Today in My Life... 02-20-2024

 Today is Tuesday, Februrary 20, 2024

I got up this morning:  later than usual.  I spiked a fever last night, not a high one, but didn't feel quite spunky enough to attend the Women's Circle meeting today.  I have 2 teeth that need the fillings redone so I'm thinking that is what is causing the fever. 

I am hearing:  Talley as she puts the dishes up from the dishwasher.  Jerry now has a personal aide who comes twice a week to help him with his daily living.  She is a wonderful young lady..upbeat and jolly most of the time.  Helping with whatever needs are found that day.  We are very thankful to have her help.

I am thinking:  about the fact that I have promised to help Dr. Rivera learn to paint.  Wow.. I haven't painted in so long I'm sure I remember how!  lol 

I am wearing:  a blue...almost worn completely out....housedress.  I tell myself every week that "next payday" I'm going to buy some clothes.  I haven't bought many things to wear in the last 7 years...it's about time.  Everything I own is almost worn out..lol

As I look out the window:  the sun is shining beautifully.  What a day for the middle of February.  It's supposed to be in the near 70°s today.  My bushes think it's time to bloom out and I'm afraid I will lose all the little berries from my Japonica. 
 

The current book is:  The King of the West  by Pedro Urvi.  It's a young adult book in the fantasy genre.  It's definitely not in the As the Bell Tolls class, but it's good enough for an easy read to fall asleep at night.  :)  This is the 7th in a long series by this author.  I guess I'll read it until I get tired of it.  :)  

Creatively:  I've been a busy girl.  Finally.  Picked up my knitting again.  Have knitted soooo many scarves, wrist cuffs that I think I may turn into one.  Got started naalbinding and then couldn't put that down.  Then decided to make a plaque hanger to hang my coat by the door.  Then my friend wanted one so made her one too.. lol  But all make me happy.. so I don't mind the busyness.  

Plans for the day:  None...  Still feel a little punk so am not going to plan a lot for today.  Probably knit some..may do some hand sewing.  But definitely nothing that requires a lot of moving around.  Maybe tomorrow will be better. 

As I wandered through Facebook today I came across this quote from J.R.R. Tolkein.  I've heard parts of it before but never realized he is the one who wrote it!  I love it. 

“All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

(The Lord of Rings)

Perhaps I will be back faster than this time. I hope so. Be kind today and enjoy all those close around you... and even some not so close. Have a wonderful day!

Today In My Life.. 02/28/2013

Today is:  February 28, 2013

I got up this morning:  around 6 or so to take the dogs outside.  What a joy they are!  I don't think I have mentioned Sam and Katie.  They love to get us up in the morning.  ;)

This is Katie.. She weighs 4 pounds and is all lady.  This is Sam.  He weighs 10 pounds of all boy!

I am hearing:  a small cacophony of sounds as Sam barks at someone walking by,  the heater is softly blowing warm air, the tinkle of glass as my sweet DH is getting his cup of coffee.....

I am thinking:  or not..lol  This is one of those mornings where my brain goes ADHD...lol  but I must get another cup of coffee.. brb...

As I look out the window:  the sun is shining at last.  The forsythia down the street is in full bloom and is absolutely lovely.  Forsythia has a wonderful meaning for me.  When I was 18 and living in Okmulgee, OK  my kitchen sink had a window over it.  Each morning doing the breakfast dishes I would look out that window.  We had a 13 month old son and a brand new baby in December.  It seemed that winter would never end and one morning in February  I looked out that window and there it was... a huge, huge spray of the most brilliant yellow blossoms looking back at me through that window.  I remember I could hear Jim playing in the living room and Phil cooing in his bed... I hear those wonderful sounds and see that window every time I see a forsythia.. 

I am thankful for:  my sweet DH who tolerates all of my hobbies... Today the dining room table is quite covered with watercolor stuff... and stuff... I think he wouldn't say a word until he found himself walking thru nothing but a tiny walkway in the house..lol  I must say that I appreciate him more and more.  I love him very much.

The current book is:  one that I got for my Kindle.  It's a freebie from Amazon and I'm finding it quite good..    Sacred Treason by James Forrester.  This is the first book of a trilogy, and I'm reasonably sure the other 2 won't be free..lol 

The family:  is growing..

