As you can see, this is not Pink Floyd’s Wall…it’s not the Wall of China...heck, it’s not even the Wall of Koigu.  It’s just my humble little wall of handspun.

As I was thinning out some of the yarn that has been collecting dust on the wall, I tossed a few of them into a big bag to carry out to the barn.

Before I tied that bag up however, I pulled the skeins out one by one to take a closer look at them again…. and give them one last pet.

First in the bag was this purple yarn of unknown content.  It was one of the first things I spun and probably one of my most balanced yarns.

Next out of the bag is some pretty Border Leicester/Mohair/Alpaca yarn made from Spinner Hill Batts.  This is destined to be another one of my favorite vests.  A bit thick and thin and lumpy in some spots, but it’s my favorite color, so that makes up for it, right?

Out came some random Romney skeins…..a bit scratchy, but such pretty colors….I am sure I can find something to do with them.  I won’t mention that they have been sitting here for almost 5 years now…..shhhh.

Then there are the singles that I played with last year with some leftover hand dyed Merino that I had sitting around.  Again….I have no clue what I will do with them, so they will go in the rubbermaid container in the big abyss I call "The Barn"…

And finally…..the last skein in the bag is my Peacock Angora, Silk roving.  Hmmmm…..it’s so soft and so pretty, I don’t think it will be happy in "The Barn", do you?  I think it’s earned it’s place on "The Wall", where I can stop and pet it every now and then until I can find something to do with it.

As I packed all of the skeins away, it got me to thinking about how I have progressed as a spinner.  As a new spinner, I grabbed anything that resembled roving and whose colors spoke to me….without any rhyme or reason.  I spun for the pure love of spinning and like many of you, I ended up with lots and lots of single skeins of yarn kicking around, but no real use for many of them.

These days however, I have tried to become more of a project spinner.  Not wanting to swim in yarn that I am not sure if I will ever use, I now try to choose roving carefully….usually with a project in mind and a yarn weight that I try to obtain for that project.

At Spa, I had no intention of purchasing any roving, but I succombed to Chris’s incredibly beautiful bunny blend.  Now you may ask…..don’t you have enough bunny?  The answer would be yes of course I do….but oh, this was just too pretty to pass up … AND… I quickly decided that this could become Anne’s Obstacle scarf…..whew! 

There are some days that I do still grab up something only because it is pretty, but I am trying to get better about project spinning, so the yarns get used instead of hiding in a container.

What do you do with all of your little bunches of handspun yarn?

What a beautiful weekend it was in Virginia!  When we left early Thursday morning the temps were cold and we heard of the impending snow storm that was heading in with an expected snow fall of 18 inches.  We went back and forth a bit wondering if we should leave, but in the end decided to go.

The weather in Virginia was absolutely delightful.  Warm daytime temps in the low 70’s with a warm breeze.  Such a tease it is to visit a warm climate when you know you have to head back to winter, isn’t it? 

Sure enough as we left to go back home, we hit some snow squalls along the way, hinting at what was waiting for us at home.  Yikes!!  18 inches of new snow ontop of the 20 we had received the previous week and this morning it was colder than it has been all winter.  The winds have been howling non stop and the temps have barely risen above 0.  Ugghh………I want to go back to Virginia!

While Ken and Hannah enjoyed Colonial Williamsburg, I stayed and enjoyed the dog show both days.  Little Miss Cleo did very well on her first outing at a CKCSC,USA show.  Friday night, her first time out in the ring, she was Best Senior Puppy Bitch and placed in the top 4 the other 2 days (2nd one day and 3rd the next).  She was in a class with some lovely girls, so we were thrilled with her placements.  I think she enjoyed herself as well!

A Special Swap

Waiting when I got home were 2 boxes addressed to me.  Now who doesn’t like to come home to that?  The smaller box was from my Special Swap Pal, Kathy.  Does this girl know me or what…..just look at that bottle of wine, and the mountain colors yarn is just gorgeous.  Kathy also included some lovely alpaca yarn, Stephanie’s book and some other pampering goodies. 

Go take a stroll over to her blog and say hello 🙂

This was what was in the bigger box………can you guess what I will be doing for the next few weeks?  Wheeeeeeeeeee

Truth perceived gives assurance.
Skill yields self-reliance.
With courage, we can defy danger.
To increase power, incease humility.
Deng Ming~Dao

This picture was taken last year as we went across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Every year we look forward to crossing this incredible bridge :-).

