Lazy Sunday

That's exactly what I did today.  I spent Sunday being lazy. 

I recently discovered that my Hulu live TV subscription has a channel called Cozi.  All it shows is the old 70s and 80s TV shows.  I've watched The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, and the original Magnum P.I..  I'll have to remember that channel, and see what other shows I can catch. 

Speaking of, what's with all the reboots lately?  Can no one come up with an original idea any more?  (That question is rhetorical.  I already know the answer.) 

And of course, as soon as I typed that, I switched to Food Network to watch Halloween Baking Championship and Halloween Wars.  I like watching baking shows when it starts getting close to the holidays.  This is a difficult time for me.  I want to do all this holiday cooking, but there is no one to help me eat it.  Cody says he's going to be here this year, since he's so much closer -- and his stores will be closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas, unlike the hospital...buuuut, he's gotten on a health kick lately.  I'm not complaining.  He's lost about 40 lbs and he looks really, really good.

But, dang it!  I like to bake!  And I sure as heck don't need to be eating it all myself. 

Back to my lazy Sunday...as soon as the sun came up, I took my crate out and put my porch decorations out. 

I think it looks nice, and that --I call it an apple crate, I don't really know why, but that's the word that comes to my mind, will store a whole lot better than the fake hay anyway. 

I spent the rest of the day watching TV and knitting.  I finished my sister in law's hat.

Now that it's done, I'm not sure I like it.  I love the colors, but the fabric seems so stiff -- even knitting it on size 11 needles.  It may loosen up after I wash it, but I'm thinking I may do another one, using just one strand this time.  I've also thought about doing one in helix knitting.  Hats knit up pretty quickly, so I ought to have time to do at least one more. 

In the meantime, I started another charity hat.  Or what might be a charity hat.

It is superwash wool, but it's also single ply.  If it said that on the website description, I sure didn't see it, or I might not have bought it.  It's making a nice, soft hat, but I worry about how well it'll hold up.  On the other hand, hats don't really get washed that much anyway.  Since this is going to be a yearly thing anyway, if it only lasts a year, whoever gets it can come back for another one.

On a bit of a sad note, my spike buck came back to the feeding spot this evening.  He is a very poor deer.  His spikes are short, thin, and different lengths.  One of them is so short, you can barely see it.  I'm not sure if it broke (though I don't know why it would), or grew that way.  Either way, if it were up to me, I would make the call that he needs to be culled from my little herd. 

And if someone were to cull him, I would have no problem eating him.  It's been probably 5 years since I've had a deer in my freezer. 

Hint, hint. 

Tired Brain

My brain is tired today.

I'm not sure why, but I feel brain dead.  It may be all the fumes I've breathed today.  See, I've been working on my bricks some more.  I got this far,

and this far,

before calling it quits.   As I suspected, the base is going much faster than the back and side did.  It won't be long now.  I'm so close I can taste it, and yet, I feel like I'm never going to get done.  All discouragement aside, just those few bricks left in the front, and the bulk of the stripping will be finished.  I'll have to get the last little bits of paint off, then wash things down really well.  Finally, it'll be done and it'll be time to rock and roll.

I had to run into the store this morning to get some more stripper, and while I was there, I broke down and decided to buy another one of those fake hay bales like I had last year.  Alas, when I went to the fall decoration section to get one, they didn't have any more.  Or, I couldn't find them at least.  Plan B:  I went to the wood craft section and picked up one of those wooden crates.

Before buying it, I tugged really well on the slats, and none of them came loose.  This crate seemed much sturdier than the one I'd almost bought Friday in Batesville.  I brought it home and stained it with the rest of my golden pecan stain I'd bought for my inkle loom.

It turned out really pretty.  Once it's dried really well -- like overnight --I'll put it out on the porch with a fake pumpkin and some fake leaves on it.  I think it'll be really cute. 

While meandering through the aisles, I spotted a roll of orange burlap.  I said to myself, "Self, I bet you could glue that there burlap to that ugly old flower pot and make it look nice and fall-ish."  And that's exactly what I did.

In retrospect, I probably should have glued the burlap before putting the plant into the pot, but things just didn't work out that way.

I think it turned out kind of nice, even if you can see the price tag through the burlap.

Yeah, I probably should have peeled that off, too, but things just didn't....well, you know.  Still, you can't even see it from a few steps away, so it doesn't really matter.

So, between stripper fumes, wood stain fumes, and glue fumes, I'm about high as a kite.  It's probably best if I just went to bed now. 

Good night.

