When I'm a Pirate

When I'm a pirate, I'm not going to have a parrot on my shoulder, I'm going to have a cat...







Ben is home from college for a short two weeks.

He'll be returning to Camp Pepin for the summer, where he will be the waterfront director. (In charge of the swimming and boating areas)

In the meantime, he's relaxing and enjoying some pet snuggling.






Sunday, we did one of the most fun caches we've seen.

It was named "Prehistoric Playground". You're quick, I bet you can see why...







The dirty alpaca plied up nicely, and washed clean. It actually turned out better than I hoped.

104 yards, 72 grams.




And it goes into the basket with no project in mind...

Todays Agenda

Lawn mowing!

It's May 17, and we haven't mowed YET!

Paul's been working long hours - to work in the dawn, home after dark. He takes Sundays off and I hate to see him do chores on his one day off.

My new full time hours are still taking some adaptation on our part.

In the past, I worked four days a week. My off day, I could do the shopping and errands, and do more work around the house (like mow the lawn).

We'll figure it out yet!


When I'm not at work, I've been chasing Girl of the House around from activity to activity.

Traveling soccer began a month ago, but they had their first game this week.


Go Raiders!



I finished navajo plying the BFL. It turned out very pretty.

GotH would like a hat, and perhaps some fingerless mitts. She claimed this fiber as soon as she got a look at it.





Last evening I spun up the brown alpaca I bought last weekend.

I only had three ounces of it, and that's plenty. It's not perfectly clean - my hands actually got dirty spinning it. Lots of chaff. Quite a bit came out, and I'll get the rest out when I ply.

Truth be told, I purchased it because the vendor was such a friendly outgoing fellow, and after a nice conversation, I felt too guilty to not purchase something.

It'll turn out nice after plying and washing, though, I think...


I still LOVE this Majacraft Alpaca wheel! I've been spinning in various chairs, and on the sofa, and haven't found an uncomfortable position yet. My Lendrum is a bit more particular - it's definitely easier to spin in certain chairs/positions. And it's so quiet!

Took a (three hour drive, one way) with co-workers to Aitkin, MN this week. We were evaluating a software product we're planning to roll out in July. It was a very useful trip, we got lots of helpful ideas.

I didn't have to drive, so it was lots of knitting time! Second Happy Feet sock will be done soon!

A Drunkard?

89%DRUNKARD

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

Girl of the House and I drove down to Decorah, IA last evening to get some of Ben's stuff. He's done with college for this year.

He needed us to bring the Tahoe to get his loft home. (He'll use it again next year.)

"And can you take some more stuff?"

You see the back is pretty full, and he's still getting more, to the right of the photo.

Yeah, pretty full. And it's still pretty full - I'm only bringing in one armload each time I come in the house. If there is still stuff in the truck on Friday when he gets home, he'll unload the rest...



I'm getting to know my new wheel, spinning the Blue Faced Leicester from Shepherd's Harvest.

Three ounces spun, just one ounce left. Gorgeously prepared and dyed fiber.

I plan to Navajo ply.

Oooh, I'm happy with this wheel!

I did get some knitting done on the plane to/from Boston.

My own handspun lace weight alpaca, dyed with with logwood for another Seaman's Scarf.

Carolyn's Hearts and Rosebuds from Myrna Stahman's Shawls & Scarves.

I did 4 repeats of the lace after a provisional cast on. Then I picked up the provisional cast on and started the neck.

Of course, we all know, lace looks less than impressive til it's blocked!



Here's the second sock, knit during training.

Just beginning the gusset.












Yesterday, Mother's Day, we had a very nice family dinner with Paul's family.


Then we headed out for some hiking.

Can anyone tell me what this is? It's located in a wildlife management area.

The eaves are open, so we were thinking it might be a bat-house. But the door, roughly 8"x12", with the little perch area? No clue!




There was a mama goose, sitting on a nest, ducking her head so we wouldn't see the secret she was hiding.





The remainder of a deer carcass, feet black and shiny, looking freshly polished.









And my best fella, looking happy and relaxed in the cachemobile.

Isn't life amazing?

While I was gone to Boston, my new baby came.

A Majacraft Suzie Pro Alpaca wheel.

YAY!













She's hand painted with sunflowers.

She's such a beauty.

I didn't get to spin on her til today, but I'm in LOVE!








On Saturday, I went to Shepherd's Harvest, Minnesota's big fiber festival.

I took "Spinning for Scandinavian Knitting" with Carol H. Rhoades (SpinOff's technical editor, and a heck of a teacher!), an all day class.

She had tons of fleece samples for us to spin, more tons of knowledge about scandinavian knitting, and the time flew by.

After spending a week in training in Boston, I must say - now this is education!

The class was from 9-4 with an hour for lunch. The festival was from 9-5. Not much time for shopping!

However, I did manage to buy my annual Mother's day gift to myself, an Ellie Lida Basket, and fill it with fiber.

A "bag of candy", 41 colors of Corriedale from Mielke's Farm to play with on my carder; two colors of alpaca from (oh rats, I have to find that card they gave me); and a beautiful Blue Face Leicester dyed roving from River's Edge Weaving Studio.


And alpaca buttons from Inca Crafts.

Cute, eh?




And, best of all, I met up with a someone who was a virtual friend - Lori. I've been reading her blog for a long time, and now we have met. It was amazingly comfortable - we spoke of things as if we had known each other for a long time.

What a treat! Isn't this an surprising and delightful world?!

I'm not very good at sitting in darkened rooms and listening to trainers. It's interesting, it's useful, but my eyes start to cross, and I get very sleepy.

I fought it Monday, but Tuesday I finally broke out the sock in the afternoon.

Here's where it stood Wednesday after class. I finished it today, and began its mate.





In more fun news, on the advice of the seminar coordinator, we went to Newport, RI last evening!

It's less than an hour from here. My fellow trainee has a really cool GPS, and it directed us right there!


We walked to Goat Island, passing the Newport Shipyards on the way.









It was full of sailboats - Ben would love it.

I think someday you'll see it for yourself, college boy.




We walked into town. It's still winter season, so they roll the sidewalks up at 5:00. We walked along the ocean with runners and local folk pushing baby strollers and those walking their dogs.

We walked away from the main drag and up into the residential areas. We strolled by this cool church. The six o'clock chimes went off as we looked through the graveyard at the ancient headstones. Way cool...






We went to Fort Adams, built in the 1800s, and looked around.













We drove Bellevue avenue and Ocean Drive. Mansions! Lots and lots of mansions!

Stopped along Ocean Drive. The ocean smells different here than it does in Texas, Florida, or Washington/Oregon. It's difficult to describe - much more 'tangy'.


We left Newport, going across the Newport bridge to Providence.

It was well worth the $2 toll.








Now, tonight, we're braindead after training.



It's time to start thinking about supper.