PippiKneeSocks.com

Yesterday, I scooted up to VTS&W. It was glorious, NO KIDS with me. I was almost suffering from a bit of shock, since, that is unheard of.
I had the pleasure of spending most of the day with Linda (& Peter, sometimes too). Walking around ogling the colors, admiring all of the beautiful hand work. And chatting. Great chatting! I got to meet a few bloggers in the flesh that I hadn’t before, Jessie, whom is far more beautiful than any of the pictures you have seen her post & her pal, Jessalu… Funny little thing, Jessie walked up to me and said, “I’d notice that feed bag anywhere” (my hemp courier bag)… which I found amusing; it wasn’t the flaming hair, Jessie? lol. (I think that is the advantage of having bright hair, you stand out in a crowd; easy to find or avoid.) I digress; I can’t wait to see what spindle you got!
By the end of the day, my bag was getting heavier and heavier. I’m not normally a shopper; but, I couldn’t help myself yesterday. Seeing all of the brightly colored locks, lovingly perched in baskets and bowls; the sea of color flooded me with desire, I was nearly left with no choice.
I picked up some mohair locks from High View Farm (Waterford, VT)

I’ve already washed a few handfuls and dyed them; I am anxiously anticipating them drying… I nearly was going to spin them damp. (I’ve got me some ideas.)
Some really lovely Alpaca from Snow Shoe Farm (Peacham, VT)

Very clean, and of course, so soft it should be criminal..
No plans on the horison for that delectable bag of fluff; but that is okay. It will make it’s place next to my angora from Woolybuns and bless the rest of my fiber stash with soft goodness.
Speaking of Chris, I had the pleasure of bumping into her a few times. She was teaching a felting workshop, and they stuffed her in an area half the size of my kitchen!! She and her participants were taking it in stride. Laughter and good vibes emanated from that corner.
One of my favorite acquisitions yesterday was this bumper sticker from Over East Farm

It will be making it’s way onto the back of the auto sometime soon, after it rains, as bumperstickers don’t like to cling to dirty cars.
& last but NOT least….ta-dum.

!!
Recycled silk sari from The Wool Peddler
Stephanie & her family are really lovley! (and she has a great muff pattern in the summer issue of knitty) I think from now on, I’ll be getting all of my sari from them, yes.
I already dove into the packages & made some batts

I couldn’t make my way up today to see Adrian (hope you made it!! and not to bingo!:)); as there was/is just too much to do here. I came home yesterday to find both the kids naked and covered from head to toe in marker, they also commingled all of the clean laundry with the dirty stinky clothes… This means, I have much laundry to do, as Bells needs clean clothes to go to skool (!!) tomorrow. AYE. Skool, I get butterflies every time I think about it.
Well, I should get off the computer, and do the things I need to do.
Hope everyone had a great weekend as well!!
♥

it’s Hazy, Hot, and Humid; i must be among the few crazy people on the planet thinking about wool.
regardless, i’ve updated the spinning fibers page today.

i’ve added some delicious hand carded batts, some hand painted tops, as well as a few spindles and a spindle kit.

(all weights have been rounded down due to the humidity.)

see something that you like, but it’s already gone? hook up with my newsletter

now, off to jump in the kiddie pool.
♥

ps. BIG thanks to mike e for BLOWING my freaking mind this morning. turns out, we know eachother. from another time’s forgotten space. i had a feeling we might have known some of the same folx, since we were around at the same time….but, i didn’t think we had known eachother… crazy little world. 3 cheers for time spent doing random blog searches.

today feels like monday, it is thursday, but still feels like monday. why is that?
maybe it is the rain, who knows.
i’ve been doing alot of blending, not so much spinning. (i have another huge hank on the bobbin, that i’m procrastinating spinning. spinning that much of one colorway on the same bobbin, calls for lots of breaks in between…) i’ve been using the carder so much that my arm is sore. for the past few nights i didn’t realize why my arm was feeling tweaky when i went to bed. then while carding yesterday, i felt the tweaky pain and realized that my carder is too low. not much i can do about that now, so, after today i’m going to take it a bit easier on the carding.
without further ado,(or complaints) the fruits of my labors……..

nightfall of diamonds
i made some for stella for winning my t-shirt contest, and decided since i was at it; i should make a bunch.
i also did these

crazy diamond
basically the same; but with some churro and oodles of recycled silk sari.
the pictures of each don’t come close to justice; it is super dark here, and i think a the white background really subtracted from their beauty. (but, well that was all i had handy at 6:30 this morning.)

today is going to be a day of sock yarns.
i’m going to wok on a sock yarn blend.
then i’m going to dye a bit of superwash sock yarn… then, back to finishing this enormous bobbin that i have working.

last night was the phil and friends show. it was raining buckets, i had no tickets. so i did what any other old lady would do.
i stayed home, and baked.

umm, mixed berry cobbler/crisp. (vegan) i made an apple one too.
sad, i know. i contemplated going all day. tickets were outrageously priced, at $55; and the chances of a random pink haried old lady getting a cheap ticket are slim to none. and the rain factor played a big role. it would have been hella harder for me to find anyone i would know lurking out in the rain. so, there you go. i feel kind of down about it; since my feet have been itchy lately. but, it isn’t like it once was, and can never be.
we pay the teller off in gold, in hopes he will come back, but he can not be bought or sold.

