Giving Thanks

I am reposting one of my favorite blog posts from 2008 for 2 reasons:

1. My super-duper camera is broken and is in the shop (don't ask)

2. I will be baking these this afternoon with Marin.

Go Here for the post!

Veterans Day

Giving a shout out to the Navy Men in my life:

Thank you Dad for your service.

The Perfect Procrastinator

As a designer, this is my busy season. I seem to have a bunch of designs due mid November which causes me to panic mid September. Everything seems to be put on the back burner except the designs - laundry, decorating my house, basic cleanliness, etc. Every year I say to myself, Kimberly, don't wait until the last minute with these deadlines, get your fanny in gear and write those patterns.

Obviously, I don't listen to myself! This weekend is no exception. I have 1 and 1/3 of a sample to design and knit and what did I do this weekend????

I learned a new spinning technique on my spinning wheel.... Yep! Here are the photos.

I bought this fleece in September: I washed and dyed the fiber (I tried my hand with dying something brown, and I wasn't that successful - so I thought I would practice with this part of the fleece, no harm done if I don't like what I was going to do)

Here is the fleece washed and dyed (see how compacted it is)

I hand picked the fleece apart and made it fluffy:

The fluffy fleece went into the drum carder (my birthday present this year from Mr. Fantastic) and I made a batt:

The batt was split in two and then I stretched it to make the fibers nice a loosey-goosey:

Using a large knitting needle I wrapped the stretched batt around the needle and when it was wrapped once around the needle I broke it off from the batt... I rolled the section around the needle .... And

Viola! A rolag made from a batt.

I really can't describe how much fun I had during this entire process - makes me look like a real fiber geek, but I was giddy with this whole process. The entire basket took me.... ready? 2 days!

On Sunday afternoon I was feeling very clever and sat at my wheel to begin learning the English long draw method of spinning fiber. Long draw creates a lot of air in the yarn as you are spinning and you end up with a really squishy yarn....

EPIC FAIL..... total frustration (a few bad words), thrown rolags, and a shot of Captn' Morgan later...

I sat down to finish my designs that are due....

Halloween 2011

We had a wonderful Halloween at the Mac house:

There was a beautiful southern belle (with her real hair that took forever to curl)

There was 'Graham n Em'

And.... a teenager who didn't trick or treat... or dress up (and didn't want his picture taken)