Happy Memorial Day!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day and take time to remember those who have so gallantly protected us, honor them!  (not just today....but everyday)

Finley and Ava are getting along very well, they LOVE each other :)  I'm so glad.  I think she has calmed him down tremendously and I am super glad of that.

Today is Memorial Day as you well know and my workplace is closed, thus I am off.  Now, I had the option to work and normally I take that option for the extra time.  However, I am TIRED!  Puppy training is hurting me...getting up several times a night is not fun (my hat is off to all of you moms!).

So, I decided to stay home :) .  His Majesty decided to stay home as well, since he was in a 24 hour mountain bike race over the weekend and needed to recuperate.

Of course it is raining!  But that is okay....I can still enjoy my day off. 

I will be going to look at Berninas today and hopefully decide on the machine I want.  I will also be spinning a little and working on my socks and shawl.  Good times!!!

And I need to take pictures of this stuff and post....just so I can see what I am doing !!!

What is up?

Quick post here just to say what is up.  Well, the precious little puppy found a home last week, but may be coming back to me today.  That is a long story for later today.  (I have missed her).

I have decided on the Bernina :)  huge smile here, just not sure which one.  I will be going by the sewing store to talk with a rep and decide from there.  Cost is a factor, since I just bought a new spinning wheel.  I have to have some restraint!  Don't I????

I started my shawl last night and only knitted about 5 rows before Finley decided he needed some loving....This is my yarn of choice for this little Ravelry shawlette, which I think will be very pretty.  I will pick it back up tonight and get at least 5 more rows completed!

My after work to do list:
1. Finley for a hike, exercise for me
2. Laundry folded and another load started
3. Litter boxes cleaned out
4. Dinner for EVERYONE
5. Spin at least 30 minutes
6. Pack lunch, pull out clothes for work, load car with work stuff
7. Shower and knit :)

I am a mess...

Have you seen a messier fabric stash?  Seriously?  A mess.  I am a true mess.  This is one corner of the fabric stash and it is out of control.  I need to reorganize.   I got so far as hanging the roving basket from the ceiling and then found myself becoming distracted by the other half of the mess....yes, another corner of insanity!

I then started trying to tame the sewing table and didn't get very far in that arena either.  Ugh.....maybe I can get a true grasp on the situation tomorrow and it will be beautiful...well, at least workable.

Then there is the sewing machine problem.  I broke 2 needles last night trying to sew a seat cover.  For some reason, my Brother has been giving me fits the last month or so and I am worried.  I can have it serviced and fixed, but it will cost a little more than half of it's worth.

So, do I just bite the bullet and get the Bernina that I have been wanting?  Or do I pay for service and keep this one????? 

 Can you tell I need an excuse to get the Bernina????  :)  Well, I will be making a pro and con list and see what it looks like to get the new one.  On a happy note, I picked up an Addi Turbo size 7, 32 inch circular needle today to start my summer shawl.  That makes me smile...
as does this yarn...MY yarn, a Wooliegirl yarn...dyed and spun by me :)  I love it!  No clue what I will do with it, but I still love it!

MY yarn..

So it may not look like much to you, but it is MY handspun.  I died, spun and knit this puppy!  I had a small amount, a test run and wanted to make something quick.  I went to Ravelry (who doesn't?) and found this pattern for a coffee cozy and thought it would be perfect.  It was, I love it and actually knitted two of them. 
The pattern is great and I love the colors of my yarn and the way it knitted. The buttons are just haphazard for show, so I have to go back and fix that.  I'm just proud of my yarn, that's all :)
I also snapped up this book and can't wait to try a few of her techniques.  She is giving a class near me in July and I am 87.9% talked into going...talking myself into it!!!

I love her stuff and I want to get my coils down pat....also love Jacey Boggs Sit and Spin video and considering purchasing that as well.  My problem is this thing called "money"...I need some of it. 

This little lady is needing a home, because she is already costing me money!  Someone help me!!!  Finley loves her to pieces, almost literally.  He keeps licking her and knocking her down with his big paws and then he will kick her around like a soccer ball and lick her again.  A little frightful, but they love each other.


I am looking forward to the weekend, because it is the Carolina Fiber Festival and I am going!!  I plan on purchasing some fibers for my new wheel, Mach II....yea!!  That was a present to myself and I plied some yarn spun on my Babe on the Mach and loved it...so smooth.  Ahhhh, spinning is relaxing, which I need right now, but the puppy keeps biting my feet and the wheel when I sit down to spin.  It hurts!

OH my gosh....another puppy!!???

Weelllllll, look what showed up at our house, a puppy.  It was in the drain pipe, shivering, cold, wet, dirty, covered in ticks and briars...so pitiful!  We coaxed it out/half pulled it out and took it into the house.  Gave her a bath, fed her, played with her, fixed her a bed...see what is happening?   She is precious, actually stinking cute is what she is.  However, I CANNOT have another pet.  No sirree bob, no more pets in this house.  This is not last May all over again. 

She needs a safe and loving home, just not here.  I have bills to pay and 7 other little ones to feed.

I am trying desperately to find her a home...please someone tate her.

Finley is loving her!  He is right now chasing her and licking her.  His tongue is as big as she is....so it seems.

I have knitting and spinning I want to do, not dog walk and potty training!

Tonight I will knit a few rows on my socks, finish my cup cozy, and smile at the spinning wheel...and clean up dog pee.

What puppies do...

Just a sample of what my puppy has done this past year, repeatedly :)  Every pillow, blanket, towel, rug, and toy that FrankenFinley has had in the first year of his life has been shredded.  Just like this blanket.  See what I've been doing?  It hasn't stopped yet.  The joy continues every day.  Nothing has been safe from the shredding.  Luckily he is a shredder, not an ingester ;)

I'm back!!

Okay, let's try this one more time.  I so want to blog, I really do.  I know it doesn't look that way, but I really do! What happened?  Several things actually, starting with going back to school after years of working as an RN...went into a RN to BSN program and that took up most of my life..well that and working full-time and cleaning house and that sort of stuff (man it never ends).  AND THEN  this guyThis is Finley, my baby boy!  He happened and everything went upside down.  Oh my gosh...how can one dog do that??????What a sweet big head :)  Anyway, Finley came into the house and took over.  He changed my workout schedule, my work schedule, my house schedule, my social schedule...get the pattern.  A dog did all of that. 

He is proof that God answers prayers...see for years (many years) I prayed for a child, but sadly have never been able to have one.  I continued to pray for a child, naturally or by adoption, didn't matter to me.  It did to my husband, thus no children. 

Meanwhile, we were loving on 5 cats and 1 dog and His Majesty (husband) said "NOTHING ELSE THAT EATS, BREATHS, OR POOPS IN THIS HOUSE."  So no more rescues...then one day he tells me he has rescued a puppy from someone that was going to kill him.  Long story short, God answered my prayer and sent me my child!!!  His name is Finley!  :)  God has a sense of humor.....he is laughing now.

Okay, I'm finished with school, just finished this month!  Yea!!!  And I am trying to get back to spinning, knitting, sewing and baking...and a workout schedule.