The boy room make over

Matthew decided that he wanted to paint his room after he helped me and a co-worker paint our offices.

He wanted it blue. Dark blue. Navy blue.

Okay, I can take a breath and live with that for a bedroom. But I drew the line at the navy blue ceiling. I told him that while he did not have to stark white on the ceiling, it was still my house and I didn't want a navy blue ceiling in there. So we compromised on a light blue ceiling (the color I probably would have picked for the walls) and his beloved navy blue for the walls. The trim will match the ceiling but in semi-gloss; not flat... once I buy some trip to install.

He has also requested wall-to-wall carpet but that will come later when I can afford it.

The room really was awful. It has never been painted as long as we have lived in the house and Matthew is the third teen to live in there. There were holes in the walls, dings in the walls, writing on the walls and ceiling... dirt... well, we won't talk about the dirt.

So, I bought all the stuff including a decent spackling knife and spackle and sanding blocks and roller handles and pole and roller covers and paint brush and drop cloth and we stared him on the prep work. Took him a week just to clean enough trash out of there to move the furniture.

Then he started patching. Ken showed him one way to do it. Then, when Ken was at work, I showed him the proper way to do it. Everything was sanded. Everything was damp cloth wiped. The floor was vaccuumed to remove most of the dust.

At my office I did all the prep work before he got there, and because we have drop tile ceilings, he didn't have to paint the ceiling and I did the cut-in work. All he had to do there was roll the walls and some touch up cut-ins.

He was pretty shocked to learn how much work went into starting from scratch. But he's doing it. Little by little. He does not like to work alone. Gets bored with noone to talk to, I think... not that he actually talks to me... but I think he needs the encouraging words to keep moving.

But the first coat is on the ceiling now. We will switch to a slighly fluffier roller for the second coat to hide the flaws left from the previous home owner who couldn't finish drywall worth a shit. But I just wasn't up to ripping down all the old tape and doing it over. A little texture will hide a lot of flaws. The dark walls will cut down on reflected light. It should be okay.

I hope we can get a second coat on the ceiling this evening.

Tomorrow we will tackle the walls.

I might get Ken to go out and get the trim and get it installed sometime in the coming week or two. Then we can finish the paint job and he can decorate how he wants.

My travel log

Matthew talked me into taking him to see his girlfriend in Charlottesville yesterday. Two weeks ago, I told him he could not go up there and spend the weekend because he did not have a functioning phone, money or a place to stay. I had visions of him being picked up by some creepy old man and vanishing off the face of the Earth. So, even though he was officially 18, I put my foot down and told him no. I also told him as a compromise that I would make a long day trip out of it (since I really love visiting C'ville) and provide the transportation.

It was either that or stay home listening to him rant while I tried to clean house.

Who wouldn't rather be in C'ville?

Anyway, before our trip, I typed "Yarn Shops Charlottesville Virginia" into Google and got maps and directions to several places. I picked out three, added a couple of book stores and a couple of healthfood stores.

So, we left home at 8 a.m. and made it to C'ville at the Fashion Square Mall on Route 29 just before 11 a.m. My first stop was the Whole Foods Market across the street from Fashion Square Mall. Oh my! If you've never been to a Whole Foods Market and you love eclectic food that is organic and whole and wonderfully fresh; find one of these. Even a several hour drive is worth the trip. Because I neglected to bring a cooler, I had to limit myself to shelf food and a couple of hard cheeses. I will bring a cooler next time I'm out this way.

Then I went down the road just a little bit to the first yarn shop. It was called It's a Stitch and is a very nice shop. They were giving beginning knitting lessons when I arrived and greatly enjoyed listening in at the banter. I ended up with seven skeins of laceweight silk yarn, a lace pamphlet and the current issue of Interweave Knits. (I really need to subscribe to that again, now that I'm better at knitting.)

Then I met up with the kids for minute so Matthew could do a costume change (his girlfriend, bless her, talked him into dressing up a bit for their date. He had brought along nice clothes in a backpack but had left it in the car).

