When I Am Happy Something Always Happens To Shoot Me Down :-)

GGGRRRR!!!! I have been knitting a nice, simple garter stitch shawl with some of my hand spun alpaca...I was getting really excited yesterday because I was running out of yarn which meant the end of the shawl was near. Within 10 seconds, the exciting feeling turned to pure disgust...The disgust feeling came when I realized that I had not been increasing for about 18 inches!!!!!!!! ARGH!!!!! This yarn does not frog very well, so I don't know what I am going to do!

On a happier note, we are going to Philly on Thursday!!!

Weekend With Good Friends

Yesterday, Steve and I went to the Longwood Craft Fair. We took a friend from Steve's work, Takako, with us and our friend Michelle meet us there. The day started out really well and that never changed! We picked up Takako and made it to the fair about 20 minutes early, so we got a great parking spot. We walked around to see what types of goodies they had. Takako was coveting and fondling a handmade piece of pottery at one of the first booths we passed. She was much better than I would have been, as she was able to put the piece down and say "I will see what else is here first". We wondered through the street looking at all of the wares for sale. I ran into the lady with the alpaca farm...and I bought her only skein of pink yarn (I had bought 4 or 5 when I met her in Mount Dora). I needed one more for a wrap pattern I found. I picked up a couple of bars of handmade soap.

Michelle met us there around 11 and we walked around again. I wondered off from them so Steve had to call me to find out where I was. While we were talking I heard Michelle start laughing in the background, then Steve whisper, "I gotta go" and he hung up. I continued to walk around. In about 2 or 3 minutes, I ran in Michelle and she told me what happened...She had been looking at some things and dropped her Pepsi on the table (yes, the drink spilled all over). Well, as she said, she grabbed Steve and they took off...What a couple of punks! :-) Anyway, she and I walked around. One booth we came upon had wood cut out of states on the outside, with a sign saying the other states were inside. You can probably guess what my first thought was, MAINE! Of course, it was there...It is in the shape of Maine, with MAINE cut out in the middle of it...Also, cut out in the middle is a pine tree, lobster and lighthouse. I think it is beautiful! I bought it with the intention of giving it to Steve while saying to him...since you gave Maine to me, I would like to give it back to you. I did give it to him and it was while we were still with Michelle and Takako...I didn't know it was going to make him cry!!!!!!

After all of this, we decided we needed to eat something other than a funnel cake, so we all loaded up into our truck and we headed to The Cheesecake Factory. YUMMY!!! Cobb salad for me, edamame for Michelle, omelette for Takako and omelette for Steve. Michelle was the only one of us that was able to withstand the lure of the cheesecake, because the rest of us took a piece to go! I love the cookie-dough cheesecake! We took Michelle back to her car, took Takako home and Steve took me to Tuesday Morning. I was looking through thier rather small yarn selection and was very shocked to see some of the Queensland Collection there...Well, I am not too impressed with that brand (the skeins I have are very splity), so I was able to leave it at the store! We came home and I went to bed!

Today, I spent most of the afternoon at Knit-N-Needle Nook visiting with Lora and doing a little knitting!

Should I take the Lendrum to Philadelphia????? That is the question of the week. Well, at least until Wednesday night. Okay, the more important question is, should I take my heavy coat????? :-)

OH MY GOSH and HOLY COW!!!!

This year’s Mount Dora Craft Fair is doing wonders for my fiber art wishes…As I mentioned in a previous post, I met a lady that owns an alpaca form near here. Well, she e-mailed me to let me know that another farm owner was interested in how much I would charge to clean and spin their fleeces!!!! WHAT???!!!!???? I am going to need to do some research quickly! :-)

I was looking for a way to turn my love of fiber and spinning into a business, is this that chance????

Spin Ply Sell and an Upcoming Trip

Well, let's see...I spent the two days of the Mount Dora Craft Fair at Knit-N-Needle Nook. During that time, I was spinning the green roving I picked up at the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival.



Amazingly, a lady asked if I would be willing to sell the finished yarn to her when I was finished with it. Of course, I said... I am in the plying phase now of the process. There are two obstacles I have left to overcome. The first being twist set. Is there anything special I need to do to set the twist other than soak in lukewarm water and hang to dry? The second, and biggest, is price. I think it is going to end up being about 1000 yds of a heavy lace or light fingering weight yarn. I have looked on Ravelry and on the web but really cannot find anything - maybe I am looking in the wrong places....

Steve and I are going to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving...this is an annual trip we make to visit with his family...and I am debating with myself about taking the Lendrum. Steve says no, I say yes...I can talk and spin at the same time. Plus it will give me something to do with my hands, but I will have knitting with me, of course....During this little trip of ours to Philly, I will be making a few trips to shops and farms (hopefully) around the area in search of local wool and other products! :-)

Teasing Kappy111!!!

Well, KnitChick decided she needed to "give me the business" because of my yarn buying dysfunction...Someone had commented they found yarn in a drapery shop in Ireland. I responded that I had found two skeins in the shop at The House of Seven Gables in Salem, MA. KnitChick thought she would tease me a little by saying "So of course you bought them both"...Yes, I did. They looked so lonely sitting there. Here is a picture of them.



As with the majority of my yarn purchases, these were on sale. Actually, the museum did carry some yarn, but stopped and these were the very last two they had!

Gosh, I love Salem. As you walk around, you can sense all of the history in that little town. If you ever happen to be in Salem and are looking for a good breakfast, go to Red's! YUMMY!!!! :-)

Pioneer Day at Chinsegut Nature Center

Yesterday, Jody, Melody and I spent the day doing a spinning demo in pioneer costume. It was actually our "first" anniversary - I met Jody and Melody at Pioneer Day last year. We had a great time. There were so many people that stopped by and were fascinated with what we were doing.

We were set up in the middle of the farm animal petting zoo, the gentleman that makes turkey calls and the cow milking demo...so we had the sounds of a "real" farm around us all day - quack, moooooo, cock-a-doodle doo, moooooo, baaaa, hee haw, quack - well, you get the picture.

At the beginning of the day, the lady from the petting zoo came over to chat with us. She happened to mention she had a cashmere goat (Aladdin) with her. I had never seen a cashmere goat, so I went over to see. I would have been content to look on from the outside of the pen, but she led me inside. One of the other goats started eating the corner of my apron, which, amazing, I found amusing rather than annoying. As this is Florida, Aladdin does not grow a very long coat, but when asked if I would like his fleece after the next shearing in March, I readily agreed. During the conversation, it was mentioned that they had 2 or 3 large bags of wool from their other sheep they wanted to get rid of...I readily agreed to those too. I want to learn to prepare a fleece, so what better way than with free wool. Also, it would be interesting to have some of their wool at Pioneer Day next year to demo the preparation and spinning of.

Here is what you have been waiting for.....

Me


Jody


Melody


Aladdin

Another Weekend

Last weekend (10/27 & 10/28), I spent both days spinning and knitting at Knit-N-Needle Nook in Mount Dora. The Mount Dora Craft Fair was taking place and Lora asked if I would be willing to come and spin. As I am one to never give up an opportunity to share my craft, I willingly agreed. Both days were wonderful and each day had it's own little great moments.

I believe Saturday must have been International Day at the shop because people from all over the world (Ireland, Germany, Dominican Republic, England and Russia) came to the shop. I really enjoyed a family from Ireland that came in - Mom, Dad and Daughter (6 years old). Daughter was very well behaved and well mannered. As with most 6 year olds, she got a little antsy after a while, but never once did she misbehave. I spent quite a bit of time talking with Dad while Mom was looking around at the yarns. He was telling me Ireland did not have many yarn shops at all. He said that maybe two or three, and those did not have great selection, so Mom had made a list of the yarns she wanted to pick up while on holiday over here. I was thinking a harmless little list of maybe a page or two...When Mom asked Dad for the list, he pulled about 15 pages out of his bag and I gasped in amazement - it kinda reminded me of my book wish list! In a disbelieving voice, I asked if that was the list. He grinned, rolled his eyes a little and said yes. During my conversation with him I found out that when they retire, they would like to have a winter house in Florida and a summer house in Maine (sound familiar, except mine would be a fall, winter, summer, spring, mud house). They also wanted to have an RV so they could travel to all of the states here. I told him there was a little irony in what he was telling me because I would love to travel Ireland, Scotland and England and even have a home over there. I gave him one of my cards to give to his wife, because I would really love to keep in touch with them.

