No pics, just a story or two :)

Or, "Why I Learned To Spin".

Well, I have been thinking about spinning again, lately. For a very good reason. My inspiration for spinning.

Way back when, I had quit smoking. In order to "help", I dug out some of my crafting stuff. Well, not truly, since I didn't have much back then, but I bought a little embroidery kit. I had a couple latch hook kits, too. The only crafts I could do back then, were to knit, to embroider, to latch hook, and some basic weaving. All of those things my mother taught me, before I even went to school. So, I owned a few knitting needles, and a box of scraps of yarn. Anyway, I bought this embroidery thing, a little butterfly and some flowers. I worked on it. Never did finish it - the truth is, I'm not too fond of embroidery. I can do it, but I choose not to. Anyway, I decided that I wanted to learn to quilt. So, I started buying magazines. Hadn't yet discovered the wealth of opportunity at the library.... Well, at that time, the stores around me didn't have much to offer in the way of quilt mags. But, I did pick up one that had a variety of crafts in it. Knit, crochet, cross stitch, and a couple of quilts. I got side-tracked - learned to crochet, knitted an afghan, and learned to cross stitch. Now, technically, cross stitch is embroidery - but, it really kind of is in a class by itself. Anyway, I did eventually learn to quilt. But, in the meantime, I had seen an ad in one of these magazines that I bought, about a place that you could send your dog fur combings to, and they would spin it into yarn for you. I didn't have a dog. BUT - I *did* have a cat, that shed worst than any long haired dog I'd ever seen. Every year, twice a year, actually, I had to get my son to flatten the front end of this kitty, so I could comb or brush out the back end. I used to joke that I got enough fur off each back hip to make a kitten!!! (the flattening was necessary, since the cat hated the process, and it was much safer if teeth and claws were held down) Anyway, the simple little ad led me to the library catalogue (by then, I'd discovered that wonderous place, lol) and a book about spinning dog hair. Which led me to some other spinning books. Which led me to the phone book, to find that spinning equipment was scarce. Or, I was looking in the wrong places.... So, spinning went on the back burner.

Later, came Spud, with her spinnable fur, and Bear, with his.... And the internet, with all of it's resources and information and people.... And finally, my learning to spin. I began saving combings, brushings, etc. from all the animals. Separately, of course.....

So, when my skills get to the right stage for it - I shall be spinning the fur, and making a scarf, from my inspiration. Who? Well, if you haven't guessed by now, or if you didn't already know about it, my inspiration for learning to spin was Roxy. Which is why, too, that I clipped some of the yarn from one of my first spun balls of alpaca, and included them in Roxy's grave. Along with a toy, some potato chips (her favourite food), and some catnip....




Continuing on now, with the animal theme.... I wish I *could* share a picture of what I saw this morning. I've mentioned urban wildlife before - we get a lot of dear in the city limits, and we happen to live near to the airport, and not too far from a creek, and relatively speaking, a major river - anyway, this morning, drove DH to work, at around 6 am. Coming home, just after dropping him off, I saw something on the road in front of me - I wasn't too surprised - it was a huge deer. Had a huge rack of antlers on his head, too!!! Walking across the road ahead of me. I'm thinking, this deer had some experience with traffic. I mean, too often I've seen road kill. Especially on that stretch of road. Anyway, this deer walked across the first part of the street, stopped, looked at me coming towards him, then stepped up onto the median. Me - I was concerned for his well being. I mean, I'd seen him soon enough to slow right down, and there was no other traffic on my side of the street. But there was a lot of oncoming traffic - and the cars that I've seen in the morning going that way, are notorious for speeding, trying to get to work "on time", fighting for the best parking space, etc. (there are a couple of major businesses with hundreds of employees, and huge parking lots....) So, I was quite concerned for the safety of this poor deer. Oh, I guess I should care about the people and their cars - hitting a full sized deer can do a lot of damage. But, this deer stopped on the median, and watched the oncoming traffic, and when there was a break in traffic, he continued on his way across the street, and into a wooded area on the other side. I guess you don't get to be a nice big deer with a full rack of antlers if you don't get to be traffic-wise growing up ;)

Projects done.

