Rhinebeck 2014. 4) for Rhinebeck this year the featured breed is Shetland. I am also spinning up my shetland fleec in a 2 ply. I will figure out what to make with it once it is all spun up. 5) still spinning scandanavian short tail/ alpaca/ bing batts made from the fleeces. They will be made into a scarf for my husband in Tunisian crochet. Hope to enter it in Rhinebeck 6) featured item is gloves/ mittens. I will enter a pair of fulled and needle felted mittens for that category. I will crochet my small items for the Brooklyn's women's exchange to pay for my hobby. Whatever is given back to me in June will be put up for sale on Etsy in September, just in time for Christmas. 6) I will post pics of all my projects at the end of every month. I am sure I won't be doing that, but maybe.