Finally!!! My Own Spinning Wheel

I was fortunate enough to be the first person to contact the seller of this Lendrum spinning wheel. Six other people wanted the wheel and one even tried to offer $100 over the asking price to get it. The seller and I had made a deal which she honored.

I am so excited and could hardly contain myself. I hardly slept last night in anticipation feeling very much like a young child on the morning of Christmas.
Briley (Brian) and I got together today. He lives in the area where I had to pick up my wheel. (See below what Brian arrived with!!!) Brian and I have been blogging friends for quite some time and have gotten together several times for a craft "show and tell". I didn't take pics of his crafts today as he will be blogging about it all soon. Trust me, his work is truly inspiring.
I met up with the seller in a mall parking lot as we both had to travel some distance. Above, Brian is helping set up the wheel for me.


I'm just as happy as can be with my new wheel. Brian and I spread out a blanket under a shaded tree (with beautiful flowers), sat on the ground and with the wheel slightly below us off the curb, Brian proceeded to give me lessons in plying, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't take pics of Brian doing the plying. Trust me, it was a lot of fun.
We also had lunch and went to a bead shop. Lucky us!
Brian gave me the following:
4 oz. of multicolor merino, 1 oz dyed brown colonial, 1.5 oz of natural brown blend, 1 oz. of blue bamboo, 2 oz. of cotton, 1 oz. black alpaca
So sweet and thoughtful of Brian to do this.
I'm on vacation this week so there will be plenty of time to test drive my wheel. My caller ID will be used to the fullest and I will take calls from my kids but not from anyone local. No, I don't want to go shopping, no I don't want to go to the museum, no, I don't want to go to lunch nor dinner....I just want to spin.
Now, if you'll excuse me, this gal wants to go spin!!
Happy Knitting & Spinning!
Joansie

Grandkids and Knitting

Just a quick update on grandkids and knitting!


This is Jakob, now age 18 months. Hasn't he grown from previous pics on my blog. He is just so darling!
This is Joe, now age 13, (duh, can you tell from the candles). He had a large party with friends while I was visiting on Memorial Day weekend. Joe made highest honors on his report card with an average of 97 in math. We were delighted!

And this is Nick, age 10. He just got a new trumpet as a reward for excellent grades in school. Yesterday was their last school day.

On the knitting front, I'm down to the heel of the 2nd Dr. Weissgold socks. Can't wait for those to be finished. I'm then going to return to some UFO's.

Not much time to knit lately. My new thing for June is bridge lessons. I'm challenging my brain. The lessons go till the end of August.

Oh yes, my daughter, Amy received a spinning wheel from her husband as an anniversary gift this week. He is always so thoughtful with his selection of gifts for her. Lucky girl!!!

My spinning wheel purchase keeps getting put off. I just paid $300 for new glasses and 3 weeks later I had the incident with my eye that now requires at least one new lens.

Happy Knitting!

Waldo, Where Are You?

If you've been reading my blog since the days of blogging on Yahoo 360, you know that I try to do one new thing per month. I've learned to kayak, (or tried to), spinning, attended presidential candidate rallies, ate new foods, etc.

For May of 2008......here's the new thing.

It's a chick incubator!

Can't remember why we had to add water!

This gadget automatically turns the eggs. Mother hen would normally do that. It's done so the embryo doesn't stick to the membrane just inside the shell.Waldo, Waldo...where are you? (from the children's book) Can you see one of the chicks beginning to crack through the egg? (Bottom left, 2nd up)
I didn't get pics when first hatched. Not very pretty at that stage. They sure are tired. Pic above shows them about 1-2 days old. There were 49 chicks that hatched while I was there.
A closer look! Chirp!, Chirp!, Chirp!

Daughter, Amy, after having collected the eggs from the coop! (She said to ignore the stain on shirt!..lol)

Going to market! Not sure if you can tell, but there are a few "blue" eggs. Can't remember the breed hen but those eggs usually sell for much more because of their taste. Many of daughter's customers are co-workers.

Happy Knitting!

Oh My Gosh....Free Yarn!

Did the title get your attention? My younger daughter (who doesn't knit) called me last evening. She and her dad are going to this warehouse today. Read the ad.....it says bring a van, bring muscle, bring plastic bags, etc. I hope it's good yarn.

http://providence.craigslist.org/zip/712040192.html

She is calling me on my cell when she gets there. What fun!...even if it is junk yarn.

Happy Knitting!

What's In The Box?

A few years ago, my daughter, Emily, sent me this lovely box. The price was a steal at the time and she said she was sure I would find use for it somehow. Over the years I've stored a number of things in it.

The box is lined with cedar (I think) and is a cigar box with a humidor. I've most certainly never stored cigars in it. Except for a couple of experimental cigarettes when I was 14, I've never even smoked. Yeah, yeah....at one time it was considered boring but no more.

So I am using it as my sock box.

The "humidor" unscrews and I can put lavendar in it if I want.

However, the box is not large enough to hold all my socks. (sigh!)

A closer look at some of the socks.