Well, I needed to do a kitchen set for a basket. A fundraiser type raffle basket. My contribution was towels with toppers, dishcloths, and (bought) matching potholders.

So, besides those pictures, I also finally got around to taking pictures of my dye experiments.

I really am hooked on this dyeing of yarn thing - don't know if I'll go into major production - so far, just playing and colouring enough for a pair of socks is fun enough :) Because I'm not into production type stuff, I have no inclination to get into the complexities of chemical dyes. Besides the cost of buying them, the need for separate equipment, and the dangers of working with chemicals, I doubt I'll ever bother with them. So, my dyeing is "limited" to foodstuffs (koolaid, foodcolouring) and natural stuffs. I've shared pics of my food colourign and kool aid dyeing before - as well as putting them in my photo album, which there is a link to on the side.

This summer, though, I got into some natural dye experiments. I had picked up a cast iron "dutch oven" at a thrift store, thinking I might use it one day. It sat in my cupboard for almost a year, so when I decided to try the natural dye, I decided to dedicate this iron pot to dyeing. Took it out to our cabin, and began collecting leaves. We were on holiday for those weeks in September - remember the fish net? :) And the pictures of the "mystery bush"? Well....

Ok, so what I did, was I gathered some oak leaves, both from some trees (they were about to lose them for the fall anyway) as well as some from the ground that the bear had torn off, along with some twigs, branches, etc. I chopped it all up, put it into the pot, covered it with water, then we put it on the fire to boil and simmer for an hour or two. (nothing scientific here - just playing) Then, I drained it through a colander, into a plastic bowl (which I regretfully dedicated to dye) then put the end of a skein of yarn into it. I only had one skein of white wool with me, and I thought I might do more later. DH was so impressed, (and I think I wrote about this before) that he wanted me to try some of the red leaves that were on the bushes around our place. We've tried before to figure out what the bushes are, so far, no luck. Anyway, I went around gathering leaves, again putting them into the pot, cover with water, and boiled away. Then I drained, and dipped the other end of the yarn.

This is what I got:

Brown from oak, and that lovely green from the red leaves:

Then, I decided to make some dye from poplar trees. I did, but this time, I let it cool and bottled it. Which is also what I did with the leftover oak and mystery bush dye. I had to make a trip home to check on the cats, and do some laundry, and so on, during the holiday. So I also picked up more yarn :)

I did cold dips - that is, I put the dyestuff liquid back into the bowl, then just put part of the yarn in, then let it sit for a few hours. I got a "washed out" sort of look:

Here is the "hot" oak and mys. bush, beside the "cold":

They are more intense in the hot....

Now, what I did for the poplar parts - on the left picture above, you can see there is two spots on the yarn that are the same colour? Well, I had put the poplar liquid into jars. One jar, I dipped part of the yarn, the second jar, I added some vinegar to the jar, then dipped the yarn. I can sort of see a slight difference, but it all depends on the lighting. If I am outside on a sunny day, I can really see a difference. The vinegar made the green a little more yellowish. Both are yellowish green, but the vinegar brings out the yellowish. I don't think you can really tell from the pictures, though.

So, these two yarns are wound into balls, ready to be converted into socks.... that DH and I are going to fight over, lol. We both love the colours that resulted..... I guess I'll give him the more intense coloured pair, and I'll go with the lighter ones.... :( There is always next year, and I still do have some liquid in jars, that I can hea up lol.... What I also have, but haven't dipped yet, is some birch bark. I read in one book (library copies, I made a few notes) was that birch bark should give various shades of peachy pinks, depending on mordant. Well, I have my doubts - I think I'm going to get a green again..... But, I want to heat the liquid before I dip.... Will let you know when I'm done :)

Double post.....

Yesterday, I had difficulty posting. First, my ISP was acting up.... Second, Blogger's ISP or whatever was acting up..... Earlier this week, my whole 'puter acted up.....