From there I headed out to Stony Mountain Fibers out to the west side of town up Route 20 from Pantops Mt. It was a beautiful drive and I could not have asked for nicer weather. It was cold, but clear and crisp. Anyway, you drive quite a ways out on Route 20 until you come to Hammocks Gap Road. Now, I live in the country but I had forgotten about the mountain roads in and around Charlottesville. Hammocks Gap is a one-lane dirt track running along the side of a ridge. To your left, up the hill, are a few houses here and there. To the right down a very steep hill are fensed-in pastures. You drive for a while on this dirt track until you come to Stony Point Fibers. The house number is in the 900s and the numbers just off Route 20 start at something like 1300s. But the driveway is wellmarked. It's also very steep!

My poor little Toyota had a bit of an issue climbing the red clay and gravel drive, but I did get up it. It looks like there are two houses there. The one in the back is the shop. But it's a comfortable place with the yard decorated with an antique truck on blocks and several farm vehicles including an antique tractor.

Barbara Gentry is the owner of Stony Mountain Fibers and also has cormo sheep and I spotted them off to the side just before I went into the shop. I made a note in my mind that the red mountain clay had done a job of settling into the fleeces. I wondered what I would find inside.

And what I found was a fiber festival all by itself. I really should have taken pictures! She had one wall full of beautifully solid colored wool fiber. Another wall was full of weaving yarns. She had samples of just about every kind of fiber you could think of including Buffalo Gold, cashmere, cotton and silks (including silk hankies). She also had a big box/bag of pin drafted roving which was a blend of her own sheep wool (cormo) blended with bamboo. This is some amazing stuff. And there is not a speck of red clay stain in it.

Cormo tends to be a little crisp by itself but is still next to skin soft. The bamboo calms that down to levels that make you wonder if you aren't feeling angora. I bought 14 ounces of it. I would have bought a full pound but I filled a large bag and could not bring myself to pack it down. In any case, she told me I could just call her if I needed more and she would ship it out to me. Barbara said she had this wool processed at Zeilingers.

I also purchased from her Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep, two single posts which I will clamp down for doing card weaving, The Gossamer Webs Design Collection: Three Orenburg Shawls to Knit, and 8 ounces of Wensleydale top.

She had spindles, she had spinning wheels both new and used, looms both new and used and lots of other tools and equipment.

If that wasn't enough, there was a young lady about the age of 7 or 8 who was shopping with her mother. At first I thought mom was the spinner and the little girl was just picking out colors of roving that she liked so mom could spin it for her. But no! The young lady was a student at the local Waldorf school and her teacher had taught the kids to spin and allowed them to work on their handwork when they finished their desk work. She bought lots of roving, hand cards, and seemed quite amazed about us adults raving over her skills. They looked at a drum carder, but it was suggested that they wait to see how long the young lady continued spinning. I told her that I had used only drop spindles, hand combs and hand cards for about a year before I got my first spinning wheel and that now I had two wheels, several drop spindles a drum carder and more fiber than I could spin in a year. It does tend to become a lifestyle.

After I left Stony Mountain Fibers I headed back into town and parked in the parking garage next to the Downtown Mall. It was chilly, perhaps in the 40 degree range), so I was glad I had my mitts and sorry I didn't have my hat.

I must say I was absolutely delighted to see all the handknitted hats, mittens and scarves traveling around on people in that mall. C'ville is, if nothing else, a cultured place.

On the mall I found this absolutely mad house of a knitting shop. It is called The Knitting Lady. It's narrow and deep and packed with yarn, needlepoint work and customers. Don't even try to find anything on your own. This is the kind of place where you walk in knowing what you want and walk up the counter and wait your turn. The staff is perky and cheerful and funny and know exactly where everything is (even though it's scattered all over the place and sometimes hidden away in drawers and cupboards. There are wonderful examples of knitted goods like shawls, sweaters, hats, shirts, scarves, etc. You can look around and fall in love with one of their knitted samples and they will hook you right up with everything you need to make it.

I came in with a desire for the making for a new set of slippers as mine are on their last leg (or sole). They have served me well for many years, but are really grungie and pretty disgusting, so I have decided it's time to replace them. They found me a pattern, pointed me to the yarn, told me how much I would need and even found the leather soles in stock and in my size for finishing. The Needle Lady is a great place but not one of those knitting shops like It's A Stitch where you can just plunk yourself down and visit for a spell and knit.

