Secret Pal Happy Dance

I'm doing the Secret Pal Happy Dance right now.

That right there in the middle is an issue of Spin-Off!, which I only dream of subscribing to.

On the left is a dark marine blue packet of 80g of a Corriedale Cross and Alpaca blend.

On the right is a lovely brown 100g packet of Shetland, drumcarded by my Secret Pal herself.

Toddlerette's comment on the blue packet: "Mommy, that is some LUXURY woof!" I taught her well. Just turned three and already knows her "luxury woof."

First Published Pattern

Ok, I have to brag a little on myself. I published a pattern. It's an exclusive for Zen String and they're on my feet RIGHT NOW.

By the way, I like pools of color, so if you're a striping or non-pooling gal, they may not be for you....

Click this LINKY for a picture.

There's another pattern (and a half) on the way.... sneak peeks are on flickr....

My Anniversary Present

It's a Kromski Symphony... right in front of the Pampers Cruisers. Hee. I love it. Bessie the Traveller is with my mom in Louisiana, teaching a Weaver how to spin.

Random library...

My maiden name is an unusual spelling of a not-quite-so-unusual surname, so it's a tradition in our family that, at least once in your life, you go to Newton, MS, and take a picture of this library:

Now for the Azaleas

All I do is post vacation pictures.....

And to end the great debate between Mr. Robincat and I about "Is it a Rhododendron or a Mountain Laurel?" we've discovered that they're too closely related for us to determine with our present ignorance of Appalachian botany. Here are some pictures for you to peruse....



These were all taken atop of Wayah Bald.


And five seconds later....

Joyce Kilmer National Forest--Part 3

The really big tree....

Joyce Kilmer National Forest--Part 2

More forest pictures ... no captions this time....

Joyce Kilmer National Forest -Part 1

Ok, kids... get ready for a picture-heavy post ... Joyce Kilmer National Forest is one of the very few virgin forests left in the lower Appalachians. Pictures just don't do it justice.


This explains who Joyce Kilmer was...




And this is the enormous rock in which that plaque is mounted...



This is the poem he wrote that got the forest named after him...


This is the bridge at the trailhead...



More pictures to follow....

Cherohala Skyway

We tried an alternate route to the house of Mr. Robincat's grandmother (aka Juanita) this year. Normally in the summer, we either take I-20 East from Shreveport to Birmingham, then north to Chattanooga, and cross the Ocoee River into North Carolina. In the winter, when we have to make a choice of ice versus snow, we take I-30 East from Dallas, through Arkansas and Tennesee (with a gratuitous barbecue stop in Memphis), and then drive the Tail of the Dragon (Hwy 129 for you non-motorcyclists) from Knoxville to Robbinsville. If the weather is bad, we go through Smoky Mountain National Park through Gatlinburg. And if the weather is REALLY bad (as it was for Sarah's first Christmas), we get detoured all the way to the I-40 just north of Asheville and took the Highway 74 back East for an hour.

But with all that said...

THIS time we drove the northern route and tried the Cherohala Skyway. Definitely not a foul weather route, but much fewer switchbacks and crazy motorcycles than Tail of the Dragon. It is effing beautiful. Too bad Richard slept through almost the whole drive. Mr. Robincat and I noshed on Key Lime Fudge from some truck stop in Tennessee to keep our ears clear. It was REALLY good candy and I wish I could remember where we got it. All I know is they give you free coffee with a fill-up on gas.

First up is Bald River Falls. It's a half-hour detour into the depths of the National Forest, but well worth the effort.





And now for the kids on the highest point of Santeetlah. That would be 5390 ft (1642m) above sea level. I was a little altitude affected, but everyone else was fine.



This is the Turkey Creek lookout. And I kid you not, this is the view you get when you step out of the public restroom.

Yarn Stash?

You think my problem is a yarn or a fiber stash?