So, hopefully, we're back to what passes for normal. There really *is* no such thing as "normal".

BUT - at least I don't have to retype EVERYTHING.... I was smart enough to save what I had typed yesterday on a notepad thingy :)

So, under the heading of "Projects Update" - I had written:

I'll do the tribute to Roxy tomorrow.... Had some 'puter problems yesterday, and couldn't edit some pictures, and I have a busy day ahead of me today, so I didn't have a lot of time to do them this morning. I did, though, since there weren't too many, edit a few other pics :)
I had fun, making those challenge projects. I wanted them done by the time Thanksgiving weekend was over, because that is the last weekend of the season/year that we head out to the cabin, and the person/people the items were for live out there....
Ok, so - what to say first, so that this makes some sense? Dinner was delicious. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, baked yam, corn, spaghetti squash, cabbage rolls, perogies, home-made cranberry sauce, salad - think that covers it.... Dessert: banana cream pie and sweet potato pie.
I tasted a little of everything!!!
Now, the projects: First, I got a picture sent to me of the doggy wearing the sweater I made :) I forgot to take a picture of it before it left....

Interestingly, the dog's name is "Roxy", too.... :) Ok, so - legwarmers to match:

Yeah, I know.... same thing, different lighting effects. We're finally getting the hang of our camera, lol.... Trying different settings, all that.

So, on that note, I also did a couple pictures of the front of the paw print mittens. My friend had asked me if I could make the mittens, for her daughter, who requested a pair of mittens with paw prints on the palm. She told me that even if all I could do was make the mittens, she could try sewing something onto them.... Of course, I couldn't resist the challenge. Now, there is a dishcloth pattern over at the "knittingknonsense" site, that has a paw print on it. However, since I wasn't sure what the stitch count would work out to, and since I'd still have to go through that pattern to graph it out for myself, I figured, I'd just make my own graph up. So, I did. Of course, I will need to refine that graph, should I ever decide to make another pair of paw print mittens. But if I did, then L. wouldn't have custom made, unique mittens from her idea anymore...... Oh, and it was so neat, when I took the first one to her to make sure it would fit and she'd be happy with it - Her face lit up, she thanked me profusely, proclaimed the mittens (even though there was only one) the coolest, the best - and she gave me a huge hug!!!! So, of course, I had to make sure I did the second one as quickly as possible... :) The hardest part was remembering to make the second one for the left hand, lol....

~~~~~~~~~~

Aw, shoot..... Yesterday, it was the 'puter. Today, it is the ISP.... I can't get any of my email, and now I can't even get the photo uploading tool to work..... Ok, mitten pics tomorrow, along with some of Rox....
Now, I see this below my post.....
"Could not connect to Blogger.com. Saving and publishing may fail. Test connection now. "

Don't know what is going on...... Will try to save this one - I can open other websites, so I dont' know what the heck is happening here.....

~~~~~~~~~~

So, this is where I'd gotten to.... Now, I shall try to upload the pictures of the mittens. Which, btw, I didn't take pictures of the inside, to show how I stranded, nor did I take pictures of the pair. But, I did take a pic of the right hand mitt, both front and back, and different setting on the camera, and one showed detail a little better than the other....

Ok, from there, I was going to show some pictures I took, experimenting with those different settings on the camera. We were treated to a full moon, and some interesting clouds, for the weekend :) Sadly, though, the pictures didn't *all* turn out great.... But still.....

Ok. So.... That was where I was going to leave it yesterday, then I was going to post some pictures today of Roxy. My kitty - RIP.

I guess I would have titled this post something like, Roxy, 1988 - 2006 RIP or some such.....

