Christmas... and blizzards

Living in Nebraska as I have for the past 12 years, you'd think that I wouldn't be phased by a little snow. I'm not... not if it's a little snow. It started raining on the 22nd, laying down a sheet of ice. The rain finally turned to snow on the 23rd. It snowed clear through the 26th!! Sure there were times when you could barely see the flakes and others when the flakes seemed as big as half dollars. No matter their size, they all add up! Add winds to the mix, which at times were gusting to 50 miles an hour, and you have a blizzard!



We had snow, in spots, that had drifted to within 4 inches of the top of a 6ft fence! Of course that was right next to the bunny barn.

When the snow clears, I will have to post pics of what it did to the girls' little play pens...

Trip to Po’ipu, Kaua’i, Hawai’i

So, every other year (odd years), Duane and I spend a week in Hawaii. This year, Duane’s sister DeeDee and her significant other, Lawrence, came with us. (in the picture below, I’m not trying to elbow Duane out of the picture, he’s helping me regain my balance… I was trying to fall! LOL)

It was so awesome. It was like we have friends! LOL  What I mean by that is that we had another couple to do stuff with… go to dinner, hang out, play cards.

The past couple of times we’ve gone, we didn’t really do “tourist-y” type things. Sure we did some shopping, but I don’t do helicopters or boats, so the helicopter tour of the island and deep sea fishing were out. Duane doesn’t swim in the ocean and grudgingly will hang out on the edge of the swimming pool (as long as he can see the TV at the poolside bar.)

This time, Duane, DeeDee, Lawrence and I went on an ATV tour. We rented “mud bugs” which are like go-carts on steroids. They are a little sturdier with chunky tires. We went Wednesday afternoon. It had rained A LOT on Tuesday and had been sprinkling on and off Wednesday.

Duane, DeeDee and I had bought white shirts to get dirty and Lawrence didn’t care, so he just wore a black shirt and one of the company’s over that.

 

Everyone all clean at the beginning.

DeeDee and Lawrence all squeaky clean

Look at those bright white shirts!!!  Not for long!

Almost at the half-way point. You can see where the seatbelts were.

At the very end… We all look like muddy drowned rats. But it was FUN!

Okay… that’s it for this picture heavy post.

Stay tuned for more Hawaii pictures!

Hoping to win a give-away...

I haven't ever blogged about a give away before, but the two entries on the Phat Fiber blog that I am interested in winning are

Into the Whirled who has awesome stuff. She can be found on Etsy and intothewhirled.com

The other is from FiberFancy. Yeah, she has some fancy fiber alright! I love Purple Rain. She is on Etsy as well.

Making it from scratch

It has been quite some time since I last blogged and a LOT has happened!

Just look at the pictures at the top of this post! From top to bottom, they are Bonnie Blue, Adella (who is now called Pearl), and Flipper D'Skippens (Who I call Flipper or Flippy, and Duane calls Fluffernutter)

They are all French Angora rabbits. Flipper and Bonnie were born 3 days apart this past May. Bonnie on the 26th and Flipper the 29th. So they are almost 5 months old. Pearl was born in 04, so she is 5.

Flipper is red, Pearl is pearl (white) and Bonnie is blue. While they are all lovely and have excellent bloodlines, they each have something going on which makes them "fiber bunnies." Bonnie and Flipper are unshowable. Bonnie because she is what is known as "Vienna Marked" with the white spots on her nose, head and toes. Flipper can't be shown because she has no tail. Apparently her mama got a little carried away cleaning her up when she was born. Pearl's "problem" is that she is barren, and hadn't been being cared for properly. But that is all changed, now!!!

I bought a 10x10 TuffShed to house them. I painted the plywood floor to seal it. Yes, it is purple. Why do you ask? LOL Of course it's purple! We were having some problems with pee on the wall and floor, so I bought a remnant of vinyl flooring and stapled it to the wall and underneath the cages. So much easier to clean up now! It also makes it easier to sweep up the hay that falls.