Not quite. We have a coffemaker stash. No kidding. The eighth one arrived today. We have 3 French presses: 1 glass bodum single-serve, 1 glass bodum 8-cup, and 1 ceramic Van Gogh 8-cup. We have 3 pods: 1 Melitta (free with pod club), 1 Senseo (free with coffeemaker pimping), and 1 Gourmet Coffee Cafe' ($5 with 72 free pods -- I have NO IDEA how Mr. Robincat scored that deal; I'm afraid.). Finally, we have 2 drip pots: 1 Gevalia (free with coffee trial) and 1 Cuisinart Brew & Grind (we actually paid money for this one, but it was 50% off at Kohl's). The REASON we paid for the Brew & Grind is because Mr. Robincat just got authorization to be a telecommuter which came with an "equip your office" stipend. He decided that we needed to start buying coffee beans in bulk due to his coffee needs and therefore needed a brew & grind since our little dinky electric grinder was getting sad sounding. The newest one is the Gourmet Coffee Cafe'. It makes great coffee so far ... we'll see how long it lasts. We've already had the Melitta people replace the One:One TWICE because we wore out the pressure seal and it started leaking. No problems with the Senseo yet, though, and it's had a LOT of use.

I'm trying to get a picture of the coffeepots all together on the kitchen table from the "inside" camera, but that may have to wait til tomorrow.

Also, the playscape is almost done--only have the roof to put on and mulch to spread underneath.... picture is on the cellphone, which is also misbehaving.

OH, BUT LOOK WHAT I HAVE HERE!!!

It's from Dragon Fibers' pink and pewter BFL roving. Yes, it is laceweight, about 20wpi, and super duper lofty and scrumptious. I want to eat it. But I need to sell it.... 'cause I need to buy a new wheel so I can spin even MORE!!! (Shameless yarn pimping, I know.)

BUT, HIE THEE to Dragon Fibers. Her stuff is yummy. Your wheel will begin chattering her shop's name. I promise.

Apparently, I'm IT!

Unbelievably, I finally got tagged.

I got tagged big time.... 2 people within an hour. So thanks Mary, Mary and Knitchaos.

Here are the rules: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged need to write on their own blog those 7 facts as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven other people and list their names on your blog. Then you leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

SEVEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT YOURS TRULY

1. I've eaten... rattlesnake, squirrel, venison, elk, rabbit, frog, alligator, and beaver (it's gross, don't try it). My dad is a Wildlife Biologist, so we lived literally in the middle of nowhere on a Wildlife Management Area in northern Louisiana when I was growing up. I horribly miss having several thousand acres for a back yard.

2. I'm afraid of... medium to big dogs (over terrier size), spiders, and tall men. Like really afraid. Go figure.

3. My first tattoo is a very large, very idealistic/political b&w piece on my right hip. I'm no longer of that ideology, so swimming now requires board shorts. Everybody knows about my cute little 2nd tattoo.

4. I went to a public, co-ed, preparatory boarding school for my Junior and Senior years of highschool. LSMSA, for the curious.

5. I grew up in a very anachronistic and large extended family. I learned how to churn butter, make cottage cheese, milk a cow, smoke sausage, make cane syrup, and grind cornmeal in a hand-cranked grist mill before I turned 10. These things were more out of a desire to preserve traditional arts than necessity. We did have a flush toliet.

6. I read very, very fast. Last week, I started doing Distributed Proofreading for Project Gutenberg in my spare time and I've proofread over 300 pages in under a week. I normally read a novel per day (in addition to the spinning and knitting) if I'm not proofreading.

7. I had decided to become a religious (aka nun) after graduate school when I met my husband (again). Needless to say, I didn't join the convent.

Sadly, I am one of the last in my circle of blogfriends to get tagged, so I only know 1 person who hasn't been tagged yet.

So, Subhuman Superwoman, the onus is now on you.

I'm Dyeing.....

Lots and lots of fiber. Well, only a pound, but it felt like a lot. I was only able to do this because BOTH kids took a nap yesterday.

From left to right: Top left is aqua targhee, bottom left is "pop a wheelie" merino/tencel, "state fair" targhee, "cornfield" targhee, "Nanana on a tangent" targhee, "Peach Nehi" targhee, and "Nanana" merino. All the targhee is mine, the other is Ana's.

