This has been a full week :-)), pull up a chair, a mug of coffee and enjoy……

Swimming in Sweat
Not a very pretty sub-title, eh? Oh my………..the humidity here must be 100%……..YUCK!!!!! Every time I think that I could be convinced to move down to the Southern Pennsylvania area, where my husband’s family lives, it only takes 4 days in a row of this incredibly nasty humid weather to remind me why I enjoy living in the mountains of NH!! Now mind you, my loom and my computer (where I work) are located in the only air-conditioned room in the house, so guess what I did today…hehe…..I worked on my loom. I have finished 3 towels and am still working at it. The one thing that slowed me down incredibly, was some very difficult yarn. This was a one pound centerwound ball of lovely organic yarn…….not good!! Folks please remember, with thin yarn, it is better to wind them into smaller centerwound balls, to avoid irritating tangles………especially if you are selling the yarn 🙂

On top of all of this heat and humidity, is my poor kitchen. Here is a little peek of hell…LOL I am not going to complain though, because at the end of this rainbow, will be my pot of gold……a brand sparkling new kitchen, but oy……..not fun living in the land of MESS!!

Secret Pal 2
I got presents!!!!!!!!! YIPPEE!! This has been such a blessed stressful summer and what a nice treat to receive presents. My secret pal sent a cute little knitted bag with very pretty beading around the top edge and a lovely blown glass pendent. I can’t wait for fall to arrive, so that I can wear a nice turtleneck to show off this pretty pendant. Being a redhead, this is sure to look nice against of the rust colors that I am partial to. Thanks, Secret Pal!! :-))

PUPPIES
Where does puppy breath come from…..I wonder? No matter what the breed, what the size or shape, that sweet puppy breath is always the same. The puppies are now growing in leaps and bounds. They had their first adventure today, the great wilderness of the outdoor world. ……… It is a wee bit scary out there Mom!! From there it was back into the house where they were introduced to another new adventure…………..
THE LITTER BOX!! I have been raising puppies now for over 8 years and it was only last year that I finally relented and gave the new dog litter boxes with condensed news litter a try and let me tell you……..I was scratching my head wondering why I didn’t do this years sooner. It makes potty training so much easier and much sweeter to the nose. Do ya think they have enough toys??

THE BABY BUNNIES
Cute, cute, cute…..what more can I say. These guys just get cuter by the day and that fiber is also growing by the day. Mom is telling me that she would like to have her cage to herself again, so I guess it will be back to the cage store for a few more cages. I keep saying that I won’t keep any more bunnies……but……..”HONEY, they are SOOO CUTE!”……and with that lucious fiber, they pay for themselves to stay :-)))) What you don’t see in the background is all of those bags of fiber just waiting to be blended or spun. Why is it that we fiber people tend to be such “stashers?” I guess, for me, it is that fear of a rainy day with nothing to do…..haha! Imagine that….:-/

ON TO KNITTING
Well, the waves socks will be finished this evening and I will get a picture posted in the next few days.

However, that alpaca keeps calling out to me. I love the color and the feel of this baby alpaca that I am using for the Flower Basket Shawl. It is supposed to be charcoal, but the color actually looks like a green/charcoal blend. YUMMY! This is an easy lace pattern……one that needs paying attention to, but fun to work up all the same. I am really enjoying this knitting. Lace is one of my favorites!

OFF TO COLLEGE
Sunday brought us bringing my middle daughter, Ashley back to college. Ashley is starting her second year at

Plymouth State University, in New Hampshire. Ashley has always been dear to my heart, but I have to say that even “SHE” has had a case of the obnoxious growing up child this summer. Why is it that our children think that WE know nothing and THEY know everything?? Of course, WE, know that THEY, WILL realize that WE really did know a few things, soon enough…haha. As much as she was driving me a wee bit crazy, it is always brings a sense of sadness when we bring one of the older kids to school. Ashley is such a good kid. Have fun at PSU, sweetie!

Of course, being sad, meant that I needed to uplift my spirits, a wee bit. So………while I was school shopping with one of my younger daughters yesterday, I took a side trip to a local yarn store called Four Corners Yarn Shop, in Standish, Maine. Look at what I found 🙂 I couldn’t help it………..they just lept into my bag…………hehe. The yarn on the right is handpainted Opal sock weight yarn in lovely autumn colors and the yarn on the left is a scrumptious handpainted yarn from Schaefer, called Anne. Although, it is a merino, mohair blend, it feels every bit as soft as my baby alpaca yarn. This is going to be some sort of a scarf to match the pretty pendant that my SP2 sent.

