Weekend progress report

We are back and I am practically giddy with anticipation over sleeping in my own comfy bed tonight instead of on a summer camp bunk in a sleeping bag! But I did get in a lot of quality spindling and knitting time while visiting with and listening to the group from our church, and even had time to read some from both the books I took (having two "WIP" books is something so rare for me that I might need intervention!). Above: the Oregon vest, now into its second skein; plying merino/silk on the left spindle, and spinning polworth on the right spindle.

This evening while Brian and Rick watched the second half of the Super Bowl, I went down to check on all the animals and chickens and see if riding was do-able with my sore ribs. The verdict: grooming, tacking up, walking and rising trot are tolerable; canter is not. Rick thinks I may have cracked a rib, but that's simply too inconvenient a possibility. Russell and I are supposed to compete in a dressage show in four weeks, for goodness sake!

That's it for now from . . .

Saved by the ball

(of yarn).
Last night I started a swatch and this morning I did another. I am now set to work on the Oregon vest this weekend; hurray!

You might think me an old fuddy-duddy for all the indoor activities I'm assembling for our "family snow camp" adventure, but I have my reasons. #1 - it doesn't sound like the snow is going to be much fun; mostly slushy yuck. #2 - last night while going over chores with the person who will be doing them for us while we are gone, I tripped over the blade attached to the tractor and crashed into the hitch, badly bruising my ribs, shin and both arms. The miracle is that I didn't hit my head; I think my guardian angel protected me! I remember thinking as I went down that I was going to do a face-plant into the back end of the tractor or the three-point hitch, and I still can't figure out how I managed to land and get the bruises I sustained and NOT hit my head or face on anything. At any rate, I'm pretty sore and bouncing down a hill on an inner tube would be torture.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. February is going to be a flurry of extra activity here. The henhouse has to be stripped and rebedded; pullets need to have their wings clipped and be moved into the henhouse; the sheep fold (especially the pullet corner!) needs to be stripped and readied for lambing; fleece samples need to be taken before shearing on the 15th, then fleeces will need to be skirted; Russell and I need to keep working so we won't embarrass ourselves at our first show in two years - all while keeping up with homeschool, home business, home-making, etc.

That's it for now from . . .

On the menu: Blackberry and olive

Trust me, they are delicious together! :-)
This is a skein of Blackberry's hogget fleece, spun by Wanda Jenkins. I haven't spun what I have left of his fleece yet, but seeing (and feeling!) this makes me want to start on his roving immediately.

Sitting on that cushy two-ply is an olivewood Jenkins Aegean Turkish spindle. Ed Jenkins patterned the Aegean after a spindle someone bought used in a marketplace in Turkey. When I got some money for Christmas, I decided I needed one more spindle, and ordered this one after seeing another one made out of olivewood. I was able to meet Wanda to see the yarn and pick up the spindle at a spinners' gathering in West Salem this week, which also gave me a rare opportunity to meet and even spin a bit with a group of like-minded women. Wanda and another lady were both spinning on their Aegeans, so I joined them using the sample fiber Wanda included:
(The spindle is washed out in the top photo and too yellow in the bottom photo, but the second one is more true-to-color.)

It is a beautiful tool (and spins like a dream), but I'm afraid my eyes quickly wandered and my heart was stolen by a spindle not my own. The other lady's Aegean was made out of holly which looked like antique ivory, and the chip carving really popped on it. I felt like I'd arrived for the ceremony at my own arranged marriage and promptly fell for one of the guests! Wanda assured me that trading my olivewood for a holly was no problem. Fortunately this is spinning, not marital commitment, so I am trying out the olivewood for a few days before deciding....

On my Jenkins Jay is the second sample I received from Corgi Hill Farm, 80/20 merino/silk:

On the needles? Nothing! And this, my friends, is a problem. We are going to our church's "family snow camp" this weekend, and I need something to keep my hands busy and my mind sane! There's plenty I want to knit, but I haven't had time to match patterns with yarn and do any swatching. There's still a bit of time to remedy that and I may yet, because I don't want to risk taking my spindles. I have a couple books and a boat-load of magazines to read, and plan to take some, but there are times when listening is expected and knitting helps me do that.

That's it for now from . . .

Back to basics

This post is probably not about what you think it is about. :-)

Recently my cell phone's contract came up for renewal (it is a secondary line on my husband's business account). Two of the free phone upgrade options were "smart phones," which appealed to me for their ability to connect to the web. We don't travel often, but when we do I often take my laptop. Sometimes it's because I have to be able to work on clients' jobs, and sometimes it's just because I don't want to have to play catch-up on all the emails (and blogs) when I get home. With a smart phone, I wouldn't need to risk my laptop for that second function. Plus, "everyone" has one and "everyone" seems to be having so much fun with theirs! But after doing a little investigating I learned that smart phones require data pacs, and a data pac would add $10/month to our cell phone bill. That's not much, but when business is as slow as it's been for as long as it's been, any extra expense must be carefully weighed. Still, I could try one for free for two weeks - and return it without penalty if I didn't like it - so I figured, Why not?

It took me less than a week to decide that basic is better for me. The smart phone wasn't "hands-free" and "eyes-free" like my old phone, so I couldn't use it safely while driving. The touch screen was often frustrating (I suspect my fingers are too cold - AND too fat!). And although it was kinda nice to have email access, the phone kept loading old messages from up to two years ago - and recently started loading empty messages from - get this - 1969! (In case I have any younger readers who don't know this, there WAS no email in 1969.)

So I returned the smart phone and reactivated my old phone, because it still works just fine and doesn't cost me a dime extra, thankyouverymuch. Besides, who needs all those apps when you have animals, books, and fiber to fill your free time?

That's it for now from . . .