It amazes me how strong my yougest daughter is. To see her dealing with multiple doctor appointments in a single day, to see her with metal boxes in her mouth that are holding her jaw in a much wider position while there are wires pulling her upper teeth too and fro is hard. I try and show her how each little improvement is adding up to a big beautiful healthy mouth. Try and explain that to a 9 year old who only wants to have a smile that shows her upper teeth just like every one else and who wants her top lip to have a cupid's bow instead of being straight across. My girl is strong willed and determined. Today we will go have more adjustments made to her braces and to check on her bone grafting surgery. Will we have to redo the surgery to correct one side of the bone grafting? That is the sugery that she said she'd rather eat 9 bowls of peas so she wouldn't have to do it again. Pray for us that she can be spared another round of surgery. But if not, pray that I can explain it to her so she understands that ultimately it will be the best for her.
***UPDATE: I'm happy to report that Emily does NOT have to have the bone grafting surgery again, while there isn't as much bone in her right jaw as he wanted, there is most likely "enough" and that is good. We don't have to go back for about a year and a half. Whoo Hoo!
etsy
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Pre-Winter preparations
The winter basket full of mittens and hats from last year has been dug out and items too small or worn out have been discarded. The rest was washed in preparation for the winter soon to come. Note I didn't say carefully washed. Sigh...I took a stranded knitting class a few years ago, I made a beautiful gray, white and black hat that Anna promptly claimed as her own. She wore this hat happily for the last two winters. Nothing makes this knitter happier than to see something she made used by one of her girls. Nothing makes this knitter sadder than to see the carnage resulting in a slip of tossing a stranded hat knit from baby alpaca into the washer AND drier.
Not even Gadget will wear it.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Pictures Galore
November 5th I will be a vendor at the Upper Midwest Alpaca Fiber Festival, in getting ready for the event, I did a bit of staging for the show at home. So here are a bunch of pictures showing my yarns ready to be made into something fabulous...or just to be admired and petted!
This is about 1/3 of my finished skeins...and on the right is the hat I made that I'm hopefully going to have a few kits made up as a package deal at the event.
I found two really nice baskets that I think work very well as displays. And I love the idea of dreaming of what next I'm going to work on...be it spinning or knitting...right now spinning is pushing knitting out of the way, but I really have several things I need to get done knitting wise in the next couple months. Not all Christmas knitting, but still a few things that can't wait.
My cousin took the pictures for me, I emailed her and asked to hire her to take pictures of yarn. Bet she never heard that request before. Heidi is an amazing photographer. Years ago, she took pictures of Anna and me that I used in my adoption dossier for Emily. Maybe it helps that I'm more relaxed around her than other photographers? I'm not sure...but even though it is hard for me to be in pictures, I like this...
Emily was our gopher, helping stuff baskets with yarn, running and grabbing my roving basket for this picture. You can see it behind us on the stair landing. It is filled to the brim, what you see in our laps is the overflow! To say I have some spinning to do is the ultimate understatment. Working full time, doing school things, church things with the girls and all the other life appointments makes spinning/kintting as much as I want more of a challenge. But I'm determined to continue to stock my finished supply. I really would like to have double my current number on hand for the spring fiber festivals I'm planning on vending at. So I need to focus on moving things through. What a chore!
As I spin, I always think what I'm currently working on is my new favorite. The middle skein is Kodiak, one of Ginny's fabulous rovings from Fat Cat Knits. I love the greyish browns and silvers...maybe when things slow down I can work on something using it.
And finally, just in case you think wrangling yarn is easy, check out this shot, we couldn't get a certain skein of yarn to stay in place, so we used a little help.
Hope to see you in Hopkins!
Emily was our gopher, helping stuff baskets with yarn, running and grabbing my roving basket for this picture. You can see it behind us on the stair landing. It is filled to the brim, what you see in our laps is the overflow! To say I have some spinning to do is the ultimate understatment. Working full time, doing school things, church things with the girls and all the other life appointments makes spinning/kintting as much as I want more of a challenge. But I'm determined to continue to stock my finished supply. I really would like to have double my current number on hand for the spring fiber festivals I'm planning on vending at. So I need to focus on moving things through. What a chore!