One thing I have to say is that in all the yarn shops I've visited, there are really only a few selling lace weight yarns. I've not found any gossamer yarns at all and yet the internet is full of options for lace weight. I'm wondering if my own perception about lace is confused (I'm hooked so I assume everyone else is as well) or yarn shops just don't find it profitable to stock laceweight because most serious lace knitters prefer one very long skein (1200 + yards) and it just doesn't pay to sell one skein of yarn for $30 or $40 when a sweater worth of yarn in aran or worsted or bulky weight runs up near or above $100.

My trip to C'ville was expensive but well worth it.

Safety Announcement

It's winter. Unfortunately, that means my friend with the Red Cross is also very busy.

There have been several house fires in our area lately. Sadly, there have also been fatalities in at least two fires.

Propane and space heaters have been the cause in at least two fires.

But the one that has got me going is the fire caused by lint in the dryer vent.

Well, I'm not strong enough to get the dryer pulled out from the wall so I could pull of the vent and clean it out. I've asked my husband on several occasions over the past two years to do this. He always said, "the dryer is working, the vent isn't plugged."

Well, I noticed this morning that there was a bird's nest poking out of the outside flap of the vent and pointed this out to Ken. I mentioned the fire caused by a static electricity spark that took off in the dryer lint trapped in the vent.

This time, he took action and pulled the dryer out and disconnected the hose.

It was FULL! And the bird's nest at the end was large and had a very nice collection of dried grasses in it. All in all, there was enough lint in the tube to fill a two gallon bucket.

Please, check your dryer vents.

Fiber Inventory

I did a fast and dirty inventory of my spinning fiber today.

I was just curious to know what I really had on hand. I was trying to justify the purchase of more fiber if truth be known. Surely, I didn't have that much that a 4 or 8 ounce purchase of something new and lovely could not be okay.

But then I decided to really look. Big mistake.

I have OVER 20 pounds of fiber! And that does not include the silk or the odd bits I keep handy for felting and sharing with new spinners.

I have two pounds of cotton in various forms for goodness sake. How did that happen? And what shall it become. Every time I pick it up to spin it comes out like thread. Doilies perhaps?

And the alpaca. Well, let's just say it has all wandered in here and parked without so much as a "how do you do and what will you do with me?" I'm thinking blending for all of it save that 1.2 pounds of white cria that MUST become a lace shawl someday. Perhaps it is destined to be a wedding gift or baby gift. Too nice, too nice too do something mundane -- this is special stuff.

The lovely merino roving all in white. Well I have about 4 pounds of it all total. But it will be dyed, or blended, or blended and dyed. It certainly won't stay white. I'm allergic to white. White stains. White makes me look like an albino elephant. No, none of it shall stay white. Two pounds will be blended with the rose colored merino/silk blend (it will just be more merino than silk) and become a VERY pale pink. That's going to be spun worsted weight and if I ever get it done, my mom is going to knit me a sweater from it. But I have to get it done!

Then there is all the odd 4 ounces and 8 ounces of various wools like Bluefaced Leicester and Cormo and Columbia and Jacob. These are all "samples" I picked up here and there to try out the various kinds of wool. I guess these will become hats and scarves and mitts/mittens.

I've got bits of angora in various colors, dabs of cashmere, silks in various forms and colors. Mohair and soysilks and even some spinner's nylon for reinforcing sock yarns.

I'm flicking and spinning and knitting my way through that very short but wonderful grey merino fleece I purchased last Spring. And I'm slowly working my way through the white Lincoln fiber from Curley. But it's tough stuff and I think it will be destined for woven pillow cushion covers or pocket books or something. The oatmeal colored fleece I purchased at the Fall Fiber Festival and split with Bonnie is combing up very nicely but does have lots of vm so will probably be a pretty slow spin... but I think it will spin fine and turn out to be some really nice lace weight stuff.

Then there is the grey lincoln lamb named Larry that I've been blending with grey alpaca and the carbon bamboo; this is the most lovely stuff. But I won't get enough for a sweater. I does want to spin up worsted weight. I'm still thinking it should become a wool vest for my husband even though he says he won't wear it. Perhaps as he ages and gets colder... but who knows.