And here's a close-up of "Pop a Wheelie"

Close up of Cornfields, Nanana on a Tangent, and Peach Nehi...

I still have some left to do. Only about 2 oz of the targhee, though.

This is way too much fun. :)

All Kinds of Fiber Pr0n

Grandmamom, don't read this! You might not like it!













Oh, won't you play with my.....



dong-a-long . It's all Penny Karma's fault. It's crocheted with my very own Robincat handspun (85% mohair, 15% tussah silk). Yes, I am aware that it has enormous balls. My mistake for picking up a size H crochet hook instead of a D hook for the DK weight yarn. Due to the loose construction, I stuffed it with waste cotton fabric, so it's a little, uh... lumpy. But it's done and soon to be out of my house, which makes Mr. Robincat oh so happy. He's become quite unnerved by "the crocheting of the dong." I've threatened to make another, put jingle bells in the balls, and send it to his brother's fresh baby boy, but he vetoed that idea.



Now onto the roving pr0n. In the bottom left corner is Dorset/Columbia blend from Paradise Fibers that I dyed all by myself. In the top left corner is superwash merino in the Greek Isles colorway from Pigeonroof Studios. In the top right corner is even more superwash merino from Pigeonroof, but this time, in the Drift colorway. In the bottom right corner is Shetland (yum!) in the Harvest colorway from The Fiber Denn.

Even More Yarn

So, this week we have Frozen Drinks, Whittington Field, and a preview of Mint Chocolate Chip. I really really like the Mint Chocolate Chip. I've got about 400yds plied right now, and approximately 800yds left to ply. And it's sportweight. Yum.

If you really want the Mint Chocolate Chip yarn, email me at lacermum at gmail dot com and I'll reserve the etsy listing for you (if you're first, that is).

Big Box O' Happy (aka Pimping my Vendors)

I got a big box of happy today. I really needed it, too, since I had a massive migraine. And with regards to migraines, I have a tip. Whatever you do, NEVER, EVER take a sip of Dr Pepper and follow it with a packet of Goody's "cool orange" headache powder. First of all, "cool orange" is marketing verbage for sickly sweet reenactment of mixing toothpaste and oj. Secondly, carbonated soft drink plus powdered medicine in the mouth-throat junction equals enormous amounts of foaming nastiness. Yup, Goody's minty-fresh-oj-aspirin-dr-pepper foam all up the sinuses and foaming OUT MY NOSE. I just wish Mr. Robincat had the presence of mind to take a picture. He knew there wasn't much he could do to help the situation, so he just wrangled the kids while I made the situation worse by trying to wash the nastiness down with EVEN MORE DR PEPPER. Smooth move, Sherlock. This just made more foam.

But let me tell you.... the migraine is GONE! I guess I absorbed all the aspirin/acetaminophen/caffeine through the blood vessels in my sinus cavity, cause I never did feel it go down my throat.

Anyway, on to the big box of happy. It came in the mail today, along with another packet of roving from pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com . Oh. I haven't shown you pictures of my other packets of roving? You'll have to wait til tomorrow. Too much has gone on today for me to be taking more pictures right now. Big box of happy is from the absolute best kept secret in Ashford vendors, Running Moon Farm. Their website is www.runningmoonfarm.com . They raise Gulf Coast Native sheep, which I swear must have the most luscious, sprongy wool in the known world and they sell hand-dyed spinning batts from these lovely sheepies. They also have (wait for it....) hand-turned orifice hooks -- with sett gauges in the handles. They are beautiful. Yeah, it looks good in the picture, but it is SWEET in the hand... soooo smooth and perfectly balanced. And really. I emailed Margrett at RMF on Thursday about getting a custom orifice hook and Ashford hi-speed kit and they are here TODAY. They turned it for me Thursday night before milking. (Actually, they did 3, so I could pick from a variety... how cool are they???) She takes paypal, too.

On a completely different note, this is the progress we've made on "The Park" so far. It's been raining almost every weekend since we bought it (and it's raining today). I would say that we spent forever levelling it, but either we got really lucky or really blessed with the levelling. We put some mulch on the weed barrier to get ready to level it, moved it 1 foot towards the mulch just to get it out from under the tree. I put the level on it to see how much work we had ahead of us, and IT WAS MIRACULOUSLY LEVEL. In all 3 dimensions. How cool is that?

