It's coming together!

I've been working hard Next Door. That's what I've decided to call it, Next Door. I was using The Studio but it just didn't roll off of my tongue and felt pretentious. The dining room is furnished with an antique drop leaf table and (so far) 4 antique chairs. Mark and I had a great day shopping for these and will have to do another one to get a few more chairs. Linda is making the curtains. A nice buttery yellow stripe. These match the kitchen colors and pulls it all together. If the color is right I have a stained glass hanging lamp that my dad made in the '70's that will hang above the table. The living is decked out with new leather couch and love seat in a warm and inviting brown. A great little slipper chair in a nice stripe sits to the side. I also got a new coffee table. It's the type that the top lifts up and out so it can be used like a table. So cool! The bookshelves from the basement are cleaned up and sitting in the corner. One houses the knitting library and yarns that are not assigned to any special pattern. Yet. The other one is for spinning and, as Shelley put it, locker baskets. It's coming along. I hope to be doing knit nights and classes by May.

Resurrected

Stay tuned to this spot. I'm resurrecting the blog and also using it for class information. I'll be teaching knitting and maybe a little quilting in the near future.

They are giving away GOATS!

Do you know about this? http://www.fiberfarm.com/2009/09/a-mighty-big-giveaway

If I had a few more acres I think I would be very interested in it. I've alerted my sister. She has a goat ranch ... Boer goats, tho, not for spinning. I've been telling her to get some Angora's and keep them for me. (fingers crossed behind my back)

Quite a few years back my friend and I went to New Buffalo, MI and visited a fiber farm. She had about 100 head of angora goats and several llamas. It was an amazing afternoon. We tramped through the fields with all these little cuties following us around. My neck was even snuffled by a llama who seemed to love my perfume. I came home with bags and bags of yummy fiber to spin and a new appreciation for the fiber on the hoof.

Mohair, in my opinion is the most wonderful to dye. It loves dye. It's vibrant, bright and shiny. I have a couple of pounds of it being processed by Wooly Knob at the moment and can't wait to see what the super soft roving will turn into.

The old and the new

Let's talk about washing machines for a minute.

My last (and first) washer was a Maytag from 1981. I know this because it was a wedding gift from my grandparents. Never had a service call. Never gave me problems.

My latest washer is 1/2 of a Whirlpool Duet team. It's pretty. It's large. It's 2 1/2 years old. It's broken. When I called the repair guy he called it and "older model". I almost had a comeapart. Good Golly! Old?? Seriously?? It was almost $1000 for crying out loud. It should outlive ME! So, after waiting a week for the part (a computer part, of course) it's getting fixed today to the tune of almost $350. We will fix it once. After that my husband vows that Whirlpool might get it back. He mumbled something about through their front window or something. (Don't call me if something happens at whirlpool. It's the joke of a frustrated person. It will never actually happen)

I will share with you some enlightening things that Byron, my repair guy told me. If your bottle of HE soap says that you will get X number of washes from that bottle, you should actually get X times 5. Yes. 5. He said that in the new, efficient front loaders (I'm sure the same is true for others as well) for a large load all you need is 1/2 Tablespoon of soap. Craziness. He said that he practices what he preaches and that his dirty clothes become clean. But, the bottle says X! I cry. He says, They are selling soap. Ahhhh. Still craziness, but I'm doing it.

He also said that while the instruction manual will tell you to clean your washer with bleach, you should really use white vinegar. I can do that.

Shout out to Bob's Repair in South Bend, IN. They are awesome. They really take the time to explain every little thing.

I'm going to do as many loads of laundry as I can in the next 30 - 90 days. After that the warranty is up on the repairs and I want to make sure that it is going to stay fixed!

If you want me, I'll be in the basement.

Still Waiting for Summer!

Well, the weather today is pure crap. Tomorrow doesn't look much better. We're used to, here in the mid-west, a nice Spring that usually a little prematurely turns into a great summer. I'll bet I can't count on one hand the number of really nice days we've had. And it's the middle of June for crying out loud.

I love warm. I love to be warm. Right now I'm cold. I'm getting cranky.

My father n law sent me this lovely picture. It's his blooming cactus. Apparently it's bloomed twice this year already. I had one for awhile but they don't last long in Indiana (he's in Florida) We would set the alarm to get up in the middle of the night to watch it open. The bloom would be dead by noon the following morning so you had to see it while you could.

Knit wise I seem to have startitis. I started Pioneer from www.knitty.com 's Spring edition. We're doing a Knit A Long (KAL) for this project with the LYS (local yarn shop). I like it so far but I'm not really seeing where it's going. It's worked top down in one piece.

That's all for now ... I'm going to go sit on the porch and wait for warm.

Been awhile ...

Well, it's been awhile. Nothing much to talk about really, but I need to make this more of a habit.

The grandbaby is getting closer. The daughter is looking adorable in all of her pregnantness. We've had one shower with another one on Saturday. Baby things have changed quite a bit in 26 years! And, my lord, the rules. Makes you wonder how you ever made it into the world all those years ago without them. Craziness.

Knitting wise, I'm trying to tie up loose ends so I can start some new things. I want to knit baby things but we don't know what it is so that will wait. I'm making a couple of summer sweaters and teaching a couple of classes.

I need to get on that spinning wheel and dwindle down some of my fiber so I can buy some more at the Allegan, MI fiber festival in August. I did just score some incredible Alpaca from a local farm (ranch?) It's the softest thing I've felt. I'm not sure if I want to try to process it myself or send it off to be made into roving. I'm thinking roving.

Well, more later. Right now I need to get some work done.

Knit On.

So we were watching the news last night and Mark kept yelling at the TV. I think we'll have to have a news timeout until this whole ship hostage thing is worked out. He was really on edge!

Knit wise, I'm kind of stalled out. I have my frankenknits to finish but I'm not feeling any love for them. It's an 80s mohair sweater that I've frogged and made into a purse and zipper pouch. I love to make the purses and totes but I'm really much more of a Coach girl. I'm at the ribbing on my Tang sweater. It's going to be great. Love the red. Just needs sleeves and it will be done in time to put it away and wait for fall. Sigh.

Easter is this weekend. Mom & Dad usually have dinner at their house but this year they are in Alabama with friends for Spring Break. Lacie has stepped up and is having it at her house because she "has more toys". Can't argue with that. Who doesn't enjoy a good cow race or game of pool? We'll have the usual. Ham, Polish sausage, yams, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, jello stuff, chocolate trifle and a lamb cake. I can feel the food comma already.

Tomorrow is a day in Chicago. We're going to PFChangs for lunch and then to the Oriental Theater to see Rent. A good time will be had by all I'm sure.

Until later, carry on.