And now on another note..... Amy said I left her curious with my last post. I was somewhat vague with my heritage. I am French Canadian and also speak the language. I was brought up Catholic and went to school 1/2 day of French and 1/2 day of English.

I told you about my friend's funeral last Saturday and they played "J'airai La Voire Un Jour" which is a song saying that the person has gone to heaven to see the Blessed Virgin Mary. Now, I think a mother's role in life is pretty important and Mary, being Jesus' mother is to be looked up to.

The food I enjoyed at the reception afterwards was a tourtierre which is a French Candian pork pie. Traditionally, I have it during the Christmas season only. It's the spices that makes the pie unique. I like mine with mustard on the top. It really is delicious. When I visited my daughter a couple of weeks ago, she pulled one out of the freezer for me to enjoy. A couple of years ago, my daughter and I made 23 of those pies (in one day...superwomen we are!!!) and stored them in the freezer.

Must go..there are severe thunderstorm watches and tornado watches for my area. Work sent us home early because of the weather. I'm prepared!!!

Happy Knitting!

Weissgold

A message for Dr. Weissgold........... (Friday's reflections)

Where are you, Dr. Weissgold? You needn't hurry too much on my account as I am knitting these socks while waiting for you to see other patients. Of course, I want to make sure you take good care of my eyes and we don't waste time so that I can continue to knit for years and years. Thanks for explaining to me what is vitreous detachment and how it created two holes in my retina.

I'm also enjoying your 14-week old St. Benard who is running around the coffee table and plopping down in the middle of the room. The dog made the elderly gentleman across from me smile in spite of himself. The dog found the man's inner child so that put a smile on my face as well. One must be thankful for the small things in life as it is those small things that accumulate and overcome everyday problems and sadness.

Ok, back to the socks....I needed mindless knitting while at the doctors. It's the waffle pattern I've knitted so many times. The yarn is, oh, ok...I just don't remember where the darn ballband is at the moment. It is hand painted and was purchased at a LYS sale a few weeks ago. 100 grams for $7...how could I go wrong!!! The picture shows how much I knitted this week while waiting for my eyes to dilate and waiting to see the doctor.

Reflections on Saturday.............

Thank you, thank you, thank you...........no more flashes in my eyes today. I hope to find time to knit for a little while before bedtime.

I attended a friend's funeral this morning. It was a truly beautiful ceremony. He was loved by many and he had a doting family. It was especially touching for me because we shared the same ethnic background and one of the songs that a trio sang at the funeral was in my native language.

Aftwerwards there was a wonderful luncheon with some of the ethnic foods I enjoy. The location overlooked beautiful Lake Champlain on a beautiful and sunny day with the Adirondack Mountains in the distance. I'm sure there are many beautiful places in America but it is difficult to beat the beauty that Vermont possesses. (One of the reasons it is so expensive to live here.)

Many, many of my friends were there to reflect on the good times. Some happen to be here on vacation from as far as Arizona. I had not seen them in almost 15 years.

I may start a new knitting project. It depends on how the mood strikes me this evening.

Happy Knitting!

My Newest Stash Addition

My latest addition to my stash includes lace weight yarn in the peach colorway, gloss burgandy and blue colorway. The brown tweed is yarn my daughter wanted for socks for her husband. All of this loot is from knitpicks.com.

I'm most excited about the Cat Bordhi book. I started knitting the Ocean Waves socks and gave up but only for now because of new developments in my life this week. I loved the "Judy's Magic Cast On" that is featured in this book and I used to start my "Ocean Wave" socks. I like the challenge that the Cat Bordhi patterns present as I have become way too comfortable in my sock knitting with only slight variations in patterns, etc.

It's been a tough week. I had to have emergency laser eye surgery on Wednesday. Just when I thought everything was going to be ok, I became concerned the following day only to be reassured by the doctor that my symptoms were normal. I called again today and was more insistant. The symptoms were more pronounced. I was seen again and the doctor discovered the laser surgery performed the other day was not 100% successful and I had to have more laser surgery today. It's worrisome knowing I have two holes in my retina and could lose my sight in that eye if things worsen. I just had an eye exam a month ago, new glasses, etc. I'm not diabetic or have any condition (except getting older...and who isn't getting older?) that would contribute to this eye situation.

On the plus side, I started a new sock (pics later) while waiting to be seen "in between" patients. Because the surgery was not a scheduled procedure, I had to wait till all other patients were seen which was either a break at lunchtime or the end of the day. So, with eyes dilated, I did my best on the knitting and decided that if there were any mistakes, I was not frogging back. The mistakes, I decided, would be symbolic of what was happening the day they were being knitted.

Ironically, someone sitting next to me in the waiting room was protesting loudly and constantly how far behind the doctor was in seeing patients. I wanted to tell her to take up knitting (and shut up) and take advantage of the "down time", but I think it would have fallen on deaf ears as she was not even picking up a magazine or a book.

So, if the eye situation wasn't enough stress, a good friend passed away a couple days ago. I attended the wake this evening and the funeral is in the morning. He had been in poor health for some time so in a way, it was a blessing.

I'm sure something very good is about to happen. Perhaps I'll win the lottery and go on one heck of a yarn shopping spree.

Happy Knitting!