Breather in the Form of Writing a Blog Entry

The kids and I were out and about all morning and well into the afternoon. We had Small Fry's well-child 15 month checkup; we are so far behind on this since he is 19 months! He is off the charts for height and weight; but this is no surprise, as his sister is the same.

After the doctor's appointment, we tried a new grocery store over in Grove City. It's called County Market. I definitely did some damage there in filling my grocery cart, but I don't know if it's unique enough to deserve a special weekly trip. A friend of mine had mentioned that they carry chicken fresh from an Amish farm, but there was nothing else in the store that really grabbed my attention. I can't justify a 30 minute trip just for chicken!

So, the kids were put down for a super late nap; and I'm just beginning to look at my to-do list after getting the groceries put away and the refrigerator cleaned out a bit. Maybe I should make my list stretch for the whole week? I just crossed one item off the list a few minutes ago, as I ordered some yarn and a pattern book for some upcoming birthday gifts. I hope to get a hat and a pair of socks knitted with the new materials. The socks have a Fair Isle pattern, so that will be a new experience.

Anyway, if you are still awake to have made it through this post (!), I have a question for you. I'm interested in having my children use quiet time to listen to a Bible story on CD. Do you have any CD suggestions appropriate for pre-schoolers? I would love your advice.

Stay warm out there; I know our thermometer was reading in the teens all day!

Knitting News

I'm having a love affair with the cable! In my very limited kniting experience it is one of the most fun stitches to do. Check out some pictures of my latest projects; one of which includes a wonderfully chunky cable running right up the center of the scarf.

The rust yarn on the single needle is the very beginning of a hat for Brookie. This pattern I am teaching myself how to do a picot edge. I think the yarn color is so rich and yummy!

The last couple of pictures show Small Fry modeling his new hat. On this project I learned how to use DPN's (double pointed needles). This was a cute little pattern available for free on Ravelry.

We have received news that our closing date for the new house is scheduled for this Wednesday afternoon. Yippee! Now I just want to scramble and get my mom's kitchen curtains done. I'm working on the valance for the last window.

Monday, Monday!

This is what happens to us when daddy leaves for the work week! Small Fry has to sit in a box to read his book, and Brookie has pj's on that do not even come close to matching. In mama's defense, daddy loves to see what fashion extremes he can go to in the choice of pj's including last night!

We have had a bit of great news just now; the second appraisal on our hopeful-new-house just came in the email! This appraisal is higher than the first, so we're hoping for a quick closing. We are thankful!

Today is project day. I've started to make some kitchen curtains for my mom. They're to be her Christmas present if I can get them done. She knows about them. Actually, she picked this awesome fabric!

It's a great little pattern on an almost wheat colored background. I have two regular size windows - about 40 inches wide or so and then a valance in the third window to make. Curtains are fun.....just a lot of straight seams!

The Waiting Game and Fabric.

Our family is waiting - learning patience - for the second appraisal on our hopeful-new house! We are supposed to hear something today, but the appraisal company is based out of CA. We east-coasters hope that we will hear something tonight. I've always wondered if people who travel a lot for work have problems with time changes!





I did something rather adventurous today: I took some of my handmade items to a local shop! (I know, I totally lacked a transition there.) Tapas, located in downtown Sewickley, takes artists' work on consignment. They took some of my things! I most appreciated the time the owner took with me. This really is my first time approaching a store, and she was most helpful with suggestions. I really, really need to find cheap fabric and I mean cheap prices.





I lament the fact that a certain large store (name begins with a W) no longer sells fabric. Any suggestions you might have for finding fabric would be much appreciated. Maybe my research will help you a little bit. This site has served me well. It has great sales, and free shipping is available on orders over $35. Etsy has produced some quality fabric from individual shops. It just takes a little time to find sales. I have even bought fabric on ebay!