this concludes this rainy day thursday that feels like monday post.
♥

i’ve been knee deep in it the past day, i’ve got wool in the oven, wool in the crock pot, wool on the stove top. (and lord! it is humid today… silly me.)… wool on the bobbins and wool on the carder, wool on many many (er, too many) sets of needles. wool, wool, wool…

i picked up a few of these hand crafted bottom whorl spindles from fred and carol collins, at the singing spindle spinnery, in duxbury, vt. (siteless at the moment, but carol is working on it.) they have been making these little gems in fred’s wood shop for a good many years. i have had one for over two years and can attest to it’s nice balance and medium weight. they aren’t fancy, but they are priced right. ($8) i’ll be putting them on the fibers page later this week.

i had some more to go on about, but i read about syd barrett passing on and now the emails are starting to roll in. it reminds me of the phone calls when jerry died.

shine on all you crazy diamonds
♥

the handspun yarnshop has been updated!
i’ve added 4 handspun bulky thick and thin singles
3 hand painted superwash sock yarns
4 arty type yarns

plus hand painted wool tops and hand carded batts for your handspinning pleasure!

as i said this morning, a bit of something for everyone.
looks like stuff is starting to move. y’all are QUICK!
♥

the world is in such a sad state; i had to give up listening to npr, and watching tv news; simply because of how much it makes me cry.
i get overwhelmed at my lack of power in alot of situations. (i’m not sticking my head in the sand, i’m still awares. i read my news on the interwebs. i’m full on in the knowledge of how dire things are out there…)
but, sometimes one remembers a very important fact; the only person one has the power to change is one’s own self.
hence; project new leaf.
starting now; i’m only going to do things that fulfill me. i’m only going to act out of compassion, everything i do will be done with intention; and i’m going to put an end to all of that day to day thinking that eats me alive. now, i’m not trying to preach/push Buddhism. i’m just trying to make my life a bit happier. i rarely talk about my life this past fall; but for how crazy it got; i was in the best mental frame i had been in a long time. things were simple.
chop wood; carry water.
the daily tasks of survival encompassed my reality 100%. i saw the things that had been “important” for what they were, not so important.
we used what we had, and lit candles at night.
i’m not trying to be romantic about it it; i’m trying to take those gifts bestowed on me; onward.
i need to clear out my brain of all of the clutter.
it isn’t so different than the people going on “diets” or joining FLY lady. we are all trying to “improve” ourselves somehow.
anyway… starting with ‘use what i have’ i made these batts; which i will eventually turn into some yarn for myself.

i need to add a few colors… but that will come.

i really would rather spin 2ply for my shop, it is more interesting, and it lasts longer than singles.

sharaz
bulky
188 yards

and knitting. i need to knit for pleasure more.

can you see why that yarn was a ’second’?
and not exactly the best choice for cables; but oh well; who gives a rat’s ass? the process of taking two sticks and some string, and making a fabric out of it; is pleasing me.

well, i’m sure my mania has bored everyone who has made it this far; to tears.
off to write myself some lists, so i can keep the some of that stuff outside my head.

♥

would you believe i’ve been doing more blending?
i know, it is hard to fathom. i’m on a bindge.
would you believe i actually spun some stuff up?
that is even harder to believe; that i was able to tear myself away from the carder long enough to spin a few bobbins up.

these afternoon delight batts got transformed into

afternoon delight
68 yards
aran/bulky wt.

• hand dyed falklands
• hand dyed tinkle
• silk sari

i have a small amount of dyeing to do (so i can card some more!!) i have a yarn on the brain, but not all the ingredients i need, yet…

well, this morning has been rough.
i’ve been trying to write this post since 8am, it is now 10.
finchly the younger woke up with some kind of bug in his butt and the yelling and tantrums have.not.stopped.
send strength.

♥

it’s an illness this week, and i couldn’t stop myself even if i tried.
i’m on such a tear with the carder. (not that it is really a bad thing, but i have other things i should do. like my dye-o-rama yarn… but i’m so incredibly low on dyes i would hate to mess it up and waste dyes & yarn. anyway, DoR pal, you are not forgotten; i just want to make you happy….)
anyway, i worked late into the night last night, on blending up some unicorn breath batts.
what an odd name, you say?! well i can’t take credit for it…i sent one to linda of stoneleafmoon and this is what she had to say about it!!!. her remarks totally made me blush, but truth be told, they are very special batts. (OH! and here it is spun up! go look!!!)
so, i made up 5 of them, then put them by the “fire place” (never you mind that dust there!)

and placed an apple, sweet potato, black bean, chipolte burrito next to them, in hopes of luring the unicorn in, to breathe on them. (it has been confirmed that apple, sweet potato, black bean, chipolte burritos are a favorite snack of the northern glitter tail unicorn)
i think it worked.

unicorn breath

• hemp
• vermont alpaca
• silk sari
• nylon

these are so incredibly intense to make; not to mention messy.
i doubt they will find their way to pippi.
i might spin them up, or they might wind up in your mail box. you just never know, i’m tricky like that.

lucky for me, the kids are well, and dare i say quiet they are sucked into a josie and the pussycats video. (does anyone have VHS anymore? yes, this coming from the last person on the planet without an ipod… haha)
thanks everyone for your well wishes for bells the other day! she is doing better, but, now we have run into some other difficulties.
such is life with youngins!!

♥