New Toys and More Hobbies!

I purchased a new toy for myself. This is my 10"Cricket Loom. It's a rigid heddle loom (I move the heddle by hand to create the upper and lower sheds--weaving lingo!) I thought that it would be a good way to get rid of some of my extra stash of yarn. Make scarves! Make placemats! Make belts! Make 10" widths of fabric that I can later sew together for...wider fabric!


My first piece was this lovely scarf. I like this picture because you can't see all the mistakes.

Then I made one for Hannah. She helped.

Then I found this interesting yarn hidden in my stash. It's not the sort of thing that I could knit with, and there wasn't enough to make a big project, but Hannah loves this scarf too.

I just can't seem to stop. Once I learned how to warp the loom (See? More weaving lingo!!) things began going to go sooooooo smoothly that I've gotten a little crazy. I want to get more creative, and I think I've found yet another outlet.

George says he knows it's only a matter of time until I buy a spinning wheel. How far from spinning to raising my own flock of sheep? Or goats? Or alpaca?

I told him not to worry. It's not a true obsession until I know how to do at least five different things with fiber. Right now, I just have a lot of hobbies. After all I only crochet, knit, felt, weave, sew...

Ah, crap. Too late.

I'm Dreaming of a Muddy Christmas

For the past several years the kids and I have made paper snowflakes and posted them in the windows. We made some stringers of hanging stars out of pretty paper, and the snowflakes used really fancy oragami paper that I was supposed to actually use for oragami, but I never had the patience.

These snowflakes are starting to show their age though, and they will have to be remade or replaced soon.

We have never really decorated the outside of our house. I'm not anti-Christmas spirit. I've just always concentrated on the inside of my house. To be specific, I've decorated the living room. That's about it. Sometimes we put things up in the dining room, or the kitchen. Inevitably, I recognize that I've forgotten to put these decorations away some time around my birthday (March.)

So this year, I've gone the extra mile. I got gel clingy snowflakes in bright blue and white colors for the windows. We got lights for the outside of the house. Not many. There's a stringer around the eaves and some dangly stars by the front door, and some snow flakes on stakes in front. Why now? Well, I've found solar powered lights. I don't have to plug in, and my never-ending quest to lower our electricity bill is still on track.

Unfortunately, the world is fighting against me every step of the way.

The kittens discovered the gel cling snowflakes. We are finding pieces of clingy gel all over the house. I put the clings into the high upper panes of the windows--the ones you can't even see if you're looking at the outside of the house--and stretchy cats are reaching up and pulling them down. They are playing with the sticky snowflakes. They have discovered that these cute little floppy toys will stick to anything, and everything will stick to them. The kittens have lost many under the furniture, and as a consequence I have discovered that I really need to dust under my furniture  I will probably find gel cling in their literbox for many weeks to come.

We're expecting the sod any minute now...

We have part of our front lawn dug up by the gas company. They're supposed to re-sod soon (December? Seriously?) but until they do, I'm not putting out anything on stakes. So much for the standie snowflakes.

Nature is doing her part by making sure we never see the sun. Did I mention that all of my lights are solar lights?  To be completely fair, we get a pretty good charge on the solar panels for the hanging stars, they'll stay lit all night. Those came with a special note saying that the solar cell is so advanced, the lights will even charge on cloudy days (gotta love UV.)  However, the same note wasn't included int the stringer that I bought for our eaves. Apparently, it uses older technology and a less advanced solar cell. We get about three to five hours of light out of the stringer. Seeing as we're averaging sixteen hours of darkness these days, it's not much.


See the stringer? See the grey skies? We'll get about three hours of light today.

I can't wait until Christmas next year. I might be able to see my lights. In the meantime, the kids and I are going to cut out some paper snowflakes and watch the new sod turn rotten and brown in the cold weather.

Dear People's Gas- WHO THE HELL PUTS DOWN SOD IN DECEMBER??????



Thank Heavens for neighbors who don't mind big electric bills.

 

I am by no means finished...but this is where I stand.

Hats! Lots of hats

Mittens! Lots of them too!

Almost all of the nieces and  nephews are getting mittens and hats for Christmas. I have been a busy little crafter. I am also ready to put down the knitting needles for awhile. Holy cow, I think I'm getting carpal tunnel. I think that I can make that skull cap in my sleep--a skull cap that has skulls on it...am I crazy or what? 

O_o

And, thanks to an awful stomach bug that is going around Joe and Suzanne's home, I have inherited Christmas Eve!! We'll just do deserts and presents, but I sure hope no one is expecting a clean house. I really wish I could be drunk for it, but I have to be at work tomorrow night by 9. Boss is cutting me a little slack because of the unexpected hostessing, but I still have to go in. Bummer. At least I'm the Desk Sergeant...I think. That almost makes it worth my while. But it also means I don't get to leave early. Boo. I don't know that I'll be getting to Church on Sunday to sing the Christmas songs. Oh well. It's a living.

Christmas Stories

For the rest of the week, the kids are writing me Christmas stories. The only rules I have put on this activity is that they have to 1)use their spelling words from last week and that 2) they have to use adjectives. They can write Christmas ghost stories, Christmas adventure stories, Christmas stories that involve animals, Christmas stories that take place in the past or in the future, sci-fi Christmas stories...
We will read the stories on Christmas Day.
It's a fun exercise, and it also gives them something to do while I'm knitting. I have two pairs of mittens, a hat and a scarf to knit before Saturday. There's a story in that too, and I will share it soon. I will also share photos of what I am making, but not right now...I'm too buy. Go write a story or something.

Arts week- Day 1

The pleased artists

snowflakes

Stars

So, the creative well has been a bit dry lately...I have been tired like crap for one thing. I decided that this week would be arts week at school since one of the reasons I wanted to homeschool was the lack of arts. Well, today our little crafty beavers have been busy at work making stars and snowflakes. The stars were so easy that I just cut up the paper and let them go to town. The snowflakes required a bit more supervision. I'm going to try to attach some photos. I should be able to do this from my phone, but it's not quite working out yet. How can a smart phone be so dumb?! (maybe an uneducated user....nah.)

I guess that this is step one in pulling myself together: staying busy! (or maybe that's step one in avoidance of thinking of anything too deep.)

Becky stopped by today. We have to do lunch.