Spinning

Sorry it has been a long time since I made a post but I think I have a good reason. There were holidays and traveling. New news. I got a wheel. :-) I purchases as a happy birthday/ merry Christmas present to myself as Ashford Traveller. It came on Monday and I already have 3 bobbins full. I am hoping to do some plying on Saturday. I had a mini party to put it together. Mr. Basset came over with his human to help.



Amanda and Stephanie where also there. Here is the wheel.



Here is me spinning.



Here is a picture of a full bobbin.



The purple was done from pencil roving by all 4 of us on Monday (Georg, Steph, Amanda, and Kevin). I don't know much about the roving but it was donated by Georg and a great way to get used to using the wheel.

Yes I said Kevin. He gave it a try. I hope I don't have to fight with him over who gets to spin. :-)

Professor

Yes, for a week I was a professor. I taught a week of a survey course on z/VM at Binghamton University. It was a lot of fun (and work). So is a life of academia in my future? Doubtful but I could get used to this guest lecturer gig.

The Election is over

Obama won. People are happy. People are sad. Either way, let's see what happens in the next few years. I'm going to hang on because it should be an interesting ride. I have so happy to hear of so many people voting. I hope that that trend will continue in local and state elections and that people don't show up only at the national level. So much can change at a state and local level that we shouldn't ignore that.

Halloween

Dogs are dressed up again (kind of). Here you have Milo and Mieke ready for the trick or treaters.

What I got at Rhinebeck

Ok here are some pictures as promised. First my new golding spindle. Love it.


Got a really good deal on fiber. Buy 4 get 1 free and the balls were only $7 to begin with.

Got some half price alpace and llama plus some wool/tencel blend and other wools.

Long time

Sorry it has been a long time without a post. I was out of town on a work trip to LAS VEGAS. It was fun but exhausting. Then I went to RHINEBECK. Awesome. Lots to tell and pictures to post but no time right now. Just wanted to create a post to let all my loyal readers (all .5 of you) that I'm still alive. Today is a very sad day (very sad) but I'm still here. Back with lots of pictures and stuff from my trips later in the week.


Why is today sad? Well if I hadn't miscarried today would have been my due date. Plus on top of that still not pregnant again.... :-( So I'm sad. I try not to make this blog depressing but on a day like this I think I have a right to say that the world isn't fair and it all pisses me off and that I'm sad and I miss my baby and I just want to be a mommy and .... Well I could go on forever but I'm trying not to cry. So yeah that's me today. Sad.

Floors

The hardwood floor installation began today. The house is a mess but it should be worth it.

I told you so

UGH... so I get to say I told you so. I really didn't want to be right because well the person who was wrong is a doctor. And I want to trust my doctor. But no I was right. I was right in saying that if my TSH was 2.88 on 85mcgs and .16 on 100 mcgs that switching to 75 mcgs was not going to make it fall between 2.5 and 1. I told the nurse my concerns. I tried to explain the math I was using to her. She talked to the doctor but decided that 75 mcgs was the correct amount.... So now my TSH is 26.5. Hello that's a +26 point jump in a month. And I feel horrible because of it. Here I thought I just wasn't getting enough sleep and that my life must just be super crappy lately because I was feeling so tired and weak and depressed. (This could still be possible) But I checked the symptoms of Hypothyroidism (which is what I have) and they are:

• Severe fatigue, loss of energy, persistent sleepiness
• Weight gain, difficulty losing weight
• Depressed mood
• Joint and muscle pain
• Dry skin, brittle nails and hair, thinning hair
• Irregular periods

So ugh... I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease in March of 2007. At that time my highest TSH was 14 and I can't say I felt sick or had any symptoms. Over a year later I'm still trying to get my levels into what I consider a good ranger (1 to 2.5) and it feels like we are going backwards not forward. Is it time for a new doctor? Maybe....

Aspineration

The knitting crew aspinerated Amanda this Tuesday. Check it out.



Word is she loves it. I think she'll have her first skein done before me... My knitting? I've been fighting with the knot from hell the last week. I predict some scissors and cursing in the future.

More paint

Ok so the hubby wasn't thrilled with the purple in the hallway. So we changed it on Wednesday night. (Starting to not like painting so much but getting pretty good at cutting in.) So the hallway is now a beige/peach color like the giant wall was when we moved it. I got the color matched at home depot. It looks pretty darn close but not perfect. Good thing the two walls are next to each other. We also made the half way all green. Pictures didn't turn out so well but here you go.

As you come up the stairs:


Looking down the hallway:


The half wall:
In other news, I got a great swap package from the bulb swap that ran on the Healing after Pregnancy Lost group on Ravelry (background blog post). Thanks to AKFrog!

In the box:
Dutch Iris
Hyacinth
Gloves
Dog treat dispenser
Balls for the dogs
Yarn - Purple Lopi Reynolds
sheep measuring tape
scissors
plant markers

Milo enjoyed the balls that came in the swap.



In knitting news, I haven't made my own nanners yet from WendyKnits pattern. But due to some good luck on my part and a crappy swap partner on Stephanie's side, I inherited a pair. So cute and comfy. Steph made these out of panda cotton.


Finally I made a killing at the Finger lakes fiber festival without even going. Heather aka Daisymoms was my personal shopper for the weekend and came back with 4 oz of Blue Face Leicester, 2 oz wool/silk blend, and 4 oz fine alpace/silk blend. I'm in heaven. Now I just need to finish some of my holiday knitting so I can get back to spinning.

