Mamascrapalota-Blogga

Cone of Shame, 2000Leagues, and Last Night

1. Smooshed ears.  2. Gazing out over her domain.  3.  Can't. Quite. Get. That.  ITCH!!!!!!

Somebody got fixed last week, and it wasn't me. Poor little girl.  For a bit she would NOT walk with this thing on, and in fact, just stood like a statue only moving her eyes and whining.  Today she gets her stitches out and looses her, "cone of shame." Most likely this will cause an overflow of energy, and crazy running in circles.  Like I said in my last post, she keeps running into the back of our legs and this HURTS!

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This is 2000Leagues. I spun this lace weight awhile back, but now it's time to put it to work. As I have "start-itis" for lace projects these days I've decided that I'm going to knit this  (Slowly....Carefully.....)

 

Photo by clothesdoc

It's Carcia by Ann of Knitspot.  It's soooooo pretty!  So, since I'm NO lace expert, we shall see how this will go.  I started last night, so I'll knit a bit on it today and report back.

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Stay tuned for a MAJOR de-stash that I'll be doing soon. I'm not kidding.  It's SERIOUSLY HUGE!!!

Knit on sista's

And, that's all she wrote!

Ulmus, Gluten Free Eating, and My Morning Ritual

So, I'll start with Ulmus (Ravelry Link).  I think this shawl is amazingly beautiful and I love the colors I picked out. I started last night, but had to stop to run the kiddos around. I'm knitting very, very, very,

s   l   o   w   l   y   

these days, just so I don't re-do my funky bad right arm, but you can see I've gotten a little ways through it.  It's not so bad, and it's a very easy knit.

 

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So, this morning I made my first Gluten Free Banana Bread and boy was it a hit.  SOOOOOO good!

 

I've gotten some great books on Celiac Disease, eating G-Free, and was even sent a book by a VERY thoughtful reader who works for the publisher. (Thanks SOOOO much Jennifer!!!! Look for something coming your way....) It's the top book in the photo below. I just got it last night, and I'm about 1/4 of the way through.  GREAT book.

Today I go in for another round of tests at the Dr's. We'll see what happens!!!!

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In the mornings I like to get up before the sun rises (sometimes later...hee). I get my bible and my coffee and go find somewhere cool to read and study the Lords Word.  I'm in John right now and it's rockin' my world.  Today the day started out great weather wise, so I got out my "softball-watching" chair and found some shade. It's one of my most favorite things to do.

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So, since I'm semi-knitting away (very carefully) I guess I can say, once again, "KNIT ON SISTA'S!"

And, that's all she wrote!

I forgot to update on the baby fawn!

Sorry guys,

Yesterday in my post I forgot to update you on the baby fawn in our yard.  The mom came to get him/her around sundown and we haven't seen them since.  It's still too early in the season (at least around here) to see the babies since they are all still being hidden. I got several emails and posts about how the moms hide the babies during the day and go feed.  And, I've viewed this happen for several years, it's just that this one was BRAND spanking new, and it's Mommy was gone ALL day, and he/she was crying!!!!!  I could hardly stand it! So, no rescue had to happen, thank goodness.  But boy was I tempted.

Have a great day everyone!

Mary-Kay

Some Things.....

I've been doing some painting/sketching lately.  This is our ranch foreman Ed.  Wait until you see him without his winter beard.  GORGEOUS! This one was signed and given to my parents for the ranch house.

Pastel on Hard Press.

And, here's a dandylion from our front yard.  Very stylized and fast. Again Pastel on Hard Press

 

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On my own health front, I've found out some news. I think I mentioned it a little bit in the last post but I"ve been not doing so well lately and on Saturday I finally met with a Naturalpath Doctor who was able to see me.  I was also able to see my family doctor, and it turns out I have Celiac Disease.  Now, my sister has been telling me this FOREVER, and even my mom has told me.  She even bought a book for me to read and that just sealed the deal.  I have a few tests that I need to have done, my doctor says that now my family needs to be tested, as it is hereditary.  Also, there is a high risk of Diabeties Type 1 (kids get this), and many other factors that can happen because of it. 

Every thing pointed right to Celiac.  Well, there's a problem with that.  I bake my own bread using organic wheat, spelt, gluten, etc for my family, but that will be no more.  I LOVE to eat anyting bread-y, cake-y, cookie-y, etc.  It's in everything you guys!  Gluten is EVERYwhere! I sure pay the high price when I do eat this stuff though.