Not So Much Fun

I woke up this morning, feeling pretty good about myself.  I was skipping work, and with it came that wonderful feeling of not having to be somewhere I normally have to be.  But then, later this afternoon, I was texting a coworker.  She messaged me to thank me for turning her on to Netflix.  She'd been sitting in front of the TV all day.  I replied that she may never move from in front of the TV again.  Then I asked if the plant had worked today.  She said no.  Some component areas worked, but most of the plant was off.  That just took the air right out of my sails.

Playing hooky is not so much fun when the school is closed anyway.

What is fun, however, is being almost done stripping these bricks.

I've only got some bits behind the stove to clean up,

and the base to strip, then it'll be all done.   I'm thinking one more good going over with a wire brush, and a good washing, and they'll be ready to prime.

Speaking of washing, after wearing out two, yes two, count 'em two spray bottles,

not to mention my hand, while I was up in Batesville yesterday, I said to myself, "Self, why don't you get one of those bottles you can pump up and spray stuff."  That's exactly what I did.

The routine has been to apply stripper, let it loosen the paint, scrub it with a wire brush, then rinse with plain water.   This pump up bottle has made it so much faster, and easier on my hand, as well.

By the way, I've also worn out two wire brushes. 

I do have a wire brush attachment for my drill, but I can't get as much torque with that one.  I mean, when I really put pressure on the bricks, it seems to strain the motor too much, so if I want to get the paint out of those deep grooves, I have to do it by hand.

In the midst of all that brick scrubbing, I made good progress on my sister in law's hat.

Being as I'm working with two strands, it's knitting up pretty quickly.  I had a little problem when one of my balls of yarn decided to be ornery. 

I've been knitting from both the outside and the inside of each ball, but this one...well, it was being a butt.   I tried and tried to find the center pull end, but the whole thing was just knotting up tighter and tighter.  I decided to wind it into a cake on my ball winder, and it decided it didn't want to unroll from the outside either.  We had a few words, which I will not repeat here, but the yarn eventually saw things my way.

This morning, it was cool enough again that I could open the windows, but by mid afternoon, I had to shut them and turn the air conditioner back on.  Still, it put me in the mood to start putting out my fall decorations.

That's as far as I've gotten, other than getting my new mums into pots.  I haven't decided what I'm going to put on my front porch.  Last year, I had some fake hay, but I didn't keep it.  I don't really have a place to store such things without mice and/or spiders getting into them, so I got rid of it.  This year, I was thinking of getting something like an apple crate to set my fake pumpkin on.  I almost bought one at Wal-Mart, but as soon as I picked it up, it started falling apart.  I put it back, because I'm not going to pay all that money for something crappy. 

I don't know.  I'll figure out something. 

And lastly, I finally got a halfway decent picture of one of the twins before Rylea scared it off.

My little spike buck showed up, too.  I'm glad of that.  I don't see him very often. 

Success!

If you were to drive by my house, and look at my front lawn, you'd think it was a nice, lush, grassy plot.  Alas, it is not.  It is mostly weeds.  Every spring and fall since I've moved in, I've attempted to combat the weed growth, usually with Scott's Turf Builder: Weed & Feed.  For some reason, our local Wal-mart has not carried it this year.  I've been watching, hoping they'd get some in, but no.

I thought about ordering some online, but decided to check Lowe's first.  Off to Batesville I went.

Now, let me step out of my story a moment to tell you, according to the forecast, the highs today were supposed to get up into the upper 70s.  I dressed accordingly.  It never made it out of the 60s.  I was able to keep the French doors open all day -- well, after I got home, that is --to let the dogs come and go as they pleased, and to exchange the air, as my friend Marcy would say, but ended up having to put on flannel lounge pants because it got so chilly in the house.

OK, back to my story.  Off to Batesville I went, sure that Lowe's would have the desired fertilizer/weed killer combination.   When I got there, I said to myself, "Self, why don't you just whiz into this Wal-mart up here and see what they have?"  And that's exactly what I did.

I whizzed into the Wal-mart and made a beeline to the garden center, where wonder of wonders, they had a bag of the desired Weed & Feed  -- and it was on clearance! 

They actually had two, but one had gotten wet, so I put it back.  I bought a bag once that had gotten wet, and it just clogged up my spreader.  It never did try out, and I ended up having to hand cast it.  That did not work out too well. 

The other bag is just plain old weed killer, but it was on clearance, too, so I bought it.  And I bought a plastic box to store them in, since my shop is not weather tight. 

Whilst whizzing through the store, I spotted this cute little soap dispenser, and just couldn't resist. 

They also had cats, skulls, and one single ghost.  But I liked the pumpkin the best.

After a quick trip to Lowe's, which I will tell you about later, I came on home and finished the strap I'm weaving on my Inkle loom. 

I wanted to get it finished so I could stain my loom, which I also did. 