Enjoy your weekend………till next week…….ciao~

The important one is anyways….

In the wee hours of the morning Thursday…some of us will be heading off to Colonial Williamsburg for our annual March trek.  CKCSC,USA holds a cavalier Specialty there every year and it has always been one of our favorite shows.  Winter is getting old here and it’s Spring down there!!  Whoo hoo!

Packed in my busy basket are a few treats to keep me busy.  First in the basket is this beautiful Merlin Tree Spindle.  It was no easy feat getting this spindle from Dave….trust me!  This is one of his prototypes for his upcoming new line of spindles.  Not only is it beautiful, but it spins forever!  When he sells them, they will have a nicer hook and will be a bit more finished…….but this spindle spoke to me at Spa and after much wooing and begging, Dave sent it home with me :-).  Shhh…don’t let him know I told you….

Up next are the 3 lace projects I am working on.  I came home so full of ideas from Spa, that I immediately cast on 2 new projects….yikes!  This green is Judy’s soft merino/silk 2ply for the Wool Peddler shawl from Folk Shawls.  I absolutely adore these colors and the soft squishy yarn was just too yummy to pass up.


Next…..the Cracklin’ Rosie swallowtail shawl, which is moving right along and quickly reminded me why I love zephyr.  Silky smooth and oh so soft! 
Definitely not a sipping on wine project thou….at least not without life lines…

And to close the lace projects….Hypotenuse.  I just love this knit!  The silky yarn is one of my all time new favorites and Anne’s pattern is the best.  I love the way that it moves along….interesting and easy all at the same time.  This and the wool peddler shawl will be my car knitting projects…..mindless knitting, but oh so nice!

The last little project tucked away in this great little basket that I picked up this weekend at Patternworks, is this ultra soft merino/mohair blend of yarn that I purchased at Spa from Friends Folly Farm.

My 15 year old daughter, borrows my favorite red mittens every night when she feeds the bunnies, so I thought it was time to make her a pair of her very own.  She thinks the colors are pretty cool….whew!

And finally…….the last little thing in my basket is this "Bottle O Spirits", that I spotted today in the market.  Now how perfect is this wine for a basket of goodies that is heading out for a dog show?  A lovely bottle of "Watchdog White" Dog Tail wine….haha!  I have no clue how it tastes and for all I know it could be awful, but however could I pass this by….LOL

After a handling class tonight and a bath tomorrow, Little Miss Cleo will be as ready as she ever will be for her debut in CKCSC this weekend.

Wish us luck!!

Why doesn’t she understand?…..Little Muffins don’t like to be outside when it’s cold...sigh..
(This was taken just before we had 22 inches of snow dumped on us last week)

Some of you may remember this post about the third lendrum that had made it’s way to my home. (yes you read that right…the third one)…..and yet, here we are again looking at the 4th folding lendrum.

As much as I loved the folding lendrum in the above link, somehow the temptation of the walnut combined with the wooly winder was just too overwhelming to pass by….so the lovely little maple wheel is now much loved in it’s new home and this beautiful walnut lendrum is settling in nicely here in my home. I have to admit, I am LOVING this wooly wonder!  (you didn’t think I kept all of those lendrums now do you?…that would be over the top sickness..)

Just what is it about Spinning Wheels that attracts us…tempts us?  I can remember saying years ago to the woman who corrupted me, "Why the heck do you need more than one spinning wheel?".
Silly girl I was back then…

Over the years, many many wheels have come to play for a little while and then found their way into new homes, but how could I part with the beautiful Cherry Lendrum Production wheel that I lovingly finished myself, or the little Robin with it’s beautiful spalted maple wheel…and Yeeesss ladies, this is the year that Norm is going to come knocking on my door!  Seven long years I have waited for this wheel that he is making for me.

  So, you would think that would be more than enough, wouldn’t you?  So did I, until I sat down behind the wheel of this baby.  Now mind you, this wheel almost came to live here, but that is a sad story for another time perhaps.  Marcy being the generous Temptress that she is, allowed a few of us to play house with her incredible wheel made by Alden Amos and all I can say is …"Oh My"!
I live in a fairly big old farm house……..don’t you think every room should have it’s own wheel? 