Sunday was a little more subdued in the shop...but I think Sunday must have been New England day because there were a ton of people that came in with Red Sox (WOOHOO!!!! World Series Champs again!!!!) gear on and with the accent that I love! I actually walked around Mount Dora and looked at the wares being offered. Towards the end of the day, a group of ladies came into the shop. Two of them were not knitters so they sat down on the wagon wheel bench. One of the ladies was showing a beautiful knitted hat and pair of socks she had picked up at a booth. She said the people that were at the booth own an alpaca farm. I asked if she saw any fiber or yarn. She said she wasn't looking for that, so she didn't know. I asked where the booth was. She told me, using the phrase "right next to the lady with the loom". Of course, my heart started pounding at that and I couldn't get out of the shop quick enough! Well, unfortunately, the alpaca booth did not have any fiber, but she did have yarn...Which, as you can probably guess, I bought some of and, as is generally the way, she discounted it! We talked some about spinning and she said that a group is a member of has a show in Jacksonville in February. They would like to have spinners there, but can never find any. Of course, I volunteered. We have since traded e-mails and she had told me who to contact to get things set up.

This upcoming weekend is Pioneer Day in Brooksville, FL..Look for the pictures Saturday evening!

This Weekend

This weekend was a little better than last...Steve and I made a trip to Tallahassee to visit my mom and my grandfather. Yesterday was my grandfather's 90th birthday. We really didn't do too much while we were up there, except for shopping at Really Knit Stuff and going to the birthday party.

If you are a yarn lover and are ever in Tallahassee, you should make a stop at Really Knit Stuff. The owner of the shop, Paula, is very, very nice. She always makes me feel at ease and she remembers me even though I am not in there very often. I ended up with 4 "misfit" skeins of dark red wool (from the bargin box), a skein of Handmaiden silk/sea cell and a couple of braids of Fleece Artist wool. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to take pictures of my purchases yet, but I will get to it fairly soon.

Next weekend, I will be spinning at the Knit-N-Needle Nook. I am looking forward to that! :-)

Through with the Pity Party

Okay, so I had a little pity party for myself on Saturday. I am over it now - for the most part.

On to bigger and better things...There is a company called Moo that Flickr is associated with. Moo prints mini calling cards, note cards and stickers using your pictures on Flickr - $19.99 for 100. I was almost out of my little cards, so I decided to have some made. Wow! They turned out so well. The are tiny - about as long as a regular business card, but only about half as tall. The pictures I picked to go on my cards were well picked! I will scan some to put on here later this week.

Now to watch Game 4 of the ALCS. I hope the Sox win tonight!!!!

Bad Day

Have you ever been made to feel inadequate, insufficient and invisible? I did today. It has almost taken me to the point of never wanting to knit, crochet or spin again. It is amazing how something as simple as a comment and voice inflection can make it feel like someone punched you in the stomach. Regardless of who said what and how it was said, I came home in tears today. At this point, I am not sure if I will be going back to the Saturday morning knitting/spinning group. With that being said, I am thinking very seriously about selling off my yarn/fiber stash and equipment and finding a new hobby or refreshing an old one...

In other news, I spent the day at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure yesterday, with my co-workers. The weather was beautiful but it was a little too warm for me. I was dreading this trip. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still bad. I absolutely HATE going to the parks. This is mainly because of the insanely high prices of everything. Also, once you have been to the park, it will be basically the same the next time you go...okay so maybe one attraction will be different, but that is not worth the price of admission to me.

Okay, enough of the griping...

Who Moved My Cheese?

Has anyone else read this book? It is a book that is supposed to help people adjust to change. The four characters in the story are Sniffy and Scurry (mice) and Hem and Haw (humans). The Cheese is your goals, dreams, etc. A Maze (life) is involved, of course. Sniffy and Scurry are able to adjust to changes that come about because they, as mice, do not have the complex brains and emotions the humans do. Hem and Haw, as you can imagine, have difficulty adjusting to their Cheese disappearing from Cheese Station C. As silly and goofy as I thought the story was while reading it...I remember it. It may not be the end all, cure all for helping me deal with change, but, like Aesop's Fables, there is a moral to the story! Adjusting to change quicker will make life a little simpler and less stressful and your goals/dreams/etc (realistic) easier to obtain.

Okay, on to more important things...I got my invitation! My invitation to Ravelery. What an amazing website. I love all of the stash features (yarn, patterns, books, needles, hooks). It is really exciting (it doesn't take much to excite me these days) to be able to actually inventory all of my stash with pictures! I also like that you can indicate the store the yarn was bought from. Not that DH and I are full time/world wide travellers, but I would like to be able to tell where I bought a certain yarn from. The unfortunate part is that I will have to unpack all of the boxes (about 10 big Rubbermaid bins) to take individual pictures of the different yarns.

Knit-N-Needle Nook, in Mount Dora, has finally reopened. I have to say, they did an amazing job with the renovations. It is bright, cool, and open (space wise) now. Previously, it was NONE of those things. It was almost like walking to a yarn tomb! Unfortunately, the green shag carpet is gone too...Oh well. The store is not 100% complete yet, but it is probably about 85-90% there. I am really looking forward to classes there in the near future. She has a HUGE selection of vintage patterns. These are patterns that were in the store when she bought it in January, so some of the patterns probably date back to the 70s if not before.

Oh well, DH is reloading the closet in the master bedroom, since it has not been repaired from the disaster that occurred several weeks ago...when the shelf pulled away from the wall and tumpped all of my clothes on the floor...at 1:30AM. GGGRRRR!!!!!

Hehehe...Look what I just found....

Take the Quiz here!

Well, one day removed from my trip to western New York and I can say is that it is good to be home. It wasn't nearly as bad as I made it sound. We had a great time. The weather was great...well, after Saturday's showers. The bed and breakfast was very nice. The scenery was amazing. The friends met were great. The most amazing thing of the weekend (outside of seeing a Golding spinning wheel in real life) was that I managed to pack for me and Steve in ONE suitcase. We ended up with three checked pieces...the wheel (suitcase to itself), our clothes and my travel case - hair dryer, brushes, etc. Here is a short run down of the weekend...

The weekend began Friday morning around 3:30 AM, when we woke up so we could make it to the airport for our 7 AM flight. We got to the airport, amazingly there was not a line at the US Air ticket counter (not that it mattered, I had upgraded us to 1st class), around 5 AM. We get checked in, through security and to our gate (why is it always at the very end of the corridor????) with about hour and 15 minutes to spare. After an uneventful flight to DC, we had 3 1/2 hours to kill. I knitted, crocheted and dreamed of the fibers I would buy the next day. As we are waiting, we realize we will be going to Rochester in a puddle jumper. This plane was so small that we had to be taken by bus out on the tarmac to load the plane! The flight from DC to Rochester was very short - 43 minutes. We made it to Rochester about 15 minutes early. Ironically, our luggage had made it there long before we did! We get our car and head to the B&B (The White Oak B&B in Avon, NY). We get the B&B around 3, I take a shower and a nap! I finally wake up about 7 PM. We went out for something to eat and then came back to the B&B. Amazingly, I was able to go back to sleep around 10.

WOOHOO!!!! Saturday, the day of the festival had arrived!!! Steve and I get up, have breakfast and head out to Hemlock. We get there and meet up with Jody. Steve decides he doesn't want to look at wool all day, so he goes to Rochester to look for the house he used to live in. Jody and I wonder around the fair grounds, buying stuff as we go. I have never been in fiber overload before that day...but within 20 minutes, I was there. Regardless, I still enjoyed myself.

Along with all of the fiber, I bought a Bosworth spindle. If they would have had any Moosies, I would have bought one of those! I will be putting the pictures of the stuff I bought on Flickr soon. Jody bought an antique wheel to take to demos. Steve made it back to the festival. While Jody was taking the class on spinning design yarn, Steve and I walked around the festival (dodging rain showers) and I made a few more purchases.

