Fiberaddict's Fiber Fumblings

but wool is so delightful! We've got no place to go...let it snow 'cause I have photos of woolies! (OK, so it doesn't really scan. It's cold, so cut me a little slack. :lol:)

I have PHOTOS! for you! I'll put them behind a cut...because I have a lot of catching up to do! ( Click for photos! )

NYD, after school, the kids and SG cleaned the doe barn. It needed it - it was 6" of WET bedding. :sigh: Partly my fault - the septic sprayer is directly in line with the back door; I had originally set up a plastic pallet to block the spray, but some of the doelings managed to knock it out of position. I didn't notice it for...well, a while. :sigh: But! The barn is now dry and fresh-smelling, and the does seem to appreciate it.

We're breeding LATE this year - Risky was bred to Malcolm while the barn was being cleaned. Yeah for babies! And double-yay for warm birthing weather! Now, if the other does will only come into heat.....:sigh: (Annnnnnnnd - just as I was writing this, Herself told me to look out the window; Padme was teasing Malcolm. So....she's in with him as we speak. :lol:)

I managed to *finally* finish Herself's Lobster mitts - the pattern is fine; the charts are clear - her choice of color was putting my eyes out (slate blue and blood red). Here's the link directly to the mitts (I hope.....I've gone in and made all my projects public, so you shouldn't need to sign up for Ravelry to see it - or my others)

Also impeding my progress on these was the oven mitt I knit, and the other one I started. :lol: Hey, Paton's Classic Wool was on sale for $3.99 - and it felts beautifully! Who was I to argue with a sale? (And we need a few more oven mitts. It's a quick knit and a quick trip thru the wash.)

Next up is a Balmoral bonnet for Himself...and another pair of fingerless thistles for *me*. Then gloves for both SG and Himself. Then another pair of....socks, I think, for me. :lol: As well as more oven mitts.

SG surprised me by helping me upgrade my tablet.......um. WoW. The retina screen is...it's something else! Gazelle.com made me a decent offer on my iPad 2, so as soon as the box comes in, off it goes. They've received and cut my check for the kids' tablets - not a whole lot, but it helps.

We changed up our Latin - Linney's Latin class, while free, just wasn't working. He....drones on. And ON. When I found myself checking out during the lesson, I knew it was time to look for something else. TGC now has Latin 101 - it's on it's way to us, and we're planning on starting it Tuesday (I got free streaming, so even if the DVDs don't come in, we can still get started.) It HAS to be better than what we were doing!

I think that brings me up to date.....hope y'all have a great Shabbat!

Let's see..first off, Happy Hannukah! It begins tonight at sundown. The kids are SO excited....I think we'll go ahead and start celebrating tonight, as well (I wanted to wait until tomorrow, but Sweet Geek overruled me. No biggie - our menorah is ready, I have new candles, so......present-time begins tonight! :lol:

"Finished" fingerless mitt V.4.0 #1 yesterday. It's created quite a stir...I now have to knit a pair for Sweet Geek, modify V.3.0 for Himself...and probably make a pair for Herself (although she hasn't commented. Yet. :grin:) Finished is in "", because I still need to do the convertable mitten top...I CO #2 instead. I wanted to knock it out while I still remembered what I did on #1. :lol: Plus....these are in ragg yarn (1 ply dark brown, 1 ply cream. Barber-pole looking.). I've been mulling over maybe doing the top in dark brown, with ragg ribbing at the palm.....I showed Sweet Geek, and he said...."Hmmmm. OK..oh! :going over to my handspun stack: I want MY next pair to be dark brown, with....hey - will *this* work as the top? :picking up the blood-red dragonhair yarn (wool, silk, mohair, and holograpic fiber yarn - deep red and sparkly. No vampire-jokes, please! :lol:)" Ummmm...sure! Let me finish MY pair, and I'll get started on those. :lol: I'm not sure the dragonhair will hold up to working conditions, but...most of the work will be done with the tops flipped back, so it should be OK. (Although the thought of mixing *my* handspun with Woolease is really squicking me...:grin:)

Himself is agitating to start a hat. And wants me to buy more books NOW. He even offered to buy them HIMSELF if I would take him to the bookstore. :boggles: If I hadn't already gotten all their presents, I'd pick up some gift cards to Half Price for them......(my son is addicted to books! :huzzah!:)

Herself has brought her History grades up to a 70 (from a 43. :blink:) Yes, she FINALLY "found" the missing homework. :shakes head: She's also gone to tutoring....not that she needs it. What she needs is an organizational system that works for Aspies. Haven't found anything of that sort yet. :sigh: Still, this is progress!

