Life Goes On

I haven't blogged since September.  I just want to get that out in the open so that I can't fool myself into thinking it hasn't really been that long.  It's been FOREVER!  I know.  I think about blogging a lot.  But, it just never seems to happen that I just sit down and type out the posts I plan in my head over and over.  So, somehow, half a year later, one day I decide to sit down and actually type.  It took me a while to get here though.  I've been sitting at the computer for over half an hour, just killing time.  Watching a couple of movie trailers, catching up on the latest randomness on Facebook, trying not to think about work.

I'm feeling a little melancholy today.  This is the first time I've been home alone in what feels like forever.  And there's just something about it.  For a while, you love it, and then without you really noticing the loneliness creeps into you.  And it's been oh so long since I've been lonely.  It's really quite hard to deal with when you've forgotten how wonderful it can be.  So, here I am, lonely and melancholy, and the rain is kind of spitting down outside.  But at least it's over 70 degrees here in Florida; I'm pretty sure I'd be in even more of a rut if I was somewhere colder.

The fall is a very busy time for me.  I teach high school, and in addition to that, in the fall, I am the assistant marching band director and color guard coach.  So, between mid-July and the beginning of December, work took up a major amount of time in my life.  And then the holidays, etc.  So, since September I have made (wait for it) TWO scarves.  I know, it's a pity.  I didn't even weave at all during my three week Christmas break.  In my defense, however, we were out of town for more than half of it.  But still.  I miss my loom, and I would really like to start a project any day now. 

But first, I need you to mourn with me.  I found out a few weeks ago that my favorite yarn company is closing their business at the end of this month.  Since I started weaving, my absolute favorite yarns have come from Conjoined Creations.  They make absolutely stunning hand-dyed yarns that are a dream to work with.  Though I understand completely that life takes different turns and things often change, I am very sad that they are closing.  If you are reading this and you do some type of fiber arts craft, I would encourage you to check out the final sales they have going on.  So, since they are closing, I have had to take a deep breath and make the last order I will ever make from them.  Here's what I've got.

 Above is the yarn I got for Christmas (before I heard the devastating news).

 This was my last order from them.  I am grateful that their final sale started before I made my last order because that allowed me to purchase much more than I can usually afford.  Also, thank you to everyone who gave me money for Christmas... this is where a lot of it went.

And so, this is my entire stash of Conjoined Creations.  I had just a few half-skeins left from previous projects.  Thankfully, this stash will last me quite a while, but when I run out, oh sad day, I will probably cry.

Well, though I still need to update you with some pictures of the whole 2 scarves I've made, I'm going to enjoy my loneliness and try not to bake something else in the meantime.  (I've been doing a lot of baking.  And by "a lot" I mean "AAAAA LLLOOOOOOTTTTTTT!"

Happy Saturday!

Yesterday=Swimsuit, Today=Sweater

Well, today is quite different than yesterday.  60 degrees, drizzly, and windy is a stark contrast from yesterday's 90, sunny, and HOT!  But, its alright.  I've gotten some baking done and a little more spinning.  Last night, I just sat in front of the tv and watched "Contact" (Love that movie, btw).  I haven't sat and watched a movie by myself without working in FOREVER, but my wonderful hubby made me!  ;)

So, even though the loom isn't warped, here's a pic of the materials for the next project...  Yummy!

Weekend's almost over. :(  Only 5 more days until the next one.  :)

First Day at the Beach=First Sunburn of the Season

Well, I am having a wonderful weekend so far.  How bout you?  Today is a great day to live in Florida: It's 90 degrees and beautifully sunny with just enough wind to make sitting outside a good time.  So, Thomas and I spent our morning at the beach (we didn't really get in the water because it was freezing), and what would a trip to the beach be without a little sunburn?  Well, for me, it would be a miracle.  So here I am, March 3rd, and I have semi-painful sunburn from an hour and a half at the beach.  Yeah.  But, sunburn and all, it was a wonderful time, and I am so blessed to live in Florida with a husband who will do just about anything to make me happy!  Then, we went to our favorite hot dog stand for lunch.  Yummy!  (Oh yeah, and I forgot to take my camera to the beach, so I have no photos of our first real day at the beach this year... fail.)