After Jody's class, we headed out to her mom's cabin in Prattsburgh for dinner. The scenery was amazing! Jody's mom and stepdad don't want to be found. The cabin in basically in the middle of nowhere...but that nowhere is on a hill with a small vegetable garden, orchard and wild flowers! What a place...It was beautiful! For dinner we had venison, cucumber and tomato salad (fresh picked by Jody), beans (again, fresh picked), dumplings, and mashed potatoes. For dessert we had an apple crisp with apples that Jody and I picked from the orchard. It was a great evening.

Steve and I went back to the festival on Sunday for a bit. From there, we drove around to get lost on purpose in hopes of finding some photos. Unfortunately, there weren't that many photo opportunities, but I did get a few.

Because of all of the stuff I bought, we had to buy another suitcase! hehehe

Finally Posting....

Still knitting, spinning and crocheting....All is still the same. The change I was looking for has not happened....this is fortunate and unfortunate. Fortunate because, at this point, the only way for a big change to happen would be for Steve to lose his job (that is not an option!!!!). Unfortunate because I would like to fulfill my dream of living in Maine. I guess I just have to be patient.

Let's see, off the needles...FINALLY finished the purple stole I have been working on since Feb/Mar - knitting a blanket for a friend's baby. On the needles...feather and fan stole (x2 - one with handspun); Glamour Capelet in Cash Iroha; a triangle shawl in Malabrigo lace weight. On the crochet hook - a tablecloth from a Russian doily magazine (translated by me!). On the bobbins - merino/silk blend and mohair.

Friday, Steve and I are hopping a plane to Rochester, NY to go to the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival in Hemlock. We will be meeting up with Jody for the festival. Then, Saturday night, we will have dinner with Jody and her family. We don't have a set schedule for Sunday, but we are hoping to make it to Niagara Falls and a couple of lighthouses along the way. We will return to Orlando on Monday. I am sure the return will be bittersweet as always - good to be going home, but sad to be leaving.

Back to the crocheting....I was on EBAY and came upon a magazine with a couple of doily patterns that I wanted to try. After looking a little closer at the item, I discovered the magazine was in RUSSIAN! I though "what the heck, I'll get a Russian/English dictionary and if I get stumped, I have a friend that is Russian". The translation was a little easier than I thought it would be, so I thought, "what the heck, I'll get a couple of books and CDs and teach myself Russian". Learning Russian has been more difficult than I thought it would be. The whole different alphabet thing doesn't help - especially since there are a few letters that look the same as the English letter, but they have a completely different sound. After looking a the letter B for 32 years and thinking - bee, it is hard to look at it and think vee!!!!!

Hopefully, I will be able to post from New York, so I can write about all of the fun I am having and all of the wonderful yarn and fiber I saw (and bought)!

Quick Update

Life is just a quick succession of busy nothings right now. The Pattern for My Life - (Wake up, go to work, go to the gym, go home, go to bed). Repeat between () as many times as necessary! GGGGRRRRR!!!!! I need something different - good different. I don't want any bad to happen to cause the something different to happen.

Next weekend the Red Sox will be playing the Devil Rays and DH has tickets. I was not too excited about going, so one of my friends is going with DH! hehehe...I am letting my husband go out with another woman!!! :-) We will be staying overnight in Tampa. I guess that is something different.

Some unfortunate news...Chez Casuelle (a LYS) has closed the store front. The internet business will still be open, but the actual store has closed. I enjoyed going to Leesburg to poke around and see what I could find.

New Horizons?

DH and I have been doing alot of talking lately. We are both extremely unsatisfied in our "professional" lives. I have been in the same industry in some way or another since I was 17!!! He has been with his company for 20 years. We are both very burned out (pun intended) here in Florida and want a change - a major change.

DH called our realtor this weekend to talk about putting our house on the market. The realtor said the market is somewhat down right now, and advised that we wait until late fall. Fine with me...gives DH and I time to do some research and it gives me some time to figure out what to do with all of the yarn I have.

I am celebrating five years with my current employer this month. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I have been employed with them since just about the time I moved down here from Tallahassee. As a way of expressing their gratitude for my loyalty, they sent a MasterCard Debit Card loaded with a little money. I took it directly to Chez Casuelle in Leesburg...and spent exactly the amount on the card! I will have pictures of the take soon...Just too bleepin' hot to go outside and arrange yarn for pictures.

Speaking of pictures...on my flickr site, I have several pictures of a volunteer turnip that "turned up" in my Dad's garden this year (he didn't plant any this year). This turnip is HUGE! Most of the time, turnips are probably the size of a tennis ball...this bad boy is about the size (if not a little bigger) than a basketball.

4th of July

DH and I went to a friend’s (L and her DH, J) house for the 4th. L has an amazing stash for a non-store owner. In the room she has set us as her craft room (the Green Room), she has a wall of yarn, basically separated by color. She has an electric drum carder, a great wheel, a Fricke, and a Hitchhiker. There is a sewing machine in the same room and a book case full of fiber arts books…That was enough to impress me, but I was thinking to myself that I could mount a close second with my stash. Hehehe…I was fooling myself. She then took us into another bedroom (the Yellow Room - keep in mind, these are not small rooms by any degree). One wall of this room was piled over my head (not too hard to achieve) with plastic bins. In these bins were more yarn and fleeces. I could see about six fleeces, but L assured me there were several more hidden away. Honestly, I cannot do justice to what I saw here…I wish I would have thought to take a picture of it. The funniest part of the Yellow Room was the look of sheer (no pun intended) terror on my DHs face. I could almost read his thoughts – OH MY GOODNESS, THIS IS WHAT MY HOUSE WILL LOOK LIKE BY THE END OF THE YEAR!!!!

DH and I had a great time with L & DH J. Hopefully, this will be the first of many get togethers! Oh, I forgot to mention, L has two wonderful kitties! I took some pictures of them…Here they are!

ROAD TRIP!!!

Last week J & I had made plans to take a road trip to visit to visit Knit-n-Knibble and Uncommon Threads in Tampa. We realized after we had made the plans that Knit-n-Knibble’s annual birthday sale was that day (woohoo!). With DH in tow, – well, actually he was towing us because he was the driver for the day – we headed to Tampa. We arrived at Knit-Knibble around 11ish. OH MY GOODNESS! It was a mad house! It was almost like Target on black Friday – on a smaller scale, of course. I bought a couple balls of Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb for MS3, a skein of Mountain Colors Barefoot and a Noni purse pattern. Ironically, I bought less than J here. Next, we made the drive to Uncommon Threads in Palm Harbor with hopes of fondling and purchasing some spinning fibers and weaving yarns…Unfortunately, they had had a small (read large) leak, so all of the stuff they had in the back room was pushed up against the shelves with the roving and weaving yarns, so we didn’t even get to look at them! I say unfortunately, but DH says fortunately. I guess I really do need to monitor my fiber intake right now since I am planning a trip to the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival in September and to SAFF in October. Back to the road trip…I picked up several patterns, 2 skeins of lace weight Trendsetter yarn, beads, a circular needle and a HUGE skein of wonderful, soft, light gray alpaca yarn…Pictures of all of the booty from today are on my flickr site.

During the ride, I finished the scarf I have been working on!



It is my first completed lace project...my first lace attempt is still on the needles...



Yes, they are the same pattern...I wanted to make a scarf out of the pattern, so I cut back on the number of repeats. The scarf is going to a dear lady I met at Knit-N-Needle Nook and spent the next two Saturdays knitting and having tea with her.

Next weekend there is a bead show at the Maitland Civic Center. I am looking forward to that after the OAKS meeting.

On a non-fiber/yarn note, I have started working with a trainer again. I had started this last summer, but I was having some issues that made it almost impossible to work out. Then, ended up having surgery in September and was not able to do much for several months after that because of where the surgery was…On July 3, I am meeting with a dietitian. I have made up my mind this is going to be a new beginning for me. Hopefully, that will hold true. 

I am a Nerd!!! :-)

Saw this on Jody's_blog, so I took it to see how I would do....

Your Score: Pure Nerd

69 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 43% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Congratulations!

Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Life....Boring Life

Life is so dull these days...nothing too exciting going on...Okay, so there was one exciting day....J finished the Cherry Tree Hill project and we went to Tibet-Butler Nature Preserve to do a "photo shoot". The project turned out absolutely fantastic. I think she has a great shot at winning.