There are two bags of Louet pencil rovings. One is in the colorway called Marmalade and matches perfectly to three balls of some wonderful soft brown yarn I purchased. With the two together. Well there should be enough for something of substance.

The other 8 oz bag of Louet pencil roving is in a colorway called "violets" and goes very nicely with a 3/4 pound bag of blue roving of dubious heritage. I'm really not sure where it came from but the bag is made of 2 ounces of this and three or four of that. Several different blues and a variety of wools.

So, all in all, I have about four years worth of spinning sitting here waiting for me to get on with it. I guess I should keep my debit card in my wallet for a while.

Lots done but more to do

I got a lot done on my to do list below... but still have much to do.

I did clean up the loom room, but got distracted by the drum carder and that yummy oatmeal fleece from the Fall Fiber Festival. So I made up a couple of ropes of roving.

Then I made a detour to the local yarn shop last Saturday when I was supposed to be grocery shopping and got Knitting Lace Triangles
by Evelyn Clark. Very cool approach to knitting lace shawls. Anyway, I started a new lace project using the shetland handspun. I am starting with 450 yards. I figure I will have about 200 more yards available if desired when I finish spinning it.

I emptied three bobbins by plying the white lincoln that's been sitting on four bobbins for months.

I did get more of the grey merino flicked and ready to spin. Something to work on this weekend.

The weather is really bizarre for us this year. Beginning of December was very cold and almost seemed to promise snow for the holidays. But then it warmed up so much I had flowers blooming in the garden. This morning when I went to work it was 50 degrees. When I got off at noon it was down to 40 degrees. Now, at 8:45 p.m., it's extremely windy (about 25 mph winds) and the temps have dropped into the 20s.

Oh, I also vaccuumed the carpets, swept the other floors, cleaned up the kitchen and bath, spent Boxing Day at Mandy's and dejunked an end table.

I think I need to hire someone to come in and help me dejunk this house. I have too much stuff that is just odd bits and bobs. Lots of paper I don't need. Books I never look at but might some day... I have stuff. Just too much stuff.

Lace Success!

I've attempted to knit lace before with rather sad results.

My main problem was following where I was on the charts (or directions) and then figuring out where I was in the actual project in relation to those charts/directions.

But I've had a breakthrough!

I took this pattern and used just the first chart with no repeats (keeping it simple) and used 1/2 of a skein of JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 (which was left over from the shawl that I'm weaving for Carla).

Anyway, I ended up with this:



Yes, I'm happy with the results.

And because Michelle, my step daughter, was kind enough to ooooh over it at Thanksgiving when I was just a few inches into it, she will be gifted with it tomorrow on Boxing Day.

Next I'm going to use my handspun Shetland lace weight yarn and make this.

Looking Forward

I have to get through today at work then I'm OFF for five days!

So here are my plans (not in order that they need to be completed):

1. Complete a report for work Done
   
2. Complete another report for work Done
   
3. Finish threading the loom for Carla's Shawl
4. Clean up the loom room (needs to be done before threading so I can get to the loom)
5. Finish lace scarf for step-daughter before Boxing DayDone
6. Spend Boxing Day at Mandy's
   
7. Finish wrapping gifts Done
   
8. Go to my mother's Christmas Eve Day and stay through dinner (will bring knitting with me) Done
   
9. Spin remainder of shetland wool so I can get enough yarn to make something
10. Spin more of the merino
11. Flick more of the merino so I can spin it
12. Vaccuum the house
13. Clean my kitchen
14. Play with Ken's new Wii (yes, I got it for him for Yule... he was pretty excited) Done
    

I think what I really need is two weeks off...

Matthews Tour

Instead of spending my money at the local Wal-Mart or traveling further afield to Fredericksburg or Richmond for Black Friday, I took a tour of studios in Matthews County. It was the Made In Matthews Open Studio Tour 2008. I don't think we got to all of them, but those we visited sure were interesting!

And I spent a little money.

Bonnie, Debra and Debra's step-daughter went along for the trip and we had a wonderful day out. The weather was perfect and the company was even better.

I took my camera along but was very bad about taking pictures until we got to Bentwaters Farm. What wonderful animals! And their weaving, knitting and handspun yarn was just to die for!. I bought out all the roving braids she had hanging out. None of it was from her animals, unfortunately, but now that I know where they are and have a way to get in touch... well, perhaps in the Spring we can go back. She told me they have primarily Finn sheep, a handful of Jacobs and one Shetland ram.