AND FINALLY, I DON’T DANCE!
I have this wonderful, kind, thoughful, supportive and oh yeah… goodlooking DH, who doesn’t dance….LOL!! This year as we greeted the New Year, once again, sitting home with the 2 younger girls, I made a resolution. It was not only a resolution, but kind of a challenge. I resolved to loose 50 pounds this year and the challenge part, was if I lost those 50 pounds that my DH was going to have to take me to the Mount Washington Hotel for a night of dining and dancing. I have lost 15 pounds over the course of the year, but being , the procrastinator that I can be, it is now time for me to get serious…….so as of September 1st…….the race is on! Of course, my dear husband is cringing and telling me that it is only a competition when BOTH parties agree…haha!! I may let him off the hook with fast dancing, but “A Dancing We Will Go” come Dec. 31st. I will monitor my progress from here on out, as being that competitive person, having a reason to be motivated always helps. :-))) Look for me in my dancing shoes on New Year’s Eve!!

Have a great week

Last weekend we had a lovely and much needed trip out of the Valley. As nice as it is to go away, it is always nice to come back home again. We spent some time visiting with my husband’s parents in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in addition to the dog show. My inlaws were nice enough to take, our 2 youngest daughters for one night so that my husband could come and spend a night at the dog show with me. A little mini-vacation for him and I :-)!! On our way to the hotel, we made a little side trip on Falling Springs Rd in Chambersburg and found a neat yarn store, called The Yarn Basket. From the outside, it looked like a little hole in the wall, so I told my DH, that I would only be a few minutes checking it out. Well, much to my surprise, it was fabulous!!! Of course, my DH hurried me, so I wasn’t able to make up my mind what I wanted to buy, so I left empty handed………but I WILL go back….LOL. Also, on the way to the hotel, on one of the back roads, we drove by The Mannings Weaving School. Hmmm……….between the weaving studio, the LYS and the newly spotted Alpaca Farm, also on Falling Springs Rd, I will be looking forward to our next trip down there in November!

We did not come home from the show with the 1st place winnings I had hoped for, but both of the dogs placed third in their classes. The younger girl, Bliss,was in a large class, so it was a nice placement for us. Oh well, the next show is in November. The nice thing about showing…….is there is always the NEXT show…..LOL.

One of my good Cavalier friend’s husband raises Alpaca at Oxbow Farm in Delaplane, VA. You can read more about Chris’s farm, alpaca and his philosophy at his website. The reason that I mention this, is because I was greeted with a 3 pound bag of scrumptious suri alpaca at the show. What a treat!!

Thanks
I want to thank all of the wonderful people out there that sent me such kind and thoughtful notes about the passing of Dancer. It is so nice to know that there are so many caring people in the world. One of my dear friends sent me a sweet little book, called “For Every Dog An Angel” and a great little clay bunny that she made herself.
Thanks Gerri!

Puppies

Oh My…….how fast these babies grow!! When I left to go to the show, the puppies were just barely getting up on their feet. The change when we came home was amazing! They are looking more and more like little dogs and are having so much fun playing with each other and their toys. Next week will bring a new challenge for them. I use puppy litter boxes to help teach them good pottying habits, so the litter box will be introduced next week, along with some solid food

Knitting

On the drive down to Pennsylvania, I chugged along on my Waves socks . I also brought my interweave knits and alpaca yarn for the Flower Basket Knit Around with me in the event that I finished my Wave socks and needed something to work on. Well………..wouldn’t you know it. That alpaca just kept talking to me. Needless to say, I couldn’t resist the temptation and gave in. I have now officially started my Flower Basket Shawl……and the waves socks are not quite yet finished…:-)

Spinning

Lately I have begun to feel very guilty about neglecting my lonely spinning wheels…… When I see how much knitting some of the women in these many blogs accomplish, that competitive side of mine comes out, and I start feeling pressured to keep up. How silly, isn’t it?…LOL. I just had to take a breath and remember how much I enjoy all of the aspects of fiber production, not just knitting. I decided to get spinning again on the Llama, silk, angora blend that I have …it is sooooooo soft and it will become a neckerchief shawl. As the fall approaches, the fairs will start up and usually at this time of the year, I start spinning and getting projects ready to be sold. My soaps and angora blends are my best sellers, so I guess that I had better get cracking on this stuff.