Well, the Knit-N-Needle Nook has now closed for renos. I have done a final tally of all of the yarn I have purchased there since the start of their "Renovation Sale"...Do you want to know? hehehe....over 1900 skeins, hanks, balls of yarn. Now I am doing a tally of all of my other yarn. I am almost finished with that...only have one more drawer and the storage cabinet to go. See life is so dull these days, I have been reduced to counting yarn!!! :-) Hopefully, things will pick up (in a good way) soon!

Playing with New Toys

I have the Symphony working...and it spins like a dream! I LOVE IT!!!! I feel bad for the Lendrum, though, just sitting there, all folded up in the bag...but it will still have it's place in my ever evolving fiber life. The Harp I haven't figured out yet. I have a friend that has one, so I will be asking her for assistance with it...

Went to Chez Casuelle yesterday...they are having a FABULOUS sale! Tilli Tomas SILK yarn - $15 a skein. Lorna's roving 1/2 price...and it went on and on. Pictures will be posted on Flickr soon! :-)

Not Much Going On...

Well, since I last posted there has not been too much going on...On May 5th, I attended the Knit and Spin Because We Can event. About 25 to 30 spinners, knitters and/or crocheters were there. They had a "free" table and a "for sale" table. From the "free" table, I ended up with several crochet bed doll patterns and two years of the Annie's Bed Doll Collections!!!! From the "for sale" table, I bought a couple of tote bags from Tidbits, some this and that yarn, and a beautiful hand dyed skein of sock yarn. The sock yarn was hand dyed by the cousin of one of the group member. The cousin lives in Germany and had sent a box of her yarn here to be sold. I hope there is more, because it was beautiful stuff!

The next Saturday, May 12, I spent some time at Knit N Needle Nook in Mount Dora. Lora had a Russian friend there. It was fascinating to listen to them talking in Russian. I only understood one word - NO! hehehe But I am getting a little ahead of myself...On Thursday, May 10, I made a purchase...a rather large purchase... :-) I bought a Kromski Symphony spinning wheel in walnut AND a Kromski Harp loom. They arrived Wednesday afternoon and I stayed up until midnight trying to put them together...The wheel was about 98% complete and the loom maybe 50%. I will not be able to finish putting them together until this weekend because we are staying with a friend while her husband is out of town. I will have pictures of them posted soon...

This past Saturday (April 28), J & I went to a Fiber History Social day at a park near Jacksonville. There ended up being about 15 ladies there. We had knitting, spinning, crocheting, sew (on machine and by hand), tatting, weaving and combing wool for spinning. Even though it was a fairly warm day, we were set up on the front porch of the park's education building and there was a really nice breeze. Most of the ladies there are also involved in Civil War re-enactments - which I think is completely cool! Anyway, at the end of the day another lady came up with a couple of really great patterns for Civil War era dresses....She told us that JoAnn's had their Simplicity patterns on sale for $1.99 (yes, I did end up at JoAnn's)!!!! J & I left the part about 2:30ish to take in a couple of LYS. Knitwitz was the first we went to. There I bought light pink mohairish yarn for a gift I am making, a beautiful Fiber Trends shawl pattern, green lace weight yarn to make the shawl with, some yummy roving (lime green and a kelly green) and circular needles. J ended up with some really beautiful roving and a couple of SP gifts. We then made our way over to A Stitch in Time. Here to took advantage of some reduced price back issue Interweave Knits magazines. J picked up a couple of skeins for the Crayon Box jacket she is working on. We started home....

After a little while, we stopped to get a drink...and got back on I4. About half an hour later, we come on a sign that says Daytona Beach...It was at that point we realized, we had gotten back on I4 going the wrong direction!!!! So, we got ourselves turned back around and headed west. We had dinner at Don Pablos and decided to go to JoAnn's. We arrived at JoAnn's at 8:45 (closing time is 9). We quickly made our way to the patterns and started looking at the Simplicity books. I bought 5 patterns and J bought 4. We finally made it back to my house around 10! Since we had left my house around 6:30AM, it was a VERY long day!

Sunday morning, J, DH & I had breakfast in Mount Dora and then headed to Target. J was picking up some more SP stuff and I was just shopping. I found this really great, red bag on the clearance rack for $9.96...It is big enough to be a knitting bag and a purse, so that is what I am using it for.

This Saturday, May 5, is the Knit and Spin Because We Can event in Oviedo. I am looking forward to that. It is always nice to spend time with people who can understand my passion for all things fiber! :-)

On a non-knitting/fiber front, tomorrow (May 4) is the 5th anniversary of mine & DHs wedding. Ahhhh...Just thinking back, this time 5 years ago, I was in a laundromat because my mom's dryer had bit the big one the night before and I had to have dry clothes for my honeymoon!!! Also, on this day 5 years ago, DH's oldest brother's wife broke her heel in 10 (yes, 10) places as she was coming down the stairs of her house to leave to go to the airport to come to our wedding - needless to say, they did not make it to Florida! And, another event that took place that day happened to DH's parents...as they were landing in Atlanta, their pilot had to abort the landing because there was a plane (wasn't supposed to be there!) on the runway he was trying to land on....DH's parents said they were never so frightened in all of their life... Anyway, all turned out well (okay, sister-in-laws foot took a long time to heal, but she is walking like it never happened now)...

Neglect

Okay....I have become very neglectful of my blog recently...It is difficult to write about doing nothing! Well, I did have a little excitement last weekend. Some ladies from my knitting group volunteered to do knitting/spinning demos at the Central Florida Fair. I took my wheel and all of my spindles. To my surprise, there was a lot of interest in the spinning. I never realized so many people had no idea about spinning at all!

When my fingers became numb from spinning, I took a walk around the building we were in. People were demoing stained glass, gemology, beading, polymer clay, weaving, kumihimo, etc. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on if you are me or DH), I have found another hobby I would like to explore a little more....WEAVING! I sat a loom and did a little weaving - I loved it!!! While I would love to have a table loom with a floor stand, we really can't afford that right now - money or space wise. I think I am going to have to go on a hobby diet for a little while. I have "yarned" myself right out of space! I visited the polymer clay booth and found a couple of items I could not live without - a polymer clay moose and a couple of little sheep that I intend to turn into stitch markers. The highlight of the day was one younger girl that came up, tried the spindle and really liked it. She took the information for our Saturday meetings so she could learn more! It was so gratifying to be the enabler, instead of the enablee for a change! Two of my good friends came by with another friend. The friend really like the spindle too! YEAH! Hopefully, I have been able to give them at least half of what I gained from learning to use the spindle. Well, there was another highlight of the day....I tried a fair food I had never tried (or heard of for that matter....a deep fried Oreo. It probably sounds to you about like what it tasted like to me. The pancake batter the Oreo was dipped in before it was fried made the cookie soft. YUCK! I like my Oreos a little more crunchy or made gooey by milk!

This Saturday, J & I are heading up to Jacksonville for a Fiber History Social...We are not quite sure what we are going to encounter there, but it will give us a good chance to socialize and meet other fiber minded people.

Check out my flickr page...I have loaded pictures of some of the yarn I bought on the trip to Maine and since....

Good News and Adventures

All is well with DH's brother now...it looks like things are looking up for him and his family! YEAH!

Up until yesterday nothing too terribly exciting has happened since I last posted...well, I have bought a little more yarn (some wonderful Noro Cash Iroha for less than $7.50/hank!!!). I finally finished the baby blanket I was knitting for my new niece (DH's youngest brother's - DH is the 3rd of 4 boys). What a feeling of accomplishment...Did I mention this was my FIRST knitting project? I have moved on to a cute little wrap in one of the Vogue Knitting to Go books...I am using Filatura di Crosa Amico (100% cotton) in a wonderful royal purple. This is some of the yarn I purchased for $1 a ball. I have also started a plain, garter stitch shawl with some Tilli Thomas silk DH bought for me while we were in York, ME. The colors of this silk are so glorious, that I did not want to overshadow them with lace patterns....

