Moving day

I've been a naughty little blogger. While you've been seeing a couple of pathetic posts (OK, maybe not pathetic. I mean, the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl and I've bought a spinning wheel), I've actually been setting up a shiny new blog. While I'm going to miss this blog, I knew it was time to move on when I got my Xmas gift from my hubby. Remember when I mentioned revealing one of my gifts? Well, you'll finally get to see what it is.

So, without further ado, let's commence moving day! Here's my new forwarding address:

www.goteweinstitches.com

Stop by and let me know what you think. And be sure to say hi to Gus when you do!

Pssst...

wanna see what I just ordered?

Awwww yeah!

The Steelers are going to the Super Bowl bay-bee!

Black box warning

Good news! My shoulder is back to normal. I saw my doctor on Wednesday for a physical and she said that it sounds like I hyperextended my rotator cuff. Most likely from too much use. So if I want to continue using a drop spindle, I'll need to do some exercises that strengthen my shoulder muscles. I think I'm the only person that has ever injured themselves spinning yarn. ha,ha!

I also asked my doctor about some ecsema "issues" that I have. She suggested I try something called Elid*l (in case you're wondering, the asterisk is in place of an 'e'). Has anyone heard of this stuff? Apparently, it works by suppressing your immune system. I discovered the hard way that this means it can cause headaches and flu like "symptoms." After being knocked on my ass for two days, I'm finally feeling better. Coincidentally, the FDA made an announcement yesterday (at least, I think it was yesterday) that this particular medicine has to have a black box warning on it. This is because a suppressed immune system also increases one's risk of cancer. Feeling like crap and an increased risk of cancer! All because I want to get rid of some itchy and annoying patches of skin. Sadly, I want it gone badly enough that I'm trying it again today. I'm a smart one, I tell ya!

There's not much else to report. I'm planning to take part in the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics, although I haven't decided what to make yet. I'm thinking something that uses lace or color work, but it's gotta be small enough that I can reasonably finish it in 16 days.

As exciting as I've been lately, I'm thinking of putting a black box warning on my blog. It would say something like "Read at the risk of boring yourself to death!" (hee,hee! I crack myself up sometimes!)

I am my mother's daughter

My mom has a tendency to hurt herself in extreme ways while doing mundane tasks. For example, while getting out of the car at the gas station she broke her ankle. This happened years and years ago (back when I was in grade school), but you get the idea, right? Well, last night, at 3:30am, as I was rolling over in bed, I felt blinding pain in my right shoulder. It felt like I dislocated the joint, but I'm not sure if that's actually what happened or if it just really, really, really hurt like hell. I sat up and eventually was able to get some movement back, but I continued to have severe pain and I had an ache spread up into my neck and down my arm. After icing it for a bit, and taking some Aleve, I was able to eventually fall back to sleep. When I woke up this morning, the severe pain had turned into moderate pain and the radiating ache is now gone. My hubby and I think that using the drop spindle a lot and learning how to card fiber this week may have fatigued my shoulder muscles, making it so weak it couldn't support the joint when I put pressure on it. So, since I can't use my arm without pain, I have to lay off the knitting and spinning for a little while. sniff...

There is some good news at least. My hubby got to fly solo yesterday for the first time. I went along and videotaped the event, so once he gets a video clip made I'll post it for everyone to see. It was especially great that he got to solo yesterday, because it's his birthday weekend. Of course, the poor guy has to make his own cake today. Thankfully he's a good sport!

Iwannaspinningwheel!

We got to learn how to use spinning wheels last night and now I want one sooooo badly! For anyone who is attempting to learn how to spin and has only used a drop spindle so far... well, I gotta tell you... don't give up until you've tried a wheel. I was amazed at how my fingers all of a sudden "got it." I don't know that I'll be able to afford one, but I'll definitely be doing some wheel shopping at Stitches next month.

As I warned my hubby when I got home last night, I'm going to be a bit of a pain for a while due to my one track mind of...

IwannaspinningwheelIwannaspinningwheelIwannaspinningwheel
IwannaspinningwheelIwannaspinningwheelIwannaspinningwheel
IwannaspinningwheelIwannaspinningwheelIwannaspinningwheel
IwannaspinningwheelIwannaspinningwheelIwannaspinningwheel
IwannaspinningwheelIwannaspinningwheelIwannaspinningwheel
IwannaspinningwheelIwannaspinningwheel

I think you get the picture.

:-)

The aroma of wet sheep

My homework assignment from my spinning class is to clean some fleece and have it ready for prepping at our next class on Thursday. I washed my fleece yesterday. Wow! Wet sheep fleece sure does stink! And the lovely scent clung to my skin for the rest of the day. I just wish that I had thought to take a before and after picture of the fleece. I was amazed at how much gunk came out of the fleece in just the first soaking. The water was literally dark brown right after I submerged the fleece. I did remember to take a picture of the fleece right after a laid it out on a screen to dry and then took another one today of the dry fleece. Unfortunately... I accidentally deleted the picture of the wet fleece (I forgot that the only copy I had was still on my flash card and deleted it thinking that I had a copy on my hard drive. If you think this was a d'oh moment, I worked for a company that used software called SourceSafe that virtually guaranteed that files couldn't be deleted. Yet, I managed to delete almost an entire training program worth of files. All I can say is, thank god for nightly network backup tapes.).

So, without further ado, here's my dried fleece.