Right now, they are all trying to shed thier coats (molt), so I am collecting that fiber. Since Bonnie and Flipper are losing their baby coats, and that fiber is really delicate, I will have to either blend it with something else or just ply it with something else. Like Pearl's fiber. I am so excited that I have a direct source for awesome, really soft, luxurious fiber! And making it from scratch. I get to be in on the whole process. I get to watch it grow and feel it and snuggle with it in its raw form. The I get to "harvest" it. The grooming is a good time to bond. Then comes the spinning and knitting of it. So. Freaking. Awesome!

These girls are so cute. They are so different from each other. Flipper is always trying to get out of her hutch if the door is left open. Pearl is kind of stand offish, and Bonnie is always looking for something to eat!

People keep asking if I am going to breed them. Here's the answer: Not yet! Let me get used to taking care of these three. Obviously, Pearl is out. She's been tried 7 different times with 5 different bucks. With Flipper's missing tail, it's possible that she could prolapse (have her insides become outsides) and that wouldn't be good. So, that leaves Bonnie. Oh, the possibilities... Because she is VM, she carries the gene to make Blue Eyed Whites (BEW). And, because she is blue, she could also throw blues and blacks! And lilacs!! Bestill my heart. Purplish bunnies! But all that is in the future!

Right now, I have enough cages for 2 more rabbits. There's every chance that Bonnie could be like her mom and have a litter like the one she was born into... 11!!!! There were so many babies that Bonnie's mom couldn't take care of them all, and one had to be fostered with another doe. So, if I were to breed Bonnie, I could possibly have to come up with the monies for 9 more cages!!! And I would have to do some serious re-arranging in the barn!

Okay. So. What do you think of my "girls"?

Gotta love summer in Nebraska

Okay, here it is the 24th of June and we're under a heat advisory, but it's only 77 degrees. It's almost 12;30 and it's dark like the sun is getting ready to set. Every so often, you hear thunder boom, and the dog is freaking out.

I was out in the back yard where I opened three sides of the gazebo and was just chillaxing in one of the the new patio chairs we bought. I hear rain drops on the top of the gazebo. It was more than one or two. I sit there for a few more minutes and it starts to sprinkle a little harder and Chance is bugging me to go in. So, I zip up the sides and go into the house. It has since stopped sprinkling!

I was looking at the cilantro that has natualized in the "herb garden" up by the house. It's coming along just fine. I also see that there is a tomato plant growing in almost the same spot where there was one last year. It didn't produce the best tomatoes, but hey, I didn't have to buy it and it didn't take over the garden like the big yellow monsters I planted in the "south 20." We'll see how it does this year. Also, I noticed that there are "volunteers" in the south 20. You know, those plants that grow from the tomatoes that have fallen because you didn't get to them in time, or that the bugs got to, so you just leave them there.... So, I'm hopeful that we will have some yellow cherry tomatoes and some romas from those. The plant by the house is a roma. Mmmm, nothing like fresh salsa. Oh, and Caprese Salad (fresh mozzarella and tomatoes with olive oil, fresh garlic and basil!!!)

Spring? Maybe.

Okay, the calendar says April 20th... It's supposed to be Spring, but dang it was cold today! And what is with the snow and such that happened in Colorado over the weekend?

Coming along with Spring comes Spring Cleaning. My folks came into town yesterday. So, we did some cleaning before they got here. Of course, we keep a clean, if dog-hairy, house, so it was nothing major. Clean sheets on the beds, vacuuming and dusting and other weekly chores that just seemed more important because they were done just before Mom got here.

We put the gazebo up. Wow, I really love that thing. I was commenting to Bunny that since we bought the gazebo toward the end of last summer, it was the most we've used our backyard since we bought the house in July of '97.

We are thinking of getting a fire-pit or chimnea or some other fire containing thing. I would like to get one that is also a table. I'm looking for some different ideas.

