S&MMM...

Have you ever worked on a project that seemed to laugh at you and your every attempt to finish it? You work diligently and yet you never seem to get closer to it's end. When you think you're almost there, you realize there's another chunk you have yet to even start chipping away at? Through all this work, though you may be tired, you find that you're not truly irritated by it, because even when you hate to admit it, you realize you're enjoying the item.

Well, S&MMM was that project for me. She's finally done after I sat up refusing to go to bed the other night until she was done. I finished the last chart and happily pulled out the pattern only to realize that I overlooked that she has a knit on edge. Arrrgggh! So, away I went at 11pm refusing to quit until I had cast off every singe one of those 220 some odd stitches. But when she was done, oh my was she pretty.

Now, let's hope her recipient thinks so too. The person she is going to looks wonderful in deep jewel blues and chocolate browns and I think this little shawl is the perfect thing to class up a pair of dressy jeans. No?

Oh, and here's a shot of the kids on the way home from South Dakota after we hit the Reptile Gardens in Rapid City.

They actually allow dogs on leash inside so I took the four of them in. We sat through a snake presentation and all our snake training paid off. There was no whining, barking or trying to get to the snake, and when they brought out the prairie rattler Tucker tried to crawl in our laps and Sullivan quaked like he was trying to poop out a peach pit. Good dogs, that's what I want when snakes are present. You don't mess with them and give them their room. Shiela of course is deaf as a door nail and didn't know there was a thing to be concerned about.

Last night I went to some friends house for dinner and picked the last of the apples I could reach in the tree to take with me. These are the few I have left. They are so wonderful and crisp. Next year if we're still around I'm going to see about some options to get more of them and make my own alcoholic cider. Doesn't that sound wonderful?

Last night I blew my fingers out finishing up spinning up some silk that I plan on giving as a thank you gift. I never realized how hard that stuff is on the hands. I've sat and spun on other fibers for longer but never had I gotten blisters from it. I'm hoping it's dry enough to give to her tonight and I hope to get better pictures.

The second colorway batch I bought to ply with the blue wasn't near as good a quality of hankies and therefore I couldn't draft it out as finally so there on the left is the single ply blue still. I got about 170 yards of plyed and another 200 yards of the unplyed. Not much I can do about it and it's still wonderful. Now I can say I know how to spin silk.

Anyway, I have to get ready for work. Hope you all have a great weekend!

A Post Road, Pre Spinning Quickie

I know I had hinted at the fact that our travels weren't quite done before. Well, we got home yesterday and I got my friend Stefani off to the airport this morning, all showered, shaved and ready to head out to meet with some spinning friends (wool, not stationary bikes) and thought I'd kill a few minutes with a quick post. Don't worry, I'll give you more soon.

We hit the Black Hills and played in Rushmore Cave, I saw Rushmore for the first time, went to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, and wasted $40.00 in the slots in Deadwood. I had taken $50.00 for the job but decided I would just pocketed the other ten and call it a bonus for not falling pray to gambling fever (not that it was a great worry, I work hard for my money and don't see why I should squander it in gambling).

I wasn't near as good this time about taking my camera out with me on this trip, but here's a couple.

For this trip I only had a total of 95 pictures which still need to be gone through and cleaned through of what isn't good enough to keep. After such efforts the trip south ended up with 571.

Well, more to come but I have to get moving.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog

I've been trying to get to a post all day with little success until now. I thought it was pointless to post without pictures of what has kept me so busy, which of course that means I had to go through the few hundred pictures and glean the best for you all. Spoiled, aren't you? And since we've been gone for over a week playing with pictures took a back seat to cleaning the house, unpacking all our crap, spending time with the poor neglected beasts who had to stay home with a sitter, and just try to tidy up in general in a desperate effort to have the house presentable for our company that arrives tomorrow night. So, here it is in the evening and I finally get to tell you all about our trip. Or should I say, the first half? Luckily this posting will be mostly pics, and you won't have to listen to me drone on and on.