A Rose is a Rose is....

not the wheel for me.

I'm so sad. I tried Mary's Majacraft Rose yesterday and I loved it. Well, I loved the top half. Speed was great. Really great.

However. Treadling was another story. It was fine until I adjusted the brake string to get some take-up, and then it just dragged. Grr. I really want a Suzie Pro, but I'll have to try one of them out now to see if it's "a Majacraft thing" or just "a Rose thing."

So far, I've tried a Rose, Sonata, Joy, Polonaise, Mazurka, Fricke ST, Victoria.... and I own a Traveller.

Rose - Love the speed. Too hard to treadle, and have to ratchet up the brake to get any take-up. Dislike the delta orifice and hate the sliding hook.

Sonata - LOVE the treadling, but would have to get a high-speed whorl. Like the cup-hook style flyer and portability. Concerned about production-level durability.

Joy - Just feels unresponsive. Treadling feels gooey (maybe I just hate stretchy drive bands). Not fond of the frame set-up (dangerous for toddler fingers).

Polonaise - Love the speed. Not a fan of the off-center ST. Heavy treadling required, but that was probably becayse it was cranked up way too tight. Need to test-drive a Symphony.

Mazurka - Not even in the running. Darling little wheel, but not heavy enough for my fiber appetite. Plus, I've got the Traveller already and not a fan of ST.

Fricke ST - Well, it's an ST. And kinda homely. It spins great, but I keep feeling like the flyer is going to fall in my lap. Don't like the orifice/flyer either.

Victoria - Kills my knees. Too small. Super portable, though. Just not the thing for me. Spins FANTASTIC, though.

Yesterday's Progress

Sorry for the bad picture quality. It's currently raining outside. We have to move some of the mulch from the front yard to level the thing now, and then finish putting on the decking to finish the current "step" in the manual. Onwards and upwards.

The Neverending Sweater

Oh my gourds! She's multiposting again!

Yeah, well both my kids are asleep. I take advantage of that whenever I can.

This, my friends, is the neverending sweater. I won't tell you what size my husband is, but it isn't a women's small. This sucker has a lot of stitches.
And there's about a bazillion more rows to go before the neck (well, more like 30, but it FEELS like a bazillion). At least he's anti-turtleneck.

Ok, now for the gory details.

It's out of Paton's Pure Merino in "Natural Marl," found on sale last year at Michael's for something ridiculous like $4 for 220yds. It's very very soft and arany.

Pattern: Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears, Beth Brown-Reinsel's Knitting Ganseys, and Elsebeth Lavold's Vikingmonster book all had a baby together. You can see the freakishness of my pattern drafting in the armshaping, which is BOTH raglan AND gusset. Yup, my husband is a freak with fat armpits... (just kidding... it's really because he has to streeeeetch way over the table when he plays pool and billiards).

Playground Progress

Just in case anyone is googling away to find out how to put this thing together (like we did), this is the "Costco Sunray 2007 Playground." RUN, do not walk, to http://www.charette.com/articles/playground.html. Find Scott's instructions, read them THOROUGHLY, and put it together his way. Some of the manufacturer's instructions, although correct, actually make assembly more difficult.

And they said it couldn't be done.

This is the progress we made over the weekend. That includes buying a pneumatic wrench, corded drill, weed barrier, and a case of Dublin Dr Pepper for fuel. (That's not an alcoholic drink, y'all. It's the GOOD Dr Pepper.) In case you're wondering, all those boards were numbered by yours truly.... I stole the kids' sidewalk chalk for the job, though.

Not a fight yet in sight. However, we did manage to clarify the definitions of both "plumb" and "square." Ask away, but we'll never tell.

We also have a frickin' huge pile of mulch in our front yard for the play surface. Like the entire contents of a dump truck. Pflugerville is so cool like that. It was FREE. Now we just need to buy a new wheelbarrow......

BTW, power tools are FUN!!!