OOOhh, on a spinning note, I have spun up some of the jacob fleece. I think it's come out great! I used the "toy wheel" spindle that housemouse1189 gave me. I have two ounces of black spun up and just finished spinning the second ounce of white. I still need to ply the white. I will be doing that with Harmony's help. I plied the yarn I labled "Jacob Black" with the spindle. Yeah, I can say that I've done it! But NEVER again, if I can help it! I wish I could have taken pictures. My Bunny ended up acting as a "Lazy Duane" since the singles were wound onto tennis balls and therefore I couldn't use a Lazy Kate.




Okay, there is a picture of "Jacob Black" on the niddy noddy before it was washed. I really like it. What do you think?

Now that I think I know how to post pictures, I will add some from the zoo trip we're going to do this Thursday. Should be fun. We haven't been to the Omaha Zoo since they built the Desert Dome. I hear it's really neat. Last week, they also opened a gondola/ski lift type ride that goes over the zoo.

Monday, Monday..

Can't trust that day! Especially at this time of year. It was cold-ish and windy and overcast... Long about 5:00 this evening, we were under a tornado watch. There were confirmed tornadoes about 40 miles south of us.

I don't know if I said anything before, but I have a new job. I am working on the 2010 Census. There will be crews in your neighborhood in the next few weeks to months. I spent last week in training in Lincoln. It was a lllloooooonnnnngggg week! Most days this week, I get to work here at home getting ready to train my crew starting Friday. I get to drive to South Sioux City and kick things off. Then, Sunday, I drive back up and stay the night so that I can be there for training starting Monday.

I think that it will be fun. And, it's money that I can use to fuel my spinning and knitting habit! I have lucked into some alpaca and llama fiber that all I have to do is either shear it myself or pay someone to shear it for me. The gal has said that she hasn't done anything with the fiber in the past few years, so there's a chance that it won't be useable for this year. But come NEXT year... whoa nelly... 7 "blankets" of llama and alpaca for my spinning pleasure.

I made my first hat. It was a Jayne Cobb hat for my friend Holly. I made it with Trina yarn by Adrienne Vittadini in Maize, Terracotta, and Orange. It's 55% Merino, 35% Microfiber and 10% Cashmere. It is so cool, as in nifty. And the best part? She LOVES it!!! I finished it and took it to her this past Saturday. She wasn't feeling too well, but she perked up a little and put it on her head. It was 70 degrees out, but that's okay.

Not a whole lot else going on... I just spun up the last 4 ounces of the Corriedale that Harmony brought with her. I thought that I had divvied it up well enough that I wouldn't end up uneven amounts on the bobbins, but I did. So, now I have to figure out how to divide that in half and then splice it to the yarn that I've already plied. I would love to have it be a whole 4 ounces. It will be a better amount to dye and then knit up in to something wonderful!

Okay, that's been my Monday! And then some. :D

It's Friday!

Okay, I know I haven't posted anything in a week or so. Or has it been longer? I lose track of time so easily lately! I think the computer keyboard has crack in it that I am absorbing through my fingertips!!!! Or is it the monitor and my eyes? Either way, I'm spending a lot of time with the laptop.



Oh, and Ravelry is laced with crack, too!!! I belong to a couple of groups. Some of them are more active than others... I swear, I can sit down to look at whether or not something from a swap was sent to me, and the next thing I know, I've read all of my "watch this post" posts and lurked in the Rub My Lamp swap, and looked at all the cool pooling, and checked out who's selling what, and 3 hours have gone by!!!



I recently participated in a secret swap in the Karma Swap group. I had a lot of fun stalking my swapee. I got to stalk Sewinggoddes. She is a pretty cool gal. She is into costuming and anime and Japanese stuff.



And, I received a bunch of cool stuff! Pocketmouse1189 was my stalker. I think she did a fantastic job putting together my package. She gave me a spindle and some plain white merino roving. There were pattern markers (the magnetic kind from Kataish), a small project bag (into which I immediately put Bunny's socks-in-progress) There was also a felted "doodad" bag made especially for Harmony. There was a skein of SWTC Pure soysilk yarn in a gorgeous purple. To top it all off.... she commissioned a special colorway "Yin Yang" from WhereStillnessDwells' Knit Bun Purl Bun etsy shop!!! It's a really pretty purple and blue merino roving that is just waiting to be spun up...