First we headed south and played in Great Sand Dunes National Monument.

Then we headed west towards Durango CO.

Early the next morning we jumped over to Mesa Verde National Park,

Before booking it further South Water Canyon to camp for our first night in New Mexico.

The next morning we had a buddy in camp.

After saying goodbye to our little pal (the first mantis I've seen in person ever! I like bugs as long as they're not on me), we headed West again to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.

After that we camped again in the wonderful mild autumn weather, well, maybe native New Mexicans wouldn't call the low forties mild camping weather but a kid from Alaska enjoyed anything over freezing, we headed towards warmer weather back east at White Sands National Monument.

We cleaned up that night in a hotel in Almagordo before hitting the early morning pavement to make to Carlsbad Caverns. Carlsbad has been one of those places I've always wanted to see and have finally made it. I would suggest to anyone to go, and take your time to wonder through, though I would suggest you enter by the natural route (an extra mile of walking) and leave by the elevator. The main cavern is 750feet down.

Roswell's Town Hall Building is Beautiful!

After we left the subteranean wonderland we just had to drive through Roswell on our way to Sumnter Lake State Park to camp. There unfortunately our trip got cold. That night we were rained on as a cold front moved through. Add that to the motorcyclists that just had to come in after dark and camp right next to us in an otherwise empty campground, equaled a lovely night. Our only lucky strike there is that we heard them discussing that they forgot to hit a liqour store and only had a little weed left so they mellowed out instead of getting rowdy. We were packed up and out of there the next morning before we saw or heard anyone. I do have to say, I was a little louder than I would otherwise had been at 6am since they were so loud (One of the Aussies thought he was a soloist from Jesus Christ Superstar) when they came in and set up.

Due to our cold early start we got into Taos early on Saturday and hit the Wool and Fiber Festival before lunch instead of Sunday as planned. Judging by the way the wool was moving I was glad we did. We won't even discuss the my expenditures, I don't account to you...

I spent a good chunk of it here. She had the most lovely BFL and Silk Roving.

Then we wondered Taos, a bit. It's quite the little artist commune of a town. Not that I could afford it but some day as I age I may really enjoy living there. It had a lot of little charms to it, such as this friendly little reminder to Breath In, Breath Out, and Move On done in the Yarn Bombing style.

The next morning we woke to head north and in the chill mountain air. Capulin Volcano National Monument was closed due to snow and Ice on the rim road, so we continued north to Pueblo Colorado.

Since we got there early we hung out with some rather odd fellows for a bit at the zoo and the raptor center. Then we wondered around the deserted old town district (I know it was a Sunday but it looks as though Pueblo has been hit hard by the recession. There were many empty store fronts and restaurants for sale.

The next morning we went out to Royal Gorge to take in the sites, and...

Zipline!!!

This was truly a highlight of the trip. That is obviously not Bob or I on the line (I wish I had that much hair) but rather one of the 4 newbie to zipping girls that was on our tour. They, as myself and all I've ever seen zipline (I have zipped several other times) quickly got over the nervousness and had tons of fun. I hope to talk Stefani into going back with us next year for the "Extreme" Zipline tour. We went through Royal Gorge Zip Line Tours and would recommend them. Ask for "Chain Saw", he's a hoot, just don't show any weakness...

I actually have a video of it and will work on getting it up on here soon.

It would appear that National Parks Inter-agency Pass really paid off this year. So far we've hit Zion NP, Grand Canyon NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Rocky Mountain NP, Great Sand Dunes NM, Mesa Verde NP, White Sands NM, and Carlsbad NP this year, and will be hitting a couple more here shortly.

Have a great week everybody,
Q.

Oh... Almost forgot! While on the road I finally got my Jacob Handspun Shwal done, and started the Romi Hill Merope.

