Fuzz

When I originally bought Adeste, my Fidelis spinning wheel, my intenion was to buy a bump/braid of roving/fiber, spin it and then buy another one. The one-in-one-out method.

However, spinners have other ideas:



This is a technicolor array of merinos that Lynn sent me.

A few days later came this from Bina:


Look at all of those animals depicted!

By Saturday, Chunky when bringing up the mail from downstairs and he gave me a package that was in the mail pile he said: "It's more fuzz isn't it mom?"

Hee hee!

This time it was from my spinning guru straight from Geddesburg:



There's angora, some Blue Leicester locks, some Fat Cat Knits, and a Terra Bella batt (which I've eyed on Etsy...).

Thanks ladies--you sure do know how to welcome someone to the dark side!

So what have I been spinning?

Wellll....it's still very rough, but here's my first plyed skein.



That's the merino I picked up at Maryland Sheep & Wool from the Drafting Zone.

It's very thick n'thin. But it's definately an improvement from the first stuff I spun.

But like Dr. Mad Scientist was quick to point out--I didn't learn to knit in a day.

Oof. So true!

Blobs

Blobs, blobs, blobs.

I've been dealing with blobs a lot lately.

And it's spilling into my knitting.

Here's what I've been working on.

Blob #1:


It's the start of a Lily Cardigan. I wasn't able to figure out the raglan increases of K1, YO, K1 all in the same stitch so I'm doing my own increase.

Next up is Blob #2:


A smaller Monkey Bottom Barf Bag for Ms. Donna at Chunky's school. Kindergarten Graduation is June 13 so I've got a few weeks to get it done. It's much smaller than the one Squeaky's taken a shining too so it should go by much faster.

Those are the only things on the needles now except for Chunky's tiger sock. But that's my lunch knitting and when I'm not napping--like a lazy blob--I work on that.

WIP Wednesday

You don't really think I'll show you what I'm knitting today do you?

Ha ha, I'll do that on Thursday to spite the WIP Wednesday theme.

Instead I give you my Pot Garden WIPs:

Munchkin Broccoli:

Not too happy.

Tomaters:

"Meh."

Munchkin Radishes:

Pleasantly content. Their green onion pot-mates? They're a little shy. We'll give them another week to sprout before we give up on them.

Flowers in the Socks that Didn't Rock (In the Dryer):

Not too shabby.

Munchkin peas:

Oh so happy.

Lettuce/Spinach Mix:

Ecstatic!

As you can see, my cold weather plants (the peas and lettuce) are loving this mild spring weather we've been having.

The rest of my green children? Not so much. It's not quite warm enough for them yet. And the damned birds (pigeons?) have been eating my sprouts--I've lost my cukes, some tomatoes, and some pumpkins to them. Thus the ghetto fab window screen quasi-shielding the seedlings from aviary foes.

We've been having these fluctuations in weather where one week will be 70's, sunny and downright summer like.

The next week will be rainy, windy and cold.

I guess I got spoiled by last spring. It got and stayed warmer faster.

But it's OK. I know I can re-start everything that doesn't work out here. That's the joy of pot gardening--I'll bring it inside if it starts getting too close to fall frost.

My Cup Overfloweth

Due to an unexpected weight gain, Laverne and Shirley, my resident mammaries, have decided to slip the surly bonds that is a C cup and move on to a D cup.

On Sunday I ditched the boys and went bra shopping.

I might as well have gone hunting for a Hillary Supporter at an Obama Rally.

I started off at Kohls.

After wandering around the store I finally found the intimates section where I was faced with about 10 double sided racks of bras.

But here's where I get pissy--about 99% of those bras were the kind that hold their shape when your boobies aren't ensconced in them.



They were all these seat-cushion foam padded nightmares.

Rack after rack!

So here's the deal. The next time I hear ANY woman complain "I hate it when men don't look me in the eyes when I'm talking to them--they just stare at my chest!" I'm going to demand that said woman flash me. And if said woman is wearing one of these seat cushion bras that add extra padding, I'm going to smack her.