I just tried to upload some pictures into this page but they didn't work... I guess I'll just have to go the round about way and publish from flickr.

Gotta wrap this up. Bunny called and he's on his way home from work. He was letting me know he'd need the computer as soon as he gets here to take a quiz in one of his classes. Maybe when he's done with that, I'll come back and put up those pictures. In the mean time, if you really want to see them, you could go to ravelry and look them up in Karma Swap Swap, cuz I don't have them in my profile or projects anywhere.

OOOOOOHHHHH! Speaking of projects.... I am knitting up the first yarn that Harmony and I spun and that Bunny and I dyed. It's becoming the famous One Row Handspun Scarf by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (Yarn Harlot) and it's coming along fabulously!

Jacob Fleece

So, a couple of weeks ago, I bid on and won a black and white Jacob fleece. It's obviously only part of the fleece as it only weighed about 2 pounds.

That's two pounds including all the Vegetable Matter (VM) in it. I'm not sure I really want to know what, exactly, VM comprises. Or is comprised of. I do know that there is lots of grass and hay and some burrs, and I'm thinking even some shit!

For those of you who don't get "raw wool" that you then process yourself. Yeah, it's kinda gross!

I am working on my second chunk, as it were, of this fleece. I am starting off with a cold soak. I'm sure you can figure it out, but I'll detail it for you.

1. Put plug in sink and start filling with cold water.
2. Grab a hunk of fleece out of the plastic bag in the freezing garage.
3. Put wool into sink and push down into water so that it all gets wet.
4. Let soak for a while.
5. Gross out at the wierd color the water has become.
6. Squish the wool to the side of the sink and see the color become a deeper yuck. Pull the plug.
7. Rinse the sink, replug, refill with cold water, let go of wool.
8. Let soak.
9. Repeat until water is clear.
10. Pull wool out of water and squeeze as dry as possible. DO NOT WRING!
11. Let the wool sit on the divider bar of the sink while you fill with hot water.
12. Add dishsoap until the water is the color of the soap... Blue for Dawn, green if I'm using my Method Cucumber.
13. Carefully put the wool back into the sink. Let soak.
14. Repeat until water is clear.
15. Rinse until water is clear.
16. Pull wool out of sink. Squeeze water out.

Now, you can either put it in a mesh bag and put in the spin cycle of washer, or wrap it in a towel. Then, roll the towel up, put it on the floor and step on it. Grab another towel and repeat this process. Now, you can either put it outside in the sunshine to dry, or put it somewhere in the house to dry. Some people recommend piling on the floor vents, some recommend sweater racks and others use the towel bar in the bathroom.

Last week, I put it outside in the gorgeously sunny and 'balmy' 45 degree heatwave we were having! (We got 7 inches of snow the next day!) Today, however, I think that it will have to go on some towels in my craft room!

Harmony...

Okay, so this is Harmony, the newest "memeber" of our family! She is a Double Treadle Ashford Joy spinning wheel.There on the right is the very first thing I've spun on it. I will put up photos of my first yarn when I get the pictures taken. I have plans to dye the first and second skeins of yarn. Duane said he'd help me... could be fun!

My plying has gotten a little better, but I am still having some tension problems. I have 8 more ounces of wool to practice on... And, there are many, many more for be to buy and spin up!
100_1092
Originally uploaded by ginaswigert

Things I'm Loving

First and foremost, is my wonderful husband Duane (Bunny)

I have been checking out some really cool blogs... Here are some of my favorites:

www.yarnharlot.ca Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is absolutely hysterical! I laugh and empathize and wonder if she's writing about me.

www.phatfiber.blogspot.com This gal has the best sample boxes of fibers and yarns and tools and fun stuff! And she has the in with some really great fiber artists. Such as

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6136823 YarnCandy by Melissa. She has really great stitch markers and Shawl/scarf pins. Even though frogs really aren't my thing, she has a really cute frog shawl pin.