And may I introduce (drum roll please!)  my first great granddaughter Elaina.... She is such a little beauty.  I only wish that we lived closer so we could cuddle her more often.. ;)

We are looking forward to welcoming another great grandchild  in May.  This one will be a grandson and I cannot wait.. :)  I had best get started on his christening gift.. ;)

Creatively:  there hasn't been much happening this week.  I have started  naalbinding  a simple scarf using the Oslo stitch.

I wanted a soft flowing scarf this time so I used a wool/silk yarn that I bought from a friend of mine.  It is hand spun and I love it.  Using the small needle instead of my naalbinding needle seems to let me hold my stitches smaller.. I don't know why that is since my thumb doesn't change sized regardless the size of the needle...lol 

Plans for the rest of the week:  had best hurry since this is Thursday..lol  I will continue naalbinding on the scarf in the evenings and I will try to get the other view of the old rusted delivery truck done.  Every time I decide I will paint something always comes up.. what's up with that? 

Free pattern for the week:  Over at Fabric Follies Two there is the cutest baby hat pattern.  Very easy and warm for the little one.  I'm sure I will be making several of these.. ;)

Hopefully the weather here in North Texas will warm up a bit during the day.  The nights for the next few days will be very cold, but eventually Spring will be here.. ;) 

Have a wonderful day.. :) 

Card Weaving Loom and Naalbinding

I find that when I am in an emotional upheaval I want to eat. This is not good when you are trying to lose weight... hmmm

I have been fairly busy even though I have spent an inordinate amount of time on Facebook lately. I am currently working on the first cardweaving loom I made. I have taken it apart and drawn on some relatively easy patterns, a few instructions on it's use, woodburned all of that and then painted it. I am using a rub on polyurethane finish for it and an hoping that will be enough protection for the paint. It should be finished in a day or so...depending on drying time for the finish.






Naalbinding has not been neglected... ;o) This bag was done using the Oslo stitch and some hand spun. I love the softness of this bag. The scarf is done using several small end pieces of handspun that I wanted to use up. It was done with all the stitches facing one way...each row ended and the next row began at the top each time. I was amazed at the how the underside looks EXACTLY like knitting when done that way.

Teapots and Treasures

I like tea. And this tea is some wonderful stuff. This tea, called White Pearl of Fujian, has been in my cupboard for a while. It was a gift that our sons brought back from Canada for me. I think I was a little set back when I read on the ingredient label that it has gunpowder in it.... lol (If anyone knows why gunpowder would need to be in tea, would you let me know?... ;o)














The other day we were in Tuesday Morning shopping for something or another and came across a Zarafina Tea Maker... It has settings for whatever kind of tea you are making and will brew the correct time for each kind. I love it. This tea was not the first steeped in this maker, but it has been regularly made ever since the first time. I have never tasted a tea as good as this one... just makes me wish I had brewed it when it was first brought home..lol The only problem is that when it is gone, I'm not sure I will be able to replace it....







Talk about a great week... Uncle Bobby and Aunt Edna came this week and we all had lunch at Cracker Barrel. The best part was the laughing and having fun visiting. The rain had stopped and it was a nice sunshiny day...


Uncle Bobby has already whittled me a deer antler and a cedar naalbinding needle. (Click to see them) This time he brought me this bevy of beauties...

The tin is a Glenfiddich Scotch Whiskey tin that was in my grandmother's things ... I have to laugh... She would never allow a drop of alcohol of any kind in her house. This had to have come from one of her sons returning from the Army...lol She was like me..could never resist something she thought was pretty, so I can see her ignoring the Glenfiddich part and keeping it because of the lovely graphics. A treasure in itself..


The pen and pencil set he made from corn cobs that came from their garden. Both write perfectly and fit easily in my hand. I had never seen any like them before...


The heart necklace is whittled and has a gemstone inserted. It turns out that it isn't my birthstone as was planned, but it is lovely anyway... and I told them it was okay because I have at least one child with that birthstone... :o)


The clay colored token that is beside the necklace is a ration token. There were several kinds and each one was a different color. They are called points and were used during WWII to make change for ration stamps. This clay colored one was used to buy meat. Amazing... another of those things I had not heard of and had never seen before. A note here.... the rationing stamps and points were not used as money... you still had to pay for whatever you bought. But if you ran out of stamps or points, you could not buy any more until the next month or whenever the next ration stamps were given out.