AND... tomorrow, we are semi-officially joining the church we've been going to since we moved here, so I get to stand up in front of the whole church to be introduced with a bright red sunburn... awesome.

And... last night, I spent the evening spinning the scrumptious fiber that my hubby got me for Christmas.  So, my spindle went from looking like this...

 To this...

Yes, I realize that it does not look like much difference, but there is surprisingly a lot of yarn on there.  I just wish I could tell how much.  I keep spinning and spinning and spinning and I feel like there's never anymore yarn on the spindle.  However, that is good, because it means that apparently the spindle holds a ton of yarn.  So, there are pros and cons.

Also, I'm hoping to start a new weaving project tonight or tomorrow (for real this time), so hopefully you'll see a pic or two of that in the next five years!  ;)

Happy Cat Saturday!!!

Something Relating to Weaving... FINALLY!

So, this weekend I had my first full weekend off in a long time!  Yay!  So, Friday, after work I ran up to Cocoa and Merritt Island to scope out some yarn stores!  And I did not come home disappointed!  Here are the delights of my day!

 

First, I stopped by Knit and Stitch in Cocoa to check out their selection, and you can tell from their webiste, the tiny little store has yarn EVERYWHERE!  Floor to ceiling, wall to wall.  It was overwhelming considering that I have not even thought about my next project since I can't seem to get anywhere on my current one!  But I got the great yarns above there.  They are 100% sugar cane and unbelievably soft!  I've never worked with sugar cane before, so I'm excited to try it out!  I'm thinking about some type of lace pattern with these...

 Then I went on up to Seaside Stitching in Merritt Island for some Conjoined Creations yarn.  Since I have begun weaving, Conjoined Creations soysilk yarns have, by far, been my favorite to work with.  So, since Seaside Stitching carries it, there was no way I could pass it up!  Turns out, the owner can order pretty much whatever I want from the company, so I'm super excited to work with her once I get some free time!  (Try next summer!)  Anyway, I picked up the yarn above because I just couldn't resist the vibrant colors!  It's a nylon and cotton blend that is incredibly shiny and silky, so I'm excited to try something out with that too!

All in all, it was a wonderful shopping excursion... now if only I had time to weave!  I guess that's a little too much to hope for!  :)

Movie Update:  So, Thomas and I have seen a couple of movies lately, even though the pickings at the theater have been pretty slim...  So, a couple of weeks ago, we saw "Killer Elite", and it was ok.  A little slow moving for a Jason Statham movie; the action parts were good, but they were just few and far between.  Though, Clive Owen with a mustache is certainly a sight to see!  :)  Then, last weekend we saw "Real Steel", and we loved it!  It was funny, entertaining, action-packed, and heart-warming.  We definitely left the theater smiling!  Here are a couple of movies that we're looking forward to (you can check them out, watch trailers, and everything on www.imdb.com):

• The Three Musketeers
• Immortals
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
• Mission Impossible 3: Ghost Protocol

And last of all, I would like to end on a quote that I heard on NCIS yesterday afternoon.  It was said by Tony DiNozzo, and it was probably the best relationship advice you will ever get from his character.  He says it to his girlfriend, Jeanne, when she asks why he's waited so long to take their relationship to the next level (aka: sleeping together), and he tells her its because he's looking for something more in a relationship.  "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got." ~Tony DiNozzo from NCIS

I LOVE holidays!!!

Hello all!!!  It is officially the holiday weekend for me!  Woohoo!  I took off work tomorrow, and I am so ready for a long weekend!  And to start off, I have A LOT to report!  I've been busy in the fiber world the past couple of days, and blogging has taken a back seat.  So now, I need to catch you all up!

#1:  Just listed this awesome new scarf on Etsy!  It's one of my new faves!  Of course, it is using some of my favorite silk yarn in a new colorway...  I have named it Candy Stripe!