I'd thought about using some leftover stain that I had around the house, but chose to go with a lighter color instead.  This is golden pecan, and I think we have a winner.  I was going to say the bad news is, I can't warp it again until tomorrow, but the really bad news is, I'm having trouble finding size 5/2 cotton thread.  I've found it in cones, but not balls. 

The good news is, I think I've found a use for all my leftover cross stitch floss. 

And finally, I leave you with this loverly shot of my spider lilies blooming.

And yes, replacing that fence is on the list.  Along with a whole bunch of other stuff I can't yet afford. 

But will get to eventually.

Last Day

It's my last day of work today.

No, I'm not quitting. I wish I were, but no. Not yet. I am working on my resume, though, so soon.

What I mean is, through the judicious scheduling of my vacation days, I don't have to go back to work until October.  Of course, if I wanted to go in and work Friday and Saturday, I can, but right now, that's looking like a no from me.

 I know I need the money, but right now, I need the sanity more.

Actually, today wasn't even a full day. I had half a day of vacation so I left at lunch.

First thing I did was to go by the dentist, where I got my impressions done. Remember the tooth I broke a few weeks ago? Yeah, we need to get that one added to my partial.  That only took about 10 minutes, and I had the rest of the day to myself.

I went by the store, where I bought Fall flowers and candy I can already tell won't make it until Halloween.

 I may drag out the rest of my Fall decorations and get started putting them up, too, since it's officially Fall, now.

The rest of the day was spent watching TV and knitting.  I frogged the scarf I'd started at FFITS, and cast on a K2P2 rib scarf -- all done in continental knitting.

Oh, and I should probably show you the hat I finished Sunday.  I'd gotten this much knit while hanging with  the gang last weekend.

I finished it after I got home, but my after action reports got so long, there just wasn't a place to include it, so here it is.

The color in the top photo is true. I don't know what happened to the bottom picture.

Lastly, I've got spider lilies coming up everywhere.

Times like this, I really miss my DSLR.

Fiber Fun In The Sip -- Part 2

I know, I know, I promised you this post yesterday.  But by the time I'd gone and picked up the dogs, then checked Facebook, I'd let the time get away from me and just didn't want to get started that late in the day.

Yes, I am I'm Going To Bed At 8:00 PM years old.

So, anyway, a bit part of the Fiber Fun In The Sip festival was the classes.  There were many to choose from, but I only took two.  My first class was continental knitting.  Now, for those of you who may be knitting muggles (ahem, Edna...ahem, Tommy)  (There, you each have one mention to add to your tallies), here is a brief video showing the difference.



Like most Americans these days, I learned English style.  A few years ago, I'd tried to learn Continental, but just couldn't get the hang of it.  I'd hoped that maybe with an actual, live person teaching me instead of a book or YouTube video, maybe I could finally pick it up.  Get it?  Pick it?*

Never mind.

Moving right along...

This was my Friday afternoon class, and these were my classmates  Melissa, Heather, Me, and a lady whose name I am ashamed to say I don't remember.  I think it was Beth, so that's what I'm going to go with.

Beth was hilarious.  And also, backwards.  What I mean by that is, when people learn to knit, they usually pick up the knit stitch fairly easily, but struggle with the purl stitch.  Of course, we already knew the basics.  We just had to learn to do them with our other hands.

Beth struggled and struggled with knitting continental style, but she kept plugging away at it.  When she finally decided she was ready to try purling, she took to it like a duck to water.  She just zoomed along, while the rest of us struggled to keep up.

This lady, the one standing, was our instructor, Katie Clark.  She works and teaches at The Knit Studio down in Jackson.  I've been there a couple of times, but their yarn is a bit too high end for my budget.

This is her daughter, showing me the pin mom had given her.

Here, Katie is showing Heather how to do increases and decreases.

She also showed Melissa how to do two colors, which you can do by holding one strand of yarn in each hand and using continental knitting for one, and English for the other.  I didn't get that far.  I did progress to ribbing, but that's about it.

Afterwards, I showed my swatch to Amy and said, "I probably didn't pick the best yarn for this."  (It's Lion Brand Scarfie.) She said, "Yeah, you were kind of mean to yourself, there, Becky."  Truth is, I'd planned on working on a hat using Cascade 220, but upon reflection, decided that knitting in the round probably wouldn't be the best way to learn a new technique.  The bad news is, that little swatch is all going to get ripped out.  I'm going to start over and knit an entire scarf in K2P2 rib, continental style.  By the time it's done, I ought to have it down pat.

One little tip Katie gave me was to stabilize my working yarn with the middle finger of my left hand, and kind of scoop the yarn off the pad of my finger, instead of trying to snag it out of thin air.  That had made all the difference.  I think I can do it now.  I'll keep you updated.