And the horn... well, that is a needlecase... handmade. And I love it. My naalbinding needles won't fit in it, but my other needles will.


Definite treasures all.....

They're Here.. Cedar and Deer Antler Nalbinding Needles

They came in the mail a couple of days ago. I started this bag using them both..lol One is cedar and the other is deer antler and they both are comfortable and easy to use. Aunt Edna said Uncle Bobby had made about 9 of them so now she and the ladies at church want to learn to use them..grin And this is how the works of yesteryear are preserved...lol

I started the bag using the chocolate merino and the tan merino/romney x. This is my first 2 color work and the only problem I had was the beginning.. There is a little nipple of work at the beginning of the tan and at some point I will learn how to do it without that....

We got up early this morning and went to have all the pre-admission and lab work , etc..., done for the cardiac cath. I'm glad all that is done. Now all there is to do is wait for the call on Monday to tell us what time to be there on Tuesday. But they said to be prepared for it to be around 7am since I will be second in line. Yayyy...get it over and out of there...lol
I asked if there wasn't something I could do to keep from having this done every year... he said no... that some people just produce more scar tissue than others due to the stent being a foreign body ... That made me feel better. At least I know it's not something I'm doing that is causing all this...

Deer Antler Nalbinding Needles

Here we are on Friday... can't believe it's been a week.

Have I told you about my uncle who can whittle anything... and I mean anything... from wood just using his pocketknife. Well... he whittled a bas relief sculpture of his granddaughter from a piece of wood at least 8x10 and I think more like 11x14... Talk about being wowed.. I was! Anyway, I digress.

I sent an email to my Aunt Edna to see if Uncle Bobby might whittle me a nalbinding needle. She emailed back and said yes, he would and he was out looking for a piece of cedar. I spend the next couple of days thinking about how pretty the red color of the cedar would look in a needle... with the added plus of cedar needle stuck in wool... hmm.. no moths.. You can't imagine my surprise when I received this photo in my inbox of two deer antler needles... and asking me which one I would like to have!

I recall once upon a time in a land far away trying to whittle a bone... it was a stew bone and I wanted to try scrimshaw. I could not do it. Couldn't even make a scratch. And here he is ... made two needles in no time from deer antlers... I need lessons in whittling..obviously.

What a treasure this will be. I can hardly wait to hold it in my hand.

Sniffles and Broomstick Lace

If you've been following my other blog, you'll already know that I have been preparing to go to Drumright (the town where 3 of my children were born) to the Oil Patch Jamboree. DD has a booth and we were going to set up and "sell our wares"... ;o) And then the sneezing, sniffling, runny nose, watery eyes, I can't sleep 'cause I can't breathe hit... early cold or sinus infection.. don't know which. Down for the count all day yesterday. Slept so much poor DH had no one to talk to most of the day. Anyway... now I have a bag full of beginner's spinning kits, hand spun yarns, hand spun and hand knit scarves, nalbinding things, and broomstick lace "Broomstiks"... and speaking of...

This is what I have been working on in the evenings. It is the most amazing stuff I have done in a long time. There is so much elasticity in it that I just love it. Whatever this thing is that I am working on is growing longer.. so looks like it will turn into a lacy scarf... I tried this with larger yarn and a larger Broomstik and it would make a really good afghan...

Video tutorial by Jennifer Hansen of Stitch Diva Studios showing how to do this is found here.

It's Too Hot to Work!

Summer is finally here and has made it into my work room. The garage, hall and my room run around 92 degrees these days... so to keep the costs of the air conditioner down, I have been gathering stuff up and trashing the kitchen and living room...sigh

At some point in the near future I will turn on the air conditioner out there, but haven't had the nerve to spend that money... saving for gasoline! Can you believe the cost of that stuff?! I agree with Newt Gingrich... the govt. should dump half of our reserve on the market and flood it...causing speculators to think twice about betting against America...

Anyway...won't go there..lol It's too hot to get all worked up... lol

I've not figured out what my next project will be. I've been trying to learn the nalbinding knit/tarim stitch and seem to be finally "getting" it.. I finished the homespun green wool tarim/knit stitch bag that was practicing on... still need to use the lucet and make the cord to use for closure. This work done by Alix at Alix's Nalbinding Page is what I am shooting for... Isn't that amazing work!