Yesterday, DH & I went with J to Epcot. The International Flower & Garden Festival is going on, so I got some great flower shots (see flickr). My two favorite parts of the day were the "orchid walk" (I think it was right outside of Mexico) and the butterfly tent. I have never seen so many orchids and so close up...Unfortunately, the wind was blowing like crazy, so I couldn't get very many good pictures of them, but I did manage to get a couple. The butterfly tent was soooo cool...lots of butterflies and the plants/flowers they like. This is a must see if you happen to be going to Epcot during this festival.

I am a wimp when it comes to rides, so I only ride things like "the land" and "spaceship earth". DH and J decided they wanted to do "Mission Space" - no, not the tamed down version...the whole spinning, G force thing. What did I do while they were being knocked about in space? I sat in the little kiddie area, watching all of the screaming little kids running around... :-)

DH and J did manage to talk me into riding "Soarin'". What was I thinking? Well, I was thinking it was going to be pretty tame (by my standards). Boy, was I wrong. You are strapped into this airplane like seat and lifted 30 feet into the air (yes, your feet are dangling!). There is a HUGE screen in front of you.....Basically, it is a simulation of hang gliding over different parts of California....complete with the smells (over a pine forest, you smell pine; over the ocean, you smell the ocean; over an orange grove, you smell oranges). I kept my eyes closed for most of the ride, but I did open my eyes long enough to see a guy on a golf course hit a tee shot and the ball was heading right for me! Okay Okay...I know it wasn't real, but it sure didn't feel good. If you are into things like that, it is a great ride.

The strangest part of the evening was as we were walking out...a rabbit (yes, a real rabbit) was hopping away from the "dynamic garden" display....I guess he had his supper there! :-) It was very odd to me to see a rabbit in the middle of Epcot.

I have a several events in the upcoming weeks, so I will be posting a little more frequently. This coming Saturday, several of us will be "demo-ing" (spinning, knitting, etc) at the Central Florida Fair. The following weekend J and I are heading to Jacksonville for a Fiber History Social. The weekend after that is either the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival or the Knit and Spin Because We Can event (more than likely it will be the Knit and Spin event)....

Bad News

Unfortunately, I will not be attending the Spin-In and Hook-In in St. Augustine this weekend. We have had a family emergency come up on DH's side. We will be leaving for Philly Friday morning and return Sunday night. Everything has turned out "okay", but we still need to make the trip.

I am still looking forward to receiving my new "period" outfit though! I will probably get much use out of it!

The Weekend Ahead

I have taken a step that will either make me feel like a goof ball or make me feel really cool. I ordered a pioneer/colonial outfit (skirt, top, caplet, slip, bonnet) today. I hope it makes it here before this weekend, because I have been invited to an event this weekend in St. Augustine - a spin-in. I know it sounds kind of kooky, but, actually, it is pretty cool.

I will be taking some pictures of the yarns I bought while in Maine and Massachusetts this week, and uploading to Flickr. It will probably be on Wednesday or Thursday.

And, yes, I will have pictures of me dressed up, if the outfit makes it in time!

The Rest of the Trip....

Amazingly we made it home without a hitch. I say that because all of the flight delays, cancellations and over bookings that took place this past weekend because of the storm Friday/Friday night.

Friday morning we left York heading to Rockport, MA and a little B&B - The Tuck Inn. In my previous posts, I had failed to mention I picked up a cute little pair of brown loafers at the Naturalizer outlet. Well, I only had white socks, which looked really funny with the brown shoes. SO....on the way south, I requested for DH to stop at the Sox Market in the Kittery Outlets. I got some brown socks, so I would feel like I looked more presentable. DH got cranky because he was worried we were going to get caught in bad weather....Of course, further south we got, the heavier the snow became. I was getting a little uptight worrying about ice on the road, but DH was driving like a pro (he is originally from the NE). We made it to B&B about 2:30/3 and with no time to spare....the skies opened up! It was snowing like crazy. DH took the laptop, I took my spinning wheel & knitting and we set up camp in one of the common rooms at the B&B. The snow was getting harder and harder and it was blowing sideways...I was thinking to myself, "if this was rain, I would be under a bed somewhere!" At this point, we had to decide what we wanted for dinner and how we were going to get it. The innkeeper told us about a little pizza place at the end of the block. DH braved the storm and walked to get the pizza - he did not have a hat, gloves, scarf or boots!!!! The good thing was that he was only gone for about 5 minutes. Three other guests at the inn visited the same little pizza place for dinner that night - I think they did a bang up business that night!

About 8, we decided to call it a night and headed to our room. I went to sleep fairly easily. About 12:30 AM, something woke me up. It was the sound of sleet being driven by the 30+ mph winds against the roof, windows and house! That was a little uncomfortable for me, but I made it through. By about 5 AM, the sleet had turned to rain! It was an icy mess.

Regardless, we had breakfast and decided to brave the elements and roads. We headed out. Originally, we were heading towards Salem, but we decided to go to the Textile Museum in Lowell instead. I think it was a great decision. I was captivated (of course) - different styles of spinning wheels, looms, machinery, articles of clothing, etc. The exhibits will be completed by the end of this year...but it was still a great learning experience. We went to Uxbridge next. I had heard there was a yarn shop in the Bernat Mill Plaza. Unfortunately, the yarn shop was not there....but the Bernat Mill Plaza was. I convinced DH to go in so we could walk around for a bit. This building used to be an actual Bernat Mill. The building still had the wood floors, high ceiling and warehouse feel from when it was a working mill. The coolest thing was they had a few pieces of the machinery still there....I wish I had brought my camera inside! I surprised DH with a little trivia bit - his paternal grandmother used to work there (at least, that is what I understood his mom to tell me). He was shocked that I knew that and I think our little stroll through the building took on a different meaning for him. At some point that day, we ended up in Foxboro at Gillette Stadium (DH's version of a yarn shop).

The next day (Sunday), we really did head for Salem. If you are ever in Salem and want a good breakfast, go to Red's - http://www.redssandwichshop.com/. We visited the the House of Seven Gables. I was very disappointed. It was not what I expected at all. Oh well, it was still neat being in a house that Nathaniel Hawthorne had been in. While we were walking around the grounds at the House of Seven Gables, I found a lighthouse that I had looked for the previous times I was in Salem and could never find! Next, we headed to Red's for a good lunch/breakfast. From here, we headed to Boston and Fenway Park (another of DH's "yarn shops"). I sat in the truck while he walked all of the way around the Park taking pictures. We stay this night (the final night) in a Hampton Inn in Peabody.

We flew out of Boston at 2:20 on Monday....and got home at about 9:30/10:00.

Today in York

We woke up to the sound of rain, so we basically just stayed in our room this morning. We had appointments at a spa today (me-pedicure, DH-massage). We left nice and relaxed. Then we headed down to the outlets in Kittery. I didn't buy too much - just some chocolate from the Lindt outlet. Now, we are back at the inn, waiting for the snow to start!

Tomorrow morning, down to Massachusetts we go. We are going to stay at a little bed & breakfast in Rockport, MA. Hopefully, I will get to see some snow!!! I just hope that it doesn't end up being worse than forecasted!

Another Day in York

We are in York until at least Friday. The weather looks like it is going to take a turn for the worse tomorrow into Saturday, so we might just extend our stay here for a night. They are forecasting 10 to 15 inches of snow!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

Anyway, DH & I took a ride up to Cape Elizabeth. We spent some time at Fort Williams State Park, dreamily looking at Portland Head Light and exploring the "ruins". We explored some areas of the park we had never been to, so it was really exciting. We found new views of the lighthouses and craggy beach. Of course, I took many pictures. After we were tired of playing in the mud and melting snow at Fort Williams, we headed for Gorham, ME in search of a yarn/fiber shop. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it, so we headed back to York. We stopped at the Yarn Seller in York. I picked up a couple skeins of alpaca and a couple of skeins of hand dyed wool.

I will be posting pictures tonight....so check them out. www.flickr.com/photos/kappy111

In York, ME

We made it to York yesterday. We are staying in the Harbor Crest house, which is part of the York Harbor Inn. The Harbor Crest house is about a half mile up the road from the main inn, so it feels like we are staying in our own house.