I got suspicious when I decided on April 1st to cut out bread, bread products, and sugar.  I have since lost 30 lbs!  Woo Hoo!  I'm eating all kinds of berries, nuts, carrots, celery, and protien.  But when I snuck a cookie after about 5 weeks in I got violently ill, when I ate chinese food (lemon chicken) I did the same.  I had to find out the problem and now I have....

Is anyone out there Celiac?  Any tips? I've got a LONG row to hoe ahead of me of learning, and re-training to go.  The nautralpath I'm meeting with is going to take me shopping so that will be GREAT! Whole Foods here we come!

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My parents both came for Kid 2's dance recital and so we got to have them here for a week.  Some of you know their story, both have been VERY ill lately, but they did great while they were here.  We kept it very low key, and mostly hung around and did stuff with the kiddos. 

But, I taught my mom how to spin on a spindle!  Ok, I've taught quite a few people.  I've only taught ONE other person that got things this fast.  It was amazing.  Within 1 minute she had it down and really enjoyed it!

 

(My proud Mom with her yarn with Dad looking on)

 

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And, now here's Miss Quincy sleeping in her bed. Man, I LOVE her!

A more current picture (two day's later) would have shown her with a big cone on her head because last Thursday she was "fixed." She was a bit punky for a few days, but seems to be just fine now.  That cone hurts though, she keeps running into walls, the couch, the floor, and the back of my legs.  Yeeouch!  She's gotten so big now, at a whopping 13.4 lbs. (Remember we were used to Missy at 110 lbs.) so I'm being sarcastic here.  But, we think she is going to be the PERFECT size.... Yea!

 

Have a GREAT week!!!!

We Have Nature

Now, would 'ya look at that!  A new baby fawn born right in our very own backyard.  We think he's less than a day old. He gets up every once in awhile to call for his mama, and then he hides again. At this point we found his hiding place, snapped some photos and left him alone.  If his mom doesn't come by tonight, it'll be rescue time over here.

 

He's about 10 in. long all folded up like this in a little package.  Ohhhh, did I ever want to pick him up and cuddle him.....

Here's some old guys roaming around that you've all seen before.  They decided to eat some of the new leaves off of our trees.

 

 

And, we've been having some extreme weather around here. Check out this sky directly over our house.

It doesn't even capture the green color there in the middle, but boy it was there.  Later, my friends at knitting told me that a green sky means TORNADO.  I don't doubt it....while taking these pictures there was NO wind, but strangely, there were no birds chirping, no sound at all.  About 50 pics later, and about 2 minutes later, we had rain flying sideways and wind up the wazoo.  Within 15 min. the basement was flooding, and we were busy hiding from the lightening and thunder that were happening simultaneously. That's never happened here before! Crazy stuff man, weather.

It's been tooooo long....

But, I've been gone for some pretty good reasons.  I haven't been all that happy with some things lately that have been out of my hands, Friend changes, work changes, family illness, my own strange illnesses, and general changes all around.  So I've decided to make some changes that I CAN CONTROL ON MY OWN. I'm not going to go into it all right now- and maybe never, but non the less, things are changing for me good and bad. I'm having fun with my husband and my girls, and really now, isn't that what it's all about anyway?????

One bad thing is that my strange-arm-thing-that-has-stopped-my-knitting is still going on.  It's been about 4 months now, and it's really starting to cramp my knitting style.  I mean - I'M NOT KNITTING AT ALL! But, a great thing that has happened is that I've started weaving! I signed up for "Beginning 4 Shaft Weaving" with Judy Steinkoenig up at Shuttles Spindles and Skeins in Boulder.  Blew my mind.  Right out of the water.

 

Going from Left to Right, Top to Bottom

1. A finished gamp on the new loom.

2. Kid 2's Barbie Doll holding up a loose warp thread.  Doesn't everyone use this for tension?

3. My class projects.

4. Overshot Wrap in Berrocco yarn

5. Plain weave scarf out of Red Rocks Fiber Works.

6. The Cross.

7. Hand dyed (by me) warp thread.

8 Warp for Overshot Wrap

9. A messed up project but it's pretty anyway!

Enough for today!  Don't worry, I'll be back....

And, that's all she wrote!

