I heart Ninja's

Check out one of my favorite blogs....http://ninjerktsu.blogspot.com/

Birthday card

Check out the awesome birthday card I got from my friend Genetta!
She's got a blog at http://paperscraping.blogspot.com/. She seems to be more on top of the whole blog about your craft/hobby than I am. I'll have pictures soon of some finished stuff.

Dear Yarn Blog

Dear Yarn Blog,

I haven't forgotten you although I have been paying more attention to the family blog lately, it's not you, it's me. I just get so wrapped up into what I'm doing and forget to tell you about the wonderful new yarn I'm been making.


At top is a cloud mohair yarn that I learn to love and hate at the same time. Mohair is goat fur and comes in short locks which can be a pain to spin up. It's so soft to hold but it's very slow when spinning up as I wrapped it around a cotton cord. Start up the wheel and stop the wheel just to manually spin the wheel to wrap the yarn around the bobbin. It also leaves a weird feeling on your hands like when you just put some very old lotion on your hands so your hands are soft but have that cake like feeling to them. For plying this type of yarn I'm taking some silk singles done earlier to do a 2 ply and all this is doing is basically holding the mohair down a bit on the cotton cord. Not sure what my plans are for it maybe some kind of cowl/scarf type of project since this yarn will be very bulky. In between spinning the mohair stuff up I've also been spinning some bluish-green carded wool. Since this stuff has been carded it's spinning quite easy but it also takes some practice. Doesn't take much for this wool to get thin on me quick since the fibers have been already carded, it causes the fiber to break easily on me when spinning.

I haven't forgotten my knitting, in fact I have two projects going on. First up is the Morning Surf Scarf by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer.



It's being done in some handspun wool yarn done at an Sport weight on size 4 needles, it's the fiber I dyed a while ago using kool-aid. I haven't gotten far with it but so far I'm liking it. I'm also finishing up a wool stocking hat that is getting knitted from the top down. Although it's getting bigger and I know with the ribbing stitch pattern it will stretch but it still looks small to me.

So yarn blog, I've been busy with other little projects around the house but I haven't forgotten about you. I'm just lazy so deal with it.

xxoo
Jennifer

Things I have done on my time off during the summer

My office implemented reduce hours during the summer this year. Of course it came along with reduce pay but I won't complain about having my Friday's off during the summer at all. This coming Friday is the last one I'll have off and then it's back to a 40 hour week. Sniff...I'm getting sad about this.

Here's what I did...

1. Mowed the yard and cleaned my house.
2. Slept in till 8 am. Sometimes 9 am.
3. Watched daytime TV and realized it really sucked.
4. Signed up for Netflix.
5. Spun lots of fiber into yarn.


6. Spent time with my friend Carey eating sushi.
7. Spent time helping my friend Carey clean & move out of her old house into her new home.
8. Painted my bedroom.


9. Purging out my basement, yard and house in one massive dumpster.
10. Used my weekends for my family.

What are we going to do tonight, Brain??

Recently I did a blog update about my sewing machine "Pinky", a rose color 1950-ish Kenmore that didn't seem to be wanting to work for me. Apparently according to my tech support (aka: my father) this machine is very picky on it's tension setting and it doesn't take much to mess it up, which I tend to do often. While Pinky was waiting for repair from me touching it, I got another machine from my parents.

Meet the Brain:
It's a teal blue old Singer sewing machine my parents got for $15 and runs great. I had been calling it "Bluey" since it's a blue machine but my wonderful friend Carey suggested "Brain" after the cartoon "Pinky and the Brain". I loved it and informed my parents last night that I couldn't break up the pair. I finished up the skirt I had been making last night and will have some pictures to come.

Now for the knitting part of the blog. For the 1 billion time for me, I have once again started a sock up with the goal of actually trying to finish it. Last Friday Carey and I both purchased some sock yarn and needles at MisKnits in Kansas City, Mo. We had no real reasons to actually purchase more yarn but we did anyway like the fiber junkies that we are. I chose some Totufsies sock yarn with very high hopes to create a pair of socks from the Jaywalker pattern by Grumperina. So far I have it started and in my purse to work on whenever I can.

Still here, just been lazy

Yes I know it's been a while on the blogging for both of my blogs but it is summer time and the last thing I really want to do is be stuck inside sitting at a computer typing. Although it's been getting hotter and with a reduction in work hours I really shouldn't have any excuses on to why I'm not posting more blogs. The simple reason is that I simply haven't felt like it and the crafting bug hasn't been there much lately.

Sewing:
Recently I purchased a bunch of fabric to make some simple skirts and tops due to the fact I hate today's clothing not fitting me right. It's either too loose in one area and too tight in another. Ever since having the C-Section, I really hate having anything tight around my belly and today's trend is form fitting shirts. So I bought some fabric with grand plans of creating some nice clothing that would fit me just right. First I start with the simple wrap skirt with some lovely fabric that I should have thought twice about or at least have had my mother there letting me know of the evil of this type of fabric. It is slick stuff and moves underneath the pressure foot so it's been a slight pain to sew. Now of what I have been able to sew up, I've been running into the same issue I've been having with this machine: Tension. After sitting at the machine for 35 minutes getting it fixed from the change out in thread, I finally got the tension right on the stitch. I'm now at the point in joining the three pieces of the skirt together when I hear a GRRR....PLUNKKKKK! The tension is back off again and I need to get my tech support (aka: my Mother) up here to fix it.
The fabric on the right is a knitting bag for Carey waiting in line next the the skirt that may never get done due to me taking a sledge hammer to the machine on the left.

Spinning:
This area has seen much improvement and advances. Recently on one of my no work on Friday's, Carey and I got together for a spinning day. She worked on her current projects while I worked on mine and we had a great time. Back in February I dyed up about 8 oz. of wool I had purchase on a trip to Clinton Mo. using nothing more than Cherry, Grape Kool-Aid and the grill.
Still smells like Kool Aid after all these months and now it looks like this in a 3-ply next to the yummy Alpaca fiber that I also have been working on. I think there was 8 oz. of alpaca fiber that I did that came out in an DK/Aran weight. Very soft and warm stuff.
I have another bobbin that is full and can be plyed up any time. I still have about half of the wool fiber still left to do. Looks like I need another spinning Friday with Carey again, I got a lot of spinning done that day.

Knitting:
Been trying to finish up on some UFO's (Unfinished Objects, it's geek talk for craft people) so not much has been done or started. Still working on the Cardi I started a while ago and due to a mistake in my increases I was stopped in my progress. Apparently one of the increases for the sleeves got off and started shifting to the left of the raglan seam, so I basically had 3 seams going straight and 1 out in left field. I cried and started ripping out about 3 inches of work. Usually this wouldn't have been a big deal but this cardi is being knitted from the top down and it was a lot of stitches that I had to take out and redo. So I'm now to the point to where I was and have taken the stitches off the needles for some measurements. Once I put it on, I'll know if I need to keep going with the increases or if I can move on to the next step.

Today's sewing session with a toddler & husband

Start the machine up. Slow and steady. Keep it straight.

I am one with the machine. Keep going, take the pin out.

Keep going, steady and slow, easy on the turn.

You're almost done...

James yelling across the house "Yes, I'll play kick ball with you, let me finish this......DON'T EAT YOUR BOOGERS BAILEY!!!"

I am one with seam ripper....