On the way down here from Camden, we stopped at a couple of great yarn shops. The first one was Pine Tree Yarns in Damariscotta. The shop is run by a very warm lady, Elaine Eskesen. From the moment I walked in, she made me feel like I was a regular customer there. Elaine sells the normal brands - Noro, Classic Elite, etc - but she also sells yarns that she dyed and yarns that are locally hand spun. During my exploration of her shop, I discovered a couple of books she had written (with patterns that she designed). One of the books, Silk Knits, just recently came out (I think in January). She also has another book, Dyeing to Knit, in which she details her dyeing techniques (and some new ones she up with while writing the book). She goes into a discussion about colors and the color wheel. Of course, I bought both of those books. She was generous enough to autograph them for me!

The second shop we stopped at was Halcyon Yarns in Bath. All I can say is a that this is a fiber artists dream. They have books about spinning, knitting, crocheting, weaving, color theory, animal husbandry. They have an extensive selection of knitting and crocheting notions. They have spinning wheels and spindles (not a huge selection of spindles, spindles none the less). They have needle felting supplies. They have all of the weaving supplies you could need - from looms to shuttles - to coned yarns. They have all of the standard brands of yarn, plus their own yarn and coned yarn. And, last but not least, they have a wide selection of fibers - natural and dyed. If you are a fiber artist and are in Bath, ME, this is a "should not miss" store. If you are not in Bath, ME, they do have a website - http://www.halcyonyarn.com/.

Today, we will be going to Portland Head Light, a few shops in and around Portland, and doing a little more sightseeing and picture taking!

Today in Camden

We woke up to a beautiful day. We walked into Camden for breakfast at the Mariner's Restaurant. DH had the lobster omelet that he has been talking about since we were here last year...I had french toast. We walked to UniqueOne, a sweater and yarn (yes, yarn) shop. I bought a few skeins from the sale rack. We walked around Camden for a little while...

The highlight of the day was DH's haircut. Not only did he get the normal haircut, he had his beard turned into a goatee!!!! (Pictures will be posted on Flickr)

As you can see, we just took today to relax!

The First Couple of Days

As I sit in our lovely room at the Hartstone Inn in Camden, ME, listening to the church bells chime, and looking out the window at the snow lined street, I think about the whirlwind the past two days have been. Just yesterday, I was at home in Orlando, FL....now I am sitting in Camden, ME.

Yesterday started very early, as you can probably imagine with our flight leaving at 7am. Oddly enough, everything ran so smoothly on the way to the airport, we got there 30 minutes earlier than we had planned. We had upgraded to first class so we were able to check in the first class line - which took all of 15 minutes...better than the hour or more we probably would have waited if we hadn't upgraded. Shockingly, the line for security did not stretch across the airport, so that was fairly quick. We were at our gate (why is the gate we leave from always the farthest away?) with more than an hour to spare. Fortunately, the flight to DC was uneventful...and the flight from DC to Boston was also uneventful. The only problem we encountered was being about an hour late. When we got to the rental car place, I stayed outside with luggage while DH went in to take care of the paperwork. I knew he had reserved a Chevy Equinox....but it turned out to be a laser blue Equinox. For those of you who know us, you will find that ironic - for those of you who don't, our regular car is a laser blue Equinox. This makes finding the rental MUCH easier! :-) Last night we stayed in Peabody, MA, because I knew we would both be very tired and need a break before making the drive to the glorious state of Maine!

Being a cranky time of year for the weather up here, DH & I have been watching the forecasts intently for the past several weeks. When we first started looking, the forecast was for it to be in the 20s during the day and below 10 at night! It was much to our delight when the forecast started changing more in our favor. Today, it has been around 50 (except when we were at Nubble Lighthouse, 39 there) and mostly clear with a few clouds and a nice soft breeze. Don't get me wrong here, it is still Maine, and the breeze has a little nip to it. The weather will be going down hill as the week wears on, but we will have a few nice days.

I have never seen snow like this before....it is EVERYWHERE and it is beautiful!!!! I am sure I am the only person that would love to deal with this every year. Some of the rivers are frozen over, but, because of the temperature, they are starting to thaw. It looks so cool (literally and figuratively). I took a few pictures today but not too many because we were trying to get here and get settled. I have posted the pictures on Flickr.

It feels so right for me to be up here. It is almost like I have come home. I can breathe easier and it feels like my heart rate has decreased. I have so much more energy and drive to do things. Maybe it is because it is something different, maybe it is because this is where I am supposed to be.

Tomorrow will be a day for searching out new places, taking alot of pictures and looking for yarn/fiber shops! Will update again tomorrow night!!!! :-)

Quick Update

The time has FINALLY come!!!! DH & I are leaving tomorrow for our annual voyage to Maine! Oh, the cold, wonderful weather! We are flying out of Orlando tomorrow morning at 7 AM, heading for Boston. We are going to spend one night just north of Boston and then head up to a darling little bed & breakfast in Camden, ME. Then we go to another bed & breakfast, this time in York, ME. After that a couple days to play in Boston.

As you can tell I am VERY excited about this trip! I really need this break! :-)

Keep an I on my Flickr page. I will be creating a set call "Maine 2007" and I will be uploading pictures every night! Take care and I will see you soon!

I haven't posted in a while because I have been having some anxiety issues again. Hopefully, those are under control now. I will NEVER stop taking my meds like that again!

Onto other subjects, I finally finished plying the rest of the maroon fiber (see my flickr page for the yarn porn). I think the fiber wants to be a stole/shawl for my mom, so that I what I am going to try. I am now spinning some more of the white wool so I can play with dyeing it!

Last Thursday night, DH took me to Chez Casuelle in Leesburg for a little yarn fondling (hey, it works with the yarn porn!). I ended up with some Lorna's Laces (see flickr again). Saturday, I met with the girls from OAKS on Saturday and, by some strange twist of fate, I did not go to Knit-N-Needle Nook. I can't say that I made it the whole weekend without going there, though. DH and I went Sunday morning. I ended up buying $140 more!!!! DH can't complain because he was sitting in the shop, chatting with Tom the entire time I was stuffing four bags with more $.50 skeins of yarn!!! I have more than 1100 skeins from there now!

St Valentine's Day to Present

Wednesdy - DH is the greatest guy in the world! Not only does he put up with me and my whims, he sent me a dozen beautiful roses in a beautiful red vase - to my office! I was really surprised. We had discussed only trading cards for St Valentine's Day because we had exchanged fairly expensive gifts for Christmas (me - spinning wheel, DH - 32 in flat screen LCD tv). The roses really made my day! Thanks DH!

Thursday, I stayed home from work...We had gone to an Italian restaurant for dinner Wednesday night...I had white pizza. I guess there was too much (way way too much) garlic on it and it made me very ill.

Friday, went to work...I had about 60 e-mails from Thursday! GGGRRRRR. This is really getting old and I am really getting burned out quickly. That is all I am going to say on this subject.

Saturday, glorious Saturday! Met with the other ladies from OAKS at Barnes & Noble for a morning of knitting and a little drop spindling. DH stayed with me. He brought the laptop and played POGO. A couple of my friends came by and they tried to study in the cafe, but really couldn't get in the grove, so DH and friends entertained each other. We (me, DH & friends) had lunch with Jody and then we all went our separate ways for the day - Jody to Chez Casuelle in Leesburg, friends to their place and DH & me to Mount Dora!!!! DH dropped me off in front of Knit -N- Needle Nook and went home! As always, the owners of the shop greeted me with a smile. I had some time to kill because DH wouldn't be back to get me for about an hour and half, so I had plenty of time to "graze" around in the dollar room and on the $.50 shelf. After my allotted time was up, I had spent $100.