Summer………
I love the freedom of summer days, but every year, right about this time, I long for school to start. Having the 2 older kids home from college, with all the comings and goings of their friends and then the younger two, with swimming lessons, rec programs, camps and just the noise level in general………..ahhhhh….. I am soooo looking forward to the peace and quiet that September brings. In other words…..the kids are drving me NUTS!!! LOL!!!

This has been a crazy week here. My primary work computer crashed yet once again, and in the middle of a big catalog project for an upcoming dog show. I am usually the show secretary for Cavaliers of the Northeast and produce 3-4 catalogs a year. Although, after 4 years of doing this, I am stepping down and letting someone take the torch as my real job in Registration for the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club, is taking up so much of my time now, that I felt in all fairness, that I needed to devote my energies to Registration. Figures that my last catalog was such a challenge….ggrrrr!!! I am sorry that I was not able to email those of you who wrote such nice comments on my blog last week. My computer was so unstable, that I just was not able to email. Computers……we can’t live with them and we can’t live without them…aagghhh!!! My computer guy comes home from vacation on the 18th, so fingers are crossed that he can heal my ailing computer.

I have also been dealing with a sick dog. Dancer is the girl that has my heart. I love all of my dogs, but this little lady has a special spot in my heart and it has been very difficult to see her not doing well. We are not quite sure what is wrong with her yet. She is having a difficult time breathing and we are not sure why. She almost sounds like she has asthma, but this came on too suddenly for it to be that. We have done x-rays and run blood tests and nothing is really jumping out at the vet, other than her Mitral Valve Disease, has progressed to a grade 3/4. MVD is the biggest killer of Cavaliers and almost all of them will have it at some point, but it doesn’t appear at least on the surface, that the MVD is the problem in this situation. Dancer had an abcessed tooth, which we have treated with antibiotics, but the breathing problem has not improved, even though the infection is gone, so the next step most likely is going to be surgery, to get the bad tooth out and to see if there is some sort of growth in her throat. :(. Sometimes I just wish, during times like this, that these sweet dogs could just tell us what is wrong, so that we could help them better.

Puppies
The puppies are growing in leaps and bounds now. Their eyes and ears are opened and they are struggling to get up on their feet. Their fat, round bellies make it hard for their chunky little legs to keep them up…haha. Mom is feeding them well. They are still pretty boring, sleeping most of the time, but at least now, they are starting to look more like puppies than guinea pigs. This upcoming week will see their teeth coming in and they will start trying to play with each other. I will also be making a trip to the petstore for puppy toys………I just LOVE puppies!

Bunnies
It has been fun tracking the baby bunnies and the puppies together. This is the first time that I have had a litter of each so close in age. I have to say that the rate of development is pretty close. The bunnies are quicker at eating food and learning to drink water, but other than that, they are very similar. The bunnies are getting to that beyond cute stage. A good rabbit friend, Chris Morgan of Woolybuns in Ct., came for a visit today and she showed me a new way to shear the rabbits. The Wildgrey boy, who was looking for a name in the previous post, was on the receiving end of a haircut and here is the finished product. Wild grey fiber is my most favorite to spin. It is a lovely heathery grey. It is one of the few that I never use for my rovings as it is just too pretty to dilute, mixing it with wool. You can’t see from the picture, but the tips of wild grey are gold, which is sooo pretty in the finished product…..YUM!!! By the way, he now has a name. Nordic Bunny The Kid 🙂 Thanks for all of your suggestions! I am saving them all for the little ones still to be named.

The Knitting…….finally
One of the reasons that I am so looking forward to school happening, is that I will have more time to knit and spin. 🙂 Less time running kids around in the car to their various events, means more time for me. 🙂 I have been diligent this time with the Six Sock Knit around sock,….Waves, and actually finished the first one. I really like the way this pattern works up. After the first few rows, the pattern was easy to remember and is good mindless knitting for the Olympics. I have also been knitting away on the lingering cloverleaf sock and next time I blog, I will have a picture of the pair……whew!! I have never been so happy to see project come to an end. I do not like the yarn I chose for that sock at all. Live and learn…LOL. Now that the cloverleave project is almost at a close, I bought the yarn for the flower basket shawl knit along. I was going to use some alpaca that I have spun, but sometimes handspun can be tricky at getting the right gauge, so I treated myself to the yarn that the sample in Interweave Knits was done up in, Misti Baby Alpaca. I bought it from Pollywogs. Very low shipping prices and fast, fast, fast delivery…….I will buy from her again 🙂

For my parting note……go take a look at Sereknitty’s website. She has the most yummy recipes on her blog. I made her sourcream banana bread this week and it was a big hit with all of the kids, and even the DH here :-). She has a great sense of humor and great recipes. One of my favorite blogs to date.