And finally, just in case you think wrangling yarn is easy, check out this shot, we couldn't get a certain skein of yarn to stay in place, so we used a little help.
Hope to see you in Hopkins!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Fabulous Day of Spinning
Saturday morning was one of those you memorize in your mind. So in January when the wind is howling and the snow is piling up outside, you remember some of the reasons why you live here. It was a gloriously sunny day to be spinning in public. I got to Lilia & Claudine's around 9:30, pulled out my wheel and basket filled with plenty of roving and got set up outside their shop. There were multiple vendors, selling pottery, jewelry, yarn, food treats, vegetables and much more. People were browsing the many tents and I had such fun.
Within a couple seconds I had my wheel up and whizzing away. And the first of many people stopped to watch and ask questions. I forget how many people do not realize there are many of us who have our own spinning wheels and spindles. Seeing the amazement on their faces as they ask what I'm doing and when they finally understand I'm making yarn it is the shock and awe effect. I was surprised by the multiple questions on my "home-made" wheel. When I explained that it was a commercial wheel (I have a Louet) and that there were several different companies that built many different types and styles of wheels, there was much shock. Kids seemed to have an easier understanding, maybe between Rumpelstiltskinn or Sleeping Beauty, they seemed better able to make the leap to a finished yarn from sheeps wool.
I was asked so many questions on where I got the roving, how it came in such different colors, and what I actually did with the finished wool. I did have a big issue, it was quite cold even though it was so sunny and bright. I was mostly in the shade and with a light breeze blowing, my hands quickly got so cold. Now I had some fingerless mitts along, but I had not finished the thumbs. I was sure I would have plenty of time to whip out two thumbs. Well, I was wrong. I had a steady stream of people around the wheel for several hours. I finally had enough time after about 3 hours to finish one thumb and gratefully slid my left hand into the glove and it quickly warmed up that hand so I could once again feel the roving slide through my fingers.
All in all it was a wonderful day. I had the pleasure of seeing one woman buy 3 of my hand spun skeins during the day. I was able to have a full day of doing something I love. Thanks to Kirsten and Polly of Lila & Claudine's for helping set up such a wonderful event and including me! I had a blast.
Within a couple seconds I had my wheel up and whizzing away. And the first of many people stopped to watch and ask questions. I forget how many people do not realize there are many of us who have our own spinning wheels and spindles. Seeing the amazement on their faces as they ask what I'm doing and when they finally understand I'm making yarn it is the shock and awe effect. I was surprised by the multiple questions on my "home-made" wheel. When I explained that it was a commercial wheel (I have a Louet) and that there were several different companies that built many different types and styles of wheels, there was much shock. Kids seemed to have an easier understanding, maybe between Rumpelstiltskinn or Sleeping Beauty, they seemed better able to make the leap to a finished yarn from sheeps wool.
I was asked so many questions on where I got the roving, how it came in such different colors, and what I actually did with the finished wool. I did have a big issue, it was quite cold even though it was so sunny and bright. I was mostly in the shade and with a light breeze blowing, my hands quickly got so cold. Now I had some fingerless mitts along, but I had not finished the thumbs. I was sure I would have plenty of time to whip out two thumbs. Well, I was wrong. I had a steady stream of people around the wheel for several hours. I finally had enough time after about 3 hours to finish one thumb and gratefully slid my left hand into the glove and it quickly warmed up that hand so I could once again feel the roving slide through my fingers.
All in all it was a wonderful day. I had the pleasure of seeing one woman buy 3 of my hand spun skeins during the day. I was able to have a full day of doing something I love. Thanks to Kirsten and Polly of Lila & Claudine's for helping set up such a wonderful event and including me! I had a blast.
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