Several weeks ago, the owners of the shop had opened up their garage (where the remaining 60 to 70% of the stock is) to several ladies. I was not aware of this little outing. I have been reading all of the necessary Yahoo groups and periodically asking the owners when they were going to be doing it again. As I was checking out, the owner told me they would be more than happy to have me come out to their house without the group, so we made arrangements for me to go last night! All I can say is HOLY COW! I was not expecting what I saw, in more ways than one! There were probably 40 huge, black, industrial size garbage bags stuffed FULL of yarn. Luckily, they had already gone through the bags and had sorted based on yarn type (cotton, wool, acrylic, etc). They laid out a moving pad on their garage floor told me to sit down and they would bring the yarn to me. Since they knew I am only interested in the cotton and cotton blends, they brought those bags and dumped them in front of me! I love yarn! I ended up spending about $187 including tax! Not to shabby for about 350 skeins! The story doesn't end here. I was taken on a tour of their beautiful home. Lora has THREE rooms dedicated to her fiber arts...one for sewing (normal bedroom size), one for planning and bigger projects (sun room type room running almost the entire length of the house) and a loft upstairs for knitting classes (huge loft, I think they said it was about 1400 sq ft). Let's start with the small room, she had a beautiful floor standing swift, a jumbo, jumbo ball winder, a ball winder, surger, blind seam machine, a couple of dress forms, etc). In the sun room area (there is a long bar/island in the room), she had several knitting projects she is working on. She also has all of the "catalogs" from the yarn manufacturers she will be retailing for in here (this made me even more excited for the renos to get under way!). In the loft, there was MORE YARN! The yarn up here was the more "up scale" and newer yarn. Some of it was from the shop and some of it she had bought as stock for the remodeled store. YUMMY STUFF! Debbie Bliss, Noro, Dale of Norway, Cherry Tree Hill, etc. She has a little area set up for the knitting instruction she is doing now. There is a little office alcove space too. Here she a computer, and lots of binders with free patterns she had found on-line or during her (literal) worldwide yarn shopping excursions. Lora and Tom are amazing people and I hope I can get to know them better!

Well, I have an appointment with a doctor my therapist recommended BUT that appointment is not until March 29. I am on the list to be notified if a cancellation happens, but I am not sure aobut having to wait a month and a half. I am starting to listen and smell for things (I know that sounds strange). The sounds the house makes is making me worse. All I want to do is come home and sleep. I cannot find peace in spinning or knitting right now. I think I may have to call the doctor office back and let them know I am living on the edge of a panic attack. I am very sure this has everything to do with my constant tummy problems.

On a lighter note, I did visit the Knit-N-Needle Nook again on Saturday. And, yes, I bought more yarn - about 100 skeins...The good news out of this is that the owners are going to be opening their garage (where the rest of that yarny goodness is hidden) to several of us so we can buy all we want in one shot. I am looking forward to this. Lora told me she had come accross some interesting cotton skeins...and, as you can probably guess, I am all about the cotton. Maybe we can help them start the renos on the store early, so the "new"store can open sooner!

I woke Steve and myself up this morning because I yelled out...I was having an interesting dream...All I remember is that it was an interesting dream and I was riding in the car with some girlfriends...I am going to try to get a little more sleep before I have to go to my version of the the torture chamber....

I think I need new medication. A generic equivalent to the one I was taking came out, so, of course, my health plan made the change on my meds....I can tell a huge difference. I am checking a lot more (5, 6, 7 and sometimes even 8 times) and every noise is making me jump. I am also getting panicky about other stuff too...I haven't felt like this in a long time. I am starting to dwell again too. Oh, yeah, AND I won't/can't let my husband turn the heat on in the house. Luckily, this is Florida, so it is not that big of a deal!

With all of that going on, and the fact that we stayed in a hotel last Thursday night because of the possibility of severe storms, I made an appointment with my therapist. My therapist is a great lady and I really enjoy our sessions - sounds strange, huh? I always feel like I have learned something or that I should be really proud of a step I have taken when I leave. Yesterday was no different. She made me feel really good about making friends outside of my "normal" circle of work and DH's work/friends. My therapist referred me to a physician to get a new med. I will have to call him tomorrow to set up an appointment.

Back to work....

Is it Fate or a False Alarm?

One of the Account Executives from my company's Philly office happened to call in to our office today. We were chatting about the Philly area, so I asked if they had a big sales office up there. He said yes. He added that he found out, this weekend, they are looking for an Account Advisor for that office....Guess what???? I am an Account Advisor here. What a natural transition. The only problem is DH's company does not have anything along his lines of work open in that area. That really stinks. I will explain why.

Even though all of my family is here in Florida, I want to move to the Northeast. I have never really felt at home in Florida, but every time I visit the Northeast, I feel like I belong. Yes, I am very torn, because I don't want to leave my mom, dad, sister, niece, stepdad, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins and dear friends. I keep thinking that here my wings are clipped, but if I could get up there, I would be able to fly! I think I love it up there because of the history. Here there really is no history.....there - Philly, Boston, New York, the little coastal towns in New England, the lighthouse, etc...I want to experience four seasons - winter, spring, summer, autumn - not two seasons - warm and hurricane.

I guess DH and I will talk more about it tonight because we would have some large problems - selling our house, finding somewhere to live, a job for him, etc.

Getting More and More Familiar with Mount Dora

Guess where I ended up again today? Yep, that's right Mount Dora, but not the reason you are probably thinking. We went for the Mount Dora Art Festival today. it is truly amazing the variety of talents people have...painting, photography, glass blowing, ceramics, making jewelry, turning wood, etc. I found this really great original watercolor of chickens, and since my mom collections chickens, I bought it for her. The lady that painted it was super nice. She lives on a farm in KY and she draws her inspiration from her farm and her Amish neighbors. She was showing us some of her doodles that she had done...They were all of her pet goat - Tudor. I have a link to her site in my "sites" section.

We walked around for about an hour and half. Unfortunately (for DH), as we were walking down Fifth Avenue to leave, I happened to notice the door to my favorite yarn shop was open. Promising DH I would stay at the fifty cents shelf, I ventured in. I was met by a hardy "good morning, Kelley" from one of the owners. Darn it! I had tried to disguise myself today with a baseball cap....but it didn't do any good! 45 skeins of yarn later (all fifty cents each), I left. Man, they really need to hurry and finish with this yarn sale....I am going to end up spending all of my savings! I really don't think it is the yarn so much as the hunt for the yarn. Just going through all of that yarn, it so gratifying...it's like looking for a diamond in the mud!

Today's diamonds:

Classic Elite - Newport Light - 7 skeins
Sjuntorp - Elite - 7 skeins
Plymouth Yarn Co - Cleo' Egyptian Cotton - 22 skeins
Austermann - Summertime - 9 skeins

Yesterday, I failed to mention that I had come to a realization about myself....I have become a yarn snob. I knew I was heading down that path, but it was confirmed yesterday. I was asking her if she would like some of my acrylics for her charity knitting and one of the ladies smiled and said "you have become a yarn snob". She told me that one becomes a yarn snob once you start trying to get rid of the acrylics to make room for the generally softer and higher quality cottons and linens and wools. As long as those cottons and linens and wools only cost fifty cents or a dollar, yarn snob-dom here I come!!! :-)

Jody, if you get this far, check out my Flickr site. I have a picture of the yarn I am bringing for your group's charity knitting stash....

A New Day - But Grey Skies Still

I woke up again this morning to thunder, but it was nothing like yesterday. DH and I got up and got ready - me for the OAKS meeting and him for his appointment in Cassadega. What a day at the OAKS meeting...Jackie brought some of her new yarns, which we all fondled and oh & ah'd over. I ended up with two skeins of a blue variegated worsted wool...It is beautiful. As always, we chatted and enjoyed the companionship.

I knew DH would not be back by 12 because his appointment wasn't until 11 and it was 45 minutes long, so as everyone was packing up to leave I was settling in for a little more knitting/book hunting. Jody asked me if I wanted to get lunch while I waited for DH. Of course, I said yes, so we walked to Panera. Jody and I had a great talk. It was really nice to get to know her a little better. My suspicion that she is very intelligent and very interesting to talk to was confirmed. DH joined us after a little while and we continued to chat.

On the way home, I convinced DH, once again, that a trip to Knit -N- Needle Nook in Mount Dora was an essential part of my day. So, even though it was the weekend of the Mount Dora Art Festival, we made the trip. He dropped me off, found a parking space (a good ways away) and took a nap. As I have already ranted and raved about the yarn and the buys in the shop, I will spare the details. The only part of the story you are probably interested in is what I got and how much I paid for it....I ended up with about 109 more skeins of yarn for about $100. However, I found out that I had missed out on a great opportunity. The shop owners had made arrangements to have several ladies to their house so they could go through some of the yarn that has yet to make it to the store. GGGRRRRR! I can't believe I missed that. The good news is they said they would do that again very soon - much to my pleasure and DH's dismay. All in all, another good day!

