I HATE WINTER....

God have mercy, I'm so depressed I don't want to live. I now remember why I was so hot to get out of this town when I was growing up.

It's DEPRESSING!!!!! Could I become addicted to my Vicodin since I'm taking them just so I don't have to FEEL anymore? I'm sending out a call to the Universe for money to manifest itself so I can get myself back to FL or, better yet, TX. I need moving money!!!
My hours have been cut from 40 to 25, so I'm losing about $150 a week. Now, how to pay the $3000 dental work I just had done and the $2000 couches that the cat pissed on last night along with just the 'staying alive' bills. I need to move to a commune. Yeah, that's it! I could spin and knit, right? My fibromyalgia hates when I houseclean or do most any repetitive motion like gardening (tho I'd LOVE to be doing that). I hate feeling like I'm going to burst into tears at any given second... and I'm not totally sure why....
OK, enough pity party for me. I thought maybe I could make up some of the lost money in wages doing some art yarns. I refuse to pay the exorbitant listing/closing fees on eBay, so my newest yarns are on Etsy. I really like the feel of that community. So funky and artsy! My first couple of days listing I sold two skeins, so I was pretty hyped about that! You don't get that bidding fever there though that can drive the prices to ridiculous porportions on eBay. Probably better for the psyche and soul. Here are some of the newest yarns. They're at ROCKETDOG on Etsy if you'd like to check me out for future listings! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=44313&page=1§ion_id=&order=
There's also a picture of my cute self. LOL I've totally changed my eating habits. I don't eat meat, but I eat alot of sugar! So, hopefully I can get down to 110 or somewhere around there. So far it hasn't been that hard to eat better. I feel better about how I'm treating myself when I eat well.
I'm going to have to either spin alot of yarn (that will sell) or find another full time job. OH, kill my soul......

Namaste!!
C'mon Universe!!! Send MONEY!!!

A FELTING SUCCESS!!!

Call me a glutton for punishment, but I again tried to felt something!!! Here's how it looked when I was done using two skeins of Paton's wool.... Dearheart was skeptical as he tried it on.... And with good reason....
So, into the washer with this latest (maybe) waste of time! After quite a bit of agitation (on the washer's part) and rounds in the dryer with try-ons inbetween we finally had a fit!! I think he looks like he just came off the Scottish moors!

Felting Fiasco!!

I knit for days, used six skeins of wool yarn and thought I was going to have this glorious Bob Marley bag. Wouldn't you know, half the yarn I bought was wool AND acrylic!! I thought I'd looked... but obviously didn't... This will make a great bed for E and B's new dog, Winston. Pictures to follow....

A Little Felted Hat

My first felted piece! A gift for M and P's baby, Emmett.. did I spell that right? This hat was SO fun to make and took about 30 minutes in the dryer with one big, wet towel. No washer time, just the dryer. You can see that I looked like Mushmouth with it on, and the after picture, it's so, so tiny!!

Some New Things...

Work is kicking my everloving BUTT!! I don't have time to do half the things I'd like to do. It's like my life has been reduced to staring (sp) at 6' tall tan walls and a tan ceiling watching the clock flip to the next minute and waiting for the phone to ring. This is NOT feeding my soul! But, I must admit, I LOVE payday! There's something very wrong with this picture!
Anyhow, here are some pictures of a couple of washclothes from the Yahoo dishcloth knitters group that's really fun. Nice way to feel like you've accomplished something! I can do about 5 rows on my breaks at work, so that's always nice!
I'm also trying to finish my mobius scarf from LAST winter... I'll probably finish it after we move back to FL or TX with my luck! I guess then it'll be a holiday gift for someone who chooses to live in the frozen north!! And my sox are on standstill while I try to learn how to do cables on a scarf for J...
OK, pictures! I hate blogs that don't have lots of photos!!! Top photo is a cat. There was no black cotton to be had around here, so I did it in something fallish. The other is an illusion cloth. Look at it from above, it's just stripes. Look from the side and voile! You have candy corn!!
Namaste!!

Knitalong Progress

OK, so I'm one pair behind.. Actually three whole socks!! I started this sock for the Maple Leaf Knitalong on yahoo and frogged it all out and started again with smaller needles. This is a different yarn and obviously not as fine as Lorna's Laces... my yarn of choice for socks! The sock is still a tag baggy on me, but I'm hoping with a good washing they'll shrink down some. Love the colorway of this wool! No pooling! I think this is a German yarn that I bought at my local yarn shop (LYS).. I'll have to check. It's kind of splitty and 'dry' and I don't like the feel of it much. Oh well. It's the first pair I'm actually making for ME! What a novel idea! :)

Scouring Lucille

Since returning to work, my fiber time has been cut short... Short?? Try OFF!!
J and I went to a fall festival in Somerset, PA and I met a wonderful woman named Carmen Rose who was spinning alpaca. I bought an unwashed fleece from her and will show the process of scouring, carding, spinning and knitting Lucille! I wish I had a picture of Lucille the Alpaca to include!
The fleece is beautiful with varigated tans and dark browns. There's little VM in it and NO smell at all! I gave it three washes with Mane and Tail shampoo and two rinses with hair conditioner.
I scour my fleece with hot water (no, it never felts) in a lingerie bag (try Dollar Tree). I do some squishing to remove dirt. I don't swish the bag back and forth, but I'm not all that gentle with it either! And NO felting....
Here are the pictures of yesterday's progress. As I write, the fleece is outside on the deck. The cats are not sure what to make of it! It spent the night in the studio with a small fan blowing over it. I want to card this evening! DRY! DRY!!

January... What am I doing here???

Just kidding. It's just taking some time to get use to seeing freaking SNOW!! After 30 years in the south, it's kind of nervewracking wondering how I'm going to GO somewhere if I want to GO!!
Considering I have this snivelling cold, I'm just going to stay in and stay warm and pray that someone hasn't killed the sun!
OK, here are some new funk yarns I did the last couple days. Today I felt ratbutt bad, so I'm just doing 'research' on the computer and obsessing over my ebay auctions!
Namaste!

SWAPATORIUM: Ski Masks

Please let me know if anyone wants one of these made for the holidays! I had no takers on the knitted guts even though I thought they were way fabulous!! But these gems??? Well, how can you say no??
http://swapatorium.blogspot.com/2004/12/ski-masks.html

Or I could make you something like the brown ski mask and throw in a couple strips of ultra teeth whitening strips maybe??

http://www.livejournal.com/community/craftgrrl/6936155.html

My eyes have been violated.....

More on the cat bed fiasco tomorrow.
Happy Samhein!!
Namaste!!