Silk Inifnity Scarf - Candy Stripe

#2:  Here is a pic of the Kool-Aid dyed yarn.  I didn't use quite enough Kool-Aid, so it's kind of blotchy.  I guess I need to have another go at it!  But, it was a pretty successful experiment nonetheless.  Can you guess what flavor I used???

Answer:  Watermelon Cherry!  Yum!

And honestly, I've been so busy the past couple of days that I just had to go back and reread my last post to see what I had told you all last time!  Wow.

#3: Also, I wanted to follow up on a post from a while ago.  Remember when I had those major issues with unwinding my first skein?!  Well, this time around, I took a picture of the pretty skein before I started unwinding it!  Here is the photo walk through of unwinding a skein!  This is the yarn used in the Candy Stripe Infinity Scarf.  Aren't the colors beautiful?!

 Ta-Da!!!  So, there is unwinding in a nutshell.  What you can't see though is that picture #2 should be multiplied by like a thousand for how long it takes to unwind all 500 yards in a skein!

#4:  I am going yarn shopping tomorrow!!!  Yay!  And I'm hoping to pick up a stash of roving too.  So hopefully I will have some handspun yarns for sale on Etsy by the end of next week!  Get excited!

Well, that's all folks!  I should be getting to bed.  For the random note of the day... well, I can't think of one.  Hm... this is odd.  Usually I'm full of random thoughts.  Here's a pic of my favorite place in the whole wide world!  Enjoy!

Hodge Podge

Whew!!!  I have been busy for the past two hours!  Thomas left for work at 2:45, and since then I have been working on the blog and my new facebook page.  And it is STRENUOUS!  Trying to figure out all the codes to link stuff and add Etsy to the blog, add Etsy to facebook, add facebook to the blog, add the blog to facebook.  It's really quite ridiculous.  But I've done it, so whatever.  So, if you want, go ahead and like my facebook page.  There is now a box on the right over there, under the Etsy thing where you can like and go diretcly to my facebook page, I think.  If it doesn't work, which it very well may not, I will deal with it another day.

So, I got a sample color card in the mail yesterday.  I need to match colors for a project I'm going to start here soon, so I ordered the card to see which colors will work best with my fabric.  And, as silly as it sounds, this card really made my day!  I mean, just LOOK at the COLORS!  Aren't they so cool, arranged in a rainbow pattern.  I love it!

On another note, here is another sneak peek of what's on my loom right now.  The fabric is weaving up beautifully!  I can't wait to see the finished product.  I've got an interesting idea (I think) for finishing it.

And what's interesting is that this is the first project that I have done that before starting, I sat down and did the calculations to see how much yarn I would need.  I only bought one skein, so I wanted to make sure that I had enough to finish the project.  But the only problem is that it is weaving up so completely differently than I thought it would, so I'm sure my calculations are WAAAAY off.  So this goes to show, don't bother doing the math, it'll just be wrong anyway.  Lol.

Other news:  About a week and a half ago, I ordered more silk yarn to make that coral infinity scarf to sell on Etsy.  Then the store informed me that it was backordered (GREAT!), but it should be in anytime, so I should just wait to hear from them................. a week later, I finally decided to call.  AND, they had absolutely NO IDEA when they would get that yarn in, so they suggested that I change my order.  (Couldn't they have told me that in the first place?!)  Anyway, I already had my eye on a different colorway of yarn in the same brand and price, and thank goodness, they had that color in stock.  So, long story short, unfortunately, the coral infinity scarf won't be available for purchase for a while (which probably makes me more sad than you), BUT I have a new colorway coming in that I think I may almost like just as much!

And as if this post wasn't random enough, I have two random comments to end on:  #1 ~ I got my first heart on Etsy last night!!!  Someone anonymously hearted my ocean blue scarf!  Yay!  I was practically jumping around the room when I saw.  (I'm amused by small things.)  And #2 ~ I just walked out of the study to get my water bottle and found Lo sleeping on the scale on the bathroom floor?????  Um... ok, weird cat.  But, the darn thing moved before I could get a picture of her.  Apparently she doesn't want herself plastered all over the internet doing really weird things.  :)

Happy Saturday!  I'm off to watch chick flicks and weave!  Do something fun today!