Hmmmmm………..yep, I admit it… it is truly a sickness.

Do you remember the book, Color Me Beautiful?  I remember going to a few of those home parties back when I was much younger, where they tell you what season you are and what colors you look best in.  I also remember them saying that you are naturally attracted to that palette and over the years, I have found that pretty much to be true.

So, in looking at some of the lace weight yarn I had left over from the weekend, I chose this soft green and purple colorway to knit a new Swallowtail Shawl.  I had tucked 2 skeins away for myself, but a few inches into the shawl, I was just not feelin’ the love, if you know what I mean.  Normally I am a green person, but this green as I moved along was a much cooler palatte than I usually like…..much more of a Summer colorway.

Now anyone who knows me, knows that I am so not a pink kind of girl,which makes sense given that I have been told that I am an Autumn, but somehow this pink and golden yarn had caught my attention, even back when I dyed it a few months ago, so I thought that I would give it a try.  Wow….I LOVE it!  The warm colors of the gold mixed with the soft rose colors are working for me….who would have thought that I would actually like pink?

Speaking of pink….there were some lovely pink colorways floating around at Spa this weekend.  Juno scooped up a stunning grafton fiber batt in this pretty pink and gray colorway.  I had some sockyarn dyed up in almost the exact same shades and although I don’t think think that I can wear that color well, if it’s on my feet, who cares, right?  I think I may just have to make some more….heck, I may even order this roving from Grafton too ….. I’m feeling adventurous. 

Speaking of adventurous….go read Carole’s description of our Friday night last weekend.  I guess that there are varying degrees of what one calls adventurous.  I think I will stick to being adventurous in colorways….tee hee.

I will be getting yarn back up on the sidebar gradually.  I will post what I have later today. New  sock yarn and roving in a few weeks….I am taking a little dyeing break to do some knitting 🙂

Home again, home again.  What a fabulous time I had at this year’s NETA Spa!  So many things to write about, but for some things, the right words can not be found …. the camaraderie, the friendship and Friday night in the bar.  It was all good! Although, maybe some parts of Friday night may have had a few of us saying…."What the Hull??"

It was nice to see old friends and just as nice were the new people I met, who I now call friend…….and the fiber <sigh>….the fiber was as wonderful as it always is at this event.

I came home with a little fiber, a few treats that I will share later in the week and lots of ideas floating around in my head.  One thing I did realize was that I need to knit a few samples with my hand dyed yarns, so now I have a good excuse to play with some of it 🙂

It was great to see you all!

In just a short while I will be heading off to the NETA Spa Weekend.  The bags are packed and the fiber ready to go :-).

I hope you all have a Happy Weekend!

This post was to have gone up earlier today, but it seems that typepad was having some problems, so here we are a day late and a dollar short, but still here all the same…LOL

My Wednesday Walks (and all the days in between) have been walks on the treadmill lately due to wintery conditions.  I am not much of a daytime TV watcher, but I have timed my walks so that I watch Martha Stewart’s show when I am on the treadmill.

Anyone who knows me knows I am not much of a domestic goddess anymore…..I know, hard to believe… however there was a time in my young married life, when my house was spotless and I hand smocked all of my daughter’s dresses. but then dogs and life happened, and the rest is history. 🙂

Anyhoo………..earlier in the week, I saw Martha and her guest making these cute little conversation type mini cakes.  I thought hmmmm………perhaps I will surprise Ken and the girls with these little cakes for Valentine’s dessert.

Well… here I am on Valentine’s Day with kids and husband home due to the blizzard we are having…… dogs not happy about sinking up to their necks in snow and me up to my elbows with yarn and dyeing.  It surely did not make for the conducive domestic moment that I had envisioned while on my treadmill a week earlier.  You see the sad results of my efforts in the picture above…tee hee. 

I guess I will skip these fancy schmancy recipes that never seem to work for me and stick to my old basics.  I have no clue what happened to this frosting recipe other than it was a huge waste of 3 sticks of butter and it didn’t taste very good…..oy vey! (the red velvet cake WAS yummy though)

I hope your "Love Day", as my daughter Ashley refers to it was a good one!