Thursday, January 31, 2013

I'm weaving a new scarf.  This one is made of some merino / silk from Henry's Attic.  I've wound the warp and was going to use it for the weft also but it fuzz's so easily I was afraid it would be too fuzzy and warm to wear.

So I pulled out some cotton / rayon nubby yarn I bought several years ago from Catnip Yarns.  They've got to have the most beautiful yarns made for dyeing.  I seem to be in a white mood (maybe because of all our snow?) so probably won't dye any of this.

Wasn't sure at first it would be suitable for the weft, but after weaving a couple yards, I'm loving it!  But I do hope it softens up after I wash and finish it.  Here's a close up of that lumpy-bumpy weft.

If it doesn't get softer, maybe I will use it for a table runner.  They can be approximately the same size, but not worried about it.

That leicester (lie-ster) longwool I spun and wove into a scarf was similar to burlap until I was told to Always wash and iron before making a judgment.  And I really love it now.

The only problem is the lumps and bumps take up a lot of space on these little shuttle bobbins so I'm always jumping up to wind a few more.  But that's ok, I really feel better if I move around a little when I'm weaving.



Our snow continues to fall and stay.  This picture shows the accumulated snow off our roof in the front yard.  I just hope it doesn't warm up too quickly and start to do a fast melt.  We have had frozen water, otherwise known as ice :-) ... on our front porch clean up to the door.  Not fun.


Saturday, January 12, 2013

Winter goes on here.  The dogs always enjoy it as they love playing in the snow.  They could stay out for hours but we worry about their feet getting too cold.  At least Dexter's.  He isn't as long-haired as Bella and its not nearly as thick.

Bella looks like a sheep and I don't think she ever gets cold.  But she sure likes being in the house sleeping.  Maybe she's part kitty, as she sleeps All The Time.

Daughter was out trying to snow blow a path from the house out to the garage.  Our neighbor who usually snowplows for us wasn't available this week so she did it instead.  Usually its not too hard with this snow blower but take about half a day to do the entire thing.

The driveway goes from where the dogs were playing to down past that stand of trees in the first picture.  Our driveway is on a bit of a slope and coming back up can be tricky.  She got her truck stuck down at the gate the other day and it was a while before she could maneuver her way up.  One year we slid not just one, but two cars into the chicken coop (on the right of the first picture) and finally had to get a neighbor with an ATV to come pull them both out.

Oh the fun of living here.  BTW, Dexter thinks he's saving her from that noisy snow blower.  He does the same thing with the vacuum.

Thursday, January 3, 2013


 2013 is here! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone.  Ok, so I will start my diet tomorrow.  This was just too good to pass up.  Twelve different kinds of cheesecake.

Remarkably, I haven't gained a pound.  Well, probably more than just one pound.  We ate a few pieces each, then decided to save the rest for later in the month.

I sat it outside on our covered screened in porch where we eat in the summer time.  Frozen by the time we got up this morning.  Oh well, I was going to put it in the freezer anyway.



















And here's a picture of one of the pieces I ate last night.  All cheesecake, all sweet and soft, all soooo good.  But I haven't had one today (yet).







Just in case you don't believe our cheesecake froze out on the picnic table last night on the covered, screened in porch, here's some proof.  I took this picture this morning of our thermostat around 8:am.   It didn't warm up to the 20' until around noon.  Now its back down in the teens.

But its still 74 inside.   Lovin' it.