Liz Curtis Higgs' next book is due out in early March - she's a fantastic author, and a good (internet) friend of mine. "Here Burns My Candle" is a retelling of the Ruth and Naomi story, set in 1785 Scotland. I can't wait - soon as my paycheck hits, I'll be pre-ordering a copy. :bounce:

I've pretty much come to peace over the bonus situation. I guess I don't need a new dryer right now (let alone a set)....the funds left over from the taxes will go to my favorite charity (I always donate 10% of my bonus. After a LOT of talk, we decided I would still do that, even though this year I have to make up part of it out of the 15th paycheck. Yeah - I can't afford to donate 10% otherwise, the taxes take up that much of the bonus. :sigh:) Still...I feel that's what Yah wants me to do, so....I'll do it. We'll buy the new washer/dryer set with our IRS refund. Hopefully. :grin: (And yes, we want to go ahead and get a complete set. The current set is 9 years old - the washer's been worked on 5 times, the dryer..once or twice. Sears just doesn't build the quality appliances that they used to, and their service SUCKS now. So.....we're slowly replacing all the Kenmore products with other ones....the refrigerator was replaced with a reconditioned Jenn-Air, the W/D will be Maytag (Bravos if I can swing it! LOVE the lack of agitator in the washer!), the dishwasher will be replaced soon (the baskets are all rusting, and it's been repaired twice in the 6 years we've had it).....yeah, Sears' quality sucks. :sigh: I mean - everything except the W/D were bought new when the house was built in 2003....the fridge has already died, the DW has been repaired twice.....both are/were Kenmore. Need I say more?)

I *am* going to be allowed to splurge a bit out of this paycheck, though. For my birthday Sweet Geek said I could buy some sock yarn.....:evil grin: I'm trying to decide if I want to spend it on the pricey, I never buy it because it's too much money yarn, or if I want to buy the so inexepensive I can get even more skeins yarn. I'm leaning towards the pricey stuff....I don't get to do that often. (And I can go to DBNY and get it cheaper...:lol:) We'll see......

Not much else to report.....Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hannukah!

Let's see....Sweet Geek is home sick today. Both kids tried to pull the "I'm sick and must stay home from school" trick, but they didn't realize that HE was home. :snicker: When he stumbled out and announced that if they were sick they had to stay IN bed, NO TV, the song changed, and they are both at school now. :lol: (Moral: Don't mess with a sick man. :lol:)

Am almost done with the mitten top of fingerless mitt #1. Will take photos - need to document my FF sock surgery, anyway. Didn't on sock #1 - I have photos of "before", then after the foot amputation, but..nothing else. I was too busy knitting! I've finished the flap of #2, and picked up the gusset stitches, so I'll take a photo before moving on. Grafting the foot onto the first sock took about an hour - it's only 58 stitches, but it's tedious work, the reatttaching of a foot. :lol:

Contract work today, so I gotta skitter. He'll be here after lunch to pick it up...fun stuff, fun stuff. Hope the 'net is stable...

AGAIN. At least it's not "still"...but again is bad enough. We're supposed to get another 3.5" today....:sigh: At least we won't be a mud-lolly again! (But.....this means we may not be able to go get more tin this weekend. :bangs head:

Mom started chemo yesterday - so far, no ill effects.

Anna gave me an idea - she found an ad for long fingerless gloves, and mused on how they'd be useful for chilly milkings. Well, I won't buy something I can make, so I dug around in the stash, found some bright yarn, and had the kids pick. (It's not superwash, though...I don't have much of that, surprisingly. Hand-wash only...oh, well!). Himself picked (what else?) a blue/gray/purple blend (leftovers from his 2005 hat and mitten set) and Herself picked some screamingly loud orange/pink/yellow (leftovers from her 2006 hat - the "tropicana" and purple fair-isle one. :shudder: You can see her coming from MILES away in that - if we had snow here, she'd blind you, it's so bright.) Himself's first mitt is almost done - I'm at the wrist now. Just need to bind off 2 stitches for the thumbhole, knit 1.5", CO 2, knit another...1" or so, 1/2" ribbing, and I'll be ready to start #2. 24 stitches on size 8s goes pretty fast. :lol: I just need to find the right yarn for me and Sweet Geek now.....(could take some time. I have....a stash. Not as large as some, true, but....I'll leave it at that. :lol:)

According to the PO, my milk pail is in. I just need to try and get there before they close. I also got the butter mold and hoof-trimming kit; all that's left to come is the cream separator (it's coming from Russia, and was mailed out Sunday evening our time. We'll see.....the seller has 100% feedback from over 300 people, so I feel a little more comfortable than I did with the electric one that never showed. :sigh:) I still need to get a 3rd Maggidan's, teat dip cup, and strip cup - but I'm in no rush. I have enough to get started. (Oh, and a butter churn - but if worse comes to worse, I can MacGyver one up. :lol:)

Off to read Urban Survival....