PippiKneeSocks.com

My friend has her juice back on!!!
(I know I keep referring to her, not by her name, but as “my friend”… go here to read why.)
I am so stunned by all you beautiful people!
The good thoughts, the positive energy, the green energy you all sent, really made a difference.
I can’t even begin to express what a difference you all made.
I don’t know who you all are, but you do. You all deserve the world.
Thank you all for hearing me! Words can not express what you have done.
Something very miraculous happened. More than I could have ever known when I got her permission to do this.

You are the beautiful people!
Thank you!!!

You have changed the world!

XO!

Popping out of the ton of work I’m trying to get down, done, and off.

It has been a busy spell, visits, digging, writing, photos, school vacations, head spinning, spitting pea soup…. You get the idea. I’m on a roller coaster here.

But, I’m poppin out of the PipCave today to ask for your help.
A very good friend of mine recently fell on some hard times, the electric company decided that they were going to play god with her and her son’s lives, and shut her off. They aren’t even willing to work with her on it, they want all of the money she owes to turn her back on. It’s that time of year, when the utilities can cut you off, legally. (GURR!)
Having lived without electricity for an extended period of time, I can tell you, when you aren’t set up to be ‘off grid’ (composting toilets, solar showers, etc…) it is a HUGE PITA! A good chunk of money has been raised over on LJ, and I can NOT thank you all enough. But, more is needed. You know, buying ice to keep your food from growing deadly bacteria will blow a hole in your food budget in no time. Buying gallons drinking water (because, hello, no juice, no running water) is equally as spendy. Even once they get their power turned back, they are going to need to restock that fridge. So, I’ve set up an auction to try to help a small bit.

Please bid early and often.
Every cent, minus the ebay and paypal fees, will be going to them.
And, Pass It along!
I can not stress how much this woman means to me. Her friendship over the past six years has done more for me than I can even really fathom. Without her as a part of my life, things would be vastly different.
So, please, do your fellow human a favor, bid, pass it on, send love, use the donation button, light some candles, say some prayers… Do whatever it is you do in your hearts to help heal the world.
I don’t ask for much from you, dear blogland. And I would take this as a personal favor.

XO!
THANK YOU!

PS. if you are reading this via the Live Journal syndication, you have to come here to comment. I don’t own that feed, therefore I don’t get the comments. (Which is why I don’t reply.)

Enough with winter already!!

Uncle!!!
I give!
Truce?

My mood keeps fluctuating between okay, and Grumpy! today. I don’t know if it is because Kurt Vonnegut decided to leave earth, the weather, my seedlings getting leggy, all the spam the blog has been getting (I’ve turned off the comments on a bunch of the hard hit posts) or PMS. There is an advisory to stay clear of this little slice of Vermont. There is low lying verbal shrapnel flying about.

And, ooh, look! I do knit.
I finished my Duval street socks about two weeks ago, no fanfare, no pictures taken. I didn’t even set out to take this one, but it happened.

Those aren’t white streaks across my shoes.
My camera managed to catch the snow flakes in action like that.
(effin snow. Bitter, much?)

I should go put the kettle on, sit on my tookas and knit and watch the Smurfs.
If that doesn’t make me feel better… There might be some heavy drinking going on later.

Even with all of my running around this week, I managed to keep up with dyeing.
Maybe I was inspired by the outside world, or gas prices (OUCH!) either way, I did a bunch of dyeing!
So, I’ve updated the spinning fibers page today.
(With nearly 10 Pounds of Hand painted wool top!)

Yes, nearly 10 pounds. It seems like a ton, since my dyepots have remained pretty inactive this past winter.
(Competing for the propane, heat vs. dyeing… I vote for the dyeing, but my family sees it differently.)
Speaking of which, I should cut this here, as both the family and the dyepots are needing my attention.

Happy Friday!
XO!

I’m unsure how I’m feeling about this…

I feel like I should be bitter. Possibly a bit angered. But, I’m unable to muster frustration at the weather today.
I’m the one who thought living in Vermont was a good ider just over a decade ago. Why I didn’t migrate out west like all the sane folx, I’ll never know. I’ve tried the south for a while. Key West, to be exact… I couldn’t hack it. The constant 80f temps fried my brain a little. (And I’m sure some of the brain frying had nothing to do with living in freaking Margaritaville… nope.) I have NO clue how my friend Melissa is still living there…
Anyway, no use trying to fight the things I can not change. (serenity now!)

I really love (and I do mean LOVE!) the new freedom bestowed on me by having a legal car. Yesterday we ventured to The Firefly Solar Store, where we got some new light bulbs, Mr. Pipps chatted solar talk, and they generously provided me with parts of a solar oven from Solar Ovens.org. We clearly need to come into large sums of money so we can go totally solar.