My small weaving loom that my wonderful DH made for me has been seeing some action. Using wool yarns that were spun a while back, I put together these two small pieces. They will be made into small bags. I find that I love, love,love the purple that I thought I would have to re-dye.

And one more thing... Hi, Patty. We're doing good. Missing the son that is moving to Phoenix because of a job change. Things will definitely be a little different around here. Not much news... The only doctor's visits these days are for the infinite number of check ups and returns that they all seem to be able to come up with...lol Hugs to Pat and puppies..grin

W I F #5 & Lucet

It's been a fairly good week...weigh in today...188..ta da...

We spent a little time out in the shop yesterday. These are nalbinding blanks, fingerweaving rods, Lucet and spindle parts. The all need to be completed, but I couldn't wait to see if I could work the Lucet. I only had inch and a half wide piece of oak, so I drew out what I thought would work and DH cut it out for me.

I used the Dremel to sand it down, but let me tell ya... a person needs a little time and practice using the Dremel...lol My poor little lucet has some real ocean waves... But it worked really well. I had to spend some time getting used to the small working area between the forks...about 3/4 inch... but when I did get it figured out it whizzed right along just like a grown up... Today I will finish sanding with some sandpaper. I think I will figure out some way to paint a tiny floral on the hand piece and then finish with something that will show the grain of the wood. May have to ask DSIL and find out what will work. I am trying to stay with whatever would be available around 800 AD... may not make it tho... sure like to use acrylic paints...hmmm

Lots of Socks, Tarim Stitch & Lucet

Ask me if I'm tickled that my Larry Schmitt's Lots of Socks book arrived?... It has instructions for 10 different nalbinding stitches and patterns for about 5 different nalbound socks. It also says that while naalbinding is a correct usage and spelling for this craft, an effort has been made to standardize the name using nalbinding with the pronounciation as nall-bin-ding using a short i .

It was surprising to learn that most nalbound socks in the early centuries and even up until the mid 19th century were made with a mixture of wool and goat hair.. the goat hair was added to help wick the moisture away from the feet.. with the side of the sock facing the foot brushed to smooth the goat hairs and bring them to the top. It seems that some very early Scandinavians were surprised to find that when they took their shoes off the skotalinger, or toe cap (nalbound shoe liner with a toe cap), was frozen to the bottom of the shoe. The toe cap was worn over the socks as an extra insulation for the toes and bottom of the feet.

Over the last day or so I have been trying some of the stitches and find that all but one are not that difficult to do. The last stitch, Omani, is complicated enough that I will have to study it in the full light of day with no tv...lol The Tarim Stitch looks just like the knit stitch. The better thing about this stitch is that it doesn't roll in from the sides like regular knit stockinette stitch.. and is much more durable. I really like this stitch and am in the process of trying to figure out if I have enough yarn yet to make something really big out of it. Or it may be that all the kids and grandkids will get another neck scarf for Christmas....lol (I offered to make Son #2 a pair of socks out of my hand spun pink/rose merino yarn...can you believe he politely refused!)...lol

I finished a nalbound bag the other... handspun orange Corriedale. I need to put cordage through the top so decided that I wanted to try a Lucet instead of the usual twisted cord. Here is my "Lucet". A wooden one will be quite easy to make, but I wanted to see if I could do it (duh...easy peasy) and also to see if I would like the square cord that it makes. It's great. I just drew off my approximation of a lucet onto heavy cardboard and used a combination of knife and scissors to cut it out...covered all areas that the thread would come in contact with, pushed a hole in the center and voila'. It goes very quickly and you can use everything from embroidery thread to big yarn. The only thing is that the finished cord must be of a size to fit through the hole in the center. Therefore...aha...perhaps it would be good to have more than one size...hmmm

Naalbinding Primer and Patterns

Wow! It's finally happened..grin

Alix's Nalebinding Page

has brought together an easy primer on 3 naalbinding stitches with free online patterns for hats, gloves, flowers and the amazing Coptic Sock.

Alix announced her new web page on the Yahoo Nalebinding Group and of course all of us had to rush right over and see it..grin Thanks Alix!

Take a look... you'll be glad you did!