New Aquisitions

(as always, click any picture to embiggen) 

These are all my sock yarn, hand cranked on a sock machine by my good friend Barb.  She charges $15 per pair and if you want it done, I can give you the info.  If you want it done out of my sock yarn, then we can talk.  These fit like a GLOVE!  I love them all!

And, yes, my very own New Zealand Auto Knitter arrived last Thursday.  Purchased over 18 months time from Jacquie Grant down under.  I saved up each month and paid her a little bit at a time from my yarn sales and I finally paid it off and here she is!

And, here I am trying her out at our bi-annual knitting retreat up in Buena Vista, CO with the Arvada Knitters. There is a STEEP learning curve that's for sure.  It's tricky, but fun and challenging at the same time.  Stay tuned for possible sock updates.  It'll be awhile.  My very good friend Christie named her "Birdie" because of her color and it fits.  When I was struggling pretty badly, she told me I needed to talk to Birdie in soothing tones.  I'm afraid I scared her a little bit.

And, for my early birthday present I got a Kindle!  I'm in love!

The cover I bought is excellent. It stands up like an easel and has a place on the other side for a pad of paper or note cards, and a pen.  I can put all of my PDF's of my patterns on there, and my many books.  It's awesome! Happy Early Birthday to me!  (not really until May 13th)

On the knitting front?  I've nothing to show.... I've over done it with my right wrist and even typing is killing my arm, so I must stop now.  Have a great week everyone!

Yarn and Quincy

I've been crazy busy these last few weeks, but will be having a shop update at Red Rocks Fiber Works later this week.  Look for it, and I'll announce it here for you guys. I'm off to go and teach the girls, but I leave you with a cute pic of Kid 1 and Quincy at her first Vet check.  She's 100%!  Woot!

And, this shows just how small she is next to my purse.

And, that's all she wrote!

Meet Quincy

Byron finally said YES to a new puppy and this is what he chose.  She is a Shiba-Inu and right now is very tiny.  The best part?  I was very worried about the new puppy nights, and she sleeps through the night all the way - and she's only 9 weeks old!  Swoon!  I'm in love!  Oh man, she's sweet. And, Byron really digs her! 

She looks like a little fox.

So there you go!  Yea!

Spinning and Trunk Show

I'm doing a little spinning.  Right now I have going 8 oz. of 70% Merino, 30% Silk for socks and I'm spinning it into a 3 ply.  I'm on the first bobbin and at 30 WPI it's taking a LOOOOONNNNGGGG time to spin it.  I started it on Feb. 29 and I'm still spinning the first bump on the first bobbin.  It's defiantly how I get a lot of DVR TV watching out of the way.  I'd saved up about 5 shows of Hero's so that's been my show these last few days. WOO HOO!

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I had a trunk show this last weekend at Colorful Yarns which went VERY well.  I mean WOW!  That's the best I've ever done in one day that's for sure.  And, the sale on the yarns (15% off all Red Rocks Fiber Works yarns in the store and in the Trunk Show) go through next Sunday, March 8th.  I'm currently dyeing a ton more yarn to replenish what was sold last weekend and I'll be filling up the bins and buckets on Friday. 

A HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who came down and supported the sale.  And thanks to all of you who called and emailed your big orders in!  Wow, just WOW!!!!!  I'll try to photo some of the stuff that I get done this week for you guys. If I don't, well, you know I just got toooooo busy!  Homeschooling, dyeing, wife-ing, taxi-driving.  You know....

If you have ordered anything from me last week, it'll be going out by this Friday. Hopefully sooner. (That's you Jen) I'm trying to keep up!

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Now, I leave you with a VERY cool yarn base, I'm calling "Buffalo Girls."  It's some amazing stuff that I dyed as a custom order from a customer this weekend.  So shiny, eh?  I think I need to keep some of this stuff for myself, doncha think? I have to say I think this is now one of my most favorite yarns.  It is sooooo soft and very shiny.  Did I say that already?  That it's shiny?  Heh.

330 yards
Fingering Weight
70% Bamboo, 30% Bison Down
Retail price $52
Sale price $45

I started with 40 skeins on Saturday and I only have 16 skeins of this left as of Monday. It's beautiful un-dyed (and is only $38) but, I can dye-some up for you if you let me know quickly so I can get them back from the store.  Just email me, or leave me a comment. 

Ok, folks.  I'm tired!  Good night

Oh yeah, that's all she wrote!  And, Knit on everyone!