I Make Yarn

Here is my new skein of yarn that I spun and plied.  I took my lovely batts and spun them seperately and then I plied them together.  I love this skein.  I call it Ebb and Flow.  I can't wait to knit with this skein of yarn...something pretty for me. 

Spinning Makes the Bobbin Go Around

Last night after getting home from dinner and the viewing at the funeral home...my cousin had passed on after 5 and 1/2 years of pure living hell.  She was paralyzed after back surgery and then she had MRSA.  Which if you don't know what it is...Medically Resistant Staph.  Yep, that nasty stuff is rearing it's head everywhere. 
She had seized and was hospitalized.  She had a lot of brain damage and her wish was that if she had a choice of being resuscitated or not, she chose not. 

So, Melinda and I headed over to the funeral home to see her for a final time and to speak with family members.  We came back this way and we were both starving so, she called home to see if Mikey wanted to go to dinner with us.  Maribeth pops up with..."Japanese!"  She loves Japanese food.  So, we headed down to the Hibachi grill and had Japanese.  It was so good! 

I came home and let the boys out for their evening constitutional and then I started to look for my knitting, it was upstairs and I didn't feel like crawling up the stairs just yet so, I sat and started to spin with one of my spindles.  I had a lot of yarn spun and the spindle was filling up fast so, I transfered my new yarn to a bobbin and broke out the wheel.  I oiled up Beatrice (my spinning wheel) and started to work on a glorious fiber I bought from Artemis Artemis on ETSY.  She has beautiful batts.  They spin like butter. 

I relaxed and I spun one batt completely up and I have one more to go.  I have yarn already from my last purchase with her.  I just need to ply them together when I finish the second batt.  I think it is going to be beautiful stuff when it is completed. 

If you have never taken the time to learn to spin...it is very relaxing and it will change the way you see life.  Spinning is very peaceful and amazing.  :) 

Ahem...I Do Knit

Well, I finally picked the mitt back up and started working on it, again.  I finished the first one and I did cast on for the second one.  I am currently working on the second mitt, palm.  I even found my camera and snapped some pics of my first mitt. 

I just have a few things to say...this mitt brought me out of a deep funk.  I didn't have any desire to knit which is very unusual for me.  Then I decided to pick it back up and work on it.  Do you know that stitch by stitch it helped me back to my usual happy place?  Knitting will change your life for the better, I think everyone should learn. 

I was watching tv and knitting along.  I was in progress of writing the pattern.  I created the pattern and I went back to write down my pattern and check on measurements.  Always fun to write patterns and knit them.  I am to the point where I really enjoy writing patterns and knitting them.  It is a nice challenge to my knitting. 

I am using my Shetland wool...Drowning in Brown.  It is a special yarn and I pull it out for special projects.  Not much left of it these days.  I might have to see if I can get more of it.  Most Shetland wool I have come across has been super scratchy...not this one.  It is soft and it has a beautiful hand.  I am using small needles for this particular set of mitts because I wanted the yarn to be thicker than normal for the person who is going to receive these.  It is very hard for me to part with them because the yarn is so special.

It is one of my first yarns that I ever painted.  I find myself smiling when I use it.  I have had more people compliment me on it and several dyers have tried to copy it.  I guess I should be smiling about this but, it just tells me that they have no originality in their lives.  No one will ever get it right...it is truly one of a kind.  If you don't see it in person, you will miss every color in it. 

And How Does Your Garden Grow?

Today I walked outside to water my garden, again.  I am keeping it alive by watering every other day or in this case, every day.  I decided today I needed to do some fertilizing on the bell pepper plants..I used rose fertilizer after reading about how the plants love epsom salt due to the high magnesium content.  So, I decided to try out the rose stuff and see how it is going to do for the little plants.  I have yellow bell peppers planted.  I also decided to go ahead and give the new mystery tomato a fertilizing. 

Mystery tomato?  Yep, we have a mystery tomato plant that we bought for 50 cents yesterday.  I planted it along with my okra seedlings and my okra plant from inside.  I had it in my aerogarden and it had a nice bunch of roots.  :)  It is planted next to my strawberries in the big pot.  Not sure if they like one another or not but, I guess we will find out. 