 There are some tension issues in the first one, I think mainly due to me just being sick of it. And aggressive block helped even them out but I can still see the difference.  As for the last one, I'm calling it my S&MMM shawl. It means Sadism and Merope in Mad's Mare. Merope is the pattern name, MAd for Madeline Tosh the brand of yarn and Mare is the colorway. It get's this name because stupidly I only took lace projects with me on this little trip. Talk about self abuse.

Oh, and in Almoagordo I found a cool little winery that sold pistachio wine... It's a rather sweet vanilla flavored wine that I just had to buy for my friend that is visiting this week. As you can see, I bought a few more bottles too and a drop spindle (I heard those gasps from some of you, you know who you are) in Taos as well.

See you on the other side!

And Sadly, the Week Comes To A Close

My week off that is, which means I get to go back to work tonight... Lovely! Actually, I'm not going to complain one bit since after this week on we return the foster dog to her rescue association (for the better I hope, she has been great this last couple days!) and are looking at some time with friends and jaunt to the south possibly.

But before I get myself wrapped up in all that I have to get through the next week of working, but this is a normal length work week, not crazy stupid like the last couple. And by stupid, please read that I myself signed up for those extra shifts. I know; ridiculous. so I can't whine much about it.

However, I started out my work week on the perfect foot forward. This arrived in the mail today:

Well, the undyed silk mawata on the bottom and the orange and yellow corriedale top did. the blue is the mawata I worked on the other night. But back to what arrived today, I found on Etsy Alma Park Alpacas who had undyed mawata in 2oz hankies for as much as I bought the dyed blue stuff in .5oz hankies. So I ordered three. And then for some strange reason, the Fire roving caught my eye. I'm not really an orange and yellow person so I found it strange that I had to have it, but I've found the perfect use for it so hopefully you should see it again here soon.

The Blue stuff is some of Knit Picks Silver Falls mawata that I purchased a couple weeks ago. I finally got around to spinning it, and what you see there on the bobbin is a cobweb/lace weight half ounce hankie. I have one more currently all drafted and ready to go and decided that it wasn't near the yardage I wanted so I ordered a third of this colorway and then ordered three of the Cascade Head ( a blue, purple, a green mix) to spin up separately and ply with this stuff. I think it's going to be lovely!

Unfortunately, that little bit of spinning and about 130 yards of undyed peruvian highland in about a worsted weight is all the spinning I've managed to do this week. I did get to finish one of the large knitting items that I've felt has been sitting over my head threatening to drown me in it's lusciously soft alpaca fibers all finished and blocked.

I'm very happy with the finished product and I hope Andrea is too since it's going to live in her store for the ones that complain of being cold all the time (I'm sometimes one of those, especially if I'm feeling tired). I can't wait to see the rest of the Knit Along Members finished items. There are some lovely yarns that were chosen for their projects.

That's about all the fiber related stuff I got done this week. The rest of the time was focussed on the house, the guy and the furry kids. Hope you had a less tired but just as good week as I and you all have a wonderful weekend. I'll leave you with thoughts of this wonderful apple crisp with dreid cherries and crystallized ginger that I made for the knit gathering last night. It smelled as wonderful as it looks.

Recipe is as follows:

Ingredients

Topping
1 and 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
1 and 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or to personal taste, I like my cinnamon)
1 1/2 sticks (should be 3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature cut into cubes
3/4 cup pecans or other favored nut lightly toasted and coarsely chopped (I pan toatsed mine with about a 1/2 tablespoon grape seed oil.
1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger


Combine oats, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon and mix well. Cut in butter until it forms soft crubly texture. Stir in in nuts and ginger. You can make this in advance and refrigerate until ready to use. I start with the topping so my peeled apples don't turn brown while I make the topping and just cover and refrigerate until ready for it.

