Multi tasking

In between working on the retaining wall and running to the supply store on a daily basis i had a little time to dye some sock yarn:

and finish sock one of another pair of patchwork socks :

I'll be using the dyed yarn for some lace and cable patterned socks.

I love how the colors came out ,very deep and rich.

Tomorrow morning before it gets too hot i will go to our annual Helen Keller festival's arts and crafts show.They don't ever have any fiber relatet items there but i love to go and see what other crafts people are into.

another pair...

Just showing off another pair of patchwork socks i just finished. I already listed them in the shop.

I love to make these even though the sewing in of all the loose ends is really a pain.

I'm slowly running out of leftover yarn though ,so i probably will be able to make maybe one or two more pair and then I'll be out. I really don't know how to get more leftover yarn in bigger quantities in a hurry.Most of the yarn I've been using has been collected over the past three years. Any ideas anyone?

I'm washing fleece right now ,a big bag of rather dirty merino i bought last year and had forgot about.Run across it this morning looking for something else. So i hauled it in the house and washing it in little laundry bags by the hand full. It cleans up rather nice though and is sooo soft and... no vm at all,just dirt!!

Must be about two pounds or so.I think I'll mix it with the Cormo i have to make a really soft,lofty spinning fiber,they have the same staple length,about 4 inches. That would make a great bobble yarn, all squishy and soft.I just wish i could get around to put a little motor on my carder,that would speed up the whole process considerably (and save my poor arm!).

I also found some BL lamb locks i bought several month ago.They are already washed and i think I'll dye them the way they are. The locks are just gorgeous and soft.These i will also put in the store.

I've carried my loom out into the 'studio/hold all' building.I'm going to start weaving again soon, just right now i want to work with the fleece/fiber and spin.I also haven't found a low table yet to set the loom on and it's really killing my back when i have to stand to weave.

A little sore but HAPPY...

FINALLY!!! After 5 years hiatus (since my introduction to 'The Cancer'), we finally got to go to an overnight trail ride.The occasion was our annual St.Jude Benefit Ride.Last time we attended that was 3 years ago for just a few hours in the morning, since i could not handle our usual July heat which brings me to the fortunate circumstance that we could actually go this year and stay.

At this time of year we usually boil with temps around the upper 90's or even triple digits with very high humidity which makes it feel even worse.This year we got a lucky break.forecast since last week was unseasonably cool temperatures,so we decided to risk it. It took us most of the week to load everything on the bus , get the tack sorted out and cleaned up .we didn't get to put shoes on our horses but that was OK, the trails are mainly in the woods or sandy.

At the last minute the bus had some kind of air conditioner trouble and we almost didn't get to go,but hubster fixed it.

Well, Thursday afternoon we had a line of thunderstorms run through and after that the temps really started to come down.We got out there early Friday morning and secured a very nice camp site.

After setting up camp i just could not wait any longer, my stepdaughter and i saddled up our horses and rode around the 60 acres campsite and adjacent farm grounds (trails didn't open till next morning).

(F)Red (the mule), Vandal, Charley

As soon as i slid my butt into the saddle i felt like a new person. My,do i miss my riding!!

Early saturday morning we saddled up our horses (hubster rides the mule) and off we went.

We ended up wayyyy on top of the mountain at Davis's Farm.When you get there they have hand squeezed lemonade( as much as you want) and home made cookies(as many as you want) and a view for miles around.

The trails where beautiful and the weather perfect:low 80's ,low humidity, light breeze,little white clouds here and there, just perfect.

Brandie on Charley and John on Fred

After a couple hours lunch break at the camp we where off again.

The trail we took was one of the most beautiful rides i had in a long ,long time. All in the woods , big old trees, along and partially in a super clear creek.Unfortunately the camera was sitting forgotten and lonely at the camp, bugger!!

If i could do this on a regular basis i would not need to take that stupid depression medication.

We got back late that afternoon, build a nice camp fire and cooked us some really good cowboy stew, sat by the fire for awhile and went to bed .

We decided next morning not to go out again but give our sore behinds and the horses a break. We cooked us up a nice breakfast,broke camp and went home.All in all it was a great weekend(the best time I've had in a looong time).We weren't as sore as we thought we would be and I made hubster promise that we'll do this again soon.

As soon as i get the bus unloaded, washed clothes,put everything back where it belongs I'll be getting back to spinning again.I've got some polwarth/merino-corriedale carded up that i need to dye.Probably first thing tomorrow morning, i'll post pics of the outcome.There are several 2 oz batts.I'll spin some and offer some in the shop.

BFL

I finally got around to dyeing about 9 oz of BFL roving I've had since last year (still got about 9 oz left)

I got 4 oz plus each of an emerald and kelly green with some light purple:

and another 4 oz of several shades of green (teal,kelly,emerald,), yellows,browns ,burgundy and violet.There is no blue ,but for some odd reason it shows in the pic and even after taking several in different light the teal still shows up as blue.

The colors are a little more vibrant than i had hoped for but i think that will be just fine for a scarf or shawl.

I'm going to try and spin this into a sport weight singles and weave it up in a twill pattern.Don't know yet what ill use for warp.I've ordered the new Spinning Book: Amy King "Spin Control: Techniques for Spinning the Yarns You Want" and it should be here by the end of next week.

I'll wait till then with the spinning, maybe i can glean some tips out of it that really lets me spin the yarn i want! Hope springs eternal :)

And so it beginns...

Well, I finally did it,I joined the masses and jumped in the blog pool!

I'm probably not going to be very good at this,at least to start with,but maybe as time goes on I'll get better(hope is eternal ).So if you will bear with me i"ll give it a shot.

Mainly i started this blog to share tips, tricks, links and information on anything i found helpful or might be helpful for someone knitting, spinning, dyeing and fiber preparation .

Also i will use this blog to rant and rave about the cancer monkey riding my back and last but not least to promote my little online shop at http://www.skimpysmom.etsy.com/ where i sell my handmade wares.Well you didn't think i did all this just for selfless reasons ,did you?

So, before we go on I'd like to introduce SKIMPY since i get asked a lot who skimpy is and how in the hell that poor child ended up with a name like that.

Behold "SKIMPY" also known as "SKIMPMAN", "SKIMPERS", SKIMPYDOODLE" and some other names i really don't want to put down here(never know when kids might look in).

I started knitting when i was about 6 years old. My mother ,who is a crafty lady( in more ways than one), also taught me sewing and needlepoint/cross stitching.

I got away from needle arts in my early thirty's, until i got reacquainted with knitting during my radiation treatment for breast cancer (more about this black time in my live later). Starting with scarves(about 25), sweaters(4)i finally got hung up on socks.
Of course that branched out after awhile into dyeing my own yarn into spinning my own yarn into preparing fiber from scratch(fleeces, mostly raw) so i can spin and knit it . Of course that involved a spinning wheel, a drum carder,lots of wool and... nowhere to put it. Our little house started busting out of its seams. Wool,yarn,needles,dyestuff covered every flat surface in the house.One memorable afternoon when my poor suffering husband almost sat on a pair of dpn's we decided its time to get a "STUDIO" for my stuff (not the word my husband used).So we acquired a 12x24 ready made cabin and had it set next to our house. It's a diamond in the rough yet,it still needs to be insulated,wired and piped but...it's my little heaven where i spend most of my time until hubster gets home or it gets too freaking hot in here (no air conditioner yet either)

I got all my "stuff" in here now,except my dye things,since i have no water in here yet.
Speaking of dyeing, i better get to it.More later....