Wallpaper

Ok so the task at hand for the weekend (and the reason why I broke my Friday posting streak) was wallpaper removal. Here are some in process shots:


Stephanie came over and helped. We got almost all the paper down on Friday. We put our heads together and came up with a 'safe' way to access the wall beside the stairs.




Primed and painted and we were done by dinner time on Saturday. Now the kitchen is called slippery rock and is obviously green. I love it. The living room, stairs and hallway are painted in museum rose which is a purple/brown color. I really like it. The hubby is coming around but I think some changes will be needed. Finished pictures to come in a month or so when the new floor is in. Can't wait.

Pictures as promised

Ok for two weeks I've been promising pictures. Here we go.

My sweater (not the best picture but I tried. The actual sweater turned out AWESOME.):


My first spinning attempt:


A totally awesome knit night (we watched Black Sheep baaaaaad movie) :-)


More pictures from Rascal aka Mr Basset's visit


And last but not least it is football season and the dogs are cheering on their favorite teams:

Yikes Friday already

Well it is Friday again. Where does the time go? I'm trying to keep up my weekly posts but yet again this week I have no pictures... Sorry.

I finished my sweater yesterday at B&N. Stephanie got me a roaring round of applause from the general B&N regulars. It looks great but you'll have to take my word on it until I get some pictures taken.

Had a good work week. Worked Tuesday. Had a company picnic all day Wednesday. Then finished up with work Thursday and today. I could get used to these 3 day work weeks.

The hubby and I are off to a wedding tomorrow. So no Penn State game for us. Hopefully, we will be able to catch some of it in between the wedding and the reception. I feel bad for the bride and groom. The weather forecast for tomorrow is 100% chance of rain up to 1 inch. Well it is suppose to be good luck to have rain on your wedding day. So they should never run out of luck. :-)

WE ARE!!!

PENN STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First Penn State game tomorrow. I'll be there.

In other news I got aspinerated. Long story. I'll have pictures next week.

It is a short post but I'm trying to keep my one post a week streak going. More next week.

A Basset and a Bag

We are dog sitting for a friend. Meet Rascal aka Mr. Bassett.


What do Milo and Mieke think of him? Well a picture is worth a thousand words:


They were unsure at first but now they don't seem to care. Everyone is existing in peaceful indifference.

In other news, the great, amazing, totally awesome Stephanie made me a sock bag. Isn't it awesome?

See the pattern pocket. Brilliant.

Love the color.
Check out the inside. It holds up to 3 skeins of yarn so you could have 3 socks going at the same time.

Now I just have to suck up to her enough to get the small sock bag that holds one skein and can be a general purse. :-) At one point she was going to open an Esty shop and sell these. Not sure of her plans now but I know I would buy the small one.

Sweater and socks

I finished my socks out of Blue Hand Fiber's Mrs. Norris sock yarn. :-)


They are redoing our street. Here the dogs keep watch over the milling machine.

I started my first adult sweater (for me). It is the wonderful wallaby pattern I bought at Spin a Yarn. I got the yarn from Knit picks. It is the Iris Heather colorway. Look a sleeve. :-)


This is the body of the sweater. I'm making the sweater as part of the Ravelympics's Sweater Sprint. I'm suppose to finish by the end of the Olympics... not sure if I'll make it but it is fun trying.

Went to the zoo

I went to the Ross Park Zoo and I FORGOT my camera. Which totally sucked because I was like 3 feet from the penquins. And the leopards were out and moving around. The tiger was sleeping but would have made a good picture. Plus the bear was in the funniest position. He (she?) was laying on his back with his paws up. All spread out. He looked like a hung over college student (only in a bear costume). I think it is kind of funny that every time I go to type bear I accidently type beer and have to fix it. :-) Must be Friday.

In order news, we (the hubby and I) are doing the South Beach Diet again. So far so good. I think I've lost 4-6 lbs and the hubby a lot more (over 10). It isn't too hard but I'm looking forward to cereal again for breakfast. I cheat a bit by still having my starbuck's cookie on Tuesday at B&N during knitting. But hey you have to have a treat every now and then. FYI the starbuck's cookies are not at all good for you. But I try not to think about that. :-)

Food, socks, and stuff

Announcing my first tomatoes. This year I planted a few tomato plants. I'm very proud as growing up my Dad did most of the gardening.

A good picture of Milo. Mieke wouldn't look at the camera long enough for me to get a good shot. She must be camera shy.


A sock made from Blue Hands Fiber Mrs. Norris colorway. Very basic stockinette with an eye of partidge heel and 2x2 twisted ribbing for the cuff. I feel so proud. This one sock took forever because I dropped stitches and then bound off too tight. I think I am going to start a new sock before I finish this pair. Can we say second sock syndrome?

Random stuff

The hubby and I went to Danville, PA last weekend for the Iron Heritage Festival. It was an extremely hot weekend but we saw some cool stuff. Here is the Civil War re-enactment encampment. They fired that gun at us.


I saw spinners. Some day maybe I'll learn how to spin but for now I'll just watch.

And I found a yarn store. Swisher's Yarn Basket was going to set up on the main street with rocking chairs and learn to knit lessons but decided to stay inside due to the heat. I bought some yarn to make a felted french market bag. (As if I needed anymore yarn)

Well that was the Danville weekend. This weekend my mom and sister came up and we went to Seneca lake. A few weekends ago we took the hubby's parents to Keuka lake. We now have way too much wine. Here is a shot I took from Glenora winery.
Finished up the weekend with a very wet trip to the Warped Tour. We saw Real Big Fish (not Big Real Fish as I kept calling them), Reliant K, and Angels and Airwaves plus a few more. It poured on us at time but it was fun.


In other news, we got our Syracuse tickets and our season tickets. :-)