Paperclips

Long ago, I thought yarn just came from the yarn store. But then I found spinning, and made my own yarn. Now, with a lovely kit from Hello Yarn I spent a recent summer day with my friend Hollis trying to dye our own fiber. The only casualty of the day was the microwave (not sure why).

Before

During

After

The fiber is a mix of different fibers: shetland, cormo, cormo & mohair blend. Looking forward to spinning the bounty, can’t wait to see what they want to become.

We’ll miss you girl

It was a very busy spring.  School was especially hard, due to budget cuts we said goodbye to too many teachers that I thought that I’d be retiring with someday (and having a bunch of fun with along the way).

The garden has been productive, the second year of the berry patch has produced a wondrous amount of strawberries, black raspberries, raspberries so far. We’re waiting on the rest of the raspberries and blackberries to come later this summer. The early peas (planted on St. Patrick’s Day) were plentiful and tasty, but soon will be replaced with broccoli.  One of the “grape tomatoes” we picked up at the garden center (starting seedlings with a toddler in the house did not happen this year) seems to be a beef-steak variety instead, it is dwarfing its neighbors.

The chickens continue to flourish, the chicken tractor (or is it a chicken Cadillac?) is moving and fertilizing our lawn (but the lack of rain has not helped in working this fertilizer into the ground much). It takes “2″ people to move it (or at least lil’ clips thinks so)

Step one – find a toddler

Step two – PUSH

Now that summer is here (although while trying to get a kiddie pool today I found that they were stocking school supplies at Target – harumph! ) I plan to spend lots of time with family and friends, read (currently reading The 64$ Tomato) knit a bit, sew, and spin during Tour de France. But most of all is getting back into running, reconnecting with a few high school friends (thanks Facebook) and watching my good friend Mel complete her first big race has made me want to run again. So, I’ve been getting out and walking some good miles (to playgrounds, the library, around the town) and adding back some runs.  Thinking about setting a bigger goal (a half marathon? another marathon?) We will see…

Baby Buff Orpingtons do at least!

We have six baby chicks starting to feather out a week after we picked them up.

I received my potholders today in the mail, they are fantastic – so great to be a part of such a fun swap.

and the b-sides

looking forward to next years swap – the flickr pool is fantastic, the swap admins did a wonderful job.

I continue to be fascinated by crochet – just another fun thing to do with yarn!

will become a hexagon blanket

is a giant granny square I work on before turning in for the night. Crocheting and listening to a audio book is a wonderful way to unwind.

After putting the little one down for a nap, I put the finishing touches on my five potholders for the 2010 Potholder Swap today. The lovely early spring weather has allowed for some al fresco crochet time, a great way to finish this project.

Crochet is new to me, I fiddled around with it a few years back (pre-rav days) doing a few red-heart chic blankets for friends children. No pattern, no real clue, saved by the fuzziness of the yarn I used. This swap made me up my game and really learn how to crochet – much credit goes to the lovely mods of the swap and the other participants. Already eyeing my next project (after a few knitting ones of course) it maybe a hexagon block blanket…

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A multi-character meet up at the end of the world in a small English town? Sign me up.

This fun book has stood up to the test of time (it is 20 years old)and while ansaphones may not be used for trapping demons the story was quite a bit of fun to read. My usual problem with multi-character books is that I have a favorite storyline that I want the story to “hurry up” and get back to, but no with this book. Each of the story lines were interesting and funny.

Did I laugh out loud, no, but it was a fun and amusing book. And with it being written by two people, I didn’t find the seams. My only quibble was that the ending was a bit *too* tidy for my liking but it was very well written and edited, so job well done.

View all my reviews >>

My Olympic sweater “pulled a hammy” and didn’t even get close to the podium. It will be worked on again soon.

I’ve been seduced by color and the thoughts of spring. The 2010 Potholder Swap has encouraged me to learn a new skill – crochet!

After a trip to Webs with the ladies I brought home these lovelies (Already had a bit of Takhi Classic from the Sheep Shack)

and now I have 2.5 potholders too…

Closing cerimonies for the Olympics is in a week, I’d be impressed, no amazed, if I had a sweater. But here is the start!

Pattern: Seamless Hybrid
Yarn: Handspun Alpaca and Mill-spun Finn
Needles: KP Options, US 3

What a wonderful pattern, it is so beautiful when blocked, I just couldn’t stop taking pictures of it – while feeling silly for not blocking it sooner (I finished knitting in July, it was blocked this weekend)

Pattern: Shetland Triangle
Yarn: Yarn Nerd 850Hz Merino – Jewel of the Nile
Needles: Addi Turbo Lace, US 4

The pictures were taken during February vacation week, hence the toys are EVERYWHERE.