Obviously I have been spending a lot of time at my loom lately.  Thought I would share with you some of the scenes I observe from my loom on a daily basis.

Jac-Vader

Jac-the football player

Building a human pyramid. (3 of my kids are actually in this photo)

Playing Duck Duck Goose?  NOT…..am told they were just “hanging out”.

“Hi MOM.” Gets said lots and lots of time throughout the afternoon.

Even by the resident neighborhood “nerd”.  Ok, she’s really not and this picture doesn’t quite show the “make up job” but it was “nerd day” at school for their school spirit week.  My daughter’s friend wanted to show off her look that day.

Admit it, if you are a fan of Veggie Tales and know of Madame Blueberry and her famous song, you are now singing (at least in your head) “I’m so blue-hoo-hoo, blue-hoo-hoo, blue-hoo-hoo-hoo.  I’m so blue I don’t know what to do,” right?  Are you doing it?  We sing that song lots and lots here.  Jess and I sang that song on Saturday after I discovered dye leaked into my gloves.

Thankfully after a bit of bleach and soap followed by some Gloves in a Bottle lotion, my hands are back to a normal color and are just fine.

Mobius Scarf Revisited

This scarf is now sold, however, while playing on Saturday after Margaret suggested coming up with a Jabot style scarf, I did this:

Simple yet fashionable.  Really do see more in my future.

Long day on tap today so I guess I better get started on it.

My Momma

July 31, 1944 - Sept 28, 2005

I still love you and miss you, momma.

It’s been three years now and I still miss my momma.  September has been a hard month for the last three years.  The last conversation I really had with my momma happened on my birthday in 2005.  The next day she had her stroke.  I spent as much time with her as I could, but things just weren’t the same.  She wasn’t the same.  She and daddy celebrated their wedding anniversary on the 11th of September (but that year she couldn’t remember how many years they had been married or the kids names or much at all really). A few weeks later we had to pack up and move out here.  It was an expected move.  The kids were frightened about it and we promised we would move together as a family.  I couldn’t back down on that promise as they had already been through so much.  While hugging momma that last time that last night in town, she had a quick moment of clarity and told me it was my “turn to be the strong one”.  Jim said that was her blessing to me.  We made it out here, only to have to turn around a few days later to attend momma’s celebration service as she lost her battle with cancer but gained victory over death.

Three years gone from this world, but never forgotten.

I have three things to show off today.  I put a warp on the loom yesterday and had no desire what-so-ever to watch the Jonas Brothers concert DVD that the kids were watching, so I wove and wove and wove some more.  I ran out of weft before the scarf was as long as I would have liked.  It would have made a fine short scarf, but having seen this idea on the Heritage Yarns website months ago and then again on the Weaving A Life Blog (not Laura Fry’s blog) the other day, I decided to try my hand at a mobius woven scarf.  Here’s what I ended up with:

Cotton/Rayon handpainted warp (it’s painted a VERY pale lilac) and comercial painted alpaca weft

I liked how it turned out so much, that I dug through my stash of woven but not completed projects, and found some cloth left over from a purse I wove.  This time, instead of twisting the fringe together, I stitched the ends together on my sewing machine.

Warp: black wool Weft: handspun rainbow mohair singles (handspun by me)

While digging through that box of unfinished wovens, I found this scarf that for some reason I never finished. This morning I finished off the ends and washed and pressed it before we headed out to bowling.

Warp: 5/2 cotton handpainted (by me) in blue and purple  Weft 8/2 cotton variegated commercial dyed  (this is VERY soft with a very nice drape)

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Kids did well at bowling today.  each week, we are seeing improvement in scores and technique, so that’s a good thing.  Last night, the annual MP ball was held.  I didn’t go.  I sort of missed going this year.  Admittedly, the ball is generally a bit boring, more of a “dog and pony” show, but it’s the one night a year I can get all dressed up and feel like Cinderella next to my Prince Charming.  Perhaps, my prince will take me someplace really nice when he gets home and I will feel like Cinderella again instead of constantly feeling like the wicked step mother these days.

Is this a light at the end of the tunnel?  I mean, the hubster comes home in 39 days.  (ack…must clean office).  So, it IS starting to feel like there will soon be an end to the longest year of my life.  But no…this isn’t the light at the end of the tunnel.  It’s a light up crochet hook.

Even though I don’t crochet much anymore, I do often use a crochet hook to bind off socks and mittens and such.  I can’t believe I succumbed to my children’s pressure to buy The Crochet Lite and bought the hook, but I did.  And we’ve had fun playing with it if nothing else.  Now, should the power go out, I am set to crochet.

Guess what I got?  Yup, the final package from my Secret Pal.  She totally spoiled me.  Thank you soooooooo much.  My girls are currently fighting over the “way cool sparkly bag” the package was wrapped in.  HAH!

Contents of the package included:

Blessings hand lotion, a hand knitted zippered bag, sugar free chocolate covered raisins, a note pad, 3 different kinds of beads along with a beading hook, Euclan wool wash, noro sock yarn and pattern, 4 balls of sock yarn (2 purple and 2 teal) along with a Heartstrings pattern for beaded socks, and a very sweet note.  Thank you again. You really have been a great Secret Pal.

Emergency knitting

Ok, so not a true emergency, but more like unplanned project.  I had nothing on my loom yesterday and nothing on the needles (except for the WIP sweater and I haven’t picked up the sleeve stitches yet).  Due to something that was going on and me being totally stressed out, I needed a quick knitting fix and didn’t want to think anything out really.  So I pulled the first pattern I saw on Ravelry along with yarn that happened to be right next to me due to a frogged project.  So I cast on for my first ever Clapotis.  I am using two different sock yarns held together (I told you I grabbed what was right by me).  Not sure I am totally in love with the combo yet, but I will continue with the project as knitting the pattern is very soothing.  I cast on yesterday afternoon and am nearly done with the 5th increase.  Will I do more then the required?  I don’t know yet.  Think I am just going to let the project evolve and see where it takes me.

