Wednesday, June 30, 2010

All Dressed in Their Sunday Best!




H.A.Y. "Love in Idleness" Being modeled by Radar
Zed is sporting Gale's Art Wisteria




Fairy Queen By Rebekah With Love, modeled by Jenkins




Leroy posing in his new CraftyPuppyLover's Sexy batt




It's a colorful life's Titania




Sally Sits Splendidly in Spin Stitch Sew

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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Life In Bavaria

These are shots from Töpfermarkt
(an arts and crafts but mostly pottery festival):







This booth was by Edith Stiefenhofer who owns geFilzt
(which is the German word for Felted)

She had beautiful hand dyed and hand spun yarns, as well as felted items from jewelry to hats and everything in between.




She has a store in Marktoberdorf but is only open on Thursdays!

I'm happy to report that I will be going to visit her tomorrow!
I plan to take my Jenkins family and introduce her to a new way of spinning!




And these are things I see on my morning jog:






















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Poor Weasel




I'm back in Germany and happy to report that I am no where near the scary woods!! The weather is beautiful so I decided I would go for a jog every morning! On the first day, I ran down to a little bakery about a half mile away. Very near the bakery, I saw a small animal that appeared to be stuck in a door. It turned out it was a weasel. It was so small and scared. I knew not to touch it but I couldn't just leave it there. So I got up the nerve and I approached some men that were having breakfast. I explained, very poorly in German, that he was stuck and needed help and I showed them a picture. One spoke English and went with me to check it out. Turns out, the little guy had been hit by a car. He went to the next house over because he said a hunter lived there and would probably put him out of his misery. The hunter said he couldn't shoot him there in the middle of the houses (thank goodness) and that he would see if he could help him first. I decided to not stick around to watch any "putting out of misery".



I had managed to gather 3 men and a dog before I left though. At least I tried to help. I never would have been able to live with myself if I had just walked away.

This is the Hunter's dog! I forgot to ask his name but he is a great dog!
I stop to tell him hello every morning now!!




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Saturday, June 19, 2010

Tired of Waiting for a Decent iPad Case

So I made one!
















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Monday, June 14, 2010

Sushi, Customs, and Fredie

This was one hell of a Monday

4 hours in and I was ready for Tuesday
Luckily, fiber makes any day better!

Check out my Sushi yarn!

This is fiber from (RuLeOuT): fIBer AdDicTiOn NOS


And I finished my Entrelac scarf!!

I haven't blocked it yet, but this is made of 100% yarnspun on my Turkish spindles!!
Mostly my beloved Jenkins family.
But a few were done with my newer additions from
IST Crafts and the Spanish Peacock.

All of the fiber used in this yarn came from special places!
Most of it came from Phat Fiber boxes, some
from yarn stores that I have visited recently,
and even some that I mixed up on my new drum carder!

I would love to tell you where all the fibers came from
but I would never get them all right!
If you recognize your stuff, let me know and I'll add a shout out!

Notice the Sushi yarn (from above) that I used to finish out my scarf?
Also notice how my spinning became finer and more refined as I went.
This has been a true learning expierence.
I've really only been spinning since December.

I think I've come a long way for 6 months!

This is picture is because it's pretty
and also for those out there who might
wonder what the fiber looks like before it is spun!


This is from SilverSunAlpacas


Also, any sucky Monday
that ends with a package like this on your door step,
can't be that bad!

This is a new little discovery that I came across a few weeks ago.
Its the United Kingdom sister to the Phat Fiber box!

The Fibreholics Box!!

The samples are each a bit bigger but you get fewer of them in a box.
All super squishy and lovable!

Plus they are the perfect size for my next project.(which I will tell you about later!)





Oh and my crazy day landed me at the Volkswagen dealership
because Fredie was broken and I had to get him fixed
(for a small fortune)

For those that haven't met him yet,
This is Fredie!!!

He likes coffee and he's always taking me on crazy adventures!

So, I briefly considered trading him in today.
I know it's crazy.
But in all fairness, I've had so many little (but expensive) problems
with this car from day one.
But like an abusive boyfriend, I still love him dearly
and just can't seem to leave him.
It makes me sad to think about getting rid of him.
And I think the only thing that could possibly replace him
is another Bug, maybe in another color, like RED!

I have to give a shout out to the team at VW Audi, Huntsville.
They really took care of me today.
(except for the hole in my wallet thing,
but I don't blame them for that)

When I returned to pick up Fredie,
Jeff greeted me with "did you bring Leroy?"
What? Huh?
"how about Jenkins?"

Turns out I had a Chrome64.com keychain on Fredie's keys...

Who knew that anyone would actually go to
my website because of one of these??