Naalbinding a Red Cap

This is another of those pieces that I have been working on over the last few weeks. It seems to have gotten set aside while I worked on trying to learn to knit socks...sigh I will finish it..lol

This one is made with the handspun Corriedale from the second dye batch and also uses the first needle I made..the oak one. This needle continues to be my favorite even though I have made several other ones. The stitch used in this one is the Korgen stitch (classified as UOO/UUOO) This is a very easy stitch to do and makes the cap quite warm.

It has been lovely for last couple of days. Actually got into the hot tub yesterday afternoon and it looks like we will be able to again this afternoon. The sun is shining brightly today and as far as I'm concerned we can't have enough of days like this ...

Have a wonderful day...

Seasons

The cooler temps and sunshiny days have made the days wonderful for the last week or so. This evening is Halloween...tomorrow is November. Didn't this year just start a week ago?

We seldom have any Trick or Treats show up at our door. The highway is much too busy even at night for children to be walking up and down the road. So we miss much of the fun of the holiday. But plans are underway for Thanksgiving and Christmas...

With both of us recuperating, there has not been massive amounts of "hobbying" being done. But the evenings do require something in the hands..grin So the coffee 2-ply is slowly becoming a naalbound scarf. It's done in a tube which will be warmer and will have fringe closing the ends. The coffee color does not show up well in the photo due to the warm tones...(will have to change that setting on my camera!) I tried it on my neck and found it a little scratchy... will have to get to my Yahoo spinners group and see if all Corriedale is that way or if it is something I am doing with the dyeing process...

From Roving to Pouch...

Well, here is the first thing I have completed using my hand spun since I had the spinning lesson. I can't begin to describe how much softer and how much easier this yarn is to work with than the first yarns that I was spinning. Wonderful. Hand dyed yellow yarn.

It is naalbound using my oak needle that I made from a scrap of oak in the shop... The pouch is made using the Oslo stitch with an edging at the top using the blanket stitch. The drawstrings are twisted cording from the same yarn.

I have about 800 yards of handspun and am working toward having enough for an afghan. But.. couldn't resist making something small because the yarn felt so yummy..grin And I wanted to see how it would work up in naalbinding. Love it....

New Naalbinding Needle

I didn't say much about Chuck in yesterday's post because if I had it would have been a terribly long post! A couple of weeks ago I cut a piece of excess maple picture frame molding that we had on hand for picture frames into some different sized blanks for new naalbinding needles. While he was here we went to the shop and he helped me make a new needle. This one is not as long as the oak needle that I made and it is thinner across the eye end. Chuck spent some time with the sandpaper smoothing it and taking a bit of a hump out of the center that I had left in when shaping it. The blue is acrylic yarn that works well for trying out the needle.



He showed me a picture (still in his camera) of a quilt he made for Allison. It is so adorable. He took the Disney and Pooh character fabric pillow panels and used them as blocks, put strips between them, quilted it and used contrasting binding. So cute.. and she loves it.



When he was home last time, we talked about the knitting boards found here.. He said he bought this one. As you begin your knitting on this board, he said the instructions are to lay a long piece of heavier yarn across it to pull the first 2 or three rows through and keep the loops on the board. He said that doesn't work really well and suggests using a tiny dowel rod that you can attach yarn to each end and in the middle to keep the tension even as you pull. He also said I really need to get me one of these...grin

After 18 years in the Marines, he is finally at the stage where he has bought his home in Yuma, AZ and will be instructing until he retires. Ask me if I'm proud of him....

Monitors, Dopplers and Yarn

First, we went to the doctor yesterday. DH went into the exam room with me and the discussion and exam ensued. I feel like for the first time since the stent placement in October he is taking it seriously. Today will be a trip to Denison for the 24 hour heart monitor...again. Then another trip next Wednesday for another doppler of the carotids. In the meantime, I guess the trip to Stonewall is off until after next Wednesday. Bah...

On to other things... Since I took up naalbinding, I have wanted to have some homespun to work with. Naalbinding needs just a bit of felting to close the stitches. Now you know why I took up spinning...grin

Just before we left to go the Steve's graduation, I took the blue spun yarn off the holder and tied it, soaked in warm water and hung it over the bathtub spout and left it to hang dry until we returned. When we got home I rolled it into a small ball and found that the places where it was spun very tightly did not hang loose... now that tight twist continues to want to twist back on itself. I wonder if I there is any way to save this yarn, as it did not work well when I tried it to see what it would do.....