I am also following the escapades of Susie of Martha's Vinyard Fiber Farm at www.fiberfarmcsa.com/blog. Soon their lamb cam will be back up and running. There are few things cuter than a new lamb.

Okay, so you can tell I'm new at this blogging thing... I don't know how to make the links just say the name of what it's linking to.

My new Joy spinning wheel

The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J. M. Ward. Those are some seriously hot vampires!

The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I'm so glad that I didn't have vampires to worry about when I was in high school!

My laptop. This way, I can still be on the computer and Duane can sleep. Until the mouse falls out of the bed!

Oooh, I just thought of something else I am totally into and loving: Ravelry. For a yarny, crafty type person, it's abbo fabbo.

Okay, that's it for now.... Tune in next time when we'll hear all about the Campbells and the Tates, on Soap!

She's Here!!

After waiting patiently, or as patiently as I can, my new friend Joy is here!

I had to wait most of the afternoon. The Brown Man (UPS guy) usually hits my street at about 2 p.m. Every other day but today. Today, he shows up at 3:30. I had a couple of places to go, but I wanted to wait til he dropped Joy off... because I knew as soon as I left, he'd show up. So I waited. And waited, and waited some more.

Finally, he brings her and I set her in the house and then run to Wal-Mart to get some cold medicine... Duane has been fighting a sinus thing for a few days and is miserable. So I quickly went and grabbed some nyquil and dayquil.

I got home and Duane had arrived just before me. I handed him his drugs, and put chicken on to boil. After I opened the adult proof dayquil, I opened Joy's box and started to unpack her and the other goodies that came with her. Let me just say... the box she came in was really small! She and her carrying case, an extra bobbin and a niddy noddy only weighed 17 pounds!

I carried Joy into the diningroom and sat in front of the arcadia door to use the natural light to put her flyer together. Then came the brake band and putting her bobbin and flyer on. Let me just say, she treadles like a dream! So, I played around just getting the feel for her treadles before I went and got any wool.

Duane was taking a quiz, so I figured I could play for a while. I figured out how to attach the leader and then got some of the wool that also came with her. (It arrived last Saturday, so I've had a couple of days to pet it.) I got it all started and spun up about an ounce and a half. Then I got up to make supper. I could barely walk! My right knee, the good one, hurt so bad I could barely stand on it. By the time I finished making the chicken salad, I could walk with no pain.

As we were making our sandwiches for supper, I told Duane that I would have to find another chair to use, as our diningroom chairs are too tall. I ended up getting the footstool I used to have to use to get into bed. (we had a really tall bed). I put a pillow on it and "went to town." It works pretty well, but I will have to figure out just how I'm sitting that is tweaking my knee, because I must be sitting crooked.

I wanted to see how she folds up and fits in her carrying case. So, I took off the flyer and bobbin, set the wheel to the position that allows for them to set into the frame, swung the extra bobbins on the integrated lazy kate into the frame opening, undid one of the treadles and then folded them up. Man, it was slick. I picked her up, did I mention she only weighs about 11 pounds? No? Well, she does... she ain't heavy... she's my brother. She fits into the padded case very well. There is a little handle at the top and a long shoulder strap. The bag looks like it should have two straps to wear it like a backpack. Hmm, maybe an email to Ashford is in order. Not that it would do me good now... maybe in the future if something happens to this case.

I will post pictures of her tomorrow! But, wow. She's so cool. I know I will dream of her tonight.

Spinning, the Superbowl and Sleep

I have been handspinning some dog wool that I've collected from Chance. It's not the prettiest, but by gosh, it's fun! I don't know how much I have on the spindle, but I've kinda gotten the hang of it. Of course, since the staple length of this fiber is less than or close to 2", I've been doing the "park and draft" thing. I get some extra thickness and fuzziness when I have to join in a new rolag of fiber, and I haven't quite figured out yet how to stop that. I think it will be interesting to see this when it gets plied.