What really had my attention today was the fact that I realized I do have a female persimmon and a male.  I knew that their leaves were different.  The female is blooming right now and the male is not.  I was much struck by this.  The trees need to be planted in the ground next year.  I have them in huge pots right now to help them grow before we plant them permanently. My next door neighbor can't wait until we have fruit, she is biding her time.  She mentioned to me something about persimmon preserves.  I know this year, the tree is too small to fruit and I would love to see it fruit but, it needs some much needed growing time.  I am going to let it bloom out and see what happens.  If it blasts...oh well, I am not worried. 

I am hoping my lemon tree will produce again this year.  It only had one lemon this past year...due to nearly dying from the frost.  We have learned a much needed valuable lesson about covering it now.  We put in a drop light while it is covered and it helps the tree stay warm. 

The fig tree is coming back and I am hoping this year we will get fruit.  I need to see what it needs for fertilizer so, we can get it strong and ready for fruiting.  Exciting.  I am so looking forward to fig preserves...ah, heavenly. 

The black berries are fruiting right now and they are small but, it is still a sight to behold since we have fruit.  Not much to start with but, it is something.  I hope I will have enough for some blackberry kolaches.  Oh yes, the good stuff.  :) 

Another Funeral

Well...I received the news tonight, my cousin passed away.  The funeral is on Thursday and I will be attending the rosary on Wednesday night with Melinda.  I have to go tomorrow and order the funeral spray from the whole family.  That florist down at the Kroger already knows me and this will make me one of her favorite people.  I spend more money on funeral flowers these days than on regular flowers.  sigh! 

Today I slept.  I had many naps and I am still worn out which means that either the staph is kicking back in or I am coming down with something.  I do have an infected gum but, I am dealing with it.  Peroxide is my friend right now.  I have been cleaning the gum out with it.  I also have beens swishing with good old Listerine.  It works.  It is nasty stuff but, it works..

I am currently knitting on a charity mitt out of my special skein of Shetland wool.  It is called drowning in brown and I pull it out for special items.  I had about 1000 yards of it at one point in time, now I am down to about 400 yards.  I chose to use it for someone who needs a pair of mitts that are soft yet warm.  I had it on my right hand and I can say...it is very soft and it isn't hot like some wools.  I am hoping the new owner will adore them.  This yarn was a labor of love and I hope the new owner will enjoy them for many years to come.  :) 

One great thing about hand knit items...they last and last if properly cared for.  Unless...you have that cat that chews the crap out of everything.  Then forget it, it won't last.  sigh! 

I am staring at my shop tote and I really want to dig into it and have at my spring palette of yarns.  It is so hard sometimes to part with this beautiful stuff.  sigh! 

Hotter Than What I Imagine Hell Would Be Like

Today, we headed out to the park...after getting there and realizing the place was packed with no parking, we left and went to another one.  I should have realized it would have ended in disaster...needless to say, I no longer have a pop up shelter, it was eaten by the wind.  It was in pieces by the time the wind finished with it.  So, we loaded up and did the half mile walk, or so it seemed, to the car.  I had a wooden chair this time around instead of two coolers.  I had a bag of food and my baseball cap on.  I was the one in the back of the line of people headed to the cars.  It was 90F according to the temp gauge on the car.  The weather people said that we should have a high of 87F, they lied, like usual.  It was miserable out there.  The ground was even cracking because we have had no rain at all. 

Generally, when we have no rain, it is going to be a hurricane year.  Great.  I guess it is time for us to start buying hurricane supplies. 

We came home and I sat down on the couch.  Gary went and took a nap.  I went outside to swing.  It was nice.  I came back inside. 

Gary went outside after dinner and took apart the pool pump.  It wasn't working...well, now we know why...the motor is gone.  I am sick of replacing these things.  I have to wonder why they keep going out.  sigh!  So, Monday, I will be calling the pool people and having them come out to put in a new one. 

Happy Easter

I hope everyone has a blessed and safe Easter.  We received some very sad news about one of my cousins...she has been paralyzed for 5.5 years from head to toe.  She recently was rushed to the hospital for being non-responsive.  We found out today from her daughter that on Sunday at 1pm...her family will be unplugging all life support systems.  The really sad thing about all of this is that Sunday is her 35th wedding anniversary. 

The doctors have ran all manner of tests and her brain has suffered major damage.