My Saturday class was Weaving on an Inkle Loom, taught by Roianna Buckmaster, of Buckmaster Family Farm.  

Her husband makes the looms himself, and we got to keep the one we picked out.  They're made of poplar, and left unfinished so we can stain or oil it however we want to.  She had hers finished with tung oil, and it was gorgeous.  If I can find the wax I had for my Ashford Sample-It loom, I'm going to use that, but if not, I'll stain it with some of the leftover stain from doing my bathroom door.  Or I may go with a lighter shade, I don't know, yet.

The first step she showed us is how to make heddles. For those of you who are weaving muggles, the heddles separate the warp yarn for the weft to pass through.

Once we'd tied those, she showed us how to warp our little looms.

This is Roianna helping one of my classmates with her heddles. 

That lady had a bit of a learning disability.  Roianna was very patient with her, and she eventually got the hang of things.  Warping the loom was the hard part, then the fun began.  The weaving.

Here is my little band I'm making.

After the class, I went down to her little booth and bought some extra yarn. 

She had so many pretty colors, it was hard to choose which ones to get.  These will be the warp.  For the weft, I'll just use a solid color from Wal-mart, or any craft store.  This isn't like rigid heddle looms in which the weft is part of the pattern.  In this kind of weaving, you don't even see it, so it doesn't really matter which color you use. 

Finally, here is the ubiquitous class picture.  I can't believe I spelled ubiquitous right the first time...

I'd tell you everyone's name, but alas, I can't remember them all.  But I remembered how to spell ubiquitous, so I'm counting that as a victory.

That's about it, since I only took two classes this time around.  The rest of my time was spent hanging with friends, knitting, and shopping.  It was so much fun, I already can't wait for next year.



*For those of you who may be knitting muggles, continental knitting is often referred to as picking, whereas English knitting is called throwing. 

Fiber Fun In The 'Sip

I went to a fiber festival this weekend.  Fiber Fun In The 'Sip.  It was a fiber festival and I went, it was fun and it was fibery, and it was in the Sip.

It was the first time I'd ever gone to a fiber festival, but it definitely won't be the last.  In fact, I've already booked a hotel room for next year.

I petted yarn, and took classes, and squished fiber, and learned new things, and made new friends...and of course, I got to hang out with old friends.

There was so much yarn there, I couldn't possibly show you all of it, so I'll just show you this one.  This is my friend Leann's booth -- half of it, that is.

Her yarn was the best yarn there, and I'm not just saying that because we're friends.  There is a richness and a depth to it that other dyers just don't have.  I made several rounds of the market and kept coming back to hers.  I knew I'd wanted to buy some of her yarn, but I was having a hard time narrowing it down.  It was all just so pretty.

I finally settled on these four.  They are from left to right, Heirloom Pumpkin, Jazz Rhapsody, Caramel Apple, and Old Barn.

The Jazz Rhapsody was specially dyed for the show, but the other three are available in her website shop:  Forbidden Fiber Co.  I can't decide which one is my favorite!  I like 'em all.

Christi is the one who spotted this yarn, and said, "Look!  There's one in LSU colors."

As soon as I turned the tag over and saw the name of the colorway, I said, "Well, that's it.  I've got to have it."

After I'd bought it, I texted a picture to Amy (who'd had to leave by then) and said, "I can't believe you let this one get away!  But don't worry, I'm giving it a new home."  Christi asked the dyer if she had a Mississippi State colorway, and the look she gave us said it all.  We laughed, and Christi said, "I'll take that as a no."

The only other full skein I bought was this one:

This dyer's colors were all so vibrant, they positively glowed!  Alas, I was almost out of money, so I only got the one, because it was my favorite.  The colorway name is Wisdom.

Lastly, I picked up a few mini skeins for the blanket.

I was sorely tempted to buy some fiber and start trying to spin again, but I didn't. 

Christi brought her wheel -- she took a spinning class -- and watching her inspired me to give it another try.  I didn't buy fiber, though, because I still have so much at home.  A few years back, my friend Sue cleaned out her stash and sent me bunches and bunches of it, which I haven't even touched.

I took a lot more pictures, which I will post in my Facebook album.

I had so much fun, when it was time to come home, I asked Christi, "Why can't we just stay here forever?"  Alas, I couldn't, so home I came, to find my long lost Knit Picks order waiting for me.  In said order were clearance yarn to make more charity hats.

And the larger sized needles I need to finish my sister in law's Christmas present.

I've got so much more I can talk about, but I'll give you a break and end for today.  Tomorrow, I'll tell you all about the classes I took.

Oh, and somebody remind me to show you the swag they gave out.