Summer Sunset Infinity Scarf

Well... it's been a few days since my last post, and I have been BUSY!  So, my newest creation is an infinity scarf woven from the silk yarn used in my last project.  I'm really excited about this one!  I was a little worried that the fabric was going to be too unstable because it was so light and open, but it turned out great!  Also, I'm trying to get a little more creative with my pictures to spruce them up for etsy.

 

 

 

This is a great length for wearing singled or doubled around the neck.  And the colors are absolutely fabulous!  There will definitely more scarves like this one in the future!

Random Note: I wanted to get married on the beach, but since that wasn't feasible, my wedding was as beach themed as possible.  So, the sea shells are from the decorations at the reception.

Happy Saturday!!!

SUCCESS!!!

Well hello!!!  I have finished unraveling that awful mess that I have mentioned in the past couple of posts!  Woohoo!  Seriously, it took me like a million hours!  And... I was so excited that I didn't even take a picture of the finished unknotted yarn; it just went straight on the loom!  So, here is a sneak peek of my newest project... with the last of my beautiful two skeins from Conjoined Creations.  (But don't worry, this definitely won't be the last time you will see their amazing yarns in my projects because I am in love.)

As you can see from the second photo, it's a really loose weave, so I'm interested in seeing how the fabric turns out.  Also, it's a lot wider than the last couple of scarves I've made (actually, I think it's wider than all of them), but I'm really going for something different here, so we'll see how it turns out!

Random confession: My new addiction is "Army Wives", and I have been watching it non-stop all afternoon/evening while I've been weaving.  I just really like that show!

Well, I'd better go...  Lolo (the cat) is whining at me because it's time to play!

I'm boring...

So...  It is a Friday night!  And since I'm oh so exciting, I'll bet you can never guess what I'm doing!!!

Oh yeah!  I'm sitting on the couch untangling hundreds of yards of lace weight yarn a millimeter at a time!!!  Woohoo!  Ya know, I've got it down quite a bit from the ridiculous blob it was a couple of days ago, but even that small bundle is so incredibly aggravating.  And yes, I know, I should just cut my losses. (My husband is being driven crazy by the fact that I won't just throw the rest away.)  But I just can't.  It's such a pretty yarn, and I think its ridiculous to throw half of a skein away just so I can buy some more.  I mean, I know this stuff isn't that expensive, but still.  So, instead of doing something normal with my time, I'm sitting at home, on a Friday night, unraveling.  I am boring!

On an even more boring note, I haven't started a new project yet because I've been too busy trying to untangle this yarn!  There's a big, fat sarcastic yay!

And as if this post has not been random enough, here is a random note to end on.  Right now, it is 66 degrees in Cocoa Beach... oh how I wish I was there!

Silk!

Well, I have now finished my most recent project!  This new scarf is so soft and beautiful that I just had to wear it today!  As I've mentioned before the extraordinary yarn used to make this scarf is from Conjoined Creations (www.conjoinedcreations.com).  If you are into weaving, knitting, crocheting, or anything that you would need yarn for, check out their website!  Their colors are AMAZING, and you get beautiful, high-quality yarns for great prices!  They also have a list of stores all over the country that carry their yarns listed on the site, so you may have a store near you!  Seriously... check them out.  I'm in love!

Here are some photos of the new scarf!

 

What the photos don't convey is that this scarf is so so so soft and super light and airy.  And it has nothing to do with me, I just wove it up.  The beauty is 100% in the yarn.  I just love it!

Well, that's all I have to report for the day, other than the fact that the Etsy shop is still on the way.  You can be sure that I will post about it whenever I get it running!

Random:  It is a beautiful day where I live today, so I've got all the windows open, and I think it's the perfect day to bake an apple pie.  So, that is what I will be doing next!!!  Yum!

Sneak Peek and Faves

Well, I am about halfway done with my newest project, and here is a sneak peek!