Enjoy the week!!!!

Wow……the temps have really dropped up here in the mountains! Last night the temperature dipped down into the upper 30’s and low 40’s…bbrrr. Being a true autumn person, I absolutely LOVE this weather! I know it won’t last too long, but I am certainly enjoying it. The bunnies really perk up in this weather too. As I promised, here are some pictures of the littlest creatures here at The Woolen Rabbit.

Bunnies
My first litter of bunnies this spring, yielded 8 babies! Of course, when I have a litter, I am always looking to keep a nice doe. Wouldn’t ya know it……..the boys were better!! Go figure! Anyhoo, I ended up keeping a lovely red fawn buck, as I had previously mentioned and last minute decided that this Wild Grey Buck had the most outstanding fiber, that he just had to stay. My dilema……….he hasn’t a name :-(. I am hoping that my blog friends can help me with some creative names. His brother is “Peter Hoppit”, his uncle is “Buffalo Bun Cody” and his Aunt is “Calamity Jane”. I like that theme……….any ideas out there?

The baby bunnies are now 3 weeks old and are starting to look more and more like little cuddle buns. Pure German Angora’s are always REW (red eyed whites)…..true albinos.

Whew!! All that picture taking has worn us out!

Puppies

12 day old puppies are pretty boring….LOL. They don’t do much but eat, sleep and really grow fast. They are just starting to open their eyes. It starts with the just the inside corners of their eyes peeking………hello……can you see light yet?? Their ears are just starting to open too. Did you know that puppies ears are completely sealed when they are born? It is fun to see them become aware of the noises that surround them. Given the number of kids that come in and out of my house on a daily basis and the noise that accompanies them, my puppies are pretty bomb proofed when they leave for their new homes.

Knitting
After deciding to finish loose ends, I guess that I should pick up the Alice Starmore, “Inishmore” sweater that I am doing for one of my daughters. I started it awhile ago, but with the craziness of summer, I found it hard to find the time to concentrate on the intricate pattern. Inishmore comes from the Starmore book, Fisherman’s Sweaters. The yarn that I am using is one that I spun last year. It is a soft blend of cream colored Polwarth, cream colored alpaca and a fine corriedale that I dyed robin egg blue and then sent off to be blended and carded. You don’t see the light touches of blue in the picture, but it is there and it is really pretty.

Secret Pal 2
Heidi tells us that we should give our secret pal some hints about ourselves. Being the mom of 5 kids, I spend more time talking about them and the animals, that I find it hard to talk about myself. Heidi gave us some questions that we could answer for our SP’s, so here goes:

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high-end/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
Sad to say, but definitly a snob.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I love to spin, weave and I am also a soapmaker.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Smoke smells really bother me.

4. How long have you been knitting?
Since I was 10…….I won’t tell you how long ago that was……haha!

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No, but what a great idea!

6. What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
For candles, I love anything that is apple or cinnaminny. Bath products…….I love almost anything!

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Sinfully so!

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I love making soap, handcremes and have recently started felting. Saving that for another blog day 🙂

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if you want to make her a CD)
I love Celtic harp music, Nickle Creek, Sean Watkins and Sting. I also love Classical, Jazz and the Blues!

10. What’s your favorite color? Or–do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer?
Being a redhead…..I am a true autumn. Sage/Olive greens, rusts, oranges, golds, browns and mulberries are my favorites.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
LOL……..I think my blog explains my family and pet situation…haha. A regular zoo at times!

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
I am dreaming of the day when I can work on a project and not be interrupted a gazillion times by all of the demands of a large family….LOL!! I love my kids………but………ohhhh…….a quiet day now and then would be heaven!

I have heard from my secret pal twice now………..hi there! I look at websites and wonder who she might be??? This is so much fun!!

