My Bossie...

I'm a little rushed today...errands to run.... On with the saga of my hand spinning adventures...



This is my first smaller sized yarn. I am working toward the size that when plied will be sock yarn, then I want to do sweater yarn. Well, what a trial and error...grin After this was finished using the homemade spindle, I thought perhaps I could (maybe) do better with a professionally made spindle. Sooo.....

This is my Jonathan Bosworth Bird's Eye Maple spindle. This is what the lace weight yarn was spun on. Ask me if I love it...!!! In the background of the picture is a wrist distaff I made by braiding the first hand spun yarn (Hobby Lobby stuff...ughhh). I had wondered about them and thought..."How could that help?"... Well, it's wonderful. I have to make a real one now with some weights on the ends because I have to stop and unwind the roving, but still... it keeps the roving from swaying in the air conditioning and getting caught in the spinning. It also keeps plenty on hand...

Gotta run...

Finished Lace Weight Yarn...

I finished spinning the small sample of roving that came with the BFL roving that I ordered from funky carolina... Carrie always adds a bit of another kind of roving or something in another color. I'm not familiar enough to know what this roving was, but it is so soft and blissful that I will have to find out! This yarn is triple plied (Andean) and measures at 1mm in size. I have no idea what I will do with it...

We have rain in the forecast for today, but then we did yesterday too but the clouds divided and went around us. The minimal cloud cover didn't do much for the humid high 90's we had, but have to admit it was better than the low 100's we've had.

Edited: .. This is not Andean plied.... It is Navajo plied!

I'm Finally Back...

Hello again after the longest blogging pause I've had yet. There is much that has been going on, but will take a while to get it all up here.

These are the lovely fabric postcards received from the Art We Mail group of very talented ladies. These are from different points around the country and a couple from New Zealand. Mine have been sent and alas, I did not think to get a picture of them before they were mailed.

This is my dowel rod and wooden toy car wheel spindle. With a little help from my wonderful DH (drill press for starter hole in the cuphook end), it was done in about 15 minutes or so. A little sanding along the sides and voila! we're off! Well, the first roving (needle felting roving from Hobby Lobby) was pretty bad, but it was good enough for me practice the basics. Took a little while to figure it out, but is much easier than I thought it would be. This is the 3rd usable yarn that I have spun, the other two being a bulkier yarn that is being knit into scarves. The current roving I am spinning and the previous roving (now being knit into scarves..grin) are Blue Faced Leicester wool that I ordered from Funky Carolina Etsy shop. (What great service and wonderful roving!)

More tomorrow....

The Sun Is Out!

The sun is actually shining for the first time in a week. The unending gray days seem to have had an effect on everyone's mood... mine included. It has been several days since I have blogged. I guess it was just brain blahs... I have not worked on any crafting, sewing (or much of anything), but this sunshine seems to have lifted our spirits. And all the rain forecasts for next week have been totally changed to sunshine...wowww!

Our plans have changed and it looks like we will not be going to the LRRP/Ranger Reunion this year. It seems the older we get the more little health issues come up and "the best plans of mice and men are often set awry." We will miss seeing everyone this year... the laughing, the camaraderie.. but there will be next year in San Francisco.

Yes I Can Multi-Task

North American Letterboxing

I've always loved a good treasure hunt. I made a treasure map for the grandsons last year to find their Christmas presents... too much fun. I've often wondered what happened to the treasure hunts and scavenger hunts we had when we were in school...

I've heard the term Letterboxing, but I never knew what it was... Well... I love the concept...found here and here. Hide a weatherproof container containing a log book, stamp, ink pad and write up clues to how to find it.. Other Letterboxers will have their own personal stamp that will be used to stamp the log book in the Letterbox.. the stamp in Letterbox is used to stamp your personal logbook. The point is to see how many different Letterboxes you can find..

In England, where this originated, it is a very secret process. No one tells what their personal stamp is and no one knows who the other Letterboxers are... In America it is a much more open society.

There are Letterboxes in Gainesville at the park.. one in Ardmore.. some in Sherman and Denison... The clues are found here. Who knew?

Fabric Post Cards

I have joined a fabric postcard group and enrolled in 2 swaps. This comes to 10 fpc's that need to be mailed by the 15th of July. So, today is the day.

This is the first postcard I ever made. I really wanted to use the flowers on it, so it would have had to be mailed in an envelope since the cards cannot be over 1/4" in depth. But I still have it and will not be mailing it anyway...grin

Changing Times..

Every now and then I come across something on the net that reminds me "how it was"... These pics are a couple of those things.

I seldom remember that I was one of the first women in Oklahoma to be able to have my own credit card in my own name without my husband's consent. And that when we divorced my car insurance was cancelled because "women are considered unstable for 2 years after a divorce". But not men. Hopefully things will continue to change...

Pincushions

I bought 4 or 5 little American Girls Short Stories books in an antique shop a couple of years ago and several were given to a granddaughter for Christmas that year. But a couple of them had been in a moist environment and had some mold on a few of the pages. These I kept and when Chuck was home I set about reading them to Allie. I had no idea they were such a gold mine of information!

In the 1700's pincushions were given as gifts. Is this one not lovely...and such lovely needlework... but... it's not needlework. I was shocked! The design is put on the pincushion using pins! Here's a little more information toward the bottom of the page. And here's another historical page saying that the pins were used for diapering the baby and as a result very few of these can be found today.

Quite the Storm...

This is an Associated Press aerial photo of Gainesville, TX taken on the morning of June 18, 2007. Our son lives here, but thankfully only had to miss a day of work...he lives in a different area of town. Sherman looked the same from the aerial photos. Thank goodness for retirement!