My Joy should be here in 2 days... Come on Brown Man, hurry up and get here! I ordered it from Copper Moose. Fortunately for me, there was a glitch in the way their buttons work for this particular spinning wheel. I wanted the wheel with the carrying/storage bag. It should have been $695. I clicked on the button and it put just the wheel in the cart. For $575 (the wheel alone should have been $615), then, when you add the bag ($115) the total comes to $690!!! So, I saved $5! Whoo hoo, go me! It comes with some freebies... an extra bobbin, a niddy noddy and 1 pound of corriedale roving. The roving came yesterday (Saturday). It is sooo soft! I wanted to pet it for a while, but I had some arranging of the craft room to do. Duane helped me with that. He is so good at figuring out where to put things. Now, we I have to start going through the basement and finish bringing stuff to the craft room.

Okay, so the Superbowl was tonight. We flipped back and forth between it and a two-night movie that was on last week that we taped. It was "The Last Templar" with Scott Foley (Bob "Cool Breeze" Brown on The Unit) and the British chick that was in one of the "The Librarian" movies. It was pretty good. Kinda upset that the Cards didn't win, but they put up one hell of a fight!

You know, sometimes sleep is over-rated... no wait, I mean under-rated! Lately, I have been needing about 10 hours of sleep a night. Crazy, I know, but there you go! If I go to bed when Duane does, I end up reading until quite late. Then, I'm awakened when he gets up, and then again right before he leaves for work... usually, though, I am able to go back to sleep and stay that way until 9:30 or 10. Last night, I was up farting around on the computer until 2 a.m. Then, because he thinks he's quiet and really isn't, I was up before 8:30 this morning. I had visions of taking a nap, but that didn't happen. So, now here we are... it's just after midnight and I'm still up. However, my eyes are getting tired, so I think I'm going to sign off and say, "Good night!"

Time Flies

Wow! 30th of January already! It seems like just yesterday it was New Year's Day, and the day before that was Christmas. I know when I was young, time seemed to drag and the time between Christmas and Easter (spring break) was FOREVER in coming!

My mother used to say, "Things will be different when you're older." Man, she wasn't kidding. I find myself saying thins I swore I'd never say. Like.... "I can remember when..." fill in the blank. For example, my friend Holly was hanging out last week and we saw some candy in an Oriental Trading catalog. Sixlets, you know the little round wannabe M&Ms? I said, "I remember when I could get the long packet of Sixlets for 2 cents!" I felt so old. I was sad after that.

Okay, onto a more uplifting subject... I have spun up (on my drop spindle) all of the dog wool I had collected... Small plastic sack full... Now I have to "harvest" some more.

Note from Gina

I know, just what the web needs... another blog about knitting, spinning and crafting.

I am hopeful that I will be able to offer a few more attractions than some.

Of course, since I'm new and not affiliated with anyone, I won't be able to have contests to win stuff... So, we'll see if that makes a difference!

I will endeavor to be entertaining and maybe impart some wisdom or some kind of "hmmm, never thought of it that way." Even if you just leave here saying to yourself, "she's kinda wierd," then I've done my job!

So, grab a cup of coffee, or tea or heck, a margarita and sit back and enjoy.

I worked for a major coffeeehouse chain. I worked at a store that was closed. In October. I have been out of work since then. I have a loving and supportive husband who doesn't insist that I work outside the home. I keep a fairly clean house, I cook a mean pork chop and keep the dog from tearing things up.

I knit a blanket last fall. I really love it. It's big enough to cover my queen size bed. It's very cozy. It lives on the couch because the livingroom is colder than the rest of the house. Other than the basement, that is.

I find knitting very comforting. It can be frustrating at times, but overall, it soothes me. Also, it makes me feel productive while sitting and watching TV. Plus, it lets me give "yarny goodness" to family and friends.

okay... that's it for now. I know I have more to say. Which means you will have more to read. Yay! It's win-win!