We received the names and blog addresses of our Secret Pal 2 this week. This is going to be fun!! My Secret Pal is the same age as my middle daughter, so I have to re-adjust my thoughts from what “I” would like to what my daugther would like…LOL. After reading my SP’s blog though, I can tell that we have some things in common………I won’t say here though, as I don’t want to give it away.
Of course, shopping for my Secret Pal, gave me an excuse for a trip down to 2 of my Favorite LYS’s. First stop was a trip down to Concord and the Elegant Ewe. Ok…….I had to bring my son to Concord for an appointment……but heck, a trip to Concord, always includes a stop at the Elegant Ewe. To date, it is my most favorite yarn store. You walk in the door to celtic music and a nice big comfy chair for examining new patterns…….then on to some of the most yummy yarns available. They also carry spinning equipment too. They do not have a website yet, but you can find more information about them in The Knitter’s Stash
Next stop was Patternworks in Center Harbor. They have recentlly relocated to New Hampshire from New York and are we ever grateful!! It is a lovely store and the staff is so helpful and friendly. I was a good girl though……..I bought presents for my SP, but resisted the temptation to add to my ever growing stash, until I finish a few projects……..which brings me to my next subject.

Wrapping Up Loose Ends
I felt so badly giving up on my Cloverleaf socks, as I am not one to leave a project unfinished, that it spurred me on to complete the few projects that were waiting to be completed. Here is a picture of the baby set that I made for my DD, Stacey’s friends. After working on those small sock sized knitting needles, it was nice to return to my Brittany Birch Needles. With the baby set finished, it was on to the Neckerchief made from fibers produced right here at the Woolen Rabbit. The colorway is Arizona Sunset, one of my personal favorites and I was really pleased with how this little shawl finished up. It will go on display at the Fryeburg Fair, where I will be demonstrating most of that week in our “new”…yippee…….Fiber Building!

Puppies
I want to thank all of the people who left such supportive messages regarding the little puppy that I lost.
The two remaining puppies are doing well. Both girls have doubled their birth weight and are doing laps around the whelping box. Their Mom, Breeze has been such a great mom. Tonight will be my first night back in my own bed. I always spend the first week with new pups having the whelping box right next to the couch, so that I can be sure that Mom does not inadvertently sit on them. I will post picture of the puppies and the bunnies this weekend :-).

Well, it has been quite a day. I had been hopeful that I would finish my cloverleaf sock today, but I’ve sadly come to the conclusion that they will not be finished today in time for the contest. :(. My day started off with having to bring my daughter to the emergency ward for a possible fractured finger. With the wait, I got a lot of the sock done. Once home though, I found that one of my newly born puppies was not doing well, so it was off to the vet, only to find that her lungs were not developed enough and I ended up having to put her down. I have been breeding and showing dogs for 10 years now and losing the little ones never gets easier, just heartbreaking……..so needless to say, I lost my enthusiasm for making it to the deadline today. I think that I will put the sock that is 2/3rds finished down for a spell and start working on the waves sock.

It is days like these, that most breeders, scratch their heads and wonder why we do this? Then, remembering those healthy puppies, who run recklessly in the yard, playing with their siblings, growing into champion quality dogs, that also, continues a lineage of a breed, helps us to remember why. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is such a sweet and special breed. It is my dedication to this wonderful little dog that helps me to look beyond the heartbreak, towards the future.

I will have no pictures today………………hopefully the next few days, will see me thru a few finished projects, with visions of new ones ahead.

Sadly my blog has been neglected as it has been a wild couple of weeks here. I think I need a vacation to recooperate from Summer..LOL. Lots of things have been going on………

PUPPIES!!!!
An unexpected litter of puppies, came a week sooner than anticipated. I figured that I would have about a week before my first time mother would whelp her puppies….hhmmmm. I had been planning to make an appointment Friday for Breeze, to be x-rayed, however, she had a plan of her own, unbeknownst to me. On Tuesday of this week, I put all the dogs in their crates, gave them their lunch and headed out to the post office 5 minutes away. I was going to run some errands, but traffic in a resort town in the summer is so blessed busy, that I decided to wait until early evening……as luck would have it. When I got home, (15 minutes later), I went to let the dogs out and you can well imagine my shock to find a puppy in Breeze’s cage with her. I was horrified!!!!! This girl had no signs of impending labor, no nesting, no panting and she even ate most of her lunch! Needless to say, my 22 yr old son and I raced around like a scene out of the three stoogers, getting whelping equipment, clamps sterilized and clean bedding. An hour and half later, 3 healthy baby girls made their way into this world. These babies are definitly preemies, but are good sized and very vigorous. As you can see from their picture……they are reasonable sized for preemies!