Roxy became a member of our family in early June (either the 6th or the 8th) of 1988. She came in hissing and spitting, and generally causing trouble. The other kitty we had at the time, Lobo, was only about two months older than her. And he let her bully him. After a couple of days, though, the two of them became best of friends, inseperable. That was about the only other animal she ever liked..... We had various kitties over time - most she bullied. There was even one time, where we used to live, there was this dog. A German Sheppard. It was walking along the sidewalk in front of the house, and Rox was sitting on the top of our stairs/landing thing at the front door. The dog saw her, and actually crossed the street to pass by our house. Roxy didn't like dogs much. A couple houses away, the neighbours once had puppies.... They were kept in a dog run outside. (well cared for - it was nice weather, there was a dog house, etc.) Anyway, once in a while, the mummy dog would get to go into the house for a snack and a bit of a break from the pups. Well, every so often, we'd hear the pups crying, then the house door open, the mom dog bark, and see our Roxy come flying through the bushes home....

She loved to harass the puppies.....

But, I got her back for that one. Spud was one of those pups.....

Anyway, it is worth noting, that Lobo was a grey kitty.

Byt the time we got Bear, Roxy had mellowed somewhat. She seemed to put up with Bear much more than any other dog, or any other animal, for that matter. (I've got tons more stories about Roxy's interractions with other kitties, but not enough time to share them all right now). When we got Mica, it was just about the same time that our other kitty, Bone, became suddenly ill and dies.... Anyway, when we got Mica, she was such a little sweetie - packin' cute, and she knew/still knows how to use it. One time, Roxy was sleeping on a chair, and Mica jumped up there, curled up with Roxy, and went to sleep. Rox woke up, sorta, looked at the ball of fur beside her with an attitude of "what the????" then went back to sleep. When she woke up later, more fully, she freaked!!! Hissing, spitting, and took off. Didn't phase Mica much....lol.....

Sadly, though, Roxy began losing her hearing. She needed to worry and look over her shoulder all the time, in case she was about to be "run over" by a clutzy dog, or ambushed by a sweet playful kitten. We thought it best that we let her go..... DH figured that Mica couldn't be an "only kitty", so enter - Ashleigh. A sweet, little, lady-like grey kitten.

Roxy decided that Ashleigh was an OK kitty. She never really hissed at Ashleigh. Never ever swatted her. No fighting. No bullying.

And, in the meantime, Mica now had a playmate. They became inseparable, after a few initial hisses...

Roxy was left alone to adjust to her hearing loss. We cancelled the appointment at the vet.

Well, it is now a year later, and Roxy's health has slowly gone downhill. She wasn't really in any pain, but she was in some discomfort at times. With having two dogs, the cat feeding station has to be up highish.... Well, Roxy was having difficulty jumping up there some days. I/we felt it best to let her go out on a high note, rather than risk her missing a jump one day, and injuring herself or breaking a bone.... She was already wobbling a little when she walked....

So.... We made the decision and the appointment again.

Roxy..... Rest In Peace.

Heree are some "before and after" pictures - I took some of her Friday morning, before we left, and of her grave site, where we can visit her, and Bone.













DH said he's going to get some paint next year, and do up their headstones. Bone was only nine when he went.... Roxy made it to 18 and a half.... April, 1988 to October, 2006.

Here's the two graves.... Bone's isn't really smaller, we just didn't find as many rocks..... We'll be redoing his in the spring.

Giving Thanks.....

This weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Which means, we will be going away to close up the cabin for the winter.... and celebrating with a turkey dinner with friends who are almost like family. The family who I made the doggy sweater for. The family that I'm working on the paw mittens for. The family who are like our own family.

Anyway.... Besides that, I should also mention - I'm saying good-bye (or, Never Say[ing] Goodbye) to another very special friend of mine today.

I thought this was going to happen a year ago. But, it didn't. Why does this fit into Thanksgiving? Well, because, I am grateful that I was able to give her another year. I've given her all the love and kindness that I can. She's returned the love to me - in countless ways. The last thing I can give her is dignity - my Precious Princess Roxy is going to go to the Rainbow Bridge at 9 this morning. She is a fighter, it's true - I'll write much more about her next week when I get back - but it is time to let her rest now. She is still not in pain yet - but is becoming very feeble. It is difficult for her to get around - she no longer goes up the stairs to the bedroom, nor down to the basement. The cat feeding station is up high, out of the dogs' reach, and I needed to create a "step" area of boxes so she can get to the food.