Kind of cool!
and I always like it when I find out that random people
are reading my boring nonsense.

so anywho...

Reggie (from the sales floor) worked all day,
looking at options all because I woke up and had a whim.
Jeff (from service) saved me a bundle
by coaching me through changing my headlight!
And then Jeff and Portia (from parts)
gave me a sweet deal on this super cool bag!!!

I mean, it was just sitting on the shelf, calling my name.
It knew it was mine!
Portia and Jeff agreed!
Thanks Guys!


And it looks like my UK Fibreholics goodies
were meant to live in this bag!
So it's perfect!

I'll just throw in a spindle or two and I'll be good to go!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Never Turn your Back on a Jenkins

Well...

Funny things happen when you put a bunch of Jenkins in a Train Case together unsupervised...

I spun half of this batt (from my earlier Fiber Studio post)
on Chuck... then later...

I found that Chuck had taken a liking to my new little Kuchulu.

Who I have been informed, is named Sally.

And this was the result:


So I spun the other half of the batt with Sally's shaft.


And all I can say is

This is the coolest spindle I own!!!

It's small, compact, spins like a demon,
and I can pack on twice as much fiber as I can on Sally.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Do you ever find yourself in the strangest of situations?




after recovering my passport and successfully flying to Germany,
I lost my ATM card in a machine in Frankfurt.

I also discovered that the place I was planning to stay,
was suddenly very very far away.
But a very kind person made arrangements
for me to stay in an apartment here.

It was a mile and a half away from
my newly discovered destination.

So I walked, every morning, and every night.

But I was very VERY thankful to have a place to stay.


This is the path that I walked and it was dark and creepy.
And at times, I felt like I was in a scene from the Blair Witch Project.

Or at least some B grade horror film.

I imagined how it would all go down
if I suddenly vanished from this earth
because some psycho jumped from the woodsand ran off with me...

All they would find is poor little Leroy,
All alone in the woods
Probably scared, cold, and naked.

But no one snatched me and
I was never chased by a chainsaw,
so all is well =)


It even looked creepy in the daylight.

Not really sure what this was.
There were several towers like this one.They looked like guard towers...


But to make up for the creepy,
I was greeted by this lovely view in the morning walks!


And a few kitties!

Excuse me Mr. Kitty, do you speak German?

Mitzi Mitzi Mitzi

Do you know "Worst Hunter Cat?"
You look like you might be related.

Plus the birds mocking you in the trees,makes me think you do.

AND THERE WAS A POPCORN MACHINE!!!

I want one of these in my house!

OK, back home

And I have to tell you about this little bear.
No idea why I have to tell you, I just do.
I have a riding lawn mower and have a rather large yard
that I have to keep up.
It sucks.
I only cut my grass because society says I have to.
I would like to replace it with one of those great
rock yards like out west.
Or Astro Turf!
But I have grass and my neighbors give me dirty looks if I don't cut it.
So I was on my riding lawn mower,
writing my name in my yard...
(I may have to cut it, but I do not have to go in straight lines...)

And I saw something in the grass.

I stopped and picked it up and it was this little bear.
He was filthy, completely covered in mud.
I assume he was a dog toy in his former life.
So I rescued him and put him on top of the mower until I was done.

But then later, I was trying to cut around a tree.
I went under a limb and the next thing I know,
bear parts are flying everywhere.
I had knocked the poor guy off and decapitated him.

I was so sad.
So I picked up all his pieces and brought him home.

I removed the stuffing,
ran him through the washing machine a few times.
And then restuffed with fresh stuffing him and stitched him up!

He seems to be recovering ok.


Now onto yarny stuff!


I made a wonderful discovery on Ravelry this week!

People like to trade!
And I have lots and lots of Fiber related goodies to trade!

So, I traded a ThreadsThruTime Tiny Spindle for a new Jenkins Kuchulu!!
All of the Kuchulu's are numbered and this is #21!!
I think it's pretty cool to have one of the very first ones!

Leroy is #193

(We haven't decided on a name yet...)


And this is my new IST Crafts Spindle
This is really a great spindle!

(also un-named)
I won't say that it's better than my Jenkins,
but it is just as good!

They are different
(I promise to provide a full review of all Turks
that I have tried, sometime in the future...)

And here is my custom made Spanish Peacock!!

It's so pretty!
It also falls into the category of at least as good as my Jenkins!

Zed sporting a full 4oz!

That later became a hat,
that is too big for me.

So, if you know me,
and your head is bigger than mine,
and you like this yarn,
we might be able to work something out. =)


Zed again

with my first handspun yarn
from one of my very own batts!


This is the ThreadsThruTime Tiny spindle
that I traded for the Kuchulu above!


Good Trade!