A very content Mom and her girls.
Well Done Breeze!

(Ballymena Winters Wind)

BUNNIES
I finally got a chance to sit down and try to see what the sexes were on the new baby bunnies. Not as easy to figure out as on the dogs…haha! These babies are still huge! At 12 days their eyes are just starting to open and I was thrilled to discover that we have a buck and a doe. Just what I had hoped for! Now as you look at the picture of the babies…….they do not look very cute yet…LOL….but in just a few short weeks, they will be just about the cutest creatures on earth. My Doe, Bonnie, has been a fabulous mother. One of the things that I breed for is good mothers and temperaments. I have found that using a drop nest has greatly improved my odds against having babies being born on the wire and it seems to give the mom’s an extra sense of security. I feel it is so important to have rabbits that are friendly and comfortable in being handled. Given that they require such intensive hands on grooming/shearing sessions, I prefer not having to fight with an animal with such big teeth….grin!

THE LOOM
Yippee!!!!!!!!! The loom is warped and the towels are in process! I am in LOVE with my new loom. Of course it occupies almost all of my office and getting behind it to work on it is a challenge (grin)…., but I just love the smooth action and the ease with which it weaves. I am doing a waffle weave pattern and these towels are working up nicely in the organic naturally colored (except for the lavender) cotton, that I purchased from Lynnae’s Place, The Chamomile Connection.

After all the hard work of figuring out yardage, winding the warp, beaming on the warp and threading, I am sitting here, enjoying the creation of a new fabric, and my mind drifts onto the next project………….I am thinking nice soft thick bath towels in a lovely 3/2 Organic Olive Natural Cotton that I have….hmmmmmmm……………………

SOCKS
Puppies and bunnies and looms……..Oh MY!! All of the goings on around here have left me on the short end of the stick with the Six Sock Knit Along. I had decided that I could not leave my cloverleaf sock sitting alone and now the crunch is on to get the mate done in time for the deadline of July 31st. In order to qualify for a spot in the drawing, the finished picture needs to be posted by that deadline. Being that I am up all night, making sure that Breeze does not sit on her puppies, I am hoping to be finished in time. I have just finished up the leg and am getting ready to start on the heel………will she I make it in time???……….tune in this week…….same “Bat Channel”, same “Bat Time”…….as the old (I am dating myself here..LOL) saying goes.

What a week! Between the mounds of paperwork at work, the kids on vacation and life in general during the Summer, it has been so blessed busy!! The good news is……I am getting a new kitchen!! I have been waiting 9 years for this kitchen to be redone, so I am beyond excited!! I would post a before picture…..but since I am still living in the “before picture”, I think that I will wait….. I wouldn’t want you all to feel to badly for me…hehe. I never realized the work though, that it takes trying to redesign a kitchen and on a budget makes it even more challenging, but it is going to be fun 🙂

BABIES!!
We have some new little fuzzy arrivals!! Well, not quite fuzzy yet, in fact they look like little piglets…LOL. My German girl, Nordic Bonnie Lass, had 2 of the biggest babies that I have ever seen! They are HUGE!!!!! This was a breeding I was not sure would take, as the doe is a bit older and the buck, Woolybuns Buffalo Bun Cody, is on the youngish side. The doe had not been bred for almost 2 years, so it was anyone’s guess if the breeding would take. Being that I had a large litter a few months ago from another girl and just finished placing the last of the ones that were going to leave here, I was relieved to have a small litter. I am hoping that one is a buck and one is a doe………if that is the way it turns out, they will both stay here :-), as Cody is from the new German Import lines and has a lovely, dense coat and Bonnie has given me fabulous babies before. WELCOME BABIES!