I am not waiting until she is in pain, or injures herself in a fall/failed leap.

I am letting her go now, with her dignity intact.

Roxy - may you find peace, and regained strength and youth at the Rainbow Bridge. I'll see you later......

This picture was taken a year ago - Sept. 27, 2005 - I will take one of her today, before we leave. She is now 18 and a half years old.... a good age. I *will* write some more about her next week. It will help me in the healing/grieving process.....

It has been a year!!!

My blog is a year old :)

Ok, so I haven't posted daily or anything....I have made some effort, though, to try to post weekly. Well, Ok, this summer really sucked for posting. BUT - I'm having more fun with it than I thought I would!!

I started the blog for a couple reasons....Not because I thought my babble was worthy of world wide notice. I'm just not that self important.

I started the blog because a) I wanted pets - cyber pets, whatever.... and b) I wanted to share "in progress" photos without clogging up my online photo album and c) because I sometimes want to journal about or chatter about my life and I'm in several different groups (being a multicrafter) and some of those groups don't allow much or any off topic chatter. And let's be honest - not *everyone* is a cat lover!!! :-O

Now all I have to do is get off my lazy ol' butt, and take some pictures of my current "in progress" projects, lol.

I've made a couple things without following patterns. I made a doggy sweater for a friend - and she wanted matching leg warmers. So, I had to create them.... I'll take a picture before I part with them.... Anyway, this same friend's younger sister apparently asked her mom for some mittens with a paw print on the palm. The mom (who is a dear friend of mine) asked me about it. Well, of course, I couldn't refuse.... So.... I haven't used a pattern to make mittens for so many years, that that part was easy enough. But the paw print - well, I haven't had any experience at graphing for knitting yet. I mean, yeah, I'm starting to think about lace graphing, which actually seems to work somewhat done on regular square graph paper. But a picture? And, of course, colourwork in the round? Not to mention, for mittens? Which, of course, meant watching the floats. Who wants to fight with snagging fingers and maybe rings/jewellery when putting on mittens? And when one does colourwork in the round, the danger is making things too tight, so the floats need to be loose....

Definite challenge.

So far, they're coming along nicely. I've been using my hand as the model, since the girl is in her late teens, so if the mitten will fit me, it will fit her.

I've also got to make a kitchen set. Like I did back in the spring for another friend's daughter....

Then, I'm not on any particular schedule, so maybe I can tackle some of the backlog of UFO's and WIP's and WIM's.... :)

I'd love to get back into quilting and tatting. Haven't done either for a while.... It would be nice to finish the one quilt - I meant to make it for DGS's first birthday, or was it his second? Anyway, since he's going to be five this December, I suppose I'd better hurry and finish it, before it becomes a project for one of *his* kids.....:(

And then there is my "Stairway to Cat Heaven" quilt. I mean, that was the introduction to the internet pattern world for me. I forget where - someone had posted a picture of the finished quilt, and when I asked about the source of the pattern, she directed me to the McCalls website and free pattern..... The rest, as they say, is history....

So. Let's see....can I post a picture today? If so, then I'm doing the one of me and Laney......

Yup. There we are.....wearing tiaras, hugging and smiling.....

I'm going to miss her.

Ok. Now that I've got the picture thing working again....I gotta take some pictures, then load them.... :) In the meantime, today is Wednesday, which means - laundry!! I really gotta get this house back in order. Maybe I'll take some "before and after" pictures, and shame myself into clearing up and cleaning.... I really hate housework, and being a packrat doesn't help.....

Never Say Goodbye

That is the title of a great song by "Kyprios". If you google for "Kyprios lyrics" you can find it....

Why am I mentioning that song? Well...It has happened finally. You might have noticed I didn't post much this summer. I mentioned, back in July, that I had some bad news. In fact, in a post or two before that, I had mentioned that someone special to me was ill. In hospital, and not doing well.

Ok, let's start at the beginning, then, shall we?