I think this is my favorite picture. Debra's step-daughter being nuzzled by the llama.

This one is funny too, because it seemed as I turned away from snapping photos, the llama looked around and could almost be heard to say: "Hey! I'm not done posing yet. Come back!"

My corner of the world

As my anti-depressant prescription runs out and I panicked about calling the doctor to have it renewed I wondered if my life was just a tad over complicated....

Work has been a bit of a fiasco lately with the introduction of a new database system... ultimately a good thing but with a LONG and complex learning curve... stress with a capitol S.

My desk at work is nothing but piles that I cannot seem to clear. Part of the job, of course, is waiting for other people to do their jobs, so sometimes files remain in the to-do pile waiting for minutia from other people... I don't like to put uncompleted files away because then I completely forget that I need to do something with them or followup on items not completed (like locating missing people...).

But I have always thought that my homelife was relaxed and calm. I could do what I wanted and take my time and not be rushed. Oddly enough, my comfy home life resembles my work life.

Here is a picture of my "Corner of My World." This is my chair. No one else dares to sit here. It's like a throne... but one with thorns (i.e. needles). Look at all the projects that are in process! And some of my projects aren't even in this picture!


So in summary I have the following projects in progress:

• Green sweater (still... but the body is nearly done and I'm starting on the bottom ribbing on the next row.
• Rug hooking project (probably destined to become a pillow as I don't think I can bear the idea of a dog laying on this)
• Scrap rug (an on-going, no rush/no fuss project designed just to use up odd scraps of wool yarn and to keep my feet warm this winter. I will probably make another for under my computer desk and yet another for under Ken's desk)
• Mittens for Ken. These are the flip top versions so he can go outside for his deadly cigarette and not whine about killing himself.
• Market bag: the second in a series. To be offered for sale at the December 6th Golden Christmas Sale at the Tavern. The Tavern Spinners and Weavers are hosting a booth to raise money for our guild. We hope to donate some money to the Tavern and to the Red Cross.
  
• Crocheted Socks. A learning project. I'm working on the cuff now. Bonnie is teaching us how to do this. I'm hoping its a faster process than knitting socks and that they are equally comfortable.
• Grey socks. These are for Thomas. I hope he forgives me for how long this is taking.
• Bunny #3. Another item for sale at the Golden Christmas on December 6th.
• Hand spun Merino Shawl. This is another one of those on-going projects. This is from the grey merino fleece I purchased in the spring. I'm knitting as soon as I get a ball of yarn spun. Since I've been spinning other stuff, I have gotten distracted and must finish this. If you look under the table you will see a basket and a box. In the box is the scoured wool for this project. In the basket are some flicked locks. What you don't see in another room is a spindle full of grey singles waiting for me to finish flicking a basket full so I can spin the second bobbin and ply it together to make another ball of yarn so I can keep knitting.
  

Now, as to the state of this chair. Under the cushion are pillows and books because the springs are shot and the whole thing needs to go in for repair. The back of the chair is draped with a table runner that collects cat hair because this is where Misty likes to perch and shed on me making me sneeze and develop scratchy, running eyeballs. My favorite light (an Ott light gifted to me by my dear hubby) overhangs this collection and saves my eyesight. In the basket on the table are all the oddities I might need for any given project including some I haven't started yet. My black wool cape is also draped over the back of the chair because it really needs to go to the dry cleaners and if I put it away I will forget. In front of the basket on the table are many of my knitting needles and a jar with sissors, hooks and other small items like an exacto knife, a pen and needle threaders. There are a couple of sets of reading glasses here and there and catalogs and patterns and magazines for a variety of things scattered about.

Yep, that's the center of my universe.

One of the moons is the computer desk next to my husband's... I've recently cleaned it up so it's only slightly in chaos at the moment. In the next room over is my spinning. And in the room beyond that is the loom.

The kitchen isn't seeing much action these days... oh well....

Fall Pictures

The colors this year have been amazing. Here are a few pictures I took today.

I want very much to find a way to capture these colors in spun yarn. I wonder if silk would give me the brilliance I'm craving? Hmmmm....