Pretty exciting, huh? It really would have helped to have taken a before and after shot. Oh well. While I was sweating out in the hot January sun, I took a picture of the yarn I've spun so far.

I took off the yarn that I initially spun in class the other night. Although the outer edge of yarn doesn't look bad, the stuff underneath isn't usable, so I didn't bother winding into a ball. That's why it looks like a purple cocoon.

I started fresh with some roving that the instructor gave us, and I was excited to see that I'm getting more consistent in my yarn weight.

When I was first learning a couple of years ago, I did the common thick/thin that most people do when they're first learning. I then went into my bag of spinning supplies from last year and dug out some merino/cashmere blend roving that I had started spinning. I was shocked to see that I was actually pretty consistent back then as well, it's just a much finer weight of yarn.

I had thought that this was bad at the time, but now I'm realizing that because the fiber itself is much finer, the yarn will come out finer as well. I'm becoming much more confident now, which makes me that much more excited about trying a wheel. I just might be shopping around for a wheel at Stitches. Whee!

The Goods
My hubby came back home on Friday and brought a gift my mom-in-law got me for Xmas... Sally Melville's Color book. One of my goals this year, along with learning how to spin on a wheel, is to try my hand at color knitting. I've decided that I need to get over this weird intimidation I have and face it head on. So this book will be a great guide.

I also got these bunny slippers from my mom.

My one cat, Penny, is absolutely terrified of these. Which, of course, makes these even more fun to wear around the house. hee,hee!

I'm dizzy!

Eva* and I took our first spinning class tonight over at Fiber Factory. This is actually my third attempt at learning, but it's my first real class. The drop spindle came back to me pretty quickly, but it's the wheel that I really want to learn. We're also going to learn how to clean and prep fleece for spinning. I hadn't expected this to be included in the class, so I'm pretty psyched about that. I can't picture me going out and buying an entire fleece like some do, but it'll be nice to know the entire process.

By the way, remember how I mentioned in my last post about how all I've finished in 2005 were the two preemie hats? Uh, hello? How could I forget my Nothin' But a T-shirt? And it's not like I finished it in January. Or that I used crappola yarn for it. Nope. I finished it right before Thanksgiving and I used Rowan Calmer. Good grief! Am I that forgetful? Is this a sign that senility is going to be setting in soon? I was so afraid that I had forgotten about other projects that I had completed that I went back through my archives for the year. It's pretty pathetic. Oh, and I haven't completed anything else. But I mean it's pretty pathetic at how the amount of times I post each month keeps dwindling down. I used to be pretty chatty, but now... not so much. At least I realize why certain members of my family (and you all know who you are) are such pains in my ass about updating. I'll try to do better. I promise!

In the meantime, my hubby comes home tomorrow morning! (His mom tried to renew her loan, but I just couldn't do it. I just miss him too much. Sorry mom!) Before he gets here, I have to vacuum, clean the dishes (or at the very least, get them into the dishwasher), trim the cats nails, wrap my hubby's b-day present (or at the very least, hide it), clean the bathrooms, and take the trash out. Whew! I'm exhausted just writing it all out!

*Eva is having a Save the Boobs raffle over at her blog. All it takes to enter is a minimum $5 donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Just think, you could feel warm and fuzzy and maybe win something warm and fuzzy!

Walla!*

* Today's title is dedicated to Eva and her recent post. :-)

I was getting comfy on the couch last night with a couple of chick flicks and as I pulled out my knitting I realized that while I'm in the process of starting about three or four new projects, I still had Klaralund sitting in pieces. The poor thing has been waiting for some love and seaming. So... I pulled out the pieces and started to seam her up. I got most of it done it last night, and then after two more seams today, walla! she's done!

From the front...

...and from the back.

I can't tell you how many attempts it took to get the back shot. I took pictures of the back of my head, my butt, and the shower door before I eventually got my back in the picture and somewhat centered. (Ok, it wasn't centered, but that's the beauty of cropping.)

I'm a little worried about finishing Klaralund when I did. I have a track record of finishing one measly project a year. I start about a hundred, but between my knitting ADD and the fact that I hate to seam, I just never seem to finish anything. Therefore, since I finished this on the second day of 2006, I'm wondering if that's it for the year. Or, maybe since I finished two preemie hats in 2005, maybe I'm allowed two projects in 2006?

Edited to add: I finish projects so rarely, that I always forget to give specs. In this case I used Rowan All Seasons Cotton instead of Noro Silk Garden as the pattern calls for. Ummm... is there anything else I should tell you?

Anyhoo, New Year's Day was all about movies. I not only rented two chick flicks for last night, but I went and saw the Legend of Zorro with my parents at the supper theater yesterday afternoon. I brought my camera to show you what the place looks like. Unfortunately, I was so paranoid about getting in trouble for taking pictures (I don't know exactly why they would get mad, but there was no convincing me otherwise), that I only got these two quick shots.

Here's where we were sitting.

In relation to the screen.

The Goods
In continuing my report on the Xmas goods, I did, of course, get some knitterly items. From my friend Anna I got the Knitting calendar and a sheepie measuring tape. And from my sister, I got the Knit Bits calendar and the book Mother of Purl. There's actually another knitting-related goodie that I got from my hubby, but that will be receiving a separate unveiling.

Calling all Northern California knitters
My sister and I are heading to San Jose in February for Stitches! I can't wait to see everyone!