Will there be another Clapotis in my future?  Possibly.  Will have to wait and see.

So, I washed and dried the painted blank from yesterday.  I wound it into a warp and ended up with enough for a shawl.  I think this will be for a new project I am going to work on making shawls for the wives supporting their injured soldiers who are currently undergoing medical treatments.  I haven’t decided what to use for the weft yet, but I am thinking a blue to continue with the calm feeling I got when winding the warp.

And then just a few more painted yarns for warp.

I’ve Got The Blues:

and Candy Corn:

Weaving

Finally, it’s off the loom….finally. (ok so really it wasn’t on the loom THAT long, but for me, it seemed a long time) Fire Storm in 20/2 cottons and 20/2 rayon

Knitting

The Gansey Gayle is done.  I got the pattern from the Holiday Mystery Group on Yahoo.  I had never made bobbles before.  They were pretty easy.  Chris said he would have loved this hat if it didn’t have them on it.  So….now I know what hat to make him for Christmas.  HA HA HA HA

Really enjoyed knitting this hat.

Today….more yarn painting.  YAY

Ok, I caught this over at Susie’s blog yesterday. A Sarah Palin name generator.  I guess people are making fun or calling it weird or whatever about the names Sarah Palin chose for her children (hey like paying someone to come up with a child’s name or playing a name lottery is better???).  So, I curiously went over there to see what my name would be if Sarah Palin named me.  Well, somehow I think Sarah Palin would have come up with something better then Crunk Petrol for me, if I do say so myself.  But hey, a special thanks to my mom and dad for NOT choosing that name for sure.

Yarn Painting

I actually got lots of yarn painting done yesterday.  YAY.  Here are just a few of the warps I painted:

And then I tried my hand at machine knit blanks and painted those:

More yarn painting planned for today as well as hopefully getting Fire Storm off the loom.

Yesterday I was blessed to receive that rare actual phone call from hubby.  Oh it was so nice to hear his voice again.  While we were both talked about our mutual “issues” that  we were dealing with apart from each other, I sat on the back porch watching a spider and an ant.  The ant was your normal typical sized small ant and was carrying a piece of freshly cut grass at least 4 to 5 times it’s body size.  It struggled a bit as it walked, but it continued to carry it’s load and press forward.  Out of seemingly nowhere a huge spider more then 20 times the ant size, attacked the ant and the load it carried.  The ant dropped its load, and stumbled, but resolutely picked up the grass and began again forward, a bit dazed perhaps, but determined to carry on.  Again, it was attacked, stumbled, and pressed on.  The ant actually wielded the grass like a sword and fought off a third attack and the spider retreated.  As I sat there explaining this to Jim, I KNEW that God was telling me a story in all this.  Jim agreed that there was a moral and a meaning to this.  Then I watched again as the spider lay in wait around a slab of concrete and when the ant approached, it was again attacked and fought off spider and continued out of sight while the spider backed down and went to go stalk something else.

This morning, we are dealing with some unpleasant things around the house (attitude, sass, not following some very essential rules, etc) and I am just tired and burned out.  I want to give up and just throw my hands up in defeat.  I think God is trying to tell me to be like that ant, and just continue to carry on.  Be resolute and firm in the walk.  Yes, I will stumble, yes I will drop the load.  Just keep on going and soon things will be all better.  At least that’s what I NEED to cling to right now.

Finished Object

The Joni Hat pattern went on sale last week.  I bought the pattern and started Friday night.  I finished it Sunday afternoon.  I love the pattern and I need to knit up some mittens to match it.  I plan to make more of this pattern if I can find the time.

The gray is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes and the pink is Elann’s wool/bamboo blend.  So soft and I am in love.  Now, if it would just get cold enough to start wearing hats

I ended up NOT getting to the loom yesterday.  Hey, after The Hunt for Red October ended, Clear and Present Danger came on.  Ok, how was I to know that it was like a mini Tom Clancy fest?  So I watched that too while I finished up the above Joni hat and cast on for a different hat.  Lots of hats being made around here.

Today is the last day of summer and tomorrow we usher in fall.  We have looked forward to fall for nearly a year now.  Yup, Jim left in the fall of last year and will return home in the fall of this year.  YAY….it’s getting closer and closer.

The kids and I headed to Cowboy Arena Church today.  They (the kids) love attending church in a barn around horses and stuff.  We don’t go to daddy’s church often, but have been a few times now.  We got to hear Susie Luchsinger in concert and be a part of a taping of an upcoming show on RFDtv.  Susie is Reba McIntire’s sister and in her own right a powerful singer.  The kids and I got a quick opportunity to speak with her after lunch and on our way out the door.  She was so kind and we were kidding about the merits of raising children and the differences between boys and girls along with others on her staff.

Fire Storm is on the loom still and I plan to get busy weaving after I finish watching an old favorite show of mine.  Yes, I am a sucker for the movie, The Hunt For Red October.  I used to love Tom Clancy books and well, let’s face it, Alec Baldwin made a really cute Jack Ryan.  But getting back to Fire Storm….I couldn’t figure out where I got the idea for the colors until the kids pointed it out to me today…..

Fire Storm on the loom…(lighting not the best…reds wanted to blaze off the flash so I tried a shot without the flash and this is the best I could come up with)

“Unknown inspiration”…(tee hee My favorite “fall” shirt and my favorite knitting bag)

Ok…see the similarities?  As Jess said when taking the picture….”Silly momma.”