This brand is my new favorite.  It's called "Conjoined Creations" and it is BEAUTIFUL!  I absolutely love it, and I think the fabric is going to turn out wonderfully!

But, that is all I have to update in the weaving world today, so I will end with some random faves of mine.

Fave Color: purple (duh!)
Fave Food: Italian and ice cream
Fave Actor: Gerard Butler
Fave Actress: Emily Blunt (right now)
Fave Season: Summer
Fave Thing to Cook: Sweet Breads
Fave Website: www.imdb.com (The Internet Movie Database)
Fave Animal: Horse
Fave Song: It changes all the time, but right now it is definitely "Starlight" by Muse.
Fave TV Show: Top Gear

Well, there are some random facts about me!  Tomorrow is Friday, it is supposed to be beautiful where I live, so YAY!  Happy early weekend!

Unwinding

Well!  Do I have something to write about today!  So, as promised, I started a new project on Saturday night with a new yarn I had not used before.  It is a beautifully soft, vibrantly colored lace weight silk (and for those of you who don't speak yarn, the lace weight means it is a really think yarn, more like string, I think).  And it comes in these adorable, artsy skeins.  They're all wound and twisted in really cool ways to make them look really pretty. (Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the pretty version.)  But, when you untwirl the contraption, it's just a big circle of yarn.  So, I find the end and start pulling the string out thinking, "how hard can it be?"  Oh how wrong I was!!!  I have spent hours untangling that awful mess, and it's still not done.  I sat at my kitchen table pulling one little tiny string out of endless knots so long that my back and eyes ached from the concentration.  I wanted to make this scarf a little wider for some variety, but eventually I settled for six inches wide because I couldn't handle it anymore.  Besides the fact that my husband and I have been eating on tv trays on the couch for a day and a half because my half warped loom was taking up the entire kitchen table and half the living room.  (FYI: I warp my loom with a warping peg which means that I thread the yarn right onto the loom, and if I want to have a scarf that's eight feet long, I have to put my warping peg eight feet away from the loom.  And it has to stay there until the loom is totally warped.  So that means that this project was taking up 8+ feet in my living room and kitchen for almost two days!!!)  Anyway, here is photo #1.  This is the leftover yarn from the skein I spent hours untangling.  And there's still plenty there waiting to be untangled!!!

So, as soon as I finished warping, I decided that there has GOT to be a better way!  And since I'm using a different color for my weft (the cross-wise weaving), I still had another skein to unwind, and I did not want to repeat that awful process.  So, I began scouring the internet for a neat way to unwind skeins.  And of course, oh so helpfully, I found a skein unwinder machine thing that I can purchase for... wait for it... $215!!!  Um, YEAH RIGHT!  So, I got a good look at the contraption and started wandering around my apartment for a way I could home-make a system like that.  I also found another website that explained how to prep a skein to be unwound.  So, I put this new knowledge to use, tried to think like my dad, and I MADE MY OWN!!!  Yeah, it is VERY simple and archaic, but it worked like a charm!

I used two of my kitchen chairs, my warping peg and clamp, a work clamp my husband happened to have lying around, and a wooden kitchen spoon.  My dad would be so proud!  ;)  And, in less than 45 minutes, I had unwound the entire 480 yards of yarn from the skein to my own cone!  I knew I had kept a couple of empty cones for a reason!

And hey, it's not pretty, but it is completely functional!  And it is a million times better than untangling that awful, terrible mess that I made of the other skein.  I was THRILLED!

So, this evening I began weaving the project, and I think I'm gonna like it.  It will be hard not to like with this amazing new yarn!  I have only worked with acrylic, cotton, wool, and the bamboo blend yarn so far, so 100% silk is a big step up (in both quality and price.  Yikes!)  So, I'm excited.

Well, that's all I have to report on right now!  I will definitely post a sneak peek photo of the new scarf when I get a little farther along!  Here's to a new week coming up and here's hoping for some GREAT weather this week!

Random: I'm pretty sure that no one will get this but my husband, but since he's the only one who really reads this thing it won't matter.  I threw in that "Top Gear" reference just for you honey!