Knit Night at The Knitting Studio, was a blast! I finally got to meet Sarah, who, contrary to what some people may think, actually knits! She isn’t just a political zealot, radical extremist *cough, cough*. Give me political zealots over closed mined people, anyday! (Remember people, minds are like parachutes!)
I also finally got to meet Kate (blogless). We have been trying to connect since February, when she bid on, and won a gift certificate to Pippi that I donated to a school fund raiser. It is such a good and wonderful thing to know that there is someone in my half a horse town that I can connect with. (*waves to Kate*)
I’ve also been asked, by Brigette, to teach a dye class. Details soon to be ironed out. Keep an eye here, or in the Knitting Studio’s news letter.

With all of my recent gallivanting, I was informed by Scout, that I need a cellphone… Hahaha. Some months it is all I can do to keep regular land line service. I would be terribly dangerous with a cell. I’m a talker once I get going.
Speaking of Scout, she asked me to co-judge her latest contest. Aye, ask an aspiring Buddhist to be a judge, why don’t ya. It is hard… Carole’s Post?, Norma’s Limerick? or This picutre from Literate Knits? (I love it super duper muchly since they are knitting!) Anyway, I think I have a few hours left to decide where my vote goes. Sheesh, I hate casting judgment on others!

One more thing, you can file this under.. Who knew?
I’ve been saying the word “Mittens” wrong for over three decades..
Go figure.
XO!

PS. Hopfully today, I’ll have some dried fiber to photograph for a shop update soon (tomorrow??) Stay tuned!

ETA: There are some Springtime ChocoBird roving braids in both domestic and the super sexy merino/tencel over at Scout’s Place

After what has seemed like some manic posting lately, (Yes, more than one post a week constitutes hyper-post-activity in these parts.) I’ve fallen quiet. It has been a blur of activity here. On Thursday, I was brave and went to the DMV. I’m Legal now! (Terribly exciting! It equates to way less panic attacks wile driving. Not that I was driving wile illegal… *cough*, *cough*, *cough, cough*)
No trip to the big city would be complete without a stop at The Knitting Studio. Where I was treated like a freaking Rock star by the lovely Brigette. I swear to maude, the woman made me blush. I often wonder if people are a bit disappointed after they meet me in the flesh, I know I’m much more attractive and personable on the blog. Anyway, I left there very happy, a bit red in the face, and with a bit of library & stash enhancement.

My very own copy of Sensational knitted socks. (Yes, I know, I’m way behind the times, as number 2 is out… But it is always hard for me to justify book purchases for myself; when it seems like the kids are always needing something… I’ve gone a while without buying such frivolous things, and I felt like I deserved a treat.) And some Atrful yarns, in candy, colorway, illegible. Note: I never have to justify fiber purchases. Nope.

(Thursday also brought My plastic bag yarn being blogged on Craft: W00T!! That made me a happy camper.)

Friday brought a trip to the kid’s favorite playground (Score one mom point, pass go, collect 200 free minutes of time alone in the bathroom.) A trip to the garden store, and seed starting.

Yesterday, well, yesterday… Yesterday didn’t go as I had planned in my head. I woke up early, (5ish.) got to dyeing, poked around drank coffee (sorry Amy, for mentioning the C word)… Then my SIL called to say she was in the area and was going to stop over…
*scheech* I had to put down everything I was doing to move piles and clear paths, you know, to have the house semi presentable for when she came over… (It is a sad state of affairs when I have to clean to make the place even ‘family ready’ ) Anyway, it was worth it as the yougins were happy to see their Auntie.
After she left, we packed up and all went to the grocery store.
Cautionary tale to follow……
I normally do the grocery shopping alone… There are many reasons I don’t like to take two toddlers to the grocery with me; with or without their dad… There are many reasons why I don’t like to take their dad to the grocery. The foremost reason, for these two hours a week, I don’t answer to Mom, I can go about my business, and get something done, without interruption. (It’s blissful, really.) I figured, since I am planning on going to knit night this week, I could buck up and do the shopping with everyone…. Plus, two hours of free time knitting beats two hours of grocery shopping any day. I digress. I don’t know who is worse to take to the grocery, Mr. Pipps or the Pippletts. Seriously. Between the three of them, I wound up with So.Much.Crap. in the cart. Crap I wouldn’t buy in 100 years.
We wound up with such delights as Shrek shit (don’t get me wrong, I love me some Shrek, but not the crap that is in this box) and Scooby Snacks… Mr. Pipps did his fair share of cart enhancement, too… Tho, he is prone to reading labels and not putting junk in the cart, for which I am grateful, but that stuff comes with a price tag… Which, brings me to the kicker of the story…. ZOINKS! Not enough cash on hand… Thanks, ya’ll. See, I always have a rough guesstimate of how much I’m spending, and I’m hyper aware of how much that is… But, between the three of them, and the stuff I was not able to get out of the cart, I was clueless…… Luckily, I had some credit cards on me, and was able to pay the difference that way (split up between two cards, nonetheless! Talk about embarrassing!) Minute, in the grand scheme of the world, and I feel like such a glut, with all this food we have. (She says, Guiltily munching on some Scooby snacks…)
The Moral of the story…. Leave home without them (the family, not the credit cards.)
Not to be overshadowed by moral number two…. Scooby snacks are graham crackers, not hash, like I had always thought. Goes to show, I can still learn something new every day.

XO!