Filling
1 1/2 cups dried tart cherries
1 cup water
2 cinnamon sticks
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark, you're preference)
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon plain tapioca
1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon (like I said, I like my cinnamon, add as you like)
1/2 teaspoon all spice
A splash of vanilla extract (again, I cook to taste so I literally don't measure and just  pour it in as I see fit)
A pinch of ground clove, again, I like my clove but depending on how fresh your clove is, it may be very strong, so add as desired or leave it out if you wish.
4-5 pounds peeled, cored and sliced apples of your choice. For baking I prefer tart apples like granny smiths (oh hell, I always prefer tart apples), but for this recipe I used apples from our tree in the back yard. It came with the house and I have no idea what kind they are but they start out green and lovely sour but this year faded to a greenish yellow and our hot late days have blushed them to red. They ended up sweeter with still a touch of sour bite. And in the true nature of organic back yard farming, they have worms, but I was diligent in cutting out the affect apples, but we're losing a lot of them to the blue jays that are pecking out the worm and leaving the apple to rot.
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 400F
Grease a 9x11 baking pan


Combine cherries, water, and cinnamon stick in small sauce pan. Bring to a slow boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. When cooled, you may notice some brown wrinkled skins floating free of the cherries, remove these (you can eat them...) Pour off fluid (this while still warm is a lovely drink), discard cinnamon sticks (I throw these in the liquid while drinking it, just extra flavor) and reserve cherries.

 As you peel your apples douse them with lemon juice to slow the affects of turning, You can also make a vinegar bath for them but I prefer the taste of the lemon juice in the finished goods. Once you have your apples prepped, in a large bowl combine apples with the rest of the filling ingredients and mix well.

Fill prepared baking pan and place in middle of oven for 10-15 minutes to start softening apples. Do not overcook or you'll loose all the juices to evaporation. Remove from oven, cover evenly with topping, and place once again in oven for 30-45 minutes until topping is golden and filling is bubbling around edges.

Now, if you're trying to score points with the significant other you do all your dishes while this is cooking and serve it still warm as they walk in the door with their favorite ice cream. Heck, you might even get some thank you sex out of it... Just say'n.

Happy Izzy?

 Sorry, the Blue Jays won't hold still long enough for a good photo.

A Butterfly Flaps it's Wings...

So, once again I have no pictures of yesterday's event. I apologize. I even left my camera out so that I would hopefully jog my memory to snap a couple but as usual, I spaced the whole concept of using my camera in times of fun. Because yesterday was fun, but it may have been my exhaustion talking to. To everyone that was at my house yesterday, I apologize for the glazed look that I know fell across my face occasionally as I sat there a few times and just vegged...

So, back to the event. The Nebraska Fiber Fair had unfortunately decided to cancel it's planned classes that a couple of people from our local yarn store were planning on attending. In a fit of creativity myself and a couple of other spinners decided to hold an even here at my house for those interested to bring their stuff, relax around a hearty lunch of lasagna and play with fiber. So, a little butterfly of cancellation flapped its darkling wings in Scottsbluff and created what I hope is the first of many (maybe quarterly everyone?) miini fiber festivities in Casper.

Now, it was great fun, or I wouldn't be asking for more, it was so much fun I'm kicking myself for not using my camera to share with those who couldn't be here. It was a very laid back unstructured, bring your stuff and spin, knit, and in one case walk away with a new Ashford Traditional wheel... But I was beat. We've had family troubles going on all week that involved many a trip for Bob and I back and forth to Douglas that's about a 45minute trip down I25 for the last week and a half, I worked a lovely 9 day stretch of 12hr night shifts, in addition to the fact  that in the last three weeks (21 days) I've had 18 days of time on the books for my job, 15 of those being full 12 hour shifts. Throw in working until 7am Friday and running to the grocery store before diving into cleaning my house (sorry guys, it wasn't up to it's normal standards), washing dogs, and cooking, equaled to a tired me. And for the record, washing your dogs the day before an event at your house makes vacuuming absolutely useless since all five dogs decided to blow their coat withing 8 hours of such an event. And I still don't know why my oven decided it didn't need to bake properly yesterday.

