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I'll see you guys next week - the Banana and I are off to Lake George...

Out of the mouths of babes

At 8 am this morning from my five-and-a-half-year-old:

"Was King-Kong born monsterly huge, or did he become monsterly huge?"

I made yarn!

It's not good yarn, and it's not pretty yarn, but I made it with my own two hands (and my spinning wheel). Take a look!

Here it is on the bobbin. Pretty nifty, eh?

Here it is skeined on the niddy-noddy that my dear dad made for me.

Getting a nice bath in the sink. I like the squiggley parts.

I then plied it and voila! Yarn! I used the wool that came with my wheel, which was kind of old. It had a lot of lanolin in it, and it felt like it had been sitting around for while, as it was very sticky. No worries though, it is nice and clean now.

This spinning stuff is really fun. I didn't think I would like processing the wool, but I do. It is truly amazing to take a raw material and turn it into something that can be useful. I think it's the first time I've ever done that before. Now I know how my dad feels when he takes a rough piece of wood and cuts it and sands it and nails it and glues it and polishes it, and it turns into a bookcase or a lamp or a clock. Remarkable!


Here are my two lovelies, WT and the Banana. Aren't they cute? I love them. :o)

Squeee! New toys!

Tee hee, lookit what I got!

This is a used Ashford Traditional which I ordered off of eBay. It shipped (quite quickly, in fact) all the way from New Zealand. I love it. I love spinning on it. I am going to ply soon. I can't wait. I have already spun three and a half bobbins worth of yarn, and on the second bobbin I managed to spin yarn with no squiggles due to overspinning! I am quite proud of myself. One thing that totally helped me out (aside from my wonderful friends Regina and Debbie) was the book Start Spinning by Maggie Casey. This particular wheel has scotch tension, and I had no idea what in tarnation that was. Ms. Casey's book explained perfectly and allowed me to find the tension that was right for me. I love spinning!

Here's my other new toy. Meet Poppy! Isn't she cute? She is a Piccadilly Encore, and I think she's just fab. Her stock clothes are totally awesome, and her coloring is beautiful. I just need to figure out how to make her hair perfectly straight. All PiccaEs are packaged in a way that gives them this weird bend in their hair, and I don't like it. But she's such a cutie.

And here are all my girls together, one big happy family. Left to right, we have Hibou, Twyla, Dulcinea, Capucine, and Poppy. At the bottom we have two unazukin (the little orange and white guys) and two jizo. Jizo are protectors of women, children, and travellers; I happen to be all three of those things. :o) My dad made the light colored jizo on the left, and he gave me the gray colored one in the middle. My dad rocks.

Be sure to check out the link to Doris Chan's blog in the side bar, because she is a master crocheter and she absolutely cracks me up.

Next post: fibery goodness!

How many five-year-olds?

17

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

Meme and Blythe dolls

Hi! I haven't posted for a while. So here I am! Here's a meme I found on Raining Sheep:

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

Well now, let's see. It was June 1998. I was working as a temp in downtown Philadelphia, having just extricated myself from a horrible work situation as a nanny for a terrible family (parents, really; the kids were fine). I was broke but happy because I had many friends. I went on a boatload of dates with guys who had real jobs and took me to nice restaurants. They called me after the first date. It was 3 months before I met WT. ;o)

2) What are five non-working things to do on my to-do list today?

Oh hell, let's see. What the hell are 'non-working' things? Hm. I have to register for fall classes, sign up at the swim club, pick up or actually make an appetizer for Sip -n- Knit tomorrow night, put away clean laundry, and clean the kitty litter box. What fun.

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Where do I begin? Doritos, chips and dip, spinach-artichoke dip, cookies, chocolate, cheese. You get the point.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire.

Quit my job. Buy a house for me and WT and the Banana, and for my brother, my dad, my close cousins, and anyone in WT's family that he wanted to buy a house for. Pay off all of my debt. Buy a flat in Paris. Travel extensively all around the world. Start two community centers for disadvantaged kids - one in North Philadelphia and one in Camden, NJ. Buy a loom and weave. Hire a private yoga instructor. Plant a vegetable garden and a flower garden. Travel some more. Buy more yarn. Buy more Blythe dolls. Give money to any of my friends who needed it. Help people who need help paying medical bills. Have a lot of pets. Adopt some kids.

5) Places I have lived.

In order from birth to now:

Lindenwold NJ (23 years)

Vancouver WA (one month)

Middlebury VT (six weeks)

Paris France (ten months)

Philadelphia - downtown (1.5 years)

Philadelphia - Roxborough (one year)

East Norriton PA (8 years)

6) Jobs I have had.

Kids' shoes salesperson, movie theater concession salesperson, British Airways customer service agent, human resources adminstrator, travel specialist at a dot com, waitress, nanny, candy shop girl down the shore, remedial reading and math tutor, ESL teacher, C-print captionist, mother, wife.

7) Peeps I want to know more about.

(In no particular order) Jesus, Gandhi, my dad, my mom, my brother, my husband, my daughter, Picasso, Buddha, myself.

***

I know all of you have been going through Blythe doll withdrawal, so here you go.

Hibou, Twyla, and Dulcinea are showing off their new accessories. Aren't they just adorable?

Wait just a minute, who in tarnation is this little tart?

Bonjour, je m'appelle Capucine!

Hello Capucine, and welcome!

One big happy Blythe family. Aw.