Monday, February 16, 2009

Yesterday's endeavors

I enjoyed a blissful afternoon to myself yesterday because Rick, Brian, and two other dads and their kidlets went up to the sledding hill for an afternoon of snow play. Having time to spend any way you want is akin to having "fun money," at least to me. And I guess you could say I acted like I had both, since not only did I catch up on blogs, spin some alpaca and ride my horse, I also did some necessary and UNnecessary shopping. Before picking up some needed items at Costco in Salem, I stopped by Tuesday Morning. They had a whole bunch of windchimes, the kind with the metal tubes that make a lovely musical range of sounds. I came home with a rich-sounded 34" model and a higher-pitched 23" one, and spent less than $16! I hung them in the flowering cherry outside our front door. We don't get a lot of wind here, so I don't anticipate them ever being too noisy. We have a much smaller version hanging outside near our bedroom window, and I love hearing it tinkling gently in the summer when we sleep with our window open. Anyway, here's the big one:
And here they both are, with the smaller one in front.
As I said, I also got in some spinning. I'm slowing filling a bobbin:I was planning on putting 8 oz. of singles on two bobbins and then plying off two 8 oz. skeins, since it is much less hassle to ply from bobbins on a lazy kate than it is to ply from a center-pull ball. But I may get too impatient to have some finished yarn for the alpaca owner to wait that long; she would prefer 4 oz. skeins anyway. I'll see how I feel when I get the first 8 oz. of singles spun.

My lovely afternoon came to a busy end when I learned that everyone was coming to our house for a late supper. I dashed home from Costco, put away groceries, pulled out leftovers, assembled other dishes, and fed the hungry crowd. While they ate, I started a much-needed batch of bread, but that proved to be too much multi-tasking. I realized when I tasted a bit of bread that stuck to the pan that I forgot to add salt. Yuck! And I have four loaves of this stuff! I think I'll look a a bread pudding recipe, add extra salt, and use up some eggs....

That's it for now at . . .

3 comments:

Heather said...

The alpaca yarn you are spinning looks gorgeous! I love spinning alpaca. I'm doing up some wool right now and it is too coarse. I'm navajo plying it and it almost burns my fingers at times. Next project for me will definitely be some alpaca - you've inspired me.

Claire MW said...

Wow, your spinning is so perfect and even. I can only dream of getting to be that good at it...

It sounds like you did have a fun day though!

Kathleen said...

I love wind chimes! I have 2 of them in this apartment and love to hear the tinkling of the chimes as the breeze passes through. They drive O nuts, so I don't get to hear them often, but when I have time to myself, I open the windows and let them SING!