Some years back, when I was still fairly new to the 'net, I had joined an email group called "Socknitters". I had recently learned to knit socks, and had found the list via the socknitters website. I didn't stay on that list long, that first time, because I got flamed badly. (long, irrelevant story). I have since gained some experience, a thicker skin, "flame proof undies", and have also rejoined that list.

Anyway, on the first try - I had seen this one person who had this really cool sig line. It had all sorts of strange notations - various "titles" this person claimed.... She signed her posts "Yarnfairy". Among the other names.... Well, I was curious. I asked her about them. She very kindly led me to another group of people. And a place where I could acquire "titles" - silly name generators and such.

Well, that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. We began bumping into each other on a few other lists - primarily the knitting community. One time, she decided, that I was following her around "like a pesky little sister" - and, since we had so much in common, she figured we were sisters separated at birth, and began calling me her "Baby Sis".

We often emailed each other. We even kept in touch by snail mail. Though not as often as email. See, I live in Canada, and she lived (damn, that d was hard to type) in Texas. The thought that we could ever get together was, well, a dream, I guess. We almost had an opportunity, once. See, there is this get together, a "fibre fest", held informally in middle of March in Bloomington, Illinois. It's been an annual event for a few years now...called "Bloomie Fest". Well, one year, I thought I might be able to attend. That was in 2004... Sadly, though, life got in the way, and I couldn't go. So, I obtained Yarnfairy's phone number, and called her instead. We chatted for a while on the phone, and it was great. Not the same as an in-person meet, but great anyway. Then - in 2005.... I went to Bloomie Fest. I got to meet this wonderful "Big Sis" of mine. We had a blast.

Yarnfairy is - Damn, *was* - a generous, kind, helpful, friendly, cheerful, caring, lovely person. Her spirit of keeping a smile on her face despite adversity was an inspiration. Her ability to raise people's spirits by gifting them - with a "RAK" - Random Act of Kindness - or with a few well chosed words in an email or postcard - fantastic.

This past year has been hard on Yarnfairy. She has suffered, healthwise, for many years. More than one person can bear. She took on most of these challenges with her usual spirit - smiling in the face of adversity. But, alas, the challenges overtook her. Her spirit was broken - or, in her words, her "Yarnfairy wings were drooping".

Finally, after many complications, and many failed attempts to fix her breaking body, she decided it was time to stop trying.

She finally succombed to her multiple illnesses and conditions, and passed away peacefully on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006.

There is to be a memorial service today, at 11:00 am Central time, in Texas. I am unable to attend, however - I decided that I would spend some time in quiet reflection when that service takes place. I may not be there in person, but I will be in spirit.

Once, Yarnfairy sent me a RAK. It was a ball of yarn, and knitting needles, and a note that said that I should cast on three, and knit, increasing one stitch each row, and knit myself a shawl from her. I did, and I think of that shawl as my "Yarnfairy Hug".

Another time, she sent me a t-shirt, with a Texas flag on it.

One of our little "get together" things, is that we often have "cyber margueritas" together. In fact, when we finally met at BloomieFest, we had a couple of *real* margueritas together.

So. At 11:00 am today, I shall be wearing my Texas T-shirt, my hug shawl, my BloomieFest tiara (something else that Yarnfairy loved - to wear her tiara!), and I shall be drinking a marguerita to her memory. A memory that I shall not let die - I shall do my best to pass on the love and caring and sharing that Yarnfairy has left as her lagacy. I know, too, that any who met her, who's life was touched by her, will be doing the same. The Yarnfairy may have "left the building", but her Yarnfairy Dust will continue to fall gently on the world.....

Which is why I chose to title this post, "Never Say Goodbye". I can't, won't, ever say goodbye to Yarnfairy. I can let her go to the better place she is, peaceful and whole again, but I can NOT let her memory go. I shall do my part so that she may live on in my heart until we meet again.....

Laney Yarnfairy Carstarphen, I shall miss you!!!!

I had intended to insert a picture here - don't know if it is my virus scan interfering with that, or blogger acting up again. Grrrr....

I have a picture of Laney and I together at BloomieFest.... I will share it when I can.... maybe later today, I can edit....