Knitting, Knitting, Knitting
Well, I have decided that I will bite the bullet and finish my cloverleaf socks, as the singleton sock fits one of my daughters perfectly and she loves it…..however, I needed to take a break, so I decided that I would get started on the new sock. It is a neat cabled sock and will be our Aug/September sock for the six sock knit along. I took a breather from the kids, dogs and the paperwork, Friday and took a trip down to Patternworks. I am fortunate that it is only a 40 minute trip for me. What fun to have it so close! After working with the dastardly Fixation yarn, I decided to treat myself to some nice Lorna Laces Shepard Sock Yarn, in Gold Hill Colorway. During Saturday Night Live, I started working on the sock……..it is a fun pattern. I wil have to put these down for a little spell though, so that I can finish the baby sweater that I need to have done soon, before the baby comes. Perhaps at tomorrow’nights stich and bitch at Joan’s house, I will get it finished.

The Loom
Yup………the LOOM…….. I spent the better part of yesterday and this morning fighting with my loom. Moving heddles and harnesses around and trying to figure out how to center my towel pattern on each harness. Normally I would figure out how many heddles would go on each harness for the pattern that I was working on and then divide that in half so that the harnesses would be balanced. On this loom, however, the harnesses are diveded in thirds because of the way the hooks that hold the heddle bars on. Thankfully one very kind man, William Koepp, from the Weaving List, helped me figure out all those 8##%%!@& mathematical calculations. Thank you Bill!!!!! The towels are all “beamed” on and I started threading heddles today. Hopefully tomorrow I will have time to get the rest of the heddles and the reed threaded. One can hope!!

It’s back!! My Robin wheel made it’s way back home to me today. This wheel is definitly one of my favorites. It is a gorgeous wheel made from burled maple and is a stunning wheel. It comes to me from my good friend, Gil Gonsalves of Robin Spinning Wheels. I stopped in and visited with Gil today at his workshop in Parsonsfield, Maine, to fetch my lovely wheel. I can’t say enough about the workmanship that goes into each wheel that Gil makes. One of the great things about purchasing a Robin wheel is that Gil stands by all of his wheels in the event that you ever have any problems. Customer service is A+!! My lovely wheel went in a few weeks ago for a tweaking and it was sorely missed here. I am fortunate that Gil and Robin live so close by that I could go and pick it up. They are both such lovely people. I am happy to have my wheel home where she belongs!! Shhhhhh………….I think Gil is working on a few new designs :-)).

Well, I have finished one of my socks for the Six Sock Knit Around,
and I have to say that I am dreading doing the other one. I love the pattern……it is fun and easy, but I HATE the yarn that I chose to work with on this project. It is an ecru shade of fixation and is very pretty, however, working on size 0 needles with the elastic cotton yarn has turned into a chore. A good friend suggested breaking out of the mold of knitting 2 socks and just framing the one cloverleaf sock. Hmmm………I am thinking how lovely the ecru would look against a nice warm wooden frame…LOL.

Weaving
I made my self a mental list of things that needed to get finished this weekend. Working on the cloverleaf sock, my stash of merino angora and working on the loom were all on the list. While a knitting or spinning project is one that you usually just purchase the materials and/or pattern and you are ready to get started, it is very different when it comes to weaving.

The weaving part is the easy part. The planning, winding, beaming and counting part of weaving is the biggest and most important part of weaving. My mother used to swear that someday I would use all that math that I complained about having to learn and boy…….was she right! Just look at all of these mathamatical hieroglyphics!!

I have decided to do some waffleweave dishtowels on 4 shafts. I took a pattern out of a handwoven magazine that I had done previously, but because I am using a different weight of yarn this time, I had to figure out the difference in the EPI (ends per inch). I have also chosen to design my own warp pattern, which meant some additional figuring as well. This is the first time that I have varied a bit different than a precise printed pattern, so we will see how it comes out…:-). I have chosen some lovely naturally colored orgainic yarn in natural and sage and am combining it with a soft unmercanized 10/2 lavender yarn.

Being somewhat of a beginner, I still find the beaming on process a challenge, as I have mentioned previously. Because of that, I have been using Peggy Osterkamp’s method of making 2 crosses. A traditional counting cross
as well as a raddle cross. I have found that doing the raddlecross helps to keep the yarn behaving better in the raddle. Big on my birthday wish this year is a sectional beam. My good friend, Nancy, from The Spinning Bunny, swears by her sectional beams, so we will see :-). I also use Peggy Osterkamp’s method of chaining in which she wraps the warp in a lark knot fashion around a slat of wood. This really does help keep the warp from getting tangled…….usually..grin.

Tomorrow it is my goal to finish winding the warp for the towels, getting the dogs (all 7) bathed and possibly tackling getting the warp onto the beam.