Now I haven't been bra shopping since Chunky was a pup--so that was what--nearly 7 years ago? But I can tell you that back then, there was not this proliferation of artificial boob armor.

How do I know this?

Because the 1% of bras I found that I liked, i.e. they lacked an extra inch of padding, were labeled "Vintage Style."

I will say that once you started looking for anything above a D cup, this padding nightmare ended. Larger ladies don't need the extra padding I guess.

However, I'm feeling like a porn star sporting a D cup myself. Why the hell would I want to add another inch to my cleave?

Now maybe I'm being harsh.

Maybe women like to pretend like they have big boobies.

But what good does this padding do? Does it double as a personal floatation device if you're wearing it on a plane that crashes over the Atlantic? Does it make you feel sexy?

If it makes you feel sexy and you're going to play the "My husband/boyfriend/girlfriend likes me wearing this bra..." I'm going to have to say that you're sadly misinformed. No horny husband/boyfriend/girlfriend likes their woman IN a bra. They like their woman OUT of a bra.

Maybe people do really have sex with their bras on like I see in PG-13 movies?



And please don't get me started on the price for these things! We're talking a median price of $25!

Here's my cheapass tip for making your own PFD Seat Cushion Uber Fake Cleave Overpriced Bra: buy a sports bra and fill it with some of that spray foam from Home Depot.



I can't help but think about how much of the planet we could save if we stopped caring about adding a little somethin' somethin' to our gozangas.

Think about it: in addition to not polluting the earth with manufacturing all that foam padding--think of the tenths of pennies you would save in gas mileage not having to haul that extra weight on your boobs around town!

Needless to say I left Kohls and went to Target where I should have started off and bought myself a plain, underwire, cotton, unpadded, D-cup bra for $10.99. No fuss, no muss.

Laverne and Shirley love it.

Mother Smugger

Remember the hideous Monkey Bottom Barf Bag that I've been using to transport Chunky's naptime blankets to and from school on weekends (so I can wash them)?

I now have feline approval of the bag.



The little mother smugger has been sleeping in there all weekend!

Now that the Community College Vest is done, I've cast on a smaller monkey bottom bag for Ms. Donna--Chunky's teacher.

She was hired after Christmas so I didn't get to make her anything. I figure she can have a mini-monkey bottom bag as a end-of-the-school-year thank you.

Happy Mother's Day!

Chunky really outdid himself in the handmade gift department this year:



That's a handpainted cutting board, a card from my "sun" Chunky, and a hand colored pot of petunias.

This is a very special Mother's Day indeed!

Poop

What this picture cleverly hides is all the crappy yarn wrapped earlier on the bobbin.



You can see a bit of it there on the left.

And gross--I've already spun my hair into it!!

Here's what the real poop looked like when I first started. This is literally after five minutes of spinning.



Yes, very blurry, but you can see the overspun nature.

What helped me was slowing down my treadling.

As I hit the last half of the practice roving she sent with the wheel, it clicked and I got into a rhythm.

I absolutely LOVE the fact I can get a thicker yarn on this wheel. I've got it set for the 6:1 ratio so it spins a bit slower and thus I get a thicker yarn. Maybe when I get comfortable, I'll flip the bobbin and spin it a bit faster and thinner.

But for now, I'm loving this.

And these huge bobbins rock! I can see how she claims you can hold a minimum of 6 oz. on each one!

I'll probably knit this crappy stuff up into my little handspun sampler blanket/rug I'm making.



Ala those log cabin blankets you see--I'm just taking small bits of my handspinning (minus the white--that was some stuff Karen spun for me on her Lulu when I originally gave up spindling a year ago and had a little bit of roving left over) and adding it onto this.

It's random and unplanned--kind of like a sampler/crazy quilt. No worries if the handspun sucks.

I kind of dig it.