I am hoping to find some fabric suppliers in the Amish country when we move a little more close to that area. Lastly, it's a great idea to make friends with your local fabric stores. Fabric does go on sale, and they might be able to help you locate and order specialty items. A local yarn store, actually, carries a line of Kaffe Fassett fabric that I love. I asked if they ever put the fabric on sale, and the owner said she could give me 15% off right there! It never hurts to ask........ Oh, one more place I found cute fabric on sale was IKEA.





Hopefully, this will help someone out there! And hopefully, we'll have a house update soon! And hopefully, all the links in this blog post work! Thanks, Amy, for your help in that area.

I've Been Fleeced!

Yesterday was a highlight of the week, knowledge-wise. I learned so much from a good friend. Barb has taught herself to spin; she knits beautiful sweaters and socks; she quilts amazing quilts; the list goes on and on.

A lovely afternoon was spent with Barb showing me some of her treasures. I saw some of her fleeces, some alpaca fiber, and some mohair. There was even a spinning lesson involved on her beautiful spinning wheel (I think she said it was a Baynes wheel). I was also able to take my fleece and begin to learn what to do with it!

The first thing we did was dump my fleece on her patio and go around the edges to remove the pieces of, well, poop. This is called "skirting" the fleece. We also tried to shake off the small pieces of wool called "seconds" that are a result of the shearer making a second cut to get close to the sheep's skin. The seconds are just too small and prickly to be made into yarn or anything else. Barb's dog, Rowan, thought the fleece smelled so interesting!

The next step was to actually wash the wool. I assumed that using hot water would felt the wool, but that is only part of it. Hot water is the best for cleaning the wool; you just have to be careful to not rub the fibers together much. We did 4 hot water baths of about 25 minutes each. It is not advisable to wash wool in your sink or laundry basin and let the water drain into your plumbing! The lanolin from the wool will just cause buildup. We used plastic dish basins and emptied the water in Barb's flower beds (great fertilizer!). The 2nd and 3rd hot water baths we used a gentle cleaner to help release the lanolin. Let me know if there is any interest in the product.

Next the wool needs to be hung in order to air dry completely. A drying rack or clothesline would be perfect. I washed a lot more wool today, and my parents' clothesline in the basement has been commandeered by wool!

There will still be a lot of "veggie matter" or "vm" in the wool. This would be bits of sticks or straw or hay. These can be removed by hand, as the wool is processed. I will be using some of the wool roving directly in my needle felting projects, and I hope to spin some of it into yarn. There will be further steps of carding and prepping the wool for spinning later on.

New (for us) House Update and Some Other Projects

Well, we have made it to one of the more crucial steps in the home-buying process. Drumroll, please.....the appraisal! We have had one appraisal already last week which came in low. This is not good, BUT there were some errors on that report. I won't bore you with all the details, but one example on the report documents the house as having 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. Believe me, we actually want to find a house with more bedrooms and bathrooms than the apartment we just came from. We are a family of 4, people.

So, we have asked for a re-appraisal hopefully to correct some of those errors. We get that news tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!

One project about which I am so excited is my fleece. Yes, I know a guy who had sheep! He sold me a whole fleece! For $5! He had Cheviot sheep, and the fibers seem to be sturdy and useable for a variety of projects.

I have had the fleece hanging in a bag in my parents' garage for a few weeks. It really needs to be cleaned, and I just happen to know another person who can help me. I'm supposed to take the fleece to her place tomorrow to start the cleaning process. I don't know a thing about this - I know we need some sunshine and soap and scissors. This is going to be fun; come along and learn with me. I already have ideas rattling around for dyeing the wool. I want to try some onion skins for yellow and some beets for purple! Pictures to follow.

Today I'm designing a pattern for a simple belt/scarf. Brookie and Small Fry are down for their naps, so I'll see what I can get cut.

Here is another recipe that was super enjoyable (and used up some more of the apples of which we had aplenty!). Oooohhh, I've always been so amazed with blogs on which people linked to websites by just clicking on the word. I hope this works. Enjoy!