Here is a list of the goodies from today's adventure:

Katia - Papiro - 20 skeins
Crystal Palace -Georgia Cotton - 7 skeins
Mandarin - Petit - 10 skeins
Katia - Capri - 15 skeins
Novita - Linnea - 6 skeins
Crystal Palace - Baby Georgia - 6 skeins
Gedifra - Bermuda - 9 skeins
Bernat - Carina - 9 skeins
Schewe - Campus - 8 skeins
Aarlan - Cotolana - 9 skeins
Linie 10 - 7 skeins
Linie 80 - 3 skeins

BAD MORNING HERE

During the early morning hours, some severe weather started moving into our area. Unfortunately, some areas north of where I live sustained some very significant damage - a church is completely gone in Lady Lake, destroyed homes, trees uprooted. Since about 1 AM, I have seen about 6 tornado warnings...I am TERRIFIED of storms. Actually, I am so scared of storms, I leave my house for a hotel if the storms are supposed to come in during the night. I know that sounds silly, but, to me, it is not.

I have never been through a tornado, but I have seen a funnel cloud as I was leaving the mobile home I used to live in. Also, a tornado, spawned by Hurricane Ivan several years ago, hit my mom's house. The tornado had gone right over their house. They did have some serious damage - trees uprooted, tree twisted and broken in half, limbs down, a limb through the wall of a bedroom, a limb through the passenger side windows of her SUV....Luckily, she and my stepfather were okay, except for being shaken up. My DH & I drove up the next Saturday. I have never seen sights like I saw that day - huge pine trees snapped in half as far as you could see, pine saplings bent over the road like a canopy, clear land where there was a thickly wooded area. I clearly remember asking DH, "where are all of the trees?". I could hardly breathe by the time I got to my mom's house. My mom and stepfather had to live in a hotel for several weeks, but, eventually, they were able to go home. The strange thing through all of this was that they NEVER lost phone service!

I have had my fear of storms since long before this happened. However, every time I hear talk of severe weather, those are the images that go through my mind. I have a coping method that works, somewhat....I have a Sony Walkman that I turn on and turn up so loud I cannot hear the thunder. I go into my guest room, get in the bed, cover my head and try to sleep...This is if the storms are during the day.

Well, I am going to try to get some sleep now....I will post more later....

Withdrawals!!!

Man, oh, man am I having withdrawals from all of my yarn shopping this weekend. I am so looking forward to the OAKS meeting this Saturday so I show off my first plied yarn!!! :-)

The Yarn Shop Adventure

Late last week, I was reading the blog of one of ladies in my knitting/spinning group. She mentioned a yarn store in Mount Dora that was recently sold and is selling off the existing stock at crazy prices. Well, seeing as how I have YAS (see previous entry), I couldn’t resist the urge to go. My DH and I made the short drive to Mount Dora. Traffic was pretty bad, so I jumped out of the truck while we stopped at a red light because I was so excited, I couldn’t wait for DH to find a parking space…

When I walked into the store, I felt like I had achieved nirvana! There were two dollar skeins….There were one dollar skeins…There were fifty cents skeins…. Beautiful yarn! Glorious yarn! Magnificent yarn! We are not talking about the every day, run of the mill yarns you can find in any craft store. Acrylics, acrylic blends, cotton, cotton/linen blends, linen, wool, wool blends…you name it, it is probably somewhere in the store or somewhere in stock that the new owners have yet to bring back into the store.

Anyway, after rummaging around for about an hour, I ended up spending about $55 for 70 skeins of yarn! My DH was, of course, somewhat put out when I appeared on the sidewalk with two large bags stuffed full of yarn. However, when he heard how much (or how little) I spent, he was a little less cranky.

Well, we decided to walk around Mount Dora for a bit. We happened upon a wine shop just a couple of doors down from the yarn shop. There was a sign out front saying the shop was going out of business, soall wine was 25% off…As I was in such a wonderful mood from my yarn shopping, I ventured into the wine shop. DH rolled his eyes and kept walking. The shop proprietor was a very nice gentleman and offered small tastings of all of the wines in the shop. I tried several – cherry, strawberry, pineapple/coconut, cranberry, etc…I bought a bottle of orange wine, pineapple/coconut wine and two bottles of watermelon wine (one for a good friend at the office). While I ended up with 70 skeins of yarn and four bottles of wine, DH ended up with a POUND of fudge. All in all, we had a great day.

When we got home, I started thinking, which is generally an expensive thing, about letting the opportunity of fifty cents for a skein of yarn pass me by. I just knew it was too good not to go back. I put on my best face, batted my eyelashes and, gently, asked DH if we could back on Sunday. To my surprise, he readily agreed. So at noon, I was there. Again, I rummaged for about an hour. I ended up with four large shopping bags full and only spent $80. After all was said and done, here is what I ended up with:

Filatura di Crosa – Amico – 43 skeins
Reynolds – Gypsy – 19 skeins
Crystal Palace – Trade Winds – 11 skeins
Crystal Palace – Baby Georgia – 42 skeins
Wendy – Cotton with linen – 8 skeins
Marks & Kattens – Camomille – 8 skeins
Elite – 5 skeins
Linie10 – 6 skeins
Mandarin – Petit – 7 skeins
Jakobsdals - Bahamas – 6 skeins
Novita – Linnea – 18 skeins
Katia – Ancla – 13 skeins

The Journey

This journey begins today. I am relatively new to the fiber world. I have been crocheting since November 2005 and spinning & knitting since November 2006. I taught myself to crochet because the mortality of my parents hit me and I realized I had taken that for granted every time my mom would attempt to teach me to crochet. I wanted to share something with her and crocheting seemed to be the right thing. Little did I know that decision would lead me spiraling downward into the depths of YAS (yarn acquisition syndrome).

In one of my many on-line searches for glorious yarn, I happened upon a flyer for the 3rd Annual Florida Fiber-In. I thought to myself, what a great excuse to buy yarn! So, I went. As funny as this may sound, I would honestly have to say this decision changed my life. The main reason I wanted to go to the Fiber-In - aside from yarn - was to take a tatting class. The class was interesting and I did learn a little, but it is what happened after the class that made the impact. I must note this was in September 2006, so I was not knitting at this point. As a matter of fact, I was the only one in the room that was crocheting - everyone else was either knitting or spinning….What was that? Spinning. Yes, I said spinning – the real, ages old technique of turning fiber into yarn.

This is where the real story begins. There were several ladies there with their spinning wheels and still more with their drop spindles. I was fascinated to say the least. I was enthralled. I was captivated. Just the thought of feeling the fiber slide through my fingers made me feel giddy (okay, so maybe this is overstating it a little, but none the less). I met a lady who said she would be willing to teach me to spin with a drop spindle, so I gave her my number before I left. Unfortunately, she never called. This was a huge blow to me because I am very shy and it took so much for me to even go to the Fiber-In alone. Regardless, thanks to the powers of EBay, I bought a couple of inexpensive spindles and a little roving. When the little treasures arrived, I had absolutely, positively no idea what do with them, so they sat and sat and sat.

While browsing the internet for websites on how to use the spindles, I happened upon a flyer for another festival. This time it was for Pioneer Days in Brooksville. The flyer mentioned there would be some spinning demonstrations. So, I (somehow) convinced my DH to go to Brooksville on the first Saturday in November. This is where I met Jody and Melody – both sitting at their spinning wheels. They seemed more than happy to talk about their craft and to share some of the projects they had made with their handspun yarns. After sensing I was sincerely interested in learning to spin, Jody told me about a group of knitters and spinners – Orlando Area Knitters and Spinners (OAKS) – that meet weekly. She said there was a lady there who would be more than willing to teach me to use my spindles. Facing my fears of new people, I went to the next meeting. I have never met people quite like this. They were all so friendly and so willing to teach and so willing to help.

Let’s just say this brings us to the present….Well, not quite. With the ever patient guidance from the members of this group, I learned to use the spindle. The natural progression is from spindle to spinning wheel. My DH bought a Lendrum DT folding wheel for me - Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday! More of the ever patient guidance from the group has allowed me to learn to use the wheel with ease….Okay, so this brings us to the present! So now, not only do I have YAS, I have FAS (Fiber Acquisition Syndrome). From what I understand these are both incurable and are running rampant in the OAKS group because of those we call “The Enablers”.