Regardless of it all, I got the sauces started at midnight Friday night so by Saturday morning I could boil the noodles, whip up the ricotta and layer and bake two lovely deep dish lasagna's and have fun with some good company. We laughed, played at being Kathy Lee and Hoda with noon Mimosa's, spun, and ate to our hearts content. Everyone walked away with a bit of new fiber or yarn to play with and hopefully enjoyed themselves as greatly as I (This is where you all agree...).

Then after everyone left, Bob kindly attacked the pile of ever growing dishes, I vacuumed up all the loose wool parading as dust bunnies and put all the furniture back where it belongs. Oh, and FYI, if you plan on having several spinning wheels laying around, things like coffee tables should just be removed from the room. Then I laid down, and that I think was my first mistake. I really just meant to cuddle with the pooches, but my eyes shut. I opened them about 20 minutes later to say goodbye to Bob as he ran off to attend to his Mom, and I decided the best way to wake up would be to walk the dogs. After getting home about 45 minutes later I still couldn't keep my eyes open. I fed the little furred and scales mob of heathens that live under the roof with us and decided to hell with it, I was going to bed. So what if it was only five thirty? And all I can say is, I must have needed it. I think after all the excitement, fun, and dare I say stress, my body had decided to reset itself. So, as my eyes finally peeled awake at six thirty this morning I realized that I slept for thirteen hours with only one potty break at about ten that I recall. I'm sure Bob will inform me of others or even conversations that may have occurred that I won't ever remember.

So, with a new day dawning, I tick another lesson into my book. Have fun, spin with friends and go all out with such events, but dammit boy, you better sleep a bit more before hand.

I hope everyone elses weekend was as much fun as mine, but I need to go buy a birthday present for a 4 year old and get a training plan drawn out for today's agility class.

Heads a Spinning

Well, maybe not my head. I can't say I'm necessarily in need of an exorcism. But something in my world is spinning, that's for sure.

Whether it's me or the wheel, I'm still not sure. In three days I managed to roll out three batches of yarn. That also includes Sunday night while I was working... Don't ask and I won't tell. It didn't come up in my evaluation yesterday and I hope to keep it that way.

Old Ironsides

Plyed Old Ironsides

I started with finishing up the melon/orange colored one on the left to get my bobbins empty for our planned spinning event next week. That led to the arrival of my new fiber from huckleberry knits in the middle which I just had to to dig into. When I got all that done, I wanted to play with the beautiful bfl (Blue Faced Leicester) that Andrea bought me, which led me back around to emptying all necessary bobbins... Add that to the the projects on the needles, I haven't gotten much house work done. But I did get up early today to clean the fish tank, take dogs to the river before hitting the road. Okay, maybe my priorities are skewed, but then so am I.

Okay, off to play with the kids, you have a wonderful day.
Q.

Lazy day. Well, not truly lazy, just not focused where it should be.

I feel quite productive today actually, though I only did one thing productive. Emmitt and I went to a dog training session with a young lab who is starting agility with his owner.

But why I truly feel productive is because I finally got the last of this stuff spun up and plyed.

Just in time for me to get more fiber from the fiber club through huckleberryknits that I joined last week. I can't wait to play with some of it later this week. All in all I think I have about 150meters of what looks a lot like one of those orange sherbert cups they used to give out in elementary school for ice cream treats. It's funny, because unspun the fiber was a beautiful cantaloup color, and spun it appears more orange. Oh well, it's still pretty. No idea what it is to become as of yet.

Oh, and last night I whipped this off the needles because all I seem to have lately are large shawls I don't want to work on for one reason or another and I wanted something small and quick.

Andrea at the local yarn shop got in some kind of cool Berocco Boboli so I picked some up and found this bandana cowl and had at it. It made me feel all productive and crap to actually get something done and cast off and blocked. It's still a bit damp but it's done otherwise.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!